Dual-Rotation Speed Friction Stir Welding: Experimentation and Modeling

Implementing differential rotation speeds of pin and shoulder in the friction stir welding process is considered. Experimental investigations were carried out using a newly designed and fabricated apparatus for dual-rotation speed friction stir welding. Metallographic studies demonstrated that appropriate selection of separate pin and the shoulder rotation speeds not only results in defect-free joints, but also affects the weld zone by controlling the heat input delivered. An energy model for predicting maximum temperature was extended to the dual-rotation speed friction stir process. The model was verified using the previous experimental results reported in the literature.     

Simvastatin-doped pre-mixed calcium phosphate cement inhibits osteoclast differentiation and resorption

Simvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug, has been shown to have positive effects on fracture healing and bone regeneration based on its dual effect; bone anabolic and anti-resorptive. In this study the focus has been on the anti-resorptive effect of the drug and its impact on the degradation of acidic calcium phosphate cement. The drug was added to the pre-mixed acidic cement in three different doses (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 mg/g cement) and the release was measured. Furthermore the effect of the loaded cements on osteoclast differentiation and resorption was evaluated by TRAP activity, number of multinucleated cells, gene expression and calcium ion concentration in vitro using murine bone marrow macrophages. The simvastatin did not affect the cell proliferation while it clearly inhibited osteoclastic differentiation at all three doses as shown by TRAP staining, TRAP activity and gene expression. Consistent with these results, simvastatin also impaired resorption of cements by osteoclasts as indicated by reduced calcium ion concentrations. In conclusion, our findings suggest that simvastatin-doped pre-mixed acidic calcium phosphate cement inhibits the osteoclastic mediated resorption of the cement thus slowing down the degradation rate. In addition with simvastatin’s bone anabolic effect it makes the cement-drug combination a promising bone graft material, especially useful for sites with compromised bone formation.     

Minimum surcharge load of URM walls under flexure and axial force / Mindestauflast bei Biegung mit Normalkraft

This paper suggests a detailed parametric study, which has been drawn up in connection with the question of the necessity of verification of masonry wall by a minimum vertical load subject to bending and normal force by the author and his team [7]. It assumes the actual eccentricities from supporting due floors and takes into account the second order theory in middle of wall according to DIN EN 1996‐1‐1 or the German NA. In some cases, the model is derived for very high wind loads to its limits. Using the arch model which is introduced in DIN EN 1996‐1‐1 and may be applied by NA, is helpful and effective. This method may provide higher capacity rather than for example, with the bar or plate model. In this article the verification by means of the arch model will be presented and discussed. It is also shown that, forming an arch opposing to the horizontal wind load and low vertical loads may not come to a stability failure.     

Softwarization and virtualization of VoIP networks

Nowadays, voice over IP (VoIP) is a cost-effective and efficient technology in the communications industry. Free applications for transferring multimedia on the Internet are becoming more attractive and pervasive day by day. Nevertheless, the traditional, close, and hardware-defined nature of the VoIP networks’ structure makes the management of these networks more complicated and costly. Besides, its elementary and straightforward mechanisms for routing call requests have lost their efficiency, causing some problems, such as SIP servers’ overload. In order to tackle these problems, we introduce VoIP network softwarization and virtualization and propose two novel frameworks in this article. In this regard, we take advantage of the SDN and NFV concepts such that we separate data and control planes and provide the possibility for centralized and softwarized control of this network. This matter leads to effective routing. The NFV also makes this network’s dynamic resource management possible by functions virtualization of the VoIP network. The proposed frameworks are implemented in a real testbed, including Open vSwitch and Floodlight, examined by various scenarios. The results demonstrate an improvement in signaling and media quality in the VoIP network. As an example, the average throughput and resource efficiency increased by at least 28% and the average response time decreased by 34%. The overall latency has also been reduced by almost 39%.

     

Characterization of uncertainty (probabilistic models) in verification of unreinforced masonry shear wall / Charakterisierung der Unschärfe (probabilistische Modelle) beim Nachweis von Wandscheiben aus unbewehrtem Mauerwerk

The model uncertainty has significant role in determination of safety factor. Eurocode has been considered partial factor covering uncertainties in the resistance model. Moreover, the model uncertainty has important role in full probabilistic verification. A stochastic analysis may yield to realistic results, only if the uncertainties have been involved in the calculation, properly. The uncertainty in predicted load‐carrying model may be identified by comparing the observed (experimental records) load‐carrying behaviour with the predicted value. Some general recommendations for considering uncertainty in probabilistic verifications are available in literature. In this study, the deviation of predicted values according to DIN EN 1996‐1‐1/NA model of masonry shear wall from test results has been derived. The best‐fitted distribution with associated statistical parameters (type of distribution, mean and coefficient of variation) has been proposed for uncertainty model. The uncertainty models have been compared with recommendations in the literature.     

Distributed lifetime optimization in wireless sensor networks using alternating direction method of multipliers

Due to the limited energy of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks, extending the network lifetime is a major challenge that can be formulated as an optimization problem. In this paper, we propose a distributed iterative algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers with the aim of maximizing sensor network lifetime. The features of this algorithm are the use of local information, low overhead of message passing, low computational complexity, fast convergence, and, consequently, reduced energy consumption. In this study, we present the convergence results and the number of iterations required to achieve the stopping criterion. Furthermore, the impact of problem size (number of sensor nodes) on the solution and constraints violation is studied, and, finally, the proposed algorithm is compared with one of the well‐known subgradient‐based algorithms.