Time-temperature behavior of carbon/epoxy laminates under creep loading

Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials - The time-temperature creep behavior of advanced composite laminates is herein determined through a comprehensive set of experiments and analytical modeling....     

Query language-based inverses of schema mappings: semantics, computation, and closure properties

The inversion of schema mappings has been identified as one of the fundamental operators for the development of a general framework for metadata management. During the last few years, three alternative notions of inversion for schema mappings have been proposed (Fagin-inverse (Fagin, TODS 32(4), 25:1–25:53, 2007), quasi-inverse (Fagin et?al., TODS 33(2), 11:1–11:52, 2008), and maximum recovery (Arenas et?al., TODS 34(4), 22:1–22:48, 2009)). However, these notions lack some fundamental properties that limit their practical applicability: most of them are expressed in languages including features that are difficult to use in practice, some of these inverses are not guaranteed to exist for mappings specified with source-to-target tuple-generating dependencies (st-tgds), and it has been futile to search for a meaningful mapping language that is closed under any of these notions of inverse. In this paper, we develop a framework for the inversion of schema mappings that fulfills all of the above requirements. It is based on the notion of ${\mathcal{C}}$ -maximum recovery, for a query language ${\mathcal{C}}$ , a notion designed to generate inverse mappings that recover back only the information that can be retrieved with queries in ${\mathcal{C}}$ . By focusing on the language of conjunctive queries (CQ), we are able to find a mapping language that contains the class of st-tgds, is closed under CQ-maximum recovery, and for which the chase procedure can be used to exchange data efficiently. Furthermore, we show that our choices of inverse notion and mapping language are optimal, in the sense that choosing a more expressive inverse operator or mapping language causes the loss of these properties.     

A Mechanized Proof Environment for the Convenient Computations Proof Method

A mechanized verification environment made up of theories over the deductive mechanized theorem prover PVS is presented, which allows taking advantage of the convenient computations method. This method reduces the conceptual difficulty of proving a given property for all the possible computations of a system by separating two different concerns: (1) proving that special convenient computations satisfy the property, and (2) proving that every computation is related to a convenient one by a relation which preserves the property. The approach is especially appropriate for applications in which the first concern is trivial once the second has been shown, e.g., where the specification itself is that every computation reduces to a convenient one. Two examples are the serializability of transactions in distributed databases, and sequential consistency of distributed shared memories. To reduce the repetition of effort, a clear separation is made between infrastructural theories to be supplied as a proof environment PVS library to users, and the specification and proof of particular examples. The provided infrastructure formally defines the method in its most general way. It also defines a computation model and a reduction relation—the equivalence of computations that differ only in the order of finitely many independent operations. One way to prove that this relation holds between every computation and some convenient one involves the definition of a measure function from computations into a well-founded set. Two possible default measures, which can be applied in many cases, are also defined in the infrastructure, along with useful lemmas that assist in their usage. We show how the proof environment can be used, by a step-by-step explanation of an application example.     

Maximal versus strong solution to algebraic Riccati equations arising in infinite Markov jump linear systems

We deal with a perturbed algebraic Riccati equation in an infinite dimensional Banach space which appears, for instance, in the optimal control problem for infinite Markov jump linear systems (from now on iMJLS). Infinite or finite here has to do with the state space of the Markov chain being infinite countable or finite (see, e.g., [M.D. Fragoso, J. Baczynski, Optimal control for continuous time LQ—problems with infinite Markov jump parameters, SIAM J. Control Optim. 40(1) (2001) 270–297]). By using a certain concept of stochastic stability (a sort of L₂-stability), we have proved in [J. Baczynski, M.D. Fragoso, Maximal solution to algebraic Riccati equations linked to infinite Markov jump linear systems, Internal Report LNCC, no. 6, 2006] existence (and uniqueness) of maximal solution for this class of equations. As it is noticed in this paper, unlike the finite case (including the linear case), we cannot guarantee anymore that maximal solution is a strong solution in this setting. Via a discussion on the main mathematical hindrance behind this issue, we devise some mild conditions for this implication to hold. Specifically, our main result here is that, under stochastic stability, along with a condition related with convergence in the infinite dimensional scenario, and another one related to spectrum—weaker than spectral continuity—we ensure the maximal solution to be also a strong solution. These conditions hold trivially in the finite case, allowing us to recover the result of strong solution of [C.E. de Souza, M.D. Fragoso, On the existence of maximal solution for generalized algebraic Riccati equations arising in stochastic control, Systems Control Lett. 14 (1990) 233–239] set for MJLS. The issue of whether the convergence condition is restrictive or not is brought to light and, together with some counterexamples, unveil further differences between the finite and the infinite countable case.     

Synthesis method for testable electrical networks using 1st order building blocks

This work presents a method for synthesizing testable continuous-time linear time-invariant electrical networks using 1st order blocks for the implementation of analog linear circuits. A functional-structural fault model for the block, and a fault dictionary are proposed together with a simple set of test vectors. The method allows, also, the fault grade evaluation for the modeled faults. The results obtained from the two application examples have shown the suitability of the approach as a design for test method for analog circuits.     

Modulatory effects of yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis) on the PI3K‐AKT signaling pathway

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of yerba maté (YM) extract on the phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K)‐AKT signaling pathway in vivo. The mice were introduced to either standard‐ or high‐fat diet (HFD). After 8 weeks on an HFD, mice were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment conditions, water or yerba maté extract at 1.0 g/kg. After treatment, glucose blood level and hepatic insulin response were evaluated. Liver tissue was examined to determine the mRNA levels using the PI3K‐AKT PCR array. The nuclear translocation of forkhead box O1 (FOXO1) was determined by an electrophoretic mobility‐shift assay. Our data demonstrated that yerba maté extract significantly decreased the final body weight, glucose blood levels, and insulin resistance of mice. Molecular analysis demonstrated that an HFD downregulated Akt2, Irs1, Irs2, Pi3kca, Pi3kcg, and Pdk1; after yerba maté treatment, the levels of those genes returned to baseline. In addition, an HFD upregulated Pepck and G6pc and increased FOXO1 nuclear translocation. The intervention downregulated these genes by decreasing FOXO1 nuclear translocation. The results obtained demonstrate for the first time the specific action of yerba maté on the PI3K‐AKT pathway, which contributed to the observed improvement in hepatic insulin signaling.     

Development of phase morphology in immiscible poly(styrene‐co‐acrylonitrile)/poly(butylene terephthalate) nanoblends: Mechanical properties and effect of the compatibilizer

Nanoblends were obtained from poly(styrene‐co‐acrylonitrile) (SAN) as a matrix, and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) was used as a nanodispersed phase. Compatibilized SAN/PBT blends were prepared by reactive extrusion, and the PBT concentrations ranged between 3 and 30 wt %. Nanoblends were obtained for up to 10 wt % PBT concentrations in the presence of the compatibilizer. With 20 and 30 wt % PBT, the extruded material presented a droplet dispersed phase. The same blends were subjected to an injection‐molding process, which provided a cocontinuous phase morphology. The influence of the concentration of the dispersed phase and the type of morphology on the mechanical behavior of tensile test, flexural test, impact test, and deflection temperature of the blends was analyzed. The results show an important reduction in the particle size of the dispersed phase, which was due to the presence of the compatibilizer. Furthermore, the type of morphology and an excess of compatibilizer exerted a stronger influence on the mechanical properties than the particle size of the dispersed phase. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45030.     

Problem-oriented modules for process simulation. resolution strategies for simulation and optimization

A new resolution strategy is presented to overcome short-comings of the sequential modular process flowsheeting. Following a logic flow of information, different from the material flow of streams in the flowsheet, changes the mathematical structure of the system of equations that models the units. New programs have been generated, very different from traditional modules. Deciding an appropriate resolution strategy usually leads to a dramatic reduction in required CPU times and to an increased flexibility to handle different problems. The simulation convergence and process optimization can be approached from a different perspective.