Stiffness and Strength of Metal Bridge Deck Forms

Light gauge metal sheeting is often utilized in the building and bridge industries for concrete formwork. Although the in-plane stiffness and strength of the metal forms are commonly relied upon for stability bracing in buildings, the forms are generally not considered for bracing in steel bridge construction. The primary difference between the forming systems in the two industries is the method of connection between the forms and girders. In bridge construction, an eccentric support angle is incorporated into the connection details to achieve a uniform slab thickness along the girder length. While the eccentric connection is a benefit for slab construction, the flexible connection limits the amount of bracing provided by the forms. This paper presents results from the first phase of a research study investigating the bracing behavior of metal bridge deck forms. Shear diaphragm tests were conducted to determine the shear stiffness and strength of bridge deck forms, and modified connection details were developed that substantially improve the bracing behavior of the forms. The measured stiffness and strength of diaphragms with the modified connection often met or exceeded the values of diaphragms with conventional noneccentric connections. The experimental results for the diaphragms with the modified connection details dramatically improve the potential for bracing of steel bridge girders by metal deck forms.     

Finite-SNR diversity-multiplexing tradeoffs in fading relay channels

We analyze the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff in a fading relay channel at finite signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). In this framework, the rate adaptation policy is such that the target system data rate is a multiple of the capacity of an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. The proportionality constant determines how aggressively the system scales the data rate and can be interpreted as a finite-SNR multiplexing gain. The diversity gain is given by the negative slope of the outage probability with respect to the SNR. Finite-SNR diversity performance is estimated using a constrained max-flow min-cut upper bound on the relay channel capacity. Moreover, the finite-SNR diversity-multiplexing tradeoff is characterized for three practical decode and forward half-duplex cooperative protocols with different amounts of broadcasting and simultaneous reception. For each configuration, system performance is computed as a function of SNR under a system-wide power constraint on the source and relay transmissions. Our analysis yields the following findings; (i) improved multiplexing performance can be achieved at any SNR by allowing the source to transmit constantly, (ii) both broadcasting and simultaneous reception are desirable in half-duplex relay cooperation for superior diversity-multiplexing performance, and (iii) the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff at finite-SNR is impacted by the power partitioning between the source and the relay terminals. Finally, we verify our analytical results by numerical simulations     

Is hepcidin‐25 a predictor of atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients?

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in hemodialysis patients. Iron accumulation in arterial wall macrophages is increased in atherosclerotic lesions. Hepcidin is a key hepatic hormone regulating iron balance. It inhibits iron release from macrophages and iron absorption from enterocytes by binding and inactivating the cellular iron exporter ferroportin. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation of hepcidin‐25, iron parameters, and atherosclerosis measured by carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) in hemodialysis patients. Eighty‐two hemodialysis patients were enrolled in this cross‐sectional study. Predialysis blood samples were centrifuged at 1500 g and 4°C for 10 minutes and stored at ?80°C for the measurement of hepcidin‐25. DRG hepcidin enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay kit was used for the measurement of hepcidin‐25. Ultrasonographical B‐mode imaging of bilateral carotid arteries was performed with a high‐resolution real‐time ultrasonography (Mindray DC7). Mean age of the study population was 57.90 ± 16.08 years and 43.9% were men. Total study population was grouped into two according to median value of hepcidin‐25. There was no difference between groups with respect to age, dialysis vintage, and C‐reactive protein. CIMT was found to be statistically significantly higher in low hepcidin‐25 group. In correlation analysis, CIMT was found to be correlated with age (P < 0.01, R = 0.33) and hepcidin‐25 (P < 0.01, R = 0.46). In linear regression analysis, age (β = 0.31) and hepcidin‐25 (β = 0.44) were found to be the determinants of CIMT in hemodialysis patients. Our results implicate that hepcidin may take part in pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease in hemodialysis patients.     

Determining Flow Friction Factor in Irrigation Pipes Using Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence Approaches

The implicit Colebrook–White equation has been widely used to estimate the friction factor for turbulent fluid in irrigation pipes. A fast, accurate, and robust resolution of the Colebrook–White equation is, in particular, necessary for scientific intensive computations. In this study, the performance of some artificial intelligence approaches, including gene expression programming (GEP), which is a variant of genetic programming (GP); adaptive neurofuzzy inference system (ANFIS); and artificial neural network (ANN) has been compared to the M5 model tree, which is a data mining technique and, to most available approximations, is based on root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and correlation coefficient (R). Results show that Serghides and Buzzelli approximations with RMSE (0.00002), MAE (0.00001), and R (0.99999) values had the best performances. Among the data mining and artificial intelligence approaches, the GEP with RMSE (0.00032), MAE (0.00026), and R (0.99953) values performed better. However, all 20 explicit approximations except Wood, Churchill (full range of turbulence including laminar regime) and Rau and Kumar estimated the friction factor more accurately than the GEP.     

Comparison of Two Different Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems in Modelling Daily Reference Evapotranspiration

This study compares two different adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with grid partition (GP) method and ANFIS with subtractive clustering (SC) method, in modeling daily reference evapotranspiration (ET ₀ ). Daily climatic data including air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed from Adana Station, Turkey were used as inputs to the fuzzy models to estimate daily ET ₀ values obtained using FAO 56 Penman Monteith (PM) method. In the first part of the study, the effect of each climatic variable on FAO 56 PM ET ₀ was investigated by using fuzzy models. Wind speed was found to be the most effective variable in modeling ET ₀ . In the second part of the study, the effect of missing data on training, validation and test accuracy of the neuro-fuzzy models was examined. It was found that the ANFIS-GP model was not affected by missing data while the test accuracy of the ANFIS-SC model slightly decreases by increasing missing data’s percent. In the third part of the study, the effect of training data length on training, validation and test accuracy of the ANFIS models was investigated. It was found that training data length did not significantly affect the accuracy of ANFIS models in modeling daily ET ₀ . ANFIS-SC model was found to be more sensitive to the training data length than the ANFIS-GP model. In the fourth part of the study, both ANFIS models were compared with the following empirical models and their calibrated versions; Valiantzas’ equations, Turc, Hargreaves and Ritchie. Comparison results indicated that the three-and four-input ANFIS models performed better than the corresponding empirical equations in modeling ET ₀ while the calibrated two-parameter Ritchie and Valiantzas’ equations were found to be better than the two-input ANFIS models.     

An experimental study on the bond strength between reinforcement bars and concrete as a function of concrete cover,strength and corrosion level

The effect of corrosion on the bond strength between reinforcement bars and concrete was studied in a series of experiments. An accelerated corrosion method was used to corrode the reinforcement bars embedded in concrete specimens. Pullout tests were performed to develop an empirical model for the ultimate bond strength by evaluating bond strengths in two different concrete mixes, three concrete cover depths and different mass losses of reinforcement bars after corrosion. Bond-slip relationships for the different corrosion levels were compared. It was found that the relationship between bond strength and concrete strength in uncorroded specimens differed from that of corroded specimens set in high-strength concrete because of brittleness in the corroded specimens, which caused a sudden loss of bond strength. The results revealed that specimens with higher concrete strength levels and corroded reinforcements showed a higher percentage of bond strength degradation due to concrete cracking during the pullout tests.     

Very-low-threshold current density continuous-wave quantum-dot laser diode

Data are presented showing that a quantum-dot laser diode can achieve a continuous-wave room-temperature threshold current density as low as 11.7 A/cm². The broad-area laser diode operates at a wavelength of 1.22 mum and delivers a power level of 0.42 W with 40% maximum slope efficiency in p-up mounting without heatsinking. Spectral measurements indicate the onset of stimulated emission at ~6 A/cm².     

Fuzzy Genetic Approach for Modeling Reference Evapotranspiration

This study investigates the ability of fuzzy genetic (FG) approach in modeling of reference evapotranspiration (ET0). The daily climatic data, solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed from three stations, Windsor, Oakville and Santa Rosa, in central California, are used as inputs to the FG models to estimate ET0 obtained using the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation. A comparison is made between the estimates provided by the FG and those of the following empirical models: the California Irrigation Management System Penman, Hargreaves, Ritchie, and Turc methods. The FG results are also compared with the artificial neural networks. Root-mean-square errors (RMSE), mean-absolute errors (MAE), and correlation coefficient statistics are used as comparing criteria for the evaluation of the models’ performances. The comparison results reveal that the FG models are superior to the ANN and empirical models in modeling ET0 process. For the Windsor, Oakville, and Santa Rosa stations, it was found that the FG models with RMSEW = 0.138, MAEW = 0.098, and RW = 0.999; RMSEO = 0.144, MAEO = 0.102, and RO = 0.999; and RMSES = 0.167, MAES = 0.115, and RS = 0.998 in test period is superior in modeling daily ET0 than the other models, respectively.     

Workability of hybrid fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete

Compared to fiber reinforced concrete (FRC), self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a relatively new type of concrete with high flowability and good cohesiveness. It offers very attractive economical and technical benefits, which can be further extended when combined with FRC. In this article two different types of steel fibers were used, in combination, and the effects of fiber inclusion on the workability of hybrid fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (HFR-SCC) is studied. The effects of fibers are quantified based on the fiber volume, length, and aspect ratios of the fibers. It was concluded that in addition to the above-mentioned quantifiable three properties, other properties of fibers such as shape and surface roughness are also found to be important but they cannot be quantified at this stage.