A practical reliability assessment approach and its application for pile-stabilized slopes using FORM and support vector machine

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Many uncertainties exist in pile-stabilized slopes which make their design substantially complicated. In this paper, a first-order reliability...     

Pressure drop and optimization meta-models for arbitrary low-height pleated filter shapes and flowrates

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - This study delivers equations useful for low-height pleated fibrous filter design: two pressure drop equations and one set of optimum design equations...     

Defining Dry Eye from a Clinical Perspective

Over the past decades, the number of patients with dry eye disease (DED) has increased dramatically. The incidence of DED is higher in Asia than in Europe and North America, suggesting the involvement of cultural or racial factors in DED etiology. Although many definitions of DED have been used, discrepancies exist between the various definitions of dry eye disease (DED) used across the globe. This article presents a clinical consensus on the definition of DED, as formulated in four meetings with global DED experts. The proposed new definition is as follows: “Dry eye is a multifactorial disease characterized by a persistently unstable and/or deficient tear film (TF) causing discomfort and/or visual impairment, accompanied by variable degrees of ocular surface epitheliopathy, inflammation and neurosensory abnormalities.” The key criteria for the diagnosis of DED are unstable TF, inflammation, ocular discomfort and visual impairment. This definition also recommends the assessment of ocular surface epitheliopathy and neurosensory abnormalities in each patient with suspected DED. It is easily applicable in clinical practice and should help practitioners diagnose DED consistently. This consensus definition of DED should also help to guide research and clinical trials that, to date, have been hampered by the lack of an established surrogate endpoint.     

Tensile testing and fracture mechanism analysis of polyvinyl alcohol nanofibrous webs

A tensile properties testing study was conducted to understand the influence of thickness, cross-head speed (speed of testing), gauge length (GL; specimen test length), and sample shape on important tensile properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofiber webs. The effects of each testing parameter on load at break, extension at break, Young's modulus, and tensile stress–strain curve of PVA nanofiber webs are analyzed. The Welch two sample t-tests show the significant difference among tested data. Using interaction plots, two-way analysis of variance, and margin mean plots, the interaction effects among testing parameters have been analyzed. Of all the factors, cross-head speed, the interaction among GL, and sample thickness (GL: Thickness) and the interaction among GL, testing speed and sample thickness (GL: Speed: Thickness) have significant influence on the tensile properties of PVA nanofiber webs. Moreover, the hypothesized model of mechanism of tensile strain–stress curve of PVA nanofiber webs has been proposed. Based on the model, the tensile strain–stress curve can be split into three stages: linear elastic, partial break up, and complete breakage. This study will provide a better understanding of tensile testing parameters' effects and their interaction effects on the tensile properties of nanowebs.     

Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Co-doped CuAlO2 Nanofibers Fabricated by Electrospinning

One-dimensional, diluted magnetic semiconductor nanofibers have attracted increasing attention for their unique magnetic properties, large specific surface area, and high porosity. These qualities lead to excellent performance in magneto-optical devices, magnetic resonance imaging, ferrofluids and magnetic separation. The purpose of this study is to fabricate P-type one dimensional CuAlO2-based diluted magnetic semiconductor nanofibers. First, we fabricated Cu Al0.95Co0.05O2 nanofibers with an average diameter of 1 μm with the electrospinning method. The annealed nanofibers were thermally treated at a temperature of 1 100 ℃ and then shrunk to a diameter of about 650 nm. We used X-ray diffraction measurements and Raman spectra to confirm that the Cu Al0.95Co0.05O2 nanofibers had a single impurity free delafossite phase. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicates that Co was present in the +2 oxidation state, resulting in an room temperature ferromagnetism in the Cu Al0.95Co0.05O2 fiber. This contrasts with nonmagnetism in pristine CuAlO2 fiber. The coercivity(Hc) value of 65.26 Oe and approximate saturation magnetization(Ms) of 0.012 emu/g demonstrate good evidence of ferromagnetism at room temperature for Cu Al0.95Co0.05O2 nanofibers.     

Hopping transport in the space-charge region of p-n structures with InGaN/GaN QWs as a source of excess 1/f noise and efficiency droop in LEDs

Semiconductors - It is shown that the emission efficiency and the 1/f noise level in light-emitting diodes with InGaN/GaN quantum wells correlate with how the differential resistance of a diode...