Performance‐based wind evaluation and strengthening of existing tall concrete buildings in the Los Angeles region: dampers,nonlinear time history analysis and structural reliability

This paper presents a methodology in wind design including in a scientific way the benefits of using dampers and of performing a nonlinear dynamic analysis of tall concrete buildings that are being evaluated and strengthened. It is developed for tall buildings in the Los Angeles region but is without geographic bounds. The uses of equations of structural reliability form this scientific basis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attenuation of the Jasmonate Burst, Plant Defensive Traits, and Resistance to Specialist Monarch Caterpillars on Shaded Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Plant responses to herbivory and light competition are often in opposing directions, posing a potential conflict for plants experiencing both stresses. For sun-adapted species, growing in shade typically makes plants more constitutively susceptible to herbivores via reduced structural and chemical resistance traits. Nonetheless, the impact of light environment on induced resistance has been less well-studied, especially in field experiments that link physiological mechanisms to ecological outcomes. Accordingly, we studied induced resistance of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca, a sun-adapted plant), and linked hormonal responses, resistance traits, and performance of specialist monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) in varying light environments. In natural populations, plants growing under forest-edge shade showed reduced levels of resistance traits (lower leaf toughness, cardenolides, and trichomes) and enhanced light-capture traits (higher specific leaf area, larger leaves, and lower carbon-to-nitrogen ratio) compared to paired plants in full sun. In a field experiment repeated over two years, only milkweeds growing in full sun exhibited induced resistance to monarchs, whereas plants growing in shade were constitutively more susceptible and did not induce resistance. In a more controlled field experiment, plant hormones were higher in the sun (jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, abscisic acid, indole acidic acid) and were induced by herbivory (jasmonic acid and abscisic acid). In particular, the jasmonate burst following herbivory was halved in plants raised in shaded habitats, and this correspondingly reduced latex induction (but not cardenolide induction). Thus, we provide a mechanistic basis for the attenuation of induced plant resistance in low resource environments. Additionally, there appears to be specificity in these interactions, with light-mediated impacts on jasmonate-induction being stronger for latex exudation than cardenolides.     

The effect of inulin as a fat replacer on the quality of low‐fat ice cream

The influence of different levels of inulin as fat replacer on the quality of ice cream was investigated. Inulin was added at 2, 4 and 6% to replace milk fat and the experimental ice creams were compared to a control with 10% milk fat. The chemical composition, overrun, water activity, viscosity, melting rate, hardness and colour value were determined. Sensory properties of the ice cream samples were evaluated during storage. The overall acceptability of ice creams prepared with 2 and 4% substitution were similar to the control.     

Assessment of freeway traffic parameters leading to lane-change related collisions

This study aims at 'predicting' the occurrence of lane-change related freeway crashes using the traffic surveillance data collected from a pair of dual loop detectors. The approach adopted here involves developing classification models using the historical crash data and corresponding information on real-time traffic parameters obtained from loop detectors. The historical crash and loop detector data to calibrate the neural network models (corresponding to crash and non-crash cases to set up a binary classification problem) were collected from the Interstate-4 corridor in Orlando (FL) metropolitan area. Through a careful examination of crash data, it was concluded that all sideswipe collisions and the angle crashes that occur on the inner lanes (left most and center lanes) of the freeway may be attributed to lane-changing maneuvers. These crashes are referred to as lane-change related crashes in this study. The factors explored as independent variables include the parameters formulated to capture the overall measure of lane-changing and between-lane variations of speed, volume and occupancy at the station located upstream of crash locations. Classification tree based variable selection procedure showed that average speeds upstream and downstream of crash location, difference in occupancy on adjacent lanes and standard deviation of volume and speed downstream of the crash location were found to be significantly associated with the binary variable (crash versus non-crash). The classification models based on data mining approach achieved satisfactory classification accuracy over the validation dataset. The results indicate that these models may be applied for identifying real-time traffic conditions prone to lane-change related crashes.     

Environment-friendly and cost-effective solution for flexible packaging printing process by advancement in engraving process

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Organic solvents have been commonly used in the printing process for a long time in gravure printing applications. Using organic solvents in...     

Remarkably Selective Propylene–Propane Separation Using a Copper Scorpionate

Propylene is a crucial building block to produce many industrial-scale chemicals including polypropylene. The separation of propylene from propane to reach the high-purity levels needed for downstream applications is a difficult task due to the close similarities in their physical properties. The olefin/paraffin separation including that involving propylene mainly relies on highly energy-intensive distillation processes and accounts for nearly 0.3% of the global energy consumption. The utility of a copper complex supported by a fluorinated bis(pyrazolyl)borate is demonstrated to accomplish the separation of propylene from propane repeatedly, under mild conditions with high selectivity. Complete characterization of a rare, copper(I) propylene complex is also reported including the molecular structure.     

A note on the existence and optimal control for mixed Volterra–Fredholm-type integrodifferential dispersion system of third order

The optimal control problem consists of a performance index subject to a set of differential equations that describes the path of the control and state variables. The main aim of this article is to prove the existence and uniqueness of a mild solution, optimal control, and time-optimal control of a mixed Volterra–Fredholm-type third-order dispersion system. By applying the strongly continuous semigroup theory and the Banach fixed-point theorem, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the considered system. The optimal control results are proved by using Mazur's lemma, Gronwall's inequality, and the minimizing sequence technique. The discussion on the time-optimal control of the third-order dispersion system is also presented.     

Parachute shape ultra-wideband wearable antenna for remote health care monitoring

Wireless body area networks (WBAN) is used to measure patients' health conditions continuously. Different kinds of sensors are required to measure health conditions. When such types of antennas are used on the human body, they are flexible with the movements. The usage of wearable devices is currently increasing in the biomedical field. The presented wearable antenna is suitable for biomedical applications. The presented ultra-wideband (UWB) flexible parachute shape wearable antenna is fabricated on a jeans textile substrate. The prototype antenna has a −10 dB measured impedance bandwidth of 5800 MHz (7 to 12.8 GHz) with average radiation efficiency of 75.28%. The prototype antenna's size is 40 × 40 mm² (1.32 × 1.32 ${\lambda }_0^2$ at centre frequency 9.9 GHz) and a peak gain of 4.5 dB at 12.33 GHz. The fabricated antenna is suitable for biomedical applications in X-band frequencies and can be implemented with a low-cost manufacturing process. The radiating element is made by conductive copper tape. Muscle-equivalent phantoms are used to analyze the body effect on antenna performance. The radiation effect emitted by the presented antenna on the human body is calculated by the specific absorption rate (SAR) value. The maximum SAR value of the proposed antenna is 1.84 W/kg at 12.33 GHz. This leads to promising results for wearable applications related to remote health care monitoring, such as biotelemetry and mobile health with a sensor-driven approach.