Free vibration of partially supported piles with the effects of bending moment, axial and shear force

The pile parts above the soil and embedded in the soil are called the first region and the second region, respectively. The fourth order partial differential equations of both regions for free vibration of partially supported pile subjected to bending moment, axial force and shear force are obtained using the small-displacement theory and the Winkler model. It is assumed that the behavior of the material is linear-elastic, and that axial force along the pile length and modulus of subgrade reaction for the second region to be constant. Shear effect is included in the partial differential equations by the second derivative of the elastic curve function with respect to shear deformation. Natural circular frequencies and relative stiffness of the pile are calculated for non-trivial solution of linear homogeneous system of equations obtained due to the values of axial forces acting on the pile, the shape factors, and the boundary conditions of the pile with both ends free and both ends simply supported; the results are presented in graphs.     

Temperature distributions in boreholes of a vertical ground-coupled heat pump system

The objective of this study is to show the temperature distribution development in the borehole of the ground-coupled heat pump systems (GCHPs) with time. The time interval for the study is 48 h. The vertical GCHP system using R-22 as refrigerant has a three single U-tube ground heat exchanger (GHE) made of polyethylene pipe with a 40 mm outside diameter. The GHE was placed in a vertical borehole (VB) with 30 (VB1), 60 (VB2) and 90 (VB3) m depths and 150 mm diameters. The experimental results were obtained in cooling and heating seasons of 2006–2007. A two-dimensional finite element model (FEM) was developed to simulate temperature distribution development in the soil surrounding the GHEs of GCHPs operating in the cooling and the heating modes. The finite element modelling of the GCHP system was performed using the ANSYS code. The FEM incorporated pipes, the grout and the surrounding formation. From the cases studied, this approach appears to be the most promising for estimation the temperature distribution response of GHEs to thermal loading.     

Modeling a ground-coupled heat pump system by a support vector machine

This paper reports on a modeling study of ground coupled heat pump (GCHP) system performance (COP) by using a support vector machine (SVM) method. A GCHP system is a multi-variable system that is hard to model by conventional methods. As regards the SVM, it has a superior capability for generalization, and this capability is independent of the dimensionality of the input data. In this study, a SVM based method was intended to adopt GCHP system for efficient modeling. The Lin-kernel SVM method was quite efficient in modeling purposes and did not require a pre-knowledge about the system. The performance of the proposed methodology was evaluated by using several statistical validation parameters. It is found that the root-mean squared (RMS) value is 0.002722, the coefficient of multiple determinations (R²) value is 0.999999, coefficient of variation (cov) value is 0.077295, and mean error function (MEF) value is 0.507437 for the proposed Lin-kernel SVM method. The optimum parameters of the SVM method were determined by using a greedy search algorithm. This search algorithm was effective for obtaining the optimum parameters.The simulation results show that the SVM is a good method for prediction of the COP of the GCHP system. The computation of SVM model is faster compared with other machine learning techniques (artificial neural networks (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS)); because there are fewer free parameters and only support vectors (only a fraction of all data) are used in the generalization process.     

Anti-Fibrotic Effects of Class I HDAC Inhibitor,Mocetinostat Is Associated with IL-6/Stat3 Signaling in Ischemic Heart Failure

Background: Recent studies have linked histone deacetylases (HDAC) to remodeling of the heart and cardiac fibrosis in heart failure. However, the molecular mechanisms linking chromatin remodeling events with observed anti-fibrotic effects are unknown. Here, we investigated the molecular players involved in anti-fibrotic effects of HDAC inhibition in congestive heart failure (CHF) myocardium and cardiac fibroblasts in vivo. Methods and Results: MI was created by coronary artery occlusion. Class I HDACs were inhibited in three-week post MI rats by intraperitoneal injection of Mocetinostat (20 mg/kg/day) for duration of three weeks. Cardiac function and heart tissue were analyzed at six week post-MI. CD90⁺ cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from ventricles through enzymatic digestion of heart. In vivo treatment of CHF animals with Mocetinostat reduced CHF-dependent up-regulation of HDAC1 and HDAC2 in CHF myocardium, improved cardiac function and decreased scar size and total collagen amount. Moreover, expression of pro-fibrotic markers, collagen-1, fibronectin and Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF) were reduced in the left ventricle (LV) of Mocetinostat-treated CHF hearts. Cardiac fibroblasts isolated from Mocetinostat-treated CHF ventricles showed a decrease in expression of collagen I and III, fibronectin and Timp1. In addition, Mocetinostat attenuated CHF-induced elevation of IL-6 levels in CHF myocardium and cardiac fibroblasts. In parallel, levels of pSTAT3 were reduced via Mocetinostat in CHF myocardium. Conclusions: Anti-fibrotic effects of Mocetinostat in CHF are associated with the IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway. In addition, our study demonstrates in vivo regulation of cardiac fibroblasts via HDAC inhibition.     

Interferometric investigation and simulation of refractive index in glass matrixes containing nanoparticles of varying sizes

The relationship between refractive index and nanoparticle radii of cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles embedded within glass matrixes was investigated experimentally and by simulations. A homemade automated Michelson interferometer arrangement employing a rotating table and a He-Ne laser source at a wavelength of 632.8 nm determined the refractive index versus nanoparticle radii of embedded cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles. The refractive index was found to decrease linearly with nanoparticle radius increase. However, one sample showed a step increase in refractive index; on spectroscopic analysis, it was found that its resonant wavelength matched that of the He-Ne source wavelength. The simulations showed that two conditions caused the step increase in refractive index: low plasma frequency and matched sample and source resonances. This simple interferometer setup defines a new method of determining the radii of nanoparticles embedded in substrates and enables refractive index tailoring by modification of exact annealing conditions.     

Hard iron boride (Fe2B) on 99.97 wt% pure iron

Some properties such as hardness and fracture toughness of boride formed on the 99.97 wt% pure iron were investigated. Boronizing was carried out in a solid medium, consisting of Ekabor powders of 5% B₄C as donor, 5% KBF₄ as an activator and 90% SiC as diluent at 800 °C for 2, 4 and 8 h. The dominant phase formed on the substrate was found to be Fe₂B that had a finger-like shape morphology. The hardness of boride on the 99.97% pure iron was over 1700HVN, while the hardness of pure iron was about 130HVN. It was found that the fracture toughness of boride formed on surfaces of 99.97% pure iron, depending on the process time, ranged from 3.59 to 3.83 MPa m^1/2. Depending on process time and temperature, the depth of the boride layer ranges from 22 to 43 μm, leading to a diffusion-controlled process.     

Removal of Remazol Brilliant Blue R dye from aqueous solutions by adsorption onto immobilized Scenedesmus quadricauda: Equilibrium and kinetic modeling studies

The green algae Scenedesmus quadricauda was immobilized in alginate gel beads. The immobilized active (IASq) and heat inactivated S.quadricauda (IHISq) were used for the removal of Remazol Brilliant Blue R (CI 61200, Reactive Blue 19, RBBR) from aqueous solutions in the concentration range 25-200 mg L^− 1. At 150 mg L^− 1 initial dye concentration the IASq and IHISq exhibited the highest dye uptake capacity at 30 °C, at the initial pH value of 2.0. At the same initial dye concentration in the batch system the adsorption capacity was determined for IASq as 44.2; 44.9 and 45.7 mg g^− 1 in 30, 60 and 300 min, respectively. After 300 min the adsorption capacity hardly changed during the adsorption time. The IHISq of adsorption capacity was observed as 47.6; 47.8 and 48.3 mg g^− 1 in 30, 60 and 300 min, respectively. After 300 min the adsorption capacity was not changed for 24 h. The Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Flory-Huggins isotherm models were used to fit the equilibrium biosorption data. The Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich equations have better coefficients than Temkin and Flory-Huggins equation describing the RBBR dye adsorption onto IASq and IHISq. The monomolecular biosorption capacity of the biomass was found to be 68 and 95.2 mg g^− 1 for IASq and IHISq, respectively. From the Dubinin-Radushkevich model, the mean free energy was calculated as 6.42-7.15 kJ mol^− 1 for IASq and IHISq, indicating that the biosorption of dye was taken place in physical adsorption reactions. The experimental data were also tested in terms of kinetic characteristics and it was determined that the biosorption process of dye was well explained with pseudo-second-order kinetics.     

Free vibration of semi-rigid connected Reddy-Bickford piles embedded in elastic soil

The literature on free vibration analysis of Bernoulli-Euler and Timoshenko piles embedded in elastic soil is plenty, but that of Reddy-Bickford piles partially embedded in elastic soil with/without axial force effect is fewer. The soil that the pile partially embedded in is idealized by Winkler model and is assumed to be two-layered. The pile part above the soil is called the first region and the parts embedded in the soil are called the second and the third region, respectively. It is assumed that the behaviour of the material is linear-elastic, that axial force along the pile length to be constant and the upper end of the pile that is semi-rigid supported against rotation is modelled by an elastic spring. The governing differential equations of motion of the rectangular pile in free vibration are derived using Hamilton’s principle and Winkler hypothesis. The terms are found directly from the solutions of the differential equations that describe the deformations of the cross-section according to the high-order theory. The models have six degrees of freedom at the two ends, one transverse displacement and two rotations, and the end forces are a shear force and two end moments. Natural frequencies of the pile are calculated using transfer matrix and the secant method for non-trivial solution of linear homogeneous system of equations obtained due to values of axial forces acting on the pile, total and embedded lengths of the pile, the linear-elastic rotational restraining stiffness at the upper end of the pile and to the boundary conditions of the pile. Two different boundary conditions are considered in the study. For the first boundary condition, the pile’s end at the first region is semi-rigid connected and not restricted for horizontal displacement and the end at the third region is free and for the second boundary condition, the pile’s end at the first region is semi-rigid connected and restricted for horizontal displacement and the end at the third region is fixed supported. The calculated natural frequencies of semi-rigid connected Reddy-Bickford pile embedded in elastic soil are given in tables and compared with results of Timoshenko pile model.