Dynamic stability of axially accelerating viscoelastic plates with longitudinally varying tensions

The dynamic stability of axially accelerating plates is investigated. Longitudi- nally varying tensions due to the acceleration and nonhomogeneous boundary conditions are highlighted. A model of the plate combined with viscoelasticity is applied. In the viscoelastic constitutive relationship, the material derivative is used to take the place of the partial time derivative. Analytical and numerical methods are used to investigate summation and principal parametric resonances, respectively. By use of linear models for the transverse behavior in the small displacement regime, the plate is confined by a viscous damping force. The generalized Hamilton principle is used to derive the govern- ing equations, the initial conditions, and the boundary conditions of the coupled planar vibration. The solvability conditions are established by directly using the method of mul- tiple scales. The Routh-Hurwitz criterion is used to obtain the necessary and sufficient condition of the stability. Numerical examples are given to show the effects of related parameters on the stability boundaries. The validity of longitudinally varying tensions and nonhomogeneous boundary conditions is highlighted by comparing the results of the method of multiple scales with those of a differential quadrature scheme.

Complex modes and traveling waves in axially moving Timoshenko beams

Complex modes and traveling waves in axially moving Timoshenko beams are studied. Due to the axially moving velocity, complex modes emerge instead of real value modes. Correspondingly, traveling waves are present for the axially moving material while standing waves dominate in the traditional static structures. The analytical results obtained in this study are verified with a numerical differential quadrature method.

Internal resonance of an axially transporting beam with a two-frequency parametric excitation

This paper investigates the transverse 3:1 internal resonance of an axially transporting nonlinear viscoelastic Euler-Bernoulli beam with a two-frequency parametric excitation caused by a speed perturbation.The Kelvin-Voigt model is introduced to describe the viscoelastic characteristics of the axially transporting beam.The governing equation and the associated boundary conditions are obtained by Newton’s second law.The method of multiple scales is utilized to obtain the steady-state responses.The RouthHurwitz criterion is used to determine the stabilities and bifurcations of the steady-state responses.The effects of the material viscoelastic coefficient on the dynamics of the transporting beam are studied in detail by a series of numerical demonstrations.Interesting phenomena of the steady-state responses are revealed in the 3:1 internal resonance and two-frequency parametric excitation.The approximate analytical method is validated via a differential quadrature method.

Predictive toxicology of chemicals and database mining

The toxic chemicals from the database Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) were analyzed by structural similarity comparison, which shows that the structure patterns or characteristics of toxic chemicals exist in a sufficiently large database. Then, a two-step strategy was proposed to explore noncongeneric toxic chemicals in the database: the screening of structure patterns by similarity comparison and the derivation of detailed relationship between structure and activity by using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) technologies. From the performance of the procedure, such a stepwise scheme is demonstrated to be feasible and effective to mine a database of toxic chemicals. It can be anticipated that database mining of toxic chemicals will be a new area for predictive toxicology of chemicals.

IS4 peptide forms ion channel in rat skeletal muscle cell membrane

A 22-mer peptide, identical to the primary sequence of domain I segment 4 (IS4) of rat brain sodium channel I, has been synthesized. IS4 peptide can incorporate into cultured rat skeletal myotube membranes and form ion channels. With patch clamp cell-attached technique single channel currents through IS4 channels can be recorded. The single channel conduc-