The height-width ratio limited value for rubber bearing isolated structure computed by uniform design method

Rubber isolation is the most mature control technology in practical application, and is widely used by short rigid buildings. However, many high isolation buildings have been built around the world in recent years, which do not follow the existing criterions and codes. Many researchers began to research the special problems caused by larger height-width ratio isolation structures. The overturning effect of high height-width ratio structures with rubber bearing is firstly studied. Considering the main factors, such as the height-width ratio of structures, type of site, the designed basic acceleration of ground motion and the decouple factor in horizon, computing experiment is defined with the Uniform Design Method, which is also known as designing isolation structure. The forces of the bearing under edge of structures based on the position of the rubber bearing are calculated. The result indicates that the rubber bearings will lose its functionality under very high tension and compressing force of earthquake motion in horizon and vertical, when the height-width ratio is over a certain value. Thus, based on the calculation result of isolation structures defined in the uniform design method, regression analysis is conducted, and also the rubber edge force regression formula are gotten, which has higher correlation and smaller standard deviation. This formula can be used to roughly calculate whether the pull force occurs at the edge of the building. By the edge bearings of isolation structure minimum force formula, the height-width ratio limited value of the isolation structure is deducted when rubber bearing has minimum force of zero.

Exploring the growth value equity valuation model with data visualization

The Growth Value Model(GVM)proposed theoretical closed form formulas consist-ing of Return on Equity(ROE)and the Price-to-Book value ratio(P/B)for fair stock prices and expected rates of return.Although regression analysis can be employed to verify these theoretical closed form formulas,they cannot be explored by classical quintile or decile sorting approaches with intuition due to the essence of multi-factors and dynamical processes.This article uses visualization techniques to help intuitively explore GVM.The discerning findings and contributions of this paper is that we put forward the concept of the smart frontier,which can be regarded as the reasonable lower limit of P/B at a specific ROE by exploring fair P/B with ROE-P/B 2D dynamical process visualization.The coefficients in the formula can be determined by the quantile regression analysis with market data.The moving paths of the ROE and P/B in the cur-rent quarter and the subsequent quarters show that the portfolios at the lower right of the curve approaches this curve and stagnates here after the portfolios are formed.Furthermore,exploring expected rates of return with ROE-P/B-Return 3D dynamical process visualization,the results show that the data outside of the lower right edge of the“smart frontier”has positive quarterly return rates not only in the t+1 quarter but also in the t+2 quarter.The farther away the data in the t quarter is from the“smart frontier”,the larger the return rates in the t+1 and t+2 quarter.

Prognostic value of the echocardiographic right/left ventricular end-diastolic diameter ratio in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension

Background Previous studies have shown that an echocardiographic right/left ventricular end-diastolic diameter ratio(RV/LV ratio)≥0.9 is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with acute pulmonary embolism. The prognostic value of the RV/LV ratio in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension(IPAH) is still unknown. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 95 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed IPAH and 16 of them were reevaluated by echocardiography at 3-12 months following targeted therapy.Follow-up data were obtained by telephone interviews and review of the patients’ records.Results The RV/LV ratio was in parallel with the severity of World Health Orgnization(WHO) functional class and mean right atrial pressure.The RV/LV ratio was positively correlated with total pulmonary resistance(P P P 2 saturation(P P = 0.001),weight and absence of targeted therapy were independent predictors of death.No significant changes in the RV/LV ratio before and after targeted therapy were observed. A baseline RV/LV ratio≥0.84 or a further increase in the RV/LV ratio during targeted therapy indicated a poor prognosis. Conclusions The RV/LV ratio helps to assess the severity of IPAH and serves as an independent predictor of prognosis in patients with IPAH.

Evaluating Added Benefits from Combined Cattle Manure and Fertilizer Application in a Maize Cropping System

A field experiment was conducted at Kpongu in the Upper West region of Ghana to determine the added benefits in grain yield of maize derived from the concurrent use of manure and mineral fertilizer, and their cost effectiveness. Factorial combinations of cattle manure and mineral fertilizer each at 0, 50 and 100% of their recommended rates were evaluated in both the field and the laboratory studies. The treatments were applied in a randomized complete block design with three replications on the field. The same treatments were applied in the incubation study in a completely randomized design. The use of 100% NPK （Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium） ＋ 5 t manure gave the highest grain yield of 4,678 kg·ha^-1. Synergistic interactions resulting in added benefits in grain yield were observed in all the combined nutrient inputs except 50% NPK ＋ 2.5 t manure which accrued an added disadvantage of 44 kg·ha^-1. Economic analysis proved that 100% NPK ＋ 2.5 t manure and 50% NPK ＋ 5 t manure were the most economically viable combined treatments in terms of grain yield. Based on the results from this study, resource poor farmers in the Upper West region of Ghana may reduce mineral fertilizer recommended rates by 50% and supplement it with 5 t quality （N 〉2.5%） cattle manure without compromising yield and profit.

Analysis of the Wave Velocity Ratio Anomalies in the Tianshan Region of Xinjiang

Based on the seismic observation report data provided by the Xinjiang Digital Seismic Network from 2009 to 2014,we calculate the wave velocity ratio and its background value for medium and small earthquakes by using the multi-station method in Tianshan,Xinjiang.This paper analyzes the variation of the wave velocity ratio disturbance value to highlight the abnormal,and also back-traces 7 moderate earthquakes at the research area.The results show that:(1)the background value of the wave velocity ratio is almost 1.70,the wave velocity ratio obviously decreases in the middle-eastern part of Tianshan and the region near the Puchang fault;(2)the wave velocity ratio disturbance value is mostly low in the epicenter before four earthquakes of M≥5.0 from 2011 to 2013 in the study area;(3)before 7 moderate strong earthquakes,the earthquake events with low value of the wave velocity ratio account for over 60% of corresponding total events near the epicenters,and the low value of the wave velocity ratio is relatively obvious before moderate earthquakes.

China＇s Achilles Heel： The Banking System

China＇s robust economy is bringing unprecedented growth and prosperity to the country. However, there is ample evidence to suggest that weaknesses in the banking system and the slow progress in reforming those weaknesses may cause disruption to continued economic growth. Bad loan portfolios as well as inadequate capital ratios point to the lack of proper governance and credit cultures at many banks. Unless these issues are quickly and properly addressed, the economic engine that drives the country will be at risk.

Engineering characteristics of near-fault vertical ground motions and their effect on the seismic response of bridges

A wide variety of near-fault strong ground motion records were collected from various tectonic environments worldwide and were used to study the peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio of the vertical to horizontal component of ground motion, focusing on the effect of earthquake magnitude, site conditions, pulse duration, and statistical component. The results show that both the peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio are larger than the 2/3 value prescribed in existing seismic codes, and the relationship between the vertical and horizontal ground motions is comparatively intricate. In addition, the effect of the near-fault ground motions on bridge performance is analyzed, considering both the material nonlinear characteristics and the P-A effect.

Development of a Laboratory Cement Quality Analysis Apparatus Based on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Determination of the chemical composition of cement and ratio values of clinker plays an important role in cement plants as part of the optimal process control and product quality evaluation. In the present paper, a laboratory laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy （LIBS） apparatus mainly comprising a sealed optical module and an analysis chamber has been designed for possible application in cement plants for on-site quality analysis of cement. Emphasis is placed on the structure and operation of the LIBS apparatus, the sealed optical path, the temperature controlled spectrometer, the sample holder, the proper calibration model established for minimizing the matrix effects, and a correction method proposed for overcoming the ＇drift＇ obstacle. Good agreement has been found between the laboratory measurement results from the LIBS method and those from the traditional method. The absolute measurement errors presented here for oxides analysis are within 0.5%, while those of ratio values are in the range of 0.02 to 0.05. According to the obtained results, this laboratory LIBS apparatus is capable of performing reliable and accurate, composition and proximate analysis of cement and is suitable for application in cement plants.

Overload problem research on aperiodic real-time tasks

In this paper, a novel scheduling mechanism is proposed to handle the real-time overload problem by maximizing the cumulative values of three types of tasks： the soft, the hard and the imprecise tasks. The simulation results show that the performance of our presented mechanism in this paper is greatly improved, much better than that of the other three mechanisms： earliest deadline first （EDF）, highest value first （HVF） and highest density first （HDF）, under the same conditions of all nominal loads and task type proportions.

Fault diagnosis for gearboxes based on Fourier decomposition method and resonance demodulation

Condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of gearboxes play an important role in the maintenance of mechanical systems.The vibration signal of gearboxes is characterized by complex spectral structure and strong time variability,which brings challenges to fault feature extraction.To address this issue,a new demodulation technique,based on the Fourier decomposition method and resonance demodulation,is proposed to extract fault-related information.First,the Fourier decomposition method decomposes the vibration signal into Fourier intrinsic band functions(FIBFs)adaptively in the frequency domain.Then,the original signal is segmented into short-time vectors to construct double-row matrices and the maximum singular value ratio method is employed to estimate the resonance frequency.Then,the resonance frequency is used as a criterion to guide the selection of the most relevant FIBF for demodulation analysis.Finally,for the optimal FIBF,envelope demodulation is conducted to identify the fault characteristic frequency.The main contributions are that the proposed method describes how to obtain the resonance frequency effectively and how to select the optimal FIBF after decomposition in order to extract the fault characteristic frequency.Both numerical and experimental studies are conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed method.It is demonstrated that the proposed method can effectively demodulate the fault information from the original signal.