Characteristics of ground cracks caused by the M_(S) 6.4 Yangbi earthquake and the corresponding tectonic significance

An M_(S)6.4 earthquake occurred near Yangbi County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, at 21:48on May 21, 2021. The earthquake location is characterized by complex geological structures, with multiple active faults distributed around the epicenter that is located at the west edge of the Sichuan-Yunnan rhombic block(25.67°N, 99.87°E). A total of 42 ground cracks are found by earthquake field investigations. The cracks are mainly concentrated in the Ⅷ degree area on the west side of the Yangbi River. Among these, 9 coseismic tectonic ground cracks generated by shear fractures are found in three villages(i.e., Akechang, Meijia-Lijia, and Huajiazhuang), which are distributed along the strike of the northwest-trending linear folds, showing the tectonic characteristics of right-lateral tension or left-stepping cracks. The structural attribute of ground cracks sustains the kinematic properties of the Weixi-Qiaohou fault, namely right-lateral strike-slip.

V-Shaped Monopole Antenna with Chichena Itzia Inspired Defected Ground Structure for UWB Applications

Due to rapid growth in wireless communication technology,higher bandwidth requirement for advance telecommunication systems,capable of operating on two or higher bands with higher channel capacities and minimum distortion losses is desired.In this paper,a compact Ultra-Wideband(UWB)V-shaped monopole antenna is presented.UWB response is achieved by modifying the ground plane with Chichen Itzia inspired rectangular staircase shape.The proposed V-shaped is designed by incorporating a rectangle,and an inverted isosceles triangle using FR4 substrate.The size of the antenna is 25 mm×26 mm×1.6 mm.The proposed V-shaped monopole antenna produces bandwidth response of 3 GHz Industrial,Scientific,and Medical(ISM),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX),(IEEE 802.11/HIPERLAN band,5G sub 6 GHz)which with an additional square cut amplified the bandwidth response up to 8 GHz ranging from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz attaining UWB defined by Federal Communications Commission(FCC)with a maximum gain of 3.83 dB.The antenna is designed in Ansys HFSS.Results for key performance parameters of the antenna are presented.The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results.Due to flat gain,uniform group delay,omni directional radiation pattern characteristics and well-matched impedance,the proposed antenna is suitable for WiMAX,ISM and heterogeneous wireless systems.

Topology Optimization of Compliant Mechanisms with Geometrical Nonlinearities Using the Ground Structure Approach

The majority of topology optimization of compliant mechanisms uses linear finite element models to find the structure responses.Because the displacements of compliant mechanisms are intrinsically large,the topological design can not provide quantitatively accurate result.Thus,topological design of these mechanisms considering geometrical nonlinearities is essential.A new methodology for geometrical nonlinear topology optimization of compliant mechanisms under displacement loading is presented.Frame elements are chosen to represent the design domain because they are capable of capturing the bending modes.Geometrically nonlinear structural response is obtained by using the co-rotational total Lagrange finite element formulation,and the equilibrium is solved by using the incremental scheme combined with Newton-Raphson iteration.The multi-objective function is developed by the minimum strain energy and maximum geometric advantage to design the mechanism which meets both stiffness and flexibility requirements, respectively.The adjoint method and the direct differentiation method are applied to obtain the sensitivities of the objective functions. The method of moving asymptotes（MMA） is employed as optimizer.The numerical example is simulated to show that the optimal mechanism based on geometrically nonlinear formulation not only has more flexibility and stiffness than that based on linear formulation,but also has better stress distribution than the one.It is necessary to design compliant mechanisms using geometrically nonlinear topology optimization.Compared with linear formulation,the formulation for geometrically nonlinear topology optimization of compliant mechanisms can give the compliant mechanism that has better mechanical performance.A new method is provided for topological design of large displacement compliant mechanisms.

Metamaterial-Based Compact Antenna with Defected Ground Structure for 5G and Beyond

In this paper,a unit cell of a single-negative metamaterial structure loaded with a meander line and defected ground structure(DGS)is investigated as the principle radiating element of an antenna.The unit cell antenna causes even or odd mode resonances similar to the unit cell structure depending on the orientation of the microstrip feed used to excite the unit cell.However,the orientation which gives low-frequency resonance is considered here.The unit cell antenna is then loaded with a meander line which is parallel to the split bearing side and connects the other two sides orthogonal to the split bearing side.This modified structure excites another mode of resonance at high frequency when a meander line defect is loaded on the metallic ground plane.Specific parameters of the meander line structure,the DGS shape,and the unit cell are optimized to place these two resonances at different frequencies with proper frequency intervals to enhance the bandwidth.Finally,the feed is placed in an offset position for better impedance matching without affecting the bandwidth The compact dimension of the antenna is 0.25λL×0.23λL×0.02λL,whereλL is the free space wavelength with respect to the center frequency of the impedance bandwidth.The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured.Experimental results reveal that the modified design gives monopole like radiation patterns which achieves a fractional operating bandwidth of 26.6%,from 3.26 to 4.26 GHz for|S11|<−10 dB and a pick gain of 1.26 dBi is realized.In addition,the simulated and measured crosspolarization levels are both less than−15 dB in the horizontal plane.

Theoretical Study of Geometric Structures for Ground-state Al_nC(n=2-7) Clusters

With the aid of the molecular orbital DMol3 program,the energetics and electronic structures of several AlnC（n = 2-7） configurations have been searched and calculated by improved minimum energy paths（MEPs） by setting ＂imaging product＂.A new high symmetry,supervalence isomer of Al5C cluster,i.e.,D5h-Al5C,at the local minimum in the MEPs is detected.Several parameters,such as binding energy,HOMO-LUMO energy gap,vertical electron detachment energy and electron affinity energy,are calculated to characterize and evaluate the stability of three Al5C configurations,i.e.,D5h-Al5C,Cs-Al5C and C1-Al5C.The results show that the D5h-Al5C cluster is the ground state structure instead of Cs-Al5C.Due to the formation of many central σ bonds after polymerizing for D5h-Al5C,the decrease of the energy for HOMO orbit results in more territory for HOMO electrons of dislocation effect,then the energy difference between HOMO and LUMO is increasing to enhance the stability of molecules to produce such supervalence structure of Al5C cluster.The configuration evolution between D5h-Al5C,Cs-Al5C and C1-Al5C and the synthesis preference in the mode of Al5 ＋ C → Al5C reveals that the Cs-Al5C and C1-Al5C con-figurations are permissive to coexist with D5h-Al5C structure in energetics.

Comparison of Characteristics of Periodic and Non-Periodic Defected Ground Structures

The filter characteristic of defected ground structure (DGS) is analyzed and the equivalent circuit of C-shaped DGS is extracted. The characteristics of non-periodic and periodic DGS with different dimensions are compared. Then the DGS is simulated and optimized with software, and the circuit board is manufactured and measured.The non-periodic structure is simple in structure and small in size and ripple compared with the periodic structure.Though the stop band of the non-periodic structure is narrow, it can meet the requirement of application. The C-shaped structure with two stop bands can select frequency in a special band.

Identifying soil structure along headwater hillslopes using ground penetrating radar based technique

Soil structure plays an important role in understanding soil attributes as well as hydrological processes. Effective method to obtain high quality soil map is therefore important for both soil science research and soil work ability improvement. However,traditional method such as digging soil pits is destructive and time-consuming. In this study, the structure of headwater hillslopes from Hemuqiao catchment(Taihu Basin, China) have been analyzed both by indirect(ground penetrating radar, GPR) and direct(excavation or soil auger) methods. Four transects at different locations of hillslopes in the catchment were selected for GPR survey. Three of them(#1, #2, and #3) were excavated to obtain fullscale soil information for interpreting radar images.We found that the most distinct boundary that can be detected by GPR is the boundary between soil and underlain bedrock. In some cases(e.g., 8-17 m in transect #2), in which the in situ soil was scarcely affected by colluvial process, different soil layers can be identified. This identification process utilized the sensitive of GPR to capture abrupt changes of soil characteristics in layer boundaries, e.g., surface organic layer(layer #1) and bamboo roots layer(layer#2, contain stone fragments), illuvial deposits layer(layer #3) and regolith layer(layer #4). However, in areas where stone fragments were irregularly distributed in the soil profile(highly affected bycolluvial and/or fluvial process), it was possible to distinguish which part contains more stone fragments in soil profile on the basis of reflection density(transect #3). Transect #4(unexcavated) was used to justify the GPR method for soil survey based on experiences from former transects. After that, O horizon thickness was compared by a hand auger.This work has demonstrated that GPR images can be of a potential data source for hydrological predictions.

Density functional investigation on structural and electronic properties of small bimetallic Pb_(n)Ag_(n)(n=2–12)clusters

Structural and electronic properties of PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were investigated by density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation at BLYP level in DMol3 program package.The optimized bimetallic PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were viewed as the initial structures,then,those were calculated by ab initio molecular dynamics(AIMD)to search possible global minimum energy structures of PbnAgn clusters,finally,the ground state structures of PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were achieved.According to the structural evolution of lowest energy structures,Ag atoms prefer gather in the central sites while Pb atoms prefer external positions in PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters,which is in excellent agreement with experimental results from literature and the application in metallurgy.The average binding energies,HOMO-LUMO gaps,vertical ionization potentials,vertical electron affinities,chemical hardnessη,HOMO orbits,LUMO orbits and density of states of PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were calculated.The results indicate that the values of HOMO-LUMO gaps,vertical ionization potentials,vertical electron affinities and chemical hardnessηshow obvious odd-even oscillations when n≤5,PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters become less chemically stable and show insulator-to-metal transition with the variation of cluster size n,PbnAgn(n≥9)cluster are good candidates to study the properties of PbAg alloys.Those can be well explained by the density of states(DOS)distributions of Pb atoms and Ag atoms between–0.5 Ha and 0.25 Ha in PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters.

Design of low-pass filter based on a novel defected ground structure

A novel defected ground structure （DGS） for the microstrip line is proposed in this paper. The DGS lattice has more defect parameters so that it can provide better performance than the conventional dumbbell-shaped DGS. Selectivity is improved by 97.2% with a sharpness factor of 24.6%. The method is applied to the design of a low-pass filter to confirm validity of the proposed DGS.

Quantum Chemical Study on the Structural Characteristics and Stability of AlS_n~± Clusters

The geometric configurations and electronic structures of AlSn ±（n = 1~10） clusters were studied by the B3LYP（DFT） method at the 6-311G＊＊ level. The changing rules of the ground state structure features, charge transfer and bonding characteristics of the aluminum-sulfur doped clusters were discussed in detail. The ground states of AlSn ±（n 〉 2） are all AlcoreSshell planar or solid double ring structures formed by inserting one Al atom to the Sm and Sn-m（m

Analysis on the Irregular and Asymmetrical Power/Ground Structure by PEEC Modeling

In order to provide some reference for the design of the power/ground system, a complicated power/ground system in time and frequency domains was analyzed, which is based on PEEC (Partial Element Equivalent Circuit). According to the actual requirements, characteristics of some common power/ground structures in time and frequency domains, such as SSN (Simultaneous Switching Noise), are obtained for the future research. The results show the first resonance point is changed with the structure of the power/ground networks.

Defected Ground Structure Multiple Input-Output Antenna For Wireless Applications

In this paper,the investigation of a novel compact 2×2,2×1,and 1×1 Ultra-Wide Band(UWB)based Multiple-Input Multiple-Output(MIMO)antenna with Defected Ground Structure(DGS)is employed.The proposed Electromagnetic Radiation Structures(ERS)is composed of multiple radiating elements.These MIMO antennas are designed and analyzed with and without DGS.The feeding is introduced by a microstrip-fed line to significantly moderate the radiating structure’s overall size,which is 60×40×1 mm.The high directivity and divergence characteristics are attained by introducing the microstripfed lines perpendicular to each other.And the projected MIMO antenna structures are compared with others by using parameters like Return Loss(RL),Voltage Standing Wave Ratio(VSWR),Radiation Pattern(RP),radiation efficiency,and directivity.The same MIMO set-up is redesigned with DGS,and the resultant parameters are compared.Finally,the Multiple Input and Multiple Output Radiating Structures with and without DGS are compared for result considerations like RL,VSWR,RP,radiation efficiency,and directivity.This projected antenna displays an omnidirectional RP with moderate gain,which is highly recommended for human healthcare applications.By introducing the defected ground structure in bottom layer the lower cut-off frequencies of 2.3,4.5 and 6.0 GHz are achieved with few biological effects on radio propagation in human body communications.The proposed design covers numerous well-known wireless standards,along with dual-function DGS slots,and it can be easily integrated into Wireless Body Area Networks(WBAN)in medical applications.This WBAN links the autonomous nodes that may be situated either in the clothes,on-body or beneath the skin of a person.This system typically advances the complete human body and the inter-connected nodes through a wireless communication channel.

Preliminary Analysis for Ground Structure around Source Region of 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake

To obtain a detailed model of the three-dimensional ground structure, the microtoremor and gravity surveys were carried out around Kurikoma area, Japan, where is the source reagion of 2008 Iwate-Miyagi nairiku earthquake and is located about 90 km north of Sendai. Using the microtremor data, velocity structures of shallow sediments are estimated and the results at some of the sites are reported preliminarily. We could not find the detailed velocity structure to bedrock, because small arrays for the microtremor observation were applied, However, significant structures are observed for shallow velocity structure at some sites. Furthermore, gravity data provided Bouguer anomaly, which is one of gravity anomalies, around the target area. From the Bouguer anomaly, area with low anomaly is tbund around the south-eastern area of the fault plane.

Classification of VxOy^q Clusters by △=2y＋q-5x

Vanadium oxide clusters VxOy^q（x≤8, q=0, ±1） are classified according to the oxidation index （△=2y＋q-5x） of each cluster. Density functional calculations indicate that clusters with the same oxidation index tend to have similar bonding characters, electronic structures, and reactivities. This general rule leads to the findings of new possible ground state struc- tures for V206 and V3O6＋ clusters. This successful application of the classification method on vanadium oxide clusters proves that this method is very effective in studying the bonding properties of early transition metal oxide clusters.

Novel S-slot DGS with high quality factor

In order to solve the problem that the quality factor （ Q factor） of the conventional defected ground structure （DGS）is not high and cannot produce a sharp resonant band, a novel S-slot DGS is presented. Compared with the conventional DGS, the proposed S-slot DGS has a much higher Q factor, a quite simpler layout and a steeper band rejection. Its equivalent circuit model is extracted by analyzing the transfer characteristics, and design parameters are calculated according to the deducted equations. Characteristics of this type of DGS are investigated with variable dimension parameters and an experiential method for the design of the S-slot DGS is summarized. Finally, a sample of a compact S-slot DGS unit resonated at 4. 64 GHz is fabricated. Its Q factor is as high as 39. 66 and its size is only 5.00 mm × 1.40 mm, with a steep resonant band and a low insertion-loss passband. The measured results show a good agreement with simulation, which demonstrates the applicability of the S-slot DGS in practical engineering.

Design of a compact low-pass filter with wide stopband

This paper presents a novel low-pass filter （LPF） with sharp rejection, wide stopband and compact size, which are realized by the defected ground structure （DGS） and the defected microstrip structure （DMS）. The equivalent circuit model is proposed and the circuit parameters are extracted by the circuit simulation software. The parameters measured are 3 dB cutoff frequency fc of 5.2 GHz, the insertion loss less than 0.5 dB from DC to 4.0 GHz and S21 less than -20 dB within the wide stopband from 6 GHz to 16 GHz. The results of the circuit optimization agree well with those of the full wave simulation and the measured ones, which validate the effectiveness of the equivalent circuit model. The size of the proposed LPF is decreased compared with normal LPF. This LPF can be applied in rectennas to eliminate high order harmonics.

A Novel Compact Highly Isolated UWB MIMO Antenna with WLAN Notch

This paper presents a compact Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO)antenna with WLAN band notch for Ultra-Wideband(UWB)applications.The antenna is designed on 0.8mmthick low-cost FR-4 substrate having a compact size of 22mm×30 mm.The proposed antenna comprises of two monopole patches on the top layer of substrate while having a shared ground on its bottom layer.The mutual coupling between adjacent patches has been reduced by using a novel stub with shared ground structure.The stub consists of complementary rectangular slots that disturb the surface current direction and thus result in reducing mutual coupling between two ports.A slot is etched in the radiating patch for WLAN band notch.The slot is used to suppress frequencies ranging from 5.1 to 5.9 GHz.The results show that the proposed antenna has a very good impedance bandwidth of|S11|<−10 dB within the frequency band from 3.1–14 GHz.A low mutual coupling of less than−23 dB is achieved within the entire UWB band.Furthermore,the antenna has a peak gain of 5.8 dB,low ECC<0.002 and high Diversity Gain(DG>9.98).

Probing Structure, Thermochemistry, Electron Affinity and Magnetic Moment of Dysprosium-doped Silicon Clusters DySi_n(n = 3～10) and Their Anions with Double-hybrid Density Functional Theory

The equilibrium geometries, electronic structures and electronic properties including adiabatic electron affinity（AEA）, vertical detachment energy（VDE）, simulated photoelectron spectroscopy, HOMO-LUMO gap, charge transfer, and magnetic moment for DySi_n（n = 3~10） clusters and their anions were systematically investigated by using the ABCluster global search technique combined with the B3 LYP and B2 PLYP density functional methods. The results showed that the lowest energy structure of neutral DySi_n（n = 3~10） can be regarded as substituting a Si atom of the ground state structure of Si_（n＋1） with a Dy atom. For anions, the extra electron effect on the structure is significant. Starting from n = 6, the lowest energy structures of DySi_n~？（n = 3~10） differ from those of neutral. The ground state is quintuplet electronic state for DySi_n（n = 3~10） excluding DySi_4 and DySi_9, which is a septet electronic state. For anions, the ground state is a sextuplet electronic state. The reliable AEA and VDE of DySi_n（n = 3~10） are reported. Analyses of HOMO-LUMO gaps indicated that doping Dy atom to silicon clusters can improve significantly their photochemical reactivity, especially for DySi_9. Analyses of NPA revealed that the 4 f electrons of Dy in DySi_4, DySi_9, and DySi_n~？ with n = 4 and 6~10 participate in bonding. That is, DySi_nbelongs to the AB type. The 4 f electrons of Dy atom provide substantially the total magnetic moments for DySi_n and their anions. The dissociation energies of Ln（Ln = Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Ho, and Dy） fromLn Sin and their anions were evaluated to examine the relative stabilities.

SEISMIC RANDOM VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF STOCHASTIC STRUCTURES USING RANDOM FACTOR METHOD

Seismic random vibration analysis of stochastic truss structures is presented. A new method called random factor method is used for dynamic analysis of structures with uncertain parameters, due to variability in their material properties and geometry. Using the random factor method, the natural frequencies and modeshapes of a stochastic structure can be respectively described by the product of two parts, corresponding to the random factors of the structural parameters with uncertainty, and deterministic values of the natural frequencies and modeshapes obtained by conventional finite element analysis. The stochastic truss structure is subjected to stationary or non-stationary random earthquake excitation. Computational expressions for the mean and standard deviation of the mean square displacement and mean square stress are developed by means of the random variable＇s functional moment method and the algebra synthesis method. An antenna and a truss bridge are used as practical engineering examples to illustrate the application of the random factor method in the seismic response analysis of random structures under stationary or non-stationary random earthquake excitation.

Progress and trend on near-field problems in civil engineering

In the last twenty years, near-field problems became an important topic for both seismologists and civil engineers. The one aspect is to illuminate mechanisms of earthquakes and explain new phenomena. The another aspect is the ground motions, which are usually assigned by engineers as a type of input load for seismic design of structures, sometimes can control the final design results. The experiments, performance evaluations and other related aspects are all based on the specified type of load. As a result, many aspects related to civil engineering will be influenced by changes of the type of load, Hence, the characteristics of the load and the corresponding response of structures are desired for studying. In this paper, the state-of-the-art of near-field problems in civil engineering is comprehensively reviewed, which include inherent characteristics of near-field ground motions and influences of these ground motions on civil structures. The existing problems are pointed out and work needed to be further investigated in the future is suggested. It is believed that the information in this paper can be useful to advance the state of investigation on near-field problems.