Tensile strength and failure behavior of rock-mortar interfaces: Direct and indirect measurements

The tensile strength at the rock-concrete interface is one of the crucial factors controlling the failure mechanisms of structures,such as concrete gravity dams.Despite the critical importance of the failure mechanism and tensile strength of rock-concrete interfaces,understanding of these factors remains very limited.This study investigated the tensile strength and fracturing processes at rock-mortar interfaces subjected to direct and indirect tensile loadings.Digital image correlation(DIC)and acoustic emission(AE)techniques were used to monitor the failure mechanisms of specimens subjected to direct tension and indirect loading(Brazilian tests).The results indicated that the direct tensile strength of the rock-mortar specimens was lower than their indirect tensile strength,with a direct/indirect tensile strength ratio of 65%.DIC strain field data and moment tensor inversions(MTI)of AE events indicated that a significant number of shear microcracks occurred in the specimens subjected to the Brazilian test.The presence of these shear microcracks,which require more energy to break,resulted in a higher tensile strength during the Brazilian tests.In contrast,microcracks were predominantly tensile in specimens subjected to direct tension,leading to a lower tensile strength.Spatiotemporal monitoring of the cracking processes in the rock-mortar interfaces revealed that they show AE precursors before failure under the Brazilian test,whereas they show a minimal number of AE events before failure under direct tension.Due to different microcracking mechanisms,specimens tested under Brazilian tests showed lower roughness with flatter fracture surfaces than those tested under direct tension with jagged and rough fracture surfaces.The results of this study shed light on better understanding the micromechanics of damage in the rock-concrete interfaces for a safer design of engineering structures.

SCFD1 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis:reconciling a genetic association with in vivo functional analysis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS)is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of upper and lower motor neurons,resulting in muscle weakness and spasticity,eventually leading to death due to respiratory failure.Analyses by our group of a casecontrol cohort from an isolated island population have found that genetics plays a significant role in disease etiology(Farrugia Wismayer et al.,2023).

Designing Adaptive Multiple Dependent State Sampling Plan for Accelerated Life Tests

A novel adaptive multiple dependent state sampling plan(AMDSSP)was designed to inspect products from a continuous manufacturing process under the accelerated life test(ALT)using both double sampling plan(DSP)and multiple dependent state sampling plan(MDSSP)concepts.Under accelerated conditions,the lifetime of a product follows the Weibull distribution with a known shape parameter,while the scale parameter can be determined using the acceleration factor(AF).The Arrhenius model is used to estimate AF when the damaging process is temperature-sensitive.An economic design of the proposed sampling plan was also considered for the ALT.A genetic algorithm with nonlinear optimization was used to estimate optimal plan parameters to minimize the average sample number(ASN)and total cost of inspection(TC)under both producer’s and consumer’s risks.Numerical results are presented to support the AMDSSP for the ALT,while performance comparisons between the AMDSSP,the MDSSP and a single sampling plan(SSP)for the ALT are discussed.Results indicated that the AMDSSP was more flexible and efficient for ASN and TC than the MDSSP and SSP plans under accelerated conditions.The AMDSSP also had a higher operating characteristic(OC)curve than both the existing sampling plans.Two real datasets of electronic devices for the ALT at high temperatures demonstrated the practicality and usefulness of the proposed sampling plan.

The Fractional Investigation of Fornberg-Whitham Equation Using an Efficient Technique

In the last few decades,it has become increasingly clear that fractional calculus always plays a very significant role in various branches of applied sciences.For this reason,fractional partial differential equations(FPDEs)are of more importance to model the different physical processes in nature more accurately.Therefore,the analytical or numerical solutions to these problems are taken into serious consideration and several techniques or algorithms have been developed for their solution.In the current work,the idea of fractional calculus has been used,and fractional FornbergWhithamequation(FFWE)is represented in its fractional view analysis.Awell-knownmethod which is residual power series method(RPSM),is then implemented to solve FFWE.TheRPSMresults are discussed through graphs and tables which conform to the higher accuracy of the proposed technique.The solutions at different fractional orders are obtained and shown to be convergent toward an integer-order solution.Because the RPSM procedure is simple and straightforward,it can be extended to solve other FPDEs and their systems.

青海湖老碳效应的时空变化初步研究

本文通过对青海湖周边的湖水和河流DOC、DIC浓度、^(14)C浓度,以及1F孔不同深度13个碳酸盐的^(14)C年代分析,厘清青海湖老碳效应空间分布情况。研究表明:在空间上,青海湖DIC和DOC的^(14)C的老碳各条河流分布极不均匀,南边的老碳效应明显比北边小,河流的老碳明显比湖水偏老,引起青海湖沉积物老碳效应的原因极有可能是由于北边主要河流将流域内的老碳输入湖区引起,并非由于湖水和大气的交换不畅引起的碳库效应。在时间尺度上,碳酸盐^(14)C的老碳平均值比有机碳的^(14)C老碳平均值偏老。由于入湖物质的变化,在全新世前,有机碳和碳酸盐的老碳比全新世后偏老。

Review on nanocomposites fabricated by mechanical alloying

Composites are composed of multiphase materials, where each phase has specific properties that differ from those of the other phases which can effect on the whole properties of composite. Nanocomposites are class of materials that contain at least one phase in the nanometric size range and can be produced by any suitable technique for preparing nanomaterials. Composites are an interesting class of materials that have recently been used in numerous applications, including structural, biomedical, electronics, and environmental applications. In composites, reinforcements might be fibers, particulates, or whiskers. Mechanical alloying(MA) is a promising technique for producing nanocomposite materials that are difficult or impossible to prepare via conventional techniques. In this review, we provide an overview of nanocomposites prepared by the MA process. The mechanism of milling and other milling parameters are overviewed, and insights into sintering categories and parameters are also presented.

Evaluation of earthquake signal characteristics for early warning

This paper evaluates different characteristics for earthquake early warning. The scaling relationships between magnitude, epicenter distance and calculated parameters are derived from earthquake event data fi＇om USGS. The standard STA/LTA method is modified by adding two new parameters to eliminate the effects of the spike-type noise and small pulsetype noise ahead of the onset of the P-wave. After the detection of the P-wave, the algorithm extracts 12 kinds of parameters from the first 3 seconds of the P-wave. Then stepwise regression analysis of these parameters is performed to estimate the epicentral distance and magnitude. Six different parameters are selected to estimate the epicentral distance, and the median error for all 419 estimates is 16.5 krn. Four parameters are optimally combined to estimate the magnitude, and the mean error for all events is 0.0 magnitude units, with a standard deviation of 0.5. Finally, based on the estimation results, additional work is proposed to improve the accuracy of the results.

Minimal cut-based recursive decomposition algorithm for seismic reliability evaluation of lifeline networks

In this paper, a new probabilistic analytical approach, the minimal cut-based recursive decomposition algorithm （MCRDA）, is presented to evaluate the seismic reliability of large-scale lifeline systems. Based on the minimal cut searching algorithm, the approach calculates the disjoint minimal cuts one by one using the basic procedure of the recursive decomposition method. At the same time, the process obtains the disjoint minimal paths of the system. In order to improve the computation efficiency, probabilistic inequality is used to calculate a solution that satisfies the prescribed error bound. A series of case studies show that MCRDA converges rapidly when the edges of the systems have low reliabilities. Therefore, the approach can be used to evaluate large-scale lifeline systems subjected to strong seismic wave excitation.

Seismic reliability analysis of urban water distribution network

An approach to analyze the seismic reliability of water distribution networks by combining a hydraulic analysis with a first-order reliability method （FORM）, is proposed in this paper. The hydraulic analysis method for normal conditions is modified to accommodate the special conditions necessary to perform a seismic hydraulic analysis. In order to calculate the leakage area and leaking flow of the pipelines in the hydraulic analysis method, a new leakage model established from the seismic response analysis of buried pipelines is presented. To validate the proposed approach, a network with 17 nodes and 24 pipelines is investigated in detail. The approach is also applied to an actual project consisting of 463 nodes and 767 pipelines. The results show that the proposed approach achieves satisfactory results in analyzing the seismic reliability of large-scale water distribution networks.

Substructure hybrid testing of reinforced concrete shear wall structure using a domain overlapping technique

An online hybrid test was carried out on a 40-story 120-m high concrete shear wall structure. The structure was divided into two substructures whereby a physical model of the bottom three stories was tested in the laboratory and the upper 37 stories were simulated numerically using ABAQUS. An overlapping domain method was employed for the bottom three stories to ensure the validity of the boundary conditions of the superstructure. Mixed control was adopted in the test. Displacement control was used to apply the horizontal displacement, while two controlled force actuators were applied to simulate the overturning moment, which is very large and cannot be ignored in the substructure hybrid test of high-rise buildings. A series of tests with earthquake sources of sequentially increasing intensities were carried out. The test results indicate that the proposed hybrid test method is a solution to reproduce the seismic response of high-rise concrete shear wall buildings. The seismic performance of the tested precast high-rise building satisfies the requirements of the Chinese seismic design code.

A Novel Multiple Dependent State Sampling Plan Based on Time Truncated Life Tests Using Mean Lifetime

The design of a new adaptive version of the multiple dependent state(AMDS)sampling plan is presented based on the time truncated life test under the Weibull distribution.We achieved the proposed sampling plan by applying the concept of the double sampling plan and existing multiple dependent state sampling plans.A warning sign for acceptance number was proposed to increase the probability of current lot acceptance.The optimal plan parameters were determined simultaneously with nonlinear optimization problems under the producer’s risk and consumer’s risk.A simulation study was presented to support the proposed sampling plan.A comparison between the proposed and existing sampling plans,namely multiple dependent state(MDS)sampling plans and a modified multiple dependent state(MMDS)sampling plan,was considered under the average sampling number and operating characteristic curve values.In addition,the use of two real datasets demonstrated the practicality and usefulness of the proposed sampling plan.The results indicated that the proposed plan is more flexible and efficient in terms of the average sample number compared to the existing MDS and MMDS sampling plans.

Hydrochloric Acid Recovery from Rare Earth Chloride Solutions by Continuous Vacuum Membrane Distillation

The hydrochloric acid recovery from rare earth chloride solutions by continuous vacuum membrane distillation was first experimentally studied, then material balance of the process was calculated, and the equations which mathematically stimulate the process were lastly achieved. The results indicate a given RE concentration in circular solutions means its constant HCl concentration during the continuous VMD process, furthermore, increasing RE concentration in feed solutions increases the processing capacity per membrane of the experimental set-up. When keeping constant RE concentration in feed solutions, increasing RE concentration in circular solutions decreases its HCl concentration, and HCl recovery ratio increases accordingly, however, processing capacity per membrane of the experimental set-up decreases at the same time. The mathematical results are in accordance with experimental results.

Assisted Revegetation Following Contaminated Site Remediation in the Arctic: Four-Year Case Study of a Former Radar Site

Cape Dyer (DYE-M), located on the easternmost point of Baffin Island, is a former DEW line radar station built in 1956-57 which was upgraded in 1993 as part of the current North Warning System. Environmental studies in the late 1990s and early 2000s determined that extensive soil contamination existed across the site, and excavation of six landfills and subsequent reshaping of the area in 2008 disturbed approximately 19,700 m2. A four-year pilot project was conducted between 2009 and 2012 to investigate feasibility of, and determine methods to, accelerate revegetation of the disturbed area through assisted seed dispersal of native and non native species and selective transplantation of slow-growing shrub species. Prior to revegetation efforts, plant surveys conducted in July 2009 determined that 15 species were present in the undisturbed areas, of which Salix arctica (~11%), Vaccinium uliginosum L. (~8%), and Empetrum nigrum L. (~5%) were the predominant species. A total of 14 species (three new) were observed growing on the disturbed areas between 2010 and 2012. The majority of Lolium multiflorum (annual ryegrass) seeds planted as a nurse species in 2009 grew in 2010, but most were stunted and only observed in furrows or sheltered areas at a low density. Salix arctica Pall. (willow) cuttings planted in “islands” of 20-30 cuttings in fall 2009 had a three-year survival rate of 82%, while a second set of cuttings planted in fall 2011 had a one-year survival rate of 93%. Visual observations indicate that patches of new vegetation are becoming more predominant on the disturbed area, especially around the willow islands, indicating the importance of microtopography for successful reclamation in arctic environments. Monitoring over ten or more years will be required to determine the long term success of this project.

Modelling of an SBR WWTP to Enhance the Performance under Hydraulic Shock Load Using STOAT Software

Modelling is a tool used to simulate the performance of any type of WWTP(wastewater treatment plant)which empowers the user to optimize the response of works by changing influent loads and operational conditions with minimum effort and low cost.STOAT(sewage treatment operational analysis over time)software is used to simulate the performance of wastewater treatment plants dynamically.In this paper,a model was built by STOAT software for the Hannoville WWTP allowing to analyze and study the enquiries in a shorter period of time associated with laboratory analysis.Additionally,the model can be used to estimate the response of the system to a diversity of problems.The hydraulic shock load was tested for the entire WWTP consequently allowing the application of strategies that guarantee a better performance by presenting the analysis for the entire plant.Through the aid of STOAT software,a model was built for the whole plant with daily sewage volume entering the treatment plant in a year.The study showed whether the plant can accept a higher flow than that it regularly receives or not.This proved to be successful and the plant has the possibility to accept double the hydraulic shock load,meanwhile,the variations of resulting data were acceptable when compared to the Egyptian environmental requirements.

Mechanical Behavior of Concrete Block Masonry

The main objective of this study is to verify, through compression tests on different prisms, the vertical and horizontal deformability and the failure modes of the components of concrete blocks under compression. In this study two mortar mixes were tested, along with two types of prism, with and without the presence of a vertical joint. The conclusions were： the appearance of non-linearities of the masonry corresponds to an increase in the lateral strain due to extensive cracking of the material and a progressive increase in the Poisson ratio, the cracks in the three-block prisms built with the mortar type I were vertical, occurring symmetrically on both sides; the prisms built with mortar type II had, as a consequence of localized crushing, an association with vertical cracks due to the concentrations of stresses at some points, the presence of a vertical joint led to the appearance of separation cracks between the middle block and the vertical mortar joint, when the stress reached approximately 30% of the compressive strength of the set; the prisms with two whole blocks and one vertical joint （B） built with the mortars of mixes I and II had a compressive strength of the order of 42% and 66% of the prisms with three whole blocks （A）, respectively.

Comparison Research of Bed Joints Construction and Bed Joints Reinforcement on Shear Parameters of AAC Masonry Walls

The work presents the results of tests on the shear parameters of walls made of AAC （autoclaved aerated concrete, fb = 4.0 N/mm2） on the system mortar for thin M5 and M10 joints （fm = 6.1 N/mm2 and fro = 11.9 N/mm2） and on polyurethane glue and also walls without mortar （dry masonry）. The wall compression strength （on mortar M5 class） （per EN 1052-1：2000） amounted tofc,mv= 2.97 N/mm2 （fk = 2.48 N/mm2）, elastic modulus was Ecru = 2,040 N/mm2. Various structure of bed joints and head joints were applied and the following were used as reinforcement： steel trusses of EFZ 140/Z 140 type （Z1 type） and meshes made of plastics （Z2 type）. Based on the tests carried out with regard to unreinforced elements, it was shown that the filling in of head joints with mortar had an advantageous effect on the values of cracking and destruction stresses. While, with the use of reinforcement, advantageous increase of stress was obtained only when the mortar was laid twice on both bed surfaces of masonry units. The application of reinforcement in the bed joints when the mortar was laid only on one bed joints surface of the masonry units reduced the values of cracking and destruction stresses in relation to the values obtained in the unreinforced walls.

Project Team Perception of Causes of Building Cost Overruns： A Reflection in Tanzania

The paper provides an empirical insight into the significance of shared cognition reflected in the perception of key actors in selected construction projects. It has explored how clients, consultants and contractors prioritize causes of cost overrun in building projects in Tanzania and measured the statistical variance in their order of rank. A total of 55 respondents were selected from public projects that had experienced cost overruns. The results show an inclination of the top 4 causes of cost overrun being technical and originate from internal sources. The Spearman correlation coefficient established a strong positive correlation in the ranking of causes of cost overrun in construction project by clients, consultants and contractors, suggesting a shared cognition is in place for the project team. The outcome provides a good base for contemplating success of mitigation measures for cost overruns and reiterates the significance for a shared cognition for project team success.

The Impact of the Ghana＇s Oil Discovery on Land Investment and Its Implications in the People, Agriculture and the Environment （Case Study： Cape Three Points, Ghana）

The study was conducted to assess the impact of Ghana＇s oil discovery on the land values, the extent of acquisition, and their implications of the land investment in the people, agriculture and the environment in the Cape Three Points area, which is the communities close to the oil field. Questionnaires were designed and administered to collect data from the chiefs, queen mothers, family heads and opinion leaders of the area. Results of the studies indicated that there had been an increase of about 2000% in land values from 2007 to 2011. Also there was an increase in demand for lands in the Cape Three Points with acquisitions usually ranging from 10 acres to over 600 acres. It also emerged that the livelihood of the inhabitants of Cape Three Points was threatened due to the conversion of arable land to non-agriculture uses. This change in land uses has significant negative impacts on land degradation and its related reduction of agricultural and food production in the area. The technical difficulties of assessing land degradation, the weakness of existing databases, and the poorly explored linkages between land degradation and other aspects of rural development were some of the limitation of the studies. The study increased awareness of the chiefs and other land owners to reserve land for the future generation and for agriculture purposes. The study drew government＇s attention through the Ahanta West District Assembly to the planning needs of the towns in the Cape Three Points to streamline land use of the area.

Numerical Analysis of the Influence of Geometry of Ceramic Units （Blocks） on Structural Walls

This paper presents finite element results of ceramic masonry prisms and walls under concentric compression. Four different hole geometries of ceramic units were studied （called Types A, B, C and D）. The A-type unit had two rectangular hollows, B-type and C-type units have two rounded hollows and different net areas, mad the D-type unit had two rectangular hollows and a double central web. This study analyzed units, prisms and structural walls joined by bedding mortar. The objective was to verify the stress distribution in units and mortars. The results showed that the distribution of compressive stress along the length and width of those units was uniform, but lateral tensile stress along the length was distinct for different geometries. In addition, this study observed that hollow shapes have an important influence in stress distribution. The D-type unit was the one that showed more uniform tension distribution, without peaks of stress concentration. This indicates that a D-type unit is the most efficient unit for use in masonry structures.