Experimental investigations of the functional morphology of dragonfly wings

Nowadays, the importance of identifying the flight mechanisms of the dragonfly, as an inspiration for designing flapping wing vehicles, is well known. An experimental approach to understanding the complexities of insect wings as organs of flight could provide significant outcomes for design purposes. In this paper, a comprehensive investigation is carried out on the morphological and microstructural features of dragonfly wings. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and tensile testing are used to experimentally verify the functional roles of different parts of the wings. A number of SEM images of the elements of the wings, such as the nodus, leading edge, trailing edge, and vein sections, which play dominant roles in strengthening the whole structure, are presented. The results from the tensile tests indicate that the nodus might be the critical region of the wing that is subjected to high tensile stresses. Considering the patterns of the longitudinal corrugations of the wings obtained in this paper, it can be supposed that they increase the load-bearing capacity, giving the wings an ability to tolerate dynamic loading conditions. In addition, it is suggested that the longitudinal veins, along with the leading and trailing edges, are structural mechanisms that further improve fatigue resistance by providing higher fracture toughness, preventing crack propagation, and allowing the wings to sustain a significant amount of damage without loss of strength.

A comparative study for the performance of encased granular columns

This paper describes a three-dimensional(3D) numerical analysis of a test embankment on geotextileencased columns(GECs), in comparison with two-dimensional(2D) axisymmetric and plane strain analyses. The 3D numerical analysis was performed considering a rectangular strip under the embankment centerline. The 2D analysis was also carried out using axisymmetric unit cell and plane strain approaches.Numerical results indicated that the adopted 3D strip model represented well the measured deformations and pore pressure evolution during embankment construction and post-contraction periods.Unlike the unit cell model, both plane strain and 3D analyses could properly determine the settlement profile along the embankment base as well as the profile of the horizontal soil deformation beneath the embankment toes. The plane strain analysis, however, was not able to compute the geotextile ring force which might be simply calculated using the axisymmetric unit cell approach. The paper also showed that, due to horizontal boundary fixities applied to the embankment borders, the unit cell model clearly underestimated the tension developed in the basal geogrid.

Regioselective tetrahydropyranylation of alcohols catalyzed by Fe(HSO_4)_3

Alcohols are selectively and efficiently protected as their tetrahydropranyl ethers in the presence of a catalytic amount of Fe（HSO4）3 in good to high yields. All reactions are performed under mild and completely heterogeneous reaction conditions.

Gamma-ray shielding properties of concrete with different percentages of lead

In this work,concrete with different percentage leads was used to study gamma-ray shielding properties. The gamma-rays from ^(137)Cs and ^(60)Co sources were detected by Nal(Tl) detector and analyzed by multi-analyzer. Linear attenuation coefficients and compressive strength(kg/cm2) of concrete specimens were conducted.Results show that the concrete at the 90% weight ratio of lead to cement can be suitable for shielding gamma-ray.

Rigidity in Subclasses of Transitive and Mixing Systems

We will present some restrictions for a rigidity sequence of a nontrivial topological dynamical system. For instance, any finite linear combination of a rigidity sequence by integers has upper Banach density zero. However, there are rigidity sequences for some uniformly rigid systems whose reciprocal sums are infinite. We also show that if F is a family of subsets of natural numbers whose dual F* is filter, then a minimal F*-mixing system does not have F+-rigid factor for F∈F.

Development of a constitutive model for rockfills and similar granular materials based on the disturbed state concept

Behavior of rockfills was investigated experimentally and theoretically.A series of standard triaxial compression tests were carried out on a quarried rockfill material at different stress levels.It was found that both the stress level and the shear stress ratio,like most of granular materials,controls the behavior of rockfill materials.At lower shear stress ratios the behavior is much more similar to a nonlinear elastic solid.When the shear stress goes further,the stressstrain curve shows an elasto-plastic behavior which suggests using the disturbed state concept to develop a constitutive model to predict the stress-strain behavior.The presented constitutive model complies reasonably with the experimental data.