Stress-concentration factors for semielliptical notches in beams under pure bending

Elliptical notches in rectangular beams under pure bending are examined photoelastically. Stress-concentration factors due to a single elliptical notch are obtained for wide ranges of 2a/h andd/h, where 2a, d, andh are the width of notch, depth of notch, and depth of beam, respectively. In particular, the geometries of the optimum elliptical notches producing the least stress concentrations are obtained. Almost the whole elliptical boundary of these notches are stressed to the same peak, which indicates that these notches will probably produce the least stress concentrations among all notches, elliptical or nonelliptical. The graphs herein will enable the designers to find the stress-concentration factors of elliptical notches and to pick out the geometry of the optimum notch which will give the least stress concentration for any given values of 2a/h andd/h. Stresses and the stress-concentration factors at the bottom of the beam opposite the notch are also obtained. These stresses, though smaller in magnitude, are of an opposite sign to the peak stress at the notch. For brittle materials, a smaller tensile stress may be more critical than a large compressive stress; therefore, these stress-concentration factors are also given.     

Public key encryption with filtered equality test revisited

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - Without revealing data in the plain, public key encryption with equality test can achieve the basic cryptographic functionalities required. However, the extended...     

Managing a retail-competition distribution channel with incentive policies

In reality, the multi-retailer channel of distribution has occurred in many industries, such as electronics, appliances, and apparel. The practice of the supplier providing incentives to retailers to promote sales is also quite prevalent in today’s business. This paper considers a two-retailer supply chain in which the supplier provides a cash discount to a specific retailer (a senior company owning more market share and having less pressure on the utilization of capital investment) and a credit period to another (a junior company owning less market share and having more pressure on the utilization of capital investment). The end demand for each channel has a substitute effect in terms of retail prices. The research problem originates from operations of dual-retailer channels in the automotive parts and accessories industry. The objective of the supplier is to determine the cash discount and credit period to maximize his profit. Both retailers determine pricing and ordering policies to maximize profits. This paper applies a Supplier Stackelberg framework to obtain equilibrium solutions for every entity. Numerical analysis is conducted to discuss the influence retailer competition has on the decision behaviors of the supplier and retailers.     

Enhanced mechanical performance and biological evaluation of a PLGA coated β-TCP composite scaffold for load-bearing applications

Porous β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) has been used for bone repair and replacement in clinics due to its excellent biocompatibility, osteoconductivity, and biodegradability. However, the application of β-TCP has been limited by its brittleness. Here, we demonstrated that an interconnected porous β-TCP scaffold infiltrated with a thin layer of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) polymer showed improved mechanical performance compared to an uncoated β-TCP scaffold while retaining its excellent interconnectivity and biocompatibility. The infiltration of PLGA significantly increased the compressive strength of β-TCP scaffolds from 2.90 to 4.19 MPa, bending strength from 1.46 to 2.41 MPa, and toughness from 0.17 to 1.44 MPa, while retaining an interconnected porous structure with a porosity of 80.65%. These remarkable improvements in the mechanical properties of PLGA-coated β-TCP scaffolds are due to the combination of the systematic coating of struts, interpenetrating structural characteristics, and crack bridging. The in vitro biological evaluation demonstrated that rat bone marrow stromal cells (rBMSCs) adhered well, proliferated, and expressed alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity on both the PLGA-coated β-TCP and the β-TCP. These results suggest a new strategy for fabricating interconnected macroporous scaffolds with significantly enhanced mechanical strength for potential load-bearing bone tissue regeneration.     

SYNTHESIS OF MELEZITOSE DERIVATIVES

The reactivity of melezitose hydroxyls is studied during tritylation in pyridine. Some novel derivatives of melezitose are prepared. An acetyl is transferred from the 4- to the 6-position after detritylation of 3 and 4. The structures of the products are proved by elemental analysis; ¹ H, ¹³ C, and ¹ H- ¹ H COSY NMR spectra;IR spectra; and fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry.     

Effect of Initiator on the Over-Voltage Positive Temperature Coefficient of Linear Low Density Polyethylene/Carbon Black Nano Composites

The composite of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) with carbon black (CB) and inorganic flame retardant (aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)₃) was prepared by melt-blending method. The effect of cross-linking on the stability of positive temperature coefficient (PTC) of composite and the elimination of negative temperature coefficient (NTC) of composite were investigated. LLDPE was chemically cross-linking with different contents of initiator (dicumyl peroxide, DCP). The cross-linking effects of composite were analyzed by gel content analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). By the effect of DCP, not only the composite appeared a high PTC intensity, but also the NTC effect of composite was eliminated. In this investigation, the optimum PTC intensity of composite reached 5.87 orders of magnitude for the composition of LLD0.l0C33.7A28, and the PTC transitional temperature of composite decreased with increasing of DCP content. In addition, the good reproducibility of composites was proved by thermal cycling, and successfully passed the test of over-voltage resistance.     

Mass spectrometric studies of heterocyclic organophosphorus compounds: 1,3,2-benzodioxaphospholes

The mass spectral behaviour of a new type of organophosphorus compound, 1,3,2-benzodioxaphospholes, under 70 eV electron impact has been studied by means of high and low resolution mass spectrometry as well as by B/E and B²/E linked scans. The influence of different substituents in the molecule (O, S or N) on the mass spectra is investigated. The reason for isomerization between oxygen and sulphur within a molecule studied by mass spectrometry is discussed.     

Performance enhancement on mechanical and electrical effects for on-line fiber-optic bending loss measurement

For an automatic testing of the fiber bending loss parameter, we proposed an on-line fiber optic bending loss measurement system. Many impact factors from the supporting systems, free space coupling alignment, external spatial perturbation device and the other automatic testing systems may degrade the on-line fiber-optic bending loss measurement system. We reduce those impact factors and show the mechanical and electrical improvement in this paper. The accuracy can be improved by 3–5 dB for the proposed on-line bending loss measurement system. Development of an on-line fiber-optic bending loss measurement system can provide a fast-checking solution for jump-line quality improvement on fiber-from-the-desk (FFTD) access network.