Semi‐analytical integration of the 8‐node plane element stiffness matrix using symbolic computation

The semi‐analytical integration of an 8‐node plane strain finite element stiffness matrix is presented in this work. The element is assumed to be super‐parametric, having straight sides. Before carrying out the integration, the integral expressions are classified into several groups, thus avoiding duplication of calculations. Symbolic manipulation and integration is used to obtain the basic formulae to evaluate the stiffness matrix. Then, the resulting expressions are postprocessed, optimized, and simplified in order to reduce the computation time. Maple symbolic‐manipulation software was used to generate the closed expressions and to develop the corresponding Fortran code. Comparisons between semi‐analytical integration and numerical integration were made. It was demonstrated that semi‐analytical integration required less CPU time than conventional numerical integration (using Gaussian‐Legendre quadrature) to obtain the stiffness matrix. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006     

Glass transition measurements of asphalts by DSC

The glass transition temperature (T_g), measured by Modulated Differential Scanning Calorimetry (MDSC), is related to the flow characteristics of asphalt at low temperatures as is the rate of change of the creep stiffnessm. This study compared the glass transition temperature of different asphalts (neat, chemically modified, and crumb rubber modified asphalts) with the creep stiffness, the rate of change of creep stiffness, and the low specification temperature of the continuous PG grading of those asphalts.From the rheological data (BBR) and the thermal data (MDSC) for the virgin and the modified asphalts, the modified products had the same variations of values ofm, S, and T_g at lower temperatures as those of their corresponding virgin asphalts. A correlation between the T_g andm value was observed for both the modified and unmodified asphalts. Since DSC measurements for asphalt low temperature properties use less operator time, less sample, and have less measurement and operator error than rheological methods, T_g has promise to be considered as a fast and easy laboratory method to obtain the low temperature useful range of asphalts in pavements.The authors would like to acknowledge Susan P. Needham for her work in conducting rheological testing for the modified and unmodified asphalts.     

Prostaglandin D2 synthase and its post-translational modifications in neurological disorders

Prostaglandin D2 synthase (PGDS) (beta-trace protein) is a highly abundant cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glycoprotein. A number of studies have been performed to determine the potential value of this protein for the diagnosis of various neurological disorders. The measurement of total PGDS levels in CSF has proved marginally useful for this purpose, but promising results were obtained while investigating changes in the posttranslational modifications (PTM) pattern. Using 2-DE analysis, we previously showed that PGDS is differentially expressed in ante- and post mortem CSF samples. In the present study, we examined whether the PGDS isoforms may help to distinguish stroke and neurodegenerative disease patients from healthy subjects. The pattern of PGDS PTM was analyzed in CSF from patients with various neurological disorders (n = 44) using IEF/immunoblotting techniques. Strong alterations of this pattern were detected in patients with different forms of degenerative dementia. These findings are consistent with PGDS being altered in some neurological diseases and provide new opportunities for clinical applications.     

Multiple polypeptide forms observed in two-dimensional gels of Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) polypeptides are generated during the separation procedure

We have examined two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) gel maps of polypeptides from the Gram-negative bacterium Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) and found the same widespread trains of spots as often reported in 2-DE gels of polypeptides of other Gram-negative bacteria. Some of the trains of polypeptides, both from the outer membrane and soluble protein fraction, were shown to be generated during the separation procedure of 2-DE, and not by covalent post-translational modifications. The trains were found to be regenerated when rerunning individual polypeptide spots. The polypeptides analysed giving this type of trains were all found to be classified as stable polypeptides according to the instability index of Guruprasad et al. (Protein Eng. 1990, 4, 155-161). The phenomenon most likely reflects conformational equilibria of polypeptides arising from the experimental conditions used, and is a clear drawback of the standard 2-DE procedure, making the gel picture unnecessarily complex to analyse.     

微加速度传感器的结构刚度分析新法

微传感器结构刚度是优化传感器结构尺寸、研究传感器动态响应特性的一个重要参数．目前多采用有限元分析获取这一参数,但该方法难于给出一个物理思想比较明确的解析表达式．针对自主开发设计的一种具有复杂微结构的加速度传感器,提出综合运用力法和能量法原理求解其主轴刚度,并通过仿真分析验证了理论推导．理论计算与仿真分析的结果有较好的一致性．该方法可推广应用于具有对称、静不定微结构的加速度传感器的刚度分析．     

求解阶梯连续梁的通用方程

考虑阶形变化截面及不等跨度的情况,建立了求解多跨连续梁变形的通用方程．根据挠曲微分方程并采用奇异函数求解,给出了分析此类连续梁位移的边界参数方程．该参数方程中含有若干待定的初参数和支反力．进一步导出计算变刚度不等跨连续梁位移的递推格式．最后考虑了位移协调条件及平衡条件而得到求解支反力的代数方程组．其计算的实例表明该方法适于编程运算．     

基于永磁体间的磁性负刚度的分析与优化

为了有效地降低磁性负刚度结构的非线性程度,从简单三磁体结构出发,引入新型负刚度结构模型——五磁体对称结构,运用MATLAB建立新型负刚度结构的磁力学模型并应用Ansoft Maxwell进行仿真验证.研究永磁体间的相对位置参数对五磁体对称结构的负刚度曲线走势的影响,在微幅振动下对基于磁引力的负刚度曲线拟合后使用谐波平衡...     

Study of a millimeter-wave squint indirect holographic algorithm suitable for imaging with large field-of-view

In this paper a millimeter-wave （MMW） squint indirect holographic method is presented, which is suitable for imaging with a large field-of-view. The proposed system employs the squint operation mode to remove the background and twin- image interferences, which achieves a similar effect to off-axis holography but leaves out the large-aperture quasi-optical component. The translational scanning manner enables a large field of view and ensures the image uniformity, which is difficult to realize in off-axis holography. In addition, a corresponding imaging algorithm for the presented scheme is developed to reconstruct the image from the recorded hologram. Some imaging results on typical objects, obtained with electromagnetic simulation, demonstrate good performance of the imaging scheme and validate the effectiveness of the image reconstruction algorithm.     

Nonlinearity of muscle stiffness

In this letter, a comparison between three types (two linear and one nonlinear) of models of skeletal muscle stiffness is shown. Results are compared with experimental data for biceps brachii in the case of muscle stretching and with the Hill equation for a biological muscle. It is shown that results for nonlinear stiffness model in case of length-force relationship fits to the experimental data.     

Mechanistic model for deformation of polymer nanocomposite melts under large amplitude shear

We report the mechanical response of a model nanocomposite system of poly(styrene) (PS)-silica to large-amplitude oscillatory shear deformations. Nonlinear behavior of PS nanocomposites is discussed with the changes in particle dispersion upon deformation to provide a complete physical picture of their mechanical properties. The elastic stresses for the particle and polymer are resolved by decomposing the total stress into its purely elastic and viscous components for composites at different strain levels within a cycle of deformation. We propose a mechanistic model which captures the deformation of particles and polymer networks at small and large strains, respectively. We show, for the first time, that chain stretching in a polymer nanocomposite obtained in large amplitude oscillatory deformation is in good agreement with the nonlinear chain deformation theory of polymeric networks. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2013