Efficient and accurate procedure for selecting ground motions matching target response spectrum

Linear and nonlinear response history analyses have become popular in seismic design and seismic performance evaluation procedures. The accuracy of analysis results depends not only on the accurate analytic models for structures but also on the proper selection of input ground motions. The purpose of this study is to develop a computationally efficient and accurate procedure for selecting ground motions considering the target response spectrum mean and variance, and the correlations between response spectra of different periods. In this procedure, a number of response spectra are simulated equal to the number of ground motions to be selected, using a Monte Carlo simulation. Subsequently, ground motions are selected from a ground motion library to individually match the simulated response spectra, using the proposed selection procedure. This procedure is computationally efficient and accurate in selecting a ground motion that best matches a simulated response spectrum and in determining a scaling factor for the selected ground motion. In order to further improve the selection result, multiple sets of simulated response spectra are considered. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed procedure are verified with numerical examples.     

Synthesis and evaluation of triphenylphosphonium conjugated 18F-labeled silica nanoparticles for PET imaging

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Accumulation of triphenylphosphonium (TPP) is normally observed in the mitochondria from the extracellular spaces due to the high difference in...     

Design variable tolerance effects on the natural frequency variance of constrained multi-body systems in dynamic equilibrium

The design variable tolerance effects on the natural frequency variance of constrained multi-body systems in dynamic equilibrium are investigated in this study. Monte-Carlo simulation is often employed for such investigations, but it is known to have serious drawbacks. Excessive amount of computation time needs to be consumed since a large number of evaluations are usually required for the method. Furthermore, the solution accuracy cannot be always guaranteed in spite of the excessive amount of computation time. In order to overcome such drawbacks, a method employing eigenvalue sensitivity information is proposed to obtain the variance of natural frequency in this study. In order to verify the accuracy and the efficiency of the method, some numerical examples of multi-body systems in dynamic equilibrium are solved and the results are compared to those obtained by an analytical method and Monte-Carlo simulation.     

Characterization of Nitro-Substituted Polybenzimidazole Synthesized by the Reaction with Nitric Acid

Abstract

Nitro-substituted poly[2,2′-(m-phenylene)-5,5′-bibenzimidazole]s (PBIs) were synthesized by the reaction of PBI with nitric acid in sulfuric acid under various conditions. The number of nitro groups substituted on the aromatic ring of PBI per polymeric unit varied from 1.44 to 3.55 according to the reaction conditions. An increase in reaction temperature and concentration of the nitric acid increased the degree of substitution. The inherent viscosity of the substituted polymer increased as the reaction temperature decreased. When the reaction temperature was 30°C, the inherent viscosity of the polymer increased as the concentration of nitric acid increased. The nitro-substituted PBI exhibited polyelectrolyte behavior in formic acid. The nitro groups substituted on PBI were dissociated when the polymer was heated to 450°C, displaying exothermic behavior, and the decomposition of polymer was proportional to its nitro group content. All nitro-substituted PBIs showed better solubilities in polar aprotic and acidic solvents, such as dimethylacetamide, dimethylsulfoxide, dimethylformamide, N-methylpyrrolidone, formic acid, sulfuric acid, and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid.     

Synthesis of Telechelic Polystyrene by Radical Polymerization Using 1,4-Bis(p-tert-Butylphenylseleno-Methyl)benzene as a Photoiniferter

Abstract

1,4-Bis(p-tert-butylphenylselenomethyl) benzene was synthesized, and used as a bifunctional photoiniferter for the polymerization of styrene. Both the polymer yields and the number average of molecular weights (_n) of polymers increased with the polymerization. The polymerization of styrene by this iniferter permitted telechelic polystyrene containing arylseleno groups at both chain ends, and the degree of functionality was 1.9. The seleno groups of both chain ends of polystyrene were reduced quantitatively by tri-n-butyltin hydride. These seleno groups in polystyrene were also eliminated by treatment with hydrogen peroxide to give telechelic polystyrene with carbon-carbon double bond at both chain ends. Further, polystyrene with double bonds was converted to telechelic polystyrene carrying terminal functional groups as epoxy, hydroxy, and iodide group, respectively.

     

An integrated microfluidic device for the high-throughput screening of microalgal cell culture conditions that induce high growth rate and lipid content

This study describes the development of a microfluidic device for the high-throughput screening of culture conditions, such as the optimum sodium acetate concentration for promoting rapid growth and high lipid accumulation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. An analysis of the microalgal growth on the microfluidic device revealed an optimum sodium acetate concentration of 5.72 g L^?1. The lipid content, determined by the 4,4-Difluoro-1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY® 505/515) staining method, increased with the sodium acetate concentration. The results were found to be statistically reproducible with respect to cell growth and lipid production. Other nutrient conditions, including the nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, can also be optimized on the same microfluidic platform. The microfluidic device performance results agreed well with the results obtained from the flask-scale experiments, validating that the culture conditions were scalable. Finally, we, for the first time, established a method for the absolute quantification of the microalgal lipid content in the picoliter culture volumes by comparing the on-chip and off-chip data. In conclusion, we successfully demonstrated the high-throughput screening of sodium acetate concentrations that induced high growth rates and high lipid contents in C. reinhardtii cells on the microfluidic device.

Macromol. Biosci. 1/2013

Front Cover: Highly aligned 3D silk scaffolds using directional freezing in a custom designed chamber was demonstrated. The method is versatile and holds potential to produce complex, multicomponent aligned structures for various tissue engineering and biomedical applications, needing immediate cell alignment to mimic native tissue hierarchy and function. Further details can be found in the article by B. B. Mandal, E. S. Gil, B. Panilaitis, and D. L. Kaplan* on page 48 .

     

Cytotoxic 5‐Hydroxyindole Alkaloids from the Marine Sponge Scalarispongia sp.

Three new 5‐hydroxyindole alkaloids ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) along with seven known analogs ( 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ) were isolated from a Dokdo marine sponge Scalarispongia sp. The elucidation of the structures of the new compounds by spectroscopic analyses indicated that these compounds were an indole glyoxylate ( 1 ), a mono‐indole analog of hyrtinadine A ( 2 ), and a symmetrical bis‐indole with pyridine linker ( 3 ). The comparison of IC₅₀ values for obtained compounds against a human leukemia cell line revealed that the bis‐indole structure is a requirement for cytotoxicity.     

Divergent Synthesis of All Possible Optically Active Regioisomers of Myo‐Inositol Mono‐ and Bisphosphates

All possible optically active regioisomers of myo‐inositol mono‐ and bisphosphates were synthesized using inositol derivatives suitably protected with various protecting groups (IR_ns) as key intermediates. A series of procedures including Novozym 435 catalyzed enzymatic resolution of (3aR,4S,7S,7aR)‐rel‐3a,4,7,7a‐tetrahydro‐2,2‐dimethyl‐1,3‐benzodioxole‐4,7‐diol diacetate, several protection and deprotection reactions, and acyl migration afforded two enantiomeric pairs of IR₅ and six enantiomeric pairs of IR₄. Phosphorylation of these key intermediates by the phosphitylation and oxidation procedure gave the target products after removal of the protecting groups.      

Electrochemical properties of PEO/PMMA blend-based polymer electrolytes using imidazolium salt-supported silica as a filler

In this study, the composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) were prepared by solution casting technique. The CPEs consisted of PEO/PMMA blend as a host matrix doped with LiClO₄. Propylene carbonate (PC) was used as plasticizer and a small amount of imidazolium salt-supported amorphous silica (IS-AS) as a filler was prepared by the sol–gel method. At room temperature, the highest conductivity was obtained for the composition having PEO–PMMA–LiClO₄–PC–4wt. % IS-AS with a value of 1.15 × 10^?4 S/cm. In particular, the CPE using the IS-AS filler showed a higher conductivity than any other sample (fumed silica, amorphous silica). Studies of differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy indicated that the ionic conductivity increase was due to an expansion in the amorphous phase which enhances the flexibility of polymeric chains and the homogeneous structure of CPEs. It was found that the ionic conductivity and interfacial resistance stability of CPEs was significantly improved by the addition of IS-AS. In other words, the resistance stability and maximum ambient ionic conductivity of CPEs containing IS-AS filler were better than CPEs containing any other filler.