Two methods for determining impact-force history on elastic plates

Two methods are presented to detect the impact-force history on elastic plates. The first method involves construction of a Greens function to relate the strain responses to an impact force acting axisymmetrically on a circular plate. The classical plate theory and a series of Bessel functions were used to obtain the Greens functions in the time domain. The gradient projection method was employed to search for the optimal force history. Examples using circular plates with free and fixed boundary conditions are demonstrated. On the other hand, the second method is purely experiment-based and involves no Greens function. Thus, this method can be applied to structures of various geometries, boundary conditions and material properties. The very satisfactory agreement between the measured and the detected force histories using both methods shows that they are reliable for impact-force determination purposes.     

A localized hybrid method of stress analysis: A combination of moiré interferometry and FEM

A method of combining moiré interferometry and the finite-element method to effect localized stress analysis is presented. The displacement data from local regions of interest in the optical experiment are used as boundary conditions for the finite-element stress analysis. The stability of the method is examined with data from simple numerical models one of which corresponded to the stress analysis of a pin-loaded plate with friction. These studies show that the method requires the sensivity of moiré interferometry for successful implementation, i.e., displacement data accuracy within 0.1 μm or 4 μin. This localized hybrid method of stress analysis provides a powerful and efficient method for the reduction of experimental data.     

层状两相流动的基本方程式

本文将两相流动的雷诺方程沿深度方向进行平均,出求了平均后的运动方程、连续方程和能量方程式,在适当的物理假定下,简化得到可适用于考虑固-液流动及气-液流动两种情况下的两相层状流动基本方程.     

Driver gas contaminationin a detonation-driven reflected-shock tunnel

A computational study has been carried out to examine the effects of driver gas contamination in the NASA HYPULSE facility at GASL when operating with a detonation driver in reflected-shock tunnel mode. Unlike high-enthalpy shock tunnels which use helium as a driver gas, the driver gas in a detonation driver consists of a mixture of water vapour and argon, which has very different chemical and thermodynamic properties than those of helium. The purpose of the present work is to quantitatively evaluate the effects of driver gas contamination on the flow properties in the test section. Two computational analyses have been performed. The first analysis examined the nozzle flow under the influence of a prescribed level of driver gas contamination. In the second analysis, the transient development of the driver gas leakage in the reflected-shock region in the shock tube is studied. The unique flow features brought about by the detonation-driver gas and the method for detecting the contamination are discussed.Received: 6 August 2002, Revised: 22 September 2003, Published online: 10 February 2004Correspondence to: R.S.M. ChueAn abridged version of this paper was presented at the 23rd International Symposium on Shock Waves at Fort Worth, Texas, July 23 to 27, 2001     

The effect of ferulic acid ethyl ester on leptin-induced proliferation and migration of aortic smooth muscle cells

Leptin is a peptide hormone, which has a central role in the regulation of body weight; it also exerts many potentially atherogenic effects. Ferulic acid ethyl ester (FAEE) has been approved for antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to investigate whether FAEE can inhibit the atherogenic effects of leptin and the possible molecular mechanism of its action. Both of cell proliferation and migration were measured when the aortic smooth muscle cell (A10 cell) treated with leptin and/or FAEE. Phosphorylated p44/42MAPK, cell cycle-regulatory protein (for example, cyclin D1, p21, p27), β-catenin and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) proteins levels were also measured. Results demonstrated that leptin (10, 100 ng ml⁻¹) significantly increased the proliferation of cells and the phosphorylation of p44/42MAPK in A10 cells. The proliferative effect of leptin was significantly reduced by the pretreatment of U0126 (0.5 μM), a MEK inhibitor, in A10 cells. Meanwhile, leptin significantly increased the protein expression of cyclin D1, p21, β-catenin and decreased the expression of p27 in A10 cells. In addition, leptin (10 ng ml⁻¹) significantly increased the migration of A10 cells and the expression of MMP-9 protein. Above effects of leptin were significantly reduced by the pretreatment of FAEE (1 and 10 μM) in A10 cells. In conclusion, FAEE exerts multiple effects on leptin-induced cell proliferation and migration, including the inhibition of p44/42MAPK phosphorylation, cell cycle-regulatory proteins and MMP-9, thereby suggesting that FAEE may be a possible therapeutic approach to the inhibition of obese vascular disease.     

High-speed monitoring of the crystallinity change in poly(lactic acid) during photodegradation by using a newly developed wide area NIR imaging system (Compovision)

We aimed to achieve wide area rapid monitoring of the crystallinity change in poly(lactic acid) (PLA) during photodegradation caused by ultraviolet (UV) light by using a newly developed near-infrared (NIR) camera (Compovison). Several kinds of PLA samples with different crystallinities and their blends with poly[(3)-(R)-hydroxybutyrate] were prepared. Their two-dimensional NIR spectra in the 1,000–2,350-nm region were measured by Compovision at a 5-min interval during photolysis. An intensity decrease of the band in the 1,900-1,925-nm region due to the second overtone of the C = O stretching vibration of PLA was observed during photolysis. This suggests that an anhydride carbonyl is produced during photolysis. The NIR image of the crystallinity change monitored by the band at 1,917 nm in the standard normal variate spectra clearly shows the inhomogeneity of crystal evolution. A logarithmic increase was observed for all identified areas in the PLA film; however, the time to reach the maximum crystallinity was slightly different according to the initial crystallinity of the sample. It is likely that the initial crystallinity of the sample influences the degradation speed more than the degradation amount. These imaging results have provided fundamental chemical insights into the photolytic process for PLA, and at the same time they have demonstrated that the two-dimensional spectral data obtained by Compovision are useful for process monitoring of polymers.     

Expeditious Synthesis of Enantiopure,Orthogonally Protected Bis‐α‐Amino Acids (OPBAAs) and their Use in a Study of Nod1 Stimulation

A convenient approach towards the synthesis of orthogonally protected chiral bis‐α‐amino acids (OPBAAs) is described. The key transformations include: (1) a highly stereoselective conjugation (alkylation) of the Schöllkopf bis‐lactim ethers and oxazolidinyl alkyl halides to build a backbone skeleton; and (2) our orthogonal protection strategy. A series of enantiopure OPBAAs bearing a variety of alkyl chain as a spacer; two stereogenic centers; and three protecting groups were prepared as examples. These versatile molecules were applied to the synthesis of biologically interesting di‐ or tri‐peptide analogues, including chiral iE‐meso‐DAP and A‐iE‐meso‐DAP, for the study of Nod1 activation in the innate immune response.     

Active dielectric metasurface based on phase‐change medium

We propose all‐dielectric metasurfaces that can be actively re‐configured using the phase‐change material Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) alloy. With selectively controlled phase transitions on the composing GST elements, metasurfaces can be tailored to exhibit varied functionalities. Using phase‐change GST rod as the basic building block, we have modelled metamolecules with tunable optical response when phase change occurs on select constituent GST rods. Tunable gradient metasurfaces can be realized with variable supercell period consisting of different patterns of the GST rods in their amorphous and crystalline states. Simulation results indicate a range of functions can be delivered, including multilevel signal modulating, near‐field coupling of GST rods, and anomalous reflection angle controlling. This work opens up a new space in exploring active meta‐devices with broader applications that cannot be achieved in their passive counterparts with permanent properties once fabricated.

     

Detecting changes in arabidopsis cell wall composition using time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry

Time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS) was previously used to characterize lignocellulosic materials, including woody biomass. ToF‐SIMS can acquire both rapid spectral and spatial information about a sample's surface composition. In the present study, ToF‐SIMS was used to characterize the cell walls of stem tissue from the plant model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. Using principal component analyses, ToF‐SIMS spectra from A. thaliana wild‐type (Col‐0), cellulose mutant (irx3), and lignin mutant (fah1) stem tissues were distinguished using ToF‐SIMS peaks annotated for wood‐derived lignocellulose, where spectra from the irx3 and fah1 were characterized by comparatively low polysaccharide and syringyl lignin content, respectively. Spatial analyses using ToF‐SIMS imaging furthermore differentiated interfascicular fiber and xylem vessels based on differences in the lignin content of corresponding cell walls. These new data support the applicability of ToF‐SIMS peak annotations based on woody biomass for herbaceous plants, including model plant systems like arabidopsis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.