Moving Threads

Abstract. Nowadays, most of the product designs rely on the aid of simulation software, particularly Finite Element Analysis (FEA) programs. However, an accurate simulation requires a proper virtual/numerical material behavior reproduction, meaning a precise material characterization through constitutive models and their parameters. To numerically characterize a material, particularly a metal, (i) experimental tests, (ii) model selection and (iii) inverse procedures are required. All these three tasks can be expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, product development engineers resort to materials databases to obtain the virtual materials, i.e. the constitutive models and their parameters adequate for the desired material. However, the information provided by the materials databases does not include experimental data nor provide information on the testing procedures. Due to this absence, users cannot verify the information nor its accuracy on the material database. Moreover, data related to material constitutive models, required for accurate simulations seems to be absent [1]. This work presents the development of a new material database that revises the previous problem. This database has the focus on virtual materials and their importance in product simulation and design. The presented VForm-xSteels material database includes (a) mechanical models and their implementation in FEA software, (b) experimental data and (c) the parameters identified for each material, and (d) indications concerning the quality of the material behavior reproduction associated with each model/parameters set. This database can be enlarged by the contributions of all users and present the following benefits for the engineering community: (i) increasing the precision and reliability of numerical FEA simulations by providing accurate input data, filling then a gap of the FEA market and answering to the request of the FEA users; (ii) reducing the development lead-time of metallic parts and the development of robust technological solutions with highly improved quality, consequently decreasing cost and time in the overall development process.

The origins of CURL in the 1980s lay in its members’ need to share machine‐readable catalogue records ‐ an aim materially assisted by the establishment of JANET. Funding from the Wolfson Foundation and the University Grants Committee enabled the development of a consortial database of catalogue records, based in the University of Manchester from 1986. CURL became a limited company in 1992, with charitable status, and established itself as a reseller of records, through OCLC, addressing wider issues for research support through input to the Follett Review of academic libraries in 1993. The transformation of the CURL Database into a national OPAC followed from the award of national funding in 1994/5 and, with the Consortium’s membership growing to more than 20 by 1996/7, CURL has embarked on a systematic strategic plan designed to exploit its members’ extensive holdings of research materials for the benefit of the wider scholarly community.

A comparative approach employing microCT for the analysis of Cenozoic foraminifera from the Brazilian carbonate equatorial platform

New Books across the Disciplines

This study examines the Arabic translation of Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist," focusing on the literary equivalence issues in Maneer Baalabky's translation and the strategies employed by the translator, as well as the challenges faced during the translation process. By comparing and evaluating the Arabic translation, the research aims to identify effective translation practices that enhance the reader's understanding and engagement with the text. A detailed analysis of 15 selected excerpts reveals the use of various translation strategies, including dynamic equivalence, literal translation, metaphorical interpretation, and cultural adaptation. Each strategy serves a specific purpose, highlighting the complexities involved in conveying meaning across different languages and cultures. The findings indicate that while the translator successfully captures the main ideas and emotional nuances of the original text, instances of mistranslation underscore the difficulties of navigating cultural differences and the subtleties of Dickens's writing. This study emphasizes the importance of employing diverse translation strategies to achieve a faithful and engaging rendition of literary works. It also offers several recommendations: training translators on cultural nuances, collaborating with cultural experts, and understanding idioms to prevent mistranslations.

Performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) considers certain metrics to assess the seismic response of buildings, which integrate economic losses into the design process. PBEE requires the development and use of reliable nonlinear response analysis models to simulate the seismic performance of structures through collapse. The structural damage is assessed by evaluating physical damage caused by engineering demand parameters (EDPs), while the nonlinear numerical models are used to conduct dynamic analyses for varying levels of seismic intensity to compute the values of the representative EDPs. Accurate representation of structural members’ stiffness and strength deterioration (hysteretic) parameters plays an important role into simulating dynamic response through collapse. These parameters’ values are usually calibrated to a large number of experimental data. The development of a hysteretic parameter database for wood and steel diaphragm connectors is presented in this paper. The wood diaphragm connectors are commonly used in light-frame wood building construction for shear walls or roof diaphragms. The steel diaphragm connectors are used for building structures that incorporate steel frame roof diaphragms. The experimental data were used for quantifying the hysteretic parameters of two well-known nonlinear models considered into structural modeling as well as evaluating their energy dissipation properties. Case studies on the collapse performance assessment of a light-frame wood wall system and a low-rise building incorporating a steel roof system were conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of the diaphragm connector database.

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a diverse consortium of leaders who provide a unified voice for promoting the benefits and value of consumer horticulture (CH). NICH endeavors to unite national research efforts with the goals of the diverse stakeholders in the industry, the public sector, and the gardening public in an effort to advance knowledge and increase benefits and application of horticulture for cultivating a healthy world through landscapes, gardens, and plants, and an improved quality of life. Benefits of CH are broadly applicable, whether economic, environmental, or community- and health-related. A benefits approach to marketing sets the stage for unprecedented collaboration, such as that demonstrated by NICH. NICH members have developed three broad goals: recognizing CH as a driver of the agricultural economy; highlighting that CH restores, protects, and conserves natural resources through research and education; and cultivating healthy, connected, and engaged communities through CH. Three NICH committees (Economic, Environmental, and Community and Health Benefits) have focused their efforts on NICH goals for the past 10 months. The three committee chairs, representing ≈30 committee members, presented the results of their efforts and future directions for their committees. The Economic and Environmental committees have proceeded with campaigns to better market CH by promoting the benefits of plants and to increase environmental benefits by changing consumer behavior. After reviewing current research, the Community and Health Benefits Committee suggested that a gap exists in research related to specific benefits of CH and personal gardening (as opposed to benefits accrued by enjoying forests, horticulture therapy, indoor atriums, community gardens, parks, and other public places). The committee suggested that overcoming this gap requires strategic collaboration of skill and expertise from a more diverse group of industry representatives, specialists, and scientists. This approach has tremendous potential to affect the CH marketplace, especially when drawing multiple sources of value from the products and experiences.

The Ottoman Authors, written by Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, is a biographical work consisting of three volumes. From the 14th century, when the Ottoman Empire was founded, to the 20th century, the lives and works of a large number of authors are described in this work. The first volume of the work was published in Istanbul in 1915, followed by the first part of the second volume in 1920 and the second part of the same volume in 1922. A year before the work’s author's death, the third and final volume was published in 1924. The 1691 members of the biographical author cadre are classified according to a particular category. The first volume is divided into two sections, "Maşayih" and "Ulema." The authors whose biographies are listed alphabetically in each chapter are observed to be presented in chronological order. The second volume of the work is entirely dedicated to poets and writers. Numerous biographical sources other than the translations and addendums of Şakayk, particularly tezkires, are evidently widely used. The third volume includes four chapters: "Müverrihîn-i Osmâniyye" "Etıbbâ" "Riyâziyyûn", and "Coğrafiyyûn." In this volume, the chapter titled "Geography" does not elaborate on the lives of the authors, but rather provides a list of geography literature. The printing of the final volume is an outcome of the author's determination to see the work through despite the financial and moral difficulties he encountered. A number of factors that are normally not considered during translation were taken into account while rendering of the work in your hands into Arabic. First of all, the translation of the poems was not preferred in our opinion. Because translating a poem is comparable to plucking a lovely flower from its native soil and attempting to maintain its beauty in another soil. Moreover, Ottoman poetry is extremely dense, with two or three layers of meanings. They are texts in which sound/musicality is as important as the meaning and they are deeply rooted in a cultural environment. Therefore, this poetry cannot be voiced in a different language nor can its meaning be translated; it can only be noted. In the translation, the forms of proper names used for centuries in the cultural geography of three continents have been preserved, instead of the popular usage of some Arabic ones. After initially releasing the publication of the work we prepared in Turkey, TÜBA is now publishing its Arabic translation. We are confident that this TÜBA initiative will make a significant contribution to the cultural and scientific accumulation of the Islamic world and further improve our nation's strong cultural relations with other Muslim countries. We believe that recognizing and promoting works written in Arabic, which was used extensively in Ottoman geography, is a necessary step for our scientific community. Thus, this work will contribute to a more accurate representation of the Ottoman civilization and will introduce the scientists of the Ottoman Empire in countries where Arabic is used effectively.

The Ottoman Authors, written by Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, is a biographical work consisting of three volumes. From the 14th century, when the Ottoman Empire was founded, to the 20th century, the lives and works of a large number of authors are described in this work. The first volume of the work was published in Istanbul in 1915, followed by the first part of the second volume in 1920 and the second part of the same volume in 1922. A year before the work’s author's death, the third and final volume was published in 1924. The 1691 members of the biographical author cadre are classified according to a particular category. The first volume is divided into two sections, "Maşayih" and "Ulema." The authors whose biographies are listed alphabetically in each chapter are observed to be presented in chronological order. The second volume of the work is entirely dedicated to poets and writers. Numerous biographical sources other than the translations and addendums of Şakayk, particularly tezkires, are evidently widely used. The third volume includes four chapters: "Müverrihîn-i Osmâniyye" "Etıbbâ" "Riyâziyyûn", and "Coğrafiyyûn." In this volume, the chapter titled "Geography" does not elaborate on the lives of the authors, but rather provides a list of geography literature. The printing of the final volume is an outcome of the author's determination to see the work through despite the financial and moral difficulties he encountered. A number of factors that are normally not considered during translation were taken into account while rendering of the work in your hands into Arabic. First of all, the translation of the poems was not preferred in our opinion. Because translating a poem is comparable to plucking a lovely flower from its native soil and attempting to maintain its beauty in another soil. Moreover, Ottoman poetry is extremely dense, with two or three layers of meanings. They are texts in which sound/musicality is as important as the meaning and they are deeply rooted in a cultural environment. Therefore, this poetry cannot be voiced in a different language nor can its meaning be translated; it can only be noted. In the translation, the forms of proper names used for centuries in the cultural geography of three continents have been preserved, instead of the popular usage of some Arabic ones. After initially releasing the publication of the work we prepared in Turkey, TÜBA is now publishing its Arabic translation. We are confident that this TÜBA initiative will make a significant contribution to the cultural and scientific accumulation of the Islamic world and further improve our nation's strong cultural relations with other Muslim countries. We believe that recognizing and promoting works written in Arabic, which was used extensively in Ottoman geography, is a necessary step for our scientific community. Thus, this work will contribute to a more accurate representation of the Ottoman civilization and will introduce the scientists of the Ottoman Empire in countries where Arabic is used effectively.

The Ottoman Authors, written by Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, is a biographical work consisting of three volumes. From the 14th century, when the Ottoman Empire was founded, to the 20th century, the lives and works of a large number of authors are described in this work. The first volume of the work was published in Istanbul in 1915, followed by the first part of the second volume in 1920 and the second part of the same volume in 1922. A year before the work’s author's death, the third and final volume was published in 1924. The 1691 members of the biographical author cadre are classified according to a particular category. The first volume is divided into two sections, "Maşayih" and "Ulema." The authors whose biographies are listed alphabetically in each chapter are observed to be presented in chronological order. The second volume of the work is entirely dedicated to poets and writers. Numerous biographical sources other than the translations and addendums of Şakayk, particularly tezkires, are evidently widely used. The third volume includes four chapters: "Müverrihîn-i Osmâniyye" "Etıbbâ" "Riyâziyyûn", and "Coğrafiyyûn." In this volume, the chapter titled "Geography" does not elaborate on the lives of the authors, but rather provides a list of geography literature. The printing of the final volume is an outcome of the author's determination to see the work through despite the financial and moral difficulties he encountered. A number of factors that are normally not considered during translation were taken into account while rendering of the work in your hands into Arabic. First of all, the translation of the poems was not preferred in our opinion. Because translating a poem is comparable to plucking a lovely flower from its native soil and attempting to maintain its beauty in another soil. Moreover, Ottoman poetry is extremely dense, with two or three layers of meanings. They are texts in which sound/musicality is as important as the meaning and they are deeply rooted in a cultural environment. Therefore, this poetry cannot be voiced in a different language nor can its meaning be translated; it can only be noted. In the translation, the forms of proper names used for centuries in the cultural geography of three continents have been preserved, instead of the popular usage of some Arabic ones. After initially releasing the publication of the work we prepared in Turkey, TÜBA is now publishing its Arabic translation. We are confident that this TÜBA initiative will make a significant contribution to the cultural and scientific accumulation of the Islamic world and further improve our nation's strong cultural relations with other Muslim countries. We believe that recognizing and promoting works written in Arabic, which was used extensively in Ottoman geography, is a necessary step for our scientific community. Thus, this work will contribute to a more accurate representation of the Ottoman civilization and will introduce the scientists of the Ottoman Empire in countries where Arabic is used effectively.

Mass transfer enhancement in supercritical fluid extraction by acoustic waves

ABSTRACTNext-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) has progressed enormously over the past decade, transforming genomic analysis and opening up many new opportunities for applications in clinical microbiology laboratories. The impact of NGS on microbiology has been revolutionary, with new microbial genomic sequences being generated daily, leading to the development of large databases of genomes and gene sequences. The ability to analyze microbial communities without culturing organisms has created the ever-growing field of metagenomics and microbiome analysis and has generated significant new insights into the relation between host and microbe. The medical literature contains many examples of how this new technology can be used for infectious disease diagnostics and pathogen analysis. The implementation of NGS in medical practice has been a slow process due to various challenges such as clinical trials, lack of applicable regulatory guidelines, and the adaptation of the technology to the clinical environment. In April 2015, the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) convened a colloquium to begin to define these issues, and in this document, we present some of the concepts that were generated from these discussions.

<p>Submarine landslides are major geohazards occurring on distinct seabed domains ranging from shallow coastal areas to the deeper points of the ocean. The nature and relief of the seabed are key factors influencing the location and size of submarine landslides. Mass-failures on the continental slopes are frequent, but collapses on and along chains of oceanic seamounts and ridges can account also for a high frequency of events. Regardless of their area of occurrence, submarine landslides are a major hazard that needs to be recognised and categorised. For this purpose, numerous efforts have been made to compile databases of submarine landslides with the aim to better understand their distribution and characteristics on marine settings around the world.</p><p>This work presents the initial efforts of the MAGICLAND (Marine Geo-hazards Induced by underwater Landslides in the SW Iberian Margin) database which, based on bathymetric DEMs available through EmodNET, compiled geomorphological properties of 1552 morphological scars and submarine landslides offshore West and Southwest Portugal. These are distributed through seven morphological domains: 1) canyons incising the continental slope (232 landslide episodes); 2) continental slope (233 landslide episodes); 3) large seamounts (437 landslide episodes); 4) submarine ridges and small seamounts (263 landslide episodes); 5) Gulf of Cadiz (226 landslide episodes); 6) Gulf of Cadiz banks and channels (123 landslide episodes); and 7) Estremadura Spur (38 landslide episodes). A wealth of 43 parameters were measured or calculated, which include a subset of morphological quantifications for the evacuation and deposit sections for 347 occurrences where the latter was observed. We present the morphological data and any derived computations as measured on the 3D surface in order to increase their accuracy and mitigate the effect of slope gradient on map-based 2D analysis. The larger events were recorded on the large seamounts and the ridges domains, which also correspond to the larger recorded landslide heights (measured as the difference between minimum and maximum depths). Good correlations (coefficient of determination R<sup>2</sup>>0.8) where obtained for Area-Volume, Width-Area, and Length-Area relationships. Where evacuation and deposit sections were discernible, their area relationships present a better correlation compared to their lengths.</p><p>Further stages of the database development will involve the addition of still unmapped scars, as well as further statistical analysis and integration with available geophysical and geotechnical datasets for the areas of study. This dataset will be made available for the free use and benefit of the international marine community. Further contributions or analysis based on, and complementing the MAGICLAND database will be welcome.</p><p>This work is supported by the FCT funded project MAGICLAND - MArine Geo-hazards InduCed by underwater LANDslides in the SW Iberian Margin (Ref: PTDC/CTA-GEO/30381/2017).</p>

This study proposes a framework for the allocation of risk in public private partnerships (PPP) projects. Its contribution lies in the recognition and incorporation of risks introduced by project stakeholders, and as articulated by the principal-agent theory (PAT). The framework assesses risks and routes these risks to those parties best equipped to mitigate their impact on the project. This allocation of risk is facilitated by a thirteen-step process. The practical benefit of this study lies in outlining a clear, systematic method for allocating risk efficiently to both the government and private enterprise parties of the project. In so doing, risk mitigation can be expected to improve project performance, optimize stakeholder goals, and enhance sustainability objectives, including improved operational life-cycle efficiency and elevated social and community benefits.

Accurate prediction of thermodynamic properties requires an extremely accurate representation of the free-energy surface. Requirements are twofold—first, the inclusion of the relevant finite-temperature mechanisms, and second, a dense volume–temperature grid on which the calculations are performed. A systematic workflow for such calculations requires computational efficiency and reliability, and has not been available within an ab initio framework so far. Here, we elucidate such a framework involving direct upsampling, thermodynamic integration and machine-learning potentials, allowing us to incorporate, in particular, the full effect of anharmonic vibrations. The improved methodology has a five-times speed-up compared to state-of-the-art methods. We calculate equilibrium thermodynamic properties up to the melting point for bcc Nb, magnetic fcc Ni, fcc Al, and hcp Mg, and find remarkable agreement with experimental data. A strong impact of anharmonicity is observed specifically for Nb. The introduced procedure paves the way for the development of ab initio thermodynamic databases.