Narrow Bridge Research Articles

Отличительные особенности фазовых диаграмм тонких неупорядоченных пленок на основе ВТСП YBa-=SUB=-2-=/SUB=-Cu-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-O-=SUB=-7-x-=/SUB=- во внешних магнитных полях

AbstractAn unusual decrease in the slope of the upper critical field near T _ c 0 at a gradual increase in the ion implantation dose has been experimentally observed in narrow bridges formed on the base of thin HTSC YBa_2Cu_3O_7 – _ x films, while an increase in the defect concentration usually leads to an increase in the local slope of the phase transition line H _ c 2( T ). In addition, it has been found that the temperature dependence of the upper critical field has a positive curvature near T _ c 0. A possible theoretical interpretation of the results is proposed. It is based on the modified Ginzburg–Landau theory with a nonuniform length of superconducting correlations.

A Narrow Bridge Structure for Reduction of the Flux Leakage

A Narrow Bridge Structure for Reduction of the Flux Leakage

Walking as Practice and Prose as Path Making: How Life Writing and Journey Can Intersect

Walking as Practice and Prose as Path Making: How Life Writing and Journey Can Intersect

The first Korean case with Floating-Harbor syndrome with a novel SRCAP mutation diagnosed by targeted exome sequencing.

Floating-Harbor syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder associated with SRCAP mutation. To date, approximately 50 cases of Floating-Harbor syndrome have been reported, but none have been reported in Korea yet. Floating-Harbor syndrome is characterized by delayed bony maturation, unique facial features, and language impairment. Here, we present a 6-year-old boy with a triangular face, deep-set protruding eyes, low-set ears, wide nose with narrow nasal bridge, short philtrum, long thin lips, clinodactyly, and developmental delay that was transferred to our pediatric clinic for genetic evaluation. He showed progressive delay in the area of language and cognition-adaption as he grew. He had previously undergone chromosomal analysis at another hospital due to his language delay, but his karyotype was normal. We performed targeted exome sequencing, considering several syndromes with similar phenotypes. Library preparation was performed with the TruSight One sequencing panel, which enriches the sample for about 4,800 genes of clinical relevance. Massively parallel sequencing was conducted with NextSeq. An identified variant was confirmed by Sanger sequencing of the patient and his parents. Finally, the patient was confirmed as the first Korean case of Floating-Harbor syndrome with a novel SRCAP (Snf2 related CREBBP activator protein) mutation (c.7732dupT, p.Ser2578Phefs*6), resulting in early termination of the protein; it was not found in either of his healthy parents or a control population. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe a boy with Floating-Harbor syndrome with a novel SRCAP mutation diagnosed by targeted exome sequencing in Korea.

The Tradeoffs of Tolling Untolled Roads

Recent years have seen increasing study and implementation of imposing tolls on existing untolled roadway capacity. This is due to growing agency budgetary challenges, increasing infrastructure needs, and some easing of legislative restrictions and pilot-project opportunities to add tolls to untolled roads. This paper presents a summary of current policy, profiles of facilities in operation, and a discussion of common tradeoffs related to tolling untolled roads. The facilities included are the Port Mann Bridge, Snapper Creek Expressway, Ohio River Bridges, Dominion Boulevard, Downtown Tunnel, Midtown Tunnel, SR 520 Bridge, and Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The tradeoffs discussed include those related to traffic diversion, the argument that untolled roads have already been paid for, that new toll payers may be unfamiliar with how to pay, equity, how tolling provides acceleration of project implementation and a dedicated funding source, and all-electronic tolling. Considering traffic diversion, the facilities included in the study were found to have from 10% to 36% less traffic after tolling, with most in the range of 15% to 25% less. Considering project acceleration, tolling on all facilities was established to fund major improvement projects that likely would not have been possible without toll revenue. Given consideration of all tradeoffs, it is important to take a long-term approach to toll project evaluation.

Learning from failures in an emblematic building in Valencia, Spain

Abstract On many occasions advances have been made in science and engineering thanks to the knowledge gained from failures. In the particular case of structural engineering, the study of actual failures makes it possible to advance and define new theories, concepts and designs. Some examples are the changes and improvements that appeared after some of the “classical” failures such as the Ronan Point building, Quebec Bridge, Murrah Federal Building, Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the World Trade Center. This paper describes a teaching method used with structural engineering students at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia based on the study of cases of damage to buildings in Valencia, Spain. Due to its special characteristics, one of the buildings studied is the Principe Felipe Science Museum. Some of its main characteristics are: 1) it is one of Valencia's emblematic buildings, 2) its considerable dimensions required huge quantities of concrete, 3) it has a complex structure and an innovative architectural design, 4) the wide variation in the type of damage detected, which make it a particularly valuable teaching aid. The most important damage detected has been classified and described during the visits to the Principe Felipe Science Museum. The damage mechanisms are widely diverse and include: those due to the behaviour of the concrete itself (e.g. shrinkage and early age thermal cracking), those due to the presence of damp, those whose origin can be traced back to the construction phase, and others due to corroded reinforcement and to the loads acting on the structure. The paper has a double value since on one hand it describes a highly successful teaching aid for the training of experts in structural engineering, while on the other it classifies and describes the existing damage in one of the most important modern buildings in Spain and perhaps in Europe.

Nonstandard finite difference scheme for a Tacoma Narrows Bridge model

• Two nonstandard finite difference (NSFD) schemes for a system of ODEs are proposed. • These difference schemes follow the Mickens methodology for constructing NSFD schemes. • NSFD schemes shown to give better numerical solutions to the nonlinear ODEs. This paper constructs two dynamically consistent nonstandard finite difference (NSFD) schemes for the model of Tacoma Narrows Bridge using the Mickens methodology. The model consists of nonlinear, coupled, second order ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The standard forward Euler fails to capture the correct behavior of the system for a given step size. However, using the same step size, both NSFD schemes correctly approximate the solution to the system.

A Narrow Bridge Structure for Reduction of the Flux Leakage

A Narrow Bridge Structure for Reduction of the Flux Leakage

A new species of Peritresius Leidy, 1856 (Testudines: Pan-Cheloniidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Alabama, USA, and the occurrence of the genus within the Mississippi Embayment of North America.

Late Cretaceous members of Peritresius belong to a diverse clade of marine adapted turtles currently thought to be some of the earliest representatives of the lineage leading to modern hard-shelled sea turtles (Pan-Cheloniidae). Prior studies have suggested that Peritresius was monospecific, with a distribution restricted to Maastrichtian deposits in North America. However, new Peritresius specimens identified from Alabama and Mississippi, USA, show that the genus contains two taxa, Peritresius ornatus, and a new species Peritresius martini sp. nov. These two taxa are characterized by the presence of a generally cordiform carapace with moderately serrated peripherals, well-developed ventral flanges beginning at the third peripheral, squarish umbilical and lateral plastral fontanelles, and a narrow bridge formed by the contact between the hyoplastron and hypoplastron. Peritresius martini sp. nov. can be distinguished by its lack of dermal ornamentation and the presence of a ‘rib-free’ 10th peripheral. These new specimens represent the first occurrences of Peritresius from the Late Cretaceous Mississippi Embayment and extend the temporal range of this genus back to the early Campanian. When tested within a global phylogenetic context, Peritresius is placed on the stem of Cheloniidae (Pan-Cheloniidae) along with Ctenochelys and Allopleuron hofmanni. The heavily vascularized and uniquely sculptured dermal elements of P. ornatus are interpreted here as potentially relating to thermoregulation and therefore may have been one of the key factors contributing to the survival of Peritresius into the Maastrichtian, a period of cooling when other lineages of Campanian marine turtles (e.g., Protostegids, Toxochelys, and Ctenochelys) went extinct.

Traffic sign perception among Jordanian drivers: An evaluation study

Highway traffic control signs are commonly used to regulate, warn, and guide road users. It is widely believed that traffic signs comprehension has a tremendous effect on traffic safety. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between drivers’ personal characteristics and their familiarity/comprehensibility with a thirty nine posted traffic signs. To this end, 400 surveys were distributed among Jordanian drivers. The results showed that the familiarity level of traffic signs is higher than comprehensibility level. On average 79%, 77%, and 83% of the drivers were familiar with regulatory, warning, and guidance traffic signs, respectively. On the other hand, only 61%, 66%, and 75% of the drivers comprehended regulatory, warning, and guidance traffic signs, respectively. “Narrow Bridge”, “Divided Roadway a Head”, “Dead End” and “Highway” received the lowest comprehensibility scores among drivers. Participants with commercial driving license had higher familiarity and comprehensibility levels than those with regular license. Drivers with a driving experience more than 11years show more familiarity and comprehensibility for traffic signs than those with less than 2 years driving experience. The number of traffic violations did not have a significant effect on traffic signs familiarity and comprehensibility.

Tension-induced cytokinetic abscission in human fibroblasts

Previous studies have shown that cytokinetic abscission at the end of mitosis is executed by the ESCRT machinery in mammalian cells, and that the process is dependent on adhesion-induced integrin signalling via a FAK-PLK1-CEP55-TSG101/Alix-CHMP4B pathway. The present study identified an alternative abscission mechanism driven by mechanical force. In the absence of integrin signals (non-adherent conditions), cytokinesis in non-transformed human fibroblasts proceeds to CEP55 accumulation at the midbody, but after prolonged time (>3 hours) the major midbody components Aurora B, MKLP1 and CEP55 were no longer detected in the area. Upon adhesion to fibronectin, such cells were able to complete abscission without re-appearance of midbody proteins. Live-cell imaging revealed that re-plating on stiff fibronectin matrix (64 KPa) allowed >95% of the cells to complete abscission within 9 hours while the corresponding number was 40% on soft fibronectin matrix (0.5 KPa). The cells re-plated on poly-L-lysine were not able to generate tension and did not divide. Thus, mechanical tension can cause cytokinetic abscission by stretching of the intercellular bridge between the two daughter cells until it eventually ruptures without the involvement of ESCRT complexes. Importantly, regression of the cleavage furrow and formation of bi-nucleated cells did not occur in most of the suspension-treated mitotic cells after re-plating on fibronectin. Septin, which stabilizes the membrane associated with the midbody, was found to remain along the ingressed membrane, suggesting that this filament system maintains the membrane bridge although the midbody had dissolved, thereby preventing regression and allowing tension to act on the narrow intercellular bridge.

The Clinical Results of the Reverse Digital Artery Flap According to the Type of Injury Based on the Presence of a Narrow Skin Bridge

The Clinical Results of the Reverse Digital Artery Flap According to the Type of Injury Based on the Presence of a Narrow Skin Bridge

Nonoverlapping Power/Ground Planes for Suppression of Power Plane Noise

Providing low IR -drop and inductance are two major roles of power and ground (PG) planes in chip packages and boards. However, planes can also cause switching noise coupling, especially when they resonate. This is a concern for mixed-signal boards, high-speed I/Os, and electromagnetic compatibility. Discrete decoupling capacitors are ineffective to control switching noise at gigahertz frequency regime due to their inductance. To filter such high-frequency noise, a possible approach is modifying the shape of the PG planes, such as in power islands or electromagnetic bandgap structures. In this paper, we introduce the nonoverlapping PG planes design methodology for filtering of gigahertz power plane noise. Unlike existing approaches, our approach is simple and has wide bandwidth, while avoiding narrow inductive bridges that increase IR -drop.

Lattice Boltzmann simulations for water coalescence

We extensively investigate the inertial coalescence process of a water drop merging with another water drop, particularly including a water flat pool, via three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann simulations. After the two drops contact, a narrow liquid bridge is formed, which induces the coalescence process. The growth dynamics of the bridge has been a fundamental issue in coalescence study for a long time. Recently, the X-ray imaging study for the short-time dynamics of water coalescence on a flat water pool reported that asymmetry of drops affects hydrodynamics of coalescence and its neck-growth. In this report, we simulate a water drop coalescence at bottom drops with various sizes containing asymmetric conditions such as a flat water pool. We find that the thickness of the bridge grows quantitatively as the bottom drop size increases up to infinity where its surface is flat. This result shows sub-diffusive behavior with exponent of 2/5, rather than normal diffusion with exponent of 1/2 in the scaling law equation, which has been found in two identical drops.

Gypsum stromatolites from Sawda Nathil: relicts from a southern coastline of Qatar

Sawda Nathil is one of a series of inland depressions (inland sabkhas and salinas) that extend nearly continuously along the Southern Qatar border with Saudi Arabia. Six to eight thousand years ago, these depressions were marine embayments that separated the peninsula of Qatar from the mainland. These embayments in-filled rapidly with marine sediments and dune sands, blown southeastward across Qatar. Over time, they have become progressively more evaporitic. Inland depressions like Sawda Nathil host a set of unique environments within Qatar. Most depressions are close to or below sea level, bringing water near the surface in the driest parts of Qatar. Evaporation to salt saturation creates thick gypsum and halite crusts (sabkhas), as well as shallow hypersaline lakes/ponds (salinas) with spectacular domal microbial gypsum stromatolites. The present ground surface is a mosaic of relict marine facies, deflated dune sands, and inland sabkhas and salinas. Sediment of four short push cores was photographed, described, and sampled for petrographic thin-section and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Radiocarbon (AMS) as well as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age-dating were carried out on three samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), carried out on samples from a gypsum stromatolite, was used to resolve the microbial-influence on gypsum precipitation. Radiocarbon dating of marine shells provides ages of approximately 6600 un-calibrated 14C years before present (year BP), coinciding with a well-documented sea-level highstand, approximately 2–4 m higher than present. During that time, Qatar was mostly an island, only connected in the south to the Arabian Peninsula by narrow land bridges (isthmuses). SEM examinations of gypsum stromatolites show gypsum crystals developing in close spatial association with microbial biofilms (filamentous structures). Whether this is purely a passive microbial-influenced gypsum mineralization process or an example where microorganisms actively control the gypsum crystal morphology to obtain ecological advantages, remains to be evaluated.

FAILURE LITERACY IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

The history of the development of practice in many engineering disciplines is, in large part, the story of failures, both imminent and actual, and of the changes to designs, standards and procedures made as the result of timely interventions or forensic analyses. All engineers, and more particularly structural engineers, should be failure literate. Failure literacy means knowing about the critical historical failure cases that have shaped the profession, not merely the surface technical details, but the environment, the communications difficulties and the procedural issues. In the U.S., an intensive effort has been under way for nearly a decade to promote failure literacy in engineering education and practice. A number of educational resources have been developed by the Education Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers Forensic Engineering Division (ASCE FED) to make it easier for engineering students and practicing engineers to learn from failures. Some landmark failures include the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse, 1940, the Point Pleasant/ Silver Bridge collapse, 1967, the Ronan Point building collapse, 1968 (U.K.), the 2000 Commonwealth avenue building collapse, 1971, the Bailey’s Crossroads building collapse, 1973, the Hartford Civic Center building collapse, 1978, and others. This list, unfortunately, is a living document that will expand as more failures occur. Thorough forensic investigations are vital to capture the lessons from the unfortunate occurrences.

'Mood stabilizers' as the royal road to nirvana or a narrow bridge to well-being?

'Mood stabilizers' as the royal road to nirvana or a narrow bridge to well-being?

Loss of Energy Concentration in Nonlinear Evolution Beam Equations

Motivated by the oscillations that were seen at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, we introduce the notion of solutions with a prevailing mode for the nonlinear evolution beam equation $$ u_{tt} + u_{xxxx} + f(u)= g(x, t) $$ in bounded space-time intervals. We give a new definition of instability for these particular solutions, based on the loss of energy concentration on their prevailing mode. We distinguish between two different forms of energy transfer, one physiological (unavoidable and depending on the nonlinearity) and one due to the insurgence of instability. We then prove a theoretical result allowing to reduce the study of this kind of infinite-dimensional stability to that of a finite-dimensional approximation. With this background, we study the occurrence of instability for three different kinds of nonlinearities $f$ and for some forcing terms $g$, highlighting some of their structural properties and performing some numerical simulations.

Strain gauge placement optimization for structural performance assessment

Structural performance assessment is essential for maintaining the safety and functionality of in-service civil infrastructures. The field measurements that provide engineers with adequate useful information are required for effectively monitoring and evaluating structural performance. Moreover, strain/stress information generally shows powerful capacity for detecting the local structural property variations. Thus strain gauges are commonly used for monitoring and testing structural performance. Placing strain gauges is the key step towards a cost-effective monitoring or testing program. This paper presents a framework of strain gauge placement optimization to facilitate the practical applications of structural performance assessment. In this framework, two methods are developed and implemented to maximize the strain contributions to the structural performance assessment. The sensor placement solutions are optimized with genetic algorithm-based optimization tool, leading to a number of features that enrich the application flexibility. A systematic case study using an approach span of Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City is carried out to validate the framework.

We Live in a Motorized Civilization: Robert Moses Replies to Robert Caro

In 1974, Robert Caro published The Power Broker, a critical biography of Robert Moses’s dictatorial tenure as the master builder of mid-century New York. Moses profoundly transformed New York's urban fabric and transportation system, producing the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the Westside Highway, the Cross-Bronx Expressway, the Lincoln Center, the UN headquarters, Shea Stadium, Jones Beach State Park and many other projects. However, The Power Broker did lasting damage to his public image and today he remains one of the most controversial figures in city planning history. On August 26, 1974, Moses issued a turgid 23-page statement denouncing Caro's work as full of mistakes, unsupported charges, nasty baseless personalities, and random haymakers. Moses's original typewritten statement survives today as a grainy photocopy in the New York City Parks Department archive. To better preserve and disseminate it, I have extracted and transcribed its text using optical character recognition and edited the result to correct errors. Here I compile my transcription of Moses's statement, alongside Caro's reply to it.