Three-layered Configuration Research Articles

A reliability-based mechanical-empirical design method for flexible pavements containing cement-treated magnesite mine tailings as subgrade

The large-scale mining of magnesite generates substantial quantities of magnesite mine tailings (MMT), which pose a significant threat to soil, water, and air quality. Utilising cement-treated MMT as a subgrade material presents a promising solution to address this environmental challenge. However, the existing mechanical-empirical design methods cannot be directly employed due to the uncertainties associated with the various design parameters particularly the behaviour of cemented MMT. This research introduces a novel reliability-based MEM design method to design flexible pavements incorporating cemented MMT as subgrade. A three-layered flexible pavement configuration, with a middle granular layer sandwiched between the top bituminous layer and the bottom stabilised subgrade, was examined. The response surface model and finite element model were developed to determine the fatigue and rutting strains of the pavement. Monte Carlo simulation was adopted to compute reliability. Further, a sensitivity analysis was performed to probe the contribution of input parameters on the reliability of pavement. The developed methodology was illustrated with a case study. Reliability analysis revealed that the cemented MMT pavement achieved reliabilities of 97.44% and 96.27% for fatigue and rutting criteria, respectively, under a design traffic load of 30 million standard axles (msa). Additionally, the sensitivity analysis identified the modulus of elasticity of the granular layer and bituminous layer as the most critical input variables. Thus, the developed design methodology for pavements incorporating MMT enables the engineers to design MMT-based flexible pavements considering the uncertainties.

Smartphone-coupled three-layered paper-based microfluidic chips demonstrating stereoscopic capillary-driven fluid transport towards colorimetric detection of pesticides.

The existence of pesticide residues in the hydrosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere can cause acute or chronic diseases and deteriorate the environment. Therefore, efficient detection of pesticide residues is of great significance to prevent food poisoning, control food pollution, and protect human lives by recognizing their distribution and concentration. Herein, a novel smartphone-coupled three-layered paper-based microfluidic chip is proposed as a facile platform to detect the pesticides. The stereoscopic capillary-driven fluid transport is enabled by the three-layered microfluidic chip configuration. The detection mechanism is based on the enzyme inhibition reaction and the chromatic reaction. The detection results are obtained by a smartphone and figured out by colorimetric quantitative analysis. Taking advantages of the above merits, we demonstrate the utilization of this smartphone-coupled three-layered paper-based microfluidic chip for the effective analysis of typical pesticides (profenofo and methomyl). The linear ranges of profenofo and methomyl are 0.27-2.1μmol L-1 and 0.14-1.85μmol L-1, respectively. The corresponding limits of detection in the chips are 55nM and 34nM, respectively. The paper-based chips are also highly cost-effective with a total cost of 0.082 ¥ per piece. It can be anticipated that this technique will open new avenues for the mass fabrication of paper-based microfluidic chips and provide state-of-the-art methods in the field of analytical chemistry.

Crustal Density and Susceptibility Structure beneath Achankovil Shear Zone, India

Abstract The Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT) is a large tract of exposed Archean continental crust, divided into the Madurai Block (MB), Trivandrum Block (TB), and Nagercoil Block (NB). These crustal domains are linked with the NW-SE trending Achankovil Shear Zone (AKSZ). We combine gravity and magnetic data with previously published ground observations and geochronological data to re-evaluate the crustal architecture, evolution of the AKSZ, and possible extension of AKSZ into Madagascar. Analyses indicate that the long wavelength trends of the magnetic anomalies originate at ~20 km depth of different SGT blocks. These observations are corroborated with the gravity as well as computed gravity gradient anomalies. The presence of khondalite outcrops in Trivandrum Block implies that high magnetization crust is the main source of positive magnetic anomalies. Such magnetic anomalies advocate that SGT preserves the remanent of Archean crustal blocks in South India, a part due to variation in thermal and geochemical processes. The AKSZ, TB, and MB exhibit contrasting magnetic crustal signatures. The joint modeling results reveal a three-layered crustal configuration with varying Moho ranging from 41 to 34 km in NE to SW, respectively. It is also noted that AKSZ is a narrow and deep structure near to the Western Ghats Escarpment while it is wide and shallow in the far-east, which implies that the evolution of the Western Ghats is a late geological event.

Structural performance analysis of cross-laminated timber-bamboo (CLTB)

Construction systems based on cross-laminated timber (CLT) have versatility in material development and are an interesting alternative for construction. This study evaluated the structural performance of cross-laminated timber-bamboo produced from wood (Pinus spp.) and bamboo (Dendrocalamus giganteus). Panels were produced by strips (wood and bamboo) assorted, under non-destructive structural grading, to support a better panel configuration. Small-length pine pieces were also included in the study, considering their low added-value and underutilization in sawmills from Telêmaco Borba, Brazil. Gluing tests of small specimens were performed to evaluate the bonding quality of three adhesives: melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF), isocyanate polymeric emulsion (IPE), and castor oil-based resin (COR). Shear stress strength parallel to grain between bamboo and wood showed the best performance for MUF resin. After preliminary gluing testing, eight cross-laminated panels were produced with MUF adhesive in a three-layered configuration, with transversal orientation: two external bamboo layers and a central layer of pine wood. Stiffness and rupture strength values were above those specified by the ANSI/APA PGR 320 (2012) standard. Elasticity and rupture moduli were 13,310 MPa and 65 MPa, respectively, showing good potential of this composite for structural uses.

Development of multi-cell flows in the three-layered configuration of oxide layer and their influence on the reactor vessel heating

We investigated the influence of the aspect ratio (H/R) of the oxide layer on the reactor vessel heating in three-layer configuration. Based on the analogy between heat and mass transfers, we performed mass transfer experiments to achieve high Rayleigh numbers ranging from 6.70 × 1010 to 7.84 × 1012. Two-dimensional (2-D) semi-circular apparatuses having the internal heat source were used whose surfaces of top, bottom and side simulate the interfaces of the oxide layer with the light metal layer, the heavy metal layer, and the reactor vessel, respectively. Multi-cell flow pattern was identified when the H/R was reduced to 0.47 or less, which promoted the downward heat transfer from the oxide layer and possibly mitigated the focusing effect at the upper metallic layer. The top boundary condition greatly affected the natural convection of the oxide layer due to the presence of secondary flows underneath the cold light metal layer.

Fetal Development of Fasciae around the Arm and Thigh Muscles: A Study Using Late Stage Fetuses.

To obtain a better understanding of multi-laminar deep fascia covering skeletal muscles, we examined nondecalcified histological sections of the arm and thigh of 20 human fetuses aged 25-33 weeks. Morphologies of the fasciae varied between sites and specimens, but the initial morphology was most likely to be a thin and loose sheet on the external surface of the muscles (fascia-1 or F1). When the F1 became wavy, thick and tight, it was detached from the muscle surface. Beneath the F1, the second lamina of fascia (F2) appeared on the muscle surface and it was also detached. In this manner at 25-33 weeks' gestation, fasciae covering the triceps and vastus lateralis muscles had a three-layered configuration (F1, F2, and F3). Due to significant individual variations, this process was not correlated to the ages and sizes of specimens. Muscle contractions might facilitate the detachment. In these muscles, the intramuscular tendon joined the F2 or F3 and the latter became thick and aponeurotic. Along the finally developed lamina, muscle fibers carried a desmin-positive spot for insertion. Increased laminae were accompanied by a reduced number of CD68-positive macrophages and, nerves were absent, near the developing fascia. In contrast to skin ligaments or superficial fasciae showing de novo development in loose tissue, a deep or muscle-covering fascia seemed to originate from the skeletal muscle itself at the surface, and this process was repeated to produce multi-layered fascia. Depending on sites, collagen fibers were added by the intramuscular tendon. Anat Rec, 301:1235-1243, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effective Cathode Design of Three-Layered Configuration for High-Energy Li-S Batteries.

A three-layered cathode structure was designed to minimize the shuttle effect of polysulfides and improve active material utilization. The three-layered configuration was fabricated by directly dropping pure sulfur composite slurry into multifunctional dual-barrier layers consisting of a self-standing TiO2/C interlayer and a very thin acetylene black layer (0.35 mg cm-2). In consequence, a decent discharge capacity of 963 mA h g-1 was acquired after 100 cycles at 0.1 C. With cycling at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, and 2 C, the cells displayed excellent reversible capacities of 1203, 1145, 1035, 934, and 820 mA h g-1, respectively. Furthermore, the cells still delivered a satisfactory discharge capacity of 799 mA h g-1 after 300 cycles at 0.5 C. The light mass of the three-layered configuration guarantees that the energy density is effectively improved, considering the overall mass of the cathode. The energy density (603 W h kg-1 after 100 cycles) was at a high level compared with those of the reported ones. Therefore, it is believed that the synergistic design for the three-layered cathode structure, which combines the mass-produced layer-by-layer structure, provides a novel protocol to the practical application of lithium-sulfur batteries.

Translation ~ Politics

To Lance, with thanksThis article must confess to a spirit of diffidence. Its goal simply to take up and, perhaps, verify a suggestion by Jacques Ranciere: to occupy very interval between . . . two in order to open the possibility of appealing from one to other.2 Politics and equality are so proximate in Ranciere's philosophy as to be synonymous, and yet egalitarian substance of his politics hangs on a second, more discreet term: of politics as emancipation3 to say translation.Where equality has obvious political implications, translation's politics are less conspicuous, muted even, but beginning with fable-history of Joseph Jacotot's accidental epiphany in Le Maitre ignorant, concept of translation reappears throughout Ranciere's writings as activity of equality par excellence. activity of thinking he writes, is primarily an activity of translation, and . . . anyone capable of making a translation.4 To think to translate, and translating egalitarian. Equality for Ranciere not in question. His an enviable political philosophy for which equality not endpoint but a presupposition, not a thesis to be argued but a founding tenet. Politics simply that activity which turns on equality as its principle.5 Posited in this way, as a given more or less compels reader to suspend any relativization, equality scarcely seems like a promising conceptual foundation for kind of specific politics Ranciere imagines.6 However, it through concept of translation direct equation of politics and equality can carry elegant paradox of a politics both universal and idiomatic. In many ways, translation represents principle underpins egalitarian politics, praxis confirms it, and style disseminates its authority.Jacotot stumbles across his enlightened pedagogy of emancipation thanks to efforts of his Flemish students, who circumvent need for instruction when they appropriate knowledge for themselves through spontaneous activity of translation.7 The obvious pedagogic resonance of Le Maitre ignorant continues to provoke education-related discussions, and commentators rightly describe Jacotot's radical ideology of equality as foundation for Ranciere's emancipatory politics.8 Crucially, however, although it a particular literary activity makes Jacotot's story possible, translation has remained unaccountably peripheral to our understanding of Ranciere's political philosophy.9 The metonymic function of translation, I argue, facilitates Ranciere's fabular style, but also encompasses an active labour-a labour of literature and of politics. Insisting on translation as a central component of Rancierean politics an obliquely paradoxical endeavour, however, since it precisely marginal role of translation marks it as indispensable site of egalitarian politics. In spirit of intellectual adventure,10 then, this paper undertakes to think, or rather rethink11 Ranciere's concepts of politics and translation, each in terms of other. In this exchange, translation, like equality, both self-evident and controversial.Ranciere's preoccupation with literature inescapable in this process of (re)translation. Literary politics for Ranciere involves breaking out of textual altogether by engaging each of senses in redistribution of perceptible. Seeing hidden partitions, speaking miscount, and hearing mute speech each constitutes a way of imagining a type of equality. By extension, translation-as a form of literature-has capacity to rearrange political topographies. In mapping translation and politics onto one another, I therefore deliberately mirror three-layered configuration Ranciere describes as manners in which [literature] labours to develop landscape of visible.12 In what follows, I pursue Ranciere's sensory analogy through three intersecting modes of translation: its pedagogical style, its political economy, and its literary poetics. …

Parametric Amplification in Four-Layered QPM Leaky Waveguides

Parametric amplification of signal wave in a four-layered leaky waveguide configuration in Z-cut LiNbO 3 , where the pump and signal waves are guided modes and the idler is radiated into the substrate has been studied using coupled mode approach. It is shown that in this configuration, the signal gain can be greatly enhanced as compared to the case of a three-layered QPM Cerenkov-idler configuration. The studies show that by appropriately choosing the waveguide parameters, one can have a trade-off between signal gain bandwidth and the peak signal gain achieved. These studies should find application in designing optical parametric amplifiers and oscillators.

The multi-layered effective permittivity function applied to the mass loading and viscous coupling in shear horizontal-acoustic plate modes

It is now well known that acoustic plate wave devices are very promising as gravimetric sensors in liquid phase as well as liquid properties sensors. Here, a model based on the effective permittivity function is developed to take into account the multi-layered configuration of these devices operating in liquid phase. Indeed, for gravimetric applications, a three-layered configuration is implemented: the piezoelectric plate, the elastic solid film and the semi-infinite liquid medium. The predictions of the model for an increasing solid film thickness are compared with experimental measurements obtained by electrodeposition. For the determination of liquid properties, a two-layered configuration is appropriate: the piezoelectric plate loaded by the liquid medium. Here, particular attention is paid to the effect of the density and the viscosity of the liquid medium on the device response. The theoretical results are compared with measurements performed with aqueous glycerol solutions, whose density and viscosity increase with concentration of glycerol. For high concentrations, the Maxwellian behavior of the aqueous glycerol solutions allows to determine the shear rigidity modulus of glycerol.

Perivascular nerves of the human basal cerebral arteries: I. Topographical distribution.

In the present study the topographical distribution of the intrinsic nerve plexuses of the basal cerebral arteries in humans was quantified and the relation between vessel diameter and nerve density was investigated. Whole-mount preparations of various segments of the basal cerebral arteries from middle-aged patients were stained for protein gene product (PGP) 9.5. The deep nerve plexuses, located at the adventitial-medial border, were quantified by image analysis. Confocal scanning laser microscopy was used to study nerve plexuses throughout the adventitia. Transverse cryostat sections were stained for PGP 9.5, tyrosine hydroxylase and neurofilament, and quantified. The results showed a three-layered configuration of the adventitial nerves. Measurements on whole-mounts demonstrated that nerve densities were highest in the posterior communicating artery (PCom), and next highest in the proximal parts of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) and anterior choroidal artery. There appeared to be no clear relation between nerve density and vessel diameter. The measurements on sections confirmed the high nerve densities in the PCom and PCA. Tyrosine hydroxylase- and neurofilament-immunoreactivities appeared to demonstrate separate subpopulations of the overall nerve plexuses, representing sympathetic and, possibly, sensory fibers, respectively. Densities of both subgroups generally followed those of PGP 9.5-immunoreactive nerves. Transmission electron microscopy suggested motor function of the deep nerve plexuses. The results indicate a stronger neuronal influence on this part of the cerebral circulation than hitherto reported. It is concluded that human basal cerebral arteries display a topographical distribution of deep perivascular nerves, and that nerve density is determined by locality rather than by vascular diameter.

Estimation of articulatory-to-acoustic mapping using input and output measurements

An articulatory-to-acoustic mapping was estimated from real speech data and articulatory data measured by a magnetic position sensing device. The mapping function consisted of an acoustic model of the vocal tract and a multi-layered neural network to map articulatory positions on the midsagittal plane into the vocal tract log area function. Input variables to the network included eight positions on the tongue, lower and upper lip, jaw, and velum as well as two unknown inputs that locally control the log area function below and around the larynx. The weighting variables of the network and the unknown inputs were iteratively trained by the gradient method so as to minimize the cepstral distance between the pre-emphasized input speech spectrum and the synthesized spectrum. When a database consisting of 27 sentences was used to examine the mapping accuracy for a three-layered neural network configuration with 112 hidden nodes, the spectral error of the mapping was 1.3 dB for vowel data and 1.8 dB for sentence data. The mapping accuracy was fair enough for producing natural sounding speech from real articulatory movements.

P-i-n like behavior in three-layered organic solar cells having a co-deposited interlayer of pigments

Three-layered organic solar cells, having a sandwiched interlayer of co-deposited p-type phthalocyanine (Pc) pigments and n-type perylene derivative (PTC) pigments, exhibited photocurrent enhancement when compared with two-layered cells without the interlayer. A large number of Pc/PTC molecular contacts within the interlayer serve as active sites for effective charge carrier photogeneration. The photovoltaic characteristics of the three-layered configuration suggest the formation of a p-i-n like structure, in which the built-in potential produced by Fermi level differences in the respective pigment layers is mainly distributed across the co-deposited interlayer. Inorganic semiconductor films are also shown to be applicable to the present p-i-n cell structure as an n layer to obtain larger photovoltages.

The learning capabilities of an artificial neural network for classifying acoustic signatures.

The ability of an artificial neural network to learn to identify acoustic sources from a digital series of their spectral or temporal features has been studied experimentally. The learning system was comprised of a feedforward network employing a backward propagating delta rule for error correction. A three-layered network configuration of 30 input units, 15 hidden units, and 1 output unit was utilized. The network was first trained with patterns of 30 line spectra, some containing source lines and some containing noise only. Then the ability of the trained network to correctly identify new patterns of the source and noise data was tested. The results indicated several interesting characteristics relating to the utility of neural networks in the classification of acoustic waveforms. The network achieved classification accuracies exceeding 95%, with low false alarm rates, for frequency stable, high signal-to-noise spectra. For low signal-to-noise spectra, with fluctuations on both the frequency and amplitude of the source lines, the network tended to perform poorly.

Non-linear vibrations of sandwich plates

A quadratic rectangular finite element having five degrees of freedom at each node is used in carrying out the non-linear free vibration analysis of a sandwich plate. The formulation includes the effects of large deformations and rotations as well as stretching, bending and transverse shear. A number of geometric and material parameters for a three-layered sandwich configuration under different boundary conditions are considered for a detailed study.

Membrane structures in the integumentary cell walls of the ovule of Nerium oleander

Ultrastructural changes in the integumentary cell walls of Nerium oleander L. were observed, starting with the beginning of nucellus degeneration. The cell walls in direct contact with the nucellus, followed in a regular progression by those of the next 2-3 cell layers, were seen to increase rapidly in thickness and, in contact with the plasmalemma, to develop a peculiar layer characterized by the presence of numerous membrane-like structures. Morphological and cytochemical findings indicate a membraneous nature of these wall structures; the structures exhibit a marked affinity to potassium permanganate, ruthenium red and phosphotungstic acid, and possess a three-layered configuration. Moreover, the structures were found to be disorganized by phospholipase C. Some of the wall structures appear to be pitted, sac-shaped formations; others to be single sheets. Both types exhibit a direct continuity with the plasmalemma after digestion of the wall material by cellulase. The origin and development of these structures are discussed.