Search results for " Structural"
showing 10 items of 1751 documents
Vertical distribution of AhR-activating compounds in sediments contaminated by modernized pulp and paper industry
2013
Increased ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity is a sensitive biomarker of exposure to the chemicals which activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and induce the cytochrome P450 system, such as many polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Pulp bleaching was one of the main sources of PCDDs and PCDFs until elemental chlorine free (ECF) and total chlorine free bleaching processes since 1990s have remarkably decreased but not completely eliminate discharges of these chemicals. In addition, historically contaminated sediments may act as a source of these persistent contaminants. In this study, the contam…
On thermo-mechanical issues induced by irradiation swelling inside the back-plate of the IFMIF target assembly
2011
Abstract Within the framework of the IFMIF R&D program and in close cooperation with ENEA-Brasimone, at the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo a research campaign has been launched to investigate the thermo-mechanical issues potentially induced by irradiation swelling in the threaded connections between frame and back-plate of IFMIF target assembly. The main aim of the research campaign has relied in the assessment of the maximum swelling-induced volumetric strain that may be accepted in order to allow screws to withstand thermo-mechanical stresses and work in safe conditions or to avoid unduly high unscrewing torques during back-plate remotely handled maintenanc…
Boundary-layer effects in wedges of piezoelectric laminates
2005
An approach to investigate boundary-layer effects in wedges of piezoelectric laminated structures is presented with the aim of ascertaining the electromechanical response characteristics. The wedge layer behavior is described in terms of generalized stress functions, which lead to a model consisting of a set of three coupled partial differential equations. The strength of the solution singularity is determined by solving the eigenvalue problem associated with the resolving system. The solution of the model is obtained by an eigenfunction expansion method coupled with a boundary collocation technique. Correspondingly, the singularity amplitude is assessed by introducing and calculating the g…
Skin permeation model of phenyl alcohols: comparison of experimental conditions
1998
Abstract This study was conducted primarily to establish the significance of the experimental conditions in the determination of permeability coefficients. In order to do this, standard in vitro skin permeation methods were used to determine the permeability coefficient (kp) of a homologous series of phenyl alcohols, with a wide range of lipophilicity, by two different experimental conditions through rat skin; first, using solutions (at 75% saturation concentration) of the penetrants in the donor compartment and second using saturated solutions added with an excess of the penetrant. The kp values obtained by these techniques were compared. Solubility of the phenyl alcohols in the donor phas…
Response of nonlinear oscillators with fractional derivative elements under evolutionary stochastic excitations: A Path Integral approach based on La…
2023
In this paper, an approximate analytical technique is developed for determining the non-stationary response amplitude probability density function (PDF) of nonlinear/hysteretic oscillators endowed with fractional element and subjected to evolutionary excitations. This is achieved by a novel formulation of the Path Integral (PI) approach. Specifically, a stochastic averaging/linearization treatment of the original fractional order governing equation of motion yields a first-order stochastic differential equation (SDE) for the oscillator response amplitude. Associated with this first-order SDE is the Chapman–Kolmogorov (CK) equation governing the evolution in time of the non-stationary respon…
Protein surplus myopathies and other rare congenital myopathies.
2002
The protein surplus myopathies have emerged as a newly recognized subgroup of morphologically defined myopathies within the spectrum of congenital myopathies because of the accumulation of protein aggregates, some of them mutant proteins. Currently, nosologic, including molecular criteria include desmin-related myopathies, actinopathies, and hereditary inclusion body myopathies, whereas hyaline body myopathy is still a putative form of protein surplus myopathy because of lack of any molecular data. The congenital myopathies (CM), foremost including nemaline and myotubular myopathies, have given evidence that, despite their epidemiologic rarity, the molecular age has dawned in CM and has eve…
Object, Structure, and Form
2012
The main task of this paper is to develop the non-Platonist view of mathematics as a science of structures I have called, borrowing the label from Putnam, `realism with the human face'. According to this view, if by `object' we mean what exists independently of whether we are thinking about it or not, mathematics is a science of patterns (structures), where patterns are neither objects nor properties of objects, but aspects (or aspects of aspects, etc.) of concrete objects which dawn on us when we represent objects (or aspects of... within a given system (of representation). Mathematical patterns, therefore, are real, because they ultimately depend on concrete objects, but are neither objec…
Impact of the process of isolating humic acids from peat on their propertiesA paper submitted to the Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science.
2009
Humic substances (HS) can be isolated in preparative quantities from low rank coal, peat, and soil. Traditionally, treatment with solutions of NaOH, KOH, or metal salts (K4P2O7) has been used for their isolation. The aim of this article is to study the effectiveness of different technologies in extracting HS from peat as well as the impact of the different extractive technologies on the properties of the isolated HS. Yields of HS depend very much on the extraction process (extractant, temperature, pretreatment procedures, solvent, mixing intensity); however, the properties of the substances obtained (molecular mass, number of functional groups, spectral characteristics) differ significantly…
Modelling anaerobic biomass growth kinetics with a substrate threshold concentration.
2004
Abstract Many bacteria have been observed to stop growing below a certain substrate threshold concentration. In this study, a modification of the Monod kinetics expression has been proposed to take into account this substrate threshold concentration observed in bacterial growth. Besides the threshold concentration no additional parameters have been added to the kinetic expression and so, only the substrate threshold concentration and the half-saturation constant have to be estimated for model calibration purposes. Furthermore, for parameter estimation purposes, practical identifiability of this new function has been studied and the results have been satisfactory. The new model has been appl…
Hydric, thermal and mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete containing different fillers
2008
Abstract Water vapor diffusion coefficient, water absorption coefficient, water permeability, thermal conductivity, compressive strength and freeze resistance properties of two self-compacting concretes (SCC) containing limestone filler and fly ash are determined in the paper. The results indicate that strength development is faster in the material containing limestone filler but after 90 days the strength values in both materials are almost the same. Liquid water transport and heat transport are faster in SCC with limestone filler while the water vapor transport is faster in the material containing fly ash. This corresponds well with the much better freeze resistance of the material with f…