Influence of Secondary Elements and Deck Cracking on the Lateral Load Distribution of Steel Girder Bridges

The AASHTO LRFD load distribution factor equation was developed based on elastic finite element analysis considering only primary members, i.e., the effects of secondary elements such as lateral bracing and parapets were not considered. Meanwhile, many bridges have been identified as having significant cracking in the concrete deck. Even though deck cracking is a well-known phenomenon, the significance of pre-existing cracks on the live load distribution has not yet been assessed. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of secondary elements and deck cracking on the lateral load distribution of girder bridges. First, secondary elements such as diaphragms and parapets were modeled using the finite element method, and the calculated load distribution factors were compared with the code-specified values. Second, the effects of typical deck cracking and crack types that have a major effect on load distribution were identified through a number of nonlinear finite element analyses. It was established that the presence of secondary elements may produce load distribution factors up to 40% lower than the AASHTO LRFD values. Longitudinal cracking was found to increase the load distribution factor by up to 17% when compared to the LRFD value while the transverse cracking was found to not significantly influence the transverse distribution of moment.     

Effect of process parameters on electrical, optical properties of IZO films produced by inclination opposite target type DC magnetron sputtering

IZO films were deposited onto PET substrate at room temperature with the inclined opposite target type DC magnetron sputtering equipment, in which a sintered oxide IZO target (doped with 10% ZnO, packing density of 99.99%) was used. The effects of total sputtering pressure and film thickness on IZO films properties were studied. All the films produced at room temperature have a amorphous structure, irrespective of the total sputtering pressure and film thickness. A resistivity of the order of 10⁻⁴ Ω·cm was obtained for IZO films deposited at lower pressure (film thickness of 190 nm). The resistivity of IZO films deposited at room temperature depends on film thickness and shows a minimum at a thickness of 530 nm.     

Influence of potassium pyrophosphate in electrolyte on coated layer of AZ91 Mg alloy formed by plasma electrolytic oxidation

The effect of potassium pyrophosphate in the electrolyte on plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process for AZ91 Mg alloy was investigated. The morphologies and chemical compositions of the coating layer on the AZ91 Mg alloy were evaluated and corrosion resistance was also estimated by potentiodynamic polarization analysis. The coating layer on AZ91 Mg alloy coated from the Bath 2 containing 0.03 mol/L of potassium pyrophosphate for 360 s exhibited considerably dense structure and contained 11%–18% (mass fraction) of phosphorous. The higher content of phosphorous of coating layer coated from Bath 2 could be detected at the bottom of oxide layer, which strongly implied that the phosphorous ion might be concentrated at the barrier layer. Corrosion potential of coating layer of AZ91 Mg alloy increased and corrosion current density decreased with increasing the concentration of potassium pyrophosphate. The polarization resistance (R_p) of coating layer of AZ91 Mg alloy coated from Bath 2 was 4.65×10⁷ Ω/cm², which was higher than that (R_p=3.56×10⁴ Ω/cm²) of the sample coated from electrolyte without potassium pyrophosphate. The coating layer coated from Bath 2 containing 0.03 mol/L potassium pyrophosphate exhibited the best corrosion resistance.     

Epitaxial Growth and Device Design Optimization of Full-Vertical GaN <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">i</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> Rectifiers

The optimization of growth parameters, epitaxial structure, and device design for full-vertical gallium nitride (GaN) p-i-n rectifiers grown on n-type 6H-SiC substrates employing AlGaN:Si conducting buffer layers have been studied. The Al _x Ga_1−x N:Si (x = ~0.1) nucleation layer is calibrated to be capable of acting as a good buffer layer for subsequent GaN growth as well as to provide excellent electrical properties. Two types of full-vertical devices were fabricated and compared: one without any current guiding and the other with the current guiding in the p-layer. The reverse breakdown voltage for rectifiers with a relatively thin 2.5-μm-thick i-region without p-current guiding was found to be over −330 V, while one with p-current guiding was measured to be over −400 V. Devices with p-current guiding structures exhibit reduced reverse leakage current by an order of magnitude >4 at −100 V.     

Smart Human Computer Interface with EMG and Vision Based on Multi-modal Information Fusion

A smart Human-Computer Interface(HCI)replacing conventional mouse interface is proposed.The interface is able to control cursor and command action with only hand.Four finger motions(left click,right click,hold,drag)are used to command the interface.Also the authors materialize cursor movement control using image processing.The measure what they use for inference is entropy of Electromyogram(EMG)signal,Gaussian modeling and maximum likelihood estimation.In image processing for cursor control,they use color recognition to get the center point of finger tip from marker,and map the point onto cursor.Accuracy of finger movement inference is over 95% and cursor control works naturally without delay.They materialize whole system to check its performance and utility.     

OXIDATIVE STABILITY AND VITAMIN ELEVELS INCREASED IN RESTRUCTURED BEEF ROASTS WITH ADDED RICE BRAN OIL1

Crude rice bran oil 0, 1%, and 2% (w/w), was added to restructured beef roasts that were stored at 4C and analyzed at 0, 7, and 14 days to determine nutritional properties and oxidative stability. The saturated fatty acid to unsaturatedfatty acid (SFA/UFA) ratio and the content of 7‐ketocholesterol decreased (p < 0.05) whereas vitamin E vitamers increased (p < 0.05) in the product with 2% rice bran oil. TBARs numbers were lower (p < 0.05) in roasts with rice bran oil after 7 days of storage. The addition of 2% rice bran oil (w/w) was effective in improving both oxidative stability and vitamin E levels.     

Image Morphing Using Deformation Techniques

This paper presents a new image morphing method using a two-dimensional deformation technique which provides an intuitive model for a warp. The deformation technique derives aC¹-continuous and one-to-one warp from a set of point pairs overlaid on two images. The resulting in-between image precisely reflects the correspondence of features specified by an animator. We also control the transition behaviour in a metamorphosis sequence by taking another deformable surface model, which is simpler and thus more efficient than the deformation technique for a warp. The proposed method separates transition control from feature interpolation and is easier to use than the previous techniques. The multigrid relaxation method is employed to solve a linear system in deriving a warp or transition rates. This method makes our image morphing technique fast enough for an interactive environment.