Ductility and Behaviour Factor of RC Frame - Perforated SPSW Dual Systems

In this paper the non-linear behaviour of dual seismic-resistant structures made of Reinforced Concrete Frames (RCF) and perforated Steel Plate Shear Walls (SPSWs) has been investigated. The starting point has been the numerical calibration by ABAQUS of an experimental test taken from literature on one-third scale three-storey RCF with infill SPSWs subjected to monotonically increasing horizontal loading. Based on results of the implemented FEM model, three types of perforated SPSWs with different percentages and position of holes have been numerically analysed through static non-linear analyses. On the basis of numerical results achieved, by comparing each other the values of shear strength, behaviour factor and ductility of the tested specimens, it has been observed a significant improvement of the ductile behaviour of the RCF equipped with perforated SPSWs with respect to the one obtained for the RCF provided with traditional solid SPSWs. In addition, the dual systems given by RCF and perforated SPSWs have provided a shear strength reduction of 26%, 46% and 51% in comparison to that of the original RCF - solid SPSW composite system, when holes percentage equal to 13%, 40% and 42% have been considered, respectively. Finally, it has been noticed that behaviour factors of perforated specimens have been increased with increasing adjoining distance among holes.</jats:p

Integration of simulation and multimedia in automatically generated Internet courses

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47532-4_5This paper describes the automatic generation of simulation-based Internet courses by means of an object-oriented continuous simulation language (OOCSMP), and a compiler for this language (C-OOL). Several multimedia extensions added to the language are also described. These extensions provide the student with a better understanding of the simulated models. The paper finally describes a course developed using the multimedia extensions

Heavy metals Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb in tissue, liver of Esox lucius and sediment from the Anzali international lagoon- Iran

Levels of contaminants in fish are of particular interest because of the potential risk to humans consuming them. This paper examines the levels of cadmium, lead, zinc and copper in liver and muscle tissue of Esox lucius and in sediments from the Anzali international wetland in Iran. The wetland is a nursery and feeding habitat for fish species both from the lagoon and the Caspian Sea, which are consumed by the local inhabitants and others. Eleven main rivers discharge agricultural, industrial, urban and municipal wastes into this wetland. Twenty five Esox lucius specimens, with a mean weight of 804.6±121g and mean length of 430.7± 2mm were collected from the wetland by multi mesh gill nets in September and December 2007.. The age was determined from scale samples according to the annual ring structure. Average concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn accumulated in the mid-dorsal muscle tissue (filleted and skinned) of fish were 0.001, 0.21±0.02, 0.13±0.01 and 2.55±0.18 µg.g-1, respectively. The concentrations of these metals in liver samples were Cd: 0.0014± Cu: 0.96± 0.61, Pb: 0.11 ± 0.04 and Zn: 2.46±1.5 µg.g-1. Significant positive correlations were detected between Zn and Cu with body weight, while negative correlations were found between Pb and body weight. The concentrations of Zn, Cu and Cd were below the maximum allowable concentrations for fish proposed by WHO and MAFF (safe for human consumption) but concentration of Pb exceeded the standard levels

Pressure management in water distribution systems in order to reduce energy consumption and background leakage

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IWA Publishing via the DOI in this recordDue to the seriousness of the water shortage crisis over the past decades, the need to manage water use has become more and more important. Pressure management in urban water distribution networks is one of the options that can significantly reduce water loss. The pressure reducing valve (PRV) and the variable speed pump (VSP) are two devices that are most used in water distribution system (WDS) pressure management. In the present study, an optimization code was first proposed to estimate the instantaneous water demand based on the reported network pressures. According to the estimated instantaneous water demand, another optimization code is presented based on the DE algorithm to control the installed PRVs and VSPs. This results in the uniform distribution of the pressure and reduction of the excessive pressure on the water network for all hours of the day, reducing the water leakage and energy consumption accordingly. The provided method has been applied to a real water distribution network in northern Iran. The results showed that by applying this method, the network background leakage and the energy consumption have been reduced by 41.72% and 28.4%, respectively, compared to a non-management mode

Proportional Hazard Bivariate Kumaraswamy Model Applied on Fish Mercury Concentration

International advisory bodies have developed guidelines for testing mercury and aquatic items to protect human health and international trade. The mercury absorption in fish has a great effect on human health. For modeling this problem, a new bivariate distribution using the proportional hazard rate (PHR) model with Kumaraswamy marginal called BKPH is derived and studied via statistical properties and reliability measures. Moreover, several methods of parameter estimation are discussed, including maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), method of moments estimation (MME), and inference function for margins estimation (IFM). In the simulation study, the performance of estimators depending on their estimation methodologies is compared. Finally, a comparative study of the proposed BKPH with several bivariate Kumaraswamy distributions via goodness of fit criteria was introduced. The results of the study proved the potentiality of the BKPH model and has a best fitting on mercury fish absorption data

New Generalized Definitions of Rough Membership Relations and Functions from Topological Point of View

In this paper, we shall integrate some ideas in terms of concepts in topology. In fact, we introduce two different views to define generalized membership relations and functions as mathematical tools to classify the sets and help for measuring exactness and roughness of sets. Moreover, we define several types of fuzzy sets. Comparisons between the induced operations were discussed. Finally, many results, examples and counter examples to indicate connections are investigated

Fibrewise Near Compact and Locally Near Compact Spaces

In this paper we define and study new concepts of fibrewise topological spaces over B namely, fibrewise near compact and fibrewise locally near compact spaces, which are generalizations of well-known concepts near compact and locally near compact topological spaces. Moreover, we study relationships between fibrewise near compact (resp., fibrewise locally near compact) spaces and some fibrewise near separation axioms. Keywords: Fibrewise topological spaces, Fibrewise near compact spaces, Fibrewise locally near compact spaces, Fibrewise near separation axioms. Math. Subject Classification 2010: Primary 55R70, 55P05, Secondary 54C05, 54C08, 54C10