CASE STUDY ON PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND STABILITY ANALYSIS OF BAISHIHU SUSPENSION BRIDGE AND SIDE SLOPE

The main structure of the Baishihu suspension bridge was connected to the anchor foundations by three main steel cables. The wooden pedestrian deck was fixed to the main steel cables using steel beams and was stabilized by two stabilizing cables. The stabilizing cables and bridge body were joined by 44 steel connecting rods. Therefore, the slope stability at the anchorage foundations of the main steel cables, as well as the performance monitoring and analysis of the main steel cables and stabilizing cables, are critical to the overall performance of the suspension bridge. This paper discusses the performance monitoring and analysis of the steel cable deflection and cable strength for this bridge, as well as the main considerations and results of the stability analysis of the bridge abutments and side slopes of the two banks. Water-level observation wells, inclinometers, and tiltmeters monitoring were used to record reference data for the analysis of the slope stability performance. Additionally, the three-dimensional dynamic analysis program VFIFE was used to analyze the deformation and motion of the bridge. The final steady-state results were used to compare the static design value and monitoring data. The dynamic response before the final steady state was also observed.

Parametric Decay of Alfvénic Wave Packets in Nonperiodic Low-beta Plasmas

The parametric decay of finite-size Alfvén waves in nonperiodic low-beta plasmas is investigated using one-dimensional (1D) hybrid simulations. Compared with the usual small periodic system, a wave packet in a large system under the absorption boundary condition shows different decay dynamics, including reduced energy transfer, localized density cavitation, and ion heating. The resulting Alfvén wave dynamics are influenced by several factors relating to this instability, including the growth rate, central wave frequency, and unstable bandwidth. A final steady state of the wave packet may be achieved when the instability does not have enough time to develop within the residual packet, and the packet size shows well-defined scaling dependencies on the growth rate, wave amplitude, and plasma beta. Under the proper conditions, enhanced secondary decay can also be excited in the form of a narrow, amplified wave packet. These results may help to interpret laboratory and spacecraft observations of Alfvén waves, and to refine our understanding of the associated energy transport and ion heating.

Approximated Mixed-Integer Convex Model for Phase Balancing in Three-Phase Electric Networks

With this study, we address the optimal phase balancing problem in three-phase networks with asymmetric loads in reference to a mixed-integer quadratic convex (MIQC) model. The objective function considers the minimization of the sum of the square currents through the distribution lines multiplied by the average resistance value of the line. As constraints are considered for the active and reactive power redistribution in all the nodes considering a 3×3 binary decision variable having six possible combinations, the branch and nodal current relations are related to an extended upper-triangular matrix. The solution offered by the proposed MIQC model is evaluated using the triangular-based three-phase power flow method in order to determine the final steady state of the network with respect to the number of power loss upon the application of the phase balancing approach. The numerical results in three radial test feeders composed of 8, 15, and 25 nodes demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed MIQC model as compared to metaheuristic optimizers such as the genetic algorithm, black hole optimizer, sine–cosine algorithm, and vortex search algorithm. All simulations were carried out in MATLAB 2020a using the CVX tool and the Gurobi solver.

Countering the Deleterious Effects of Electromagnetic Pulse

Robot systems like automated shipping swinging robots, wire transducer sensors and even computer indigenous time sensors (amongst others) often use oscillating circuits such as the famous van der Pol system, while this manuscript investigates protection of such sensor circuitry to spurious voltage spikes accompanying an electromagnetic pulse. These spurious voltages can lead to uncontrolled robot motion and even debilitation. A very brief discussion of electromagnetic pulses yields design parameters to evaluate circuit responses to realistic disturbing pulses. Recent research in nonlinear-adaptive methods to protect circuits are described to highlight the proposed novelty: utilization of feedback rules as adaptive mechanisms to modify the otherwise nonlinear feedforwards systems improving the results in recent literature. Feedback is iterated to select adaption parameters that simultaneously produce favorable circuit performance in addition to effective parameter identification inherent in the adaption (to provide meaningful parameter estimates to unspecified future applications). Spurious voltages were rapidly rejected with a mere 0.3% trajectory deviation, stabilizing quickly with a final (steady state) deviation of 0.01%. The demonstrated abilities to reject the deleterious spurious effects are compared to nominal figures of merit for timing accuracy of various computer systems to conclude the proposed methods are effective for some applications, but insufficient for others.

Dissolution and solubility of calcite-rhodochrosite solid solutions [(Ca1-xMnx)CO3] at 25 °C

A complete series of calcite-rhodochrosite solid solutions [(Ca1-xMnx)CO3] are prepared, and their dissolution processes in various water samples are experimentally investigated. The crystal morphologies of the solid solutions vary from blocky spherical crystal aggregates to smaller spheres with an increasing incorporation of Mn in the solids. Regarding dissolution in N2-degassed water, air-saturated water and CO2-saturated water at 25 °C, the aqueous Ca and Mn concentrations reach their highest values after 1240–2400 h, 6–12 h and < 1 h, respectively, and then decrease gradually to a steady state; additionally, the ion activity products (log_IAP) at the final steady state (≈ solubility products in log_Ksp) are estimated to be − 8.46 ± 0.06, − 8.44 ± 0.10 and − 8.59 ± 0.10 for calcite [CaCO3], respectively, and − 10.25 ± 0.08, − 10.26 ± 0.10 and − 10.28 ± 0.03, for rhodochrosite [MnCO3], respectively. As XMn increases, the log_IAP values decrease from − 8.44 ~ − 8.59 for calcite to − 10.25 ~ − 10.28 for rhodochrosite. The aqueous Mn concentrations increase with an increasing Mn/(Ca + Mn) molar ratio (XMn) of the (Ca1-xMnx)CO3 solid solutions, while the aqueous Ca concentrations show the highest values at XMn = 0.53–0.63. In the constructed Lippmann diagram of subregular (Ca1-xMnx)CO3 solid solutions, the solids dissolve incongruently, and the data points of the aqueous solutions move progressively up to the Lippmann solutus curve and then along the solutus curve or saturation curve of pure MnCO3 to the Mn-poor side. The microcrystalline cores of the spherical crystal aggregates are preferentially dissolved to form core hollows while simultaneously precipitating Mn-rich hexagonal prisms.

Magneto-Induced Normal Stress of Magnetorheological Gel Under Quasi-Statically Monotonic and Periodically Cyclic Loading

Magnetorheological (MR) gel, an analog of MR fluid, is a novel kind of magnetic-responsive material. In this article, the influence of quasi-statically monotonic loading and periodically cyclic loading on the normal stress behavior of MR gel (MRG) is systemically investigated. Firstly, carbonyl iron powder (CIP) and soft polymer were adopted for the fabrication of MRG. Then, the variations of normal stress with shear strain were tested under different excited magnetic fields, shear rates, CIP contents, and shear strain amplitudes. It was found that the normal stress behavior of MRG exhibits three prominent stages: a sudden rise at the beginning, followed by a rapid decrease, and then a final steady-state value. The experiments also indicated that the excited magnetic field, compared with other influencing factors, has the most critical effect on the normal stress behavior of MRG. The corresponding mechanisms of various phenomena were methodically discussed. Furthermore, the ratio of shear stress to normal stress was proposed to better comprehend the mechanism of the evolution of internal microstructures of MRG and MR effects from a novel perspective. The results implied that the ratio has a close relation to the excited magnetic field and CIP content of MRG. The increase of normal stress is helpful for the fabrication of MRG with a high-efficiency MR effect.

Coherence and mixedness of neutrino oscillations in a magnetic field

The radical departure from classical physics implies quantum coherence, i.e., coherent superposition of eigenstates of Hermitian operators. In resource theory, quantum coherence is a resource for quantum operations. Typically the stochastic phenomenon induces decoherence effects. However, in the present work, we prove that nonunitary evolution leads to the generation of quantum coherence in some cases. Specifically, we consider the neutrino propagation in the dissipative environment, namely in a magnetic field with a stochastic component, and focus on neutrino flavour, spin and spin-flavour oscillations. We present exact analytical results for quantum coherence in neutrino oscillations quantified in terms of the relative entropy. Starting from an initial zero coherence state, we observe persistent oscillations of coherence during the dissipative evolution of an ultra-high energy neutrino in a random interstellar magnetic field. We found that after dissipative evolution, the initial spin-polarized state entirely “thermalizes”, and in the final steady state, the spin-up/down states have the same probabilities. On the other hand, neutrino flavour states also “thermalize”, but the populations of two flavour states do not equate to each other. The initial flavour still dominates in the final steady state.

Multi-spike solutions of a hybrid reaction–transport model

Simulations of classical pattern-forming reaction–diffusion systems indicate that they often operate in the strongly nonlinear regime, with the final steady state consisting of a spatially repeating pattern of localized spikes. In activator–inhibitor systems such as the two-component Gierer–Meinhardt (GM) model, one can consider the singular limit D a ≪ D h , where D a and D h are the diffusivities of the activator and inhibitor, respectively. Asymptotic analysis can then be used to analyse the existence and linear stability of multi-spike solutions. In this paper, we analyse multi-spike solutions in a hybrid reaction–transport model, consisting of a slowly diffusing activator and an actively transported inhibitor that switches at a rate α between right-moving and left-moving velocity states. Such a model was recently introduced to account for the formation and homeostatic regulation of synaptic puncta during larval development in Caenorhabditis elegans . We exploit the fact that the hybrid model can be mapped onto the classical GM model in the fast switching limit α → ∞, which establishes the existence of multi-spike solutions. Linearization about the multi-spike solution yields a non-local eigenvalue problem that is used to investigate stability of the multi-spike solution by combining analytical results for α → ∞ with a graphical construction for finite α .

Achieving change in the Healthcare Sector

Individual health is an essential prerequisite for achieving quality of life. Healthcare is a basic function of a well-functioning social system. Contemporary changes at economic, social and demographic level require healthcare to show a high adaptive capacity to adapt to the inevitable change. Healthcare change processes need to involve different professional sectors and create an active commitment while avoiding competition and conflicts between the parties involved. In order to ensure long-term sustainability in change, inertia must be overcome. Integration of services is also an important element of sustainability and integration of functions. A service that can be more easily integrated into wider clinical systems seems to have a higher probability of sustainability, partly due to easier support from the stakeholders. It also makes it more difficult to remove these services without having a significant impact on the rest of the system. One of the dangers is that the change can become a part of the system and it is considered for granted and not as a project that requires constant development. Therefore, sustainability should be considered as a constantly evolving rather than a final steady state. In Greece, the goal today is to have a patient-centered health care system with a shifted balance of power from the healthcare provider to the consumer. In order to achieve this, it is important to improve the coordination throughout the healthcare system. Effective co-operation between providers is essential to transform the healthcare system in Greece.

Stratospheric influence on idealised baroclinic life cycles

&lt;p&gt;The importance of understanding the dynamical coupling of troposphere and stratosphere to make accurate weather and climate predictions is well-known. Over the past years and decades various signatures of such a&lt;br&gt;coupling have been discovered. A very robust result, for example, seems to be an equatorward shift of the tropospheric eddy driven jet following sudden stratospheric warming events, where the westerly winds of the stratospheric polar vortex weaken or even reverse. However, many aspects of this fundamental coupling are still not fully understood and research on how the state of the stratosphere can influence the tropospheric circulation and what dynamical processes are involved is still ongoing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;An important such process arises due to the interaction of a sharp, localised maximum in potential vorticity gradient near the tropopause with baroclinic eddies in the troposphere. Here, we analyse the sensitivity of baroclinic wave development and evolution to changes of various basic state characteristics, by performing a series of idealised baroclinic eddy life cycle experiments. Special attention is paid to sensitivities associated with the dynamical state of the stratosphere. We find that the final (steady) state of the life cycle simulations corresponds to an equatorward shift of the tropospheric jet in cases where the initial conditions do not include a stratospheric polar vortex (such as following sudden warming events) compared to those that do. These results further support the idea that the stratospheric state can strongly influence tropospheric dynamics and, in particular, highlight the robustness of the jet shift response following sudden warmings, that can be seen in a range of observations and numerical model experiments.&lt;/p&gt;