The feeding system of Tiktaalik roseae: an intermediate between suction feeding and biting

Changes to feeding structures are a fundamental component of the vertebrate transition from water to land. Classically, this event has been characterized as a shift from an aquatic, suction-based mode of prey capture involving cranial kinesis to a biting-based feeding system utilizing a rigid skull capable of capturing prey on land. Here we show that a key intermediate, Tiktaalik roseae, was capable of cranial kinesis despite significant restructuring of the skull to facilitate biting and snapping. Lateral sliding joints between the cheek and dermal skull roof, as well as independent mobility between the hyomandibula and palatoquadrate, enable the suspensorium of T. roseae to expand laterally in a manner similar to modern alligator gars and polypterids. This movement can expand the spiracular and opercular cavities during feeding and respiration, which would direct fluid through the feeding apparatus. Detailed analysis of the sutural morphology of T. roseae suggests that the ability to laterally expand the cheek and palate was maintained during the fish-to-tetrapod transition, implying that limited cranial kinesis was plesiomorphic to the earliest limbed vertebrates. Furthermore, recent kinematic studies of feeding in gars demonstrate that prey capture with lateral snapping can synergistically combine both biting and suction, rather than trading off one for the other. A “gar-like” stage in early tetrapod evolution might have been an important intermediate step in the evolution of terrestrial feeding systems by maintaining suction-generation capabilities while simultaneously elaborating a mechanism for biting-based prey capture.

Dynamic parameters identification for sliding joints of surface grinder based on deep neural network modeling

Dynamic parameters of joints are indispensable factors affecting performance of machine tools. In order to obtain the stiffness and damping of sliding joints between the working platform and the machine tool body of the surface grinder, a new method of dynamic parameters identification is proposed that based on deep neural network (DNN) modeling. Firstly, the DNN model of dynamic parameters for working platform-machine tool body sliding joints is established by taking the stiffness and damping parameters as the input and the natural frequencies as the output. Secondly, the number of hidden layers in DNN topology is optimally selected in order to the optimal training results. Thirdly, combining the predicted results by DNN model with experimental results by modal test, the stiffness and damping are identified via cuckoo search algorithm. Finally, the relative error between the predicted and experimental results is less than 2.2%, which achieves extremely high prediction precision; and thereby indicates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Modeling Strategies of Ductile Masonry Infills for the Reduction of the Seismic Vulnerability of RC Frames

The threat to human lives and the economic losses due to high seismic vulnerability of non-engineered traditional masonry infills subjected to earthquakes have been highlighted by several post-seismic surveys and experimental and numerical investigations. In the past decades, researchers have proposed different techniques to mitigate problems related to the seismic vulnerability of traditional masonry infills; however, a viable, practical, and universally accepted solution has not been achieved yet. Among the possible innovative techniques, the one using ductile (or pliable) infills have shown promising results in recent experimental tests. These infills have provided, indeed, a reduced in-plane stiffness and a very high displacement capacity. The research units of the University of Pavia/EUCENTRE (Italy) and the University of Newcastle (Australia) have proposed two different systems for ductile masonry infill based on dividing the masonry panel into a number of segments interconnected through horizontal sliding joints. The ductile masonry infill proposed by the University of Pavia subdivides the masonry panel into four horizontal subpanels using specially engineered sliding joints and presents a deformable mortar at the infill/structure interface, while the one conceived by the University of Newcastle is made of mortar-less specially shaped masonry units capable of sliding on all bed joints. The experiments conducted on the two novel systems have permitted the calibration of two numerical macromodels capable to replicate the overall in-plane seismic response of these ductile masonry infills. One approach is based on a spring model, as usually adopted for traditional masonry infill; the other calibrates the response of a semi-active damper model. The calibrated macromodel approaches have been adopted to demonstrate the enhanced behavior and the reduction of the seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) framed structures with the employment of the ductile infills in comparison to structures with non-engineered masonry infills.