Analysis of the Influence of Sport Cyclists on Narrow Two-Lane Rural Roads Using Instrumented Bicycles and Microsimulation

It is frequent to see cyclists on Spanish two-lane rural roads, both riding individually and in groups. However, these roads were designed only for motorized vehicles, most of them having a narrow section with a null or impassable shoulder. Currently, drivers and cyclists have to share roads and interact, affecting both safety and traffic operation. The possibility of overtaking offers an improvement in traffic operation, however on narrow roads it can be difficult, meaning a greater invasion of the opposite lane thus creating more dangerous situations and implying a higher overtaking duration. To analyze the phenomenon, field data from instrumented bicycles and naturalistic videos were collected, then some performance measures to characterize safety and traffic operation were obtained. To increase the number of overtaking manoeuvres and performance measures obtained from observations, microsimulation has been used by adapting a model to include cyclists and their interaction with motorized vehicles. The traffic microsimulator was calibrated and validated with field data. The results show that cycle traffic presence decreases motorized vehicle average travel speed and increases percent followers and delays. Microsimulation can be used to study other traffic scenarios and can help road administrations to safely and efficiently integrate cyclists to vehicular traffic on rural roads.

Sediment Transport within the Reservoir of Mandali Dam

Mandali Dam is one of the small dams in Iraq; it is located on Haran Wadi, Gangir, just 3km north-east Mandali City. Mandali dam consists of four main parts, the dam body, the intake structure, the spillway, and the bottom outlet. The dam body is zoned earth filled with a central core. The main purposes of the dam are to maintain flow of Wadi Haran, supplying irrigation and drinking water to Mandali City, and recharging the groundwater. Over a period of seven years of operation, the dam lost its ability to store water due to accumulated sediments within its reservoir. The accumulated sediment is about 2.25million m3. The average annual rate of reduction during this period is about 0.321million m3. This is form an annual reduction in the original capacity of the dam by 14.26%. This paper attempts to study the hydraulic characteristics and the characteristics of sediment process including the velocity patterns, the distribution concentration, and bed change of sediment within the reservoir of Mandali Dam. The main conclusions of the study that, the velocity is very high in the upstream of the reservoir, due to the relatively narrow section of the wadi and high elevations of the bottom reservoir at this part and the velocities tend to decrease gradually toward the middle part of the reservoir. High concentration in the reservoir is located at the upstream of the reservoir, due to high flow velocities at the upstream and decrease gradually toward the reservoir outlet from spillway. The thickness of deposited sediment is very high in the middle part of the reservoir due to immediate drop in the velocity of water at this part lead to high deposition of sediment.

A novel stress analysis method for composite Z-stiffeners under mechanical and thermal loads

A closed-form analytical solution is developed for analyzing laminated composite beam with asymmetric Z cross-section. The explicit expressions for evaluating sectional properties such as centroid, shear center, equivalent bending/torsional stiffness and warping stiffness are formulated based upon modified lamination theory and taken into consideration of the structural deformation characteristics of beam with narrow section. The ply stresses of flanges and web laminates are computed for composite Z-stiffener under axial, bending, and torsional loads. The present results give excellent agreement with the results from ANSYS™. A parametric study of their centroid and shear center with various layup sequences was performed by using the developed solution. It is found that the sectional properties are not only dependent of structural configuration but also the laminate property. Moreover, these properties are only dependent of structural configuration if the entire Z-stiffener is made of the same family laminates regardless their ply orientation and stacking sequence. It is concluded that the present approach is a viable and efficient method for designing composite Z-stiffener.

Floodplain morphodynamics and distribution of trace elements in overbank deposits, Vistula River Valley Gorge near Solec nad Wisłą, Poland

Geological and geochemical investigations were carried out in the floodplain of the Vistula River Valley gorge near Solec nad Wisłą (Małopolska Gorge of the Vistula River). Geological mapping was supported by DEM and remote sensing analysis. Sediment samples were taken from depths of 0.5 m and 1.5 m from all geomorphological features identified. The geochemical analysis included determination of Cr, V, Sr, Ba, Ni, Cu, Co, As, Pb and Zn concentrations. Results indicate that the main factors affecting the pattern of features in the floodplain of this area are (1) the highly dynamic flood flow in the narrow section of the gorge and (2) the relief of the top surface of the sub-alluvial basement. The variable concentrations of trace elements are closely related to the floodplain features. Their concentrations can be considered as valuable geochemical proxies that enable a more thorough reconstruction of the sedimentary evolution of the Vistula River Valley and other similar river valleys, especially in gorge sections.

Localizing a gate in CFTR

Experimental and computational studies have painted a picture of the chloride permeation pathway in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) as a short narrow tunnel flanked by wider inner and outer vestibules. Although these studies also identified a number of transmembrane segments (TMs) as pore-lining, the exact location of CFTR’s gate(s) remains unknown. Here, using a channel-permeant probe, [Au(CN)2]−, we provide evidence that CFTR bears a gate that coincides with the predicted narrow section of the pore defined as residues 338–341 in TM6. Specifically, cysteines introduced cytoplasmic to the narrow region (i.e., positions 344 in TM6 and 1148 in TM12) can be modified by intracellular [Au(CN)2]− in both open and closed states, corroborating the conclusion that the internal vestibule does not harbor a gate. However, cysteines engineered to positions external to the presumed narrow region (e.g., 334, 335, and 337 in TM6) are all nonreactive toward cytoplasmic [Au(CN)2]− in the absence of ATP, whereas they can be better accessed by extracellular [Au(CN)2]− when the open probability is markedly reduced by introducing a second mutation, G1349D. As [Au(CN)2]− and chloride ions share the same permeation pathway, these results imply a gate is situated between amino acid residues 337 and 344 along TM6, encompassing the very segment that may also serve as the selectivity filter for CFTR. The unique position of a gate in the middle of the ion translocation pathway diverges from those seen in ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and thus distinguishes CFTR from other members of the ABC transporter family.

Effects of the conduit geometry on the air flow field in the spunbonding process

In the spunbonding process, the air flow field of the drawing conduit affects the polymer drawing and therefore the filament diameter greatly. Effects of the conduit parameters on the air flow field are studied using the previously established air flow field model. The results show that longer narrow section, longer contracting section and larger height of narrow entry are of benefit to increasing the air velocity, thus helpful for decreasing the filament diameter.

Research on Sediment Problem in Dam Area of Three Gorges Project

The Three Gorges Project is the biggest hydraulic engineering and it brings great comprehensive benefits such as flood control, power generation, navigation, and water supply. According to the sedimentation prototype observation on the early stage of the Three Gorges Project operation, the sedimentation pattern of dam area and the upper part of power plant, as well as the channel sedimentation are analyzed after the systematic arrangement of the prototype observation, at the same time, the formation mechanism and development of siltation are studied based on river dynamics theory. The analysis shows that: the early siltation does not have important influence on the operation of the Three Gorges Project, the sedimentation of dam area occurs mainly in the wide section while little siltation in the narrow section and the siltation intensity is greater while the location is close to the dam from the view of the siltation distribution.