• Wind and Structures
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.437-446
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• 2021

As wind turbine rotors increase, the overall loads and dynamic response become an important issue. This problem is augmented by the exposure of wind turbines to severe atmospheric events with unconventional flows such as tornadoes, which need specific designs not included in standards and codes at present. An experimental study was conducted to analyze the loads induced by a tornado-like vortex (TLV) on horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT). A large-scale tornado simulation developed in The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome at Western University in Canada, the so-called Mode B Tornado, was employed as the TLV flow acting on a rigid wind turbine model under two rotor operational conditions (idling and parked) for five radial distances. It was observed that the overall forces and moments depend on the location and orientation of the wind turbine system with respect to the tornado vortex centre, as TLV are three-dimensional flows with velocity gradients in the radial, vertical, and tangential direction. The mean bending moment at the tower base was the most important in terms of magnitude and variation in relation to the position of the HAWT with respect to the core radius of the tornado, and it was highly dependent on the rotor Tip Speed Ratio (TSR).

• Iberoamérica
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.209-241
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• 2021

Over the last few years, rural areas in northeastern Mexico have present significant changes in social, economic, and territorial aspects linked to the New Rurality. In this context, winemaking has become one of the most dynamic and growing activities in the regional economy. This emerging development has prompted different forms of appropriation and use of this space, but it also highlights the lack of access to knowledge for wine production due to the lack of formal educational centers. As a result, learning communities enable the development of skills and competencies through non-formal educational practices. The objective of this paper is to analyze the role of learning communities in non-formal educational environments, taking as a case study: a collective of small-scale wine producers in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila. This research focuses on two perspectives of learning: appropriation and technology transfer, and promotion of Mexican wine culture. The main finding was to demonstrate the importance of including educational processes that respond to the context and needs of the community.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.629-638
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• 2022

This work shows the impregnation of scents using a graphene sponge (GS). This was functionalized by the modified Hummers method, pursuing to add different functional groups. It is proposed to achieve the release and seek to control it through electrical potential applied to the graphene sponge with essential oils. The graphene sponge was functionalized and steeped with two kinds of oil. The electrochemical study demonstrates the variation in the electrochemical behaviour of the functionalized graphene sponge without and impregnated with oil. The release of the oil and its aromatic scents was carried out by applying an electrical potential of 30 V, with a release rate of 1.86 mg/min. The heating of the sample that causes the release of oil, associated with the electrical resistance of the system, reaches temperatures of about 150℃. The essential oils, graphene sponge, surfactant, graphene sponge with essential oils, graphene sponge recuperated after applying electric potential, graphene sponge recovered by temperature and dipropylene glycol (DPG) were characterized using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), digital microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.477-487
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• 2021

This study focuses on the influence of strong ground motion duration on the response and collapse probability of reinforced concrete walls with a predominant response in flexure. Walls with different height and mass were used to account for a broad spectrum of configurations and fundamental periods. The walls were designed following the specifications of the Chilean design code. Non-linear models of the reinforced concrete walls using a distributed plasticity approach were performed in OpenSees and calibrated with experimental data. Special attention was put on modeling strength and stiffness degradation. The effect of duration was isolated using spectrally equivalent ground motions of long and short duration. In order to assess the behavior of the RC shear walls, incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) were performed, and fragility curves were obtained using cumulative and non-cumulative engineering demand parameters. The spectral acceleration at the fundamental period of the wall was used as the intensity measure (IM) for the IDAs. The results show that the long duration ground motion set decreases the average collapse capacity in walls of medium and long periods compared to the results using the short duration set. Also, it was found that a lower median intensity is required to achieve moderate damage states in the same medium and long period wall models. Finally, strength and stiffness degradation are important modelling parameters and if they are not included, the damage in reinforced concrete walls may be greatly underestimated.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.195-200
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• 2022

There have been few reports on extra-enteric infections by Blastocystis STs and none have been molecularly identified in samples from human reproductive organs. We report for the first time the identification of 3 different subtypes of Blastocystis (ST1-3) in vaginal and sperm samples, from patients infected with Trichomonas vaginalis. Blastocystis STs were identified by PCR-sequencing and by phylogenetic inferences using 28 vaginal swab samples and 7 sperm samples from patients trichomoniasis. Blastocystis STs were identified in 6 of 28 vaginal swabs (21.4%) and in 3 of 7 sperm samples (42.8%). In both biological samples, STs 1-3 were found; one vaginal sample showed subtype co-infection with ST1 and ST3. High genetic variation was observed in the sequences obtained and no specific clustering in the phylogenetic trees was detected. Most of the haplotypes identified were placed far from the main dispersal centers. Our finding suggested that incorrect cleaning of the genital area or a contamination by combination of anal and vaginal intercourse.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.303-312
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• 2022

As wind turbine rotors increase, the overall loads and dynamic response become an important issue. This problem is augmented by the exposure of wind turbines to severe atmospheric events with unconventional flows such as tornadoes, which need specific designs not included in standards and codes at present. An experimental study was conducted to analyze the loads induced by a tornado-like vortex (TLV) on horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT). A large-scale tornado simulation developed in The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome at Western University in Canada, the so-called Mode B Tornado, was employed as the TLV flow acting on a rigid wind turbine model under two rotor operational conditions (idling and parked) for five radial distances. It was observed that the overall forces and moments depend on the location and orientation of the wind turbine system with respect to the tornado vortex centre, as TLV are three-dimensional flows with velocity gradients in the radial, vertical, and tangential direction. The mean bending moment at the tower base was the most important in terms of magnitude and variation in relation to the position of the HAWT with respect to the core radius of the tornado, and it was highly dependent on the rotor Tip Speed Ratio (TSR).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1199-1209
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• 2023

Where concrete structures are designed to have a service life of over 100 years, their performance must be monitored, for the prediction models available are fraught with uncertainties that need to be eliminated. The present study was conducted to meet that need by monitoring a pilot structure for low and intermediate radioactive waste storage. Long-term operation of the sensors was observed to be adequate to determine the value of the parameters that characterise structural durability, such as corrosion current density. The parameters analysed were correlated to calculate their reciprocal impact: where applied in conjunction with artificial intelligence tools, temperature, for instance, was found suitable for finding activation energy and expansion coefficients and detecting outliers. The results showed the pilot structure to perform satisfactorily.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.36.3-36.3
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• 2019

We present a multiwavelength study of an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in NGC 5252, which is known as a candidate for an intermediate-mass black hole. The ULX, located 22 arcsec away from the center of NGC 5252, was first discovered with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. In the optical spectra, the strong narrow emission lines are found at the position of the ULX. It reveals that the ULX is likely associated with NGC 5252. The VLBA data of the ULX yields that the black hole mass of the ULX is smaller than 106 solar mass, inferred from the black hole fundamental plane. From the near-infrared imaging data, we find that the stellar mass associated with the ULX is smaller than ~107.9 solar mass, implying that the ULX can be a remnant of a merging dwarf. We also find that K-band luminosity of the ULX is two orders of magnitude smaller than typical active galactic nuclei at a given [OIII] luminosity. It may suggest the ULX lacks the dusty torus possibly due to the disappearance of dusty material during the recoiling process.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.4
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• pp.561-573
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• 2022

This paper presents a new model to obtain the minimum area of the contact surface for rectangular isolated footings, considering that the contact surface works partially to compression (a part of the contact surface of the footing is subjected to compression and the other is not in compression or tension). The methodology is developed by integration to obtain the axial load "P", moment around the X axis "M_x" and moment around the Y axis "M_y". This document presents the simplified and precise equations of the four possible cases of footing subjected to uniaxial bending and five possible cases of footing subjected to biaxial bending. The current model considers the contact area of the footing that works totally in compression, and other models consider the contact area that works partially under compression and these are developed by very complex iterative processes. Numerical examples are presented to obtain the minimum area of rectangular footings under an axial load and moments in two directions, and the results are compared with those of other authors. The results show that the new model presents smaller areas than the other authors presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.1
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• pp.51-70
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• 2024

Poorly designed reinforced concrete (RC) columns of actual moment-resisting frame (MRF) buildings can undergo Axial Compression Ratios (ACR) so high as their demand exceeds their capacity, even for serviceability gravity load combinations, this lack commonly leads to insufficient seismic strength. Nonetheless, many seismic design codes do not specify limits for ACR. The main contribution of this research is to investigate the need to limit the ACR in seismic design. For this purpose, three prototype 6 and 11-story RC MRF buildings are analyzed in this paper, these buildings have columns undergoing excessive ACR, according to the limits prescribed by standards. To better that situation, three types of alterations are performed: retrofitting the abovementioned overloaded columns by steel jacketing, increasing the concrete strength, and reducing the number of stories. Several finite element analyses are conducted using the well-known software SAP2000 and the results are used for further calculations. Code-type and pushover analyses are performed on the original and retrofitted buildings, the suitability of the other modified buildings is checked by code-type analyses only. The obtained results suggest that ACR is a rather reliable indicator of the final building strength, hence, apparently, limiting the ACR in the standards (for early stages of design) might avoid unnecessary verifications.