OBJECTIVES The shift in the balance of health care, bringing services 'closer to home', is a well-established trend. This study sought to provide insight into the consequences of this trend, in particular the stimulation of demand, by exploring the underlying feedback structure. METHODS We constructed a simulation model using the system dynamics method, which is specifically designed for the ...

In mechanical tests of tantalum-tungsten alloys with nominal tungsten contents between 0 and 10 wt% for strain rates between 0.000016 and 6800 sr and temperatures between 77 and 400 K, the addition of tungsten noticeably reduces the strain-rate dependence of the flow stress of tantalum near yield. It also subtly alters the strain-rate behavior of the work hardening, making it more like that of ...

Characterization and evaluation of a biological submerged filter was carried out on a full-scale pilot plant performing removal of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total nitrogen (TN) from pre-treated urban wastewater. The average influent values of BOD5, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and TN were 370, 1,015 and 60 mg/L, respectively. The pilot plant produced good discharge quality during stea...

The authors propose a design philosophy for steel buildings in moderate seismic regions that draws on familiar concepts of ductility and capacity design, but also integrates the concepts of reserve capacity, elastic flexibility and strength to broaden the field of design possibilities. The paper discusses structural systems representing each of these concepts: Moderate-Ductility Concentrically-...

Widespread adoption of metallic glasses (MGs) in applications motivated by high strength and elasticity combined with plastic-like processing has been stymied by their lack of tensile ductility. One emerging strategy to couple the attractive properties of MGs with resistance to failure by shear localization is to employ sub-micron sample or feature length scales, although conflicting results sh...

Many traditional approaches for strengthening steels typically come at the expense of useful ductility, a dilemma known as strength-ductility trade-off. New metallurgical processing might offer the possibility of overcoming this. Here we report that austenitic 316L stainless steels additively manufactured via a laser powder-bed-fusion technique exhibit a combination of yield strength and tensil...

Strengthening materials traditionally involves the controlled creation of internal defects and boundaries so as to obstruct dislocation motion. Such strategies invariably compromise ductility, the ability of the material to deform, stretch, or change shape permanently without breaking. Here, we outline an approach to optimize strength and ductility by identifying three essential structural char...

The seismic performance of RC columns could be significantly improved by continuous spiral reinforcement as a result of its adequate ductility and energy dissipation capacity. Due to post-earthquake brittle failure observations in beam-column connections, the seismic behaviour of such connections could greatly be improved by simultaneous application of this method in both beams and columns. In ...

Developed countries face the risk of a sustained lack of aggregate demand, i.e. secular stagnation. Demand-oriented growth models emphasizing the balance-of-payments constraint raise concerns about attendant adverse growth impacts on developing countries from reduced export growth. These concerns are well-founded, albeit less serious than the simplest version of these models would imply. Relaxi...

The goal of this study was to identify drivers of environmental impact and quantify their influence on the environmental performance of wooden and massive residential and office buildings. We performed a life cycle assessment and used thermal simulation to quantify operational energy demand and to account for differences in thermal inertia of building mass. Twenty-eight input parameters, affect...