an energy based damage index based on a new nonlinear finite element (fe) approach applicable to rc structures subjected to cyclic, earthquake or monotonic loading is proposed. the proposed method is based on the evaluation of nonlinear local degradation of materials and taking into account of the pseudo-plastic hinge produced in the critical sections of the structure. a computer program is dev...

BACKGROUND A large proportion of the plastic surgery literature is dedicated to the breast. It is one of the most common topics in our specialty, yet it is unclear which articles have been the most influential. The purpose of this study was to identify the top 100 most-cited articles on breast in the plastic surgery literature and examine the characteristics of each individual article. METHOD...

Flexure hinges inherently lose stiffness in supporting directions when deflected. In this paper a method is presented for optimizing the geometry of flexure hinges, while supporting stiffnesses are retained. These hinges are subjected to a load and deflected an angle of up to ±20°. The measure of performance is defined by the first unwanted eigenfrequency, which is closely related to the suppor...

This paper focuses on the complex design process of planar compliant mechanisms with flexure hinges. In the following a systematic methodology of the transition from lever mechanisms generated intuitively by the developer or non-intuitively by topology optimization to applicable compliant mechanism is presented. An extended pseudo-rigid-body model (PRBM) is used for the analysis and the modific...

absence of Hh ligand, Ptc restrains Smo activity ; binding of Hh to Ptc releases Smo, which then transmits the intracellular signal. The regulation of Smo activity therefore occupies a pivotal position in the cellular response to Hh. Previous work had identified small molecules that inhibit or activate Hh signaling by interacting with Smo 6–8. These include the antagonist cyclopamine as well as...

In this paper, we present TLBfind, a GPU code for simulating the hydrodynamics of droplets along with dynamic temperature field. TLBfind hinges on two-dimensional multi-component lattice Boltzmann (LB) model concentrated emulsion finite-size evolving in thermal convective state, just above transition from conduction to convection. The droplet concentration system is tunable and at core lies pos...

in this paper, the optimal location and characteristics of tadas dampers in moment resisting steel structures, considering the application of minimum number of tadas dampers in a building as an objective function and the restriction for destruction of main members is studied. genetic algorithm in first generation randomly produces different chromosomes representing unique tadas dampers distribu...

Smart hinges fabricated using three-dimensional (3D) printing have been accepted in the aerospace, robotics, and biomedical fields since these devices possess a shape memory characteristic. Shape polymers (SMPs) are preferred materials for creating smart due to their ability achieve programmable complex geometries. However, fabricating SMPs with embedded components remains challenge constraints...