This research study demonstrates a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite laminate with an embedded thermoelectric (TE) enabled glass (GF) ply. The TE-enabled GF functional ply was purposely laminated to create structural through-thickness generator (TEG). Simultaneously, the highly conductive (CF) reinforcing phase served as electrodes for device. Tellurium nanowires (NWs) were incor...

The first form of damage in composite laminates is often matrix microcracks that are defined as intralaminar or ply cracks across the thickness of the ply and parallel to the fibers in that ply (see reviews in [1,2]). Tensile loading, fatigue loading, environment, and thermal cycling can all lead to microcrack formation. Microcracks can form in any ply that has a significant component of the ap...

This paper presents a multi-agent search technique to design an optimal composite box-beam helicopter rotor blade. The search technique is called particle swarm optimization (‘inspired by the choreography of a bird flock’). The continuous geometry parameters (cross-sectional dimensions) and discrete ply angles of the box-beams are considered as design variables. The objective of the design prob...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most common etiologic agents of community-acquired pneumonia, particularly bacteremic pneumonia. Pneumolysin, a multifunctional cytotoxin, is a putative virulence factor for S. pneumoniae; however, a direct role for pneumolysin in the early pathogenesis of pneumococcal pneumonia has not been confirmed in vivo. We compared the growth of a pneumolysin-defici...

• Forty-seven dowelled cross-laminated timber (CLT) connections were tested. Increased row spacing and end distance significantly increased ductility. Reinforcement by screws or threaded dowels with nuts enhanced performance. 3-ply (135 mm), 5-ply (175 mm ), 7-ply (275 mm) CLT panels employed. Overstrength ductility of determined. Dowel embedment tests performed to determine theoretical overstr...

We evaluated the applicability of ply PCR for confirmation of the identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae. lytA PCR, 16S rRNA sequencing, and amplified-fragment length polymorphism were used as reference methods. In contrast to the lytA gene, the ply gene proved to be not specific for S. pneumoniae. The presence of the ply gene in other streptococci, in particular Streptococcus mitis, sugges...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the world's leading cause of pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis and otitis media. A major pneumococcal virulence factor is the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin, which has the defining property of forming pores in cholesterol-containing membranes. In recent times a clinically significant and internationally successful serotype 1 ST306 clone has been found to express a n...

The ply number of a drawing is a new criterion of interest for graph drawing. Informally, the ply number of a straight-line drawing of a graph is defined as the maximum number of overlapping disks, where each disk is associated with a vertex and has a radius that is half the length of the longest edge incident to that vertex. This paper reports the results of an extensive experimental study tha...