Because of difficulty in inspection and retrofit of foundation in comparison with other elements, the common design philosophy is to avoid any nonlinear deformation in the foundation. This paper shows that by employing controlled foundation nonlinearity, in predetermined sections with arrangements for inspection and retrofit, it is possible to reduce seismic demand on superstructure. Localizing...

The increase in bearing displacements of sliding isolated buildings due to near-fault earthquakes, with long-period pulse type of ground motion, is an important problem. Often, supplemental nonlinear passive dampers are incorporated into the isolation system to reduce the base displacements; however, this may increase the interstory drifts and accelerations in the superstructure. Hence, there i...

An overall treatment with dental implant consist of several essential parts, including a superstructure containing fixture (part of the implant embedding in the bone), abutment (a machined tapered prepared superstructure attached to the fixture), a retainer (which hold the aesthetic portion of the restoration) and the crown (aesthetic part of the restoration). In this common kind of restoration...

In this study, we propose a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model for superstructure based optimization of biodiesel production from microalgal biomass. The proposed superstructure includes a number of major processing steps for the production of biodiesel from microalgal biomass, such as harvesting of microalgal biomass, pretreatments including drying and cell disruption of harvest...

This letter describes a simple method for three-dimensional microfabrication of complex, high-aspect-ratio structures with arbitrary surface height profiles in bulk silicon. The method relies on the exploitation of reactive ion etching lag to simultaneously define all features using a single lithographic masking step. Modulation of the mask pattern openings used to define the features results i...

We have investigated DNA superstructure in a wide range of nuclei of higher cells by gently lysing cells to release structures that resemble nuclei but are depleted of nuclear proteins. The sedimentation properties of these structures, which we call nucleoids, have been examined in sucrose gradients containing the intercalating agent, ethidium. The sedimentation rate of nucleoids derived from t...

We develop a novel superstructure of algal biorefinery processes for biological carbon sequestration and utilization, encompassing off-gas purification, algae cultivation, harvesting and dewatering, lipid extraction, remnant treatment, biogas utilization, and algal oil upgrading stages. Based on the superstructure, we propose a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model to minimize the u...

An optimal design strategy for spiral-wound membrane networks based on an approximate permeator model and a mixedinteger nonlinear programming (MINLP) solution strategy is proposed. A general permeator system superstructure is used to embed a very large number of possible network con®gurations. The superstructure allows the development of a MINLP design strategy which simultaneously optimizes t...

∗ ∗ ∗ The biaxial smectic-A (Sm-AB ) phase, appearing in the phase sequence Sm-A –Sm-AB–Sm-C ∗, is analyzed using Landau theory. It is found to possess a helical superstructure with a pitch that is significantly shorter than the pitch of the Sm-C ∗ helical superstructure. The Sm-AB ∗ –Sm-C ∗ transition can be either first or second order, and correspondingly there will be either a jump or conti...

The design of reverse osmosis (RO) networks is investigated here using a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) approach based on a superstructure. A flexible superstructure that contains all possible alternatives of a potential RO network was developed and was used in the synthesis of RO networks. The networks were designed by using DuPont’s B10 Hollow Fiber module. For fixed freshwater ...