The experimental method of caustics was used for the evaluation of the stress-singularities created by concentrated oblique load applied at the apex of a wedge or on the horizontal straight boundary of a half-plane. The wedge was considered to be elastic, isotropic and under generalized plane stress conditions. According to the method of caustics, the light rays impinging normally at the thin p...

BACKGROUND Numerous cross-sectional studies have examined neighborhood effects on health. Residential selection in adulthood has been stressed as an important cause of selection bias but has received little empirical attention, particularly its determinants from the earlier life course. The present study aims to examine whether neighborhood, family, school, health behaviors and health in adoles...

This article develops a method to estimate the impact of change in a particular social setting, the residential neighborhood, that is designed to address nonrandom selection into a neighborhood and nonrandom selection out of a neighborhood. Utilizing matching to confront selection into neighborhood environments and instrumental variables to confront selection out of changing neighborhoods, the ...

Due to high prevalence rates and deleterious effects on individuals, families, and communities, intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health problem. Because IPV occurs in the context of communities and neighborhoods, research must examine the broader environment in addition to individual-level factors to successfully facilitate behavior change. Drawing from the Social Determi...

Single crystals of NdVO4 were grown by the Czochralski method under ambient pressure in a nitrogen atmosphere. Obtained crystals were transparent with strong violet coloring. Temperature and angular dependences of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of the samples in the 3-103 K temperature range were analyzed applying Dyson like lineshape typically used for concentrated magnetic syst...

Different designs have been presented to achieve high concentration and uniformity for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system. Most of the designs have issues of low efficiency in terms of irradiance uniformity. To this end, we present a design methodology to increase irradiance uniformity over solar cell. The system consists of an eight-fold Fresnel lens as a primary optical element (POE) ...

The concentration of masses of pathogenic bacteria can be simplified by growing them in a confined environment with diffusional access to a reservoir of nutrients. Culturing them on an agar or membrane surface accomplishes this; however, the total cell yield often is low, the cells probably are not physiologically uniform, and difficulty may occur in dislodging them. The concentration of cells ...

Results Consequently, the imposed convex-wise, asymmetrically concentrated cyclical loads on the adjacent immature vertebral end plates and posterior elements of the spine lead to asymmetrical vertebral growth. More specifically the loading on the two facet-joins asymmetrically increases during the day, as the wedged disc space narrows due to expelled water and it asymmetrically decreases durin...