In Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4, genes encoding a SecY2A2 accessory Sec system are present within a locus encoding a serine-rich repeat surface protein PsrP. Mutant strains deleted in secA2 or psrP were deficient in biofilm formation, while the ΔsecA2 mutant was reduced in binding to airway epithelial cells. Cell wall protein (CWP) fractions from the ΔsecA2 mutant, but not from the ΔpsrP muta...

The effect of inter-ply sliding was investigated for multi-ply Non-Crimp Fabric (NCF) preforms during the Double Diaphragm Forming (DDF) process. A Finite Element (FE) model employed to investigate influence ply layup sequence and coefficient friction between fabric-fabric fabric-diaphragm interfaces. Simulation results indicate that in-plane fibre compression, caused by dissimilar shear deform...

Discarded vehicle tires are a common habitat for container mosquito larvae, although the environmental factors that may control their presence or abundance within a tire are largely unknown. We sampled discarded vehicle tires in six sites located within four counties of central Illinois during the spring and summer of 2006 to determine associations between a suite of environmental factors and c...

Foam core sandwich composites are widely used in primary structural components of launch vehicles and spacecraft. These structures exhibit complex failure modes and are highly sensitive to butt-joints, core mismatches, impact damage, voids, and facesheet delaminations. 3D Fiber Reinforced Foam Cores (3DFRFC) represent a new class of core material designed to replace standard foam core in future...

This paper discusses the effect of misalignments in ply orientation, uniform variations in ply thickness, and through-thickness thermal gradients on the post-cure shape errors for symmetric cross-ply laminates constructed from ultra-thin composite materials. Photogrammetry-based surface measurements are performed for laminates cured at elevated temperatures. Significant out-of-plane shape error...

A three-dimensional spectral element method SEM was developed for analysis of Lamb wave propagation in composite laminates containing a delamination. SEM is more efficient in simulating wave propagation in structures than conventional finite element method FEM because of its unique diagonal form of the mass matrix. Three types of composite laminates, namely, unidirectional-ply laminates, cross-...

The aim of the current study is to demonstrate the effect of inter-ply delamination on stiffness degradation of multi-ply woven composites. Such a demonstration becomes possible due to new technique of modelling textile laminates. It is based on set of boundary value problems for unit cell of a single ply, where boundary conditions imitate interaction with the other plies. Once these problems a...

The problem of tting a 2D broadcloth composite ply (modelled as a piece of deformable woven cloth) onto a 3D curved surface (modelled with a NURBS surface) is considered. \Fitting" means that a ply is deformed and applied to a surface so that it is everywhere in contact with the surface. A tting method is presented that incorporates a exible method for specifying initial conditions, and allows ...

.................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................ 10 1.1 The waste tire ............................................................................. 10 1.2 Methods for recycling waste tires ............................................. 13 1.2.1 L...