The project is a continuation from fiscal year 2004-2005. Previous work aimed at developing new analytical tools for analysis of RC beams strengthened with FRP laminates. The models were used to analyze several test specimens of RC beams and to investigate the corresponding failure mode, and whether it is due to CFRP fracture, debonding, or concrete crushing. Current work focused on using the e...

Advancing our understanding of tree fine root dynamics is of high importance for tree physiology and forest biogeochemistry. In temperate broad-leaved forests, ectomycorrhizal (EM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) tree species often are coexisting. It is not known whether EM and AM trees differ systematically in fine root dynamics and belowground resource foraging strategies. We measured fine ro...

During winter, aerial surveys are used to estimate densities of ducks that occupy open-water habitats. However, such surveys are ineffective for sampling forest-dwelling species, especially Aix sponsa (Wood Ducks), Anas platyrhynchos (Mallards), and Lophodytes cucullatus (Hooded Mergansers). We evaluated fi xed-radius plot (FRP) and Reynolds and Goodrum variable-radius plot (VRP) methods for es...

Population growth followed by the dramatic increase and demand for new services created an urgent and overwhelming need for infrastructures of civil engineering structures. However, the current infrastructure work using various techniques and conventional materials for construction will not solve the traditional and continuous deterioration of concrete structures due to corrosion of steel. One ...

Some of the advantages that results from the structural strengthening of concrete slabs using prestressed fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) systems are as follows: the prestressed FRP delays the formation and propagation of cracks, and both the serviceability and the flexural capacity are increased. In this research program, the flexural performance of a concrete slab strengthened with a three-sta...

The objective of this report was to study the influence of the orientation of gravitational loading on the behavior of anterior and posterior trunk muscles during anterior trunk flexion-extension. Participants (N=13) performed five (5) cycles of trunk flexion-extension while standing with gravity parallel to the body axis and five (5) cycles while in the supine condition (e.g. sit-ups) with gra...

BACKGROUND In the general population, frailty, a late stage of the aging process, predicts mortality. We investigated whether manifesting a previously defined frailty-related phenotype (FRP) before initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) affects the likelihood of developing clinical AIDS or mortality after HAART initiation. METHODS Among 596 HIV-infected men in the Multicenter...

The present study concerns compressive and flexural constitutive models incorporated into an isoparametric beam finite element scheme for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) and concrete composites, using their multi-axial constitutive behavior. The constitutive behavior of concrete was treated in triaxial stress states as an orthotropic hypoelasticity-based formulation to determine the confinement ...

T he use of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) for reinforcement of aging and deteriorating concrete members has emerged as a viable and costeffective alternative to traditional repair and strengthening techniques. Their use enables upgrading of deficient structures to meet today’s design standards (Crasto et al., 1996; Myers et al., 2000). The loadcarrying ability of structures such as beams and ...

Frequency resolving power (FRP) of hearing was studied in bottlenose dolphins in behavioral experiments (go/no-go paradigm) using rippled noise with a phase-reversal test. The rippled noise has a frequency spectrum with periodically alternating peaks and troughs (ripples) which is a convenient spectrum pattern to test frequency resolution. The principle of the phase-reversal test was to find th...