In textbook descriptions of Newton’s cradle, it is generally claimed that displacing one ball will result in a collision that leads to another ball being ejected from the line, with all others remaining motionless. Hermann and Schmälzle, Hinch and Saint-Jean, and others have shown that a realistic description is more subtle. We present a simulation of Newton’s cradle that reproduces the break-u...

• Cyclic tests of rocking columns restrained with a tendon-spring system are presented. The spring was designed so that the exhibits negative post uplift stiffness. One column's ends were protected by steel jackets while other one discs. two tested to 15% and 30% drift exhibited no damage. column reduces design moments on foundation. Letting sustain motion has been suggested as seismic method f...

Experimental proof is provided of an unconventional seismic design concept, which is based on deliberately underdesigning shallow foundations to promote intense rocking oscillations and thereby to dramatically improve the seismic resilience of structures. Termed rocking isolation, this new seismic design philosophy is investigated through a series of dynamic centrifuge experiments on properly s...

Ancient columns, made with a variety of materials such as marble, granite, stone or masonry are an important part of the European cultural heritage. In particular columns of ancient temples in Greece and Sicily which support only the architrave are characterized by small axial load values. This feature together with the slenderness typical of these structural members clearly highlights as the e...

We present a review, together with new results, of a universal forcing of oscillatory systems, termed 'rocking', which leads to the emergence of a phase bistability and to the kind of pattern formation associated with it, characterized by the presence of phase domains, phase spatial solitons and phase-bistable extended patterns. The effects of rocking are thus similar to those observed in the c...

Controlled rocking of steel braced frames has been proposed for the seismic retrofit of structures. The controlled rocking approach allows a frame to uplift from its support at the base-of-column to foundation interface while displacement-based steel yielding devices are implemented at the base location to control the response. Past studies have focused on analytical investigations of the respo...

Biodegradable electrospun polycaprolactone scaffolds can be used to support bone-forming cells and could fill a thin bony defect, such as in cleft palate. Oscillatory fluid flow has been shown to stimulate bone production in human progenitor cells in monolayer culture. The aim of this study was to examine whether bone matrix production by primary human mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow or...

Signals transmit information to receivers about sender attributes, increase the fitness of both parties, and are selected for in cooperative interactions between species to reduce conflict [1, 2]. Marine cleaning interactions are known for stereotyped behaviors [3-6] that likely serve as signals. For example, "dancing" and "tactile dancing" in cleaner fish may serve to advertise cleaning servic...

X-ray rocking curve and topograph measurements were carried out at CHESS in Cornell University in November 2006. The purpose of this experiment was to check if the X-ray facility at CHESS is suitable to be used for GlueX in assessing diamond crystal quality and investigating radiation damage and surface deformation induced by milling. After modifying the C1 beam line by using an asymmetry silic...

Primarily, two models are commonly used to describe rocking of rigid bodies; the Housner model, and the Winkler foundation model. The first deals with the motion of a rigid block rocking about its base corners on a rigid foundation. The second deals with the motion of a rigid block rocking and bouncing on a flexible foundation of distributed linear springs and dashpots (Winkler foundation). The...