This paper describes a general numerical formulation of the lower bound theorem of classical plasticity. The method is based on simplex finite elements and nonlinear programming and is applicable to problems in one, two and three dimensions. The use of linear finite elements guarantees that the computed collapse loads are, within computational accuracy, rigorous lower bounds on the true collaps...

in this paper, absorbing markov chain models are developed to determine the optimum process mean levels for both a single-stage and a serial two-stage production system in which items are inspected for conformity with their specification limits. when the value of the quality characteristic of an item falls below a lower limit, the item is scrapped. if it falls above an upper limit, the item is ...

recognized as a reliable tool for assessing the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) axis, measurement of salivary cortisol plays an important role in both the clinical and research settings. to establish a normative data, which forms the basis for the usage of this valuable parameter, we gathered 8:00 h saliva samples from 94 healthy individuals aged 6-14 years. cortisol levels were measured b...

Stability of foundations near slopes is one of the important and complicated problems in geotechnical engineering, which has been investigated by various methods such as limit equilibrium, limit analysis, slip-line, finite element and discrete element. The complexity of this problem is resulted from the combination of two probable failures: foundation failure and overall slope failure. The curr...