A Review on Concrete Structural Properties and Damage Evolution Monitoring Techniques.

Concrete structures have emerged as some of the most extensively utilized materials in the construction industry due to their inherent plasticity and high-strength characteristics. However, due to the temperature fluctuations, humidity, and damage caused by human activities, challenges such as crack propagation and structural failures pose threats to the safety of people's lives and property. Meanwhile, conventional non-destructive testing methods are limited to defect detection and lack the capability to provide real-time monitoring and evaluating of concrete structural stability. Consequently, there is a growing emphasis on the development of effective techniques for monitoring the health of concrete structures, facilitating prompt repairs and mitigation of potential instabilities. This paper comprehensively presents traditional and novel methods for concrete structural properties and damage evolution monitoring, including emission techniques, electrical resistivity monitoring, electromagnetic radiation method, piezoelectric transducers, ultrasonic techniques, and the infrared thermography approach. Moreover, the fundamental principles, advantages, limitations, similarities and differences of each monitoring technique are extensively discussed, along with future research directions. Each method has its suitable monitoring scenarios, and in practical applications, several methods are often combined to achieve better monitoring results. The outcomes of this research provide valuable technical insights for future studies and advancements in the field of concrete structural health monitoring.

Estimation of Wideband Multi-Component Phasors Considering Signal Damping.

Harmonic and interharmonic content in power system signals is increasing with the development of renewable energy generation and power electronic devices. These multiple signal components can seriously degrade power quality, trip thermal generators, cause oscillations, and threaten system stability, especially the interharmonic tones with positive damping factors. The first step to mitigate these adverse effects is to accurately and quickly monitor signal features, including frequency, damping factor, amplitude, and phase. This paper proposes a concise and robust index to identify the number of modes present in the signal using the singular values of the Hankel matrix and discusses the scope of its application by testing the influence of various factors. Next, the simplified matrix pencil theory is employed to estimate the signal component frequency and damping factor. Then their estimates are considered in the modified least-squares algorithm to extract the wideband multi-component phasors accurately. Finally, this paper designs a series of scenarios considering varying signal frequency, damping factor, amplitude, and phase to test the proposed algorithm thoroughly. The results verify that the proposed method can achieve a maximum total vector error of less than 1.5%, which is more accurate than existing phasor estimators in various signal environments. The high accuracy of the proposed method is because it considers both the estimation of the frequency number and the effect of signal damping.

Enhanced Interpolated Dynamic DFT Synchrophasor Estimator Considering Second Harmonic Interferences †.

In the future, phasor measurement units are expected to be applied in distribution networks (DNs) for their control and monitoring. Because of the widely used power electronic devices in DNs, harmonics are widely present in a voltage/current signal. Particularly, second harmonics have the most significant uncertainty contributions to synchrophasor estimation, which is especially true when a short cycle observation window is used for a fast response. Based on the interpolated dynamic discrete Fourier transform (IpD 2 FT), this paper introduces an enhanced IpD 2 FT (e-IpD 2 FT) synchrophasor estimator that considers second harmonic interferences. First, the adaptive equivalent filters of the IpD 2 FT are given. Based on these, the optimal frequencies where the IpD 2 FT has the least second harmonic interferences are then searched using an enumeration method, and the e-IpD 2 FT synchrophasor estimator is accordingly proposed. Instantaneous frequency responses and several simulation tests show that the e-IpD 2 FT performs much better than the IpD 2 FT in second harmonic suppression, and can meet the P-class response time requirements and most of the M-class accuracy requirements of the IEEE standard C37.118.1 only over a three-cycle window.

Modelling and Optimization of Four-Segment Shielding Coils of Current Transformers.

Applying shielding coils is a practical way to protect current transformers (CTs) for large-capacity generators from the intensive magnetic interference produced by adjacent bus-bars. The aim of this study is to build a simple analytical model for the shielding coils, from which the optimization of the shielding coils can be calculated effectively. Based on an existing stray flux model, a new analytical model for the leakage flux of partial coils is presented, and finite element method-based simulations are carried out to develop empirical equations for the core-pickup factors of the models. Using the flux models, a model of the common four-segment shielding coils is derived. Furthermore, a theoretical analysis is carried out on the optimal performance of the four-segment shielding coils in a typical six-bus-bars scenario. It turns out that the "all parallel" shielding coils with a 45° starting position have the best shielding performance, whereas the "separated loop" shielding coils with a 0° starting position feature the lowest heating value. Physical experiments were performed, which verified all the models and the conclusions proposed in the paper. In addition, for shielding coils with other than the four-segment configuration, the analysis process will generally be the same.

Multi-Mode Electromagnetic Ultrasonic Lamb Wave Tomography Imaging for Variable-Depth Defects in Metal Plates.

This paper proposes a new cross-hole tomography imaging (CTI) method for variable-depth defects in metal plates based on multi-mode electromagnetic ultrasonic Lamb waves (LWs). The dispersion characteristics determine that different modes of LWs are sensitive to different thicknesses of metal plates. In this work, the sensitivities to thickness variation of A0- and S0-mode LWs are theoretically studied. The principles and procedures for the cooperation of A0- and S0-mode LW CTI are proposed. Moreover, the experimental LW imaging system on an aluminum plate with a variable-depth defect is set up, based on A0- and S0-mode EMAT (electromagnetic acoustic transducer) arrays. For comparison, the traditional single-mode LW CTI method is used in the same experimental platform. The imaging results show that the computed thickness distribution by the proposed multi-mode method more accurately reflects the actual thickness variation of the defect, while neither the S0 nor the A0 single-mode method was able to distinguish thickness variation in the defect region. Moreover, the quantification of the defect's thickness variation is more accurate with the multi-mode method. Therefore, theoretical and practical results prove that the variable-depth defect in metal plates can be successfully quantified and visualized by the proposed multi-mode electromagnetic ultrasonic LW CTI method.

A new omni-directional EMAT for ultrasonic Lamb wave tomography imaging of metallic plate defects.

This paper proposes a new omni-directional electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) for the ultrasonic Lamb wave (ULW) tomography imaging (TI) of defects in metallic plates. The proposed EMAT is composed of a permanent magnet and a coil with a contra-flexure structure. This new EMAT coil structure is used for omni-directional ULW transmission and reception and ULW TI for the first time. The theoretical background and the working principles of this EMAT are presented and analyzed. The experimental results of its use on a 3 mm thick aluminum plate indicate that the EMAT with a contra-flexure coil (CFC) can transmit and receive a pure single A0 mode ULW with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Thus, the extraction of the projection data used for ULW TI may be performed accurately. The circumferential consistency of the projection data is only slightly influenced by the distortion of the eddy current field that is induced by the new CFC with an irregular shape. When the new EMAT array is used for ULW TI using the cross-hole method and SIRT arithmetic, a desirable imaging quality can be achieved, and the estimated size of an artificial corrosion defect agreed well with its actual value. The relation between the reconstruction resolution and the number of the new EMATs used is analyzed. More TI experiments are carried out when the aluminum plate defect is in two different locations relative to the EMAT array, for the further investigation of the performances of the new EMATs.

Calcium Sensing Receptor Variants Increase Pulmonary Hypertension Susceptibility.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension is an incurable disease, in which the extracellular CaSR (calcium sensing receptor) is mechanistically important. This study was aimed to genetically link the CaSR gene and function to the disease severity. METHODS: Sanger sequencing, Sugen/hypoxia pulmonary arterial hypertension rat model, CaSR mutated rat, transcriptional reporter assay and measurement of CaSR activity were used. RESULTS: Sanger sequencing identified a significant association between the variant rs1042636(A>G), located in CaSR exon 7, and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) formation in patients. The frequency of 2968G homozygotes was higher in patients with IPAH compared with healthy individuals (23.6% versus 17.5%; P=0.001, OR=1.864), and the minor alleles of rs6776158, rs1048213, and rs9883099, located in CaSR promoter, raised the IPAH odds ratio to 2.173. Patients with IPAH carrying heterozygotes or homozygotes genotype of rs1042636 showed markedly higher pulmonary artery pressure and reduced survival compared with individuals carrying the wild-type allele. The minor alleles of rs6776158, rs1048213, and rs9883099 increased CaSR expression in reporter assay. In Sugen/hypoxia pulmonary arterial hypertension rats, the point mutation replicating rs1042636 found in IPAH exacerbated pulmonary arterial hypertension severity by promoting the overexpression and the enhanced activity of CaSR. CONCLUSIONS: Our functional genomic analysis thus indicates that the CaSR minor alleles of rs1042636, rs6776158, rs1048213, and rs9883099 contribute to the development and severity of IPAH. These findings may benefit clinical prognosis and treatment for IPAH.

Characteristic analysis of electromagnetic acoustic transducers for helical shear horizontal wave based on magnetostrictive effect.

The electromagnetic ultrasound detection technology provides an efficient method to inspect the structural health status. For the pipeline structure, the guided ultrasonic wave propagating along the axial direction has been the focus of the current research. However, the helical wave owns the advantage of obtaining the defect information in extra angles and has not been explored sufficiently. In this work, a transducer with a sector configuration is designed for generating helical shear horizontal waves in a pipeline. The magnetostrictive effect is analyzed, and the model is built in the finite element simulation software of COMSOL Multiphysics. The electromagnetic field and displacement distribution are studied. To evaluate the performance of the transducer, the half divergence angle is defined to measure the acoustic beam and evaluate the capacity in generating helical waves. Corresponding experiments are also implemented to analyze the influencing factors in the structural design of the transducer. The results indicate that the pulse cycle affects the half divergence angle slightly. The compromise should be considered when designing the central angle of the transducer because it influences the signal amplitude and further imaging resolution in a contradictory way.

[A spectrum signals detection method for surface enhanced Raman scattering under high fluorescence and background noise].

A spectrum signals detection method has been designed for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) under high fluorescence and background noise. The components of the fluorescence and background noise in SERS spectrum signal were analyzed first. Then they were evaluated by some models, such as polynomial model and AR model. By analysing the difference between evaluation result and original data, the Raman spectrum peaks can be detected. After being used in Rhodamine 6G, prostate-specific antigen and PH sensing experiment, the method was proved to be of high performance and practicability for SERS signal processing.

Oblique Point-Focusing Shear-Horizontal Guided-Wave Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer With Variable PPM Spacing.

We realized a phase-coherent oblique point-focusing shear-horizontal (SH) guided-wave electro- magnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) composed of variable-spacing periodic permanent magnets (PPMs) and racetrack coils. For traditional focusing transducers, the necessary focal position adjustment in defect detection requires a redesign of the coil structure. More conveniently, this new transducer structure arrangement can achieve wave focusing and focal position change by rationally adjusting the layout of the PPM without changing the coil structure. Simulation results show that this newly designed transducer has good focusing performance: it can successfully focus the signal to a preset point, and the signal amplitude is nearly double that of the nonfocusing side. In addition, the focusing performance optimization of the transducer has been studied. The experimental results agree well with the actual location and size of a defect, which verifies the effectiveness of the newly designed focusing transducer in defect detection.

Design and characterization of an acoustic composite lens with high-intensity and directionally controllable focusing.

Acoustic orientation and bunching methods, which include the radiation surface expansion, ultrasonic demodulation, multiunit coherence, phased arrays and acoustic lenses, can be used to manipulate and focus sound waves. Recently, focusing systems composed of acoustic lenses have been found to offer high controllability and focusing intensity. In this paper, a newly designed composite acoustic lens that can achieve wave convergence is proposed by assembling a lattice array of concave hexagonal (CH)-shaped rods. In comparison with the latest published work, the new CH structure improves upon the focusing capability of traditional acoustic lenses while retaining their advantages in terms of 3-D underwater focusing. Simulated and experimental results show that a lens with the CH structure has good focusing intensity and can focus acoustic waves over a wide range of incidence angles without losing its functionality. With its good focusing capabilities, this new composite lens may open the door to a broad range of applications, including high-precision nondestructive testing (NDT), high-efficiency medical treatment and multidirectional underwater focusing.

From form to function: the ways to know a neuron.

The shape of a neuron, its morphological signature, dictates the neuron's function by establishing its synaptic partnerships. Here, we review various anatomical methods used to reveal neuron shape and the contributions these have made to our current understanding of neural function in the Drosophila brain, especially the optic lobe. These methods, including Golgi impregnation, genetic reporters, and electron microscopy (EM), necessarily incorporate biases of various sorts that are easy to overlook, but that filter the morphological signatures we see. Nonetheless, the application of these methods to the optic lobe has led to reassuringly congruent findings on the number and shapes of neurons and their connection patterns, indicating that morphological classes are actually genetic classes. Genetic methods using, especially, GAL4 drivers and associated reporters have largely superceded classical Golgi methods for cellular analyses and, moreover, allow the manipulation of neuronal activity, thus enabling us to establish a bridge between morphological studies and functional ones. While serial-EM reconstruction remains the only reliable, albeit labor-intensive, method to determine actual synaptic connections, genetic approaches in combination with EM or high-resolution light microscopic techniques are promising methods for the rapid determination of synaptic circuit function.

Characterizing excitability of Lamb waves generated by electromagnetic acoustic transducers with coupled frequency domain models.

Electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) are versatile non-contact ultrasonic transducers with relatively low transduction efficiency. A fundamental problem not answered completely yet is how the structure of an EMAT influences the generation of various Lamb wave modes. We tackle this problem with fully coupled frequency domain EMAT models where the underlying integro-differential equations are solved directly and the magnitudes of the phasors of the displacement components at a point in the middle plane of a plate are used to represent the strength of the S0 and A0 mode waves. Idealized single-wire, two-wire and wire bundle EMATs with uniform bias magnetic field and practical meander line and tightly wound EMATs with distributed bias field are studied. Polar plots of the idealized EMATs with swept angle of the bias field show that the vertical component of the bias field decides the strength of the S0 mode waves. Sweeping of the width of the magnet for the practical EMATs generates S0 mode curves that could be explained from the distribution of the vertical component of the bias field. This work represents the first attempt to solve the proposed problem of characterizing excitability of Lamb waves with EMATs quantitatively, via the model-based approach.

A multi-objective structural optimization of an omnidirectional electromagnetic acoustic transducer.

In this paper an axisymmetric model of an omnidirectional electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) used to generate Lamb waves in conductive plates is introduced. Based on the EMAT model, the structural parameters of the permanent magnet were used as the design variables while other parameters were fixed. The goal of the optimization was to strengthen the generation of the A0 mode and suppress the generation of the S0 mode. The amplitudes of the displacement components at the observation point of the plate were used for calculation of the objective functions. Three approaches to obtain the amplitudes were discussed. The first approach was solving the peak values of the envelopes of the time waveforms from the time domain simulations. The second approach also involved calculation of the peaks, but the waveforms were from frequency domain model combined with the forward and inverse Fourier transforms. The third approach involved a single frequency in the frequency domain model. Single and multi-objective optimizations were attempted, implemented with the genetic algorithms. In the single objective optimizations, the goal was decreasing the ratio of the amplitudes of the S0 and A0 modes, while in the multi-objective optimizations, an extra goal was strengthening the A0 mode directly. The Pareto front from the multi-objective optimizations was compared with the estimation from the data on the discrete grid of the design variables. From the analysis of the results, it could be concluded that for a linearized steel plate with a thickness of 10mm and testing frequency of 50kHz, the point with minimum S0/A0 could be selected, thus the multi-objective optimization effectively degenerated to the single objective optimization. While for an aluminum plate with a thickness of 3mm and frequency of 150kHz, without further information it would be difficult to select one particular solution from the Pareto front.

Mitochondrial transplantation attenuates hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.

Hypoxia triggers pulmonary vasoconstriction, however induces relaxation of systemic arteries such as femoral arteries. Mitochondria are functionally and structurally heterogeneous between different cell types. The aim of this study was to reveal whether mitochondrial heterogeneity controls the distinct responses of pulmonary versus systemic artery smooth muscle cells to hypoxia. Intact mitochondria were transplanted into Sprague-Dawley rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells in culture and pulmonary arteries in vitro. Mitochondria retained functional after transplantation. The cross transplantation of mitochondria between pulmonary and femoral artery smooth muscle cells reversed acute hypoxia-induced alterations in cell membrane potential, [Ca2+]i signaling in smooth muscle cells and constriction or relaxation of arteries. Furthermore, the high or low amount of reactive oxygen species generation from mitochondria and their divergent (dis-)abilities in activating extracellular Ca2+-sensing receptor in smooth muscle cells were found to cause cell membrane potential depolarization, [Ca2+]i elevation and constriction of pulmonary arteries versus cell membrane potential hyperpolarization, [Ca2+]i decline and relaxation of femoral arteries in response to hypoxia, respectively. Our findings suggest that mitochondria necessarily determine the behaviors of vascular smooth muscle cells in response to hypoxia.

Mitochondrial transplantation attenuates hypoxic pulmonary hypertension.

Mitochondria are essential for the onset of hypoxia-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction and pulmonary vascular-remodeling, two major aspects underlying the development of pulmonary hypertension, an incurable disease. However, hypoxia induces relaxation of systemic arteries such as femoral arteries and mitochondrial heterogeneity controls the distinct responses of pulmonary versus femoral artery smooth muscle cells to hypoxia in vitro. The aim of this study was to determine whether mitochondrial heterogeneity can be experimentally exploited in vivo for a potential treatment against pulmonary hypertension. The intact mitochondria were transplanted into Sprague-Dawley rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells in vivo via intravenous administration. The immune-florescent staining and ultrastructural examinations on pulmonary arteries confirmed the intracellular distribution of exogenous mitochondria and revealed the possible mitochondrial transfer from pulmonary artery endothelial cells into smooth muscle cells in part through their intercellular space and intercellular junctions. The transplantation of mitochondria derived from femoral artery smooth muscle cells inhibited acute hypoxia-triggered pulmonary vasoconstriction, attenuated chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling, and thus prevented the development of pulmonary hypertension or cured the established pulmonary hypertension in rats exposed to chronic hypoxia. Our findings suggest that mitochondrial transplantation possesses potential implications for exploring a novel therapeutic and preventive strategy against pulmonary hypertension.

3D modeling of circumferential SH guided waves in pipeline for axial cracking detection in ILI tools.

In this paper, SH (shear horizontal) guided waves propagating in the circumferential direction of pipeline are modeled in 3 dimensions, with the aim for axial cracking detection implementation in ILI (in-line inspection) tools in mind. A theoretical formulation is given first, followed by an explanation about the 3D numerical modeling work. Displacement wave structures from the simulation and dispersion equation are compared to verify the effectiveness of the FEM package. Transverse slots along the axial direction are modeled to simulate axial cracking. Reflection and transmission coefficients curves are obtained to provide insight in using circumferential SH guided waves for quantitative testing of axial pipeline cracking.

Simulation of Lamb wave's interactions with transverse internal defects in an elastic plate.

Lamb wave's interactions with transverse internal defects in an elastic plate are investigated in this paper to help practical inspection work with guided wave. A 2D frequency domain hybrid boundary element method approach previously mainly used to study Lamb wave's interactions with external defects in elastic plates is adopted in this work and extended to study the cases of internal defects. Simulation examples are presented to illustrate the reflection and transmission coefficients' variations with various parameters including defect's height, width, testing fd for internal symmetrical and non-symmetrical cracks, with symmetry defined with respect to the middle plane of the plate. This simulation could be a valuable tool for the research of Lamb wave's applications in nondestructive testing (NDT) field, as the problem of internal defects could be difficult to study experimentally because of the inconvenience in machining internal defects in a real plate.

The neural substrate of spectral preference in Drosophila.

Drosophila vision is mediated by inputs from three types of photoreceptor neurons; R1-R6 mediate achromatic motion detection, while R7 and R8 constitute two chromatic channels. Neural circuits for processing chromatic information are not known. Here, we identified the first-order interneurons downstream of the chromatic channels. Serial EM revealed that small-field projection neurons Tm5 and Tm9 receive direct synaptic input from R7 and R8, respectively, and indirect input from R1-R6, qualifying them to function as color-opponent neurons. Wide-field Dm8 amacrine neurons receive input from 13-16 UV-sensing R7s and provide output to projection neurons. Using a combinatorial expression system to manipulate activity in different neuron subtypes, we determined that Dm8 neurons are necessary and sufficient for flies to exhibit phototaxis toward ultraviolet instead of green light. We propose that Dm8 sacrifices spatial resolution for sensitivity by relaying signals from multiple R7s to projection neurons, which then provide output to higher visual centers.