Compatibilization via transreactions in blends of poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene terephthalate) [P(BS-co-BT)] with poly (hydroxy ether of bisphenol-A) (phenoxy) were investigated. Analyses were based on characterization using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). They revealed that the P(BS-co-BT)/phenoxy blend had a phase morphology that could be homogenized only following annealing at high temperatures. As-blended P(BS-co-BT)/phenoxy (50/50 composition) exhibited immiscible phases with two distinct Tgs, but the initially phase separated blends finally merged to form a homogeneous phase with a single Tgupon heating and annealing for 60 min at 280 °C. Chemical exchange reactions upon heat-annealing were likely to have caused the phase homogenization in the P(BS-co-BT)/phenoxy blend. NMR was performed on blend samples before and after they were heated to 280 °C, but the similarity of bonds made obtaining straight results difficult. Results of this study demonstrate phase homogenization can be brought only upon heat-annealing in the P(BS-co-BT)/phenoxy blend.

In wind-resistant design of structures, the calculation of wind coefficients is usually based on data from wind tunnel tests. The process is very time-consuming and expensive. In order to predict wind coefficients of rectangular buildings, polynomial and nonlinear regression were studied. Also, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used as well to train, simulate and forecast wind coefficients using terrain, side ratio (D/B) and aspect ratio (H/B) as inputs. The neural networks used include BP (Back Propagation), RBF (Radial Basis Function) and GR (General Regression) neural networks. According to the investigation presented in this paper, RBF neural network is the most effective mean to predict wind coefficients.

Based on the nonlinear creep model and Kalker's linear theory, this paper studies the governing differential equations of motion for a tilting railway vehicle moving over irregular curved tracks under wind loads. The tilting vehicle is modeled by a 24-degree-of-freedom (24-DOF) car system, considering the lateral, roll and yaw motions of each wheelset, the lateral, vertical, roll and yaw motions of each bogie frame and the car body. The derailment quotients of the tilting railway vehicle with the wheelsets moving over irregular rails in the lateral direction and the car body acted upon by the wind loads are investigated for various tilting angles. The analysis results show that in general, the derailment quotient of the wheelset increases as the tilting angle of the railway vehicle increases. When the railway vehicle moves at low speeds, the derailment quotient calculated for the case with rail irregularities is greater than that for the case with no rail irregularities. Moreover, the derailment quotient of a wheelset moving over curved tracks of various radii is presented. Finally, the derailment quotient computed for the case under wind loads is greater than that free of wind loads. As a result, the influence of rail irregularities and wind loads on the derailment risk of a tilting vehicle cannot be ignored.

In this paper, the improvements in luminance and efficiency have been demonstrated in a white polymer light-emitting device (PLED) with the structure of ITO/ poly (N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK): 1,1,4,4- tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene (TPB):5,6,11,12-tetrapheny lanpthacene (rubrene) /LiF(1 nm)/Ca(10 nm)/Al(100 nm). The luminance of the white PLED is up to 4940 cd/m2 at 17 V. The current efficiency and Commission Internationale d’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates is 1.66 cd/A and (0.325, 0.326), respectively. The enhancement of the luminance and efficiency can be attributed to an improved hole-injection ability and balance carrier recombination through two ways: (1) enhancing the hole-injection from ITO by using O2 plasma treatment, and (2) balance the recombination of hole and electron by produce a buffer layer with σ-bonded segments of polymer between the ITO and the polymer layer. Besides, orange-emitting rubrene provides that direct recombination of holes and electrons occurred on the dopant molecules and trapping significantly enhanced the luminance and efficiency.

This paper studies the dynamic characteristics of the Kao-Ping-Hsi cable-stayed bridge under daily traffic conditions. Experimental data were measured from a structural monitoring system, and system-identification techniques, such as the random decrement (RD) technique and Ibrahim time-domain (ITD) method, were adopted. The first five modes of the bridge were identified for their natural frequencies and damping ratios under different traffic loading conditions, in terms of root-mean-square (RMS) deck velocities. The magnitude of the torsion mode of the Kao-Ping-Hsi cable-stayed bridge is found to be one order-of-magnitude less than the transfer mode, and two orders-of-magnitude less than the vertical modes. Out results indicated that vibrations induced by traffic flow can be used as an indicator to monitor the health of the bridge due to their insensitivity to the natural frequencies of the cable-stayed bridge. Furthermore, the damping ratios may be used as a more sensitive indicator to describe the condition of the bridge.