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Vegetated concrete substrate (VCS) is a kind of ecological cemented soil, which has very wide application prospect in high and steep rock slope eco-protection. Cement is an important component of VCS, but it has high energy consumption and environmental pollution. Fiber reinforcement plays an positive role in improving the mechanical properties of soil, and its use as a substitute for cement content in VCS under the condition of equal strength is rarely investigated. In this study, the unconsolidated-undrained (UU) triaxial compression test of unreinforced substrate as blank control samples (BCS) and reinforced substrate as fiber reinforced samples (FRS) were carried out. The test results showed that the stress-strain curve of VCS can be divided into compaction stage, elastic stage, plastic stage and strain hardening stage. The average peak strength increased by 34.3kPa, 53.6kPa, 218kPa and 81.8kPa as cement content of VCS was 0%,4%, 6% and 8%, respectively. The relationship between the peak strength and cement content of VCS could be better fit by Boltzmann function. The mathematical model of fiber instead of cement in VCS under the condition of equal strength was established. It is found that there is a critical point of cement content according to the mathematical model. The cement of VCS can be completely replaced by plam fiber as the cement content is less than the critical point. While the cement content is higher than the critical point, the cement of VCS can be partially replaced by plam fiber. The decrease of average cement content was 17.23%, 19.00%, 24.27% and 25.34% with 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6% and 0.8% fiber content in reinforced substrate, respectively. The theoretical method and interpolation method for fiber substitute cement content of VCS under equal strength condition were proposed, which can provide technical guidance for ecological slope protection engineering practice of vegetated concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the service life of bridge structures, they will be affected by various physical and environmental changes, which comprehensively manifest on different time scales. In other words, structural effects will have different variation patterns at different time scales, which will be reflected in the multi-scale characteristics of structural mechanical properties over time. However, most of the existing bridge performance indicators are defined on a time scale corresponding to a single factor. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze, process, and apply bridge monitoring signals differently at different time scales and components of different factors. This article proposes a signal decomposition and reconstruction method that extracts signals of different components from strain monitoring signals of bridge structures. On this basis, different feature extraction and indicator recognition are carried out for different extracted components. Among them, for component A related to bridge vibration, this paper proposes a strain mode identification method based on statistical stability. This method is based on the assumption that the strain mode under random noise has approximate time invariant characteristics, and noise is eliminated through statistical averaging. The component B of the vehicle induced effect is obtained through empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and bandpass filtering, and the lateral collaborative performance of the assembled beam bridge is characterized based on the correlation coefficient of component BA bridge hinge joint damage identification method based on temperature strain is proposed for component C of temperature effect. The effectiveness and feasibility of the above workflow were verified through real bridge data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the non-inferiority of a quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIV) developed by Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. (Sinovac, Beijing, China) by comparing its immunogenicity and safety with a comparator QIV (Vaxigrip Tetra®) in a population aged 3 years and older in Chile and the Philippines. Methods: A phase 3, non-inferiority, double-blind, randomized controlled, multicenter clinical trial was conducted in the southern hemisphere (SH) 2023 influenza season. Participants aged ≥ 3 years old with stable health were randomized 1:1 to receive either Sinovac QIV or comparator QIV. The co-primary outcomes were immunological non-inferiority for Sinovac QIV versus the comparator against each strain contained in the vaccines in terms of seroconversion rates (SCRs) and geometric mean titers (GMTs) of hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibodies 28 days after final vaccination. Results: A total of 2039 participants were vaccinated (1019 Sinovac QIV; 1020 comparator QIV). Sinovac QIV induced non-inferior immune responses to all four strains as compared to comparator QIV, with slightly higher GMTs than those of comparator QIV: GMT ratios (lower limit 95% confidence interval (CI)) were 1.8 (1.6) for A(H1N1), 1.4 (1.3) for A (H3N2), 1.3 (1.1) for B Victoria and 1.2 (1.1) for B Yamagata; observed seroconversion rate differences (lower limit 95% CI) were 9.6% (6.7) for A(H1N1), 7.0% (3.5) for A(H3N2), 2.4% (−0.03) for B Victoria and 6.8% (3.0) for B Yamagata. Adverse reactions were similar across the two groups and no vaccine-related serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: The immunogenicity of Sinovac QIV was non-inferior to that of the comparator QIV in these populations aged 3 years and older, and safety was comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reveal the dynamics of magnetised plasma, it is essential to know the geometrical structure of the magnetic field, which is closely related to its linear and quadratic gradients. Estimation of the linear magnetic gradient requires at least four magnetic measurements, whereas calculation of the quadratic gradients of the magnetic field generally requires at least ten. This study is therefore aimed at yielding linear and quadratic gradients of the magnetic field based on magnetic measurements from nine-spacecraft HelioSwarm or seven-spacecraft Plasma Observatory constellations. Time-series magnetic measurements and transfer relationships between different reference frames were used to yield the apparent velocity of the magnetic structure as well as the components of the quadratic magnetic gradient along the direction of motion, while simultaneously elucidating the linear gradient and remaining components of the quadratic magnetic gradient using the least-squares method. Calculation via several iterations was applied to achieve satisfactory accuracy. The tests for the situations of magnetic flux ropes and dipole magnetic field have verifies the validity and accuracy of this approach. The results suggest that using time-series magnetic measurements from constellations comprising at least seven spacecraft and nonplanar configurations can yield linear and quadratic gradients of the magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]