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Kingdoms in the Clouds
Buy Now...
Developed by Casual Games Argonyt and published by Alawar, Sky Kingdoms is a match-three popper strategy game that involves huge island kingdoms based in a fantasy land. As the game takes place in a fantasy land, it should come as no surprise, especially with the clue of the title, that these island kingdoms hover in the sky. The kingdoms are kept in the sky by drawing on the energy created by magic crystals. Everything was fine until a dragon stole one of the crystals thus throwing the system into confusion. Unless the crystal is recovered, the kingdoms will come crashing down.
Your task is to find the dragon and reclaim the crystal in order to restore the balance. In order to complete the task you must built up your energy by eliminating coloured jewelled balls that snake around various locations. The balls are removed by creating groups of three or more similarly coloured objects using a winged shooter.
Profiles can be set up for individual players that will record progress, lives gained and points scored. However when using this process I did come across a strange anomaly when attempting to enter the name "Review" for testing purposes. Instead of the letter "w" appearing, it was replaced by "A". Further checking revealed that a lower case "q" was converted into a capital "Q". While hardly a fatal error, it could cause annoyance for some users.
Spread over 90 levels, the game can be played in Easy, Normal or Hard mode against a series of eye-catching, animated backdrops. Your winged shooter is controlled by your mouse for left and right movement with the left button used to fire missiles and the right button for switching between the next two available missiles. Some care does need to be taken with the mouse as it is too easy for the mouse cursor to disappear from the screen with the result that you loose control of the shooter.
Using various attack patterns, the coloured balls snake along predefined paths as you attempt to create groups of three or more similarly coloured balls by inserting balls fired from your shooter. To help aid you in this task at clearing away the chains of balls are power-ups and coin releasing balls which can be used immediately or later. In the former category are power-ups which freeze, explode, repaint, reverse the chain and bring it to a temporary halt plus add a crosshair targeting sight to your shooter.
As already mentioned, some of the balls release a coin when hit by another ball. The coin can be collected as they fall downwards and saved for future use. In addition other coins appear at the end of each successful level. These coins can be used for purchasing power upgrades and additional lives from a store module. You can only visit this store after a level has been successfully completed.
From time to time, super bonuses become available. There are three different kinds of these bonuses which appear in the lower left section of the screen waiting to be used when required. One of the bonuses can be used to sort the current chain of balls by colour making it fairly easy to remove them. There are also bonuses which destroy the first ten balls in a chain and temporarily block a user-selected section of a chain.
Built into the game are twelve wallpaper screens. These are made available as you make progress through the game. An option is available to make any of these wallpapers as your current setting. Unfortunately none of the different wallpapers was large enough, even with the stretch option, to fill my default resolution of 1400 x 1050 on my laptop.
Sky Kingdoms should appeal to fans of the match-3 type of game and is addictive enough to appeal to others. You can download a trial version of the software which gives you sixty minutes of game play. The full version of this game is priced at $19.99. System requirements are for a 800MHz processor, 256MB of RAM, 60MB of hard disk space, support for DirectX 8 running Windows 2000 and later.
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"South SF at Sacred Heart Prep"
SHP's Ali Jordan (7) didn't score on this play, but did tally a goal in the second half of the Gators' 4-0 win over South San Francisco on Tuesday. Photo by Keith Peters/Palo Alto Online. - Dec 13, 2011
Submitted by Keith Peters on Dec 14, 2011

subset: commoncrawl


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CHANDLER, AZ. April 29, 2003 -- Amkor Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMKR) reported first quarter sales of $343 million, down 8% sequentially and up 19% over the first quarter of 2002. Amkors first quarter net income was $14.5 million, or $0.09 per share, compared with a loss of $188 million, or ($1.15) per share, in the first quarter of 2002.
The results of the companys wafer fabrication services business, which was sold on February 28, 2003, have been reported separately as discontinued operations and include a net gain of $52 million in connection with the sale of that business. Prior period results have been restated to present the wafer fabrication services business as discontinued operations.
Amkors first quarter loss from continuing operations was $40 million, or ($0.24) per share, compared with a loss of $190 million, or ($1.17) per share in the first quarter of last year. First quarter 2002 results included a loss of $97 million, or ($0.59) per share, on impairment of equity investment in ASI.
First quarter revenue was slightly ahead of guidance, and gross margin exceeded the companys expectations. Gross margin rose to 13.6% from negative 6.8% in the year-ago period, due in part to lower levels of depreciation, ongoing cost efficiency programs, and higher utilization of assembly and test assets used to support advanced packages. The reduced depreciation reflects the impact of the fixed asset impairment recorded in the second quarter of 2002 and the change in estimated useful lives of certain assembly equipment from four years to seven years effective with the fourth quarter of 2002.
During the quarter we achieved several important strategic objectives designed to increase liquidity and focus management resources on our core business, said James Kim, Amkors chairman and chief executive officer. In February we completed the sale of our wafer fabrication services business for $62 million. We also continued to monetize our investment in ASI, selling an additional seven million shares in March, which reduced our ownership interest to 19.7 million shares, or 16% of ASIs voting stock. As of March 24 we ceased accounting for our investment in ASI under the equity method and now account for this investment as a marketable security. We intend to further monetize this investment.
Our first quarter revenue reflected seasonally weak demand and a conservative manufacturing posture among companies in the electronics supply chain, said John Boruch, Amkors president and chief operating officer. Our primary goals for 2003 are to prepare our operations for profitable growth and execute on an increasing number of customer program wins.
Our customers forecasts have begun to trend upward from the seasonally slow first quarter, said Boruch. During the downturn design engineers have focused on incorporating more functionality and higher levels of performance in their end products. These efforts are driving increased reliance on advanced packaging solutions such as flip chip, system in package, stacked chips, image sensing, MEMS, and MicroLeadFrameÔ, all of which fall into our core competency.
First quarter gross margin of 13.6% was better than we expected and reflects ongoing efforts to manage costs and enhance operating efficiencies, said Ken Joyce, Amkors chief financial officer. Looking back over the past several quarters, we have made excellent progress streamlining our manufacturing organization in support of our expected return to bottom line profitability during the second half of this year.
We continue to improve our financial liquidity, noted Joyce. Our cash balance increased to $351 million on March 31, reflecting positive cash flow from operations, completion of sale of our wafer fabrication services business, and the sale of additional shares of ASI. Early in the second quarter we refinanced our secured credit facility on more favorable terms, which is a strong vote of confidence from our lenders. The new $200 million credit facility replaces the previous $197 credit facility and will have no significant principal amortization until June 30, 2005.
Selected operating data for the first quarter of 2003 is included on a separate page of this release.
Business outlook
Our customers long-range forecasts have generally been building since the beginning of the year. On the basis of these forecasts we have the following expectations for the second quarter:
Our capital budget for 2003 has been increased to $150 million. During the year we expect to accelerate our purchases of fine pitch wire bonders, testers and related equipment in response to strengthening customer demand for advanced assembly and test solutions. Given this scenario, we expect second quarter capex to exceed $50 million.
We will resume the recognition of deferred tax assets when Amkor returns to profitability. We anticipate recognizing approximately $4 million per quarter in foreign tax expense for the remainder of 2003. At March 31, 2003 our company had U.S. net operating losses totaling $335 million expiring between 2021 and 2022. Additionally, at March 31, 2003 we had $50 million of non-U.S. net operating losses available for carryforward, expiring between 2003 and 2012.
Amkor will hold a conference call on April 29, 2003 at 5:00 p.m. eastern time to discuss the results of the first quarter in more detail. The call will be webcast and can be accessed through the investor relations page of our web site: www.amkor.com/ir as well as through CCBNs website, www.companyboardroom.com. An archive of the webcast can be accessed through the same links and will be available until the companys next quarterly earnings conference call. An audio replay of the call will be available for 48 hours following the conference call by dialing 303-590-3000, passcode: 534350.
Amkor is the worlds largest provider of contract semiconductor assembly and test services. The company offers semiconductor companies and electronics OEMs a complete set of microelectronic design and manufacturing services. More information on Amkor is available from the companys SEC filings and on Amkors web site: www.amkor.com.
The statements by James Kim, John Boruch and Ken Joyce, and the above statements contained in our Business Outlook, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect future operating results and cause actual results to vary materially from historical and expected results include, but are not limited to: the highly unpredictable nature of the semiconductor industry; volatility of consumer demand for products incorporating our semiconductor packages; worldwide economic effects of terrorist attacks, military conflict in the Middle East and potential military conflict in Asia; potential effects of business disruption caused by SARS; competitive pricing and declines in average selling prices; reliance on a small group of principal customers; timing and volume of orders relative to the production capacity; availability of manufacturing capacity and fluctuations in manufacturing yields; availability of financing; competition; dependence on international operations and sales; dependence on raw material and equipment suppliers; exchange rate fluctuations; dependence on key personnel; difficulties in managing growth; enforcement of intellectual property rights; and environmental regulations.
Further information on risk factors that could affect the outcome of the events set forth in these statements and that could affect the companys operating results and financial condition is detailed in the companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002.
Selected operating data for the first quarter of 2003:


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Where can I get a serial number or activation key for the game "City Car Driving"? Administrator, Thursday, 05 May 2011 15:28
The car simulator "City Car Driving" is not a free game. If you wish to use it, you should buy a serial number for it. You can buy game here - http://citycardriving.com/buy/citycardriving
After entering my activation key the game says that key is valid and stored, but then it's still continuing to ask the security key or jsut freezes. What should I do? Administrator, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 17:27
You should run the game with administrator privileges (right click on its' shortcut and choose "Run as administrator" in the context menu).
I've paid for the serial number, but haven't received it. What should I do? Administrator, Thursday, 05 May 2011 22:23
Please check your spam filters. An automatically generated email message with the serial number can be determined as spam quite often.
If you have not found the message with the serial number in your mailbox, please provide us with following information:
- Your full name, country and city;
- Version of the game, you've purchased;
- Your order ID;
- Your method of payment;
- Time and date of the purchase;
- E-mail that you've entered when paid.
Please send all this information to our e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
I've received the serial number, but what should I do now? Administrator, Thursday, 05 May 2011 15:29
Instruction how to install and activate the game:
1. Follow this link - http://www.distrib.forward-development.ru/setup/CityCarDriving_En.exe to download the game.
2. Run the downloaded installation file with administrator privileges (right click on it and choose "Run as administrator in the context menu) and follow instructions of the setup wizard.
3. During the installation process, you should agree on installing all additional software, because it's necessary for correct program operation.
4. After installation of the program is finished, run the installed game with administrator privileges (right click on the game's shortcut and choose "Run as administrator in the context menu).
5. You'll see a small startup window.
6. Copy your serial number and paste it into the box in the game startup window and click "Activate" button.
WARNING!!! The program requires constant Internet connection for license validation!
I see the error "license is not activated" after 5-10 minutes of playing the game. How to fix it? , Tuesday, 19 September 2017 23:42
Please carefully follow these steps:
1. WARNING!!! The program requires constant(!) Internet connection for license validation! Make sure your Internet access is active and work correctly all the time while playing the game.
2. Make sure you're launching the game with administrator privileges (right click on its' shortcut and choose "Run as administrator" in the context menu).
3. Make sure your firewall or antivirus or anything else doesn't block the Internet access for the game.
4. Add the game to the exceptions of your antivirus/firewall software.
5. Turn off the UAC - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-user-account-control-on-off#1TC=windows-7
6. Turn off any antivirus or firewall software (including the Windows built-in).


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New Coke Machine Offers Over 100 Drink Choices
Earlier this week I mentioned on the air about how a new Coke machine in a Burger King was offering almost 150 different drink choices. Not quite sure how this was possible, I started doing some research. I Googled "New Coke Machine 100 Flavors", and the results included Wikipedia's site, with this description: "Coca-Cola Freestyle is a touch screen soda fountain introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in 2009."
2009? 2009?? Where have I been? Why haven't I seen one of these locally? After watching the video and seeing how many options there are, I realize that I would need intervention just to be able to back away from the machine, and then probably months of therapy to get over the ordeal. Coke with raspberry! COKE WITH ORANGE (just like they used to serve when I was in Germany!).
Subscribe to 99.9 KTDY on
Subscribe to 99.9 KTDY on
Coca-Cola, please send one to Lafayette, Louisiana!


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About last night ...
Some tidbits and leftovers from Tuesday night's wild win:
* Rays manager Joe Maddon said he felt it was important take action for a number of reasons when Angel Hernandez refused to grant Carlos Pena's request for time out, figuring it was a direct product of the MLB effort to speed up games, which this umpiring crew has taken to extremes: "First of all, I'm going to say this: I really like Angel a lot. I think he's a good umpire. I think he handles all situations well. But I just needed to make a stand right there. I felt it was necessary, not only for me, but for all teams, to make a stand in that situation. Again, it's about playing the game right. It's about being fair on both sides. It's about doing the right thing. And to permit the pitcher to have an unfair advantage in that moment, I think is wrong. And to not permit timeouts in that moment I think is wrong. I do. I can understand - make commercials less long, if you want to put it that way, but when the game is on the line, don't permit the game to be decided by the fact that you're not permitted to call timeout."
* Umpire crew chief Joe West's contention was that Hernandez made the right decision given rules - 6.02 in this case - designed to protect pitchers who were already starting their delivery, though on the TV replays it appeared Gregg had not yet started. "You can not ask for timeout once a pitcher is coming to a set position or once a pitcher would be in jeopardy of hurting himself,'' West told the Times, pointing out there is a sign in every clubhouse reminding the players of such. "The rule is two-fold - one is to protect the pitcher from starting his delivery and then having to stop because the hitter stepped out. That's why we don't allow the hitters to cause balks. It's all intertwined with the protocol of the pitcher and hitter and the umpire. And the hitters all know, you ask for time and have to be granted time or it's not out. They don't get to call time, the umpire calls time.''
* West refuted Maddon's premise that the speed-up rules were the prime reason for Hernandez's decision: "It's not just pace of game, it's been there the whole time. ... Because it's part of the pace of game I'm sure it's magnified in their eyes.''
* West also noted several times that Pena had tried to get time called previously in the ninth inning at-bat: "He asked for time out earlier, Angel didn't grant it because Gregg was ready to pitch. And Gregg stopped because the hitter stopped. This time he didn't. And that's the way it is. Those are the rules of the game - the hitters do not call time out, the umpires do. And they know that. The hard part of this is that it's a crucial time in the game. He umpired by the letter of the law, which you're supposed to do.'' West went back to the part about the pitcher: "Ever since I've been in baseball for my 33 years, it's more to protect the pitcher from injuring himself by starting and having to stop. Now there are teams that try to intimidate the pitcher by stepping out, and I don't necessarily think he was trying to do that there. But in the same at-bat he steps out twice.''
* The Pena at-bat was Maddon's second complaint of the night. He had been out earlier when second base umpire Dan Bellino didn't gave the Rays the benefit of the "neighborhood play" when Reid Brignac came off the bag trying to turn a double play as he made a throw to first. "Joe came out and said that play is called 95 percent of the time, well that's not fair,'' West said. "He made a great call at second base.''
* Despite all the emotions of the night - the second base call, the Pena at-bat and Gregg's rant at Hernandez that led to an ejection - the umpires seemed relaxed in their dressing room after the game. Hernandez was eating at the small table as West spoke, with an old Rocky movie showing on the small TV, and the two other umpires hanging out. They invited me to sit down on the couch and talk, and offered food and drink. West took a break from the interview to take a call from old buddy Tommy Lasorda, who was calling from a Nashville establishment, and talked to him for about 10 minutes before getting back to the business at hand.
* It was the second time this season the Rays rallied to win a game after trailing in the eighth inning, the other being opening night.
* Toronto's Kevin Gregg, according to ESPN's Baseball Tonight crew, became the first pitcher to blow a save while walking five or more batters in the ninth inning or later.
* Here's some of Gregg's take on his night: "Obviously walking that many guys in an inning is not going to work, it's not appropriate. You have your good games and your bad ones and obviously today wasn't a good one.''
And on umpire Angel Hernandez's night: "Technically we're not supposed to comment on the strike zone. Obviously you can watch the game to see how things dictate, all we ask is that it's (the strike zone) consistent throughout the game and consistent in the ninth inning."
* Also from ESPN, the Rays enter the day leading in Web Gem points, including five plays voted No. 1 by the fans.


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The iQuit Program is a free tobacco cessation program for UK students. To sign up, use our
iQuit enrollment form (PDF, 169 KB).
Are you thinking about quitting smoking or chewing? Do you want to help someone else who is thinking of quitting smoking or chewing?
The 18-24 year old age group continues to have the highest smoking rate among all adults. Using tobacco affects nearly every part of the smoker or chewers' body, as well as friends, loved ones and pets. The good news is that health begins to improve almost immediately after quitting.
We know that some students begin using tobacco in college without planning to continue after graduation, but find quitting is harder than they thought it would be and that most students who smoke want to quit before they graduate.
Most UK students don't use tobacco (seven out of 10) and many want to quit.
If you do use tobacco, we can help.
Pick up a free quit kit at University Health Service to learn about quitting tobacco.Our services include:
We can help you explore options, including medications and behavior changes, and pick strategies that work for you!
Services are offered to part-time and full-time UK students who have paid their health fee.
UK undergraduate and graduate students and their spouses, who are covered by the
student health insurance, are also eligible for these services and may receive nicotine replacement products.
Call 859-323-2778 (APPT) for an appointment or email or
Counseling Center - Various counseling formats are offered to help with tobacco cessation, reducing tobacco use, and managing stress and cravings. Students must be enrolled at UK for at least 6 credit hours to be eligible for services and to receive free nicotine replacement products (patches and/or gum) at no cost. Call 859-257-8701 today to schedule your appointment.
There's an app for that:


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At approximately 10:45pm last night Wednesday, May 25, 2011 police responded to the area of Commonwealth and Harvard Ave. for a report by motorist that he had been threatened with a firearm by two other motorists in a silver BMW.
The police were able to stop the vehicle fitting the description with two young men inside, Aram Barseghyam, 28, of Brighton and Aleksandr Yeghiyan, 22, of Watertown. A search of the vehicle revealed a black BB type gun which resembled a real firearm. Both men were arrested and will be arraigned in Brighton District Court on threats to do harm for brandishing what appeared to be a real firearm.
The victim claims that he was engaged in a verbal argument with the two men when the front seat passenger pointed what appeared to be a real firearm at him and stated" next time, bang, you're dead". The victim was able to identify the two men the police stopped as the ones involved in the altercation and was also able to identify the weapon is the one pointed at him.
Road rage incidents are becoming more common, in this instance these two men will face brandishing a weapon charges for pulling out what appeared to be a real firearm.
Frank Fernandez is a Boston criminal attorney who handles firearm charges of all kinds including brandishing a firearm, shooting a firearm in public and threats. Firearm charges in Boston and throughout all of Massachusetts are given free consultations; contact us to speak with an attorney now.
Related Article:
Threatening to do Harm with a Fake Firearm Lands Two Behind Bars


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Guidelines & Boundaries vs. Rules: Merged Threads, General Discussion
View Single Post
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,510
Marcus-that is how I am with those who don't live with me. It has worked VERY well for me in that venue.
However, I am quite the demanding lerson in regards to my children. That has the effect of exerting a great deal of control over my home.
For most people this has seemed an obvious and expected fact. But, since entering into a poly dynamic, there have been a few who felt that because Maca ang GG live here then my rules shouldn't be 'the bottom line'. That has backfired nastily in terms of their welcome in my home.
As far as I am concerned, its my castle and they are both welcome to live elsewhere. But, until the children are all grown, this is my domain to run as I se fit.
Ironically-that hasn't been an issue with ANYONE who has lived here as my rules are very basic. But, a few potential partners of Macas wanted their desires for rrules here to be foremost to him (they have their own homes) and found that themselves quite offended that there was no option for that.
Jane-I agree. The rules regarding sex, outside of safety, aren't hardly significant to me compared to finances (which I manage), household chores, kid responsibilities. But those I classify as agreements more than rules. However, when a new comer gets snippy-we have all been known to say 'sorry-against our rules' and continue on.
"Love As Thou Wilt"
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Label: INSTANT TOOTHACHE PAIN RELIEF - benzocaine liquid
- NDC Code(s): 59779-831-21, 59779-831-29
- Packager: CVS Pharmacy
- Category: HUMAN OTC DRUG LABEL
- DEA Schedule: None
- Marketing Status: OTC monograph final
DISCLAIMER: Most OTC drugs are not reviewed and approved by FDA, however they may be marketed if they comply with applicable regulations and policies. FDA has not evaluated whether this product complies.
Drug Label Information
Updated April 20, 2011
If you are a consumer or patient please visit this version.
- Download DRUG LABEL INFO: PDF XML
- Official Label (Printer Friendly)
- Active ingredient
Benzocaine 20.0% ...................................................................... Oral pain reliever Close
- Use
for the temporary relief of pain due to toothaches
Allergy alert: do not use this product if you have a history of allergy to local anesthetics such as
procaine, butacaine, benzocaine or other "caine" anesthetics
Flammable: Keep away from flame or fire. Avoid smoking during application and until product has dried
Do not use - more than directed - for more than 7 days unless told to do so by a dentist or doctor
Stop use and ask a doctor - if swelling, rash or fever develops - irritation, pain or redness persists or worsens
Keep out of reach of children. In case of overdose, get medical help or contact a Poison Control
Center right away.
- Directions
do not use if package has been opened - adults and children 2 years of age and
older: using applicator tip, apply to the cavity and around the gum surrounding the teeth. Use up to 4
times daily or as directed by a dentist or doctor. Children 12 years of age should be supervised in
the use of this product. - children under 2 years of age: ask a dentist or doctor
- Other Information
This preparation is intended for use in cases of toothache, only as a
temporary expedient until a dentist can be consulted. Do not use continiously.
- Inactive ingredients
Ethyl Alcohol 44.2% by weight, Red 40, Yellow 5, Flavor,
Polyethylene Glycol, Water, Sodium Saccharin
• use up to 4 times daily, or as directed by a dentist or doctor • children under 12 years of age should be supervised in
the use of this product • children under 2 years of age: consult a dentist or doctor Close
benzocaine liquid
Product Information Product Type HUMAN OTC DRUG Item Code (Source) NDC:59779-831 Route of Administration ORAL Active Ingredient/Active Moiety Ingredient Name Basis of Strength Strength BENZOCAINE (UNII: U3RSY48JW5) (BENZOCAINE - UNII:U3RSY48JW5) BENZOCAINE 20 g in 100 g Inactive Ingredients Ingredient Name Strength ALCOHOL (UNII: 3K9958V90M) 41.99 g in 100 g POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 400 (UNII: B697894SGQ) 34.5 g in 100 g SACCHARIN SODIUM (UNII: SB8ZUX40TY) 0.5 g in 100 g FD&C RED NO. 40 (UNII: WZB9127XOA) 0.001 g in 100 g FD&C YELLOW NO. 5 (UNII: I753WB2F1M) 0.002 g in 100 g WATER (UNII: 059QF0KO0R) 2.507 g in 100 g Product Characteristics Color Score Shape Size Flavor COCONUT (Pina Colada Flavor #26041) Imprint Code Contains Packaging # Item Code Package Description Marketing Start Date Marketing End Date 1 NDC:59779-831-29 1 in 1 CARTON 1 NDC:59779-831-21 14.17 g in 1 BOTTLE, WITH APPLICATOR Marketing Information Marketing Category Application Number or Monograph Citation Marketing Start Date Marketing End Date OTC monograph final part333B 10/01/2009 Labeler - CVS Pharmacy (062312574) Registrant - Lornamead (126440440) Establishment Name Address ID/FEI Business Operations Lornamead 126440440 manufacture, pack


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"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" Cuts Total Viewer and Demo Gaps with "NBC Nightly News" Year-to-Year – Narrows Total Viewer Gap by 31%
ABC Outperforms "CBS Evening News" by 1.81 Million Viewers and 180,000 Adults 25-54
Compared to the Competition, "ABC World News" Grows Total Viewing Audience Most Year-to-Year
Season-to-date, "ABC World News" Increases Both Total Viewing and Demo Audiences
For the week of November 7, 2011, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 8.28 million Total Viewers and a 1.8 rating/6 share/2.16 million among Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. Growing week to week in both Total Viewers (+8%) and Adults 25-54 (+10%) to hit season-highs , "World News" drew its most-watched week in nearly 8 months- since w/o 3/21/11.
The ABC evening newscast increased year-over-year by 5% in Total Viewers (7.88 million on w/o 11/8/10), improving on the year-ago week in all 8 weeks of the season. Additionally, "World News" grew its overall audience the most year-to-year (NBC was down by -1%; CBS was up by +1%). Delivering a season-best in Total Viewers (8.61 million), Monday's broadcast (11/7/11) stood as "World News'" most-watched regular telecast in over 5 months – since 5/24/11.
"ABC World News" narrowed its weekly margins with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 (-4% – 488,000 vs. 508,000) . For the 2nd straight week, "ABC World News" decreased its year-to-year gaps with "NBC Nightly News" in both Total Viewers (-31% – 1.10 million vs. 1.60 million) and Adults 25-54 (-14% – 488,000 vs. 565,000) .
"ABC World News" outperformed the "CBS Evening News" by 1.81 million Total Viewers and by 180,000 Adults 25-54.
Season to date, "World News" is up in both Total Viewers (+5%) and Adults 25-54 (+3%) compared to the same point last season. Additionally, "World News" has cut its season-to-date gaps with "NBC Nightly News" in both Total Viewers (-13%) and Adults 25-54 (-5%), posting its smallest news demo margin (332,000) with the NBC program in 3 years – since the 2008-09 season.
"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" airs at 6:30 p.m., (ET) on the ABC Television Network. Michael Corn is the executive producer of the broadcast.
Note : This was the first week of Standard Time.
"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" airs at 6:30 p.m., (ET) on the ABC Television Network. Michael Corn is the executive producer of the broadcast.
EVENING NEWS (Week of November 7, 2011)
|Total Viewers
|Adults 25-54
|1.8/6; 2,164,000
|2.2/8; 2,652,000
|1.6/6; 1,984,000
|4.3/ 8
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 11/7/11, 10/31/11 & 11/8/10. 2011-2012 Season (9/19 – 11/13/11) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20 – 11/14/10).


text:
Stretch Marquee Hire Millhill
Looking to hire a Stretch Tent in Millhill for your next party? Get a quote for party tents to hire in Millhill using Add to Event.
12 Stretch Marquee companies near Millhill
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3. Hire the Best
Call or message your favourite suppliers and once you're ready simply hire the best match for your event.
We have 12 stretch marquee hire companies near Millhill
Contact them all with a single request


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2011 NISSAN Sentra Sedan 4D
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2011 NISSAN Sentra Sedan 4D
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- Power Steering
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- Steel Wheels
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- Head Curtain Air Bags
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- Pwr front ventilated disc/rear drum brakes
- Independent strut front suspension
- Rear torsion beam suspension
- Battery saver
- Front/rear stabilizer bars
- Electric pwr rack & pinion steering
- Front wheel drive
- Electronically controlled drive-by-wire throttle
- 2.0L DOHC 16-valve SMPI I4 engine
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If you are going to sell your Xbox One, you'll want to set it to factory defaults first and make sure your data is erased from the console. Here's how.
Tag Archives | Xbox
Microsoft Xbox tips, tricks, how to tutorials, news and reviews. The hub for all things Xbox including Xbox 360, Xbox One, Live, Video and Music!
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Rangers will make their first appearance at the Dale Farm Milk Cup in more than two decades when theycompete in a high quality Junior competition on the north coast this summer.
The Ibrox representatives, who in the past drew hundreds of supporters to games, will join defending champions Everton plus Liverpool and Brazilian club Corinthians in the chase for glory .
It is 21 years since the Glasgow club participated in the tournament and Jim Sinclair, Rangers Academy Director says its an exciting opportunity for Rangers' up and coming talent.
"We are delighted to be renewing Rangers' long association with the Milk Cup having won the event during the 80's and 90's and we're hopeful that our group will enjoy the experience again this year.
"The Milk Cup has over many years developed a fantastic reputation for providing a strong tournament with competitive clubs from all over the world and the quality of opposition will prove a great test for our young team.
"We always look forward to taking teams to Northern Ireland where the club has a large supporter base and we know we will participate in an event which has a reputation for first class organisation."
Rangers players and Northern Ireland internationals Andy Little, Dean Shiels and Scot Whiteside have all competed at the Dale Farm Milk Cup and recall their involvement with great affection.
Maghera man Shiels says: "My greatest memory was playing for Northern Ireland against Brazil and scoring the two goals in a 2-1 victory at Coleraine Showgrounds. It was something very special."
Little, from County Fermanagh, insists he is a Milk Cup record breaker.
"I believe I may be the player to have appeared most often at Milk Cup tournaments over the years because I've participated no less than six times."
Garvagh teenager Whiteside, who is an Under-17 Northern Ireland international, recalled a fifth place finish on the last occasion he played for County Londonderry and says: "Rangers going back to the Milk Cup will be a great occasion and I am certain a large number of Rangers fans will turn out to see the team."
Rangers were inaugural Junior Milk Cup winners back in 1985 when John Spencer's squad defeated Ulster side Craigavon in the final at Coleraine Showgrounds, a game watched by thousands of fans.
The club's two other successes came in the Premier section with victory over holders Motherwell in 1984 and in the 10th anniversary tournament in 1992 when Charlie Miller scored twice in decider against Nottingham Forest.
The Dale Farm Milk Cup begins with the traditional parade of competing teams through Coleraine on Sunday, July 27, concluding with finals night at Ballymena Showgrounds on Friday, August 1.
The Draw for Dale Farm Milk Cup 2014 will take place towards the end of May.
In addition to title sponsors Dale Farm, Northern Ireland's largest dairy company, the Dale Farm Milk Cup is supported by the four Councils of Coleraine, Ballymena, Ballymoney and Limavady, with BBC Sport NI as broadcast partners.


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Journal of Sensors
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 693082, 9 pages
Development of a Nondestructive Impulse Device and Damage Model for Unreinforced Concrete
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State University, 4110 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84332-4110, USA
Received 4 November 2011; Accepted 15 January 2012
Academic Editor: Shenfang Yuan
Copyright © 2012 Shane D. Boone et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Unconstrained compression waves were measured using a newly developed, nondestructive, short impulse excitation device developed for long-term structural health monitoring. The measurements, using this innovative device, were used to determine the variation in the first longitudinal modal frequency as a function of loading magnitude and loading cycles to failure of various concrete mixes. Longitudinal frequency and cumulative energy variations were found to be a function of concrete compressive strength. These results imply that higher-strength concrete more easily absorbs energy and restricts the growth of microcracks. Based on the results, a new damage model is proposed that was shown to correlate with measured values to within 7%. This proposed model was found to have a closer correlation than Miner's hypothesis and damage index models from other reviewed research.
1. Introduction
Testing methods that determine the in-place physical properties of concrete structures are important tools for engineers to quantify their capacity and long-term performance. Code-based procedures that result in the evaluation of the integrity of existing structures depend on accurate material properties to correctly determine the condition of these structures. Currently, there are many such methods (i.e., stress wave propagation methods) in existence that allow engineers to determine these material properties. However, these tools and techniques have been developed based on the assumption that dynamic material measurements are not affected by the inherent stress history applied to structures due to self-weight, super-imposed dead loads, and live loads. Such loading causes fatigue and damage in the form of microcracking that can change the long-term structural health with regard to wave propagation. These long-term changes in the propagation velocities of stress waves must be clearly understood so that nondestructive measurements of existing structures are not only quantitative but also correctly analyzed.
In the case of a heterogeneous material like concrete, the assumption that it is homogenous is accepted in order for the basic theories and techniques of stress wave propagation methods to be applicable. However, the measured stress waves are typically too large in length to determine properties such as porosity, interfacial bond quality between aggregate and matrix material, or the presence of microcracks. Instead, the wave characteristics measured during these tests represent the average physical properties of the concrete structure or specimen analyzed (i.e., a homogenous measurement).
When concrete is loaded with any significant amount of stress, tensile stresses are produced and microcracks form. Stress, in this case, can result from any type of loading, including those induced during the curing process such as bleeding, settling of grout, and shrinkage. These stress-induced cracks typically initiate around the aggregate-to-matrix interfaces and then progress as additional loads are applied. It is this microcrack growth and coalescence that causes the failure of concrete [1]. Because the accumulation of microcracks leads to the failure of concrete, it is reasonable to assume that the accumulation of these cracks is a good indicator of damage.
Several methods have been developed to predict the damage in concrete structures due to loading. The majority of these models use energy-related damage indicators to quantitatively assess the damage in such structures [2–5]. Also, other researchers [6] have developed relationships for the calculation of fatigue of unreinforced concrete to incorporate indicators such as stress versus number of cycles, ratio of minimum to maximum stress, and rate of loading. Other predictive models have used various indicators such as splitting tensile strength [7], stress-strain relationships [8–10], and strain-cycle relationships [11].
As cycling and fatigue loading is applied to concrete, the primary reason for a decrease in the structural-related properties is the continuous microcrack growth. Thus, research interest to investigate procedures to measure the growth of these cracks has been conducted [12–14]. All of these studies have incorporated nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques to quantify crack growth as a function of loading cycles. Measurements of pulse velocity, acoustic emission, and ultrasonic wave attenuation are methods that have been used to determine the growth of microcracks. All of these methods use similar techniques that initially excite the specimens and subsequently measure the elastic wave characteristics of the material during and after the specified loading cycles. The free-free resonant column (FFRC) method has traditionally been used to quantify damage in terms of the fundamental longitudinal, transverse, and torsional frequencies as well as damping [15]. The results from all of the NDT research indicate that measurements of elastic wave properties are a good indicator of damage in concrete.
A more recent study [16] indicates that the elastic properties of the material are dependent not only on the growth of microcracks but also on the closing of microcracks. Some researcheres [16] have shown in a feasibility study that surface wave velocities propagating parallel to the direction of loading demonstrate a distinct stress sensitive behavior. During this study, surface wave velocities were measured while concrete specimens were uniaxially loaded to 35% and 80% of the ultimate compressive strength. Results indicate that as stress levels increase, microcracks in the specimens close and the surface wave velocities increase.
There is also an anisotropic behavior of elastic waves in loaded concrete specimens that depends on the direction of loading relative to the direction of wave propagation [16]. Thus, the presence of microcracks forming in the same direction of loading can be measured by determining the changes in stress wave propagation in that direction.
Studies that have used the FFRC method to monitor the decrease in fundamental longitudinal, transverse, and torsional frequencies have shown that for a specific concrete mix, these natural frequencies decrease [15]. However, a trend to quantify this reduction has not been determined. It is the goal of this study to develop a nondestructive, easily employed, impulse device that can be used to determine whether a general trend exists between parameters such as the first longitudinal modal frequency as a function of applied load. This relationship will be investigated as a function of concrete compressive strength. The nondestructive impulse device and measured data will provide engineers a new tool to continue the development of the understanding of long-term, structural health monitoring of concrete subjected to repeated loading.
In order to obtain the necessary data, the variations in longitudinal compression wave velocity and energy absorption of a variety of concrete specimens subjected to fatigue loading conditions were investigated. The details of the newly developed nondestructive device, concrete mixes, instrumentation, experimental setup, and the methods of measurement and analysis are provided. The theoretical background applying to wave propagation in elastic solid media is briefly discussed. The measurement results of the changes in dynamic properties as well as the cumulative energy absorbed during cyclic loading of several concrete mixes are presented and a new relationship to predict damage accumulation is developed and compared with existing relationships. This newly proposed relationship is shown to more accurately predict the behavior between damage and fatigue loading in comparison to previously developed relationships.
2. Instrumentation Development
In order to be able to obtain frequency measurements more efficiently during the concrete testing, a new nondestructive excitation device was developed. There were several iterations of the design during the development of the new excitation device. However, throughout all the iterations the core design philosophy remained consistent. When a copper coil is subjected to a voltage, a magnetic field is produced. By placing a series of magnets within this copper coil, the magnets are forced to move directly with the change in voltage. When the magnets reside in a free boundary condition, they move up and down within the coil. However, when one or more of the boundary conditions are fixed, they exert an impulse on that fixed-end surface. By placing a spring loaded series of magnets within a copper coil, the free end of the magnets can be set against a surface in order to exert a short-duration impulse force against it. Thus, it was decided to build a device to produce short duration impulse forces using these concepts. The core design consisted of a spring-loaded series of magnets surrounded by a copper wire coil.
Originally, the coil and magnets were fitted into a PVC housing to provide the coil and springs a fixed position. This housing was intended to sit flush against one end of the concrete cylinder to force the magnets against the concrete surface as it was loaded cyclically. This would ensure that the impulses produced by the movements of the magnets would exert a force onto the cylinder. Because the PVC housing could not support the applied loads to which it was subjected during the tests, a specialized aluminum end plate was fabricated to allow the device to sit on the end of the concrete specimen during compression tests. A similar aluminum end plate was fabricated so that a unidirectional accelerometer could be mounted on the opposite end to measure the wave propagation created by the excitation device. These end plates were designed so that they would work with a typical end capping plate used during standard concrete specimen compression tests. However, there was a hole in the center of each end plate where the device sat during compression tests.
It was quickly discovered that the PVC housing simply was not rigid enough to provide adequate protection for the magnetic coil. The neoprene pads that are typically placed in the end capping plates were continuously compressing the PVC housing during the compression tests causing the entire device to be crushed. Therefore, the design was reduced in size to avoid being crushed by the neoprene pads. The new design consisted of two small steel plates connected to a series of magnets surrounded by a small copper coil. The entire assembly was then protected with a thin plastic tube. The plastic tube restricted the movement of the copper coil; however, and the modified design was disregarded.
The original design was then modified to include a stronger housing. Several copper coils were made and fit into aluminum and steel tube housings. However, the end of the coils was continuously crushed during the compression tests. A coil was then fit into a steel housing and potted with epoxy for protection. This design worked adequately initially, but due to the creep of the epoxy, the coil crushed inwards under load towards the spring-loaded magnet assembly and the magnets were not able to freely move. Finally, an aluminum tube was placed on the interior of a magnetic copper coil that was housed in a steel tube. The entire assembly was potted with 17.2 MPa (2500 psi) epoxy. The steel housing was comprised of a hollowed out 38.1 mm (1.5 in.) circular steel member. The walls of the housing were 5 mm (0.2 in.) thick. The aluminum tube had a 13 mm (0.5 in.) outer diameter and the walls were approximately 1.7 mm (0.1 in.) thick. The epoxy potting extended approximately 8 mm (0.3 in.) from the top of the steel housing making the entire structure approximately 41 mm (1.6 in.). The magnetic core was comprised of three 6 mm × 5 mm (0.3 in. × 0.2 in.) neodymium magnets wrapped and fitted in shrink tube. This final design of the excitation device allowed continuous measurements while the specimen was being subjected to cyclic loads. The final design is shown in Figure 1.
Because of the intense pressures associated with the cyclic compression tests, it was discovered that the recorded data also included a great deal of background noise. As a result, it was very difficult to interpret the correct longitudinal frequencies and associated half power bandwidths. An experiment to mount the excitation device on the side of the specimen was conducted, and it was found that adequate energy was produced in the longitudinal direction to allow for this configuration. Another benefit of this side attachment was that the device could be attached to concrete specimens other than cylinders to monitor the structural health. The excitation device was placed into an aluminum housing to increase the long-term durability. Figure 2 shows the excitation device attached to the side of a concrete cylinder along with an extensometer to measure static axial stress-strain behavior during the cyclic tests. This configuration was used throughout all the testing.
3. Experiment
A compression machine controlled by a servo unit capable of loading and unloading the concrete specimens at regulated rates was used to apply the predetermined force to the cylinders at specified percentages of their ultimate compression strength. Simultaneously, the linear voltage displacement transducer (LVDT) on the extensometer-measured changes in axial length that was used to calculate strain. From this data, load-deflection hysteretic curves were created so that a comparison between changes in fundamental frequency and energy dissipation could be obtained. Before and after each loading cycle, the excitation device was turned on and readings of the first longitudinal modal frequency and the half power bandwidth were measured. Each concrete cylinder was then immediately reloaded. Cylinders were repeatedly tested in this manner until failure.
In all, five concrete mixes were tested which included the effects of multiple aggregate types, water-to-cement ratios, and different cement types. This variation in concrete mixes was chosen in order to measure changes in concrete properties representing a wide range of compressive strengths. The concrete designs ranged in mix proportions and had 28-day compressive strengths ranging from 13.0 to 86.6 MPa (1880 to 12560 psi) (Table 1). Concrete specimens were 100 mm × 200 mm and 151 mm × 301 mm (4 in. × 8 in. and 6 in. × 12 in.) cylinders.
Typical stress-strain curves plotted from measurements of the concrete specimens, when loaded in compression, are assumed to be approximately linear up to roughly 40% of the compressive strength. Thus, cylinders were cyclically tested at loads ranging from 50% to 90% of the compressive strength to allow for a broad testing range of the concrete specimens. In order to produce an ideal experiment, several criteria were established. First, the specimens were loaded to a range at which the measured stress-strain curve became nonlinear, ensuring some type of irreversible damage. Secondly, the desired range of cycles was set to be more than 5, but less than 100. This was to ensure an efficient experiment. Finally, the desired failure would occur gradually, rather than during a single cycle. This final criterion was put into place in an effort to quantify the final stages of damage before failure.
After testing several specimens, it was decided that the most effective and efficient experiment would be as follows. Four cylinders from each strength class were loaded cyclically with an initial load at 80% of their respective ultimate compressive strength. The load was increased each cycle in 1% increments up to 90%. Once the 90% mark was reached, the cylinders were loaded cyclically at that magnitude until failure. This experimentation procedure was selected because it allowed for the results of four cylinders from each strength class to be averaged, exceeding the recommended statistical requirement of three cylinders set forth by ASTM C39. Additionally, it was found that loading the cylinders cyclically at magnitudes less than 80% of the ultimate compressive strength did not induce a very large change in the baseline first mode longitudinal frequency. After each cycle, longitudinal frequencies were measured using the newly developed excitation device, acceleration transducer, and digital signal analyzer.
In addition to monitoring the longitudinal frequency, an extensometer with an LVDT was used to measure the axial displacement of the concrete samples as they were cyclically loaded. These load and displacement measurements were subsequently used to produce hysteretic curves that allowed for the calculation of the energy absorbed by the concrete specimen during each cycle.
4. Results
Changes in the fundamental frequency were used to quantify damage accumulation, as the concrete specimens were cyclically loaded to failure. The fundamental frequency of each specimen was calculated based on the principle that when an excitation is produced at a point on an elastic medium, waves radiate from the point where the disturbance occurred in all directions. At great distances from this point of disturbance, however, it may be assumed that all particles are moving either parallel to the direction of the wave propagation or perpendicular to that direction. The particles that are moved in a parallel manner are moved by waves of dilation and produce longitudinal waves [17]. The relationship between the rod (parallel) wave velocity and the properties of the concrete can be described using (1); where is the rod wave velocity, is the compression wave velocity of the material, is the poison's ratio, is the dynamic Young's modulus of the concrete, and is the mass density of concrete.
Because (1) shows that the rod-wave velocity is dependent on the dynamic modulus of elasticity, , it is apparent that as the stiffness of a material deteriorates (microcracks grow), the rod-wave velocity will also decrease. When a disturbance is produced on a known cross-section and length, , the first longitudinal modal frequency (rod-wave velocity) can be described as [18] where is the first longitudinal modal frequency, and is the wavelength, .
Thus, by measuring the first longitudinal modal frequency of a specimen, the stiffness of that material () can be determined. Also, as the stiffness varies due to an increase in the number and growth of the microcracks, this variation can be quantified by measuring the first longitudinal modal frequency.
Measurements of the first longitudinal modal frequencies were recorded at the end of each cycle on every concrete specimen. Simultaneously, load and deflection measurements were recorded using the extensometer and LVDT during each cycle. Initial, undamaged frequencies, , were measured before any loading occurred and was used as baseline data. The percent decrease in frequency was determined by dividing each subsequent measured frequency, , by this initial frequency. The percentage of failure was taken as the cycle number divided by the total number of cycles required for failure.
A typical frequency versus amplitude plot is presented in Figure 3. As displayed in Figure 3, there was little background noise due to the efficiency of the new nondestructive impulse device. This figure also shows the location of the first longitudinal modal frequency, , for use in (2). Based on the output from these plots, the first longitudinal modal frequency could be determined for each concrete specimen. Measured frequencies were plotted against the percentage of failure. Figure 4 presents the general trend of decreasing frequencies as a function of damage (increase in microcracks) for each of the examined concrete mixes. The individual mixes exhibit varying rates of decrease in longitudinal frequency. The values of these variations are listed in Table 2. The data indicates that as concrete compressive strength and therefore tensile strength increase, the percentage loss of first longitudinal modal frequency due to cyclic loading generally decreases. This is presumably due to the increased concrete strength and the inherent reduction in microcracking associated with an increase in tensile strength and stiffness. A discrepancy arises when comparing the low/medium strength and medium strength 1 concrete mixes. Although these two concrete mixes vary in compressive strength by 10.7 MPa (1550 psi), the stronger of the mixes exhibited a higher percentage loss of the first mode longitudinal frequency. After further investigation, it can be noticed that the mixes are very different and that the ratio of the stronger concrete is higher than the weaker concrete. This discrepancy indicates that not only the strength but also the mix ratios could be a factor in the decrease in dynamic properties.
Examination of Figure 4 shows that the longitudinal frequency of any of the concrete mixes decreases as a function of increasing loading. This decrease in fundamental frequency is believed to be a result of microcracks developing in the concrete paste resulting in the degradation of stiffness in the material. As the specimens continued to be cyclically loaded, microcrack growth continued, the concrete became more fatigued, and the longitudinal frequency continued to decrease. Eventually, the coalescence of the microcracks reached a point at which the concrete specimen failed. Figure 4 shows that a trend between the decrease in longitudinal frequency with applied loading and concrete strength is consistent. This conclusion is further supported by the average decrease in longitudinal frequency presented in Table 2. These percent decreases represent the average amount of frequency loss measured on the four cylinders from each concrete mix at the point of failure.
The amount of absorbed energy experienced by the concrete during each cycle was calculated from the hysteretic curves measured using the LVDT and extensometer instrumentation. The hysteretic curve represents the amount of axial deflection that is measured for a specific axial load. By measuring the area within the curve, the amount of absorbed energy was quantified for each load cycle. Figure 5 presents the measured energy for each concrete mix as a function of applied load (cumulative damage). The parabolic curve presented indicates that the damage index is nonlinear as predicted by Minor's hypothesis, but of a higher order. The values for the total cumulative energy for each concrete mix are presented in Table 3. This data indicates that as the concrete strength and associated stiffness increase per mix, the amount of energy ultimately required to cause failure also increases. The compressive strength increase in concrete mixes is typically associated with an increase in strength of the concrete paste. Thus, as the strength of the matrix material increases, the amount of energy required to expand the microcracks that form at the boundary between the matrix material and the aggregate increases. This trend is evident due to the general increase of total cumulative energy required to cause failure presented in Table 3. Again, there is a discrepancy when comparing the low/medium strength and medium strength 1 concrete mixes that is possibly due to specific effects of individual mix ratios.
Thus, as concrete strength increases, the total amount of required energy absorption to cause failure increases. This relationship demonstrates that higher-strength concrete mixes have the ability to absorb more energy during their service life (Table 3). This implies that as the bond between the concrete paste and aggregate increases due to increased concrete strength, more energy is absorbed in modes other than the formation of microcracks.
Figure 6 presents the total average percentage loss of initial frequency as a function of concrete compressive strength. Each data point represents the average of the total loss measured from the four cylinders tested from each compressive strength class at failure. Within each compressive strength class, total frequency loss differed by a maximum of 3.5%. When these values were plotted as a function of compressive strength, a correlation factor of 0.95 was determined. These results indicate that as microcracks develop and grow as loading increases, the first longitudinal modal frequency decreases and is an excellent indicator of damage in concrete specimens as a function of concrete compressive strength.
Figure 7 presents the measured trends of total cumulative energy required to fail a concrete specimen of specific strength. With each ensuing cycle, more damage occurred in the concrete. By measuring the total amount of energy absorbed during all cycles, the total amount of energy that can be absorbed by a specific strength concrete can be determined. Once again, each data point represents the average cumulative energy absorbed from the measurements on the four cylinders from each strength class. The general trend indicates that as compressive strength increases, the total amount of energy required to fail a specimen increases. Within each compressive strength class, cumulative energy absorption differed by a maximum of 11%. When these values are plotted as a function of concrete compressive strength, a correlation factor of 0.75 was obtained.
Finally, the total amount of energy calculated from each measured hysteretic curve is plotted as a function of percentage of failure (Figure 8). The percentage of failure was calculated by dividing the number of current cycles, , by the total number of cycles required to fail the cylinder, . This plot presents the determined energy from the extensometer and LVDT from each cycle on all concrete specimens. The trend for the data is exponential, which indicates that it requires less energy (loads) to develop small values of damage (cracks). However, as indicated by the exponential trend of the data, higher amounts of energy are required to induce additional damage. With a correlation of coefficient for all data of 0.95, this plot illustrates that the amount of energy absorbed by a concrete specimen can be used an excellent indicator of damage accumulation.
5. Proposed Damage Model
Based on the research results, it was concluded that both changes in fundamental frequency and absorbed energy were excellent indicators of damage accumulation in unreinforced concrete specimens. Thus, both contributing factors were combined to determine a proposed damage model.
Combining the results presented in Figures 6 through 8, an indicator of damage can be developed as functions of compressive strength, energy, and frequency variation for unreinforced concrete. For the explanation provided hereinafter, some rounding occurred while going from scientific notation. From the fitted trend line presented in Figure 8, (3) was developed as where is the energy measurement at cycle , is the total cumulative energy required for failure of the specimen, and is the percentage of damage.
From the fitted trend line in Figure 7, (4) was listed as where is the the compressive strength of the specimen.
Finally, from the trend line presented in Figure 6, (5) was listed as where is the initial frequency, and is the frequency measurement after cycle .
Equation (5) can be solved in terms of as (6): and by substituting (6) into (4), the following relationship was obtained as (7):
Substituting (7) into (3), an equation to determine the percent damage of a concrete specimen based on the measured first longitudinal modal frequency and hysteretic energy is
Finally, solving (8) in terms of damage, the proposed damage relationship is
Using the proposed relationship and measured values of energy and frequencies, Figure 9 presents a precise comparison between the newly proposed damage relationship calculated using (9) and the cyclic failure ratio. In Figure 9, the damage index calculated and presented on the -axis presents calculated data based on the data measured at a specific cycle. This damage index is then plotted per cyclic ratio to failure ( displayed on the -axis). The data in Figure 9 exhibits a parabolic trend indicating that more damage is required during later cycles of loading. This ideology is consistent with the fact that microcracks first form during initial stages of damage, and then grow exponentially towards failure. Thus, early stages of cyclic loading are associated with lower values of damage and as more loading cycles are applied, an exponential increase in damage is induced upon the specimen. Figure 10 presents a comparison of the damage index calculated using the proposed relationship in addition to several other previously proposed relationships as a function of the percentage of failure. Values calculated with the proposed model correlate to within 6.7% of measured values. Other studies present damage indices that generally increase as a function of percentage of failure. Of these, Miner's hypothesis is the crudest predicting the relationship as purely linear. Gao and Hsu [8] found that the trend was logarithmic but found that at low percentages of failure, the damage index was also relatively low. Finally, Suaris et al. [13] found that there was initial jump in damage at low failure percentage and then a logarithmic increase at mid-to-high levels of failure percentage. The newly proposed relationship (9) demonstrates an exponential trend and differs by a maximum 20%, 54%, and 12%, with Miner's hypothesis, Gao and Hsu [8], and Suaris et al. [13], respectively. Miner's hypothesis values differ from the measured data by a maximum of 24% and an average of 17%. Values using the relationship proposed by Gao and Hsu [8] differ from the measured data by a maximum of 47% and an average of 23%. Finally, values calculated using the equation suggested by Suaris et al. [13] differ from the measured values by a maximum of 13% and an average of 8%. Values calculated using (9) correlate with measured data within 7% indicating that the proposed method is more accurate in predicting the amount of damage induced on cyclically loaded unreinforced concrete specimen in comparison to previous research.
6. Conclusions
The long-term, structural health of concrete structures is difficult to quantify. To assist engineers, a new nondestructive, short impulse sensor was developed as part of this research that allowed for automated measurements of unconstrained compression waves through unreinforced concrete specimens subjected to repetitive compressive loading scenarios. This newly developed sensor was used to determine the changes in the first longitudinal modal frequency and damping ratio as a function of cyclic loading to failure. The amount of energy absorbed by individual concrete specimens was calculated based on area of hysteretic curves measured during each cyclic load test. Several concrete mixes were sampled to include a wide range of compressive strengths. The results were used to develop an empirical relationship for damage accumulation. Results indicate the following.(1)The newly developed short impulse excitation sensor allowed the automated process of accurate measuring unconstrained compression waves through concrete specimens under cyclic compressive loading scenarios to be very efficient and effective.(2)After a series of cyclically applied compressive loads to failure, the first longitudinal modal frequencies were shown to decrease to a range of 88.5% to 93.3% of their initial, undamaged frequency. In general, higher-strength concretes exhibited less percentage loss of initial frequency at failure.(3)Using the newly developed sensor, the measurements of total cumulative energy were shown to correlate with percentages of failure to within 4.7%. Also, higher-strength concretes exhibited an ability to absorb more energy at failure presumably due to the stronger concrete paste.(4)A proposed, empirically derived, damage model was developed as a function of compressive strength, frequency, and energy. This proposed empirical relationship was shown to correlate with measured values to within 7%. Furthermore, the proposed relationship was shown to have a closer correlation than Miner's hypothesis and damage index models proposed from other reviewed research.(5)The use of this new sensor has potential to be used on any type of concrete structure including, but not limited to, beams, slabs, and columns. Further testing should be performed to determine its best applications.
- A. M. Neville, Properties of Concrete, Pearson Education Limited, 4th edition, 1996.
- P. S. Rao, B. S. Sarma, N. Lakshmanan, and F. Stangenberg, "Damage model for reinforced concrete elements under cyclic loading," ACI Materials Journal, vol. 95, no. 6, pp. 682–690, 1998. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
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- K. Sadeghi, J. Lamirault, and J. G. Sieffert, "Damage indicator improvement applied on R/C structures subjected to cyclic loading," in Proceedings of the 2nd Cyclically Loaded Reinforced Concrete Members. Structural Dynamics (EURODYN '93), pp. 129–136, June 1993.
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- H. S. Abdelgader and J. Górski, "Stress-strain relations and modulus of elasticity of two-stage concrete," Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 329–334, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
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Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the cheif ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.Bible
I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something elseI can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.Elizabeth II
Keeping small nations enslaved because of the deals between the great nations or because of any pragmatic considerations that might have been there are totally unacceptable.Mikhail Saakashvili
Peaceful nations must stand for the advance of democracy. No other system of government has done more to protect minorities, to secure the rights of labor, to raise the status of women, or to channel human energy to the pursuits of peace.George Walker Bush
He would see civilization in danger of perishing under the oppression of a gigantic paradox: he would see multitudes of people starving in the midst of plenty, and nations preparing for war although pledged to peace.Arthur Henderson
The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and intensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind.Woodrow Wilson
Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of the multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper.Charles Mackay
Every step and every movement of the multitude, even in what are termed enlightened ages, are made with equal blindness to the future; and nations stumble upon establishments, which are indeed the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design.Adam Ferguson
Nations are not truly great solely because the individuals composing them are numerous, free, and active; but they are great when these numbers, this freedom, and this activity are employed in the service of an ideal higher than that of an ordinary man, taken by himself.Matthew Arnold
People are people the world over. Some are good, some bad, some greedy and some generous. Nations are like people and act the same way.George Aiken
What a terrible wrong inflict those nations that force their reign on minorities, depriving them of freedom without allowing them to live their lives by the tendencies they have inherited from their ancestors (...) For we can see how all the nations that ever fell, throughout the generations, came to it only due to their oppression of minorities and individuals, which had therefore rebelled against them and ruined them. Hence, it is clear to all that peace cannot exist in the world if we do not take into consideration the freedom of the individual. Without it, peace will not be sustainable and ruin shall prevail.Yehuda Ashlag
But assuming the same premises, to wit, that all men are equal by the law of nature and of nations, the right of property in slaves falls to the ground; for one who is equal to another cannot be the owner or property of that other.William H. Seward
For other nations, utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon.Henry A. Kissinger


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Au Pairs Offer Cultural Child Care Options For Central Ohio Families
Many central Ohioans are turning to the international option of an au pair for child care.
Au pairs are not just child care providers but also students looking to learn more about the world. They are usually young, foreign visitors employed to take care of children and do light housework in exchange for room and board.
Sofie Lindqvist is an au pair working in Dublin helping to care for one-year-old Tommy Bonasera.
"It's been great," she said. "I'm so lucky to have a great family."
She met her family about a year ago, when Tommy was two-months-old.
Tommy's mother, Gretchen, runs her own catering company attached to the family home.
"That's really why I went with the program," Gretchen Bonasera said. "I can dip out and see him, when I need a break. They're just right there."
There are nearly 100 au pairs working with central Ohio families. They come to American on a one-year VISA through an exchange program run by the U.S. Department of State.
Carol Cimicula coordinates families and au pairs for Cultural Care Au Pair. It's one of three au pair agencies in central Ohio.
"The beauty of it is they can work 45 hours a week, but it can be any 45 hours," Cimicula said. "You can have them in the morning to get the kids ready for school and be there to get them off the bus."
Michael Bonasera, Tommy's father, said that the au pair option really made sense for their family.
"The high variability of Gretchen's schedule made regular day care just not tenable for us, even just a regular nanny, because they have set hours and so forth and can change her schedule if things come up," he said.
Au pairs earn a weekly stipend of nearly $200, paid by the host family, which also provides them a bedroom and meals.
There is an up-front cost of about $8,000 to cover agency registration, selection and program fees, she said.
In addition to child care, the exchange program allows the au pair to experience life in America and improve their English.
Sofie says she will take great memories with her when she returns to Sweden.
"If there's something I want to do, I can just tell them, and they'll try to work it for me," she said.
Tommy's parents say it will be hard when Sofie has to return home.
"It'll definitely be hard, because they do have a bond," Gretchen said.
The au pair experience has made such a positive impact on the Bonasera family that they already have found Tommy's next au pair.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for more information.


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+ Author affiliations
Mass gathering events may pose an increased risk for outbreak of infectious diseases, and a potential for rapid international spread [1,2]. Even events not considered relevant from the public health point of view can have a big media impact. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has on several occasions given support to the European Union Member States (EU MS) during sporting events such as the Olympic Games and football championships to ensure the rapid detection of possible public health risks [3-6].
Between 7 and 29 June, the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2008) took place in eight towns of Austria and Switzerland. A total of 31 games were held, of which 16 took place in Austria. Football teams from twelve EU Member States, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey participated in the tournament. More than one million tickets were sold for match attendance and additional fans travelled to the organising countries to be present at the surrounding festivities. Besides the stadium venues, several fan zones and public viewing sites were set up in the organising countries and these were also taken into consideration in the public health preparedness activities [7,8]. The threat posed by the large ongoing outbreaks of measles in Austria and Switzerland were considered of particular relevance [9,10]. The ECDC therefore collaborated with the Austrian and Swiss authorities providing both general support for the mass gathering event and specific support for the measles outbreak.
General support for the mass gatheringOne month prior to the games, the ECDC and the Austrian health authorities co-organised a workshop to ensure coordination of preparedness activities in the organising countries and the EU institutions [11]. Participants of this meeting held at the Ministry of Health, Austria included national and regional health authorities, food safety and crisis management experts from both organising countries, and experts from the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. As agreed during the workshop, audio conferences between ECDC and the Ministries of Health of Austria and Switzerland were held on a daily basis, including weekends, for the entire period of the Euro 2008. In the daily audio conferences Austria and Switzerland provided updates on the epidemiological situation around the venue sites and ECDC informed about international health threats that could affect these countries and the Euro 2008 event. These threats were identified and assessed during the routine daily epidemic intelligence screening which takes place in ECDC on a 24/7 basis. During the event special editions of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threat Report (CDTR) and of the Austrian and Swiss national epidemiological bulletins, containing information on relevant health threats, were produced daily sent by email to dedicated Euro 2008 inboxes in ECDC and the Ministries of Health in Austria and Switzerland. In Austria the CDTR was further distributed to the Ministry of Interior, the food safety experts, the veterinary sector at national level and the regional authorities of the sites where the games were taking place. In Switzerland, it was forwarded to all involved sectors of the national health authorities and the national coordinated medical service of the Swiss army. Relevant information from the CDTR was imbedded in the national bulletins and sent to the regional authorities in both countries.In addition, a senior expert from ECDC was seconded to Austria for the first week of the tournament and a fellow from the European Programme on Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) was posted there for the entire period of the championship. Their tasks included support of the Austrian authorities in epidemic intelligence and outbreak verification activities. Furthermore, the ECDC agreed to provide assistance in outbreak investigation and response, if needed.
As Switzerland is not an EU Member State, as a rule the Swiss authorities do not have access to the EU Early Warning and Response System (EWRS). During the period of the Euro 2008, however, Switzerland was provided temporary access to information that could be relevant to the event.
Support for the measles outbreakThe initial risk assessment prepared by ECDC prior to the Euro 2008 identified that the measles outbreaks ongoing in both organising countries could have a potential for international spread. The outbreak in Switzerland began already in November 2006 and 2,944 cases were reported until the start of the Euro 2008 (unpublished data) while the one in Austria started in March 2008 and 332 cases were reported before the event (unpublished data). A link between the two outbreaks had been confirmed both by genotyping and epidemiological investigation [10]. Both outbreaks involved cities where the tournament was taking place. In addition, measles cases were reported in the neighbouring countries of Italy and Germany [12, 13].
In April, experts from ECDC and EUVAC.NET visited Austria to assess the situation regarding the measles outbreak and participated in an expert consultation. Subsequently, information regarding the risk of measles transmission during the Euro 2008 was published in Eurosurveillance [14] and a mission report prepared (in press). Furthermore, ECDC encouraged all EU Member States to consider publishing recommendations on immunisation against measles for those planning to attend the championship [15]. This information was also published on ECDC website and distributed through EWRS, and the majority of EU Member States have circulated it through official websites and media or informed travel clinics and health authorities.
To better monitor the measles situation, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland provided ECDC with weekly updates on the number of measles cases two weeks prior and after the Euro 2008. Weekly updating of ECDC about the measles situation from Austria and Switzerland is still ongoing.
Reported public health eventsApart from very localised and limited food borne-outbreaks, no infectious disease threats related to the Euro 2008 were identified during the entire period of enhanced epidemic intelligence, neither at national nor at international level.
Of special interest was an outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium reported by an EU Member State not participating in the tournament. This information was discussed during the daily audio conference, which alerted the Swiss authorities that subsequently identified a Salmonella typhimurium outbreak affecting most of their cantons. The outbreak was neither related to the originally reported event nor to the Euro 2008 but is an example of enhanced detection of public health threats.
Although transmission of measles was reported to occur at a low level during the Euro 2008, no single case was reported to be associated with the event. In the follow-up period one measles case was detected in Austria. Overall, the number of measles cases was decreasing in both countries.
ConclusionsAll the participants agree that the daily exchange of information, the coordination epidemic intelligence and response activities at EU level and the close collaboration of the organising countries with ECDC has strengthened the established network of experts from different sectors nationally and internationally, which will function beyond the Euro 2008.
The secondment of experts enhanced the close collaboration between Austria and the ECDC, helped the Austrian authorities in managing the increased work load and provided a good experience of field work for the EPIET fellow.
The workshop was considered essential to provide dedicated time for exchange of experience and to harmonise preparedness activities planned by both organising countries. In addition, Austria and Switzerland considered the technical experience from ECDC and the Robert Koch Institute, which organised the FIFA football world in 2006 as very useful.
AcknowledgementThe authors would like to thank all participating stakeholders at local, regional and international level for their enthusiasm, excellent collaboration and transparency in sharing information. In addition, we would like to thank the Italian and Bavarian authorities for having shared data on measles on a weekly basis. Furthermore, they would like to thank the Commission and the Member States for agreeing that Switzerland had access to the EWRS information relevant for the championship for the period of the Euro 2008.
1. Kaiser R, Coulombier D. Epidemic intelligence during mass gatherings. Euro Surveill. 2006;11(51):pii=3100. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=31002. World Health Organization. Communicable disease alert and response for mass gatherings. Available from: http://www.who.int/csr/mass_gathering/en/3. Schenkel K, Williams C, Eckmanns T, Poggensee G, Benzler J, Josephsen J, Krause G. Enhanced Surveillance of Infectious Diseases: the 2006 FIFA World Cup experience, Germany. Euro Surveill. 2006;11(12):pii=670. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=6704. Franke F, Coulon L, Renaudat C, Euillot B, Kessalis N, Malfait P. Epidemiologic surveillance system implemented in the Hautes-Alpes District, France, during the Winter Olympic Games, Torino 2006. Euro Surveill. 2006;11(12):pii=671. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=6715. Editorial team. Health risks during the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean: surveillance and assessment in the French départements. Euro Surveill. 2007;12(10):pii=3151. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=31516. Josephsen J, Schenkel K, Benzler J, Krause G. Preparations for infectious disease surveillance during the football World Cup tournament, Germany 2006. Euro Surveill. 2006;11(17):pii=2949. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=29497. Strauss R, Muchl R, Hain C, Hrabcik H. EURO 2008 - preparations for the football championship in Austria. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(14):pii=8086. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=80868. Dreyfus A, Marfurt J, Birrer A, Matter HC, Raeber P. Preparations for the European football championship (EURO 2008) in Switzerland. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(22):pii=18892. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=188929. Richard JL, Masserey-Spicher V, Santibanez S, Mankertz A. Measles outbreak in Switzerland - an update relevant for the European football championship (EURO 2008). Euro Surveill. 2008;13(8):pii=8043. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=804310. Schmid D, Holzmann H, Abele S, Kasper S, König S, Meusburger S, et al. An ongoing multi-state outbreak of measles linked to non-immune anthroposophic communities in Austria, Germany, and Norway, March-April 2008. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(16):pii=18838. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=1883811. Strauss R, Muchl R, Hain C, Kreidl P, Schenkel K, Thinus G, et al. Workshop EURO 2008: Zusammenarbeit des BMGFJ mit ECDC, der Europäischen Kommission und dem RKI. Available from: http://www.bmgfj.gv.at/cms/site/attachments/6/0/0/CH0954/CMS1214142772770/workshop_euro_2008_(2)_(pk).pdf12. Filia A, De Crescenzo M, Seyler T, Bella A, Ciofi Degli Atti ML, Nicoletti L, et al. Measles resurges in Italy: preliminary data from September 2007 to May 2008. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(29):pii=18928. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=189213. Pfaff G, Mezger B, Santibanez S, Hoffmann U, Maassen S, Wagner U, et al. Measles in south-west Germany imported from Switzerland - a preliminary outbreak description. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(8):pii=8044. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=804414. Strauss R, Kreidl P, Muscat M, Coulombier D, Mulders M, Gijsens A, et al. The measles situation in Austria: a rapid risk assessment by an ECDC team and the outcome of an international meeting in Vienna, Austria. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(17):pii=18852. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=1885215. European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control. ECDC information on measles vaccination. Available from: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/Health_topics/Measles/080423_travel_advice.html
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Ready, aim, howl! Howler monkeys are the loudest animals on earth, except for blue whales. This masked, cloaked monkey is not, technically, a howler monkey, but it is probably the loudest toy monkey on earth.
Slip your fingertips into its little mitts, pull back like a slingshot, let fly, and join in the laughter when the furry projectile screeches through the air. So much fun we offer a set of three.
• Set of three includes masks and cloaks
• Fly through the air
• Make hilarious screeching noises
• Use like a slingshot
For ages 6 and up.