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Foamed concrete possesses characteristics such as high strength-to-weight ratio and low density, and widely used to reduce dead loads on the structure and foundation, contributes to energy conservation, and lowers the labor cost during construction. In this paper, the objective is to propose prediction relation for the compressive strength of foamed concrete by fractal theory. A theoretical relation was derived for the compressive strength relating to porosity based on the fractal model for foamed concrete. The proposed relation stands out compared to empirical model since it employs easily measurable parameter, the fractal dimension of porous structure in foamed concrete. The fractal dimension of porous structure can be calculated from the scaling law of the compressive strength of foamed concrete. The fractal model for porous structure serves as a simple and effective tool for predicting the compressive strength of foamed concrete because of its ease in application. The prediction relation of the compressive strength developed in this paper is found to match well with the measured strength.
The laws governing life should be as simple as possible; however, theoretical investigations into allometric laws have become increasingly complex, with the long-standing debate over the scaling exponent in allometric laws persisting. This paper re-examines the same biological phenomenon using two different scales. On a macroscopic scale, a cell surface appears smooth, but on a smaller scale, it exhibits a fractal-like porous structure. To elaborate, a few examples are given. Employing the two-scale fractal theory, we theoretically predict and experimentally verify the scaling exponent values for basal, active, and maximal metabolic rates. This paper concludes that Rubner’s 2/3 law and Kleiber’s 3/4 law are two facets of the same truth, manifested across different scale approximations.
The application of graph theory in structural biology offers an alternative means of studying 3D models of large macromolecules such as proteins. The radius of gyration, which scales with exponent ∼0.4, provides quantitative information about the compactness of the protein structure. In this study, we combine two proven methods, the graph-theoretical and the fundamental scaling laws, to study 3D protein models. This study shows that the mean node degree (MND) of the protein graphs, which scales with exponent 0.038, is scale-invariant. In addition, proteins that differ in size have a highly similar node degree distribution. Linear regression analysis showed that the graph parameters (radius, diameter, and mean eccentricity) can explain up to 90% of the total radius of gyration variance. Thus, the graph parameters of radius, diameter, and mean eccentricity scale match along with the same exponent as the radius of gyration. The main advantage of graph eccentricity compared to the radius of gyration is that it can be used to analyze the distribution of the central and peripheral amino acids/nodes of the macromolecular structure.