Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Distortion on Strength of Curved I-Shaped Bridge Girders

The curved I-shaped plate girders used in bridges with curved alignment are subjected to forces that cause significant distortion of the cross section during construction and during application of live loads after the deck has hardened. Furthermore, the addition of curvature reduces the vertical bending stiffness, increases deflection nonlinearities, and changes stability characteristics of behavior. Although the design equations of the AASHTO Guide Specifications for Horizontally Curved Highway Bridges are formulated to address these behavioral issues, design and construction engineers often are not familiar with the difficulties curvature introduces and do not understand the relationship between distortion and deflection amplification with the design equations. Analytical research conducted as part of the FHWA Curved Steel Bridge Research Project was used to highlight and describe the effects of curvature on the strength and stability of curved I-girder bridge superstructures. Issues described include the following: (a) effects of cross-frame and diaphragm spacing on system behavior, (b) effects of curvature on the lateral-torsional stability of curved I-shaped beams, (c) effects of warping stresses on flange buckling, (d) effects of curvature on web behavior, and (e) effects of curvature on initiation and propagation of yield stresses in the girders of curved I-girder frames.
Punching shear behavior of reinforced concrete flat slabs with a varying amount of shear reinforcement

The punching shear design procedures according to current codes (e.g., Eurocode 2 or Model Code 2010) are similar. However, the predicted punching shear capacities may differ significantly depending on the background (e.g., semi‐empirical or physical) of the design provisions and the considered influences. For the evaluation and improvement of the existing provisions for flat slabs without and with high amounts of shear reinforcement, a large number of punching test series on reinforced concrete flat slabs is available in the literature. Nevertheless, the evaluation of the code equations for the design of the shear reinforcement (failure inside the shear‐reinforced zone) is still not possible since only few punching tests on flat slabs with low and medium amounts of shear reinforcement have been conducted.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Semantic Language Abilities

Objective: The main aim of the present study is to evaluate the semantic language abilities of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) compared to normal group. Secondly to examine the role of hypoxemia, hypercapnia and pulmonary parameters on language scores. Method: We assessed 100 COPD patients with the use of a comprehensive battery of neurocognitive tests standardized for the Greek population, examining semantic language abilities, namely the Boston Naming Test (BNT), the Picture Peabody Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Controlled Oral Word Fluency Test (COWAT). Results: The results revealed that although the overall performance of our group of patients was within normal range, it was statistically significant lower compared to normal distribution on all semantic language tests. Moreover, we found that the percentile of COPD patients that performed in the deficient range was significantly higher compared to normal distribution. Further analysis of pulmonary parameters showed that Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 sec (FEV1, FEV1%), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC, FVC%) and FEV1/FVC were not correlated with patients’ performance on the language tests. Low Partial Pressure of Oxygen in blood oxygen levels (PaO2) was found to be able to predict the performance of patients on BNT, PPVT and semantic verbal fluency test. Abnormally elevated Partial Pressure of Carbon Dioxide (PCaO2) in blood were not found to be related to language dysfunctions. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that our group of COPD patients is more prone to present semantic language impairments compared to normal group while low blood oxygen levels were associated with reduced performance on BNT, PPVT and semantic verbal fluency tests.
Highly Porous NiO Nanoflower-based Humidity Sensor Grown on Seedless Glass Substrate via One-Step Simplistic Immersion Method

A highly porous nickel oxide (NiO) nanoflower was deposited directly onto glass substrates by the simplistic immersion method. The nanostructural property of the NiO was studied by X-ray diffraction pattern and obtained high crystal quality after annealing at 500 °Ϲ with an average crystallite size of 15.5 nm. The optical characterization was measured by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, with an average transmittance of 58 %. The value of 3.63 eV was estimated and confirmed as NiO bandgap energy. The current-voltage measurement result indicates that the NiO nanoflower has good electrical properties with resistance, resistivity, and conductivity value of 2.31 MΩ, 2.12 Ω. cm, and 4.71 × 10-1 S.cm-1 , respectively. The NiO is capable of performing satisfactorily as humidity sensor with a sensitivity of 138 with the response and recovery time were estimated at 389 s and 172 s, respectively. Besides, this sensor has stability at a humidity level of 40 - 90% relative humidity.
Immunoregulation of Microglia M2 polarization is an unrecognized physiological function of α -Synuclein

BACKGROUNDMicroglial function is vital for maintaining the health of the brain, and their activation is an essential component of neurodegeneration. It is increasingly recognized that microglia also undergo changes, dependent on the cellular environment, that promote mainly reconstructive and anti-inflammatory functions, i.e. mostly desirable functions of microglia in a physiological state. What maintains microglia at this physiological state is essentially unknown, despite significant research on factors that provoke “reactive” or “inflammatory” phenotypes in conditions of injury or disease. One such factor, exposure to the aggregated or oligomeric forms of α-synuclein, an abundant brain protein, plays an essential role in driving microglial activation; including chemotactic migration and production of inflammatory mediators in Lewy body (LB) diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.METHODSIn this study, using in vitro and in vivo models, we challenged primary microglia or BV2 microglia with LPS + IFN-γ,IL-4 + IL-13, α-synuclein monomer and α-synuclein oligomer, examined microglia phenotype and the underlying mechanism by RT-PCR, Western blot, ELISA, IF, IHC, Co-IP. RESULTS: We described a novel physiological function of α-synuclein, in which it modulates microglia towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype by interaction with extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and recruitment of the ERK, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) pathways. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a previously unrecognized function of α-synuclein that likely gives new insights into the pathogenesis and potential therapies for Lewy body-related diseases and beyond, given the abundance and multiple functions of α-synuclein in brain tissue.
Acute Inhalation of Coal Dust Increases Chlorinative Stress and Endothelial Damage

Abstract: Coal dust induce phagocytic macrophage to produce H2O2. H2O2 would catalyzed by myeloperoxidase yield HOCl then induce chlorinative stress and protein endothelial damage to increase circulating endothelial cells. The present work aimed to investigate the effects of acute and subchronic exposure to coal dust on chlronative stress determined by AOPP and endothelial damage determined by CEC. This study was experimental toxicology research post test only control group design. Subject of this study was male Wistar rat obtained from UGM Yogyakarta. Coal was obtained from mining in Karuh Asam-asam South Kalimantan. Exposure of coal dust was done by coal dust inhalation exposure equipment 2009 model for one hour a day for 1 day (acute) and 28 days (subchronic). AOPP was measured by Cakatay modification method on Witko-Sarsat. Circulating endothelial cell was measured by method from Hladovec modified by Widjajanto which developed in Pharmacology Laboratory, Brawijaya Medical School. Result showd increase of AOPP and CEC in acute exposure (p<0.05) but not subchronic. In conclusion, acute inhalation exposure of coal dust increased chlorinative stress and endothelial damage. However, in subchronic exposure there is no significant different in chlorinative stress and endothelial damage. J Indon Med Assoc. 2011;61: 253-7. Keywords: coal dust, acute, sub chronic, inhalation, chlorinative stress, endothelial damage
Comparison between hydrogen production by alkaline water electrolysis and hydrogen production by PEM electrolysis

Hydrogen is an ideal clean energy source that can be used as an energy storage medium for renewable energy sources. The water electrolysis hydrogen production technology, which is one of the mainstream hydrogen production methods, can be used to produce high-purity hydrogen and other energy sources can be converted into hydrogen storage by electrolysis. Hydrogen production by alkaline water electrolysis and hydrogen production by PEM electrolysis are all water electrolysis hydrogen production technologies that have been industrially applied. From the application point of view, the paper compares the working principle of the two kinds of electrolyzers, the process flow of hydrogen production equipment, advantages and disadvantages. This article provides a reference for relevant researchers.
HARDNESS RECOGNITION IN SYNTHETIC SOUNDS

Sound source recognition investigates recovery of different features of the objects, whose interaction lead to the generation of the acoustical signal. Among them material type have received particular attention, while recovering of material properties, such as hardness, have been scarcely considered. Hardness plays a significant role in the musical field too, especially for percussion instruments, where resonating objects of variable hardness are struck with mallets of variable hardness. Comparison of previous results on hardness recognition point toward the perceptual independence of the resonator and exciter properties. This issue was addressed in four experiments conducted on stimuli synthesized with a physical model, which allowed independent manipulation of the exciter and resonator properties. Free identification and forced choice tasks have been used to investigate the ability of listeners to discriminate variations in the exciter from variations in the resonator. Scaling tasks have been used to investigate the relationship between the synthesis parameters and the hardness estimates of the exciter and of the resonator. Free identification and forced choice data reveal a bias toward the interpretation of the acoustical signals in terms of features of the resonating object. Hardness scaling results reveal the perceptual dependence of exciter and resonator properties, although strong individual differences are found.
Trends in Rates of ASIA Impairment Scale Conversion in Traumatic Complete Spinal Cord Injury

Recent studies of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) report higher conversion rates of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS) grades, especially for complete injuries. We examined the rate of conversion over time after complete SCI, accounting for demographic and injury characteristics. Subjects were 16 years of age and older with a complete SCI injury between 1995 and 2015, enrolled in the National SCI Database as day-1 admissions. We grouped subjects into 3-year intervals and assessed trends in conversion for the total sample and by tetraplegia (Tetra), high paraplegia (levels T1–9, HPara), and low paraplegia (levels T10–12, LPara). We used logistic regression to identify factors related to conversion such as age, sex, etiology, and level of injury. Of 2036 subjects, 1876 subjects had a follow-up examination between 30 and 730 days post-injury. Average age at injury was 34.2 ± 14.6 years; 79.8% were male, 44.6% Tetra, 35.3% HPara, and 20.1% LPara. There was a strong trend toward increased rates of conversion over time (p < 0.01 for all groups), especially for Tetra (to incomplete from 17.6% in 1995–1997 to 50% in 2013–2015, and to motor incomplete from 9.4% to 28.1%). Conversion rates for Para were less dramatic. There were increased odds of converting to incomplete for year of injury, level of injury (Tetra >LPara >HPara), non-violent etiology, and age (older is better). We found similar factors for conversion to motor incomplete, except sex was significant and etiology was not. Conversion rates from complete to incomplete and motor incomplete injury have been increasing, particularly for persons with tetraplegia. This has implications for acute clinical trials and for prognostication early after SCI.
On the Frequency of Vibration of Circular Diaphragms

The Paper describes measurements of the natural frequency of diaphragms of various sizes having a rigid rim and a central boss for attachment of a microphone or receiver. In air the frequency was found by means of a monochord, but under water the resonance-frequency was noted in the neighbourhood of a subaqueous transmitter of variable pitch. The results are in good agreement with the theoretical conclusions of Prof. H. Lamb. In many cases harmonies were observed round about a fifth or an octave above the fundamental, but their occurrence was capricious, and their pitch inconsistent with theory. The resonance peaks of the frequency curves are more or less of the same area, being high and narrow or low and broad. The effect of increasing the pressure on one side of the diaphragm was studied, and the pressure-displacement curve was found to be linear up to the elastic limit, while the pressure-frequency curve is of the saturation type. A large diaphragm is less affected by pressure (and therefore by iminersion in deep water) than a small one of the same natural frequency, in consequence of its greater thickness.
Quick selenium accumulation in selenium-rich rice and its physiological changes in selenium environment

Background: The element selenium (Se) deficiency is recognized as a global health problem. Improving Se accumulation in rice grain is an important issue for human health. But Se is both essential and toxic for plants, with a narrow margin between deficiency and toxicity and the mechanism for Se accumulation and tolerance in selenium-rich rice plants remains unknown. Results: In this study, we investigated the phenotypical, physiological and biochemical changes of selenium-rich rice exposed to different stages of Se concentrations. Results showed that selenium-rich rice can accumulate more Se from the root in low selenate environment comparing with selenium-free normal rice. Besides, excessive selenate caused phytotoxic effects on selenium-rich rice plants by inducing chlorosis, dwarfness, reduced antioxidant contents, and exacerbating oxidative stress. Furthermore, both phosphate transporter OsPT2 and sulfate transporters OsSultr1;2 can contribute to selenite uptake in rice. Conclusions: Based on the results, selenium-rich red rice is more sensitive to Se and the best Se concentration for selenium-rich rice is 20μM in the root environment. Such findings can be used to direct and evaluate the toxic effects of Se contamination on selenium-rich rice in the field. To draw a sound conclusion, long-term field trials are still required, including risks and benefits analysis for various management strategies.
Phenotypic marker based evaluation of resistance to Haemonchus contortus in Sri Lankan indigenous goats and their jamnapari crossbreds

The parasitic resistance in Sri Lankan indigenous (SLI) goats is getting gradually replaced owing to unsystematic crossbreeding. This study was conducted to identify phenotypic resistance to haemonchosis of between and within genotypes in SLI goats and their Jamnapari crossbreds (JCB) and to identify level of phenotypic resistance to gastrointestinal strongyle parasitism exists in SLI and JCB at field. The study consists of an artificial challenge (40 goats) and a field trial (521 goats). In artificial challenge, two genotypes have responded to parasitism differently. Significant effects of measurement time (MT) and MT×genotype interaction were reported for log transformed faecal egg counts (FEC). Effect of MT was significant for least square mean packed cell volume (PCV). Peak FEC was reported at day-35 for both SLI and JCB; whereas, the lowest PCV values were observed for SLI and JCB at 28th and 42nd day respectively. When animals were grouped based on the highest recorded FEC, a majority of SLI (55%) was occurred under the category intermediate (I) while a majority of JCB (78%) was in the category high (H). Category low (L) was represented only by SLI (20%). Significant effects of group, MT and group × MT were observed on ln FEC in both genotypes. In both SLI-H and JCB-H, the highest FEC was reported at day-35. SLI-I and SLI-H were recovering from parasitism at the latter part of experiment whereas JCB-I and JCB-H were continuing with parasitism. In the field trial, both genotypes occurred in high frequency in group L. Hence, phenotypically SLI were more resistant to haemonchosis than JCB. There is a high within genotype variability for phenotypic parasitic resistance in both genotypes. Thus, this information is important in identifying genomic parasitic resistance in both genotypes.
Effect of biochar on soil structure and storage of soil organic carbon and nitrogen in the aggregate fractions of an Albic soil

ABSTRACT Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of corn straw derived-biochar (700 °C) applied at 0 (control), 10 (B1), 20 (B2) and 30 t ha−1 (B3) on water stable aggregate (WSA), mean weight diameter (MWD), total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in WSA fractions of Albic soil. Compared with control, WSA in > 2 mm fraction increased, by 40.8% and 51.5% (0–10 cm depth) in B1 and B3, respectively. B1, B2 and B3 (10–20 cm depth) increased by 55.2%, 69.6% and 62.4%, respectively. MWD increased by 34.4%, 21.6%, and 17.6% with B3 at 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm depths, respectively. TOC in the > 2 mm fraction increased by 28.6%, 22.1%, and 23.2% (0–10 cm depth) in B1, B2, and B3, respectively, TN in 2–0.5 mm fractions increased by 32.4%, 23.4% and 33.6% (0–10 cm depth); and in the 0.25–0.05 mm fractions increased by 14.8%, 19.8% and 18.7% (10–20 cm depth), in B1, B2 and B3, respectively. Our findings suggest biochar application at 30 t ha−1 could improve structural stability and sequestration of TOC and TN in Albic soils.
Efficiency improvements in GaAs-on-Si solar cells

GaAs grown directly on silicon substrates has the potential for reducing the cost and weight of single-junction GaAs cells, as well as enabling a III-VlSi monolithic tandem technology. This paper reports the achievement of a GaAs-on-Si solar cell having an efficiency of 17.6% (one-sun, AM1.5 25°C, SERI measurement), which is the highest reported value for a cell of this structure. A GaAs-on-GaAs cell recently fabricated has been measured at SERI to be 24.3% efficient (AM1.5), which is the highest one-sun value ever reported for any cell.
The Finite Element Models for the Built Ting Kau Bridge

The Ting Kau Bridge in Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge comprising two main spans and two side spans. The bridge deck is supported by three towers, an end pier and an abutment. Each of the three towers consists of a single reinforced concrete mast which reduces its section in steps, and it is strengthened by transverse cables and struts in the transverse vertical plane. The bridge deck is supported by four inclined planes of cables emanating from anchorages at the tower tops. In view of the heavy traffic on the bridge, and threats from typhoons and earthquakes originated in areas nearby, the dynamic behaviour of long-span cable-supported bridges in the region is always an important consideration both in their design and health monitoring. This paper describes the development of the 3D grid model for the structural health monitoring of the bridge. The 3D grid model is intended to form the backbone of subsequent multi-scale finite element models for bridge rating. The baseline model is built up and calibrated to match the bridge geometry and cable forces specified on the as-built drawings. The modelling of the concrete deck in the simplified grid model is an important issue as it has great effect on the lateral and torsional vibrations of the bridge. This paper examines in particular the shear lag effect on the modelling strategy.
Barrier embedded chaotic micromixer

In this paper, we present a new chaotic passive micromixer named barrier embedded micromixer (BEM), with mixing visualization experimental results. Chaotic mixing in the microchannel has been successfully achieved by introducing periodic barriers on one microchannel wall which cause periodic perturbation in the velocity field of the helical flow. The BEM was made by PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) from SU-8 masters which were fabricated by conventional photolithography. Two fluid flows containing different dyes were driven by a syringe pump in the constant flow rate with Re/spl ap/25. Experimental results showed an exponential growth of the interfacial area between two fluid flows, which confirms the chaotic mixing in the BEM.
Flow index based line balancing: a tool to improve the leanness of assembly line design

This paper presents an effective approach for balancing assembly operations with criteria to meet takt time by introducing a new parameter referred to as flow index. The proposed approach consists of a two stage heuristic procedure based on the concepts of COMSOAL (computer method of sequencing operations for assembly lines) algorithm which, while attempting to minimise the number of workstations also smoothen the workload among the workstations with lean perspective. The workload smoothness among workstations is achieved by minimising the proposed flow index value. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by comparing the results obtained with those of other popular line balancing heuristics. The experiments are conducted for industrial as well as other benchmark data sets taken from the literature. The computational results show that the proposed approach performs well on all data sets. Tests on problems indicate that the proposed procedure can be used effectively to smoothen the workloads for any given task allocations to promote lean operations.
The Role of Reward Systems in Product Innovations: An Examination of New Product Development Projects

Focusing on new product development projects, this study suggests that the effect of a market orientation on innovation performance relationships may differ depending on whether the market orientation is responsive or proactive. This study also argues that process-based and outcome-based rewards moderate the effect. Based on a survey of 186 new product development projects in 122 high-tech firms, this study found that responsive and proactive market orientations have positive influences on incremental innovation performance and radical innovation performance, respectively. In addition, the positive effect of a proactive market orientation on performance is strengthened by process-based rewards, whereas the positive effect of a responsive market orientation on performance is positively moderated by outcome-based rewards. This study provides practical implications and directions for future research.