• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.856-865
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• 2012

We describe the construction and immunobiological properties of a novel whooping cough vaccine candidate, in which the aroQ gene, encoding 3-dehydroquinase, was deleted by insertional inactivation using the kanamycin resistance gene cassette and allelic exchange using a Bordetella suicide vector. The aroQ B. pertussis mutant required supplementation of media to grow but failed to grow on an unsupplemented medium. The aroQ B. pertussis mutant was undetectable in the trachea and lungs of mice at days 6 and 12 post-infection, respectively. Antigen-specific antibody isotypes IgG1 and IgG2a, were produced, and cell-mediated immunity [CMI], using interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma as indirect indicators, was induced in mice vaccinated with the aroQ B. pertussis vaccine candidate, which were substantially enhanced upon second exposure to virulent B. pertussis. Interleukin-12 was also produced in the aroQ B. pertussis-vaccinated mice. On the other hand, neither IgG2a nor CMI-indicator cytokines were produced in DTaP-vaccinated mice, although the CMI-indicator cytokines became detectable post-challenge with virulent B. pertussis. Intranasal immunization with one dose of the aroQ B. pertussis mutant protected vaccinated mice against an intranasal challenge infection, with no pathogen being detected in the lungs of immunized mice by day 7 post-challenge. B. pertussis aroQ thus constitutes a safe, non-reverting, metabolite-deficient vaccine candidate that induces both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses with potential for use as a single-dose vaccine in adolescents and adults, in the first instance, with a view to disrupting the transmission cycle of whooping cough to infants and the community.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.657-668
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• 2001

Fiber reinforced cementitious composites are nowadays widely applied in civil engineering. The postcracking performance of this material depends on the interaction between a steel fiber, which is obliquely across a crack, and its surrounding matrix. While the partly debonded steel fiber is subjected to pulling out from the matrix and simultaneously subjected to transverse force, it may be modelled as a Bernoulli-Euler beam partly supported on an elastic foundation with non-linearly varying modulus. The fiber bridging the crack may be cut into two parts to simplify the problem (Leung and Li 1992). To obtain the transverse displacement at the cut end of the fiber (Fig. 1), it is convenient to directly solve the corresponding differential equation. At the first glance, it is a classical beam on foundation problem. However, the differential equation is not analytically solvable due to the non-linear distribution of the foundation stiffness. Moreover, since the second order deformation effect is included, the boundary conditions become complex and hence conventional numerical tools such as the spline or difference methods may not be sufficient. In this study, moment equilibrium is the basis for formulation of the fundamental differential equation for the beam (Timoshenko 1956). For the cantilever part of the beam, direct integration is performed. For the non-linearly supported part, a transformation is carried out to reduce the higher order differential equation into one order simultaneous equations. The Runge-Kutta technique is employed for the solution within the boundary domain. Finally, multi-dimensional optimization approaches are carefully tested and applied to find the boundary values that are of interest. The numerical solution procedure is demonstrated to be stable and convergent.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.15-28
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• 2016

Although the aircraft industry was the first to use fibre composites, now they are increasingly used in a range of structural applications such as flooring, decking, platforms and roofs. Interlayer delamination is a major failure mode which threatens the reliability of composite structures. Delamination can grow in size under increasing loads with time and hence leads to severe loss of structural integrity and stiffness reduction. Delamination reduces the natural frequency and as a consequence may result in resonance. Hence, the study of the effects of delamination on the free vibration behaviour of multilayer composite structures is imperative. The focus of this paper is to develop a 3D FE model and investigate the free vibration behaviour of fibre composite multilayer sandwich panels with interlayer delaminations. A series of parametric studies are conducted to assess the influence of various parameters of concern, using a commercially available finite element package. Additionally, selected points in the delaminated region are connected appropriately to simulate bolting as a remedial measure to fasten the delamination region in the aim of reducing the effects of delamination. First order shear deformation theory based plate elements have been used to model each sandwich layer. The findings suggest that the delamination size and the end fixity of the plate are the most important factors responsible for stiffness reduction due to delamination damage in composite laminates. It is also revealed that bolting the delaminated region can significantly reduce the natural frequency variation due to delamination thereby improving the dynamic performance.

• 대한치과교정학회지
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• 제54권3호
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• pp.142-152
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• 2024

Objective: This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess and compare the accuracy of 3 different Invisalign^® treatment regimens in terms of variations of aligner change frequency and type of aligner material in achieving maxillary dental buccal expansion. Methods: Altogether, 120 adult patients whose treatment involved maxillary dental expansion with Invisalign^® were included. The patients were divided into 3 groups, with each group comprising 40 patients as follows: SmartTrack^® 1-week changes (ST1), SmartTrack^® 2-week changes (ST2), and EX30^® 2-week changes (EX2). The groups were assessed by comparing actual changes achieved with those prescribed by ClinCheck^®. The rates of clinically significant inaccuracies (CSI) observed for buccal expansion (≥ 0.5 mm) and buccolingual inclination (≥ 2°) during expansion were then determined. Results: In terms of expansion, the ST1 group demonstrated the highest CSI rate at all tooth levels, whereas the ST2 group had the lowest rate of CSI and the lowest mean inaccuracy for each tooth level. In terms of buccolingual inclination, the ST1 group had the highest CSI rate across all tooth levels, whereas the EX2 group had the lowest CSI rate at all tooth levels except for the canine level where the ST2 group had the lowest CSI rate. A tendency toward overexpression of buccal crown inclination, and underexpression of buccal expansion was observed at all tooth levels. Conclusions: Two-week aligner change regimens offer improved accuracy compared with 1-week aligner changes. SmartTrack^® 2-week changes were the most accurate for buccal expansion, whereas EX30^® 2-week changes were the most accurate for buccolingual inclination.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.712-718
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• 2015

• 한국신뢰성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신뢰성학회 2004년도 신뢰성해외전문가초청세미나
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• pp.15-25
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• 2004

Inherent reliability depends on decisions made during design and manufacture. Reliability degrades with age and production rate (or usage level/intensity). System design based on some nominal production rate. Actual production rate can differ-depends on commercial considerations.(omitted)

• 한국신뢰성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신뢰성학회 2004년도 신뢰성해외전문가초청세미나
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• pp.3-11
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• 2004

Failure is the termination of the ability of an item to perform a required function.[IEC 50]. Equipment fails, if it is no longer able to carry out its intended function under the specified operational conditions for which it was designed.(omitted)

• 한국신뢰성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신뢰성학회 2004년도 신뢰성해외전문가초청세미나
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• pp.55-66
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• 2004

Businesses collect lots of data. The data is not always converted into information or used in decision making. Need to critically evaluate the data collection process. Challenge: How to collect good data in a cost effective manner\ulcorner(omitted)

• 한국신뢰성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신뢰성학회 2004년도 신뢰성해외전문가초청세미나
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• pp.29-37
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• 2004

Maintenance are actions (or activities) needed to (i) control equipment degradation and failures and (ii) to restore a failed equipment to operational state. The former is termed Preventive Maintenance (PM) and the latter as Corrective Maintenance (CM).(omitted)

• 한국신뢰성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신뢰성학회 2004년도 신뢰성해외전문가초청세미나
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• pp.83-94
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• 2004

Businesses use a variety of equipment to produce output and services. Equipment unreliable - failure due to failure of one or more components. Most equipment are complex systems (a truck has more than 15,000 components, an aircraft has 4.5 million components)(omitted).