• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.115-135
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• 2012

The very low natural frequencies of tension leg platforms (TLP's) have raised the concern about the significance of the action of hydrodynamic wave forces on the response of such platforms. In this paper, a numerical study using modified Morison equation was carried out in the time domain to investigate the influence of nonlinearities due to hydrodynamic forces and the coupling effect between surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw degrees of freedom on the dynamic behavior of TLP's. The stiffness of the TLP was derived from a combination of hydrostatic restoring forces and restoring forces due to cables and the nonlinear equations of motion were solved utilizing Newmark's beta integration scheme. The effect of wave characteristics such as wave period and wave height on the response of TLP's was evaluated. Only uni-directional waves in the surge direction was considered in the analysis. It was found that coupling between various degrees of freedom has insignificant effect on the displacement responses. Moreover, for short wave periods (i.e., less than 10 sec.), the surge response consisted of small amplitude oscillations about a displaced position that is significantly dependent on the wave height; whereas for longer wave periods, the surge response showed high amplitude oscillations about its original position. Also, for short wave periods, a higher mode contribution to the pitch response accompanied by period doubling appeared to take place. For long wave periods, (12.5 and 15 sec.), this higher mode contribution vanished after very few cycles.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.151-175
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• 2015

The general public is a key stakeholder in the science and technology domain. However, traditional approaches require substantial efforts and resources to analyze how does the general public understand science and technology issues. We applied the topic modeling, a form of text clustering, to the texts about the nuclear power which were posted on an online space in order to explore the general public's thoughts on the issue. This study investigates the extent to which macro-level events influence understandings of the general public on the science and technology issues and weather these changes in understandings are sustained over time. It examines the possibility of applying topic modeling in narrowing a perception gap between the general public and the experts through a near-real-time monitoring of the public interests and perceptions about the science and technology issues.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2015

Histone acetylation plays a critical role in the regulation of transcription by altering the structure of chromatin, and it may influence the resistance of some tumor cells to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) by regulating the gene expression of components of the TRAIL signaling pathway. In this study, we investigated the effects and molecular mechanisms of trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, in sensitizing TRAIL-induced apoptosis in Caki human renal carcinoma cells. Our results indicate that nontoxic concentrations of TSA substantially enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis compared with treatment with either agent alone. Cotreatment with TSA and TRAIL effectively induced cleavage of Bid and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), which was associated with the activation of caspases (-3, -8, and -9) and degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), contributing toward the sensitization to TRAIL. Combined treatment with TSA and TRAIL significantly reduced the levels of the cellular Fas-associated death domain (FADD)-like interleukin-$1{\beta}$-converting enzyme (FLICE) inhibitory protein (c-FLIP), whereas those of death receptor (DR) 4, DR5, and FADD remained unchanged. The synergistic effect of TAS and TRAIL was perfectly attenuated in c-$FLIP_L$-overexpressing Caki cells. Taken together, the present study demonstrates that down-regulation of c-FLIP contributes to TSA-facilitated TRAIL-induced apoptosis, amplifying the death receptor, as well as mitochondria-mediated apoptotic signaling pathways.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.310-314
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• 2011

The Banna miniature pig (BNMP) is a representative miniature pig breed in China. Even though BNMP dwarfism is obvious, its underlying causative mutations remain unknown. In this study, the BNMP and Large White pig (LWP) serum growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels were detected by ELISA and compared. BNMP serum IGF-1 levels were significantly lower than LWP levels (P<0.05). The miniature condition may arise from mutations in the GH and GH receptor (GHR) genes. Therefore, GH and GHR cDNA from the BNMP were cloned into a pMD18-T vector by RT-PCR using the total RNA obtained from the BNMP's pituitary and liver tissues. Sequencing results indicated that the open reading frame of the BNMP GH gene is composed of a 26-residue signal peptide and a 191-residue mature peptide. The coding sequence of the BNMP GHR gene contained 639 amino acids, including a signal peptide that is 18 amino acids long. Two amino acid substitutions, A09V and R22Q, were found in the signal peptide of the GH gene. Additionally, the S104P mutation was found in the BNMP's mature GH protein. Four mutations in the cytoplasmic domain of GHR may influence the downstream signal transduction of GHR, which needs further experimental evidence.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.291-306
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• 2020

The noise from the elevated lines of rail transit has become a growing problem. This paper presents a new method for the rapid prediction of the structure-borne noise from steel or composite bridges, based on the receptance and Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA), which is essential to the study of the generation mechanism and the design of a low-noise bridge. First, the vertical track-bridge coupled vibration equations in the frequency domain are constructed by simplifying the rail and the bridge as an infinite Timoshenko beam and a finite Euler-Bernoulli beam respectively. Second, all wheel/rail forces acting upon the track are computed by taking a moving wheel-rail roughness spectrum as the excitation to the train-track-bridge system. The displacements of rail and bridge are obtained by substituting wheel/rail forces into the track-bridge coupled vibration equations, and all spring forces on the bridge are calculated by multiplying the stiffness by the deformation of each spring. Then, the input power to the bridge in the SEA model is derived from spring forces and the bridge receptance. The vibration response of the bridge is derived from the solution to the power balance equations of the bridge, and then the structure-borne noise from the bridge is obtained. Finally, a tri-span continuous steel-concrete composite bridge is taken as a numerical example, and the theoretical calculations in terms of the vibration and noise induced by a passing train agree well with the field measurements, verifying the method. The influence of various factors on wheel/rail and spring forces is investigated to simplify the train-track-bridge interaction calculation for predicting the vibration and noise from steel or composite bridges.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.294-304
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• 2014

Purpose: The influence of dietary composition on blood pressure is an important subject in healthcare. Interactions between antihypertensive drugs and diet (IBADD) is the most important factor in the management of hypertension. It is therefore essential to support healthcare providers' decision making role in active and continuous interaction control in hypertension management. The aim of this study was to implement an ontology-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) for IBADD management (IBADDM). We considered the concepts of antihypertensive drugs and foods, and focused on the interchangeability between the database and the CDSS when providing tailored information. Methods: An ontology-based CDSS for IBADDM was implemented in eight phases: (1) determining the domain and scope of ontology, (2) reviewing existing ontology, (3) extracting and defining the concepts, (4) assigning relationships between concepts, (5) creating a conceptual map with CmapTools, (6) selecting upper ontology, (7) formally representing the ontology with Protege (ver.4.3), (8) implementing an ontology-based CDSS as a JAVA prototype application. Results: We extracted 5,926 concepts, 15 properties, and formally represented them using Protege. An ontology-based CDSS for IBADDM was implemented and the evaluation score was 4.60 out of 5. Conclusion: We endeavored to map functions of a CDSS and implement an ontology-based CDSS for IBADDM.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.933-940
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• 2012

Recently, it has been shown that quantum coherence appears in energy transfers of various photosynthetic lightharvesting complexes at from cryogenic to even room temperatures. Because the photosynthetic systems are inherently complex, these findings have subsequently interested many researchers in the field of both experiment and theory. From the theoretical part, simplified dynamics or semiclassical approaches have been widely used. In these approaches, the quantum-classical Liouville equation (QCLE) is the fundamental starting point. Toward the semiclassical scheme, approximations are needed to simplify the equations of motion of various degrees of freedom. Here, we have adopted the Poisson bracket mapping equation (PBME) as an approximate form of QCLE and applied it to find the time evolution of the excitation in a photosynthetic complex from marine algae. The benefit of using PBME is its similarity to conventional Hamiltonian dynamics. Through this, we confirmed the coherent population transfer behaviors in short time domain as previously reported with a more accurate but more time-consuming iterative linearized density matrix approach. However, we find that the site populations do not behave according to the Boltzmann law in the long time limit. We also test the effect of adding spurious high frequency vibrations to the spectral density of the bath, and find that their existence does not alter the dynamics to any significant extent as long as the associated reorganization energy is changed not too drastically. This suggests that adopting classical trajectory based ensembles in semiclassical simulations should not influence the coherence dynamics in any practical manner, even though the classical trajectories often yield spurious high frequency vibrational features in the spectral density.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.447-468
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• 2015

Modal identification of civil engineering structures based on ambient vibration measurement has been widely investigated in the past decades, and a variety of output-only operational modal identification methods have been proposed. However, vibration modes, even fundamental low-order modes, are not always identifiable for large-scale structures under ambient vibration excitation. The identifiability of vibration modes, deficiency in modal identification, and criteria to evaluate robustness of the identified modes when applying output-only modal identification techniques to ambient vibration responses were scarcely studied. In this study, the mode identifiability of the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge using ambient vibration measurements and the influence of the excitation intensity on the deficiency and robustness in modal identification are investigated with long-term monitoring data of acceleration responses acquired from the bridge under different excitation conditions. It is observed that a few low-order modes, including the second global mode, are not identifiable by common output-only modal identification algorithms under normal ambient excitations due to traffic and monsoon. The deficient modes can be activated and identified only when the excitation intensity attains a certain level (e.g., during strong typhoons). The reason why a few low-order modes fail to be reliably identified under weak ambient vibration excitations and the relation between the mode identifiability and the excitation intensity are addressed through comparing the frequency-domain responses under normal ambient vibration excitations and under typhoon excitations and analyzing the wind speeds corresponding to different response data samples used in modal identification. The threshold value of wind speed (generalized excitation intensity) that makes the deficient modes identifiable is determined.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2637-2641
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• 2016

Tumor necrosis factor ($TNF-{\alpha}$), an inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in the control of cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis, has previously been used in anti-cancer therapy. However, the therapeutic applications of $TNF-{\alpha}$ are largely limited due to its general toxicity and anti-apoptotic influence. To overcome this problem, the present study focused on the effect of active constituents isolated from a medicinal plant on $TNF-{\alpha}$-induced apoptosis in human colon adenocarcinoma (HT-29) cells. Nimbolide from Azadirachta indica was evaluated for cytotoxicity by methyl tetrazolium 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and phase contrast microscopy. Effects on apoptotic signaling proteins were investigated using Western blot analysis. Nimbolide showed cytotoxicity against HT-29 cells that was significantly different from the control group (p<0.01), a concentration of $10{\mu}M$ significantly inducing cell death (p<0.01). In combination with $TNF-{\alpha}$, nimbolide significantly enhanced-induced cell death. In apoptotic pathway, nimbolide activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation, BH3 interacting-domain death agonist (Bid) and up-regulated the death receptor 5 (DR5) level. In the combination group, nimbolide markedly sensitized $TNF-{\alpha}$-induced JNK, Bid, caspase-3 activation and the up-regulation of DR5. Our findings overall indicate that nimbolide may enhance $TNF-{\alpha}$-mediated cellular proliferation inhibition through increasing cell apoptosis of HT-29 cells by up-reglation of DR5 expression via the JNK pathway.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 2017

In order to investigate the interface debonding defects detection mechanism between steel tube and concrete core of concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs), multi-physical fields coupling finite element models constituted of a surface mounted Piezoceramic Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) actuator, an embedded PZT sensor and a circular cross section of CFST column are established. The stress wave initiation and propagation induced by the PZT actuator under sinusoidal and sweep frequency excitations are simulated with a two dimensional (2D) plain strain analysis and the difference of stress wave fields close to the interface debonding defect and within the cross section of the CFST members without and with debonding defects are compared in time domain. The linearity and stability of the embedded PZT response under sinusoidal signals with different frequencies and amplitudes are validated. The relationship between the amplitudes of stress wave and the measurement distances in a healthy CFST cross section is also studied. Meanwhile, the responses of PZT sensor under both sinusoidal and sweep frequency excitations are compared and the influence of debonding defect depth and length on the output voltage is also illustrated. The results show the output voltage signal amplitude and head wave arriving time are affected significantly by debonding defects. Moreover, the measurement of PZT sensor is sensitive to the initiation of interface debonding defects. Furthermore, wavelet packet analysis on the voltage signal under sweep frequency excitations is carried out and a normalized wavelet packet energy index (NWPEI) is defined to identify the interfacial debonding. The value of NWPEI attenuates with the increase in the dimension of debonding defects. The results help understand the debonding defects detection mechanism for circular CFST members with PZT technique.