• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.261-273
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• 2012

This study proposes and examines a circular composite bridge pier for seismic resistance. The axial and flexural strengths of the proposed bridge pier are provided by the longitudinal reinforcing bars and the concrete, while the transverse reinforcements used in the conventional reinforced concrete pier are replaced by the steel tube. The shear strength of this composite pier relies on the steel tube and the concrete. This system is similar to the steel jacketing method which strengthens the existing reinforced concrete bridge piers. However, no transverse shear reinforcing bar is used in the proposed composite bridge pier. A series of experimental studies is conducted to investigate the seismic resistant characteristics of the proposed circular composite pier. The effects of the longitudinal reinforcing bars, the shear span-to-diameter ratio, and the thickness of the steel tube on the performance of strength, ductility, and energy dissipation of the proposed pier are discussed. The experimental results show that the strength of the proposed circular composite bridge pier can be predicted accurately by the similar method used in the reinforced concrete piers with minor modification. From these experimental studies, it is found that the proposed circular composite bridge pier not only simplifies the construction work greatly but also provides excellent ductility and energy dissipation capacity under seismic lateral force.

• KCI Concrete Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2000

Experiments were carried out to investigate the seismic behaviors, such as lateral strength, ductility and energy-dissipation capacity. of high-strength concrete (HSC) square short column confined in thin steel shell. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the suitability of using HSC square columns confined in thin steel shell in region of moderate-to-high seismic risk. A total of six columns, consisting of two ordinarily reinforced concrete square short columns and four reinforced concrete square short columns confined in thin steel shell was tested. Column specimens, short columns in a moment resisting frame with girder. were tested under a constant axial and reversed cyclic lateral loads. To design the specimens. transverse reinforcing methods, level of axial load applied, and the steel tube width-thickness ratio (D/t) were chosen as main parameters. Test results were also discussed and compared in the light of improvements in general behaviors, ductility, and energy-absorption capacities. Compared to conventionally reinforced concrete columns, the HSC columns confined in thin steel shell had similar load-displacement hysteretic behavior but exhibited greater energy-dissipation characteristics . It is concluded that, in strong earthquake areas, the transverse reinforcing method by using a thin steel shell (D/t=125) is quite effective to make HSC short columns with very strong and ductile.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.5
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• pp.515-524
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• 2019

The present study deals with the simulation of low velocity impact on prestressed and reinforced concrete (RC) slabs supported with different end conditions. The prestress is pre-applied on the RC slab in an analytical approach for the prestressed slab. RC slabs with dimensions $500{\times}600{\times}60mm$, $500{\times}600{\times}80mm$ and $500{\times}600{\times}120mm$ were used by changing support condition in two different ways; (i) Opposite sides simply supported, (ii) Adjacent sides simply supported with opposite corner propped. Deflection response of these specimens were found for the impact due to three different velocities. The effect of grade of concrete on deflection due to the impact of these slabs were also studied. Deflection result of $500{\times}500{\times}50mm$ slab was calculated numerically and compared the result with the available experimental result in literature. Finite element analyses were performed using commercially available ANSYS 16.2 software. The effectiveness of prestressing on impact resistant capacity of RC slabs are demonstrated by the way of comparing the deflection of RC slabs under similar impact loadings.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2019

Considering the increasing use of tubular profiles in civil construction, this paper highlights the study on the behavior of welded connections between square hollow section column and I-beam, with emphasis on the assessment of the joint stiffness. Firstly, a theoretical analysis of the welded joints has been done focusing on prescriptions of the technical literature for the types of geometries mentioned. Then, a numerical analysis of the proposed joints were performed by the finite element method (FEM) with the software ANSYS 16.0. In this study, two models were evaluated for different parameters, such as the thickness of the cross section of the column and the sizes of cross section of the beams. The first model describes a connection in which one beam is connected to the column in a unique bending plane, while the second model describes a connection of two beams to the column in two bending planes. From the numerical results, the bending moment-rotation ($M-{\varphi}$) curve was plotted in order to determine the resistant bending moment and classify each connection according to its rotational capacity. Furthermore, an equation was established with the aim of estimating the rotational stiffness of welded I beam-to-RHS column connections, which can be used during the structure design. The results show that most of the connections are semi-rigid, highlighting the importance of considering the stiffness of the connections in the structure design.

• Laboraroty Animal Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.216-222
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• 2018

The efficacy of standard therapeutic strategies for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is decreasing over time due to the emergence of drug-resistant strains. As an alternative, the present study investigated the capacity of Lactobacilllus paracasei (L. paracasei) HP7, isolated from kimchi, to inhibit H. pylori growth. The effects of L. paracasei HP7 on H. pylori adhesion and H. pylori-induced inflammation were examined in AGS human gastric adenocarcinoma epithelial cells and a mouse model of H. pylori SS1 infection. L. paracasei HP7 reduced H. pylori adhesion to AGS cells and suppressed the inflammatory response in infected cells by downregulating interleukin-8. H. pylori colonization in the stomach of C57BL/6 mice was demonstrated by rapid urease test, and results showed significant decrease in mice post-treated with L. paracasei HP7. Additionally, L. paracasei HP7 decreased gastric inflammation and epithelial lesions in the stomach of H. pylori-infected mice. These results demonstrate that L. paracasei HP7 treatment can inhibit H. pylori growth and is thus a promising treatment for patients with gastric symptoms such as gastritis that are caused by H. pylori infection.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.399-409
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• 2019

This paper presents the experimental investigations on the seismic performance of a peculiar steel-concrete vertical hybrid structural system referred to as steel truss-RC tubular column hybrid structure. It is typically applied as the supporting structural system to house air-cooled condensers in thermal power plants (TPPs). Firstly, pseudo-dynamic tests (PDTs) are performed on a scaled substructure to investigate the seismic performance of this hybrid structure under different hazard levels. The deformation performance, deterioration behavior and energy dissipation characteristics are analyzed. Then, a cyclic loading test is conducted after the final loading case of PDTs to verify the ultimate seismic resistant capacity of this hybrid structure. Finally, the failure mechanism is discussed through mechanical analysis based on the test results. The research results indicate that the steel truss-RC tubular column hybrid structure is an anti-seismic structural system with single-fortification line. RC tubular columns are the main energy dissipated components. The truss-to-column connections are the structural weak parts. In general, it has good ductile performance to satisfy the seismic design requirements in high-intensity earthquake regions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.6
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• pp.823-837
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• 2020

In this research, the idea of improving the seismic response of an existing steel structure with use of friction dampers between external walls and the structure is discussed. The main difference of this method with other methods of seismic rehabilitation is that interior spaces of the existing structure remain untouched and new parts including external walls and dampers are added outside of the structure. Three frames having 3, 6 and 9 stories are modeled in SAP2000 software before and after seismic retrofit and responses of the system are investigated under the effect of seven earthquake records. Initially, different ratios of seismic weight of stories are presumed for slip forces of the dampers with a distribution based on given equations. The optimized capacity of dampers is obtained by investigating the average of maximum displacement, acceleration and base shear of the structure caused by earthquakes. For this optimized values, maximum inter-story drifts and acceleration are obtained through numerical models. Results show that in 3, 6 and 9-story frames peak roof displacement decreased up to 80%. Maximum roof acceleration and base shear of the frames also decreased 46, 40 and 32% and 84, 67 and 65%, respectively for three building structures.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2022

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumor. 5-FU is commonly used for the treatment of CRC. However, the development of drug resistance in tumor chemotherapy can seriously reduce therapeutic efficacy of 5-FU. Recent data show that FoxM1 is associated with 5-FU resistance in CRC. FoxM1 plays a critical role in the carcinogenesis and drug resistance of several malignancies. It has been reported that urushiol V isolated from the cortex of Rhus verniciflua Stokes is cytotoxic to several types of cancer cells. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for its antitumor activity and its potential to attenuate the chemotherapeutic resistance in CRC cells remain unknown. Here, we found that urushiol V could inhibit the cell proliferation and induced S-phase arrest of SW480 colon cancer cells. It inhibited protein expression level of FoxM1 through activation of AMPK. We also investigated the combined effect of urushiol V and 5-FU. The combination treatment reduced FoxM1 expression and consequently reduced cell growth and colony formation in 5-FU resistant colon cancer cells (SW480/5-FUR). Taken together, these result suggest that urushiol V from Rhus verniciflua Stokes can suppress cell proliferation by inhibiting FoxM1 and enhance the antitumor capacity of 5-FU. Therefore, urushiol V may be a potential bioactive compound for CRC therapy.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.625-637
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• 2022

Axial compression capacity (P_u) is a significant yet complex parameter of concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns. This study offers a novel ensemble tool, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) supervised by equilibrium optimization (EO), for accurately predicting this parameter. Moreover, grey wolf optimization (GWO) and Harris hawk optimizer (HHO) are considered as comparative supervisors. The used data is taken from earlier literature provided by finite element analysis. ANFIS is trained by several population sizes of the EO, GWO, and HHO to detect the best configurations. At a glance, the results showed the competency of such ensembles for learning and reproducing the P_u behavior. In details, respective mean absolute errors along with correlation values of 4.1809% and 0.99564, 10.5947% and 0.98006, and 4.8947% and 0.99462 obtained for the EO-ANFIS, GWO-ANFIS, and HHO-ANFIS, respectively, indicated that the proposed EO-ANFIS can analyze and predict the behavior of CFST columns with the highest accuracy. Considering both time and accuracy, the EO provides the most efficient optimization of ANFIS and can be a nice substitute for experimental approaches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.201-219
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• 2022

This paper firstly proposed high performance composite columns for cold-region infrastructures using ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) Q960E. Then, 24 square UHPC-filled UHSS tubes (UHSTCs) at low temperatures of -80, -60, -30, and 30℃ were performed under axial loads. The key influencing parameters on axial compression performance of UHSS were studied, i.e., temperature level and UHSS-tube wall thickness (t). In addition, mechanical properties of Q960E at low temperatures were also studied. Test results revealed low temperatures improved the yield/ultimate strength of Q960E. Axial compression tests on UHSTCs revealed that the dropping environmental temperature increased the compression strength and stiffness, but compromised the ductility of UHSTCs; increasing t significantly increased the strength, stiffness, and ductility of UHSTCs. This study developed numerical and theoretical models to reproduce axial compression performances of UHSTCs at low temperatures. Validations against 24 tests proved that both two methods provided reasonable simulations on axial compression performance of UHSTCs. Finally, simplified theoretical models (STMs) and modified prediction equations in AISC 360, ACI 318, and Eurocode 4 were developed to estimate the axial load capacity of UHSTCs at low temperatures.