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Response spectrum analysis is widely employed in the seismic design of pile-supported wharves, as it can easily determine the maximum response of a structure. The analysis typically uses virtual fixed points to model the structure, without modelling the ground, as the structure is assumed to be a frame. Virtual fixed points can adequately simulate pile responses under horizontal static loads; however, pile responses under seismic loads have not been well studied. Therefore, the dynamic centrifuge tests evaluate the applicability of response spectrum analysis, using virtual fixed points, to the seismic design of a pile-supported wharf. Comparison of results from scale models (3 × 3 groups of piles from sections of Pohang New Port, Korea) with those from the analysis showed that the response spectrum analysis using virtual fixed points does not adequately simulate the natural period or pile bending moment of a pile-supported wharf system.

Introduction Stone disease is a common urological presentation that carries significant morbidity. Patients with renal calculi often experience ipsilateral recurrences. Sleep posture has been implicated in conditions ranging from heart failure to glaucoma. We seek a consensus view on the association between sleep laterality and stone disease and discuss its possible clinical implications. Method A literature search was conducted on the PubMed database from its inception through to September 2020. Publications assessing the correlation between sleep laterality and unilateral stone formation or clearance were included. 19 results were identified, of which 13 were excluded due to irrelevance. Results A review of the literature suggests that sleep laterality is positively correlated with ipsilateral stone formation. Interestingly, a study examining the interaction between sleep laterality and stone clearance following shock wave lithotripsy showed greater clearance of stones in patients who slept on the ipsilateral side. Conclusions Sleep laterality may positively influence both the formation and clearance of unilateral kidney stones. The mechanism for this remains unclear. However, sleep posture aids may prove to be a low-cost intervention with potential for both preventative and therapeutic benefit. This would be of particular value in patients with recurrent unilateral stone disease as well as those with a single-functioning kidney.

BACKGROUND It is unknown whether microalbuminuria is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). This study investigated the association of NAFLD with microalbuminuria among patients with prediabetes and diabetes. METHODS We evaluated 1361 subjects who had an abnormal oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) on routine screening. All participants were divided into two groups, prediabetes and newly diagnosed type 2 DM, and the association of NAFLD with metabolic parameters on microalbuminuria was analysed. RESULTS The patients with NAFLD had higher prevalence rates of microalbuminuria (6.3% vs 19%; P = 0.001 in prediabetes, 4.5% vs 32.6%; P < 0.001 in diabetes) and also had a greater albumin-to-creatinine ratio (14.6 +/- 52.0 microg/mg Cr vs 27.7 +/- 63.9 microg/mg Cr; P = 0.051 in prediabetes, 11.4 +/- 21.4 microg/mg Cr vs 44.7 +/- 76.4 microg/mg Cr; P < 0.001 in diabetes) than those without NAFLD. The logistic regression analysis showed that NAFLD was associated with increased rates of microalbuminuria (odds ratio 3.66; 95%confidence interval (CI) 1.31-10.20, P = 0.013 in prediabetes, odds ratio 5.47;95% CI 1.01-29.61, P = 0.048 in diabetes), independently of age, sex, body mass index, waist circumference, liver enzymes, lipid profiles, HbA1c, insulin resistance as estimated by homeostasis model assessment, hypertension,smoking status and the metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSIONS The results of our study revealed a strong relationship between microalbuminuria and NAFLD in the patients with prediabetes and newly diagnosed diabetes. Further studies are required to confirm whether NAFLD is a predictor of the development of microalbuminuria in patients with prediabetes and diabetes.

Rapid heating cycles have been determined for the thermal removal of binder from open pore green ceramic components. The samples are multilayer green bodies with barium titanate as the dielectric, and the binder consists of poly(vinyl butyral) and dioctyl phthalate. The kinetics of binder decomposition, the gas permeability of the green body and the conditions at failure of the green body were determined from a combination of experiments and modelling. These results were then used with an algorithm based on variational calculus to develop successful rapid heating cycles without causing failure of the component.

Nano Fe-6.5wt%Si powders have been synthesized by mechano-chemical process (MCP) for an application of soft magnetic core. Owing to hard and brittle characteristics of Fe-6.5Si nano powders having large surface area, it is very difficult to reach high density more than 70% of theoretical density (~7.4 g/) by cold compaction. To overcome such problem a magnetic pulsed compaction (MPC), which is one of dynamic compaction techniques, was applied. The green density was achieved about 78% (~5.8 g/) by MPC at room temperature.

In this paper a new optical sensor and its applications are presented. The prediction of faults that occur during the layout of deep drawing processes (e.g. cracks) remains a significant problem. Therefore, at the IFUM a new optical sensor principle has been developed for the contact-free recording of the material flow. The sensor recognizes special patterns on the sheet surface. The measured material (low can be used for the determination of local strain. The optical Sensor could be utilized instead of using expensive optical systems or manual methods (e.g. with a measurement grid) for the deformation measurement, which still require a special preparation of the specimen. Furthermore, the material flow can be used as the controlled variable for the closed loop control of deep drawing processes with varying blank holder forces along the flange. On the one hand the data recorded with the new optical Sensor is used to increase the quality of the FE-simulation. On the other hand a press with a multipoint drawing tool will be regulated by the control loop. A fuzzy controller is under development for the automatic connection between the material flow and the blank holding force.

The paper presented here introduces a new optical sensor for contactless on-line material flow measurement and its application for closed loop process control in sheet metal forming. The aim of this sensor development was to record the material flow in a closed deep drawing tool during the forming process. The material flow can be utilized as the controlled variable for closed loop control, as this value originates directly from the process and can be used to characterize the process course. Recording of material flow was accomplished contact-free using an optical sensor. A press with a multipoint drawing tool is anticipated within the control loop, in order to generate better the locally varying forces on the blank holder, in accordance with the material flow information. Therefore, the influence of three blank holder systems (rigid, segmented and pliable) on the material flow was investigated for the combination with this multipoint drawing tool. Furthermore, the process boundaries are visualized so as to determine the command variable for the conventional controller, as well as for acquisition of an empirical basis for the fuzzy controller.

A three-dimensional steady incompressible viscous flow through a plane cascade of turbine blades has been analyzed through a numerical method based on the Navier-Stokes equation. Particular attention is paid to the prediction of secondary flows occurring due to the endwall boundary layer and the blade geometry. A standard k-e model is used for the modelling of Reynolds stress and boundary-fitted coordinates are adopted to represent the complex blade geometry accurately. Two differencing schemes are applied to the convective terms to investigate the effect of numerical diffusion. Experimental data obtained for the flows through the Langston cascade are selected for code validation. Computed results for the velocity vectors and static pressure distributions are in good agreement with presious measurements and provide validity of this numerical method. Three-dimensional viscous flow phenomena and the distribution of total pressure loss caused by secondary flows are also reasonably well predicted.

We cultivated the hybridoma producing vWF antibody in a 10L bioreactor in order to investigate the characteristics oftwo different cultures, intermittent and continuous bleeding. To compare with bleeding culture non-bleeding culture was also performed. Non-bleeding culture achieved a cell density of 2.1 x 107 cells/ml at 16th day with 110 mg/l ofvwF mAb titer. However, the culture was stopped after the 18 days, due to membrane clogging. Intermittent and continuous bleeding cultures were maintained the cell density around 1 x10 cell/ml. The vWF mAb titer was 45mg/l and 53mg/l for intermittent and continuous bleeding culture. As for volumetric productivity, the continuous bleeding culture was higher than intermittent bleeding culture by 4 1%. For glucose consumption rate (GCR), lactate production rate (LPR), glutamine consumption rate (GnCR), and ammoniaproduction rate (APR), continuous bleeding culture showed 28%, 70%, 31% and 40% higher than intermittent bleeding culture. These results suggest that physiological activity ofthe continuous bleeding culture was higher than that of intermittent bleeding culture.

A significant difference was observed in the production pattern of exo-biopolymer and broth rheology during submerged culture of Paecilomyces japonica when two efficient carbon sources (maltose and sucrose) were employed. The maximum concentration of biopolymers in maltose medium (30 g/l) was higher than that in sucrose medium (25 g/l), whereas maximum mycelial concentration displayed an inverse result (i.e., 25 g/l in sucrose medium and 20 g/l in maltose medium). The broth rheology and morphology of P. japonica were also markedly different between the two culture media.

Programmed cell death (apoptosis) is an active process which is genetically encoded and plays an important role in several cellular activities such as embryonic development, deletion of autoreactive T-cells and homeostasis. Several genes regulating apoptosis have been reported, including p53, one of the tumor suppressor genes, c-myc, one of the proto-oncogenes, and various kinds of Bcl-2 related genes. A new cDNA clone which is homologous to Bcl-2, named as Bfl-1 were isolated from a human fetal liver at 22 week of gestation. This clone was identified by computer analysis of random cDNA sequences that were obtained in an effort to expand the expressed sequence tag (EST) databases to be used for human genome analysis. The homology was recognized by 72% amino acid identity to the murine A1 gene, a member of the Bcl-2-related genes. The homology to the BH1 and BH2 domains of Bcl-2 was especially significant, suggesting that Bfl-1 is a new member of the Bcl-2-related genes. Bfl-1 is abundantly expressed in the bone marrow and at a low level in some other tissues. Interestingly, a correlation was noted between the expression level of Bfl-1 gene and the development of stomach cancer in eight sets of clinical samples. It is conceivable that Bfl-1 is involved in the promotion of the cell survival in the stomach cancer development or progression.

Background Caffeine, used for treating neonatal apnea, is eliminated 3-fold slower in breastfed infants than in formula-fed infants. Caffeine is metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A and CYP3A4, which are regulated by aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) respectively. Here we hypothesized that formula but not human milk induces CYP1A and/or CYP3A4 via their regulatory pathways. Methods Human milk samples from healthy lactating women were collected. Infant formula and cow milk were purchased. Lipid fraction of milk samples was obtained by organic extraction. mRNA and protein expression were measured by RT-PCR and western blotting. Reporter plasmids containing receptor response elements were tested for their activation. Results CYP1A expression and AhR activity were induced by formula and cow milk but not by human milk. The AhR activation by formula was abolished by co-treatment of Ah antagonist. Formula and human milk also had differential effects on AhR activation by dibenz[a,h]anthracene, an AhR agonist. In addition, lipid fraction of formula but not human milk activated AhR. Both formula and human milk showed mild induction of CYP3A4 mRNA and PXR. However, co-transfection of hPXR did not increase PXR activation by milk treatments, suggesting a non PXR-mediated pathway. Conclusion Infant formula but not human milk contains AhR agonist(s) that induces CYP1A expression. Both infant formula and human milk induce CYP3A4 through non PXR-mediated pathway. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2005) 77, P46–P46; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2004.12.068