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With the plethora of data on how CFRP layers enhance RCs under static loads, research on how the reinforced structural components react to unequal lateral impact loads from a derailed train striking metro station columns or a car accident is lacking. A similar motivation inspired the current study, which sought to create a numerical technique backed by actual testing to evaluate RC members with CFRP in a range of unequal lateral impact scenarios. This paper uses explicit nonlinear finite element techniques to numerically analyze the response of unequal lateral impact‐loaded RC members wrapped in (CFRP) layers. Diverse variables related to CFRP, concrete, steel reinforcement, and impact energy are investigated. This kind of thorough analysis provides unique insights to strengthen RC members against unequal lateral impact loads. The effects of internal forces and deflections, as well as absorbed energy on the impact response of CFRP‐RC components, were investigated and verified by prior experimental results. A parametric sensitivity analysis was conducted after the strain characteristics of steel bars confirmed the finite element model, reinforcement ratio, impact velocity, CFRP properties, and ductility index all influence the member's impact response. This study's results will help advance the field's understanding of CFRP‐RC components analysis and design under unequal lateral impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Conventional MR imaging has limited value in identifying H3 K27M mutations. We aimed to investigate the capacity of quantitative MR imaging variables in identifying the H3 K27M mutation status of diffuse midline glioma. Materials and Methods: Twenty-three patients with H3 K27M mutation and thirty-two wild-type patients were recruited in this retrospective study, all of whom underwent multimodal MR imaging. Clinical data and quantitative MR imaging variables were explored by subgroup analysis stratified by age (juveniles and adults). Then, a logistic model for all patients was constructed to identify potential variables for predicting K27M mutation status. Besides, a retrospective validation set including 13 patients was recruited. The C-index and F1 score were used to evaluate the performance of the prediction model. Results: It turned out that patients with H3 K27M mutation were younger in the adult subgroup. In the mutation group, some relative apparent diffusion coefficient (rADC) histogram parameters and myo-inositol/creatine plus phosphocreatine (Ins/tCr) ratio were lower than in the wild-type group of both juveniles and adults (p < 0.05). After nested cross-validation and LASSO algorithm, the age, Ins/tCr, and rADC_15th were selected as potential predictors for H3 K27M mutation in the model. The nomogram model showed good diagnostic power with a validated C-index of 0.884. In addition, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.898 (0.976 in validation set) and the F1 score was 0.732. Conclusions: In conclusion, age, rADC_15th, and Ins/tCr values were helpful in identifying H3 K27M mutations in midline gliomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Patients with a homozygous β0‐thalassemia mutation usually have a transfusion‐dependent β‐thalassemia major phenotype. However, some β‐thalassemia patients present with a relatively mild and even normal phenotype and always have a high level of Hb F induced by genetic modifiers. Methods: In this study, we identified a homozygous β0‐thalassemia mutation (HBB: c.126_129delCTTT) in a 36‐year‐old pregnant woman. She had not presented any clinical symptoms of β‐thalassemia since birth. To investigate her unexpected mild phenotype, known genetic modifiers that ameliorate the severity of β‐thalassemia were analysed. Besides, we described the haematological changes during pregnancy. Results: Two genetic modifiers (a heterozygous KLF1: c.519_525dup mutation; and two homozygous HBS1L‐MYB locus SNP variants: rs7776054 and rs9399137) were identified. However, she showed a gradually decreased level of Hb during pregnancy, and serious transfusion complication of hyperhaemolysis was induced and complicated the pregnancy. Conclusion: This report is in accordance with previous findings that genetic modifiers can ameliorate the clinical severity of β‐thalassemia, even without obvious clinical symptoms in a prolonged steady state. However, the steady state can be disrupted during pregnancy. In addition, raising awareness of hyperhaemolysis among clinicians treating patients with thalassemia is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact bandstop filter (BSF) using parallel-coupled lines and open stubs with four transmission poles (TPs) is proposed. Through theoretical equation deduction, the positions of these four TPs can be obtained. Good roll-off skirts and stopband suppression characteristics of the BSF can be realised with the help of multiple TPs. To improve transition band roll-off rates, another BSF with five TPs is designed, where a short-circuited T-stub is loaded on the middle of the above BSF circuit structure. For demonstration, two filter examples with centre frequencies at 2 and 1.8 GHz are implemented with generation of four and five TPs, respectively, for theoretically calculated certification. Good agreement between simulated and measured results validates the design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electroless Ni-P plating on LY12 substrate was irradiated by a low-energy high-current pulsed electron beam (LEHCEB) to form an intermetallic compound. The microstructure and the morphology of the Ni-P layer after surface treatment were investigated. The results show that the Ni-P layer was melted into low viscosity liquid and quickly moved to a wide variety of shapes and sizes under irradiation of the LEHCEB. X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope were employed to detect intermetallic compounds formed from aluminium–nickel systems including Al3Ni, AlNi3 and Al3Ni2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antenna arrays with shaped patterns have drawn significant attention for their wide applications in radar, sonar and communication systems. The combination of genetic algorithm (GA) and fast Fourier transform (FFT) has been used to synthesise shaped pattern of antenna array's factor without considering coupling effects. In this work, the GA-FFT method is generalised by integrating with a new virtual active element pattern (AEP) expansion method which approximates each AEP as the radiation pattern by exciting several equally spaced virtual elements surrounding the real element position. The generalised GA-FFT can be applied for the shaped pattern synthesis of unequally spaced linear arrays including mutual coupling and platform effect. Several synthesis examples with different pattern shapes and different antenna structures are given to demonstrate the effectiveness, accuracy and robustness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel short- and open-stub loaded spiral resonator (SOSL-SR) is presented and analysed by the odd- and evenmode method to obtain three controllable resonant modes. Therefore, a triple-mode bandpass filter (BPF) has been designed with good frequency selectivity based on the proposed SOSL-SR. Then, by dividing these three resonant modes into two passbands or stopbands, a dual-band BPF and a dual-band bandstop filter using the proposed SOSL-SR have been demonstrated. Because of the spiral structure, the sizes of these three designed microstrip filters are reduced significantly. Good agreement between simulated and measured results validates the design concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DMBT1 has been implicated as a candidate tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 10q for brain, gastrointestinal and lung cancer. Homozygous deletion and lack of expression are 2 known mechanisms for inactivating DMBT1. We evaluated whether somatic mutation, which represents a major inactivation mechanism for most tumor suppressor genes, occurs in the DMBT1 gene. A total of 102 primary brain tumors, consisting of 25 glioblastoma multiforme, 24 medulloblastoma and 53 oligodendroglial tumors, were analyzed by conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis in all 54 coding exons of DMBT1. Twelve different base substitutions were detected in 26 (25%) tumors. Eight base substitutions resulted in amino acid changes and 4 were silent. These base changes were also detected in tumor-matched blood samples, however, indicating that the base variations represent genetic polymorphisms. We also assessed homozygous deletions of the DMBT1 gene in the series and found that 16 of 95 (5 glioblastomas, 5 medulloblastomas, 6 oligodendroglial tumors; total 17%) tumors harbor such alteration. High-quality blood DNA samples were available in 5 tumors carrying homozygous deletion and, using long-range PCR, 3 of these blood samples showed germline hemizygous deletions in a region between introns 10 and 26 of DMBT1. Our results showed that mutation does not play a role in inactivation of DMBT1 in brain tumors. Intragenic homozygous deletion of DMBT1 is common in brain tumors and is likely a result of a germline deletion of 1 allele followed by loss of the second allele during tumor development. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of synthesising a sparse linear array with multiple patterns is formulated as an extended reweighted l1-norm minimisation with multiple convex constraints. Synthesis results show that the proposed method can find the common sparse element positions with optimised excitations for multiple-pattern requirements, and the mainlobe, sidelobe as well as nulling region for each pattern can be accurately controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact seventh-order wideband bandpass filter (BPF) with sharp roll-off skirts using coupled lines and open stubs (OSs)/shorted stubs (SSs) is proposed. Seven transmission poles in the passband and four deep transmission zeros from 0 to 2f0 ( f0 denotes centre frequency of the passband) can be realised with the help of half-wavelength OSs and quarter-wavelength SSs. For demonstration, a wideband BPF prototype is designed, fabricated with a measured 3-dB fractional bandwidth of 78% (1.22-2.77 GHz) and transition band roll-off rates of over 175 dB/GHz. Good agreement between the simulations and measurements validates the design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new least-square active element pattern expansion (LS-AEPE) method is presented. With the help of this method, the array's pattern including the element mutual coupling and platform effect can be efficiently calculated by the fast Fourier transform (FFT). These techniques are then combined with the genetic algorithm (GA) to optimise the excitation phases for a 64-element linear array mounted on a trapezoid metal plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]