Search

Composite structures are increasingly analyzed in a multiscale way, where lower scale structures are homogenized and effective properties such as structural stiffness are passed to upper scales. However, strength properties are rarely treated this way to construct a complete failure envelope for the structural element. In this work, we propose to use the Gaussian process to approximate the overall shape of the initial failure envelope in the space of sectional forces and moments of composite beam cross-sections. Tsai-Wu failure criterion is used for the strength analysis at the material level and strength ratio is used as the output to be fitted. To better select training data without guessing and reduce the number of samples, adaptive sampling technique is used. Predicted variance scaled by predicted mean is used as the measure of the score to select the most promising point as the new sample for the next training iteration. Two sets of numerical examples are provided to demonstrate and test the proposed method.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Functional groups of different amino acids in scaffold peptides. Table S2. List of peptides designed by adding different length of spacers between pY and Cys. Table S3. List of different functional peptides-AuNPs stabilized by pY. Figure S1. UVâ Vis absorbance of 24 peptides modified AuNPs. Figure S2. UVâ Vis absorbance of pY modified AuNPs in different concentrations of buffer. Figure S3. Preparation of SH-Hyz-Dox. (a) Synthesis scheme for the preparation of SH-Hyz-Dox. (b) Characterization of SH-Hyz-Dox by LC-QTof. Figure S4. Cell viability assay of SGC-7901 cells treated with different concentrations of Dox. Figure S5. The deposited number of pY-AuNPs-Dox onto SGC-7901 was estimated using the ISDD model as a function of time.

Acetylcholine (AcCh) is a major neurotransmitter and an agonist of nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in non-neuronal systems. Artificially synthesized lactoylcholine (LaCh) has potent nicotinic activity equal to that of AcCh. In this study, we report the isolation and purification of natural AcCh and LaCh from a lactic-fermented food known to reduce blood pressure. To our knowledge, we are the first to isolate natural LaCh. The choline esters were isolated using a novel purification procedure combining a weak cation-exchange cartridge with ODS and pentafluorophenyl HPLC columns, and the structure of LaCh was identified via various analyses. Assessment of D- and L-LaCh showed that the isolated LaCh was an enantiomer mixture with a D/L ratio of 1.6. D-LaCh induced vasorelaxation of thoracic aortas from spontaneously hypertensive rats (EC50=3.83×10(-7) M), while L-LaCh did not. Our results suggest that choline esters could be new functional ingredients in lactic-fermented foods.

Our previous results (Nakamura et al., 2013, 2016) indicated that acetylcholine (ACh) in orally administered foods exerts antihypertensive effects. Eggplants (Solanum melongena) contain abundant ACh (Horiuchi et al., 2003), and their food functionality was discovered, using spontaneously hypertensive rats, by measuring blood pressure after oral administration of a suspension of lyophilized eggplant powder. We found that lyophilized eggplant powder induced significantly lowered acute and chronic blood pressure levels at very low doses of 0.0650 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) and 0.821 mg/(kg b.w.·day), respectively. Chronic administration suppressed adrenaline and noradrenaline excretion in the urine, and aorta assays showed that eggplant acted on the M3 muscarinic ACh receptor (M3 mAChR). ACh was conclusively shown to function as the main component of eggplant contributing to antihypertensive activity by suppressing sympathetic nervous activity via M3 mAChR. This report reveals a new food functionality of eggplant and its potential as a novel antihypertensive food.

Recent interest in sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in gasified coal seam (i.e., post-underground coal gasification sites) has created a need to understand the coal properties, specifically, the adsorption behavior of CO2 on gasified coal. In the present study, the CO2 excess adsorption isotherms were determined for four coal samples of different characteristics based on the volumetric method. Further, coal chars from a coking coal and a non-coking coal (within the studied samples) were investigated for their CO2 adsorption capacity. The coal samples of size 22–32 mm were pyrolyzed in a drop-tube furnace at 800 and 1000 °C with a heating rate of approximately 2.5 °C s–1 under an inert atmosphere. Measurements were performed up to a pressure of 65 bar for all of the studied samples. Experiments were carried out at an isothermal temperature of 45.5 °C. The influence of coal properties on adsorption was also studied and compared to the literature data. Behavior of adsorption capacities was analyzed as a...

To seek the optimum fenilizion for improving economic efficiency of Guangxi crops,reducing costs of production and reducing en-vironmental pollution,the effects of different fertilizer on growth, yield and nutrient runoff losses of major economic crops (sugarcane, maizeand peanut)were studied in sloping farmland of Guangxi Province. Run-off loss of nutrient was determined in precipitation process in slopingfarmland, cultivation methods of low cost and high efficiency were sought by using SPSS statistical analysis software. The results showed thatthere was not significant difference on growth of sugarcane (maize, peanut) between control and conventional fertilization. The economic out-put, biomass production, starch of maize in control were 851.42 kg·667 m-2 3 640.40 kg·667 m-2 68.40% respectively, which were higher100.62 kg·667 m -2 485.98 kg·667 m -2, 7.5% than those of maize in conventional fertilization. The fat of peanut ( contrast )was higher 45 g·kg-1 than those of conventional fertilization. The runoff loss of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, nitrate and ammonium nitro-gen was all the highest in peanut conventional fertilization, higher in sugar cane contrast, the least in maize contrast; Correlation coefficientsbetween runoff and total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, nitrate and ammonium nitrogen, for the conventional fertilization werehigher than that for the contrast of three crops. Total nutrient runoff losses of the maize contrast was the least, and nutrient runoff rate of thepeanut conventional fertilization was the largest. So maize was suitable for planting than peanut in sloping land of Guangxi Province.

Considering the cross-sectional dimension of the elastica much smaller than the wavelength of its global deformation, the three-dimensional hyperelasticity is rigorously split to a one-dimensional macroscopic global analysis and a two-dimensional cross-sectional analysis. These two analyses are featuring both geometric and material nonlinearities. The two-dimensional nonlinear cross-sectional analysis utilizes the three-dimensional hyperelastic material models to homogenize the nonlinear beam cross-sectional constitutive relations, which are input as material properties for the global one-dimensional geometric exact beam analysis. Restricted to small strains, analytical solutions can be obtained and proves that the sectional analysis of the Euler-Bernoulli type results in an effect that the bending stiffness will vary with the axial deformation. Without ad hoc assumptions, exact solution of such extension effect for the strain energy up to the third order is given analytically for isotropic beams with neo-Hookean model. In addition, the present theory without the small strain restriction is implemented using the finite element method in VABS, a general-purpose cross-sectional analysis tool, of which the solutions are compared with the analytical results. The geometrical exact beam theory is extended to handle one-dimensional nonlinear material model so that both geometry and material nonlinearities can be handled. Finally, the present theory is validated using the three-dimensional analysis in commercial finite element software.

Lead (Pb) is a known neurotoxicant in humans and experimental animals. Numerous studies have provided evidence that humans, especially young children, and animals chronically intoxicated with low levels of Pb show learning and memory impairments. Unfortunately, Pb-poisoning cases continue to occur in many countries. Because the current treatment options are very limited, there is a need for alternative methods to attenuate Pb toxicity. In this study, the weaning (postnatal day 21, PND21) rats were randomly divided into five groups: the control group (AIN-93G diet, de-ionized water), the lead acetate (PbAC) group (AIN-93G diet, 2g/L PbAC in de-ionized water), the lead acetate+WR group (white rice diet, 2g/L PbAC in de-ionized water; PbAC+WR), the lead acetate+BR group (brown rice diet, 2g/L PbAC in de-ionized water; PbAC+BR) and the lead acetate+PR group (pre-germinated brown rice diet, 2g/L PbAC in de-ionized water; PbAC+PR). The animals received the different diets until PND60, and then the experiments were terminated. The protective effects of pre-germinated brown rice (PR) on Pb-induced learning and memory impairment in weaning rats were assessed by the Morris water maze and one-trial-learning passive avoidance test. The anti-oxidative effects of feeding a PR diet to Pb-exposed rats were evaluated. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were determined by flow cytometry. The levels of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate were determined by HPLC. Our data showed that feeding a PR diet decreased the accumulation of lead and decreased Pb-induced learning and memory deficits in developing rats. The mechanisms might be related to the anti-oxidative effects and large amount of GABA in PR. Our study provides a regimen to reduce Pb-induced toxicity, especially future learning and memory deficits in the developing brain.