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This study presents a technology development for creating 3D finite-element full-scale bridge models based on a data processing platform (DPP) and explores the trial fatigue analysis to serve as an important reference for future practical applications. Until now, the model generation, validation and calculation for a large-scale model of conventional method consume huge time and money. Currently, developments in High- Performance Computing (HPC) and preparation for large parallel computers make numerical simulation operation more efficient. Moreover, through the grouping structure technique, different types of data can be linked together. In this research, a 3D finite-element full-scale bridge superstructure model was created using the DPP. A trial fatigue analysis was performed using a high-performance computer. By considering the details such as the position of each reinforcing bar, prestressed tendon, the slope, etc., the DPP model more closely captures the real structure. Therefore, it could be said that the model made by the DPP has higher analytical accuracy. This research paved the way for the implementation of large-scale fatigue analysis, which has significant engineering applications prospects.

AJM300 is an oral, small-molecule α4-integrin antagonist. We assessed the efficacy and safety of AJM300 in patients with moderately active ulcerative colitis.This multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study consisted of two phases: a treatment phase and an open-label re-treatment phase. The study was done at 82 hospitals and clinics in Japan. Patients with a Mayo Clinic score of 6-10, endoscopic subscore of 2 or more, rectal bleeding subscore of 1 or more, and an inadequate response or intolerance to mesalazine were enrolled. Patients were randomly allocated (1:1) via a website to either AJM300 (960 mg) or placebo by the minimisation method, which was adjusted centrally by dynamic assignment against the Mayo Clinic score (≥6 to ≤7, ≥8 to ≤10 points), any use of corticosteroid, anti-TNFα antibody, or immunosuppressants during the disease-active period (yes vs no), duration of induction therapy until randomisation (4 weeks vs ≥4 weeks) as the minimisation factors. Patients, investigators, site staff, assessors, and the sponsor were masked to treatment assignments. The study drug was administered orally, three times daily, for 8 weeks, and continued for up to 24 weeks if endoscopic remission was not achieved or rectal bleeding did not stop. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with a clinical response at week 8, and was analysed in the full analysis set. Clinical response was defined as a reduction in Mayo Clinic score of 30% or more and 3 or more, a reduction in rectal bleeding score of 1 or more or rectal bleeding subscore of 1 or less, and an endoscopic subscore of 1 or less at week 8. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03531892, and is closed to recruitment.Between June 6, 2018, and July 22, 2020, 203 patients were randomly assigned to AJM300 (n=102) or placebo (n=101). At week 8, 46 (45%) patients in the AJM300 group and 21 (21%) patients in the placebo group had a clinical response (odds ratio 3·30, 95% CI 1·73-6·29; p=0·00028). During the 8-week treatment and 16-week extension treatment periods, adverse events occurred in 39 (39%) of 101 patients in the placebo group and 39 (38%) of 102 patients in the AJM300 group. We found no difference in the incidence of adverse events between groups or after repeated administration of AJM300. The most common adverse event was nasopharyngitis (11 [11%] of 101 patients in the placebo group and ten [10%] of 102 patients in the AJM300 group). The most common treatment-related adverse event was also nasopharyngitis (four [4%] of 101 patients in the placebo group and three [3%] of 102 patients in the AJM300 group). Most adverse events were mild-to-moderate in severity. No deaths were reported. A serious adverse event was reported in the AJM300 group (one patient with anal abscess), but this was judged to be unrelated to study drug.AJM300 was well tolerated and induced a clinical response in patients with moderately active ulcerative colitis who had an inadequate response or intolerance to mesalazine. AJM300 could be a novel induction therapy for the treatment of patients with moderately active ulcerative colitis.EA Pharma and Kissei Pharmaceutical.For the Japanese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

The use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) around the world to improve concrete performance has increased in recent decades. However, the application of SCMs remains limited by their heterogeneity and variability. Engineering practices demand a unified model for SCMs to predict and optimise the performance of blended concrete. A multiphase modelling scheme that covers various SCMs is therefore proposed in this study. Following this modelling scheme, three low-calcium fly ashes were selected and comprehensively studied by scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) full-element mapping and image analysis. The pozzolanic reactivity of these three fly ashes was further investigated in alkaline and cement systems. A temperature-dependent two-phase pozzolanic reaction model (silicate and Al-silicate glass) considering fly ash material variations was proposed to predict the pozzolanic reaction and therefore the degree of reaction at different temperatures. The numerical results show that the proposed multiphase modelling scheme has great potential to cover various SCMs.

The effects of a microbial inoculant (Thervelics®: a mixture of cells of Bacillus subtilis C-3102 and carrier materials) on rice (Oryza sativa cv. Milkyprincess) and barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Sachiho Golden) were evaluated in four pot experiments. In the first and second experiments, the dry matter production of rice and barley increased significantly by 10–20% with the inoculation of the mixture at a rate of 107 cfu ⋅ g–1 soil compared with the non-inoculated control. In the third experiment, the growth promoting effects of the mixture, the autoclaved mixture and the carrier materials were compared. The dry mater production of rice grains was the highest in the mixture, and it was significantly higher in the three treatments than in the control, suggesting that the carrier materials may also have a plant growth promoting effect and the living cells might have an additional stimulatory effect. To confirm the efficacy of the living cells in the mixture, only B. subtilis C-3102 cells were used in the fourth experiment. In addition, to estimate the mechanisms in growth promotion by B. subtilis C-3102, three B. subtilis strains with similar or different properties in the production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), protease and siderophore and phosphatesolubilizing ability were used as reference strains. Only B. subtilis C-3102 significantly increased the dry matter production of rice grains and the soil protease activity was consistently higher in the soil inoculated with B. subtilis C-3102 throughout the growing period. These results indicate that the microbial inoculant including live B. subtilis C-3102 may have growth promoting effects on rice and barley.

Strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCC) under cracked condition exhibit distinct behaviour of capillary absorption because of multiple fine cracks and complicated crack patterns. Past studies for estimating capillary absorption of cracked SHCC mainly focused on evaluating the results by total gravimetric weight. In addition, the average values of crack width and crack spacing were often used to characterize crack patterns. In this study, a multi-scale approach for numerical simulation of the capillary absorption of cracked SHCC is proposed by considering the detailed crack patterns such as the width and location of each crack. Water flows in bulk matrix and multiple cracks are simulated using two individual transport equations. Water absorbed from a crack to its adjacent matrix is treated as the mass exchange of the two equations, taking into account pore structure and water status in the bulk matrix as well as the damage level of the crack surfaces. Analysis is firstly carried out for SHCC with uniform crack width and crack spacing, showing consistent results with test data of previous studies in which the total absorption increased with decreasing crack spacing. Analysis for SHCC with non-uniform crack widths and locations, furthermore, exhibit significant water penetration at crack zones. Other factors, such as relative humidity for pre-drying, specimen height, water-to-binder ratio, and fibre content, are also discussed in the analysis. This approach enables the estimation of water profile of cracked SHCC, so can be used for further crack-linked process, for example, chloride penetration or self-healing.

This study aims to develop an analytical tool to predict the expansion of Hauyne and free-lime based expansive additives in RC structures. Hydration of species was based on the multi-component heat of hydration model which incorporates referential heat rate at a certain temperature and thermal activities following Arrhenius' law of chemical reaction. All other time-dependent properties of concrete such as elastic modulus, temperature, pore pressure, creep, moisture status, total porosity of interlayer, gel and capillary pores are computed internally based on the micromodels of materials inside the system. Coupling this material information with poromechanics, volumetric change generated by cement hydration and shrinkage is systematically included in the modelling of concrete mechanics, which deals with macroscopic structural responses based on the space-averaged constitutive laws on the fixed four-way cracked concrete model. Finally, the models are then verified with experimental results that could prove the models’ capability in predicting the amount of expansion under various replacement ratios.

Expansive additives are being widely used as shrinkage reducing/compensating admixture to reduce the early-age cracking and chemical prestressing. Such expansive additives influence the composition of cement hydration products and mechanical properties (stiffness and strength) of the cement and concrete, which ultimately affects the early age deformation. In the current study, the EMM-ARM (Elastic Modulus Measurement by Ambient Response Method), is used because of its ability to continuously monitor cement's real-time stiffness development paste with expansive additives. Stiffness development of the cement paste with expansive additives is captured in the unrestrained condition by allowing the free expansion during the stiffness measurement. An expansive additive, based on free lime, with a 10% (by weight) cement replacement ratio is studied in the current work. Results from the EMM-ARM are compared to the elastic modulus measurement from the compression testing of cylindrical specimens, and the mechanisms of expansive action on the microstructure in early-age are discussed.

Performance degradation of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge decks is one of the most serious problems in highway structures. Therefore, in order to secure safety and extend the service life, an efficient inspection and maintenance system is urgently demanded. In this paper, Cox regression survival analysis and fatigue life analysis are discussed. The first one is a statistical method which can quantitatively analyze the risk of each deterioration factor for RC decks. The other one, which utilizes multi-scale simulation and artificial intelligence, has the advantage to estimate residual life of RC decks quickly by considering bottom-surface crack patterns. Result of two methods are compared and it is found that they have a fairly high correlation. Although the reliability of the two methods is confirmed, their results are directly applied to establish a new inspection system. Then by comparing the fatigue life of dry and water-submerged conditions, the importance of waterproofing is highlighted. Additionally, impact of non-uniform stagnant water of RC slab is investigated, where it provides an analysis that is close to the actual situation by the utilization of non-destructive testing. Finally, a comprehensive maintenance system that can determine the priority of inspection is proposed to ensure a rational decision-making.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding Bacillus subtilis on rumen fermentation, blood metabolites, nutrient digestibility, and energy and nitrogen balances in non-lactating crossbred (Holstein-Friesian × Bos indicus) cows. Four cows were assigned to the control and B. subtilis diets in a crossover design, and respiratory and metabolic experiments were conducted. For the B. subtilis diet, B. subtilis DSM15544 spores were added at the rate of 1.0 × 1010 CFU/head/day to the control diet. At 4 hr after feeding, cows fed the B. subtilis diet had increased levels of i-butyric acid in the rumen fluid and tended to have lower concentrations of plasma non-esterified fatty acids when compared with cows fed the control diet. This suggests that feeding B. subtilis could improve energy efficiency. However, there was no effect on energy retention in this study. Although there were no effects on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, or methane production, heat production was significantly higher in cows fed the B. subtilis diet than in those fed the control diet.

Background: The impact of traumatic experiences or adverse life experiences has been shown to potentially affect a wide range of mental health outcomes. However, there was no brief instrument to screen for a range of psychological problems in different domains after a potentially traumatic event, and for risk factors and protective factors. Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the Japanese version of the Global Psychotrauma Screen (GPS) in a traumatized sample in Japan. Method: A total sample (n = 58) with varying levels of potential posttrauma symptoms due to domestic violence or other events were recruited into this study. Self-rating measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and alcohol problems were conducted to investigate the concurrent validity. Results: The results show that a range of posttrauma symptoms assessed by the GPS were highly endorsed by this traumatized sample in all domains except for self-harm, derealization, and depersonalization. The GPS sum score was highly correlated (r > 0.79) with other measures of PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Also, the subdomain scores showed acceptable correlations with corresponding domain measures. Participants who had been sexually assaulted or had unwanted sexual experiences, and participants who had been physically assaulted during childhood, had higher scores on the total GPS and on subdomains of PTSD, as well as symptoms associated with Complex PTSD. Conclusions: This study provides an initial indication that the GPS may be a useful screening tool for trauma survivors and elucidates that the consequences of trauma are not limited to PTSD.

Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare settings has drawn attention for over 20 years, yet few studies have investigated the association between WPV and psychological consequences. Here, we used a cross-sectional design to investigate (1) the 12-month prevalence of workplace violence (WPV), (2) the characteristics of WPV, and (3) the relationship between WPV and burnout/secondary traumatic stress among 599 mental healthcare nurses (including assistant nurses) from eight hospitals. Over 40% of the respondents had experienced WPV within the past 12 months. A multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that occupation and burnout were each significantly related to WPV. Secondary traumatic stress was not related to WPV. Our results suggest that WPV may be a long-lasting and/or cumulative stressor rather than a brief, extreme horror experience and may reflect specific characteristics of psychological effects in psychiatric wards. A longitudinal study measuring the severity and frequency of WPV, work- and non-work-related stressors, risk factors, and protective factors is needed, as is the development of a program that helps reduce the psychological burden of mental healthcare nurses due to WPV.

Natural resources depletion is gradually becoming a critical burden on the environmental and ecological balance, pushing the development of artificial aggregates forward. In order to curb the shortage issues of natural aggregates and minimize the destruction of land topography, alkali-activated aggregates (AAA) have gradually become a hot topic in recent years as a new application of alkali-activated materials (AAM) with the benefits of utilizing industrial by-products and waste materials. This article provides an overall review of the manufacturing process and engineering properties of two types of artificial aggregates, cold-bonded AAA (CB-AAA) and sintered AAA (ST-AAA). Their applications in concrete, besides the mechanical evaluation, durability performance, and leaching behavior, are summarized based on the existing research outcomes. Finally, the future perspectives and challenges of artificial aggregates development are also proposed.