• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 2005

Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a prevalent and potentially life threatening illness. American Thoracic Society and Infectious Disease Society America recommend combination therapies with ${\beta}-lactam$ plus a macrolide or a fluoroquinolone monotherapy for the empirical treatment of CAP. The aim of this study was to compare moxifloxacin monotherapy with cephalosporin plus azithromycin combination therapies. From January 2004 to March 2005, 18 patients in the moxifloxacin group(MG) and 21 patients in the cefuroxime or ceftriaxone plus azithromycin group(CAG) with CAP were retrospectively reviewed with regard to clinical, laboratory and microbiological data. Each patient was stratified into mild (risk class I-II), moderate (risk class III) and severe (risk class VI, V) group according to and PSI (Pneumonia Severity Index) score. Each group was compared for microbiological eradication, clinical assessment, the length of hospital stay. As results, Total 39 patients with CAP were reviewed. The appropriateness of admission was 83.3% in MC vs. 76.2% in CAC. The mean length of the hospital day was for 8.31 days vs. 7.39 days, days switching parenteral to oral antibiotics in 5.19 days vs. 5.28 days, clinical improvement in 2.43 days vs. 2.61 days in MG vs. CAC. Radiological improvement required 3.75 days vs 3.63 days in MG vs. CAG and bacteriological eradication rate at discharge was the same in the both groups. Mortality rate was 11.1% (2 of 18) vs 14.3% (3 of 21) in MG vs. CAG (p=0.77). Drug cost of the mean 5 hospital days requiring parenteral antibiotics was the most inexpensive in moxifloxacin group for the 147,045 won, and ceftriaxone 1g-azithromycin group for the 170,285 won, cefuroxime bid-azithromycin group for the 207,800 won, ceftriaxone 2g-azithromycin group far the 220,570 won, cefuroxime tid-azithromycin group for the 251,700 won. There was no significant statistical difference in clinical, bacterial, radiological cure and hospital days, and switch to oral days. In conclusion, that i.v. moxifloxacin monotherapy was as effective as azithromycin plus cefuroxime or ceftriaxone combination therapies fur the treatment of CAP. In drug cost analysis, moxifloxacin is less expensive than CAG.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.118-123
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• 2018

The objective of this study was to develop a sensitive method for the identification and determination of nitrovin in fishery products by using a solid-phase extraction (SPE), as performed with a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The samples were extracted with a mixture of acetonitrile and water, and were then defatted with acetonitrile saturated hexane, after which further clean-up was accomplished with SPE on the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) cartridges. The analytes were subsequently ionized in the positive mode of an electrospray ionization (ESI), and where thereby detected in a process of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The linearity (expressed as correlation coefficients) of the matrix calibration curves was > 0.985. The limit of the quantification for the nitrovin was measured at 0.001 mg/kg. The accuracy (expressed as average recovery) was noted between 72.1 and 122%. The precision (expressed as coefficient variation) was noted from 2.9 to 16.9%. According to the CODEX CAC/GL-71 guideline accuracy, precision, linearity, and limit of detection were determined in three matrices (which were flatfish, eel and shrimp). The proposed method was suitable for analyzing the associated nitrovin residues. This application and result can also be a factor to contribute to the non-detection drugs management in fishery products.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2017

Time-dependent buckling of embedded straight concrete columns armed with Silicon dioxide($SiO_2$) nano-particles exposed to fire is investigated in the present study for the fire time. The column is simulated mathematically with Timoshenko beam model. The governing mass conservation equations to describe heat and moisture transport in concrete containing free water, water vapor, and dry air in conjunction with the conversion of energy are considered. The characteristics of the equivalent composite are determined using Mori-Tanaka approach. The foundation around the column is simulated with spring and shear layer. Employing nonlinear strains-displacements, energy methods and Hamilton's principal, the governing equations are derived. Differential quadrature method (DQM) is used in order to obtain the critical buckling load and critical buckling time of structure. The influences of volume percent of $SiO_2nano-particles$, geometrical parameters, elastic foundation and concrete porosity are investigated on the time-dependent buckling behaviours of structure. Numerical results indicate that reinforcing the concrete column with $SiO_2nano-particles$, the structure becomes stiffer and the critical buckling load and time increase.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.217-226
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• 2017

This paper summarizes the results of experimental research, and artificial intelligence methods focused on determination of compressive strength of lightweight cement mortar with silica fume and fly ash after sulfate attack. The artificial neural network and the support vector machine were selected as artificial intelligence methods. Lightweight cement mortar mixtures containing silica fume and fly ash were prepared in this study. After specimens were cured in $20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ waters for 28 days, the specimens were cured in different sulfate concentrations (0%, 1% $MgSO_4^{-2}$, 2% $MgSO_4^{-2}$, and 4% $MgSO_4^{-2}$ for 28, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210 and 365 days. At the end of these curing periods, the compressive strengths of lightweight cement mortars were tested. The input variables for the artificial neural network and the support vector machine were selected as the amount of cement, the amount of fly ash, the amount of silica fumes, the amount of aggregates, the sulfate percentage, and the curing time. The compressive strength of the lightweight cement mortar was the output variable. The model results were compared with the experimental results. The best prediction results were obtained from the artificial neural network model with the Powell-Beale conjugate gradient backpropagation training algorithm.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.103-110
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• 2018

This study introduces the supervised committee fuzzy model as a hybrid fuzzy model to predict compressive strength (CS) of geopolymers prepared from alumina-silica products. For this purpose, more than 50 experimental data that evaluated the effect of $Al_2O_3/SiO_2$, $Na_2O/Al_2O_3$, $Na_2O/H_2O$ and Na/[Na+K] on (CS) of geopolymers were collected from the literature. Then, three different Fuzzy Logic (FL) models (Sugeno fuzzy logic (SFL), Mamdani fuzzy logic (MFL), and Larsen fuzzy logic (LFL)) were adopted to overcome the inherent uncertainty of geochemical parameters and to predict CS. After validating the model, it was found that the SFL model is superior to MFL and LFL models, but each of the FL models has advantages to predict CS. Therefore, to achieve the optimal performance, the supervised committee fuzzy logic (SCFL) model was developed as a hybrid method to combine the benefits of individual FL models. The SCFL employs an artificial neural network (ANN) model to re-predict the CS of three FL model predictions. The results also show significant fitting improvement in comparison with individual FL models.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.431-440
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• 2018

Fluid velocity analysis on the instability of pipes reinforced by silica nanoparticles ($SiO_2$) is presented in this paper. Mori-Tanaka model is used for obtaining the effective materials properties of the nanocomposite structure considering agglomeration effects. The well known Navier-Stokes equation is used for obtaining the applied force of fluid to pipe. Based on the Reddy higher-order shear deformation theory, the motion equations are derived based on energy method and Hamilton's principal. The frequency and critical fluid velocity of structure are calculated using differential quadrature method (DQM) so that the effects of different parameters such as volume fractions of SiO2 nanoparticles, SiO2 nanoparticles agglomeration, boundary conditions and geometrical parameters of pipes are considered on the nonlinear vibration and instability of the pipe. Results indicate that increasing the volume fractions of SiO2 nanoparticles, the frequency and critical fluid velocity of the structure are increased. Furthermore, considering SiO2 nanoparticles agglomeration, decreases the frequency and critical fluid velocity of the pipe.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 1994

The effect of phosphate salt (NafHP04) and sodium citrate on the emulsion stability of soy protein isolate (SPI) in the presence of calcium was investigated in terms of salt concentration and addition order. Both phosphate and citrate salts decreased the solubility of SPI despite their pH enhancing effects. Addition of calcium chloride (CaCl2) significantly decreased ES, which showed nearly negligible at more than 3 mM CaCl2 concentration. When Na2HP04 were added in the presence of 5 mM Cac12, 55 greatly increased up to 20mM concentration, above which however ES decreased. It was found that the addition order of Na2HPO4 and CaCl2 affected ES. The addition of phosphate and subsequent CaCl2 exhibited the higher 55 than the reverse order. In both cases, the overall ES profile was found to be nearly similar to the solubility profile of SPI, indicating the positive relationship between solubility and emulsion stability of SPI in the presence of calcium. Similar trend to the phosphate effect on ES was also observed for sodium citrate in the presence of calcium.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.187-202
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• 2009

This paper focuses on the flexural behavior of RC beams externally strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) fabric. A non-linear finite element (FE) analysis strategy is proposed to support the beam flexural behavior experimental analysis. A development system (QUEBRA2D/FEMOOP programs) has been used to accomplish the numerical simulation. Appropriate constitutive models for concrete, rebars, CFRP and bond-slip interfaces have been implemented and adjusted to represent the composite system behavior. Interface and truss finite elements have been implemented (discrete and embedded approaches) for the numerical representation of rebars, interfaces and composites.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.305-322
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• 2016

The work is intended to demonstrate that the loss of bond between concrete and flexural steel which led in recent years a number of flat-slab structures to punching collapse under service loading conditions is also relevant to ultimate limit-state design. It is based on a comparative study of the results obtained from numerical experiments on flat slab-column sub-assemblages. The slabs were designed for punching either in compliance with the EC2 code requirements, which do not allow for such loss of bond, or in accordance with the compressive force-path method which considers the loss of bond between concrete and the flexural reinforcement in tension as the primary cause of punching. The numerical experiments are carried out through the use of a nonlinear finite element analysis package for which, although ample published evidence of its validity exists, additional proof of its suitability for the purposes of the present work is presented.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.479-501
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• 2014

This paper presents the improvement of the EC-2 and EHE-08 shear strength formulations for concrete beams with shear reinforcement. The employed method is based on the genetic programming (GP) technique, which is configured to generate symbolic regression from a set of experimental data by considering the interactions among precision, accuracy, safety and simplicity. The size effect and the influence of the amount of shear reinforcement are examined. To develop and verify the models, 257 experimental tests on concrete beams from the literature are used. Three expressions of considerable simplicity, which significantly improve the shear strength prediction with respect to the formulations of the different studied codes, are proposed.