• 제목/요약/키워드: Alabama

검색결과 255건 처리시간 0.024초

Bond Strength of Carbon Fiber Sheet on Concrete Substrate Processed by Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding

  • Uddin, N.;Shohel, M.;Vaidya, U.K.;Serrano-Perez, J.C.
    • Advanced Composite Materials
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    • 제17권3호
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    • pp.277-299
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    • 2008
  • High quality and expedient processing repair methods are necessary to enhance the service life of bridge structures. Deterioration of concrete can occur as a result of structural cracks, corrosion of reinforcement, and freeze.thaw cycles. Cost effective methods with potential for field implementation are necessary to address the issue of the vulnerability of bridge structures and how to repair them. Most infrastructure related applications of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) use traditional hand lay-up technology. The hand lay-up is tedious, labor-intensive and relies upon personnel skill level. An alternative to traditional hand lay-up of FRP for infrastructure applications is Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM). VARTM uses single sided molding technology to infuse resin over fabrics wrapping large structures, such as bridge girders and columns. There is no work currently available in understanding the interface developed, when VARTM processing is adopted to wrap fibers such as carbon and/or glass over concrete structures. This paper investigates the interface formed by carbon fiber processed on to a concrete surface using the VARTM technique. Various surface treatments, including sandblasting, were performed to study the pull-off tensile test to find a potential prepared surface. A single-lap shear test was used to study the bond strength of CFRP fabric/epoxy composite adhered to concrete. Carbon fiber wraps incorporating Sikadur HEX 103C and low viscosity epoxy resin Sikadur 300 were considered in VARTM processing of concrete specimens.

Determinants of neural tube defect (NTD)-protective circulating concentrations of folate in women of child-bearing age in the US post-folic acid fortification era

  • Piyathilake, Chandrika;Eom, Sang Yong;Hyun, Taisun;Badiga, Suguna;Robinson, Constance;Rahman, Nuzhat;Kim, Heon;Johanning, Gary L.
    • Nutrition Research and Practice
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    • 제7권4호
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    • pp.315-325
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    • 2013
  • We evaluated folate status of child-bearing age women diagnosed with abnormal pap smear in the US post-folic acid (FA) fortification era and assessed the determinants of NTD-protective and supra-physiologic (SP) concentrations of folate. The distribution of 843 women according to NTD-protective concentrations of RBC folate, plasma folate and SP concentrations of plasma folate were tested in relation to demographic and life-style factors. Logistic regression models specified NTD-protective concentrations of RBC and plasma folate or SP concentrations of plasma folate as dependent variables and demographic and life-style factors as independent predictors of interest. More than 82% reached NTD-protective concentrations of RBC and plasma folate and ~30% reached SP concentrations of plasma folate. FA supplement use was associated with having SP concentrations of plasma folate rather than NTD-protective concentrations of folate. African American (AA) women and smokers were significantly less likely to achieve NTD-protective concentrations of RBC and plasma folate. A large majority of women reached NTD-protective concentrations of folate with the current level of FA fortification without using supplementary FA. Therefore, the remaining disparities in AA women and in smokers should be addressed by targeted individual improvements in folate intake.

Noise Mitigation for Target Tracking in Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks

  • Kim An, Youngwon;Yoo, Seong-Moo;An, Changhyuk;Wells, Earl
    • KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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    • 제7권5호
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    • pp.1166-1179
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    • 2013
  • In wireless sensor network (WSN) environments, environmental noises are generated by, for example, small passing animals, crickets chirping or foliage blowing and will interfere target detection if the noises are higher than the sensor threshold value. For accurate tracking by acoustic WSNs, these environmental noises should be filtered out before initiating track. This paper presents the effect of environmental noises on target tracking and proposes a new algorithm for the noise mitigation in acoustic WSNs. We find that our noise mitigation algorithm works well even for targets with sensing range shorter than the sensor separation as well as with longer sensing ranges. It is also found that noise duration at each sensor affects the performance of the algorithm. A detection algorithm is also presented to account for the Doppler effect which is an important consideration for tracking higher-speed ground targets. For tracking, we use the weighted sensor position centroid to represent the target position measurement and use the Kalman filter (KF) for tracking.

Integration of Palliative Care in the Hospital Setting

  • Wozencraft, Colin;Tucker, Rodney O.;Howell, Stephen
    • Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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    • 제15권4호
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    • pp.188-192
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    • 2012
  • Palliative medicine has shown demonstrated benefit for patients with serious illness, their families, and hospital systems. As such, the demand for palliative care services is growing at a fast pace, and health care facilities frequently struggle to develop and implement effective and sustainable methods of providing this care. As with any new system, challenges and barriers naturally exist to instituting palliative care. Undertaking careful assessment, planning, and resource allocation can provide the greatest likelihood of success when developing these novel yet much needed models of care. This summary paper offers a qualitative overview of the potential benefits and the rationale to implement robust palliative care systems. We briefly review the history of palliative medicine in the broadest sense and address several seminal works from the US palliative care literature. Core practices to establish and advance palliative medicine are suggested. Commentary is provided on some of the particular barriers to palliative system development that may need to be addressed in the context of Korean medical culture. Collectively, we hope this overview can contribute to a framework within which such research and development can occur, leading to increasingly effective and sustainable palliative medicine in Korea.

Functional Implications in Apoptosis by Interferon Inducible Gene Product 1-8D, the Binding Protein to Adenovirus Preterminal Protein

  • Joung, In-Sil;Angeletti, Peter C.;Engler, Jeffrey A.
    • Journal of Microbiology
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    • 제41권4호
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    • pp.295-299
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    • 2003
  • Adenovirus (Ad) precursor to the terminal protein (pTP) plays an essential roles in the viral DNA replication. Ad pTP serves as a primer for the synthesis of a new DNA strand during the initiation step of replication. In addition, Ad pTP forms organized spherical replication foci on the nuclear matrix (NM) and anchors the viral genome to the NM. Here we identified the interferon inducible gene product 1-8D (Inid) as a pTP binding protein by using a two-hybrid screen of a HeLa cDNA library. Of the clones obtained in this assay, nine were identical to the Inid, a 13-kDa polypeptide that shares homology with genes 1-8U and Leu-13/9-27, most of which have little known functions. The entire open reading frame (ORF) of Inid was cloned into the tetracycline inducible expression vector in order to determine the biological functions related with adenoviral infection. When Inid was introduced to the cells along with adenoviruses, fifty to sixty percent of Ad-infected cells expressing Inid had rounded morphology, which was suggestive of apoptosis. Results from the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) and DNA fragmentation assays confirmed that Inid induces apoptosis in Ad-infected or in uninfected cells. The Inid binding to pTP may target the cell for apoptotic destruction as a host defense mechanism against the viral infection.