• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

This paper investigates the influence of the Circulating Water Channel (CWC) side wall and support struts on the hydrodynamic coefficient prediction for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) experiments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method has been used to model the CWC tests. The hydrodynamic coefficients estimated by CFD are compared with the prediction of experiments to verify the accuracy of simulations. In order to study the effect of side wall on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the AUV in full scale captive model tests, this paper uses the CWC non-dimensional width parameters to quantify the correlation between the CWC width and hydrodynamic coefficients of the chosen model. The result shows that the hydrodynamic coefficients tend to be constant with the CWC width parameters increasing. Moreover, the side wall has a greater effect than the struts.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1681-1689
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• 2011

The beneficial effects of tea catechins (TCs) are related not only to their antioxidant potential but also to the improvement of animal meat quality. In this study, we assessed the effects of dietary TC supplementation on plasma biochemical parameters, hormone responses, and glutathione redox status in goats. Forty Liuyang goats were randomly divided into four equal groups (10 animals/group) that were assigned to four experimental diets with TC supplementation at 4 levels (0, 2,000, 3,000 or 4,000 mg TC/kg DM feed). After a 60-day feeding trial, all goats were slaughtered and sampled. Dietary TC treatment had no significant effect on blood biochemical parameters, however, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.001), triglyceride (p<0.01), plasma urea nitrogen (p<0.01), and glucose (p<0.001) decreased and total protein (p<0.01) and albumin (p<0.05) increased with the feeding time extension, and day 20 was the turning point for most of changes. Interactions were found in glutathione (p<0.001) and the ratio of reduced and oxidized glutathione (p<0.05) in whole blood between treatment and feeding time. Oxidized glutathione in blood was reduced (p<0.05) by 2,000 mg TC/kg feed supplementation, and a similar result was observed in longissimus dorsi muscle. Though plasma glutathione peroxidase (p<0.01) and glutathione reductase (p<0.05) activities were affected by treatment and feeding time interactions, and glutathione S-transferases activity increased with feeding day extension, no changed values appeared in longissimus dorsi muscle. In conclusion, dietary TC supplementation affected the concentrations of some blood metabolites and accelerated GSH depletion in the blood of goats. In terms of less high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the highest insulin and IGF-I concentrations, the highest ratio of reduced and oxidized glutathione in plasma, the dosage of 2,000 mg TC/kg feed might be desirable for growing goats to prevent glutathione depletion and keep normal physiological metabolism.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.1452-1462
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• 2024

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with Agaricus blazei polysaccharide (ABP) at varying concentrations on the performance, egg quality, blood biochemistry, intestinal morphology, and microflora of quail. Methods: The study involved a total of 2,700 Korean quails, which were randomly divided into three groups. The measured variables encompassed productive performance, egg parameters, carcass parameters, serum metabolites, immune response parameters, antioxidative properties, and gut microbiome. Results: The addition of ABP did not have a significant effect on average daily feed intake. However, it was found to increase the average daily egg weight and egg production rate, reduce the feed-egg ratio. There were no significant impacts on egg quality measures such as egg shape index, egg yolk index and color, egg yolk and protein content. However, ABP supplementation significantly increased the Hough unit (p<0.01) and decreased the rate of unqualified eggs (p<0.01). Regarding serum parameters, the inclusion led to an increase in total protein concentration (p<0.05) and a reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.05). There were no significant effects observed on immune indicators such as immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgM. ABP supplementation increased the levels of serum antioxidant indicators, including glutathione peroxidase, total superoxide dismutase (p<0.05), and total antioxidant capacity colorimeter (p<0.05). Furthermore, ABP supplementation significantly elevated the intramuscular fatty acid content in quail meat. Additionally, ABP supplementation demonstrated a significant improvement in the diversity of gut microbiota and induced alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that dietary supplementation of ABP enhanced production performance and antioxidant capacity while increasing the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids in quail muscle.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.725-734
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• 2017

This paper investigated the effects of rebar corrosion on bond performance between rebar and two different concrete mixes (compressive strengths of 20.7 MPa and 44.4 MPa). The specimen was designed as a rebar centrally embedded in a 200 mm concrete cube, with two stirrups around the rebar to supply confinement. An electrochemical accelerated corrosion technique was applied to corrode the rebar. 120 specimens of two different concrete mixes with various reinforcing steel corrosion levels were manufactured. The corrosion crack opening width and length were recorded in detail during and after the corrosion process. Three different loading schemes: monotonic pull-out load, 10 cycles of constant slip loading followed by pull-out and varied slip loading followed by pull-out, were carried out on the specimens. The effects of rebar corrosion with two different concrete mixes on corrosion crack opening, bond strength and corresponding slip value, initial slope of bond-slip curve, residual bond stress, mechanical interaction stress, and energy dissipation, were discussed in detail. The mean value and coefficient of variation of these parameters were also derived. It was found that the coefficient of variation of the parameters of the corroded specimens was larger than those with intact rebar. There is also obvious difference in the two different concrete mixes for the effects of rebar corrosion on bond-slip parameters.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1614-1621
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of graded levels of montmorillonite, a constituent of clay, on performance, hematological parameters and bone mineralization in weaned pigs. One hundred and twenty, 35-d-old crossbred pigs (Duroc${\times}$Large White${\times}$Landrace, $10.50{\pm}1.20$ kg) were used in a 28-d experiment and fed either an unsupplemented corn-soybean meal basal diet or similar diets supplemented with 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 or 5.0% montmorillonite added at the expense of wheat bran. Each treatment was replicated six times with four pigs (two barrows and two gilts) per replicate. Feed intake declined (linear and quadratic effect, p<0.01) with increasing level of montmorillonite while feed conversion was improved (linear and quadratic effect, p<0.01). Daily gain was unaffected by dietary treatment. Plasma myeloperoxidase declined linearly (p = 0.03) with increasing dietary level of montmorillonite. Plasma malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels were quadratically affected (p<0.01) by montmorillonite with increases observed for pigs fed the 0.5 and 1.0% levels which then declined for pigs fed the 2.5 and 5.0% treatments. In bone, the content of potassium, sodium, copper, iron, manganese and magnesium were decreased (linear and quadratic effect, p<0.01) in response to an increase of dietary montmorillonite. These results suggest that dietary inclusion of montmorillonite at levels as high as 5.0% does not result in overt toxicity but could induce potential oxidative damage and reduce bone mineralization in pigs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.196-201
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• 2016

An effective strategy for obesity intervention should include demographic, health-related, and work-related factors that are most relevant to the target population. Factors most strongly associated with obesity may differ for groups of individuals across industries or age categories. The purpose of this study was to provide current knowledge about the possible association between psychosocial job stress and immune parameters in blood. We assessed obesity-related parameters as well as the natural killer cell activity (NKCA) in female workers. There was a significant difference in the obesity-related blood parameters, i.e. fasting blood sugar level, according to age (p<0.05). Moreover, it showed a significant difference in NK cell activity between the obese and non-obese factor groups (p<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that NKCA was closely correlated with obesity related factors. In the future, it would have to study the biological changes which increase the activity of the immune factors to the immunological response.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.552-558
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• 2012

A $2{\times}2$ factorial experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary calcium and non-phytate phosphorus (nPP) imbalance on calbindin and NaPi-IIb mRNA levels in the small intestine and tibia parameters of broiler chicks. One hundred and forty four 1-d-old Arbor Acres male broiler chicks were divided into four treatments consisted of six replicates with six chicks each. The two dietary calcium levels were 1.10% and 0.60%, and two dietary nPP levels were 0.50% and 0.27%. Results showed that a high Ca/nPP ratio diet (4.07:1) significantly depressed feed intake and weight gain of broilers (p<0.05), but a lower Ca:nPP ratio (1.2:1) had no influence (p>0.05). Low-Ca with low-P diet resulted in low tibia minerals and tibia breaking strength of broilers, and all the tibia parameters were further decreased when the dietary ratio of Ca to P was relative higher. Low dietary Ca or P up-regulated the calbindin and NaPi-IIb mRNA expression levels. Low Ca with normal P diet up-regulated duodenal calbindin mRNA expression level to the greatest extent. Low P with a normal Ca diet significantly enhanced NaPi-IIb mRNA expression level to the highest extent. These results suggest that the calbindin and NaPi-IIb mRNA expression were enhanced by the imbalance between dietary Ca and nPP, and their expression were not only influenced by Ca or nPP level, but also the ratio of Ca:nPP.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.220-227
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• 2005

Recently, the use of an electrical apparatus has brought up concerns of health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields. EMF is composed of electric fields and magnetic fields. Heavy exposure to EMF can occur only in the vicinity of high-voltage overhead transmission lines, close to transformers and underground cables, and also close to large electrical machinery. In this thesis I have investigated the hypothesis of the correlation between occupational exposure to ELF-EMF and the risks of leukemia, anemia, cancer. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether or not ELF-EMF emitted from electric power stations and transformer substations affect some hematological parameters and tumor markers of electric utility workers. The hematological test results and tumor markers under investigation were similar in the two groups but some of parameters such as RBC, AFP, LDH showed significant difference between the two groups from two sample t-test (p<0.05). The exposure group showed increased LDH level compared to the control group by two sample t-tests. In addition, the abnormal LDH level in the exposure group was observed to be clinically significant by ${\chi}^2$-test. However, the levels of RBC, AFP observed were not clinically significant by ${\chi}^2$-test (p>0.05). These results suggested that ELF-EMF does not affect most blood test parameters except LDH of electric utility workers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2018

To improve the prediction accuracy of the strong-unloading rock slope performance and obtain the range of variation in the slope displacement, a new displacement time-series prediction model is proposed, called the fuzzy information granulation (FIG)-genetic algorithm (GA)-back propagation neural network (BPNN) model. Initially, a displacement time series is selected as the training samples of the prediction model on the basis of an analysis of the causes of the change in the slope behavior. Then, FIG is executed to partition the series and obtain the characteristic parameters of every partition. Furthermore, the later characteristic parameters are predicted by inputting the earlier characteristic parameters into the GA-BPNN model, where a GA is used to optimize the initial weights and thresholds of the BPNN; in the process, the numbers of input layer nodes, hidden layer nodes, and output layer nodes are determined by a trial method. Finally, the prediction model is evaluated by comparing the measured and predicted values. The model is applied to predict the displacement time series of a strong-unloading rock slope in a hydropower station. The engineering case shows that the FIG-GA-BPNN model can obtain more accurate predicted results and has high engineering application value.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.107-122
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• 2019

As one of the most important parameters in structural health monitoring, structural frequency has many advantages, such as convenient to be measured, high precision, and insensitive to noise. In addition, frequency-change-ratio based method had been validated to have the ability to identify the damage occurrence and location. However, building a precise enough finite elemental model (FEM) for the test structure is still a huge challenge for this frequency-change-ratio based damage detection technique. In order to overcome this disadvantage and extend the application for frequencies in structural health monitoring area, a novel method was developed in this paper by combining the cross-model cross-mode (CMCM) model updating algorithm with the frequency-change-ratio based method. At first, assuming the physical parameters, including the element mass and stiffness, of the test structure had been known with a certain value, then an initial to-be-updated model with these assumed parameters was constructed according to the typical mass and stiffness distribution characteristic of shear buildings. After that, this to-be-updated model was updated using CMCM algorithm by combining with the measured frequencies of the actual structure when no damage was introduced. Thus, this updated model was regarded as a representation of the FEM model of actual structure, because their modal information were almost the same. Finally, based on this updated model, the frequency-change-ratio based method can be further proceed to realize the damage detection and localization. In order to verify the effectiveness of the developed method, a four-level shear building was numerically simulated and two actual shear structures, including a three-level shear model and an eight-story frame, were experimentally test in laboratory, and all the test results demonstrate that the developed method can identify the structural damage occurrence and location effectively, even only very limited modal frequencies of the test structure were provided.