• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.34-44
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• 2021

Buffalo animals are slaughtered at their early age and carcasses are chilled rapidly which deteriorates its meat quality and decreases the consumer likeliness of buffalo meat. This study investigated the appropriate methods to prevent the quality deterioration of buffalo meat during chilling. Twenty four 18-mon-old buffalo bulls were slaughtered, electrically stimulated and suspended either by hip or achilles tendon. After 24 h postmortem, meat quality characteristics were recorded. Results showed that electrical stimulation (ES) led to rapid decline of carcass pH compared to non-ES method (p<0.05). Furthermore, electrically stimulated meat presented lower shear force accompanied with the higher CIE L⁎, a⁎, and b⁎ values (p<0.05). Suspension methods only affect the meat shear values and were lowered in hip suspended samples. It can be concluded that ES combined with hip suspension can be adopted to prevent the meat quality deterioration of young buffalo bulls during postmortem storage.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2023

This paper proposes a new finite element formulation based on enhanced first-order shear deformation theory including the transverse normal strain effect via the mixed formulation (EFSDTM-TN) for the effective thermo-mechanical analysis of laminated composite structures. The main objective of the EFSDTM-TN is to provide an accurate and efficient solution in describing the thermo-mechanical behavior of laminated composite structures by systematically establishing the relationship between two independent fields (displacement and transverse stress fields) via the mixed formulation. Another key feature is to consider the thermal strain effect without additional unknown variables by introducing a refined transverse displacement field. In the finite element formulation, an eight-node isoparametric plate element is newly developed to implement the advantage of the EFSDTM-TN. Numerical solutions for the thermo-mechanical behavior of laminated composite structures are compared with those available in the open literature to demonstrate the numerical performance of the proposed finite element model.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.27-41
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• 2023

This study focused on nonlinear effective stress site response analysis using two coupled constitutive models, that is, the DM model (Dafalias and Manzari 2004), which incorporated a simple plasticity sand model accounting for fabric change effects, and the PMDY03 model (Khosravifar et al. 2018), that is, a 3D model for earthquake-induced liquefaction triggering and postliquefaction response. A detailed parametric study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of nonlinear site response analysis and porewater pressure (PWP) generation through a true coupled formulation for assessing the initiation of liquefaction at ground level. The coupled models demonstrated accurate prediction of liquefaction triggering, which was in line with established empirical liquefaction triggering relations in published databases. Several limitations were identified in the evaluation of liquefaction using the cyclic stress method, despite its widespread implementation for calculating liquefaction triggering. Variations in shear stiffness, represented by changes in shear wave velocity (Vs1), exerted the most significant influence on site response. The study further indicated that substantial differences in response spectra between nonlinear total stress and nonlinear effective stress analyses primarily occurred when liquefaction was triggered or on the verge of being triggered, as shown by excess PWP ratios approaching unity. These differences diminished when liquefaction occurred towards the later stages of intense shaking. The soil response was predominantly influenced by the higher stiffness values present prior to liquefaction. A key contribution of this study was to validate the criteria used to assess the triggering of level-ground liquefaction using true coupled effective-stress constitutive models, while also confirming the reliability of numerical approximations including the PDMY03 and DM models. These models effectively captured the principal characteristics of liquefaction observed in field tests and laboratory experiments.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.479-500
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• 2022

In this study, a new type of isolation bearing is proposed by combining S-shaped steel plate dampers (SSDs) with a spherical steel bearing, and the seismic control effect of a five-span standard high-speed railway bridge is investigated. The advantages of the proposed S-shaped steel damping friction bearing (SSDFB) are that it cannot only lengthen the structural periods, dissipate the seismic energy, but also prevent bridge unseating due to the restraint effectiveness of SSDs in the large relative displacements between the girders and piers. This study first presents a detailed description and working principle of the SSDFB. Then, mechanical modeling of the SSDFB was derived to fundamentally define its cyclic behavior and obtain key mechanical parameters. The numerical model of the SSDFB's critical component SSD was verified by comparing it with the experimental results. After that, parameter studies of the dimensions and number of SSDs, the friction coefficient, and the gap length of the SSDFBs were conducted. Finally, the longitudinal seismic responses of the bridge with SSDFBs were compared with the bridge with spherical bearing and spherical bearing with strengthened shear keys. The results showed that the SSDFB can not only significantly mitigate the shear force responses and residual displacement in bridge substructures but also can effectively reduce girder displacement and prevent bridge unseating, at a cost of inelastic deformation of the SSDs, which is easy to replace. In conclusion, the SSDFB is expected to be a cost-effective option with both multi-stage energy dissipation and restraint capacity, making it particularly suitable for seismic isolation application to high-speed railway bridges.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1194-1204
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• 2023

Meat quality comprises a set of key traits such as pH, meat color, water-holding capacity, tenderness and marbling. These traits are complex because they are affected by multiple genetic and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular genetic basis underlying nine meat quality-related traits in a Yorkshire pig population using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and subsequent biological pathway analysis. In total, 45,926 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from 543 pigs were selected for the GWAS after quality control. Data were analyzed using a genome-wide efficient mixed model association (GEMMA) method. This linear mixed model-based approach identified two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for meat color (b^*) on chromosome 2 (SSC2) and one QTL for shear force on chromosome 8 (SSC8). These QTLs acted additively on the two phenotypes and explained 3.92%-4.57% of the phenotypic variance of the traits of interest. The genes encoding HAUS8 on SSC2 and an lncRNA on SSC8 were identified as positional candidate genes for these QTLs. The results of the biological pathway analysis revealed that positional candidate genes for meat color (b^*) were enriched in pathways related to muscle development, muscle growth, intramuscular adipocyte differentiation, and lipid accumulation in muscle, whereas positional candidate genes for shear force were overrepresented in pathways related to cell growth, cell differentiation, and fatty acids synthesis. Further verification of these identified SNPs and genes in other independent populations could provide valuable information for understanding the variations in pork quality-related traits.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2024

Earthquakes can lead to substantial damage to buildings, with long-period ground motion being particularly destructive. The design of high-performance building structures has become a prominent focus of research. The double-story isolated structure is a novel type of isolated structure developed from base isolated structure. To delve deeper into the building performance of double-story isolated structures, the double-story isolated structure was constructed with the upper isolated layer located in different layers, alongside a base isolated structure for comparative analysis. Nonlinear elastoplastic analyses were conducted on these structures using different ground motion inputs, including ordinary ground motion, near-field impulsive ground motion, and far-field harmonic ground motion. The results demonstrate that the double-story isolated structure can extend the structural period further than the base isolated structure under three types of ground motions. The double-story isolated structure exhibits lower base shear, inter-story displacement, base isolated layer displacement, story shear, and maximum acceleration of the top layer, compared to the base isolated structure. In addition, the double-story isolated structure generates fewer plastic hinges in the frame, causes less damage to the core tube, and experiences smaller overturning moments, demonstrating excellent resistance to overturning and a shock-absorbing effect. As the upper isolated layer is positioned higher, the compressive stress on the isolated bearings of the upper isolated layer in the double-story isolated structure gradually decreases. Moreover, the compressive stress on the isolated bearings of the base isolated layer is lower compared to that of the base isolated structure. However, the shock-absorbing capacity of the double-story isolated structure is significantly increased when the upper isolated layer is located in the middle and lower section. Notably, in regions exposed to long-period ground motion, a double-story isolated structure can experience greater seismic response and reduced shock-absorbing capacity, which may be detrimental to the structure.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.111-125
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• 2024

Recently, a lot of research has been done on the analysis of axial vibrations of homogeneous and FG nanotubes (nanorods) with various aspects of vibrations that have been fully mentioned in history. However, there is a lack of investigation of the dynamic internal resonances of FG nanotubes (nanorods) between them. This is one of the essential or substantial characteristics of nonlinear vibration systems that have many applications in various fields of engineering (making actuators, sensors, etc.) and medicine (improving the course of diseases such as cancers, etc.). For this reason, in this study, for the first time, the dynamic internal resonances of FG nanorods in the simultaneous presence of large-amplitude size dependent behaviour, inertial and shear effects are investigated for general state in detail. Such theoretical patterns permit as to carry out various numerical experiments, which is the key point in the expansion of advanced nano-devices in different sciences. This research presents an AFG novel nano resonator model based on the axial vibration of the elastic nanorod system in terms of derivation from large-amplitude size dependent internal modals interactions. The Hamilton's Principle is applied to achieve the basic equations in movement and boundary conditions, and a harmonic deferential quadrature method, and a multiple scale solution technique are employed to determine a semi-analytical solution. The interest of the current solution is seen in its specific procedure that useful for deriving general relationships of internal resonances of FG nanorods. The numerical results predicted by the presented formulation are compared with results already published in the literature to indicate the precision and efficiency of the used theory and method. The influences of gradient index, aspect ratio of FG nanorod, mode number, nonlinear effects, and nonlocal effects variations on the mechanical behavior of FG nanorods are examined and discussed in detail. Also, the inertial and shear traces on the formations of internal resonances of FG nanorods are studied, simultaneously. The obtained valid results of this research can be useful and practical as input data of experimental works and construction of devices related to axial vibrations of FG nanorods.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.293-310
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• 2024

This paper investigates the dynamic response of structures during earthquakes and provides a clear understanding of soil-structure interaction phenomena. It analyses various parameters, comprising ground shear wave velocity and structure properties. The effect of soil impedance function form on the structural response of the system through the use of springs and dashpots with two frequency cases: independent and dependent frequencies. The superstructure and the ground were modeled linearly. Using the substructure method, two different approaches are used in this study. The first is an analytical formulation based on the dynamic equilibrium of the soil-structure system modeled by an analog model with three degrees of freedom. The second is a numerical analysis generated with 2D finite element modeling using ABAQUS software. The superstructure is represented as a SDOF system in all the SSI models assessed. This analysis establishes the key parameters affecting the soil-structure interaction and their effects. The different results obtained from the analysis are compared for each studied case (frequency-independent and frequency-dependent impedance functions). The achieved results confirm the sensitivity of buildings to soil-structure interaction and highlight the various factors and effects, such as soil and structure properties, specifically the shear wave velocity, the height and mass of the structure. Excitation frequency, and the foundation anchoring height, also has a significant impact on the fundamental parameters and the response of the coupled system at the same time. On the other hand, it have been demonstrated that the impedance function forms play a critical role in the accurate evaluation of structural behavior during seismic excitation. As a result, the evaluation of SSI effects on structural response must take into account the dynamic properties of the structure and soil accordingly.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.273-291
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• 2024

This paper presents a three-dimensional displacement-based formulation to investigate the free vibration of functionally graded nanoplates resting on a Winkler-Pasternak foundation based on the nonlocal elasticity theory. The material properties of the FG nanoplate are considered to vary continuously through the thickness of the nanoplate according to the power-law distribution model. A general three-dimensional displacement field is considered for the plate, which takes into account the out-of-plane strains of the plate as well as the in-plane strains. Unlike the shear deformation theories, in the present formulation, no predetermined form for the distribution of displacements and transverse strains is considered. The equations of motion for functionally graded nanoplate are derived based on Hamilton's principle. The solution is obtained for simply-supported nanoplate, and the predicted results for natural frequencies are compared with the predictions of shear deformation theories which are available in the literature. The predictions of the present theory are discussed in detail to investigate the effects of power-law index, length-to-thickness ratio, mode numbers and the elastic foundation on the dynamic behavior of the functionally graded nanoplate. The present study presents a three-dimensional solution that is able to determine more accurate results in predicting of the natural frequencies of flexural and thickness modes of nanoplates. The effects of parameters that play a key role in the analysis and mechanical design of functionally graded nanoplates are investigated.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.1069-1079
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• 2022

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of 4-month intensive feeding on the meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor, and growth performance of grazing Hulunbuir sheep (HBS). Methods: The HBS were selected 4-months after birth in a pasture rearing system as the experimental animals (n = 44, female, average body weight 23.8±2.2 kg) then divided equally into pasture-based grazing fattening (PAS) and concentrate-included intensive fattening (CON) groups for another 4-month finishing. When finished fattening, all animals were slaughtered to collect musculus longissimus dorsi subcutaneous adipose tissue and to investigate the influences on meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor and growth performance. Results: The results showed lambs in CON group got significantly higher live weight, hot carcass weight, and dressing percentage. The CON group had significantly higher value of redness (a^*), lightness (L^*) and water holding capacity (p<0.05), significantly lower value of Warner-Bratzler shear force than the PAS group (p<0.05). The subcutaneous fat from CON group lambs demonstrated a significantly higher content of C18:1 and C18:2 (p<0.05), but lower C14:0 and C16:0, indicating an increased degree of unsaturated fatty acid. The content of 4-methyloctanoic acid, 4-ethyloctanoic acid and 4-methylnonanoic acid had increased 2 to 4 times, representing a more intense odor in the CON group. However, the values were still lower than most sheep breeds reported, indicating the indoor feeding system could not fundamentally deteriorate the excellent meat characteristic of HBS. Conclusion: It was evident that lambs in CON group exhibited a better meat production performance, improved in meat color, texture and healthier fatty acid profile through pasture-weaned concentrate included intensive fattening system, which offers a good alternative regimen for lamb finishing and has a wide prospection in the HBS meat industry.