• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2019

Aging is accompanied by a time-dependent progressive deterioration of multiple factors of the cellular system. The past several decades have witnessed major leaps in our understanding of the biological mechanisms of aging using dietary, genetic, pharmacological, and physical interventions. Metabolic processes, including nutrient sensing pathways and mitochondrial function, have emerged as prominent regulators of aging. Mitochondria have been considered to play a key role largely due to their production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in DNA damage that accumulates over time and ultimately causes cellular failure. This theory, known as the mitochondrial free radical theory of aging (MFRTA), was favored by the aging field, but increasing inconsistent evidence has led to criticism and rejection of this idea. However, MFRTA should not be hastily rejected in its entirety because we now understand that ROS is not simply an undesired toxic metabolic byproduct, but also an important signaling molecule that is vital to cellular fitness. Notably, mitochondrial function, a term traditionally referred to bioenergetics and apoptosis, has since expanded considerably. It encompasses numerous other key biological processes, including the following: (i) complex metabolic processes, (ii) intracellular and endocrine signaling/communication, and (iii) immunity/inflammation. Here, we will discuss shortcomings of previous concepts regarding mitochondria in aging and their emerging roles based on recent advances. We will also discuss how the mitochondrial genome integrates with major theories on the evolution of aging.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2021

Large deformation and rapid pressure propagation take place inside the rock mass under the dynamic loads caused by the explosives, on quarry faces in order to extract aggregate material. The complexity of the science of rock blasting is due to a number of factors that affect the phenomenon. However, blasting engineering computations could be facilitated by innovative software algorithms in order to determine the results of the violent explosion, since field experiments are particularly difficult to be conducted. The present research focuses on the design of a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) code, for investigating in detail the behavior of limestone under the blasting effect of Ammonium Nitrate & Fuel Oil (ANFO). Specifically, the manuscript presents the FEA models and the relevant transient analysis results, simulating the blasting process for three types of limestone, ranging from poor to very good quality. The Finite Element code was developed by applying the Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state to describe the thermodynamic state of ANFO and the pressure dependent Drucker-Prager failure criterion to define the limestone plasticity behavior, under blasting induced, high rate stress. A progressive damage model was also used in order to define the stiffness degradation and destruction of the material. This paper performs a comparative analysis and quantifies the phenomena regarding pressure, stress distribution and energy balance, for three types of limestone. The ultimate goal of this research is to provide an answer for a number of scientific questions, considering various phenomena taking place during the explosion event, using advanced computational tools.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1684-1698
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• 2018

Fragility functions are determined for braced steel moment frames (SMFs) with plans such as square-, T-, L-, U-, trapezoidal-, and semicircular-shaped, subjected to blast. The frames are designed for gravity and seismic loads, but not necessarily for the blast loads. The blast load is computed for a wide range of scenarios involving different parameters, viz. charge weight, standoff distance, and blast location relative to plan of the structure followed by nonlinear dynamic analysis of the frames. The members failing in rotation lead to partial collapse due to plastic mechanism formation. The probabilities of partial collapse of the SMFs, with and without bracing system, due to the blast loading are computed to plot fragility curves. The charge weight and standoff distance are taken as Gaussian random input variables. The extent of propagation of the uncertainties in the input parameters onto the response quantities and fragility of the SMFs is assessed by computing Sobol sensitivity indices. The probabilistic analysis is conducted using Monte Carlo simulations. The frames have least failure probability for blasts occurring in front of their corners or convex face. Further, the unbraced frames are observed to have higher fragility as compared to counterpart braced frames for far-off detonations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.5
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• pp.637-650
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• 2021

The paper presents an investigation of the widely varying mechanical performance and behaviour of steel and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforced concrete beams using non-destructive techniques of Acoustic Emission (AE) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) under four-point bending. Laboratory experiments are performed on both differently reinforced concrete beams with 0.33%, 0.52% and 1.11% of tension reinforcement against balanced section. The results show that the ultimate load-carrying capacity increases with an increase in tensile reinforcement in both cases. In addition to that, AE waveform parameters of amplitude and number of AE hits successfully correlates and picks up the divergent mechanism of cracking initiation and progression of failure in steel reinforced and GFRP reinforced concrete beams. AE activity is about 20-30% more in GFRP-RC beams as compared to steel-RC beams. It was primarily due to the lower modulus of elasticity of GFRP bars leading to much larger ductility and deflections as compared to steel-RC beams. Furthermore, AE XY event plots and longitudinal strain profiles using DIC gives an online and real-time visual display of progressive AE activity and strains respectively to efficaciously depict the crack evolution and their advancement in steel-RC and GFRP-RC beams which show a close matching with the micro-and macro-cracks visually observed in the actual beams at various stages of loading.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.51-56
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• 2021

Piercing is the process of shearing a circular hole in sheet metal, whose high shear force makes it difficult to secure the durability of tools. In addition, uneven clearance between tools due to poor alignment of the piercing punch causes accelerated die wear and breakage of the tool. This study reviewed the feasibility of in-situ determining alignment failure during the piercing process by analyzing the signal deviation of a bolt-type piezo sensor installed inside the tool whose alignment level was controlled. Finite element analysis was performed to select the optimal sensor location on the piercing tool for sensitive detection of process signals. A well-aligned piercing process results in uniform deformation in the circumferential direction, and shearing is completed at a stroke similar to the sheet thickness. Afterward, a sharp decrease in shear load is observed. The misaligned piecing punch leads to a gradual decrease in the load after the maximum shear load. This gradual decrease is due to the progressive shear deformation that proceeds in the circumferential direction after the initial crack occurs at the narrow clearance site. Therefore, analyzing the stroke at which the maximum shear load occurs and the load reduction rate after that could detect the misalignment of the piercing punch in real-time.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.240-257
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• 2023

The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is characterized by intelligent connection, real-time data processing, collaborative monitoring, and automatic information processing. The heterogeneous IIoT devices require a high data rate, high reliability, high coverage, and low delay, thus posing a significant challenge to information security. High-performance edge and cloud servers are a good backup solution for IIoT devices with limited capabilities. However, privacy leakage and network attack cases may occur in heterogeneous IIoT environments. Cloud-based multi-party computing is a reliable privacy-protecting technology that encourages multiparty participation in joint computing without privacy disclosure. However, the default cloud selection method does not meet the heterogeneous IIoT requirements. The server can be dishonest, significantly increasing the probability of multi-party computation failure or inefficiency. This paper proposes a blockchain and smart contract-based optimized cloud node selection framework. Different participants choose the best server that meets their performance demands, considering the communication delay. Smart contracts provide a progressive request mechanism to increase participation. The simulation results show that our framework improves overall multi-party computing efficiency by up to 44.73%.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.263-270
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• 1996

Twenty two patients underwent total anatomic correction of complete atrioventricular septal defect associated with other cardiac anomalies between July 1986 and December 1994. Age ranged from 6 months to 11 years(mean 49.6 $\pm$ 35.8 months), and they were composed of 7 males and 15 females. Combined major cardiac anomalies were tetralogy of Fallot(TOF) in 11 cases, double outlet of right ventricle (DORV) in 6 ca es, and transposition of great arteries (TGA) in 5 cases. Down's syndrome was associated in 5 patients with TOF and 1 patient with DORV. They were classified as Rastelli type A in 3 patients, B in 2 patients, and C in 17 patients. Modified Blalock-Taussig shunt was performed.in 5 patients and Waterston shunt in 1 patient as a palliative procedure. There were 7 perioperative deaths(31.8%) and the causes were pump weaning failure, low cardiac output, acute renal failure, persistant pulmonary hypertension and hypertensive crisis, and sepsis. Reoperations were performed in 4 cases to repair atrioventricular valvular regurgitation or to relieve the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) or pulmonary arterial stenosis. One late death was due to aspiration pneumonia. Second reoperation was necessary for progressive worsening of left atrioventricular regurgitation and RVOT stenosis in one patient. Fourteen survived patients were followed up for a mean of 66.0 $\pm$ 26.7months and all of them w re NYHA functional class I or II.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2019

Strengthening with near surface mounted carbon fibre reinforced polymers (NSM-CFRP) is a strengthening technique that have been used for several decades to increase the load carrying capacity of reinforced concrete members. In Iraq, many concrete buildings and bridges were subjected to a wide range of damage as a result of the last war and many other events. Accordingly, there is a progressive increase in the strengthening of concrete structures, bridges in particular, by using CFRP strengthening techniques. Near-surface mounted carbon fibre polymer has been recently proved as a powerful strengthening technique in which the CFRP strips are sufficiently protected against external environmental conditions especially the high-temperature rates in Iraq. However, this technique has not been examined yet under repeated loading conditions such as traffic loads on bridge girders. The main objective of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of NSM-CFRP strips in reinforced concrete beams under repeated loads. Different parameters such as the number of strips, groove size, and two types of bonding materials (epoxy resin and cement-based adhesive) were considered. Fifteen NSM-CFRP strengthened beams were tested under concentrated monotonic and repeated loadings. Three beams were non-strengthened as reference specimens while the remaining were strengthened with NSM-CFRP strips and divided into three groups. Each group comprises two beams tested under monotonic loads and used as control for those tested under repeated loads in the same group. The experimental results are discussed in terms of load-deflection behavior up to failure, ductility factor, cumulative energy absorption, number of cycles to failure, and the mode of failure. The test results proved that strengthening with NSM-CFRP strips increased both the flexural strength and stiffness of the tested beams. An increase in load carrying capacity was obtained in a range of (1.47 to 4.49) times that for the non-strengthened specimens. Also, the increase in total area of CFRPs showed a slight increase in flexural capacity of (1.02) times the value of the control strengthened one tested under repeated loading. Increasing the total area of CFRP strips resulted in a reduction in ductility factor reached to (0.71) while the cumulative energy absorption increased by (1.22) times the values of the strengthened reference specimens tested under repeated loading. Moreover, the replacement of epoxy resin with cement-based adhesive as a bonding material exhibited higher ductility than specimen with epoxy resin tested under monotonic and repeated loading.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2011

Purpose: Recently, the use of radiosurgery as a local therapy in patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer has become favored over surgical resection. To evaluate the efficacy of radiosurgery, we analyzed the results of stereotactic body radiosurgery in patients with primary or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and Methods: We reviewed medical records retrospectively of total 24 patients (28 lesions) with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received stereotactic body radiosurgery (SBRT) at Inha University Hospital. Among the 24 patients, 19 had primary NSCLC and five exhibited recurrent disease, with three at previously treated areas. Four patients with primary NSCLC received SBRT after conventional radiation therapy as a boost treatment. The initial stages were IA in 7, IB in 3, IIA in 2, IIB in 2, IIIA in 3, IIIB in 1, and IV in 6. The T stages at SBRT were T1 lesion in 13, T2 lesion in 12, and T3 lesion in 3. 6MV X-ray treatment was used for SBRT, and the prescribed dose was 15~60 Gy (median: 50 Gy) for PTV1 in 3~5 fractions. Median follow up time was 469 days. Results: The median GTV was 22.9 mL (range, 0.7 to 108.7 mL) and median PTV1 was 65.4 mL (range, 5.3 to 184.8 mL). The response rate at 3 months was complete response (CR) in 14 lesions, partial response (PR) in 11 lesions, and stable disease (SD) in 3 lesions, whereas the response rate at the time of the last follow up was CR in 13 lesions, PR in 9 lesions, SD in 2 lesions, and progressive disease (PD) in 4 lesions. Of the 10 patients in stage 1, one patient died due to pneumonia, and local failure was identified in one patient. Of the 10 patients in stages III-IV, three patients died, local and loco-regional failure was identified in one patient, and regional failure in 2 patients. Total local control rate was 85.8% (4/28). Local recurrence was recorded in three out of the eight lesions that received below biologically equivalent dose 100 $Gy_{10}$. Among 20 lesions that received above 100 $Gy_{10}$, only one lesion failed locally. There was a higher recurrence rate in patients with centrally located tumors and T2 or above staged tumors. Conclusion: SBRT using a CyberKnife was proven to be an effective treatment modality for early stage patients with NSCLC based on high local control rate without severe complications. SBRT above total 100 $Gy_{10}$ for peripheral T1 stage patients with NSCLC is recommended.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2008

Microscopic polyangiitis(MPA) is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis that involves many organ systems including the skin, joint, kidneys, and lungs. In spite of early diagnosis and intensive care, the five-year actuarial patient and kidney survival rates are 65% and 55%. We experienced a case in 7-year-old girl of microscopic polyangiitis presenting with rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis which was confirmed by renal biopsy and positive serum perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies(p-ANCA). The diagnosis of patients first renal biopsy was MPA, p-ANCA-associated crescentic glomerulonephritis. The patients second renal biopsy was done 5 years 6 months later since first renal biopsy, and pathologic diagnosis was chronic sclerosing glomerulonephritis, advanced, due to MPA. We began methylprednisolone pulse therapy, combined with a low dose of cyclophosphamide and plasmapheresis therapy. ACE inhibitor, angiotensin II receptor blocker, and cyclophosphamide were used until now and the patients current age is 14 years old. On admission, the patients laboratory findings showed BUN 117 mg/dL and Cr 2.3 mg/dL, while on the hospital day BUN and Cr values fell to 20.8 mg/dL and 1.6 mg/dL. But renal function was progressed to chronic failure with latest laboratory data BUN 51.7 mg/dL and Cr 3.2 mg/dL. ACE inhibitor, angiotensin II receptor blocker and small dose of immunosuppressant with close observation is the key to maintain the patient survival.