Effects of the intensity of design live load on the seismic design modification factors of reinforced concrete frames

Seismic design modification factors that include the response modification factor (R), the overstrength factor (Ω), and the displacement amplification factor (Cd) play a significant role in the seismic design of structures. The recommended values for these factors in seismic design codes are empirical and do not account for the differences in the intensity of the design live load in structures. This study investigates the change in the value of these factors as a result of the change in the intensity of the design live load. For this purpose, eighteen reinforced concrete frames with the different number of stories and ductility classes were designed and analyzed. Nonlinear static analysis was used to calculate the capacity curve of frames and their seismic response modification factors. Results indicated that the values of Ω and Cd for both low and high-ductile reinforced concrete frames decreased slightly as the intensity of design live load increased. An increase in the intensity of the design live load increased the R-factor in the high-ductile RC frames

A New Adaptive Rate IR-HARQ Combining with AMC

In this paper, we analyze a new cross layer combining scheme of adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) at the physical layer and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol at the data link layer. Our purpose is to improve the performance of the communication system in terms of throughput and errors. We propose a new adaptive HARQ protocol based on the estimated mutual information in addition to signal to noise ratio as channel state information (CSI), which are unavailable at the receiver. Unlike the traditional protocols, the transmitter is aware of the transmission mode only, not the instantaneous CSI, which minimize the load on the feedback channel. The transmission is supposed to be done over block fading channel. Mathematical formulation is improved for the performance criterions, in terms of throughput of the new HARQ, average number of transmissions and the spectral efficiency of the AMC/HARQ. The comparison with the traditional variable rate HARQ shows that our new adaptive HARQ protocol provides an upper bound for the throughput. In addition, the simulation results show that, a small number of transmissions, is enough to reach the maximum spectral efficiency while maintaining the error probabilities under certain acceptable level

Evaluation of Nutritional, Phytochemical, and Mineral Composition of Selected Medicinal Plants for Therapeutic Uses from Cold Desert of Western Himalaya

The aim of this study was to determine the elemental and nutritive values of leaf parts of 10 selected wild medicinal plants, Acer pictum, Acer caecium, Betula utilis, Oxalis corniculata, Euphorbia pilosa, Heracleum lanatum, Urtica dioica, Berberis lycium, Berberis asiaticaand, and Quercus ilex, collected from the high hills of the Chitkul range in district Kinnaur, Western Himalaya. The nutritional characteristics of medicinal plant species were analyzed by using muffle furnace and micro-Kjeldahl methods, and the mineral content in plants was analyzed through atomic absorption spectrometry. The highest percentage of used value was reported in Betula utilis (0.42) and the lowest in Quercus ilex (0.17). In this study, it was found that new generations are not much interested in traditional knowledge of ethnomedicinal plants due to modernization in society. Therefore, there is an urgent need to document ethnomedicinal plants along with their phytochemical and minerals analysis in study sites. It was found that rural people in western Himalaya are dependent on wild medicinal plants, and certain steps must be taken to conserve these plants from extinction in the cold desert of Himalayan region. They are an alternative source of medicine because they contain saponin, alkaloid, and flavonoid etc. as well as minerals. The leaves used for analysis possesses good mineral content, such as Na, N, K, P, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Ca, Mg, and S. Hence, in the current study it was observed that medicinal plants are not only used for therapeutic purposes, but they can also be used as nutritional supplements

A Lung Segmental Model of Chronic <em>Pseudomonas</em> Infection in Sheep

Chronic lung infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major contributor to morbidity, mortality and premature death in cystic fibrosis. A new paradigm for managing such infections is needed, as are relevant and translatable animal models to identify and test concepts. We sought to improve on limitations associated with existing models of infection in small animals through developing a lung segmental model of chronic Pseudomonas infection in sheep.Using local lung instillation of P. aeruginosa suspended in agar beads we were able to demonstrate that such infection led to the development of a suppurative, necrotising and pyogranulomatous pneumonia centred on the instilled beads. No overt evidence of organ or systemic compromise was apparent in any animal during the course of infection. Infection persisted in the lungs of individual animals for as long as 66 days after initial instillation. Quantitative microbiology applied to bronchoalveolar lavage fluid derived from infected segments proved an insensitive index of the presence of significant infection in lung tissue (>10(4) cfu/g).The agar bead model of chronic P. aeruginosa lung infection in sheep is a relevant platform to investigate both the pathobiology of such infections as well as novel approaches to their diagnosis and therapy. Particular ethical benefits relate to the model in terms of refining existing approaches by compromising a smaller proportion of the lung with infection and facilitating longitudinal assessment by bronchoscopy, and also potentially reducing animal numbers through facilitating within-animal comparisons of differential therapeutic approaches

Multi-body Integrated Vehicle-Occupant Models for Collision Mitigation and Vehicle Safety using Dynamics Control Systems

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of vehicle dynamics control systems (VDCS) on both the collision of the vehicle body and the kinematic behaviour of the vehicle's occupant in case of offset frontal vehicle-to-vehicle collision. A unique 6-Degree-of-Freedom (6-DOF) vehicle dynamics/crash mathematical model and a simplified lumped mass occupant model are developed. The first model is used to define the vehicle body crash parameters and it integrates a vehicle dynamics model with a vehicle front-end structure model. The second model aims to predict the effect of VDCS on the kinematics of the occupant. It is shown from the numerical simulations that the vehicle dynamics/crash response and occupant behaviour can be captured and analysed quickly and accurately. Furthermore, it is shown that the VDCS can affect the crash characteristics positively and the occupant behaviour is improved

Prevalence of symptoms and risk of sleep apnea in Dubai, UAE

Bassam Mahboub, Shahid Afzal, Hassan Alhariri, Ashraf Alzaabi, Mayank Vats, Annie SoansSleep Disorders Center, Department of Medicine, Rashid Hospital, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesPurpose: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ranks 18th on the 2007 Forbes list of fattest countries with 68.3% of its citizens with an unhealthy weight and it is well known that weight gain and obesity are important determinants in the progression of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of symptoms and risk of OSAS in the primary health care setting in Dubai, and the relationship between obesity and sleep apnea.Methods: In this prospective survey, a trained medical nurse administered the Berlin Questionnaire to a consecutive random sample of patients in the age group older than 14 years, who attended the primary health care center in Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE, from September 2011 to March 2012. Based on the questionnaire answers, individuals were classified into high risk and low risk groups for OSAS.Results: Based on the responses and measurement of the Berlin Questionnaire of 1214 subjects studied, 58% (n = 704) of the respondents were female, while 42% (n = 510) were male. Two-hundred-fifty-four respondents met the criteria for the high risk scoring. This gives a prevalence rate of 20.9% (out of which 22.9% of the male respondents were high risk for OSAS, while 19.5% of the females were high risk for OSAS), while the remainder of the participants were classified as low risk. The overall mean age of the high risk for OSAS female respondents was 39.95 years (standard deviation [SD] 11.73 years) and was 41.18 years (SD 14.95 years) for male respondents The highest prevalence was observed between age 51 to 60 in both genders. Seventy percent of the high risk group had a body mass index (BMI) &amp;ge; 30 kg/m2 and nearly 75% of the low risk group had a BMI &amp;lt; 30 kg/m2, and the mean BMI was 32.06 kg/m2 (SD 5.67 kg/m2) for males and 33.59 kg/m2 (SD 6.44 kg/m2) for females.Conclusion: In the primary health care setting, the prevalence of symptoms of OSAS among adult UAE citizens is very high, and UAE patients are at risk for OSAS and may benefit from proper evaluation for OSAS.Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, snoring, daytime sleepiness, prevalence primary care, Berlin Questionnaire, Duba

Efficacy of neutral and negatively charged liposome-loaded gentamicin on planktonic bacteria and biofilm communities

Moayad Alhariri,1 Majed A Majrashi,2 Ali H Bahkali,3 Faisal S Almajed,4 Ali O Azghani,5 Mohammad A Khiyami,2 Essam J Alyamani,2 Sameera M Aljohani,6 Majed A Halwani1 1Nanomedicine Department, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, 2National Centre for Biotechnology, Life Sciences and Environment Research Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), 3Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, 4Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Biology, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA; 6College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Abstract: We investigated the efficacy of liposomal gentamicin formulations of different surface charges against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella oxytoca. The liposomal gentamicin formulations were prepared by the dehydration&ndash;rehydration method, and their sizes and zeta potential were measured. Gentamicin encapsulation efficiency inside the liposomal formulations was determined by microbiologic assay, and stability of the formulations in biologic fluid was evaluated for a period of 48 h. The minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration were determined, and the in vitro time kill studies of the free form of gentamicin and liposomal gentamicin formulations were performed. The activities of liposomal gentamicin in preventing and reducing biofilm-forming P. aeruginosa and K. oxytoca were compared to those of free antibiotic. The sizes of the liposomal formulations ranged from 625 to 806.6 nm in diameter, with the zeta potential ranging from &ndash;0.22 to &ndash;31.7 mV. Gentamicin encapsulation efficiency inside the liposomal formulation ranged from 1.8% to 43.6%. The liposomes retained &gt;60% of their gentamicin content during the 48 h time period. The minimum inhibitory concentration of neutral formulation was lower than that of free gentamicin (0.25 versus 1 mg/L for P. aeruginosa and 0.5 versus 1 mg/L for K. oxytoca). The negatively charged formulation exhibited the same bacteriostatic concentration as that of free gentamicin. The minimum bactericidal concentration of neutral liposomes on planktonic bacterial culture was twofold lower than that of free gentamicin, whereas the negatively charged formulations were comparable to free gentamicin. The killing time curve values for the neutral negatively charged formulation against planktonic P. aeruginosa and K. oxytoca were better than those of free gentamicin. Furthermore, liposomal formulations prevent the biofilm-formation ability of these strains better than free gentamicin. In summary, liposomal formulations could be an effective lipid nanoparticle to combat acute infections where planktonic bacteria are predominant. Keywords: drug delivery, stability, antibacterial activity, biofil