Development of a Personalized Quantitative Faculty Annual Evaluation System

Faculty annual evaluation is critical for faculty career development and department success. Our department developed a quantitative faculty evaluation metrics system that is more objective, consistent, flexible, personalized, transparent, and dynamic scoring system. We have implemented the system for 2 years and the outcomes are very encouraging in promoting faculty and department success.Cockrell School of Engineerin

A model to determine the effect of collagen fiber alignment on heart function post myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND: Adverse remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) following myocardial infarction (MI) leads to heart failure. Recent studies have shown that scar anisotropy is a determinant of cardiac function post-MI, however it remains unclear how changes in extracellular matrix (ECM) organization and structure contribute to changes in LV function. The objective of this study is to develop a model to identify potential mechanisms by which collagen structure and organization affect LV function post-MI. METHODS: A four-region, multi-scale, cylindrical model of the post-MI LV was developed. The mechanical properties of the infarct region are governed by a constitutive equation based on the uncrimping of collagen fibers. The parameters of this constitutive equation include collagen orientation, angular dispersion, fiber stiffness, crimp angle, and density. Parametric variation of these parameters was used to elucidate the relationship between collagen properties and LV function. RESULTS: The mathematical model of the LV revealed several factors that influenced cardiac function post-MI. LV function was maximized when collagen fibers were aligned longitudinally. Increased collagen density was also found to improve stroke volume for longitudinal alignments while increased fiber stiffness decreased stroke volume for circumferential alignments. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that cardiac function post-MI is best preserved through increased circumferential compliance. Further, this study identifies several collagen fiber-level mechanisms that could potentially regulate both infarct level and organ level mechanics. Improved understanding of the multi-scale relationships between the ECM and LV function will be beneficial in the design of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies

Numerical Behaviour of Composite K-Joints Subjected to Combined Loading and Corrosive Environment

[EN] Concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) truss structures have been adopted in various infrastructures worldwide for past several decades. Application of CFST truss is more prevalent especially in areas where harsh marine condition with chloride corrosion limits the design life of structures. Design of joints is one of the most complicated issues in CFST truss structures; and it becomes more critical when corrosion causes section loss in the outer steel tube. Improved designs in terms of economy and durability need to be suggested based on rational research on composite K-joints in corrosive environment, whilst such research is very limited up until now. This paper thus attempts to study the behaviour of circular concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) K-joints under combined effect of long-term loading and corrosion. A finite element analysis (FEA) model is presented and verified against existing test results. The model is then utilized to perform mechanism analysis of CFST K-joints under varying loading and corrosion situations. Failure modes, detailed propagation of yield and stress distribution between the core concrete in chord and the tubular steel is investigated, based on which a favourable mode of failure is suggested in terms of maximum joint capacity. Finally, a full range analysis of the load-deformation characteristics is carried out for various corrosion situations, with the corresponding joint strength as well as ductility predicted.Saleh, S.; Hou, C.; Han, L.; Hua, Y. (2018). Numerical Behaviour of Composite K-Joints Subjected to Combined Loading and Corrosive Environment. En Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Steel-Concrete Composite Structures. ASCCS 2018. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 557-564. https://doi.org/10.4995/ASCCS2018.2018.6974OCS55756

Growth-profile configuration for specific deformations of tubular organs: A study of growth-induced thinning and dilation of the human cervix

Growth is a significant factor that results in deformations of tubular organs, and particular deformations associated with growth enable tubular organs to perform certain physiological functions. Configuring growth profiles that achieve particular deformation patterns is critical for analyzing potential pathological conditions and for developing corresponding clinical treatments for tubular organ dysfunctions. However, deformation-targeted growth is rarely studied. In this article, the human cervix during pregnancy is studied as an example to show how cervical thinning and dilation are generated by growth. An advanced hyperelasticity theory called morphoelasticity is employed to model the deformations, and a growth tensor is used to represent growth in three principle directions. The computational results demonstrate that both negative radial growth and positive circumferential growth facilitate thinning and dilation. Modeling such mixed growth represents an advancement beyond commonly used uniform growth inside tissues to study tubular deformations. The results reveal that complex growth may occur inside tissues to achieve certain tubular deformations. Integration of further biochemical and cellular activities that initiate and mediate such complex growth remains to be explored

我国健康服务利用的机会不平等研究:基于CHNS2009 数据的实证分析

Abstract: This paper expounds how to combining the research of equity in health economic and Roemer’s equality of opportunity, meanwhile, cross-section data of CHNS2009 is adopted to conduct an empirical study. The results shows that 54.4% of the total health care inequality is due to inequality of opportunity which lies in the range of [46.2%, 85.0%]. Furthermore, the main factors leading to the inequality of health care are the disparities of household register, region and out-of-pocket which are belonged to circumstance. The first two have direct effect on the health care inequality, and the out-of-pocket has an indirect effect on it through individuals’ preference

Combining experimental and mathematical modeling to reveal mechanisms of macrophage-dependent left ventricular remodeling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Progressive remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) following myocardial infarction (MI) can lead to congestive heart failure, but the underlying initiation factors remain poorly defined. The objective of this study, accordingly, was to determine the key factors and elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of LV remodeling using integrated computational and experimental approaches.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By examining the extracellular matrix (ECM) gene expression and plasma analyte levels in C57/BL6J mice LV post-MI and ECM gene responses to transforming growth factor (TGF-β₁) in cultured cardiac fibroblasts, we found that key factors in LV remodeling included macrophages, fibroblasts, transforming growth factor-β₁, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and specific collagen subtypes. We established a mathematical model to study LV remodeling post-MI by quantifying the dynamic balance between ECM construction and destruction. The mathematical model incorporated the key factors and demonstrated that TGF-β₁stimuli and MMP-9 interventions with different strengths and intervention times lead to different LV remodeling outcomes. The predictions of the mathematical model fell within the range of experimental measurements for these interventions, providing validation for the model.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the balance between ECM synthesis and degradation, controlled by interactions of specific key factors, determines the LV remodeling outcomes. Our mathematical model, based on the balance between ECM construction and destruction, provides a useful tool for studying the regulatory mechanisms and for predicting LV remodeling outcomes.</p

Certain Class of Analytic Functions Based on qq-difference operator

In this paper, we considered a generalized class of starlike functions defined by Kanas and R\u{a}ducanu\cite{10} to obtain integral means inequalities and subordination results. Further, we obtain the for various subclasses of starlike functions.Comment:

Hadronic Annihilation Decay Rates of P-wave Heavy Quarkonia with Both Relativistic and QCD Radiative Corrections

Hadronic annihilation decay rates of P-wave heavy quarkonia are given to next-to-leading order in both $\alpha_s$ and $v^2$. They include ten nonperturbative parameters, which can be rigorously defined as the matrix elements of color-singlet and color-octet operators in NRQCD. We expect these papameters will be determined from lattice calculations in future.Comment: 5 Pages RevTex. The paper is withdraw