Off-Axial Tensile Properties of Precontraint PVDF Coated Polyester Fabrics under Different Tensile Rates

Two types of Precontraint PVDF coated polyester are taken as the research objects. A series of uniaxial tensile tests were carried out to study the tensile performances of the specimens in eleven in-plane directions including 0°, 5°, 15°, 25°, 35°, 45°, 55°, 65°, 75°, 85°, and 90°, and six tensile rates (10 mm/min, 25 mm/min, 50 mm/min, 100 mm/min, 200 mm/min, and 500 mm/min) were also considered. The corresponding failure modes and fracture mechanisms were discussed, and the relationships between tensile strength and strain at break and tensile rate and off-axial angles were obtained. Results show that the Precontraint PVDF coated woven fabrics are typically anisotropic. With off-axial angle increasing, the tensile strength decreases while the strain at break increases. Three failure modes can be observed, including failure of yarns pulled out, yarns fracture, and mixture failure. With tensile rate increasing, the tensile strength increases slightly while the strain at break decreases. The tensile strength and strain at break show good linear relationship with tensile rate’s logarithm

The use of computerised accounting systems among accountants on small and micro businesses in Xi'an, Shaan Xi of China

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and usage of Computerized Accounting System (CAS) among accountants in small and micro businesses in Xi’an, Shaan Xi of China. This study uses the quantitative method for data analysis. Data were collected using a set of questionnaires distributed to a sample of 400 accountants, 221 of the questionnaire were returned and only 201 were used for further analysis. The results showed a positive relationship between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and the use of CAS. About the current usage state of CAS in China, there were about 73.6 % of businesses already implemented CAS in Xi’an Shaan Xi of China. U8 as the most popular type of accounting software, has about 32.8 % of the respondents. The recommendation for this research can be improved by conducting the other factors that have effect on the adoption of CAS. A larger sample should also be covered not just focus on the selected city of China. The data from this research is collected from the online survey. Another approach should also be considered for data collection. Through information provided in this research, accountants, business owners, government, software provider and other related parties could acquire a better understanding of the benefits of CAS. Most of the previous studies were undertaken outside of China such as United States, Kenya, Nigeria, and Malaysia. This study try to form the perspective of the small and micro businesses on the usage and the implementation of CAS especially in Xi’an, Shaan Xi of China to encourage them to use the accounting software

Fairmount Park Apartments

Final project for RDEV690 (Spring 2018). University of Maryland, College Park.Fairmount Park Apartments is the first rental apartment building in the Town of Fairmount Heights, Maryland, adjacent to Washington, D.C. It is a sustainable and community-oriented mixed-use development on 4.4 acres, of 171 units, 102 market-rate units and 69 affordable units aimed at 60 percent of AMI. It will include 7,000-square feet of ground floor retail and a 2,000-square foot activity center. Fairmount Park Apartments provide natural open spaces, on-site convenient amenities, activity centers, and energy efficient systems to make a strong project.Prince George's Count

Optimum Combination of Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium and Fetal Bovine Serum for Culture of Rabbit Articular Chondrocytes in Three-Dimensional Alginate Scaffolds

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) has been reported to affect chondrocyte biosynthesis in monolayer culture. Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium (ITS) was investigated as a partial replacement for FBS during in vitro culture of rabbit articular chondrocytes in three-dimensional alginate scaffold. Chondrocyte-seeded alginate hydrogels were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium plus 10% FBS, 1% ITS plus 2% FBS, 1% ITS plus 4% FBS, or 1% ITS plus 8% FBS. At designed time point, the Chondrocyte-seeded alginate hydrogels were harvested and evaluated with histological staining, immunohistochemistry, and quantitative gene expression analysis. Viable cell density and cell division were also evaluated. Chondrocytes biosynthesis and cell division in 1% ITS with 2% FBS medium were similar to that in medium added with 10% FBS. For a total culture of 3 weeks, phenotypic gene expression in chondrocyte-seeded hydrogels was maintained at high levels in medium with 1% ITS plus 2% FBS, while it was decreased to varying degrees in the other groups. In conclusion, with 1% ITS, medium with 2% FBS could promote chondrocyte biosynthesis and cell division, and prevented cell dedifferentiation in three-dimensional alginate scaffolds

Dynamically Grown Generative Adversarial Networks

Recent work introduced progressive network growing as a promising way to ease the training for large GANs, but the model design and architecture-growing strategy still remain under-explored and needs manual design for different image data. In this paper, we propose a method to dynamically grow a GAN during training, optimizing the network architecture and its parameters together with automation. The method embeds architecture search techniques as an interleaving step with gradient-based training to periodically seek the optimal architecture-growing strategy for the generator and discriminator. It enjoys the benefits of both eased training because of progressive growing and improved performance because of broader architecture design space. Experimental results demonstrate new state-of-the-art of image generation. Observations in the search procedure also provide constructive insights into the GAN model design such as generator-discriminator balance and convolutional layer choices.Comment: Accepted to AAAI 202

Controlled release of paclitaxel from a self-assembling peptide hydrogel formed in situ and antitumor study in vitro

Background: A nanoscale injectable in situ-forming hydrogel drug delivery system was developed in this study. The system was based on a self-assembling peptide RADA16 solution, which can spontaneously form a hydrogel rapidly under physiological conditions. We used the RADA16 hydrogel for the controlled release of paclitaxel (PTX), a hydrophobic antitumor drug. Methods: The RADA16-PTX suspension was prepared simply by magnetic stirring, followed by atomic force microscopy, circular dichroism analysis, dynamic light scattering, rheological analysis, an in vitro release assay, and a cell viability test. Results: The results indicated that RADA16 and PTX can interact with each other and that the amphiphilic peptide was able to stabilize hydrophobic drugs in aqueous solution. The particle size of PTX was markedly decreased in the RADA16 solution compared with its size in water. The RADA16-PTX suspension could form a hydrogel in culture medium, and the elasticity of the hydrogel showed a positive correlation with peptide concentration. In vitro release measurements indicated that hydrogels with a higher peptide concentration had a longer half-release time. The RADA16-PTX hydrogel could effectively inhibit the growth of the breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-435S, in vitro, and hydrogels with higher peptide concentrations were more effective at inhibiting tumor cell proliferation. The RADA16-PTX hydrogel was effective at controlling the release of PTX and inhibiting tumor cell growth in vitro. Conclusion: Self-assembling peptide hydrogels may work well as a system for drug delivery

A broad-host-range lytic phage vB_VhaS-R18L as a candidate against vibriosis

Vibriosis is one of the most common bacterial diseases that cause high rates of mortality and considerable economic losses in aquaculture. Phage therapy has been considered as a promising alternative method to antibiotics in the biocontrol of infectious diseases. Genome sequencing and characterization of the phage candidates are prerequisites before field applications to ensure environmental safety. In this study, a lytic phage, named vB_VhaS-R18L (R18L), was isolated from the coastal seawater of Dongshan Island, China. The phage was characterized in terms of morphology, genetic content, infection kinetics, lytic profile, and virion stability. Transmission electronic microscopy indicated that R18L is siphovirus-like, comprising an icosahedral head (diameter 88.6 ± 2.2 nm) and a long noncontractile tail (225 × 11 nm). Genome analysis indicated R18L to be a double-stranded DNA virus with a genome size of 80,965 bp and a G + C content of 44.96%. No genes that encode known toxins or genes implicated in lysogeny control were found in R18L. A one-step growth experiment showed that R18L had a latent period of approximately 40 min and a burst size of 54 phage particles per infected cell. R18L showed lytic activity against a wide range of at least five Vibrio species (V. alginolyticus, V. cholerae, V. harveyi, V. parahemolyticus, and V. proteolyticus). R18L was relatively stable at pH 6–11 and at temperatures ranging from 4°C to 50°C. The broad lytic activity across Vibrio species and the stability in the environment make R18L a potential candidate for phage therapy in controlling vibriosis in aquaculture systems

Study on the Inhibitory Effects of Ephedra Aconite Asarum

Dendritic cells (DCs) can secrete cytokines stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which leads to not just acute inflammatory responses but also Th1 polarization. Furtherly, chronic inflammation or autoimmune diseases could be triggered. As a classic Traditional Chinese Medicine formula, Ephedra Aconite Asarum Decoction with the main ingredients of ephedrine and hypaconitine can show effect on anti-inflammation and immunoregulation. But it remains unclear whether Ephedra Aconite Asarum Decoction controls DCs. In this study, we investigated the effects of Ephedra Aconite Asarum Decoction on LPS-induced bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) in vitro. We found that Ephedra Aconite Asarum Decoction lowered surface costimulators on DCs and reduced the expression of Th1 type cytokines. Yet it is slightly beneficial for shifting to Th2. Our work reveals that the Ephedra Aconite Asarum Decoction can regulate Th1 inflammation through intervening DCs