115 research outputs found
Structure and expression analysis of rice paleo duplications
Having a well-known history of genome duplication, rice is a good model for studying structural and functional evolution of paleo duplications. Improved sequence alignment criteria were used to characterize 10 major chromosome-to-chromosome duplication relationships associated with 1440 paralogous pairs, covering 47.8% of the rice genome, with 12.6% of genes that are conserved within sister blocks. Using a micro-array experiment, a genome-wide expression map has been produced, in which 2382 genes show significant differences of expression in root, leaf and grain. By integrating both structural (1440 paralogous pairs) and functional information (2382 differentially expressed genes), we identified 115 paralogous gene pairs for which at least one copy is differentially expressed in one of the three tissues. A vast majority of the 115 paralogous gene pairs have been neofunctionalized or subfunctionalized as 88%, 89% and 96% of duplicates, respectively, expressed in grain, leaf and root show distinct expression patterns. On the basis of a Gene Ontology analysis, we have identified and characterized the gene families that have been structurally and functionally preferentially retained in the duplication showing that the vast majority (>85%) of duplicated have been either lost or have been subfunctionalized or neofunctionalized during 50–70 million years of evolution
Inclined reinforcement around web opening in concrete beams
YesTwelve reinforced-concrete continuous deep beams
having web openings within interior shear spans were
tested to failure. The main variables investigated were
the opening size and the amount of inclined
reinforcement around openings. An effective inclined
reinforcement factor combining the influence of the
amount of inclined web reinforcement and opening size
is proposed and used to analyse the structural behaviour
of continuous deep beams tested. It was observed that
the end support reaction, diagonal crack width and load
capacity of beams tested were significantly dependent on
the proposed effective inclined reinforcement factor. As
this factor increased, the end support reaction and
increasing rate of diagonal crack width were closer to
those of companion solid deep beams. In addition, a
higher load capacity was exhibited by beams having an
effective inclined reinforcement factor above 0.077 than
the companion solid deep beam. A numerical procedure
based on the upper-bound analysis of the plasticity
theory was proposed to estimate the load capacity of
beams tested. Comparisons between the measured and
predicted load capacities showed good agreement
Application of Plasticity Theory to Reinforced Concrete Deep Beams
yesThis paper reviews the application of the plasticity theory to reinforced concrete deep beams. Both the truss analogy and mechanism approach were employed to predict the capacity of reinforced concrete deep beams. In addition, most current codes of practice, for example Eurocode 1992 and ACI 318-05, recommend the strut-and-tie model for designing reinforced concrete deep beams.
Compared with methods based on empirical or semi-empirical equations, the strut-and-tie model and mechanism analyses are more rational, adequately accurate and sufficiently simple for estimating the load capacity of reinforced concrete deep beams. However, there is a problem of selecting the effectiveness factor of concrete as reflected in the wide range of values reported in the literature for deep beams
Circulating Apoptotic Progenitor Cells in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure
Background: Circulating CD34+ endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are capable of differentiating into mature endothelial cells to assist in angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. We sought to quantify the numbers of apoptotic progenitors in patients with congestive heart failure. Methods and Results: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density-gradient from 58 patients with various degrees of heart failure and 23 matched controls. Apoptosis in progenitor CD34+ cells was assessed using the Annexin V-PE/PI detection kit, and FACS analysis was performed with triple staining for CD34, annexin-V and propidium iodide. The percentage of early and late apoptotic progenitor cells was determined in the subject groups and was correlated with clinical characteristics. While there was no significant difference in total CD34 positive cells or early apoptotic progenitors between control subjects and CHF patients (p = 0.42) or between severe and mild/moderate CHF groups (p = 0.544), there was an elevated number of late apoptotic progenitors in the severe CHF group compared with the mild/moderate CHF group (p = 0.03). Late apoptotic progenitors were significantly increased in CHF patients as compared to matched controls. There was also an inverse correlation between late apoptotic progenitors and ejection fraction (r = 20.252, p = 0.028) as well as a positive association with NYHA class (r = 0.223, p = 0.046). Conclusion: Severe heart failure patients exhibited higher numbers of late apoptotic progenitors, and this was positivel
The learning styles neuromyth:when the same term means different things to different teachers
Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330Although learning styles (LS) have been recognised as a neuromyth, they remain a virtual truism within education. A point of concern is that the term LS has been used within theories that describe them using completely different notions and categorisations. This is the first empirical study to investigate education professionals’ conceptualisation, as well as means of identifying and implementing LS in their classroom. A sample of 123 education professionals were administered a questionnaire consisting both closed- and open-ended questions. Responses were analysed using thematic analysis. LS were found to be mainly conceptualised within the Visual-Auditory-(Reading)-Kinaesthetic (VAK/VARK) framework, as well as Gardner’s multiple intelligences. Moreover, a lot of education professionals confused theories of learning (e.g., behavioural or cognitive theories) with LS. In terms of identifying LS, educators reported using a variety of methods, spanning from observation and everyday contact to the use of tests. The ways LS were implemented in the classroom were numerous, comprising various teaching aids, participatory techniques and motor activities. Overall, we argue that the extended use of the term LS gives the illusion of a consensus amongst educators, when a closer examination reveals that the term LS is conceptualised, identified and implemented idiosyncratically by different individuals. This study aims to be of use to pre-service and in-service teacher educators in their effort to debunk the neuromyth of LS and replace it with evidence-based practices.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00485-236pubpub
Neural network modelling of RC deep beam shear strength
YesA 9 x 18 x 1 feed-forward neural network (NN) model
trained using a resilient back-propagation algorithm and
early stopping technique is constructed to predict the
shear strength of deep reinforced concrete beams. The
input layer covering geometrical and material properties
of deep beams has nine neurons, and the corresponding output is the shear strength. Training, validation and testing of the developed neural network have been
achieved using a comprehensive database compiled from
362 simple and 71 continuous deep beam specimens.
The shear strength predictions of deep beams obtained
from the developed NN are in better agreement with
test results than those determined from strut-and-tie
models. The mean and standard deviation of the ratio between predicted capacities using the NN and measured shear capacities are 1.028 and 0.154, respectively, for simple deep beams, and 1.0 and 0.122, respectively, for continuous deep beams. In addition, the
trends ascertained from parametric study using the developed NN have a consistent agreement with those observed in other experimental and analytical investigations
Use of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents in stable outpatients with coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation. International CLARIFY registry
Tripping on Acid: Trans-Kingdom Perspectives on Biological Acids in Immunity and Pathogenesis
Fast virtual histology using X-ray in-line phase tomography: application to the 3D anatomy of maize developing seeds
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