Cyclical Behavior of Concrete-Encased Composite Frame Joints with High Strength Concrete

This paper presents an application of high strength concrete to concrete-encased composite frame building based on an experimental program. The work emphasized joints behavior under reverse cyclic loading caused by earthquakes to provide information for seismic design. To investigate the internal mechanisms and seismic performance, cyclic loading tests were carried out on five half-scale interior joints. Two design variables were addressed in the research: concrete strength and axial column load. Frame joints performance including crack pattern, failure mode, deformation, ductility, strain distribution, and energy dissipation capacity was investigated. It was found that all joint specimens behaved in a manner with joint panel shear failure. Using high strength concrete increased the joint strength and had relatively little effect on the stiffness and ductility. The axial column load helped the joint strength by better mobilizing the outer part of the joint, but it had an obvious influence on the ductility and energy-dissipating capacity, which can be improved by providing enough transverse reinforcement. A typical crack pattern was also provided which can well reflect mechanical character and damage process. This research should contribute to the future engineering applications of high strength concrete to concrete-encased composite structure

Syntheses of hyperbranched liquid-crystalline biopolymers with strong adhesion from phenolic phytomonomers

A novel thermotropic liquid-crystalline (LC) biocopolymer, poly{trans-3-methoxyl-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (MHCA: ferulic acid)-co-trans-3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid (DHCA: caffeic acid)}, was synthesized by a thermal acidolysis-polycondensation of MHCA and DHCA, efficiently catalyzed by Na_2HPO_4. When the MHCA composition of poly(MHCA-co-DHCA) was 60, 75, and 90 mol %, the copolymers showed a nematic LC phase although individual homopolymers such as polyMHCA and polyDHCA did not exhibit LC phase. Poly(MHCA-co-DHCA)s showed high molecular weight (M_w) ranged between M_n 2.6 × 10^4 to 3.7 × 10^4 and M_w 8.2 × 10^4 to 13.1 × 10^4, respectively, high glass-transition temperature (T_g) with the range of 115 to 140 °C and high degradation temperature T_, from 315 to 356 °C. In the adhesive test of copolymers against the surface of carbon substrate, the copolymers showed high shear strength at fracture

Seismic Damage Evaluation of Concrete-Encased Steel Frame-Reinforced Concrete Core Tube Buildings Based on Dynamic Characteristics

To evaluate damage state and residual resistance of concrete-encased steel frame-reinforced concrete core tube buildings under earthquake actions, a criterion of damage assessment based on dynamic characteristics is proposed in this paper. Dynamic characterization experiments were conducted on a 10-story and 1/5 scaled building model using velocity sensors on each floor, and natural frequencies were obtained based on the measured data. Modal analysis was carried out using a nonlinear finite element program, and the simulation results of the dynamic characteristics agreed well with experimental ones. Then, the damage processes under different seismic wave inputs were revealed based on finite element analysis, and the max story drift angle was chosen to reflect the damage state and to quantify the degree of damage. A criterion of seismic damage assessment is proposed based on the relationship between the quantitative damage value and the dynamic characteristics, in which the higher order modes were considered. Moreover, influencing factors, including earthquake intensity and structural stiffness ratio, were analyzed, and the results indicated that the proposed damage index based on dynamic characteristics can account for the higher-order modes and provides an innovative approach to evaluate the seismic damage

CRISPR-TE: a web-based tool to generate single guide RNAs targeting transposable elements

Abstract Background The CRISPR/Cas systems have emerged as powerful tools in genome engineering. Recent studies highlighting the crucial role of transposable elements (TEs) have stimulated research interest in manipulating these elements to understand their functions. However, designing single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) that are specific and efficient for TE manipulation is a significant challenge, given their sequence repetitiveness and high copy numbers. While various sgRNA design tools have been developed for gene editing, an optimized sgRNA designer for TE manipulation has yet to be established. Results We present CRISPR-TE, a web-based application featuring an accessible graphical user interface, available at https://www.crisprte.cn/ , and currently tailored to the human and mouse genomes. CRISPR-TE identifies all potential sgRNAs for TEs and provides a comprehensive solution for efficient TE targeting at both the single copy and subfamily levels. Our analysis shows that sgRNAs targeting TEs can more effectively target evolutionarily young TEs with conserved sequences at the subfamily level. Conclusions CRISPR-TE offers a versatile framework for designing sgRNAs for TE targeting. CRISPR-TE is publicly accessible at https://www.crisprte.cn/ as an online web service and the source code of CRISPR-TE is available at https://github.com/WanluLiuLab/CRISPRTE/

Comprehensive assessment of mRNA isoform detection methods for long-read sequencing data

Abstract The advancement of Long-Read Sequencing (LRS) techniques has significantly increased the length of sequencing to several kilobases, thereby facilitating the identification of alternative splicing events and isoform expressions. Recently, numerous computational tools for isoform detection using long-read sequencing data have been developed. Nevertheless, there remains a deficiency in comparative studies that systemically evaluate the performance of these tools, which are implemented with different algorithms, under various simulations that encompass potential influencing factors. In this study, we conducted a benchmark analysis of thirteen methods implemented in nine tools capable of identifying isoform structures from long-read RNA-seq data. We evaluated their performances using simulated data, which represented diverse sequencing platforms generated by an in-house simulator, RNA sequins (sequencing spike-ins) data, as well as experimental data. Our findings demonstrate IsoQuant as a highly effective tool for isoform detection with LRS, with Bambu and StringTie2 also exhibiting strong performance. These results offer valuable guidance for future research on alternative splicing analysis and the ongoing improvement of tools for isoform detection using LRS data

Pollination dynamics in a Platycladus orientalis seed orchard as revealed by partial pedigree reconstruction

Pollination dynamics was studied in a first-generation Platycladus orientalis seed orchard with pedigree reconstruction using 8 nuclear and 4 chloroplast SSRs. The pedigree reconstruction assigned 371 out of studied 448 seeds to one of the orchardsâ 192 candidate male parents and showed high level of outcrossing and pollen contamination in the orchardâ s seed crop. While the orchardâ s seed population showed greater allelic richness compared to the parental population, few alleles present in the parental population were missing in the seed crop. Additionally, we detected no significant correlation between male reproductive energy (pollen yield) and male reproductive success; however, uneven parental contribution was also observed. Pollen management practices were recommended to ensure the maintenance of genetic diversity in the seed crops and increase in genetic gain.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author