A comprehensive survey of the analytical, numerical and experimental methodologies for dynamics of multibody mechanical systems with clearance or imperfect joints

"Available online 19 December 2017"A comprehensive survey of the literature of the most relevant analytical, numerical, and experimental approaches for the kinematic and dynamic analyses of multibody mechanical systems with clearance joints is presented in this review. Both dry and lubricated clearance joints are addressed here, and an effort is made to include a large number of research works in this particular field, which have been published since the 1960′s. First, the most frequently utilized methods for modeling planar and spatial multibody mechanical systems with clearance joints are analyzed, and compared. Other important phenomena commonly associated with clearance joint models, such as wear, non-smooth behavior, optimization and control, chaos, and uncertainty and links’ flexibility, are then discussed. The main assumptions procedures and conclusions for the different methodologies are also examined and compared. Finally, future developments and new applications of clearance joint modeling and analysis are highlighted.This research was supported in part by the China 111 Project (B16003) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 11290151, 11472042 and 11221202. The work was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) with the reference project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using ZMET to Explore the Taiwan User's Adoption Behavior of Mobile Location-Based Services

In recent years location-based services (LBS) have played as an important role in the global mobile-commerce (M-Commerce) market and the service providers have also detected business opportunities and so are exploring more and more wireless applications to attract and retain their customers. In addition, most private firms in Taiwan now operate a five-day workweek. In such case, it allows Taiwanese people to travel individually in their leisure time. An LBS application can provide location-based information to users for visiting and staying at a new location. The information should be useful and valuable for users. Nevertheless, the adoption rates of the LBS are still far from satisfactory in Taiwan according to statistics conducted by ACI-FIND. Thus, this research attempts to dig out what factors will affect Taiwan's user's willingness to adopt the LBS by employing the ZMET (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) method and questionnaire survey, combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The result can fill the gap in the case of the low LBS adoption rate, which prior researches have not discussed much. And these findings will become crucial references for the service providers when they attempt to enhance the quality and practicability of LBS to satisfy users' requirements.CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 MOTIVATION 1 1.2 OBJECTIVE 2 1.3 SCOPES AND CONFINES 3 1.4 RESEARCH STRUCTURE 4 CHAPTER2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.1 MOBILE COMMERCE (M-COMMERCE) 6 2.1.1 Current Applications Status of M-Commerce in Taiwan 7 2.2 LOCATION-BASED SERVICE (LBS) 9 2.2.1 Current Development Status of LBS Worldwide 12 2.2.2 Current Development Status of LBS in Taiwan 13 2.3 ZALTMAN METAPHOR ELICITATION TECHNIQUE (ZMET) 16 2.4 TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL (TAM) 19 2.5 SECURITY AND PRIVACY 21 2.6 COST 22 CHAPTER3 THESIS METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 ORIGINAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT 24 3.2 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD—ZMET APPROACH 26 3.2.1 Processes of ZMET Application 27 3.3 RESEARCH MODEL 43 3.4 HYPOTHESES 44 3.5 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 46 3.6 DATE ANALYSIS 50 CHAPTER4 DATA ANALYSIS 53 4.1 DATA COLLECTION 53 4.2 DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS 53 4.3 VALIDITY ANALYSIS 58 4.4 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS 60 4.5 CORRELATION ANALYSIS 60 4.6 REGRESSION ANALYSIS 63 4.7 DISCUSSION 69 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 76 5.1 CONCLUSION 76 5.2 CONTRIBUTION 78 5.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 79 5.4 LIMITATION 80 REFERENCE 8

Oral and Intraperitoneal Administration of Quercetin Decreased Lymphocyte DNA Damage and Plasma Lipid Peroxidation Induced by TSA In Vivo

Our previous study showed that quercetin enhances the anticancer effect of trichostatin A (TSA) in xenograft mice given quercetin intraperitoneally (10 mg/kg, 3 times/week). Herein, we investigate whether quercetin administered orally exerts such an effect and prevents the cytotoxic side effects of TSA. We found that quercetin given orally (20 and 100 mg/kg, 3 times/week) failed to enhance the antitumor effect of TSA although it increased the total quercetin concentration more than quercetin administered intraperitoneally in the plasma. The compound quercetin-3-glucuronide (Q3G) increased the most. However, quercetin administered intraperitoneally increased the total quercetin level in tumor tissues more than oral quercetin. Oral and intraperitoneal administration of quercetin similarly decreased lymphocyte DNA damage and plasma lipid peroxidation level induced by TSA. Furthermore, we found that the enhancing effect of Q3G on the antitumor effect of TSA and the incorporation of Q3G was less than that of quercetin in A549 cells. However, we found that A549 cells possessed the ability to convert Q3G to quercetin. In conclusion, different from quercetin administered intraperitoneally, quercetin administered orally failed to enhance the antitumor effect of TSA because of its metabolic conversion. However, it prevented TSA-induced DNA damage and lipid peroxidation

Interleukin-23 Mediates Osteoclastogenesis in Collagen-Induced Arthritis by Modulating MicroRNA-223

Interleukin-23 (IL-23) plays a pivotal role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). IL-23 and microRNA-223 (miR-223) are both up-regulated and mediate osteoclastogenesis in mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). The aim of this study was to examine the association between IL-23 and miR-223 in contributing to osteoclastogenesis and arthritis. Levels of IL-23p19 in joints of mice with CIA were determined. Lentiviral vectors expressing short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting IL-23p19 and lisofylline (LSF) were injected intraperitoneally into arthritic mice. Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) were treated with signal transducers and activators of transcription 4 (STAT4) specific shRNA and miR-223 sponge carried by lentiviral vectors in response to IL-23 stimulation. Treatment responses were determined by evaluating arthritis scores and histopathology in vivo, and detecting osteoclast differentiation and miR-223 levels in vitro. The binding of STAT4 to the promoter region of primary miR-223 (pri-miR-223) was determined in the Raw264.7 cell line. IL-23p19 expression was increased in the synovium of mice with CIA. Silencing IL-23p19 and inhibiting STAT4 activity ameliorates arthritis by reducing miR-223 expression. BMMs from mice in which STAT4 and miR-223 were silenced showed decreased osteoclast differentiation in response to IL-23 stimulation. IL-23 treatment increased the expression of miR-223 and enhanced the binding of STAT4 to the promoter of pri-miR-223. This study is the first to demonstrate that IL-23 promotes osteoclastogenesis by transcriptional regulation of miR-223 in murine macrophages and mice with CIA. Furthermore, our data indicate that LSF, a selective inhibitor of STAT4, should be an ideal therapeutic agent for treating RA through down-regulating miR-223-associated osteoclastogenesis