Analysis of stray current induced by cathodic protection on steel-framed masonry structures

Cathodic protection (CP) has been successfully employed to protect steel-framed masonry buildings from corrosion related damage. When a CP system is installed to protect the structural members, other metallic items which are within the fabric of the structure but are not in direct electrical continuity may suffer from stray current interactions, resulting in accelerated corrosion of the discontinuous items. Therefore, these must be considered when CP systems are designed prior to installation. This paper presents both experimental and numerical studies into the risk and extent of stray current corrosion in steel-framed masonry structures when subject to impressed current cathodic protection. The objective is to allow CP systems to be optimised so that interference is minimised without compromising the technical or cost benefits of this method of corrosion control

Analysis of the major chemical compositions in Fuzhuan brick-tea and its effect on activities of pancreatic enzymes in vitro

Fuzhuan brick-tea, a fungal-fermented tea, is commonly consumed in northwest China; in places such as Sinkiang and Tibet and is thought to be helpful in digestion. To better understand Fuzhuan brick-tea and its function on digestion, the Fuzhuan brick-tea’s chemical compounds were surveyed at pivotal process phases, and its effects on pancreatic enzymes in vitro were studied. Most of the changes in amino acids, proteins, polyphenols, catechins and organic acids were found during fungal fermentation phase. All the infusions of Fuzhuan brick-tea samples had promotional effects on pancreatic amylase and protease and no effect on pancreatic lipase. Correlation analysis and principle component analysis between the main compounds of Fuzhuan brick-tea and the activities of two pancreatic enzymes were performed. The results showed that among ten significantly related compounds, the catechins and organic acids were particularly correlated with these two pancreatic enzymes’ activities. The present work confirmed the importance of microbial fermentation in the compositional changes of Fuzhuan brick-tea and its effects on two pancreatic enzymes in vitro, and suggested the possible application of microbial fermented tea such as Fuzhuan brick-tea in digestive aid.Key words: Fuzhuan brick-tea, chemical composition, pancreatic enzyme, principal component analysis

Interaction of wave with a body floating on a wide polynya

A method based on wide spacing approximation is proposed for the interaction of water wave with a body floating on a polynya. The ice sheet is modelled as an elastic plate and fluid flow is described by the velocity potential theory. The solution procedure is constructed based on the assumption that when the distance between two disturbances to the free surface is sufficiently large, the interactions between them involve only the travelling waves caused by the disturbances and the effect of the evanescent waves is ignored. The solution for the problem can then be obtained from those for a floating body without an ice sheet and for an ice sheet/free surface without a floating body. Both latter solutions have already been found previously and therefore there will be no additional effort in solution once the wide spacing approximation formulation is derived. Extensive numerical results are provided to show that the method is very accurate compared with the exact solution. The obtained formulations are then used to provide some insightful explanations for the physics of flow behaviour, as well as the mechanism for the highly oscillatory features of the hydrodynamic force and body motion. Some explicit equations are derived to show zero reflection by the polynya and peaks and troughs of the force and excited body motion. It is revealed that some of the peaks of the body motion are due to resonance while others are due to the wave characters in the polynya

Wave diffraction by a circular crack in an ice sheet floating on water of finite depth

The problem of wave diffraction by a circular crack in an ice sheet floating on water of finite depth is considered. The fluid flow is described by the linear velocity potential theory, while the infinitely extended ice sheet is modeled as a thin elastic plate with uniform properties. At the crack, zero bending moment and shear force conditions are enforced. The solution starts from the Green function for ice sheet without the crack. This is then used to obtain an integral equation, in which the jumps of the displacement and slope across the crack are the unknowns. For a circular crack, the unknowns are expanded into the Fourier series in the circumferential direction. Through imposing the boundary conditions at the crack, a matrix equation is obtained for the unknowns, which is then truncated and solved. Convergence study is undertaken with respect to the truncation, and it has been found that the series converges fast. A far field identity is used to verify the solution procedure and is found to be satisfied very accurately. Extensive results are provided, and their physical implications are discussed. These include the jumps of the displacement and slope across the crack, resonant motion, far field diffracted wave amplitude, and the deflection of the ice sheet

Motion of a floating body in a harbour by domain decomposition method

A three-dimensional domain decomposition method is used to solve the problem of wave interaction with a ship floating inside a harbour with arbitrary shape. The linearized velocity potential theory is adopted. The total fluid domain is divided into two sub-ones: one for the harbour and the other for the external open sea. Boundary integral equations together with the free surface Green function are used in the both domains. Matching conditions are imposed on the interface of the two sub-domains to ensure the velocity and pressure continuity. The advantage of the domain decomposition method over the single domain method is that it removes the coastal surface from the boundary integral equation. This subsequently removes the need for elements on the coastal wall when the equation is discretized. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated through convergence study and through the comparison with the published data. Extensive results through the hydrodynamic coefficients, wave exciting forces and ship motions are provided. Highly oscillatory behaviour is observed and its mechanism is discussed. Finally, the effects of incident wave direction, ship location as well as the harbour topography are investigated in detail

Flexural-gravity wave interaction with multiple vertical cylinders of arbitrary cross section frozen in an ice sheet

The interaction problem of flexural-gravity wave with multiple vertical cylinders frozen in an ice sheet on the surface of water with finite water depth is considered. The linearized velocity potential theory is adopted for fluid flow, and the thin elastic plate model is applied for ice sheet deflection. Each cylinder is bottom-mounted, and the shape of its cross section can be arbitrary while remaining constant in the vertical direction. The velocity potential is expanded into an eigenfunction series in the vertical direction, which satisfies the boundary condition on the ice sheet automatically. The horizontal modes, which satisfy the Helmholtz equations, are then transformed into a series of boundary integral equations along the ice sheet edges or the intersection of the ice sheet with the cylinders. The problem is then solved numerically by imposing the ice sheet edge condition together with the impermeable condition on the cylinders. The solution is exact in the sense that the error is only due to numerical discretization and truncation. Computations are first carried out for single and multiple vertical circular cylinders, and good agreements are obtained with the semi-analytical solution. To resolve the difficulty of excessive computation at a large number of cylinders, the effect of the evanescent wave of a cylinder on those at large distance is ignored. This allows for the case of a large number of cylinders in different arrangements to be simulated. Extensive results are provided. Their physics and practical relevance are discussed

Combined Effect of Vorinostat and Grape Seed Proanthocyanidins on Modulation of Thymidine Phosphorylase in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: To demonstrate the effect of histone deacetylase-inhibitor, vorinostat, on antitumour activity of grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells.Methods: Expression of thymidine phosphorlase (TP) and thymidylate synthase (TS) was measured by real-time PCR and western blotting. TP knockdown was performed using specific small interfering RNA. Antitumour activity of combination of vorinostat and GSPs was assessed according to Chou and Talay method and by evaluating apoptosis.Results: Vorinostat treatment led to a significant increase in TP expression but decrease in TS expression in NSCLC cells. In H157 cells, increase in the concentration of vorinostat from 0.34 to 0.4 μM increased TP expression 3- to 6-fold. In H1299 cells, there was 7-fold reduction of TS transcript and 30-fold increase of TP transcript at 48 h. Vorinostat, when used in combination with GSPs, resulted in a synergistic anti-proliferative effect and increased apoptotic cell death. However, cells with TP knockdown did not exhibit vorinostat- and GSPs-mediated anti-proliferative effect and apoptotic cell death.Conclusion: The combination of vorinostat and GSPs can be an effective and innovative antitumour therapy for the treatment of NSCLC.Keywords: Histone deacetylase-inhibitor, Synergism, Apoptosis, Antitumo

Interaction of ocean wave with a harbor covered by an ice sheet

A domain decomposition method is developed to solve the problem of wave motion inside a harbor with its surface covered by an ice sheet. The shape of the horizontal plane of the harbor can be arbitrary while the sidewall is vertical. The entrance of the harbor is open to the sea with a free surface. The linearized velocity potential theory is adopted for fluid flow, and the thin elastic plate model is applied for the ice sheet. The domain is divided into two subdomains. Inside the harbor, the velocity potential is expanded into a series of eigenfunctions in the vertical direction. The orthogonal inner product is adopted to impose the impermeable condition on the harbor wall, together with the edge conditions on the intersection of the harbor wall and the ice sheet. In the open sea outside of the harbor, through the modified Green function, the velocity potential is written in terms of an integral equation over the surface of the harbor entrance, or the interface between the two subdomains. On the interface, the orthogonal inner product is also applied to impose the continuity conditions of velocity and pressure as well as the free ice edge conditions. Computations are first carried out for a rectangular harbor without the ice sheet to verify the methodology, and then extensive results and discussions are provided for a harbor of a more general shape covered by an ice sheet with different thicknesses and under different incident wave angles

Wave motions due to a point source pulsating and advancing at forward speed parallel to a semi-infinite ice sheet

The Green function, or the wave motion due to a point source pulsating and advancing at constant forward speed along a semi-infinite ice sheet in finite water depth is investigated, based on the linear velocity potential theory for fluid flow and thin elastic plate model for the ice sheet. The result is highly relevant to the ship motions near marginal seas. The ice edge is assumed to be free, or zero bending moment and shear-force conditions are used, while other edge conditions can be similarly considered. The Green function G is derived first through the Fourier transform along the direction of forward speed and then by the Wiener-Hopf technique along the transverse direction across both the free surface and ice sheet. The result shows that in the ice-covered domain, G can be decomposed into three parts. The first one is that upper ocean surface is fully covered by an ice sheet, and the second and third ones are due to the free surface and ice edge. Similarly, in the free-surface domain, G contains the component corresponding to that the upper water surface is fully free, while the second and third ones are due to the ice sheet and ice edge. In both domains, the latter two are due to the interactions of the free-surface wave and ice sheet deflection, which leads to the major complication. In-depth investigations are made for each part of G, and aim to shed some light on the nature of the wave motions induced by a ship advancing along a semi-infinite ice sheet at constant forward speed

The comparison of immunomodulatory effects of peripheral mononuclear cells against proliferation in U937 in junior elderly habitual morning swimming in Taiwan cohort

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of greater immunomodulatory effects of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells against proliferation in human leukemia cells. To achieve this, cells U937 in junior elderly (with cool environmental physical activities) subjects with habitual morning swimming and sedentary lifestyle were recruited in relatively cool season in Taiwan; the isolated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated by phytohemagglutinin to obtain the conditioned medium which contains various cytokines. However, the differential effects of the conditioned medium on growth inhibition in U937 leukemia cells were observed. The cytokines, including interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factors-alpha and interleukine-2 secreted into conditioned medium were higher in the morning-swimming subjects than in the sedentary-lifestyle ones. Similarly, serum white blood cell, creatine phosphokinase, immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin A in the morning-swimming and sedentary-lifestyle groups indicated that no further inflammatory status existed in the morning-swimming group. In summary, greater immunomodulatory effects of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells against proliferation in human leukemia cells U937 in junior elderly subjects came from the effects of regular moderate exercise in cool temperature rather than of inflammatory effects.Keywords: Immunomodulatory, junior elderly, morning swimming, leukemia, U937, human peripheral blood mononuclear cell