Identification of material parameters for Drucker–Prager plasticity model for FRP confined circular concrete columns

AbstractExisting research works have established that Drucker–Prager (DP) plasticity model is capable of modeling stress–strain behavior of confined concrete. However, accuracy of the model largely depends on adequate evaluation of its parameters that determine the yield criterion, hardening/softening rule and flow rule. Through careful analytical studies of test results of FRP confined concrete columns under theoretical framework of the DP model, it is found that: (1) the hardening/softening rule is governed by plastic strains and the FRP stiffness ratio; (2) the friction angle decreases slightly with an increase in plastic deformation; and (3) the plastic dilation angle is a function of both axial plastic strain and the FRP stiffness ratio. Explicit models for these properties are developed from analytical studies. By implementing the proposed models in ABAQUS, finite element analyses can well predict stress–strain responses of FRP confined concrete columns

Interaction Analysis of Repeated Measure Data

Extensive penalized variable selection methods have been developed in the past two decades for analyzing high dimensional omics data, such as gene expressions, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), copy number variations (CNVs) and others. However, lipidomics data have been rarely investigated by using high dimensional variable selection methods. This package incorporates our recently developed penalization procedures to conduct interaction analysis for high dimensional lipidomics data with repeated measurements. The core module of this package is developed in C++. The development of this software package and the associated statistical methods have been partially supported by an Innovative Research Award from Johnson Cancer Research Center, Kansas State University

Did Information Amount Matter in Framing Effect?

Framing the product attribute(s) in either positive or negative way can result in different responses. This phenomenon is referred to attribute framing effect. This article reported results from a laboratory experiment which examines the influence of message framing and information amounts on Internet buyers’ judgments. The amount of information was defined in terms of the number of attribute information of the target product. The result indicated significant framing effects no matter how much attribute information was presented. Positive information leads to more favorable responses than negative information. In addition, respondents who were exposed to more amounts of positive information showed more favorable evaluations than those who were exposed to less amounts of positive information condition. However, more amounts of negative information did not result in less favorable responses

中药泡洗改善肿瘤患者生活质量临床观察

Objective: To evaluate the effects of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) soaking on the quality of life for advanced cancer patients. Methods: With a prospective, longitudinal cohort study, based on patient’s Compliance, 96 cancer patients admitted to Xiyuan Hospital were allocated in the study, 94 cases evaluated at last: the experiment group (65cases), the control group (29cases). Patients in the experiment group accepted TCM soaking, the patients in the control group just accepted the conventional treatment without any TCM soaking. A course of treatment was two weeks, with 35 minutes each day, 5 days a week. The Quality of Life (QOL)，Karnofsky performance score (KPS) and Levis of neurotoxicity were measured in the two groups pro-post treatment respectively. Results: There were no significant differences for some items in baseline at comparable scales in the two groups (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in symptoms, KPS and Levis score in experiment group. Additionally, there were significant differences in symptoms and Levis score (P < 0.05), however, no significant differences in KPS when comparing two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: TCM socking has a curative effect in relieving symptoms for advanced cancer patients 目的  探讨中药泡洗改善肿瘤患者生活质量的临床疗效。方法  96例住院肿瘤患者，根据患者顺应性分组队列观察，可评价94例，治疗组用中药泡洗治疗，对照组常规抗肿瘤治疗，观察两组主观症状评分，生活质量，神经毒性发生率。结果  两组治疗前各主观症状评分变化比较，无统计学差异（P > 0.05），具有可比性。经过干预2周后，治疗组组内比较：患者的主观症状评分和Levis评分，干预后较干预前差异具有统计学意义（P < 0.05）。经过2周中药泡洗干预后，两组比较，治疗组的Levis评分、主观症状评分中好于对照组，但是KPS无统计学差异（P > 0.05）。结论  中药泡洗可改善肿瘤患者的主观症状，改善患者的健康状况及生活自理能力，提高肿瘤患者的生活质量

Density alteration in non-physiological cells

In the present study an important phenomenon of cells was discovered: the change of intracellular density in cell's response to drug and environmental factors. For convenience, this phenomenon is named as "density alteration in non-physiological cells" ( DANCE). DANCE was determined by discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation (DSGC), in which cells were separated into several bands. The number and position of the bands in DSGC varied with the change of cell culture conditions, drugs, and physical process, indicating that cell's response to these factors was associated with alteration of intracellular density. Our results showed that the bands of cells were molecularly different from each other, such as the expression of some mRNAs. For most cells tested, intracellular density usually decreased when the cells were in bad conditions, in presence of drugs, or undergoing pathological changes. However, unlike other tissue cells, brain cells showed increased intracellular density in 24 hrs after the animal death. In addition, DANCE was found to be related to drug resistance, with higher drug-resistance in cells of lower intracellular density. Further study found that DANCE also occurred in microorganisms including bacteria and fungus, suggesting that DANCE might be a sensitive and general response of cells to drugs and environmental change. The mechanisms for DANCE are not clear. Based on our study the following causes were hypothesized: change of metabolism mode, change of cell membrane function, and pathological change. DANCE could be important in medical and biological sciences. Study of DANCE might be helpful to the understanding of drug resistance, development of new drugs, separation of new subtypes from a cell population, forensic analysis, and importantly, discovery of new physiological or pathological properties of cells