Influence of Kaolinite Clay on the Chloride Diffusion Property of Cement-Based Materials

To constitute blended cement concrete with high chloride diffusion resistivity, the effects of kaolinite clay on the mechanical properties and chloride diffusivity of cement paste, mortar and concrete were investigated. Ordinary Portland cement was partially replaced by kaolinite clay at 0%, 1%, 3%, 5%, 7% and 9% by weight of cement. All blended cement-based samples were prepared using a w/c ratio of 0.5. The microstructure, workability, early-age and long-term flexural strength of pastes were tested. The chloride diffusivity of mortars was measured. And the compressive strength and chloride diffusivity of concrete were measured. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) was employed to evaluate porosity characteristics. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectra (EDS) were applied to investigate the micro morphology and chemical element distribution inside the cement matrix, and the rapid chloride migration (RCM) method was applied to test chloride diffusivity. The MIP test results show that the addition of clay improves the micro-pore structure in the cement paste and limits the introduction of chloride ions. SEM imaging suggests that the kaolinite clay is acting as both filler and accelerator of cement hydration. It is found that the addition of clay alters the water requirement of normal consistency and the setting time of cement, whereas it has little influence on the soundness. Compared to the control, the flexural strength of cement paste with 1% kaolinite clay increased by 30.41%, 39.04%, 36.27% and 38.32% at 1, 3, 7 and 90 days, respectively. The 28-day flexural strength only increased slightly. It is observed that the cement mortar with clay has lower chloride diffusion coefficient values compared to the plain mortar, the 28-day diffusion coefficient of chloride ion View the MathML source(DCl-) of cement mortar is decreased by 53.03% with 5% clay. The increase in compressive strength of the cement concrete with clay is 12%, 13.5%, and 28.4% compared to the control at 1%, 3% and 5% addition, respectively. The chloride diffusion coefficient of cement concrete decreases exponentially with the clay addition. The reduction of chloride diffusion coefficient of cement concrete is 8.68% and 18.87% at 1% and 5% clay, respectively. The 28-day compressive strength increases linearly with the chloride diffusion coefficient of the concrete

The thermal-fluid-mechanical (TFM) coupling method based on discrete element method (DEM) and the application of CO2 fracturing analysis

Acknowledgments The authors express their appreciation to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.52004236), the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52234003), the Open Project Program of Engineering Research Center of Geothermal Resources Development Technology and Equipment, Ministry of Education (Grant No.22016), the Starting Project of SWPU (Grant No.2019QHZ009), and the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) funding (CSC NO.202008515107).Peer reviewedPostprin

Altered expression of glycan patterns and glycan-related genes in the medial prefrontal cortex of the valproic acid rat model of autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) represent a group of neurodevelopmental defects characterized by social deficits and repetitive behaviors. Alteration in Glycosylation patterns could influence the nervous system development and contribute to the molecular mechanism of ASD. Interaction of environmental factors with susceptible genes may affect expressions of glycosylation-related genes and thus result in abnormal glycosylation patterns. Here, we used an environmental factor-induced model of autism by a single intraperitoneal injection of 400 mg/kg valproic acid (VPA) to female rats at day 12.5 post-conception. Following confirmation of reduced sociability and increased self-grooming behaviors in VPA-treated offspring, we analyzed the alterations in the expression profile of glycan patterns and glycan-related genes by lectin microarrays and RNA-seq, respectively. Lectin microarrays detected 14 significantly regulated lectins in VPA rats, with an up-regulation of high-mannose with antennary and down-regulation of Siaα2-3 Gal/GalNAc. Based on the KEGG and CAZy resources, we assembled a comprehensive list of 961 glycan-related genes to focus our analysis on specific genes. Of those, transcription results revealed that there were 107 differentially expressed glycan-related genes (DEGGs) after VPA treatment. Functional analysis of DEGGs encoding anabolic enzymes revealed that the process trimming to form core structure and glycan extension from core structure primarily changed, which is consistent with the changes in glycan patterns. In addition, the DEGGs encoding glycoconjugates were mainly related to extracellular matrix and axon guidance. This study provides insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of aberrant glycosylation after prenatal VPA exposure, which may serve as potential biomarkers for the autism diagnosis

Interferon-alpha responsible EPN3 regulates hepatitis B virus replication

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major health problem worldwide, and the current antiviral therapy, including nucleoside analogs, cannot achieve life-long cure, and clarification of antiviral host immunity is necessary for eradication. Here, we found that a clathrin-binding membrane protein epsin3 (EPN3) negatively regulates the expression of HBV RNA. EPN3 expression was induced by transfection of an HBV replicon plasmid, and reduced HBV-RNA level in hepatic cell lines and murine livers hydrodynamically injected with the HBV replicon plasmid. Viral RNA reduction by EPN3 was dependent on transcription, and independent from epsilon structure of viral RNA. Viral RNA reduction by overexpression of p53 or IFN-α treatment, was attenuated by knockdown of EPN3, suggesting its role downstream of IFN-α and p53. Taken together, this study demonstrates the anti-HBV role of EPN3. The mechanism how it decreases HBV transcription is discussed

누드마우스의 광노화 모델

학위논문 (석사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 의학과, 2013. 8. 김석화.서론: 광노화의 모델은 hairless mouse를 많이 사용하고 있고, nude mouse를 이용한 실험은 거의 없었다. 최근에는 성체줄기 세포인 지방조직 유래줄기세포(ADSCs)의 광노화 효과가 새롭게 증명되고 있으며, 새로운 노화 방지의 해결책으로 떠오르고 있다. 지방조직 유래줄기세포(ADSCs)를 연구하는 동물 모델은 주로 nude mouse를 이용하였다. 그로 인해 nude mouse를 이용한 광노화 모델의 필요성이 증가하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 nude mouse를 이용하여 광노화 모델을 만들고자 한다. 대상 및 방법: 5주령의 누드마우스(BALB/c nude mouse) 14마리를 사용하였고, 자외선B를 조사하는 실험군 7마리, 자외선을 조사하지 않은 대조군 7마리로 나누어 실험을 진행하였다. 주름 변화의 평가 방법은 실리콘을 이용하여 피부에negative replica를 제작하였고, 각 군의 주름의 정도를 비교하였다. 6주에 조직학 검사를 위해 hematoxylin and eosin staining과 Massons trichrome staining 을 하였다. 결과: 자외선을 조사한 실험군에서 주름이 대조군에 비해 유의하게 잘 생겼다. 표피 와 진피의 두께가 대조군에 비해 유의하게 증가하였다. 조직학 소견으로는 대조군에 비해 실험군에서 collagen의 양이 유의하게 감소하였음을 알 수 있었다(p < 0.05). 결론: 연구자는 nude mouse (BALB/c nude mouse)에 자외선B를 조사하여 유의한 주름을 만들었다. 본 연구를 통해 nude mouse (BALB/c nude mouse)의 광노화 모델을 정립할 수 있었다.Introduction: Autologous adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and their secretory factors have great promise for applications in treating photodamaged skin. What is more significant is that ADSCs also have an antiwrinkle effect and have thus become a topic of primary interest. Nude mice have been used extensively in studies on ADSCs, human dermal fibroblasts, and other injections. However, a photoaging model of the nude mouse has not yet been developed. The purpose of this study was to develop a nude mouse model for photoaging. Materials and Methods: Fourteen 5-week-old female BALB/c nude mice were irradiated with ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays 6 times a week for 6 weeks. The minimum erythema dose was determined before UV irradiation in order to minimize inflammation of the irradiated skin and define the initial irradiation dosage. The total wrinkle area and mean depth of the wrinkles were compared by replica analysis. At the sixth and 10th weeks, skin biopsies were performed. Results: The mean depth of the wrinkles in the UVB-irradiated nude mice significantly increased, and the epidermal and dermal thickness of the upper and lower back skin was significantly thicker following continuous UVB irradiation up to the sixth week (p < 0.05). Furthermore, a marked decrease in collagen bundles was observed in the UVB-irradiated group by Massons trichrome staining. Conclusions: This study successfully developed a nude mouse model for the experimental analysis of photoaging. The results of this study indicate that the nude mouse is a good model for photoaging studies.CONTENTS ABSTRACT i CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES. iv LIST OF FIGURES v INTRODUCTION 1 MATERIALS AND METHODS 3 RESULTS 6 DISCUSSION 17 CONCLUSION 20 REFERENCES 21 ABSTRACT IN KOREAN 24Maste

Effects of Graphene Oxide Dispersion on Salt-Freezing Resistance of Concrete

In order to study the effects of different amounts of graphene oxide dispersion on the salt-freezing resistance of concrete, graphene oxide lamellar dispersion with a concentration of 5 mg/ml was prepared by the improved Hummers’ method and the ultrasonic dispersion method. Graphene oxide (GO) was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mechanical properties and durability of the salt-frozen concrete with different GO contents were examined, and its salt-freezing resistance mechanism was analyzed by microscopic tests. With the increasing salt-freezing time, the deterioration of GO concrete occurred under a combination of different modes, such as mortar shedding, microcrack propagation, denudation, and massive shedding. The optimum content of GO was detected as 0.03%. In comparison to the reference specimen, the compressive strength of GO concrete increased by 34.83% after 200 salt-freezing cycles, and consequently loss rate and dynamic elastic modulus were found to be the smallest. The microscopic test results revealed the optimum GO content promoted the hydration of cement, regulated its microstructure, effectively hindered the destruction of concrete micromorphology during salt-freezing, and slowed down the initiation and propagation of internal microcracks. Hence, the mechanical and endurance properties of GO concrete were significantly improved after salt-freezing

Influence of Roughness on Shear Bonding Performance of CFRP-Concrete Interface

The potential of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) in the reinforcement of concrete structures has been shown in many studies and practical applications. However, few works have focused systematically on the development of quantitative criteria to measure surface roughness and relate this parameter to the bonding mechanical property. Moreover, some researchers have declared that, if the concrete interface is rougher, the bond performance between FRP and concrete will be increase, However, there is no answer to how rough the surface is. There are limited application standards for engineers to conduct in FRP reinforcement projects. This work evaluated several concrete specimens with three different strengths and six types of interface roughness. A single shear test was conducted to study the influence of surface roughness on the interfacial bonding performance of a carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRP)-concrete beam. The results show that, among the six interfaces, a concrete interface with the roughness of 0.44 has the best interfacial bonding performance. An interfacial appearance with the cement mortar almost cleaned away, and almost one fifth of the single coarse aggregate bared will get the best bond performance. Roughness parameters significantly influenced the effective bond length. The effective bond length of the six interfaces experienced an overall decreasing trend as the roughness increased. The bond&ndash;slip curves of concrete interfaces with roughness of 0.25&ndash;0.44 did not significantly change the rigidity within the brittle region. The rougher the interface was, the shorter the brittle region was. After entering a plasticity stage, the bond&ndash;slip curves for the six types of interfaces all declined with different slopes, and the max slip values were 0.04&ndash;0.35 mm when debonding failure occurred

Zero-Shot and Few-Shot Learning for Lung Cancer Multi-Label Classification using Vision Transformer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) are the most common histologic subtypes of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Histology is an essential tool for lung cancer diagnosis. Pathologists make classifications according to the dominant subtypes. Although morphology remains the standard for diagnosis, significant tool needs to be developed to elucidate the diagnosis. In our study, we utilize the pre-trained Vision Transformer (ViT) model to classify multiple label lung cancer on histologic slices (from dataset LC25000), in both Zero-Shot and Few-Shot settings. Then we compare the performance of Zero-Shot and Few-Shot ViT on accuracy, precision, recall, sensitivity and specificity. Our study show that the pre-trained ViT model has a good performance in Zero-Shot setting, a competitive accuracy ($99.87\%$) in Few-Shot setting ({epoch = 1}) and an optimal result ($100.00\%$ on both validation set and test set) in Few-Shot seeting ({epoch = 5})