Laboratory Study of the Shear Behaviour of Natural Rough Rock Joints Infilled by Different Soils

Natural rock joints infilled with soil materials may show a reduced shear strength, which influences rock mass stability. The aim of this paper is to experimentally investigate the shear behaviour of infilled rock joints, taking into account joint surface characteristics and the properties of the joint and infill materials. A new model for predicting the shear strength of infilled joints is presented, on the basis of a series of tests carried out on natural rock joints with same surface roughness, with clay, sand and sandy-clay used as infill materials. All tests were carried out in a shear box apparatus under constant normal load (CNL) conditions. The empirical model was finally validated based on the experimental data from the literature. The results showed an acceptable confidence level for the model and reported that the new model successfully describes the observed shear behaviour of natural infilled rock joints

A Case Study of High School Chinese as a Foreign Language Blended Program

This qualitative case study investigated a Chinese as a foreign language program composed of three different instructional modes: synchronous instruction with videoconferencing technology, asynchronous instruction with online tutorials, and physically co-located face-to-face instruction. The study adopted Larry Cuban's multi-layered curriculum framework and investigated the four curriculum layers within the blended program: intended curriculum, taught curriculum, learned curriculum, and tested curriculum. This research utilized interviews, observation, and document analysis as the instruments in data collection. The participants consisted of one administrator, eight language teachers, four facilitators and twelve high school students. In addition to teaching site observation, the researcher also traveled to four remote school sites to observe how the curriculum was learned from the students' perspective. The results of the study indicated that although the intended curriculum reveals the administrator's ideal picture of blended learning design and defines what teachers should teach and what students should learn in each instructional delivery mode, the actual implementation process of blended learning is much more complex. The findings of the study showed that language teachers' specific operation of the daily lessons in a blended context and students' actual learning experiences at the remote sites can be influenced by many other variables; these variables lead the intended curriculum into different versions between the classes of the taught curriculum, learned curriculum and tested curriculum. Therefore, technology integration should not only be focused on the design of the external layer of the curriculum (the intended curriculum), but should also be focused on the implementation through the rest of the curriculum layers

Anti-Cancer Compounds of Cyanobacteria

Introduction: The ocean, which is called the “mother of origin of life,” is also the source of structurally unique natural products that are mainly accumulated in living organisms. The cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are photosynthetic prokaryotes having applications in human health.  Bioactive compounds of marine cyanobacteria have biological activity in deadly diseases like cancer. Methods and Results: Peer-reviewed publications were identified through searches in pubmed, scopus, science direct and google scholar by using the search terms "anti-cancer," "bioactive compounds," "pharmaceutical agents," " cyanobacteria,". In this search, 127 articles were found that studied 21 of them. Based on this search, anti-cancer  compounds  such as  apratoxin A, tolyporphin, curacin A, dolastatin 10  in cyanobacteria act through mechanisms  such as induction of G-1 phase cell cycle arrest, inhibition of microtubule dynamics,  inhibition of actin filaments, inhibition of histone deacetylase, inhibition of proteasome activity, induction of apoptosis in cancer cells and inhibition epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).  Conclusions: The fact that cyanobacteria are one of the richest sources of known and novel bioactive compounds including toxins with wide pharmaceutical applications is unquestionable. Many compounds from cyanobacteria are useful for welfare of mankind. Advantage of cyanobacteria as an anti-cancer source for drug discovery lies in the economy of their cultivation compared with other microorganisms, as they require only simple inorganic nutrients for growth. Thus, it seems that the cyanobacteria have the potential for expanded utilization in drug discovery

Prediction of the Human EP1 Receptor Binding Site by Homology Modeling and Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The prostanoid receptor EP1 is a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) known to be involved in a variety of pathological disorders such as pain, fever and inflammation. These receptors are important drug targets, but design of subtype specific agonists and antagonists has been partially hampered by the absence of three-dimensional structures for these receptors. To understand the molecular interactions of the PGE2, an endogen ligand, with the EP1 receptor, a homology model of the human EP1 receptor (hEP1R) with all connecting loops was constructed from the 2.6 Å resolution crystal structure (PDB code: 1L9H) of bovine rhodopsin. The initial model generated by MODELLER was subjected to molecular dynamics simulation to assess quality of the model. Also, a step by step ligand-supported model refinement was performed, including initial docking of PGE2 and iloprost in the putative binding site, followed by several rounds of energy minimizations and molecular dynamics simulations. Docking studies were performed for PGE2 and some other related compounds in the active site of the final hEP1 receptor model. The docking enabled us to identify key molecular interactions supported by the mutagenesis data. Also, the correlation of r2=0.81 was observed between the Ki values and the docking scores of 15 prostanoid compounds. The results obtained in this study may provide new insights toward understanding the active site conformation of the hEP1 receptor and can be used for the structure-based design of novel specific ligands

Radiolabeling and Bio-distribution study of ICD-85 with Technetium-99m as a cancer treatment agent in mice

     ICD-85 is a combination of three poly-peptides, ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 Dalton, derived from the venoms of an Iranian brown snake (Agkistrodon halys) and a yellow scorpion (Hemiscorpius lepturus). Labeling of this ICD-85 was successfully achieved with 99mTc, through direct method using SnF2 as reducing agent. Labeled ICD-85 was injected into mice to determine the excretion pathway. The results show that the maximum labeling yield (>75%) was obtained by using 30 μg of ICD-85 in phosphate buffer (60 μl, pH 7.1) at room temperature. Bio-distribution studies with radiolabeled ICD-85 shows moderate clearance of the complex from blood. The improvement of the immunotherapeutic treatment of cancer requires a better knowledge of the biological actions of the ICD-85 since tissue distribution studies are very important for clinical purpose

Relationship between Texture and Uniaxial Compressive Strength of Rocks

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) is one of the most important parameters of rocks that is routinely used in rock engineering designs. This parameter is influenced greatly by textural properties of rocks; hence it is possible to estimate it from quantified texture coefficient (TC). In this paper, fourteen different types of rocks were experimentally studied to evaluate the effect of texture coefficient on UCS. Thin sections were first prepared, and then some digital photographs were taken from each section and were digitized in computer. Then, the texture coefficient for all samples were calculated. Subsequently, UCS of the samples were measured in laboratory. Finally, relationships between TC and UCS of rock samples were evaluated and related mathematical equations were presented. Results showed that the UCS has a power relationship with TC which can be utilized for future estimation purposes

Effective Medicinal Plant in Cancer Treatment, Part 2.

Cancer is the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. With due attention to rapid progress in the phytochemical study of plants, they are becoming popular because of their anticancer effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effective medicinal plants in the treatment of cancer and study their mechanism of action. In order to gather information the keywords "traditional medicine," "plant compounds," "medicinal plant," "medicinal herb," "toxicity," "anticancer effect," "cell line," and "treatment" were searched in international databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Scopus and national databases such as Magiran, Sid, and Iranmedex, and a total of 228 articles were collected. In this phase, 49 nonrelevant articles were excluded. Enhancement P53 protein expression, reducing the expression of proteins P27, P21, NFκB expression and induction of apoptosis, inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway, and reduction of the level of acid phosphatase and lipid peroxidation are the most effective mechanisms of herbal plants that can inhibit cell cycle and proliferation. Common treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy can cause some complications. According to results of this study, herbal extracts have antioxidant compounds that can induce apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation by the investigated mechanisms