Shear Strength of Unreinforced Masonry Wall Retrofitted with Fiber Reinforced Polymer and Hybrid Sheet

Unreinforced masonry (URM) structures represent a significant portion of existing historical structures around the world. Recent earthquakes have shown the need for seismic retrofitting for URM structures. Various types of strengthening methods have been used for URM structures. In particular, a strengthening technique using externally bonded (EB) fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has attracted engineers since EB FRP materials effectively enhance the shear strength of URM walls with negligible change to cross-sectional area and weight of the walls. Research has been extensively conducted to determine characteristics of URM walls strengthened with EB FRP materials. However, it is still difficult to determine an appropriate retrofitting level due to the complexity of mechanical behavior of strengthened URM walls. In this study, in-plane behavior under lateral loading was, therefore, investigated on a full-scale nonstrengthened URM wall and URM walls retrofitted with two different FRP materials: carbon (CFRP) and hybrid (HFRP) sheets. The test results indicated that both FRP composites were effective in increasing shear strength in comparison with the control specimen. However, better performance was obtained with HFRP compared to CFRP. In addition, an equation for estimating effective strain was proposed, and the theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental ones

Automatic Control of Virtual Cameras for Capturing and Sharing User Focus and Interaction in Collaborative Virtual Reality

As VR technology advances and network speeds rise, social VR platforms are gaining traction. These platforms enable multiple users to socialize and collaborate within a shared virtual environment using avatars. Virtual reality, with its ability to augment visual information, offers distinct advantages for collaboration over traditional methods. Prior research has shown that merely sharing another person’s viewpoint can significantly boost collaborative efficiency. This paper presents an innovative non-verbal communication technique designed to enhance the sharing of visual information. By employing virtual cameras, our method captures where participants are focusing and what they are interacting with, then displays these data above their avatars. The direction of the virtual camera is automatically controlled by considering the user’s gaze direction, the position of the object the user is interacting with, and the positions of other objects around that object. The automatic adjustment of these virtual cameras and the display of captured images are symmetrically conducted for all participants engaged in the virtual environment. This approach is especially beneficial in collaborative settings, where multiple users work together on a shared structure of multiple objects. We validated the effectiveness of our proposed technique through an experiment with 20 participants tasked with collaboratively building structures using block assembly

IRES???mediated translation of cofilin regulates axonal growth cone extension and turning

In neuronal development, dynamic rearrangement of actin promotes axonal growth cone extension, and spatiotemporal translation of local mRNAs in response to guidance cues directs axonal growth cone steering, where cofilin plays a critical role. While regulation of cofilin activity is well studied, regulatory mechanism for cofilin mRNA translation in neurons is unknown. In eukaryotic cells, proteins can be synthesized by cap???dependent or cap???independent mechanism via internal ribosome entry site (IRES)???mediated translation. IRES???mediated translation has been reported in various pathophysiological conditions, but its role in normal physiological environment is poorly understood. Here, we report that 5???UTR of cofilin mRNA contains an IRES element, and cofilin is predominantly translated by IRES???mediated mechanism in neurons. Furthermore, we show that IRES???mediated translation of cofilin is required for both axon extension and axonal growth cone steering. Our results provide new insights into the function of IRES???mediated translation in neuronal development