Protective effect of sea cucumber (Acaudina molpadioides) fucoidan against ethanol-induced gastric damage

Sea cucumber is a nutritional aquatic food that is widely consumed in East Asian countries. Employing a rat model of ethanol-induced gastric ulcer, we examined the protective effect of sea cucumber fucoidan (SC-FUC) extracted from Acaudina molpadioides and explored the related mechanisms. Oral administration with 100 mg/kg body weight SC-FUC for 5 days can significantly prevent the formation of gastric ulcer. Moreover, SC-FUC pretreatment could alleviate ethanol-induced histological damage, reverse changes in tissue oxidation and antioxidase activities, and regulate the signalling pathways of mitogen-activated protein kinases and matrix metalloproteinases. This study investigated the ethanol-induced gastric ulcer protective effect of SC-FUC for the first time, and elucidated that the protective mechanisms included anti-oxidation, gastric matrix hydrolysis suppression, and anti-inflammation.     

Uncertainty evaluation associated with versatile automated gauging influenced by process variations through design of experiments approach

Recent advances in versatile automated gauging have enabled accurate geometric tolerance assessment on the shop floor. This paper is concerned with the uncertainty evaluation associated with comparative coordinate measurement using the design of experiments (DOE) approach. It employs the Renishaw Equator which is a software-driven comparative gauge based on the traditional comparison of production parts to a reference master part. The fixturing requirement of each production part to the master part is approximately ±1 mm for a comparison process with an uncertainty of ±2 μm. Therefore, a number of experimental designs are applied with the main focus on the influence of part misalignment from rotation between master and measure coordinate frames on the comparator measurement uncertainty. Other factors considered include measurement mode mainly in scanning and touch-trigger probing (TTP) and alignment procedure used to establish the coordinate reference frame (CRF) with respect to the number of contact points used for each geometric feature measured. The measurement uncertainty analysis of the comparator technique used by the Equator gauge commences with a simple measurement task using a gauge block to evaluate the three-dimensional (3D) uncertainty of length comparative coordinate measurement influenced by an offset by tilt in one direction (two-dimensional angular misalignment). Then, a specific manufactured measurement object is employed so that the comparator measurement uncertainty can be assessed for numerous measurement tasks within a satisfactory range of the working volume of the versatile gauge. Furthermore, in the second case study, different types of part misalignment including both 2D and 3D angular misalignments are applied. The time required for managing the re-mastering process is also examined. A task specific uncertainty evaluation is completed using DOE. Also, investigating the effects of process variations that might be experienced by such a device in workshop environments. It is shown that the comparator measurement uncertainties obtained by all the experiments agree with system features under specified conditions. It is also demonstrated that when the specified conditions are exceeded, the comparator measurement uncertainty is associated with the measurement task, the measurement strategy used, the feature size, and the magnitude and direction of offset angles in relation to the reference axes of the machine. In particular, departures from the specified part fixturing requirement of Equator have a more significant effect on the uncertainty of length measurement in comparator mode and a less significant effect on the diameter measurement uncertainty for the specific Equator and test conditions.     

Long-time simulation of water distribution systems for the design of small hydropower systems

The implementation of small hydropower systems (SHPS) in existing Alpine Water distribution systems (WDS) is a meaningful strategy for the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Typically, the water consumption patterns of one or several representative days are used for the design procedure of these systems. For the design of the SHPS in WDS, the most important issue is to preserve the water supply without constraints. However, regarding water quality issues (especially related to water age), SHPS can exert a positive influence on the WDS performance. In this study, a long-time simulation model (10 years) is established for a WDS model and is subsequently used for the design of the SHPS. This study is performed to establish a more efficient design of these systems and to evaluate the long-term effects on the pressure and water quality issues, i.e., water age. With a simulation time over one decade on an hourly basis, full load hours and water flows for different turbine sizes are determined in detail. Based on that information, the detailed design and optimisation of the SHPS were performed, and the most cost-efficient device size was determined.     

Conformational Study of the Structure of dibenzo-18-crown-6. Comparison with 18-crown-6

We report for the first time the conformational analysis of dibenzo-18-crown-6, db18c6. The conformational search was carried out using the CONFLEX conformational search method of cyclic molecules. Energies were calculated for the low-lying predicted conformations at different levels of theory up to the G3MP2 level. At the G3MP2 level, the predicted ground state (GS) conformation was more stable than the experimental conformation by only 1.60 kcal/mol. Strong similarity was found between the GS structure and experimental conformations of db18c6 and 18-crown-6, 18c6. The GS and experimental conformations of db18c6 are non-planar. This allows db18c6 to exist in optically active enantiomers. Similar to 18c6, it was concluded that the db18c6 structure is stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bond. We also performed the computations for the water and chloroform solution phase, where the same conformation was predicted as the GS conformation.     

Effect of moment of inertia on elastic stability of rectangular webs for thin-walled beams under a transverse load

So far, the equations for buckling capacity of web panels focus on thin-walled beams with very strong flanges. In this paper, elastic buckling behavior of web panels of thin-walled beams with weak flanges is further studied, aiming at a buckling coefficient formula unifying the effect of both weak and strong flanges. A new parameter, the flange-to-web ratio of moment of inertia, is proposed to characterize the effect of flanges. Then, a semi-analytical method is applied to investigate the buckling behavior of simply supported web panels, in two cases, inclusive or exclusive of effect of the moment of inertia of flanges. It is revealed that elastic buckling load, in particular, the buckling coefficient of web panel is a function of two key parameters, web aspect ratio and flange-to-web ratio of moment of inertia. Meanwhile, a finite element analysis (FEA) model allowing for the sensitivity of boundary conditions is validated by comparing with the semi-analytical solution to the case exclusive of effect of the moments of inertia of flanges. Next, numerical results are utilized to illustrate the influence of the previous parameters, which verify the increase of buckling coefficient with flange-to-web ratio of moment of inertia or the decrease of buckling coefficient with web aspect ratio. Besides, it also verifies that for the same flange-to-web ratio of moment of inertia, the buckling behavior of square web panels is closer to the uniform shear buckling than other rectangular web panels. Finally, an accurate design formula is proposed to calculate buckling coefficient of web panel.     

基于全过程设计阶段结构的综合作用探讨

本文从建筑结构教育现状暴露出的现实问题出发,对全过程设计阶段的建筑与结构的综合关系作了详细的探讨,希望读者能对结构在建筑中的作用有进一步的认识,从而提高结构设计的技术内涵和品质。     

Metal hydride actuator for a rescue jack driven by hydrogen desorption

This paper presents a metal hydride (MH) actuator rescue jack that uses hydrogen-absorbing alloy as its pressure source. The MH actuator is attached to a thin and flexible fiber-reinforced rubber bag end effector, enabling it to pry open narrow and rough gaps. The proposed MH rescue jack was prepared with different amounts of alloy (6–15 g). The results showed that, with only 6 g of alloy, the rescue jack was able to jack up a 100 kg weight to a height of 10 mm within 1 min by heating the alloy container to 50 °C. Moreover, the jack-up speed increased as the amount of alloy increased. A mathematical model was derived from the jack-up operation tests to estimate the jack-up height, with the aim of designing appropriate amounts of hydrogen-absorbing alloys for rescue jack development. According to the experimental results, the response of the jack-up height was modeled as a first order system in time domain. The model was defined as a function of alloy amount, and its validity was assessed by comparing the experimental and simulation results. The results were in good agreement which confirmed the potential of the proposed model as a design tool for jacks from the viewpoint of time constant.     

Crowdsourcing with online quantitative design analysis

Design is a balancing act between people’s competing concerns, design options and design performance. Recently collecting data on such concerns such as sustainability or aesthetics has become possible through online crowdsourcing, particularly in 3d. However, such systems rarely present more than a single design alternative or allow users to change the design and seldom provide quantitative design analysis to gauge design performance. This precludes a more participatory approach including a wider audience and their insight in the design process.To improve the design process we propose a system to assist the design team in exploring the balance of concerns, design options and their performance. We augment a 3d visualisation crowdsourcing environment with quantitative on-demand assessment of design variants run in the cloud. This enables crowdsourced exploration of the design space and its performance. Automated participant tracking and explicit submitted feedback on design options are collated and presented to aid the design team in balancing the demands of urban master planning. We report application of this system to an urban masterplan with Arup.