Prolonged drug release using PCL–TMZ nanofibers induce the apoptotic behavior of U87 glioma cells

In situ prolonged delivery of drugs at the site of tumor can be satisfactorily accelerated patient recovery. We compared the effect of temozolomide while incorporated by polycaprolactone nanofibers on the apoptotic behavior of U87 glioma cells. After biocompatibility evaluation of nanofibers by scanning electron microscope and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide analysis, the apoptosis of U87 cells was evaluated using p53, Bcl2 and Bax genes expression. It was found that nanofiber-temozolomide group showed a greater ability to induce apoptosis as well as have a significantly diminished initial burst release of drug compared with other groups and have promising potential in treating cancer.     

Effectiveness of PANI/Cu/TiO2 ternary nanocomposite on antibacterial and antistatic behaviors in polyurethane coatings

Surfaces with antibacterial and antistatic functionalities are one of the new demands of todays' industry. Therefore, a facile method for the preparation of multifunctional polyaniline/copper/TiO₂ (PANI/Cu/TiO₂) ternary nanocomposite based on in situ polymerization is presented. This nanocomposite was characterized through the different techniques and was utilized for induction of antibacterial and antistatic properties in polyurethane coatings. Measurement of the conductivity of PANI/Cu/TiO₂ ternary nanocomposite indicated higher electrical conductivity of this nanocomposite compared to pure PANI. The antibacterial activity of the modified polyurethane coatings was tested against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria which led to remarkable reduction in bacterial growth. Besides, it was observed that polyurethane coating with 2 wt % content of ternary nanocomposite has a surface electrical resistance equal 4 × 10⁸ Ω/sq which acquires surface electrical resistance of standard antistatic coatings. The final coatings were also characterized in terms of thermal and mechanical properties to investigate the effect of the ternary nanocomposite on improvement of these properties. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48825.     

An alternative modal combination rule for adaptive pushover analysis

The main purpose of the present study is to develop an alternative modal combination rule for use in the adaptive pushover analysis. Since the quadratic modal combination rules do not take into account the sign reversals of the modal load vectors in the higher modes, the accuracy of the advanced pushover methods are decreased. The proposed modal combination rule is a direct vectorial addition technique in which the relative contribution of each mode and its sign are taken into account. The proposed modal combination rule is employed within the displacement‐based adaptive pushover technique, and an alternative pushover procedure is developed. In order to verify the accuracy of the proposed method, two reference buildings are used, and the obtained results from the proposed method and nonlinear time history analysis are compared. It is concluded that the proposed method can estimate the benchmark responses with remarkable accuracy. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic motion response and fragility analyses of cantilever retaining walls with cohesive backfill

The seismic motion response of a cantilever retaining wall with cohesive and cohesionless backfill materials was evaluated using fully dynamic analysis based on finite difference method. The dynamic analysis was validated based on experimental test results and then compared to analytical and empirical correlations based on Newmark sliding block method. Seven different earthquake events and the backfills with low to high levels of cohesion were considered. Nonlinear regression analyses were carried out to provide correlations between free-field peak ground acceleration (PGA) and maximum relative displacement of the retaining wall. These results were compared to results from empirical and analytical methods. Furthermore, fragility analyses were conducted to determine the probability of damage to the retaining wall for different free-field PGAs and backfill cohesions. It is demonstrated to what extent a small amount of cohesion in backfill material can influence displacement of the retaining wall and probability of damage in seismic conditions.     

Equivalent linear model for fully self‐centering earthquake‐resisting systems

Modern rocking and stepping cores have been known as the efficient self‐centering earthquake‐resisting systems (SC‐ERSs). The current article proposes an approximate equivalent linear (EL) model for rapid estimation of the SC‐ERS displacement. An equivalent damping ratio and effective stiffness are formulated for flag‐shaped hysteresis of a fully SC‐ERS. The approximate EL model is first established using secant stiffness and Jacobsen's damping model. Nonlinear response history analyses are carried out to compare exact and approximated peak displacements. Findings reveal that EL analysis of the SC‐ERS based on Jacobsen's damping leads to underestimation of the maximum inelastic displacement. Accordingly, a new optimal damping formula is proposed using a genetic algorithm and nonlinear regression analyses. The improved EL model is validated by practical examples, and the results show acceptable accuracy in design‐level displacement estimation.     

On repairable earthquake resisting archetypes with a view to resiliency objectives and assisted self‐centering

Performance‐based seismic design, as an alternative to conventional methods of approach, has served engineers and the public rather well during the last two decades. Neither approach guaranties catastrophic collapse prevention nor post‐earthquake realignment and repairs (PERR) due to major seismic events. As a result, most code‐compliant buildings can be regarded as relatively safe but practically disposable. The paper presents a new philosophy that leads to sustainable design of new structures and the upgrading of existing earthquake resisting moment frames. Repairability‐based design (RBD) relies on softening and control rather than strength and resistance to elevate seismic performance to economically viable, physical collapse prevention, damage control, and post‐earthquake realignment and repairs. The new approach was inspired by design led analysis (DLA), performance control (PC), and recent developments in rocking core‐moment frame design. DLA is a displacement based method of analysis with built‐in results. PC is the ability to design a structure in such a way as to expect predetermined modes of response at certain stages of loading, extents of damage, and drift ratios. This paper advocates higher performance objectives than current codes of practice do. Several demonstrative examples have been provided.     

In-Process Monitoring of Nickel-Based Super Alloy Grinding Using the Acoustic Emission Method

Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing - One of the most prevalent problems in grinding nickel-based super alloys is grinding wheel loading phenomenon which is the chip accumulation in free...     

High-voltage portable pulsed power supply fed by low voltage source

This article proposes a new structure of voltage multiplier for portable pulsed power applications. In this configuration, which is based on capacitor-diode voltage multiplier, the capacitors are charged by low AC input voltage and discharge through the load in series during pulse generation mode. The proposed topology is achieved by integrating of solid-state switches with conventional voltage multiplier, which can increase the low input voltage step by step and generate high-voltage high-frequency pulsed power across the load. After some discussion, simulations and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed topology.     

A mathematical model and ant colony algorithm for multi-manned assembly line balancing problem

In real-world assembly lines, that the size of the product is large (e.g., automotive industry), usually there are multi-manned workstations where a group of workers simultaneously perform different operations on the same individual product. This paper presents a mixed integer programming model to solve the balancing problem of the multi-manned assembly lines optimally. This model minimizes the total number of workers on the line as the first objective and the number of opened multi-manned workstations as the second one. Since this problem is well known as NP (nondeterministic polynomial-time)-hard, a heuristic approach based on the ant colony optimization approach is developed to solve the medium- and large-size scales of this problem. In the proposed algorithm, each ant tries to allocate given tasks to multi-manned workstations in order to build a balancing solution for the assembly line balancing problems by considering the precedence relations, multi-manned assembly line configuration, task times, and cycle time constraints. Through computational experiments, the performance of the proposed ACO is compared with some existing heuristic on various problem instances. The experimental results validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.