In Situ Performance Testing of Deteriorating Water Tanks for Durability Assessment

Reports of failure of existing concrete structures due to a lack of durability, rather than a deficiency in structural strength, has made concrete technologists, engineers, and researchers focus research on the parameters influencing durability performance with respect to time. Systematic performance monitoring, with respect to chosen durability parameters of existing concrete structures, will decide the direction of future research in this area. Inferences based on laboratory simulations and testing need to be confirmed by in situ field measurements and studies. In situ condition rating and performance monitoring surveys have been conducted by many researchers, scientists, and professional associations, and reported in literature. Inferences of few such studies are summarized and discussed. Deterioration of concrete structures constructed in recent times is observed at relatively faster rates, and has been mainly attributed to cracking. Cracking is associated with the use of faster-hydrating portland cements with increased fineness and the tricalcium silicate (C3S) content to support the high speed of modern construction. In the present research, a case study of deteriorated water tank structures situated in the semitropical region of India is presented. Some selected parameters—such as concrete cover, carbonation depth, chloride concentration, compressive strength, etc. which influence long term durability of structures—have been measured.     

Developing and fully developed turbulent flow of drag reducing fluids in an annular duct

Velocity profiles for the inner and outer flow regions of annuli are proposed for the turbulent flow of drag reducing fluids. Theoretical expressions for friction factors are developed. From the shear stress equations and the velocity profiles, estimates for the entrance lengths are given.     

Dynamic proteome in enigmatic preeclampsia: an account of molecular mechanisms and biomarker discovery

The coevolution of genomics and proteomics has led to advancements in the field of diagnosis and molecular mechanisms of disease. Proteomics is now stepping into the field of obstetrics, where early diagnosis of pregnancy complication such as preeclampsia (PE) is imperative. PE is a multifactorial disease characterized by hypertension with proteinuria, which is a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality occurring in 5-7% of pregnancies worldwide. This review discusses the probable molecular mechanisms that lead to PE and summarizes the proteomics research carried out in understanding the pathogenicity of PE, and for identifying the candidate biomarker for diagnosis of the disease.     

Compositional analysis of biodegradable polyphosphoester copolymers using nmr spectroscopic methods

The chemical composition and quantitative molar ratios among all components of biodegradable polyphosphoester copolymers of DL ‐lactide and ethylphosphate were determined by a comprehensive set of NMR spectroscopic methods. The polyphosphoester copolymers studied were synthesized using condensation polymerization of oligomeric DL ‐lactide prepolymers and ethyl dichlorophosphate. Conclusive identification of the chemical shift patterns of all functional groups in the copolymers required additional NMR methods such as ³¹P‐NMR and two‐dimensional ¹H–¹H COSY NMR, in addition to the synthesis and comparative NMR analysis of model compounds possessing identical phosphoester linkages in the polyphosphoester copolymers. For the polymers synthesized using the bulk polycondensation process, ¹H–¹H COSY NMR analysis revealed the presence of a small amount of side products that were undetected by ¹H‐NMR alone. These side reactions most likely occurred between the pendant ethoxy group of the phosphoesters and the hydrogen chloride gas generated in the bulk polycondensation process. ³¹P‐NMR spectra of the copolymers revealed a consistent triple‐peak pattern characteristic of phosphoesters linked to a racemic mixture of D,L ‐lactides. These results offered new insight into the side reactions occurring in bulk polymerization of polyphosphoesters and provided a powerful tool of characterizing complex biodegradable polymers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 4021–4031, 2003     

Numerical and experimental investigation of three-dimensional flow in extrusion dies

The univariant element, Q₁ P₀, and the multivariant elements, QP₀ and R P₀, are compared for the numerical simulation of the flow in extrusion dies. The pressure distribution obtained by using the Q₁ P₀ element was found to be afflicted with the checkerboard pressure mode. On the other hand, the multivariant elements, Q P₀ and R P₀, gave accurate and physically reasonable velocity and pressure distributions. The computed values of the pressure drop across extrusion dies matched well with the pressure drop determined experimentally.     

Correction to: Attention-based multimodal contextual fusion for sentiment and emotion classification using bidirectional LSTM

Multimedia Tools and Applications - A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-021-10591-y     

Glycated proteome: From reaction to intervention

Glycation, a nonenzymatic reaction between reducing sugars and proteins, is a proteome wide phenomenon, predominantly observed in diabetes due to hyperglycemia. Glycated proteome of plasma, kidney, lens, and brain are implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including diabetic complications, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and aging. This review discusses the strategies to characterize protein glycation, its functional implications in different diseases, and intervention strategies to protect the deleterious effects of protein glycation.