Initial smoothness of concrete pavements under environmental loads

In the current paper, the effect of curling and warping, caused by environmental ambient conditions, on the initial smoothness of concrete pavements is discussed. Surface profile measurements were made during the hours of the early morning and late afternoon on an instrumented jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) on highway US-30 near Marshalltown, Iowa during the first seven days after construction in summer 2005. Variations in temperature and moisture during this critical period were monitored using the temperature and relative humidity sensors installed within the test sections at the time of construction. Based on the measured surface profile data, it was observed that the initial pavement smoothness, in terms of international roughness index (IRI) and the ride number (RN), was not significantly influenced by the early-age curling and warping behaviour of the JPCP. Using finite-element modelling (FEM), sensitivity studies were conducted to investigate the influence of slab curvature on initial pavement smoothness for a range of equivalent temperature differences between the top and bottom of the slab. The results indicated that the initial JPCP smoothness is sensitive to changes in slab curvature resulting from environmental ambient conditions only at higher magnitudes. Although the FEM-based IRI predictions were higher than the surface profile-based IRI values, the differences were not significant

Glycosaminoglycan mimetric peptide nanofibers promote mineralization by osteogenic cells

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Bone tissue regeneration is accomplished by concerted regulation of protein-based extracellular matrix components, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and inductive growth factors. GAGs constitute a significant portion of the extracellular matrix and have a significant impact on regulating cellular behavior, either directly or through encapsulation and presentation of growth factors to the cells. In this study we utilized a supramolecular peptide nanofiber system that can emulate both the nanofibrous architecture of collagenous extracellular matrix and the major chemical composition found on GAGs. GAGs and collagen mimetic peptide nanofibers were designed and synthesized with sulfonate and carboxylate groups on the peptide scaffold. The GAG mimetic peptide nanofibers interact with bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), which is a critical growth factor for osteogenic activity. The GAG mimicking ability of the peptide nanofibers and their interaction with BMP-2 promoted osteogenic activity and mineralization by osteoblastic cells. Alkaline phosphatase activity, Alizarin red staining and energy dispersive X-ray analysis spectroscopy indicated the efficacy of the peptide nanofibers in inducing mineralization. The multifunctional and bioactive microenvironment presented here provides osteoblastic cells with osteogenic stimuli similar to those observed in native bone tissue

Bone-Like Mineral Nucleating Peptide Nanofibers Induce Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Mature Osteoblasts

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A bone implant should integrate to the tissue through a bone-like mineralized interface, which requires increased osteoblast activity at the implant-tissue boundary. Modification of the implant surface with synthetic bioinstructive cues facilitates on-site differentiation of progenitor stem cells to functional mature osteoblasts and results in subsequent mineralization. Inspired by the bioactive domains of the bone extracellular matrix proteins and the mussel adhesive proteins, we synthesized peptide nanofibers to promote bone-like mineralization on the implant surface. Nanofibers functionalized with osteoinductive collagen I derived Asp-Gly-Glu-Ala (DGEA) peptide sequence provide an advantage in initial adhesion, spreading, and early commitment to osteogenic differentiation for mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). In this study, we demonstrated that this early osteogenic commitment, however, does not necessarily guarantee a priority for maturation into functional osteoblasts. Similar to natural biological cascades, early commitment should be further supported with additional signals to provide a long-term effect on differentiation. Here, we showed that peptide nanofibers functionalized with Glu-Glu-Glu (EEE) sequence enhanced mineralization abilities due to osteoinductive properties for late-stage differentiation of hMSCs. Mussel-inspired functionalization not only enables robust immobilization on metal surfaces, but also improves bone-like mineralization under physiologically simulated conditions. The multifunctional osteoinductive peptide nanofiber biointerfaces presented here facilitate osseointegration for long-term clinical stability. © 2014 American Chemical Society

Amyloid Inspired Self-Assembled Peptide Nanofibers

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Amyloid peptides are important components in many degenerative diseases as well as in maintaining cellular metabolism. Their unique stable structure provides new insights in developing new materials. Designing bioinspired selfassembling peptides is essential to generate new forms of hierarchical nanostructures. Here we present oppositely charged amyloid inspired peptides (AIPs), which rapidly self-assemble into nanofibers at pH 7 upon mixing in water caused by noncovalent interactions. Mechanical properties of the gels formed by selfassembled AIP nanofibers were analyzed with oscillatory rheology. AIP gels exhibited strong mechanical characteristics superior to gels formed by self-assembly of previously reported synthetic short peptides. Rheological studies of gels composed of oppositely charged mixed AIP molecules (AIP-1 + 2) revealed superior mechanical stability compared to individual peptide networks (AIP-1 and AIP-2) formed by neutralization of net charges through pH change. Adhesion and elasticity properties of AIP mixed nanofibers and charge neutralized AIP-1, AIP-2 nanofibers were analyzed by high resolution force− distance mapping using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Nanomechanical characterization of self-assembled AIP-1 + 2, AIP-1, and AIP-2 nanofibers also confirmed macroscopic rheology results, and mechanical stability of AIP mixed nanofibers was higher compared to individual AIP-1 and AIP-2 nanofibers self-assembled at acidic and basic pH, respectively. Experimental results were supported with molecular dynamics simulations by considering potential noncovalent interactions between the amino acid residues and possible aggregate forms. In addition, HUVEC cells were cultured on AIP mixed nanofibers at pH 7 and biocompatibility and collagen mimetic scaffold properties of the nanofibrous system were observed. Encapsulation of a zwitterionic dye (rhodamine B) within AIP nanofiber network was accomplished at physiological conditions to demonstrate that this network can be utilized for inclusion of soluble factors as a scaffold for cell culture studies. Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Societ

Size-controlled conformal nanofabrication of biotemplated three-dimensional TiO2 and ZnO nanonetworks

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A solvent-free fabrication of TiO2 and ZnO nanonetworks is demonstrated by using supramolecular nanotemplates with high coating conformity, uniformity, and atomic scale size control. Deposition of TiO2 and ZnO on three-dimensional nanofibrous network template is accomplished. Ultrafine control over nanotube diameter allows robust and systematic evaluation of the electrochemical properties of TiO2 and ZnO nanonetworks in terms of size-function relationship. We observe hypsochromic shift in UV absorbance maxima correlated with decrease in wall thickness of the nanotubes. Photocatalytic activities of anatase TiO2 and hexagonal wurtzite ZnO nanonetworks are found to be dependent on both the wall thickness and total surface area per unit of mass. Wall thickness has effect on photoexcitation properties of both TiO2 and ZnO due to band gap energies and total surface area per unit of mass. The present work is a successful example that concentrates on nanofabrication of intact three-dimensional semiconductor nanonetworks with controlled band gap energies

Eltrombopag for the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia: The aegean region of Turkey experience

Objective: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an immune-mediated disease characterized by transient or persistent decrease of the platelet count to less than 100x109/L. Although it is included in a benign disease group, bleeding complications may be mortal. With a better understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease, thrombopoietin receptor agonists, which came into use in recent years, seem to be an effective option in the treatment of resistant cases. This study aimed to retrospectively assess the efficacy, long-term safety, and tolerability of eltrombopag in Turkish patients with chronic ITP in the Aegean region of Turkey. Materials and Methods: Retrospective data of 40 patients with refractory ITP who were treated with eltrombopag in the Aegean region were examined and evaluated. Results: The total rate of response was 87%, and the median duration of response defined as the number of the platelets being over 50x109/L was 19.5 (interquartile range: 5-60) days. In one patient, venous sinus thrombosis was observed with no other additional risk factors due to or related to thrombosis. Another patient with complete response and irregular follow-up for 12 months was lost due to sudden death as the result of probable acute myocardial infarction. Conclusion: Although the responses to eltrombopag were satisfactory, patients need to be monitored closely for overshooting platelet counts as well as thromboembolic events. © 2015 Turkish Society of Hematology. All rights reserved

Ontology-mediated query answering over log-linear probabilistic data

Large-scale knowledge bases are at the heart of modern information systems. Their knowledge is inherently uncertain, and hence they are often materialized as probabilistic databases. However, probabilistic database management systems typically lack the capability to incorporate implicit background knowledge and, consequently, fail to capture some intuitive query answers. Ontology-mediated query answering is a popular paradigm for encoding commonsense knowledge, which can provide more complete answers to user queries. We propose a new data model that integrates the paradigm of ontology-mediated query answering with probabilistic databases, employing a log-linear probability model. We compare our approach to existing proposals, and provide supporting computational results

Co-firing of biomass with coals Part 1. Thermogravimetric kinetic analysis of combustion of fir (abies bornmulleriana) wood

The chemical composition and reactivity of fir (Abies bornmulleriana) wood under non-isothermal thermogravimetric (TG) conditions were studied. Oxidation of the wood sample at temperatures near 600 A degrees C caused the loss of aliphatics from the structure of the wood and created a char heavily containing C-O functionalities and of highly aromatic character. On-line FTIR recordings of the combustion of wood indicated the oxidation of carbonaceous and hydrogen content of the wood and release of some hydrocarbons due to pyrolysis reactions that occurred during combustion of the wood. TG analysis was used to study combustion of fir wood. Non-isothermal TG data were used to evaluate the kinetics of the combustion of this carbonaceous material. The article reports application of Ozawa-Flynn-Wall model to deal with non-isothermal TG data for the evaluation of the activation energy corresponding to the combustion of the fir wood. The average activation energy related to fir wood combustion was 128.9 kJ/mol, and the average reaction order for the combustion of wood was calculated as 0.30