Although pneumococcal infection is a serious problem worldwide and has a high mortality rate, the molecular mechanisms underlying the lethality caused by pneumococcus remain elusive. Here, we show that BLT2, a G protein-coupled receptor for leukotriene B4 and 12(S)-hydroxyheptadecatrienoic acid (12-HHT), protects mice from lung injury caused by a pneumococcal toxin, pneumolysin (PLY). Intratrac...

Asthma is an allergic airways disease (AAD) caused by dysregulated immune responses and characterized by eosinophilic inflammation, mucus hypersecretion, and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). NKT cells have been shown to contribute to AHR in some mouse models. Conversely, regulatory T cells (Tregs) control aberrant immune responses and maintain homeostasis. Recent evidence suggests that Strepto...

This paper presents an effectively unbiased nonlinear estimation scheme which identifies tire longitudinal stiffness and effective radius using GPS and ABS wheelspeed sensors. This estimation strategy is then used to experimentally identify the longitudinal stiffness and effective radius of a summer tire and a winter tire under several different test conditions. The data clearly shows that ther...

An analytical and numerical solution for the free vibration of laminated polymeric composite plates with different layups is studied in this paper. The governing equations of the laminated composite plates are derived from the classical laminated plate theory (CLPT) and the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT). General layups are evaluated by the assumption of cross-ply and angle-p...

The paper considers an empirical approach to the root-cause analysis of a certain kind of automobile tire failure. Tire life data are obtained from a laboratory test, which is developed to duplicate field failures. A number of parameters related to tire geometry and physical properties are selected as explanatory variables that potentially affect a tire’s life on test. Analysis of the life test...

Plus-sizing, or the fitting of larger diameter rims and lower profile tires to vehicles, continues to be a significant commercial force in the tire marketplace. When offering plus-size fitments to customers, many sellers simply offer “what fits” on a given vehicle. However, the various choices made by the seller, such as wheel width, wheel offset, inflation pressure, and so on, have the potenti...

abstract: compaction under tractors tires is of special concern because the weight of these machines has increased dramatically in the last years. these machines and others associated with crop cultural practices weight enough to significantly compact the soil, especially if the soil is soft with high moisture content during tilling, planting, or harvesting. the stress distribution and the size...

series of undrained monotonic triaxial tests and cone penetration tests were conducted on loose silty sand samples to study correlation between undrained shear strength of silty sands (sus) and piezocone test results. cpt tests were conducted at 27 silty sand samples in calibration chamber. the results indicate that, in low percent of silt (0-30%), as the silt content increases, the undrained s...

The coupling effect between tire and pavement is an intensively researched subject to analyse the dynamic interaction of the vehicle-pavement system. By considering the 11.00 R20 tire and expressway asphalt pavement, ABAQUS software was employed in this study to establish an improved model for simulating the coupling effect, in which the tire rubber was taken as a neoHookean material and the pa...