The paper presents a series of repeated static loading tests on a prestressed concrete beam, which was originally part of a real bridge and then subjected to stepwise artificial damage. The tests were done during a one-month period that four levels of damage were introduced by cutting tendons until visible cracking occurred. The deflection line was measured by means of several displacement sens...

Detecting intracellular calcium signaling with fluorescent calcium indicator dyes is often coupled with microscopy techniques to follow the activation state of non-excitable cells, including lymphocytes. However, the analysis of global intracellular calcium responses both at the single-cell level and in large ensembles simultaneously has yet to be automated. Here, we present a new software pack...

The lattice conditional independence (LCI) model N(C)<) is defined to be the set of all normal distributions N(O, E) on IR I such that for every pair L, M E 1<, XL and xM are conditionally independent given xLnM (ct , [AP] (1993a)). Here C)< is a ring of subsets (hence a distributive lattice) of the finite index set I such that 0, IE ".K, while for K E 1<, XK is the coordinate projection of x E...

Rapid population growth, and human activities (such as agriculture, industry, transports,...) development have increased vulnerability risk for water resources. Due to the complexity of natural processes and the numerous interactions between hydro-systems and human pressures, water quality is difficult to be quantified. In this context, we present a knowledge discovery process applied to hydrol...

Background. Currently there is no indicator that can evaluate actual liver lesion for early stages of viral hepatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and cirrhosis. Aim of this study was to investigate if albumin binding function could better reflect liver function in these liver diseases. Methods. An observational study was performed on 193 patients with early NAFLD, viral hepatitis...

Axonal damage is a critical indicator for traumatic effects of physical impact to the brain. However, the precise mechanisms of axonal damage are still unclear. Here we establish a mechanistic and highly dynamic model of the axon to explore the evolution of damage in response to physical forces. Our axon model consists of a bundle of dynamically polymerizing and depolymerizing microtubules conn...

This paper proposes an indicator of seismic performance based on life-cycle cost of a building. It is expressed as a ratio of lifetime damage loss to life-cycle cost and determines the seismic performance of isolated buildings. Major factors are considered, including uncertainty in hazard demand and structural capacity, initial costs, and expected loss during earthquakes. Thus, a high indicator...

The maximum office systolic blood pressure (SBP) has been shown to be a strong predictor of cardiovascular events, independently of the mean SBP level. However, the clinical implications of maximum home SBP have never been reported. We investigated the association between the maximum home SBP and target organ damage (TOD). We assessed the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and carotid intima-me...

INTRODUCTION Urotensin II (UII) is a vasoactive peptide secreted by endothelial cells. Increased plasma UII concentration was observed in patients with heart failure, liver cirrhosis, diabetic nephropathy and renal insufficiency. In patients with myocardial infarction both increased and decreased plasma UII concentrations were demonstrated. The aim of this study was to analyze whether plasma UI...