Water storage tanks not designed explicitly for seismic loading could require retrofit. One of the common ways of retrofit include some structural change in the lateral load resisting system that could be expensive and requires the tank to be out of service for relatively long time. This paper introduces a novel method to reduce seismic demand on tank’s wall without structural intervention. Thi...

UNLABELLED The fungal cell wall confers cell morphology and protection against environmental insults. For fungal pathogens, the cell wall is a key immunological modulator and an ideal therapeutic target. Yeast cell walls possess an inner matrix of interlinked β-glucan and chitin that is thought to provide tensile strength and rigidity. Yeast cells remodel their walls over time in response to en...

In this paper, we describe a reinforcement robot learning method which enables a mobile robot to simultaneously acquire the ability to avoid objects, follow walls and control its velocity as a result of interacting with its environment. Our approach differs to conventional reinforcement learning approaches in that the robot learns associations between input vectors and trajectory velocities rat...

Background: This two-arm, randomized clinical study aimed to compare efficacy between topical Alpha ointment and topical hydrocortisone cream (1%) in the healing of radiation-induced dermatitis in breast cancer patients. Methods: The inclusion criteria comprised newly pathologically proven, locally advanced breast cancer (treated with modified radical mastectomy followed by sequential adjuvant ...

background: the aim of this study was to investigate in vivo biocompatibility of resilon, compared with gutta-percha, at short and long-term following implantation in a rat subcutaneous implantation model. materials and methods: male wistar rats were implanted subcutaneously with either resilon or gutta-percha or were sham controls. tissues were harvested at 8 days or 60 days after implantation...

marshmallow is a medicinal plant containing mucilage polysaccharides and various phenolic acids. boron (b) is an essential micronutrient whose necessity for plant growth and development has been attributed to its role in cell wall pectin network and maintenance of integrity and performance of membranes. the present study was aimed to investigate the effects of different concentrations of b (0.0...

This paper presents the hardware and software control framework for a semi-autonomous wheelchair. The hardware design incorporates modular and reconfigurable sensors and corresponding low-level software architecture. Two control schemes are discussed. Assisted control that augments the user inputs by providing functionalities such as obstacle avoidance and wall following. And, semi-autonomous n...