Systemic chronic hypoxia is a feature of many diseases and may influence the communication between bone marrow (BM) and gut microbiota. Here we analyse patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD) who are experiencing chronic hypoxia and characterize the association between bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and gut microbiome under systemic hypoxia. We observe premature senescence of BMSCs and abnormal d-galactose accumulation in patients with CCHD. The hypoxia that these patients experience results in an altered diversity of gut microbial communities, with a remarkable decrease in the number of Lactobacilli and a noticeable reduction in the amount of enzyme-degraded d-galactose. Replenishing chronic hypoxic rats with Lactobacillus reduced the accumulation of d-galactose and restored the deficient BMSCs. Together, our findings show that chronic hypoxia predisposes BMSCs to premature senescence, which may be due to gut dysbiosis and thus induced d-galactose accumulation.
SUMMARYThis study proposes two types of shape memory alloy (SMA)-based devices, the tension-SMA device (TSD) and the scissor-SMA device (SSD), for the increase of stiffness. Both devices employ superelastic NiTi wires with a diameter of 1.2 mm. Performance tests to study pseudoelastic behavior of NiTi wires find that NiTi wire's pseudoelastic property is insensitive to loading frequency within the meaningful frequency range of most structures in civil engineering. The detailed design of TSD and SSD using NiTi wire is then presented accordingly. Shaking table tests of a scaled 5-story steel frame incorporated with TSDs and SSDs, respectively, in the first story are carried out. The experimental results indicate that both SMA devices can effectively reduce building seismic response. SSDs achieve greater response reduction than TSDs due to their displacement magnification configuration. The seismic response of the building model with and without SMA devices is numerically simulated and the simulation results demonstrate that they are in good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, it is identified that by using the wavelet transform method the structures incorporated with SMA devices exhibit nonlinear behavior and the time-dependent characteristics of natural frequency during earthquake excitation.
Pounding between adjacent components and structures has become an important cause of structural damage or even collapse under large excitations such as earthquakes and ship collisions. Shock absorber devices (SAD) are often used to connect the separation gap to reduce the pounding force. However, some shock absorber devices may have residual deformation and need to be repaired or replaced after strong impact. A novel energy absorbing material with residual deformation self-recovery ability, martensitic nickel titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy pseudo-rubber (SMAPR), is fabricated using three methods in this study. The mechanical properties of SMAPR at room temperature and deformation self-recovery ability of SMAPR material are investigated. After that, the deformation recovery ability of SMAPR specimens even with residual deformation is further tested through heating the specimens in a thermo-control stove. The subsequent mechanical properties after deformation recovery are further investigated to investigate whether degradation in mechanical properties occurs for all kinds of specimens. The experimental results indicate that SMAPR is a kind of material with good potential to develop novel shock absorber devices for engineering applications. Furthermore, theoretical modeling of SMAPR is conducted. Micro-variable-pitch springs in parallel and series, in parallel with a friction component, are employed to model the mechanical behavior of SMAPR. The hysteretic rules are presented and the parameters of this model are derived and identified. Finally, based on micro-variable-pitch springs (MVPS) in parallel and series, a parametric analysis is carried out and the effects of nominal densities, diameters of metal wires, diameters of micro-springs and generalized coefficients of friction of SMAPR are analyzed and discussed.
Shear wall system is widely adopted in high rise buildings because of its high lateral stiffness in resisting earthquakes. According to the concept of ductility seismic design, coupling beams in shear wall structure are required to yield prior to the damage of wall limb. However, damage in coupling beams results in repair cost post earthquake and even in some cases it is difficult to repair the coupling beams if the damage is severe. In order to solve this problem, a novel passive SMA damper was proposed in this study. The coupling beams connecting wall limbs are split in the middle, and the dampers are installed between the ends of the two cantilevers. Then the relative flexural deformation of the wall limbs is transferred to the ends of coupling beams and then to the SMA dampers. After earthquakes the deformation of the dampers can recover automatically because of the pseudoelasticity of austenite SMA material. In order to verify the validity of the proposed dampers, seismic responses of a 12-story coupled shear wall with such passive SMA dampers in coupling beams was investigated. The additional stiffness and yielding deformation of the dampers and their ratios to the lateral stiffness and yielding displacements of the wall limbs are key design parameters and were addressed. Analytical results indicate that the displacement responses of the shear wall structure with such dampers are reduced remarkably. The deformation of the structure is concentrated in the dampers and the damage of coupling beams is reduced.
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