Numerical experimentation for the optimal design for reinforced concrete rectangular combined footings

Velazquez-Santilla, Francisco,Luevanos-Rojas, Arnulfo,Lopez-Chavarria, Sandra,Medina-Elizondo, Manuel,Sandoval-Rivas, Ricardo Techno-Press 2018 Advances in computational design Vol.3 No.1

This paper shows an optimal design for reinforced concrete rectangular combined footings based on a criterion of minimum cost. The classical design method for reinforced concrete rectangular combined footings is: First, a dimension is proposed that should comply with the allowable stresses (Minimum stress should be equal or greater than zero, and maximum stress must be equal or less than the allowable capacity withstand by the soil); subsequently, the effective depth is obtained due to the maximum moment and this effective depth is checked against the bending shear and the punching shear until, it complies with these conditions, and then the steel reinforcement is obtained, but this is not guaranteed that obtained cost is a minimum cost. A numerical experimentation shows the model capability to estimate the minimum cost design of the materials used for a rectangular combined footing that supports two columns under an axial load and moments in two directions at each column in accordance to the building code requirements for structural concrete and commentary (ACI 318S-14). Numerical experimentation is developed by modifying the values of the rectangular combined footing to from "d" (Effective depth), "b" (Short dimension), "a" (Greater dimension), "${\rho}_{P1}$" (Ratio of reinforcement steel under column 1), "${\rho}_{P2}$" (Ratio of reinforcement steel under column 2), "${\rho}_{yLB}$" (Ratio of longitudinal reinforcement steel in the bottom), "${\rho}_{yLT}$" (Ratio of longitudinal reinforcement steel at the top). Results show that the optimal design is more economical and more precise with respect to the classical design. Therefore, the optimal design presented in this paper should be used to obtain the minimum cost design for reinforced concrete rectangular combined footings.

Perforator-to-perforator anastomosis as a salvage procedure during harvest of a perforator flap

Velazquez-Mujica, Jonathan,Losco, Luigi,Aksoyler, Dicle,Chen, Hung-Chi Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surge 2021 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.48 No.4

Family Remittances and the “De-risking” The Case of Mexico

( Salvador Velazquez B. ) 부경대학교 글로벌지역학연구소 2017 Journal of Global and Area Studies(JGA) Vol.1 No.2

Mexican migrants in the USA are first class Mexicans. It is in general the risk-taker population, hardworking, who has a different work ethics, compare to the average American worker. They give a different value to their labor and the remuneration that they perceive for that effort. Some are prosperous entrepreneurs. Success stories abound throughout America. They are far away from the political campaigns in Mexico, in which to their regret, they are incorporated in political speeches with highly demagogic content. They are generally skeptical of the political agendas of migrant associations in the USA. For this reason, among others, are the most likely to repudiate acts of corruption; and are, in a word, highly rational users (consumers) for the electronic remittances market. They migrate by looking for an initial point of contact, usually a close relative, who gives them first aid and probably a first job that serves as an “induction course” to the American work culture. From there, they move to any part of the Union in constant search for a better job; that is why one will always find Mexican labor in virtually all the 50 US’ states. It is at that moment that migrants experience the first need to send money to their homeland abroad. It is likely that the first money remittance will be partly used to pay for their travel expenses (expenses of the “pollero”) and partly to give initial support to their families. They are also absolutely wise in their spending decisions, savings and consumption of services. As a result of the threats that the new US government is launching, now under the umbrella of power -with a surrealist seriousness -in Mexico, expressions that call for “unity”, have emerged. As it is already in the public domain, one of these “initiatives” of the Trump Administration is to tax remittances particularly to Mexico and other Latin-American and Caribbean countries, to prevent undocumented migrants from having access to the service or both associated measures. The viability of these initiatives remains to be seen. However, in the search for spaces that require us to converge on unity, it is necessary to address the danger that has already existed for some years over the environment in Mexico of remittances payment.

Restoring blood flow to the lateral plantar artery after elevation of an instep flap or medialis pedis flap

Jonathan Velazquez-Mujica,Francesco Amendola,Davide Spadoni,Hung-Chi Chen 대한성형외과학회 2022 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.49 No.1

The instep flap and medialis pedis flap are both originate based on the medial plantar artery. The medialis pedis flap is based from the deep branch and the instep flap is based from the superficial branch. To increase the axial rotation, it is acceptable to ligate the lateral plantar artery. However, this can partially affect the blood supply of the plantar metatarsal arch. We restored the blood flow with a vein graft between the posterior tibial artery and the ligated stump. From 2012 to 2020, 12 cases of heel reconstruction, including seven instep flaps and five medialis pedis flaps, were performed with ligation of the lateral plantar artery. The stump of the lateral plantar artery was restored with a vein graft and between the posterior tibial artery and the ligated stump. Patients were followed for 18 months. Long-term results showed the vascular restoration of the lateral plantar artery remained patent demonstrated by doppler ultrasonography. Restoring blood flow to the lateral plantar artery maintains good blood supply to the toes. If the patient in the future develops a chronic degenerative disease, with microvascular complications, bypass surgery can still be performed because of the patency of both branches.

Rapid physicochemical characterization of innovative fucoidan/fructan powders by ATR-FTIR

Espinosa-Velazquez, Gerardo,Ramos-de-la-Pena, Ana Mayela,Montanez, Julio,Contreras-Esquivel, Juan Carlos 한국식품과학회 2018 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.27 No.2

Functional food has been highly demanded lately because of its benefits in counteracting diseases. Fucoidan and agave fructan are ingredients that enhance the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut (prebiotics). This mixture has great potential to develop innovative products but it has never been explored before. Because of fucoidan is more expensive than agave fructan, the innovative proposed mixture is vulnerable to adulteration. This research was aimed to assess the accuracy of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (ATR-FTIR) coupled with chemometrics to identify and predict concentration of both polysaccharides in powder mixtures (0-100%). Absorption bands at 1240-1255 and $836-840cm^{-1}$ were attributed to fucoidan and a strong peak at ${\sim}936cm^{-1}$ confirmed the fructan presence. Peak areas were best fitted into linear models ($R^2_{adj}{\geq}0.92$, $RMSE{\leq}3.54%$). This achievement may be useful to certificate ingredients contained in fucoidan-fructan mixtures, preventing adulteration.

Increased Expression of HOXB2 and HOXB13 Proteins is Associated with HPV Infection and Cervical Cancer Progression

Gonzalez-Herrera, A.L.,Salgado-Bernabe, M.,Velazquez-Velazquez, C.K.,Salcedo-Vargas, M.,Andrade-Manzano, A.,Avila-Moreno, F.,Pina-Sanchez, P. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.4

Background: Cervical cancer (CeCa) is the second most common cancer in women in developing countries, and human papilloma virus (HPV) is the primary etiological factor. Aberrant expression of HOX transcription factors has been observed in several types of cancer. To date, however, no reports exist on the expression of HOXB2 and HOXB13 proteins during neoplastic progression in CeCa and its correlation with HPV infection. Materials and Methods: Expression of HOXB2 and HOXB13 proteins was assessed in tissue microarrays from normal cervical epithelium, cervical intraepithelial neoplasias grade 1-3, and CeCa. HPV was detected by PCR and sequencing. Expression of HOX-positive cells was determined in each diagnostic group. Results: Percentage of HOXB2- and HOXB13-positive cells gradually increased from means of 10.9% and 16.7%, respectively, in samples from healthy women, to 75.2% and 88.6% in those from CeCa patients. Frequency of HPV infection also increased from 13% in healthy tissue samples to 92.3% in CeCa. Both HOXB2 and HOXB13 proteins were preferentially expressed in HPV+ samples. Conclusions: The present study represents the first report on the expression of both HOXB2 and HOXB13 proteins through cervix tumorigenesis, providing evidence that increased expression of such proteins is a common event during progression to CeCa.

A 2D-Model of Cell Sorting Induced by Propagation of Chemical Signals Along Spiral Waves

Kang, K.,Primi, I.,Velazquez, J.J.L. Taylor Francis 2013 Communications in partial differential equations Vol.38 No.6

Mathematical model for the study and design of a solar dish collector with cavity receiver for its application in Stirling engines

Ricardo Beltran,Nicolas Velazquez,Alma Cota Espericueta,Daniel Sauceda,Guillermo Perez 대한기계학회 2012 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.26 No.10

This paper presents a mathematical model that allows representing the optical behavior of a solar parabolic dish concentrator and the thermal performance of a cavity receiver. A procedure and a graphical method for the design of dish/cavity systems are proposed. A parametric study of the main geometric variables is performed and the influence of climate variables on the thermal behavior of the system coupled to a Stirling engine is analyzed. The model considers errors of solar collector, intercept factor, reflected and emitted radiation,conduction, and convection heat losses. For the validation of the model, the results obtained were compared with theoretical and experimental results reported in the literature. The calculation of the radiation losses, emitted and reflected from the receiver presented errors of up to 14%, and the average error for the rest of the thermal losses, interception factor and the absorber’s temperature, was less than 3%. These results show that the proposed model can be used with sufficient certainty to design and optimize solar dish collectors with cavity receivers.

Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Some Mexican Medicinal Plants

E. Ruiz-Bustos,C. Velazquez,A. Garibay-Escobar,Z. García,M. Plascencia-Jatomea,M.O. Cortez-Rocha,J. Hernandez-Martínez,R.E. Robles-Zepeda 한국식품영양과학회 2009 Journal of medicinal food Vol.12 No.6

In Mexico about 4,000 plant species have some medicinal use. The aim of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of six Mexican medicinal plants against fungi and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Methanolic extracts were prepared from the Mexican medicinal plants Amphypteringium adstrigens, Castella tortuosa, Coutarea latiflora, Ibervillea sonorae, Jatropha cuneata, and Selaginella lepidophylla. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the plants were determined by the broth microdilution method and the radial growth inhibition assay, respectively. All Mexican plants tested showed antimicrobial activity. Among the six plant extracts analyzed, J. cuneata showed the highest growth-inhibitory activity against fungi, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (J. cuneata > A. adstrigens > C. latiflora > C. tortuosa > I. sonorae ≈ S. lepidophylla). Shigella flexneri and Staphylococcus aureus were the most susceptible bacteria to plant extracts. Complete inhibition of S. flexneri growth was observed with J. cuneata methanolic extract at 90μg/mL. This plant extract also showed the strongest antifungal activity against Fusarium verticillioides and Aspergillus niger. Our data suggest that the medicinal plants tested have important antimicrobial properties. This is the first report describing the antimicrobial activities of several of the Mexican medicinal plants used in this study.

Reducing Diagnostic Errors Worldwide Through Diagnostic Management Teams

Roberto Verna,Adriana Berumen Velazquez,,Michael Laposata, 대한진단검사의학회 2019 Annals of Laboratory Medicine Vol.39 No.2

A major challenge facing most countries is the growing cost of healthcare. Laboratory testing costs constitute approximately 3% of all clinical costs, while waste of funds due to inappropriate admissions to clinical departments is reported to be as high as 15%. A frequently used approach to save money in healthcare is random reduction of laboratory budgets, focusing on decreasing the number of unnecessary laboratory tests. The World Health Assembly has approached this problem by publishing a list of essential in vitro diagnostic tests, to achieve a global rationalization of the problem. A much more thoughtful strategy to reducing healthcare expenditure is to improve the efficiency of the diagnostic process. Decreasing the time to a correct diagnosis provides considerable financial and clinical benefits. Additionally, reducing both overutilization and underutilization of laboratory tests while achieving the correct diagnosis is of great benefit to challenged healthcare budgets. Examining the situation in the United States and Italy, this review presents an opportunity for reducing diagnostic error and increasing the efficiency of diagnostic testing worldwide. One approach taken to achieve major savings in healthcare in the United States, which can be applied in Italy and other countries, is the creation of “diagnostic management teams,” comprising experts in specialty areas of medicine, primarily based in the clinical laboratory, who can advise physicians on the selection of necessary tests and the interpretation of complex test results