Case History of Seismic Base Isolation of a Building –The Foothill Communities Law and Justice Center

The Foothill Communities Law and Justice Center, located in seismically active Southern California, is the first building in the United States to be base isolated for seismic resistance. Natural rubber isolators with layers of steel plates were used to make the fundamental period of vibration of the base isolated building about twice as long as that for a comparable conventional fixed base building. Most earthquake energy is present in the shorter period ranges, and at longer periods, a building should be subjected to less earthquake input; this will allow buildings to be designed more economically and increase the likelihood of less damage, both structural and non- structural. The experience of the Law and Justice Center after three small earthquakes suggest that the concept is not only feasible, but may be the wave of the future for what would be relatively short period buildings

Hydrogenation of Magnesium Nickel Boride for Reversible Hydrogen Storage

We report that a ternary magnesium nickel boride (MgNi_(2.5)B_2) mixed with LiH and MgH_2 can be hydrogenated reversibly forming LiBH_4 and Mg_2NiH_4 at temperatures below 300 °C. The ternary boride was prepared by sintering a mechanically milled mixture of MgB_2 and Ni precursors at 975 °C under inert atmosphere. Hydrogenation of the ternary, milled with LiH and MgH_2, was performed under 100 to 160 bar H_2 at temperatures up to 350 °C. Analysis using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, and ^(11)B magic angle spinning NMR confirmed that the ternary boride was hydrogenated forming borohydride anions. The reaction was reversible with hydrogenation kinetics that improved over three cycles. This work suggests that there may be other ternary or higher order boride phases useful for reversible hydrogen storage

Neutron Vibrational Spectroscopy and First-Principles Calculations of the Ternary Hydrides Li\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3eSi\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3eH(D) and Li\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3eGe\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3eH(D): Electronic Structure and Lattice Dynamics

Using combined neutron spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we investigated the electronic structure and vibrational dynamics of the recently discovered class of ternary hydrides Li4Tt2H (Tt=Si and Ge). In these compounds, all hydrogen atoms are located in a single type of Li6-defined octahedral site. The Tt atoms form long-range Tt-Tt chains sandwiched between each Li6-octahedra layer. The Li-H interactions are strongly ionic, with bond lengths comparable to those in LiH. Our density functional theory calculations indicate that Li atoms transfer their electrons to both H and Tt atoms. Tt atoms within the Tt-Tt chain are bonded covalently. The electronic density of states reveals that both hydrides exhibit metallic behavior. The observed vibrational spectra of these hydrides are in good overall agreement with the calculated phonon modes. There is evidence of dispersion induced splitting in the optical phonon peaks that can be ascribed to the coupling of H vibrations within the Li6-octahedra layers

Structure and Interstitial Deuterium site of ß-phase ZrNi Deuteride

ß-ZrNiD1-x (for x≈0.1, near the ß-γ phase boundary) was found to possess a triclinic P1(overline) structure as determined by high-resolution neutron power diffraction. This is very different from the widely accepted orthohombic and distorted orthorhombic Cmcm structures previously proposed. In contrast to the single type of D site associated with these latter structures, the true ß-ZrNiD1-x structure contains two crystallographically distinct interstitial D sites: Zr4Ni2 octahedral sites and Zr4 tetrahedral sites, alternately ordered along the a direction. From first-principles calculations, the total energy of the P1(overline) structure was found to be ≈0.24 eV per unit cell lower than Cmcm-symmetry ZrNiD and could be rationalized in terms of different D local-bonding configurations and metal-deuterium interactions. Resultant phonon calculations based on this structure were also consistnet with the measured neutron vibrational spectrum

Neutron vibrational spectroscopy and first-principles calculations of the ternary hydrides Li4Si2H(D) and Li4Ge2H(D): Electronic structure and lattice dynamics

Using combined neutron spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we investigated the electronic structure and vibrational dynamics of the recently discovered class of ternary hydrides Li4Tt2H (Tt=Si and Ge). In these compounds, all hydrogen atoms are located in a single type of Li6-defined octahedral site. The Tt atoms form long-range Tt-Tt chains sandwiched between each Li6-octahedra layer. The Li-H interactions are strongly ionic, with bond lengths comparable to those in LiH. Our density functional theory calculations indicate that Li atoms transfer their electrons to both H and Tt atoms. Tt atoms within the Tt-Tt chain are bonded covalently. The electronic density of states reveals that both hydrides exhibit metallic behavior. The observed vibrational spectra of these hydrides are in good overall agreement with the calculated phonon modes. There is evidence of dispersion induced splitting in the optical phonon peaks that can be ascribed to the coupling of H vibrations within the Li6-octahedra layers

Partial Loss of Ataxin-1 Function Contributes to Transcriptional Dysregulation in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 Pathogenesis

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of a CAG repeat that encodes a polyglutamine tract in ATAXIN1 (ATXN1). Molecular and genetic data indicate that SCA1 is mainly caused by a gain-of-function mechanism. However, deletion of wild-type ATXN1 enhances SCA1 pathogenesis, whereas increased levels of an evolutionarily conserved paralog of ATXN1, Ataxin 1-Like, ameliorate it. These data suggest that a partial loss of ATXN1 function contributes to SCA1. To address this possibility, we set out to determine if the SCA1 disease model (Atxn1154Q/+ mice) and the loss of Atxn1 function model (Atxn1−/− mice) share molecular changes that could potentially contribute to SCA1 pathogenesis. To identify transcriptional changes that might result from loss of function of ATXN1 in SCA1, we performed gene expression microarray studies on cerebellar RNA from Atxn1−/− and Atxn1154Q/+ cerebella and uncovered shared gene expression changes. We further show that mild overexpression of Ataxin-1-Like rescues several of the molecular and behavioral defects in Atxn1−/− mice. These results support a model in which Ataxin 1-Like overexpression represses SCA1 pathogenesis by compensating for a partial loss of function of Atxn1. Altogether, these data provide evidence that partial loss of Atxn1 function contributes to SCA1 pathogenesis and raise the possibility that loss-of-function mechanisms contribute to other dominantly inherited neurodegenerative diseases

Development of Bacterial Biofilms on Artificial Corals in Comparison to Surface-Associated Microbes of Hard Corals

Numerous studies have demonstrated the differences in bacterial communities associated with corals versus those in their surrounding environment. However, these environmental samples often represent vastly different microbial micro-environments with few studies having looked at the settlement and growth of bacteria on surfaces similar to corals. As a result, it is difficult to determine which bacteria are associated specifically with coral tissue surfaces. In this study, early stages of passive settlement from the water column to artificial coral surfaces (formation of a biofilm) were assessed. Changes in bacterial diversity (16S rRNA gene), were studied on artificially created resin nubbins that were modelled from the skeleton of the reef building coral Acropora muricata. These models were dip-coated in sterile agar, mounted in situ on the reef and followed over time to monitor bacterial community succession. The bacterial community forming the biofilms remained significantly different (R = 0.864 p<0.05) from that of the water column and from the surface mucus layer (SML) of the coral at all times from 30 min to 96 h. The water column was dominated by members of the α-proteobacteria, the developed community on the biofilms dominated by γ-proteobacteria, whereas that within the SML was composed of a more diverse array of groups. Bacterial communities present within the SML do not appear to arise from passive settlement from the water column, but instead appear to have become established through a selection process. This selection process was shown to be dependent on some aspects of the physico-chemical structure of the settlement surface, since agar-coated slides showed distinct communities to coral-shaped surfaces. However, no significant differences were found between different surface coatings, including plain agar and agar enhanced with coral mucus exudates. Therefore future work should consider physico-chemical surface properties as factors governing change in microbial diversity