Real-scale investigation of the kinematic response of a rockfall protection embankment

This paper addresses the response of rockfall protection embankments when exposed to a rock impact. For this purpose, real-scale impact experiments were conducted with impact energies ranging from 200 to 2200 kJ. The structure was composed of a 4m high cellular wall leaned against a levee. The wall was a double-layer sandwich made from gabion cages filled with either stones or a sand–schreddedtyre mixture. For the first time, sensors were placed in different locations within the structure to measure real-time accelerations and displacements. The test conditions, measurement methods and results are presented in detail. The structure’s response is discussed in a descriptive and phenomenological approach and compared with previous real-scale experiments on other types of embankments

Lime treatment of slightly clayey coarse soil for the control of internal erosion by suffusion

The cost of an earth dike is even lower than soils used for its construction came from deposits close to the site. In parts of France, stocks of coarse and slightly clayey soils are not used because they are prone to internal erosion by suffusion. In order to reduce or control internal erosion in this kind of soils containing relatively low amounts of fines, a lime treatment was considered. For this purpose, an experimental laboratory test, based on the use of a soil column, has been developed. It reproduces the flow of water through a reconstituted soil, having characteristics similar to that of natural soils, and compacted at 95% of the optimum Proctor. The soil was treated with two percentages of lime (1%, 3%) and erosion tests were performed at different curing times (1, 7, 28 and 90 days). The developed device has been instrumented in order to measure different parameters such as turbidity, flow and pore water pressure. The results are expressed in terms of eroded mass and soil permeability if erosion occurs or, alternatively, in terms of fracturing conditions. A comparison is performed between the results of different tests carried on non-treated and treated soils in different conditions. The lime treatment induces a significant change in the hydraulic behavior of the soil, significantly reducing the phenomenon of suffusion and fracturing the soil at high hydraulic gradients

The trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption in airport ground movement

Environmental impact is a very important agenda item in many sectors nowadays, which the air transportation sector is also trying to reduce as much as possible. One area which has remained relatively unexplored in this context is the ground movement problem for aircraft on the airport’s surface. Aircraft have to be routed from a gate to a runway and vice versa and it is still unknown whether fuel burn and environmental impact reductions will best result from purely minimising the taxi times or whether it is also important to avoid multiple acceleration phases. This paper presents a newly developed multi-objective approach for analysing the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption during taxiing. The approach consists of a combination of a graph-based routing algorithm and a population adaptive immune algorithm to discover different speed profiles of aircraft. Analysis with data from a European hub airport has highlighted the impressive performance of the new approach. Furthermore, it is shown that the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption is very sensitive to the fuel-related objective function which is used

Experimental and numerical investigation of footing behaviour on multi-layered rubber-reinforced soil

This paper describes the beneficial effects of multiple layers of rubber–sand mixture (RSM). The plate load tests, using circular plate of 300 mm diameter, were performed at an outdoor test pit, dug in natural ground with dimensions of 2000 × 2000 mm in plan and 720 mm in depth to facilitate realistic test conditions. The rubber used in the RSM layers was granulated rubber, produced from waste tires. The optimum thickness of the RSM layer was determined to be approximately 0.4 times the footing diameter. By increasing the number of RSM layers, the bearing capacity of the foundation can be increased and the footing settlement reduced. The influence of the number of RSM layers on bearing capacity and settlement become almost insignificant beyond three layers of RSM, particularly at low settlement ratios. At a ratio of settlement to plate diameter of 4%, the values of bearing pressure for the installation with one, two, three and four layers of RSM were about 1.26, 1.47, 1.52 and 1.54 times greater, respectively, than that for the unreinforced installation. Layers of the RSM reduced the vertical stress transferred through the foundation depth by distributing the load over a wider area. For example, at an applied footing pressure of 560 kPa, the transferred pressure at a depth of 570 mm was about 58, 45 and 35% for one, two and three layers of RSM, respectively, compared to the transferred stress in the unreinforced bed. By numerical analysis, it was found that the presence of soil-rubber layers resulted in expansion of passive zones in the foundation due to the effectiveness of the confinement provided by the rubber inclusions, and this tends to make the bed deflect less. On the basis of this study, the concept of using multiple RSM layers has not only been shown to improve the performance of foundations under heavy loading, but also, the environmental impacts of waste tires are attenuated by re-using their rubber as part of a composite soil material in civil engineering works

Confirmation of the cardiac safety of nolasiban in a randomised cohort of healthy female volunteers.

Nolasiban is an orally active oxytocin receptor antagonist being developed to increase the efficiency of assisted reproductive technologies. This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and cardiac safety of nolasiban in 45 healthy women of child-bearing age. Nolasiban was administered in a fasted state with a standardised lunch served 4.5 h post-dose. Concentration-effect modelling was used to assess the effect of two dosages of nolasiban (900 mg and 1800 mg) on QTc following single-dose administration. We found no significant change in QTc at all tested dosages. Two-sided 90% confidence intervals of geometric mean Cmax for estimated QTc effects of nolasiban were below the threshold of regulatory concern. The sensitivity of the assay to detect small changes in QTc was confirmed by a significant shortening of QTc between 2 and 4 h after consumption of a meal, which served to validate the model. Independent of the nolasiban assessment, this study also explored the effects of sex hormones on ECG parameters, especially QT subintervals. We found a significant relationship between JTpc and oestradiol. Heart rate was negatively correlated with progesterone. This study confirms the cardiovascular safety of nolasiban and describes relationships of sex hormones and ECG parameters

Lactobacillus fermentum ME-3 – an antimicrobial and antioxidative probiotic

The paper lays out the short scientific history and characteristics of the new probiotic Lactobacillus fermentum strain ME-3 DSM-14241, elaborated according to the regulations of WHO/FAO (2002). L. fermentum ME-3 is a unique strain of Lactobacillus species, having at the same time the antimicrobial and physiologically effective antioxidative properties and expressing health-promoting characteristics if consumed. Tartu University has patented this strain in Estonia (priority June 2001, patent in 2006), Russia (patent in 2006) and the USA (patent in 2007). The paper describes the process of the identification and molecular typing of this probiotic strain of human origin, its deposition in an international culture collection, and its safety assessment by laboratory tests and testing on experimental animals and volunteers. It has been established that L. fermentum strain ME-3 has double functional properties: antimicrobial activity against intestinal pathogens and high total antioxidative activity (TAA) and total antioxidative status (TAS) of intact cells and lysates, and it is characterized by a complete glutathione system: synthesis, uptake and redox turnover. The functional efficacy of the antimicrobial and antioxidative probiotic has been proven by the eradication of salmonellas and the reduction of liver and spleen granulomas in Salmonella Typhimurium-infected mice treated with the combination of ofloxacin and L. fermentum strain ME-3. Using capsules or foodstuffs enriched with L. fermentum ME-3, different clinical study designs (including double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover studies) and different subjects (healthy volunteers, allergic patients and those recovering from a stroke), it has been shown that this probiotic increased the antioxidative activity of sera and improved the composition of the low-density lipid particles (LDL) and post-prandial lipids as well as oxidative stress status, thus demonstrating a remarkable anti-atherogenic effect. The elaboration of the probiotic L. fermentum strain ME-3 has drawn on wide international cooperative research and has taken more than 12 years altogether. The new ME-3 probiotic-containing products have been successfully marketed and sold in Baltic countries and Finland