Support of Deep Excavation in Soft Clay: A Case History Study

The innovative analysis, design, and construction of the temporary support of excavation (SOE) system for an underground garage will be presented in this paper. The site of the project is blanketed with a 10 to 18 feet thick layer of fill material, underlain with about 5 feet of soft organic deposits. The main soil deposit at the site consists of 65 to 90 feet deep marine clay, known as the “Boston Blue Clay”. The upper 10 to 12 feet of this clay is weathered and hardened to form a stiff crust that softens with depth. The majority of the excavation within the project site removed the stiff clay crust to expose the soft clay layer. In order to excavate to the required depth of about 44 feet, the contractor had to address a major challenge of controlling the basal heave as well as the lateral support of the excavation. Reinforced concrete slurry walls were installed along the perimeter of the underground garage to serve as structural wall and water cut-off for the parking garage. The slurry wall was toed in the soft clay layer at about 12 to 20 feet below the bottom of excavation. Finite element models that accounted for soil non-linearity were used to analyze the staged excavation and construction of the garage structure. Based on the finite element analyses, two temporary bracing levels were used to provide lateral support for the slurry walls. Because of the geometry of the underground garage and the variation of the bottom of excavation, the design and installation of the temporary bracing system was a challenging task. A close correlation between the predicted and the measured lateral deflection of the slurry wall was observed

Influence of diabetes mellitus on inflammatory bowel disease course and treatment outcomes. A systematic review with meta-analysis

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) may occur in IBD and influence the disease progression

Retrofitting partial oxyfuel and Integrated Ca-Looping technologies to an existing cement plant: a case study

The present document describes the potential retrofit of an existing cement plant with carbon capture technologies applied in two sequential steps. The pathway proposed consists in a first retrofit through partial oxyfuel followed by the integrated calcium looping (CaL) technology. This kind of applications may represent a promising strategy for the decarbonization route in the cement sector without introducing chemical solvents or special components, in particular for existing cement kilns that may need to be revamped. The cement plant selected for this study is the 0.5 Mtcem/y Colleferro facility owned by Italcementi-HeidelbergCement. This study analyses the mass & energy balances of the partial oxyfuel, and the integrated CaL process retrofitted to the existing cement plant. The results of the two CCS technologies are then compared in terms of CO2 emission reduction and energy consumption with the reference plant without CO2 capture. The scope of this analysis is to evaluate the impact of carbon capture technologies on the cement production process. The process simulation software Aspen Plus V10.0® has been employed to develop the model for the three different plant configurations (i.e., the base case w/o carbon capture, the partial oxyfuel mode, and the integrated CaL). The base case has been validated using field measurements coming directly from the Colleferro plant. From this process flow model, the two CCS technologies have been developed according to the specific process requirements. Results show that a maximum reduction in CO2 emissions of 92.4% is possible with the integrated CaL, while the partial oxyfuel enables to capture 71.7% of the CO2 generated in the plant

Renal Denervation Update From the International Sympathetic Nervous System Summit:JACC State-of-the-Art Review

Three recent renal denervation studies in both drug-naïve and drug-treated hypertensive patients demonstrated a significant reduction of ambulatory blood pressure compared with respective sham control groups. Improved trial design, selection of relevant patient cohorts, and optimized interventional procedures have likely contributed to these positive findings. However, substantial variability in the blood pressure response to renal denervation can still be observed and remains a challenging and important problem. The International Sympathetic Nervous System Summit was convened to bring together experts in both experimental and clinical medicine to discuss the current evidence base, novel developments in our understanding of neural interplay, procedural aspects, monitoring of technical success, and others. Identification of relevant trends in the field and initiation of tailored and combined experimental and clinical research efforts will help to address remaining questions and provide much-needed evidence to guide clinical use of renal denervation for hypertension treatment and other potential indications

The ERIS adaptive optics system

ERIS is the new AO instrument for VLT-UT4 led by a Consortium of Max-Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, UK-ATC, ETH-Zurich, ESO and INAF. The ERIS AO system provides NGS mode to deliver high contrast correction and LGS mode to extend high Strehl performance to large sky coverage. The AO module includes NGS and LGS wavefront sensors and, with VLT-AOF Deformable Secondary Mirror and Laser Facility, will provide AO correction to the high resolution imager NIX (1-5um) and the IFU spectrograph SPIFFIER (1-2.5um). In this paper we present the preliminary design of the ERIS AO system and the estimated correction performance

Human male gamete endocrinology: 1alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) regulates different aspects of human sperm biology and metabolism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A wider biological role of 1alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3), the active metabolite of vitamin D3, in tissues not primarily related to mineral metabolism was suggested. Recently, we evidenced the ultrastructural localization the 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor in the human sperm. However, the 1,25(OH)2D3 action in human male reproduction has not yet been clarified.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>By RT-PCR, Western blot and Immunofluorescence techniques, we demonstrated that human sperm expresses the 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor (VDR). Besides, 25(OH)D3-1 alpha-hydroxylase, evidenced by Western blot analysis, indicated that in sperm 1,25(OH)2D3 is locally produced, highlighting the potential for autocrine-paracrine responses. 1,25(OH)2D3 through VDR, increased intracellular Ca2+ levels, motility and acrosin activity revealing an unexpected significance of this hormone in the acquisition of fertilizing ability. In sperm, 1,25(OH)2D3 through VDR, reduces triglycerides content concomitantly to the increase of lipase activity. Rapid responses stimulated by 1,25(OH)2D3 have been observed on Akt, MAPK and GSK3 implying that this secosteroid is involved in different sperm signalling pathways.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data extended the role of 1,25(OH)2D3 beyond its conventional physiological actions, paving the way for novel therapeutic opportunities in the treatment of the male reproduction disorders.</p

The ERIS adaptive optics system: from design to hardware

ERIS is the new AO instrument for VLT-UT4 led by a Consortium of Max-Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, UK-ATC, ETH-Zurich, NOVA-Leiden, ESO and INAF. The ERIS AO system provides NGS mode to deliver high contrast correction and LGS mode to extend high Strehl performance to large sky coverage. The AO module includes NGS and LGS wavefront sensors and, with VLT-AOF Deformable Secondary Mirror and Laser Facility, will provide AO correction to the high resolution coronagraphic imager NIX (1-5um) and the IFU spectrograph SPIFFIER (1-2.5um). In this paper, we present the final design of the ERIS AO system and the status of the of current MAIV phase