Signature of Shallow Potentials in Deep Sub-barrier Fusion Reactions

We extend a recent study that explained the steep falloff in the fusion cross section at energies far below the Coulomb barrier for the symmetric dinuclear system 64Ni+64Ni to another symmetric system, 58Ni+58Ni, and the asymmetric system 64Ni+100Mo. In this scheme the very sensitive dependence of the internal part of the nuclear potential on the nuclear equation of state determines a reduction of the classically allowed region for overlapping configurations and consequently a decrease in the fusion cross sections at bombarding energies far below the barrier. Within the coupled-channels method, including couplings to the low-lying 2+ and 3- states in both target and projectile as well as mutual and two-phonon excitations of these states, we calculate and compare with the experimental fusion cross sections, S-factors, and logarithmic derivatives for the above mentioned systems and find good agreement with the data even at the lowest energies. We predict, in particular, a distinct double peaking in the S-factor for the far subbarrier fusion of 58Ni+58Ni which should be tested experimentally.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Fault morphology and paleoseismology of the İzmit-Sapanca Lake segment on North Anatolian Fault

The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is one of the most destructive fault zones of the world and it lies throughout the northern Turkey with 1500 km length nearly in east-west trending arc shape. It is almost totally broken with large earthquakes during 20th century except two main seismic gaps: Yedisu seismic gap in the east and Marmara seismic gap in the west. The last destructive earthquakes occurred in the eastern Marmara region in 17 August and 12 November 1999 and 150 km and 50 km sections of the NAF were ruptured between Yalova and Düzce respectively. North Anatolian Fault has a relatively narrow deformation zone between Erzincan and Bolu, but it bifurcates to the west of Bolu and separates different main tectonic and morphological units from each other in the eastern Marmara Region. These units are; İstanbul-Zonguldak Zone (or Kocaeli peneplain in morphotectonic manner), Armutlu-Almacık Zone (Armutlu-Almacık High or Samanlı Mountains in morphotectonic manner) and Sakarya Continent (or Bursa-Bilecik relief in morphotectonic manner). Between the Gulf of İzmit and the Sapanca Lake the NAF follows an elongated depression and constitutes the boundary between Kocaeli peneplain and the Samanlı Mountains. The 17 August 1999 earthquake ruptured five segments on NAF between Yalova and Gölyaka (Düzce). These segments are named as Yalova, Karamürsel-Gölcük, İzmit-Sapanca Lake, Sapanca-Akyazı and Karadere from west to east. The surface rupture of 1999 İzmit earthquake between the Gulf of İzmit and the Sapanca Lake, the İzmit-Sapanca Lake segment, has mainly followed this elongated depressional morphology. The morphologic features, observed along the surface rupture, indicate that the surface rupture of 1999 İzmit earthquake was also followed by past earthquakes. These features are elongated ridges, offset streams and hills, sag ponds and depressional areas. In the eastern part of the Gulf of İzmit, in the southwestern part of Kullar village, Yaylacık Hill is offset as 420 m by the fault. The measured offset of the river next to the Yaylacık Hill is 380 m in minimum and 450 m in maximum. To the east, Sarımeşe Hill, on the south of Sarımeşe village, is mapped as an elongated ridge. The right step-overs on the west and east of Tepetarla village are represented by depressional swampy areas. To the eastwards, around Acısu village, the deflected streams and the sag ponds are the results of long-term activity of the NAF in the region. The comparison of the measured offset along the segment and the slip rates derived from recent GPS measurements reveals that the NAF has been active along the same traces at least since 20.000 years on İzmit-Sapanca Lake segment. In order to determine the past earthquakes that ruptured the segment, a trench is excavated on the eastern part of the İzmit-Sapanca Lake segment, east side of Acısu village, where the surface rupture follows the northern slope of an east-west trending ridge. On the trench site, 1999 İzmit earthquake surface rupture trends N85ºE direction as two branches and limits a depressed area which is located on the easternmost part of the site. The trench, with a length of 21 m and a maximum depth of 2,5 m, is excavated perpendicular to these two branches of the surface rupture. The stratigraphy of the trench is dominated by clay layers which have different physical properties. According to the stratigraphical and structural relationships three past event horizons are mapped in the trench. The event horizons are dated with radiocarbon dating (C14) of two charcoal samples. The youngest event horizon (ACSP-1) is before A.D.1300 and should represent an earthquake which happened around A.D.1000’s. Merging the results of previous paleoseismic investigations on the segment and correlation with historical records, 26 October 989 earthquake is a good candidate for this event horizon. The older event (ACSP-2) is before A.D.1300 and after A.D.79-140 dates. According to the calculated sedimantation velocity for the trench site with only these two dates, this event horizon may reveal the 15 August 554 historical earthquake. The oldest event horizon (ACSP-3) observed in the trench is before A.D.79-140 according to radiocarbon dating. The A.D.120 historical earthquake, which caused a considerable damage on the region is a possible earthquake for this event horizon. Keywords: North Anatolian Fault, 1999 İzmit earthquake, paleoseismology, fault morphology, İzmit-Sapanca Lake segment.Doğu Marmara Bölgesi’nde Kuzey Anadolu Fayı (KAF), Bolu’dan batıya doğru çatallanarak kollara ayrılır ve farklı ana morfotektonik üniteleri sınırlar. Bu üniteler; Kocaeli penepleni, Çamdağ-Akçakoca yükselimi, Adapazarı-Karasu koridoru, Armutlu yarımadasında yer alan Samanlı Dağları ve doğusundaki Almacık dağından oluşan Armutlu-Almacık yükselimi ile KAF zonudur. İzmit-Sapanca Gölü arasında KAF bir oluk morfolojisini takip eder ve kuzeyde ve güneyde iki farklı özellikte morfolojik alanı birbirinden ayırır. Kocaeli penepleni olarak anılan kuzey kesim oldukça yumuşak bir topografya sunar ve ortalama yüksekliği 250-300 m civarındadır. Güney kesimde ise, Samanlı Dağları, kuzeye göre oldukça yüksek bir topografya izlenir ve bu kesimdeki en yüksek nokta olan Kel Tepe 1602 m yüksekliğindedir. İzmit Körfezi ile Sapanca Gölü arasında kalan bölgede, 1999 İzmit depremi yüzey kırığı yaklaşık doğu batı yönde izlenen bu oluk morfolojisini takip etmiştir. Yüzey kırığı boyunca izlenen uzamış sırt, ötelenmiş dere ve tepeler, fay gölcükleri ve çöküntü alanları faylanmanın bir süredir bu güzergâhı takip ettiğini göstermektedir. Güncel GPS gözlemlerinden elde edilen kayma hızı değerlerine göre bu yapılar, İzmit-Sapanca Gölü segmenti üzerinde en az 20.000 yıldır KAF tarafından takip edilmiş olmalıdır. Segmentin doğu kesiminde eski deprem belirleme amacıyla açılan hendekte izlenen stratigrafik ve yapısal ilişkilerin değerlendirilmesi sonucunda 1999 İzmit depremi öncesi üç eski deprem seviyesi gözlenmiştir. Gözlenen eski deprem seviyeleri, tarihsel depremlerden M.S.120, 15 Ağustos 554 ve 26 Ekim 989 depremleri ile deneştirilmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kuzey Anadolu Fayı, 1999 İzmit depremi, paleosismoloji, fay morfolojisi, İzmit-Sapanca Gölü segmenti

Paleoseismology of the North Anatolian Fault at Güzelköy (Ganos segment, Turkey): Size and recurrence time of earthquake ruptures west of the Sea of Marmara

International audienceThe Ganos fault is the westernmost segment of the North Anatolian Fault that experienced the Mw = 7.4 earthquake of 9 August 1912. The earthquake revealed 45-km-long of surface ruptures inland, trending N70 E, and 5.5 m of maximum right lateral offset near Güzelköy. The long-term deformation of the fault is clearly expressed by several pull-apart basins and sag ponds, pressure and shutter ridges and offset streams. In parallel with detailed geomorphologic investigations, we measured co-seismic and cumulative displacements along the fault, and selected the Güzelköy site for paleoseismology. A microtopographic survey at the site yields 10.5 AE 0.5 m and 35.4 AE 1.5 m cumulative lateral offsets of stream channels and geomorphologic features. Seven paleoseismic parallel and cross-fault trenches document successive faulting events and provide the timing of past earthquakes on the Ganos fault segment. Radiocarbon dating of successive colluvial wedges in trench T1, and the fresh scarplet above (probably 1912 surface rupture) indicate the occurrence of three faulting events since the 14th century. Parallel trenches (3, 5, 6 and 7) expose paleo-channels and show a cumulative right-lateral offset of 16.5 AE 1.5 m next to the fault, and 21.3 AE 1.5 m total channel deflection. Radiocarbon dating of past channel units and fault scarp-related colluvial deposits imply an average 17 +/À 5 mm/year slip rate and 323 AE 142 years recurrence interval of large earthquakes during the last 1000 years on the Ganos fault. The succession of past faulting events and inferred slip rate west of the Marmara Sea provide more constraint on the long-term faulting behavior in the seismic gap of the North Anatolian Fault and may contribute to a better seismic hazard assessment in the Istanbul region

A Novel Feature Extraction Descriptor for Face Recognition

This paper presents a new feature extraction technique for face recognition. The new model, called multi-descriptor, is based on the well-known method of local binary patterns. It involves many different neighborhoods of the central pixel. Its unique advantage is that this descriptor allows the use of different neighborhood sizes instead of only one point. This structure ensures reasonable effectiveness and also provides the possibility to obtain a different distribution of features. Based on the new descriptor, a face recognition model using the pairwise feature descriptor based on the proposed descriptor was developed in this work, and local binary patterns were created to investigate the similarity and dissimilarity between the two models. For both models, the training was done using the support vector machine method on different face databases to overcome face recognition problems such as camera distance, expression, large head size, and illumination variations. The proposed technique achieved perfect accuracy on almost all tested databases including the Extended Yale B and Grimace database

Metastatic Serous Carcinoma Initially Presented As An Incarcerated And Strangulated Umbilical Hernia: A Rare Case Report

Introduction: We report a rare case of a metastatic serous ovarian carcinoma presented as an incarcerated and strangulated umbilical hernia.Presentation of case: A 54 year-old female was admitted to the hospital with a painful mass around the umblical region. It was elucidated during clinical history that the mass had been present for 3 to 4 years without pain. An incarcerated and strangulated umbilical hernia including a solid mass and mesenteric fat was detected on physical examination. She underwent an urgent operation for strangulated umbilical hernia. The pathological diagnosis of the hernia material was reported as carcinoma compatible with serous ovarian carcinoma metastasis. Concurrently, total abdominal histerectomy and bilateral salphingo-oopherectomy, pelvic and paraaortic lymph node dissection, omentectomy and sigmoid colon resection were performed. Histopathological evaluation confirmed the serous carcinoma originated from the left ovary.Conclusion: In the literature, some metastatic tumors have been reported to be presented as umbilical metastasis rarely. However, the present case is the first metastatic ovarian cancer that initially presented as an incarcerated and strangulated umbilical hernia in the literature, to the best of our knowledge. 

Detailed Investigation of Glass Balustrade in Kashirskaya Shopping Mall Project

Glass balustrade construction, envisaged for architectural considerations, was utilised in Kashirskaya shopping center in Moscow, Russia. Modifications were required in the manufacturer's design, to be further verified by full scale tests, on the most used largest sized panels. 3-D finite element computer model of glass balustrades and connection members were formed and ultimate capacity and service limit calculations were made according to the related regulations. Results were compared with the experiments carried out on full-scale glass balustrades tested at METU Structural Mechanics Laboratory

The cardioprotective mechanism of phenylaminoethyl selenides (PAESe) against doxorubicin-Induced cardiotoxicity involves frataxin

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline cancer chemotherapeutic that exhibits cumulative dose-limiting cardiotoxicity and limits its clinical utility. DOX treatment results in the development of morbid cardiac hypertrophy that progresses to congestive heart failure and death. Recent evidence suggests that during the development of DOX mediated cardiac hypertrophy, mitochondrial energetics are severely compromised, thus priming the cardiomyocyte for failure. To mitigate cumulative dose (5 mg/kg, QIW x 4 weeks with 2 weeks recovery) dependent DOX, mediated cardiac hypertrophy, we applied an orally active selenium based compound termed phenylaminoethyl selenides (PAESe) (QIW 10 mg/kg x 5) to our animal model and observed that PAESe attenuates DOX-mediated cardiac hypertrophy in athymic mice, as observed by MRI analysis. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that DOX impedes the stability of the iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis protein Frataxin (FXN) (0.5 fold), resulting in enhanced mitochondrial free iron accumulation (2.5 fold) and reduced aconitase activity (0.4 fold). Our findings further indicate that PAESe prevented the reduction of FXN levels and the ensuing elevation of mitochondrial free iron levels. PAESe has been shown to have anti-oxidative properties in part, by regeneration of glutathione levels. Therefore, we observed that PAESe can mitigate DOX mediated cardiac hypertrophy by enhancing glutathione activity (0.4 fold) and inhibiting ROS formation (1.8 fold). Lastly, we observed that DOX significantly reduced cellular respiration (basal (5%) and uncoupled (10%)) in H9C2 cardiomyoblasts and that PAESe protects against the DOX-mediated attenuation of cellular respiration. In conclusion, the current study determined the protective mechanism of PAESe against DOX mediated myocardial damage and that FXN is implicitly involved in DOX-mediated cardiotoxicity

Isospin structure of one- and two-phonon GDR excitations

Isospin is included in the description of Coulomb excitation of multiple giant isovector dipole resonances. In the excitation of even-even nuclei, a relevant portion of the excitation strength is shown to be associated with 1+ two-phonon states, which tends to be hindered or completely supressed in calculations in which the isospin degree of freedom is not considered. We find that the excitation cross sections is strongly dependent on the ground state isospin.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Hepatocyte-specific contrast-enhanced MRI findings of focal nodular hyperplasia-like nodules in the liver following chemotherapy in pediatric cancer patients

PURPOSEWe aimed to assess the MRI findings and follow-up of multiple focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH)- like lesions in pediatric cancer patients diagnosed by imaging findings.METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed clinical data and MRI examinations of 16 pediatric patients, who had been scanned using gadoxetate disodium (n=13) and gadobenate dimeglumine (n=3). Hepatic nodules were reviewed according to their number, size, contour, T1- and T2-weighted signal intensities, arterial, portal, delayed and hepatobiliary phase enhancement patterns. Follow-up images were evaluated for nodule size, number, and appearance.RESULTSAll 16 patients received chemotherapy in due course. Time interval between the initial diagnosis of cancer and detection of the hepatic nodule was 2–14 years. Three patients had a single lesion, 13 patients had multiple nodules. The median size of the largest nodules was 19.5 mm (range, 8–41 mm). Among 16 patients that received hepatocyte-specific agents, FNH-like nodules appeared hyperintense in 11 and isointense in 5 on the hepatobiliary phase. During follow-up, increased number and size of the nodules were seen in 4 patients. The nodules showed growth between 6–15 mm.CONCLUSIONLiver MRI using hepatocyte-specific agents is a significant imaging method for the diagnosis of FNH-like lesions, which can occur in a variety of diseases. Lesions can increase in size and number in pediatric patients