Soil-Diaphragm Wall Interaction in Floating Dam

Stability of embankment dam with diaphragm cutoff wall constructed on riverbed sediment depends on structural behavior of local part around top of the wall. A numerical method to evaluate static and dynamic behavior of the part including earth pressure concentration is proposed and the validity is confirmed by comparison of numerical results of full construction process with observed ones in a prototype dam. Besides, in-situ vibration tests are performed on testing diaphragm wall constructed in dam site for banking test to reveal dynamic behavior of the wall. Furthermore, earthquake response analysis of whole structure is carried out to clarify behavior of a system of dam diaphragm wall and riverbed sediment during earthquake

DETERMINING AN EFFECTIVE STRETCHING TIME FOR ACHILLES TENDON EXTENSION

Stretching exercises are commonly undertaken for sports and rehabilitation. However, it is unknown how an in vivo muscle-tendon unit responds to added stretching stimulation. The purpose of this study was to determine an effective stretching time for Achilles tendon extension. The human medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle was stretched and ultrasonography was used to determine and then compare the length of the Achilles tendon between before and after stretching. Achilles tendon extension for one minute of stretching was 3.4±2.5mm, two 6.8±2.1mm, three 6.9±1.0mm, five 7.2±0.7mm, and ten 7.4±0.8mm. Achilles tendon length was significantly increased for up to two minutes of stretching (

Heat conduction induced by non-Gaussian athermal fluctuations

We study the properties of heat conduction induced by non-Gaussian noises from athermal environments. We find that new terms should be added to the conventional Fourier law and the fluctuation theorem for the heat current, where its average and fluctuation are determined not only by the noise intensities but also by the non-Gaussian nature of the noises. Our results explicitly show the absence of the zeroth law of thermodynamics in athermal systems.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, PRE in pres

Vascular endothelial growth factor as a non-invasive marker of pulmonary vascular remodeling in patients with bronchitis-type of COPD

BACKGROUND: Several studies have indicated that one of the most potent mediators involved in pulmonary vascular remodeling is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This study was designed to determine whether airway VEGF level reflects pulmonary vascular remodeling in patients with bronchitis-type of COPD. METHODS: VEGF levels in induced sputum were examined in 23 control subjects (12 non-smokers and 11 ex-smokers) and 29 patients with bronchitis-type of COPD. All bronchitis-type patients performed exercise testing with right heart catheterization. RESULTS: The mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) after exercise were markedly increased in all bronchitis-type patients. However, both parameters after exercise with breathing of oxygen was significantly lower than in those with breathing of room air. To attenuate the effect of hypoxia-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction during exercise, we used the change in mPAP or PVR during exercise with breathing of oxygen as a parameter of pulmonary vascular remodeling. Change in mPAP was significantly correlated with VEGF level in induced sputum from patients with chronic bronchitis (r = 0.73, p = 0.0001). Moreover, change in PVR was also correlated with VEGF level in those patients (r = 0.57, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: A close correlation between magnitude of pulmonary hypertension with exercise and VEGF level in bronchitis-type patients could be observed. Therefore, these findings suggest the possibility that VEGF level in induced sputum is a non-invasive marker of pulmonary vascular remodeling in patients with bronchitis-type of COPD

Topological phase separation in 2D quantum lattice Bose-Hubbard system away from half-filling

We suppose that the doping of the 2D hard-core boson system away from half-filling may result in the formation of multi-center topological inhomogeneity (defect) such as charge order (CO) bubble domain(s) with Bose superfluid (BS) and extra bosons both localized in domain wall(s), or a {\it topological} CO+BS {\it phase separation}, rather than an uniform mixed CO+BS supersolid phase. Starting from the classical model we predict the properties of the respective quantum system. The long-wavelength behavior of the system is believed to remind that of granular superconductors, CDW materials, Wigner crystals, and multi-skyrmion system akin in a quantum Hall ferromagnetic state of a 2D electron gas. To elucidate the role played by quantum effects and that of the lattice discreteness we have addressed the simplest nanoscopic counterpart of the bubble domain in a checkerboard CO phase of 2D hc-BH square lattice. It is shown that the relative magnitude and symmetry of multi-component order parameter are mainly determined by the sign of the $nn$ and $nnn$ transfer integrals. In general, the topologically inhomogeneous phase of the hc-BH system away from the half-filling can exhibit the signatures both of $s,d$, and $p$ symmetry of the off-diagonal order.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

On the vertical extent of the large low shear velocity province beneath the South Pacific Superswell

International audienceThe three-dimensional S-wave velocity structure beneath the South Pacific Superswell is obtained from joint broadband seismic experiments on the ocean floor and islands. We collected only approximately 800 relative times of long-period teleseismic SH-waves by using a waveform cross-correlation from 76 events occurring from January 2003 to May 2005. We conducted relative time tomography to obtain a 3D structure to depths of 1600 km. In the resultant image, we find a characteristic distribution of low- velocity regions. The most prominent features are a large doughnut-shaped low-velocity region at 800 km depth, and an elongated large low-velocity region beneath the Society to Pitcairn hotspots at 1200 km depth. Our model suggests that a large low shear velocity province rooted in the D00 extends upwards and culminates near the top of the lower mantle beneath the central part of the South Pacific Superswell although its perfect continuity is not still confirmed