Analytical Method for Seismic Bearing Capacity of Stone-Column Reinforced Shallow Foundations

Stone-columns is a useful method for increasing bearing capacity and reducing settlement of foundation soil subjected to structure loading. For stone-column construction, 15 to 35 percent of weak soil volume is usually replaced with stone-column material. Such columns may be constructed with various diameters, lengths, and center-to-center distances. This paper presents a simple method to determine the seismic bearing capacity of stone-column reinforced shallow foundation. For this purpose, a simple failure surface is assumed to characterize the failure stage of the stone column and soil materials using the concept of lateral active and passive earth pressures. The well known Mononobe-Okabe approach is used to represent seismic effects of soil lateral earth pressures. The results show that with increasing the earthquake intensity, the foundation bearing capacity decreases. Parametric studies will be presented to illustrate the role of contributing parameters such as geotechnical data of stone column material, foundation geometry, native soil specification, and earthquake details

Diet-dependent regulation of labial salivary genes in the beet armyworm, «Spodoptera exigua»

The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, has evolved numerous mechanisms to circumvent plant defense responses. One of these mechanisms is believed to involve the activity of labial salivary glucose oxidase (GOX) which, through the production of hydrogen peroxide, interferes with plant induced defenses. The activity of GOX is diet-dependent. The expression of SeGox and another salivary gene, Se1H, are differentially regulated in response to diet (plant or transfer from plant to wheat-germ based artificial diet for 4 hours), but not in response to chemically defined artificial diets varying in protein to digestible carbohydrate ratios. However, GOX enzyme activity is dependent on the nutrient quality of the chemically defined artificial diets. This suggests that nutritional quality controls enzyme activity through post-transcriptional regulation. To simulate natural plant diets, Medicago truncatula plants were grown under ambient (440 ppm) or elevated (880 ppm) carbon dioxide conditions to alter their C:N ratio. When caterpillars were fed these plants, labial salivary GOX activity was undetectable regardless of the plant treatment. Finally, 5' upstream regions of salivary genes Se1H, Se2J and SeGox were amplified to determine potential upstream promoter elements, but were unable to be sequenced due to amplicon contamination.La chenille de Spodoptera exigua est capable de nourrir sur les plantes malgré ses défenses anti-herbivores, grâce à des enzymes salivaires. Un de ces enzymes salivaires capable de combattre les defenses, glucose oxidase (GOX), est aussi régulé par la diète avec laquelle la chenille se nourrit. Il est donc important d'identifier la réglementation des produits salivaires comme GOX. Ce projet vise à déterminer les tendances de transcription et d'activité enzymatique de trois gènes salivaires (Se1H, Se2J et SeGox) en réponse de différentes diètes. De plus, les régions en amont des gènes salivaires ont tentées être séquencer afin de trouver des promoteurs putatives. Les résultats ont démontré que les trois gènes ne sont pas régulées transcriptionellement, mais que l'activité enzymatique de GOX dépend de la qualité nutritive des diètes. Cependant, les régions en amont des trois gènes n'ont pas pu être séquencé à cause de raisons de contaminations et d'amplification imprécises

B2B sales: Is there a dark side to value creation?

A general belief among practitioners and scholars is that value creation is the key to successful relationships and superior individual and organizational performance. There are different ways through which value is created for customers. While no one can deny the importance of value creation, treating it as the “holy grail” seems shortsighted. The purpose of this research is to explore some potential downsides of value creation both at the selling organization level and salesperson level. Building on different quantitative methods and a qualitative exploration, this study (1) confirms that the unintended consequences of value-creating activities could be harmful to the customer and selling organization and (2) offers potential solutions for this problem at different levels. The first research utilizes CRM data from a U.S.-based consulting firm and knowledge creation theory to explore (for the first time in the literature) the effects of a customized customer solution on buying organization outcomes. The results suggest that customized customer solutions could impact different customer outcomes positively or negatively, and the speed of implementation and the perceived potential value could impact this relationship. The second research, building on experimental designs and conviction narrative theory, investigates the impact of organizational strategic emphasis on salespeople’s escalation of commitment behavior. The results show that when the organization's focus is on value creation (vs. value appropriation), salespeople are more likely to escalate their commitment to a customer account. Our findings indicate that using artificial intelligence for selling tasks such as lead generation and qualification can mitigate this problem. Moreover, we find that a salesperson’s hunting orientation could play a role in reducing the escalation of commitment in cases where value creation is the organizational emphasis

Stabilization and Reinforcement of Slope With Geogrid: A Case Study

This paper presents a case study example of appropriate method selection of stabilization and reinforcement of slope by introducing engineering and economical aspects. Introduced slope is located in science and research campus of Islamic Azad University (IAU) in north of Tehran with height of 4-29 m and length of 370 m. A big building with 9 floors and total area of 70000 square meters is located upper and near edge of slope, so that existence of this building has increased sensitivity of projects design and construction method. Slope is located in vulnerable area with a high risk of seismicity based of 6th Iranian building code. In addition primarily geotechnical site investigation is reported existing of 13 different geotechnical zones of rock mass with R.Q.D less than 10% and slope wash and fill material. A second expanded series of site investigations program have been performed to obtain better geotechnical resolution and information about slope. In this project, in addition of stabilization of slope, architectural aspects of slope’s stabilization system was very important, so that, capability of green face for slope and vegetate of small trees and grass in berms introduced in design, in addition slope should have a compliance with vicinity of existing project. By introducing of seismicity of project location and economy, stabilization and reinforcement of slope by geogrid material is selected for this project in comparison other excising methods. More detailed information about geological and geotechnical of site condition are presented in paper

A variant allele of Growth Factor Independence 1 (GFI1) is associated with acute myeloid leukemia.

Item does not contain fulltextThe GFI1 gene encodes a transcriptional repressor, which regulates myeloid differentiation. In the mouse, Gfi1 deficiency causes neutropenia and an accumulation of granulomonocytic precursor cells that is reminiscent of a myelodysplastic syndrome. We report here that a variant allele of GFI1 (GFI1(36N)) is associated with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in white subjects with an odds ratio of 1.6 (P < 8 x 10(-5)). The GFI1(36N) variant occurred in 1806 AML patients with an allele frequency of 0.055 compared with 0.035 in 1691 healthy control patients in 2 independent cohorts. We observed that both GFI1 variants maintain the same activity as transcriptional repressors but differ in their regulation by the AML1/ETO (RUNX1/RUNX1T1) fusion protein produced in AML patients with a t(8;21) translocation. AML1/ETO interacts and colocalizes with the more common GFI1(36S) form in the nucleus and inhibits its repressor activity. However, the variant GFI1(36N) protein has a different subnuclear localization than GFI1(36S). As a consequence, AML1/ETO does not colocalize with GFI1(36N) and is unable to inhibit its repressor activity. We conclude that both variants of GFI1 differ in their ability to be regulated by interacting proteins and that the GFI1(36N) variant form exhibits distinct biochemical features that may confer a predisposition to AML