The Case Record of Ba-Yu-Quan Anchor Slab Retaining Wall

Anchor slab retaining wall is a kind of retaining structure, which consists of prefabricated rib-columns, panel slabs, tie-bars and anchor slabs embedded in earth fill. Since the structure was first used and developed in China in 1974, many such structure have been built on railways and other engineering projects. The reviewer of Second International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering gave a comments about this structure as follows: Chinese method anchor slab the construction should interest the western world . Ba-Yu-Quan anchor slab retaining wall has been instrumented to measure the load on the tie-bar, the horizontal displacement of the rib-columns, the horizontal earth pressure acting at the panel slabs, and the backfill settlement at different positions. This paper presents project description, construction of the project, data obtained from field observations and the comparison result with analysis and predicted values

Statistics of Lyapunov exponent in one-dimensional layered systems

Localization of acoustic waves in a one dimensional water duct containing many randomly distributed air filled blocks is studied. Both the Lyapunov exponent and its variance are computed. Their statistical properties are also explored extensively. The results reveal that in this system the single parameter scaling is generally inadequate no matter whether the frequency we consider is located in a pass band or in a band gap. This contradicts the earlier observations in an optical case. We compare the results with two optical cases and give a possible explanation of the origin of the different behaviors.Comment: 6 pages revtex file, 6 eps figure

Coupling of Light and Mechanics in a Photonic Crystal Waveguide

Observations of thermally driven transverse vibration of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) are reported. The PCW consists of two parallel nanobeams with a 240 nm vacuum gap between the beams. Models are developed and validated for the transduction of beam motion to phase and amplitude modulation of a weak optical probe propagating in a guided mode (GM) of the PCW for probe frequencies far from and near to the dielectric band edge. Since our PCW has been designed for near-field atom trapping, this research provides a foundation for evaluating possible deleterious effects of thermal motion on optical atomic traps near the surfaces of PCWs. Longer term goals are to achieve strong atom-mediated links between individual phonons of vibration and single photons propagating in the GMs of the PCW, thereby enabling opto-mechanics at the quantum level with atoms, photons, and phonons. The experiments and models reported here provide a basis for assessing such goals, including sensing mechanical motion at the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL).Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure

Brassinosteroids Regulate Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in the Ripening of Grape Berries

Anthocyanins are important components in the skins of grapes and in the development of wine colour.Various environmental factors cause poor coloration in some areas, even for the same cultivars planted indifferent production areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of exogenous brassinosteroids(BR) on the accumulation of anthocyanins and gene expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis in wine grapeberry skins. The results show that total anthocyanin content in BR-treated grapes was higher than that inthe control (CT) grapes, and that 0.4 mg/L was the most effective treatment concentration. The effect ofBR on downstream genes was more effective than that on upstream genes. Full coloration of BR-treatedgrapes was achieved seven days earlier than in the case of CT. Moreover, BR enhanced the transcriptlevel of the downstream genes of anthocyanin biosynthesis, which caused the total anthocyanin contentto increase. The induction of structural and regulatory genes of the flavonoid pathway suggests that theinterrelationships between developmental and environmental signalling pathways were magnified by BRtreatment, which actively promoted fruit coloration, namely anthocyanin biosynthesis

Reduced volume and reflection for bright optical tweezers with radial Laguerre–Gauss beams

Spatially structured light has opened a wide range of opportunities for enhanced imaging as well as optical manipulation and particle confinement. Here, we show that phase-coherent illumination with superpositions of radial Laguerre–Gauss (LG) beams provides improved localization for bright optical tweezer traps, with narrowed radial and axial intensity distributions. Further, the Gouy phase shifts for sums of tightly focused radial LG fields can be exploited for phase-contrast strategies at the wavelength scale. One example developed here is the suppression of interference fringes from reflection near nanodielectric surfaces, with the promise of improved cold-atom delivery and manipulation

Reduced volume and reflection for bright optical tweezers with radial Laguerre–Gauss beams

Spatially structured light has opened a wide range of opportunities for enhanced imaging as well as optical manipulation and particle confinement. Here, we show that phase-coherent illumination with superpositions of radial Laguerre–Gauss (LG) beams provides improved localization for bright optical tweezer traps, with narrowed radial and axial intensity distributions. Further, the Gouy phase shifts for sums of tightly focused radial LG fields can be exploited for phase-contrast strategies at the wavelength scale. One example developed here is the suppression of interference fringes from reflection near nanodielectric surfaces, with the promise of improved cold-atom delivery and manipulation

Simulations of magnetic and magnetoelastic properties of Tb2Ti2O7 in paramagnetic phase

Magnetic and magnetoelastic properties of terbium titanate pyrochlore in paramagnetic phase are simulated. The magnetic field and temperature dependences of magnetization and forced magnetostriction in Tb2Ti2O7 single crystals and polycrystalline samples are calculated in the framework of exchange charge model of crystal field theory and a mean field approximation. The set of electron-deformation coupling constants has been determined. Variations of elastic constants with temperature and applied magnetic field are discussed. Additional strong softening of the crystal lattice at liquid helium temperatures in the magnetic field directed along the rhombic symmetry axis is predicted.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 2 table