Potential of Vibration Studies in the Soil Characterization Around Power Plants – A Case Study

Propagation characteristics of waves generated by the various sources of vibration can be dependent on the type of the generated waves, which can be accessed by measuring particle motion in vertical, longitudinal and transverse direction. The monitoring of motion in three directions on the ground surface and in depth is important for the characterization of propagating waves. Vibrations of the machine foundations induce elastic waves in soil, which may affect surrounding buildings. Generally, the attenuation of vibrations on surface is composed of two factors namely geometric damping and material damping. The paper is an experimental investigation with regard to the ground vibrations and its attenuation during the operation of power plants. The study helps in characterizing the soil around a power plant. The investigation was carried out on two power plants, which runs at the same frequency, and soil characterization was done based on the study. Measurements were taken on the level ground for the harmonic waves generated from the diesel power plant. Study is found to be helpful in characterizing the soil based on the frequency independent material damping coefficients, low amplitude shear modulus etc. on the plant premises. The effect of these vibrations on adjoining areas can be well predicted based on the soil medium

A Study of Dynamic Pile-Soil Interaction

The paper discusses briefly the state of art on the subject of pile dynamics including consideration of soil-pile interaction. An analytical model which gives the response of a single pile buried in a layered soil medium considering variation in soil properties in the radial direction in each layer is illustrated. The paper also presents an experimental study on a full size test pile 40 cm dia and 7 m long driven into a five layered soil stratum. The results of the analytical and experimental studies are compared and suggestions for further work are given

Reduction of Large Seismic Deformations using Elasto-plastic Passive Energy Dissipaters

The design of supporting systems for pipelines carrying highly toxic or radioactive liquids at very high temperature, is an important issue in the safety aspect for a nuclear power installation. These pipeline systems are normally designed to be held rigid by conventional snubber supports for protection from earthquake. The pipeline system design must balance the seismic deformations and other deformations due to thermal effect. A rigid pipeline system using conventional snubber supports always leads to an increase in thermal stresses, hence a rational seismic design for pipeline supporting systems becomes essential. Contrary to this rigid design, it is possible to design a flexible pipeline system and to decrease the seismic response by increasing the damping using passive energy absorbing (PEA) element, which dissipates vibration energy. An X-shaped or a hourglass-shaped metal element is a classic example of elasto-plastic passive energy absorber of metallic yielding type. The inherent ductile property of metals like steel, which undergoes stable energy dissipation in the plastic region, is made use of in achieving energy loss. This paper presents the experimental and analytical studies carried out on yielding-type elasto-plastic PEA elements to be used in a passive energy dissipating device for the control of large seismic deformations of pipelines subjected to earthquake loading

4-Chloro-2,5-dimethyl­quinoline

Mol­ecules of the title compound, C11H10ClN, are essentially planar (r.m.s. deviation for all non-H atoms = 0.009 Å) and are stacked along the a axis with the centroids of the benzene and pyridine rings alternately separated by 3.649 (1) and 3.778 (1) Å

Anti-tumor activity mediated by protein and peptide transduction of HIV viral protein R (Vpr)

Peptides that are capable of traversing the cell membrane, via protein transduction domains (PTDs), are attractive either directly as drugs or indirectly as carriers for the delivery of therapeutic molecules. One such PTD, a HIV-1 Tat derived peptide has successfully delivered a variety of "cargoes" including proteins, peptides and nucleic acids into cells. There also exists other naturally occurring membrane permeable peptides which have potential as PTDs. Specifically, one of the accessory proteins of HIV (viral protein R; i.e., Vpr), which is important in controlling viral pathogenesis, possesses cell transduction domain characteristics. Related to these characteristics, Vpr has also been demonstrated to induce cell cycle arrest and host/target cell apoptosis, suggesting a potential anticancer activity for this protein. In this report we assessed the ability of Vpr protein or peptides, with or without conjugation to a PTD, to mediate anti-cancer activity against several tumor cell lines. Specifically, several Vpr peptides spanning carboxy amino acids 65-83 induced significant (i.e., greater than 50%) in vitro growth inhibition/toxicity of murine B16.F10 melanoma cells. Likewise, in in vitro experiments with other tumor cell lines, conjugation of Vpr to the Tat derived PTD and transfection of this construct into cells enhanced the induction of in vitro apoptosis by this protein when compared to the effects of transfection of cells with unconjugated Vpr. These results underscore the potential for Vpr based reagents as well as PTDs to enhance anti-tumor activity, and warrants further examination of Vpr protein and derived peptides as potential therapeutic agents against progressive cell proliferative diseases such as cancer. ©2009 Landes Bioscience

A DNA Vaccine against Chikungunya Virus Is Protective in Mice and Induces Neutralizing Antibodies in Mice and Nonhuman Primates

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging mosquito-borne alphavirus indigenous to tropical Africa and Asia. Acute illness is characterized by fever, arthralgias, conjunctivitis, rash, and sometimes arthritis. Relatively little is known about the antigenic targets for immunity, and no licensed vaccines or therapeutics are currently available for the pathogen. While the Aedes aegypti mosquito is its primary vector, recent evidence suggests that other carriers can transmit CHIKV thus raising concerns about its spread outside of natural endemic areas to new countries including the U.S. and Europe. Considering the potential for pandemic spread, understanding the development of immunity is paramount to the development of effective counter measures against CHIKV. In this study, we isolated a new CHIKV virus from an acutely infected human patient and developed a defined viral challenge stock in mice that allowed us to study viral pathogenesis and develop a viral neutralization assay. We then constructed a synthetic DNA vaccine delivered by in vivo electroporation (EP) that expresses a component of the CHIKV envelope glycoprotein and used this model to evaluate its efficacy. Vaccination induced robust antigen-specific cellular and humoral immune responses, which individually were capable of providing protection against CHIKV challenge in mice. Furthermore, vaccine studies in rhesus macaques demonstrated induction of nAb responses, which mimicked those induced in convalescent human patient sera. These data suggest a protective role for nAb against CHIKV disease and support further study of envelope-based CHIKV DNA vaccines

HIV-1 Vpr Triggers Mitochondrial Destruction by Impairing Mfn2-Mediated ER-Mitochondria Interaction

Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) viral protein R (Vpr) has been shown to induce host cell death by increasing the permeability of mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM). The mechanism underlying the damage to the mitochondria by Vpr, however, is not clearly illustrated. In this study, Vpr that is introduced, via transient transfection or lentivirus infection, into the human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293, human CD4+ T lymphoblast cell line SupT1, or human primary CD4+ T cells serves as the model system to study the molecular mechanism of Vpr-mediated HIV-1 pathogenesis. The results show that Vpr injures MOM and causes a loss in membrane potential (MMP) by posttranscriptionally reducing the expression of mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) via VprBP-DDB1-CUL4A ubiquitin ligase complex, gradually weakening MOM, and increasing mitochondrial deformation. Vpr also markedly decreases cytoplasmic levels of dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) and increases bulging in mitochondria-associated membranes (MAM), the specific regions of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) which form physical contacts with the mitochondria. Overexpression of Mfn2 and DRP1 significantly decreased the loss of MMP and apoptotic cell death caused by Vpr. Furthermore, by employing time-lapse confocal fluorescence microscopy, we identify the transport of Vpr protein from the ER, via MAM to the mitochondria. Taken together, our results suggest that Vpr-mediated cellular damage may occur on an alternative protein transport pathway from the ER, via MAM to the mitochondria, which are modulated by Mfn2 and DRP1

Anti-Cancer Effect of HIV-1 Viral Protein R on Doxorubicin Resistant Neuroblastoma

Several unique biological features of HIV-1 Vpr make it a potentially powerful agent for anti-cancer therapy. First, Vpr inhibits cell proliferation by induction of cell cycle G2 arrest. Second, it induces apoptosis through multiple mechanisms, which could be significant as it may be able to overcome apoptotic resistance exhibited by many cancerous cells, and, finally, Vpr selectively kills fast growing cells in a p53-independent manner. To demonstrate the potential utility of Vpr as an anti-cancer agent, we carried out proof-of-concept studies in vitro and in vivo. Results of our preliminary studies demonstrated that Vpr induces cell cycle G2 arrest and apoptosis in a variety of cancer types. Moreover, the same Vpr effects could also be detected in some cancer cells that are resistant to anti-cancer drugs such as doxorubicin (DOX). To further illustrate the potential value of Vpr in tumor growth inhibition, we adopted a DOX-resistant neuroblastoma model by injecting SK-N-SH cells into C57BL/6N and C57BL/6J-scid/scid mice. We hypothesized that Vpr is able to block cell proliferation and induce apoptosis regardless of the drug resistance status of the tumors. Indeed, production of Vpr via adenoviral delivery to neuroblastoma cells caused G2 arrest and apoptosis in both drug naïve and DOX-resistant cells. In addition, pre-infection or intratumoral injection of vpr-expressing adenoviral particles into neuroblastoma tumors in SCID mice markedly inhibited tumor growth. Therefore, Vpr could possibly be used as a supplemental viral therapeutic agent for selective inhibition of tumor growth in anti-cancer therapy especially when other therapies stop working