Stability of Fiber Reinforced Sand Retaining Walls

A ten meter high retaining wall made by sands reinforced with continuous fibers was constructed in 1988. Thickness of the retaining wall was 1 mat the top and 2.5 m at the bottom, and the slope was 63° at the face and 71° at the back. Earth pressure acting on the wall, displacements of the face, settlements of the fill and acceleration of the retaining wall were measured. During the construction, around the third height of the wall was displaced 15 cm in a forward direction. At the time of an earthquake, the values of the maximum horizontal acceleration at the original ground surface and at the top of the retaining wall were recorded to be 95 gal and 200 gal respectively, and no damage was found. The relation between the increment of the earth pressure during earthquake and the movements of the wall and the fill is discussed

トクシマ ニオケル フクシマ ダイイチ ゲンシリョク ハツデンショ ジコ ニ トモナウ タイキチュウ ジンコウ ホウシャセイ カクシュ ノ ソクテイ

The airborne radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was measured in Tokushima, western Japan. The continuous monitoring has been carries out in Tokushima, Japan. From March 23, 2011 the fission product 131I was observed. The radioisotopes 134Cs and 137Cs were also observed in the beginning of April. However the densities were extremely smaller than the Japanese regulation of radioisotopes

Genomic surveillance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to investigate the distribution and evolution of antimicrobial-resistance determinants and lineages

The first extensively drug resistant (XDR) Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain with high resistance to the extended-spectrum cephalosporin ceftriaxone was identified in 2009 in Japan, but no other strain with this antimicrobial-resistance profile has been reported since. However, surveillance to date has been based on phenotypic methods and sequence typing, not genome sequencing. Therefore, little is known about the local population structure at the genomic level, and how resistance determinants and lineages are distributed and evolve. We analysed the whole-genome sequence data and the antimicrobial-susceptibility testing results of 204 strains sampled in a region where the first XDR ceftriaxone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae was isolated, complemented with 67 additional genomes from other time frames and locations within Japan. Strains resistant to ceftriaxone were not found, but we discovered a sequence type (ST)7363 sub-lineage susceptible to ceftriaxone and cefixime in which the mosaic penA allele responsible for reduced susceptibility had reverted to a susceptible allele by recombination. Approximately 85 % of isolates showed resistance to fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin) explained by linked amino acid substitutions at positions 91 and 95 of GyrA with 99 % sensitivity and 100 % specificity. Approximately 10 % showed resistance to macrolides (azithromycin), for which genetic determinants are less clear. Furthermore, we revealed different evolutionary paths of the two major lineages: single acquisition of penA X in the ST7363-associated lineage, followed by multiple independent acquisitions of the penA X and XXXIV in the ST1901-associated lineage. Our study provides a detailed picture of the distribution of resistance determinants and disentangles the evolution of the two major lineages spreading worldwide

Photoprecursor approach as an effective means for preparing multilayer organic semiconducting thin films by solution processes

[プレスリリース]「重ね塗り」で有機薄膜太陽電池を高性能化～光を当てると固まる材料使い、有効性を実証～プラスチック上にも作製可能 （2014/11/19）The vertical composition profile of active layer has a major effect on the performance of organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs). While stepwise deposition of different materials is a conceptually straightforward method for controlled preparation of multi-component active layers, it is practically challenging for solution processes because of dissolution of the lower layer. Herein, we overcome this difficulty by employing the photoprecursor approach, in which a soluble photoprecursor is solution-deposited then photoconverted in situ to a poorly soluble organic semiconductor. This approach enables solution-processing of the p-i-n triple-layer architecture that has been suggested to be effective in obtaining efficient OPVs. We show that, when 2,6-dithienylanthracene and a fullerene derivative PC71BM are used as donor and acceptor, respectively, the best p-i-n OPV affords a higher photovoltaic efficiency than the corresponding p-n device by 24% and bulk-heterojunction device by 67%. The photoprecursor approach is also applied to preparation of three-component p-i-n films containing another donor 2,6-bis(59-(2-ethylhexyl)-(2,29-bithiophen)-5-yl)anthracene in the i-layer to provide a nearly doubled efficiency as compared to the original two-component p-i-n system. These results indicate that the present approach can serve as an effective means for controlled preparation of well-performing multi-component active layers in OPVs and relatedorganic electronic devices

PICO-LON Project for WIMPs search

Highly segmented inorganic crystal has been shown to have good performance for dark matter search. The energy resolution of ultra thin and large area NaI(Tl) scintillator has been developed. The estimated sensitivity for spin-dependent excitation of 127I was discussed. The recent status of low background measurement at Oto Cosmo Observatory is reportedComment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Proceedings of TAUP200