Estimation of Fracture Toughness of Anisotropic Rocks by Semi-Circular Bend (SCB) Tests Under Water Vapor Pressure

In order to investigate the influence of water vapor pressure in the surrounding environment on mode I fracture toughness (KIc) of rocks, semi-circular bend (SCB) tests under various water vapor pressures were conducted. Water vapor is one of the most effective agents which promote stress corrosion of rocks. The range of water vapor pressure used was 10−2 to 103 Pa, and two anisotropic rock types, African granodiorite and Korean granite, were used in this work. The measurement of elastic wave velocity and observation of thin sections of these rocks were performed to investigate the microstructures of the rocks. It was found that the distribution of inherent microcracks and grains have a preferred orientation. Two types of specimens in different orientations, namely Type-1 and Type-3, were prepared based on the anisotropy identified by the differences in the elastic wave velocity. KIc of both rock types was dependent on the water vapor pressure in the surrounding environment and decreased with increasing water vapor pressure. It was found that the degree of the dependence is influenced by the orientation and density of inherent microcracks. The experimental results also showed that KIc depended on the material anisotropy. A fracture process was discussed on the basis of the geometry of fractures within fractured specimens visualized by the X-ray computed tomography (CT) method. It was concluded that the dominant factor causing the anisotropy of KIc is the distribution of grains rather than inherent microcracks in these rocks

Personalized translational epilepsy research - Novel approaches and future perspectives: Part I: Clinical and network analysis approaches.

Despite the availability of more than 15 new "antiepileptic drugs", the proportion of patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy has remained constant at about 20-30%. Furthermore, no disease-modifying treatments shown to prevent the development of epilepsy following an initial precipitating brain injury or to reverse established epilepsy have been identified to date. This is likely in part due to the polyetiologic nature of epilepsy, which in turn requires personalized medicine approaches. Recent advances in imaging, pathology, genetics and epigenetics have led to new pathophysiological concepts and the identification of monogenic causes of epilepsy. In the context of these advances, the First International Symposium on Personalized Translational Epilepsy Research (1st ISymPTER) was held in Frankfurt on September 8, 2016, to discuss novel approaches and future perspectives for personalized translational research. These included new developments and ideas in a range of experimental and clinical areas such as deep phenotyping, quantitative brain imaging, EEG/MEG-based analysis of network dysfunction, tissue-based translational studies, innate immunity mechanisms, microRNA as treatment targets, functional characterization of genetic variants in human cell models and rodent organotypic slice cultures, personalized treatment approaches for monogenic epilepsies, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, therapeutic focal tissue modification, computational modeling for target and biomarker identification, and cost analysis in (monogenic) disease and its treatment. This report on the meeting proceedings is aimed at stimulating much needed investments of time and resources in personalized translational epilepsy research. Part I includes the clinical phenotyping and diagnostic methods, EEG network-analysis, biomarkers, and personalized treatment approaches. In Part II, experimental and translational approaches will be discussed (Bauer et al., 2017) [1]