Earth Pressure Acting on Embedded Footing During Soil Liquefaction by Large-Scaling Shaking Table Test

Shaking table tests are conducted using a large-scale laminar shear box to investigate the effects of non-liquefied crust overlying liquefied soils on an embedded footing. It is shown that (1) The total earth pressure before liquefaction is induced mainly by the inertia force of the building. The shear force at the pile heads corresponds to the difference between the total earth pressure and the inertial force; (2) The total earth pressure after liquefaction is induced mainly by the soil deformation. The shear force at the pile heads car responds to the sum of the total earth pressure and the inertial force of the building; (3) The relation between the relative displacement and the total earth pressure is linear before liquefaction. It becomes nonlinear with the development of pore water pressure and the total earth pressure decreases with cyclic loading after liquefaction; (4) The peak value of the total earth pressure for the super-structure with a low natural frequency is larger than that with a high natural frequency. This is probably because the inertial force of the super - structure with a low natural frequency may interrupt the response of the footing that tends to move with the ground

Relationship between larynx position measured by palpation and swallowing function in older adults

[要旨]嚥下機能の評価方法には精密検査として嚥下内視鏡検査や造影検査が広く行われているが、病院への受診が困難な場合や患者の協力状態によって行えない場合がある。また、精密検査であるため読影に経験を要する。その精密検査の必要性を判断するためスクリーニング検査を実施するのが一般的であり、代表的な嚥下障害のスクリーニング検査として反復唾液嚥下テストや改訂水飲みテストが挙げられる。しかしながら、いずれの方法も患者との意思の疎通が必要であり、さらに誤嚥を生じさせる危険性がある。そこで、今回は簡便で安全性の高いスクリーニング検査法として、手指による喉頭位の計測方法を新たに考案し、その有用性について検討した。2018年1月から2021年3月までに松本歯科大学病院で摂食嚥下障害に関して外来診療または訪問診療を行った60歳以上の患者73名を対象に、新たな計測法による喉頭位の高さのほかに医療面接で年齢、性別、基礎疾患、発熱の頻度、ムセの頻度と、スクリーニングとして行った反復唾液嚥下テストと改訂水飲みテストの値、頸部聴診時の異常音の有無を調査対象とした。精密検査は嚥下内視鏡検査または造影検査の少なくとも一方を実施し、咽頭収縮力、喉頭蓋の反転、喉頭侵入や誤嚥の有無、舌運動、咀嚼運動、軟口蓋挙上運動について評価した。喉頭位の高さは対象者の前頸部に第2指から第5指までの手指4本をあて、鎖骨内端上縁と下顎骨で検査者の手指を挟むよう指示を行い、頸部に対する相対的な喉頭隆起の位置を測定した。触診した高さによりH・M・Lの3群に分類した。喉頭位の高さの違いによって、上記の他の評価項目との間に差があるのかについて統計学的に検討した。その結果、喉頭位の高さが低い群（L群）ほど平均年齢が高くなった。また、L群では男性の割合が多かった。男性は喉頭の大きさや重さが女性に比べ値が大きくなるためと考えられる。この結果は舌骨の位置を用いた他の研究と同様であった。さらに反復唾液嚥下テストの平均回数に減少が見られ、ムセの頻度、喉頭蓋反転不良の割合が増加する傾向にあったが、統計学的には有意差は認められなかった。しかし、喉頭位の低下により喉頭侵入および誤嚥において統計学的に有意な増加が認められた。今後、触診による喉頭位の高さの評価に加えて、医療面接やスクリーニング検査値を併用することで患者の協力を得難い状態や訪問歯科診療時などにおいて、嚥下内視鏡、造影検査が行えない状況でも喉頭侵入や誤嚥を判定できる一助となり、簡便で安全性の高いスクリーニング検査法となる可能性が示唆された2021博士（歯学）松本歯科大

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E  >  2  keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month