Distribution of Structural Damage in Nishinomiya City and the Eastward Suffered from the Great Hanshin (Hyogoken Nanbu) Earthquake of January 16, 1995

A powerful earthquake was caused in the northern region of the Awajishima Island, Japan, on 16 January 1995, and many human lives, structures and facilities suffered fatal damage from the seismic motions in the Hanshin\u27 (Osaka-Kobe) region. The epicenter was located 20 kilometers below the ground surface and the seismic magnitude was 7.2 on Japan Meteorological scale. The aftershocks have been observed in a slender zone oriented to the northeast and stretching to a northern limit on the west-east trending Arima-Takatsuki fault line, which is analogous to the geological area accompanied with the tectonic collapse (Fig. 1)

Dynamical Analysis of Soil-Piles Interaction Systems Under Earthquake Type Loadings

In order to investigate and discuss a theoretical prediction on the seismic response of pile groups in soil-structure interaction systems, the dynamic characteristics of piles surrounded by soil ground due to earthquake type disturbances in addition to those excited by the loadings at the head of piles. This paper is concerned with a theoretical analysis which is based on the three-dimensional wave propagation theory to find dynamic interaction characteristics of elastic pile groups embedded in the viscoelastic soil stratum on a rigid basis, under external forces concentrated at the head of piles and uniformly distributed bedrock motion. In dealing with this complicated boundary configuration and exciting condition, the technique of superposition principle associated with the auxiliary problems is effectively applied. And, the governing equations in the domain of frequency and wave numbers reduce to the Fredholm type integral equations

Dynamical Behavior of a Slightly Alluvial Basin Due to Concentrated Turbulence

This paper is concerned with theoretical analyses and numerical evaluations based on the wave propagation theory to find dynamic characteristics of an alluvial basin locally situated on a half spatial bedrock due to concentrated loadings on the free surface. The method presented herein is derived from the Aki and Larner\u27s method by releasing the assumption of the repeated irregularities, so that the wave field having localized irregularities can be evaluated. The numerical analyses show that the amplification effects are obvious on the free surface inside the alluvial sediment and the subsurface structure influences the seismic behavior observed on the surface

Psychiatric-disorder-related behavioral phenotypes and cortical hyperactivity in a mouse model of 3q29 deletion syndrome

3q29 microdeletion, a rare recurrent copy number variant (CNV), greatly confers an increased risk of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as intellectual disability. However, disease-relevant cellular phenotypes of 3q29 deletion syndrome remain to be identified. To reveal the molecular and cellular etiology of 3q29 deletion syndrome, we generated a mouse model of human 3q29 deletion syndrome by chromosome engineering, which achieved construct validity. 3q29 deletion (Df/+) mice showed reduced body weight and brain volume and, more importantly, impaired social interaction and prepulse inhibition. Importantly, the schizophrenia-related impaired prepulse inhibition was reversed by administration of antipsychotics. These findings are reminiscent of the growth defects and neuropsychiatric behavioral phenotypes in patients with 3q29 deletion syndrome and exemplify that the mouse model achieves some part of face validity and predictive validity. Unbiased whole-brain imaging revealed that neuronal hyperactivation after a behavioral task was strikingly exaggerated in a restricted region of the cortex of Df/+ mice. We further elucidated the cellular phenotypes of neuronal hyperactivation and the reduction of parvalbumin expression in the cortex of Df/+ mice. Thus, the 3q29 mouse model provides invaluable insight into the disease-causative molecular and cellular pathology of psychiatric disorders

Identification of 45 New Neutron-Rich Isotopes Produced by In-Flight Fission of a 238U Beam at 345 MeV/nucleon

A search for new isotopes using in-flight fission of a 345 MeV/nucleon 238U beam has been carried out at the RI Beam Factory at the RIKEN Nishina Center. Fission fragments were analyzed and identified by using the superconducting in-flight separator BigRIPS. We observed 45 new neutron-rich isotopes: 71Mn, 73,74Fe, 76Co, 79Ni, 81,82Cu, 84,85Zn, 87Ga, 90Ge, 95Se, 98Br, 101Kr, 103Rb, 106,107Sr, 108,109Y, 111,112Zr, 114,115Nb, 115,116,117Mo, 119,120Tc, 121,122,123,124Ru, 123,124,125,126Rh, 127,128Pd, 133Cd, 138Sn, 140Sb, 143Te, 145I, 148Xe, and 152Ba