A STUDY ON GROUND IMPROVEMENT TECNIQUE WITH IN- SITU MICROOGANISMS ISOLATED FROM JAPAN

ABSTRACT: Damage by a liquefaction phenomenon was a problem in recent years, and the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011 in Japan, and liquefaction damage occurred frequently. There is also more adoption of Paris agreement in COP21 of the end of last year, and correspondence to a global warming problem is also desired reduction in greenhouse effect gas amount of emission in the construction field. Therefore considered ground improvement technology is necessary for the environment in Japan an earthquake-ridden country. So we considered for practical use ground improvement techniques based microorganism. That is watched as new liquefaction countermeasure technology for reduction in cost and the point of view by which material and construction waste are reduction. In that ground improvement techniques, it is difficult to using specific microbes. So we aimed at Microbial carbonate precipitation using in-situ microorganism as the method to solve this problem. We made solidify sand using isolated microorganisms in japan and Bacillus pasteurii the solidification ability becomes clear. We measured to urease activity values of each microorganism. And we making of the test pieces, undrained cyclic triaxial test and acid decomposition for using CaCO 3 (0.5mol/L). And we compared results. We understood two things from examination results. 1) The difference occurs to liquefaction strength by urease activity value. 2) The improvement effect of the liquefaction strength was admitted in Microbial carbonate precipitation using insitu microorganisms in the spots selected by this research

Characterisation of CaCO3 phases during strain-specific ureolytic precipitation

Numerous microbial species can selectively precipitate mineral carbonates with enhanced mechanical properties, however, understanding exactly how they achieve this control represents a major challenge in the field of biomineralisation. We have studied microbial induced calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation (MICP) in three ureolytic bacterial strains from the Sporosarcina family, including S. newyorkensis, a newly isolated microbe from the deep sea. We find that the interplay between structural water and strain-specific amino acid groups is fundamental to the stabilisation of vaterite and that, under the same conditions, different isolates yield distinctly different polymorphs. The latter is found to be associated with different urease activities and, consequently, precipitation kinetics, which change depending on pressure-temperature conditions. Further, CaCO3 polymorph selection also depends on the coupled effect of chemical treatment and initial bacterial concentrations. Our findings provide new insights into strain-specific CaCO3 polymorphic selection and stabilisation, and open up promising avenues for designing bio-reinforced geo-materials that capitalise on the different particle bond mechanical properties offered by different polymorphs

Development of a ubiquitous healthcare monitoring system combined with non-conscious and ambulatory physiological measurements and its application to medical care

The demand for ubiquitous healthcare monitoring has been increasingly raised for prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, acute life support or chronic therapies for inpatients and/or outpatients having chronic disorder and home medical care. From these view points, we developed a non-conscious healthcare monitoring system without any attachment of biological sensors and operations of devices, and an ambulatory postural changes and activities monitoring system. Furthermore in this study, in order to investigate those applicability to the ubiquitous healthcare monitoring, we have developed a new healthcare monitoring system combined with the non-conscious and the ambulatory measurements developed by us. In patients with chronic cardiovascular disease or stroke, the daily health conditions such as pulse, respiration, activities and so on, could be continuously measured in the hospital, the rehabilitation room and subject\u27s own home, using the present system. The results demonstrated that the system appears useful for the ubiquitous healthcare monitoring not only at medical facility, but also during daily living at home. © 2011 IEEE

Development of a ubiquitous healthcare monitoring system combined with non-conscious and ambulatory physiological measurements and its application to medical care.

The demand for ubiquitous healthcare monitoring has been increasingly raised for prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, acute life support or chronic therapies for inpatients and/or outpatients having chronic disorder and home medical care. From these view points, we developed a non-conscious healthcare monitoring system without any attachment of biological sensors and operations of devices, and an ambulatory postural changes and activities monitoring system. Furthermore in this study, in order to investigate those applicability to the ubiquitous healthcare monitoring, we have developed a new healthcare monitoring system combined with the non-conscious and the ambulatory measurements developed by us. In patients with chronic cardiovascular disease or stroke, the daily health conditions such as pulse, respiration, activities and so on, could be continuously measured in the hospital, the rehabilitation room and subject\u27s own home, using the present system. The results demonstrated that the system appears useful for the ubiquitous healthcare monitoring not only at medical facility, but also during daily living at home

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Geological exploration of beachrock through geophysical surveying on Yagaji Island, Okinawa, Japan

This paper describes the knowledge obtained from a study of geophysical prospecting for beachrock. Previous studies on beachrock worldwide have been focused on the geochemistry. However, more knowledge of the chemical and physical properties is needed to elucidate the formation mechanism. In the present study, a direct current (DC) electrical survey and a surface seismic survey were conducted to detect the underground structure of the beachrock on Yagaji Island, Okinawa, Japan. This was a first attempt at conducting multiple geophysical surveys to investigate beachrock. In each survey, one survey line was set perpendicular to the seashore and two survey lines were set roughly parallel to the seashore. The results of each survey were observed in section of resistivity and seismic wave velocity. Furthermore, in order to estimate the effectiveness of the surveys, laboratory tests were conducted on the beachrock samples collected from the study site to measure the porosity, the resistivity, and the velocities of primary- (P-) waves and secondary- (S-) waves. There was a superior correlation between the sections and with the data on the study site. Hence, the features of the beachrock at the site are as follows: the resistivity is about 4–16 Ωm, the S-wave velocity is about 325 m/s, the thickness is about 1 m, and the thickness has a tendency to become greater toward the sea. One beachrock formation mechanism obtained by this study is close a currently accepted mechanism

Study on the Effect of Amorphous Silica from Waste Granite Powder on the Strength Development of Cement-Treated Clay for Soft Ground Improvement

Granite powder (stone powder), a waste product generated from stone quarries, is increasingly being reused in cement-treated clays. The particle size of stone powders affects the cement-clay reaction by either increasing or reducing the unconfined compressive strength (UCS). This study investigated this phenomenon by separating stone powder from the same batch at the quarry into five particle sizes (A, B, C, D and E: 106–75 µm, 40–75 µm, 20–40 µm, <20 µm and 106–<1 µm, respectively). Flow value, fall cone, UCS and thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray fluorescence, electrical conductivity and NaOH digestion tests were conducted. It was discovered that stone powder had an amorphization rate of up to 1.45% (14.5 mg/g of amorphous silica); hence, it was pozzolanic. However, the amorphousness varied with the particle size of the material in the order of D > E > C > B > A, which translated into UCS variation in the same order. Stone powders D and E played two roles in UCS development, i.e., nucleation of cementitious products and reaction with Ca(OH)2 to increase the UCS higher than the control sample. Linear regression equations determined the minimum concentration of amorphous silica for a UCS increment as 9.4 mg/g