Geo- and Hydro-Mechanical Evaluation of Slope Failure Induced by Torrential Rains in Northern-Kyushu Area,July 2009

Torrential rainfall in mid-July 2009 triggered numerous geodisasters such as slope failure and debris flow in Chugoku and Northern Kyushu areas of Japan. A number of slope failures and debris flows occurred in Yamaguchi and Fukuoka prefectures resulting in extensive damage to human life and infrastructure. One of the most serious geodisasters included a slope failure followed by debris flow at Sasaguri-machi and Fukuchi-machi, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. This paper summarizes the results of geotechnical investigations on the geodisaster sites in Fukuoka prefecture. The geotechnical investigation included determining a series of grain size distributions, consistency limits and conducting direct box shear tests for collapsed soils collected at six disaster sites. The generation mechanisms of slope failure followed by debris flow were also investigated by analyzing the precipitation, topography, geology, and strength properties of the collapsed soils. Moreover, slope deformation and stability analyses were coupled with an unsaturated-saturated seepage analysis to investigate the slope failure mechanism. The main findings from the study are summarized as: The physical properties, such as the grain size distribution, the plastic limit and liquid limit of collapsed soils, are summarized and compared with the results of other failure slopes in the literature. The collapsed soil was characterized as being a well grained soil (the uniformity coefficient >50) and highly weathered (the ignition loss >5%), however, with regard to the liquid limit and plastic index, there were no remarkable findings. The original shear strength for collapsed soils with natural water content is relatively large and slope failure doesn't occur because the cohesion in the shear strength is induced by a suction force between the soil particles under unsaturated condition. However, water seepage into the soil induces a drastic decrease in the shear strength, which is mainly caused by a decrease in cohesion (losing suction) resulting from soil saturation. In addition, the drained/undrained condition in the shear process is also sensitive to shear strength. For example, both water seepage and the shear process with constant volume cause an approximate 30% reduction in shear strength for Fukuchi-machi and Sasaguri-machi soil samples. Therefore, the reduction of cohesive strength due to water seepage and the low permeability of the slope are the parameters which trigger geodisaster. Based on the results of slope deformation and a stability analyses which took the change in water pressure and cohesive strength into account, the geodisaster at Fukuchi-machi was simulated, it is reasonable to assume that the shallow failure near the top of slope occurred due to torrential precipitation of about 100 mm per hour which triggered a debris flow.     

Diagnosis of childhood BK virus cystitis by electron microscopy and PCR

A case of BK virus cystitis in a 5 year old boy is reported. This patient, who was not immunocompromised, had had acute cystitis for two weeks. Many intracytoplasmic inclusions were observed in urinary sediment smears stained by the Papanicolaou method. Electron microscopic examination showed virus particles, presumed to be human polyomavirus, in the nuclei of the degenerated urothelial cells. A DNA sequence of the BK virus was detected in 200-300 urothelial cells in Papanicolaou stained smears by the polymerase chain reaction. BK virus is an unusual cause of symptomatic cystitis in a healthy child.     

Behavior of Cu nanoparticles ink under reductive calcination for fabrication of Cu conductive film

Cu nanoparticle ink was prepared from Cu nanoparticles that were coated with a gelatin layer at an average diameter of 46 nm. The Cu nanoparticle ink was applied on the polyimide substrate. Conductive films were fabricated using the Cu nanoparticle ink with a two-step annealing process consisting of oxidative pre-heating at 200 °C under 10 ppm O₂-N₂ mixed gas flow and reductive calcination at 250 °C under 3 vol.% H₂-N₂ mixed gas flow showed a low resistivity of 5 μΩ cm. The hydrolysis of the remaining gelatin layer by H₂O vapor, which was formed during the reduction of the Cu oxide by 3 vol.% H₂-N₂ mixed gas, was suggested. The results suggest the possibility of the removal of the gelatin layer without oxidative pre-heating and simultaneous sintering of Cu nanoparticles in reductive calcination.     

Size-controlled oxidation-resistant copper fine particles covered by biopolymer nanoskin

Size-controlled oxidation-resistant copper fine particles were prepared from insoluble CuO micron-sized particles. The particle sizes were quite uniform and could be varied only by the concentration of the complex reagent from 45 to 175 nm. No template material was needed for size control. Gelatin was selected as the protective polymer. Addition of protease after formation of copper fine particles decomposed preferentially loop and tail parts of gelatin. The remaining nanoskin gelatin layer, covered on the particle surface, prevents oxidation of copper.     

The preparation of copper fine particle paste and its application as the inner electrode material of a multilayered ceramic capacitor

Well size-controlled copper fine particles (diameter: 100-300?nm) were used as the inner electrode material of multilayered ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). The particles were dispersed in terpineol to form a printing paste with 50?wt% copper particles. The MLCC precursor modules prepared by the layer-by-layer printing of copper and BaTiO(3) particles were cosintered. Detailed observation of the particles, paste, and MLCCs before and after sintering was carried out by electron microscopy. The sintering temperature of Cu-MLCC was as low as 960?°C. The permittivity of these MLCCs was successfully measured with the copper inner layers.     

Ultra intense glass laser system and laser–plasma interactions

The 30 TW GEKKO MII short pulse laser (25 J in 0.71 ps at 1 μm) is completed and is used for fast ignitor and particle accelerator research. The photon pressure of the laser at 10¹⁷-10¹⁸ W/cm² pushed the critical and quarter critical density plasmas forward, resulting in the strong red shifts of the second (2ω₀) and three-halves (3ω₀/2) harmonic emissions backscattered from CH or CD planes. A few hundred keV proton and deuteron emissions are also observed from CD planes.     

Effect of spatial variability of block-type cement-treated ground on the bearing capacity of foundation under inclined load

Deep mixing methods are widely used for stabilizing soft clayey soils and improving their bearing capacity. However, spatial variability in the shear strength of the cement-treated ground introduces uncertainties in estimating the bearing capacity for design. This paper evaluates the reliability of, block-type, cement-treated foundation under inclined load conditions using random field numerical limit analyses. The undrained shear strength is modelled as a random field which is characterized by a log-normal distribution and a spatial correlation length. Monte Carlo simulations are then used to interpret the stochastic bearing capacity factor and failure mechanisms for inclined concentric loading conditions at selected ratios of the shear strength ratio of cement-treated ground to original clay, the coefficient of variation in undrained shear strength and correlation length of the cement-treated zone. Variability of the undrained shear strength can reduce the expected bearing capacity of the cement-treated ground by 50–70% compared to homogeneously mixed clay.     

Validation of the nuclear design code system for the HTTR using the criticality assembly VHTRC

The high temperature engineering test reactor is the first block-type HTGR designed for a 950 °C outlet gas temperature which uses low-enriched uranium fuel with burnable poison rod. For validation of the nuclear design code system for the HTTR, a critical assembly of VHTRC had been constructed. The calculation uncertainties of effective multiplication factor, neutron flux distribution, burnable poison reactivity worth, and control rod worth, temperature coefficients were evaluated. Calculation accuracy of a Monte Carlo code is also evaluated.     

Application of Attribute NCE Graph Grammars to Syntactic Editing of Tabular Forms

In this paper, we deal with editing tabular forms for program specifications based on a particular graph grammar HNGG [2]. First, we formalize syntax-directed editing methods by extending of the notion of the Cornell Program Synthesizer [8] to attribute NCE graph grammars (cf. [1]). Next, we discuss the algorithms of the editing methods.