Geochemical monitoring of deionized seawater injected underground during construction of an LPG rock cavern in Namikata, Japan, for the safety water curtain system

An underground liquified petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility was constructed between 1998 and 2006 in Namikata, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, to increase domestic LPG stockpiles. The most important issue during construction and operation of this facility is gas leakage prevention. To thwart water leakage, the water curtain system was constructed according to design standards, and a large amount of deionized seawater (seal water) was continuously injected into the rock mass around the cavern to keep the water level constant during both construction and operation. It is possible to distinguish three end member waters (existing groundwater, seawater or fossil seawater, and seal water) using the salinity and isotope (δ18O) difference because seal water injected underground has almost the same δ18O value as seawater. In this study, continuous observation is carried out using the geochemical techniques for flow analysis with a mixing ratio of three end members in the initial construction period (April 2005 to March 2006) of the LPG underground storage facility. It is determined that existing groundwater and seawater originally distributed in this region are partly replaced by seal water in the cavern.

Determinants of Neural Plastic Changes Induced by Motor Practice

Short-term motor practice leads to plasticity in the primary motor cortex (M1). The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that determine the increase in corticospinal tract (CST) excitability after motor practice, with special focus on two factors; “the level of muscle activity” and “the presence/absence of a goal of keeping the activity level constant.” Fifteen healthy subjects performed four types of rapid thumb adduction in separate sessions. In the “comfortable task” (C) and “forceful task” (F), the subjects adducted their thumb using comfortable and strong forces. In the “comfortable with a goal task” (CG) and “forceful with a goal task” (FG), subjects controlled the muscle activity at the same level as in the C and F, respectively, by adjusting the peak electromyographic amplitude within the target ranges. Paired associative stimulation (PAS), which combines peripheral nerve (median nerve) stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), with an inter-stimulus interval of 25 ms (PAS25) was also done. Before and after the motor tasks and PAS25, TMS was applied to the M1. None of the four tasks showed any temporary changes in behavior, meaning no learning occurred. Motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude increased only after the FG and it exhibited a positive correlation with the MEP increase after PAS25, suggesting that FG and PAS25 share at least similar plasticity mechanisms in the M1. Resting motor threshold (RMT) decreased only after FG, suggesting that FG would also be associated with the membrane depolarization of M1 neurons. These results suggest task-dependent plasticity from the synergistic effect of forceful muscle activity and of setting a goal of keeping the activity level constant.

Use of Amount-of-Substance Terminology and Equations in Field Desorption Theory

This note proposes that the theories of field evaporation and field desorption, as used in atom-probe microscopy and related atomic-level contexts, should be consistently formulated in terms of a set of “seven-dimensional (7-D)” formulae and equations that involve the physical quantity “amount of substance”, but make use of an atomic-level constant effectively equal to “one atom” (or, more generally, “one entity”). It is argued that the term “count” should be introduced as an alternative name (more suited to atomic-level contexts) for the quantity “amount of substance”. For field evaporation/desorption theories, relevant definitions and formulae are proposed, and compared with the “six-dimensional” system (based on the dimensionless quantity “number of atoms/entities”) sometimes used in the literature. Advantages of using a 7-D system are noted. It is argued that there is also an increasing need for a comprehensive system of official nomenclature for atomic-level constants and units, for all three of the extensive quantities “mass”, “electric charge” and “amount of substance”. It is also argued that, in the longer term, considerations of the kind being proposed here for field evaporation/desorption theories might usefully be applied more generally in atomic-level rate theory.

Durability Properties of Self Compacting Concrete by using M-Sand as Fine Aggregate

Self-compacting concrete is also called as self consolidated concrete which does not require vibration for placing and compaction. In the present trend scarcity of natural sand become a huge problem to construction industry, inorder to reduce this problem alternatives are used, one of the alternative material is Manufactured sand. Manufactured sand is produced from hard granite stone by crushing. There are two reasons to M-sand i.e, availability & transportation. An attempt was made to evaluate the workability and strength characteristics & durability properties of self compacting concrete with river sand and manufactured sand as fine aggregates. For each replacement level, constant workability was maintained by varying the dosage of superplasticizer. Sulphate attack and chloride attack of the specimens were determined. Different proportions of solution are used for durability study.

Digestibilidad de raciones altas en fibra por el cerdo criollo

A basal mixture containing 35% soybean meal, 64.6% corn and 0.4 % methionine was used to formulate isocaloric and isoproteic diets for initiation, growth and finishing periods of development of native pigs, containing 16, 12 and 10% protein to be fed at8, 16 and 26 weeksof age, respectively. Lathyrus-used as the fiber source- was kept constant in the rations at levels of 16.4 and 32.8% for the three periods studied, reducing the content of the basal mixture in the diets on the basis of the protein contributed by the source of fiber added, and adding starch to maintain protein level constant. Information is presented on the digestibility of the nutrients of the diets for native pigs of 8 weeks of age on diets containing Ipomoea. Digestibility of cellular content decreased with fiber increment, although it improved at 26 weeks of age. Digestibility of acid detergent fiber, lignin and energy improved with age; nevertheless, they decreased between diets. Cellulose digestibility showed statistical differences among diets. Protein digestibility decreased with respect to fiber content, however, no significant differences were detected between age of animals and diets. Digestibility values between Lathyrus show significant differences in acid detergent fiber, lignin and cellulose in favor of Ipomoea.