Compressibility behaviour of bentonite and organically modified bentonite slurry

Bentonite in slurry walls needs to be amended with organo-clay to control the migration of organic contaminants. Consolidation behaviour of the slurry is important because it will reduce the total effective stress owing to mobilisation of frictional force between the side wall of the trench and the slurry. Compressibility of the slurry of bentonite is expected to undergo significant changes owing to amendment with organo-clay and according to the nature of the fluid. Standard one-dimensional consolidation tests were carried out on slurries of bentonite, organo-clay and their mixtures by remoulding them to their respective liquid limit consistency with water as well as fluids of low polarity, such as carbon tetrachloride, and inundating with different fluids. Organo-clay and its mixture with bentonite when moulded with water exhibit lower compressibility than bentonite in any pore fluid, but their compressibility increases when moulded with carbon tetrachloride and inundated with the same fluid. These changes in the compressibility of bentonite amended with organo-clay are explained by particle rearrangements, changes in the development of the diffuse double layer and contribution from the water adsorbed in the inter-lamellar space of the clay.

A Vila Acaba Mundo e a construção de mundos possíveis: reflexões sobre uma experiência de luta pela moradia

A presente dissertação de mestrado objetivou discutir o espaço urbano e seus conflitos a partir da história da Vila Acaba Mundo, localizada em Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais, cujos moradores têm se organizado e reivindicado os direitos à moradia e à cidade por algumas décadas, com razoável êxito. Pretendeu-se analisar a mobilização dos moradores da referida Vila, com atenção especial aos eventos ocorridos em 2008 e 2009, a fim de perquirir acerca das identidades coletivas formadas, bem como compreender e problematizar a constituição dinâmica de práticas e significados que conformam a comunidade e suas interações com outras coletividades e com a cidade em sua história. Almejou-se, em um âmbito mais geral, compreender como as práticas e os significados construídos pelos moradores da Vila Acaba Mundo, em sua história, contribuem para a localização de elementos emancipatórios no sentido da superação das condições sociais hoje existentes. Na tentativa de valorizar a dimensão da prática social, os códigos culturais produzidos e a articulação entre teoria e prática, em contraposição à valorização excessiva da institucionalidade e das dimensões discursivas da realidade, foi necessária a adoção de uma metodologia qualitativa de pesquisa, bem como a combinação de diversas técnicas e ferramentas de investigação, tais como: observação participante, aplicação de entrevistas semi-estruturadas e grupo focal. Além disso, foi traçado um breve histórico da Vila Acaba Mundo, com base principalmente no relato dos moradores. Buscou-se construir um referencial teórico para a apreensão do processo de organização e mobilização da referida Vila, o que permitiu que fossem apontados caminhos para o entendimento de sua história e para a compreensão do espaço urbano, em sua dimensão social.

Report of the socio-economic baseline assessment dissemination meeting, Yangon, Myanmar, 28 January, 2015

The Data Dissemination Stakeholder Meeting was was a means of disseminating data from a socio-economic baseline study undertaken in 2014 (Schneider at al 2014). Implications included: the importance of heterogeneity of communities; population structure and migration trends; livelihoods diversity and vulnerability; and stakeholder mobilisation.

Engineering as a tool for improving human habitat

The conventional approaches to poverty alleviation in the slums entail a cocktail of interventions in health, education, governance and physical improvements, often stretching the scarce resources far and thin. Driven by the 'poverty' mindset, physical measures such as minimal paving, public water posts and community latrines actually brand the slums apart instead of assimilating them into the urban infrastructure fabric. The concept of Slum Networking proposes comprehensive water and environmental sanitation infrastructure as the central and catalytic leverage for holistic development. At costs less than the conventional 'slum' solutions, it tries to penetrate a high quality urban infrastructure net deeply into the slums to assimilate them into the city rather than lock them in as disadvantaged islands. Further, it transcends resource barriers and 'aid' through innovative partnerships and the latent resource mobilisation potential of the so-called 'poor'. This paper examines Slum Networking as implemented in Sanjaynagar in Ahmedabad, India and compares it with a similar settlement with no interventions in Ahmedabad. It assesses the knock-on impact of physical infrastructure on health, education and poverty. Finally, it evaluates the multiplier effect of physical infrastructure and the partnerships on the subsequent investments by the community in its own shelter and habitat. Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Upheaval Buckling Assessment Based on Pipeline Features

Upheaval buckling (UHB) is a common design issue for high temperature buried pipelines. This paper highlights some of thekey issues affecting out-of-straightness (OOS) assessment of pipelines. The following factors are discussed; uplift resistancesoil models, uplift resistance in cohesive soils, uplift mobilisation, ratcheting, uplift resistance at low H/D ratios and thecorrect methodology for load factor selection. A framework for determining ratcheting mobilisation is proposed. Furtherresearch is required to verify and validate this proposed framework. UHB assessment of three different diameter pipelineswere carried out using finite element SAGE PROFILE package incorporating pipeline mobilisation and the results arecompared with semi-analytical formulation proposed by Palmer et al. 1990. The paper also presents a summary of as-laidpipeline features based on projects over the past 10 years.

On the behaviour of flexible retaining walls under seismic actions

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the behaviour of embedded retaining walls under seismic actions. Nine centrifuge tests were carried out on reduced-scale models of pairs of retaining walls in dry sand, either cantilevered or with one level of props near the top. The experimental data indicate that, for maximum accelerations that are smaller than the critical limit equilibrium value, the retaining walls experience significant permanent displacements under increasing structural loads, whereas for larger accelerations the walls rotate under constant internal forces. The critical acceleration at which the walls start to rotate increases with increasing maximum acceleration. No significant displacements are measured if the current earthquake is less severe than earthquakes previously experienced by the wall. The increase of critical acceleration is explained in terms of redistribution of earth pressures and progressive mobilisation of the passive strength in front of the wall. The experimental data for cantilevered retaining walls indicate that the permanent displacements of the wall can be reasonably predicted adopting a Newmark-type calculation with a critical acceleration that is a fraction of the limit equilibrium value.

Mobilisable strength design for flexible embedded retaining walls

The discusser read with interest the paper by Diakoumi & Powrie (2013) proposing an interesting method for the analysis of propped flexible retaining walls based on the mobilisation of active and passive pressures on the wall due to movement of wall segments. An assumed deformation mechanism within the soil is used to estimate the strain associated with rotation of a particular wall segment. This mechanism is then superposed for each wall segment, the resulting earth pressures are calculated; the equality between the wall bending moments implied by equilibrium and those required to achieve the appropriate bending of the wall is used to calculate the rotation of each segment. Although the method of analysis provides insight into the conservatism of conventional design calculations for different wall flexibilities, there are two aspects of the paper which provoke further discussion.

气候变化对高纬度流域中汞和甲基汞迁移转化的影响——以降水量增加为例

全球变化的研究发现：19世纪以来全球平均气温大约上升了0.6℃，并预计在21世纪会升高更多。温室效应的直接结果是导致全球地面增温，温度的升高会增加下垫面的蒸发量。根据全球水平衡原理，蒸发量应该与降水量相等，因而降水量也会相应增加。气候变化的情景模式研究表明，世界各地雨量变异大，在高纬度地区，包括北欧地区，降水会增加。 流域是水生系统的一个重要的汞和甲基汞的输入源。欧洲淡水系统中，鱼体汞含量过高的湖泊主要局限于北方的高纬度森林地区。在斯堪的纳维亚半岛，就有上万湖泊中的鱼体汞含量超过了健康食用标准0.5 mg/kg。水生系统甲基汞输入源包括：水体或沉积物通过甲基化形成甲基汞，通过大气干、湿沉降输入的甲基汞和陆地生态系统的地表径流输入的甲基汞。 本研究的主要目标是搞清楚未来气候变化引起的大气降水量的增加对北方高纬度森林流域土壤中汞的迁移和形态转化有何影响。未来大气降水量的增加可能会增强森林地区流域土壤中汞的迁移，进而对水生系统的汞循环产生影响。一方面，如果地下水水位上涨，当水流过富含有机质结合含汞土壤层时，将会增加土壤中汞和甲基汞的迁移性，由此而导致流域向河流、湖泊等水生系统中汞输出通量的增加。另一方面，氧化还原电位改变、DOC和营养物质的释放会加剧汞在土壤中的释放过程，并且可能会促进汞的形态转化，可能增加毒性较强的甲基汞的产量，最终导致甲基汞从土壤向水生系统的输出通量的增加。 本研究选择瑞典西海岸花园湖（Gårdsjön）的G1流域作为研究对象，在流域内进行人工模拟增加降雨试验，模拟未来气候变化降水量增加的情景，观测流域地表径流中汞和甲基汞的变化。并在流域内选择四个点（1×1m²），进行汞同位素加入示踪试验。测定土壤剖面甲基汞和总汞及其同位素组成，来分析汞的迁移和形态转化。主要研究结果如下： 1. 通过对G1流域土壤中甲基汞分布的调查，发现甲基汞含量范围为0.020-3.1ng/g，甲基汞含量与TOC含量具有正相关的关系，表明土壤甲基汞的迁移受TOC迁移的影响。估算G1流域的甲基汞储库通量为123g/km2，G1流域甲基汞储库容为0.65g。 2. 通过甲基汞含量和甲基汞储库在土壤剖面的分布，可以看出表层腐殖质层甲基汞浓度最高，甲基汞最富集，而在较深的土壤层位甲基汞储库容量最大，表明甲基汞具有向下迁移的趋势。 3. 根据总汞同位素组成结果，汞同位素（198Hg(NO3)2）加入土壤中后，202Hg/198Hg比值迅速下降，然后随时间推移而上升，表明加入土壤中的汞与土壤中原始汞形态不同，具有不同的迁移方式，且加入土壤中二价汞的迁移性比土壤中的原始汞更强。计算表明，外界加入的汞，将有50-60%长期滞留在土壤中。 4. 根据甲基汞的同位素组成结果，Wet点的新加入的198Hg甲基汞分数要大于其它三点，表明湿润土壤中汞甲基化速率要快于较干燥的土壤中。另外，Wet点的甲基汞分数比以前无人工模拟增加降雨的同位素示踪结果高很多，表明降水量增加会导致汞的甲基化作用在土壤中的形态转化过程中占主导地位，最终导致甲基汞产率的提高。 5. 人工模拟增加降雨试验进行后，地表径流中总汞的浓度没有发生变化，而甲基汞的浓度增大了很多，从0.03ng/L增大到了1ng/L以上，表明降水的增加可以促进土壤中汞的甲基化作用。 6. 地表径流向流域外总汞和甲基汞的输出量的计算显示，受人工模拟增加降雨的影响，流域地表径流量也会增加，最终年地表径流中总汞和甲基汞的输出通量都变大。

Absence of turnover and futile cycling of sucrose in leaves of Lolium temulentum L.: implications for metabolic compartmentation

Cairns, A. J., Gallagher, J. A. (2004). Absence of turnover and futile cycling of sucrose in leaves of Lolium temulentum L.: implications for metabolic compartmentation. Planta, 219 (5), 836-846. Sponsorship: BBSRC RAE2008

The neuropeptide pituitary adenylate cyclase activating protein stimulates human monocytes by transactivation of the Trk/NGF pathway.

Transactivation is a process whereby stimulation of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) activates signaling from receptors tyrosine kinase (RTK). In neuronal cells, the neuropeptide pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) acting through the GPCR VPAC-1 exerts trophic effects by transactivating the RTK TrkA receptor for the nerve growth factor (NGF). Both PACAP and NGF have pro-inflammatory activities on monocytes. We have tested the possibility that in monocytes, PACAP, as reported in neuronal cells, uses NGF/TrkA signaling pathway. In these cells, PACAP increases TrkA tyrosine phosphorylations through a PI-3kinase dependent but phospholipase C independent pathway. K252a, an inhibitor of TrkA decreases PACAP-induced Akt and ERK phosphorylation and calcium mobilisation resulting in decreases in intracellular H2O2 production and membrane upregulation of CD11b expression, both functions being inhibited after anti-NGF or anti-TrkA antibody treatment. K252a also inhibits PACAP-associated NF-KB activity. Monocytes increase in NGF production is seen after micromolar PACAP exposure while nanomolar treatment which desensitizes cells to high dose of PACAP prevents PACAP-induced TrkA phosphorylation, H2O2 production and CD11b expression. Finally, NGF-dependent ERK activation and H2O2 production is pertussis toxin sensitive. Altogether these data indicate that in PACAP-activated monocytes some pro-inflammatory activities occur through transactivation mechanisms involving VPAC-1, NGF and TrkA-associated tyrosine kinase activity.

Physiological stress responses in the edible crab, Cancer pagurus, to the fishery practice of de-clawing

We examined physiological stress responses in the edible crab, Cancer pagurus, subjected to the commercial fishery practice of manual de-clawing. We measured haemolymph glucose and lactate, plus muscular glycogen and glycogen mobilisation, in three experiments where the crabs had one claw removed. In the first, crabs showed physiological stress responses when 'de-clawed' as compared to 'handled only over the short term of 1-10 min. In the second, de-clawing and the presence of a conspecific both increased the physiological stress responses over the longer term of 24 h. In the third, de-clawing was shown to be more stressful than 'induced autotomy' of claws. Further, the former practice caused larger wounds to the body and significantly higher mortality than the latter. Since the fishery practice is to remove both claws, the stress response observed and mortality data reported are conservative.

No longer Sukumbasis: Challenges in grassroots-led squatter resettlement program in Kathmandu with special reference to Kirtipur Housing Project.

The paper is the outcome of a systematic effort to study and analyze the experiences of the Kirtipur Housing Project (KHP), the first ever grassroots-led squatter resettlement project in Kathmandu. It is widely hailed as a success story as it has been able to provide a legal, affordable and good quality housing solution to the Sukumbasis through grassroots mobilization. The paper analyses the dynamics of this mobilization and the roles of different actors to show how community empowerment, civil actions and local government interests have converged to create a constructive partnership in line with wider enabling principles. Apart from meeting the narrowly defined objective to rehouse 44 households, the project reflects capacity of the community, quite apart from lobbying and protest, in areas of project planning and management. While no grassroots mobilisation can be expected to replicate in a dynamic environment, the paper draws some policy insights that indicate the ability of the grassroots mobilization in Kathmandu to continue and grow. Conversely, the lessons learned from the project also point to limitations in terms lack of prerequisite critical mass or economic benefits to influence the government to prepare a policy framework under which it can foster in a more structured way.

Differential modulation of angiogenesis by erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in a mouse model of ischaemic retinopathy

Background: Erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) are widely used to treat anaemia but concerns exist about their potential to promote pathological angiogenesis in some clinical scenarios. In the current study we have assessed the angiogenic potential of three ESAs; epoetin delta, darbepoetin alfa and epoetin beta using in vitro and in vivo models.

Methodology/Principal Findings: The epoetins induced angiogenesis in human microvascular endothelial cells at high doses, although darbepoetin alfa was pro-angiogenic at low-doses (1-20 IU/ml). ESA-induced angiogenesis was VEGF-mediated. In a mouse model of ischaemia-induced retinopathy, all ESAs induced generation of reticulocytes but only epoetin beta exacerbated pathological (pre-retinal) neovascularisation in comparison to controls (p<0.05). Only epoetin delta induced a significant revascularisation response which enhanced normality of the vasculature (p<0.05). This was associated with mobilisation of haematopoietic stem cells and their localisation to the retinal vasculature. Darbepoetin alfa also increased the number of active microglia in the ischaemic retina relative to other ESAs (p<0.05). Darbepoetin alfa induced retinal TNF alpha and VEGF mRNA expression which were up to 4 fold higher than with epoetin delta (p<0.001).

Conclusions: This study has implications for treatment of patients as there are clear differences in the angiogenic potential of the different ESAs.

Redundancy and Workplace Occupation: The Case of the Republic of Ireland

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the antecedent influences and merits of workplace occupations as a tactical response to employer redundancy initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach – The data are based on analysis of secondary documentary material reporting on three workplace occupations in the Republic of Ireland during 2009.

Findings – Perceptions of both procedural (e.g. employer unilateral action) and substantive (e.g. pay and entitlements) justice appear pivotal influences. Spillover effects from other known occupations may also be influential. Workplace occupations were found to produce some modest substantive gains, such as enhancing redundancy payments. The tactic of workplace occupation was also found to transform unilateral employer action into scenarios based upon negotiated settlement supported by third-party mediation. However the tactic of workplace occupation in response to redundancy runs the risks of potential judicial injunction and sanction.

Research limitations/implications – Although operationally difficult, future studies should strive to collect primary data workplace occupations as they occur.

Originality/value – The paper identifies conditions conducive to the genesis of workplace occupations and the extent to which the tactic may be of benefit in particular circumstances to workers facing redundancy. It also contextualises the tactic in relation to both collective mobilisation and bargaining theories in employment relations.

Heterogeneity in cytosolic calcium regulation among different microvascular smooth muscle cells of the rat retina

Rat retinae were dissociated to yield intact microvessels 7 to 42 microm in diameter. These were loaded with fura-2 AM and single fragments anchored down in a recording bath. Intracellular Ca(2+) levels from 20- to 30-microm sections of vessel were estimated by microfluorimetry. The vessels studied were identified as metarterioles and arterioles. Only the microvascular smooth muscle cells loaded with fura-2 AM and changes in the fluorescence signal were confined to these cells: Endothelial cells did not make any contribution to the fluorescence signal nor did they contribute to the actions of the drugs. Caffeine (10 mM) or elevated K(+) (100 mM) produced a transient rise in cell Ca(2+) in the larger vessels (diameters >18 microm) but had no effect on smaller vessels (diameters 30 min) on washing out the endothelin and the vessel failed to relax. These results demonstrate heterogeneity between smaller and larger retinal vessels with regard to Ca(2+) mobilisation and homogeneity with respect to the actions of vasoactive peptides.