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• A deep learning-based compaction monitoring technique for estimating soil stiffness is developed. • Labeled training data was obtained by numerical simulation of soil-vibratory roller interaction model. • The proposed method is validated by conducting a field experiment at an embankment construction site. • The experiment confirmed a strong positive correlation between the estimated and measured soil stiffness. The dynamic behavior of the vibratory drum of a soil compactor for earthworks is known to be affected by soil stiffness. Real-time monitoring techniques measuring the acceleration of vibratory drums have been widely used for soil compaction quality control; however, their accuracy can be affected by soil type and conditions. To resolve this problem, a novel deep learning-based technique is developed. The method allows the regression estimation of soil stiffness from vibration drum acceleration responses. By expanding the range of applicability and improving accuracy, the proposed method provides a more reliable and robust approach to evaluate soil compaction quality. To train the estimation model, numerous datasets of noise-free waveform data are numerically generated by solving the equations of motion of the mass–spring–damper system of a vibratory roller. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, a field experiment is conducted. A good correlation between the estimated and measured values is demonstrated by the experimental results. The correlation coefficient is 0.790, indicating the high potential of the proposed method as a new real-time monitoring technique for soil compaction quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kumamoto and Kogoshima prefectures are located in the southern Kyushu district of western Japan. In July 2020, a warm, humid air front triggered the delayed rains of the rainy season, resulting in torrential rains in many parts of Japan, especially in Kyushu. In particular, heavy downpours occurred in the southern Kyushu district on July 4th, causing severe damage to much of the infrastructure. Details could not be analyzed as usual because some branch office of local government were also damaged by floods. The spatial distribution of precipitation in the Kuma River basin, in the southern part of Kumamoto, was characterized by the uniformity of 400–500 mm on July 3rd and 4th. Finally, emergency warnings of torrential rain were issued for the southern Kumamoto and the northern Kagoshima Prefectures by Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) at 4:50 a.m., July 4th, 2020. Then, the active rain front gradually shifted towards northern Kyushu. Again, torrential rain fell on northern Kyushu in the afternoon due to a stagnant rainy season front, and the JMA issued an emergency warning for a localized torrential downpour for parts of Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures at 4:30 pm. Gradually, the damage status involving geodisasters such as several types of slope failures, road subsidence, damage of the river levee was reported by local governments in each area where there had been emergency warnings. Based on the brief report of the pre-investigation team from the Kyushu branch of the Japan Geotechnical Society (JGS) in the first week after the disaster on July 4th, the geo-research teams investigated the following: 1) landslides; 2) damaged roads; 3) damaged river levees, and 4) any geotechnical infrastructures which were partially damaged and may be even more severely damaged by the next torrential rain. This reconnaissance report introduces the geological features in Kyushu, the analysis of precipitation distribution and geotechnical damages on the slope failures, road failures and river embankments based on reports obtained from July 4th to August 31st, 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Purpose: To determine the acute change in cardiac performance after intravenous immunoglobulin infusion (IVIG) in patients with acute Kawasaki disease (KD). Materials and methods: Subjects were 33 patients with KD who were treated with IVIG 2g/kg and recovered without coronary artery lesion and 27 controls. Subjects underwent combined two-dimensional, Doppler, and tissue Doppler echocardiographic (TDI) studies. In KD, these echocardiographic studies were performed before IVIG, 48h after IVIG, and in convalescence. Echocardiographic variables were compared between KD and controls as well as among 3 time points in KD. Results: Before IVIG, KD showed significantly higher peak aortic velocity and shorter aortic ejection time as results of tachycardia and significantly lower E′ (p <0.04) but significantly higher E/E′ (p <0.02). After IVIG, patients with KD became afebrile and showed significantly lower TDI indices such as S′, E′, and, A′ and isovolumic acceleration (IVA) (163±56 vs. 208±70cm/s2, p <0.01) with higher TDI-derived Tei index (0.50±0.10 vs. 0.44±0.06, p <0.02) than controls. These differences tended to disappear in convalescence. In analysis of repeated measurements, except for hemodynamic changes associated with tachycardia, S′ (7.9±1.3 vs. 7.0±1.1 vs. 7.4±0.9cm/s, p <0.001), IVA (227±72 vs. 163±56 vs. 180±63, p <0.05), and A′ (7.7±3.0 vs. 5.6±1.3 vs. 6.7±2.3cm/s, p <0.001) were significantly different among these time points. Conclusions: In patients with acute KD with usual course, IVIG induced transient sub-clinical longitudinal left ventricular dysfunction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) promotes the differentiation of non-osteogenic mesenchymal cells to osteogenic cells. In this study, we isolated human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) and investigated the effects of recombinant human BMP-2 (rhBMP-2) and extracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+] out) on the osteogenic differentiation of hASCs. rhBMP-2 promoted calcium deposition in hASCs and stimulated the mRNA expressions of six proteins known to be involved in the osteogenic differentiation of hASCs: Runx2, osterix, alkaline phosphatase, osteonectin, bone sialoprotein and osteocalcin. Elevation of [Ca2+] out enhanced the level of alkaline phosphatase enzyme, increased the mRNA expressions of Runx2 and osteocalcin and induced the expressions of BMP-2 mRNA and protein in hASCs. Elevation of [Ca2+] out transiently increased the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+] in) due to activation of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR). The Ca2+-induced expressions of BMP-2 mRNA and protein were inhibited by the calmodulin antagonist, W-7. Furthermore, elevation of [Ca2+] out decreased the cytoplasmic level of phosphorylated nuclear factor of activated T-cell-2 (NFAT-2) and increased the nuclear level of dephosphorylated NFAT2. Taken together, these results suggest that rhBMP-2 promotes the osteogenic differentiation of hASCs. Furthermore, an increase in [Ca2+] out enhances the expression of BMP-2 via activation of the CaSR, elevation of [Ca2+] in and stimulation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent NFAT-signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the significance of an E-cadherin gene promoter polymorphism for risk and disease severity of prostate cancer in a Japanese population. Methods: We enrolled 200 patients with sporadic prostate cancer and 159 control patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia in this case-control study. The −160C/A polymorphism in the E-cadherin gene promoter was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length analysis. Results: The C/C, C/A, and A/A genotypes were observed in 58%, 39%, and 3% of patients, respectively, whereas the C/C, C/A, and A/A genotypes were observed in 75%, 25%, and 0.63% of control subjects, respectively. Japanese men carrying the A allele and A/A genotype had 1.88-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25 to 2.84) and 9.03-fold (95% CI, 1.50 to 172.36) higher risks, respectively, for prostate cancer than did carriers of the C allele and C/C genotype. There was no significant association between the polymorphism and clinical stage or pathologic grade. Conclusions: The presence of the A allele of the −160C/A polymorphism in the E-cadherin gene may be a risk factor for prostate cancer in the Japanese population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pitting corrosion with fractal porous structure often occurs on copper tubes used in heat exchangers of air-conditioning equipment, and this corrosion is called an ant-nest corrosion. Galvanostatic controlled EIS (G-EIS) was used to measure 3-dimensianal (3D) impedance during the formation of ant-nest corrosion on phosphorus deoxidized copper (pd-Cu). Instantaneous impedance at an arbitrary time after galvanostatic polarization was determined from the 3D impedance. The transmission line model (TLM) for fractal porous electrode was applied to detect a branched pore formation on pd-Cu electrode. Nyquist plot of instantaneous impedance at initial stage of ant-nest corrosion shows capacitive behavior and straight line of 45° angle against real axis in high frequency region, indicating that a porous structure was formed at the initial stage. The angle of straight line was varied from 45° to 22.5 and 11.25°, indicating the formation of branched and doble-branched porous structures, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

D300C is highly homologous with an inhibitory receptor CD300A in an immunoglobulin-like domain among the human CD300 family of paired immune receptors. To clarify the precise expression and function of CD300C, we generated antibodies discriminating between CD300A and CD300C, which recognized a unique epitope involving amino acid residues CD300A(F56-L57) and CD300C(L63-R64). Notably, CD300C was highly expressed in human monocytes and mast cells. Cross-linking of CD300C by its specific antibody caused cytokine/ chemokine production of human monocytes and mast cells. Fc receptor γ was indispensable for both efficient surface expression and activating functions of CD300C. To identify a ligand for CD300A or CD300C, we used reporter cell lines expressing a chimera receptor harboring extracellular CD300A or CD300C and intracellular CD3ζ, in which its unknown ligand induced GFP expression. Our results indicated that phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) among the lipids tested and apoptotic cells were possible ligands for both CD300C and CD300A. PE and apoptotic cells more strongly inducedGFPexpression in the reporter cells through binding to extracellular CD300A as compared with CD300C. Differential recognition of PE by extracellular CD300A and CD300C depended on different amino acid residues CD300A(F56-L57) and CD300C(L63-R64). Interestingly, GFP expression induced by extracellular CD300C-PE binding in the reporter cells was dampened by co-expression of full-length CD300A, indicating the predominance of CD300A over CD300C in PE recognition/signaling. PE consistently failed to stimulate cytokine production in monocytes expressing CD300C with CD300A. In conclusion, specific engagement of CD300C led to Fc receptor γ-dependent activation of mast cells and monocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Two kinds of rhodamine modified β-cyclodextrins (R-1 and R-2), which are coupled up ethylene diamine (EDA) and tetraethylene pentamine (TEPA) between Rh B and β-cyclodextrin, respectively, have been synthesized. R-1 and 2 work as a new fluorogenic probe for monitoring pH of Hela cells, and MTT of assay R-1, R-2, and rhodamine B indicate that less a cytotoxicity of those R-1 and R-2 than that of rhodamine B, where R-1 has much less one than that of R-2. The fluorogenetic probe capability of R-2 was recognized in an area of acidic area in living cell, which is lysosome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]