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A field survey team went to Palu City, Indonesia in the aftermath of the September 28th, 2018 earthquake and tsunami to investigate its effects on local infrastructure and buildings. The study focused on the coast of Palu Bay, where a tsunami wave between approximately 2 and 7 m high impacted the local community as a result of several complex tsunami source mechanisms. The following study outlines the results, focused on loading caused by debris entrained within the inundating flow. Damage to timber buildings along the coast was widespread, though reinforced concrete structures for the most part survived, providing valuable insights into the type of debris loads and their effects on structures. The results of this survey are placed within the context of Canadian tsunami engineering challenges and are compared to the recently-released ASCE 7 Chapter 6 Tsunami Loads and Effects, detailing potential research gaps and needs. Key words: tsunami, natural disasters, field surveys, debris, coastal engineering, Indonesia. Une equipe d'etude sur le terrain s'est rendue a la ville de Palu, en Indonesie, a la suite du tremblement de terre et du tsunami du 28 septembre 2018, pour etudier ses effets sur les infrastructures et les batiments locaux. L'etude a porte sur la cote de la baie de Palu, ou une vague de tsunami d'environ 2 a 7 m de hauteur a touche la communaute locale en raison de plusieurs mecanismes complexes decoulant du tsunami. L'etude qui suit presente les resultats, en mettant l'accent sur le chargement cause par des debris entraines par le courant d'inondation. Les dommages causes aux batiments en bois le long de la cote etaient generalises, bien que la plupart des structures en beton arme aient survecu, ce qui a permis de mieux comprendre le type de charges de debris et leurs effets sur les structures. On presente les resultats de cette etude dans le contexte des defis d'ingenierie lies aux tsunamis au Canada et on les compare au chapitre 6 de l'ASCE 7, <>, publie recemment, qui decrit les lacunes et les besoins potentiels en matiere de recherche. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: tsunami, catastrophes naturelles, etudes sur le terrain, debris, travaux maritimes, Indonesie., Introduction On September 28th, 2018, at 18:02:43 local time, a Mw 7.5 strike-slip earthquake occurred along the coast of the Central Sulawesi province of Indonesia (Hui et al. 2018; USGS [...]

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the hydraulic efficiency of a vertically oriented water intake. Under low submergence conditions, the operation of such an intake is affected significantly by the formation of surface vortices, which result in significant flow reduction and the downstream entrainment of air and swirl. The experimental work considered the fact that vortex formation is governed by the geometrical characteristics of the intake, including the diameter, local shape, submergence, surrounding boundary, etc, and the velocity distribution in the approaching flow. Therefore, an experimental study was conducted to investigate the influence that the local shape and the proximity to nearby boundaries have on the hydraulic performance of a vertical water intake. The results of this experimental investigation will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the phenomena governing the flow in such structures and to the elaboration of improved engineering design guidelines. Key words: drop structures, experimental program, drop shafts, intakes, inlets, vortex flow. Cet article presente les resultats d'une etude experimentale de l'efficacite hydraulique d'une prise d'eau verticale. Dans des conditions de faible submersion, le fonctionnement d'une telle prise est grandement affecte par la formation de vortex de surface, ce qui reduit considerablement le debit et entraine de l'air et des tourbillons en aval. Le travail experimental considerait que la formation de vortex etait regie par les caracteristiques geometriques de la prise, dont le diametre, la forme, la submersion, les limites environnantes, etc. ainsi que la repartition des vitesses dans l'eau qui approche de la prise. Ainsi, une etude experimentale a ete realisee afin d'examiner l'influence respective de la forme locale et de la proximite aux limites environnantes sur le rendement hydraulique de la prise d'eau verticale. Les resultats de cette etude experimentale meneront probablement a une meilleure comprehension des phenomenes regissant l'ecoulement dans de telles structures ainsi qu'a une elaboration de meilleures lignes directrices pour la conception technique. Mots-cles: chutes, programme experimental, puits verticaux, prises, entrees, ecoulement tourbillonnaire. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Vertically oriented water-intake structures, such as 'shaft' or 'morning glory' spillways and storm-sewer 'drop' structures, transport water abruptly from a higher to a lower elevation in the water transmission [...]

The magnetostriction of magnetically diluted (Lu(sub 3-x)Bi(sub x)Fe(sub 5-y)Ga(sub y)O12) (BiLuIG) thin films grown by epitaxial deposition on (111)-oriented gallium gadolinium garnet substrates were optically studied. The real-time optical observations of stripe magnetic domains and their evolution under external applied magnetic fields and applied stresses are reported.

BiPrGdLu garnet films epitaxially grown on (210)-oriented substrates, which can be used as magneto-optical imagers, are studied. The garnet films have shown the phenomena of easy magnetization plane and the reduction of thickness of the garnet films through chemical etching has increased the clarity and spatial resolution of magneto-optical imaging.

The liquid phase epitaxy and characterization of single crystal (210)-oriented thin garnet films with Bi substitution is described. It is shown that the increase in the amount of Pr has increased the in-plane orthorhombic anisotropy field, while the rare-earth substitution by Bi has affected the canted orthorhombic anisotropy.

A magnetic-field sensor is proposed that uses thin garnet films with in-plane magnetization and strong magneto-optical activity. The advantages of this sensor are its high intrinsic sensitivity and the possibility of tailoring the field range for linear response.

(Bi-Gd-Lu)-based melts are proposed to grow single-crystal iron garnet thin films with in-plane magnetization and high Bi incorporation on gadolinium gallium garnet substrates with expanded crystallographic phase. The results of characterization of the magnetic and optical properties of the garnet films suggest that the growth process is controlled mainly by Gd diffusion with Lu reducing the Gd activity, thus decreasing the saturation temperatures of the melts and enhancing the Bi incorporation.

The impact of substrate rotation rate on the characteristics of liquid phase epitaxy grown Bi:LuGaFe garnets is presented. The growth rate is increased by a factor of 2, Faraday effect by 50 percent and index of refraction by 1.6 * 10(super -2) due to the increase in the substrate rotation rate.

Abstract In field investigations of major flooding events, debris impact has been identified as a critical load and has thus been included in various building codes, such as FEMA P-646 and ASCE7. However, the evaluation of debris loading solely based on field data is challenging. Therefore, to address the uncertainties related to debris loading, an experimental program investigating debris impacts on structures was performed using a dam-break wave. The debris were down-scaled 6.1 m (20 ft) shipping containers (1:40 geometric scale) which were entrained and displaced by the transient wave conditions. The study presented here examines the influence of the transient flow conditions and the flow features around the structure due to the impinging wave on the debris impact conditions. The influence of the impact geometry (obliqueness, eccentricity) on the impact force is also discussed and possible parameters to describe the impact geometry are introduced. Highlights • The hydrodynamic conditions at the structure result in non-linear motion of the debris and reduced impact velocities. • The lag of the debris behind the wave front is dependent on the hydrodynamic conditions. • The impact forces perpendicular to the impact motion cannot be solely described using Coulomb's friction theory. • The initial orientation of the debris has no observable influence on the impact geometry. • The hydrodynamic conditions did have an influence on the impact geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To determine antibiotic susceptibility of isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 573) and Haemophilus influenzae (n = 345) collected in 2014-16 from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Croatia.Methods: MICs were determined by CLSI broth microdilution and susceptibility was assessed using CLSI, EUCAST and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) breakpoints.Results: Among S. pneumoniae, susceptibility was generally lowest in Romania and Serbia and highest in Bulgaria. Rates of susceptibility to penicillin (CLSI oral or EUCAST) were 22.3% and 21.8% in Romania and Serbia respectively, 57% in Croatia and 86.6% in Bulgaria. Similarly, macrolide susceptibility using CLSI/EUCAST breakpoints was low in Romania and Serbia (∼28% and 34.5%, respectively), higher in Croatia (55.9%) and highest in Bulgaria (∼75%). Only fluoroquinolones were active against all isolates in all four countries. Susceptibility was higher and variability across countries less pronounced for H. influenzae. Susceptibility by CLSI criteria to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, azithromycin, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone and fluoroquinolones was ≥98% in all countries. Ampicillin susceptibility ranged from 85.3% in Romania to 100% in Bulgaria. Much greater variability was seen across breakpoints. Susceptibility to azithromycin and cefuroxime using CLSI criteria was ≥98% in all four countries, but was 0%-1% by EUCAST criteria.Conclusions: The variability in antimicrobial susceptibility using different breakpoints makes it difficult for clinicians to interpret antimicrobial resistance data, and efforts should be made to harmonize breakpoints. The variability found across the four neighbouring countries demonstrates the need to monitor and publish national and local resistance patterns. These findings provide information critical for the selection of appropriate antimicrobial agents for the treatment of S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood disasters such as dam breaks and surges from extreme hurricanes or tsunamis entrain and transport substantial amounts of submerged or floating debris. Understanding of motion and spatiotemporal distribution of debris entrained by a flood is thus of great importance to hydraulic, coastal, and structural engineers; the displacement of debris to a location where it may eventually impact critical infrastructure requires scientific attention at the laboratory scale first. In this context, the design and application of a novel smart debris system utilizing off-the-shelf components is presented and discussed. The system tracks the spatial location and orientation of a multitude of debris specimens and it proposes an accurate tool to assess their individual trajectory, velocity, and momentum in a laboratory environment. Contrary to the traditional camera-based approach of video tracking, which often fails once objects are submerged, the proposed smart debris system delivers six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) data in a reliable, timely manner. Miniaturized inertial measurement units (IMU), commonly called motion sensors, which are used for attitude heading reference systems are deployed to output time series of spatial orientation along with filtered 3D acceleration readings. A Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) tracking system is applied along with the motion sensor to track the 3D debris positions. A detailed investigation in controlled laboratory conditions reveals the detailed individual performance of the tested spatial orientations and positions. As an application, debris transport tests were conducted in a newly built tsunami wave basin at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. For this test series, a typical harbor layout with a vertical quay wall adjacent to a horizontal container-stacking platform was constructed. The advection by a broken tsunamilike bore of multiple down-scaled shipping containers in basic arrangements was then tracked from their initial position. The performance of the innovative smart debris system is qualitatively tested in order to provide guidance for their future application in hydraulic and coastal engineering as well as to provide a solid basis for its application in field studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new design approach for bi-mode gate-commutated thyristors (BGCTs) is proposed for high-current controllability and low ON-state voltage drop. Using a complex multi-cell mixed-mode simulation model which can capture the maximum controllable current (MCC) of large area devices, a failure analysis was performed to demonstrate that the new design concept can increase the MCC by about 27% at room temperature and by about 17% at 400 K while minimizing the ON-state voltage drop. The simulations depict that the improvement comes from the new approach to terminate the GCT part in the BGCT way of intertwining GCT and diode regions for reverse conducting operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romanian Black Pied (RBP) cow population, from the farms belonging to AGCTR taken in the official control of production in 2012-2013, totalised an effective of 4444 heads from 17 Counties of the country. This effective was taken in the official control based on which where the following parameters were estimated: ... Age structure and number of realised lactations; ... Period of total and normal lactations; ... Milk production, fat and protein content on total and normal lactation; ... Number of artificial insemination for achieving one pregnancy. Obtained results enlighten the following: The studied RBP population has an age structure in which predominant are young animals, with an average of 2.51 lactations with limits between 1 and 14. Period of total lactation was 347.27 days, and normal lactation was 284.39 days, which influence the milk production performances. Average milk production on normal lactation was 6966.24 kg milk, with limits between 1160.l4 kg and 17896.1 kg milk. We notice the average milk production of over 8000 kg on the total effective RBP from Dolj, Ialomita and Teleorman counties and of some farms with performances similar to the best farm worldwide. Existence of some plusvariance with performances of over 10000 kg milk on normal lactation underline the superior genetic value of RBP cow population and the possibility of genetic improvement using the existing variability of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Were taken in study the farms with Romanian Black Pied (BNR) cow population belonging to AGCTR (General Association of Romanian Cattle Breeders) being in the COP (official production register) for 2011-2012, at which were analysed: age at first calving (VPF), number of artificial insemination (IA) for one gestation, range of lactation, calving interval (CI), service-period (SP) and mammary repose (RM). Cows' number was of 5973 in 1-13 lactation with an average of 2.48 lactations. The average age at first calving was 29.38 month with variability between 23 and 46 months. Number of IA1 for one gestation was 1.11 with limits between 1-4 IA1, most of which being recorded in Covasna County farms (1.66), Olt County (1.41) and Constanţa County (1.22). The average service period (SP) was 80.11 days, pregnancy installation being achieved in the first 3-4 heat cycles. Calving interval (CI) was 357.93 days, for obtaining one and only a veal per year, which shows a good management of reproduction function. Mammary repose was 66.31 days, cows being weaning with two months before calving, without extending the period of lactation even at cows with high daily production. The conclusion drawn from the study proves the genetic value of the BNR cow population and a good management of the technological and exploitation factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to present the logical structure and core functions of a software module for recording, processing and reporting information relating to performance control in beef cattle. The research comprised a literature review on several control systems used in other countries, international guidelines and recommendation in the field and a syntheses of key issues that led to the successful implementation of an information module that takes into account these requirements, described in this article. The results of scientific investigations illustrate that the process of collecting and inputting data has a important role in the process of performance recording in its early stage and although the performance indexes for each animal can be already useful in practice, the software needs a period of 3-5 years of continuously recording the data in order to become fully mature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research was carried out on a number of 4208 BNR cows population from private farms situated in 11 Counties, belonging to AGCTR. Using the data from the Official control were analysed: period of lactation, milk production per total lactation, normal and at maturity equivalent, milk content in fat and proteins, function of farm, county association, and total population. Data obtained show the following: milk production per normal lactation was 5822.73 Kg for the entire population, with limits between 4413.60 Kg for the BNR population from Ilfov County and 7364.80 Kg from Vaslui County. Between the county associations the differences were significant, even between the farms from the same county. Per total population, there were six counties with performances over the average, the most performing being Târzii and Bădeana farms from Vaslui County, which overcame with 26.48 % the population average. Milk content in fat was 3.90% and the protein one was 3.41% but with a great variability (V% = 22.98% for fat and 21.45 %for protein). Period of total lactation was on average of 263.84 days, which influenced the performance of milk production. In the studied farms the individual variability was very high, with a maximum of 18476 Kg milk for a cow from Târzii farm, Vaslui County. The presence of this plus variables and pronounced variability in every farm are favourable for positive selective pathways and real possibilities for genetic improvement of the studied flocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to the Pacific Ocean, tsunamis are rare both in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. However, the December 26, 2004, tsunami demonstrated that, no matter how rare they may be, when a major tsunami occurs, it could be very disastrous. The most basic information in tsunami warning center requires are charts showing tsunami travel times to various locations around the rim of the ocean. With this in mind, a tsunami travel time atlas for the Atlantic Ocean is in preparation. The Caribbean Sea is also included in this Atlas, as it is more or less a part of the Atlantic Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energetics of the most destructive tsunami in historical time, and that of the under ocean earthquake that triggered this tsunami of 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean have been briefly reviewed. This latest tsunami has several other unique characteristics besides being one of the worst natural disasters in human history. It is the first truly global tsunami after modern seismographic and sea level monitoring networks have been put in place. It was the first tsunami on record detected by a satellite, even though at present, global satellite coverage of the oceans for real time tsunami detection is not adequate. Finally, the energy associated with the tsunami and the earthquake that triggered it is so large that speculation has been made about the normal modes of oscillation of the earth, that were triggered by the earthquake as well as some suggestions, that some of the earth's rotational characteristics may have temporarily changed to a discernible degree. Here, we briefly review the energetics of the tsunami and the earthquake that triggered it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a trench-insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) design with local charge compensating layers featured at the cathode of the device is presented and analyzed. The superjunction or reduced surface effect proves to be very effective in overcoming the inherited ON-state versus breakdown tradeoff appearing in conventional devices, such as the soft punch through plus or field stop plus (FS+) IGBTs. This design enhances the ON-state performance of the FS+IGBT by increasing the plasma concentration at the cathode side without affecting either the switching performance or the breakdown rating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Were analysed the productive performances for 1619 Romanian Black Pied (RBP) primiparous, representing 36.21% from total population belonging to AGCTR from 17 Counties. Except Constanta County, primiparous cows represent a high proportion in the age structure of the farms and have a superior genetic value towards previous generations. Average milk production on normal lactation at the analysed batch was of 6992.88 kg milk, with the superior limit of 16095 kg milk and standard deviation s = 1096.88 kg. Length of total lactation has a medium value of 350.91 days, gestation period of 286 days and number of insemination for one gestation of 1.07, with limits ranking between 1 and 5 artificial insemination, and age at first calving of 28.4 month. Those performances enlighten the superior genetic value of primiparous and the perspectives of accomplishing of some productive indexes at the level of the countries with valuables nucleus of Friesian cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a population of 4487 BNR cows, from 17 counties belonging to A.G.C.T.R. (General Association of Romanian Cattle Breeders) were evaluated the main reproductive indicators on the basis of data from official control in farms. Were evaluated the following indicators: age at first calving (VP), number of artificial inseminations for one gestation, duration of gestation, service-period, mammary repose and calving interval (CI). From analysis of mean values could be observed that mean age at first calving was in 29.57 days, analysed population having precocity under the standard of Friesian breed. Number of inseminations for one gestation was 1.83 i.a., at the farms level being recorded an efficient management of frozen seminal material. Reproduction indicators: CI, SP, RM and DG, had mean values which prove that reproduction function was well technically managed, in each year obtaining one calf from each cow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]