bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mechanical characterization of recycled tire rubber to be used as seismic isolation of the structure
Authors: Anania Laura , Badalá Antonio , D'Agata Giuseppe
Published: December 2014

This paper discusses the results obtained by an experimental investigation aimed to the development of an innovative low-cost seismic base isolation pads using scrap car tires. The main idea consists in realizing a new layer, by means of the recycled car tires, that replace large areas of the surrounding soil underneath the structure, or special elastomer based isolator between the soil and the basements. To this aim several tests have been conducted on specimens properly prepared from tires, in order to investigate the behavior of proposed system under compression and shear forces. The results reported here are related to the compression test and they were compared to the ones of common elastomer bearings (SREI). They show that at same strain levels, the instantaneous compression modulus values of RTP specimens are higher than that of the SREI values. The slope changes of RTP specimens start earlier and fail at much lower strains compared to SREI specimen. The high vertical stiffness of RTP layers combined with relatively low amount of steel content makes RTP layers stiffer and lower strength compared to SREI. Test results have shown that the friction between tire layers is sufficient to keep layers intact. RTP application so presents advantages such as low-technology no-cost pad, weight reduction, ease of handling, simple shear stiffness adjustment by changing the number of layers, and environmental benefits by recycling tires.
"Puente de los Poetas" (Poets Bridge) over the Duero River in the City of Zamora (Spain)
Authors: Manterola Javier , Munoz-Rojas Javier , Fernández Sara , Navarro Juan A.
Published: December 2014

This new crossing over the Duero river in the city of Zamora was built to shift the traffic from the mediaeval bridge. This called for a new road network to connect the crossing with the urban fabric, which turned the new bridge in an axis marking the westward expansion of the city. The total length of the bridge is 424.5 m. It consists of 6 spans, with three 92 m long spans over the river. The deck is a 14.7 m wide box section girder with variable depth, made of prestressed concrete, using white structural concrete. It was built by balanced cantilevers. On the left riverbank, a roundabout connection was built to connect the bridge with road network. The proximity of the historic hull and the mediaeval bridge were strong conditioning factors in the design, which looks like a multiple archway with large voids over the piers, resembling relieving arches.
The Benefits and Practical Implementation of Parametric Design
Authors: Osborne Thomas , Halaczek Bartlomiej
Published: December 2014

The tools used by engineers and architects to design, collaborate on and construct bridges have been evolving rapidly in recent times. The change from 2D to 3D design platforms has allowed for greater exploration of detail as well as increased complexity of design. Today, a further evolution of those tools is occurring – the move towards ‘parametric’ design.

This paper looks the three bridges of ‘Campusbrücke’, in Opladen, Germany, ‘Ruckholt Road’ and ‘Bridge One’, in Stratford, London. It focuses on the way in which three bridges were designed, the benefits of their various design strategies, and how the use of parametrics allowed the teams to respond well to their varying constraints.
Temporary Multi-storey Container House
Authors: Hikone Shigeru , Tokubuchi Masaki
Published: December 2014

The project was the design development and construction of multi-storey temporary housing units as part of the disaster relief effort following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Our objective of the project was to find and commission an affordable temporary housing solution that could be constructed rapidly to accommodate the residents who lost their houses due to the earthquake and tsunami. The flatlands located above the tsunami height were limited in the town area; thus, a viable multi-storey

solution was required. Conventional temporary housing units are a single storey in Japan due to limited logistics and technical ability in the disaster area. Our challenge was to propose multi-storey houses using stacked shipping containers that would have the benefit of offsite prefabrication and logistics, using shipping

and container trailers at the site to create a multi-storey house

Figure 1 Original model by Shigeru Ban
Dynamic behaviour of under-deck cable-stayed bridges under the action of moving loads
Authors: Madrazo-Aguirre Fernando , Ruiz-Teran Ana M. , Wadee M. Ahmer
Published: December 2014

Under-deck cable-stayed bridges are innovative bridge configurations in which stays are located underneath the deck. This bridge typology can lead to highly efficient and slender decks, resulting in a large reduction of the amount of materials employed. Nevertheless, if very slender decks are designed, vibration problems can arise potentially compromising the comfort of bridge users. The dynamic response of an under-deck cable-stayed bridge with a steel-concrete composite deck under the action of moving loads is studied. After an initial modal analysis, the contribution of each mode is identified. Loads applied eccentrically on the cross-section of the deck are found to increase accelerations substantially. Amplification and cancellation speeds are observed to govern the maximum accelerations registered on the deck. A parametric analysis reveals the maximum slendernesses that can be achieved to satisfy different comfort criteria.
Shear resistance of existing prestressed concrete bridges under static and cyclic loading
Authors: Herbrand Martin , Teworte Frederik , Hegger Josef
Published: December 2014

The demands on the load-carrying capacity of bridges have increased over the last decades due to higher traffic volume. In the future, an even further increase of traffic loads is expected. Many ex- isting bridge structures in Germany built in the 1960s and 1970s were designed for lower traffic loads applying the principal tensile stress criterion for shear. These structures typically feature a high degree of prestressing and low shear reinforcement ratios. In addition to the verification of the shear strength under static loading in the ultimate limit state, the shear fatigue resistance under ser- vice loads must be proved to account for the increased fatigue loads. This paper presents alternative design approaches developed at the Institute of Structural Concrete at RWTH Aachen University for the static and fatigue verification considering the provided shear reinforcement. The application to a typical bridge structure of the German road network is presented.
Mechanical Performance of Stud Connector in Lightweight Concrete
Authors: Xu Chen , Masuya Hiroshi , Fukada Saiji , Takai Kentaro
Published: December 2014

 Shear connector is quite important to steel and concrete composite bridge which benefits the material advantages. In this study, static and fatigue performance of typically used stud shear connector in lightweight concrete was investigated experimentally. Compared with normal concrete, lightweight concrete has the feature of reducing self-weight of bridge superstructure. It has been applied in some composite bridge deck constructions and repair works because of the strength improvement and water absorption amelioration nowadays. However, the lower modulus and other drawbacks of lightweight concrete still exist. The effect of lightweight concrete on stud shear connector remains unclear. In this sense, we carried out related push-out tests, including static and cyclic ones. The stud shank diameter and height were 19 and 150mm, respectively. The lightweight concrete compressive strength was designed above 40MPa, and its density was 1900kg/m3. The test results generally indicated that lightweight concrete tended to lower stud mechanical performance but still applicable for composite bridge. Moreover, it was suggested that fatigue strength evaluation of stud in lightweight concrete based on Euro code 4 is safe but appears underestimation, and that based on JSCE(Japan Society of Civil engineers) standard can be acceptable as well but may cause overestimation.
Vidalta Cable-stayed Bridge
Authors: Fernández Leonardo , Fernández Lucía , Cano Antonio , Cuervo José
Published: December 2014

The Vidalta Bridge is located on the outskirts of Mexico City, in a very deep valley with special conditions, which led to the creation of a unique cable stayed bridge.

Fig. 1. General view of the bridge

The total span between the building, where the bridge starts, and the opposite edge of the valley is 240 m, with the possibility of locating a support at 60 m from that first edge, so therefore the bridge is split into two spans of 60 and 180 m. Because of that, the stay tower has been inclined to reduce this difference, splitting the deck in two spans of 161.5 and 78.5 m.

This difference between the two spans has let to the smallest span being heavier by means of using a concrete section, and the another span

lighter with a steel box section, to compensate the forces in the stays and achieve a balance in the tower.

A polygon of forces is created between the different elements of the bridge: towers, stays and deck, which is closed with a diagonal beam joining the foundation with the shorter span’s edge, achieving the global balance of the structure.

This bridge is the recipient of the 2013 Post-tensioning Institute (PTI, USA) award of Excellence.
Development of the St Croix River Extradosed Bridge Form
Authors: Bergman Don
Published: December 2014

The new St Croix River Bridge in Minnesota is a critical new piece of infrastructure required to replace the existing functionally obsolete Stillwater Lift Bridge which was constructed in 1931. The form of the bridge was developed over a long exhaustive process required to address stakeholder issues with the environmentally sensitive site. The paper describes the process for the development of the project, including the basis for the selection of the extradosed bridge form, and the aesthetic theme and features developed and incorporated into the design to address the stakeholder concerns.
The Mersey Gateway – A Bridge to Prosperity
Authors: Nicholson Steve , Withycombe Stuart , Hall Claire
Published: December 2014

In March 2014 Halton Borough Council reached Financial Close and awarded the contract for the Mersey Gateway Project to the Merseylink consortium. This had been preceded by some 30 months of procurement, and it was with immense pride that the Council made the announcement for award of the 30 year concession contract in time to open the new crossing by 2017. The Project has been procured as a privately financed Public Private Partnership (PPP) project and ist financial structure is seen as ground breaking for infrastructure investment in the UK. The procurement delivered impressive savings of £250m on the cost of the concession for the Council under the budget set by Government in 2011.

The centre piece of the project is a spectacular new 6 lane, 1km long, twin span cable stayed bridge over the River Mersey Estuary in the North West of the UK. The crossing will be tolled and includes several km of new and upgraded road. The new crossing will be a transformational project for the regional economic strategy, acting as a trigger for regeneration and investment.
Design and Construction of the Mersey Gateway Bridge
Authors: Sanders Paul , Lundorf Nielsen Lars , Wood Hugo , Romo Martín José , Brennan Gerard , Banks John
Published: December 2014

Mersey Gateway Bridge is a 2.25km long major estuary crossing under construction in the UK. It is being built as part of a concession agreement to increase capacity across the upper Mersey Estuary. The bridge features a 1km long three tower cable stayed bridge.
The Great Mosque of Algeria – Seismic Design of a Monument
Authors: Akkermann Jan , Hewener Alexander
Published: December 2014

In Algiers the world’s third largest mosque, whose minaret will be the highest in the world, is presently under construction. The complex, containing also a convention centre, a library and a university, will form a new urban focus. As Algiers is located in a strong-motion earthquake area, the structural design of the buildings follows latest construction methods. The prayer hall will be totally decoupled from the seismic ground by isolators and dampers. The minaret will be a high rise building with a composite structure of RC cores and integrated dissipation steel stiffeners. Its design was made with special push-over analyses. The construction started in 2012 and is scheduled to be finished in 2016. The paper presents the outstanding project itself, figures out the main structural design aspects and gives an overview of the state of construction in 2014.
Development of flexible structure to reinforce and change height of RC viaduct column
Authors: Takahashi Sakiko , Abe Hisano , Kado Shintaro , Tatsuki Shinichi , Iwata Michitoshi
Published: December 2014

In this report, we report on the technological development in which we utilize an existing RC rigid- frame viaduct.

We plan to shift about 3.5km of a service route on the Senseki Line that was damaged by the tsunami of The Tohoku-pacific Ocean Earthquake. We will utilize the existing RC rigid-frame viaduct at the bridge approach. Therefore, we will plan to cut the existing viaduct and raise slab aspect height. However, in the cross-section of the existing columns, it has been found that aseismic performance is insufficient. Therefore, we developed a structure with a widened cross-section by deploy reinforcement steel materials in the other periphery of the columns.
Thermal behavior of different concrete mixtures with pozzolanic additions
Authors: Surico Francesco , Gregori Amedeo , Marino Roberto , Longhi Federico
Published: December 2014

The hydration process of cement is an exothermic chemical reaction; the evolution of heat generated during hardening of concrete causes, especially in structures and massive elements, differential contractions between the nucleus and the surface that might generate large thermal shrinkage cracks. The current study wants to identify the factors that allow to obtain the biggest reduction of the heat of hydration using the products with pozzolanic effect present on the market, such as GGBS, silica fume ad fly ash. The goal is to prepare a recipe with a proper proportion of pozzolanic materials able to reduce the heat of hydration of concrete through a reduction of the amount of cement but without affecting the long term compressive strengths. After identifying the best pozzolanic compound, this study wants to propose an analytical method to assign an efficiency factor to the powder mixture, in order to work out the amount of equivalent cement to replace.

Thanks to adiabatic calorimetry it has been possible to experimentally evaluate the heat generated by a series of concrete samples designed with different amounts of pozzolanic materials.

Comparing the best performance in terms of compressive strength and reduction of the heat of hydration, the most promising experimental product was identified. This product has been subsequently validated by field trial tests. Some field application of the final product that was performed in the several important construction site, will be showed and documented.
Application of fiber optic high temperature sensors for structural monitoring of structures submitted to fire
Authors: Rinaudo Paula , Torres Górriz Benjamín , Barrera Villar David , Payá Zaforteza Ignacio , Calderón García Pedro , Sales Maicas Salvador
Published: December 2014

Recent events such as the fires on St. Gotthard (2001), the Twin Towers in New York (2001) and the Windsor Building in Madrid (2005) show the importance and the necessity of a monitoring strategy for fire vulnerable structures. Through this strategy, the assessment of fire damaged structures would be possible and if necessary, their demolition operation could be guided. To monitor structures subjected to fire it is essential to have high temperature sensors. Nowadays, the measurements of temperatures during fires are done by high temperature thermocouples, that have the typical drawbacks of the electric sensors. This paper presents a new high temperature fiber optic sensor (FOS) able to measure temperatures up to 1200ºC developed at the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain. The paper explains the operating principle of the FOS to measure temperatures as well as experimental (fire test) and numerical studies conducted to verify the sensor performance.
Results of the visual inspection of 600 bridges in Chile
Authors: Schanack Frank , Ramos Óscar Ramón , González Tamara , Klingenberg Thomas , Riffo Hugo
Published: December 2014

In the frame of a contract between the Chilean National Highway Authority, APIA XXI IAC S.A. and the Universidad Austral de Chile, all bridges of the Los Rios Region have been inspected for structural, functional and durability damages or deficiencies. The total number of bridges inspected is 600 and includes 95 composite bridges, 98 reinforced and prestressed concrete bridges, 238 timber bridges, 168 hybrid timber-steel bridges and 1 steel bridge. The overall service conditions of the bridges are relatively low, mainly due to non-conformity with today’s standards. These defects often affect the traffic safety, which requires immediate repair actions. 88% of all bridges require inmediate or short-term repairs. Due to limited funding it is not possible to fulfil these demands at once. It is very important to implement a regular maintenance program in order to increase the level of service conditions.
Sustainable Concepts for Concrete Bridges in Germany
Authors: Retzepis Ioannis
Published: December 2014

The aging infrastructure in Germany coupled with limited natural und financial resources has led to the development of a wide range of sustainable strategies and concepts. It wasn’t until 2011 that a code for the recalculation of highway bridges, the so called “Nachrechnungsrichtlinie”, was introduced. It defines the steps and regulates the procedures to be carried out for existing structures. In this way, a standardization of the sustainability process for highway bridges has been achieved. It facilitates the comparison of different infrastructure projects and improves the cost-efficiency aspects. This procedure is compulsory for every existing highway bridge in Germany.
Stations for People – Important Factors in Station Design
Authors: Kido Ewa Maria
Published: December 2014

Travel by railways is now more popular than it was several years ago. Along with the “station renaissance”, many new stations have been built and many historical stations have been refurbished and developed. Stations have become more user-friendly, satisfying many needs and various additional functions. This paper examines factors, which have an influence that railway stations in Europe and Japan have become more designated for people than, like before, for trains. The conclusion is that both in Europe and Japan many factors of station design are essential for people and make travel by rail more convenient.
Embodied Carbon in Structures and Cities
Authors: Sarkisian Mark , Shook David
Published: December 2014

Beyond LEED and other evaluation techniques that largely consider carbon emissions from building operations, a basis for design must be established to account for the embodied carbon in a structure. Minimum acceptable goals must be created to encourage a responsible approach to environmental design—one that accounts for carbon emissions from groundbreaking through the building’s service life.

An advanced methodology and tool termed the Environmental Analysis Tool™ has been published that evaluates embodied carbon in buildings. The method is capable of considering the embodied carbon at the time of construction through the expected service life. Considerations are made for material, construction, and probabilistic seismic damage based on specific site conditions.

An evaluation of embodied carbon in over 200 built structures has revealed trends and correlations among common design parameters such as building height, occupancy type, seismic and wind conditions. Correlations of embodied carbon with building height and lateral system type are observed. Results such as this can be utilized by designers to set design goals, and to form a basis for incentive programs and future codification.
Sustainability of Infrastructures vs. Climate Changes
Authors: Zmigrodzki Stefan
Published: December 2014

Climate changes became a challenge for the sustainability of infrastructures which are expected to perform during long life-cycles. However, “the forces of mother nature” reflected in codes; do not always cover caprices of the nature manifested in extreme weather events such as abundant snow falls, heavy winds, freezing rain, flooding, etc…..which never occurred before. Examples from Quebec where generally snow falls are important, a “great” ice storm occurred in 1998 and heavy rains became a frequent phenomenon; can serve as examples for the behaviour of some infrastructures in unusual weather conditions. The character and the range of failures caused by snow, wind, ice build-up, etc… in regions regularly exposed to these loads, can serve as a reference for the performance of structures elsewhere, where hazards form climate changes; Forensic Engineering deals with such issues. A parallel between “poorly” designed structures and effects of climate changes leads to the conclusion that quality of design remains the main issue in the consideration regarding these aspects.
Dynamic Monitoring of a roadway bridge supported by a plain concrete arch
Authors: Magalhães Filipe , Cunha Álvaro
Published: December 2014

The bridge under study is an arch bridge built in 1940, whose main structural element is a concrete arch without reinforcement that spans 80 m. Since it is one of the bridges with larger span constructed in Portugal during the Second World War period, involving a plain concrete arch, this bridge is an important Portuguese landmark. Due to the construction of a new hydroelectric power plant in the vicinity of the bridge, the bridge was equipped with a vibration based Structural Health Monitoring system, in order to continuously observe the impact of the construction activities on the structural integrity of this historical bridge.

This paper presents the main characteristics of the structure and of its monitoring project, including a description of the monitoring hardware and software that is complemented with the analysis of the results associated with more than two years of continuous tracking of the bridge modal parameters.
Influence of substructure height on fully integral abutment bridge in sand
Authors: Xue Junqing , Briseghella Bruno , Chen Baochun , Zordan Tobia
Published: December 2014

Nowadays, many simply supported bridges constructed all over the world have been affected by the durability problems, especially broken expansion joints and damaged bearings. In order to resolve fundamentally the durability problems of existing bridges during their service life, the concept of integral abutment bridge came out. In this paper, the retrofit technology with the concept of integral abutment bridge was analyzed, based on a simply supported bridge “Viadotto Serrone” in Italy. The corresponding finite element models of the existing jointed bridge and four types of fully integral abutment bridges after retrofit were built by Sap2000. Using the finite element model, the sensitive analysis choosing the substructure height as the critical influential factor was carried out. Some regulations obtained can be adopted as the guideline of this retrofit technology.
Long-term Seismic Monitoring of an Instrumented Base-Isolated Building: Observation and Structural Analysis
Authors: Siringoringo Dionysius M. , Fujino Yozo
Published: December 2014

This paper describes a case-study of serviceability performance of a base-isolated building on a basis of long-term seismic monitoring data. Investigation on the seismic response emphasizes on the influence of building asymmetricity on the characteristics of seismic response and the long-term building response characteristics for over three years between 2010 and 2012 under various amplitudes of earthquakes. The building is an asymmetric base-isolated L-shaped structure consisting of seven-story and fourteen-story building with vertical void. Vibration monitoring system was installed on the building and seismic responses were recorded including the strongest shaking (PGA 0.80–1.40m/s²) experienced during the March 11, 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake
Mapping Entomological Dengue Risk Levels in Martinique Using High-Resolution Remote-Sensing Environmental Data
Authors: Machault Vanessa , Yébakima André , Etienne Manuel , Vignolles Cécile , Palany Philippe , Tourre Yves , Guérécheau Marine , Lacaux Jean-Pierre
Published: December 2014

Controlling dengue virus transmission mainly involves integrated vector management. Risk maps at appropriate scales can provide valuable information for assessing entomological risk levels. Here, results from a spatio-temporal model of dwellings potentially harboring Aedes aegypti larvae from 2009 to 2011 in Tartane (Martinique, French Antilles) using high spatial resolution remote-sensing environmental data and field entomological and meteorological information are presented. This tele-epidemiology methodology allows monitoring the dynamics of diseases closely related to weather/climate and environment variability. A Geoeye-1 image was processed to extract landscape elements that could surrogate societal or biological information related to the life cycle of Aedes vectors. These elements were subsequently included into statistical models with random effect. Various environmental and meteorological conditions have indeed been identified as risk/protective factors for the presence of Aedes aegypti immature stages in dwellings at a given date. These conditions were used to produce dynamic high spatio-temporal resolution maps from the presence of most containers harboring larvae. The produced risk maps are examples of modeled entomological maps at the housing level with daily temporal resolution. This finding is an important contribution to the development of targeted operational control systems for dengue and other vector-borne diseases, such as chikungunya, which is also present in Martinique.
Isoflavone and Protein Constituents of Lactic Acid-Fermented Soy Milk Combine to Prevent Dyslipidemia in Rats Fed a High Cholesterol Diet
Authors: Kobayashi Maki , Egusa Shintaro , Fukuda Mitsuru
Published: December 2014

A high cholesterol diet induces dyslipidemia. This study investigated whether isoflavone aglycones in lactic acid-fermented soy milk (LFS) improve lipid metabolism in rats fed a high cholesterol diet. Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged seven weeks were fed an AIN-93G diet, a 1% cholesterol diet (a high cholesterol diet), a high-cholesterol diet containing 4% isoflavone extract of LFS (LFS extract diet), a high-cholesterol diet containing 19.4% ethanol-washed LFS (ethanol-washed LFS diet, isoflavone-poor diet), or a high cholesterol diet containing 23.2% intact LFS (intact LFS diet) for five weeks. The plasma total cholesterol (TC) level was increased in the rats fed the LFS extract diet compared with those fed the high cholesterol diet. The TC level was decreased by the intact LFS and ethanol-washed LFS diets. The cholesterol-lowering effect was stronger in the rats fed the intact LFS diet than those fed the ethanol-washed LFS diet. The plasma triglyceride (TG) level was unchanged in the rats fed the LFS extract diet, but it decreased in rats fed the intact LFS and ethanol-washed LFS diets. Although, compared with the high cholesterol diet, the LFS extract and ethanol-washed LFS diets did not reduce hepatic cholesterol and TG, both levels were remarkably lowered by the intact LFS diet. These results suggest that the improvement in lipid metabolism of rats fed a high-cholesterol diet containing LFS isoflavone aglycones is not due to an independent effect but due to a cooperative effect with soy protein.
A Kalman Filter-Based Method to Generate Continuous Time Series of Medium-Resolution NDVI Images
Authors: Sedano Fernando , Kempeneers Pieter , Hurtt George
Published: December 2014

A data assimilation method to produce complete temporal sequences of synthetic medium-resolution images is presented. The method implements a Kalman filter recursive algorithm that integrates medium and moderate resolution imagery. To demonstrate the approach, time series of 30-m spatial resolution NDVI images at 16-day time steps were generated using Landsat NDVI images and MODIS NDVI products at four sites with different ecosystems and land cover-land use dynamics. The results show that the time series of synthetic NDVI images captured seasonal land surface dynamics and maintained the spatial structure of the landscape at higher spatial resolution. The time series of synthetic medium-resolution NDVI images were validated within a Monte Carlo simulation framework. Normalized residuals decreased as the number of available observations increased, ranging from 0.2 to below 0.1. Residuals were also significantly lower for time series of synthetic NDVI images generated at combined recursion (smoothing) than individually at forward and backward recursions (filtering). Conversely, the uncertainties of the synthetic images also decreased when the number of available observations increased and combined recursions were implemented.
The S-NPP VIIRS Day-Night Band On-Orbit Calibration/Characterization and Current State of SDR Products
Authors: Lee Shihyan , Chiang Kwofu , Xiong Xiaoxiong , Sun Chengbo , Anderson Samuel
Published: December 2014

The launch of VIIRS on-board the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) on 28 October 2011, marked the beginning of the next chapter on nighttime lights observation started by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s (DMSP) OLS sensor more than two decades ago. The VIIRS observes the nighttime lights on Earth through its day-night band (DNB), a panchromatic channel covering the wavelengths from 500 nm to 900 nm. Compared to its predecessors, the VIIRS DNB has a much improved spatial/temporal resolution, radiometric sensitivity and, more importantly, continuous calibration using on-board calibrators (OBCs). In this paper, we describe the current state of the NASA calibration and characterization methodology used in supporting mission data quality assurance and producing consistent mission-wide sensor data records (SDRs) through NASA’s Land Product Evaluation and Analysis Tool Element (Land PEATE). The NASA calibration method utilizes the OBCs to determine gains, offset drift and sign-to-noise ratio (SNR) over the entire mission. In gain determination, the time-dependent relative spectral response (RSR) is used to correct the optical throughput change over time. A deep space view acquired during an S-NPP pitch maneuver is used to compute the airglow free dark offset for DNB’s high gain stage. The DNB stray light is estimated each month from new-moon dark Earth surface observations to remove the excessive stray light over the day-night terminators. As the VIIRS DNB on-orbit calibration is the first of its kind, the evolution of the calibration methodology is evident when the S-NPP VIIRS’s official calibrations are compared with our latest mission-wide reprocessing. In the future, the DNB calibration methodology is likely to continue evolving, and the mission-wide reprocessing is a key to providing consistently calibrated DNB SDRs for the user community. In the meantime, the NASA Land PEATE provides an alternative source to obtain mission-wide DNB SDR products that are calibrated based on the latest NASA DNB calibration methodology.
Establishing a Baseline for Regional Scale Monitoring of Eelgrass (Zostera marina) Habitat on the Lower Alaska Peninsula
Authors: Hogrefe Kyle , Ward David , Donnelly Tyrone , Dau Niels
Published: December 2014

Seagrass meadows, one of the world’s most widespread and productive ecosystems, provide a wide range of services with real economic value. Worldwide declines in the distribution and abundance of seagrasses and increased threats to coastal ecosystems from climate change have prompted a need to acquire baseline data for monitoring and protecting these important habitats. We assessed the distribution and abundance of eelgrass (Zostera marina) along nearly 1200 km of shoreline on the lower Alaska Peninsula, a region of expansive eelgrass meadows whose status and trends are poorly understood. We demonstrate the effectiveness of a multi-scale approach by using Landsat satellite imagery to map the total areal extent of eelgrass while integrating field survey data to improve map accuracy and describe the physical and biological condition of the meadows. Innovative use of proven methods and processing tools was used to address challenges inherent to remote sensing in high latitude, coastal environments. Eelgrass was estimated to cover ~31,000 ha, 91% of submerged aquatic vegetation on the lower Alaska Peninsula, nearly doubling the known spatial extent of eelgrass in the region. Mapping accuracy was 80%–90% for eelgrass distribution at locations containing adequate field survey data for error analysis.
Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK
Authors: Jennings George
Published: December 2014

The dynamic relationships between “martial arts”, society and health remain unclear, particularly due to research that typically views health in a purely biomedical and compartmentalized way. Martial arts and combat sports (MACS) offer a diversity of disciplines with their own intended training outcomes and techne. The traditionalist Chinese martial arts (TCMAs), such as Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) and Wing Chun Kung Fu, stress health promotion/preservation, personal development and lifelong practice. Adopting a structurationist framework, this article explores the connections between three distinct philosophies of health and TCMAs, institutions spreading such discourse, and the personal narratives of transformation and self-cultivation through these embodied art forms. Taking a perspective starting from the practitioners themselves, I explore the interplay between discourse and narrative as applied in everyday British society. Following detailed qualitative analysis, “Western scientific”, “contemporary Daoist” and “New Age” health philosophies are identified as explored via three detailed, reflexive cases of long-term practitioner-instructors, their schools and documents that connect them to international exponents across time. This article thus contributes to sociological knowledge on MACS and health, while considering the connections between health philosophies, discourse and narrative.
CD137 Enhancement of HPV Positive Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Tumor Clearance
Authors: Lucido Christopher , Vermeer Paola , Wieking Bryant , Vermeer Daniel , Lee John
Published: December 2014

Standard-of-care cisplatin and radiation therapy (CRT) provides significant tumor control of human papillomavirus (HPV)-mediated head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs); this effectiveness depends on CRT-mediated activation of the patient’s own immune system. However, despite good survival, patients suffer significant morbidity necessitating on-going studies to define novel therapies that alleviate this burden. Given the role of the immune system in tumor clearance, immune modulation may further potentiate the CRT-activated response while potentially decreasing morbidity. CD137, an inducible cell surface receptor found on activated T cells, is involved in differentiation and survival signaling in T cells upon binding of its natural partner (CD137L). A number of studies have shown the effectiveness of targeting this immune-stimulatory pathway in regards to tumor clearance. Here, we test its role in HPV+ HNSCC tumor clearance using a previously characterized mouse model. We show that amplification of this stimulatory pathway synergizes with CRT for enhanced tumor clearance. Interestingly, tumor clearance is further potentiated by local tumor cell expression of CD137L.
Reproducible extracellular vesicle size and concentration determination with tunable resistive pulse sensing
Authors: Coumans Frank A. W. , van der Pol Edwin , Böing Anita N. , Hajji Najat , Sturk Guus , van Leeuwen Ton G. , Nieuwland Rienk
Published: December 2014

Introduction

The size of extracellular vesicles (EVs) can be determined with a tunable resistive pulse sensor (TRPS). Because the sensing pore diameter varies from pore to pore, the minimum detectable diameter also varies. The aim of this study is to determine and improve the reproducibility of TRPS measurements.

Methods

Experiments were performed with the qNano system (Izon) using beads and a standard urine vesicle sample. With a combination of voltage and stretch that yields a high blockade height, we investigate whether the minimum detected diameter is more reproducible when we configure the instrument targeting (a) fixed stretch and voltage, or (b) fixed blockade height.

Results

Daily measurements with a fixed stretch and voltage (n=102) on a standard urine sample show a minimum detected vesicle diameter of 128±19 nm [mean±standard deviation; coefficient of variation (CV) 14.8%]. The vesicle concentration was 2.4·109±3.8·109 vesicles/mL (range 1.4·108–1.8·1010). When we compared setting a fixed stretch and voltage to setting a fixed blockade height on 3 different pores, we found a minimum detected vesicle diameter of 118 nm (CV 15.5%, stretch), and 123 nm (CV 4.5%, blockade height). The detected vesicle concentration was 3.2–8.2·108 vesicles/mL with fixed stretch and 6.4–7.8·108 vesicles/mL with fixed blockade height.

Summary/conclusion

Pore‐to‐pore variability is the cause of the variation in minimum detected size when setting a fixed stretch and voltage. The reproducibility of the minimum detectable diameter is much improved by setting a fixed blockade height.
Cost-Effectiveness of Pazopanib in Advanced Soft-Tissue Sarcoma in Canada
Authors: Delea T.E. , Amdahl J. , Nakhaipour H.R. , Manson S.C. , Wang A. , Fedor N. , Chit A.
Published: December 2014

(1) Background: In the phase iii palette trial of pazopanib compared with placebo in patients with advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma (sts) who had received prior chemotherapy, pazopanib treatment was associated with improved progression-free survival (pfs). We used an economic model and data from palette and other sources to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of pazopanib in patients with advanced sts who had already received chemotherapy. (2) Methods: We developed a multistate model to estimate expected pfs, overall survival (os), lifetime sts treatment costs, and quality-adjusted life-years (qalys) for patients receiving pazopanib or placebo as second-line therapy for advanced sts. Cost-effectiveness was calculated alternatively from the health care system and societal perspectives for the province of Quebec. Estimated pfs, os, incidence of adverse events, and utilities values for pazopanib and placebo were derived from the palette trial. Costs were obtained from published sources. (3) Results: Compared with placebo, pazopanib is estimated to increase qalys by 0.128. The incremental cost of pazopanib compared with placebo is CA$20,840 from the health care system perspective and CA$15,821 from the societal perspective. The cost per qaly gained with pazopanib in that comparison is CA$163,336 from the health care system perspective and CA$124,001 from the societal perspective. (4) Conclusions: Compared with placebo, pazopanib might be cost-effective from the Canadian health care system and societal perspectives depending on the threshold value used by reimbursement authorities to assess novel cancer therapies. Given the unmet need for effective treatments for advanced sts, pazopanib might nevertheless be an appropriate alternative to currently used treatments.
Braf Mutation Correlates with Recurrent Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in Chinese Patients
Authors: Huang F.J. , Fang W.Y. , Ye L. , Zhang X.F. , Shen L.Y. , Han R.L. , Wei Q. , Fei X.C. , Chen X. , Wang W.Q. , Wang S. , Ning G.
Published: December 2014

Purpose: We investigated correlations of somatic BRAF V600E mutation and RET/PTC1 rearrangement with recurrent disease in Chinese patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Methods: This prospective study included 214 patients with PTC histologically confirmed between November 2009 and May 2011 at a single institute. Results: We found somatic BRAF V600E mutation in 68.7% and RET/PTC1 rearrangement in 25.7% of the patients. Although BRAF mutation was not significantly associated with clinicopathologic features such as patient sex or age, multicentric disease, thyroid capsule invasion, tumour stage, or nodal metastasis, it was significantly associated with recurrent disease. Multivariate analysis revealed that BRAF mutation and tumour size were independent risk factors associated with recurrent disease, with odds ratios of 9.072 and 2.387 respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve increased 8.3% when BRAF mutation was added to the traditional prognostic factors, but that effect was statistically nonsignificant (0.663 vs. 0.746, p = 0.124). RET/PTC1 rearrangement and nodal metastasis were significantly associated in all patients (p = 0.042), marginally associated in PTC patients (p = 0.051), but not associated in microPTC patients (p = 0.700). RET/PTC1 rearrangement was not significantly associated with recurrent disease. Conclusions: BRAF positivity is an independent predictor of recurrent disease in PTC.
Aprepitant and Granisetron for the Prophylaxis of Radiotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting after Moderately Emetogenic Radiotherapy for Bone Metastases: A Prospective Pilot Study
Authors: Dennis K. , De Angelis C. , Jon F. , Lauzon N. , Pasetka M. , Holden L. , Barnes E. , Danjoux C. , Sahgal A. , Tsao M. , Chow E.
Published: December 2014

Purpose: We evaluated the novel combination of aprepitant and granisetron for the prophylaxis of radiotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (RINV) among patients receiving moderately-emetogenic radiotherapy for thoracolumbar bone metastases. Methods: In this single-centre two-arm nonrandomized prospective pilot study, patients undergoing single-fraction radiotherapy (8 Gy) received aprepitant 125 mg and granisetron 2 mg on the day of radiotherapy and aprepitant 80 mg on each of the first 2 days after the day of radiotherapy. Patients undergoing multiple-fraction radiotherapy (20 Gy in 5 fractions) received aprepitant 125 mg on day 1 of radiotherapy, aprepitant 80 mg on days 3 and 5 of radiotherapy, and granisetron 2 mg on every day of radiotherapy. Symptoms and total medication intake were recorded daily during the acute phase (day 1 of radiotherapy until the first day after the last day of radiotherapy), and the delayed phase (days 2–10 after the last day of radiotherapy). Control of vomiting, retching, and nausea was defined as no symptoms and no use of rescue medication. Results: Control rates for single-fraction patients (n = 13) were 100% for acute nausea, 62% for delayed nausea, 100% for acute vomiting and retching, and 85% for delayed vomiting and retching. Control rates for multiple-fraction patients (n = 6) were 67% for acute nausea, 83% for delayed nausea, 67% for acute vomiting and retching, and 83% for delayed vomiting and retching. No grade 3 or 4 toxicities attributable to the study intervention were observed. Conclusions: The combination of aprepitant and granisetron was safe and efficacious for the prophylaxis of RINV after both single- and multiple-fraction moderately emetogenic radiotherapy for thoracolumbar bone metastases. Our results require confirmation in a larger population.
Two Cases of Cutaneous Drug Eruption Associated with Temozolomide Therapy for Glioblastoma
Authors: Deluche E. , Leobon S. , Touraine F. , Clavère P.
Published: December 2014

Glioblastoma is the most common form of primary brain cancer. Its treatment involves surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ), which is an oral alkylating agent. To the best of our knowledge, few dermatologic side effects of TMZ have been described. We report two cases of cutaneous drug eruption caused by TMZ during and after radiochemotherapy treatment. In the first case, all tests were negative, but the clinical history and the time of onset supported an allergy to TMZ. In the second case, an allergy to TMZ was proved by a positive lymphocyte activation test. In this context, our study is one of a very few trying to determine dermatologic side effects by applicable tests used in routine practice.
Synthesis of radioactively labelled CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots for in vivo experiments
Authors: Stachowski Gordon M , Bauer Christoph , Waurisch Christian , Bargheer Denise , Nielsen Peter , Heeren Jörg , Hickey Stephen G , Eychmüller Alexander
Published: December 2014

During the last decades of nanoparticles research, many nanomaterials have been developed for applications in the field of bio-labelling. For the visualization of transport processes in the body, organs and cells, luminescent quantum dots (QDs) make for highly useful diagnostic tools. However, intercellular routes, bio-distribution, metabolism during degradation or quantification of the excretion of nanoparticles, and the study of the biological response to the QDs themselves are areas which to date have not been fully investigated. In order to aid in addressing those issues, CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs were radioactively labelled, which allows quantification of the QD concentration in the whole body or in ex vivo samples by γ-counting. However, the synthesis of radioactively labelled QDs is not trivial since the coating process must be completely adapted, and material availability, security and avoidance of radioactive waste must be considered. In this contribution, the coating of CdSe/CdS QDs with a radioactive 65ZnS shell using a modified, operator-safe, SILAR procedure is presented. Under UV illumination, no difference in the photoluminescence of the radioactive and non-radioactive CdSe/CdS/ZnS colloidal solutions was observed. Furthermore, a down-scaled synthesis for the production of very small batches of 5 nmol QDs without loss in the fluorescence quality was developed. Subsequently, the radio-labelled QDs were phase transferred by encapsulation into an amphiphilic polymer. γ-counting of the radioactivity provided confirmation of the successful labelling and phase transfer of the QDs.