Repetitive liquefactions in angular and subangular gravels from an alluvial fan, in the case of two earthquakes with accelerations lower than that of a former which had caused liquefaction some months before, are described. The liquefaction took place from the surface, down to a depth of approximately 10 m. Water laden with sediments spouted out for some tens of minutes after the strong motion ceased. Knowledge of the grain size distribution of the sediments inside the body of the alluvial fan roughly defines the areas of the fan prone to future liquefaction. Non-repetitive liquefaction in overconsolidated fine fluvio-lacustrine sand of glacial origin at the unusual depth of 14 m to 16 m is also described. From the observation of sand lifted up for 10 m inside a large diameter well, and of that which spouted out from several microvents, it was estimated that extra-pore pressure was close to lithostatic conditions. Nevertheless, modeling of intrinsic pore pressure buildup on the DESRA2 programme gives lower values than the experimental one. Geotechnical characteristics of the 12 m-thick sandy stratum indicate that the upper part is unusually soft, either due to water circulation or past repetitive liquefactions which prevented reconsolidation. It is suggested that excess pore pressure generated by the earthquake was also due to redistribution of pressure from adjacent sediments.

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Circuit techniques to enhance the linearity of input-voltage-to-current (V/I) conversion and to increase the output impedance of a current source by compensating for the low intrinsic gain of a transistor were introduced to realize a high-frequency operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) for a low supply voltage using sub-100-nm CMOS processes. Applying these techniques, a MOS 7th-order Gm- linear-phase low-pass filter (LPF) was realized using a 65nm CMOS process. A simplified biquad LPF that can serve as a component of a 7th-order LPF was newly developed by replacing OTAs with resistors. As a result, the -3dB frequency bandwidth, group delay ripple, 3rd-order distortion, and 3rd-order input intercept point (IIP3) were 200MHz, 2.2%, ≤ -55dB with a 100MHz input, and +10.3dBm, respectively, all with a ±0.1Vp-p input signal at each input terminal in the pseudodifferential configuration. The LPF including an output buffer dissipated 60mW in the case of a 1.2V supply. Wide spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) characteristics were confirmed up to high frequencies.

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 The stability of

‒tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (‒THC‒OAc) and ‒tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (‒THC‒OAc) in -liquid during storage was investigated. ‒THC‒OAc liquids in cartridges were stored at 80℃ or 30℃ for 28 days. The relative concentrations of cannabinoids in the liquids were measured by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. ‒THC‒OAc decreased during storage at either temperature. ‒THC, a minor impurity, also decreased. ‒THC‒OAc liquid in a cartridge was stored at 80℃ for 57 days. The concentration of ‒THC‒OAc and ‒THC, a minor impurity, did not change during that time. Cannabinol acetate increased in all liquids, and unknown products were also detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The ‒THC‒OAc and ‒THC‒OAc liquids were subjected to GC/MS to detect representative diluents, glycerol, propylene glycol, and polyethylene glycol 400, but none of these were detected.

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We compared three groups of pregnant women: placebo with normotensive women, group A which included preeclamptics, and group B which comprised preeclamptics who were supplemented their diets with vitamins and . MDA increased from 6. ± 2. (placebo) to .48 ± 1.2 (A) and .02 ± 1. nmol/gHb (B). NO concentrations were enhanced from 19.3 ± 4.2 (P) to 23. ± 6.4 (A) and 24.1 ± .4 μmol/L (B). GSH contents were decreased from 10.42 ± 2.81 (P) to .02 ± 2. (A) and .39 ± 1.02 μmol/g Hb (B), whereas GSSG concentrations increased from 0. ± 0.28 (P) to 1.24 ± 0.29 (A) and 1.08 ± 0.12 μmol/g Hb (B). SOD activity decreased 23% in A and 14% in B; GRx decreased 27% in A and .% in B; GPx decreased 12% in A and .6% in B. Catalase activity, however, increased 27% in A and 29% in B as compared to control. Thus, we conclude that the use of vitamins and should be considered for the control of certain important biochemical indices during the development of preeclampsia; however, further studies are needed to develop methods for the prevention of preeclampsia in women at high risk.

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The small strain stiffness and anisotropic nature of two sands with different geological origin have been determined via laboratory seismic tests performed in a triaxial cell. Dry triaxial reconstituted specimens of Ticino river silica sand (TS) and of Kenya carbonatic sand (KS) were subjected to isotropic and anisotropic states of effective stress ; then both shear and constrained compression waves were propagated in vertical, horizontal and oblique directions by means of five couples of piezoelectric transducers especially arranged in the specimens. The propagated compression and shear waves allow the assessment of the constrained M₀ and shear G₀ moduli respectively, at very small strains where, as a first approximation many soils can be assumed, from an engineering point of view, to behave as an elastic cross-anisotropic medium with a vertical axis of symmetry. This paper, after a brief description of the novel measuring technique adopted and of the tested materials, summarises the test results and their interpretation in order to separate the effects of the fabric anisotropy from those produced by the state of effective stresses on soil stiffness. The stiffness and anisotropic response of the two tested sands are compared. Finally the results enable us to establish five independent constants of the cross-anisotropic elasticity model, which appears to be appropriate to reproduce the behaviour at small strain of the two sands.

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 We examined the stability of

-tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (-THC-OAc) and -tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (-THC-OAc) in -liquid products. Eight samples were heated at 30℃ for 28 days and one of them was heated at 70℃ for 2, 4, , 10, and 15 days. Residual ratios of -THC-OAc and -THC-OAc were evaluated by gas chromatography with flame ion detection and their degradation products were examined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Some samples were tested for solubility in hexane and were submitted to GC/MS analysis to detect propylene glycol and glycerol. After a 28-day incubation at 30℃, -THC-OAc was slightly decomposed (residual ratio: 84.–94.2%) but -THC-OAc was almost stable (residual ratio: 95.2–108.%). Heating at 70℃ decomposed not only -THC-OAc but also -THC-OAc. The decomposition proceeded rapidly in the initial 2 days then slowly until 15 days later. The degradation products, four putative one-oxygen-atom adducts and cannabinol, were detected but deacetylated products (-tetrahydrocannabinol and -tetrahydrocannabinol) were not detected. All the samples tested were completely dissolved in hexane differently from propylene glycol and glycerol. Propylene glycol and glycerol were not detected from the samples completely dissolved in hexane. This study indicated that deacetylation of -THC-OAc and -THC-OAc did not proceed when the sample did not contain propylene glycol and glycerol.

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To develop truly autonomous and intelligent mobile robots, the developmental approach is indispensable. Considering the development of human beings, internal rewards which are related to the instinctive desire, motivation, curiosity, novelty, etc., are important factors contributing to the development. For the robots, there are several studies in which curiosity and novelty are used to promote the progress of learning. In this paper we propose an internal reward called "appetitive reword" and a function to control it, for the robots which have to acquire an action policy for a mission to "survive and perform a instructed task effectively". The "appetitive reword" is inspired by "appetite" of human beings, which is known to be well regulated by a mechanism between the digestive tract and the brain. By using an example of a security guard robot, we show the effectiveness of the proposed reward.

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Piled bridge abutments on soft clay may be loaded laterally from horizontal soil movements generated by the approach embankment. A limited number of field trials have been described in the literature, although the data are generally limited in extent, complicated by variations in geometry or soil conditions, or of relatively poor quality. This paper presents the results of a series of centrifuge model tests aimed at clarifying the behaviour of piled bridge abutments on soft clay. The centrifuge modelling techniques and equipment used are initially described. Attention is focused on the induced pile bending moments and deflections, and the response is shown to be critically dependent on the factor of safety of the embankment against failure. The effects of variations in pile rake, embankment geometry and abutment wall loading are described. The response of pile groups with time after embankment construction is outlined and the causes of time dependent behaviour identified.

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In this study the field feasibility of an innovative thermal technique to improve the performance of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) used in conjunction with the preloading ground improvement method is investigated. For this purpose, two identical 6.0 m high full-scale test embankments for preloading were constructed over the soft Bangkok clay where a conventional PVD system was installed underneath one embankment and a novel prefabricated vertical thermo-drain (PVTD) system was utilized for the other. The PVTD unit consists of a U-tube made of cross-linked polyethylene plastic (PEX) that is attached to a conventional PVD unit. Preheated water at about 90° is circulated through the attached U-tube to raise the soil temperature underneath the PVTD embankment. The behavior of the two test embankments were compared in terms of excess pore water pressure and consolidation results. The comparison shows the advantage of a PVTD system over a conventional PVD system. The rate of consolidation increases significantly in the PVTD system due to the temperature effect on the hydraulic conductivity. Moreover, the embankment with the PVTD system generates more settlement due to the thermally induced irreversible contraction of saturated normally consolidated soft Bangkok clay.

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In this paper, instead of the time-invariant state-space representation in the consequent of the T-S fuzzy model, tim,-varying system is considered in order to deal with the reconstruction error between the real system to be controlled and its T-S model, and fuzzy approximator is employed to cope with unknown functions involved in the model. As a result, it reaches an adaptive controller that has two parts: one is obtained by solving certain linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) (fixed part) and another one is acquired by the fuzzy approximator in which the related parameters are tuned by adaptive law (variable part). The proposed controller can guarantee the closed-loop system to be asymptotically stable.

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　The stability of

-tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (-THC-OAc) in the presence of diluents or during vaping was investigated. Laboratory-made pure -THC-OAc and glycerol, propylene glycol (PG), or polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) were dissolved in ethanol and subjected to the quantification method for -tetrahydrocannabinol (-THC) recommended by UNODC. The pure -THC-OAc diluted by glycerol, PG, or PEG400 was stored at 40° for 27 days. A retail liquid product of -THC-OAc containing -THC as an impurity was stored at 80° for 28 days in the presence of glycerol, PG, or PEG400. A cartridge containing the -THC-OAc liquid was installed in an -cigarette device, which was heated and vaporized using a syringe connected to the cartridge through a silicone tube. The -THC-OAc liquid was put into a test tube and heated at 200 or 400° for  min. The relative concentrations of cannabinoids in the test solution before and after each operation were measured by liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection or by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. -THC was not detected in any cases of pure -THC-OAc, and it decreased or disappeared in all cases of -THC-OAc liquid. The present result showed that -THC-OAc does not decompose into -THC during each process.

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The activities of tobramycin derivatives acetylated and ethylated on the 6'-N, 2'-N and 3-N positions were examined. The MICs of these derivatives against tobramycin sensitive strains indicated that 2'-N-ethylated and 6'-N-ethylated derivatives have a fairly good activity, and confirmed that the 3-N position is the most important one for antibiotic activity since 3-N derivatives were less active. The MICs of these derivatives against tobramycin resistant strains, and their inactivation by tobramycin modifying enzymes were examined. These results showed that 2'-N or 6'-N ethylation protects the drug against inactivation by AAC(2') or AAC(6'), respectively, and 2'-N-ethyltobramycin and 6'-N-ethyltobramycin were active against strains containing these modifying enzymes. On the other hand, 3-N ethylation protects the drug against inactivation by AAC(3) but 3-N-ethyl tobramycin does not inhibit strains containing this enzyme.

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