On Mar 11, 2011, the great earthquake in eastern Japan and its accompanying tsunami caused a meltdown at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Large amounts of airborne radioactive materials ...were released into the atmosphere, causing widespread environmental contamination throughout eastern Japan with potentially damaging long-term health consequences. In this article, the authors highlight the importance of taking the social and cultural context into account during emergency planning and response. To support their views they present the results of a health check they conducted in one of the villages most affected by the nuclear disaster. Although the social context in which the Fukushima disaster occurred is quite specific to Japan, the implications for disaster planning apply to a wide range of settings, especially those with populations like Japan's that are ageing rapidly.
A theoretical energy–size reduction relationship is derived for tumbling ball mills based on a solution of the integro-differential equation of comminution kinetics, in which the proportional ...relationship is applied between the grinding rate constant and the net mill power. The derived formula is similar to an empirical energy law, d
W ∝
d
x
r
/
x
r
i
, where
W is the specific energy input,
x
r
is the particle size of product and the exponent
i is shown to be a variable depending upon the ground material, the type of mill and the method to measure energy. Derived results are confirmed with reported data in reasonable agreement. Also, the Bond's energy law is examined and a method for the correction of the Bond work index is discussed.
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► A theoretical energy-size reduction relationship is derived for tumbling ball mills. ► The theory finds the formula of empirical energy laws to be valid. ► Derived results are confirmed with reported data in reasonable agreement. ► A method for the correction of the Bond work index is proposed.
Near-field photoluminescence imaging spectroscopy of naturally occurring GaAs quantum dots (QDs) is presented. We successfully mapped out center-of -mass wave functions of an exciton confined in a ...GaAs QD in real space due to the enhancement of spatial resolution up to 30 nm. As a consequence, we discovered that the spatial profile of the exciton emission, which reflects the shape of a monolayer-high island, differs from that of biexciton emission, due to different distributions of the polarization field for the exciton and biexciton recombinations. This novel technique can be extensively applied to wave function engineering in the design and the fabrication of quantum devices.
summary Average marginal bone resorption of about 1 mm after the first year of functional loading, which is followed by an annual loss of approximately 0·1 mm, has been reported in stable implants. ...However, finite element analyses on bone stress around implants have been limited to analysing the bone stress in the absence of any bone resorption. Thus, a three‐dimensional finite element analysis was performed to compare the bone stresses in a non‐resorption model with those in four models with bone resorption of two depths (1·3 and 2·6 mm) and types (horizontal resorption and angular defects). Axial and bucco‐lingual forces were separately applied to the center of the superstructure and the maximum equivalent stress was calculated. The main tendencies of bone stress (highest stress concentration around implant neck, higher stresses under bucco‐lingual than axial load, as well as in the cortical than cancellous bone) were the same in the non‐resorption and resorption models. Bone stress distributions were similar in the non‐resorption and horizontal resorption models, but differed from those in the angular defect models. Moreover, the changes of the bone stress values with resorption depth differed for the two resorption types. Thus, in FEA, accurate simulation of the marginal bone shape in the implant neck region is advisable.
Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortalities among all malignancies and there is an urgent need for new therapy. This might be achieved by resolving the detailed biological mechanism, and in ...this study we examined how pancreatic cancer cells develop aggressive properties by focusing on signalling through the fibroblast growth factor (FGF)10 and FGF receptor (FGFR)2, which play important roles in pancreatic organogenesis. Immunostaining of pancreatic cancer tissues showed that FGFR2 was expressed in cancer cells, whereas FGF10 was expressed in stromal cells surrounding the cancer cells. Patients with high FGFR2 expression in cancer cells had a shorter survival time compared to those with low FGFR2 expression. Fibroblast growth factor 10 induced cell migration and invasion of CFPAC-1 and AsPC-1 pancreatic cancer cells through interaction with FGFR2-IIIb, a specific isoform of FGFR2. Fibroblast growth factor 10 also induced expression of mRNA for membrane type 1-matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1, and increased secretion of TGF-beta1 protein from these cell lines. These data indicate that stromal FGF10 induces migration and invasion in pancreatic cancer cells through interaction with FGFR2, resulting in a poor prognosis. This suggests that FGF10/FGFR2 signalling is a promising target for new molecular therapy against pancreatic cancer.
The Paraná Basin, southern Brazil, has an atypical thermal and fluid history due to the occurrence of an episodic continental flood volcanism during the Early Cretaceous. So far, there are few data ...about the influence of this volcanic event on the paleotemperatures and paleofluids of the Paraná Basin sedimentary rocks. The Teresina Formation in the northern flank of the Ponta Grossa dyke swarm hosts high concentration of subsurface igneous rock bodies (sills and dykes), besides its covering by a hundreds meter thick volcanic rock cap. In this study, we used fluid inclusion analysis performed in horizontal and vertical calcite veins from the Teresina Formation and from a Late Cretaceous basic dyke to estimate paleotemperatures and to characterize the composition of diagenetic paleofluids. Homogenization temperatures of requilibrated fluid inclusions show that the Teresina Formation reached temperatures above 200 °C. Horizontal parallel bedding calcite veins from the Teresina Formation record low to high salinity (2–26 wt.% NaCl eq.) aqueous paleofluids. The prevalence of high salinity fluid inclusions associated with light hydrocarbon fluid inclusions indicates deep buried fluids. Fluid inclusions in vertical calcite vein from basic dyke comprise only low salinity aqueous fluids (0–3 wt.% eq.NaCl) interpreted as dominated by meteoric water. The recorded paleotemperatures are attributed to the heating by the Paraná volcanic event during the Early Cretaceous, with the thermal effect of the volcanic rock cap surpassing the effect of nearby sills and dykes. Estimated paleotemperatures higher than 200 °C would allow the generation of light liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. Overpressured compartments in the Teresina Formation allowed the expulsion of buried pore fluids (high salinity aqueous fluids and hydrocarbons) to fracture systems, where they mixed with meteoric water. The input of meteoric water through fracture systems connected with the surface favored hydrocarbons degradation in the early stages of source rock maturation during the Early Cretaceous.
•Permian rocks heated by Early Cretaceous magmatism.•Paleotemperatures and paleofluids studied through fluid inclusions in calcite veins.•Expulsion of high salinity aqueous fluids and hydrocarbons.•Input of low salinity aqueous fluids of meteoric origin through vertical fractures.•Hydrocarbon generation due to the thermal effect of the basalt cap.