An In Vitro Investigation of Pulmonary Alveolar Macrophage Cytotoxicity Introduced by Fibrous and Grainy Mineral Dusts

In order to study the damage mechanism of mineral dusts on the pulmonary alveolar macrophage （AM）, the changes in their death ratio, malandialdthyde （MDA） content and activities of lactate dehydrogenase （LDH） and superoxide dismutase （SOD） were measured, and the technique of cell culture in vitro was used to investigate the cytotoxicity of six mineral dusts （twelve crystal habits） from twelve mineral deposits. The results show that woUastonite and clinoptilolite have no AM cytotoxicity, while other fibrous and grainy mineral dusts damage pulmonary AM in various degrees. The cytotoxicity of fibrous mineral dusts was greater than that of the grainy ones, and the cytotoxicity of dusts was positively correlated with the active OH- content in dusts, but not necessarily so with its SiO2 content. The high pH values produced by dust was unfavorable for the survival of cells and the dusts with low bio-resistance were safe for cells. The content of variable valence elements in dusts might influence their cytotoxicity and the surface charge of dusts was not a stable factor for their toxicity. It is demonstrated that the shape of mineral dusts was one of the factors affecting cytotoxicity, and that the cytotoxicity of mineral dusts depends mainly on their properties.     

准噶尔盆地玛6井区侏罗系三工河组S22砂层地震相分析

现代新技术手段是克服地震资料解释多解性的重要方法。作者在本文中以三维地震资料为基础，运用Stratimagic地震相分析以及振幅切片等技术手段，对准尔盆地玛6井区侏罗系三工河组S2^2砂体展布进行了全面分析，识别出研究目的层段骨架砂体的平面展布特征，并进一步结合地震剖面的反射结构特征，展开精细的地震相研究。研究结果发现，玛6井区三江河组S2^2砂层主要为一个三角洲沉积。     

A New Giant Compsognathid Dinosaur with Long Filamentous Integuments from Lower Cretaceous of Northeastern China

1 Introduction Compsognathids are a small group of theropods commonly placed at the basal position within Coelurosauria (Sereno, 1999; Rauhut, 2003; Holtz and Osmólska, 2004; Norell and Xu, 2005). Recently new findings make the number of valid compsognathid genera increase rapidly. This group contains the relatively complete Compsoganthus (Ostrom, 1978; Bidar et al., 1972) and Juravenator (G?hlich and Chiappe, 2006) from the Upper Jurassic of West Europe, and Sinosauropteryx (Ji and J…     

Giant calcite-cemented concretions, Dakota Formation, central Kansas, USA

Giant spheroidal concretions (cannonball concretions; some nearly 6 m in diameter) in fluvial channel‐fill sandstones at two localities of the Dakota Sandstone formed by import of cement constituents at a burial depth of <1 km. During cannonball concretion growth a self‐organizational process restricted concretions to a relatively few but widely spaced, and locally, evenly spaced, sites. Other forms of calcite cements at these localities are cement patches in the form of intergrown grape‐size concretions (grapestone), and, locally, pervasive cement. An early episode of invasion by thermogenically generated H₂S, which reacted with iron oxides on detrital grains, generated scattered pyrite crystals and decimetre‐scale spheroidal pyrite concretions. Intergranular volumes (IGV) in the concretions range from 36% to 27%. The absence of a trend in IGV and of carbon and oxygen‐isotope ratios from cannonball centres to margins indicates that these concretions did not cement progressively outwards from the centre. Rather, the modern spheres represent the spatial extent of nucleation sites that were not otherwise organized within that volume. Carbon and oxygen‐isotope values for concretion calcites plot along a swath between depleted values of δ18C of ?36‰ and δ18O of ?13‰ and enriched values of ?4‰ and ?6‰, respectively. Four groups of calcites are evident on the basis of trace‐element content and suggest that the calcite precipitated across a range of oxidation conditions that do not correlate strongly with the isotopic compositions. Although fluvial overbank sandstones have some pedogenic calcite, the channel sandstones have at most a trace of pedogenic calcite and carbonate rock fragments, so that the bulk of cement components were imported to the sandstones. Carbon and calcium sources for calcite cement include marine limestone, carbonate shells, and anhydrite in addition to HCO derived from oxidized methane, most likely derived from beds underlying or laterally in communication with Dakota sandstones. HCO in ascending formation waters, released during compaction, mixed with meteoric water whose temperature and composition varied with time, to generate the 7‰ range in δ18O_calcite values measured.     

The Most Complete Pistosauroid Skeleton from the Triassic of Yunnan, China

A new specimen discovered from the Falang Formation in northeastern Yunnan represents the most complete skeleton of Triassic pistosauroids. The new specimen is referred to Yunguisaurus Cheng et al., 2006 on the basis of the skull features, such as the presence of a separated nasal entering the external naris, a large pineal foramen located at the frontal/parietal suture and an interpterygoid vacuity with a narrow anterior extension. The new specimen differs from the type species of Yunguisaurus liae Cheng et al., 2006 in some aspects. Most of these differences can be attributed to ontogenetic variations. The new specimen is provisionally considered as Yunguisaurus cf. liae although its relatively short snout of the skull and slenderer hyoid may not be explained ontogenetically. Whether or not the new specimen represents a different taxon has to wait for a detailed study of the whole skeleton.     

深反射大炮揭示的青藏高原侧向碰撞带地壳骨架结构

青藏高原东南缘处于印度板块与欧亚板块碰撞的侧翼,揭示该地区的岩石圈结构有助于完整理解青藏高原碰撞造山的动力学过程,对构建大陆碰撞成矿理论框架至为关键.本研究对横过青藏高原侧向碰撞带的一条深反射地震剖面的15个大炮资料,进行了针对性静校正、去噪等处理和单次叠加成像,结果剖面显示了侧向碰撞带岩石圈结构的骨架特征:(1)双程走时(TWT)8～10s的强反射(Tc)将地壳分为上、下两层;Tc可能是大型滑脱构造的拆离面,其存在使上地壳的变形与下地壳解耦;(2)Moho间断面反射(Tm)为3～4个同相轴的窄带反射波组,横向不连续,与深大断裂交汇处被错断,但断距不大;(3)在兰坪—思茅地块下方TWT21s和扬子克拉通西缘下方TWT22～24s存在相向倾斜的反射波组(TL);以Tc、Tm和TL构成的骨架结构,定性地描绘出剖面下方岩石圈地幔以汇聚为主、地壳块体以侧向滑移为主和上地壳为薄皮逆冲或滑脱的分层动力学模式.该岩石圈变形样式明显不同于以正向碰撞挤压、地壳缩短垂向增厚为主的"冈底斯模式".     

DAMAGE STATISTICS OF 12 OCTOBER 1992 EARTHQUAKE IN THE GREATER CAIRO AREA

The paper describes the damage statistics of the 12 October 1992 earthquake (Dahshur earthquake) that hit the greater Cairo area in Egypt and measured 5.4 on the Richter scale. Building sample consisted of 2270 buildings distributed in almost every district in the greater Cairo area and their characteristics cover a wide range of date of construction and structural systems. Structural and non-structural damage to buildings are presented as functions of date of construction, height and type of construction. It is believed that the information presented in the paper is of extreme importance to the engineering community as to the structural impact that the 1992 earthquake had on building stocks in the urban area. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybrid time integration and coupled solution methods for nonlinear finite element analysis of partially saturated deformable porous media at small strain

The goal of the paper is to determine the most efficient, yet accurate and stable, finite element nonlinear solution method for analysis of partially saturated deformable porous media at small strain. This involves a comparison between fully implicit, semi‐implicit, and explicit time integration schemes, with monolithically coupled and staggered‐coupled nonlinear solution methods and the hybrid combination thereof. The pore air pressure p_a is assumed atmospheric, that is, p_a=0 at reference pressure. The solid skeleton is assumed to be pressure‐sensitive nonlinear isotropic elastic. Coupled partially saturated ‘consolidation’ in the presence of surface infiltration and traction is simulated for a simple one‐dimensional uniaxial strain example and a more complicated plane strain slope example with gravity loading. Three mixed plane strain quadrilateral elements are considered: (i) Q4P4; (ii) stabilized Q4P4S; and (iii) Q9P4; “Q” refers to the number of solid skeleton displacement nodes, and “P” refers to the number of pore fluid pressure nodes. The verification of the implementation against an analytical solution for partially saturated pore water flow (no solid skeleton deformation) and comparison between the three time integration schemes (fully implicit, semi‐implicit, and explicit) are presented. It is observed that one of the staggered‐coupled semi‐implicit schemes (SIS(b)), combined with the fully implicit monolithically coupled scheme to resolve sharp transients, is the most efficient computationally. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A constitutive model for unsaturated soil–structure interfaces

A constitutive model for simulation of the behavior of unsaturated interfaces is presented here. The model is an extension of an existing critical state compatible interface model for dry and saturated interfaces that was already proposed by one of the authors [Lashkari, A. 2013. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 37 (8): 904–931]. For a proper simulation of the behavior of partially saturated interfaces, the extended model is formulated in terms of two pairs of work conjugate stress–strain‐like variables. The modified model simulations are compared with the existing data of dry, unsaturated, and saturated interfaces. For each interface type, it is shown that the proposed model can capture the essential elements of the behavior using a unique set of parameters. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

以弯曲骨架线为化简指标的海岸线综合方法

针对海岸线综合中以弯曲高度和弯曲深度为化简指标的不足,提出了以弯曲骨架线为指标的综合方法。在基于曲线单调段的弯曲识别的基础上,通过弯曲部位三角网的构建提取了弯曲骨架线。结合＂扩陆缩海＂原则进行了海岸线综合实验,验证了该方法在保持海岸线形态特征方面的有效性与可行性。