Thermal conductivity of mantle materials controlling the heat balance and thermal evolution of the Earth remains poorly constrained as the available experimental and theoretical techniques are limited in probing minerals under the relevant conditions. We report measurements of thermal conductivity of MgO at high pressure up to 60 GPa and 300 K via diamond anvil cells using the time-domain therm...

 Integral bridges are gaining increased popularity because of both economic and fast construction associated with the omission of bearing supports and expansion joints. In the present study the cyclic earth pressure behind integral bridge abutments under traffic surcharges are investigated and compared with that induced behind the abutment of  conventional bridges (with isolated deck and abutme...

Schaefer and Ruxton recently reviewed the mechanisms involved in plant deception, with an emphasis on pollination [1]. They proposed that generalised food deception evolves if plants exploit the innate preferences of pollinators, and thus represents a form of exploitation of perceptual biases (EPB). They contrast this with floral mimicry, which is viewed as a distinct phenomenon that might orig...

A recently published estimate of Earth’s global warming trend is 0.63 ± 0.28 W/m, as calculated from ocean heat content anomaly data spanning 1993–2008. This value is not representative of the recent (2003–2008) warming/cooling rate because of a “flattening” that occurred around 2001–2002. Using only 2003–2008 data from Argo floats, we find by four different algorithms that the recent trend ran...

In this paper, we present the current status of the JPWL standardization work item. JPWL is an extension of the JPEG 2000 baseline specification in order to enable the efficient transmission of JPEG 2000 codestream over an error-prone network. In particular, JPWL supports a set of tools and methods for error protection and correction such as Forward Error Correcting (FEC) codes, Unequal Error P...

abstract the prediction of active earth pressures is essential to the design of retaining walls in case of reinforced and unreinforced soils. in this study, a new analytical method is presented to determine the coefficient of earth pressure. the horizontal slice method is used to compute the active earth pressure behind a rigid retaining wall in consideration of the granular soils. to verify th...

The prevalence of preterm birth is widespread with very little understanding of its causes and no unambiguous epidemiological data for predicting its occurrence. Formed in weeks 30 to 33 of pregnancy (Wilson and Maibach, 1980), the protective epidermal permeability barrier (EPB) of the skin is essential for survival as it provides the first line of defense against infection, environmental insul...

A defective epidermal permeability barrier (EPB) in premature birth remains a leading cause of neonatal death as a result of its associated complications, which include poor temperature stability, infection by micro-organisms through the skin, and the outflow of water. Despite its importance in survival, the mechanisms involved in the formation and maintenance of the EPB are not well understood...

Construction-induced ground settlement is a serious hazard in underground tunnel construction. Accurate prediction has great significance ensuring the surface building’s stability and human safety. To that end, 148 sets of data were collected from Singapore Circle Line rail traffic project containing seven defining parameters to create database for predicting settlement. These are depth (H), ad...