The objectives of this study were to isolate a bensulfuron-methyl （BSM）-degrading strain of Bacillus spp. and to evaluate its effectiveness in remediation of a BSM-contaminated soil. A BSM-degrading bacterium, strai...The objectives of this study were to isolate a bensulfuron-methyl （BSM）-degrading strain of Bacillus spp. and to evaluate its effectiveness in remediation of a BSM-contaminated soil. A BSM-degrading bacterium, strain L1, was successfully isolated in this study. Strain L1 was identified as Bacillus megaterium based on its morphological, physiological, and biochemical properties, G＋C content, phylogenetie similarity of 16S rDNA, and fatty acid composition. Two experiments were used to examine BSM degradation by strain L1. When BSM was used as a sole carbon source in a mineral salt medium, the average degradation rate of BSM by strain L1 was 12.8%, which suggested that the strain was able to utilize BSM as a sole carbon and energy source. Supplement of yeast extract （200 mg L^-1） significantly （P ≤ 0.01） accelerated the degradation of BSM by strain L1. Ahnost complete degradation （97.7%） of BSM could be achieved in 84 h with addition of yeast extract. In addition, in a sterile soil with 50 mg L^-1 BSM, BSM degradation rate by strain L1 was 94.3% in 42 d, indicating the potential of using microbes for the remediation of BSM-contaminated soils in fields.展开更多
In this paper,an elasto-plastic constitutive model is employed to capture the shear failure that may occur in a rock mass presenting mechanical discontinuities,such as faults,fractures,bedding planes or other planar w...In this paper,an elasto-plastic constitutive model is employed to capture the shear failure that may occur in a rock mass presenting mechanical discontinuities,such as faults,fractures,bedding planes or other planar weak structures.The failure may occur in two modes:a sliding failure on the weak plane or an intrinsic failure of the rock mass.The rock matrix is expected to behave elastically or fail in a brittle manner,being represented by a non-associated Mohr-Coulomb behavior,while the sliding failure is represented by the evaluation of the Coulomb criterion on an explicitly defined plane.Failure may furthermore affect the hydraulic properties of the rock mass:the shearing of the weakness plane may create a transmissive fluid pathway.Verification of the mechanical submodel is conducted by comparison with an analytical solution,while the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior is validated with field data and will be applied within a model and code validation initiative.The work presented here aims at documenting the progress in code development,while accurate match of the field data with the numerical results is current work in progress.展开更多
The present study aims at environmental protection through the use of plastic wastes in the production of mortar. The behavior of siliceous sand-based mortars from Togo and binders of plastic bags of the kind “voltic...The present study aims at environmental protection through the use of plastic wastes in the production of mortar. The behavior of siliceous sand-based mortars from Togo and binders of plastic bags of the kind “voltic” is analyzed. Mortar samples from a mixture of siliceous sand and binder of plastic bags are prepared and subjected to physical and mechanical tests after immersion in the hydrocarbon from 0 hour to 504 hours. The result demonstrates that hydrocarbons have no influence on mechanical properties of mortars for an immersion time below 3 hours. Between 3 hours and 24 hours the presence of hydrocarbon increases their physical and mechanical properties. After 24 hours mortars generally lose the mechanical properties of around 8% to 24% due to the loss of viscosity and cohesiveness of the binder caused by the fuel. The behavior in the face of hydrocarbons shows that the material can be used in the surface of roads by carefully avoiding that hydrocarbons remain on the roads for a period of time beyond 24 hours.展开更多
The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior of mortars from the sands of Togo in order to optimize their traction resistance. 3660 4 cm × 4 cm × 16 cm test tubes of mortars are prepared from the san...The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior of mortars from the sands of Togo in order to optimize their traction resistance. 3660 4 cm × 4 cm × 16 cm test tubes of mortars are prepared from the sands of 20 extraction sites in Togo with variations in water and cement while keeping the water-cement ratio constant (<i>E</i>/<i>C</i> = 0.5). It emerges a quadratically increasing evolution of resistance in flexural at 28 days of age (<i>σ<sub>f</sub></i>) for cement-sand (<i>C</i>/<i>S</i>) and water-sand (<i>E</i>/<i>S</i>) ratios varying respectively by the interval [0.0370, 0.3580] to [0.1977, 0.5120] and [0.0185, 0.1792] to [0.0988, 0.2605]. The resistances become stationary beyond these values (<i>σ<sub>f</sub></i> ≈ 3.4750 MPa to 7.9010 MPa). For structures whose resistance in traction is desired, three formulas of sand mortars from Togo are therefore defined: rich mortars (<i>C</i>/<i>S</i> > 0.5120 and <i>E</i>/<i>S</i> > 0.2605), lean (<i>C</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.0370 and <i>E</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.0185) and normal (0.0370 < <i>C</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.5120 and 0.0185 < <i>E</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.2605).展开更多
The present study aims at helping to search for preventive solutions to pathologies of constructions in Togblécopé in Togo, by the reduction in the withdrawal and swelling of foundation grounds through their...The present study aims at helping to search for preventive solutions to pathologies of constructions in Togblécopé in Togo, by the reduction in the withdrawal and swelling of foundation grounds through their stabilization. Togblécopé’s clay taken from 1 m, 2 m and 3 m deep, and mixed with four binding materials (cement, sea sand, silty sand and lime). Tests of identification and free swelling with odometer are carried out on pure and stabilized materials. What emerges from these tests is that the limits of liquidity and plasticity are rising along with the rate of stabilizers while the index of plasticity is falling. Cement and lime cause a reduction in the index value of plasticity by almost 50%. The more the sand’s grain size, the more the reduction in the plasticity index. The swelling potential is reduced by 60% for cement and lime, 30% for sea sand and 20% for silty sand. The present study is a contribution to the reduction in deflations from 20% to 60% of some parts of constructions in order to limit cracks.展开更多
In this study, filters are used to extract directional tectonic lineaments and, thus, to reveal the presence of faults or fractures in the satellite images. The extraction process consists first in eliminating other d...In this study, filters are used to extract directional tectonic lineaments and, thus, to reveal the presence of faults or fractures in the satellite images. The extraction process consists first in eliminating other different types of lineaments (e.g. the lithological limit, ridgelines, hydrographic network, roads, etc.). Besides, a comparative and quantitative approach is applied to show that when the directional Prewitt filter has a zero setting of the opposite of the assumed direction, as is the case of the N-S direction, the East-West direction is also set to zero. This research work, based on a bidirectional filter (N-S;E-W), shows satisfactory results especially concerning the quantitative fluctuation of lineament directions by interval. This fluctuation is in perfect agreement with the lineaments provided by the digitizing of the different tectonic accidents directions extracted in a GIS environment from the geological map of Grombalia. In this research work, a quantitative approach was used to evaluate the result of the lineament extraction methodology based on one direction analysis and by an interval of directions. Indeed, the N45 lineament direction, well documented in the geological study of the region, was more clearly distinguished by applying the Prewitt filter than by using the Sobel filter. The result was validated by comparison with the results obtained by the digitization of the tectonic accidents mapped on the geological map.展开更多
Medical image enhancement is an essential process for superior disease diagnosis as well as for detection of pathological lesion accurately. Computed Tomography (CT) is considered a vital medical imaging modality to e...Medical image enhancement is an essential process for superior disease diagnosis as well as for detection of pathological lesion accurately. Computed Tomography (CT) is considered a vital medical imaging modality to evaluate numerous diseases such as tumors and vascular lesions. However, speckle noise corrupts the CT images and makes the clinical data analysis ambiguous. Therefore, for accurate diagnosis, medical image enhancement is a must for noise removal and sharp/clear images. In this work, a medical image enhancement algorithm has been proposed using log transform in an optimization framework. In order to achieve optimization, a well-known meta-heuristic algorithm, namely: Cuckoo search (CS) algorithm is used to determine the optimal parameter settings for log transform. The performance of the proposed technique is studied on a low contrast CT image dataset. Besides this, the results clearly show that the CS based approach has superior convergence and fitness values compared to PSO as the CS converge faster that proves the efficacy of the CS based technique. Finally, Image Quality Analysis (IQA) justifies the robustness of the proposed enhancement technique.展开更多
The plasticity index is an essential design parameter used as a standard input in fine-grained soil investigation programs.It is used to estimate the plasticity and physical properties of soils,and indirectly their st...The plasticity index is an essential design parameter used as a standard input in fine-grained soil investigation programs.It is used to estimate the plasticity and physical properties of soils,and indirectly their strength properties.This index is determined from the Atterberg limit tests,starting from the limits of liquidity and plasticity.However,the realization of the test considered as basic and simple,is not so much.The effects of the operator,the calibration of the apparatus and the environmental aspects during the tests affect the reliability and accuracy of the results.In this paper,the objective is to overcome these difficulties by evaluating the plasticity index of clay and loam soils by considering only the values of the liquid limit.Soil samples were collected from 0 to 5 m depth in the localities of the Khôdepression in Benin.On these samples,Atterberg limit tests were performed in the laboratory.Using MATLAB’s Curve Fitting Toolbox,linear,exponential and power prediction models were analyzed.The results showed that there is indeed a good correlation between the plasticity index and the liquid limit of the soils.For the linear model,it was observed R2 equal to 0.9891.For the exponential model,R2 is 0.98871 and for the power model 0.9802.A study of the residual plot validated the models found,as well as comparisons with well-known literature sources.Through the equations obtained,it is now possible to study the plasticity of soils in the Khôdepression only from the liquid limit,without determining the plasticity limit.展开更多
Gibberellins （GAs） cause dramatic increases in plant height and a genetic block in the synthesis of GA1 explains the dwarfing of Mendel＇s pea. For flowering, it is GAs which is important in the long-day （LD） resp...Gibberellins （GAs） cause dramatic increases in plant height and a genetic block in the synthesis of GA1 explains the dwarfing of Mendel＇s pea. For flowering, it is GAs which is important in the long-day （LD） responsive grass, Loliurn. As we show here, GA1 and GA4 are restricted in their effectiveness for flowering because they are deactivated by C-2 hydroxylation below the shoot apex. In contrast, GAs is effective because of its structural protection at C-2. Excised vegetative shoot tips rapidly degrade [14C]GA1, [14C]GA4, and [14C]GA20 （〉80% in 6 h）, but not [14C]GAs. CoincidentaUy, genes encoding two 2β-oxidases and a putative 16-17-epoxidase were most expressed just below the shoot apex （〈3 mm）. Further down the immature stem （〉4 mm）, expression of these GA deactivation genes is reduced, so allowing GA1 and GA4 to promote sub-apical stem elongation. Subsequently, GA degradation declines in florally induced shoot tips and these GAs can become active for floral development. Structural changes which stabilize GA4 confirm the link between florigenicity and restricted GA 2β-hydroxylation （e.g. 2α-hydroxylation and C-2 di-methylation）. Additionally, a 2-oxidase inhibitor （Trinexapac Ethyl） enhanced the activity of applied GA4, as did limiting C-16,17 epoxidation in 16,17-dihydro GAs or after C-13 hydroxylation. Overall, deactivation of GA1 and GA4 just below the shoot apex effectively restricts their florigenicity in Loliurn and, conversely, with GAs, C-2 and C-13 protection against deactivation allows its high florigenicity. Speculatively, such differences in GA access to the shoot apex of grasses may be important for separating floral induction from inflorescence emergence and thus could influence their survival under conditions of herbivore predation.展开更多
Previous experiments with organo-metallic compounds like ferrocene,nickelocene and magnesocene showed that a pure spectrum must be obtained on the residual gas mass analyser before running successfully on the ion sour...Previous experiments with organo-metallic compounds like ferrocene,nickelocene and magnesocene showed that a pure spectrum must be obtained on the residual gas mass analyser before running successfully on the ion source.In collaboration with the chemistry department of the University of Caen,LCMT-ENSI Caen,the synthesis of these metallocene compounds has been studied to provide enriched isotopic compounds to GANIL’s users.The chemical transformation yields were 90%,80% and 43%,respectively.Vanadocene, chromocene,colbatocene and ruthenocene compounds have first been studied with a gas mass analyser and then successfully tested on the ECR 4M ion source at GANIL.Some 15eμA of ^(51)V^(11+),20eμA of ^(52)Cr^(11+), 22eμA of 59Co^(11+),and 17eμA of ^(102)Ru^(11+) were achieved.The comparison between the results obtained on the gas mass analyser and the ion beams provided by the source has allowed us to validate this method of determining whether or not an organo-metallic compound could be a candidate for running on our ECR ion source.As the ECR ion sources are tuned and used alternately on the GANIL injectors,the available time for the tests is rare,so this method could be an alternative for the validation of new compounds.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program)(No. 2007AA06Z329)the Science and Technology Program of Zhejiang Province (Nos. 2007C23036 and 2008C13014-3)the International Cooperation Program in Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province (No. 2008C14038)
文摘The objectives of this study were to isolate a bensulfuron-methyl （BSM）-degrading strain of Bacillus spp. and to evaluate its effectiveness in remediation of a BSM-contaminated soil. A BSM-degrading bacterium, strain L1, was successfully isolated in this study. Strain L1 was identified as Bacillus megaterium based on its morphological, physiological, and biochemical properties, G＋C content, phylogenetie similarity of 16S rDNA, and fatty acid composition. Two experiments were used to examine BSM degradation by strain L1. When BSM was used as a sole carbon source in a mineral salt medium, the average degradation rate of BSM by strain L1 was 12.8%, which suggested that the strain was able to utilize BSM as a sole carbon and energy source. Supplement of yeast extract （200 mg L^-1） significantly （P ≤ 0.01） accelerated the degradation of BSM by strain L1. Ahnost complete degradation （97.7%） of BSM could be achieved in 84 h with addition of yeast extract. In addition, in a sterile soil with 50 mg L^-1 BSM, BSM degradation rate by strain L1 was 94.3% in 42 d, indicating the potential of using microbes for the remediation of BSM-contaminated soils in fields.
基金the DECOVALEX-2019 funding organisations of Andra,BGR/UFZ,CNSC,US DOE,ENSI,JAEA,IRSN,KAERI,NWMO,RWM,SURAO,SSM and Taipower for their financial and technical support of the work described in this paper。
文摘In this paper,an elasto-plastic constitutive model is employed to capture the shear failure that may occur in a rock mass presenting mechanical discontinuities,such as faults,fractures,bedding planes or other planar weak structures.The failure may occur in two modes:a sliding failure on the weak plane or an intrinsic failure of the rock mass.The rock matrix is expected to behave elastically or fail in a brittle manner,being represented by a non-associated Mohr-Coulomb behavior,while the sliding failure is represented by the evaluation of the Coulomb criterion on an explicitly defined plane.Failure may furthermore affect the hydraulic properties of the rock mass:the shearing of the weakness plane may create a transmissive fluid pathway.Verification of the mechanical submodel is conducted by comparison with an analytical solution,while the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior is validated with field data and will be applied within a model and code validation initiative.The work presented here aims at documenting the progress in code development,while accurate match of the field data with the numerical results is current work in progress.
文摘The present study aims at environmental protection through the use of plastic wastes in the production of mortar. The behavior of siliceous sand-based mortars from Togo and binders of plastic bags of the kind “voltic” is analyzed. Mortar samples from a mixture of siliceous sand and binder of plastic bags are prepared and subjected to physical and mechanical tests after immersion in the hydrocarbon from 0 hour to 504 hours. The result demonstrates that hydrocarbons have no influence on mechanical properties of mortars for an immersion time below 3 hours. Between 3 hours and 24 hours the presence of hydrocarbon increases their physical and mechanical properties. After 24 hours mortars generally lose the mechanical properties of around 8% to 24% due to the loss of viscosity and cohesiveness of the binder caused by the fuel. The behavior in the face of hydrocarbons shows that the material can be used in the surface of roads by carefully avoiding that hydrocarbons remain on the roads for a period of time beyond 24 hours.
文摘The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior of mortars from the sands of Togo in order to optimize their traction resistance. 3660 4 cm × 4 cm × 16 cm test tubes of mortars are prepared from the sands of 20 extraction sites in Togo with variations in water and cement while keeping the water-cement ratio constant (<i>E</i>/<i>C</i> = 0.5). It emerges a quadratically increasing evolution of resistance in flexural at 28 days of age (<i>σ<sub>f</sub></i>) for cement-sand (<i>C</i>/<i>S</i>) and water-sand (<i>E</i>/<i>S</i>) ratios varying respectively by the interval [0.0370, 0.3580] to [0.1977, 0.5120] and [0.0185, 0.1792] to [0.0988, 0.2605]. The resistances become stationary beyond these values (<i>σ<sub>f</sub></i> ≈ 3.4750 MPa to 7.9010 MPa). For structures whose resistance in traction is desired, three formulas of sand mortars from Togo are therefore defined: rich mortars (<i>C</i>/<i>S</i> > 0.5120 and <i>E</i>/<i>S</i> > 0.2605), lean (<i>C</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.0370 and <i>E</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.0185) and normal (0.0370 < <i>C</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.5120 and 0.0185 < <i>E</i>/<i>S</i> < 0.2605).
文摘The present study aims at helping to search for preventive solutions to pathologies of constructions in Togblécopé in Togo, by the reduction in the withdrawal and swelling of foundation grounds through their stabilization. Togblécopé’s clay taken from 1 m, 2 m and 3 m deep, and mixed with four binding materials (cement, sea sand, silty sand and lime). Tests of identification and free swelling with odometer are carried out on pure and stabilized materials. What emerges from these tests is that the limits of liquidity and plasticity are rising along with the rate of stabilizers while the index of plasticity is falling. Cement and lime cause a reduction in the index value of plasticity by almost 50%. The more the sand’s grain size, the more the reduction in the plasticity index. The swelling potential is reduced by 60% for cement and lime, 30% for sea sand and 20% for silty sand. The present study is a contribution to the reduction in deflations from 20% to 60% of some parts of constructions in order to limit cracks.
文摘In this study, filters are used to extract directional tectonic lineaments and, thus, to reveal the presence of faults or fractures in the satellite images. The extraction process consists first in eliminating other different types of lineaments (e.g. the lithological limit, ridgelines, hydrographic network, roads, etc.). Besides, a comparative and quantitative approach is applied to show that when the directional Prewitt filter has a zero setting of the opposite of the assumed direction, as is the case of the N-S direction, the East-West direction is also set to zero. This research work, based on a bidirectional filter (N-S;E-W), shows satisfactory results especially concerning the quantitative fluctuation of lineament directions by interval. This fluctuation is in perfect agreement with the lineaments provided by the digitizing of the different tectonic accidents directions extracted in a GIS environment from the geological map of Grombalia. In this research work, a quantitative approach was used to evaluate the result of the lineament extraction methodology based on one direction analysis and by an interval of directions. Indeed, the N45 lineament direction, well documented in the geological study of the region, was more clearly distinguished by applying the Prewitt filter than by using the Sobel filter. The result was validated by comparison with the results obtained by the digitization of the tectonic accidents mapped on the geological map.
文摘Medical image enhancement is an essential process for superior disease diagnosis as well as for detection of pathological lesion accurately. Computed Tomography (CT) is considered a vital medical imaging modality to evaluate numerous diseases such as tumors and vascular lesions. However, speckle noise corrupts the CT images and makes the clinical data analysis ambiguous. Therefore, for accurate diagnosis, medical image enhancement is a must for noise removal and sharp/clear images. In this work, a medical image enhancement algorithm has been proposed using log transform in an optimization framework. In order to achieve optimization, a well-known meta-heuristic algorithm, namely: Cuckoo search (CS) algorithm is used to determine the optimal parameter settings for log transform. The performance of the proposed technique is studied on a low contrast CT image dataset. Besides this, the results clearly show that the CS based approach has superior convergence and fitness values compared to PSO as the CS converge faster that proves the efficacy of the CS based technique. Finally, Image Quality Analysis (IQA) justifies the robustness of the proposed enhancement technique.
文摘The plasticity index is an essential design parameter used as a standard input in fine-grained soil investigation programs.It is used to estimate the plasticity and physical properties of soils,and indirectly their strength properties.This index is determined from the Atterberg limit tests,starting from the limits of liquidity and plasticity.However,the realization of the test considered as basic and simple,is not so much.The effects of the operator,the calibration of the apparatus and the environmental aspects during the tests affect the reliability and accuracy of the results.In this paper,the objective is to overcome these difficulties by evaluating the plasticity index of clay and loam soils by considering only the values of the liquid limit.Soil samples were collected from 0 to 5 m depth in the localities of the Khôdepression in Benin.On these samples,Atterberg limit tests were performed in the laboratory.Using MATLAB’s Curve Fitting Toolbox,linear,exponential and power prediction models were analyzed.The results showed that there is indeed a good correlation between the plasticity index and the liquid limit of the soils.For the linear model,it was observed R2 equal to 0.9891.For the exponential model,R2 is 0.98871 and for the power model 0.9802.A study of the residual plot validated the models found,as well as comparisons with well-known literature sources.Through the equations obtained,it is now possible to study the plasticity of soils in the Khôdepression only from the liquid limit,without determining the plasticity limit.
文摘Gibberellins （GAs） cause dramatic increases in plant height and a genetic block in the synthesis of GA1 explains the dwarfing of Mendel＇s pea. For flowering, it is GAs which is important in the long-day （LD） responsive grass, Loliurn. As we show here, GA1 and GA4 are restricted in their effectiveness for flowering because they are deactivated by C-2 hydroxylation below the shoot apex. In contrast, GAs is effective because of its structural protection at C-2. Excised vegetative shoot tips rapidly degrade [14C]GA1, [14C]GA4, and [14C]GA20 （〉80% in 6 h）, but not [14C]GAs. CoincidentaUy, genes encoding two 2β-oxidases and a putative 16-17-epoxidase were most expressed just below the shoot apex （〈3 mm）. Further down the immature stem （〉4 mm）, expression of these GA deactivation genes is reduced, so allowing GA1 and GA4 to promote sub-apical stem elongation. Subsequently, GA degradation declines in florally induced shoot tips and these GAs can become active for floral development. Structural changes which stabilize GA4 confirm the link between florigenicity and restricted GA 2β-hydroxylation （e.g. 2α-hydroxylation and C-2 di-methylation）. Additionally, a 2-oxidase inhibitor （Trinexapac Ethyl） enhanced the activity of applied GA4, as did limiting C-16,17 epoxidation in 16,17-dihydro GAs or after C-13 hydroxylation. Overall, deactivation of GA1 and GA4 just below the shoot apex effectively restricts their florigenicity in Loliurn and, conversely, with GAs, C-2 and C-13 protection against deactivation allows its high florigenicity. Speculatively, such differences in GA access to the shoot apex of grasses may be important for separating floral induction from inflorescence emergence and thus could influence their survival under conditions of herbivore predation.
文摘Previous experiments with organo-metallic compounds like ferrocene,nickelocene and magnesocene showed that a pure spectrum must be obtained on the residual gas mass analyser before running successfully on the ion source.In collaboration with the chemistry department of the University of Caen,LCMT-ENSI Caen,the synthesis of these metallocene compounds has been studied to provide enriched isotopic compounds to GANIL’s users.The chemical transformation yields were 90%,80% and 43%,respectively.Vanadocene, chromocene,colbatocene and ruthenocene compounds have first been studied with a gas mass analyser and then successfully tested on the ECR 4M ion source at GANIL.Some 15eμA of ^(51)V^(11+),20eμA of ^(52)Cr^(11+), 22eμA of 59Co^(11+),and 17eμA of ^(102)Ru^(11+) were achieved.The comparison between the results obtained on the gas mass analyser and the ion beams provided by the source has allowed us to validate this method of determining whether or not an organo-metallic compound could be a candidate for running on our ECR ion source.As the ECR ion sources are tuned and used alternately on the GANIL injectors,the available time for the tests is rare,so this method could be an alternative for the validation of new compounds.
