Cone

During a pause in cone penetration in fine-grained soils, pore-water pressure dissipation tests are performed to evaluate the coefficient of consolidation. For standard piezocones with shoulder filter elements, soft clays and silts show a monotonically decreasing response with time; however, dissipation tests performed in heavily overconsolidated silts and clays show dilatory behavior, with the pore-pressure behavior increasing from the initial measured value to a maximum, and then decreasing to hydrostatic values. This paper presents a theoretical framework which combines cavity-expansion theory and critical-state soil mechanics with an analytical solution to the radial consolidation equation. The method is able to describe the pore-pressure response curve for dissipation tests performed in soils which demonstrate either monotonically decreasing or dilatory pore-pressure behavior.Key words: cavity expansion, consolidation, piezocone, pore pressure.

The purpose of the study is to identify the classroom mathematical practices developed within a learning environment designed by Realistic Mathematics Education for teaching cone and pyramid to preservice teachers. A teaching experiment including five-week instructional sequence by a hypothetical learning trajectory about the solids of cone and pyramid was conducted to five preservice middle school mathematics teachers. Their learning was examined in this teaching experiment performed based on case study as a qualitative research design. The social learning environment in the classroom was investigated by three-phase methodology of Rasmussen and Stephan (2008) developed based on Toulmin’s model of argumentation. According to the findings, four mathematical practices emerged in the current study.

Rod and cone photoreceptors possess ribbon synapses that assist in the transmission of graded light responses to second-order bipolar and horizontal cells of the vertebrate retina. Proper functioning of the synapse requires the juxtaposition of presynaptic release sites immediately adjacent to postsynaptic receptors. In this review, we focus on the synaptic, cytoskeletal, and extracellular matrix proteins that help to organize photoreceptor ribbon synapses in the outer plexiform layer. We examine the proteins that foster the clustering of release proteins, calcium channels, and synaptic vesicles in the presynaptic terminals of photoreceptors adjacent to their postsynaptic contacts. Although many proteins interact with one another in the presynaptic terminal and synaptic cleft, these protein–protein interactions do not create a static and immutable structure. Instead, photoreceptor ribbon synapses are remarkably dynamic, exhibiting structural changes on both rapid and slow time scales.

Let There Be Light Retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that can result from a wide variety of genetic defects, causes degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina and leads to blindness. In the course of the disease, it is generally the rod photoreceptor cells that degenerate first. Cone photoreceptor cells may persist, but in a damaged and nonfunctional state. Busskamp et al. (p. 413 , published online 24 June; see the cover; see the Perspective by Cepko ) have now applied a gene therapy approach to mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa. Inducing expression of a bacterial light-activated ion pump, halorho dopsin, in the damaged cone cells improved visual responses in the diseased mouse retinas. Thus, it may be possible to rescue cone photoreceptors therapeutically, even after they have already been damaged.

Retinal cones are depolarized in darkness, keeping voltage-gated Ca2+ channels open and sustaining exocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Light hyperpolarizes the membrane potential, closing Ca2+ channels and suppressing exocytosis. Here, we quantify the Ca2+ concentration in cone terminals, with Ca2+ indicator dyes. Two-photon ratiometric imaging of fura-2 shows that global Ca2+ averages ~360 nM in darkness and falls to ~190 nM in bright light. Depolarizing cones from their light to their dark membrane potential reveals hot spots of Ca2+ that co-label with a fluorescent probe for the synaptic ribbon protein ribeye, consistent with tight localization of Ca2+ channels near ribbons. Measurements with a low-affinity Ca2+ indicator show that the local Ca2+ concentration near the ribbon exceeds 4 μM in darkness. The high level of Ca2+ near the ribbon combined with previous estimates of the Ca2+ sensitivity of release leads to a predicted dark release rate that is much faster than observed, sug...

Geological mapping and geochemical analyses combined with 40K- 40Ar ages for lavas from the Late Miocene to Quaternary La Purísima volcanic field (Baja California Sur) provide evidence for five volcanic events. These, in turn, may reflect plate interactions in the region. The oldest event (event 1), prior to 11 Ma, corresponds to the emission of normal to K-rich calc-alkaline lavas, exposed as large mesas in the eastern part of the studied area and as pyroclastic breccias and volcaniclastic sediments to the west. It is associated with the end of the Comondú arc activity resulting from subduction of the Farallon and Guadalupe plates. Between 10.6 and 8.8 Ma (event 2), magnesian andesites and tholeiites were emplaced. At 5.5 Ma (event 3) and 2.5 Ma (event 4) small volumes of magnesian andesites erupted in the central and southern parts of the volcanic field. Finally, between 1.2 Ma and Holocene (event 5), numerous basaltic and magnesian andesitic fissural and central emissions resulted in the formation of strombolian cones and associated lava flows, mainly distributed within a NNW-SSE trending graben located SE of the town of La Purísima. Magmatic events 2 to 5 occurred well after the supposed end of the subduction event. Their geochemical characteristics are still typical of subduction-modified sources and possibly indicate partial melting of hot slab and formation of an asthenospheric window due to a slab rupture event which followed ridge-trench collision, prior to the continental breakup of the Gulf of California extensional province.

Data on the crustal structure, bulk composition, and eruption ages of an arc seamount were obtained in an investigation aimed at studying the spatial and temporal variations in the magma composition of an intra-oceanic arc. We conducted gravity and magnetic surveys of the Horeki seamount and evaluated the density and magnetization structure using inversion and forward modeling. The seamount is located on the back-arc side of the Izu-Ogasawara arc. This seamount has an elliptical shape, a flat summit, and satellite ridges and cones on its northern and southern flanks. The flanks are consistent with a higher density anomaly, with an estimated mean density corresponding to dense basaltic rocks. A low-density anomaly is distributed in the seamount top, indicating that the top likely consists of porous basalts or differentiated rocks. The prominent circular low Bouguer gravity anomaly, which appeared in the northern part of the flat-topped summit, indicates that a light-density material ...

This paper addresses a common problem in the segmentation of range images. We present methods for the least-squares fitting of spheres, cylinders, cones, and tori to 3D point data, and their application within a segmentation framework. Least-squares fitting of surfaces other than planes, even of simple geometric type, has rarely been studied. Our main application areas of this research are reverse engineering of solid models from depth-maps and automated 3D inspection where reliable extraction of these surfaces is ...

PURPOSE Subretinal gliosis is a relatively common occurrence after retinal reattachment. Because Müller cell processes only intermittently penetrate the outer limiting membrane (OLM) beneath extensive detachments, this study was conducted to determine whether this was preferentially associated with rod or cone photoreceptors. METHODS Cat retinas were detached from the retinal pigment epithelium and 3 days later were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, embedded in 5% agarose, sectioned at 100 microm, and processed for standard immuohistochemistry. The retinas were double labeled with either anti-vimentin and anti-long/medium wavelength-sensitive (anti-L/M) cone opsin or anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and biotinylated peanut agglutinin (PNA). RESULT The hypertrophy of Muller cells was readily traced using antibodies to vimentin and GFAP. When labeling with these antibodies was combined with labeling by either antibodies to cone opsins or biotinylated PNA, a consistent relations...