1.INTRODUCTION Some forty years ago, most opening supports and reinforcements were designed using empirical rules defining ground loads acting on the supporting structures. This approach is still popular and interest in it has been renewed by the use of rock mass classification systems (Barton et al. 1974, Bieniawski, 1974,1976,1989). Correlations between rock mass conditions and the type of su...

Data on discontinuities are always necessary for design, characterization and analysis of rock structures. The time honored method of manual measurements with Brunton compass is both time consuming and often inconvenient given issues such as restricted access to measurement areas, introduction of erroneous data due to sampling difficulties and human bias, considerable safety risks since measure...

In order to strengthen the prediction of rockburst and inquire the relationship between the rockburst proneness of rock and its surface fractal characteristic, the surface fractal of the rock was studied by fractal method and uniaxial compression test. The change rules of surface fractal of different types of rock were compared by calculating its fractal dimension of rock before experiment and ...

The CC chemokine eotaxin plays a pivotal role in local accumulation of eosinophils. Very little is known about the eotaxin signaling in eosinophils except the activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase family. The p21 G protein Rho and its substrate Rho-associated coiled-coil forming protein kinase (ROCK) regulate the formation of stress fibers and focal adhesions. In the present ...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by progressive lung scarring, short median survival, and limited therapeutic options, creating great need for new pharmacologic therapies. IPF is thought to result from repetitive environmental injury to the lung epithelium, in the context of aberrant host wound healing responses. Tissue responses to injury fundamentally involve reorganizatio...

Rho-associated kinases (ROCKs) are critical molecules involved in the physiological functions of macrophages, such as chemotaxis and phagocytosis. We demonstrate that macrophage adherence promotes rapid changes in physiological functions that depend on translational upregulation of preformed ROCK-1 mRNA, but not ROCK-2 mRNA. Before adherence, both ROCK mRNAs were present in the cytoplasm of mac...

Pre-stress degradation or looseness of rock bolts in mining or tunnel engineering threatens the stability and reliability of the structures. In this paper, an innovative piezoelectric device named a "smart washer" with the impedance method is proposed with the aim of developing a real-time device to monitor the pre-stress level of rock bolts. The proposed method was verified through tests on a ...

p160(ROCK) is a protein serine/threonine kinase that binds to GTP-Rho and is activated by this binding. We have recently found that the expression of p160(ROCK) induces focal adhesions and stress fibres in HeLa cells, whereas a dominant-negative form of this kinase suppresses Rho-induced formation of these structures, suggesting that this kinase is a downstream target of Rho in this process [Is...

The dusky brown to black coating of rock varnish dominates bare rock surfaces of many desert landforms (Oberlander, 1994). Thicknesses less than even 0.020 mm (or 20 micrometres, μm) are enough to darken light-colored rock types (Fig. 21.1). The gradual pace of change on many desert landforms permits the slow accretion of rock varnish at rates of a few micrometres per thousand years (Dorn, 1998...

Rho kinase (ROCK) is a serine/threonine kinase and a downstream target of the small GTPase Rho. The RhoA/ROCK pathway is associated with various neuronal functions such as migration, dendrite development, and axonal extension. Evidence from animal studies reveals that RhoA/ROCK signaling is involved in various central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including optic nerve and spinal cord injuries...