Shear wave velocity is a useful marker for managing nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

AIM:To investigate whether a noninvasive measurement of tissue strain has a potential usefulness for management of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis(NASH).METHODS:In total 26 patients,23 NASHs and 3 normal controls were enrolled in this study.NASH was staged based on Brunt criterion.At a region of interest(ROI),a shear wave was evoked by implementing an acoustic radiation force impulse(ARFI),and the propagation velocity was quantif ied.RESULTS:Shear wave velocity(SWV) could be reproducibly quantified at all ROIs in all subjects except for 4 NASH cases,in which a reliable SWV value was not calculated at several ROIs.An average SWV of 1.34 ± 0.26 m/s in fibrous stage 0-1 was significantly slower than 2.20 ± 0.74 m/s and 2.90 ± 1.01 m/s in stages 3 and 4,respectively,but was not significantly different from 1.79 ± 0.78 m/s in stage 2.When a cutoff value was set at 1.47 m/s,receiver operating characteristic analysis showed significance to dissociate stages 3 and 4 from stage 0-1(P=0.0092) with sensitivity,specificity and area under curve of 100%,75% and 94.2%,respectively.In addition,the correlation between SWV and hyaluronic acid was significant(P<0.0001),while a tendency toward negative correlation was observed with serum albumin(P=0.053).CONCLUSION:The clinical implementation of ARFI provides noninvasive repeated evaluations of liver stiffness at an arbitrary position,which has the potential to shed new light on NASH management.

Shear wave velocity-based liquefaction evaluation in the great Wenchuan earthquake: a preliminary case study

The great Wenchuan earthquake （Ms= 8.0） in 2008 caused severe damage in the western part of the Chengdu Plain. Soil liquefaction was one of the major causes of damage in the plain areas, and proper evaluation of liquefaction potential is important in the definition of the seismic hazard facing a given region and post-earthquake reconstruction. In this paper, a simplified procedure is proposed for liquefaction assessment of sandy deposits using shear wave velocity （V）, and soil liquefaction from the Banqiao School site was preliminarily investigated after the earthquake. Boreholes were made at the site and shear wave velocities were measured both by SASW and down-hole methods. Based on the in-situ soil information and V profiles, the liquefaction potential of this site was evaluated. The results are reasonably consistent with the actual field behavior observed after the earthquake, indicating that the proposed procedure is effective. The possible effects of gravel and fines contents on liquefaction of sandy soils were also briefly discussed.

Shear wave velocity-based evaluation and design of stone column improved ground for liquefaction mitigation

The evaluation and design of stone column improvement ground for liquefaction mitigation is a challenging issue for the state of practice. In this paper, a shear wave velocity-based approach is proposed based on the well-defined correlations of liquefaction resistance （CRR）-shear wave velocity （V）-void ratio （e） of sandy soils, and the values of parameters in this approach are recommended for preliminary design purpose when site specific values are not available. The detailed procedures of pre- and post-improvement liquefaction evaluations and stone column design are given. According to this approach, the required level of ground improvement will be met once the target V of soil is raised high enough （i.e., no less than the critical velocity） to resist the given earthquake loading according to the CRR-V relationship, and then this requirement is transferred to the control of target void ratio （i.e., the critical e） according to the V-e relationship. As this approach relies on the densification of the surrounding soil instead of the whole improved ground and is conservative by nature, specific considerations of the densification mechanism and effect are given, and the effects of drainage and reinforcement of stone columns are also discussed. A case study of a thermal power plant in Indonesia is introduced, where the effectiveness of stone column improved ground was evaluated by the proposed V-based method and compared with the SPT-based evaluation. This improved ground performed well and experienced no liquefaction during subsequent strong earthquakes.

Signal processing method for shear wave velocity measurement

Soil shear wave velocity （SWV） is an important parameter in geotechnical engineering. To measure the soil SWV, three methods are generally used in China, including the single-hole method, cross-hole method and the surface-wave technique. An optimized approach based on a correlation function for single-hole SWV measurement is presented in this paper. In this approach, inherent inconsistencies of the artificial methods such as negative velocities, and too-large and too-small velocities, are eliminated from the single-hole method, and the efficiency of data processing is improved. In addition, verification using the cross-hole method of upper measuring points shows that the proposed optimized approach yields high precision in signal processing.

Indirect determination of shear wave velocity in slow formations using full-wave sonic logging technique

This article presents a case study concerning a seismic characterization project.Full-wave sonic logging was used to characterize the shallow compressional wave and shear wave velocity profiles in the site.Anomalous values of the Poisson’s ratio derived from the velocity profiles suggested that the boreholes might have traversed slow formations(i.e.with shear wave velocity smaller than the borehole fluid compressional wave velocity or“mud-wave speed”)and that conventional processing of the sonic logs might have misinterpreted the direct arrivals of fluid acoustic waves as arrivals caused by shear wave propagation in the rock.Consequently,the shear wave velocity profiles provided by the contractor were considered to be unreliable by the project team.To address these problems,a non-conventional determination of the shear wave velocity was implemented,based on the relationship between the Poisson’s ratio of the rock formation and the shape of the first train of sonic waves which arrived to the receivers in the sonic probe.The relationship was determined based on several hundreds of finite element simulations of the acoustic wave propagation in boreholes with the same diameter as used in the perforations.The present article describes how this non-conventional approach was developed and implemented to obtain the shear wave velocity profiles from the raw sonic logs.The approach allows an extension of the range of applicability of full-wave sonic logging to determination of shear wave velocity profiles in formations with low compressional wave velocities.The method could be used to obtain shear wave velocity profiles where compressional wave velocity is as low as slightly larger than the mud-wave speed.A sample sonic log in Log ASCII Standard(LAS)format is provided as supplementary material to this paper via Mendeley Data,together with the FORTRAN source code used to process the log following the approach described in this study.

Shear Wave Elastography of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma:Correlations between Shear Wave Velocity and Histological Prognostic Factors

The correlations between shear wave velocity(SWV)calculated from virtual touch tissue imaging quantification(VTIQ)technique and histological prognostic factors of invasive ductal carcinoma was investigated.A total of 76 breast tumors histologically confirmed as invasive ductal carcinomas were included in this study.SWV values were measured by VTIQ for each lesion preoperatively or prior to breast biopsy.The maximum values were recorded for statistical analysis.Medical records were reviewed to determine tumor size,histological grade,lymph node status and immunohistochemical results.Tumor subtypes were categorized as luminal A,luminal B,human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2)positive and triple negative.The correlations between SWV and histological prognostic factors were analyzed.It was found that tumor size showed positive association with SWV(r=0.465,P<0.001).Larger tumors had significantly higher SWV than smaller ones(P=0.001).Histological grade 1 tumors had significantly lower SWV values than those with higher histological grade(P=0.015).The Ki67 expression,tumor subtypes and lymph node status showed no statistically significant correlations with SWV,although triple negative tumors and lymph node-positive tumors showed higher SWV values.It was concluded that tumor size was significantly associated with SWV.Higher histological grade was associated with increased SWV.There was no statistically significant correlations between SWV and other histological prognostic factors.

Crustal thickness,V_(P)/V_(S) ratio,and shear wave velocity structures beneath Myanmar and their tectonic implications

The crustal structure in Myanmar can provide valuable information for the eastern margin of the ongoing IndoEurasian collision system.We successively performed H-k stacking of the receiver function and joint inversion of the receiver function and surface wave dispersion to invert the crustal thickness(H),shear wave velocity(V_(S)),and the V_(P)/V_(S) ratio(k)beneath nine permanent seismic stations in Myanmar.H was found to increase from 26 km in the south and east of the study area to 51 km in the north and west,and the V_(P)/V_(S) ratio was complex and high.Striking differences in the crust were observed for different tectonic areas.In the Indo-Burma Range,the thick crust(H~51 km)and lower velocities may be related to the accretionary wedge from the Indian Plate.In the Central Myanmar Basin,the thin crust(H=26.9-35.5 km)and complex V_(P)/V_(S) ratio and V_(S) suggest extensional tectonics.In the Eastern Shan Plateau,the relatively thick crust and normal V_(P)/V_(S) ratio are consistent with its location along the western edge of the rigid Sunda Block.

Structure analysis of shale and prediction of shear wave velocity based on petrophysical model and neural network

Accurate shear wave velocity is very important for seismic inversion.However,few researches in the shear wave velocity in organic shale have been carried out so far.In order to analyze the structure of organic shale and predict the shear wave velocity,the authors propose two methods based on petrophysical model and BP neural network respectively,to calculate shear wave velocity.For the method based on petrophysics model,the authors discuss the pore structure and the space taken by kerogen to construct a petrophysical model of the shale,and establish the quantitative relationship between the P-wave and S-wave velocities of shale and physical parameters such as pore aspect ratio,porosity and density.The best estimation of pore aspect ratio can be obtained by minimizing the error between the predictions and the actual measurements of the P-wave velocity.The optimal porosity aspect ratio and the shear wave velocity are predicted.For the BP neural network method that applying BP neural network to the shear wave prediction,the relationship between the physical properties of the shale and the elastic parameters is obtained by training the BP neural network,and the P-wave and S-wave velocities are predicted from the reservoir parameters based on the trained relationship.The above two methods were tested by using actual logging data of the shale reservoirs in the Jiaoshiba area of Sichuan Province.The predicted shear wave velocities of the two methods match well with the actual shear wave velocities,indicating that these two methods are effective in predicting shear wave velocity.

Three-Dimensional Shear Wave Velocity Structure of the Northeastern Brazilian Lithosphere

A large number of Rayleigh wave dispersion curves recorded at twenty three seismic stations was used to investigate the 3-D shear wave velocity structure of the northeastern Brazilian lithosphere. A simple procedure to generate a three-dimensional image of Mohorovicic;discontinuity was applied in northeastern Brazil and the Moho 3-D image was in agreement with several isolated crustal thicknesses obtained with different geophysical methods. A detailed 3-D S wave velocity model is proposed for the region. In the crust, our model is more realist than CRUST2.0 global model, because it shows more details either laterally or in depth than global model, i.e., clear lateral variation and gradual increase of S wave velocity in depth. Down to 100 km depth, the 3-D S wave velocity model in northeastern Brazil is dominated by low velocities and this is consistent either with heat flow measurements or with measurements of the flexural strength of the lithosphere developed in the South American continent. Our 3-D S wave velocity model was also used to obtain the lithosphere thickness in each cell of the northeastern Brazil and the results were consistent with global studies about the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary worldwide.

Shear wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle in Southeastern Tibet and its geodynamic implications

Southeastern Tibet,which has complex topography and strong tectonic activity,is an important area for studying the subsurface deformation of the Tibetan Plateau.Through the two-station method on 10-year teleseismic Rayleigh wave data from 132 permanent stations in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau,which incorporates ambient noise data,we obtain the interstation phase velocity dispersion data in the period range of 5–150s.Then,we invert for the shear wave velocity of the crust and upper mantle through the direct 3-D inversion method.We find two low-velocity belts in the mid-lower crust.One belt is mainly in the SongPan-GangZi block and northwestern part of the Chuan-Dian diamond block,whereas the other belt is mainly in the Xiaojiang fault zone and its eastern part,the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.The low-velocity belt in the Xiaojiang fault zone is likely caused by plastic deformation or partial melting of felsic rocks due to crustal thickening.Moreover,the significant positive radial anisotropy(VSH>VSV)around the Xiaojiang fault zone further enhances the amplitude of low velocity anomaly in our VSVmodel.This crustal low-velocity zone also extends southward across the Red River fault and farther to northern Vietnam,which may be closely related to heat sources in the upper mantle.The two low-velocity belts are separated by a high-velocity zone near the Anninghe-Zemuhe fault system,which is exactly in the inner and intermediate zones of the Emeishan large igneous province(ELIP).We find an obvious high-velocity body situated in the crust of the inner zone of the ELIP,which may represent maficultramafic material that remained in the crust when the ELIP formed.In the upper mantle,there is a large-scale low-velocity anomaly in the Indochina and South China blocks south of the Red River fault.The low-velocity anomaly gradually extends northward along the Xiaojiang fault zone into the Yangtze Craton as depth increases.Through our velocity model,we think that southeastern Tibet is undergoing three different tectonic modes at the same time:(1)the upper crust is rigid,and as a result,the tectonic mode is mainly rigid block extrusion controlled by large strike-slip faults;(2)the viscoplastic materials in the middlelower crust,separated by rigid materials related to the ELIP,migrate plastically southward under the control of the regional stress field and fault systems;and(3)the upper mantle south of the Red River fault is mainly controlled by large-scale asthenospheric upwelling and may be closely related to lithospheric delamination and the eastward subduction and retreat of the Indian plate beneath Burma.

A simple method for evaluating liquefaction potential from shear wave velocity

The simplified procedure using shear wave velocity measurements is increasingly used to evaluate the seismic liquefaction potential of soils.This procedure is based on finding the boundary separating the liquefactionand non-liquefaction cases through the analysis of liquefaction case histories,following the general format of the Seed-Idriss simplified procedure based on standard penetration test(SPT)data.It is noted that many assumptions have been made in the simplified procedure.This paper develops a simple method for evaluating the liquefaction potential of soils from shear wave velocity by using the optimum seeking method to directly analyze the liquefaction history data and quantify the influence of major factors affecting the liquefactions potential of soils.The factors considered are the earthquake magnitude,the vertical effective overburden stress,the shear wave velocity,the peak acceleration at the ground surface of the site,and the fines content of the soil.The most important factor has been identified as the shear wave velocity.The developed method uses the measured data directly and in a very simple way.Neither stress-correction of shear wave velocity nor calculation of cyclic shear stress as in the simplified procedure is required.Comparisons indicate that the developed simple method has a higher success rate for evaluating liquefaction potential of soils than the simplified procedure.A case study is presented to illustrate the application of the developed simple method and further confirms its accuracy.

Prediction of the shear wave velocity Vs from CPT and DMT at research sites

The paper examines the correlations to obtain rough estimates of the shear wave velocity Vs from non- seismic dilatometer tests （DMT） and cone penetration tests （CPT）. While the direct measurement of Vs is obviously preferable, these correlations may turn out useful in various circumstances. The experimental results at six international research sites suggest that the DMT predictions of Vs from the parameters ID （material index）, KD （horizontal stress index）, MDMT （constrained modulus） are more reliable and consistent than the CPT predictions from qc （cone resistance）, presumably because of the availability, by DMT, of the stress history index KD.

Soil disturbance evaluation of soft clay based on stress-normalized smallstrain stiffness

Soil disturbance includes the change of stress state and the damage of soil structure.The field testing indices reflect the combined effect of both changes and it is difficult to identify the soil structure disturbance directly from these indices.In the present study,the small-strain shear modulus is used to characterize soil structure disturbance by normalizing the effective stress and void ratio based on Hardin equation.The procedure for evaluating soil sampling disturbance in the field and the further disturbance during the subsequent consolidation process in laboratory test is proposed,and then validated by a case study of soft clay ground.Downhole seismic testing in the field,portable piezoelectric bender elements for the drilled sample and bender elements in triaxial apparatus for the consolidated sample were used to monitor the shear wave velocity of the soil from intact to disturbed and even remolded states.It is found that soil sampling disturbance degree by conventional thin-wall sampler is about 30%according to the proposed procedure,which is slightly higher than that from the modified volume compression method proposed by Hong and Onitsuka(1998).And the additional soil disturbance induced by consolidation in laboratory could reach about 50%when the consolidation pressure is far beyond the structural yield stress,and it follows the plastic volumetric strain quite well.

Evaluation of the coefficient of lateral stress at rest of granular materials under repetitive loading conditions

Although the internal stress state of soils can be affected by repetitive loading,there are few studies evaluating the lateral stress(or K_(0))of soils under repetitive loading.This study investigates the changes in K_(0) and directional shear wave velocity(V_(s))in samples of two granular materials with different particle shapes during repetitive loading.A modified oedometer cell equipped with bender elements and a diaphragm transducer was developed to measure the variations in the lateral stress and the shear wave velocity,under repetitive loading on the loading and unloading paths.The study produced the following results:(1)Repetitive loading on the loading path resulted in an increase in the K_(0) of test samples as a function of cyclic loading number(i),and(2)Repetitive loading on the unloading path resulted in a decrease in K_(0) according to i.The shear wave velocity ratio(i.e.V_(s)(HH)/V_(s)(VH),where the first and second letters in parentheses corresponds to the directions of wave propagation and particle motion,respectively,and V and H corresponds to the vertical and horizontal directions,respectively)according to i supports the experimental observations of this study.However,when the tested material was in lightly over-consolidated state,there was an increase in K_(0) during repetitive loading,indicating that it was the initial K_(0),rather than the loading path,which is responsible for the change in K_(0).The power model can capture the variation in the K_(0) of samples according to i.Notably,the K_(0)=1 line acts as the boundary between the increase and decrease in K_(0) under repetitive loading.

Soil characterization of Tinaztepe region(Izmir/Turkey) using surface wave methods and nakamura(HVSR) technique

To determine the shear wave velocity structure and predominant period features of Tmaztepe in izmir, Turkey, where new building sites have been planned, active-passive surface wave methods and single-station microtremor measurements are used, as well as surface acquisition techniques, including the multichannel analysis of surface waves （MASW）, refraction microtremor （ReMi）, and the spatial autocorrelation method （SPAC）, to pinpoint shallow and deep shear wave velocity. For engineering bedrock （V 〉 760 m/s） conditions at a depth of 30 m, an average seismic shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m of soil （AVs30） is not only accepted as an important parameter for defining ground behavior during earthquakes, but a primary parameter in the geotechnical analysis for areas to be classified by V30 according to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program （NEHRP）. It is also determined that Z1.0, which represents a depth to V = 1000 m/s, is used for ground motion prediction and changed from 0 to 54 m. The sediment-engineering bedrock structure for Tmaztepe that was obtained shows engineering bedrock no deeper than 30 m. When compared, the depth of engineering bedrock and dominant period map and geology are generally compatible.

Effects of fabric anisotropy on elastic shear modulus of granular soils

The fabric anisotropy of a granular soil deposit can strongly infl uence its engineering properties and behavior. This paper presents the results of a novel experimental study designed to examine the effects of fabric anisotropy on smallstrain stiffness and its evolution with loading on the elastic shear modulus of granular materials under a K0 condition. Two primary categories of fabric anisotropy, i.e., deposition-induced and particle shape-induced, are investigated. Toyoura sand deposits with relative densities of 40% and 80% were prepared using deposition angles oriented at 0o and 90o. Piezoelectric transducers were used to obtain the elastic shear modulus in the vertical and horizontal directions(Gvh and Ghh). The measurements indicate distinct differences in the values of G with respect to the different deposition angles. Particle shapeinduced fabric anisotropy was examined using four selected sands. It was concluded that sphericity is a controlling factor dominating the small-strain stiffness of granular materials. The degree of fabric anisotropy proves to be a good indicatorin the characterization of stress-induced fabric evolution during loading and unloading stress cycles. The experimental data were used to calibrate an existing micromechanical model, which was able to represent the behavior of the granular material and the degree of fabric anisotropy reasonably well.

Experimental study on the e ect of fracture scale on seismic wave characteristics

In fractured reservoir beds, fracture characteristics affect seismic wave response. Fractured models based on the Hudson＇s fractured medium theory were constructed in our laboratory by a backfilling technique. For the same fracture density, the variations of the velocity and amplitude of the primary wave and shear wave parallel and perpendicular to the fracture were observed by altering the diameter （scale） of the penny-shaped fracture disk. The model test indicated that an increase of fracture scale increased the velocity and amplitude of the primary wave by about 2%. When the shear wave propagated parallel to the fracture, the velocity of the fast shear wave hardly changed, while the velocity of slow shear wave increased by 2.6% with increasing fracture scale. The results indicated that an increase of fracture scale would reduce the degree of anisotropy of the shear wave. The amplitudes of slow shear waves propagating parallel and perpendicular to fractures decreased with increasing fracture scale.

Application of machine learning to the Vs-based soil liquefaction potential assessment

Earthquakes can cause violent liquefaction of the soil, resulting in unstable foundations that can cause serious damage to facilities such as buildings, roads, and dikes. This is a primary cause of major earthquake disasters. Therefore, the discrimination and prediction of earthquake-induced soil liquefaction has been a hot issue in geohazard research. The soil liquefaction assessment is an integral part of engineering practice. This paper evaluated a dataset of 435 seismic sand liquefaction events using machine learning algorithms. The dataset was analyzed using seven potential assessment parameters. Ten machine learning algorithms are evaluated for their ability to assess seismic sand liquefaction potential, including Linear Discriminant Analysis(LDA), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis(QDA), Naive Bayes(NB), KNearest Neighbor(KNN), Artificial Neural Network(ANN), Classification Tree(CT), Support Vector Machine(SVM), Random Forest(RF), e Xtreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost), Light Gradient Boosting Machine(Light GBM). A 10-fold cross-validation(CV) method was used in the modeling process to verify the predictive performance of the machine learning models. The final percentages of significant parameters that influenced the prediction results were obtained as Cyclic Stress Ratio(CSR) and Shear-Wave Velocity( VS1) with 56% and 38%, respectively. The final machine learning algorithms identified as suitable for seismic sand liquefaction assessment were the CT, RF, XGBoost algorithms, with the RF algorithm performing best.

Application of ARFI technology to explore the clinical study of Gandou Tang in treating liver fibrosis of wilson's disease with damp-heat accumulation

Objective:Acoustic radiation force impulse(ARFI)was applied to measure Shear wave velocity(SWV)of liver in patients with Wilson's disease(WD).To investigate the relationship between SWV and the serological indexes of liver fibrosis,such as type Ⅳ collagen(CⅣ),hyaluronic acid(HA),type Ⅲ procollagen peptide(PⅢNP),laminin(LN),APRI score(Asparate Aminotransfer to Platelet Ratio Index),and FIB-4 index(FIB-4 index).The clinical efficacy of GandouTang(GDT)in the treatment of liver fibrosis in WD with damp-heat internalization was also observed.Methods:80 cases of WD patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into the treatment group and the control group,with 40 cases in each group.The control group was treated with Sodium Dimercaptopropylsulfonate(DMPS)and the treatment group was additionally treated with the traditional Chinese medicine GDT.One course for 8 days,a total of 6 courses.The levels of SwV and four serological indicators of liver fibrosis(PⅢNP,HA,CⅣ,LN),APRI score and FIB-4 index were compared before and after treatment.Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between SWV and HA,CⅣ,LN,PⅢNP,APRI score and FIB-4 index.The effects of GDT on SWV,liver fiber,APRI and FIB-4 were evaluated according to the treatment plan.Results:①The SWV was positively correlated with FIB-4(r=0.83),APRI(r=0.82),HA(r=0.87),CⅣ(r=0.71),LN(r=0.85)and PINP(r=0.77).②Before treatment,there were no significant differences in SWV level,PⅢNP,HA,CⅣ,LN,APRI and FIB-4 levels between two groups(P>0.05).After treatment,the levels of PⅢNP,HA,LN,SWV,APRI and FIB-4 in both groups were significantly decreased(P<0.05,P<0.01),and the levels in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group.There were no significant specific changes in CⅣ level(P>0.05).Conclusion:SWV value can reflect the degree of WD liver fibrosis,and is positively correlated with HA,PⅢNP,CⅣ,LN,FIB-4 index and APRI score.On the basis of the treatment of protecting liver and expelling copper with western medicine,plus the treatment of traditional Chinese medicine GDT can effectively improve the degree of liver fibrosis in WD patients with damp-heat accumulation.

Comparison of Vs and SPT Soil Liquefaction Assessments of NCEER: Including Hypothesis Testing

Soil liquefaction is one of the complex research topics in geotechnical engineering and engineering geology. Especially after the 1964 Niigata earthquake (Japan) induced many soil liquefaction incidents, a variety of soil liquefaction studies were conducted and reported, including the liquefaction potential assessment methods utilizing the shear wave velocity (Vs) or SPT-N profiles (SPT: standard penetration test). This study used the Vs and SPT methods recommended by the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) to examine which is more conservative according to the assessment results on 41 liquefiable soil layers at sites in two major cities in Taiwan. Statistical hypothesis testing was used to make the analysis more quantitative and objective. Based on three sets of hypothesis tests, it shows that the hypothesis—the SPT method is more conservative than the Vs method—was not rejected on a 5% level of significance.