Abstract. Physical exercise increases free radicals production; antioxidant supplementation may improve the muscle fiber’s ability to scavenge ROS and protect muscles against exercise-induced oxidative damage. This study was designed to examine the effects of all-trans resveratrol supplementation as an antioxidant to mediate anti-oxidation and lipid per-oxidation responses to exercise in male Wistar rats. Sixty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four equal number (n = 16) including training + supplement (TS), training (T), supplement (S) and control (C) group. The rats in TS and S groups received a dose of 10 mg/kg resveratrol per day via gavage. The training groups ran on a rodent treadmill 5 times per week at the speed of 10 m/min for 10 min; the speed gradually increased to 30 m/min for 60 minutes at the end of 12th week. The acute phase of exercise protocol included a speed of 25 m/min set to an inclination of 10° to the exhaustion point. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) activity, non-enzymatic antioxidants bilirubin, uric acid, lipid peroxidation levels (MDA) and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured after the exercise termination. The data were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA. The result showed that endurance training caused a significant increase in MDA level [4.5 ± 0.75 (C group) vs. 5.9 ± 0.41 nmol/l (T group)] whereas it decreased the total antioxidant capacity [8.5 ± 1.35 (C group) vs. 7.1 ± 0.55 mmol/l (T group)] (p = 0.001). In addition, GPx and CAT decreased but not significantly (p > 0.05). The training and t-resveratrol supplementation had no significant effect on the acute response of all variables except MDA [4.3 ± 1.4 (C group) vs. 4.0 ± 0.90 nmol/l (TS group)] (p = 0.001) and TAC [8.5 ± 0.90 (C group) vs. 6.6 ± 0.80 mmol/l (TS group)] (p = 0.004). It was concluded that resveratrol supplementation may prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress by preventing lipid peroxidation.

The precise study of the response of earth dams to earthquakes is one of the most complex issues in the field of soil structures. In this research, dynamic analysis of earth dam structures (a case study: Doyraj dam in the west of Iran) have been performed using 2D Finite Difference Method (2D F.D.M.). The aim of this study is to investigate accelerations, lateral (horizontal) and vertical displacements (i.e. settlements) due to earthquake occurrence. The results of dynamic analysis indicate that the performance of the dam is satisfactory for each one of the seismic scenarios considered in this investigation. The maximum settlements at the dam crest is considerably smaller than that of the dam freeboard, with maximum value of 540 mm, which is comparable to recommendation of the Department of Safety of Dams (DSOD). Depth of sliding surfaces is better shown in the Finn model, and the settlements based on the Finn model is about 2.5 times higher than that of Mohr model. In contrast to what is commonly accepted about earthquake acceleration (the increase in earthquake acceleration from the base to the top of the dam), it cannot generalize to all cases, and it can be limited to very strong dams or can be related to poor earthquakes.

No abstract

No abstract

A recent widely researched solution is slope stabilization using a row of piles. In this study, the effects of fixed-tip pile and the subsequent pile length reduction, which finally bring about a reduction in stabilization costs were considered. This paper, presents novel analyses that were carried out in static condition. The analyses were performed using the limit equilibrium (LE) method and shear strength reduction (SSR) method, which approve of one another. Fixing pile tip was an efficient and applicable method for stabilizing earth slopes and reducing pile length.Results of these analyses were acceptable and were properly consistent with the results obtained by other researchers. The process of fixing end of pile were also carried out experimentally, and a new method proposed for this purpose, besides its simplicity, is cost effective and practical.The result of this investigation shows the effectiveness of the proposed method, in which, fixing the pile tip could enhance factor of safety (FOS) up to 55 percent.