High‐resolution national land use scenarios under a shrinking population in Japan

In sharp contrast with the global trend in population growth, certain developed countries are expected to experience rapid national population declines. Considering future land use scenarios that include depopulation is necessary to evaluate changes in ecosystem services that affect human well‐being and to facilitate comprehensive strategies for balancing rural and urban development. In this study, we applied a population‐projection‐assimilated predictive land use modeling (PPAP‐LM) approach, in which a spatially explicit population projection was incorporated as a predictor in a land use model. To analyze the effects of future population distributions on land use, we developed models for five land use types and generated projections for two scenarios (centralization and decentralization) under a shrinking population in Japan during 2015–2050. Our results suggested that population centralization promotes the compaction of built‐up areas and the expansion of forest and wastelands, while population decentralization contributes to the maintenance of a mixture of forest and cultivated land.     

Intelligent seismic isolation system using air bearings and earthquake early warning

Recently strong seismic waves or long period seismic waves have been observed in various earthquakes that occurred in Japan. As a result improvements of existing seismic isolation systems are deemed necessary. The present study proposed an intelligent seismic isolation system encompassing air bearings and earthquake early warning (EEW) system. Such system exhibits adequate isolation performance. The air bearings are isolation device that may render infinite the superstructure natural period by floating them, and the EEW is applied for a trigger of isolation. This paper illustrates the proposed system and discusses the experimental results of a test carried out with the system. Laboratory tests carried out in the present research demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed base isolated systems and prove its efficacy in mitigating the effects of three-dimensional seismic waves. For example, the system suppressed the horizontal response acceleration of an isolation target to 38% of input acceleration.     

Potential of submarine-cave sediments and oxygen isotope composition of cavernicolous micro-bivalve as a late Holocene paleoenvironmental record

A sediment layer (43 cm thick) and surface sediments (5 cm thick) in a submarine limestone cave (31 m water depth) on the fore-reef slope of Ie Island, off Okinawa mainland, Japan, were examined by visual, mineralogical and geochemical means. Oxygen isotope analysis was performed on the cavernicolous micro-bivalve Carditella iejimensis from both cored sediments and surface sediments, and the water temperature within the cave was recorded for nearly one year. These data show that: (1) water temperature within the cave is equal to that at 30 m deep in the open sea; (2) the biotic and non-biotic environments within the cave have persisted for the past 2000 years; (3) mud-size carbonate detritus is a major constituent of the submarine-cave deposit, and may have come mainly from the suspended carbonate mud produced on the emergent Holocene reef flat over the past two millennia; (4) the δ¹⁸O-derived temperature (T_δ18_O) of C. iejimensis suggests that the species grows between April and July; (5) the T_δ18_O of C. iejimensis from cored sediments implies that there were two warmer intervals, at AD 340 ± 40 and AD 1000 ± 40, which correspond to the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Warm Period, respectively. These suggest that submarine-cave sediments provide unique information for Holocene reef development. In addition, oxygen isotope records of cavernicolous C. iejimensis are a useful tool to reconstruct century-scale climatic variability for the Okinawa Islands during the Holocene.     

Non-Existence of the Modified First Integral by Symplectic Integration Methods II: Kepler Problem

Symplectic integration methods conserve the Hamiltonian quite well because of the existence of the modified Hamiltonian as a formal conserved quantity. For a first integral of a given Hamiltonian system, the modified first integral is defined to be a formal first integral for the modified Hamiltonian. It is shown that the Runge-Lenz vector of the Kepler problem is not well conserved by symplectic methods, and that the corresponding modified first integral does not exist. This conclusion is given for a one-parameter family of symplectic methods including the symplectic Euler method and the Störmer/Verlet method.     

Optical spectroscopic study of synthetic NaScSi<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>6</Subscript>–CaNiSi<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>6</Subscript> pyroxenes at normal and high pressures

Six synthetic NaScSi₂O₆–CaNiSi₂O₆ pyroxenes were studied by optical absorption spectroscopy. Five of them of intermediate (Na_1−x , Ca _x )(Sc_1−x , Ni _x )Si₂O₆ compositions show spectra typical of Ni²⁺ in octahedral coordination, more precise Ni²⁺ at the M1 site of the pyroxene structure. The common feature of all spectra is three broad absorption bands with maxima around 8,000, 13,000 and 24,000 cm⁻¹ assigned to ³ A _2g → ³ T _2g, ³ A _2g → ³ T _1g and →³ T _1g (³ P) electronic spin-allowed transitions of ^VINi²⁺. A weak narrow peak at ∼14,400 cm⁻¹ is assigned to the spin-forbidden ³ A _2g → ¹ T _2g (¹ D) transition of Ni²⁺. Under pressure the spin-allowed bands shift to higher energies and change in intensity. The octahedral compression modulus, calculated from the shift of the ³ A _2g → ³ T _2g band in the (Na_0.7Ca_0.3)(Sc_0.7Ni_0.3)Si₂O₆ pyroxene is evaluated as 85±20 GPa. The Racah parameter B of Ni²⁺(M1) is found gradually changing from ∼919 cm⁻¹ at ambient pressure to ∼890 cm⁻¹ at 6.18 GPa. The Ni end-member pyroxene [(Ca_0.93 Ni_0.07)NiSi₂O₆] has a spectrum different from all others. In addition to the above mentioned bands of Ni²⁺(M1) it displays several new relatively intense and broad extra bands, which were attributed to electronic transitions of Ni²⁺ at the M2 site. In difference to CaO₈ polyhedron geometry of an eightfold coordination, Ni²⁺(M2)O₈ polyhedra are assumed to be relatively large distorted octahedra. Due to different distortions and different compressibilities of the M1 and M2 sites the Ni²⁺(M1)- and Ni²⁺(M2)-bands display rather different pressure-induced behaviors, becoming more resolved in the high-pressure spectra than in that measured at atmospheric pressure. The octahedral compression modulus of Ni²⁺(M1) in this end-member pyroxene is evaluated as 150 ± 25 GPa, which is noticeably larger than in Ni_0.3 pyroxene. This is due to a smaller size and, thus, a stiffer character of Ni²⁺(M1)O₆ octahedron in the (Ca_0.93Ni_0.07)NiSi₂O₆ pyroxene compared to (Na_0.7Ca_0.3)(Sc_0.7Ni_0.3)Si₂O₆.

The high-pressure C2/c–P21/c phase transition along the LiAlSi2O6–LiGaSi2O6 solid solution

Two synthetic single-crystals with composition Li(Al_0.53Ga_0.47)Si₂O₆ and LiGaSi₂O₆ and space group C2/c at room conditions have been studied under pressure by means of X-ray diffraction using a diamond anvil cell. The unit-cell parameters were determined at 12 and 10 different pressures up to P = 8.849 and P = 7.320 GPa for Li(Al_0.53Ga_0.47)Si₂O₆ and LiGaSi₂O₆, respectively. The sample with mixed composition shows a C2/c to P2₁/c phase transformation between 1.814 and 2.156 GPa, first-order in character. The transition is characterised by a large and discontinuous decrease in the unit-cell volume and by the appearance of the b-type reflections (h + k = odd) typical of the primitive symmetry. The Ga end-member shows the same C2/c to P2₁/c transformation at a pressure between 0.0001 and 0.39 GPa. The low-pressure value at which the transition occurred did not allow collecting any data in the C2/c pressure stability field except that on room pressure. Our results compared with those relative to spodumene (LiAlSi₂O₆, Arlt and Angel 2000a) indicate that the substitution of Al for Ga at the M1 site of Li-clinopyroxenes strongly affects the transition pressure causing a decrease from 3.17 GPa (spodumene) to less than 0.39 GPa (LiGaSi₂O₆) and decreases the volume discontinuity at the transition. As already found for other compounds, the C2/c low-pressure phases are more rigid than the P2₁ /c high-pressure ones. Moreover, the increase of the M1 cation radius causes a decrease in the bulk modulus K _T0. The axial compressibility among the Li-bearing clinopyroxenes indicates that the c axis is the most rigid for the C2/c phases while it becomes the most compressible for the P2₁ /c phases.     

Long-term change in the status of water pollution in Tokyo Bay: recent trend of increasing bottom-water dissolved oxygen concentrations

Journal of Oceanography - Long-term trends of bottom-water concentrations of dissolved oxygen (DO), total nitrogen, and total phosphorus at 42 sites in Tokyo Bay were analyzed using monthly data...     

A type of second order linear ordinary differential equations with periodic coefficients for which the characteristic exponents have exact expressions

It is shown that the characteristic exponents can be exactly expressed for a type of second order linear ordinary differential equations with periodic coefficients (Hill's equation) which appear as the variational equations of certain periodic solutions of dynamical systems. Key points are the transformation of the equation to the Gauss' hypergeometric differential equation, and evaluation of the trace of monodormy matrix in the complex plane of the independent variable. Two simple examples are given for which the stability of periodic solutions is rigorously analyzed.