Zero-stress,cylindrical wave functions around a circular underground tunnel in a flat,elastic half-space: Incident P-waves

The zero-stress boundary conditions at the surface of the half-space in the presence of surface and sub-surface cavities for in-plane, incident cylindrical P- and SV-waves have always posed challenging problems. The outgoing cylindrical P- and SV-waves can be represented by Hankel functions of radial distance coupled with the sine and cosine functions of angle. Together, at the half-space surface the P- and SV-wave functions are not orthogonal over the semi-infinite radial distance from 0 to infinity. Thus, to simultaneously satisfy the zero in-plane, normal, and shear stresses, an approximation of the geometry is often made. This paper presents an analytical formulation of the boundary-valued problem, where the Hankel wave functions are expressed in integral form, changing the representation from cylindrical to rectangular coordinates, so that the zero-stress boundary conditions at the half-space surface can be applied in a more straightforward way.     

Saturn's ionosphere: A corona of ice particles?

There is an order-of-magnitude discrepancy between the observations and theoretical calculations of electron density in Saturn's ionosphere. Since the lower observed values are prevalent regardless of latitude, there must be a loss process operating over the entire planet which is missing from current theoretical considerations. A corona of ice particles is suggested here as a possible explanation.     

Tectonic significance of Eocene and Cretaceous radiolaria from South Andaman Island, northeast Indian Ocean

Abstract Eocene (Middle) and Cretaceous (Campanian) radiolarian faunas from the basement rocks of the southern part of South Andaman Island in the northeastern Indian Ocean affirm the sedimentological hiatus that encompassed part of the Paleocene to Early Eocene ages in these islands, and its extension northward to Indoburma region and south to the outer islands of the Sunda Arc.     

Impact of soil moisture heterogeneity length scale and gradients on daytime coupled land‐cloudy boundary layer interactions

Using a coupled large‐eddy simulation–land surface model framework, the impact of two‐dimensional soil moisture heterogeneity on the cloudy boundary layer under varied free‐atmosphere stabilities is investigated. Specifically, the impacts of soil moisture heterogeneity length scale and heterogeneity in terms of soil moisture gradients on micrometeorological states, surface fluxes, boundary layer characteristics, and cloud development are examined. The results show that mesoscale circulations due to surface heterogeneity in soil moisture play an important role in transferring water vapour within the boundary layer and in regulating cloud distribution at the entrainment zone, which, in turn, provides feedbacks on boundary layer/surface energy budgets. The initial domain‐averaged soil moisture is identical for all homogenous and heterogeneous cases; however, the soil moisture heterogeneity in gradient and length scale between dry and wet regions has a significant impact on the estimates of near‐surface micrometeorological properties and surface fluxes, which further affect the boundary layer states and characteristics. Both liquid water potential temperature and liquid water mixing ratio increase with an increasing soil moisture gradient, whereas the amount of specific humidity decreases. Heterogeneity length scale and free atmosphere stability also amplify these impacts on the boundary layer structure and cloud formation. In a low atmospheric stability condition that potentially allows for a deeper boundary layer and a higher entrainment rate, cloud base height and cloud thickness significantly increase as the soil moisture gradient and length scale increase. Analysis to differentiate the influences of surface heterogeneity type (i.e. length scale vs gradient) shows that in general soil moisture gradient provides a larger impact than heterogeneity length scale, although the heterogeneity length scale is large enough to initiate circulation features responsible for differences in the coupled system between homogeneous and heterogeneous soil moisture cases. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photographic and spectrographic observations with a reducing camera on the 61 cm NCU telescope

A Reducing Camera designed by Meinel has been constructed and tested on the 61 cm NCU Cassegrain telescope. The basic principle of RC is to reduce the reflector'sf/13.5 to the equivalentf/2.7 such that the Cassegrain focus image can be reduced on a 35 mm film with almost no loss in sky coverage and in resolution but the exposure time is reduced by a factor of 25. The camera is able to obtain stellar spectra. With a grism and a standard lens the dispersion is 450 Å mm^–1, which is comparable to that required for the MK classification. RC constructure and testing results are reported. The method of a wide field spectrograph and that of narrow band differential photography of RC are also discussed.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

Intra-seasonal variation of the Kuroshio southeast of Taiwan and its possible forcing mechanism

The intra-seasonal variation of the Kuroshio southeast of Taiwan has been studied using satellite data and a numerical model. Superimposed with the main stream of the Kuroshio, two intra-seasonal signals are revealed in the study region. The fluctuation with a period of 1–6 months results from offshore eddies. The westward propagating cyclonic eddies can reduce or reverse the northward flow east of the Kuroshio between 121° and 123° E, but only slightly touch the core velocity of the Kuroshio. The fluctuation with a period of 2–4 weeks is only significant between Taiwan and the Lan-Yu Island (the low-velocity region). Different mechanisms are responsible for the fluctuation in the low-velocity region in different seasons. In winter, the change of negative wind stress curl in the northeastern South China Sea modulates the circulation southeast of Taiwan, while the typhoon-induced intense wind is responsible for the current fluctuation in summer.     

Behavior of Aluminum Adsorption in Different Compost‐Derived Humic Acids

Humic acid plays an important role in the distribution of heavy metals in the environment. The aims of this study were conducted to evaluate the spectroscopic characteristics and aluminum (Al) adsorption of humic acids which were extracted from four composts. The functional groups were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and solid‐state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹³C‐NMR). The results showed that the aromatic groups were all found in the humic acids of the four composts, and the surface of humic acids included carboxylic group, hydroxylic group, and amino group. The experiment of Al adsorption was described by Freundlich equation. It showed that the adsorption of Al by humic acid from compost of cattle manure was higher, but that from the compost of pig manure, lemon manure, tea manure in equal preparation was lower. The adsorptive behavior was different due to the interaction by functional groups ( OH and  COOH) with Al. These results can describe the fate and transportation of Al in the soil of different organic fertilizer.     

Removal of Aromatic Volatile Organic Compounds in the Sequencing Batch Reactor of Petroleum Refinery Wastewater Treatment Plant

This paper presents a field investigation of aromatic volatile organic compounds (AVOCs) emissions from a sequence batch reactor (SBR) with powdered activated carbon (PAC) to treat the wastewater in a large petroleum refinery plant. AVOC with high Henry's constant preferred to transfer from liquid‐phase into air‐phase so that might cause the emission and odor problem. During SBR operation, AVOC concentrations and distributions in wastewater, sludge and off‐gas were analyzed. The total AVOC removal from wastewater was >99% under the kinetic parameters of SBR operated. Batch experiments were carried out in the laboratory to obtain the adsorptive characteristic of AVOC onto PAC, but the results showed that bio‐degradation was the main removal mechanism (85%). Nevertheless, off‐gas emission (<1%) and AVOC in the sludge (<0.1%) remained a stable level. Oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) was correlated to the logarithm of the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in a linear relationship so that ORP profile could indirectly reflect the DO and biomass concentrations. Since the influent AVOC concentration was varied and difficultly to measure, ORP could be used as real‐time parameter for optimizing SBR operation. The results provided useful information for future evaluation of AVOC emissions from wastewater treatment plants.