Thermal treatment as a method to control transfers of invasive biofouling species via vessel sea chests

This study examined the efficacy of heated seawater for the treatment and remediation of fouled vessel sea chest habitats. In laboratory trials, three temperature regimes (37.5°C for 60 min, 40°C for 30min and 42.5°C for 20 min) were tested on a range of temperate taxa commonly found in sea chests. Field validation trials further assessed the efficacy of heat treatment within a replica sea chest environment. During laboratory trials, 100% mortality was achieved across all three treatments for the majority of taxa; the exceptions being the barnacle Elminius modestus and the oyster Crassostrea gigas. Temperature tolerance limits observed in the laboratory were successfully replicated under simulated sea chest conditions; however, a failure to achieve even heat distribution was an obstacle to achieving uniform mortality. This study provides guidance on the temperature/exposure parameters required for vessels plying temperate latitudes, and demonstrates that heated seawater has potential for controlling biofouling in vessel sea chests.     

The nature and extent of organisms in vessel sea-chests: A protected mechanism for marine bioinvasions

A total of 150 different organisms, including one plant species and 12 animal phyla were identified from sea-chests of 42 vessels visiting or operating in New Zealand between May 2000 and November 2004. Forty-nine percent of organisms were sessile, 42% mobile adults and the remaining 9% sedentary. Decapods were the most represented group with 19 species present among 79% of vessels. Forty percent of organisms were indigenous to New Zealand, 15% introduced, 10% non-indigenous, and 35% of unknown origin. Sea-chests have the potential to (1) transfer non-indigenous organisms between countries across oceanic boundaries; and (2) disperse both indigenous and introduced organisms domestically. The occurrence of adult mobile organisms is particularly significant and indicates that sea-chests may be of greater importance than ballast water or hull fouling for dispersing certain marine species. These findings emphasise the need to assess and manage biosecurity risks for entire vessels rather than different mechanisms (i.e., ballast water, hull fouling, sea-chests, etc.) in isolation.     

A method for assessing kinematic bending moments at the pile head

The conventional design methods for seismically loaded piles still concentrate in providing adequate resistance from the pile to withstand only the inertial bending moments generated from the oscillation of the superstructure, thus neglecting the effect of kinematic interaction between pile and soil. By contrast there has been extensive research on kinematic effects induced by earthquakes and a number of simplified methods are available for a preliminary evaluation of kinematic bending moments at the interface between two soil layers. Less attention has been paid to the effects of kinematic interaction at the pile‐head. The paper summarizes recent research work on kinematic response analysis of fixed‐head piles aimed at the performance evaluation of a piled foundation. Results from an extensive parametric study, undertaken by means of three‐dimensional FE analyses, suggest a new criterion to predict kinematic bending effects at the pile head, where the combination of kinematic and inertial effect may be critical. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

大型塔式容器抗震可靠性设计的实用方法

本文在文献[1]的基础上，提出塔式容器抗震可靠性设计的实用方法，该方法可以直接导实际大型塔式容器的抗震可靠性设计及抗震加固。     

Comparing various approaches for assessing groundwater recharge at a regional scale in the Canadian Shield

ABSTRACT

Estimating groundwater recharge is crucial to ensuring the proper management of aquifers. In this study, net regional recharge and spatial potential recharge are estimated at four watersheds within the Charlevoix–Haute-Côte-Nord (CHCN) regions, Quebec Province, Canada. Four methods are applied based on available data. The first two approaches are regional water budget methods. These two methods differ in their estimation of vertical inflow (VI), which is estimated from two hydrological models: GR4J and HYDROTEL. The third method estimates potential recharge spatially over the study area. Finally, the streamflow data are analysed using the Eckhardt baseflow separation method to obtain an estimation of recharge, assuming that discharge is equal to recharge. According to the results of all investigated methods, the mean annual recharge for the CHCN region is approximately 183 mm, which is 18% of the total annual precipitation (P). The discussion section highlights uncertainties due to the assumptions of each method and the reliability of the data.     

A method for assessing lake morphometric characteristics with the use of satellite data

A method is proposed for assessing the main morphometric characteristics of lakes based on satellite data and relationships derived from the analysis of data from WORLDLAKE database.     

A brief outline of the magnetic susceptibility anisotropy of various rock types

Summary In the first part of this paper, the main geological and geophysical applications of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy are briefly described. In the second part, the data on the magnetic anisotropy of various rock types are summarized and some conclusions concerning its significance are deduced. For this purpose, all accessible data were used.Dedicated to 90th Birthday of Professor Frantiek Fiala     

Zoosporic aquatic fungi growing on avian excrements in various types of water bodies

Coprophilic fungi in the water from six different water bodies were studied between 1995–1997. For hydrochemical analysis samples of water were collected every three months while for estimation of fungus content every month. Excrements of 3 phytophagous (greylag goose, roman-nosed goose, mute swan), 4 carnivorous (grey heron, white stork, marsh harrier, cormorant) and 3 omnivorous bird species (musk-duck, mallard, black-headed gull) were used as bait.

Thirty-six fungus species growing on avian excrements in the water of all examined water bodies were found, 6 of these species belonged to Chytridiomycetes and 30 to Oomycetes. The largest number of fungus species was detected on excrements of musk duck, mallard and mute swan, the smallest one on excrements of roman-nosed goose, marsh harrier and cormorant. Such fungus species as Achlya americana, Aphanomyces laevis, Dictyuchus monosporus, Pythium debaryanum, Pythium rostratum, Saprolegnia asterophora, Saprolegnia ferax and Saprolegnia parasitica were detected on excrements of all birds examined. Out of these 36 species, 11 are known as parasites or necrotrophs of fish. Rhizophydium ampullaceum and Diasporangium jonesianum are reported for the first time from Poland.     

A sediment core sectioning method to minimize the post-sampling redistribution of organisms

We present a mechanical method to horizontally section soft bottom sediment cores to minimize the vertical post-sampling redistribution of motile infaunal macroinvertebrates. A clear acrylic core tube for a standard Kajak-Brinkhurst corer was modified by cutting a series of horizontal slits into the side of the core tube to allow the insertion of sectioning plates for physically sealing each section immediately after core retrieval. The modification is simple, inexpensive and easily adapted to any open barrel gravity corer.     

A comparative method for various approaches to the isothermal equation of state

Various three-parameter approximations of the isothermal equation of state of matter can be systematized and, in consequence, mutually compared by using the uniquely associated relationships between first and second pressure derivatives of the bulk modulus of any substance at zero pressure. Thus quantitative or, at least qualitative information on the capability of such approximations for volumetric contractions down to about 0.5 can be obtained directly. This comparative method will be discussed with the aid of 19 approximations considered in high-pressure physics and geophysics. Its application to the Grüneisen parameter analysis yields a number of additional practical approximations.     

上海遥测台网各类型台基背景噪声分析

本文通过对上海遥测台网各台址背景噪声数字化记录进行计算和分析,得到台址背景噪声地动速度均方根值(RMS)、有效测量动态范围、噪声信号功率谱结果.所得结果对上海市地震局“十二五”期间新建台站的各项指标设计,如台基选择、点位选择、仪器选型等提供非常有价值的理论依据;通过台址噪声分析可以为“十二五”期间主动震源技术发展和应用提供背景资料,即根据当地背景噪音幅度计算主动震源所需最低能量,同时主动震源振动频率尽量避开背景噪音的优势频率段,以获取最佳的观测数据,因此对数字地震台的台址噪声进行分析是一项有意义和重要的工作.     

Interrupting a multi-species bioinvasion vector: the efficacy of in-water cleaning for removing biofouling on obsolete vessels

Vector management is the primary method for reducing and preventing nonindigenous species (NIS) invasions and their ecological and economic consequences. This study was the first to examine the efficacy of in-water scrubbing using a submersible cleaning and maintenance platform (SCAMP) to prevent invertebrate species transfers from a heavily fouled obsolete vessel. Initially, prior to treatment, 37 species were recorded in a biofouling matrix that reached 30cm depth in some locations. The bryozoan Conopeum chesapeakensis, and bivalves Mytilopsis leucophaeata and Ischadium recurvum, were dominant sessile species that created structure, supporting mobile biota that included crabs and the associated parasitic barnacle Loxothylacus panopae. Scrubbing had the effect of significantly reducing organism extent and the number of species per sample, but a substantial and diverse (30 species) residual fouling community remained across the entire vessel. Further assessments of management options are needed to prevent potentially damaging NIS transfers. Additional measures taken within an integrated vector management (IVM) strategy may further improve invasion prevention measures.     

四川九龙县地质灾害易发程度分区方法及评价

四川九龙县地质灾害众多,灾害类型主要以滑坡、崩塌、泥石流为主.在实地调查的基础上,结合GIS空间分析原理,对九龙县地质灾害易发程度按照地质环境条件差异、地质灾害形成主导因素、乡镇级行政区相对完整、综合分析定量化并参照遥感详细解译结果进行分区,并根据地质灾害易发程度的不同,对九龙县地质灾害做出了详细的分区及评价.     

Effects of multiple perturbations on the survivorship of fragments of three coral species

Fist-sized fragments of Porites cylindrica, Porites rus and Pavona frondifera were deployed in single-species (P. cylindrica) and mixed-species (all three) plots in a shallow reef area in the northwestern Philippines. After 6 months, the corals in half of the plots were broken into smaller pieces to simulate an episodic physical disturbance. The survival of all corals was monitored from March 2000 to July 2001 during which the corals experienced 2 typhoons and episodes of algal overgrowth. For both intact and broken treatments, there was significantly higher survival in the mixed-species plots than in the single-species treatments. Fragment mortality varied between disturbances of varying frequencies and magnitudes, namely: one-time fragmentation stress, seasonal overgrowth by cyanobacteria and macroalgae, short-term (1 day) and long-term (more than 1 week) burial. The mixed-species assemblages had higher fragment survivorship than the monospecific assemblages during small-scale perturbations (e.g., algal overgrowth), but not in the face of subsequent, larger scale disturbances. This study emphasizes that coral responses to disturbance are both species- and context-specific.     

Functional evaluation of a simplified scaling method for assessing the spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties at the hillslope scale

Abstract

Mapping soil hydraulic parameters with traditional scaling methods that use laboratory-determined hydraulic characteristics (the LAB method) is not always feasible as it involves expensive, time-consuming and sophisticated measurements on soil samples collected in several locations of the study area. An alternative scaling method (the AP method) has been recently proposed to indirectly retrieve the soil hydraulic properties following the Arya-Paris physico-empirical pedotransfer function, which makes use of particle-size distribution and bulk density values. In this synthetic study we verify the performance of the AP method from a functional perspective, by evaluating the differences in the simulated soil water budget through a Monte Carlo approach. Notwithstanding that the AP method can provide soil hydraulic property patterns with faster experimental procedures and minor costs, we observe significant bias in the predicted spatially-averaged soil water budget due to a poor parametric calibration of the AP method and an imprecise identification of the spatial correlation structure of the AP-estimated scaling factors.

Citation Nasta, P., Romano, N., and Chirico, G.B., 2013. Functional evaluation of a simplified scaling method for assessing the spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties at the hillslope scale. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (5), 1059–1071.     

Magnetic storms and their effects in the lower ionosphere: Differences in storms of various types

During magnetic storms (MS’s) in the ionospheric D region, changes in the electron density and corresponding effects on radiowave propagation are observed. The differences in manifestations of MS’s in the lower ionosphere are mainly caused by the time and spatial differences in precipitations of energetic electrons. It is shown that the observed differences in the effects of storms in the D region are related to the differences in the corresponding types of MS’s determined by the observed fluxes of energetic electrons (E ∼ 0.1–2 MeV) at L ≈ 3–8. The storm types are identified by changes in the geomagnetic ap and AE indices and the ap/Dst and AE/Dst ratios during the recovery phase of a storm.     

用多种数据构建2008年汶川特大地震同震位移场

本文主要以GPS、精密水准观测和卫星SAR遥感图像分析2008年汶川特大地震同震位移特征.GPS数据包括:(1)四川盆地和川西高原地区各类国家等级GPS网点复测;(2)沿破裂带国家天文大地网GPS复测.前者推算的同震位移测定精度优于2 cm,后者6~8 cm.SAR遥感资料包括:(1)ALOS 卫星升轨相位干涉图像,精度优于8 cm;(2)ALOS和ENVISAT卫星影像合成的三维位移图,精度优于0.5 m.同震位移场显示,断层下盘(四川盆地)变形总体呈扇形集中指向震中,断层上盘(龙门山)变形总体上呈逆时针旋转态势,最大的实测水平位移5.5 m.汶川、理县、茂县等地测站位移指向破裂带方向,而平武、青川等地测站逐渐转变为平行,乃至远离破裂带方向,与汶川地震逆冲兼走滑的破裂特征一致.断层上盘大幅隆升,下盘靠近断层的区域以下沉为主,远场表现为幅度很小的隆升,垂直升降区域间,有一条与龙泉山断裂带平行的升降过渡带,调节龙泉断层的应力状态.用实测变形场检验多个地震波破裂模型表明,近场(距离断层50 km) 模型形变准确度可达40~50 cm, 远场精度优于5 cm.     

用多种数据构建2008年汶川特大地震同震位移场

本文主要以GPS、精密水准观测和卫星SAR遥感图像分析2008年汶川特大地震同震位移特征.GPS数据包括:(1)四川盆地和川西高原地区各类国家等级GPS网点复测;(2)沿破裂带国家天文大地网GPS复测.前者推算的同震位移测定精度优于2 cm,后者6~8 cm.SAR遥感资料包括:(1)ALOS 卫星升轨相位干涉图像,精度优于8 cm;(2)ALOS和ENVISAT卫星影像合成的三维位移图,精度优于0.5 m.同震位移场显示,断层下盘(四川盆地)变形总体呈扇形集中指向震中,断层上盘(龙门山)变形总体上呈逆时针旋转态势,最大的实测水平位移5.5 m.汶川、理县、茂县等地测站位移指向破裂带方向,而平武、青川等地测站逐渐转变为平行,乃至远离破裂带方向,与汶川地震逆冲兼走滑的破裂特征一致.断层上盘大幅隆升,下盘靠近断层的区域以下沉为主,远场表现为幅度很小的隆升,垂直升降区域间,有一条与龙泉山断裂带平行的升降过渡带,调节龙泉断层的应力状态.用实测变形场检验多个地震波破裂模型表明,近场(距离断层50 km) 模型形变准确度可达40~50 cm, 远场精度优于5 cm.     

A method to reduce the computational requirement while assessing uncertainty of complex hydrological models

The quantification of uncertainty in the simulations from complex physically based distributed hydrologic models is important for developing reliable applications. The generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation method (GLUE) is one of the most commonly used methods in the field of hydrology. The GLUE helps reduce the parametric uncertainty by deriving the probability distribution function of parameters, and help analyze the uncertainty in model output. In the GLUE, the uncertainty of model output is analyzed through Monte Carlo simulations, which require large number of model runs. This induces high computational demand for the GLUE to characterize multi-dimensional parameter space, especially in the case of complex hydrologic models with large number of parameters. While there are a lot of variants of GLUE that derive the probability distribution of parameters, none of them have addressed the computational requirement in the analysis. A method to reduce such computational requirement for GLUE is proposed in this study. It is envisaged that conditional sampling, while generating ensembles for the GLUE, can help reduce the number of model simulations. The mutual relationship between the parameters was used for conditional sampling in this study. The method is illustrated using a case study of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model on a watershed in the USA. The number of simulations required for the uncertainty analysis was reduced by 90 % in the proposed method compared to existing methods. The proposed method also resulted in an uncertainty reduction in terms of reduced average band width and high containing ratio.     

Evaluation of displacement coefficient method for seismically retrofitted buildings with various ductility capacities

This research study is aimed at evaluating the accuracy of the displacement coefficient method (DCM) of FEMA 440 and associated nonlinear static procedure (NLSP) for actual buildings with soft story mechanism and various ductility capacities. The DCM and associated NLSP are evaluated using two existing seismically vulnerable buildings with soft story mechanism. The buildings are first retrofitted using a ductile steel‐brace‐link system to represent those with good ductility capacity and then retrofitted with RC squat infill shear panels (SISPs) to represent those with relatively poor ductility capacity. The evaluation of the DCM of FEMA 440 and associated NLSP is then performed by comparing the roof displacements (target displacements), maximum interstory drifts, and maximum plastic hinge rotations of the original and retrofitted buildings obtained from NLSP (at the target displacement level of DCM) with those obtained from nonlinear response history (NRH) analyses for three different seismic performance levels. It is observed that the DCM, and hence, the NLSP fail to accurately predict the NRH analyses results mainly due to uncertainties in the coefficient C₁ of the DCM in the short period range, the inability of the DCM to capture the failure of structural members beyond a certain lateral displacement or plastic rotation limit and associated soft story mechanism. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.