Toward seamless indoor-outdoor applications: Developing stakeholder-oriented location-based services

Location-Based Services (LBS),an emerging new business based on smartphone and mobile networks,are becoming more and more popular.Most of these LBSs,however,only offer non-seamless indoor/outdoor applications and simple applications without giving stakeholders the chance to play an active role.Our specific aim is to solve these issues.This paper presents concepts to solve these issues by expanding the Open Location Services Interface Standard (OpenLS) to allow seamless indoor/outdoor positioning and to extend the content of the services to include information recommended by stakeholders.     

Mixing of magmatic CO2 into volcano groundwater flow at Aso volcano assessed combining carbon and water stable isotopes

To understand deep groundwater flow systems and their interaction with CO₂ emanated from magma at depth in a volcanic edifice, deep groundwater samples were collected from hot spring wells in the Aso volcanic area for hydrogen, oxygen and carbon isotope analyses and measurements of the stable carbon isotope ratios and concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Relations between the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ¹³C_DIC) and DIC concentrations of the sampled waters show that magma-derived CO₂ mixed into the deep groundwater. Furthermore, groundwaters of deeper areas, except samples from fumarolic areas, show higher δ¹³C_DIC values. The waters' stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios (δD and δ¹⁸O) reflect the meteoric-water origin of that region's deep groundwater. A negative correlation was found between the altitude of the well bottom and the altitude of groundwater recharge as calculated using the equation of the recharge-water line and δD value. This applies especially in the Aso-dani area, where deeper groundwater correlates with higher recharge. Groundwater recharged at high altitude has higher δ¹³C_DIC of than groundwater recharged at low altitude, strongly suggesting that magmatic CO₂ is present to a much greater degree in deeper groundwater. These results indicate that magmatic CO₂ mixes into deeper groundwater flowing nearer the magma conduit or chamber.     

Description and Phylogenetic Position of Dinosaur Eggshells from the Luanchuan Area of Western Henan Province, China

Here, we examine 145 dinosaur eggshells from a new fossil locality in the Qiupa Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of the Luanchuan area in western Henan Province, China. The eggshells display elongatoolithid macro- and microstructures, including ridges and nodes on the outer surface, two ultrastructural layers, and an undulatory boundary between the mammillary and continuous layers. A phylogenic analysis shows that the Luanchuan eggshells belong to the ooclade Elongatoolithidae. Within Elongatoolithidae, the thickness ratio of the mammillary layer to the entire eggshell, and the porosity of the Luanchuan eggshells are comparable to the oogenera Macroolithus and Elongatoolithus. There is no direct evidence for the taxonomic identity of the Luanchuan eggshells; however, they were likely laid by oviraptorids based on their phylogenetic position and their similarities with known oviraptorid eggs.     

On the gravity wave-driven instability of E layer at mid-latitude

The plasma instability process during internal gravity wave propagation through the ionospheric E region is considered. The growth rate of the instability has been found and it has been shown that it depends on perturbation wavelength, gravity wave parameters and direction of propagation. The conditions for the instability are favorable when the vorticity of the associated neutral motion becomes antiparallel to the geomagnetic field. In the proposed instability mechanism plasma irregularities could seed the large-scale sporadic E layer structuring because they are generated in situ as a part of the same neutral wind structure that serves to initiate the formation of the layer.     

Geochemical behavior of rare earth elements in hydrothermally altered rocks of the Kuroko mining area,Japan

In this study we analyzed the chemical composition of hydrothermally altered dacite and basalt from the Kuroko mining area, northeastern Honshu, Japan, by REE (rare earth element). Features of rare earth element analyses include: (1) altered footwall dacite exhibits a negative Eu anomaly compared with fresh dacite, suggesting preferential removal of Eu²⁺ from the altered dacite via hydrothermal solutions, (2) altered hangingwall dacite and basalt and dacite and basalt adjacent to ore deposits exhibit positive Eu anomalies compared with fresh dacite and basalt, suggesting addition of Eu²⁺ from hydrothermal solutions, (3) LREE ratio (∑LREE/∑REE) from altered dacite of chlorite–sericite zone and K-feldspar zone show a negative relationship with δ¹⁸O, and La/Sm ratios show a positive correlation with the K₂O index. These trends indicate the addition of light rare earth elements such as La to the altered dacite from hydrothermal solution and/or leaching of heavy rare earth elements such as Sm and Yb, (4) Principal component analysis (PCA) indicates that light rare earth elements enrichment is related to the formation of sericite zone near the Kuroko deposits but not to the formations of chlorite and K-feldspar zones, and (5) The correlations among REE features (LREE ratio, MREE ratio, HREE ratio, Eu/Eu?), δ¹⁸O and K₂O index are not found for montmorillonite zone, mixed layer clay mineral zone and mordenite zone. Therefore, it is inferred that sericite, chlorite and K-feldspar alterations are related to the Kuroko and vein-type mineralization, but montmorillonite and mordenite alterations are not related to the mineralizations, and probably they formed at the post-mineralization stage.     

Asperity Height and Aperture of an Artificial Tensile Fracture of Metric Size

Summary  A tensile fracture of about 1 m in length was created by indenting wedges in a block of granite, and the heights of the two fracture surfaces were measured using a large, non-contact surface profile measurement system with a laser profilometer to determine the aperture distribution of the fracture. Based on the measured data, the frequency characteristics of the asperity heights, the initial aperture (the aperture when the surfaces are in contact at a single point), and the size effect on the statistical properties were analyzed. The results can be summarized as follows:

Seasonal variations of dissolved organic matter and nutrients in sediment pore water in the inner part of Tokyo Bay

At four stations in Tokyo Bay, pore water profiles of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen (DON), phosphorus (DOP), and inorganic nutrients were determined at 3-month intervals over 6 years. Concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nutrients were significantly higher in pore waters than in the overlying waters. Pore water DOC, DON, and DOP concentrations in the upper most sediment layer (0–1 cm) ranged from 246 to 888 μM, from 14.6 to 75.9 μM, and from 0.02 to 9.83 μM, respectively. Concentrations of DOM and nutrients in pore waters occasionally showed clear seasonal trends and were highest in the summer and lowest in the winter. The seasonal trends in the pore water DOM concentrations were coupled with trends in the overlying water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration. Benthic effluxes of DON and DOP were low compared with those of inorganic nutrients, accounting for only 1.0 and 1.5 % of the total benthic effluxes of nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively; thus benthic DOM fluxes were quantitatively insignificant to the inorganic nutrient fluxes in Tokyo Bay. The DOM fluxes represented about 7, 3, and 10 % of the riverine discharge of DOC, DON, and DOP to Tokyo Bay, respectively.     

Horizontal electric fields in the middle latitude

Three dimensional electric fields were measured at the altitude of about 27 km in the stratosphere over the Pacific Ocean about 200–400 km away from the Sanriku coast of Honsyu Island (L = 1·4) on 16–17 October 1973, which was magnetically disturbed. The average horizontal electric field thus measured is about 10 mV/m, and the electric field vectors made clockwise semidiurnal rotations rather than diurnal. Daily variation of this electric field was compared with data at L = 2·7–3·5 published by Mozer (1973) and was found to be very similar. This suggests that these electric fields are of common origin in the plasmasphere. From their mean daily variation it is estimated that the plasmaspheric convection is decreased in the night side and is increased in the day side by 200–300 m/sec, and there is an outward flow in the first half of the afternoon and an inward flow in the plasma bulge region of about 500 m/sec.