An orthotropic interface damage model for simulating drying processes in soils

The study of drying process in soils has received an increased attention in the last few years. This is very complex phenomenon that generally leads to the formation and propagation of desiccation cracks in the soil mass. In recent engineering applications, high aspect ratio elements have proved to be well suited to tackle this type of problem using finite elements. However, the modeling of interfaces between materials with orthotropic properties that generally exist in this type of problem using standard (isotropic) constitutive model is very complex and challenging in terms of the mesh generation, leading to very fine meshes that are intensive CPU demanding. A novel orthotropic interface mechanical model based on damage mechanics and capable of dealing with interfaces between materials in which the strength depends on the direction of analysis is proposed in this paper. The complete mathematical formulation is presented together with the algorithm suggested for its numerical implementation. Some simple yet challenging synthetic benchmarks are analyzed to explore the model capabilities. Laboratory tests using different textures at the contact surface between materials were conducted to evaluate the strengths of the interface in different directions. These experiments were then used to validate the proposed model. Finally, the approach is applied to simulate an actual desiccation test involving an orthotropic contact surface. In all the application cases the performance of the model was very satisfactory.     

Near-source noise suppression of AMT by compressive sensing and mathematical morphology filtering

In deep mineral exploration, the acquisition of audio magnetotelluric (AMT) data is severely affected by ambient noise near the observation sites; This near-field noise restricts investigation depths. Mathematical morphological filtering (MMF) proved effective in suppressing large-scale strong and variably shaped noise, typically low-frequency noise, but can not deal with pulse noise of AMT data. We combine compressive sensing and MMF. First, we use MMF to suppress the large-scale strong ambient noise; second, we use the improved orthogonal match pursuit (IOMP) algorithm to remove the residual pulse noise. To remove the noise and protect the useful AMT signal, a redundant dictionary that matches with spikes and is insensitive to the useful signal is designed. Synthetic and field data from the Luzong field suggest that the proposed method suppresses the near-source noise and preserves the signal well; thus, better results are obtained that improve the output of either MMF or IOMP.     

Accessory mineral U–Th–Pb ages and <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar/<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar eruption chronology,and their bearing on rhyolitic magma evolution in the Pleistocene Coso volcanic field,California

We determined Ar/Ar eruption ages of eight extrusions from the Pleistocene Coso volcanic field, a long-lived series of small volume rhyolitic domes in eastern California. Combined with ion-microprobe dating of crystal ages of zircon and allanite from these lavas and from granophyre geothermal well cuttings, we were able to track the range of magma-production rates over the past 650 ka at Coso. In ≤230 ka rhyolites we find no evidence of protracted magma residence or recycled zircon (or allanite) from Pleistocene predecessors. A significant subset of zircon in the ~85 ka rhyolites yielded ages between ~100 and 200 Ma, requiring that generation of at least some rhyolites involves material from Mesozoic basement. Similar zircon xenocrysts are found in an ~200 ka granophyre. The new age constraints imply that magma evolution at Coso can occur rapidly as demonstrated by significant changes in rhyolite composition over short time intervals (≤10’s to 100’s ka). In conjunction with radioisotopic age constraints from other young silicic volcanic fields, dating of Coso rhyolites highlights the fact that at least some (and often the more voluminous) rhyolites are produced relatively rapidly, but that many small-volume rhyolites likely represent separation from long-lived mushy magma bodies.     

Shock waves in a dusty plasma with dust of opposite polarities

A four-component dusty plasma consisting of electrons, ions, and negative as well as positive dust particles has been considered. The basic features of shock waves that may exist in such a four-component dusty plasma have been theoretically investigated by the reductive perturbation method. The implications of our results in different regions of space (viz. cometary tails, mesosphere, Jupiter’s magnetosphere, etc.) are briefly discussed.     

Developing coastal adaptation to climate change in the New York City infrastructure-shed: process, approach, tools, and strategies

While current rates of sea level rise and associated coastal flooding in the New York City region appear to be manageable by stakeholders responsible for communications, energy, transportation, and water infrastructure, projections for sea level rise and associated flooding in the future, especially those associated with rapid icemelt of the Greenland and West Antarctic Icesheets, may be outside the range of current capacity because extreme events might cause flooding beyond today??s planning and preparedness regimes. This paper describes the comprehensive process, approach, and tools for adaptation developed by the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) in conjunction with the region??s stakeholders who manage its critical infrastructure, much of which lies near the coast. It presents the adaptation framework and the sea-level rise and storm projections related to coastal risks developed through the stakeholder process. Climate change adaptation planning in New York City is characterized by a multi-jurisdictional stakeholder?Cscientist process, state-of-the-art scientific projections and mapping, and development of adaptation strategies based on a risk-management approach.     

Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography

In recent months there has been an explosion of interest in using the Web to create, assemble, and disseminate geographic information provided voluntarily by individuals. Sites such as Wikimapia and OpenStreetMap are empowering citizens to create a global patchwork of geographic information, while Google Earth and other virtual globes are encouraging volunteers to develop interesting applications using their own data. I review this phenomenon, and examine associated issues: what drives people to do this, how accurate are the results, will they threaten individual privacy, and how can they augment more conventional sources? I compare this new phenomenon to more traditional citizen science and the role of the amateur in geographic observation.     

Assessment of proposed approaches for bathymetry calculations using multispectral satellite images in shallow coastal/lake areas: a comparison of five models

Bathymetric information for shallow coastal/lake areas is essential for hydrological engineering applications such as sedimentary processes and coastal studies. Remotely sensed imagery is considered a time-effective, low-cost, and wide-coverage solution for bathymetric measurements. This study assesses the performance of three proposed empirical models for bathymetry calculations in three different areas: Alexandria port, Egypt, as an example of a low-turbidity deep water area with silt-sand bottom cover and a depth range of 10.5 m; the Lake Nubia entrance zone, Sudan, which is a highly turbid, unstable, clay bottom area with water depths to 6 m; and Shiraho, Ishigaki Island, Japan, a coral reef area with varied depths ranging up to 14 m. The proposed models are the ensemble regression tree-fitting algorithm using bagging (BAG), ensemble regression tree-fitting algorithm of least squares boosting (LSB), and support vector regression algorithm (SVR). Data from Landsat 8 and Spot 6 satellite images were used to assess the performance of the proposed models. The three models were used to obtain bathymetric maps using the reflectance of green, red, blue/red, and green/red band ratios. The results were compared with corresponding results yielded by two conventional empirical methods, the neural network (NN) and the Lyzenga generalised linear model (GLM). Compared with echosounder data, BAG, LSB, and SVR results demonstrate higher accuracy ranges from 0.04 to 0.35 m more than Lyzenga GLM. The BAG algorithm, producing the most accurate results, proved to be the preferable algorithm for bathymetry calculation.     

Soil Erosion Susceptibility Assessment of the Lower Himachal Himalayan Watershed

Assessment of erosion status of a watershed is an essential prerequisite for integrated watershed management. It not only assists in chalking out suitable soil and water conservation measures to arrest erosion and conserve water but also helps in devising best management practices to enhance biomass production in watersheds. Keeping this in view, the present study has been undertaken by involving geospatial-statistical techniques to determine the critical and priority areas for soil and water conservation in Suketi watershed of the lower Himachal Himalayan region. A novel weighted sum analysis technique was used for ranking each of hydrological unit by obtaining the weightages from various morphometric parameters. This technique offers dynamic, effective and sustainable approach over traditional prioritization methods in which significance of each parameter were considered equally. Considering this approach, sub-watersheds were delineated into low, medium and high priority zones. The results illustrate that about 52 % of sub-watersheds of Suketi watershed are in moderate to high erosion and runoff susceptible zones. Therefore, these potential areas can be considered for preferential soil and water conservation planning. The results obtained from the study will be useful for various stakeholders such as agriculturists, water resource managers, conservation measures planners and decision policy makers for better management practices and decision making. The geospatial-statistical technique can be used for effective estimation of erosion status of watersheds leading to watershed prioritization for taking up soil and water conservation measures in watershed systems. Finally, this technique can be very useful in remote, rugged and inaccessible watersheds with absence of soil erosion and runoff monitoring.     

Effect of modified Chaplygin gas in anisotropic universe

In this work, we have studied the model of modified Chaplygin gas and its role in accelerating phase of the universe for anisotropic model. We have assumed that the equation of state of this modified model is valid from the radiation era to ΛCDM model. We have obtained the possible relation between the hessence and the modified Chaplygin gas. We have also use the statefinder parameters for characterize different phase of the universe diagrammatically.     

The host galaxies of active galactic nuclei

We examine the properties of the host galaxies of 22 623 narrow-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) with  0.02 < z < 0.3  selected from a complete sample of 122 808 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We focus on the luminosity of the [O  iii ]λ5007 emission line as a tracer of the strength of activity in the nucleus. We study how AGN host properties compare with those of normal galaxies and how they depend on L [O  iii ]. We find that AGN of all luminosities reside almost exclusively in massive galaxies and have distributions of sizes, stellar surface mass densities and concentrations that are similar to those of ordinary early-type galaxies in our sample. The host galaxies of low-luminosity AGN have stellar populations similar to normal early types. The hosts of high-luminosity AGN have much younger mean stellar ages. The young stars are not preferentially located near the nucleus of the galaxy, but are spread out over scales of at least several kiloparsecs. A significant fraction of high-luminosity AGN have strong Hδ absorption-line equivalent widths, indicating that they experienced a burst of star formation in the recent past. We have also examined the stellar populations of the host galaxies of a sample of broad-line AGN. We conclude that there is no significant difference in stellar content between type 2 Seyfert hosts and quasars (QSOs) with the same [O  iii ] luminosity and redshift. This establishes that a young stellar population is a general property of AGN with high [O  iii ] luminosities.