Role of market agents in mitigating the climate change effects on food economy

Natural Hazards - Agriculture’s ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change is critical for agricultural households as well as the general public and policymakers. Economic agents can...     

Structural control of El Sela granites and associated uranium deposits, Southern Eastern Desert, Egypt

The El Sela area is a part of the basement complex of the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the Pan-African Shield. The area comprises outcrops of dismembered ophiolites thrust over arc volcano-sedimentary sequence and intruded by different syn- to post-tectonic granitoids. Structural analysis of the area enabled the separation and definition of four structural episodes: (E1) folding–thrusting episode associated with the cratonization of the arc/inter-arc rock association and the intrusion of the syntectonic (Older) granites. (E2) Upright folding episode associated with the compression and shortening to the ENE–WSW direction which is different from the NNW–SSE shortening direction during E1; at the end of E2, late tectonic granites were intruded. (E3) Post-tectonic granitic intrusion episode: two mica granite and granitic dikes were intruded during this episode. (E4) Fracturing, faulting, and post-granitic dike extrusion episodes caused different faults that took place after cratonization until the present. There are three generations of folds during ductile deformation (E1 and E2). The F2 folds are nearly coaxial (along ENE–WSW trend) with the F1 folds. The F3 folding is displayed by folds generally trending NNW–SSE. Therefore, the ENE–WSW and NNW–SSE trends can considered as preexisting discontinuities and mechanical anisotropy of the crust in the following structure episodes. Brittle deformation (E3 and E4) reveals the importance of those trends which control the multi-injections and many alteration features in the study area. During reactivation, a simple shear parallel to the inherited ductile fabrics was responsible for the development of mineralized structures along the ENE–WSW and NNW–SSE trends. So they can be considered as paleochannel trends for deep-seated structures and can act as a good trap for uranium and/or other mineral resources. Most of the uranium anomalies are delineated along ENE–WSW and NNW–SSE shear zones where quartz-bearing veins bounded the lamprophyre dike and microgranites and dissected them in relation to the successive fracturation and brecciation corresponding to the repeated rejuvenation of the structures. Therefore, the structural controls of the uranium mineralizations in the El Sela area appear to be related to the interaction between inherited ductile fabrics and overprinting brittle structures.     

Developing constitutive models from EPR‐based self‐learning finite element analysis

A constitutive model that captures the material behavior under a wide range of loading conditions is essential for simulating complex boundary value problems. In recent years, some attempts have been made to develop constitutive models for finite element analysis using self‐learning simulation (SelfSim). Self‐learning simulation is an inverse analysis technique that extracts material behavior from some boundary measurements (eg, load and displacement). In the heart of the self‐learning framework is a neural network which is used to train and develop a constitutive model that represents the material behavior. It is generally known that neural networks suffer from a number of drawbacks. This paper utilizes evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) in the framework of SelfSim within an automation process which is coded in Matlab environment. EPR is a hybrid data mining technique that uses a combination of a genetic algorithm and the least square method to search for mathematical equations to represent the behavior of a system. Two strategies of material modeling have been considered in the SelfSim‐based finite element analysis. These include a total stress‐strain strategy applied to analysis of a truss structure using synthetic measurement data and an incremental stress‐strain strategy applied to simulation of triaxial tests using experimental data. The results show that effective and accurate constitutive models can be developed from the proposed EPR‐based self‐learning finite element method. The EPR‐based self‐learning FEM can provide accurate predictions to engineering problems. The main advantages of using EPR over neural network are highlighted.     

Sea level variability at Antalya and Mente? tide gauges in Turkey: atmospheric, steric and land motion contributions

Sea level trends and interannual variability at Antalya and Menteş tide gauges are investigated during the 1985–2001 period, quantifying the roles of atmospheric, steric and local land motion contributions. Tide gauge sea level measurements, temperature/salinity climatologies and GPS data are used in the analyses and the results are compared with the output of a barotropic model forced by atmospheric pressure and wind. The overall sea level trends at two tide gauges collocated with GPS are in the range of 5.5 to 7.9 mm/yr during the study period, but showing different behaviour in the sub-periods 1985–1993 and 1993–2001 due to variations in the contributing factors both in space and time. After the removal of the atmospheric forcing and steric contribution from sea level records, the resulting trends vary between 1.9 to 4.5 mm/yr in Antalya and −1.2 to −11.6 mm/yr in Menteş depending on the period considered. Vertical land movement estimated from GPS data seems to explain the high positive residual trend in Antalya during the whole period. On the other hand, the source of the highly negative sea level trend of about −14 mm/yr in Menteş during 1985–1993 could not be resolved with the available datasets. Interannual variability of wind and atmospheric pressure appear to dominate the sea level at both tide gauges during the study period. Atmospheric and steric contributions together account for ∼50% of the total sea level variance at interannual time scales. Mass induced sea level variations which were not considered in this study may help to close the sea level trend budgets as well as to better explain the interannual sea level variance.     

Observations of Giant Pulses of the Crab Pulsar

The Crab Pulsar was observed at 1540 MHz with the 25m radio telescope at Urumqi with a filterbank de-dispersion backend. A total of 2436 giant pulses with pulse energies larger than 4300 Jy μs were detected in two observing sets. All of these giant pulses are located in the main pulse (MP) and inter pulse (IP) windows of the average profile of the Crab Pulsar. The ratio of the numbers of giant pulses detected in the IP and MP windows is about 0.05. Our results show that, at 1540 MHz, the emission in the IP is contributed by giant and normal pulses, while that in the MP is almost dominated by giant pulses. The distribution of energy of the 2436 giant pulses at 1540 MHz can be described by a power-law with index α=3.13±0.09. The intrinsic threshold of giant pulse energy in the MP window is about 1400 Jy μs at 1540 MHz.     

Coherent integration time limit of a mobile receiver for indoor GNSS applications

There is an emerging requirement for processing global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals indoor where the signal is very weak and subjected to spatial fading. Typically, longer coherent integration intervals provide the additional processing gain required for the detection and processing of such weak signals. However, the arbitrary physical motion of the handset imputed by the user limits the effectiveness of longer coherent integration intervals due to the spatial decorrelation of the multipath-faded GNSS signal. In this paper, limits of coherent integration due to spatial decorrelation are derived and corroborated with experimental verification. A general result is that the processing gain resulting from direct coherent integration saturates after the antenna has moved through a certain distance, which for typical indoor propagation, is about half a carrier wavelength. However, a refined Doppler search coupled with a prolonged coherent integration interval extends this limit, which is effectively a manifestation of selective diversity.     

Late Quaternary marine terraces in the Mediterranean coastal area of Syria: Geochronology and neotectonics

In order to provide new data on the neotectonics and geodynamic properties of western Syria, studies of marine terraces have been carried out. The most attention was paid to the lower terraces in the range of 3–5 to 30–35 m above sea level, because they have more complete distributions along the shore. The lower terraces were examined along the coastal area from Tartus to Latakia, and along the carbonate cliff on Arwad Island. Seven ²³⁰Th/U dates for these terraces are in the range of 85–130 ka, suggesting the age interval of the last interglacial (MIS 5). New dates on the lower terraces provide a basis for stratigraphical and geomorphological interpretation as well as neotectonic reconstruction. According to the geomorphological data and lithological composition of those terraces, two main uplifted blocks can be established. One coincides with the Latakia block, and another corresponds to the western margin of the Banias volcanic plateau. These blocks are divided by a subsided structure corresponding to the Nahr el Kebir graben. The amplitude of neotectonic uplifting in the Latakia and Banias blocks reaches 15–20 m for the Late Pleistocene.     

Approximation approach to the SRM based on root decomposition in the simulation of spatially varying ground motions

The spectral representation method(SRM) is widely used to simulate spatially varying ground motions.This study focuses on the approximation approach to the SRM based on root decomposition,which can improve the efficiency of the simulation.The accuracy of the approximation approach may be affected by three factors: matrix for decomposition,distribution of frequency interpolation nodes and elements for interpolation.The influence of these factors on the accuracy of this approach is examined and the following conclusions are drawn.The SRM based on the root decomposition of the lagged coherency matrix exhibits greater accuracy than the SRM based on the root decomposition of the cross spectral matrix.The equal energy distribution of frequency interpolation nodes proposed in this study is more effective than the counter pith with an equal spacing.Elements for interpolation do not have much of an effect on the accuracy,so interpolation of the elements of the decomposed matrix is recommended because it is less complicated from a computational efficiency perspective.     

Uncertainties in Grout Penetrability Measurements; Evaluation and Comparison of Filter pump,Penetrability Meter and Short Slot

To measure grout penetrability in fractured hard rock, various measuring instruments have been developed over the years. Penetrability meter and Filter pump have been designed to use in both the lab and the field. Short slot has been applicable mainly in the lab due to its complexity. The fact, that these instruments have been built based on different assumptions, limitations, and test conditions, makes their results occasionally in contradict. Deficiency in design of the instruments as well as the methods of evaluating grout penetrability is additionally a basis for uncertainty in results. This study is an experimental effort to determine and thoroughly perceive the nature of the most governing uncertainties in grout penetrability measurements. The test apparatus, procedure, and method used to evaluate the grout penetrability in both Penetrability meter and Filter pump were thus modified. The aim was to control the corresponding uncertainties and make their limitations and test conditions as similar as possible with the ones in Short slot. The results suggested that to obtain a more realistic evaluation of the grout penetrability, measurement should be accomplished at both the high and the low pressures with sufficient grout volume using Short slot. Moreover, application of both Filter pump and Penetrability meter is no longer recommended due to the revealed uncertainties.