Optimization for performance-based design under seismic demands,including social costs

Performance-based design in earthquake engineering is a structural optimization problem that has, as the objective, the determination of design parameters for the minimization of total costs, while at the same time satisfying minimum reliability levels for the specifi ed performance criteria. Total costs include those for construction and structural damage repairs, those associated with non-structural components and the social costs of economic losses, injuries and fatalities. This paper presents a general framework to approach this problem, using a numerical optimization strategy and incorporating the use of neural networks for the evaluation of dynamic responses and the reliability levels achieved for a given set of design parameters. The strategy is applied to an example of a three-story offi ce building. The results show the importance of considering the social costs, and the optimum failure probabilities when minimum reliability constraints are not taken into account.     

Latitudinal and climatic distributions of 3D craniofacial features among Holocene populations

The geographical and climatic patterning in craniofacial morphology among recent hominids has been regarded as relatively reliable evidence of environmental adaptation and natural selection,which is largely attributed to thermoregulation.However,the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on craniofacial features is unclear.Our study employed 3D laser scanning techniques to evaluate the association between geographical(latitude),climatic(annual temperature)factors,and 3D craniofacial measurements in 18 recent populations through bivariate correlation analysis.Significant correlations were found among braincase surface area,zygomatic bone surface area,cranial-facial index(facial surface area relative to braincase surface area)and local temperature,and a clear latitudinal gradient was also found in variation of braincase surface area.No significant correlations were found between zygomatic bone surface area,cranial-facial index and latitude.Our analysis supports the idea that the braincase functions as a radiator and is closely related to direct sunlight.We also suggest that absolute/relative craniofacial surface area varies consistently with predictions derived from Bergmann’s Rule.The mosaic craniofacial traits of American Indians may reflect retention of cold-derived,ancestral features,as well as a response to a slightly warmer climate.Because different craniofacial regions preserve environmental/genetic signatures differentially,caution is suggested when craniofacial anatomy is used for phylogenetic reconstruction and functional-morphological analysis.     

Environmental Isotopic Characterization of Groundwater and Surface Water in Northeast Missan Province,South Iraq

The present work studies the environmental isotopes assess groundwater characteristics of the different parts of the main aquifer in the northeast Missan Province in south of Iraq.Water samples of groundwater and surface water were collected for two dry and wet seasons during the water year of 2011–2012.The study shows that most of the groundwater in the aquifer falls above the global meteoric water line,and all the samples fall below the Mediterranean meteoric water line,indicating that these samples are a mixture of two water types.The tritium content of these samples supports this conclusion.The overall conclusion of this study indicates that there are two sources of groundwater recharge in the studied area:the ephemeral streams(Teeb and Dewerge) and major precipitation sources.According to the tritium levels at or below one tritium unit(TU) obtained from the water,supply wells are highly confined or "not vulnerable".Overall,the 3H results imply that recent recharge has taken place during the last four to five decades.In the recharge area,the high tritium content in the southern part of the Teeb area suggests that the recharge originates from rapid infiltration of surface runoff.Therefore,the groundwater resources in the study area should be protected from contamination,because it will influence the aquifer in a relatively short period of time if any contamination enters the recharge areas of the aquifer.     

A Forearc (Guleman, Elaziğ) Ophiolite: Evidence from Peridotite Mineral Geochemistry

The Guleman ophiolite,one of the most important ophiolitic massifs of the Southeast Anatolian Ophiolitic Belt,consists of a core of serpentinized mantle rocks overlain by an ultramafic sequence,layered and isotropic gabbro,and sheeted dykes.The ophiolite structurally overlies the Lower Miocene Lice Formation and is overlain by young sandstones and shales of the Upper Maashtrichtian-Lower Eocene Hazar Complex and Middle Eocene Maden Complex.The Guleman ophiolite tectonically overlain by Precambrian to Upper Triassic Bitlis metamorphic massif.The mantle peridotites compose mainly of fresh and in place serpentinized harzburgite tectonite with local bands and lenses of dunites with large-sized chromitite pods.The Guleman peridotites commonly show porphyroclastic texture,high-temperature fabrics such as kink-bands in olivines.According to microprobe analyses,the harzburgite and dunite have low Ca O and Al2O3 abundance similar to Mariana forearc,and their average Cr-(=Cr/(Cr+Al)atomic)ratio of Cr-spinelsis surprisingly high(0.63)besides Fo content of olivine is between 90.9 to 92.3 in peridotites.According to Mg#(Mg/(Mg+Fe2+))versus Cr#in spinel diagram,the degree of partial melting is higher than 35%and spinel values plot in the forearc peridotites field.The Gulemanharzburgites have low Ca O,Al2O3 and Ti O2 contents in orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene lammelles,resembling those of depleted harzburgites from modern forearcs and different from moderately depleted abyssal peridotites.Consequently,we propose that the Guleman peridotites form in a forearc setting during the subduction initiation that developed as a result of northward subduction of the southern branch of the Neo-Tethys in response to the convergence between Arabian and Anatolian plates.     

Photometric Investigation of Contact Binary DY Cet Based on TESS Data

We present a photometric analysis of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) light curve of contact binary system DY Cet and the behavior of its orbital period variation.The light curve and published radial velocity data analysis was performed using the Wilson-Devinney code.As a result of simultaneous analysis of the light curve with radial velocity data,the masses and radii of the system’s components were determined as M₁=1.55±0.02 M_⊙,M₂=0.55 ± 0.01 M_⊙ and R_...     

Plant–Arthropod Associations from the Lower Miocene of the Most Basin in Northern Bohemia (Czech Republic): A Preliminary Report

Terrestrial plants and insects currently account for the majority of the Earth's biodiversity, and approximately half of insect species are herbivores. Thus, insects and plants share ancient associations that date back more than 400 Myr. However, investigations of their past interactions are at the preliminary stages in Western Europe. Herein, we present the first results of our study of various feeding damage based on a dataset of nearly 3500 examined plant specimens from the Lower Miocene of the Lagerst?tte Bílina Mine in the Most Basin, Czech Republic. This site provides a unique view of the Neogene freshwater ecosystems. It has long been studied by scientists working in different branches of sedimentology, paleobotany, and paleozoology. The fossils are preserved in three characteristic horizons overlaying the coal seam (Clayey Superseam Horizon, Delta Sandy Horizon, and Lake Clayey Horizon), reflecting paleoenvironmental changes in a short time period of development. The trace fossils are classified as functional feeding groups or “guilds”, without searching for a direct cause or a recent analog host relation. Approximately 23% of specimens of dicotyledonous plant leaves were found to be damaged and associated with some leaf “morphotypes”. Deciduous plant–host taxa, and those with a chartaceous texture typical of riparian habitats, were frequently damaged, such as Populus, recorded with two species Populus zaddachii and Populus populina (57.9% and 31% herbivory levels, respectively), followed by Acer, Alnus, and Carya, averaging almost 30% of damaged leaves/leaflets. There has been evidence of 60 damage types (DT) representing all functional feeding groups recorded at the Bílina Mine, including 12 types of leaf mines and 16 gall-type DT. In total, Lower Miocene of the Lagerst?tte Bílina Mine exhibits a high level of external foliage feeding types (23.7%), and a low level of more specialized DT, such as galls (4.3%) and leaf mines (<1%). A broader comparison based on DT of the main sedimentary environments shows significance supporting different biomes by frequency of damage levels and DT diversities.     

Partition of Forecast Error into Positional and Structural Components

Weather manifests in spatiotemporally coherent structures. Weather forecasts hence are affected by both positional and structural or amplitude errors. This has been long recognized by practicing forecasters(cf., e.g.,Tropical Cyclone track and intensity errors). Despite the emergence in recent decades of various objective methods for the diagnosis of positional forecast errors, most routine verification or statistical post-processing methods implicitly assume that forecasts have no positional error.The Forecast Error Decomposition(FED) method proposed in this study uses the Field Alignment technique which aligns a gridded forecast with its verifying analysis field. The total error is then partitioned into three orthogonal components:(a) large scale positional,(b) large scale structural, and(c) small scale error variance.The use of FED is demonstrated over a month-long MSLP data set. As expected, positional errors are often characterized by dipole patterns related to the displacement of features, while structural errors appear with single extrema, indicative of magnitude problems. The most important result of this study is that over the test period, more than 50% of the total mean sea level pressure forecast error variance is associated with large scale positional error. The importance of positional error in forecasts of other variables and over different time periods remain to be explored.     

A sensitivity study of the WRF model in offshore wind modeling over the Baltic Sea

Accurate wind modeling is important for wind resources assessment and wind power forecasting.To improve the WRF model configuration for the offshore wind modeling over the Baltic Sea,this study per-formed a sensitivity study of the WRF model to multiple model configurations,including domain setup,grid resolution,sea surface temperature,land surface data,and atmosphere-wave coupling.The simu-lated offshore wind was evaluated against LiDAR observations under different wind directions,atmo-spheric stabilities,and sea status.Generally,the simulated wind profiles matched observations,despite systematic underestimations.Strengthening the forcing from the reanalysis data through reducing the number of nested domains played the largest role in improving wind modeling.Atmosphere-wave cou-pling further improved the simulated wind,especially under the growing and mature sea conditions.Increasing the vertical resolution,and updating the sea surface temperature and the land surface infor-mation only had a slight impact,mainly visible during very stable conditions.Increasing the horizontal resolution also only had a slight impact,most visible during unstable conditions.Our study can help to improve the wind resources assessment and wind power forecasting over the Baltic Sea.     

Geological Consequences of the Accretion of Benham Rise to Northern Luzon, Philippines

Benham Rise is a large igneous province that has been accreted to the eastern seaboard of northern Lu-zon since Early Miocene. It started forming during the Eocene at a hotspot/mantle plume in the vicinity of the Central basin Spreading Center in the West Philippine Basin (CBSC) of the Philippine Sea Plate. Seafloor spreading from the CBSC and Parece Vela pushed Benham Rise towards Luzon. Eventually Benham Rise jammed against Luzon at the end of the Oligocene, with consequences that impacted on the geology of the Philippines which have been similarly noted in colli-sions of large igneous provinces in other areas. These are manifested as follows:     

The adjoint-based Two Oceans One Sea State Estimate(TOOSSE)

An eddy-resolving four-dimensional variational(adjoint) data assimilation and state estimate was constructed for the low-to mid-latitude Pacific, Indian Oceans, and South China Sea based on the framework of "Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Oceans(ECCO)". It is named as the Two Oceans One Sea State Estimate(TOOSSE). It fits a model to a number of modern observations of 2015–2016,including the Argo fl oat temperature and salinity, satellite altimetric sea surface anomalies, by adjust...