Exponential instability of collision orbit in the anisotropic Kepler problem

The straight-line collision solution in the anisotropic Kepler problem is extended to a periodic solution by means of Sundman's analytic continuation. It is shown that this collision periodic solution is always exponentially unstable.     

A note on Kowalevski exponents and the non-existence of an additional analytic integral

In Hamiltonian systems with a homogeneous rational potential and two degrees of freedom, the presence of imaginary Kowalevski exponents implies the non-existence of an additional analytic integral, i.e., non-integrability of the system.     

Influence of fine sediment on the fluidity of debris flows

Debris flows include a great diversity of grain sizes with inherent features such as inverse grading, particle size segregation, and liquefaction of fine sediment. The liquefaction of fine sediment affects the fluidity of debris flows, although the behavior and influence of fine sediment in debris flows have not been examined sufficiently. This study used flume tests to detect the effect of fine sediment on the fluidity of laboratory debris flows consisting of particles with various diameters. From the experiments, the greatest sediment concentration and flow depth were observed in the debris flows mixed with fine sediment indicating increased flow resistance. The experimental friction coefficient was then compared with the theoretical friction coefficient derived by substituting the experimental values into the constitutive equations for debris flow. The theoretical friction coefficient was obtained from two models with different fine-sediment treatments: assuming that all of the fine sediments were solid particles or that the particles consisted of a fluid phase involving pore water liquefaction. From the comparison of the friction coefficients, a fully liquefaction state was detected for the fine particle mixture. When the mixing ratio and particle size of the fine sediment were different, some other cases were considered to be in a partially liquefied transition state. These results imply that the liquefaction of fine sediment in debris flows was induced not only by the geometric conditions such as particle sizes, but also by the flow conditions.     

Use of DEM data to monitor height changes due to deforestation

Deforestation has been a major cause of climate change and other environmental problems. An accurate estimation of the volume of deforested area is needed for United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD+) policies implementation and global carbon accounting. Accurate information about three-dimensional (3-D) structure of forests is required to quantify forest carbon stock. This study demonstrates the use of different digital elevation models (DEMs) to monitor changes in height due to deforestation in Cambodia to support climate change mitigation policies of UN-REDD+. The Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission-DEM (SRTM-DEM), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global DEM (ASTER-GDEM) and Panchromatic Remote sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping-Digital Surface Model (PRISM-DSM) data were calibrated using Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (ICESat–GLAS) data. The results obtained from this study clearly indicate the changes in the height of forests due to deforestation activity. The height of cutover forest generated from the PRISM-DSM and SRTM-DEM is more reliable than that from the PRISM-DSM and ASTER-GDEM data. Field data has also been used to validate the height of the cutover forests, which shows ±5 m uncertainties in the estimation.     

Japan’s Nation-Wide Electronic Geotechnical Database Systems by Japanese Geotechnical Society

On October 15, 2010, the Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS) announced the public release of ‘Nation-wide Electronic Geotechnical Database Systems,’ which provides geotechnical information to the public on the internet. The information the system provides is a collection of ground models at 250 m by 250 m in plan built by using data from various geotechnical information databases. The paper first describes historical development of the geotechnical information databases in Japan, and introduces a 5-year project, ‘Integrated Geophysical and Geological Information Database in Japan,’ led by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), and participated by the JGS. The paper then presents the JGS’ ‘Nation-wide Electronic Geotechnical Database Systems,’ and describes why such system was proposed and built, followed by the presentation of the examples for possible application of the system.     

Recent progress in the theory and application of symplectic integrators

In this paper various aspect of symplectic integrators are reviewed. Symplectic integrators are numerical integration methods for Hamiltonian systems which are designed to conserve the symplectic structure exactly as the original flow. There are explicit symplectic schemes for systems of the formH=T(p)+V(q), and implicit schemes for general Hamiltonian systems. As a general property, symplectic integrators conserve the energy quite well and therefore an artificial damping (excitation) caused by the accumulation of the local truncation error cannot occur. Symplectic integrators have been applied to the Kepler problem, the motion of minor bodies in the solar system and the long-term evolution of outer planets.     

On a class of variational equations transformable to the Gauss hypergeometric equation

A new class of linear ordinary differential equations with periodic coefficients is found which can be transformed to the Gauss hypergeometric equation, and therefore the monodromy matrices are computable explicitly. These equations appear as the variational equations around a straight-line solution in Hamiltonian systems of the form H = T(p) + V(q), where T(p) and V(q) are homogeneous functions of p and q, respectively.     

Adsorption of tributyltin by tributyltin resistant marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. cells

The isolate, Pesudoalteromonas sp. TBT1, could grow to overcome the toxicity of tributyltin chloride (TBTCl) up to 30 μM in the absence of Cl⁻ in the medium until the cells reached an exponential phase of growth. The viability, however, was reduced after the cells reached a stationary phase. The degradation products, such as dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT), were not detected in the growth medium, indicating that the isolate has no ability to degrade TBT into less toxic DBT and MBT. Up to about 10^7.5 TBT molecules were adsorbed by a single cell. The observation of morphological changes with an electron microscope showed that the cell surface became wrinkled after exposure to the lethal concentration of 10 mM TBTCl. These results indicate that the resistance of the isolate toward the toxicity of TBTCl is not related to the unique cell surface, which seems to play an important role in preventing the diffusion of TBTCl into the cytoplasm.     

Temporal change in scattering and attenuation associated with the earthquake occurrence—A review of recent studies on coda waves

The study of coda waves has recently attracted increasing attention from seismologists. This is due to the fact that it is viewed as a new means by which the stress accumulation stage preceding a large earthquake can be measured, since the scattering paths nearly uniformly cover a fairly large region around the focus and observation stations, compared with the direct ray paths. To date, we have had many reports on the temporal variation of the relation between coda duration and amplitude magnitude, and that of the coda attenuationQ _c ^–1 which is estimated from coda amplitude decay. Some of these have shown a precursor-like behavior; however, others seem to have shown a coseismic change. We have critically reviewed these reports, and discussed what these observational facts tell us about the change in the heterogeneous crust. We found significant temporal variations, not only in the mean but also in the scatter ofQ _c ^–1 , associated with the mainshock occurrence. The formation of new cracks, the reopening and growing of existing cracks, the interaction of these cracks, and the pore water movement through these cracks might correspond to such variations. In addition, we may expect an inhomogeneous distribution of crack clusters in a fairly large region, compared with the aftershock region. The gradual appearance of such crack clusters seems to be the most plausible mechanism by which coda decay gradients are caused to largely scatter in the stress accumulation stage.