Distribution of nitrogenous nutrients and denitrifiers strains in estuarine sediment profiles of the Tanshui River, northern Taiwan

Chemical profiles of both oxidized (nitrate and sulfate) and reduced (ammonium, sulfide, acid-volatile sulfide [AVS], and pyrite) materials and the corresponding distribution of denitrifier microbial communities were measured at low tide in sediments at Guandu in the estuary of the Tanshui River, northern Taiwan in August 2002. Denitrifier strains were isolated for physiological and phylogenic analyses. Based on the distribution of nitrogenous compounds and denitrifier abundances, the vertical profile of Guandu sediments could be separated into four layers: a mixed layer (the top 1 cm of depth, respectively containing 0.82–2.37 and 535.9–475.0 μM of nitrate and ammonium), a nitrate-concentrated layer (1–5 cm in depth, 2.37–0.53 and 475.0–1192.1 μM, respectively), a denitrifier-aggregation layer (5–7 cm in depth, 0.53–0.72 and 1192.1–1430.1 μM, respectively), and an ammonium-enriched layer (7–12 cm in depth, 0.72–0.78 and 1430.1–2196.6 μM, respectively). Denitrifier strains were detected in all layers except for the mixed layer. A variety of metabolic processes by these strains may occur in different layers. Bacillus jeotgali-, Bacillus sphaericus-, and Bacillus firmus-related strains isolated from the nitrate-concentrated layer may be involved in the nitrification-denitrification coupling process due to the relatively low nitrate concentrations (maximum = 2.37 μM), and may contribute to denitrification not nitrification. Bacillus bataviensis- and B. jeotgali-related strains isolated from the denitrifier-aggregation layer comprised the predominant denitrifier population (3.64 × 10⁴ cells/g of denitrifier abundance). They possess the ability of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). Bacillus jeotgali-related strains and two newly identified strains of GD0705 and GD0706 isolated from the ammonium-enriched layer possibly use fermentative processes as the main metabolic pathway instead of denitrification when nitrate is scarce, and this further supports the high ammonium concentrations (up to 2.20 mM) found in the Guandu sediments. In addition, spore formation also enhances the chance of survival of these strains in the face with such a nitrate-deficient environment.     

Oxygen isotope studies of granite and migmatite,Grenville province of Ontario,Canada

O¹⁸/O¹⁶ ratios have been obtained for rocks and minerals along a 200 mile traverse from near the Grenville front north of Lake Nipissing to the Paleozoic contact to the east of Georgian Bay. Two types of oxygen isotopic relationships correlated with metamorphic grade and style of plutonic emplacement are observed: (A) from the Grenville fron to the Haliburton Highlands, upper amphibolite to granulite facies paragneisses, migmatites and concordantly emplaced granites all show relatively low and uniform δO¹⁸-values, e.g. δ (whole rock) range from 5·0 to 8·9 per mil (SMOW) and 80 per cent of the 44 samples analyzed lie between 6·5 and 8·4. We attribute this to extensive syn-anatectic oxygen isotope homogenization and exchange with a deep-seated mafic or ultramafic reservoir through a water-rich pore fluid. (B) To the southeast of the Harvey-Cardiff Arch, in the Chandos Lake-Silent Lake area, where metasediments of lower metamorphic grade are abundant and granites intrude at higher crustal level are common, we observed higher O¹⁸/O¹⁶ ratios in the granites (δ = 9?14) and paragneisses (δ = 12?17). The granites apparently have undergone various degrees of oxygen isotope exchange with the intruded metasediments. It thus appears that the granite-paragneiss assemblege as a whole has not been extensively open to some extraneous oxygen reservoir as in case (A).     

Vibration‐based damage assessment of steel structure using global and local response measurements

Damage assessment of a structure involves acquiring and identifying dynamic characteristics of the structure and using these characteristics to evaluate behavior and performance. In this study, an unsymmetrical three‐story steel structure (fabricated with one weak column in the first floor) was tested on shaking table and subjected to a series of earthquake excitations with increasing level of excitation back to back. Besides, white noise excitation was also applied in between the earthquake excitation to serve as the reference state. Both the traditional sensing system (accelerometer and linear variable differential transformer) and the local optical tracker system were implemented in the structure to collect the vibration‐based responses. For operational modal analysis, structural response from white noise excitation will be used in this study. First, the traditional system identification using global response data is used (multivariate autoregressive (AR)‐model) to extract system natural frequencies and mode shapes from all different set of white noise responses after earthquake excitation. The migration of AR‐coefficient ellipse error from each sensor response was used to identify the damage location. Second, blind source separation technique was used to identify the modal contribution of the structure from each test, which provide information to detect the damage severity. Finally, from the local optical tracker array data, the principal component analysis was applied to quantify the earthquake‐induce local stress of the structural member. Combine the result from damage detection using global measurement and the identified local element stress, one can locate and quantify the damage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rapid geometry analysis for earthquake-induced and rainfall-induced landslide dams in Taiwan

Stability analysis of the dam is important for disaster prevention and reduction. The dam＇s geometry plays an important role in understanding its stability. This study develops a rapid landslide dam geometry assessment method for both earthquake-induced and rainfall-induced landslide dams based on nine real cases collected in Chinese Taipei and 214 cases collected worldwide. For simplification purposes, a landslide dam is classified into triangular or trapezoidal. The rapid landslide dam geometry assessment method in this paper uses only satellite maps and the topographic maps to get landslide area, and then analyze the dam geometry. These maps are used to evaluate the area of the landslide and the slope of the river bed. Based on the evaluation information, the proposed method can calculate dam height, the length of the dam, and the angles of the dam in both upstream and downstream directions. These geometry parameters of a landslide dam provide important information for further dam stability analysis. The proposed methodology is applied to a real landslide dam case at Hsiaolin Village. The result shows that the proposed method can be used to assess the landslide dam geometry.