Resource allocation for regional earthquake risk mitigation: a case study of Tehran,Iran

This paper presents a new optimization model to help cities in seismically active developing countries decide (1) How much to spend on pre-earthquake mitigation versus waiting until after an event and paying for reconstruction or simply not rebuilding damaged buildings? (2) Which buildings to mitigate and how? and (3) Which buildings to reconstruct and how? It extends previously developed optimization models to consider the particular issues that arise in such countries. First, the model allows for the possibility that some damaged buildings will not be reconstructed immediately and keeps track of any lost building inventory. Second, buildings can be mitigated to, or when damaged, reconstructed to, any appropriate structural type and seismic design level. Finally, the model objectives include minimizing the chance of an extremely high death toll in any one earthquake and minimizing the average annual death toll across earthquakes. The model is illustrated through a case study analysis for Tehran, Iran.     

Impact of habitat heterogeneity on plant community pattern in Gurbantunggut Desert

1IntroductionStudy on the interrelationship between vegetation patterns and their habitat heterogeneity is important to recover and rehabilitate the desert vegetation, stabilize the desert ecosystem and prevent desert expansion. Domestic and foreign researchers have carried out many studies on this topic (Archer etal., 2002; Bolling etal., 2000; Chen etal., 2003; Dasti etal., 1994; Gu etal., 2002, Li etal., 2001; Li etal., 2001; Liang etal., 2003), which have used and refined statistic tech…     

辽宁水泉金矿综合信息找矿模型及预测

通过对辽宁水泉金矿的基础地质研究和综合找矿信息分析，并根据该矿区资源危机，缺乏后备金矿储备的实际情况建立了水泉金矿综合信息找矿模型。对远景成矿靶区进行了初步圈定，为详细地质勘查、扩大金矿资源提供了依据。     

A semi-implicit method for incompressible three-phase flow in porous media

In this paper, we present a semi-implicit method for the incompressible three-phase flow equations in two dimensions. In particular, a high-order discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization is coupled with a backward Euler discretization in time. We consider a pressure-saturation formulation, decouple the pressure and saturation equations, and solve them sequentially while still keeping each equation implicit in its respective unknown. We present several numerical examples on both homogeneous and heterogeneous media, with varying permeability and porosity. Our results demonstrate the robustness of the scheme. In particular, no slope limiters are required and a relatively large time step may be taken.     

Development of a GIS-based catastrophe theory model (modified DRASTIC model) for groundwater vulnerability assessment

This study developed a new paradigm for groundwater vulnerability assessment by modifying the standard DRASTIC index (DI) model based on catastrophe theory. The developed paradigm was called the catastrophe theory-based DI (CDI) model. The proposed model was applied to assess groundwater vulnerability to pollution index (GVPI) in Perak Province, Malaysia. The area vulnerability index was modeled by considering the DRASTIC multiple vulnerability causative factors (VCFs) obtained from different data sources. The weights and ranking of the VCFs were computed by using the inner fuzzy membership mechanism of the CDI model. The estimated vulnerability index values of the CDI model were processed in a geographic information system (GIS) environment to produce a catastrophe theory–DRASTIC groundwater vulnerability to pollution index (CDGVPI) map, which demarcated the area into five vulnerability zones. The produced CDGVPI map was validated by applying the water quality status–vulnerability zone relationship (WVR) approach and the relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve method. The performance of the developed CDI model was compared with that of the standard DI model. The validation results of the WVR approach exhibits 89.29% prediction accuracy for the CDI model compared with 75% for the DI model. Meanwhile, the ROC validation results for the CDI and DI models are 88.8% and 78%, respectively. The GIS-based CDI model demonstrated better performance than the DI model. The GVPI maps produced in this study can be used for precise decision making process in environmental planning and groundwater management.     

Fusion of high-resolution DEMs derived from COSMO-SkyMed and TerraSAR-X InSAR datasets

Voids caused by shadow, layover, and decorrelation usually occur in digital elevation models (DEMs) of mountainous areas that are derived from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) datasets. The presence of voids degrades the quality and usability of the DEMs. Thus, void removal is considered as an integral part of the DEM production using InSAR data. The fusion of multiple DEMs has been widely recognized as a promising way for the void removal. Because the vertical accuracy of multiple DEMs can be different, the selection of optimum weights becomes a key problem in the fusion and is studied in this article. As a showcase, two high-resolution InSAR DEMs near Mt. Qilian in northwest China are created and then merged. The two pairs of InSAR data were acquired by TerraSAR-X from an ascending orbit and COSMO-SkyMed from a descending orbit. A maximum likelihood fusion scheme with the weights optimally determined by the height of ambiguity and the variance of phase noise is adopted to syncretize the two DEMs in our study. The fused DEM has a fine spatial resolution of 10 m and depicts the landform of the study area well. The percentage of void cells in the fused DEM is only 0.13 %, while 6.9 and 5.7 % of the cells in the COSMO-SkyMed DEM and the TerraSAR-X DEM are originally voids. Using the ICESat/GLAS elevation data and the Chinese national DEM of scale 1:50,000 as references, we evaluate vertical accuracy levels of the fused DEM as well as the original InSAR DEMs. The results show that substantial improvements could be achieved by DEM fusion after atmospheric phase screen removal. The quality of fused DEM can even meet the high-resolution terrain information (HRTI) standard.     

Landscape Dynamics and Driving Factors in Da＇an County of Jilin Province in Northeast China During 1956-2000

The landscape pattern of Da＇an County, Northeast China has undergone significant changes since the 1950s as a result of climatic change and human activities. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively study landscape pattern and its spatial dynamics of Da＇an County at the landscape level over the nearly 50-year span. Patch dynamics were examined according to land use and land cover change processes built from a series of images, as well as topographic maps, and temporal patterns built from landscape pattern metrics. The transition matrix of landscape patch types and changes of various landscape metrics were applied. The results showed that, from 1956 to 2000, the landscape within the study area had undertaken a complicated evolution in landscape structure and composition. The outstanding characteristic is that saline-alkali land increased and grassland decreased. As some smaller patches amalgamated, the heterogeneity of patch decreased. All those changes were the synthetic result of both climatic and anthropogenic influences, but the predominant factor was different in different parts. In the southern part of the study area, the landscape pattern changes resulted from the modification of climate obviously, while in the northern part, the landscape pattern changes were mainly caused by human activities, such as the conversion between farmland and saline-alkali land. This phenomenon showed that human activities played more important role in the north than in the south of Da＇an County.     

北祁连东段及其邻区地震滑坡的基本特征和危险区预测

本文根据野外调查和航片解译，研究了北祁连东段及其邻区地震滑坡的基本特征和形成条件，探讨了地震滑坡的动力机制，并在本区使用多因素模糊数学综合评判方法预测滑坡危险区。     

Nonlinear earthquake analysis of high arch dam–water–foundation rock systems

A nonlinear finite element model for earthquake response analysis of arch dam–water–foundation rock systems is proposed in this paper. The model includes dynamic dam–water and dam–foundation rock interactions, the opening of contraction joints, the radiation damping of semi‐unbounded foundation rock, the compressibility of impounded water, and the upstream energy propagating along the semi‐unbounded reservoir. Meanwhile, a new equivalent force scheme is suggested to achieve free‐field input in the model. The effects of the earthquake input mechanism, joint opening, water compressibility, and radiation damping on the earthquake response of the Ertan arch dam (240 m high) in China are investigated using the proposed model. The results show that these factors significantly affect the earthquake response of the Ertan arch dam. Such factors should therefore be considered in the earthquake response analysis and earthquake safety evaluation of high arch dams. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Raman spectra of methane hydrate up to 86 GPa

High-pressure Raman studies of methane hydrate were performed using a diamond anvil cell in the pressure range of 0.1–86 GPa at room temperature. Raman spectra of the methane molecules revealed that new softened intramolecular vibration mode of ν ₁ appeared at 17 GPa and that the splitting of vibration mode of ν ₃ occurred at 15 GPa. The appearance of these two modes indicates that an intermolecular attractive interaction increases between the methane molecules and the host water molecules and between the neighboring methane molecules. These interactions might result in the exceptional stability of a high-pressure structure, a filled ice Ih structure (FIIhS) for methane hydrate, up to 40 GPa. At 40 GPa, a clear change in the slope of the Raman shift versus pressure occurred, and above 40 GPa the Raman shift of the vibration modes increased monotonously up to 86 GPa. A previous XRD study showed that the FIIhS transformed into another new high-pressure structure at 40 GPa. The change in the Raman spectra at 40 GPa may be induced by the transition of the structure.