Modelling of the sensing system of a vibrational magnetometer by digital computer

Summary An analytico-numerical computation of the transfer function of the sensing system of a vibrational magnetometer is presented. In discussing the results, the properties of the method are pointed out and a proposal for the sensing system is made with regard to the required sensitivity of the instrument.     

The impact of resolution on the accuracy of hydrologic data derived from DEMs

Hydrologic data derived from digital elevation models (DEM) has been regarded as an effective method in the spatial analysis of geographical information systems (GIS). However, both DEM resolution and terrain complexity has impacts on the accuracy of hydrologic derivatives. In this study, a multi-resolution and multi-relief comparative approach was used as a major methodology to investigate the accuracy of hydrologic data derived from DEMs. The experiment reveals that DEM terrain representation error affects the accuracy of DEM hydrological derivatives (drainage networks and watershed etc.). Coarser DEM resolutions can usually cause worse results. However, uncertain result commonly exists in this calculation. The derivative errors can be found closely related with DEM vertical resolution and terrain roughness. DEM vertical resolution can be found closely related with the accuracy of DEM hydrological derivatives, especially in the smooth plain area. If the mean slope is less than 4 degrees, the derived hydrologic data are usually unreliable. This result may be helpful in estimating the accuracy of the hydrologic derivatives and determining the DEM resolution that is appropriate to the accuracy requirement of a particular user. By applying a threshold value to subset the cells of a higher accumulation flow, a stream network of a specific network density can be extracted. Some very important geomorphologic characteristics, e.g., shallow and deep gullies, can be separately extracted by means of adjusting the threshold value. However, such a flow accumulationbased processing method can not correctly derive those streams that pass through the working area because it is hard to accumulate enough flow direction values to express the stream channels at the stream's entrance area. Consequently, errors will definitely occur at the stream’s entrance area. In addition, erroneous derivatives can also be found in deriving some particular rivers, e.g., perched (hanging up) rivers, anastomosing rivers and braided rivers. Therefore, more work should be done to develop and perfect the algorithms.     

Seismically induced variations in Mariánské Lázně fault gas composition in the NW Bohemian swarm quake region, Czech Republic — A continuous gas monitoring

A continuously operated gas monitoring station was emplaced within the epicentral area of the NW Bohemian swarm earthquakes overlying directly the active Mariánské Lázně fault. The recordings of 8-month continuous monitoring period are presented. The variations in radon concentrations are similarly to variations in CO₂, i.e. CO₂ is considered to be the carrier gas for radon. Very small diurnal variations in gas concentration are caused by the earth tides, as daily variations in meteorological conditions cannot explain a short daily minimum at midday times. Sudden changes in gas concentration, which clearly exceed these diurnal variations occur and are always linked with seismic activities. Decreased gas concentration may indicate compression resulting in reduced fault permeability as is implied by negative peaks following local earthquake swarms. A sudden increase in CO₂ and Rn concentration may indicate an increased fault permeability caused by stress redistribution, giving rise to opening of migration pathways. This implies a repeatedly sudden rise in gas concentration before local earthquake swarms. Several variations in gas concentration were monitored linked with remote earthquakes of ground motion amplitudes  >1 μm. These seismic events are accompanied by an interference of the diurnal gas concentration–stress-cycle along the Mariánské Lázně fault. However, if shocks of remote earthquake can alter properties of the migrating fluids or the fault properties it can be suggested that these are able to trigger local seismicity, as indicated in the case of the Slovenia earthquake on 12th July 2004.     

Systematic measurement of the radioactivity of atmospheric precipitation and evaluation of the artificial radioactivity of the atmosphere

Резюме В статье приводится описание методики измерений искусственной радиоактивности осадков. В результате измерений более 90 образцов бЫло доказано, что здесь мЫ имеем дело с искусственной радиоактивностью, вЫзЫваемой наличием продуктов распада образующихся в результате опЫтов с атомнЫм оружием. Доказательством этого служит прежде всего убЫвание активности испарений с временем. Абсолютная оценка показала, что здесь речь идет об активности порядка 10⁻¹⁰–10⁻⁹ кюру/л. в воде осадков. ПроведеннЫе работЫ показали, насколько важнЫми могут бЫть подобнЫе измерения для метеорологических целей, но в особенности для фпзики облаков и осадков.

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Address: Vojenská lékařská akademie J. Ev. Purkynê, Hradec Králové.

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Address: Geofysikální ústav ĈSAV, odd. meteorologie, Hradec Králové 8.     

Gypsum: a review of its role in the deterioration of building materials

The deterioration of buildings and monuments by gypsum is the result of crystallization cycles of this salt. Although gypsum can dehydrate to a hemihydrate, the mineral bassanite, and to an anhydrate, the mineral anhydrite, this reaction occurs in nature on a geological time scale and therefore it is unlikely to occur when gypsum is found on and in building materials. The CaSO₄–H₂O system appears deceptively simple, however there are still discrepancies between the experimental and thermodynamically calculated data. The reason for the latter can be attributed to the slow crystallization kinetics of anhydrite. Apart from this, the large numbers of studies carried out on this system have focused on industrially important metastable phases, such as the hemihydrate and soluble anhydrite. The paper presents a review of the studies dealing with the phase equilibria of the CaSO₄–H₂O system as well as the influence of other salts on the solubility of gypsum. It tries to glean out the relevant information that will serve to explain the deterioration observed on building materials by the crystallization of gypsum and thus allows developing improved conservation methods.     

Beitrag zum Verständnis von Zustandsdiagrammen in Systemen mit überwiegend heteropolarer Bindung

Zusammenfassung In Systemen mit vorwiegend heteropolarer Bindung ist (jedenfalls weit unterhalb des Schmelzpunktes) die Freie Energie des Gesamtsystems vor allem durch die elektrostatischen Gitterenergien bestimmt. Ihre Diskussion ermöglicht somit das Verständnis für das Auftreten oder Nicht-Auftreten der formal möglichen Kristallphasen. Bei überschlagsweisen Betrachtungen genügt es, für die zu erwartenden Phasen die Möglichkeit der Erfüllung der Paulingschen Regeln zu verlangen; dann ist das Gitter gut elektrostatisch abgesättigt und die elektrostatische Gitterenergie ist groß.