Using differential SAR interferometry to map land subsidence: a case study in the Pingtung Plain of SW Taiwan

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR) is a geodetic tool widely applied in the studies of earth-surface deformation. This technique has the benefits of high spatial resolution and centimetre-scale accuracy. Differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) is used to measure ground deformation with repeat-pass SAR images. This study applied DInSAR and persistent scatterers InSAR (PSInSAR) for detecting land subsidence in the Pingtung Plain, southern Taiwan, between 1995 and 2000. In recent years, serious land subsidence occurred along coastal regions of Taiwan as a consequence of over-pumping of underground water. Results of this study revealed that the critical subsidence region is located on the coast near the estuary of Linpien River. It is also found that subsidence was significantly higher during the dry season than the wet season. The maximum annual subsidence rate of the dry season is up to −11.51 cm/year in critical subsidence region and the vertical land movement rate is much slower during the wet season. The average subsidence rates in wet and dry seasons are −0.31 and −3.37 cm/year, respectively. As a result, the subsidence rate in dry seasons is about 3 cm larger than in wet seasons.     

Automatic Extraction of Filaments in Hα Solar Images

This paper presents a new method which allows for the automatic extraction and tracking of the evolution of filaments in solar images. Series of Hα full-disk images are taken in regular time intervals to observe the changes of the solar disk features. In each picture, the solar chromosphere filaments are identified for further evolution examination. Two alternative preprocessing techniques converting grayscale images into black-and-white pictures with enhanced chromosphere granularity are examined: local thresholding based on median values and global thresholding with brightness and area normalization. The next step employs morphological closing operations with multi-directional linear structuring elements to extract elongated shapes in the image. After logical intersection of directional filtering results, remaining noise is removed from the final outcome using morphological dilation and erosion with a circular structuring element. Experimental results show that the developed technique can achieve excellent results in detecting large filaments and good detection rates for small filaments.     

Contaminant transport in fractured media: analytical solution and sensitivity study considering pulse,Dirac delta and sinusoid input sources

The analytical solution of one‐dimensional transport for a single species radioactive nuclide, considering the decay term in a single fracture for pulse, Dirac delta, and single sinusoid input sources, has been studied using the Laplace transform method. The dimensionless concentration of the radioactive nuclide in the fracture appears to be a function of space, elapsed time, dispersivity, retardation factor, half‐life of the nuclide, and release time. By comparing different values of groundwater velocity, retardation factor, dispersivity, and release time, the results show that the c/c₀ ratio agrees with the nature of the physical and chemical characteristics of the nuclide in fracture transportation. The dimensionless concentration peak value from a small retardation factor is found to be more sensitive, within a time frame ranging from 10 years to a few hundreds years, than the case with a larger retardation factor for H‐3. Except for a small variation in the peak value, the result is almost the same for pulse and sinusoid inputs when considering the H‐3 nuclide. Analytical solutions during the preliminary screening phase are suitable for performance assessment on radioactive waste disposal sites under a one‐dimensional single fracture condition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of spectral analysis to determine hydraulic diffusivity of a sandy aquifer (Pingtung County,Taiwan)

The study demonstrates spectral relationships in the time–frequency domain for one‐dimensional groundwater flow in aquifers bounded by fluctuating boundaries. By nature, the solutions of spectral equations are non‐linear complex functions. To determine hydraulic diffusivity in the governing equations, it is required that the data are collected from the spectra of water levels at the fluctuating boundaries and observation wells. Hydraulic diffusivity thus can be obtained by an iterative inverse approach. This paper presents an application in Pingtung County of Taiwan to determine the hydraulic diffusivity of a sandy aquifer under confined conditions. Spectral density function of water level obtained from tidal boundaries and observation wells are used to approximate hydraulic diffusivity, which yields an averaged value of 1·26 × 10⁶ m²/h. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ephemeral landform development following rapid coastal uplift in the southern orogen of Taiwan

Newly emerged landscapes above sea level are characterized by rapidly evolving geomorphic systems where the initial fluvial pattern adapts to a former submarine topography. Such an early formed fluvial system establishes drainage basins and unstable landforms that characterize high topographic asymmetry which are prone to fast removal or reorganization. Transitional landscapes might form depositional systems as lakes or ponds that subsequently are incised, captured and incorporated into drainage basins. In this study we focus on the recently emerged Hengchun Peninsula to survey its paleoenvironment evolution. Three drillings performed in the Gangkou basin with fieldwork revealed several indicators that reconstructed stages of the landscape reorganization. The major finding shows an ephemeral large lake in the central part of the Hengchun Peninsula that was drained to the Pacific c. 6000 bp . The lake belonged to an ephemeral lakeland that was created after the emergence of the peninsula. Currently, several areas as relict landforms indicate this stage of topography evolution that through high rates of incision and subsequent captures, transforms into drainage basins. Furthermore, two drillings show brackish waters at the present estuary of the Gangkou basin. These two different paleoenvironments today build one system – Gangkou catchment. Long-term uplift rates show that a hanging wall of the Hengchun Fault plays a significant role in the creation of a lakeland by tilting the peninsula's surface. The tilt impacts on asymmetrical emergence of the peninsula and catchment development. Our study shows that a new geomorphic system might create depositional ephemeral landforms (lakes) that represent phases of early topography evolution after emergence above a sea level that are subjected to instantaneous rearrangement and evolves through large-scale phases before it reaches a topographic steady-state.     

Anthropogenic effects and climate change threats on the flood diversion of Erchung Floodway in Tanshui River,northern Taiwan

Hurricanes pose serious threats to people and infrastructure along the United States Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The risk of the strongest hurricane winds over the North Atlantic basin is analyzed using a statistical model from extreme value theory and a tessellation of the domain. The spatial variation in model parameters is shown, and an estimate of the limiting strength of hurricanes at locations across the basin is provided. Quantitative analysis of the variation is done using a geographically weighted regression with regional sea surface temperature as a covariate. It is found that as sea surface temperatures increase, the expected hurricane wind speed for a given return period also increases.     

Spatial and temporal variations in rainfall characteristics in mountainous and lowland areas in Taiwan

Although changes in rainfall characteristics have been noted across the world, few studies have reported those in mountainous areas. This study was undertaken to clarify spatial and temporal variations in rainfall characteristics such as annual rainfall amount (Pr), mean daily rainfall intensity (η), and ratio of rain days (λ) in mountainous and lowland areas in Taiwan. To this aim, we examined spatial and year‐to‐year variations and marginal long‐term trends in Pr, η, and λ, based on rainfall data from 120 stations during the period 1978–2008. The period mean rainfall () at the lowland stations had strong relationships with the period mean daily rainfall intensity () and the period mean ratio of rain days () during those 31 years. Meanwhile, was only strongly related to at mountainous stations, indicating that influences on spatial variations in were different between lowland and mountainous stations. Year‐to‐year variations in Pr at each station were primarily determined from the variation in η at most stations for both lowland and mountainous stations. Long‐term trend analysis showed that Pr and η increased significantly at 10% and 31% of the total 120 stations, respectively, and λ decreased significantly at 6% of the total. The increases in Pr were mostly accompanied by increases in η. Although stations with significant η increases were slightly biased toward the western lowland area, increases or decreases in Pr and λ were not common. These results contribute to understanding the impacts of possible climate changes on terrestrial hydrological cycles. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring potential human activities in physical and virtual spaces: a spatio‐temporal GIS approach

Today, the opportunity for potential human activity has gone beyond physical space to virtual space. Based on a proposed conceptual framework that models the relationships between physical and virtual spaces, this paper presents an attempt to adjust the space–time prism concept of Hägerstrand's time geography to identify potential activity opportunities in virtual space, focusing on the virtual space access channels available in physical space. A three‐dimensional (3D) spatio‐temporal Geographic Information System (GIS) design has been developed in this research to accommodate the adjusted space–time prism concept to support the representation, visualization, and analysis of potential human activities and interactions in physical and virtual spaces using the prism representation. Following the design, a prototype system has been successfully implemented in a 3D GIS environment. Such a system can provide powerful analytical tools for studies related to potential human activities and applications such as location‐based services (LBS) and accessibility analysis in the information age.     

Lego NXT information on test dimensionality using Kolb’s innovative learning cycle

Recently, artificial intelligence has been successfully applied to hazard prevention. Lego has released a programmable module, which many educational organizations and micro-operation robots have used. This has given rise to a new topic of study, how to use Lego NXT?in education.?In this paper, we present an application of Lego NXT in the subject of mathematics. The principle is based on Kolb??s innovative learning cycle that the user??s active learning and cooperative learning concepts complete the whole process of learning experience.?In order to compare the effectiveness of learning, we use an experimental group and a control group and give then pre- and posttests.?In addition, we proposed the technology acceptance model to investigate users?? degree of acceptance of Lego.?The results show that our approach can improve the users?? mathematical achievements and strengthen the users?? intention to use.     

Exposure reconstruction using a physiologically based toxicokinetic model with cumulative amount of metabolite in urine: a case study of trichloroethylene inhalation

The use of a physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) model to reconstruct chemical exposure using human biomonitoring data, urinary metabolites in particular, has not been fully explored. In this paper, the trichloroethylene (TCE) exposure dataset by Fisher et al. (Toxicol Appl Pharm 152:339–359, 1998) was reanalyzed to investigate this new approach. By treating exterior chemical exposure as an unknown model parameter, a PBTK model was used to estimate exposure and model parameters by measuring the cumulative amount of trichloroethanol glucuronide (TCOG), a metabolite of TCE, in voided urine and a single blood sample of the study subjects by Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. An estimated exterior exposure of 0.532 mg/l successfully reconstructed the true inhalation concentration of 0.538 mg/l with a 95% CI (0.441–0.645) mg/l. Based on the simulation results, a feasible urine sample collection period would be 12–16 h after TCE exposure, with blood sampling at the end of the exposure period. Given the known metabolic pathway and exposure duration, the proposed computational procedure provides a simple and reliable method for environmental (occupational) exposure and PBTK model parameter estimation, which is more feasible than repeated blood sampling.