Experimental investigation of conditions of lateral shear reinforcements in RC columns accompanied by buckling of longitudinal bars

This study presents a cyclic load test of four RC columns to obtain data on stresses and strains on lateral shear‐reinforcing bars that contact buckled longitudinal reinforcing bars. The specimens include columns laterally jacketed with all‐elastic fibre‐reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets. The buckling lengths and modes in the longitudinal bars of the four column specimens stabilized at a buckling deflection (= lateral deformation of buckled longitudinal bar) from 0.3 to 0.6 mm. The yield portion ratio r_by of shear reinforcement around the buckled longitudinal bars was introduced as an index of the development of buckling conditions. Here, the yield portion ratio r_by was defined as the ratio of the length of the region where the shear reinforcements yield l_by, to the buckling length l_b. The r_by values of the tested columns ranged from 0.45 to 0.76. The test results show that the buckling stress and the specific compressive stress of the longitudinal bars in the columns were smaller than those of the bare bars. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of natural radioactivity levels in soil and travertine of the region of Tokat and Sivas,Turkey

In this study, the environmental radioactivity measurements for Tokat and Sivas provinces in the northeast of Turkey were performed. Using gamma ray spectrometry, the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in soil and travertine samples (²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra, and ⁴⁰K) were determined. The annual effective dose equivalent, the absorbed doses rate in air, the radium equivalent, and the external hazard index were obtained from these activities. The activity concentrations vary from 9.09 to 17.04 Bq kg^?1 for ²³²Th, from 36.53 to 76.95 Bq kg^?1 for ²²⁶Ra, and from 216.56 to 576.59 Bq kg^?1 for ⁴⁰K in soil samples. The activity concentrations in travertines vary from 15.99 to 21.01 Bq kg^?1 for ²³²Th, from 19.89 to 67.71 Bq kg^?1 for ²²⁶Ra, and from 179.89 to 314.43 Bq kg^?1 for ⁴⁰K. The average dose rate in air for soil and travertine samples was 43.41 and 41.05 nGy h^?1 respectively. The obtained results are presented and compared with other studies, and the results of this study are lower than the international recommended value (55 nGy h^?1) given by UNSCEAR ( 2000). The results show that the region has a background radiation level within the natural limits.     

Analysis of efficiency in public research activities in terms of knowledge spillover: focusing on earthquake R&D accomplishments

Natural Hazards - Many countries aim to efficiently allocate limited national research and development resources to produce optimal research. A proportion of limited national research and...     

Gully erosion as a natural hazard: the educational role of geotourism

Gully erosion is one of the greatest natural hazards in the loess areas of E. (Eastern) Poland. At the same time, permanent gullies are a major tourist attraction and can provide a basis for the development of geotourism. The study objective was to assess the possibilities of using the loess gullies for educational purposes. Detailed studies were conducted within the municipality of Kazimierz Dolny, an area with an extremely high concentration of permanent gullies. The questionnaire survey of students and tourists (nearly 300 surveys were completed) showed that the respondents’ knowledge of geomorphology was limited, despite their familiarity with gullies. In most cases, they were unable to accurately identify the determinants of gully erosion, its negative effects and methods for preventing it. An assessment of the tourism and geotourism potential of the municipality made it possible to identify the sites (gullies) that can perform an educational function, with regard to gully erosion. The establishment of the Ma?opolska Vistula Gap Geopark, whose highlights will include numerous loess gullies, can pave the way for the development of geotourism.     

Convergence of deterministic and stochastic approaches in optimal remediation design of a contaminated aquifer

The comparison between two series of optimal remediation designs using deterministic and stochastic approaches showed a number of converging features. Limited sampling measurements in a supposed contaminated aquifer formed the hydraulic conductivity field and the initial concentration distribution used in the optimization process. The deterministic and stochastic approaches employed a single simulation–optimization method and a multiple realization approach, respectively. For both approaches, the optimization model made use of a genetic algorithm. In the deterministic approach, the total cost, extraction rate, and the number of wells used increase when the design must satisfy the intensified concentration constraint. Growing the stack size in the stochastic approach also brings about same effects. In particular, the change in the selection frequency of the used extraction wells, with increasing stack size, for the stochastic approach can indicate the locations of required additional wells in the deterministic approach due to the intensified constraints. These converging features between the two approaches reveal that a deterministic optimization approach with controlled constraints is achievable enough to design reliable remediation strategies, and the results of a stochastic optimization approach are readily available to real contaminated sites.     

Resource Assessment of Polymetallic Nodules Using Acoustic Backscatter Intensity Data from the Korean Exploration Area,Northeastern Equatorial Pacific

A high level of confidence in resource data is a key prerequisite for conducting a reliable economic feasibility study in deep water seafloor mining. However, the acquisition of accurate resource data is difficult when employing traditional point-sampling methods to assess the resource potential of polymetallic nodules, given the vast size of the survey area and high spatial variability in nodule distribution. In this study, we analyzed high-resolution acoustic backscatter intensity images to estimate nodule abundance and increase confidence levels in nodule abundance data. We operated a 120 kHz deep-towed sidescan sonar (DSL-120) system (1×1 m resolution) across a 75 km² representative area in the Korean Exploration Area for polymetallic nodules in the Northeastern Equatorial Pacific. A deep-towed camera system was also run along two tracks in the same area to estimate the abundance of polymetallic nodules on the seafloor. Backscatter data were classified into four facies based on intensity. The facies with the weakest and strongest backscatter intensities occurred in areas of high slope gradient and basement outcrops, respectively. The backscatter intensities of the two other facies correlated well with the nodule abundances estimated from still-camera images. A linear fit between backscatter intensity and mean nodule abundance for 10 zones in the study area yielded an excellent correlation (r² = 0.97). This allowed us to compile a map of polymetallic nodule abundance that shows greater resolution than a map derived from the extrapolation of point-sampling data. Our preliminary analyses indicate that it is possible to greatly increase the confidence level of nodule resource data if the relationship between backscatter intensity and nodule abundance is reliably established. This approach has another key advantage over point sampling and image analyses in that detailed maps of mining obstacles along the seafloor are produced when acquiring data on the abundance of polymetallic nodules. The key limitation of this work is a poor correlation between nodule coverage, as observed from photographs, and nodule abundance. Significant additional ground truth sampling using well located box cores should be completed to determine whether or not there is a real correlation between the backscatter and abundance.     

中国北方更新世极端冷期冬季风的快速变化

对黄土高原中部洛川和西峰黄土堆积的“上、下粉砂层”进行了间隔 5～ 6 cm的详细采样 ,测量了 80 0多个样品的粒度分布和磁化率值 ,根据沉积速率模式建立了一个相对独立的、较精确的时间标尺。结果表明 ,中国北方更新世极端冷期的黄土堆积记录了东亚冬季风频繁的和较大幅度的千年尺度变化。冬季风加强事件一般持续约1.8～ 2 .4ka。亚轨道时间尺度冬季风变化的可能原因是 ,在极端冷期赤道和极地气温差增大 ,纬向西风环流加强引起的大气环流和蒙古高亚不稳定 ,从而引起东亚冬季风千年尺度变化。在极端冷期降雨量和平均温度低于某个阈值的时候 ,虽然夏季风强度存在变化 ,但不足以影响磁铁矿和磁赤铁矿的形成 ,所以那时磁化率的变化不能很好地记录夏季风气候变化。     

The chemistry and prospects for interstellar detection of somedicyanoacetylenes and other cyanoacetylene-related species

Recent cryochemical and photochemical findings for cyanoacetylene and cyanopolyacetylene-related molecules (including various isomeric species), backed up with quantum-chemical predictions, are analysed. A new class of interstellar molecules, distinguished by bare (hydrogen-less), unsaturated carbon-nitrogen chains of the general formula C _n N₂ is postulated. It is recommended to look for some relevant IR spectral features in space. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Evolution of the Dok Do seamounts,Ulleung Basin,East Sea: constraints based on the reconstruction of virtual geomagnetic poles using paleomagnetic data

In the Ulleung Basin, East Sea, the Dok Do seamount group comprises Dok Do (Dok Island), consisting of very small islets/rocks and a large submerged volcanic edifice, and two voluminous tablemounts, Simheungtaek and Isabu. We attempted to reconstruct the evolution of these seamounts, using virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) determined by the least-squares and the seminorm magnetization methods, with 1,500 m upward continued magnetic anomalies. The VGPs of Dok Do with normal dipole anomaly, and of Simheungtaek with normal dipole anomaly are located near the present magnetic pole. The VGP of Isabu with normal dipole anomaly is located at low latitude, presumably due to overprints of reversals in the Tertiary, and the distortion of magnetization and structures associated with volcanism after its formation. In contrast to the tablemounts, magnetic anomalies over Dok Do are a combination of both normal polarity and reversed polarity dipoles in the northern hemisphere, indicating that Dok Do has had at least two major eruptions, one during normal and another during reversed polarity intervals. From these results, and information on the ages of the seamounts (either published radiometric ages of subaerial volcanic rocks, or ages reconstructed in terms of reported elastic thickness incorporated into an existing cooling plate model), we tentatively propose that (1) Isabu formed first, during a normal polarity interval after the opening of the East Sea had ceased; (2) this was followed by an initial and subsequent large eruption of Dok Do during a normal polarity and a reversed polarity interval after about 5 Ma; and (3) the formation of Simheungtaek occurred in between that of Isabu and Dok Do in a normal polarity interval. The pattern of normal/reversed magnetization is not inconsistent with the geomagnetic polarity timescale for at least the last 5 Ma. Nevertheless, precise ages of formation would need verification by additional geophysical/geochemical constraints. Evaluating various possible models explaining the successive formation of the Dok Do seamounts, we currently favor fracturing and volcanism related to compression-induced weakening of the extensional field from the late Miocene to Pliocene after the opening of the East Sea.     

Chloritoid and barroisite-bearing pelitic schists from the eclogite unit in the Besshi district, Sanbagawa metamorphic belt

The Sanbagawa metamorphic rocks in the Besshi district, central Shikoku, are grouped into eclogite and noneclogite units. Chloritoid and barroisite-bearing pelitic schists occur as interlayers within basic schist in an eclogite unit of the Seba area in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt, central Shikoku, Japan. Major matrix phases of the schists are garnet, chlorite, barroisite, paragonite, phengite, and quartz. Eclogite facies phases including chloritoid and talc are preserved only as inclusions in garnet. P–T conditions for the eclogite facies stage estimated using equilibria among chloritoid, barroisite, chlorite, interlayered chlorite–talc, paragonite, and garnet are 1.8 GPa/520–550 °C. Zonal structures of garnet and matrix amphibole show discontinuous growth of minerals between their core and mantle parts, implying the following metamorphic stages: prograde eclogite facies stage→hydration reaction stage→prograde epidote–amphibolite stage. This metamorphic history suggests that the Seba eclogite lithologies were (1) juxtaposed with subducting noneclogite lithologies during exhumation and then (2) progressively recrystallized under the epidote–amphibolite facies together with the surrounding noneclogite lithologies.

The pelitic schists in the Seba eclogite unit contain paragonite of two generations: prograde phase of the eclogite facies included in garnet and matrix phase produced by local reequilibration of sodic pyroxene-bearing eclogite facies assemblages during exhumation. Paragonite is absent in the common Sanbagawa basic and pelitic schists, and is, however, reported from restricted schists from several localities near the proposed eclogite unit in the Besshi district. These paragonite-bearing schists could be lower-pressure equivalents of the former eclogite facies rocks and are also members of the eclogite unit. This idea implies that the eclogite unit is more widely distributed in the Besshi district than previously thought.