Trace element distribution during the reproductive cycle of female and male spiny and Pacific scallops, with implications for biomonitoring

Trace element concentrations and contents in gills, gonad, kidneys, mantle, muscle and remainder during the reproductive cycle of female and male spiny and Pacific scallops, from the Strait of Georgia, BC, Canada, were quantified by using ICPMS. The elements investigated were chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, selenium, molybdenum, cadmium, tin and mercury. For all ten elements, the tissue distribution was to some extent influenced by species, sex and reproductive status. The implications of the present study in relation to the design of biomonitoring programmes are: (1) care should be taken to ensure an equal/constant sex composition when making interannual comparisons of pooled samples. Preferably the sexes should be monitored separately. (2) the practice of obtaining pooled samples in the interspawn phase is applicable only to monitoring long-term trends in contaminant levels, while the reproductive status should be heeded when studying short-term changes. (3) the present study confirms that direct temporal or spatial comparisons of absolute accumulated element concentrations are only valid intraspecifically.     

Study on Ship Automatic Berthing System with Mooring Lines

This study describes an automatic berthing system with mooring lines. It is designed to be berthed by using mooring device on the upper deck of a ship. It is to berth once maintaining parallel with the quay by controlling both forward and aft breast lines. Berthing method is used through length adjustment of mooring lines connected between ship and quay by controlling the angular velocity and the torque of hydraulic motor in mooring device. The study is conducted under three changing conditions of draft, such as even-keel, rise of the gravity center and trim to stern. Variables affecting berthing stability are determined based on the control performance of each condition. Bond graphs method is used to model the system. Controller is designed as PID control method of reference-model algorithm. The control program is composed of synchronous control system based on the equations derived with the numerical analysis. The tank test is conducted to verify the usefulness of the control program.     

用统计方法研究泰国-老挝-缅甸交界地区的地震活动

测震仪器过去已经在泰国-老挝-缅甸交界地区记录到大量地震。然而大部分这些地震的震中位置与地表形态特征显示出孕震断层的位置不相吻合。因此本地震危险性研究集中在对地震记录的统计评估。根据完整的地震目录研究了频度-震级分布关系中a值和b值的空间分布。对从a值和b值推导可能最大震级地震的分析表明,缅甸孟板北部和老挝北宾-琅勃拉邦地区具有年发生mb为4．0～5．0地震和50年内发生mb为7．0地震的可能。此外,对于mb在4．0～7．0之间的地震,计算表明孟板北部地区的复发周期短（即1～500年）,而在泰国清迈东部地区显示长达5000年的较长复发周期。对于地震预测,三个测试子数据集表明低b值地区与该地区随后大地震的发生之间有良好的相关性。因此,基于这个有效条件和现有数据,未来地震可能发生在孟板北部和北宾-琅勃拉邦水坝地区。     

基于序列的地震危险性概率分析

地震通常在时空上是丛集的。传统的地震危险性分析所考虑的只是每个地震丛集中最大震级的事件——主震,并用所考虑场地地震动强度量值的超越率来表示（Cornell,1968）。这种地震危险性概率分析（PSHA）用于长期的结构设计或评估。近来,出于对短期风险的管理,已采用一种类似的方法来进行余震地震危险性概率分析（APSHA）,其与主震的发生相关（Yeoand Cornell,2009）。地震危险性概率分析通常用一种均匀泊松过程来描述事件的发生,而余震地震危险性概率分析则通过有条件的非均匀泊松过程来模拟余震的发生,其概率值取决于触发余震序列的主震震级。另外,由主震和后续余震组成的每个地震丛集,可以看成以相同主震概率发生的单一事件。这就可以用相对简单的方式在危险性分析中考虑余震,这个方法首先由Toro和Silva（2001）论证,并由Boyd（2012）进一步研究。实际上,这篇短文中心探讨概率方面,说明地震危险性概率分析和余震地震危险性概率分析的联合结果以得到一种考虑主震一余震序列的地震危险性整体解析解的可行性,而前面提到的研究中这些仍然缺乏。这种方法应用的结果,说明有助于依据导致超越某一加速度阈值同时也考虑余震的地震事件发生率（如对于结构设计）,初步评估地震危险性的增加。因而这从地震工程长远来看是切合实际的方向。     

由书架型断层作用容纳的冰岛北部火山裂谷带的运动

沿中央海岭,延伸的地壳以10~1 000km的尺度分段（MacDonald et al,1988）。在裂谷段相互错开的地方,段与段之间的运动由垂直于主裂谷轴方向的转换断层所容纳。在段叠加的地方,不同几何形状的非转换断层（Grindlay et al,1991）容纳剪切运动。这里,我们采用微震数据来分析冰岛北部出露的两个叠加裂谷段的断层几何形状。在这两个裂谷段之间,我们识别了沿主裂谷走向排列的一系列断层。这些断层为左旋走滑运动。而叠加裂谷段之间的运动则是右旋运动。这些运动一起产生了断层的顺时针旋转,致使地壳块体按书架型断层机制（类似于书架上倾斜放置的书的排列而得名）运动（Mandl,1987）。这些断层或许活化了已经存在的地壳软弱面,如原始走向平行于主裂谷并具有15°顺时针旋转的岩脉侵入体。先期存在、平行于裂谷的软弱面的活化与典型的中央海岭转换断层相反,说明非转换断层容纳着叠加段之间的剪切错动。     

根据震源机制迭代联合反演应力和断层取向

根据震源机制反演应力张量需要知道哪个节面是断层。如果这类信息缺失,而且断层面和辅助节面有交换,应力反演就可导致不精确的结果。众所周知,Michael研制的线性反演方法即使震源机制的断层面选择错误时得到的主应力方向也相当准确。然而,形状比对于断层面的选择更为敏感,用辅助节面替代断层会导致明显误差。通过修改Michael的方法并联合反演应力和断层取向克服了这种困难。断层取向通过对断层不稳定性施加约束来确定,迭代计算得到应力。作为副产品,断层上的总体摩擦系数也能同时确定。数值试验表明,新的迭代应力反演方法快速、准确,表现明显优于标准线性反演方法。该方法通过克里特岛中部和捷克共和国的波希米亚西部震群区的实际数据为例进行说明。在克里特岛中部数据中,联合迭代反演法正确识别了38个断层中的36个。在波希米亚西部数据中,反演识别的断层接近震源丛集描绘的主断层面。总体摩擦系数在克里特岛中部和波希米亚西部分别为0．75和0．85。     

LONGITUDINAL DISPERSION IN SEDIMENT-LADEN OPEN CHANNEL FLOWS

Laboratory experiments on longitudinal dispersion in clear-water and sediment-laden open channel flows are reported. Data from these experiments and those available from previous studies indicate that the suspended sediment present in the flow affects the longitudinal dispersion process. The observed velocity distributions over the depth of sediment-laden flows indicate that the velocity deviates from the mean velocity more in sediment-laden flows than in clear-water flows. The velocity distributions over the cross section and secondary flow in the channel are also expected to be altereddue to the presence of suspended sediments in the flow. For these reasons, more dispersion is found in sediment-laden flows than in corresponding clear-water flows. A predictor for the dispersion coefficient in sediment-laden flows is proposed.     

Improved prediction of clay soil expansion using machine learning algorithms and meta-heuristic dichotomous ensemble classifiers

Soil swelling-related disaster is considered as one of the most devastating geo-hazards in modern history.Hence,proper determination of a soil’s ability to expand is very vital for achieving a secure and safe ground for infrastructures.Accordingly,this study has provided a novel and intelligent approach that enables an improved estimation of swelling by using kernelised machines(Bayesian linear regression(BLR)&bayes point machine(BPM)support vector machine(SVM)and deep-support vector machine(D-SVM));(multiple linear regressor(REG),logistic regressor(LR)and artificial neural network(ANN)),tree-based algorithms such as decision forest(RDF)&boosted trees(BDT).Also,and for the first time,meta-heuristic classifiers incorporating the techniques of voting(VE)and stacking(SE)were utilised.Different independent scenarios of explanatory features’combination that influence soil behaviour in swelling were investigated.Preliminary results indicated BLR as possessing the highest amount of deviation from the predictor variable(the actual swell-strain).REG and BLR performed slightly better than ANN while the meta-heuristic learners(VE and SE)produced the best overall performance(greatest R2 value of 0.94 and RMSE of 0.06%exhibited by VE).CEC,plasticity index and moisture content were the features considered to have the highest level of importance.Kernelized binary classifiers(SVM,D-SVM and BPM)gave better accuracy(average accuracy and recall rate of 0.93 and 0.60)compared to ANN,LR and RDF.Sensitivity-driven diagnostic test indicated that the meta-heuristic models’best performance occurred when ML training was conducted using k-fold validation technique.Finally,it is recommended that the concepts developed herein be deployed during the preliminary phases of a geotechnical or geological site characterisation by using the best performing meta-heuristic models via their background coding resource.     

阿留申岛弧的非火山颤动

在阿留申岛弧观测到了一些非火山颤动。在数座火山上的大跨区的地震台网也监测到颤动状的事件,因此不可能与任何一座火山体有关。虽然目前还不能给这些颤动定位,但我们根据多个台网的反射时差和振幅给出了大概的位置。多数非火山颤动是在所推断的太平洋消减板块闭锁区或从蠕动到闭锁转换区记录到的。有一次非火山颤动事件是在拉特群岛和安德烈亚诺夫群岛附近地区地震活动和火山活动增强时期记录到的。类似的同步增加以往在阿留申群岛记录到过,并被假设是由慢滑动事件引起的大范围应力变化造成的。2008年7月12日奥克莫克火山喷发约1小时后在科罗文和大锡特金地震台网记录到显著的非火山颤动。非火山颤动并不是分散地出现在整个阿留申岛弧,而似乎是集中在几个地区。用2500km的消减带,我们有机会检查这些地区并将其与不产生非火山颤动地区加以比较,以便确定产生该颤动的作用因素。     

可用于地震早期预警的家用地震仪

日本气象厅(JMA)已开始推出一项地震早期预警(EEW)的实际服务,预计在不久的未来,将非常密集地布设安装信号接收装置。地震早期预警的接收/预警装置配有中央处理器和内存,并通过互联网进行连接。再加上一个便宜的地震仪和模数(A/D)转换器,该装置就变成了一个实时的地震观测系统,我们称之为家用地震仪(Home Seismometer)。如果这种家用地震仪与地震早期预警的标准接收装置相连接,那么地震观测系统的数量就会极大地增多。在房间里,由人的活动所引起的背景噪声可能非常大,为此我们专门编写了软件,从而能够使用该家用地震仪进行现场预警。我们对软件做了检验,发现该软件能够准确地将噪声和地震分辨开来,并适用于几乎所有的地震事件。