Possibility for hydroenergetic utilization of relatively researched water streams

Small mountain water streams are lately more interesting from the aspect of hydroenergetic exploitation. Catchments area of smaller rivers and creeks are mostly not enough researched from hydroenergetic aspect, so the most difficult task for small hydropower plant designers is to determine hydroenergetic potential of discussed water streams, from short period of hydrological observations. Very often happens that existing measurement stations on discussed water streams are placed few kilometers from potentially place of water intake and the value of flow is drastically different on these two locations. In this work, two methods for determination of hydrological picture for the chosen location of water intake on discussed river are shown, correlation method and analogy method. Using these methods it is possible to use data that describes measured values of discharge from the old measurement stations, that is exists on the same or adjacent river, to determine flow duration curve on the place of interests. Results given from these two methods are compared with measured values of discharge and precipitation from last period that are collected from location of planed intake. Based on the good agreement of theoretical and measured values, it was concluded that these two methods can be also applied to the adjacent basins. Suggestion of hydroenergetic utilization of discussed water stream and its economic justification is also presented in this work.     

Formulation of risk-targeted seismic action for the force-based seismic design of structures

A risk-targeted design spectral acceleration and the corresponding seismic design action for the force-based design of structures is introduced by means of two formulations. The first one called direct formulation utilizes the seismic hazard function at the site of the structure. Because the seismic action defined in the codes is often associated with a designated return period, an indirect formulation is also introduced. It incorporates a risk-targeted safety factor that can be used to define a risk-targeted reduction factor. It is shown that the proposed formulations give analogical results and provide an insight into the concept of the reduction of seismic forces for the force-based seismic design of structures if the objective is defined by a target collapse risk. The introduced closed-form solution for the risk-targeted reduction factor can be used to investigate how the target collapse risk, the seismic hazard parameters, the randomness of the seismic action, and the conventional parameters (ie, the overstrength factor and the deformation and energy dissipation capacity) affect the seismic design forces in the case of force-based design. However, collaborative research is needed in order to develop appropriate models of these parameters. In the second part of the paper, the proposed formulations are demonstrated by estimating the risk-targeted seismic design action for a six-storey reinforced concrete building. By verifying the collapse risk of the designed structure, it is demonstrated that the risk-targeted seismic action, in conjunction with a conventional force-based design, provided structure with acceptable performance when measured in terms of collapse risk.     

Seismic Zoning of Croatia

The territory of Croatia and neighboring regions is divided into 17 seismic source zones, considering available seismological and geological data. On this basis, seismic hazard elements (seismicity rate, maximum magnitude, b-value, probabilities of exceedance and return periods for a predefined set of magnitudes) are computed using the maximum likelihood method appropriate for treating data-sets with variable completeness thresholds. The values of long term expected peak horizontal acceleration obtained by using a combination of the deterministic and the probabilistic procedure are the highest in the Dubrovnik zone, while the Zagreb zone has the highest earthquake hazard in the continental part of the country. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Removal of heavy metal ions from drinking water by alginate-immobilised <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlorella sorokiniana</Emphasis>

This paper investigates the potential of alginate-immobilised Chlorella sorokiniana for removing Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions from drinking water solutions. The effects of initial metal concentrations, contact times and temperatures on the biosorptions and removal efficiencies of the tested metals were investigated at initial pH values of 5, and pH effects were studied within the range of 3–7. When studying the effects of initial metal concentrations, the highest experimental removal yields achieved for Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions were 97.10, 50.94 and 64.61 %, respectively. The maximum biosorption capacities obtained by the Langmuir isotherm model for the biosorptions of Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions by alginate-immobilised C. sorokiniana were found to be 179.90, 86.49 and 164.50 mg/g biosorbent, respectively. The experimental data followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. At an initial metal concentration of 25 mg/L, immobilised algae could be used in at least 5 successive biosorption–desorption cycles. SEM and EDS analyses revealed that the metals bonded to the biosorbent. Bi- and multi-metal systems of Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Cd²⁺ were investigated at initial metal concentrations of 30, 50 and 100 mg/L. The removal of Cd²⁺ as well as Ni²⁺ in such systems was negatively affected by the presence of Cu²⁺. The removal efficiency for Cu²⁺ in multi-metal systems decreased by 5–7 %, whilst in the cases of Cd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ the efficiencies decreased by up to 30 %. Nevertheless, the results obtained show that alginate-immobilised C. sorokiniana can efficiently remove the metals tested from polluted drinking water sources.     

GAIA Photometric System: Simultaneous 4-D Parameterization

We present a software package developed for the automatic 4-D stellar parameterization. The package can be adopted to virtually any multicolour photometric system. Procedure of simultaneous determination of T _eff, log g, [M/H] and E _B-V is very flexible and can be performed by applying various photometric parameters(magnitudes, colour indices etc.). Any changes of the photometric systems, weighting schemes or parameterization criteria can be implemented easily. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Modelling magnetization processes in single-and multi-domain rock samples using the preisach diagram

Summary The paper presents the results of identifying a model of the Preisach type for haematite grains of the single-domain as well as multi-domain size. Due to the phenomenological conception of the model, the relations between the parameters of the model and actual parameters are very complex, however, impressive accuracy and stability of the modified model indicate the need to resume studies of this problem. The model parameters also confirm the adequate properties of the vibrating-sample magnetometr (VSM) used and developed in our laboratories.     

Masses d'air conditionnées par la fonte des neiges

Summary In the paper it is shown in which manner the cooling of the air due to the melting of snowflakes causes the appearance of special air masses of greater or smaller dimensions. Here some examples are given of the formation of such air masses of melting in Yugoslavia on the north slopes of the Dinarian Alps.

---

Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit ist gezeigt, auf welche Weise die Abkühlung der Luft, die durch das Schmelzen der Schneeflocken bedingt ist, besondere Luftmassen von grösseren und kleineren Ausdehnungen zur Folge hat. Es sind einige Beispiele von solchen Luftmassen des Schmelzens in Jugoslawien gegeben, die auf der Nordseite der dynarischen Gebirge formiert sind.

     

Relationship between microseisms,geomagnetic activity and ionospheric absorption of radio waves

Summary Relatively good correlation between such remote phenomena as microseisms, geomagnetic activity and ionospheric absorption of radio waves has been observed. These phenomena are probably connected by a considerably increased penetration of energetic particles into the atmosphere under conditions of geomagnetic activity.