The Distribution of Riparian Corridor Plants and the Relations to River Water Salinity along Perai River, Penang, Malaysia

Ecological surveys were carried out to investigate the distribution and characterization of riparian corridor plants along the Perai River,Penang,Malaysia from July 2007 to March 2008.Surveys were design to represent horizon-tal sections of the river starting from the river mouth towards the upper reaches for 20 km.A total of 84 species of plants from 30 families were recorded.They consisted of 28 species of standing plants(plants with height of more than 1 m)and 56 species of weedy plants(plants with heigh...     

Estimation of the 2D crustal velocity structure in the Hidaka and Iburi Subprefectures, Hokkaido, Japan

Applying the iterative shooting/bisection technique for rapid forward modeling to the seismic explosion data, we could refine the crustal velocity structure model of the western part of the Hidaka collision zone, Hokkaido, Japan. We used only the precise P-wave first arrival data obtained by the Research Group for Explosion Seismology, which set up a 113.4-km-long profile in August 2000 along with 327 observation points and four shot points with TNT charges from 100 to 300 kg. We could estimate a two-dimensional inhomogeneous crustal velocity structure model with a velocity decrease in the eastern direction at a depth of 15.7 km, several portions of velocity reversals with depth and a low velocity anomaly proposed in previous studies. The root-mean-square of travel-time residuals was improved from 0.398 s for the previous structure model to 0.176 s for the present model with a reduction of 55.8%.     

A conceptual and analytical framework for understanding the spatial effects on political actions in a new world order

All creations, except mankind, on this Universe are well organized under a natural universal system. They struggle for their survival within the territorial limits of their making. They do not have special barriers between, particularly similar to International Boundaries of Mankind. They even move from one physical region to another if the basic requirements, necessary for their survival are exhausted. Mankind is recognized as supreme to all creations, but diversity of their character, behavior, suspicious, and indifferent political ideology with uncomfortable mask on faces, have created an ending growth of conflicts through passion and reason within and outside the limits of their access, and set a criterion of moving power, to control the other limits on this universe.The basic object of writing this paper is to construct a framework or show a path leading to its construction for uniting mankind on one political platform, free from the influence of power and pressure. Keeping in mind the teaching of religious doctrine and their concept of world orders and the philosophical approaches, particularly the recent political writing of Kant towards inidvidual rights and freedom under the controlling factors of reason and passion, a framework for the new world order is possible to establish, leading to the final goal of creating a global system.     

Evolution of a tertiary volcanogenic trough in SW Turkey — The Alakaya basins of the Lycien belt

Field study of several stratigraphic sections from allochthonous thrust fault slices of SW Turkey reveal that a deeply subsiding volcanogenic trough, the Alakaya basin existed during Paleocene-Middle Eocene times along the Lycian belt. The Alakaya basin was located along a tectonically active zone of weakness between two relatively stable tectonic terrains, the Menderes massif to the northwest and the Beydaglari continental platform to the southeast. The basin was underlain by continental substratum. All known outcrops of the Alakaya sediments overlie platform carbonates of Cretaceous age that correlate with the Beydaglari shelf sediments. The generation of the volcanogenic Alakaya basin reflects a tensional period that culminated in Middle Eocene when basic volcanic activity took place. The tensional stage was replaced by a compressional regime in Late Eocene and large scale overthrust faulting took place. The Alakaya basin was closed when the Tefenni nappe from the north was emplaced on its sediments in Late Eocene. The Alakaya sediments overlying the Tefenni nappe and underlying the Cretaceous platform carbonates moved southeastward over a hundred kilometers onto the autochthonous sediments of the Beydaglari terrain in Miocene time. The Alakaya basin is analogous to the Maden basin of SE Turkey thrust fault belt. Both basins were located along tectonically active belts. The main stage of basin subsidence and volcanism was in Middle Eocene. Closure of both basins by large scale thrust faulting was in Late Eocene. The creation and destruction of the volcanogenic Alakaya basin may be related to the regional adjustments in plate motions in Paleocene-Eocene times.

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Zusammenfassung Geländestudien einiger stratigraphischer Profile von allochthonen Überschiebungspaketen in der SW Türkei zeigen, daß ein tief abgesunkener vulkanogener Trog, das Alakaya Becken, während des Paläozäns und Mittel Eozäns entlang der Lyzischen Zone bestand. Das Alakaya Becken lag innerhalb einer tektonisch aktiven Schwächezone zwischen zwei relativ stabilen tektonischen Terrains, dem Menderes Massiv im NW und der Beydaglari Kontinentalplattform im SE. Das Becken besaß eine kontinentale Unterlage. Alle bekannten Aufschlüsse mit Alakaya Sedimenten lagern über kretazischen Plattformkarbonaten, die sich mit den Beydaglaria Schelfsedimenten korrelieren lassen. Die Entwicklung des vulkanogenen Alakaya Bekkens spiegelt eine Spannungsperiode wieder, die im Mittel Eozän mit basischem Vulkanismus kulminierte. Diese Periode der Zugspannung wurde im späten Eozän von einer kompressiven Beanspruchung abgelöst, welche zu großmaßstäblichen Überschiebungen führte. Das Alakaya Becken wurde geschlossen, als auf Grund der späteozänen Platznahme die aus dem Norden stammende Tefenni Decke auf deren Sedimenten zu liegen kam. Die Alakaya Sedimente zusammen mit der überlagernden Tefenni Decke und den unterlagernden kretazischen Plattformkarbonaten wurden während des Miozäns über einhundert Kilometer südostwärts auf die autochthonen Sedimente des Beydaglari Terrains überschoben. Das Alakaya Becken ist ein Analogon zu dem Maden Becken der SE Türkischen Überschiebungszone. Beide Becken lagen entlang tektonisch aktiver Zonen. Während des Mittel Miozäns war das Hauptstadium der Beckensubsidenz und des Vulkanismus. Das Schließen der Becken mittels großmaßstäblicher Überschiebung fand in beiden Fällen im späten Eozän statt. Die Bildung und der Zerfall des vulkanogenen Alakaya Beckens scheint mit den regionalen Anpassungen an die Plattenbewegung während des Paläozäns und Eozäns verbunden zu sein.

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Résumé L'étude de terrain de plusieurs coupes stratigraphiques dans les lames charriées de l'allochtone du sud-ouest de la Turquie révèle l'existence, du Paléocène à l'Eocène moyen, d'une fosse volcanogénique fortement subsidente: le bassin d'Alakaya, situé le long de la chaîne lycienne. Ce bassin d'Alakaya s'est localisé le long d'une zone de faiblesse tectoniquement active, entre deux blocs relativement stables: le massif de Menderes au nord-ouest et la plate-forme continentale de Beydaglari au sud-est. Le bassin repose sur un substratum continental. Dans tous les affleurements connus, les sédiments d'Alakaya surmontent des carbonates de plateforme d'âge Crétacé, corrélables aux sédiments de shelf de Beydaglari. La genèse du bassin volcanogène d'Alakaya reflète une période d'extension dont le maximum se situe à l'Eocène moyen, lors de l'apparition d'une activité volcanique basique. A la phase distensive a succédé, à l'Eocène supérieur, un régime compressif marqué par des charriages de grande échelle. Le bassin d'Alakaya était fermé au moment où la nappe de Tefenni, venant du nord, s'est mise en place sur ses sédiments, à l'Eocène supérieur. Au Miocène, l'ensemble formé par la plate-forme carbonatée crétacée sous-jacente, les sédiments dAlakaya et la nappe de Tefenni surincombante a été transporté d'une centaine de km vers le sud-est sur les sédiments autochtones de Beydaglari. Le bassin d'Alakaya est analogue au bassin de Maden de la ceinture charriée du sud-est de la Turquie. Tous deux se sont localisés le long de zônes tectoniques actives. Leur phase culminante de subsidence et de volcanisme se situe à l'Eocène moyen. Dans les deux cas, les bassins ont été formés à l'Eocène supérieur par un charriage à grande échelle. La formation et la destruction du bassin d'Alakaya semblent pouvoir être rattachées aux ajustements régionaux dans les mouvements des plaques au Paléocène-Eocène.

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Discriminating Fog and Rain at the Kilometre Scale Using the Extinction from Collocated Infrared and Microwave Scintillometers

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - We investigate the path-averaged visibility and discrimination of fog and rain events using a two-wavelength (near-infrared and microwave) scintillometer system. These...     

Dike distribution in the Oman-United Arab Emirates ophiolite

Mafic dikes and dunite veins are observed in the mantle section of the Oman – United Arab Emirates (O-UAE) ophiolites, as well as diabase dikes and hydrothermal veins in the crust section. They have been systematically measured during the mapping of this ophiolite and are represented by their trajectories in the folded map 3 in the back of this volume, and by local stereoplots included in this study. Mafic dikes in the mantle section correspond to basaltic melt being injected at decreasing temperatures from above or at peridotite solidus, down to below 450°C. Hydrothermal veins associated with dioritic dikes issued from hydrous melting of host gabbros are observed down to the base of the crust, bearing evidence for sea water penetration into basal gabbros at or above 900°C, that is very close to the ridge axis. Dike orientations record the stress field at the time of their injection. In most places, all types of dikes are dominantly parallel to the general trend of the nearest sheeted dike complex; thus the stress field has not visibly changed from melt injection in the asthenosphere below the ridge of origin to injection in a lithosphere up to a few Myr old, at distances beyond 100 km from the axis. Local preferred orientations, when they are considered in the frame of the paleo-ridge system of O-UAE, result in a coherent model throughout the belt: the sheeted dike complex dips moderately away from the presumed ridge axis and the mantle dikes, toward this axis. These opposite directions are explained by the presumed effect of subsidence toward the axis for the sheeted dikes and by the central feeding from an asthenospheric uprise for the mantle dikes.     

The use of logistic model tree (LMT) for pixel- and object-based classifications using high-resolution WorldView-2 imagery

Logistic model tree (LMT), a new method integrating standard decision tree (DT) induction and linear logistic regression algorithm in a single tree, have been recently proposed as an alternative to DT-based learning algorithms. In this study, the LMT was applied in the context of pixel- and object-based classifications using high-resolution WorldView-2 imagery, and its performance was compared with C4.5, random forest and Adaboost. Results of the study showed that the LMT generally produced more accurate classification results than the other methods for both pixel- and object-based classifications. The improvement in classification accuracy reached to 3% in pixel-based and 5% in object-based classifications. It was also estimated that the LMT algorithm produced the most accurate results considering the allocation and overall disagreement errors. Based on the Wilcoxon’s Signed-Ranks tests, the performance differences between the LMT and the other methods were statistically significant for both pixel- and object-based image classifications.     

Prediction of Mechanical Properties of Coal from Non-destructive Properties: A Comparative Application of MARS,ANN, and GA

Natural Resources Research - Rock properties are useful for safe operation and design of both surface and underground mines including civil engineering projects. However, the cost and time required...     

Use of Cement Kiln Dust on the Engineering Modification of Soil Materials,Nile Delta,Egypt

Cement kiln dust (CKD) is the by-product generated from the manufacture of Portland cement. Disposal quantities of CKD in construction project are required to protect the environment. In the recent construction experience in the area of study at the last years showed that, ground and underground engineering on the soft soil are susceptible to various types of cracking in buildings and roads. The improvement of engineering properties of two disturbed soils by using CKD in different percentages (5, 10 and 20 %) was discussed in this paper. The results indicated that CKD additives increased the pH values and decreased the plasticity index in both types of soils under investigation. The maximum dry density (MDD) decreased and optimum moisture content (OMC) increased with increasing the percentage of CKD in soil A. In soil B the MDD and OMC decreased.     

Determination of Free Nickel Ion Concentrations Using the Ion Exchange Technique: Application to Aqueous Mining and Municipal Effluents

Free metal ion concentration is generally considered a useful indicator of a metal’s bioavailability and ecotoxicity to aquatic biota. This article reports the speciation of nickel in mining and municipal effluents from Sudbury (Ontario, Canada), and also in model solutions containing a fully characterized laurentian fulvic acid (LFA) at environmentally relevant concentrations. A column ion exchange technique (IET) using a cation exchange resin (Dowex 50W-X8) was applied to determine free nickel ion concentrations. In model solutions, reasonable correlation was found between the predictions of an equilibrium-based computer speciation code, Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM) VI, and the results obtained by IET at low nickel-to-fulvic acid ratios. However at higher mole ratios, the WHAM VI predicted higher free nickel ion concentrations than IET. Only three out of six effluent samples showed reasonable agreement between the IET and the WHAM VI results, indicating the need for further development of IET for application to effluent waters.