Upper mantle plasticity from laboratory experiments

On the basis of two assumptions i.e. (1) plastic and anelastic behaviour of the upper mantle can be approximated by the behaviour of the dominant mineral olivine, and (2) the behaviour of natural olivine and synthetic forsterite are similar, we have investigated the flow laws and the flow microstructures of forsterite single crystals. The results obtained between 1400–1650°C and 10–100 MPa suggest a model of climb controlled creep in which the a edge dislocations are dominant. The activation energy measured in that regime is 4.7 eV, close to that of Si self-diffusion and the flow law is $\text{?}\text{?}\text{=10}{}^6\text{σ}{}^{2.6}\text{exp}\text{(?4.7}\text{eV/k}\text{T)}$, where σ is in MPa. Extrapolation of these results to the upper mantle would imply very low stresses (i.e. ?10 MPa) in the asthenosphere. However the effect of pressure and grain size are unknown and extrapolation to very low stresses is not straightforward.     

The Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) model: applicability for investigating the immunosuppressive effects of the aquatic pollutant benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)

Despite the fact that BaP is a carcinogen, mammalian immunosuppressant, and ubiquitous aquatic pollutant, knowledge regarding the effects of BaP on the immune system of fish is still lacking. To begin to fill this gap, studies were conducted in medaka to examine the effects and mechanisms by which BaP exposure might alter host immunocompetence. Fish, exposed by IP injection of BaP (2-600 microg/g BW), were examined after 48 h for effects upon immune function and CYP1A expression/activity. Benzo[a]pyrene, at a concentration below that which increased levels of CYPIA expression/activity (2 microg BaP/g BW) suppressed lymphocyte proliferation. Concentrations of BaP at 20 and 200 microg/g BW. suppressed antibody-forming cell (AFC) numbers, superoxide production, and host resistance against bacteria. In contrast, exposure to the low affinity aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist, benzo[e]pyrene (BeP), neither induced CYP1A expression nor altered immune function. Given the lack of immunosuppressive effects produced by BeP, and the fact that exposure to the AhR antagonist (and CYP1A inhibitor) alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF) ameliorated the suppressive effects of BaP upon AFC numbers, the AhR pathway (including CYP1A-mediated production of reactive BaP metabolites) appears important in mediating BaP-induced immunotoxicity in fish, as in mammals. In the past, the medaka has proven a successful model for assessing carcinogenic agents. These studies have demonstrated its utility for also determining the immunosuppressive effects of an important aquatic contaminant.     

Propagation of MHD body and surface waves in magnetically structured regions of the solar atmosphere

The fact that magnetically structured regions exist in the solar atmosphere has been known for a number of years. It has been suggested that different kinds of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves can be efficiently damped in these regions and that the dissipated wave energy may be responsible for the observed enhancement in radiative losses. From a theoretical point of view, an important task would be to investigate the propagation and dissipation of MHD waves in these highly structured regions of the solar atmosphere. In this paper, we study the behavior of MHD body and surface waves in a medium with either a single or double (slab) magnetic interface by use of a nonlinear, two-dimensional, time-dependent, ideal MHD numerical model constructed on the basis of a Lagrangean grid and semi-implicit scheme. The processes of wave confinement and wave energy leakage are discussed in detail. It is shown that the obtained results depend strongly on the type of perturbations imposed on the interface or slab and on the plasma parameter, . The relevance of the obtained results to the heating problem of the upper parts of the solar atmosphere is also discussed.     

Structural damage detection using the optimal weights of the approximating artificial neural networks

This work presents a novel neural network‐based approach to detect structural damage. The proposed approach comprises two steps. The first step, system identification, involves using neural system identification networks (NSINs) to identify the undamaged and damaged states of a structural system. The partial derivatives of the outputs with respect to the inputs of the NSIN, which identifies the system in a certain undamaged or damaged state, have a negligible variation with different system errors. This loosely defined unique property enables these partial derivatives to quantitatively indicate system damage from the model parameters. The second step, structural damage detection, involves using the neural damage detection network (NDDN) to detect the location and extent of the structural damage. The input to the NDDN is taken as the aforementioned partial derivatives of NSIN, and the output of the NDDN identifies the damage level for each member in the structure. Moreover, SDOF and MDOF examples are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of using the proposed method for damage detection of linear structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isotope Constraints on the Aquatic Carbon Budget: Langat Watershed,Malaysia

Langat River drains a tropical watershed in the southwest of the Malaysian Peninsula. The watershed is heavily urbanized in its downstream portion. Water samples were collected from May 2010 to December 2011, at three localities along the main stem river, 1 location at its Semenyih tributary and from an upstream groundwater source. Concentration and δ¹³C data of riverine DIC and DOC indicate the dominance of C3 plant-derived material as the primary source of carbon, with δ¹³C_DIC values enriched in ¹³C relative to that of the C3 source. This enrichment is likely due to CO₂ outgassing, as calculated concentrations of riverine CO₂ are significantly higher than ambient atmospheric values, with methanogenic activity a theoretically possible contributing factor, particularly at the upstream location. The Langat River therefore acts as a net source of CO₂, with a total sub-basin flux of 19.7 × 10³ t C year^?1. This is comparable to the sum of riverine DOC, DIC and POC loss rates from the sub-basin, calculated as 24.5 × 10³ t C year^?1, and highlights the significance of CO₂ evasion from water bodies to the atmosphere for balancing the budget of the terrestrial carbon cycle. The DIC and DOC concentration and δ¹³C data also suggests that in the more urbanized downriver areas, much of the organic carbon input may be anthropogenicaly derived due to ubiquity of sewage treatment plants and landfill sites. Such human-induced perturbations to riverine carbon cycling should be taken into account in future studies of urbanized watersheds.     

Truncation error formulas for the geoidal height and the deflection of the vertical

A general formula giving Molodenskii coefficientsQ _n of the truncation errors for the geoidal height is introduced in this paper. A relation betweenQ _n andq _n, Cook’s truncation function, is also obtained. Cook (1951) has treated the truncation errors for the deflection of the vertical in the Vening Meinesz integration. Molodenskii et al. (1962) have also derived the truncation error formulas for the deflection of the vertical. It is proved in this paper that these two formulas are equivalent.     

震前大气电场异常的区域性特征

在了近场每次较大地震发生前，均能观测到明显的大气电场负异常信息。在观测不到明显的大气电场负异常时，近场近期一般不会有较大地震发生的基础上，本文对北京及其附近地区为例，利用所观测到的在气电场异常资料及１９８５年后该地区所发生的８次Ｍｌ≥４地震资料，较深入地探讨了震前大气电场异常的空间分布特征，取得了一些规律性的认识：（１）异常多发生在距震中不太范围内，且随着震级的增大异常区的范围也增大。（２）较大地