Distributed object‐based software environment for urban system integrated simulation under urban‐scale hazard—Part I: Infrastructure

In this paper, a distributed object‐based software environment (DOSE) has been developed to facilitate the integrated simulation of an urban system under the risk of urban‐scale hazards such as earthquakes. It is understood that individual simulation participants perform their simulation services in separate environments, bartering service exchange relationships to get what they need to resolve their part of the problem. This is the communication gap between the scientists on one side and the end users who need to understand knowledge and employ it on the other side. The authors envision a distributed simulation service software environment running in parallel with the activities of simulation participants. DOSE has lent itself to integrate interdisciplinary participants through an infrastructure that has three basic building blocks, namely: modularity, scalability, and interoperability. The modular, object‐based, design of DOSE architecture is described in terms of key functionalities of four distinct layers, namely: resource, core, domain, and interface layers. DOSE scalability in terms of urban system size and participant third‐party application complexity is enabled through the interface layer. A message passing model is developed using the Message Passing Interface standard and a control room is provided to schedule the interaction/communication among model processes. DOSE interoperability with the vulnerability analysis third‐party applications is enabled through the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. An adopted analogy between DOSE and construction industry is employed to provide interpretation and implementation for DOSE interoperability. While interfacing IFC object model to solve DOSE interoperability questions, an extension model for the structural view of IFC is proposed and accepted by the International Alliance for Interoperability. The DOSE application for real‐world urban systems is beyond the scope of this paper and is presented in an accompanying paper work. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intergranular trace elements in mantle xenoliths from Russian Far East: Example for mantle metasomatism by hydrous melt

Based on both major and trace element chemistry, the occurrence of the intergranular component in mantle-derived xenoliths from far eastern Russia has been constrained. Whole-rock trace element measurements of one xenolith show apparent negative anomalies in Ce, Th, and high field strength elements on normalized trace element patterns. The trace element pattern of the whole rock differs from those of constituent minerals, indicating that the anomalies in the whole rock are attributable to the presence of an intergranular component. That assumption was confirmed using in situ analysis of trace elements in the intergranular substance and melt inclusion using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. Both the intergranular component and the melt inclusions have identical trace element patterns, which mean that these materials are a cognate metasomatizing agent. The anomalies are regarded as mantle metasomatism related to an aqueous fluid. Hydrous minerals were observed on the wall of the melt inclusions using micro-Raman spectroscopy, indicating that the melt inclusions contained a large amount of water. Thus, this study reveals a trace element composition of a hydrous metasomatizing agent in the mantle.     

System identification applied to long‐span cable‐supported bridges using seismic records

This paper presents the application of system identification (SI) to long‐span cable‐supported bridges using seismic records. The SI method is based on the System Realization using Information Matrix (SRIM) that utilizes correlations between base motions and bridge accelerations to identify coefficient matrices of a state‐space model. Numerical simulations using a benchmark cable‐stayed bridge demonstrate the advantages of this method in dealing with multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) data from relatively short seismic records. Important issues related to the effects of sensor arrangement, measurement noise, input inclusion, and the types of input with respect to identification results are also investigated. The method is applied to identify modal parameters of the Yokohama Bay Bridge, Rainbow Bridge, and Tsurumi Fairway Bridge using the records from the 2004 Chuetsu‐Niigata earthquake. Comparison of modal parameters with the results of ambient vibration tests, forced vibration tests, and analytical models are presented together with discussions regarding the effects of earthquake excitation amplitude on global and local structural modes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coordinated mineralogical and isotopic analyses of a cosmic symplectite discovered in a comet 81P/Wild 2 sample

We have discovered in a Stardust mission terminal particle a unique mineralogical assemblage of symplectically intergrown pentlandite ((Fe,Ni)₉S₈) and nanocrystalline maghemite (γ‐Fe₂O₃). Mineralogically similar cosmic symplectites (COS) have only been found in the primitive carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094 and are believed to have formed by aqueous alteration. The O and S isotopic compositions of the Wild 2 COS are indistinguishable from terrestrial values. The metal and sulfide precursors were thus oxidized by an isotopically equilibrated aqueous reservoir either inside the snow line, in the Wild 2 comet, or in a larger Kuiper Belt object. Close association of the Stardust COS with a Kool mineral assemblage (kosmochloric Ca‐rich pyroxene, FeO‐rich olivine, and albite) that likely originated in the solar nebula suggests the COS precursors also had a nebular origin and were transported from the inner solar system to the comet‐forming region after they were altered.     

Teshima pyroclastics: Onset of characteristic Setouchi magmatism induced by slab melting at 14.8 Ma

Ar-Ar ages, and petrographical and geochemical characteristics of pyroclastics and an overlying lava from Teshima Island, southwest Japan are presented. Although previous geological and age data suggested Teshima pyroclastics were products of magmatism > 3 my prior to lava flows of Setouchi volcanic rocks generated in association with southward migration of the southwest Japan arc sliver during opening of the Sea of Japan backarc basin at ~ 15 Ma, the present results led to the conclusion that a sequence of Setouchi volcanism, induced by slab melting and subsequent melt-mantle reactions, produced both pyroclastics and lava at 14.6–14.8 Ma. This age is oldest among those reported so far and may represent the timing of onset of characteristic Setouchi magmatism immediately posterior to and hence as a result of the mega-tectonic event including rotation of the southwest Japan arc sliver.     

Spatial distribution of organic matter in the Bells CM2 chondrite using near‐field infrared microspectroscopy

Abstract– Distributions of organic functional groups as well as inorganic features were analyzed in the Bells (CM2) carbonaceous chondrite using near‐field infrared (NFIR) spectroscopy. NFIR spectroscopy has recently been developed to enable infrared spectral mapping beyond the optical diffraction limit of conventional Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy. NFIR spectral mapping of the Bells 300 nm thick sections on Al plates for 7.5 × 7.5 μm² areas showed some C‐H‐rich areas which were considered to represent the organic‐rich areas. Heterogeneous distributions of organic matter as well as those of inorganic phases such as silicates (Si‐O) were observed with 1 μm spatial resolution. The NFIR mappings of aliphatic C‐H (2960 and 2930 cm^?1) and structural OH (3650 cm^?1) confirm that organic matter is associated with phyllosilicates as previously suggested. The NFIR mapping method can provide 1 μm spatial distribution of organic functional groups and their association with minerals. High local sensitivity of NFIR enables us to find organic‐rich areas and to characterize them by their aliphatic CH₂/CH₃ ratios. The aliphatic CH₂/CH₃ ratio of Bells is slightly higher than Murchison, similar to Orgueil, and lower than literature values of IDPs and cometary dust particles.     

Role of the ocean in controlling atmospheric CO2 concentration in the course of global glaciations

Responses of ocean circulation and ocean carbon cycle in the course of a global glaciation from the present Earth conditions are investigated by using a coupled climate-biogeochemical model. We investigate steady states of the climate system under colder conditions induced by a reduction of solar constant from the present condition. A globally ice-covered solution is obtained under the solar constant of 92.2% of the present value. We found that because almost all of sea water reaches the frozen point, the ocean stratification is maintained not by temperature but by salinity just before the global glaciation (at the solar constant of 92.3%). It is demonstrated that the ocean circulation is driven not by the surface cooling but by the surface freshwater forcing associated with formation and melting of sea ice. As a result, the deep ocean is ventilated exclusively by deep water formation in southern high latitudes where sea ice production takes place much more massively than northern high latitudes. We also found that atmospheric CO₂ concentration decreases through the ocean carbon cycle. This reduction is explained primarily by an increase of solubility of CO₂ due to a decrease of sea surface temperature, whereas the export production weakens by 30% just before the global glaciation. In order to investigate the conditions for the atmospheric CO₂ reduction to cause global glaciations, we also conduct a series of simulations in which the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere?Cocean system is reduced from the present condition. Under the present solar constant, the results show that the global glaciation takes place when the total carbon decreases to be 70% of the present-day value. Just before the glaciation, weathering rate becomes very small (almost 10% of the present value) and the organic carbon burial declines due to weakened biological productivity. Therefore, outgoing carbon flux from the atmosphere?Cocean system significantly decreases. This suggests the atmosphere?Cocean system has strong negative feedback loops against decline of the total carbon content. The results obtained here imply that some processes outside the atmosphere?Cocean feedback loops may be required to cause global glaciations.     

Penetration tracks in aerogel produced by Al2O3 spheres

Abstract— We conducted impact experiments into SiO₂‐based aerogel of uniform density (0.02 g cm^?3) with spherical corundum projectiles. The highly refractory nature and mechanical strength of corundum minimizes projectile deformation and continuous mass loss by ablation that might have affected earlier experiments with soda‐lime glass (SLG) impactors into aerogel targets. We find that corundum is a vastly superior penetrator producing tracks a factor of 2.5 longer, yet similar in diameter to those made by SLG. At velocities <4 km s^?1 a cylindrical “cavity” forms, largely by melting of aerogel. The diameter and length of this cavity increase with velocity and impactor size, and its volume dominates total track volume. A continuously tapering, exceptionally long and slender “stylus” emerges from this cavity and makes up some 80–90% of the total track length; this stylus is characterized by solid‐state deformations. Tracks formed below 4 km s^?1 lack the molten cavity and consist only of a stylus. Projectile residues recovered from a track's terminus substantially resemble the initial impactors at V > 4 km s^?1, yet they display two distinct surfaces at higher velocities, such as a blunt, forward face and a well‐preserved, hemispherical trailing side; a pronounced, circumferential ridge of compressed and molten aerogel separates these two surfaces. Stringers and patches of melt flow towards the impactor's rear where they accumulate in a characteristic melt tip. SEM‐EDS analyses indicate the presence of Al in these melts at velocities as low as 5.2 km s^?1, indicating that the melting point of corundum (2054 °C) was exceeded. The thermal model of aerogel impact by Anderson and Cherne (2008) suggests actual aerogel temperatures <5000 K at comparable conditions. We therefore propose that projectile melting occurs predominantly at those surfaces that are in contact with this very hot aerogel, at the expense of viscous heating and associated ablation. Exposure to superheated aerogel may be viewed as extreme form of “flash heating.” This seems consistent with observations from the Stardust mission to comet Wild 2, such as relatively pristine interiors of rather large, terminal particles, yet total melting of most fine‐grained dust components.