Measuring and modeling atmospheric particles and particle bound mercury Hg(p) at five characteristic-sampling sites

The main purpose of this study was to monitor ambient air particles and particulate-bound mercury Hg(p) in total suspended particulates (TSP) concentration, dry deposition at five characteristic-sampling sites. In addition, the calculated/measured dry deposition flux ratios of ambient air particles and particulate-bound mercury Hg(p) using three dry deposition models during the years of 2009–2010 were also studied. The results showed that the order of seasonal variations for mean particulate-bound mercury Hg(p) concentrations in TSP at Bei-shi (suburban/coastal), Chang-hua (downtown) and He-mei (residential) were all shown as spring > fall, winter > summer, respectively. However, the order of seasonal variations mean particulate-bound mercury Hg(p) concentrations in TSP that occurred at Gao-mei (wetland) were shown as spring > fall > winter > summer, respectively. Finally, the results of this study also indicated that using the Noll and Fang model exhibited batten prediction results for ambient air particles and particulate-bound mercury Hg(p) dry deposition when compared with the other depositions models at any of the characteristic-sampling sites for this study.     

Inflation and microearthquake activity of phlegraean fields,Italy

The Phlegraean Fields are a densely inhabited volcanic area which includes part of the city of Napoli. During the past 2,000 years it has been subject to slow vertical movements (bradyseisms). A rapid uplift was observed in early 1970, which caused alarm in the population. Ground deformation started to be monitored by means of tide gauge observations and topographic levelling, making it possible to define the area interested in the phenomenon and to outline the pattern of deformation. Vertical deformation data are well fitted by radially symmetric sources, such as the Mogi’s model, while horizontal deformation data are best fitted by a linear source model. Contemporaneously, a tight seismic network was installed in the area. The frequency of seismic events and the released energies have shown that the seismicity of the volcanic area is very low. Seismic activity evolved both with regard to the relative occurrence rate of various kinds of shock and to the distribution of epicentres. The values of the Ishimoto-Iida coefficient, calculated for three kinds of shock, show that the focal medium is very heterogeneous down to a depth of a few kilometres. Observations suggest that the origin of the ground uplift can be attributed to the intrusion of magmatic masses. This hypothesis is coherent with data and is supported by structural information. Available data allow a rough estimation of the maximum magnitude possible for an earthquake with epicenter in the Phlegraean Fields.     

Environmental conditions for gravelly and pebbly dunes and sorted bedforms on a moderate-energy inner shelf (Marettimo Island,Italy, western Mediterranean)

Side scan sonar records, sediment textural characteristics, and in-situ field observations were used to study gravelly and pebbly dunes and sorted bedforms on the inner shelf of Marettimo Island, along the northwestern Sicilian shelf. The dunes are composed of coarse sands, gravels and pebbles (D50: 2–16 mm), displaying a symmetrical shape with a wavelength in the range of 1–2.5 m and a height of 0.15–0.30 m. The bedforms are distributed in a patchy pattern in a depth range of 10–50 m, and are described for the first time on a Mediterranean inner shelf. Sorted bedforms are linear morphological features developed almost perpendicular to the coast in the eastern sector of the island between 15 and 50 m water depth. Bottom shear stresses required for sediment entrainment and the generation of the shallower dunes can be reached during strong storms (Hs=5–6 m; Tp=9–11 s), which are not common in the Mediterranean Sea. However, wave storm events recorded in the study area during the last 17 years are not able to generate the coarsest and deeper dunes, suggesting that the stirring mechanism for dune formation is associated with severe storms that have a recurrence interval of more than 17 years. The long-term stability of the coarse bedforms is supported by the permanence of sorted bedforms without significant morphological changes for long periods (>13 years). Therefore, it is shown that processes forming coarse bedforms can occur in tideless and moderate-energy settings like those of the Mediterranean continental shelves, although the morphological features are probably less dynamic and remain unaltered for longer periods than on higher-energy shelves.     

Contact oxidation process followed by activated carbon adsorption for textile wastewater treatment

A pilot plant study and a full scale plant study were conducted to determine the feasibility of using contact oxidation followed by activated carbon adsorption process in textile wastewater treatment, and to determine the effects of types of packing media in the contact oxidation tank and types of aeration process on the treatment performance. Results indicated that contact oxidation followed by activated carbon adsorption process was effective in removing organics and color from textile wastewaters. Types of packing media and types of aeration processes had little effect on the treatment performance. The pilot plant performance was found to perform slightly better than the performance of the full scale plant.     

Multi-objective optimal design for flood risk management with resilience objectives

In flood risk management, the divergent concept of resilience of a flood defense system cannot be fully defined quantitatively by one indicator and multiple indicators need to be considered simultaneously. In this paper, a multi-objective optimization (MOO) design framework is developed to determine the optimal protection level of a levee system based on different resilience indicators that depend on the probabilistic features of the flood damage cost arising under the uncertain nature of rainfalls. An evolutionary-based MOO algorithm is used to find a set of non-dominated solutions, known as Pareto optimal solutions for the optimal protection level. The objective functions, specifically resilience indicators of severity, variability and graduality, that account for the uncertainty of rainfall can be evaluated by stochastic sampling of rainfall amount together with the model simulations of incurred flood damage estimation for the levee system. However, these model simulations which usually require detailed flood inundation simulation are computationally demanding. This hinders the wide application of MOO in flood risk management and is circumvented here via a surrogate flood damage modeling technique that is integrated into the MOO algorithm. The proposed optimal design framework is applied to a levee system in a central basin of flood-prone Jakarta, Indonesia. The results suggest that the proposed framework enables the application of MOO with resilience objectives for flood defense system design under uncertainty and solves the decision making problems efficiently by drastically reducing the required computational time.     

Considerations on tilt observations at the Vesuvius Observatory

Tilt observations carried out at the Vesuvian Observatory by spirit levels and vertical pendulum till 1961, have allowed to point out motions of the volcanic edifice related to the volcanic activity.