The influence of a non‐associated flow rule on the calculation of the factor of safety of soil slopes

This paper presents a method that incorporates a non‐associated flow rule into the limit analysis to investigate the influence of the dilatancy angle on the factor of safety for the slope stability analysis. The proposed method retain's the advantage of the upper bound method, which is simple and has no stress involvement in the calculation of the energy dissipation and the factor of safety. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MAXIPOL: a balloon-borne experiment for measuring the polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation

We discuss MAXIPOL, a bolometric balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the E-mode polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) on angular scales of 10^′ to 2°. MAXIPOL is the first CMB experiment to collect data with a polarimeter that utilizes a rotating half-wave plate and fixed wire-grid polarizer. We present the instrument design, elaborate on the polarimeter strategy and show the instrument performance during flight with some time domain data. Our primary dataset was collected during a 26 h turnaround flight that was launched from the National Scientific Ballooning Facility in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in May 2003. During this flight five regions of the sky were mapped. Data analysis is in progress.     

Fast iterative solution of large undrained soil‐structure interaction problems

In view of rapid developments in iterative solvers, it is timely to re‐examine the merits of using mixed formulation for incompressible problems. This paper presents extensive numerical studies to compare the accuracy of undrained solutions resulting from the standard displacement formulation with a penalty term and the two‐field mixed formulation. The standard displacement and two‐field mixed formulations are solved using both direct and iterative approaches to assess if it is cost‐effective to achieve more accurate solutions. Numerical studies of a simple footing problem show that the mixed formulation is able to solve the incompressible problem ‘exactly’, does not create pressure and stress instabilities, and obviate the need for an ad hoc penalty number. In addition, for large‐scale problems where it is not possible to perform direct solutions entirely within available random access memory, it turns out that the larger system of equations from mixed formulation also can be solved much more efficiently than the smaller system of equations arising from standard formulation by using the symmetric quasi‐minimal residual (SQMR) method with the generalized Jacobi (GJ) preconditioner. Iterative solution by SQMR with GJ preconditioning also is more elegant, faster, and more accurate than the popular Uzawa method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dynamo theory of solar flares

It is proposed that the solar flare phenomenon can be understood as a manifestation of the electrodynamic coupling process of the photosphere-chromosphere-corona system as a whole. The system is coupled by electric currents, flowing along (both upward and downward) and across the magnetic field lines, powered by the dynamo process driven by the neutral wind in the photosphere and the lower chromosphere. A self-consistent formulation of the proposed coupling system is given. It is shown in particular that the coupling system can generate and dissipate the power of 10²⁹ erg s^#X2212;1 and the total energy of 10³² erg during a typical life time (10³ s) of solar flares. The energy consumptions include Joule heat production, acceleration of current-carrying particles along field lines, magnetic energy storage and kinetic energy of plasma convection. The particle acceleration arises from the development of field-aligned potential drops of 10–150 kV due to the loss-cone constriction effect along the upward field-aligned currents, causing optical, X-ray and radio emissions. The total number of precipitating electrons during a flare is shown to be of order 10³⁷–10³⁸.     

An alkaline unwinding assay for the detection of DNA damage in aquatic organisms

This paper reports a rapid and facile procedure for obtaining of DNA from small, whole aquatic organisms (fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas) as well as from the liver of another species (bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus) and the subsequent estimation of its double strandedness. DNA was isolated from various tissues by homogenization in a basic pH solution containing detergent followed by differential extraction using organic solvents. Additional purification was accomplished by molecular sieve chromatography. Under defined alkaline unwinding conditions, the amount of double-stranded and single-stranded DNA was determined using the bisbenzimidazole dye Hoechst 33258. The technique was used to detect the occurrence of strand breaks in DNA of fathead minnows chemically exposed to benzo[a]pyrene.     

Effects of salinity, temperature and food type on the uptake and elimination rates of cd, cr, and zn in the asiatic clamcorbicula fluminea

Laboratory radiotracer experiments were conducted to determine assimilation efficiencies (AE) from ingested algal food and oxic sediment particles, uptake rates from the dissolved phase, and the efflux rates of Cd, Cr and Zn in the Asiatic clamCorbicula fluminea. Among three elements, AE from both algal and sediment food was greatest for Cd, followed by Zn and Cr. The AEs of tested elements from algal food(Phaeodactylum tricornutum) were consistently higher than those from sediments at a given salinity and temperature. The influence of salinity (0, 4 and 8 psu) and temperature (5, 13 and 21¼) on the metal AEs was not evident for most tested elements, except Cd AEs from sediment. The rate constant of metal uptake from the dissolved phase (k _u was greatest for Cd, followed by Zn and Cr in freshwater media. However, in saline water, thek _u of Zn were greater than those of Cd. The influx rate of all tested metals increased with temperature. The efflux rate constant was greatest for Cr (0.02 d^-1), followed by Zn (0.010~0.017 d^-1) and Cd (0.006 d^-1). The efflux rate constant for Zn in clam tissues depurated in 0 psu (0.017 d^-1) was faster than that in 8 psu (0.010 d^-1). Overall results showed that the variation of salinity and temperature in estuarine systems can considerably influence the metal bioaccumulation potential in the estuarine clamC. fluminea. The relatively high Cd accumulation capacity ofC. fluminea characterized by the high AE, high dissolved influx rate and low efflux rate, suggested that this clam species can be used as an efficient biomonitor for the Cd contamination in freshwater and estuarine environments.     

A comparison of several wave spectra for the random wave diffraction by a semi-infinite breakwater

A comparison of the diffraction of multidirectional random waves using several selected wave spectrum models is presented in this paper. Six wave spectrum models, Bretschneider, Pierson–Moskowitz, ISSC, ITTC, Mitsuyasu, and JONSWAP spectrum, are considered. A discrete form for each of the given spectrum models is used to specify the incident wave conditions. Analytical solutions based on both the Fresnel integrals and polynomial approximations of the Fresnel integrals and numerical solutions of a boundary integral approach have been used to obtain the two-dimensional wave diffraction by a semi-infinite breakwater at uniform water depth. The diffraction of random waves is based on the cumulative superposition of linear diffraction solution. The results of predicted random wave diffraction for each of the given spectrum models are compared with those of the published physical model presented by Briggs et al. [1995. Wave diffraction around breakwater. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering—ASCE 121(1), 23–35]. Reasonable agreement is obtained in all cases. The effect of the directional spreading function is also examined from the results of the random wave diffraction. Based on these comparisons, the present model for the analysis of various wave spectra is found to be an accurate and efficient tool for predicting the random wave field around a semi-infinite breakwater or inside a harbor of arbitrary geometry in practical applications.     

Nocdap results: On the relationship of extreme waves and currents for design of offshore structures

Simultaneous wind, wave, and current data during 21 storms spanning four winters at Tromsøflaket (230 m depth) were analysed to determine joint probabilities of occurrence. Waves were measured with a Waverider Buoy, winds with a recording anemometer onboard a vessel and currents at up to five depths with Aandera RCM-4 current meters. Measured currents were filtered to separate tidal currents from residual currents. In most of the statistical analyses, the actual current profiles were replaced with a simplified “equivalent” profile (constant above 50 m depth) whose magnitude was chosen to give the same drag load on a single pile as the actual profile when both profiles were combined with wave orbital velocities. The data suggest that the equivalent current is weakly correlated with the wave height. Within the range of the data analysed, an in-line equivalent residual current of 30 cm sec⁻¹ is adequate for design drag force calculations.The data presented here are used to illustrate a procedure for data analysis and are not suitable for use as design criteria.     

Identification of Pb sources in Yellow Sea sediments using stable Pb isotope ratios

Rapid economic developments in East Asian countries have inevitably resulted in environmental degradation in the surrounding seas, and concern for both the environment and protection from pollutants is increasing. Identification of sources of contaminants is essential to environmental pollution management. In this study, the provenance of anthropogenic lead (Pb), a major pollutant of Yellow Sea sediments, was determined for river mouth sediments, including those of the Changjiang, Huanghe, Han, and Geum Rivers, and for age-determined shelf core sediments through the measurement of Pb isotope ratios in the HCl-leached fraction using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MC ICP/MS). Anthropogenic Pb has accumulated in shelf core sediments since 1910, and its isotope ratios were estimated as 0.863–0.866 and 2.119–2.125 for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb, respectively, from the mixing relationships of the two endmembers. River mouth sediments exhibited enough distinction in anthropogenic Pb isotope ratios to be discriminated: 0.874 (2.144) in the Huanghe, 0.856 (2.129) in the Han, 0.857 (2.122) in the Geum, and 0.854 (2.101) in the Changjiang for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb (²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb), respectively. Although isotope ratios of geogenic Pb in sediments dating before 1910 showed narrow ranges (0.842–0.845 and 2.088–2.100 for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb, respectively), distinct isotope ratios in each core permitted source identification of sediments in the Yellow Sea based on geographic locations and the geogenic Pb of each river. By comparing the isotope ratios of the estimated anthropogenic Pb to source-related materials, the provenances of anthropogenic Pb in Chinese river sediments were presumed to be Chinese coal or ore, which is also a major source of atmospheric particulate Pb. The anthropogenic Pb in the shelf core sediments in the northern Yellow Sea originated from northern Chinese cities such as Beijing and Tianjin through atmospheric pathways. Pb isotope ratios indicated that Pb in Korean river sediments was characteristic of local Korean ores.