Determination of perchlorate and iodide concentrations in edible seaweeds

Perchlorate and iodide concentrations were determined in brown (Undaria pinnatifida and Laminaria japonica) and red (Porphyra sp.) edible seaweeds, which are commonly consumed by Korean people, with the use of ion chromatography, coupled with a tandem mass spectrometer. Seaweeds (i.e., good sources of iodine) are among the most important plant life in the ocean and commonly consumed as food and nutritional supplement in South Korea. All seaweed samples were purchased from different regions in South Korea. The detected concentrations of perchlorate were as follows: 19.7–620.7 μg kg^?1 dry weight (n = 11, mean concentration = 149.2 μg kg^?1 dry weight) for L. japonica and 7.3–21.7 μg kg^?1 dry weight (mean concentration = 10.6 μg kg^?1 dry weight) for U. pinnatifida. Of the 11 samples of Porphyra sp., only 1 sample showed 6.7 μg kg^?1 dry weight perchlorate. The concentrations of iodide in all seaweed samples varied from 0.44 to 6,800 mg kg^?1 dry weight. L. japonica samples (n = 11) had significantly higher iodide concentrations, with a mean of 5,261 mg kg^?1 dry weight. The bioconcentration factor values for perchlorate and iodide in the three different seaweeds varied widely and showed similar variation trends. The trend for perchlorate and iodide was Porphyra sp. < U. pinnatifida < L. japonica. The results have provided growing evidence that perchlorate frequently occurs in food products.     

Partitioning of dioxins (PCDDs/Fs) in ambient air at urban residential locations

In this work, 17-polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/furan (PCDD/Fs) isomers were measured in ambient air at four urban sites in Seoul, Korea (from February to June 2009). The concentrations of their summed values (ΣPCDD/Fs) across all four sites ranged from 1,947 (271 WHO₀₅ TEQ) (Jong Ro) to 2,600 (349 WHO₀₅ TEQ) fg/m³ (Yang Jae) with a mean of 2,125 (± 317) fg/m³ (292 WHO₀₅ TEQ fg/m³). The sum values for the two isomer groups of ΣPCDD and ΣPCDF were 527 (30 WHO₀₅ TEQ) and 1,598 (263 WHO₀₅ TEQ) fg/m³, respectively. The concentration profile of individual species was dominated by the 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF isomer, which contributed approximately 36 % of the ΣPCDD/Fs value. The observed temporal trends in PCDD/F concentrations were characterized by relative enhancement in the winter and spring. The relative contribution of different sources, when assessed by principal component analysis, is explained by the dominance of vehicular emissions along with coal (or gas) burning as the key source of ambient PCDD/Fs in the residential areas studied.     

Pullout Response of Uniaxial Geogrid in Tire Shred–Sand Mixtures

Use of tire shred–soil mixtures as backfill materials in mechanically stabilized earth walls has several advantages over other backfill materials: (1) good drainage, (2) high shear strength, and (3) low compacted unit weight. This paper presents the results of laboratory pullout tests performed on uniaxial geogrid embedded in tire shred–sand mixtures. The effects of tire shred size, tire shred–sand mixing ratio and confining pressure on the interaction between the geogrid and tire shred–sand mixtures are evaluated. Three sizes of tire shreds are considered: tire chips (with 9.5 mm nominal size), tire shreds 50-to-100 mm long and tire shreds 100-to-200 mm in length, with mixing ratios of 0, 12, 25 and 100 % of tire shreds in the mixtures (by weight). Based on compaction testing of a number of mixtures, the optimal mixing proportion of tire shreds and sand was found to lie between 25/75 and 30/70 (by weight of tire shred and sand); this is equivalent to approximately 40/60 and 50/50, respectively, by volume of tire shreds and sand. The pullout resistance of a geogrid embedded in tire shred–sand mixtures is significantly higher than that of the same geogrid embedded in tire shreds only. The size of the tire shreds has negligible effect on the pullout resistance of a geogrid embedded in mixtures prepared with either low (12/88 mix) or high (100/0 mix) tire shred content. However, when the 25/75 mixture is used, greater geogrid pullout resistance was obtained for the geogrid embedded in tire chip–sand mixtures than in tire shred–sand mixtures.     

Estimation of the Roll Hydrodynamic Moment Model of a Ship by Using the System Identification Method and the Free Running Model Test

When a fast container ship or a naval vessel turns, accompanying roll motions occur. This roll effect must be considered in the horizontal equations of the motion of the ship to predict the maneuverability of the ship properly. In this paper, a new method for determining a model structure of the hydrodynamic roll moment acting on a ship and for estimating the hydrodynamic coefficients is proposed. The method utilizes a system identification technique with the data from sea trial tests or from free running model (FRM) tests. To obtain motion data that is applied to the proposed algorithm, an FRM of a large container ship was developed. Using this model ship, standard maneuvering tests were carried out on a small body of water out of doors. A hydrodynamic roll moment model was constructed utilizing the data from turning circle tests and a 20-20 zig-zag test. This was then confirmed through a 10-10 zig-zag test. It was concluded that a model structure of the hydrodynamic roll moment model could be established without difficulty through a system identification method and FRM tests.     

Performance analysis of digital acoustic communication in a shallowwater channel

The major obstacle to underwater acoustic communication is the interference of multi-path signals due to surface and bottom reflections. High speed acoustic transmission over a shallow water channel characterized by small grazing angles presents formidable difficulties. The reflection losses associated with such small angles are low, causing large amplitudes in multi-path signals. In this paper we propose a simple but effective model for multi-path interference, which is then used to assess the performance of a digital communication system operating in a shallow water channel. The results indicate that transmission rates in excess of 8 kbits/s are possible over a distance of 13 km and channel depth of only 20 meters. Such a system offers improved performance in applications such as data collection from underwater sensors     

Acoustic bubble counting technique using sound speed extracted fromsound attenuation

Sound attenuation has been solely used to estimate bubble size distributions of bubbly water in the conventional acoustic bubble sizing methods. These conventional methods are useful for the void fraction around 10^-6 or lower. However, the change of compressibility in the bubbly water also should be considered in bubble sizing for the void fraction around 10^-5 or higher. Recently the sound speed as well as sound attenuation was considered for acoustic bubble size estimation in bubbly water. In this paper, the sound speed estimated from sound attenuation in bubbly water by an iterative method is used for a bubble counting. This new iterative inverse bubble sizing technique is numerically tested for bubble distributions of single-size Gaussian, and power-law functions. The numerical simulation results are in agreement with the given bubble distributions even for the high void fractions of 10^-4-10^-3. It suggests that the iterative inverse technique can be a very powerful tool for practical use in acoustic bubble counting in the ocean     

Quantitative assessment of inundation risks from physical contributors associated with future storm surges: a case study of Typhoon Maemi (2003)

Natural Hazards - Future storm-induced inundation risks were assessed by performing storm surge modeling based on Typhoon Maemi (2003) under the generic climate change scenarios proposed by IPCC...     

Particle shape effect on thermal conductivity and shear wave velocity in sands

This study presents the correlations between quantified shape parameters and geotechnical properties for nine sand specimens. Four shape parameters, sphericity, convexity, elongation and slenderness, were quantified with two-dimensional microscopic images with the aid of image processing techniques. An instrumented oedometer cell is used to measure compressibility, thermal conductivity and shear wave velocity during loading, unloading and reloading stages. As the particle shape inherently determines the initial loose packing condition, initial void ratio and shape parameters are well correlated with compressibility. The applied stress in soils increases the interparticle contact area and contact quality; round particles tend to achieve higher thermal conductivity and shear wave velocity during stress-induced volume change. Multiple linear regression is implemented to capture the relative contributions of involved variables, revealing that the thermal evolution is governed by the initial packing density and particle shape. The experimental observations underscore the predominant effect that particle shape has on the geomechanical and physical properties upon stress-induced soil behavior.     

Forward induced seismic hazard assessment: application to a synthetic seismicity catalogue from hydraulic stimulation modelling

The M _w 3.2-induced seismic event in 2006 due to fluid injection at the Basel geothermal site in Switzerland was the starting point for an ongoing discussion in Europe on the potential risk of hydraulic stimulation in general. In particular, further development of mitigation strategies of induced seismic events of economic concern became a hot topic in geosciences and geoengineering. Here, we present a workflow to assess the hazard of induced seismicity in terms of occurrence rate of induced seismic events. The workflow is called Forward Induced Seismic Hazard Assessment (FISHA) as it combines the results of forward hydromechanical-numerical models with methods of time-dependent probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. To exemplify FISHA, we use simulations of four different fluid injection types with various injection parameters, i.e. injection rate, duration and style of injection. The hydromechanical-numerical model applied in this study represents a geothermal reservoir with preexisting fractures where a routine of viscous fluid flow in porous media is implemented from which flow and pressure driven failures of rock matrix and preexisting fractures are simulated, and corresponding seismic moment magnitudes are computed. The resulting synthetic catalogues of induced seismicity, including event location, occurrence time and magnitude, are used to calibrate the magnitude completeness M _c and the parameters a and b of the frequency-magnitude relation. These are used to estimate the time-dependent occurrence rate of induced seismic events for each fluid injection scenario. In contrast to other mitigation strategies that rely on real-time data or already obtained catalogues, we can perform various synthetic experiments with the same initial conditions. Thus, the advantage of FISHA is that it can quantify hazard from numerical experiments and recommend a priori a stimulation type that lowers the occurrence rate of induced seismic events. The FISHA workflow is rather general and not limited to the hydromechanical-numerical model used in this study and can therefore be applied to other fluid injection models.     

Stability Study of a Tide Embankment Subjected to Sea Level Variations Using Centrifugal Model Tests

To investigate the behavior of dredged-sea-sand fill compacted inside tide embankments with a damaged geosynthetic mat, centrifugal model tests and numerical simulation were conducted, both considering variations in sea level. The results from the three centrifugal model tests demonstrate that the subsidence of the dredged-sea-sand fill inside tide embankments with a damaged geosynthetic mat was strongly affected by the loss of dredged-sea-sand into the filter layers with large particles and a decrease in the bearing capacity of the filter layers with small particles. In addition, a comparison of the test and simulation results confirms that the loss of sand into the filter layer and the subsidence of the dredged-sea-sand fill were well reproduced by the numerical simulation.