Biomarkers in sedimentary sulfides of precambrian age

Samples of the Mt Isa formation (Australia, c, 1.5 Ga), and the Shungit formation (U.S.S.R., c. 2.3 Ga) were studied by organic geochemical means. All samples were freed of any low-molecular-weight solvent soluble organic material in order to insure the authenticity of the analysed material. The isolation of biochemical compounds entrapped in sulfides was the major goal of this work.Organic compounds that were entrapped during the early stages of sulfide formation may obviously survive extended periods of time and can be released by a mild hydrogenation of the sulfides. Preliminary investigations of the hydrocarbon fraction indicate n-alkanes, monomethylalkanes, cycloalkanes, and an unknown series of branched alkanes as major constituents. Their distribution patterns show great selectivity with respect to structures and chain lengths of individual compounds. Differences between the hydrogenation reaction product and the sample extract may arise from the release of a different kind of lipid material through dissolution of the sulfides.     

Early latitude observations at the Pulkovo observatory

Pulkovo astrometric observations began in the 1840s using the Repsold transit instrument in the prime vertical and Ertel vertical circle. The first observers on these instruments were W.I. Struve, 1840–1856, and Kh.I. Peters, 1842–1849. In the present work, we collected and analyzed different series of latitude variations from observations made by M.O. Nuren, B. Wanach, A.A. Ivanov, I.N. Bonsdorf, and A.Ya. Orlov. In addition, results are given of investigations of a specific behavior of the Chandler polar motion in this interval, obtained by C. Chandler, Ivanov, Kh. Kimura, Orlov, and N. Sekiguchi. The aim of this paper is to search for and analyze the earliest series of Pulkovo latitudes, in order to evaluate the possibility of their use to study the motion of the pole at the maximum available range of observations. Different methods were used to isolate and analyze the sum of Chandler and annual latitude variations. The annex provides a series of Pulkovo latitude variations for 1840–1848, which may be used to extend latitude variation back to 1840.     

Calibration of the high-pressure cohesive strength meter (CSM)

Coastal erosion is an immense economic and social problem that has been receiving increased attention in recent years. A number of devices have been developed to determine the sediment stability in coastal areas: laboratory and field flumes; a range of different erosion devices; shear vanes and fall cone penetrometers. The cohesive strength meter (CSM) erosion device was developed to determine in situ the temporal and spatial variations in the erosion threshold of muddy intertidal sediments. Technological developments have enabled considerable improvements to be made to the original design over the last 15 years.     

Site effect on vulnerability of high-rise shear wall buildings under near and far field earthquakes

Worldwide experience repeatedly shows that damages in structures caused by earthquakes are highly dependent on site condition and epicentral distance. In this paper, a 21-storey shear wall-structure built in the 1960s in Hong Kong is selected as an example to investigate these two effects. Under various design earthquake intensities and for various site conditions, the fragility curves or damage probability matrix of such building is quantified in terms of the ductility factor, which is estimated from the ratio of storey yield shear to the inter-storey seismic shear. For high-rise buildings, a higher probability of damage is obtained for a softer site condition, and damage is more severe for far field earthquakes than for near field earthquakes. For earthquake intensity of VIII, the probability of complete collapse (P) increases from 1 to 24% for near field earthquakes and from 1 to 41% for far field earthquakes if the building is moved form a rock site to a site consisting a 80 m thick soft clay. For intensity IX, P increases from 6 to 69% for near field earthquake and from 14 to 79% for far field earthquake if the building is again moved form rock site to soft soil site. Therefore, site effect is very important and not to be neglected. Similar site and epicentral effects should also be expected for other types of high-rise structures.     

Spatial analysis weighting algorithm using Voronoi diagrams

Data layers that represent geographical constraints in a multidimensional GIS model must be appropriately weighted to effectively account for the diversity as well as the functional and spatial interrelationships between the constraints. This paper presents a spatial analysis weighting algorithm (SAWA) using Voronoi diagrams. The basic functions of the SAWA are defined so that the spatialization of weights is done according to two approaches: a global spatialization method based on the statistical distribution of the original data and a contextual approach where neighbourhood defined by Voronoi diagrams is integrated into the weighting functions. Different simulations on artificial and real maps applied to the problem of shortest path optimisation are analysed. The results show that the effective integration of the spatial dimension in a weighting process is not only possible but also improves the optimisation of shortest paths. Research is continuing to improve the contextual phase of the algorithm.     

Searches for very high energy gamma rays from blazars with CANGAROO-III telescope in 2005-2009

We have searched for very high energy (VHE) gamma rays from four blazars using the CANGAROO-III imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope. We report the results of the observations of H 2356-309, PKS 2155-304, PKS 0537-441, and 3C 279, performed from 2005 to 2009, applying a new analysis to suppress the effects of the position dependence of Cherenkov images in the field of view. No significant VHE gamma ray emission was detected from any of the four blazars. The GeV gamma-ray spectra of these objects were obtained by analyzing Fermi/LAT archival data. Wide range (radio to VHE gamma-ray bands) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) including CANGAROO-III upper limits, GeV gamma-ray spectra, and archival data, even though they are non-simultaneous, are discussed using a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model in combination with a external Compton (EC) radiation. The HBLs (H 2356-309 and PKS 2155-304) can be explained by a simple SSC model, and PKS 0537-441 and 3C 279 are well modeled by a combination of SSC and EC model. We find a consistency with the blazar sequence in terms of strength of magnetic field and component size.     

Variable stars in the field of open cluster NGC 6819

We report on the discovery of 25 variable stars plus 13 suspected variables found in the field of the open cluster NGC 6819. The stars were identified from time-series photometric data obtained on the Isaac Newton Telescope, La Palma, during two observing runs covering the 19 nights between 1999 June  22–30  and 1999 July  22–31  . The variables found include 12 eclipsing binaries with an additional three suspected, nine BY Draconis systems, plus four variables of other types, including one star believed to be a Cepheid. Three of the 15 eclipsing binaries are believed to be cluster members. Details of a further 10 suspected variable stars are also included.