ICT-Based Remediation with Knowledge Information Management for Contaminated Groundwater

ICT-based remediation with knowledge information management is presented for the pump-and-treat method of contaminated groundwater. The usefulness of ICT is discussed for monitoring contaminants and groundwater level, transferring data between the remediation well and the remote remediation center, and decision support analysis for controlling the remediation well. A prototype system was developed and applied to field measurement. The prototype system performed reliably for ~600 days. As a decision support analysis, a fuzzy inference model is discussed. The membership functions were determined based on simple reliability theory. The effectiveness of the proposed method was assessed by numerical simulations. The simulation results suggest that the proposed method is likely to reduce the pumped quantity compared to PID control or an engineer’s empirical knowledge. Analysis results are also shown for cancer risks from contaminants and ground settlement risks due to excess pumping up of groundwater.     

Performance-based analysis and design for internal stability of MSE walls

ABSTRACT

Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls must be designed with adequate margins of safety against internal stability failure described by tensile strength and pullout limit states. Probabilities of failure (or reliability index) will vary strongly with the accuracy of the underlying models that appear in limit state performance functions. In this paper, prior work by the authors and co-workers on this topic is reviewed. Relative performance is explored in the context of the reliability (or probability of failure) of steel and polymeric reinforcing elements in MSE walls using limit state performance functions with load and resistance models having different accuracy.     

Regional landslide susceptibility following the Mid NIIGATA prefecture earthquake in 2004 with NEWMARK’S sliding block analysis

This study proposes a calculation method for regional earthquake-induced landslide susceptibility that applies the permanent seismic displacement calculated using Newmark’s sliding block analysis with estimated vertical and horizontal seismic motions. The proposed method takes into account the direction of slope failure based on the specified slope azimuth. The study results reveal the importance of predominant slope failure direction using a simple infinite slope model subjected to earthquakes. The target area for the earthquake-induced landslide susceptibility analysis constituted a region of more than 2000 km² surrounding the epicenter of the Mid Niigata prefecture earthquake in 2004. An earthquake-induced landslide susceptibility map was created based on the proposed method with a specific combination of friction angle and cohesion, and the resulting data were compared to the landslide inventory map produced from aerial photographs following the Mid Niigata prefecture earthquake in 2004. To create the susceptibility map, geomaterial cohesion values for the slope were back-calculated to satisfy the minimum safety factor in the static state. This study also proposes a calculation method for the prediction rate and determines the back-calculated strength parameters of geomaterials. The proposed regional landslide susceptibility map will be useful for understanding potential slope failure locations and magnitude of damage, as well as for planning field investigation and preventing secondary disasters immediately after earthquakes.     

Pulsational instability of accretion disks around compact objects

Linear analysis shows that radial oscillations in accretion disks around compact object are overstable to axisymmetric perturbation under a variety of conditions. Furthermore, numerical simulations confirm that the radial oscillations induce quasi-periodic modulations of the disk luminosity. The disk oscillation model may be responsible for quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) observed in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), cataclysmic variables (CVs), and other compact objects.     

Age of the Solomon Sea Basin from magnetic lineations

Magnetic anomalies measured in the central to western half of the Solomon Sea, when considered with other magnetic data, reveal the existence of linear patterns. Magnetic lineation anomaly models of the Cenozoic, 65 to 0 Ma, suggest that an age between 34 and 28 Ma and a half-rate spreading speed of 5.8 cm/yr for the northern flank of a former spreading center best fits our present magnetic data in the Solomon Sea Basin. Heat flow and bathymetry data support this preferred model.     

Effects of raised CO2 concentration on the egg production rate and early development of two marine copepods (Acartia steueri and Acartia erythraea)

Direct injection of CO(2) into the deep ocean is receiving increasing attention as a way to mitigate increasing atmospheric CO(2) concentration. To assess the potential impact of the environmental change associated with CO(2) sequestration in the ocean, we studied the lethal and sub-lethal effects of raised CO(2) concentration in seawater on adult and early stage embryos of marine planktonic copepods. We found that the reproduction rate and larval development of copepods are very sensitive to increased CO(2) concentration. The hatching rate tended to decrease, and nauplius mortality rate to increase, with increased CO(2) concentration. These results suggest that the marine copepod community will be negatively affected by the disposal of CO(2). This could decrease on the carbon export flux to the deep ocean and change the biological pump. Clearly, further studies are needed to determine whether ocean CO(2) injection is an acceptable strategy to reduce anthropogenic CO(2).     

Abundance of deep-sea meiobenthos off Sanriku,Northeastern Japan

Abundance of deep-sea meiobenthos off Sanriku, Northeastern Japan was studied quantitatively using sediment samples collected by box corers or an Okean grab. Sampling stations were established along a line transect which covered areas from off the mouth of Otsuchi Bay to the abyssal plain of the western Pacific crossing over the Japan Trench (water depths from 120 m to 7460 m). Abundance of meiobenthos decreased linearly with water depth down to 1503 m and became constant at stations deeper than 4130 m. Nematodes predominated over the other taxonomic groups at all stations. An equation to estimate meiofaunal abundance from several sediment characteristics, which was previously proposed by the first author based on data from tropical and subtropical regions of the western Pacific, was applied to the present boreal area. At one station where the Okean grab was used, the estimated value was 4.7 times more than the observed one. Except for the station, however, observed values fell within the confident range of estimated values. The estimated values were always higher than the observed ones at boxcorer stations, whereasvice versa at Okean-grab stations. These results suggested that keen attention is necessary in selecting sampling gear for ecological studies of deep-sea meiobenthos.     

Lethality of increasing CO2 levels on deep-sea copepods in the western North Pacific

The first CO₂ exposure experiments on several species of pelagic copepods inhabiting surface and deep layers in the western North Pacific were conducted. Living organisms were collected from two layers between the surface and 1,500 m between latitudes of 11 and 44°N, and they were exposed aboard ship to various pCO₂ up to about 98,000 μatm. Mortality of copepods from both shallow and deep layers in subarctic to subtropical regions increased with increasing pCO₂ and exposure time. Deep-living copepods showed higher tolerance to pCO₂ than shallow-living copepods. Furthermore, deep-living copepods from subarctic and transitional regions had higher tolerances than the subtropical copepods. The higher tolerances of the deep-living copepods from subarctic and transitional regions may be due to the adaptation to the natural pCO₂ conditions in the subarctic ocean.     

Convergent tectonics in the Huon Peninsula region,Papua New Guinea

The anticlinal nappe which forms the Huon Peninsula and adjacent ranges extends offshore as the Huon Ridge. The frontal thrust of the nappe is the Ramu-Markham Fault (onshore) and a deformation front along the line of the Markham Canyon (offshore). The timing and geometry of the Finisterre arc-continent collision is controversial, and the origin of the Finsch Deep is unresolved.