Comparative study of Langmuir probe characteristics in different ionospheric conditions

This paper examines the role played by the high energy tail of the electron distribution function on Langmuir probe characteristics. A model is developed to derive the mean energy and the density of the hyperthermal electrons from probe characteristics for two ionospheric rocket flights involving different plasma conditions. The hyperthermal electrons are shown to influence the electron temperature measurement even if they constitute only a small fraction of the total electron concentration. The influence of the geomagnetic field, the collisions and the velocity of the vehicle on the probe data are also examined.     

Finite-element computation of wave impact load due to a violent sloshing

A nonlinear sloshing problem is numerically simulated. During excessive sloshing, the sloshing-induced impact load can cause a critical damage on the tank structure. Recently the problem becomes an important research topic in LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) Tanker and FPSO (Floating Production Storage Offloading) design. In this study, the wave impact load on the structure is obtained numerically by imposing the exact nonlinear free surface conditions and compared with that predicted by Morison's formula. As a theoretical model, a three-dimensional free surface flow in a tank is formulated in the scope of potential flow theory with the exact nonlinear free-surface conditions. A finite-element method based on Hamilton's principle is employed as a numerical method. The problem is treated as an initial-value problem. The nonlinear problem is numerically solved through an iterative scheme at each time step.     

Effects of dechlorinated seawater on fish behavior

Behavioral responses to chemically dechlorinated seawater were studied using two species of marine fish associated with power plant discharge areas off Southern California. Opaleye (Girella nigricans) neither avoided nor were attracted to chlorinated seawater containing 0·1 mg/liter total residual oxidants (TRO) which had been dechlorinated using equimolar or excess sodium thiosulfate. Blue-banded goby (Lythrypnus dalli) did not avoid dechlorinated seawater initially containing 0·1 or 0·9–1·0 mg/liter TRO. Previously it has been shown that opaleye avoided chlorinated seawater with oxidant concentrations of 0·1 mg/liter and blue-banded gobies avoided 0·9–1·0 mg/liter TRO. Elimination of chlorine-produced oxidants by thiosulphate dechlorination resulted in 100% survival in both species. The toxicological implications of exposure to dechlorinated seawater are discussed.     

Statistical analysis of main and interaction effects during the removal of BTEX mixtures in batch conditions, using wastewater treatment plant sludge microbes

Biodegradation has proved to be a versatile technique to remediate benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene mixtures in contaminated soil and groundwater. In this study, a mixed microbial culture obtained from a wastewater treatment plant was used to degrade liquid phase ethyl benzene and xylene, at initial concentrations varying between 15 to 75 mg/l. Experiments were conducted according to the 2^k?1 fractional factorial design to identify the main and interaction effects of parameters and their influence on biodegradation of individual ethyl benzene and xylene compounds in mixtures. The removal efficiencies of these compounds varied between 2 to 90% depending on the concentration of other compounds and also on their interaction effects. A statistical interpretation of the results was done based on the Fishers variance ratio (F) and probability (P) values. Though all the main effects were found significant (P < 0.05) at the 5% confidence level, the interactions between benzene and toluene and benzene and xylene concentrations were also found to be statistically significant and play a major role in affecting the total ethyl benzene and xylene removal.     

Solar and anthropogenic imprints on Lake Masoko (southern Tanzania) during the last 500 years

The Masoko crater-lake in southern Tanzania provides a continuous record of environmental changes covering the last 500 years. Multi-proxy studies were performed on a 52 cm sediment core retrieved from the deepest part of the lake. Magnetic, organic carbon, geochemical proxies and pollen assemblages indicate a dry climate during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (AD 1550–1850), confirming that the LIA in eastern Africa resulted in marked and synchronous hydrological changes. However, the direction of response varies between different African lakes (low versus high lake-levels), indicating strong regional contrasts that prevent the clear identification of climate trends over eastern Africa at this time. Inferred changes in Masoko lake-levels closely resemble the record of solar activity cycles, indicating a possible control of solar activity on the climate in this area. This observation supports previous results from East African lakes, and extends this relationship southward. Finally, anthropogenic impact is observed in the Masoko sediments during the last 60 years, suggesting that human disturbance significantly affected this remote basin during colonial and post-colonial times.     

Estimation of Geological Attributes from a Well Log: An Application of Hidden Markov Chains

Geophysical well logs used in petroleum exploration consist of measurements of physical properties (such as radioactivity, density, and acoustic velocity) that are digitally recorded at a fixed interval (typically half a foot) along the length of the exploratory well. The measurements are informative of the unobserved rock type alternations along the well, which is critical for the assessment of petroleum reservoirs. The well log data that are analyzed here are from a North Sea petroleum reservoir where two distinct strata have been identified from large scale seismic data. We apply a hidden Markov chain model to infer properties of the rock type alternations, separately for each stratum. The hidden Markov chain uses Dirichlet prior distributions for the Markov transition probabilities between rock types. The well log measurements, conditional on the unobserved rock types, are modeled using Gaussian distributions. Our analysis provides likelihood estimates of the parameters of the Dirichlet prior and the parameters of the measurement model. For fixed values of the parameter estimates we calculate the posterior distributions for the rock type transition probabilities, given the well log measurement data. We then propagate the model parameter uncertainty into the posterior distributions using resampling from the maximum likelihood model. The resulting distributions can be used to characterize the two reservoir strata and possible differences between them. We believe that our approach to modeling and analysis is novel and well suited to the problem. Our approach has elements in common with empirical Bayes methods in that unspecified parameters are estimated using marginal likelihoods. Additionally, we propagate the parameter uncertainty into the final posterior distributions.     

Comparison of climate model results with European vegetation and permafrost during oxygen isotope stage three

Oxygen isotope stage 3 (OIS3), an interstade between approximately 60,000 and 25,000 yr B.P., presents an ideal opportunity to compare high-resolution climate simulations with the geologic record. To facilitate this comparison, the results of a mesoscale climate model (RegCM2) embedded in the GENESIS GCM are utilized to drive a vegetation model (BIOME 3.5). The BIOME output is then compared with OIS3 compilations derived from pollen. The simulated biomes agree well with the pollen-based biomes in southern Europe; however, disagreements occur in the northern part of the domain. The most striking mismatch involves the distribution of tundra. The models fail to have tundra extend to its observed position as far south as 50°N in central Europe during OIS3. The model also fails to have permafrost extend southward to its observed position between 50°N and 55°N in western Europe during OIS3. A variety of sensitivity experiments are performed to investigate these mismatches. These experiments demonstrate the importance of annual and summer temperatures and the length of the winter season in creating improved matches between the model results and the inferred distributions of vegetation and permafrost in northern Europe.