Sloped multi‐roller isolation devices for seismic protection of equipment and facilities

The rolling motion of mutually orthogonal rollers respectively sandwiched between two bearing plates in which one or both have V‐shaped sloping surfaces makes the sloped rolling‐type isolation device have an excellent in‐plane seismic isolation performance. In this study, the sloped rolling type isolation device in which a single roller moves between two V‐shaped sloping surfaces along each principle horizontal direction is refined by incorporating multi‐roller, built‐in damping, and pounding prevention mechanisms. The associated dynamic behavior is further clarified, and a simplified twin‐flag hysteretic model, which can be easily applied in most commercial computational tools is then proposed. Seismic simulation tests on the refined isolation devices (i.e. the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices) with different design parameters such as sloping angles of bearing plates and built‐in damping capabilities, together with a raised floor system by employing the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices, were conducted. Not only is the efficiency of the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices in seismically protecting the important objects, but also the practicability and accuracy of the proposed simplified numerical model in predicting the seismic responses of the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices is experimentally verified. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metrics for agent observers

We present two metrics (utility functions based on observational requirements) for specifying agent behaviour in the eSTAR autonomous observing system. Together, these metrics provide an agent with tools to analyse the phase coverage and interconnectivity properties of partial datasets, and to modify the subsequent observing strategy in order to fulfill the astronomical constraints expressed by the astronomer. We discuss the behaviour of the metrics for evenly sampled and randomly sampled datasets, and present a use case that demonstrates how the metrics could be applied in an agent‐based observing scenario. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Astronomical network event and observation notification

Networks are becoming a key element in most current and all future, telescope and observatory projects. The ability to easily and efficiently pass observation data, alert data and instrumentation requests between distributed systems could enable science as never before. However, any effective large scale or meta‐network of astronomical resources will require a common communication format or development resources will have to be continuously dedicated to creating interpreters. The necessary elements of any astronomy communication can be easily identified, efficiently described and rigidly formatted so that both robotic and human operations can use the same data. In this paper we will explore the current state of notification, what notification requirements are essential to create a successful standard and present a standard now under development by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA), called the VOEvent. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A protocol standard for heterogeneous telescope networks

The scientific need for a standard protocol permitting the exchange of generic observing services is rapidly escalating as more observatories adopt service observing as a standard operating mode and as more remote or robotic telescopes are brought on‐line. To respond to this need, we present the results of the first interoperability workshop for Heterogeneous Telescope Networks (HTN) held in Exeter. We present a draft protocol, designed to be independent of the specific instrumentation and software that controls the remote and/or robotic telescopes, allowing these telescopes to appear to the user with a unified interface despite any underlying architectural differences. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Spatial and temporal patterns in bacterial abundance, production and viral infection in a temporarily open/closed southern African estuary

The spatial and temporal patterns in bacterial abundance, biomass, production, nanoflagellate abundance and the loss of bacterial production due to viral lysis were investigated in a temporarily open/closed estuary along the eastern seaboard of southern Africa over the period May 2006 to April 2007. Bacterial abundance, biomass and production ranged between 1.00 × 10⁹ and 4.93 × 10⁹ cells l⁻¹, 32.43 and 108.59 μg C l⁻¹ and 0.01 and 1.99 μg C l⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively. With a few exceptions there were no significant spatial patterns in the values (P > 0.05). Bacterial abundance, biomass and production, however, demonstrated a distinct temporal pattern with the lowest values consistently recorded during the winter months. Bacterial dynamics showed no effect of mouth opening events. Nanoflagellate and bacterial abundances were significantly correlated to one another (P < 0.05) suggesting a strong predator-prey relationship. The frequency of visibly infected bacterial cells and the number of virus particles within each bacterial cell during the study demonstrated no significant temporal or spatial pattern (P > 0.05) and ranged from 0.5 to 6.1% and 12.0 to 37.5 virus particles per bacterium, respectively. Viral infection and lysis was thus a constant source of bacterial mortality throughout the year. The estimated percentage of bacterial production removed by viral lysis ranged between 7.8 and 88.9% (mean = 30.3%) of the total which suggests that viral lysis represents a very important source of bacterial mortality during the study.     

Reported sulfate mineral in lunar meteorite PCA 02007 is impact glass

A grain of light‐blue sulfate material was reported in the lunar highlands regolith meteorite PCA 02007 (Satterwhite and Righter 2013). Allocated grains of that material are, in fact, aluminosilicate glass with a chemical composition like that of the bulk meteorite and other lunar highlands regoliths. The calcium sulfate detected in PCA 02007 was likely a surface coating, and reasonably of Antarctic (not lunar) origin.     

塔里木地块二叠纪古地磁结果及二叠纪中国大陆的重建

在塔里木盆地西北缘下二叠统的三个剖面中采集的标本,获得了两个古地磁极:一个获自灰岩剖面(λ=65°N,φ=163°E,K=128,A_(?5)=4°,n=11).另一个获自两个玄武岩剖面(λ=55°N,φ=172°E,K=66,A_(95)=4°,n=21).结合原先已发表的数据,塔里木地块二叠纪古地磁场为λ=61°N,φ=177°E.K=98.A_(95)=9°,N=4.塔里木地块古纬度比中朝、扬子地块高得多,认为这些地块是分开的大陆地块.晚二叠世.塔里木、西伯利亚、中朝、扬子地块之间发生过重要的相对运动表明.地质上推断的晚古生代碰撞、并合作用在中亚及东亚的复合构造演变才刚刚开始.     

紫硫镍矿交代镍黄铁矿的水热反应机理及动力学

本工作首次在实验室条件下对浅生区紫硫镍矿(Ni,Fe)3S4交代镍黄铁矿(Ni,Fe)9S8水热反应的机理及动力学进行了研究。起始反应矿物采用高纯自然镍黄铁矿,合成纯镍黄铁矿或合成镍黄铁矿-磁黄铁矿集合体。反应pH值采用0.2M醋酸-醋酸纳缓冲溶液控制在3～5的范围内。反应进程由X-射线衍射物相定量分析及扫描电镜观察进行跟踪。结果表明,当反应温度恒定在80℃时,交代20(4)%的镍黄铁矿需792h。相同条件下加入少量H2S可将反应速率提高一倍。当反应在125℃饱和蒸汽压水热环境下进行时,完全交代纯镍黄铁矿需约168h。此过程由于磁黄铁矿的存在而被催化,交代集合体中的镍黄铁矿仅需68h,进一步反应磁黄铁矿被交代成白铁矿。磁黄铁矿的催化作用可能源于溶解产生的微裂纹加速了流体的传质过程。当反应温度升高至145℃时,速率反而下降,不遵循Arrhenius经验规律。动力学分析得80℃速率常数介于5.8×10-8～3.0×10-7/s之间,125℃及145℃速率常数分别介于2.8×10-6～2.08×10-5/s及1×10-6～5.1×10-6/s之间,远高于同温度下固相扩散反应的速率常数,表明该反应在地质时标上为一快速反应。此外,用背散射电子显微技术对矿物表面形貌进行了分析,发现交代产物紫硫镍矿具有颗粒细小及存在微裂纹等特征,与自然界浅生矿床中的紫硫镍矿非常相似;电镜实验还表明该交代作用是一个典型的耦合溶解-再沉淀反应。其耦合机制的驱动力可能与反应界面处微空隙对流体饱和度的控制有关。