Generalised formulation of composite filters and their application to earthquake engineering test systems

This paper addresses the problem of generating unmeasured kinetic data—and/or providing improvements in existing data—for the enhancement of performance characteristics of earthquake engineering test systems, such as shaking tables, reaction walls and other custom‐made test rigs. The approach relies upon the use of composite filters (CF), a method of data fusion that was originally conceived via transfer function formulation. The current work generalises the CF concept and extends its formulation into the state‐space domain, thereby providing a wider basis for application to test systems and their controllers, including those of a multivariable (coupled, multi‐axis) nature. Comparative simulation studies of shaking table control are presented that demonstrate the design techniques for state‐space CF and also their effectiveness for signal synthesis, noise suppression and performance improvement. Specific examples include the use of CF for displacement demand signal generation, velocity feedback generation and acceleration control. In each case, the essential principles behind CF—output signals with zero bias and zero drift—are consistently upheld. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cloud drop spectra at different levels and with respect to cloud thickness and rain

Measurements on drop size were made in cumulus clouds over Pune (inland region) during the summer monsoon seasons. In this paper, the measurements of the cloud drop spectra made in non-raining clouds at different levels and for different thickness have been studied. Also, those on the days with rain and with no rain (the rain being observed within the clouds) have been compared. The average spectra broadened with height. The concentration of drops >50 μm (N_L), liquid water content (LWC), mean volume diameter (MVD) and dispersion increased with height. The concentration of drops <20 μm (N_S) and total concentration (N_T) decreased with height. The spectra were broader, while N_S and N_T are smaller and the other parameters are greater for thicker clouds as compared to those for thinner. The spectra were broader, while N_S and N_T are smaller and the other parameters are greater on the days with rain with respect to those on the days with no rain. The distributions were bimodal at higher levels, for thicker clouds and on the days with rain, while they were unimodal at lower levels, for thinner clouds and on the days with no rain. The variations of the cloud drop spectra, preceding rain, at initial stage of rain and following rain are discussed.     

Policy and implementation in rural planning

Although often critical of the results achieved by rural planners, research by geographers and others has for some time been constrained by an inability to isolate the precise impacts of planning procedures on rural areas. The notions of a technically solvable ‘implementation problem’ and a politically complex ‘policy problem’ are confronted here, and acknowledgement of the latter directs research into the realms of decision-making and policy-implementation iteration in rural areas. Key themes in the understanding of these matters are those of central-local state relations, inter-agency relations and public-private sector relations, all of which should figure prominently in any conceptualisation of policymaking and implementation in rural areas. One final factor which invites conceptual clarification is that of the specificity of rurality as a policy-moulding phenomenon. The idea is introduced of a ‘rural dimension’ which presents a spatial facade to aspatial structures and processes.     

Reinterpreting the Importance of Oxygen‐Based Biodegradation in Chloroethene‐Contaminated Groundwater

Chlororespiration is common in shallow aquifer systems under conditions nominally identified as anoxic. Consequently, chlororespiration is a key component of remediation at many chloroethene‐contaminated sites. In some instances, limited accumulation of reductive dechlorination daughter products is interpreted as evidence that natural attenuation is not adequate for site remediation. This conclusion is justified when evidence for parent compound (tetrachloroethene, PCE, or trichloroethene, TCE) degradation is lacking. For many chloroethene‐contaminated shallow aquifer systems, however, nonconservative losses of the parent compounds are clear but the mass balance between parent compound attenuation and accumulation of reductive dechlorination daughter products is incomplete. Incomplete mass balance indicates a failure to account for important contaminant attenuation mechanisms and is consistent with contaminant degradation to nondiagnostic mineralization products like CO₂. While anoxic mineralization of chloroethene compounds has been proposed previously, recent results suggest that oxygen‐based mineralization of chloroethenes also can be significant at dissolved oxygen concentrations below the currently accepted field standard for nominally anoxic conditions. Thus, reassessment of the role and potential importance of low concentrations of oxygen in chloroethene biodegradation are needed, because mischaracterization of operant biodegradation processes can lead to expensive and ineffective remedial actions. A modified interpretive framework is provided for assessing the potential for chloroethene biodegradation under different redox conditions and the probable role of oxygen in chloroethene biodegradation.     

A community-wide intercomparison exercise for the determination of dissolved iron in seawater

The first large-scale international intercomparison of analytical methods for the determination of dissolved iron in seawater was carried out between October 2000 and December 2002. The exercise was conducted as a rigorously “blind” comparison of 7 analytical techniques by 24 international laboratories. The comparison was based on a large volume (700 L), filtered surface seawater sample collected from the South Atlantic Ocean (the “IRONAGES” sample), which was acidified, mixed and bottled at sea. Two 1-L sample bottles were sent to each participant. Integrity and blindness were achieved by having the experiment designed and carried out by a small team, and overseen by an independent data manager. Storage, homogeneity and time-series stability experiments conducted over 2.5 years showed that inter-bottle variability of the IRONAGES sample was good (< 7%), although there was a decrease in iron concentration in the bottles over time (0.8–0.5 nM) before a stable value was observed. This raises questions over the suitability of sample acidification and storage.     

A multi‐stock,length‐based assessment model for New Zealand rock lobster (Jasus Edwardsii)

We describe a multi‐stock, length‐based Bayesian assessment model for New Zealand spiny lobster (Jasus edwardsii) fisheries. This model allows simultaneous modelling of two or more stocks with a mixture of common and stock‐specific parameters: recruitment is always stock‐specific, but any other parameter can be specified as either common or stock‐specific. Common parameters are estimated from a wider base than they would be in a single‐stock model. The model's time step is flexible and can be changed during the period being modelled to accommodate better data quality in recent data. Other options include the capacity to estimate movements among stocks, allow density‐dependent growth, and choose among likelihood functions for the various data sets, between finite and instantaneous fishing dynamics and between two forms of selectivity curve.     

Nitrogen utilisation by size‐fractionated phytoplankton assemblages associated with an upwelling event off Westland,New Zealand

Abstract

Uptake rates of ammonium (NH₄ ⁺ ), nitrate (NO₃ ^? ), and urea by three subgroups of phytoplankton (< 200, < 20, < 2 μm) off Westland, were measured using ¹⁵ N tracer techniques in midwinter 1988, after a recent upwelling. For all size fractions at surface irradiance (I₁₀₀), nitrogen (N) was taken up primarily as NO₃ ^?. This accounted for 67–85% of total N uptake (SρN), whereas at 40 and 7% of surface irradiance, the regenerated N (NH₄ ⁺ ) and urea) made up 31–72% of SρN. Depth profile experiments for all three size components showed that uptake of NO₃ ^? was most light‐sensitive, followed by that of NH₄ ⁺ and urea. The irradiance and nutrient availability plot indicated that light was substantially more important than the nutrient concentrations in controlling the assimilation of N by microplankton (20–200 μm). Nano‐ (2–20 μm) and picoplankton (< 2 μm) however, were not as sensitive to either light or nutrient concentrations. High winds and the resulting deep mixing, combined with offshore and alongshore advection in the midwinter, were suggested to be the major cause of the low biomass and N productivity.     

Measurement and modeling of bed shear stress under solitary waves

Direct measurements of bed shear stresses (using a shear cell apparatus) generated by non-breaking solitary waves are presented. The measurements were carried out over a smooth bed in laminar and transitional flow regimes (~ 10⁴ < R_e < ~ 10⁵). Measurements were carried out where the wave height to water depth (h/d) ratio varied between 0.12 and 0.68; maximum near bed velocity varied between 0.16 m/s and 0.51 m/s and the maximum total shear stress (sum of skin shear stress and Froude–Krylov force) varied between 0.386 Pa and 2.06 Pa. The total stress is important in determining the stability of submarine sediment and in sheet flow regimes. Analytical modeling was carried out to predict total and skin shear stresses using convolution integration methods forced with the free stream velocity and incorporating a range of eddy viscosity models. Wave friction factors were estimated from skin shear stress at different instances over the wave (viz., time of maximum positive total shear stress, maximum skin shear stress and at the time of maximum velocity) using both the maximum velocity and the instantaneous velocity at that phase of the wave cycle. Similarly, force coefficients obtained from total stress were estimated at time of maximum positive and negative total stress and at maximum velocity. Maximum positive total shear stress was approximately 1.5 times larger than minimum negative total stress. Modeled and measured positive bed shear stresses are well correlated using the best convolution model, but the model underestimates the data by about 4%. Friction factors are dependent on the choice of normalizing using the maximum velocity, as is conventional, or the instantaneous velocity. These differ because the stress is not in phase with the velocity in general. Friction factors are consistent with previous data for monochromatic waves, and vary inversely with the square-root of the Reynolds number. The total shear stress leads the free stream fluid velocity by approximately 50°, whereas the skin friction shear stress leads by about 30°, which is similar to that reported by earlier researchers.