Effect of Groundwater Fluctuations on Pore Pressures and Earth Pressures on Coastal Excavation Retaining Walls

Pore water and earth pressures acting on retaining structures are investigated using an efficient coastal double-layered excavation model to determine offshore excavation responses to groundwater fluctuations outside foundation pits. Total pore water pressure includes excess pore water pressure (due to groundwater fluctuations) and steady pore water pressure (due to steady seepage) determined using one-dimensional consolidation theory of double-layered soil and one-dimensional steady-state flow theory, respectively. Rankine's active and passive earth pressures are obtained from pore water pressure. This method is applicable to arbitrary groundwater fluctuation conditions. How physical parameters affect pore water pressure is numerically investigated using examples, demonstrating the method's practicality for calculating pore water and earth pressures.     

深海细菌太平洋火色杆菌中α-淀粉酶基因amy608的克隆表达及其酶学性质研究

从来自深海沉积物的太平洋火色杆菌(Flammeovirga pacifica)的基因组中发现了一个全长为1 875 bp的α-淀粉酶基因amy608.该基因在数据库中找不到具有同源性的序列,而所编码的Amy608蛋白与已注册蛋白的氨基酸序列相似性最高仅为56%,但具有α-淀粉酶水解活性所必需的保守基序DXEXD.进化树分析表明其属于糖苷水解酶13(GH13)家族第二亚家族.构建了p ColdΙ-amy608表达载体,在大肠杆菌中进行重组Amy608蛋白的异源表达,并采用镍离子亲和层析柱对重组蛋白进行了纯化.酶学性质分析表明,重组酶Amy608的最适作用温度为40℃,在40℃保温4 d后,仍保留70%以上的酶活,显示出良好的中温热稳定性;最适p H值为7.0,p H值范围在6~9时仍保留60%以上的酶活力,表明该酶具有较宽的p H值作用范围.Ca2+、Na+、K+对α-淀粉酶Amy608有激活作用,尤其是Ca2+可使酶活显著提高40%.薄层色谱分析结果显示该酶水解可溶性淀粉的最终产物以葡萄糖为主,表明该酶是一个糖化型淀粉水解内切酶.这些结果表明Amy608为GH13家族第二亚家族中一个新型的α-淀粉酶.     

Involvement of cyclic electron flow in irradiance stress responding and its potential regulation of the mechanisms in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pyropia yezoensis</Emphasis>

Pyropia yezoensis, belongs to the genus of Porphyra before 2011, inhabit on intertidal zone rocks where irradiation changes dramatically, implying that the seaweed has gained certain mechanisms to survive a harsh environment. Based on the photosynthetic parameters with or without the inhibitors determined by a Dual-PAM-100 apparatus, we investigated the photosynthetic performance and the changes in electron flow that occurred during the algae were stressed with different light intensities previously. When the irradiation saturation was approaching, the CEF around PS I became crucial since the addition of inhibitors usually led to an increase in non-photochemical quenching. The inhibitor experiments showed that there were at least three different CEF pathways in Py. yezoensis and these pathways compensated each other. In addition to maintaining a proper ratio of ATP/NAD(P)H to support efficient photosynthesis, the potential roles of CEF might also include the regulation of different photoprotective mechanisms in Py. yezoensis. Under the regulation of CEF, chlororespiration is thought to transport electrons from the reduced plastoquinone (PQ) pool to oxygen in order to mitigate the reduction in the electron transfer chain. When irradiation was up to the high-grade stress conditions, the relative value of CEF began to decrease, which implied that the NADP⁺ pool or PQ⁺ pool was very small and that the electrons were transferred from reduced PS I to oxygen. The scavenging enzymes might be activated and the water-water cycle probably became an effective means of removing the active oxygen produced by the irradiation stressed Py. yezoensis. We believe that the different mechanisms could make up the photoprotective network to allow Py. yezoensis for survival in a highly variable light stress habitat, which may enlighten scientists in future studies on irradiance stress in other algae species.     

The Middle Triassic evolution of the Bangong–Nujiang Tethyan Ocean: evidence from analyses of OIB-type basalts and OIB-derived phonolites in northern Tibet

International Journal of Earth Sciences - In this paper, we present new major and trace element chemical data for the basalts and phonolites of the Nare ocean island fragment (NaOI), as well as...     

A robust mesh optimisation method for multiphase porous media flows

Flows of multiple fluid phases are common in many subsurface reservoirs. Numerical simulation of these flows can be challenging and computationally expensive. Dynamic adaptive mesh optimisation and related approaches, such as adaptive grid refinement can increase solution accuracy at reduced computational cost. However, in models or parts of the model domain, where the local Courant number is large, the solution may propagate beyond the region in which the mesh is refined, resulting in reduced solution accuracy, which can never be recovered. A methodology is presented here to modify the mesh within the non-linear solver. The method allows efficient application of dynamic mesh adaptivity techniques even with high Courant numbers. These high Courant numbers may not be desired but a consequence of the heterogeneity of the domain. Therefore, the method presented can be considered as a more robust and accurate version of the standard dynamic mesh adaptivity techniques.     

Landslides triggered by the 2016 Mj 7.3 Kumamoto,Japan, earthquake

The aim of this study is to establish a detailed and complete inventory of the landslides triggered by the Mj 7.3 (Mw 7.0) Kumamoto, Japan, earthquake sequence of 15 April 2016 (16 April in JST). Based on high-resolution (0.5–2 m) optical satellite images, we delineated 3,467 individual landslides triggered by the earthquake, occupying an area of about 6.9 km². Then they were validated by aerial photographs with very high-resolution (better than 0.5 m) and oblique field photos. Of them, 3,460 landslides are distributed in an elliptical area about 6000 km², with a NE-SW directed 120-km-long long axis and a 60-km-long NW-SE trending short axis. Most of the landslides are shallow, disrupted falls and slides, with a few flow-type slides and rock and soil avalanches. The analysis of correlation between the landslides and several control factors shows the areas of elevation 1000–1200 m, stratum of Q₃-Hvf, seismic intensity VIII and VIII+, and peak ground acceleration (PGA) 0.4–0.6 g register the highest landslide abundance. This study also discussed the relationship between the spatial pattern of the landslides and the seismotectonic structure featured by a strike-slip fault with a normal component and the volcanism in the study area.