Spectral shape,epsilon and record selection

Selection of earthquake ground motions is considered with the goal of accurately estimating the response of a structure at a specified ground motion intensity, as measured by spectral acceleration at the first‐mode period of the structure, Sa(T₁). Consideration is given to the magnitude, distance and epsilon (ε) values of ground motions. First, it is seen that selecting records based on their ε values is more effective than selecting records based on magnitude and distance. Second, a method is discussed for finding the conditional response spectrum of a ground motion, given a level of Sa(T₁) and its associated mean (disaggregation‐based) causal magnitude, distance and ε value. Records can then be selected to match the mean of this target spectrum, and the same benefits are achieved as when records are selected based on ε. This mean target spectrum differs from a Uniform Hazard Spectrum, and it is argued that this new spectrum is a more appropriate target for record selection. When properly selecting records based on either spectral shape or ε, the reductions in bias and variance of resulting structural response estimates are comparable to the reductions achieved by using a vector‐valued measure of earthquake intensity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity analysis of the seismic demands of RC moment resisting frames to different aspects of ground motions

A weight vector representing the relative importance of various characteristics of ground motions (GMs) and a conditioning intensity measure (IM) are required to be able to use the generalized conditional IM framework for the purpose of GM selection. An inappropriate weight vector may result in the biased distributions of some important characteristics of GMs and, consequently, the bias in the structural responses. This article aims to provide the analyst with the understanding of which properties of GMs are important in capturing the accurate structural responses, to specifically assign a suitable weight to them and to select an appropriate conditioning IM as well. To this end, 4 reinforced concrete buildings, located at the site in which the seismic hazard is dominated by shallow crustal earthquakes, are considered. The findings reveal that the appropriate weight vectors depend on the characteristics of the employed structural systems. In addition, the role played by each IM in capturing the true structural responses changes over different earthquake intensity levels implying that different weight vectors are required over different earthquake levels. Furthermore, this study shows that, even in case of shorter‐duration GMs from shallow events, GM duration should be incorporated in GM selection as it has effects on the peak‐based structural responses in the earthquake levels beyond the level of 2%‐in‐50‐years. Specifically, the findings reveal that in case of shallow events, unlike large magnitude earthquakes, the shorter the duration of GM the more rapid release of energy and, consequently, the larger the peak‐based structural responses.     

The changing dietary habits of nineteenth‐century Australian explorers

In the first decade of white settlement in New South Wales, ground exploration was limited by the critical shortage of horses and the inability to live off the land. Bush skills were lacking and muskets were extremely inaccurate. Subsequently, the introduction of kangaroo dogs, the willingness to consume even the least appetising animals, and the identification of edible native plants made explorers less dependent on what they could carry. Such skills were to become largely irrelevant after 1840, as fully mounted expeditions began to penetrate the interior, where game was scarce and there was no time for hunting.     

星载宽幅SAR干涉测量研究

星载宽幅SAR也称为ScanSAR,其干涉测量是一种宽测绘带的三维测高和变形监测模式。本文介绍了ScanSAR模式(Wide Swath Mode,WSM模式)干涉测量及其与IM模式(Image Mode)联合干涉测量的方法,提出ScanSAR干涉数据处理的具体实现方案,并通过实例验证了ScanSAR干涉测量不仅能得到与IM模式同样的监测结果,而且其覆盖面较广,易发现大范围的变形,尤其是大区域的缓慢形变。     

Distribution and abundance of demersal fish from trawl stations in the bay of plenty,New Zealand, 1961–63

Between March 1961 and January 1963 trawling surveys were carried out in the Bay of Plenty. Seasonal comparisons of catch weight were made for the four commercially important species, snapper, tarakihi, trevally, and gurnard, during 1962–63. Only trevally showed any marked seasonal variation in total catch. Tarakihi were most abundant in waters over 50 fathoms and snapper, trevally, and gurnard were most abundant in shallower depths. The best return for fishing effort came from the middle sector of the Bay. There was a marked absence of undersized tarakihi and trevally from the catches. A species composition list for the Bay of Plenty waters and a table of species abundance at the stations sampled has been compiled from the trawl catch data.     

Taxonomic sufficiency and the influence of rare species on variation partitioning analysis of a polychaete community

Variation partitioning is an important tool to investigate the importance of spatial structure to species distribution in communities, but its use is lacking in marine ecosystems. The influence of rare species and the level of taxonomic resolution are important features to be considered when planning sampling designs and efforts for community studies. We tested the significance of spatial and environmental components to species distribution of a polychaete community, considering how the results varied among models with increasingly rare species (and contrasting metrics), and among models with distinct taxonomic levels. For all models evaluated, both spatial and environmental components significantly explained the structure of species distribution. However, spatial processes explained a higher percentage of variance than environmental ones in almost all models. The inclusion of rare species did not influence the outcome in most models, with the exception of a Chi‐square distance model with all species included. Family taxonomic level was sufficient to detect the relative contribution of both components, but the number of environmental variables included in the model was higher for the genus level. The influence of rare species was related to the metric applied to the analysis. If weight to rare species is not desirable, the use of a few dominant species coupled with the Hellinger function can provide a good surrogate to the whole sampled community in variation partition analysis. The genus level is suggested as an appropriate taxonomic level with which to evaluate the relevance of spatial and environmental components in polychaete community studies.     

Different levels of macroalgal sampling resolution for pollution assessment

The effects of using reduced sampling resolutions to study macroalgal vegetation patterns have not been studied sufficiently. Here, we test the influence of taxonomic resolution level, removal of occasional species, aggregation of species abundances into functional groups and data transformation in the detection of a long-term recovery process by phytobenthic intertidal assemblages. Results indicate that the aggregation of species data into the genus level has very little influence. Likewise, almost any significant information is lost when occasional algae are removed. Analyses at the level of families and orders still clearly detect differences between highly degraded and reference vegetation. By contrast, analyses based on class and functional group abundances capture quite different information. The effect of transformation is similar at the different taxonomic levels. Most surrogate measures properly reflect changes in diversity. It is concluded that genus level is the most appropriate surrogate approach for detecting the recovery process.     

A new evolutionary scenario of intermediate-mass star-formation revealed by multi-wavelength observations of OMC-2/3

We have performed millimeter- and submilli- meter-wave survey observations using the Nobeyama millimeter array (NMA) and the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) in one of the nearest intermediate-mass (IM) star-forming regions: Orion Molecular Cloud-2/3 (OMC-2/3). Using the high-resolution capabilities offered by the NMA (∼several arcsec), we observed dust continuum and H¹³CO⁺(1–0) emission in 12 pre- and proto-stellar candidates identified previously in single-dish millimeter observations. We unveiled the evolutionary changes with variations of the morphology and velocity structure of the dense envelopes traced by the H¹³CO⁺(1–0) emission. Furthermore, using the high-sensitivity capabilities offered by the ASTE, we searched for large-scale molecular outflows associated with these pre- and proto-stellar candidates observed with the NMA. As a result of the CO(3–2) observations, we detected six molecular outflows associated with the dense gas envelopes traced by H¹³CO⁺(1–0) and 3.3 mm continuum emission. The estimated CO outflow momentum increases with the evolutionary sequence from early to late type of the protostellar cores. We also found that the 24 μm flux increases as the dense gas evolutionary sequence. We propose that the enhancement of the 24 μm flux is caused by the growth of the cavity (i.e. the CO outflow destroys the envelope) as the evolutionary sequence. Our results show that the dissipation of the dense gas envelope plays an essential role in the evolution of the IM protostars. The extremely high-sensitivity and high-angular resolution offered by ALMA will reveal unprecedented details of the inner ∼50 AU of these protostars, which will provide us a break through in the classic scenario of IM star/disk formation.     

Shallow sublittoral meiofauna communities and sediment polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content on the Galician coast (NW Spain), six months after the Prestige oil spill

The aim of this work was to detect the impact of Prestige oil spill on meiobenthic community structure at higher levels of taxonomic aggregation. In addition, the relationship between sediment individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration and meiofauna community structure was investigated. Six months after the Prestige oil spill, meiobenthos community and sediment PAHs content from seven shallow subtidal localities along the Galician coast were studied. Two sites presented differences in community structure, characterized by high densities of nematodes, gastrotrichs and turbellarians, and low densities of copepods. Chrysene and triphenylene were only found at these two disturbed sites and could be responsible for differences of meiobenthos community structure. However, differences in community structure of sites could be linked with sedimentary parameters, and discrimination between the effect of PAHs and sedimentary parameters was impossible due to the lack of baseline studies on meiobenthos and PAHs contents in this area.