锯缘青蟹神经器官对卵巢发育的调节作用：离体实验

器官联合培养研究表明，锯缘青蟹（Scylla serrata)的脑和胸神经团分泌的性腺刺激激素（GSH）对卵母细胞的生长具有直接的促进作用，对视神经节则没有显的影响。在卵巢发育过程中，脑和胸神经团GSH的生物活性逐渐增强。     

海底底质声学原位测量电路控制系统研究

介绍了一种液压驱动贯入式海底沉积声学原位测量系统的电路控制单元的研究实现过程,以及该控制单元在南海北部海底沉积声学调查中的应用。该电路控制单元以Cortex-A8处理器为核心,集成大容量FLASH存储器,与单片机接口控制板进行串口通讯,实现对声学发射采集单元和机械液压贯入单元的可视化控制和监测。基于该电路控制单元,海底底质声学原位测量系统兼具自容式和在线式两种工作模式,可自容记录或实时采集声学原位测量单元在海底的工作状态数据、海底沉积物声速和声衰减系数等声学特性数据。该声学原位测量系统的实验室联调及南海海试结果表明,使用该电路控制单元对海底底质声学测量过程的监测与控制是有效的,对精确获取海底底质的原位声学特性有重要作用,可以促进海底底质声学原位测量系统的产品化。     

Lateral cyclic response of an aluminum model pile in sand

Lateral cyclic load tests were performed on an aluminum model pile in dry sand. Two levels of loading were adopted to represent different service load conditions. The maximum number of loading cycles was 1,000. From the test results, it was found that the even though in the service load condition, the pile response was still affected by cyclic effects and a larger load level would produce more significant influence. In a global point of view, the lateral displacement and maximum moment increased with loading cycles, while the secant stiffness within a cycle decreased with cycles. The cyclic effect was more significant on the lateral displacement than on the moment. In a local point of view, cyclic loading would degrade the equivalent subgrade stiffness for the soil shallower than about seven times diameter. In addition, the secant subgrade stiffness within a cycle increased with loading cycles. Some experimental relationships of lateral pile response and loading cycles were built and compared with those in the literature.     

Storm surge induced flux through multiple tidal passes of Lake Pontchartrain estuary during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike

In September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike generated major storm surges which impacted the Lake Pontchartrain estuary in Louisiana. This paper presents analyses of in situ measurements acquired during these storm events. The main data used in the analyses were from three bottom mounted moorings equipped with conductivity, temperature, and depth sensors, acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), and a semi-permanent laterally mounted horizontal acoustic Doppler profiler (ADP). These moorings were deployed in the three major tidal channels that connect Lake Pontchartrain with the coastal ocean. A process similar to tidal straining was observed: the vertical shear of the horizontal velocity was negligible during the inundation stage, but a shear of 0.8 m/s over a less than 5 m water column was recorded during the receding stage, 2–3 times the normal tidal oscillations. The surge reached its peak in the Industrial Canal 1.4–2.1 h before those in the other two channels. The inward flux of water lasted for a shorter time period than that of the outward flux. The inward flux was also observed to have much smaller magnitude than the outward flux (∼960–1200 vs. 2100–3100 million m³). The imbalance was believed to have been caused by the additional water into Lake Pontchartrain through some small rivers and inundation over the land plus rainfall from the hurricanes. The flux through the Industrial Canal was 8–12%, while the flux through the other two tidal passes ranged between 17% and 70% of the total, but mostly split roughly half-half of the remaining (∼88–92% of the total).     

Impacts of maintenance channel dredging in a northern Adriatic coastal lagoon. I: Effects on sediment properties,contamination and toxicity

Conservation and management of coastal lagoons envisage direct human intervention. To prevent siltation and to preserve the hydrodynamics features of the lagoon system, the inner channels undergo regular maintenance dredging.     

The new wave overtopping database for coastal structures

Significant effort has been made to generate a homogeneous database on wave overtopping consisting of more than 10,000 irregular wave overtopping tests from more than 160 independent projects or test series, each described by means of 31 parameters. Many coastal structures, including dikes, rubble mound breakwaters, berm breakwaters, caisson structures and combinations have been considered and have been schematised for inclusion in the database. All these overtopping tests are represented by over 300,000 numbers in the database.     

Prototype measurements and small-scale model tests of wave overtopping at shallow rubble-mound breakwaters: the Ostia-Rome yacht harbour case

The paper presents the comparison between the results of small-scale model tests and prototype measurements of wave overtopping at a rubble-mound breakwater. The specific structure investigated is the west breakwater of the yacht harbour of Rome at Ostia (Italy) and is characterized by a gentle seaward slope (1/4) and by a long, shallow foreshore. The laboratory tests firstly aimed at carefully reproducing two measured storms in which overtopping occurred and was measured. The tests have been carried out in two independent laboratories, in a wave flume and in a wave basin, hence using a two-dimensional (2-D) and a three-dimensional (3-D) setup. In the 2-D laboratory tests no overtopping occurred during the storm reproductions; in the 3-D case discharges five to ten times smaller than those observed in prototype have been measured. This indicates the existence of model and scale effects. These effects have been discussed on the basis of the results of several parametric tests, which have been carried out in both laboratories, in addition to the storm reproductions, varying wave and water level characteristics. Final comparison of all the performed tests with 86 prototype measurements still suggests the existence of scale and model effects that induce strong underestimation of overtopping discharge at small scale. The scale reproduction of wave breaking on the foreshore, together with the 3-D features of the prototype conditions and the absence of wind stress in the laboratory measurements, have been individuated as the main sources of scale and model effects. The paper also provides a comparison between the data and a largely used formula for wave overtopping discharges in the presence of structures similar to the one at hand. The suitable value of a roughness factor that appears in that formula is investigated and good agreement is found with other recent researches on rubble-mound breakwaters.     

In situ stress field of eastern Australia

New in situ data based on hydraulic fracturing and overcoring have been compiled for eastern Australia, increasing from 23 to 110 the number of in situ stress analyses available for the area between and including the Bowen and Sydney Basins. The Bowen Basin displays a consistent north‐northeast maximum horizontal stress (σ_H) orientation over some 500 km. Stress orientations in the Sydney Basin are more variable than in the Bowen Basin, with areas of the Sydney Basin exhibiting north‐northeast, northeast, east‐west and bimodal σ_H orientations. Most new data indicate that the overburden stress (σ_V) is the minimum principal stress in both the Bowen and Sydney Basins. The Sydney Basin is relatively seismically active, whereas the Bowen Basin is relatively aseismic. Despite the fact that in situ stress measurements sample the stress field at shallower depth than the seismogenic zone, there is a correlation between the stress measurements and seismicity in the two areas. Mohr‐Coulomb analysis of the propensity for failure in the Sydney Basin suggests 41% of the new in situ stress data are indicative of failure, as opposed to 13% in the Bowen Basin. The multiple pre‐existing structural grains in the Sydney Basin further emphasise the difference between propensity for failure in the two areas. Previous modelling of intraplate stresses due to plate boundary forces has been less successful at predicting stress orientations in eastern than in western and central Australia. Nonetheless, stress orientation in the Bowen Basin is consistent with that predicted by modelling of stresses due to plate boundary forces. Variable stress orientations in the Sydney Basin suggest that more local sources of stress, such as those associated with the continental margin and with local structure, significantly influence stress orientation. The effect of local sources of stress may be relatively pronounced because stresses due to plate boundary forces result in low horizontal stress anisotropy in the Sydney Basin.     

A generalized conditional intensity measure approach and holistic ground‐motion selection

A generalized conditional intensity measure (GCIM) approach is proposed for use in the holistic selection of ground motions for any form of seismic response analysis. The essence of the method is the construction of the multivariate distribution of any set of ground‐motion intensity measures conditioned on the occurrence of a specific ground‐motion intensity measure (commonly obtained from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis). The approach therefore allows any number of ground‐motion intensity measures identified as important in a particular seismic response problem to be considered. A holistic method of ground‐motion selection is also proposed based on the statistical comparison, for each intensity measure, of the empirical distribution of the ground‐motion suite with the ‘target’ GCIM distribution. A simple procedure to estimate the magnitude of potential bias in the results of seismic response analyses when the ground‐motion suite does not conform to the GCIM distribution is also demonstrated. The combination of these three features of the approach make it entirely holistic in that: any level of complexity in ground‐motion selection for any seismic response analysis can be exercised; users explicitly understand the simplifications made in the selected suite of ground motions; and an approximate estimate of any bias associated with such simplifications is obtained. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.