Flood frequency analysis of southern Africa: II. Identification of regional distributions

Abstract

Regional frequency analysis of annual maximum flood data comprising 407 stations from 11 countries of southern Africa is presented. Forty-one homogeneous regions are identified. The L-moments of the observed data indicate that the possible underlying frequency distributions are Pearson type 3 (P3), lognormal 3-parameter (LN3), General Pareto (GPA) or General Extreme Value (GEV). Simulation experiments for the selection of the most suitable flood frequency procedure indicate that Pearson type 3/Probability Weighted Moments (P3/PWM) and log-Pearson type 3/Method of Moments (LP3/MOM) are suitable procedures for the region.     

A three-dimensional finite-element model of wind effects upon higher harmonics of the internal tide

A non-linear three-dimensional unstructured grid model of the M₂ tide in the shelf edge area off the west coast of Scotland is used to examine the spatial distribution of the M₂ internal tide and its higher harmonics in the region. In addition, the spatial variability of the tidally induced turbulent kinetic energy and associated mixing in the area are considered. Initial calculations involve only tidal forcing, although subsequent calculations are performed with up-welling and down-welling favourable winds to examine how these influence the tidal distribution (particularly the higher harmonics) and mixing in the region. Both short- and long-duration winds are used in these calculations. Tidal calculations show that there is significant small-scale spatial variability particularly in the higher harmonics of the internal tide in the region. In addition, turbulence energy and mixing exhibit appreciable spatial variability in regions of rapidly changing topography, with increased mixing occurring above seamounts. Wind effects significantly change the distribution of the M₂ internal tide and its higher harmonics, with appreciable differences found between up- and down-welling winds and long- and short-duration winds because of differences in mixing and the presence of wind-induced flows. The implications for model validation, particularly in terms of energy transfer to higher harmonics, and mixing are briefly discussed.     

Geo-scape,a granularity depended spatialization tool for visualizing multidimensional data sets

Recently,the expertise accumulated in the field of geovisualization has found application in the visualization of abstract multidimensional data,on the basis of methods called spatialization methods.Spatialization methods aim at visualizing multidimensional data into low-dimensional representational spaces by making use of spatial metaphors and applying dimension reduction techniques.Spatial metaphors are able to provide a metaphoric framework for the visualization of information at different levels of gran...     

The Interannual Variability of Climate in a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model

In this paper, the interannual variability simulated by the coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP CGCM) in 40 year integrations is analyzed, and compared with that by the corresponding IAP AGCM which uses the climatic sea surface temperature as the boundary condition in 25 year integrations.The mean climatic states of January and July simulated by IAP CGCM are in good agreement with that by IAP AGCM, i.e., no serious ‘climate drift’ occurs in the CGCM simulation. A comparison of the results from AGCM and CGCM indicates that the standard deviation of the monthly averaged sea level pressure simulated by IAP CGCM is much greater than that by IAP AGCM in tropical region. In addition, both Southern Oscillation (SO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) can be found in the CGCM simulation for January, but these two oscillations do not exist in the AGCM simulation.The interannual variability of climate may be classified into two types: one is the variation of the annual mean, another is the variation of the annual amplitude. The ocean-atmosphere interaction mainly increases the first type of variability. By means of the rotated EOF, the most important patterns corresponding to the two types of interannual variability are found to have different spatial and temporal characteristics.     

附加系统参数平差法在导线网中的应用

本文探讨了附加系统参数平差法在带有测距系统误差的导线网中的应用，说明了当系统误差比较显著时．采用附加系统参数平差法的可行性、必要性及其优越性。     

A linear tessellation model to identify spatial pattern in urban street networks

Street patterns reflect the distribution characteristics of a street network and affect the urban structure and human behavior. The recognition of street patterns has been a topic of interest for decades. In this study, a linear tessellation model is proposed to identify the spatial patterns in street networks. The street segments are broken into consecutive linear units with equal length. We define five focal operations using neighborhood analysis to extract the geometric and topological characteristics of each linear unit for the purpose of grid-pattern recognition. These are then classified by Support Vector Machine, and the result is optimized based on Gestalt principles. The experimental results demonstrate that our method is effective for mining grid patterns in a street network.     

基于灰色系统的原煤回采成本预测分析

运用灰色预测理论结合VB编程,对煤炭回采成本中的各组成部分分别建立了预测模型,对平煤集团某煤矿的原煤回采成本进行了预测.经检验并与多项式回归方法及实际回采成本作对比,结果较为理想,使煤炭回采成本的预测更加符合实际,为煤炭回采成本的控制提供可靠的依据.     

河流—地下水水流模型研究进展

收集前人研究成果,归纳河流—地下水水流模型的解析模型和数值模型,分析河流—地下水水流模型的模拟中影响最敏感的因素,讨论河流污染质入渗到含水层后对含水介质渗透性能的影响,河流—地下水模型最主要的问题在于河流参数的求取和河流的处理,分析河流—地下水水流模型研究存在的问题。     

中国建设用地与区域社会经济发展关系的空间计量研究

利用空间计量模型,对中国大陆地区的30个省、市、自治区2008年的建设用地面积与社会经济发展之间的关系进行了研究。研究表明:30个省、直辖市和自治区地区建设用地面积、GDP、总人口和城市化率都有显著的空间相关特征,一个区域社会经济的发展不仅会驱动自身区域建设用地的扩张,而且会带动邻近区域的建设用地的增长。传统上只从时间维度出发的研究思路,忽视空间维度的相关性和异质性,低估了区域社会经济发展对建设用地增长的作用,必须在普通面板线性回归模型中描述的基础上引入空间变量进行修正。计量模型检验表明,城市化水平对建设用地总规模的影响不甚显著。说明中国大部分省份的农村居民点用地的利用效率普遍偏低。因此,农村居民点用地的调整与优化已迫在眉睫,从长远看来,提高城市化水平,打破城乡二元化的土地制度,建立统一的土地市场,是缓解土地资源紧缺、提高土地利用效率的有效途径。     

Analytical and experimental investigations on seismic performance of exterior beam–column subassemblages of existing RC‐framed building

Seismic performance of exterior beam–column subassemblages of reinforced concrete structure designed and detailed on the basis of the provisions of Eurocode and Indian Standards at different stages of their evolution is evaluated. Performance of the subassemblages designed and detailed according to the three different stages of codal evolution (gravity load design, ‘Nonductile’, and ‘Ductile’) is evaluated through analytical formulations and experimental investigations. In the ‘NonDuctile’ specimens, it has been observed that the shear distortion and degradation in stiffness and strength are significantly high. Performance of the ‘Ductile’ specimens based on Eurocode and Indian Standards is almost similar in terms of strength and stiffness degradation. Nevertheless, the specimen designed on the basis of Indian Standard shows higher energy dissipation at a given drift ratio. In the analytical study, shear and flexural failure of members of subassemblage and shear failure of the joint are considered as possible modes of failure of the beam–column subassemblage. For evaluating the shear strength of the joint region, a soften strut‐and‐tie model is used. Analytically obtained strengths based on the failure criteria of different components of the specimens have been first validated with experimental results and then used to determine the strength of the specimens. The investigation could indicate even the mode of failure at local level. It is utmost important to mention here that even the ductile specimens dissipate most of the energy through the development of damage in the joint region, which is neither desirable nor safe for the stability of whole structure. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.