Reliability assessment of granular filters in embankment dams

Empirical criteria have been used successfully to design filters of most embankment large dam projects throughout the world. However, these empirical rules are only applicable to a particular range of soils tested in laboratory and do not take into account the variability of the base material and filter particle sizes. In addition, it is widely accepted that the safety of fill dams is mainly dependent on the reliability of their filter performance. The work herein presented consists in a new general method for assessing the probability of fulfilling any empirical filter design criteria accounting for base and filter heterogeneity by means of first‐order reliability methods (FORM), so that reliability indexes and probabilities of fulfilling any particular criteria are obtained. This method will allow engineers to estimate the safety of existing filters in terms of probability of fulfilling their design criteria and might also be used as a decision tool on sampling needs and material size tolerances during construction. In addition, sensitivity analysis makes possible to analyse how reliabilities are influenced by different sources of input data. Finally, in case of a portfolio risk assessment, this method will allow engineers to compare the safety of several existing dams in order to prioritize safety investments and it is expected to be a very useful tool to evaluate probabilities of failure due to internal erosion. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna double black holes: dynamics in gaseous nuclear discs

We study the inspiral of double black holes, with masses in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna ( LISA ) window of detectability, orbiting inside a massive circumnuclear, rotationally supported gaseous disc. Using high-resolution smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, we follow the black hole dynamics in the early phase when gas-dynamical friction acts on the black holes individually, and continue our simulation until they form a close binary. We find that in the early sinking the black holes lose memory of their initial orbital eccentricity if they corotate with the gaseous disc. As a consequence, the massive black holes bind forming a binary with a low eccentricity, consistent with zero within our numerical resolution limit. The cause of circularization resides in the rotation present in the gaseous background where dynamical friction operates. Circularization may hinder gravitational waves from taking over and leading the binary to coalescence. In the case of counter-rotating orbits, the initial eccentricity (if present) does not decrease, and the black holes may bind forming an eccentric binary. When dynamical friction has subsided, for equal mass black holes and regardless their initial eccentricity, angular momentum loss, driven by the gravitational torque exerted on the binary by surrounding gas, is nevertheless observable down to the smallest scale probed (≃1 pc). In the case of unequal masses, dynamical friction remains efficient down to our resolution limit, and there is no sign of formation of any ellipsoidal gas distribution that may further harden the binary. During inspiral, gravitational capture of gas by the black holes occurs mainly along circular orbits; eccentric orbits imply high relative velocities and weak gravitational focusing. Thus, the active galactic nucleus activity may be excited during the black hole pairing process and double active nuclei may form when circularization is completed, on distance scales of tens of parsecs.     

我国个人所得税制度完善的法律思考

个人所得税是与每个人联系都很紧密的税种,它的完善与否,直接体现了我国法制建设的完善程度及居民素质的高低。但现行税制由于内外原因,存在各种缺陷。因此有必要在理论中找到对策,并在实践中寻求答案逐步完善个人所得税制度。     

上扬子地台震旦系铅锌矿床类型及找矿方向

上扬子地台含铅锌矿地层主要为震旦系。震旦系在上扬子地台主要发育上统灯影组,次有下统陡山沱组。将上扬子地台震旦系铅锌矿床成因划分为一级为叠生矿床,二级为层控矿床,三级为热水沉积改造矿床和热水沉积再造矿床四级类型,该类型按铅锌比例进一步划分为富铅型、富锌型、铅锌共生型。研究区内最重要的铅锌矿床成因类型为南郑马元、会东大梁子铅锌矿为代表的富锌型。陕西南郑、紫阳—镇坪地区,湖北武当、神农架、黄陵地区,以及地台西缘的安宁河、甘洛—小江、峨边—寻甸等地区的震旦系是寻找铅锌矿的最有利地段。