Free‐field rotations during earthquakes: Relevance on buildings

Soil rotations around horizontal axes, during an earthquake, are studied through records collected by closely spaced arrays of strong motion accelerometers. The cross power spectrum of accelerations at nearby stations has been generally utilized to describe the spatial distribution of the motion. A number of cross spectra have been obtained during the training of these arrays. To take profit of these elaborations, a mathematical relation is established between the cross power spectrum and the power spectrum of the rotation. Rotation data presented by Liu et al, concerning 52 earthquake records collected at a single station in Taiwan, are compared with rotation data computed according to our procedure. The two series of data are suitably normalized to the peak horizontal acceleration. The data are shown in function of the distance from epicentre. The same ratio, computed according to our procedure, is in good agreement with the average value of these data. Direct measurements and the present approach have lead to evaluations of rotation higher than those predicted by mathematical investigations on the basis of the wave propagation theory, for comparable circumstances. The relevance of this input motion for relatively tall structures is examined, with reference to the structural effects that the horizontal motion concurrently provides. Meaningful will be ranked those effects of the order of magnitude of 20% or higher than those implied by the horizontal excitation. For understanding the relevance on building structures, the procedure has two areas of concern: 1) the coherence implicit in the cross power spectra, which depends on the interpolation process of the original records, collected in the arrays of instruments, and 2) the relative importance of the vertical to the horizontal input motion. As to the second item, the relevance of the rotation component on structures largely depends on the relative importance of the vertical to the horizontal input motion. When the records in an area a few km from the epicenter are considered, the response spectrum of vertical motion is comparable and in some records even higher, than that of horizontal motion, over the entire range of frequencies. This has been observed as well for the 2009 earthquake event of L'Aquila, Italy, and that at the Christchurch (New Zealand) 2011. When the response spectrum of vertical motion is comparable to that of horizontal motion, the effects of rotational motions on most engineering structures can be meaningful. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

小型单拖网渔船V 型网板水动力性能研究

网板是拖网的重要属具之一, 广泛应用于近岸小型单拖渔船的生产作业中, 其水动力性能的优劣直接关系到拖网的生产效果和经济效益。作者以网板面积1 m²、展弦比0.55的 V 型网板为例进行小型单拖渔船的水动力性能研究。 基于田内相似准则, 相似比为2制作网板模型, 进行循环水槽模型试验, 实验冲角在10～60°范围内, 来流速度在0.2～0.7 m/s, 得出网板升阻力系数等流体动力特性曲线、临界冲角、最大升阻比。结果表明, 该型网板的最大升阻比约为1.86, 达到最大升阻比的临界冲角在15～25°附近, 该结果可为渔业生产操作中网板冲角的设置提供依据。实验结果同时显示, 该型网板的水动力效率略低于其他类型网板, 说明其板型仍有较大的改进空间。     

64排螺旋CT胸痛三联检查扫描的临床应用价值

目的：探讨64排螺旋CT胸痛三联检查在急性胸痛病因诊断中的临床价值。材料和方法：对65例胸痛患者行64排螺旋CT胸痛三联检查,所有患者原始数据行多平面重建（MPR）、容积再现（VR）、曲面重建（CPR）、最大密度投影（MIP）等方法分别进行冠状动脉、肺动脉、主动脉成像,由2名有经验的放射科医师进行诊断。其中22例患者行选择性冠状动脉造影检查,并与64排螺旋CT冠状动脉CTA结果相对照。结果：所有行64排螺旋CT检查的患者均可清晰显示双侧肺动脉、冠状动脉主干及其主要分支以及胸主动脉。显示肺动脉栓塞21例、冠状动脉狭窄30例、主动脉夹层8例、主动脉瘤2例、气胸1例、3例未见明显异常。结论64排螺旋CT胸痛三联检查扫描在急性胸痛病因诊断中具有较高的临床应用价值,是一种无创、准确、快速的检查方法。     

Patterns and trends in seabird bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery off South Africa

Both foreign and domestic pelagic longline fishing vessels operate in South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone and adjacent international waters where they kill hundreds of seabirds each year as bycatch. To update assessments of the impact of the pelagic longline fishery on seabirds off South Africa, information on necropsied seabirds and national fisheries observer bycatch records were summarised for 2006–2013. Foreign-flagged (Asian) vessels had 100% observer coverage throughout the study period, whereas only 6% of the fishing effort by South African-flagged vessels was observed (with no coverage in 2011–2013). Vessels with observers caught seabirds at a rate of 0.132 birds per 1 000 hooks, resulting in an estimated mortality of 2 851 individuals (356 per year) comprising 14 species. Extrapolation of the observed fishing sets to the unobserved fishing sets by the South African domestic longline fleet suggested that approximately 750 additional birds were likely killed during the study period, therefore a combined 450 birds were killed per year. White-chinned petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis was the most frequently killed species (66%), followed by ‘shy-type’ albatrosses Thalassarche cauta/steadi (21%), black-browed albatross T. melanophris (7%), Indian yellow-nosed albatross T. carteri (3%), and Cape gannet Morus capensis (2%). The seabird bycatch rates were lower than in 1998–2005. Nationality of the vessel, time of line-setting, moon phase, year, season, fishing area, and seabird bycatch mitigation measures all influenced seabird mortality. Concurrent with 100% observer coverage, significant reductions in the seabird bycatch rate occurred in the Asian fleet in the latter years of the study, and these rates now approximate the national target (0.05 birds per 1 000 hooks). However, seabird bycatch rates remained high in the South African fleet, where no observers were deployed during 2011–2013, highlighting the need for independent observer programmes in fisheries—a matter of global interest. Suggestions are made as to how seabird bycatch by pelagic longline fisheries off South Africa may be further reduced.     

Copper and sewage inputs from recreational vessels at popular anchor sites in a semi-enclosed Bay (Qld, Australia): estimates of potential annual loads

Environmental impacts of vessels are well documented; Cu pollution as result of Cu based antifouling paints and nutrient pollution (such as N) from marine sewage are two examples of such disturbances. Understanding environmental impacts as well as the use of coastal waterways by recreational vessels is of concern to regulatory authorities, waterway users and local residents. In this study more than 55 aerial surveys were conducted of selected popular anchorages in eastern Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Numbers of recreational vessels at certain times during the year were used in multiple linear regression analyses to develop predictive models for recreational vessel numbers. Over one year approximately 10,000 locally registered recreational craft (>6m length overall) generated an estimated 59,000 vessel nights. With Cu leaching rates from the literature, and estimates of sewage inputs (assuming little or no use of pump-out facilities), load estimates associated with overnight use of 20 popular anchor sites were calculated as 141+/-46 kg of Cu and 1.17+/-0.38 t of nitrogen (N) annually. More importantly, the models showed vessel activity to be highly variable, and focused at peak holiday times, with 14% of vessel activity and associated pollutant loads entering the environment during Christmas and Easter. This study highlighted the inherent difficulties in managing a popular maritime amenity and Marine Parks such as the Moreton Bay Marine Protected Area, Queensland, Australia with its variety of stakeholders and types and intensities of uses.     

高增益复合天线在超长站距遥测地震台网中的应用

自行研制的复合阵列天线具有增高,方向性图尖锐,抗干扰能力强的特点。天线系统应用于超长距离的信号转输取得了很好的效果。乌鲁木齐遥测地震台网使用自行研制的天线系统用２．５～３．５Ｗ发射功率发射。该天线可接收新疆乌鲁木齐台网长站距,超长站距（２８０ｋｍ）２２３～２３５ＭＨｚ频段的地震信号。信号场强贮备满足规范要求,不低于３０ｄｂ从而保证了超长站距无线遥测地震信号的接收质量。     

Hydrodynamic interactions and relative motions of two floating platforms with mooring lines in side-by-side offloading operation

The hydrodynamic interaction and mechanical coupling effects of two floating platforms connected by elastic lines are investigated by using a time-domain multi-hull/mooring/riser coupled dynamics analysis program. Particular attention is paid to the contribution of off-diagonal hydrodynamic interaction terms on the relative motions during side-by-side offloading operation. In this regard, the exact method (CMM: combined matrix method) including all the vessel and line dynamics, and the 12×12 hydrodynamic coefficients in a combined matrix is developed. The performance of two typical approximation methods (NHI/No Hydrodynamic Interaction: iteration method between two vessels without considering hydrodynamic interaction effects; SMM/Separated Matrix Method: iteration method between two vessels with partially considering hydrodynamic interaction effects, i.e. ignoring off-diagonal cross-coupling terms in the 12×12 hydrodynamic coefficient matrix) is also tested for the same side-by-side offloading operation in two different environmental conditions. The numerical examples show that there exists significant discrepancy at sway and roll modes between the exact and the approximation methods, which means that the cross-coupling (off-diagonal block) terms of the full hydrodynamic coefficient matrix play an important role in the case of side-by-side offloading operation. Therefore, such approximation methods should be used with care. The fender reaction forces, which exhibit large force with contact but no force without contact, are also numerically modeled in the present time-domain simulation study.