Electrical aerosol spectrometer of Tartu University

The electrical aerosol spectrometer (EAS) of the parallel measuring principle at Tartu University is an efficient instrument for rapid measurement of the unstable size spectrum of aerosol particles. The measuring range from 10 nm to 10 μm is achieved by simultaneously using a pair of differential mobility analyzers with two different particle chargers. The particle spectrum is calculated and measurement errors are estimated in real time by using a least-squares method. Experimental calibration ensures reliability of measurement. The instrument is well suited for continuous monitoring of atmospheric aerosol.     

Computational modeling of cyclic mobility and post-liquefaction site response

Under seismic excitation, liquefied clean medium to dense cohesionless soils may regain a high level of shear resistance at large shear strain excursions. This pattern of response, known as a form of cyclic mobility, has been documented by a large body of laboratory sample tests and centrifuge experiments. A plasticity-based constitutive model is developed with emphasis on simulating the cyclic mobility response mechanism and associated pattern of shear strain accumulation. This constitutive model is incorporated into a two-phase (solid–fluid), fully coupled finite element code. Calibration of the constitutive model is described, based on a unique set of laboratory triaxial tests (monotonic and cyclic) and dynamic centrifuge experiments. In this experimental series, Nevada sand at a relative density of about 40% is employed. The calibration effort focused on reproducing the salient characteristics of dynamic site response as dictated by the cyclic mobility mechanism. Finally, using the calibrated model, a numerical simulation is conducted to highlight the effect of excitation frequency content on post-liquefaction ground deformations.     

Surface vibration due to a sequence of high speed moving harmonic rectangular loads

The transmission of vibrations over the surface of the ground, due to high-speed moving, vertical harmonic rectangular loads, is investigated theoretically. The problem is three-dimensional and the interior of the ground is modelled as an elastic half-space or a multilayered ground. The transformed solutions are obtained using the Fourier transform on the space variable. A new damping model in the spatial wavenumber domain, presented in Lefeuve-Mesgouez et al. [J. Sound. Vibr. 231 (2000) 1289] is used. Numerical results for the displacements on the surface are presented for loads moving with speeds up to and beyond the Rayleigh wave speed of the half-space.     

层控夕卡岩型矿床成矿系统的元素活动性及质量迁移--以铜陵冬瓜山铜矿床为例

应用改善了的质量平衡方程研究冬瓜山层控夕卡岩型铜矿床成矿系统的元素活动性及质量迁移，结果表明：系统中Zr,Hf,Y和Nb为不活动元素，其余均为活动元素。主量元素中仅CaO为迁出组分，其质量迁移量为84％，其余均为带入组分，带入量最大的SiO2的质量迁移量高达2384％；稀土元素均为带入组分，其中，中稀土较轻稀土和重稀土的活动性更强；其它微量元素中，带入序列由强到弱为：Cr→Ta→Sn→Th，迁出序列由强至弱依次为：U→Sb→Ni—Sr→Ba→Bb→Co→W；成矿元素Cu和Ag为带入组分，其中Cu的带入量最大，质量迁移量高达1200％。本文还得出两点具普适性认识：①稀土元素较其它微量元素对体系条件的变化更为敏感，且往往表现出明显的规律性变化，能更好地示踪地质地球化学过程。②不同元素在不同体系中的行为特征差异极大，仅凭经验判定某一元素为不活动元素往往不可靠。因此，在开展质量平衡研究时，首先采用适当方法确认体系的不活动元素是一项不可或缺的前提工作。     

中国西南低空急流活动的统计分析

参照北美研究低空急流气候特征的方法，对中国低空急流进行重新定义，实现了低空急流定义的统一，并在此基础上对低空急流活动特征进行了分析。结果表明：中国低空急流主要有两个活动中心，分别位于江南地区和东北地区；江南地区的低空急流活动主要有两个活跃期，分别为1-4月和6-7月；东北地区的低空急流活动主要表现为2月、8-9月两个活动较弱期；江南地区的低空急流主要在6-8月表现出独立的急流轴，东北地区则主要在8月份；汛期低空急流活动与长江流域区域性暴雨有伴随性，多雨年急流次数很多，少雨年则很少；长江中下游及两湖盆地附近急流活动有明显的日变化。     

Mechanisms of physico-chemical interaction of mercury with river sediments from a gold mining region in Brazil: Relative mobility of mercury species

Mercury accumulation in the food chain, as a consequence of gold recovery in Brazil, has been an issue of concern. Reactions of Hg in the environment are quite complex, and can involve various Hg chemical species. Laboratory experiments were carried out on Hg⁰ solubility, Hg complexation and sorption on river sediments from a gold mining region in Brazil. The reactivity and the mobility of Hg species were considered. Results indicate that methyl mercury is more mobile than ionic mercury, and that the presence of humic acid enhances drastically the solubility of Hg⁰. The soluble complex formed has a relatively lower interaction at the sediment/water interface and is more prone to spread through the aquatic environment.     

Mobility of heavy metals as a function of pH of samples from an overbank sediment profile contaminated by mining activities

Parts of the flood plains north of the Harz Mountains are contaminated with heavy metals, such as Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd derived from mining, which has been carried out in the Harz Mts. since the Middle Ages. It is important to know the mobility of the heavy metals in these overbank sediments in order to estimate the danger to the environment arising from this source. This paper deals with the effect of pH on heavy-metal mobility, using a constant-pH method. The investigations were carried out on an overbank sediment profile near Salzgitter Bad, north of the Harz Mts. The mobility of the heavy metals in the overbank sediment profile is described as a function of pH and depth. Besides the mobile heavy-metal fraction at a certain pH, the buffering capacity of the sediment at this pH must be taken into consideration. The different layers of the overbank sediment profile show distinct differences in buffering capacity and a natural pH harrier could be identified in the upper part of the profile. Therefore, to avoid increasing heavy-metal mobility the natural layering of the overbank sediment profile should not be disturbed. Two different kinds of desorption experiments at constant pH are also discussed, as well as the conversion of the heavy-metal species in the ore minerals into the species in the sediment.     

A mixed finite element method for Hele-Shaw cell equations

A new numerical method to solve the system of equations describing two phase flow in a Hele-Shaw cell is presented. It combines a mixed finite element method, the method of subtraction of the singularity and a front tracking grid in a single computational strategy. This choice of discretization techniques is well motivated by the difficulties present in the system of equations and the physics of the problem. The new method was tested against analytical solutions and also by solving the Saffman–Taylor viscous fingering problem for finite and infinite mobility ratios. In both cases convergence under mesh refinement is achieved for the fingers developed from an initial sinusoidal interface. Finger splitting is observed for low values of the surface tension and high mobility ratio. Different explanations, based in our results, are provided for this phenomenon. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Constraints of Housing Age and Migration on Residential Mobility

This paper investigates the role of housing age in constraining residential mobility, measured as the percent of households that have moved into their homes in the past 15 months. The leading explanation for why mobility rates differ so much among regions of the United States has been the overall level of growth. The present analysis shows that the growth effect operates through both the newness of population (migration) and the newness of housing available for occupancy by all local residents. The posited explanation for this housing age effect is that progressively older units contain increasingly settled occupants, yielding fewer opportunities for in-movers in areas with older housing. It is empirically demonstrated that households in older housing have lower likelihood of recent mobility even after controlling for age, tenure, migration status, and state location of residence. The analysis reveals the temporal interdependency of mobility, migration, person age, and housing age.     

A new form of the cokriging equations

Myers developed a matrix form of the cokriging equations, but one that entails the solution of a large system of linear equations. Large systems are troublesome because of memory requirements and a general increase in the matrix condition number. We transform Myers’s system into a set of smaller systems, whose solution gives the classical kriging results, and provides simultaneously a nested set of lower dimensional cokriging results. In the course of developing the new formulation we make an interesting link to the Cauchy-Schwarz condition for the invertibility of a system, and another to a simple situation of coregionalization. In addition, we proceed from these new equations to a linear approximation to the cokriging results in the event that the crossvariograms are small, allowing one to take advantage of a recent results of Xie and others which proceeds by diagonalizing the variogram matrix function over the lag classes.