Shaking table tests of a resilient bridge system with precast reinforced concrete columns equipped with springs

This paper presents the shake table test results of a novel system for the design of precast reinforced concrete bridges. The specimen comprises a slab and four precast columns. The connections are dry and the columns are connected to the slab by an ungrouted tendon. One of the tendon ends is anchored above the slab, in series with a stack of washer springs, while the other end is anchored at the bottom of the column. The addition of such a flexible restraining system increases the stability of the system, while keeping it relatively flexible allowing it to experience negative post-uplift stiffness. It is a form of seismic isolation. Anchoring the tendon within the column, caps the design moment of the foundation, and reduces its size. One hundred and eighty-one shake table tests were performed. The first 180 caused negligible damage to the specimen, mainly abrasion at the perimeter of the column top ends. Hence, the system proved resilient. The 181^st excitation caused collapse, because the tendons unexpectedly failed at a load less than 50% of their capacity (provided by the manufacturer), due to the failure of their end socket. This highlights the importance of properly designing the tendons. The tests were used to statistically validate a rigid body model. The model performed reasonably well never underestimating the median displacement response of the center of mass of the slab by more than 30%. However, the model cannot predict the torsion rotation of the slab that was observed in the tests and is due to imperfections.     

东准噶尔卡拉麦里地区金铜多金属成矿系统和地球动力学

卡拉麦里地区处于中亚—兴蒙成矿域东准噶尔成矿带的南段,晚古生代增生—碰撞过程明显、构造和岩浆活动强烈、矿产资源丰富。晚古生代增生—碰撞成矿作用集中在两个时期,卡拉麦里北缘至野马泉为主的泥盆纪和卡拉麦里构造带为主的早石炭世中晚期—二叠纪。本文在综合研究基础上,根据卡拉麦里地区晚古生代增生—碰撞过程的地球动力学和成矿特征,将成矿系统划分为:泥盆纪活动大陆边缘斑岩型金成矿系统,早石炭世中晚期后碰撞挤压—伸展转换阶段浅成低温热液—斑岩型金铜成矿系统,晚石炭世—二叠纪后碰撞伸展阶段造山型金铜成矿系统和岩浆热液型锡金成矿系统,以后3类为主。矿床组合包括:韧性剪切带型金矿、浅成低温热液型金矿、岩浆期后热液脉型金矿、斑岩型铜金矿、构造控制脉型铜矿和云英岩—石英脉型锡矿。认为该地区的泥盆纪活动大陆边缘成矿系统可能被晚石炭世—二叠纪后碰撞造山型金成矿系统所叠置而不易识别,后碰撞作用主导了该地区主要成矿系统,大陆岩石圈拆沉和软流圈地幔上涌产生的走滑伸展构造—壳幔岩浆作用—混合流体作用是卡拉麦里地区金属成矿作用的地球动力学机制。     

Nature,origin and evolution of a Late Pleistocene incised valley‐fill,Sunda Shelf,Southeast Asia

Understanding the stratigraphic fill and reconstructing the palaeo‐hydrology of incised valleys can help to constrain those factors that controlled their origin, evolution and regional significance. This condition is addressed through the analysis of a large (up to 18 km wide by 80 m deep) and exceptionally well‐imaged Late Pleistocene incised valley from the Sunda Shelf (South China Sea) based on shallow three‐dimensional seismic data from a large (11 500 km²), ‘merge’ survey, supplemented with site survey data (boreholes and seismic). This approach has enabled the characterization of the planform geometry, cross‐sectional area and internal stratigraphic architecture, which together allow reconstruction of the palaeo‐hydrology. The valley‐fill displays five notable stratigraphic features: (i) it is considerably larger than other seismically resolvable channel forms and can be traced for at least 180 km along its length; (ii) it is located in the axial part of the Malay Basin; (iii) the youngest part of the valley‐fill is dominated by a large (600 m wide and 23 m deep), high‐sinuosity channel, with well‐developed lateral accretion surfaces; (iv) the immediately adjacent interfluves contain much smaller, dendritic channel systems, which resemble tributaries that drained into the larger incised valley system; and (v) a ca 16 m thick, shell‐bearing, Holocene clay caps the valley‐fill. The dimension, basin location and palaeo‐hydrology of this incised valley leads to the conclusion that it represents the trunk river, which flowed along the length of the Malay Basin; it connected the Gulf of Thailand in the north with the South China Sea in the south‐east. The length of the river system (>1200 km long) enables examination of the upstream to downstream controls on the evolution of the incised valley, including sea‐level, climate and tectonics. The valley size, orientation and palaeo‐hydrology suggest close interaction between the regional tectonic framework, low‐angle shelf physiography and a humid‐tropical climatic setting.     

Recent Near-surface Temperature Trends in the Antarctic Peninsula from Observed,Reanalysis and Regional Climate Model Data

This study investigates the recent near-surface temperature trends over the Antarctic Peninsula.We make use of available surface observations,ECMWF’s ERA5 and its predecessor ERA-Interim,as well as numerical simulations,allowing us to contrast different data sources.We use hindcast simulations performed with Polar-WRF over the Antarctic Peninsula on a nested domain configuration at 45 km(PWRF-45)and 15 km(PWRF-15)spatial resolutions for the period 1991?2015.In addition,we include hindcast simulations of KNMI-RACMO21P obtained from the CORDEX-Antarctica domain(~50 km)for further comparisons.Results show that there is a marked windward warming trend except during summer.This windward warming trend is particularly notable in the autumn season and likely to be associated with the recent deepening of the Amundsen/Bellingshausen Sea low and warm advection towards the Antarctic Peninsula.On the other hand,an overall summer cooling is characterized by the strengthening of the Weddell Sea low as well as an anticyclonic trend over the Amundsen Sea accompanied by northward winds.The persistent cooling trend observed at the Larsen Ice Shelf station is not captured by ERA-Interim,whereas hindcast simulations indicate that there is a clear pattern of windward warming and leeward cooling.Furthermore,larger temporal correlations and lower differences exhibited by PWRF-15 illustrate the existence of the added value in the higher spatial resolution simulation.     

Country-specific dietary shifts to mitigate climate and water crises

Undernutrition, obesity, climate change, and freshwater depletion share food and agricultural systems as an underlying driver. Efforts to more closely align dietary patterns with sustainability and health goals could be better informed with data covering the spectrum of countries characterized by over- and undernutrition. Here, we model the greenhouse gas (GHG) and water footprints of nine increasingly plant-forward diets, aligned with criteria for a healthy diet, specific to 140 countries. Results varied widely by country due to differences in: nutritional adjustments, baseline consumption patterns from which modeled diets were derived, import patterns, and the GHG- and water-intensities of foods by country of origin. Relative to exclusively plant-based (vegan) diets, diets comprised of plant foods with modest amounts of low-food chain animals (i.e., forage fish, bivalve mollusks, insects) had comparably small GHG and water footprints. In 95 percent of countries, diets that only included animal products for one meal per day were less GHG-intensive than lacto-ovo vegetarian diets (in which terrestrial and aquatic meats were eliminated entirely) in part due to the GHG-intensity of dairy foods. The relatively optimal choices among modeled diets otherwise varied across countries, in part due to contributions from deforestation (e.g., for feed production and grazing lands) and highly freshwater-intensive forms of aquaculture. Globally, modest plant-forward shifts (e.g., to low red meat diets) were offset by modeled increases in protein and caloric intake among undernourished populations, resulting in net increases in GHG and water footprints. These and other findings highlight the importance of trade, culture, and nutrition in diet footprint analyses. The country-specific results presented here could provide nutritionally-viable pathways for high-meat consuming countries as well as transitioning countries that might otherwise adopt the Western dietary pattern.     

Preliminary Studies on Predicting the Tropical Indian Ocean Sea Surface Temperature through Combined Statistical Methods and Dynamic ENSO Prediction

The sea surface temperature(SST) in the Indian Ocean affects the regional climate over the Asian continent mostly through a modulation of the monsoon system.It is still difficult to provide an a priori indication of the seasonal variability over the Indian Ocean.It is widely recognized that the warm and cold events of SST over the tropical Indian Ocean are strongly linked to those of the equatorial eastern Pacific.In this study,a statistical prediction model has been developed to predict the monthly SST over the tropical Indian Ocean.This model is a linear regression model based on the lag relationship between the SST over the tropical Indian Ocean and the Ni o3.4(5°S-5°N,170°W-120°W) SST Index.The predictor(i.e.,Ni o3.4 SST Index) has been operationally predicted by a large size ensemble El Ni o and the Southern Oscillation(ENSO) forecast system with coupled data assimilation(Leefs_CDA),which achieves a high predictive skill of up to a 24-month lead time for the equatorial eastern Pacific SST.As a result,the prediction skill of the present statistical model over the tropical Indian Ocean is better than that of persistence prediction for January 1982 through December 2009.     

Urban green commons: Insights on urban common property systems

The aim of this paper is to shed new light on urban common property systems. We deal with urban commons in relation to urban green-space management, referring to them as urban green commons. Applying a property-rights analytic perspective, we synthesize information on urban green commons from three case-study regions in Sweden, Germany, and South Africa, and elaborate on their role for biodiversity conservation in urban settings, with a focus on business sites. Cases cover both formally established types of urban green commons and bottom-up emerged community-managed habitats. As our review demonstrates, the right to actively manage urban green space is a key characteristic of urban green commons whether ownership to land is in the private, public, the club realm domain, or constitutes a hybrid of these. We discuss the important linkages among urban common property systems, social–ecological learning, and management of ecosystem services and biodiversity. Several benefits can be associated with urban green commons, such as a reduction of costs for ecosystem management and as designs for reconnecting city-inhabitants to the biosphere. The emergence of urban green commons appears closely linked to dealing with societal crises and for reorganizing cities; hence, they play a key role in transforming cities toward more socially and ecologically benign environments. While a range of political questions circumscribe the feasibility of urban green commons, we discuss their usefulness in management of different types of urban habitats, their political justification and limitation, their potential for improved biodiversity conservation, and conditions for their emergence. We conclude by postulating some general policy advice.     

江西省“三农”服务专项建设现状与思考

通过对江西省24个"三农"服务专项建设实施地的"两个体系"建设情况开展实地调查,分析了江西省"三农"服务专项建设在提高气象为农服务现代化、促进气象工作政府化、惠民利民等三方面取得的成效,总结了各地的建设内容、成功经验、工作亮点和特色,梳理了存在的问题,并结合建设现状和有关要求,对今后江西省"三农"服务专项建设提出了六个方面的具体建议。     

The Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS)

The High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) is the échelle spectrograph for an open‐use instrument of the Subaru Telescope. The current status of the instrument is reviewed. The new image slicers that significantly improve the efficiency of observations with very high resolving power have been installed in the past three years. Brief overview of recent science results is given on studies of early generations of stars and extra‐solar planets. An upgrade plan and future prospects of this instrument are discussed. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Radial and rotational velocities of young brown dwarfs and very low-mass stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association and the ρ Ophiuchi cloud core

We present the results of a radial velocity (RV) survey of 14 brown dwarfs (BDs) and very low-mass (VLM) stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association (UScoOB) and three BD candidates in the ρ Ophiuchi dark cloud core. We obtained high-resolution echelle spectra at the Very Large Telescope using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) at two different epochs for each object, and measured the shifts in their RVs to identify candidates for binary/multiple systems in the sample. The average time separation of the RV measurements is 21.6 d, and our survey is sensitive to the binaries with separation <0.1 au. We found that four out of 17 objects (or 24⁺¹⁶₋₁₃ per cent by fraction) show a significant RV change in 4–33 d time-scale, and are considered as binary/multiple 'candidates'. We found no double-lined spectroscopic binaries in our sample, based on the shape of cross-correlation curves. The RV dispersion of the objects in UScoOB is found to be very similar to that of the BD and VLM stars in Chamaeleon I (Cha I). We also found the distribution of the mean rotational velocities ( v   sin   i ) of the UScoOB objects is similar to that of the Cha I, but the dispersion of v   sin   i is much larger than that of the Cha I objects.