Response Surface Optimization for Removal of Cadmium from Aqueous Solution by Waste Agricultural Biosorbent Psidium guvajava L. Leaf Powder

Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to study the combined effects of the various parameters namely, pH, biosorbent dosage, cadmium concentration and temperature, and to optimize the process conditions for the maximum removal of cadmium using Psidium guvajava L. leaf powder. In order to obtain the mutual interactions between the variables and to optimize these variables, a 2⁴ full factorial central composite design using RSM was employed. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the quadratic model demonstrates that the model was highly significant. The model was statistically tested and verified by experimentation. A maximum cadmium removal of 93.2% was obtained under the following optimum conditions: aqueous cadmium concentration 40.15 mg/L, adsorbent dosage 0.5 g/50 mL solution, pH 5.0, and temperature (35°C). The value of desirability factor obtained was 1.     

Identifying Lagrangian fronts with favourable fishery conditions

Lagrangian fronts (LFs) in the ocean are defined as boundaries between surface waters with strongly different Lagrangian properties. They can be accurately detected in a given velocity field by computing synoptic maps for displacements of synthetic tracers and other Lagrangian indicators. We use Pacific saury catch and location data for a number of commercial fishery seasons in the region of the northwest Pacific with one of the richest fishery in the world. It is shown statistically that the saury fishing grounds with maximal catches are not randomly distributed over the region but located mainly along the sharp LFs where productive cold waters of the Oyashio Current, warmer waters of the southern branch of the Soya Current, and waters of warm-core Kuroshio rings converge. Computation of those fronts in altimetric geostrophic velocity fields both in the years with the First and Second Oyashio Intrusions shows that in spite of different oceanographic conditions LF locations may serve as good indicators of potential fishing grounds. Possible biophysical reasons for saury aggregation near sharp LFs are discussed. We propose a mechanism for effective export of nutrient rich waters based on stretching of material lines in the vicinity of hyperbolic objects in the ocean. The developed method, based on identifying LFs in any velocity fields, is quite general and may be applied to find potential fishing grounds for the other pelagic fish.     

A probabilistic performance‐based approach for mitigating the seismic pounding risk between adjacent buildings

Existing design procedures for determining the separation distance between adjacent buildings subjected to seismic pounding risk are based on approximations of the buildings' peak relative displacement. These procedures are characterized by unknown safety levels and thus are not suitable for use within a performance‐based earthquake engineering framework. This paper introduces an innovative reliability‐based methodology for the design of the separation distance between adjacent buildings. The proposed methodology, which is naturally integrated into modern performance‐based design procedures, provides the value of the separation distance corresponding to a target probability of pounding during the design life of the buildings. It recasts the inverse reliability problem of the determination of the design separation distance as a zero‐finding problem and involves the use of analytical techniques in order to evaluate the statistics of the dynamic response of the buildings. Both uncertainty in the seismic intensity and record‐to‐record variability are taken into account. The proposed methodology is applied to several different buildings modeled as linear elastic single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) and multi‐degree‐of‐freedom (MDOF) systems, as well as SDOF nonlinear hysteretic systems. The design separation distances obtained are compared with the corresponding estimates that are based on several response combination rules suggested in the seismic design codes and in the literature. In contrast to current seismic code design procedures, the newly proposed methodology provides consistent safety levels for different building properties and different seismic hazard conditions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

西安地裂缝与地面沉降灾害经济损失评估

为了深入分析西安地裂缝与地面沉降灾害致灾特点及定量评价其经济损失,在中国地质调查局于2004-2006年开展的西安地区地裂缝与地面沉降调查所取得的成果资料基础上,通过综合分析研究得出,西安地裂缝与地面沉降的致灾特点具有直接性、三维破坏性、三维空间有限性、渐进性和持久性。采用终值法、影子工程法、统计推断法、重置成本法、建造成本或工程费用法、灾情对比法、间接损失与直接损失比例法和权重分解法评价得出地裂缝与地面沉降灾害在1976-2006年造成经济损失为117亿元,其中直接损失71亿元,间接损失46亿元。     

汕头市历史地震影响烈度的分析

本文将所论地震事件视为随机事件。按全概率定理分析了地震对场地的地震动影响(A)和超越给定值的概率P:对地震烈度序列进行了极值统计分析,得到汕头市地震平均重现期及其对应的烈度值。     

TECTONIC TRANSFER ON THE EASTERN EDGE OF PAMIR

TECTONIC TRANSFER ON THE EASTERN EDGE OF PAMIR     

数字地图图像的基本形态学变换和结构元素的分解

本文是作者关于“数学形态学与数字地图图像的分析和识别”研究成果的一部分。文章提出了地图图形的集合概念和地图图像形态分析的基元确定原则,证明了结构元素的基元最小分解定理;同时,介绍了基本的形态学变换,统一并扩展了带约束条件的数学形态学变换模型;从而,奠定了数字地图图像分析和识别的数学基础。     

田东35KV输电线路防雷设计分析

对广西田东县35KV输电线路进行防雷措施进行设计时,综合考虑当地气候、地形、环境等多种因素,并进行雷击风险评估工作,给出了最佳的防雷保护方案,从而有效地降低输电线路雷击跳闸率,减少雷电对电网安全运行的影响.     

Computer-aided design of bus route maps

The bus route map is a diagram that aims to convey necessary information for map readers to find an appropriate way of moving from an origin to a destination. Design of bus route map is a complicated and time-consuming task that requires careful consideration of readability and aesthetics. This paper proposes a new computational method for designing bus route maps. The method helps us to reduce six types of undesirable elements in bus route maps, i.e., gap, shift, crossing, overlap, misalignment, and acute bend. The method consists of two phases: line layout phase determines the relative order of bus routes on each road segment and map layout phase calculates the actual position of bus routes drawn on a map. This paper applies the method to the design of bus route maps of Chiba City, Japan. The result supports the effectiveness of the method as well as reveals open topics for future research.