Effects of rainfall,geomorphological and geometrical variables on vulnerability of the lower Mississippi River levee system to slump slides

This study investigated the importance of rainfall and various geomorphological and geometrical factors to the vulnerability of earthen levees to slump slides. The study was performed using a database including 34 slump slides that occurred in the lower Mississippi River levee system from 2008 to 2009. The impact of rainfall within the six months prior to slide occurrence was studied for 23 slides for which an accurate occurrence date was available. Several variables were used to develop a logistic regression model to predict the probability of slump slide occurrence. The proposed model was verified for both slide and non-slide cases. The regression analysis depicts the impact of channel width, river sinuosity index, riverbank erosion, channel shape condition and distance to river. Excluding the sinuosity index, the impact of the other independent variables examined was found to be significant. Occurrence of riverbank erosion around the slide locations was the most significant predictor factor. A channel width of less than 1000?m was ranked as the second most significant variable. The proposed model can aid in locating high-risk areas on levees in order to take prompt protective measures, increase monitoring efforts and enable early response under emergency conditions.     

1D System identification of a 54‐story steel frame building by seismic interferometry

A 54‐story steel, perimeter‐frame building in downtown Los Angeles, California, is identified by a wave method using records of the Northridge earthquake of 1994 (M_L = 6.4, R = 32 km). The building is represented as a layered shear beam and a torsional shaft, characterized by the corresponding velocities of vertically propagating waves through the structure. The previously introduced waveform inversion algorithm is applied, which fits in the least squares sense pulses in low‐pass filtered impulse response functions computed at different stories. This paper demonstrates that layered shear beam and torsional shaft models are valid for this building, within bands that include the first five modes of vibration for each of the North–South (NS), East–West (EW), and torsional responses (0–1.7 Hz for NS and EW, and 0–3.5 Hz for the torsional response). The observed pulse travel time from ground floor to penthouse level is τ ≈1.5 s for NS and EW and τ ≈ 0.9 s for the torsional responses. The identified equivalent uniform shear beam wave velocities are β_eq ≈ 140 m/s for NS and EW responses, and 260 m/s for torsion, and the apparent Q ≈ 25 for the NS and torsional, and ≈14 for the EW response. Across the layers, the wave velocity varied 90–170 m/s for the NS, 80–180 m/s for the EW, and 170–350 m/s for the torsional responses. The identification method is intended for use in structural health monitoring. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IPCC第五次评估报告气候变化对人类福祉影响的新认知

IPCC第五次评估报告（AR5）第二工作组（WGII）报告评估了气候变化对人类健康、人类安全、生计与贫困的影响,指出气候变化已经对人类健康和安全造成了负面影响,气候变化、气候变率和极端气候事件给城市和农村的贫困人口增添了额外的负担,与气候变化相关的风险增大。21世纪的气候变化,将继续加剧现有健康问题,增加人类的迁徙,放大冲突的驱动因素的影响,对许多国家的关键基础设施造成不利影响,给小岛国和有很长海岸线国家的领土完整带来风险;整个21世纪,气候变化将减缓经济增长,进一步威胁粮食安全,使减贫更为困难,贫困问题更加突出。     

The Concept and Development of Smart Structures Technologies for Long-span Cable-supported Bridges

This article presents an overview of smart structures technologies in connection with long-span cable-supported bridges. Considering the broad scope of the smart structures technologies, two subareas, namely, structural health monitoring and structural control technologies, and their applications in long-span cable supported bridges, are identified as the focus of this review. It is believed that by, adopting the smart structures technologies, reliable operation and hazard management of long-span bridges can be achieved much more efficiently and can be made economically feasible, especially for bridges located at sites with high risks of severe natural hazardous events, such as those facing the bridges of the Taiwan Strait Crossing project. The feasibility of and practical issues in implementing the smart structures technologies in the design and construction of long-span cable-supported bridges are also discussed here. Considering the time span of the construction of the Taiwan Strait Crossing, some of the innovative technologies with a high potential for future long-span bridge applications, while still at the stage of exploratory research at the time of writing, are also examined as it is believed these technologies might have become prevalent by the completion time of the Taiwan Strait Crossing project.     

北京市健身俱乐部多尺度空间格局

城市健身俱乐部是现代城市游憩空间中的新事物。利用点格局识别和探索性数据分析方法,借助GIS和地统计分析等软件,分析北京市健身俱乐部空间格局特征。最邻近距离系数和样方分析表明,健身俱乐部在全局尺度上存在明显空间聚集,但在行政分区和交通线路分割的单元中,则表现出聚集、随机和离散分布的不同空间格局。1~5km共5个尺度格网单元统计分析进一步验证了健身俱乐部空间格局具有显著尺度效应。样本密度、最邻近距离系数、Moran’s I系数分析发现,样本密度和最邻近距离系数均呈现明显的空间分异和空间自相关,其中2km、3km尺度反映的微观形态特征最为显著。证明全局尺度并非分析健身俱乐部空间格局的唯一和最好尺度,部分微观单元上空间格局将更明显,格局特征也可能会与全局尺度相反。因此多类型、多尺度统计单元能够更全面地反映点要素分布的规律。多尺度空间格局研究,为准确描述城市游憩空间中的点要素空间格局特征,提供了新的研究思路和具体实证。     

吉林西部地区高砷地下水砷的阈值分析及风险评价

高砷地下水导致的砷中毒是吉林西部地区近年来新发现的地方病。为评价饮用水中砷对人体健康产生的潜在危害,在野外调查、采样分析的基础上,开展了水砷安全阈值分析 ,确定了砷的总质量浓度0.05 mg/L为研究区的水砷安全阈值,建立了地下水健康风险评价模型,进行了地下水砷健康风险评价。结果表明:研究区地下水砷引起的个人年均风险度最高达2.11×10^-3 a^-1,其中高砷的第四系承压水中97.06%的采样点水砷对人体的个人年均致癌风险度,大于国际辐射防护委员会(ICRP)推荐的最大可接受值5.0×10^-5 a^-1;作为备用水源的第三系大安组、泰康组承压水69.57%采样点砷的致癌风险度也超过最大可接受风险水平。通过对风险度评价结果与砷中毒病情等资料的对比分析,风险评价结果与砷中毒病情基本一致,验证了评价结果的合理性。     

New Zealand estuary benthic health indicators summarised nationally and by estuary type

ABSTRACT

Ecological data are often collected at small geographic scales. However, analysing data collectively over wider scales can reveal results and patterns not shown in the smaller-scale data. We summarised data for intertidal benthic ecological (physico-chemical and biological) health indicators from New Zealand estuaries and compared the results against thresholds above which ecological impacts are expected to occur. Values for the sediment physico-chemical indicators mud and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus collectively) were above thresholds for at least 50% and at 31% of sites measured respectively. Sediment organic content and metal concentrations were generally low, with only maximum values exceeding the thresholds. Scores for biological indicators were within (or better than) the moderate health category for either at least 50%, or at least 75%, of sites. When compared across estuary types (based on a geomorphic classification system) we found statistically significant differences for thirteen of the sixteen indicators. Differences (among mean values) for highly significant results were relatively large compared to the range of values observed nationally for those indicators. However, the differences, except those for mud, were smaller than their respective ecological health threshold values. Our summary provides a reference for future comparisons of estuary indicators nationally and across estuary types.     

基于PSR模型的滨海湿地生态系统健康评价——以辽河三角洲滨海湿地为例

以PSR评价模型为基础,选取人口、经济、环境、资源开发、政策法规和管理决策等指标,诊断和评估滨海湿地生态系统在湿地开发和环境污染等一系列人类活动干扰下的健康现状,将健康等级分为优、良好、一般、较差和极差等5级.结果表明,辽河三角洲滨海湿地生态系统健康状态一般,由于过度的围垦开发,自然湿地面积在1988～2007年间减少了11 072 hm2,其中,碱蓬湿地减少了75%(2 440 hm2),而水产养殖场增加了182%(9 359 hm2).流域及沿岸的工农业排污致使评价区域内水体污染较严重,COD、TIN、活性磷酸盐和Pb的含量分别达到3.06 mg/dm3、795.45、44.01和6.46μg/dm3,普遍为四类或劣四类水质.环境的恶化,导致碱蓬、芦苇湿地面积萎缩,鸟类种类和数量不断减少,底栖生物多样性降低.并据此提出了辽河三角洲滨海湿地的管理与保护措施.