Kosa (yellow sand) components in precipitation collected at central Japan

In east Asia, acidic gases derived from fossil fuel combustion have increased in the past decades. On the other hand, the Asian dust, also called Kosa (yellow sand) is transported following windstorms from arid lands in the Asian continent. Many researchers have been interested in the reaction between acidic aerosols and Kosa aerosols as well as the long-range transport of these emissions. To investigate the characteristics of chemical components in precipitation on a long-term basis over Japan, precipitation was sequentially collected from April 1984 to March 1997 at Kanazawa located near the coast of the Sea of Japan. Precipitation samples were collected at 1 mm intervals for the first 5 mm rainfall and all volume of rainwater after 6 mm for all precipitation events with an automatic wet only precipitation collector. According to the analyses of precipitation including Kosa aerosols during Kosa periods, the reaction in the air between Kosa and acidic components during the long-range transport was discussed.     

Controlled experiment in the ionosphere with a rocket-borne plasma gun

A controlled active experiment was performed by a plasma gun on-board a rocket to study the plasma stream across the magnetic field in space. A mother and daughter system was employed. An 8 kV 0.8 μF (25 J) capacitor bank on the daughter rocket was discharged every 12 s and about 10¹⁶ ion and electron pairs were ejected. A plasma signal was detected on the electron temperature probe. The propagation speed of the plasma stream is estimated to be 10⁶ cm/s, considerably lower than that obtained in the prelaunch test. The amplitude of the plasma signal decays as the inverse square of the mutual distance between the mother and daughter rockets and this decay is much slower than the free streaming. The importance of the geomagnetic field on the plasma propagation in space is discussed.     

Improving integrity of RC beam-column joints with deficient beam rebar anchorage

In recent earthquakes in developing countries, severe damage was observed on reinforced concrete buildings. This study focuses on exterior beam-column joints with substandard beam rebar anchorage and seismic strengthening by installing wing walls. First, a series of experiments was conducted to investigate the seismic behavior of exterior joints with substandard beam rebar anchorage representing typical Bangladeshi buildings. Two 0.7-scaled exterior joint specimens were tested, and these specimens showed beam rebar anchorage failure and/or joint shear failure. Prior to strengthening of the joint, a series of pullout tests was conducted on postinstalled bonded anchors in low-strength concrete for strengthening design. Then, an experiment was performed to apply the strengthening method by wing walls to one of the exterior joint specimens to improve the integrity, and this method was intended to prevent the failure of beam rebar anchorage. The strengthening method is proposed to extend the development length of beam longitudinal bars by considering the embedment length along the wing walls. The test results verified the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed strengthening method to upgrade exterior RC beam-column joints with deficient beam rebar anchorage.     

Baroclinic oscillations of tidal frequency at ocean weather station P

Abstract

We analyse time series records of isopleth depths derived from two extended sequences of hourly and bi‐hourly sampled profiles taken at Ocean Weather Station P during the summers of 1961 and 1969. Vertical displacements to 240‐m depth are mainly of semidiurnal frequency with r.m.s. amplitudes of 1–4 m. Displacements at diurnal and near‐inertial frequencies are typically less than a metre and have little statistical significance. Within the semidiurnal band, motions appear to be predominantly at the principal solar (S₂) rather than the principal lunar (M₂) semidiurnal frequency. The phase of the M₂ baroclinic tide is roughly equal to that of the M₂ barotropic tide (as extrapolated from coastal and seamount observations); phases of other constituents differ appreciably from barotropic values.     

Mechanism of enrichment of trace metals on fine sludges collected from filtration plants

Fine sludges were collected from five filtration plants, and the partitioning of ten metals (Ag, Cd, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cu, Sn, Co, Ni, and Fe) in them was determined by selective leaching techniques. (1) The available amounts, which shows the total of each metal leached between 1 M CH₃COONH₄ and 30 percent H₂O₂, for Ag, Cd and Mn, ranged from 51 to 98 percent for five sludges. (2) The available amounts for Zn, Pb, Cu, and Sn were 47–92 percent for five sludges. (3) The most important fraction for Co, Ni, and Fe, except the Inagawa sludge, which is markedly polluted by organic matter, was the crystalline particle. Therefore, the above metals, except Co, Ni, and Fe, are thought to be enriched on ion-exchangeable sites, organic matter, hydrous Fe/Mn oxides, and sulfides in fine sludges.     

Observation of hydrogen peroxide concentrations in a Japanese red pine forest

In order to study the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and the factors controlling its concentrations, we monitored concentrations of H₂O₂ and other gases such as sulfur dioxide, ozone, and NO _x as well as meteorological factors such as air temperature, relative humidity, and wind direction/speed during eight measurement periods from 2000 to 2002 in a Japanese red pine forest in Japan. The H₂O₂ concentrations ranged from below 0.01 to 1.64 ppb, and analysis of the diurnal variation in H₂O₂ concentration showed high concentrations around noon, and low concentrations in the morning and late afternoon. The H₂O₂ concentrations were high in early summer, when O₃ concentration, temperature, and solar radiation were high, and were low in fall, when O₃ concentration, temperature, and solar radiation were low. We propose that O₃ concentration affects the production of H₂O₂ in the monitored region during the period under study, but that high H₂O₂ concentrations were sometimes caused by the transport of polluted air from urban regions. H₂O₂ concentrations decreased remarkably when SO₂ concentrations increased by transported volcanic emission on Miyake Island. In the absence of the effects of SO₂, H₂O₂ concentrations increased with increasing O₃ concentration and temperature.     

Non‐linear system identification of the versatile‐typed structures by a novel signal processing technique

Non‐linear structural identification problems have raised considerable research efforts since decades, in which the Bouc–Wen model is generally utilized to simulate non‐linear structural constitutive characteristic. Support vector regression (SVR), a promising data processing method, is studied for versatile‐typed structural identification. First, a model selection strategy is utilized to determine the unknown power parameter of the Bouc–Wen model. Meanwhile, optimum SVR parameters are selected automatically, instead of tuning manually. Consequently, the non‐linear structural equation is rewritten in linear form, and is solved by the SVR technique. A five‐floor versatile‐type structure is studied to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, in which both power parameter known and unknown cases are investigated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Penetration into low-density media: In situ observation of penetration process of various projectiles

In order to understand the penetration process of projectiles into lower-density targets, we carry out hypervelocity impact experiments using low-density (60 mg cm^?3) aerogel targets and various types of projectiles, and observe the track formation process in the targets using a high-speed camera. A carrot shaped track, a bulbous, and a “hybrid” one consisting of bulbous and thin parts, are formed. The results of the high-speed camera observations reveal the similarity and differences on the temporal evolution of the penetration depth and maximum diameter of these tracks. At very early stages of an impact, independent of projectile type, the temporal penetration depth is described by hydrodynamic models for the original projectiles. Afterward, when the breakup of projectiles does not occur, intact projectiles continue to penetrate the aerogels. In the case of the breakup of projectiles, the track expands with a velocity of about a sound velocity of the aerogel at final stages. If there are large fragments, they penetrate deeper and the tracks become a hybrid type. The penetration of the large fragments is described by hydrodynamic models. Based on these results, we discuss the excavation near the impact point by shock waves.     

Dynamic Behaviour of a Caisson Quaywall Under Strong Earthquake

—Effective stress analysis is performed to evaluate the residual displacement of a caissonquaywall during 1994 Hokkaido-Toho-Oki Earthquake and 1993 Kushiro-Oki Earthquake.Theconstitutive model used in this study is a multiple shear mechanism type defined in strain space and cantake into account the effect of rotation of principal stress axis.The earthquake accelerations recorded atthe outcropping rock during the earthquake are used as input bedrock motion.The results of finite ele-ment analysis are in good agreement with the observed behaviour of the quaywall.The analysis also indi-cates that liquefaction and high excess pore water pressure have a significant effect on the deformation ofthe caisson.Soil improvement is speculated as the most reliable measures against liquefaction.The influ-ence of soil improvement and the reasonable improved area are discussed in the paper.