Floodplain Residents' Preferences for Water Level Management Options in Flood Control Projects in Bangladesh

A maximum difference conjoint (MDC) model was part of a questionnaire toassess floodplain residents' preferences for the outcomes of water level managementinside an enclosed embankment system on the left bank of the Dhaleswari River, calledthe Compartmentalization Pilot Project (CPP)-Tangail. The outcomes were described as(a) varied flood depths in the rice field, (b) incidence of flooding on the courtyard andinside homes, (c) changes in floodplain and culture fisheries, and (d) varied conditionsof drainage congestion. Following a standard survey, the respondents from inside andoutside a completed section of the compartment (Cluster 1b) were shown profiles of these flood management outcomes and were asked to indicate for each profile the one most preferred and the one least preferred item. The results of the study indicated that the respondents had a clear preference for preventing flooding of their homes and courtyards and for an ideal water depth of 2 ft in the aman rice fields. At the same time, they also showed a strong concern about malfunctioning of sluices and to a lesser extent about the changes in the fish habitat. The successful application of the MDC as an approach to model tradeoffs among rural residents of Bangladesh shows that a relatively complex quantitative survey method, incorporating choice cards as pictograms, can be applied successfully even in a developing country.     

Empirical assessment of rockfall and debris flow risk along the Karakoram Highway,Pakistan

Natural Hazards - The Karakoram Highway links north Pakistan with southwest China. It passes through unique geomorphological, geological and tectonic setting. This study focused 200-km-long section...     

Habitability analyses of aquatic bacteria

Habitability is defined as an ability of an organism to inhabit different environments. Habitability of organisms, however, cannot be inferred from analyses such as a whole genome or community structures. A recently developed database, the MetaMetaDB, gives us information from what kind of environments one particular 16S rRNA sequence data has ever been obtained, and thus enables us to infer the habitability of the bacterium in question. In order to check the applicability of this database to study the habitability of aquatic bacteria, samples collected at two Naka River stations, one estuarine station from Naka River Estuary, two coastal stations at Oarai in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan and one station in the Kuroshio Current of the western North Pacific were examined. The phylotypes were tracked against the MetaMetaDB and it was reasonably found that the low-salinity stations were dominated by sequences with “freshwater and groundwater”, “human” and “wastewater” habitat identities, while the high-salinity stations were dominated by those with a “marine” identity. The phylotypes of low-salinity stations with a particular habitat identity were absent or rare in the high-salinity stations and vice versa. The MetaMetaDB also showed that sequences of Cyanobacteria or related phylogenetic groups may be present in the human gut, as well as the probable distribution of the relatives (ancestors/descendants/siblings) of some bacteria. These overall findings proved that the MetaMetaDB is useful as a new tool to infer microbial habitability and it gives us new information on the possible origin and ecology of microorganisms in the environments.     

Global distribution of the intensity and frequency of hourly precipitation and their responses to ENSO

Climate Dynamics - We investigate the global distribution of hourly precipitation and its connections with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) using both satellite precipitation...     

Neutral-neutral reactions for the formation of C3O and C3S

We investigate, neutral-neutral radiative association reactions (C₂+CO) and (C₂+CS) for the formation of C₃O and C₃S respectively by DFT. Both the reactions are spin allowed and found to be exothermic and barrierless in nature. The product of these reactions are perfectly linear and the calculated rotational transitions are in good agreement with earlier published data. At the DFT/TZ2P level, the difference between the calculated rotational constant and experimental one is 0.064 % for C₃O and 0.16 % for C₃S. We also discussed the intrinsic and relative stability of these molecules.     

Paleomagnetism of the Middle–Late Jurassic to Cretaceous red beds from the Peninsular Thailand: Implications for collision tectonics

Jurassic to Cretaceous red sandstones were sampled at 33 sites from the Khlong Min and Lam Thap formations of the Trang Syncline (7.6°N, 99.6°E), the Peninsular Thailand. Rock magnetic experiments generally revealed hematite as a carrier of natural remanent magnetization. Stepwise thermal demagnetization isolates remanent components with unblocking temperatures of 620–690 °C. An easterly deflected declination (D = 31.1°, I = 12.2°, α₉₅ = 13.9°, N = 9, in stratigraphic coordinates) is observed as pre-folding remanent magnetization from North Trang Syncline, whereas westerly deflected declination (D = 342.8°, I = 22.3°, α₉₅ = 12.7°, N = 13 in geographic coordinates) appears in the post-folding remanent magnetization from West Trang Syncline. These observations suggest an occurrence of two opposite tectonic rotations in the Trang area, which as a part of Thai–Malay Peninsula received clockwise rotation after Jurassic together with Shan-Thai and Indochina blocks. Between the Late Cretaceous and Middle Miocene, this area as a part of southern Sundaland Block experienced up to 24.5° ± 11.5° counter-clockwise rotation with respect to South China Block. This post-Cretaceous tectonic rotation in Trang area is considered as a part of large scale counter-clockwise rotation experienced by the southern Sundaland Block (including the Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and south Sulawesi areas) as a result of Australian Plate collision with southeast Asia. Within the framework of Sundaland Block, the northern boundary of counter-clockwise rotated zone lies between the Trang area and the Khorat Basin.     

参量阵浅地层剖面仪在海底羽状流探测中的应用——以ATLAS P70在马克兰海域调查为例

海底渗漏的羽状流是沉积层赋存天然气水合物的重要证据之一,基于非线性水声学原理的参量阵浅地层剖面仪作为海洋探测的重要设备,对于获得羽状流在水体中的物性特征和渗漏点的浅地层信息有着重大意义.本文根据ATLAS P70浅地层剖面仪在马克兰海域调查中得到的浅地层剖面数据,结合多道地震数据、多波束数据以及地质样品等资料,刻画了研究区内羽状流形态特征,分析了羽状流区海底地层流体运移的通道以及近海底微地形地貌特征.通过研究发现在羽状流区伴随泥火山喷发,自生碳酸盐岩发育,剥蚀海底松散沉积物形成大小不一的麻坑,滋生生物群落等特征.反映在浅剖初始高频(20 kHz)数据界面上羽状流表现为柱状浑浊反射异常,形态呈火焰状,高度由80 m到1500 m不等;对应在次级低频(4 kHz)信号界面可以清晰显示流体渗漏的浅地层结构特征,从中不仅可以识别出流体的运移通道,如泥火山和管状通道等,而且揭示了流体逸散的残留地貌,如麻坑构造和海底滑坡等.本文依托参量阵浅地层剖面数据,对巴基斯坦马克兰海域羽状流有了较全面的认识,为天然气水合物的研究垫定了基础.