Bidirectional shaking table tests of a low-cost friction sliding system with flat-inclined surfaces

A novel low-cost friction sliding system for bidirectional excitation is developed to improve the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers. The sliding system is a spherical prototype developed by combining a central flat surface with an inclined spherical segment, characterized by stable oscillation and a large reduction in response accelerations on the flat surface. The inclined part provides a restoring force that limits the residual displacements of the system. Conventional steel and concrete are employed to construct a flat-inclined spherical surface atop an RC pier. The seismic forces are dissipated through the frictions generated during the sliding movements; hence, the seismic resilience of bridges can be ensured with a low-cost design solution. The proposed system is fabricated utilizing a mold created by a three-dimensional printer, which facilitates the use of conventional concrete to construct spherical shapes. The concrete surface is lubricated with a resin material to prevent abrasion from multiple input ground motions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the system, bidirectional shaking table tests are conducted in the longitudinal and transverse directions of a scaled bridge model. The effect of the inclination angle and the flat surface size is investigated. The results demonstrate a large decrease in response acceleration when the system exhibits circular sliding displacement. Furthermore, the inclination angle that generates the smallest residual displacement is identified experimentally.     

Non‐iterative time integration scheme for non‐linear dynamic FEM analysis

This paper proposes a non‐iterative time integration (NITI) scheme for non‐linear dynamic FEM analysis. The NITI scheme is constructed by combining explicit and implicit schemes, taking advantage of their merits, and enables stable computation without an iteration process for convergence even when used for non‐linear dynamic problems. Formulation of the NITI scheme is presented and its stability is studied. Although the NITI scheme is not unconditionally stable when applied to non‐linear problems, it is stable in most cases unless stiffness hardening occurs or the problem has a large velocity‐dependent term. The NITI scheme is applied to dynamic analysis of the non‐linear soil–structure system and computation results are compared with those by the central difference method (CDM). Comparison shows that the stability of the NITI scheme is superior to that of the CDM. Accuracy of the NITI scheme is verified because its results are identical with those by the CDM in which the time step is set as 1/10 of that for the NITI scheme. The application of the NITI scheme to the mesh‐partitioned FEM is also proposed. It is applied to dynamic analysis of the linear soil–structure system. It yields the same results as a conventional single‐domain FEM analysis using the Newmark β method. This result verifies the usability of mesh‐partitioned FEM analysis using the NITI scheme. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley& Sons, Ltd.     

Microbial food web contributions to bottom water hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Nutrients from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers greatly stimulate biological production in the ‘classical’ food web on the inner shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Portions of this production, especially large diatoms and zooplankton fecal pellets, sink and decompose in the bottom water, consuming oxygen and contributing to the annual development of an extensive zone of bottom water hypoxia, typically >15,000 km² since 1993. The microbial food web is also active in the Mississippi River plume, but consists of small organisms that sink slowly. This ‘recycling’ food web has not been considered as a significant contributor to vertical flux and hypoxia. However, gelatinous zooplankton, especially pelagic appendicularians such as Oikopleura dioica, mediate the conversion of microbial web organisms to organic particles with high sinking rates. When pelagic appendicularians are abundant in coastal regions of the northern Gulf of Mexico, they stimulate the rapid vertical transfer of microbial web productivity in the surface layer, which is only 5–15 m thick in the coastal hypoxic region, to the sub-pycnocline layer that becomes hypoxic each summer. In this paper we present results from two studies examining the significance of this pathway. In both 2002 and 2004, we observed high production rates of appendicularians in coastal waters. Discarded gelatinous houses and fecal pellets from the appendicularian populations often provided more than 1 g m⁻² d⁻¹ of organic carbon for the establishment and maintenance of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This source of organic matter flux is especially important in regions far from the river plumes and during periods of low river discharge. Autotrophic elements of this food web are primarily supported by recycled inorganic nutrients originating in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. Sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) supporting the heterotrophic components of this microbial food web may include in situ production, the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers, and Louisiana's coastal wetlands. If significant, the latter source provides a possible link between Louisiana's high rates of coastal land loss and the large hypoxic zone observed along the coast during summer. Both of the latter DOM sources are independent of phytoplankton production stimulated by inputs of riverine inorganic nutrients.     

Mediation agreement to resolve an environmental conflict and its social implications: the case of Wadi Zalmon (Israel National Park)

Mediation refers to an informal process in which a neutral third party helps parties in conflict attain an agreement which they were unable to reach on their own. It is mainly used to solve social, economic and political problems, but its characteristics allow using it to resolve also environmental disputes. The purpose of this article is to examine over a period of time the different attitudes of some groups of populations (communities, municipalities and governmental authorities) toward mediation agreement and its implications. The agreement was signed for an area which was declared a National Park due to its unique landscape—characterized as a cultural landscape (a landscape which represents a combined works of nature and of man). Examination over time is intended to expose whether changes have taken place in the populations in respect to the agreement and its social and cultural influences on them. The paper is dealing with Wadi Zalmon, a stream flowing from east to west in Western Galilee, in the north part of Israel and its environs. In this declaration are involved many populations, which represent the multicultural distinctiveness of Israeli society: Christians, Moslems, Bedouins and Jews.