Human spaceflight in the UK: the cost of non-participation

Human space exploration is not considered a strategic priority in the United Kingdom at present. However the UK would benefit from participating in human spaceflight, for both scientific and social reasons. From the point of view of medical science there are many parallels between the physiology of spaceflight and terrestrial disease processes, and studies of the response of astronauts to long-duration spaceflight can therefore help in the development of therapeutic strategies on Earth. On the social side, human spaceflight is an attractive vehicle for stimulating the interest of young people in science and engineering, something that must be of value for an aspiring ‘knowledge-based’ economy.     

企鹅珍珠贝人工苗生长的初步观察

为了解企鹅珍珠贝生长规律，观察了壳高2.5～5.0mm的出池幼苗，按月测量其生长参数和成活率，以及环境因子。结果表明，企鹅珍珠贝生长最快的月份为7～11月和次年4～6月，壳长，壳高和壳宽月均增加量分别为3.8～13.0mm、4.7～11.2mm、2.3～3.8mm，月成活率97.8%～98.6%。企鹅珍珠贝生长最慢月份是11月至次年3月。     

Neural network prediction of nitrate in groundwater of Harran Plain, Turkey

Monitoring groundwater quality by cost-effective techniques is important as the aquifers are vulnerable to contamination from the uncontrolled discharge of sewage, agricultural and industrial activities. Faulty planning and mismanagement of irrigation schemes are the principle reasons of groundwater quality deterioration. This study presents an artificial neural network (ANN) model predicting concentration of nitrate, the most common pollutant in shallow aquifers, in groundwater of Harran Plain. The samples from 24 observation wells were monthly analysed for 1 year. Nitrate was found in almost all groundwater samples to be significantly above the maximum allowable concentration of 50 mg/L, probably due to the excessive use of artificial fertilizers in intensive agricultural activities. Easily measurable parameters such as temperature, electrical conductivity, groundwater level and pH were used as input parameters in the ANN-based nitrate prediction. The best back-propagation (BP) algorithm and neuron numbers were determined for optimization of the model architecture. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm was selected as the best of 12 BP algorithms and optimal neuron number was determined as 25. The model tracked the experimental data very closely (R = 0.93). Hence, it is possible to manage groundwater resources in a more cost-effective and easier way with the proposed model application.     

The trouble with nature: Ambivalence in the lives of urban Australian environmentalists

The number and range of contests over the social production of nature is growing. Much environmentalist discourse, however, continues to appeal for unequivocal scientific support on clearly demarcated issues of pure, a-social nature. This paper explores the question of how participants in environmental movements view this demarcation in the context of their own lives. After introducing scholarly critique of dualistic ideas of nature and the ambivalence characteristic of environmentalist conceptions of nature, the paper draws upon a qualitative study with environmentalists in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Perth and Hobart. Inquiring into the interplay of discourse of nature and everyday worlds, interviews revealed a complex interdependence of dualistic and non-dualistic understandings of nature. This ecology of ideas was especially evident in spatial imaginaries of nature. Scientific terminology, social disaffection and pessimism were associated with abstract and mutually exclusive conceptions of society and nature. Reflections on personal experience, however, indicated more flexible and hopeful negotiations in everyday liminal spaces offering ‘the best of both worlds’. It is concluded that environmentalist resistance to dismantling of conceptual boundaries between society and nature may often stem not from failure to appreciate socionatural complexity, but from a strongly felt sense that the self can only truly be found in nature.     

Spatial Variability of Rock Depth in Bangalore Using Geostatistical, Neural Network and Support Vector Machine Models

Geospatial technology is increasing in demand for many applications in geosciences. Spatial variability of the bed/hard rock is vital for many applications in geotechnical and earthquake engineering problems such as design of deep foundations, site amplification, ground response studies, liquefaction, microzonation etc. In this paper, reduced level of rock at Bangalore, India is arrived from the 652 boreholes data in the area covering 220 km². In the context of prediction of reduced level of rock in the subsurface of Bangalore and to study the spatial variability of the rock depth, Geostatistical model based on Ordinary Kriging technique, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) models have been developed. In Ordinary Kriging, the knowledge of the semi-variogram of the reduced level of rock from 652 points in Bangalore is used to predict the reduced level of rock at any point in the subsurface of the Bangalore, where field measurements are not available. A new type of cross-validation analysis developed proves the robustness of the Ordinary Kriging model. ANN model based on multi layer perceptrons (MLPs) that are trained with Levenberg–Marquardt backpropagation algorithm has been adopted to train the model with 90% of the data available. The SVM is a novel type of learning machine based on statistical learning theory, uses regression technique by introducing loss function has been used to predict the reduced level of rock from a large set of data. In this study, a comparative study of three numerical models to predict reduced level of rock has been presented and discussed.     

Tantulocarida (Crustacea: Maxillopoda): A New Taxon from the Temporary Meiobenthos1

Abstract. Two new genera of Tantulocarida are described from the Ligurian deep sea (Western Mediterranean) off Corsica. Xenalytus scotophilia is referred to the Microdajidae and differs from Microdajus GREVE in thoracopodal segmentation as well as in the presence of coupling spines on thoracopod 6 and longitudinal lamellae on the cephalic shield. Aphotocentor styx is placed in the Deoterthridae and holds an intermediate position between Deoterthron BRADFORD & HEWITT and Boreotantulus HI/YS & BOXSHALL. Some aspects of cephalon internal structure are described for the first time and give a possible explanation for the mechanism of stylet protrusion. The external structures of the oral disc are described using SEM. The discovery of well-developed muscles in the trunk and thoracopods is discussed in the light of the benthic phase the tantulus passes through. The boundary between the thorax and abdomen in the tantulus is reinterpreted, corroborating the 5–7-5 bodyplan of the hypothetical urmaxillopodan as found in the Upper Cambrian Skaracarida and possibly also Dala peilertae MOLLER. Some aspects related to dispersal, infection, and feeding are reinterpreted or approached from a different perspective. SEM of Microdajus langi GREVE gives evidence that the tantuli hatch via a conspicuous slit located at the posterior end of the female trunk sac. A worldwide key to the tantulocaridan families and genera is given, and distributional records are compiled. It is suggested that Tantulocarida might be common representatives of the temporary meiobenthos and that their present species number represents only the tip of the iceberg.     

Freely floating-body simulation by a 2D fully nonlinear numerical wave tank

Nonlinear interactions between large waves and freely floating bodies are investigated by a 2D fully nonlinear numerical wave tank (NWT). The fully nonlinear 2D NWT is developed based on the potential theory, MEL/material-node time-marching approach, and boundary element method (BEM). A robust and stable 4th-order Runge–Kutta fully updated time-integration scheme is used with regriding (every time step) and smoothing (every five steps). A special φ_n-η type numerical beach on the free surface is developed to minimize wave reflection from end-wall and wave maker. The acceleration-potential formulation and direct mode-decomposition method are used for calculating the time derivative of velocity potential. The indirect mode-decomposition method is also independently developed for cross-checking. The present fully nonlinear simulations for a 2D freely floating barge are compared with the corresponding linear results, Nojiri and Murayama’s (Trans. West-Jpn. Soc. Nav. Archit. 51 (1975)) experimental results, and Tanizawa and Minami’s (Abstract for the 6th Symposium on Nonlinear and Free-surface Flow, 1998) fully nonlinear simulation results. It is shown that the fully nonlinear results converge to the corresponding linear results as incident wave heights decrease. A noticeable discrepancy between linear and fully nonlinear simulations is observed near the resonance area, where the second and third harmonic sway forces are even bigger than the first harmonic component causing highly nonlinear features in sway time series. The surprisingly large second harmonic heave forces in short waves are also successfully reproduced. The fully updated time-marching scheme is found to be much more robust than the frozen-coefficient method in fully nonlinear simulations with floating bodies. To compare the role of free-surface and body-surface nonlinearities, the body-nonlinear-only case with linearized free-surface condition was separately developed and simulated.     

Reliability-Based Optimal Design for Very Large Floating Structure

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三疣梭子蟹全人工工厂化育苗技术

2000年笔者在日照市水产研究所利用1450m^3水进行梭子蟹全人工工厂化育苗生产，共出Ⅱ-Ⅲ期幼蟹512．7万只，创造了出苗量为3500只／m^3，总产值为150多万元的直接经济效益，同时对幼体培育的密度进行了初步试验，结果表明：从Z1至M期幼体培育密度10－15万／m^3为宜，M期以后密度以0．8－1．5万／m^3为宜。     

Fatigue Behavior of Plain Concrete Under Biaxial Compression: Experiments and Theoretical Model

The effects of different lateral confinement stress on the fatigue behavior of and cumulative damage to plain concrete are investigated experimentally. Eighty 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm specimens of ordinary strength concrete are tested under constant- or variable-amplitude fatigue loading and lateral confinement pressure in two orthogonal directions. A fatigue equation is developed by modifying the classical Aas-Jakobsen S-N equation for taking into account the effect of the confined stress on fatigue strength of plain concrete. The results of variable-amplitude fatigue tests indicate that the linear damage theory proposed by Palmgren and Miner is unreasonable in the biaxial stress state. A nonlinear cumulative damage model that could model the effects of the magnitude and sequence of variable-amplitude fatigue loading and lateral confinement pressure is proposed on the basis of the evolution laws of the residual strains in the longitudinal direction during fatigue tests. The residual fatigue life predic