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Sample records for strong outward motion

  1. Strong Motion Earthquake Data Values of Digitized Strong-Motion Accelerograms, 1933-1994

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Strong Motion Earthquake Data Values of Digitized Strong-Motion Accelerograms is a database of over 15,000 digitized and processed accelerograph records from...

  2. Seismic switch for strong motion measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harben, P.E.; Rodgers, P.W.; Ewert, D.W.

    1995-05-30

    A seismic switching device is described that has an input signal from an existing microseismic station seismometer and a signal from a strong motion measuring instrument. The seismic switch monitors the signal level of the strong motion instrument and passes the seismometer signal to the station data telemetry and recording systems. When the strong motion instrument signal level exceeds a user set threshold level, the seismometer signal is switched out and the strong motion signal is passed to the telemetry system. The amount of time the strong motion signal is passed before switching back to the seismometer signal is user controlled between 1 and 15 seconds. If the threshold level is exceeded during a switch time period, the length of time is extended from that instant by one user set time period. 11 figs.

  3. Outward Migration of Giant Planets in Orbital Resonance

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Angelo, G.; Marzari, F.

    2013-05-01

    A pair of giant planets interacting with a gaseous disk may be subject to convergent orbital migration and become locked into a mean motion resonance. If the orbits are close enough, the tidal gaps produced by the planets in the disk may overlap. This represents a necessary condition to activate the outward migration of the pair. However, a number of other conditions must also be realized in order for this mechanism to operate. We have studied how disk properties, such as turbulence viscosity, temperature, surface density gradient, mass, and age, may affect the outcome of the outward migration process. We have also investigated the implications on this mechanism of the planets' gas accretion. If the pair resembles Jupiter and Saturn, the 3:2 orbital resonance may drive them outward until they reach stalling radii for migration, which are within ~10 AU of the star for disks representative of the early proto-solar nebula. However, planet post-formation conditions in the disk indicate that such planets become typically locked in the 1:2 orbital resonance, which does not lead to outward migration. Planet growth via gas accretion tends to alter the planets' mass-ratio and/or the disk accretion rate toward the star, reducing or inhibiting outward migration. Support from NASA Outer Planets Research Program and NASA Origins of Solar Systems Program is gratefully acknowledged.

  4. Rrsm: The European Rapid Raw Strong-Motion Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cauzzi, C.; Clinton, J. F.; Sleeman, R.; Domingo Ballesta, J.; Kaestli, P.; Galanis, O.

    2014-12-01

    We introduce the European Rapid Raw Strong-Motion database (RRSM), a Europe-wide system that provides parameterised strong motion information, as well as access to waveform data, within minutes of the occurrence of strong earthquakes. The RRSM significantly differs from traditional earthquake strong motion dissemination in Europe, which has focused on providing reviewed, processed strong motion parameters, typically with significant delays. As the RRSM provides rapid open access to raw waveform data and metadata and does not rely on external manual waveform processing, RRSM information is tailored to seismologists and strong-motion data analysts, earthquake and geotechnical engineers, international earthquake response agencies and the educated general public. Access to the RRSM database is via a portal at http://www.orfeus-eu.org/rrsm/ that allows users to query earthquake information, peak ground motion parameters and amplitudes of spectral response; and to select and download earthquake waveforms. All information is available within minutes of any earthquake with magnitude ≥ 3.5 occurring in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Waveform processing and database population are performed using the waveform processing module scwfparam, which is integrated in SeisComP3 (SC3; http://www.seiscomp3.org/). Earthquake information is provided by the EMSC (http://www.emsc-csem.org/) and all the seismic waveform data is accessed at the European Integrated waveform Data Archive (EIDA) at ORFEUS (http://www.orfeus-eu.org/index.html), where all on-scale data is used in the fully automated processing. As the EIDA community is continually growing, the already significant number of strong motion stations is also increasing and the importance of this product is expected to also increase. Real-time RRSM processing started in June 2014, while past events have been processed in order to provide a complete database back to 2005.

  5. PRISM software—Processing and review interface for strong-motion data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jeanne M.; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher D.; Ng, Peter

    2017-11-28

    Rapidly available and accurate ground-motion acceleration time series (seismic recordings) and derived data products are essential to quickly providing scientific and engineering analysis and advice after an earthquake. To meet this need, the U.S. Geological Survey National Strong Motion Project has developed a software package called PRISM (Processing and Review Interface for Strong-Motion data). PRISM automatically processes strong-motion acceleration records, producing compatible acceleration, velocity, and displacement time series; acceleration, velocity, and displacement response spectra; Fourier amplitude spectra; and standard earthquake-intensity measures. PRISM is intended to be used by strong-motion seismic networks, as well as by earthquake engineers and seismologists.

  6. Strong motion duration and earthquake magnitude relationships

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salmon, M.W.; Short, S.A.; Kennedy, R.P.

    1992-06-01

    Earthquake duration is the total time of ground shaking from the arrival of seismic waves until the return to ambient conditions. Much of this time is at relatively low shaking levels which have little effect on seismic structural response and on earthquake damage potential. As a result, a parameter termed ''strong motion duration'' has been defined by a number of investigators to be used for the purpose of evaluating seismic response and assessing the potential for structural damage due to earthquakes. This report presents methods for determining strong motion duration and a time history envelope function appropriate for various evaluation purposes, for earthquake magnitude and distance, and for site soil properties. There are numerous definitions of strong motion duration. For most of these definitions, empirical studies have been completed which relate duration to earthquake magnitude and distance and to site soil properties. Each of these definitions recognizes that only the portion of an earthquake record which has sufficiently high acceleration amplitude, energy content, or some other parameters significantly affects seismic response. Studies have been performed which indicate that the portion of an earthquake record in which the power (average rate of energy input) is maximum correlates most closely with potential damage to stiff nuclear power plant structures. Hence, this report will concentrate on energy based strong motion duration definitions

  7. Estimation of strong ground motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watabe, Makoto

    1993-01-01

    Fault model has been developed to estimate a strong ground motion in consideration of characteristics of seismic source and propagation path of seismic waves. There are two different approaches in the model. The first one is a theoretical approach, while the second approach is a semi-empirical approach. Though the latter is more practical than the former to be applied to the estimation of input motions, it needs at least the small-event records, the value of the seismic moment of the small event and the fault model of the large event

  8. Strong ground motion prediction using virtual earthquakes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denolle, M A; Dunham, E M; Prieto, G A; Beroza, G C

    2014-01-24

    Sedimentary basins increase the damaging effects of earthquakes by trapping and amplifying seismic waves. Simulations of seismic wave propagation in sedimentary basins capture this effect; however, there exists no method to validate these results for earthquakes that have not yet occurred. We present a new approach for ground motion prediction that uses the ambient seismic field. We apply our method to a suite of magnitude 7 scenario earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault and compare our ground motion predictions with simulations. Both methods find strong amplification and coupling of source and structure effects, but they predict substantially different shaking patterns across the Los Angeles Basin. The virtual earthquake approach provides a new approach for predicting long-period strong ground motion.

  9. The INGV Real Time Strong Motion Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massa, Marco; D'Alema, Ezio; Mascandola, Claudia; Lovati, Sara; Scafidi, Davide; Gomez, Antonio; Carannante, Simona; Franceschina, Gianlorenzo; Mirenna, Santi; Augliera, Paolo

    2017-04-01

    The INGV real time strong motion data sharing is assured by the INGV Strong Motion Database. ISMD (http://ismd.mi.ingv.it) was designed in the last months of 2011 in cooperation among different INGV departments, with the aim to organize the distribution of the INGV strong-motion data using standard procedures for data acquisition and processing. The first version of the web portal was published soon after the occurrence of the 2012 Emilia (Northern Italy), Mw 6.1, seismic sequence. At that time ISMD was the first European real time web portal devoted to the engineering seismology community. After four years of successfully operation, the thousands of accelerometric waveforms collected in the archive need necessary a technological improvement of the system in order to better organize the new data archiving and to make more efficient the answer to the user requests. ISMD 2.0 was based on PostgreSQL (www.postgresql.org), an open source object- relational database. The main purpose of the web portal is to distribute few minutes after the origin time the accelerometric waveforms and related metadata of the Italian earthquakes with ML≥3.0. Data are provided both in raw SAC (counts) and automatically corrected ASCII (gal) formats. The web portal also provide, for each event, a detailed description of the ground motion parameters (i.e. Peak Ground Acceleration, Velocity and Displacement, Arias and Housner Intensities) data converted in velocity and displacement, response spectra up to 10.0 s and general maps concerning the recent and the historical seismicity of the area together with information about its seismic hazard. The focal parameters of the events are provided by the INGV National Earthquake Center (CNT, http://cnt.rm.ingv.it). Moreover, the database provides a detailed site characterization section for each strong motion station, based on geological, geomorphological and geophysical information. At present (i.e. January 2017), ISMD includes 987 (121

  10. Study on characteristics of vertical strong motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akao, Y.; Katukura, H.; Fukushima, S.; Mizutani, M.

    1993-01-01

    Statistic properties of vertical strong ground motions from near-field earthquakes are discussed in comparison with that of horizontal motions. It is a feature of this analysis that time history of each observed record is divided into direct P- and S-wave segments from a seismological viewpoint. Following results are obtained. Vertical motion energy excited by direct S-waves is about 0.6 times of horizontal ones at deep underground, and it approaches to 1.0 at shallow place. Horizontal motion energy excited by direct P-waves becomes 0.2 times (at deep) or more (at shallow) of vertical one. These results can be available in modeling of input motions for aseismic design. (author)

  11. Earthquake source model using strong motion displacement

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The strong motion displacement records available during an earthquake can be treated as the response of the earth as the a structural system to unknown forces acting at unknown locations. Thus, if the part of the earth participating in ground motion is modelled as a known finite elastic medium, one can attempt to model the ...

  12. A high and low noise model for strong motion accelerometers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clinton, J. F.; Cauzzi, C.; Olivieri, M.

    2010-12-01

    We present reference noise models for high-quality strong motion accelerometer installations. We use continuous accelerometer data acquired by the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) since 2006 and other international high-quality accelerometer network data to derive very broadband (50Hz-100s) high and low noise models. The proposed noise models are compared to the Peterson (1993) low and high noise models designed for broadband seismometers; the datalogger self-noise; background noise levels at existing Swiss strong motion stations; and typical earthquake signals recorded in Switzerland and worldwide. The standard strong motion station operated by the SED consists of a Kinemetrics Episensor (2g clip level; flat acceleration response from 200 Hz to DC; insulated sensor / datalogger systems placed in vault quality sites. At all frequencies, there is at least one order of magnitude between the ALNM and the AHNM; at high frequencies (> 1Hz) this extends to 2 orders of magnitude. This study provides remarkable confirmation of the capability of modern strong motion accelerometers to record low-amplitude ground motions with seismic observation quality. In particular, an accelerometric station operating at the ALNM is capable of recording the full spectrum of near source earthquakes, out to 100 km, down to M2. Of particular interest for the SED, this study provides acceptable noise limits for candidate sites for the on-going Strong Motion Network modernisation.

  13. Earthquake Intensity and Strong Motion Analysis Within SEISCOMP3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, J.; Weber, B.; Ghasemi, H.; Cummins, P. R.; Murjaya, J.; Rudyanto, A.; Rößler, D.

    2017-12-01

    Measuring and predicting ground motion parameters including seismic intensities for earthquakes is crucial and subject to recent research in engineering seismology.gempa has developed the new SIGMA module for Seismic Intensity and Ground Motion Analysis. The module is based on the SeisComP3 framework extending it in the field of seismic hazard assessment and engineering seismology. SIGMA may work with or independently of SeisComP3 by supporting FDSN Web services for importing earthquake or station information and waveforms. It provides a user-friendly and modern graphical interface for semi-automatic and interactive strong motion data processing. SIGMA provides intensity and (P)SA maps based on GMPE's or recorded data. It calculates the most common strong motion parameters, e.g. PGA/PGV/PGD, Arias intensity and duration, Tp, Tm, CAV, SED and Fourier-, power- and response spectra. GMPE's are configurable. Supporting C++ and Python plug-ins, standard and customized GMPE's including the OpenQuake Hazard Library can be easily integrated and compared. Originally tailored to specifications by Geoscience Australia and BMKG (Indonesia) SIGMA has become a popular tool among SeisComP3 users concerned with seismic hazard and strong motion seismology.

  14. Modeling and synthesis of strong ground motion

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    There have been many developments in modeling techniques, and ... damage life and property in a city or region. How- ... quake of 26 January 2001 as a case study. 2. ...... quake derived from a dense strong-motion network; Bull. Seismol.

  15. PRISM, Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion Data Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalkan, E.; Jones, J. M.; Stephens, C. D.; Ng, P.

    2016-12-01

    A continually increasing number of high-quality digital strong-motion records from stations of the National Strong Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as well as data from regional seismic networks within the U.S., calls for automated processing of strong-motion records with human review limited to selected significant or flagged records. The NSMP has developed the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software to meet this need. PRISM automates the processing of strong-motion records by providing batch-processing capabilities. The PRISM software is platform-independent (coded in Java), open-source, and does not depend on any closed-source or proprietary software. The software consists of two major components: a record processing engine composed of modules for each processing step, and a graphical user interface (GUI) for manual review and processing. To facilitate the use by non-NSMP earthquake engineers and scientists, PRISM (both its processing engine and GUI components) is easy to install and run as a stand-alone system on common operating systems such as Linux, OS X and Windows. PRISM was designed to be flexible and extensible in order to accommodate implementation of new processing techniques. Input to PRISM currently is limited to data files in the Consortium of Organizations for Strong-Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS) V0 format, so that all retrieved acceleration time series need to be converted to this format. Output products include COSMOS V1, V2 and V3 files as: (i) raw acceleration time series in physical units with mean removed (V1), (ii) baseline-corrected and filtered acceleration, velocity, and displacement time series (V2), and (iii) response spectra, Fourier amplitude spectra and common earthquake-engineering intensity measures (V3). A thorough description of the record processing features supported by PRISM is presented with examples and validation results. All computing features have been

  16. Towards Integrated Marmara Strong Motion Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durukal, E.; Erdik, M.; Safak, E.; Ansal, A.; Ozel, O.; Alcik, H.; Mert, A.; Kafadar, N.; Korkmaz, A.; Kurtulus, A.

    2009-04-01

    Istanbul has a 65% chance of having a magnitude 7 or above earthquake within the next 30 years. As part of the preparations for the future earthquake, strong motion networks have been installed in and around Istanbul. The Marmara Strong Motion Network, operated by the Department of Earthquake Engineering of Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, encompasses permanent systems outlined below. It is envisaged that the networks will be run by a single entity responsible for technical management and maintanence, as well as for data management, archiving and dissemination through dedicated web-based interfaces. • Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response and Early Warning System - IERREWS (one hundred 18-bit accelerometers for rapid response; ten 24-bit accelerometers for early warning) • IGDAŞ Gas Shutoff Network (100 accelerometers to be installed in 2010 and integrated with IERREWS) • Structural Monitoring Arrays - Fatih Sultan Mehmet Suspension Bridge (1200m-long suspension bridge across the Bosphorus, five 3-component accelerometers + GPS sensors) - Hagia Sophia Array (1500-year-old historical edifice, 9 accelerometers) - Süleymaniye Mosque Array (450-year-old historical edifice,9 accelerometers) - Fatih Mosque Array (237-year-old historical edifice, 9 accelerometers) - Kanyon Building Array (high-rise office building, 5 accelerometers) - Isbank Tower Array (high-rise office building, 5 accelerometers) - ENRON Array (power generation facility, 4 acelerometers) - Mihrimah Sultan Mosque Array (450-year-old historical edifice,9 accelerometers + tiltmeters, to be installed in 2009) - Sultanahmet Mosque Array, (390-year-old historical edifice, 9 accelerometers + tiltmeters, to be installed in 2009) • Special Arrays - Atakoy Vertical Array (four 3-component accelerometers at 25, 50, 75, and 150 m depths) - Marmara Tube Tunnel (1400 m long submerged tunnel, 128 ch. accelerometric data, 24 ch. strain data, to be installed in 2010) - Air-Force Academy

  17. Shear-wave velocity compilation for Northridge strong-motion recording sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borcherdt, Roger D.; Fumal, Thomas E.

    2002-01-01

    Borehole and other geotechnical information collected at the strong-motion recording sites of the Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994 provide an important new basis for the characterization of local site conditions. These geotechnical data, when combined with analysis of strong-motion recordings, provide an empirical basis to evaluate site coefficients used in current versions of US building codes. Shear-wave-velocity estimates to a depth of 30 meters are derived for 176 strong-motion recording sites. The estimates are based on borehole shear-velocity logs, physical property logs, correlations with physical properties and digital geologic maps. Surface-wave velocity measurements and standard penetration data are compiled as additional constraints. These data as compiled from a variety of databases are presented via GIS maps and corresponding tables to facilitate use by other investigators.

  18. Prediction of strong ground motion based on scaling law of earthquake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamae, Katsuhiro; Irikura, Kojiro; Fukuchi, Yasunaga.

    1991-01-01

    In order to predict more practically strong ground motion, it is important to study how to use a semi-empirical method in case of having no appropriate observation records for actual small-events as empirical Green's functions. We propose a prediction procedure using artificially simulated small ground motions as substitute for the actual motions. First, we simulate small-event motion by means of stochastic simulation method proposed by Boore (1983) in considering pass effects such as attenuation, and broadening of waveform envelope empirically in the objective region. Finally, we attempt to predict the strong ground motion due to a future large earthquake (M 7, Δ = 13 km) using the same summation procedure as the empirical Green's function method. We obtained the results that the characteristics of the synthetic motion using M 5 motion were in good agreement with those by the empirical Green's function method. (author)

  19. Can mobile phones used in strong motion seismology?

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Alessandro, Antonino; D'Anna, Giuseppe

    2013-04-01

    Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers are electromechanical devices able to measure static or dynamic accelerations. In the 1990s MEMS accelerometers revolutionized the automotive-airbag system industry and are currently widely used in laptops, game controllers and mobile phones. Nowadays MEMS accelerometers seems provide adequate sensitivity, noise level and dynamic range to be applicable to earthquake strong motion acquisition. The current use of 3 axes MEMS accelerometers in mobile phone maybe provide a new means to easy increase the number of observations when a strong earthquake occurs. However, before utilize the signals recorded by a mobile phone equipped with a 3 axes MEMS accelerometer for any scientific porpoise, it is fundamental to verify that the signal collected provide reliable records of ground motion. For this reason we have investigated the suitability of the iPhone 5 mobile phone (one of the most popular mobile phone in the world) for strong motion acquisition. It is provided by several MEMS devise like a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis electronic compass and a the LIS331DLH three-axis accelerometer. The LIS331DLH sensor is a low-cost high performance three axes linear accelerometer, with 16 bit digital output, produced by STMicroelectronics Inc. We have tested the LIS331DLH MEMS accelerometer using a vibrating table and the EpiSensor FBA ES-T as reference sensor. In our experiments the reference sensor was rigidly co-mounted with the LIS331DHL MEMS sensor on the vibrating table. We assessment the MEMS accelerometer in the frequency range 0.2-20 Hz, typical range of interesting in strong motion seismology and earthquake engineering. We generate both constant and damped sine waves with central frequency starting from 0.2 Hz until 20 Hz with step of 0.2 Hz. For each frequency analyzed we generate sine waves with mean amplitude 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 mg0. For damped sine waves we generate waveforms with initial amplitude

  20. OUTWARD BRAZILIAN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: IMPULSES AND RESPONSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald de Oliveira Concer

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper models the outward foreign direct investment from Brazil series using time a series econometrics model, namely the Vector Auto Regressive (VAR model. We have drawn impulse response functions for the key relevant factors that may explain the outward foreign direct investment flows. We start with a review of the literature on the Dunning location approach to international business. We worked with a data set of quarterly observations from Q1-1995 to Q1-2010. We carried also out Granger causality tests as for determining whether international business travelling should be included as an explanatory variable in our model. Results stressed that although the strong exchange rate in Brazil is often blamed for forcing companies to invest abroad, the evidence found in the aggregate data suggests that there is not a significant relationship between the level of foreign exchange rate and the outward Brazilian foreign direct investment. Differently from previous studies, this paper uses impulse response functions to present dynamic results, thus avoiding the typical binary results “affect” or “don’t affect”, and in so doing we provide a more detailed insight into this important location factor.

  1. OUTWARD BRAZILIAN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: IMPULSES AND RESPONSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald de Oliveira Concer

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper models the outward foreign direct investment from Brazil series using time a series econometrics model, namely the Vector Auto Regressive (VAR model. We have drawn impulse response functions for the key relevant factors that may explain the outward foreign direct investment flows. We start with a review of the literature on the Dunning location approach to international business. We worked with a data set of quarterly observations from Q1-1995 to Q1-2010. We carried also out Granger causality tests as for determining whether international business travelling should be included as an explanatory variable in our model. Results stressed that although the strong exchange rate in Brazil is often blamed for forcing companies to invest abroad, the evidence found in the aggregate data suggests that there is not a significant relationship between the level of foreign exchange rate and the outward Brazilian foreign direct investment. Differently from previous studies, this paper uses impulse response functions to present dynamic results, thus avoiding the typical binary results “affect” or “don’t affect”, and in so doing we provide a more detailed insight into this important location factor.

  2. Rapid Moment Magnitude Estimation Using Strong Motion Derived Static Displacements

    OpenAIRE

    Muzli, Muzli; Asch, Guenter; Saul, Joachim; Murjaya, Jaya

    2015-01-01

    The static surface deformation can be recovered from strong motion records. Compared to satellite-based measurements such as GPS or InSAR, the advantage of strong motion records is that they have the potential to provide real-time coseismic static displacements. The use of these valuable data was optimized for the moment magnitude estimation. A centroid grid search method was introduced to calculate the moment magnitude by using1 model. The method to data sets was applied of the 2011...

  3. Earthquake strong ground motion studies at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wong, Ivan; Silva, W.; Darragh, R.; Stark, C.; Wright, D.; Jackson, S.; Carpenter, G.; Smith, R.; Anderson, D.; Gilbert, H.; Scott, D.

    1989-01-01

    Site-specific strong earthquake ground motions have been estimated for the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory assuming that an event similar to the 1983 M s 7.3 Borah Peak earthquake occurs at epicentral distances of 10 to 28 km. The strong ground motion parameters have been estimated based on a methodology incorporating the Band-Limited-White-Noise ground motion model coupled with Random Vibration Theory. A 16-station seismic attenuation and site response survey utilizing three-component portable digital seismographs was also performed for a five-month period in 1989. Based on the recordings of regional earthquakes, the effects of seismic attenuation in the shallow crust and along the propagation path and local site response were evaluated. This data combined with a detailed geologic profile developed for each site based principally on borehole data, was used in the estimation of the strong ground motion parameters. The preliminary peak horizontal ground accelerations for individual sites range from approximately 0.15 to 0.35 g. Based on the authors analysis, the thick sedimentary interbeds (greater than 20 m) in the basalt section attenuate ground motions as speculated upon in a number of previous studies

  4. Synthetic strong ground motions for engineering design utilizing empirical Green`s functions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hutchings, L.J.; Jarpe, S.P.; Kasameyer, P.W.; Foxall, W.

    1996-04-11

    We present a methodology for developing realistic synthetic strong ground motions for specific sites from specific earthquakes. We analyzed the possible ground motion resulting from a M = 7.25 earthquake that ruptures 82 km of the Hayward fault for a site 1.4 km from the fault in the eastern San Francisco Bay area. We developed a suite of 100 rupture scenarios for the Hayward fault earthquake and computed the corresponding strong ground motion time histories. We synthesized strong ground motion with physics-based solutions of earthquake rupture and applied physical bounds on rupture parameters. By having a suite of rupture scenarios of hazardous earthquakes for a fixed magnitude and identifying the hazard to the site from the statistical distribution of engineering parameters, we introduce a probabilistic component into the deterministic hazard calculation. Engineering parameters of synthesized ground motions agree with those recorded from the 1995 Kobe, Japan and the 1992 Landers, California earthquakes at similar distances and site geologies.

  5. Renewal of K-NET (National Strong-motion Observation Network of Japan)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunugi, T.; Fujiwara, H.; Aoi, S.; Adachi, S.

    2004-12-01

    The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) operates K-NET (Kyoshin Network), the national strong-motion observation network, which evenly covers the whole of Japan at intervals of 25 km on average. K-NET was constructed after the Hyogoken-Nambu (Kobe) earthquake in January 1995, and began operation in June 1996. Thus, eight years have passed since K-NET started, and large amounts of strong-motion records have been obtained. As technology has progressed and new technologies have become available, NIED has developed a new K-NET with improved functionality. New seismographs have been installed at 443 observatories mainly in southwestern Japan where there is a risk of strong-motion due to the Nankai and Tonankai earthquakes. The new system went into operation in June 2004, although seismographs have still to be replaced in other areas. The new seismograph (K-NET02) consists of a sensor module, a measurement module and a communication module. A UPS, a GPS antenna and a dial-up router are also installed together with a K-NET02. A triaxial accelerometer, FBA-ES-DECK (Kinemetrics Inc.) is built into the sensor module. The measurement module functions as a conventional strong-motion seismograph for high-precision observation. The communication module can perform sophisticated processes, such as calculation of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity, continuous recording of data and near real-time data transmission. It connects to the Data Management Center (DMC) using an ISDN line. In case of a power failure, the measurement module can control the power supply to the router and the communication module to conserve battery power. One of the main features of K-NET02 is a function for processing JMA seismic intensity. K-NET02 functions as a proper seismic intensity meter that complies with the official requirements of JMA, although the old strong-motion seismograph (K-NET95) does not calculate seismic intensity. Another

  6. Strong-motion observations of the M 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence and development of the N-shake strong-motion network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixit, Amod; Ringler, Adam; Sumy, Danielle F.; Cochran, Elizabeth S.; Hough, Susan E.; Martin, Stacey; Gibbons, Steven; Luetgert, James H.; Galetzka, John; Shrestha, Surya; Rajaure, Sudhir; McNamara, Daniel E.

    2015-01-01

    We present and describe strong-motion data observations from the 2015 M 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence collected using existing and new Quake-Catcher Network (QCN) and U.S. Geological Survey NetQuakes sensors located in the Kathmandu Valley. A comparison of QCN data with waveforms recorded by a conventional strong-motion (NetQuakes) instrument validates the QCN data. We present preliminary analysis of spectral accelerations, and peak ground acceleration and velocity for earthquakes up to M 7.3 from the QCN stations, as well as preliminary analysis of the mainshock recording from the NetQuakes station. We show that mainshock peak accelerations were lower than expected and conclude the Kathmandu Valley experienced a pervasively nonlinear response during the mainshock. Phase picks from the QCN and NetQuakes data are also used to improve aftershock locations. This study confirms the utility of QCN instruments to contribute to ground-motion investigations and aftershock response in regions where conventional instrumentation and open-access seismic data are limited. Initial pilot installations of QCN instruments in 2014 are now being expanded to create the Nepal–Shaking Hazard Assessment for Kathmandu and its Environment (N-SHAKE) network.

  7. French network and acquired experience on record strong ground motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrieux, H.; Mohammadioun, G.

    1988-03-01

    The network intended to record strong ground motion in continental France is composed for the most part of instrument packages incorporated into nuclear installations, which are supplemented by a certain number of accelerometers placed in the most highly seismic areas. In a country where the level of seismicity is relatively modest, such a network is not conductive to the acquisition of new data, which, instead, is obtained through spot studies of limited duration using more sensitive instruments or through the recording of strong ground motion in neighbouring countries [fr

  8. Strong Motion Instrumentation of Seismically-Strengthened Port Structures in California by CSMIP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, M.J.; Shakal, A.F.

    2009-01-01

    The California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP) has instrumented five port structures. Instrumentation of two more port structures is underway and another one is in planning. Two of the port structures have been seismically strengthened. The primary goals of the strong motion instrumentation are to obtain strong earthquake shaking data for verifying seismic analysis procedures and strengthening schemes, and for post-earthquake evaluations of port structures. The wharves instrumented by CSMIP were recommended by the Strong Motion Instrumentation Advisory Committee, a committee of the California Seismic Safety Commission. Extensive instrumentation of a wharf is difficult and would be impossible without the cooperation of the owners and the involvement of the design engineers. The instrumentation plan for a wharf is developed through study of the retrofit plans of the wharf, and the strong-motion sensors are installed at locations where specific instrumentation objectives can be achieved and access is possible. Some sensor locations have to be planned during design; otherwise they are not possible to install after construction. This paper summarizes the two seismically-strengthened wharves and discusses the instrumentation schemes and objectives. ?? 2009 ASCE.

  9. Explosion source strong ground motions in the Mississippi embayment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langston, C.A.; Bodin, P.; Powell, C.; Withers, M.; Horton, S.; Mooney, W.

    2006-01-01

    Two strong-motion arrays were deployed for the October 2002 Embayment Seismic Excitation Experiment to study the spatial variation of strong ground motions in the deep, unconsolidated sediments of the Mississippi embayment because there are no comparable strong-motion data from natural earthquakes in the area. Each linear array consisted of eight three-component K2 accelerographs spaced 15 m apart situated 1.2 and 2.5 kin from 2268-kg and 1134-kg borehole explosion sources, respectively. The array data show distinct body-wave and surface-wave arrivals that propagate within the thick, unconsolidated sedimentary column, the high-velocity basement rocks, and small-scale structure near the surface. Time-domain coherence of body-wave and surface-wave arrivals is computed for acceleration, velocity, and displacement time windows. Coherence is high for relatively low-frequency verticalcomponent Rayleigh waves and high-frequency P waves propagating across the array. Prominent high-frequency PS conversions seen on radial components, a proxy for the direct S wave from earthquake sources, lose coherence quickly over the 105-m length of the array. Transverse component signals are least coherent for any ground motion and appear to be highly scattered. Horizontal phase velocity is computed by using the ratio of particle velocity to estimates of the strain based on a plane-wave-propagation model. The resulting time-dependent phase-velocity map is a useful way to infer the propagation mechanisms of individual seismic phases and time windows of three-component waveforms. Displacement gradient analysis is a complementary technique for processing general spatial-array data to obtain horizontal slowness information.

  10. LONG RANGE OUTWARD MIGRATION OF GIANT PLANETS, WITH APPLICATION TO FOMALHAUT b

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crida, Aurelien; Masset, Frederic; Morbidelli, Alessandro

    2009-01-01

    Recent observations of exoplanets by direct imaging reveal that giant planets orbit at a few dozens to more than a hundred AU from their central star. The question of the origin of these planets challenges the standard theories of planet formation. We propose a new way of obtaining such far planets, by outward migration of a pair of planets formed in the 10 AU region. Two giant planets in mean motion resonance in a common gap in the protoplanetary disk migrate outward, if the inner one is significantly more massive than the outer one. Using hydrodynamical simulations, we show that their semimajor axes can increase by almost 1 order of magnitude. In a flared disk, the pair of planets should reach an asymptotic radius. This mechanism could account for the presence of Fomalhaut b; then, a second, more massive planet, should be orbiting Fomalhaut at about 75 AU.

  11. Uniformly Processed Strong Motion Database for Himalaya and Northeast Region of India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, I. D.

    2018-03-01

    This paper presents the first uniformly processed comprehensive database on strong motion acceleration records for the extensive regions of western Himalaya, northeast India, and the alluvial plains juxtaposing the Himalaya. This includes 146 three components of old analog records corrected for the instrument response and baseline distortions and 471 three components of recent digital records corrected for baseline errors. The paper first provides a background of the evolution of strong motion data in India and the seismotectonics of the areas of recording, then describes the details of the recording stations and the contributing earthquakes, which is finally followed by the methodology used to obtain baseline corrected data in a uniform and consistent manner. Two different schemes in common use for baseline correction are based on the application of the Ormsby filter without zero pads (Trifunac 1971) and that on the Butterworth filter with zero pads at the start as well as at the end (Converse and Brady 1992). To integrate the advantages of both the schemes, Ormsby filter with zero pads at the start only is used in the present study. A large number of typical example results are presented to illustrate that the methodology adopted is able to provide realistic velocity and displacement records with much smaller number of zero pads. The present strong motion database of corrected acceleration records will be useful for analyzing the ground motion characteristics of engineering importance, developing prediction equations for various strong motion parameters, and calibrating the seismological source model approach for ground motion simulation for seismically active and risk prone areas of India.

  12. SISMA (Site of Italian Strong Motion Accelerograms): a Web-Database of Ground Motion Recordings for Engineering Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scasserra, Giuseppe; Lanzo, Giuseppe; D'Elia, Beniamino; Stewart, Jonathan P.

    2008-01-01

    The paper describes a new website called SISMA, i.e. Site of Italian Strong Motion Accelerograms, which is an Internet portal intended to provide natural records for use in engineering applications for dynamic analyses of structural and geotechnical systems. SISMA contains 247 three-component corrected motions recorded at 101 stations from 89 earthquakes that occurred in Italy in the period 1972-2002. The database of strong motion accelerograms was developed in the framework of a joint project between Sapienza University of Rome and University of California at Los Angeles (USA) and is described elsewhere. Acceleration histories and pseudo-acceleration response spectra (5% damping) are available for download from the website. Recordings can be located using simple search parameters related to seismic source and the recording station (e.g., magnitude, V s30 , etc) as well as ground motion characteristics (e.g. peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, peak ground displacement, Arias intensity, etc.)

  13. New strong motion network in Georgia: basis for specifying seismic hazard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kvavadze, N.; Tsereteli, N. S.

    2017-12-01

    Risk created by hazardous natural events is closely related to sustainable development of the society. Global observations have confirmed tendency of growing losses resulting from natural disasters, one of the most dangerous and destructive if which are earthquakes. Georgia is located in seismically active region. So, it is imperative to evaluate probabilistic seismic hazard and seismic risk with proper accuracy. National network of Georgia includes 35 station all of which are seismometers. There are significant gaps in strong motion recordings, which essential for seismic hazard assessment. To gather more accelerometer recordings, we have built a strong motion network distributed on the territory of Georgia. The network includes 6 stations for now, with Basalt 4x datalogger and strong motion sensor Episensor ES-T. For each site, Vs30 and soil resonance frequencies have been measured. Since all but one station (Tabakhmelam near Tbilisi), are located far from power and internet lines special system was created for instrument operation. Solar power is used to supply the system with electricity and GSM/LTE modems for internet access. VPN tunnel was set up using Raspberry pi, for two-way communication with stations. Tabakhmela station is located on grounds of Ionosphere Observatory, TSU and is used as a hub for the network. This location also includes a broadband seismometer and VLF electromagnetic waves observation antenna, for possible earthquake precursor studies. On server, located in Tabakhmela, the continues data is collected from all the stations, for later use. The recordings later will be used in different seismological and engineering problems, namely selecting and creating GMPE model for Caucasus, for probabilistic seismic hazard and seismic risk evaluation. These stations are a start and in the future expansion of strong motion network is planned. Along with this, electromagnetic wave observations will continue and additional antennas will be implemented

  14. Hanford strong motion accelerometer network: A summary of the first months of operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Conrads, T.J.

    1997-01-01

    The Hanford Seismic Monitoring Network consists of two designs of equipment and sites: seismometer sites and strong motion accelerometer (SMA) sites. Seismometer sites are designed to locate earthquakes on and near the Hanford Site and determine their magnitude and hypocenter location. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5480.28, Natural Phenomena Hazards (DOE 1993) requires that facilities or sites that have structures or components in Performance Category 2 with hazardous material, and all Performance Category 3 and 4 facilities shall have instrumentation or other means to detect and record the occurrence and severity of seismic events. In order to comply with DOE Order 5480.28, the Hanford Seismic Monitoring Network seismometer sites needed to be complemented with strong motion accelerometers to record the ground motion at specific sites. The combined seismometer sites and strong motion accelerometer sites provide the Hanford Site with earthquake information to comply with DOE Order 5480.28. The data from these instruments will be used by the PHMC staff to assess the damage to facilities following a significant earthquake

  15. Strong-Motion Data From the Parkfield Earthquake of September 28, 2004

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakal, A. F.; Borcherdt, R. D.; Graizer, V.; Haddadi, H.; Huang, M.; Lin, K.; Stephens, C.

    2004-12-01

    Very complex ground motion with high spatial variability was recorded in the near field of the M6 Parkfield earthquake of 9/28/04 by a strong motion array. The array provided the highest density of recording stations in the near field of any earthquake recorded to date. A total of 56 stations were located within 20 km of the fault; 48 were within 10 km of the fault, more than for many other earthquakes combined. Most (45) of the stations were part of a specialized array of classic analog instruments installed by CGS in the early 1980s, and 11 were digital high resolution instruments installed by the USGS. The set of recordings obtained provide a wealth of information on near field ground motion. Processing and analysis of the strong-motion data, available at www.cisn-edc.org, is underway. The spatial variation of the ground motion, even over relatively short distances, is great. For example, a peak acceleration of 0.30 g was recorded in the town of Parkfield, but several stations, within about 2 km, that surround this station recorded acceleration levels well over 1 g. The strong shaking at these stations, near the termination end of the rupture, is consistent with directivity focusing, as the rupture propagated from the epicenter near Gold Hill to the northwest. However, some of the strongest shaking occurs well south of the rupture, at stations near Hwy 46 at the south end of the Cholame Valley, incompatible with directivity focusing from a simple rupture. An additional aspect is that several near-fault stations have very low shaking, despite being directly over the rupturing fault. This may provide a quantitative basis to understand observed cases of low-strength buildings immediately near a fault being only slightly damaged.

  16. Bodrum Strong Motion Network, Mugla, Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcik, H. A.; Tanircan, G.; Korkmaz, A.

    2015-12-01

    The Gulf of Gökova is located in southwestern Turkey near the Aegean Sea and surrounded by Datça Peninsula to the south, the island of Kos to the west and Bodrum Peninsula to the north. The Bodrum peninsula with a population of one million in summer season is one of the most populated touristic centers of Turkey. This region is also surrounded by numerous active seismic entities such as Ula-Ören Fault Zone, Gökova Graben etc.. and demonstrates high seismic hazard. In the past, many destructive earthquakes have occurred in southwestern Turkey. One of the destructive historical earthquakes is 1493 Kos event (Mw=6.9) caused heavy damage in Bodrum. In the instrumental period seismic activity in the Gökova region includes the Ms>6.0 earthquakes of 23 April 1933 (Ms=6.4), 23 May 1941 (Ms=6.0), 13 December 1941 (Ms=6.5) events. Intense earthquake activity (Mw5+) occurred in Gulf of Gökova in August 2004 and January 2005. Considering the high seismicity and population of this region, a strong ground motion monitoring system stationed in dense settlements in the Bodrum Peninsula: Bodrum, Turgutreis, Yalıkavak, Çiftlik and Ortakent was deployed on June 2015. The network consists of 5 strong motion recorders, has been set up with the aim of monitoring of regional earthquakes, collecting accurate and reliable data for engineering and scientific research purposes, in particular to provide input for future earthquake rapid reporting and early warning implementation projects on urban environments in the Bodrum peninsula and the surrounding areas. In this poster presentation, we briefly introduce the Bodrum Network and discuss our future plans for further developments.

  17. Prediction of strong earthquake motions on rock surface using evolutionary process models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kameda, H.; Sugito, M.

    1984-01-01

    Stochastic process models are developed for prediction of strong earthquake motions for engineering design purposes. Earthquake motions with nonstationary frequency content are modeled by using the concept of evolutionary processes. Discussion is focused on the earthquake motions on bed rocks which are important for construction of nuclear power plants in seismic regions. On this basis, two earthquake motion prediction models are developed, one (EMP-IB Model) for prediction with given magnitude and epicentral distance, and the other (EMP-IIB Model) to account for the successive fault ruptures and the site location relative to the fault of great earthquakes. (Author) [pt

  18. Girls Leading Outward

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamed, Heather; Reyes, Jazmin; Moceri, Dominic C.; Morana, Laura; Elias, Maurice J.

    2011-01-01

    The authors describe a program implemented in Red Bank Middle School in New Jersey to help at-risk, minority middle school girls realize their leadership potential. The GLO (Girls Leading Outward) program was developed by the Developing Safe and Civil Schools Project at Rutgers University and is facilitated by university students. Selected middle…

  19. Strong Earthquake Motion Estimates for Three Sites on the U.C. Riverside Campus; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Archuleta, R.; Elgamal, A.; Heuze, F.; Lai, T.; Lavalle, D.; Lawrence, B.; Liu, P.C.; Matesic, L.; Park, S.; Riemar, M.; Steidl, J.; Vucetic, M.; Wagoner, J.; Yang, Z.

    2000-01-01

    The approach of the Campus Earthquake Program (CEP) is to combine the substantial expertise that exists within the UC system in geology, seismology, and geotechnical engineering, to estimate the earthquake strong motion exposure of UC facilities. These estimates draw upon recent advances in hazard assessment, seismic wave propagation modeling in rocks and soils, and dynamic soil testing. The UC campuses currently chosen for application of our integrated methodology are Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. The procedure starts with the identification of possible earthquake sources in the region and the determination of the most critical fault(s) related to earthquake exposure of the campus. Combined geological, geophysical, and geotechnical studies are then conducted to characterize each campus with specific focus on the location of particular target buildings of special interest to the campus administrators. We drill and geophysically log deep boreholes next to the target structure, to provide direct in-situ measurements of subsurface material properties, and to install uphole and downhole 3-component seismic sensors capable of recording both weak and strong motions. The boreholes provide access below the soil layers, to deeper materials that have relatively high seismic shear-wave velocities. Analyses of conjugate downhole and uphole records provide a basis for optimizing the representation of the low-strain response of the sites. Earthquake rupture scenarios of identified causative faults are combined with the earthquake records and with nonlinear soil models to provide site-specific estimates of strong motions at the selected target locations. The predicted ground motions are shared with the UC consultants, so that they can be used as input to the dynamic analysis of the buildings. Thus, for each campus targeted by the CEP project, the strong motion studies consist of two phases, Phase 1-initial source and site characterization, drilling, geophysical logging

  20. Moment tensor inversions using strong motion waveforms of Taiwan TSMIP data, 1993–2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Kaiwen; Chi, Wu-Cheng; Gung, Yuancheng; Dreger, Douglas; Lee, William H K.; Chiu, Hung-Chie

    2011-01-01

    Earthquake source parameters are important for earthquake studies and seismic hazard assessment. Moment tensors are among the most important earthquake source parameters, and are now routinely derived using modern broadband seismic networks around the world. Similar waveform inversion techniques can also apply to other available data, including strong-motion seismograms. Strong-motion waveforms are also broadband, and recorded in many regions since the 1980s. Thus, strong-motion data can be used to augment moment tensor catalogs with a much larger dataset than that available from the high-gain, broadband seismic networks. However, a systematic comparison between the moment tensors derived from strong motion waveforms and high-gain broadband waveforms has not been available. In this study, we inverted the source mechanisms of Taiwan earthquakes between 1993 and 2009 by using the regional moment tensor inversion method using digital data from several hundred stations in the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP). By testing different velocity models and filter passbands, we were able to successfully derive moment tensor solutions for 107 earthquakes of Mw >= 4.8. The solutions for large events agree well with other available moment tensor catalogs derived from local and global broadband networks. However, for Mw = 5.0 or smaller events, we consistently over estimated the moment magnitudes by 0.5 to 1.0. We have tested accelerograms, and velocity waveforms integrated from accelerograms for the inversions, and found the results are similar. In addition, we used part of the catalogs to study important seismogenic structures in the area near Meishan Taiwan which was the site of a very damaging earthquake a century ago, and found that the structures were dominated by events with complex right-lateral strike-slip faulting during the recent decade. The procedures developed from this study may be applied to other strong-motion datasets to compliment or fill

  1. Attenuation relations of strong motion in Japan using site classification based on predominant period

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toshimasa Takahashi; Akihiro Asano; Hidenobu Okada; Kojiro Irikura; Zhao, J.X.; Zhang Jian; Thio, H.K.; Somerville, P.G.; Yasuhiro Fukushima; Yoshimitsu Fukushima

    2005-01-01

    A spectral acceleration attenuation model for Japan is presented. The data set includes a very large number of strong ground motion records up to the end of 2003. Site class terms, instead of individual site correction terms, are used based on a recent study on site classification for strong motion recording stations in Japan. By using site class terms, tectonic source type effects are identified and accounted in the present model. Effects of faulting mechanism for crustal earthquakes are also accounted for. For crustal and interface earthquakes, a simple form of attenuation model is able to capture the main strong motion characteristics and achieves unbiased estimates. For subduction slab events, a simple distance modification factor is employed to achieve plausible and unbiased prediction. Effects of source depth, tectonic source type, and faulting mechanism for crustal earthquakes are significant. (authors)

  2. Topographic gradient based site characterization in India complemented by strong ground-motion spectral attributes

    KAUST Repository

    Nath, Sankar Kumar; Thingbaijam, Kiran Kumar; Adhikari, M. D.; Nayak, Avinash; Devaraj, N.; Ghosh, Soumalya K.; Mahajan, Arun K.

    2013-01-01

    We appraise topographic-gradient approach for site classification that employs correlations between 30. m column averaged shear-wave velocity and topographic gradients. Assessments based on site classifications reported from cities across India indicate that the approach is reasonably viable at regional level. Additionally, we experiment three techniques for site classification based on strong ground-motion recordings, namely Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR), Response Spectra Shape (RSS), and Horizontal-to-Vertical Response Spectral Ratio (HVRSR) at the strong motion stations located across the Himalayas and northeast India. Statistical tests on the results indicate that these three techniques broadly differentiate soil and rock sites while RSS and HVRSR yield better signatures. The results also support the implemented site classification in the light of strong ground-motion spectral attributes observed in different parts of the globe. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

  3. Topographic gradient based site characterization in India complemented by strong ground-motion spectral attributes

    KAUST Repository

    Nath, Sankar Kumar

    2013-12-01

    We appraise topographic-gradient approach for site classification that employs correlations between 30. m column averaged shear-wave velocity and topographic gradients. Assessments based on site classifications reported from cities across India indicate that the approach is reasonably viable at regional level. Additionally, we experiment three techniques for site classification based on strong ground-motion recordings, namely Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR), Response Spectra Shape (RSS), and Horizontal-to-Vertical Response Spectral Ratio (HVRSR) at the strong motion stations located across the Himalayas and northeast India. Statistical tests on the results indicate that these three techniques broadly differentiate soil and rock sites while RSS and HVRSR yield better signatures. The results also support the implemented site classification in the light of strong ground-motion spectral attributes observed in different parts of the globe. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Estimation of strong motions on free rock surface. Identification of soil structures and strong motions on free rock surface in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant during the 2007 Niigataken Chuetsu-oki earthquake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saguchi, Koichiro; Masaki, Kazuaki; Irikura, Kojiro

    2009-01-01

    Very strong ground motions (maximum acceleration 993 cm/s 2 in the borehole seismometer point of -255m in depth) were observed in the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant during the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake on July 16, 2007. In this study, we tried to develop new method, which can simulate waveforms on free rock surface by using the bore hole records. We identified the underground structure model at the Service Hall from aftershock records observed in vertical array, using the simulated annealing method (Ingber(1989)). Based on numerical experiments it is identified that S-wave velocity and Q values of individual layers are inverted very well. Strong motion records of main shock observed by the bore hole seismometers were simulated by using one-dimensional multiple reflection method. In this study, non-linear effect is considered by introducing non-linear coefficient c(f) for under coming wave from surface. The maximum acceleration and phase characteristics in simulated waveforms are similar to the observed one. It means that our method is useful for simulate strong motion in non-linear region. Finally, strong motions on the free rock surface at the Service Hall during the main shock are simulated. The maximum acceleration of EW component on free rock surface is estimated to be 1,207 cm/s 2 . (author)

  5. Before and after retrofit - response of a building during ambient and strong motions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celebi, M.; Liu, Huaibao P.; ,

    1998-01-01

    This paper presents results obtained from ambient vibration and strong-motion responses of a thirteen-story, moment-resisting steel framed Santa Clara County Office Building (SCCOB) before being retrofitted by visco-elastic dampers and from ambient vibration response following the retrofit. Understanding the cumulative structural and site characteristics that affect the response of SCCOB before and after the retrofit is important in assessing earthquake hazards to other similar buildings and decision making in retrofitting them. The results emphasize the need to better evaluate structural and site characteristics in developing earthquake resisting designs that avoid resonating effects. Various studies of the strong-motion response records from the SCCOB during the 24 April 1984 (MHE) Morgan Hill (MS = 6.1), the 31 March 1986 (MLE) Mt. Lewis (MS = 6.1) and the 17 October 1989 (LPE) Loma Prieta (MS = 7.1) earthquakes show that the dynamic characteristics of the building are such that it (a) resonated (b) responded with a beating effect due to close-coupling of its translational and torsional frequencies, and (c) had a long-duration response due to low-damping. During each of these earthquakes, there was considerable contents damage and the occupants felt the rigorous vibration of the building. Ambient tests of SCCOB performed following LPE showed that both translational and torsional periods of the building are smaller than those derived from strong motions. Ambient tests performed following the retrofit of the building with visco-elastic dampers show that the structural fundamental mode frequency of the building has increased. The increased frequency implies a stiffer structure. Strong-motion response of the building during future earthquakes will ultimately validate the effectiveness of the retrofit method.This paper presents results obtained from ambient vibration and strong-motion responses of a thirteen-story, moment-resisting steel framed Santa Clara County

  6. A Study on the Performance of Low Cost MEMS Sensors in Strong Motion Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanırcan, Gulum; Alçık, Hakan; Kaya, Yavuz; Beyen, Kemal

    2017-04-01

    Recent advances in sensors have helped the growth of local networks. In recent years, many Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS)-based accelerometers have been successfully used in seismology and earthquake engineering projects. This is basically due to the increased precision obtained in these downsized instruments. Moreover, they are cheaper alternatives to force-balance type accelerometers. In Turkey, though MEMS-based accelerometers have been used in various individual applications such as magnitude and location determination of earthquakes, structural health monitoring, earthquake early warning systems, MEMS-based strong motion networks are not currently available in other populated areas of the country. Motivation of this study comes from the fact that, if MEMS sensors are qualified to record strong motion parameters of large earthquakes, a dense network can be formed in an affordable price at highly populated areas. The goals of this study are 1) to test the performance of MEMS sensors, which are available in the inventory of the Institute through shake table tests, and 2) to setup a small scale network for observing online data transfer speed to a trusted in-house routine. In order to evaluate the suitability of sensors in strong motion related studies, MEMS sensors and a reference sensor are tested under excitations of sweeping waves as well as scaled earthquake recordings. Amplitude response and correlation coefficients versus frequencies are compared. As for earthquake recordings, comparisons are carried out in terms of strong motion(SM) parameters (PGA, PGV, AI, CAV) and elastic response of structures (Sa). Furthermore, this paper also focuses on sensitivity and selectivity for sensor performances in time-frequency domain to compare different sensing characteristics and analyzes the basic strong motion parameters that influence the design majors. Results show that the cheapest MEMS sensors under investigation are able to record the mid

  7. Site classification of Indian strong motion network using response spectra ratios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chopra, Sumer; Kumar, Vikas; Choudhury, Pallabee; Yadav, R. B. S.

    2018-03-01

    In the present study, we tried to classify the Indian strong motion sites spread all over Himalaya and adjoining region, located on varied geological formations, based on response spectral ratio. A total of 90 sites were classified based on 395 strong motion records from 94 earthquakes recorded at these sites. The magnitude of these earthquakes are between 2.3 and 7.7 and the hypocentral distance for most of the cases is less than 50 km. The predominant period obtained from response spectral ratios is used to classify these sites. It was found that the shape and predominant peaks of the spectra at these sites match with those in Japan, Italy, Iran, and at some of the sites in Europe and the same classification scheme can be applied to Indian strong motion network. We found that the earlier schemes based on description of near-surface geology, geomorphology, and topography were not able to capture the effect of sediment thickness. The sites are classified into seven classes (CL-I to CL-VII) with varying predominant periods and ranges as proposed by Alessandro et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 102:680-695 2012). The effect of magnitudes and hypocentral distances on the shape and predominant peaks were also studied and found to be very small. The classification scheme is robust and cost-effective and can be used in region-specific attenuation relationships for accounting local site effect.

  8. Database for earthquake strong motion studies in Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scasserra, G.; Stewart, J.P.; Kayen, R.E.; Lanzo, G.

    2009-01-01

    We describe an Italian database of strong ground motion recordings and databanks delineating conditions at the instrument sites and characteristics of the seismic sources. The strong motion database consists of 247 corrected recordings from 89 earthquakes and 101 recording stations. Uncorrected recordings were drawn from public web sites and processed on a record-by-record basis using a procedure utilized in the Next-Generation Attenuation (NGA) project to remove instrument resonances, minimize noise effects through low- and high-pass filtering, and baseline correction. The number of available uncorrected recordings was reduced by 52% (mostly because of s-triggers) to arrive at the 247 recordings in the database. The site databank includes for every recording site the surface geology, a measurement or estimate of average shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m (Vs30), and information on instrument housing. Of the 89 sites, 39 have on-site velocity measurements (17 of which were performed as part of this study using SASW techniques). For remaining sites, we estimate Vs30 based on measurements on similar geologic conditions where available. Where no local velocity measurements are available, correlations with surface geology are used. Source parameters are drawn from databanks maintained (and recently updated) by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and include hypocenter location and magnitude for small events (M< ??? 5.5) and finite source parameters for larger events. ?? 2009 A.S. Elnashai & N.N. Ambraseys.

  9. Consistency of GPS and strong-motion records: case study of the Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki 2011 earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Psimoulis, Panos; Houlié, Nicolas; Michel, Clotaire; Meindl, Michael; Rothacher, Markus

    2014-05-01

    High-rate GPS data are today commonly used to supplement seismic data for the Earth surface motions focusing on earthquake characterisation and rupture modelling. Processing of GPS records using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) can provide real-time information of seismic wave propagation, tsunami early-warning and seismic rupture. Most studies have shown differences between the GPS and seismic systems at very long periods (e.g. >100sec) and static displacements. The aim of this study is the assessment of the consistency of GPS and strong-motion records by comparing their respective displacement waveforms for several frequency bands. For this purpose, the records of the GPS (GEONET) and the strong-motion (KiK-net and K-NET) networks corresponding to the Mw9.0 Tohoku 2011 earthquake were analysed. The comparison of the displacement waveforms of collocated (distance<100m) GPS and strong-motion sites show that the consistency between the two datasets depends on the frequency of the excitation. Differences are mainly due to the GPS noise at relatively short-periods (<3-4 s) and the saturation of the strong-motion sensors for relatively long-periods (40-80 s). Furthermore the agreement between the GPS and strong-motion records also depends on the direction of the excitation signal and the distance from the epicentre. In conclusion, velocities and displacements recovered from GPS and strong-motion records are consistent for long-periods (3-100 s), proving that GPS networks can contribute to the real-time estimation of the long-period ground motion map of an earthquake.

  10. Response of base isolated structure during strong ground motions beyond design earthquakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yabana, Shuichi; Ishida, Katsuhiko; Shiojiri, Hiroo

    1991-01-01

    In Japan, some base isolated structures for fast breeder reactors (FBR) are tried to design. When a base isolated structure are designed, the relative displacement of isolators are generally limited so sa to be remain in linear state of those during design earthquakes. But to estimate safety margin of a base isolated structure, the response of that until the failure must be obtained experimentally to analytically during strong ground motions of beyond design earthquake. The aim of this paper is to investigate the response of a base isolated structure when the stiffness of the isolators hardens and to simulate the response during strong ground motions of beyond design earthquakes. The optimum characteristics of isolators, with which the margin of the structure are increased, are discussed. (author)

  11. Strong motions observed by K-NET and KiK-net during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Wataru; Aoi, Shin; Kunugi, Takashi; Kubo, Hisahiko; Morikawa, Nobuyuki; Nakamura, Hiromitsu; Kimura, Takeshi; Fujiwara, Hiroyuki

    2017-01-01

    The nationwide strong-motion seismograph network of K-NET and KiK-net in Japan successfully recorded the strong ground motions of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence, which show the several notable characteristics. For the first large earthquake with a JMA magnitude of 6.5 (21:26, April 14, 2016, JST), the large strong motions are concentrated near the epicenter and the strong-motion attenuations are well predicted by the empirical relation for crustal earthquakes with a moment magnitude of 6.1. For the largest earthquake of the sequence with a JMA magnitude of 7.3 (01:25, April 16, 2016, JST), the large peak ground accelerations and velocities extend from the epicentral area to the northeast direction. The attenuation feature of peak ground accelerations generally follows the empirical relation, whereas that for velocities deviates from the empirical relation for stations with the epicentral distance of greater than 200 km, which can be attributed to the large Love wave having a dominant period around 10 s. The large accelerations were observed at stations even in Oita region, more than 70 km northeast from the epicenter. They are attributed to the local induced earthquake in Oita region, whose moment magnitude is estimated to be 5.5 by matching the amplitudes of the corresponding phases with the empirical attenuation relation. The real-time strong-motion observation has a potential for contributing to the mitigation of the ongoing earthquake disasters. We test a methodology to forecast the regions to be exposed to the large shaking in real time, which has been developed based on the fact that the neighboring stations are already shaken, for the largest event of the Kumamoto earthquakes, and demonstrate that it is simple but effective to quickly make warning. We also shows that the interpolation of the strong motions in real time is feasible, which will be utilized for the real-time forecast of ground motions based on the observed shakings.[Figure not available

  12. Validation of strong-motion stochastic model using observed ground motion records in north-east India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dipok K. Bora

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available We focused on validation of applicability of semi-empirical technique (spectral models and stochastic simulation for the estimation of ground-motion characteristics in the northeastern region (NER of India. In the present study, it is assumed that the point source approximation in far field is valid. The one-dimensional stochastic point source seismological model of Boore (1983 (Boore, DM. 1983. Stochastic simulation of high frequency ground motions based on seismological models of the radiated spectra. Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 73, 1865–1894. is used for modelling the acceleration time histories. Total ground-motion records of 30 earthquakes of magnitudes lying between MW 4.2 and 6.2 in NER India from March 2008 to April 2013 are used for this study. We considered peak ground acceleration (PGA and pseudospectral acceleration (response spectrum amplitudes with 5% damping ratio at three fundamental natural periods, namely: 0.3, 1.0, and 3.0 s. The spectral models, which work well for PGA, overestimate the pseudospectral acceleration. It seems that there is a strong influence of local site amplification and crustal attenuation (kappa, which control spectral amplitudes at different frequencies. The results would allow analysing regional peculiarities of ground-motion excitation and propagation and updating seismic hazard assessment, both the probabilistic and deterministic approaches.

  13. Development of an Earthquake Early Warning System Using Real-Time Strong Motion Signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yih-Min; Kanamori, Hiroo

    2008-01-09

    As urbanization progresses worldwide, earthquakes pose serious threat to livesand properties for urban areas near major active faults on land or subduction zonesoffshore. Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) can be a useful tool for reducing earthquakehazards, if the spatial relation between cities and earthquake sources is favorable for suchwarning and their citizens are properly trained to respond to earthquake warning messages.An EEW system forewarns an urban area of forthcoming strong shaking, normally with afew sec to a few tens of sec of warning time, i.e., before the arrival of the destructive Swavepart of the strong ground motion. Even a few second of advanced warning time willbe useful for pre-programmed emergency measures for various critical facilities, such asrapid-transit vehicles and high-speed trains to avoid potential derailment; it will be alsouseful for orderly shutoff of gas pipelines to minimize fire hazards, controlled shutdown ofhigh-technological manufacturing operations to reduce potential losses, and safe-guardingof computer facilities to avoid loss of vital databases. We explored a practical approach toEEW with the use of a ground-motion period parameter τc and a high-pass filtered verticaldisplacement amplitude parameter Pd from the initial 3 sec of the P waveforms. At a givensite, an earthquake magnitude could be determined from τ c and the peak ground-motionvelocity (PGV) could be estimated from Pd. In this method, incoming strong motion acceleration signals are recursively converted to ground velocity and displacement. A Pwavetrigger is constantly monitored. When a trigger occurs, τ c and Pd are computed. Theearthquake magnitude and the on-site ground-motion intensity could be estimated and thewarning could be issued. In an ideal situation, such warnings would be available within 10sec of the origin time of a large earthquake whose subsequent ground motion may last fortens of seconds.

  14. The study of key issues about integration of GNSS and strong-motion records for real-time earthquake monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Rui; Zhang, Pengfei; Zhang, Rui; Liu, Jinhai

    2016-08-01

    This paper has studied the key issues about integration of GNSS and strong-motion records for real-time earthquake monitoring. The validations show that the consistence of the coordinate system must be considered firstly to exclude the system bias between GNSS and strong-motion. The GNSS sampling rate is suggested about 1-5 Hz, and we should give the strong-motion's baseline shift with a larger dynamic noise as its variation is very swift. The initialization time of solving the baseline shift is less than one minute, and ambiguity resolution strategy is not greatly improved the solution. The data quality is very important for the solution, we advised to use multi-frequency and multi-system observations. These ideas give an important guide for real-time earthquake monitoring and early warning by the tight integration of GNSS and strong-motion records.

  15. Investigation of strong motion processing procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rinaldi, D.; Goula, X.; Menu, J.M.

    1988-03-01

    The work which is described here presents preliminary results of an on-going research relating to the accurate recording and quality processing of earthquake strong ground motions. The work is the product of a tripartite co-operation between three European Centres (ENEA, PAS-ISP Laboratorio Ingengneria dei Siti, Rome/CEA, IPSN, Fontenay-aux-Roses, ICST, Department of Civil Engineering, London), which have carried out independently similar research in the recent past. Other European Institutes joined the three mentioned organizations for discussions during a Workshop (June 1985) held in Casaccia (ENEA Research Centre of Rome). The aim of the research is a thorough analysis of various factors affecting the recovery of true ground accelerations recorded with analogue instruments. The separate and cumulative effects of the type of recording accelerometer, the digitization equipment and the correction routines have been analysed. Global comparisons have been achieved to obtain a general insight into various standard processing procedures

  16. Chapter A. The Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake of October 17, 1989 - Strong Ground Motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borcherdt, Roger D.

    1994-01-01

    Strong ground motion generated by the Loma Prieta, Calif., earthquake (MS~7.1) of October 17, 1989, resulted in at least 63 deaths, more than 3,757 injuries, and damage estimated to exceed $5.9 billion. Strong ground motion severely damaged critical lifelines (freeway overpasses, bridges, and pipelines), caused severe damage to poorly constructed buildings, and induced a significant number of ground failures associated with liquefaction and landsliding. It also caused a significant proportion of the damage and loss of life at distances as far as 100 km from the epicenter. Consequently, understanding the characteristics of the strong ground motion associated with the earthquake is fundamental to understanding the earthquake's devastating impact on society. The papers assembled in this chapter address this problem. Damage to vulnerable structures from the earthquake varied substantially with the distance from the causative fault and the type of underlying geologic deposits. Most of the damage and loss of life occurred in areas underlain by 'soft soil'. Quantifying these effects is important for understanding the tragic concentrations of damage in such areas as Santa Cruz and the Marina and Embarcadero Districts of San Francisco, and the failures of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Interstate Highway 880 overpass. Most importantly, understanding these effects is a necessary prerequisite for improving mitigation measures for larger earthquakes likely to occur much closer to densely urbanized areas in the San Francisco Bay region. The earthquake generated an especially important data set for understanding variations in the severity of strong ground motion. Instrumental strong-motion recordings were obtained at 131 sites located from about 6 to 175 km from the rupture zone. This set of recordings, the largest yet collected for an event of this size, was obtained from sites on various geologic deposits, including a unique set on 'soft soil' deposits

  17. Business groups' outward FDI: A managerial resources perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Tan, D C; Meyer, Klaus E

    2010-01-01

    Outward FDI strategies are driven by firms' resource endowments, which in turn are conditioned by their home environment. In emerging economies, thus, the pattern of outward FDI is shaped by local firms' idiosyncratic contexts and the resources that these firms developed to fit the contexts. This includes business groups, a dominant organizational form in many emerging economies, competing with context-bound resources. When they wish to transcend their home context, they need internationally ...

  18. Outward knowledge transfer: the impact of project-based organization on performance

    OpenAIRE

    Ulrich Lichtenthaler

    2010-01-01

    Recently, interfirm knowledge transactions have increased although many firms experience major managerial difficulties in outward knowledge transfer, e.g. technology licensing. To reduce the traditional underemphasis on empirical research into corporate outward knowledge transfer, we use data from 152 firms to test four hypotheses relating firms' outward knowledge transfer performance to two types of project-based organization, which complement formal and informal organizational structures: p...

  19. HOME COUNTRY MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF OUTWARD FDI: THE CASE OF ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariana Sehleanu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The 90s marked the remarcable increase of foreign direct investment (FDI flows globally. Thus, global FDI outflows increased from 244 billion dollars in 1990 to 1,35 trillion dollars in 2014, with a peak record of 2,13 trillion dollars in 2007, according to UNCTAD statistics. In Romania, the value of outward FDI stock increased from 66,1 million dollars in 1990 and reached a peak in 2010, when total outward FDI stock cumulated 1510,7 million dollars. As the global economic and financial crisis has led to the unfavorable evolution of the Romanian economy, the business opportunities and the investment resources of Romanian companies have decreased significantly. Since 2011 the value of outward FDI stock entered a downtrend that was maintained until 2014, when outward FDI stock cumulated 695,7 million dollars. As a percentage of GDP, Romania’s outward FDI stock recorded only sub-unit values from 1990 to present. The aim of this empirical research is to analyze the influence of several macroeconomic factors on outward FDI from Romania, during 1991-2014. Using simple regression models, the empirical study reveals that factors such as interest rate, inflation rate, money supply, exchange rate and gross domestic product (GDP have an important role in explaining outward FDI from Romania, while the influence of trade openness is weak. Between the outward FDI stock and money supply, exchange rate, gross domestic product, respectively trade openness, there is a direct and linear correlation and between the outward foreign direct investment stock and the interest rate, respectively the inflation rate, there is an inverse linear correlation. The results obtained from our empirical study emphasize that the evolution of macroeconomic factors in Romania, as a home country, represents an important stimulus for Romanian companies to invest abroad. The presence of Romanian companies on the international market was very limited and that is why an increase of the

  20. Attenuation relation for strong motion in Eastern Java based on appropriate database and method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahendra, Rian; Rohadi, Supriyanto; Rudyanto, Ariska

    2017-07-01

    The selection and determination of attenuation relation has become important for seismic hazard assessment in active seismic region. This research initially constructs the appropriate strong motion database, including site condition and type of the earthquake. The data set consisted of large number earthquakes of 5 ≤ Mw ≤ 9 and distance less than 500 km that occurred around Java from 2009 until 2016. The location and depth of earthquake are being relocated using double difference method to improve the quality of database. Strong motion data from twelve BMKG's accelerographs which are located in east Java is used. The site condition is known by using dominant period and Vs30. The type of earthquake is classified into crustal earthquake, interface, and intraslab based on slab geometry analysis. A total of 10 Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) are tested using Likelihood (Scherbaum et al., 2004) and Euclidean Distance Ranking method (Kale and Akkar, 2012) with the associated database. The evaluation of these methods lead to a set of GMPEs that can be applied for seismic hazard in East Java where the strong motion data is collected. The result of these methods found that there is still high deviation of GMPEs, so the writer modified some GMPEs using inversion method. Validation was performed by analysing the attenuation curve of the selected GMPE and observation data in period 2015 up to 2016. The results show that the selected GMPE is suitable for estimated PGA value in East Java.

  1. Earthquake Strong Ground Motion Scenario at the 2008 Olympic Games Sites, Beijing, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, L.; Rohrbach, E. A.; Chen, Q.; Chen, Y.

    2006-12-01

    Historic earthquake record indicates mediate to strong earthquakes have been frequently hit greater Beijing metropolitan area where is going to host the 2008 summer Olympic Games. For the readiness preparation of emergency response to the earthquake shaking for a mega event in a mega city like Beijing in summer 2008, this paper tries to construct the strong ground motion scenario at a number of gymnasium sites for the 2008 Olympic Games. During the last 500 years (the Ming and Qing Dynasties) in which the historic earthquake record are thorough and complete, there are at least 12 earthquake events with the maximum intensity of VI or greater occurred within 100 km radius centered at the Tiananmen Square, the center of Beijing City. Numerical simulation of the seismic wave propagation and surface strong ground motion is carried out by the pseudospectral time domain methods with viscoelastic material properties. To improve the modeling efficiency and accuracy, a multi-scale approach is adapted: the seismic wave propagation originated from an earthquake rupture source is first simulated by a model with larger physical domain with coarser grids. Then the wavefield at a given plane is taken as the source input for the small-scale, fine grid model for the strong ground motion study at the sites. The earthquake source rupture scenario is based on two particular historic earthquake events: One is the Great 1679 Sanhe-Pinggu Earthquake (M~8, Maximum Intensity XI at the epicenter and Intensity VIII in city center)) whose epicenter is about 60 km ENE of the city center. The other one is the 1730 Haidian Earthquake (M~6, Maximum Intensity IX at the epicenter and Intensity VIII in city center) with the epicentral distance less than 20 km away from the city center in the NW Haidian District. The exist of the thick Tertiary-Quaternary sediments (maximum thickness ~ 2 km) in Beijing area plays a critical role on estimating the surface ground motion at the Olympic Games sites, which

  2. Single-Station Sigma for the Iranian Strong Motion Stations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zafarani, H.; Soghrat, M. R.

    2017-11-01

    In development of ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs), the residuals are assumed to have a log-normal distribution with a zero mean and a standard deviation, designated as sigma. Sigma has significant effect on evaluation of seismic hazard for designing important infrastructures such as nuclear power plants and dams. Both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties are involved in the sigma parameter. However, ground-motion observations over long time periods are not available at specific sites and the GMPEs have been derived using observed data from multiple sites for a small number of well-recorded earthquakes. Therefore, sigma is dominantly related to the statistics of the spatial variability of ground motion instead of temporal variability at a single point (ergodic assumption). The main purpose of this study is to reduce the variability of the residuals so as to handle it as epistemic uncertainty. In this regard, it is tried to partially apply the non-ergodic assumption by removing repeatable site effects from total variability of six GMPEs driven from the local, Europe-Middle East and worldwide data. For this purpose, we used 1837 acceleration time histories from 374 shallow earthquakes with moment magnitudes ranging from M w 4.0 to 7.3 recorded at 370 stations with at least two recordings per station. According to estimated single-station sigma for the Iranian strong motion stations, the ratio of event-corrected single-station standard deviation ( Φ ss) to within-event standard deviation ( Φ) is about 0.75. In other words, removing the ergodic assumption on site response resulted in 25% reduction of the within-event standard deviation that reduced the total standard deviation by about 15%.

  3. Development of an Earthquake Early Warning System Using Real-Time Strong Motion Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroo Kanamori

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available As urbanization progresses worldwide, earthquakes pose serious threat to livesand properties for urban areas near major active faults on land or subduction zonesoffshore. Earthquake Early Warning (EEW can be a useful tool for reducing earthquakehazards, if the spatial relation between cities and earthquake sources is favorable for suchwarning and their citizens are properly trained to respond to earthquake warning messages.An EEW system forewarns an urban area of forthcoming strong shaking, normally with afew sec to a few tens of sec of warning time, i.e., before the arrival of the destructive Swavepart of the strong ground motion. Even a few second of advanced warning time willbe useful for pre-programmed emergency measures for various critical facilities, such asrapid-transit vehicles and high-speed trains to avoid potential derailment; it will be alsouseful for orderly shutoff of gas pipelines to minimize fire hazards, controlled shutdown ofhigh-technological manufacturing operations to reduce potential losses, and safe-guardingof computer facilities to avoid loss of vital databases. We explored a practical approach toEEW with the use of a ground-motion period parameter τc and a high-pass filtered verticaldisplacement amplitude parameter Pd from the initial 3 sec of the P waveforms. At a givensite, an earthquake magnitude could be determined from τc and the peak ground-motionvelocity (PGV could be estimated from Pd. In this method, incoming strong motion acceleration signals are recursively converted to ground velocity and displacement. A Pwavetrigger is constantly monitored. When a trigger occurs, τc and Pd are computed. Theearthquake magnitude and the on-site ground-motion intensity could be estimated and thewarning could be issued. In an ideal situation, such warnings would be available within 10sec of the origin time of a large earthquake whose subsequent ground motion may last fortens of seconds.

  4. Strong motion recordings of the 2008/12/23 earthquake in Northern Italy: another case of very weak motion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabetta, F.; Zambonelli, E.

    2009-04-01

    On December 23 2008 an earthquake of magnitude ML=5.1 (INGV) Mw=5.4 (INGV-Harvard Global CMT) occurred in northern Italy close to the cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia. The earthquake, with a macroseismic intensity of VI MCS, caused a very slight damage (some tens of unusable buildings and some hundreds of damaged buildings), substantially lower than the damage estimated by the loss simulation scenario currently used by the Italian Civil Protection. Due to the recent upgrading of the Italian strong motion network (RAN), the event has been recorded by a great number of accelerometers (the largest ever obtained in Italy for a single shock): 21 digital and 8 analog instruments with epicentral distances ranging from 16 to 140 km. The comparison of recorded PGA, PGV, Arias intensity, and spectral values with several widely used Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) showed much lower ground motion values respect to the empirical predictions (a factor ranging from 4 to 2). A first explanation of the strong differences, in damage and ground motion, between actual data and predictions could be, at a first sight, attributed to the rather high focal depth of 27 km. However, even the adoption of GMPEs accounting for depth of the source and using hypocentral distance (Berge et al 2003, Pousse et al 2005), does not predict large differences in motions, especially at distances larger than 30 km where most of the data are concentrated and where the effect of depth on source-to-site distance is small. At the same time the adoption of the most recent GMPEs (Ambraseys et al 2005, Akkar & bommer 2007) taking into account the different magnitude scaling and the faster attenuation of small magnitudes through magnitude-dependent attenuation, does not show a better agreement with the recorded data. The real reasons of the above mentioned discrepancies need to be further investigated, however a possible explanation could be a low source rupture velocity, likewise the 2002 Molise

  5. Strong ground motion of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoi, S.; Kunugi, T.; Suzuki, W.; Kubo, H.; Morikawa, N.; Fujiwara, H.

    2016-12-01

    The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake that is composed of Mw 6.1 and Mw 7.1 earthquakes respectively occurred in the Kumamoto region at 21:26 on April 14 and 28 hours later at 1:25 on April 16, 2016 (JST). These earthquakes are considered to rupture mainly the Hinagu fault zone for the Mw 6.1 event and the Futagawa fault zone for the Mw 7.1 event, respectively, where the Headquarter for Earthquake Research Promotion performed the long-term evaluation as well as seismic hazard assessment prior to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. Strong shakings with seismic intensity 7 in the JMA scale were observed at four times in total: Mashiki town for the Mw 6.1 and Mw 7.1 events, Nishihara village for the Mw 7.1 event, and NIED/KiK-net Mashiki (KMMH16) for the Mw 7.1 event. KiK-net Mashiki (KMMH16) recorded peak ground acceleration more than 1000 cm/s/s, and Nishihara village recorded peak ground velocity more than 250 cm/s. Ground motions were observed wider area for the Mw 7.1 event than the Mw 6.1 event. Peak ground accelerations and peak ground velocities of K-NET/KiK-net stations are consistent with the ground motion prediction equations by Si and Midorikawa (1999). Peak ground velocities at longer distance than 200 km attenuate slowly, which can be attributed to the large Love wave with a dominant period around 10 seconds. 5%-damped pseudo spectral velocity of the Mashiki town shows a peak at period of 1-2 s that exceeds ground motion response of JR Takatori of the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the Kawaguchi town of the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake. 5%-damped pseudo spectral velocity of the Nishihara village shows 350 cm/s peak at period of 3-4 s that is similar to the several stations in Kathmandu basin by Takai et al. (2016) during the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal. Ground motions at several stations in Oita exceed the ground motion prediction equations due to an earthquake induced by the Mw 7.1 event. Peak ground accelerations of K-NET Yufuin (OIT009) records 90 cm/s/s for the Mw 7

  6. NetQuakes - A new approach to urban strong-motion seismology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luetgert, J. H.; Evans, J. R.; Hamilton, J.; Hutt, C. R.; Jensen, E. G.; Oppenheimer, D. H.

    2009-12-01

    There is a recognized need for more densely sampled strong ground motion recordings in urban areas to provide more accurate ShakeMaps for post-earthquake disaster assessment and to provide data for structural engineers to improve design standards. Ideally, the San Francisco Bay area would have a strong ground motion recorder every 1-2 km to adequately sample the region’s varied geology and built environment. This would require the addition of thousands of instruments to the existing network. There are several fiscal and logistical constraints that prevent us from doing this with traditional strong motion instrumentation and telemetry. In addition to the initial expense of instruments and their installation, there are the continuing costs of telemetry and maintenance. To address these issues, the USGS implemented the NetQuakes project to deploy small, relatively inexpensive seismographs for installation in 1-2 story homes and businesses that utilize the host’s existing Internet connection. The recorder has 18 bit resolution with ±3g internal tri-axial MEMS accelerometers. Data is continuously recorded at 200 sps into a 1-2 week ringbuffer. When triggered, a miniSEED file is sent to USGS servers via the Internet. Data can also be recovered from the ringbuffer by a remote request through the servers. Following a power failure, the instrument can run for 36 hours using its internal battery. All client-server interactions are initiated by the instrument, so it safely resides behind a host’s firewall. Instrument and battery replacement can be performed by hosts to reduce maintenance costs. A connection to the host’s LAN, and thence to the public Internet, can be made using WiFi to minimize cabling. Although timing via a cable to an external GPS antenna is possible, it is simpler to use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize the internal clock. NTP achieves timing accuracy generally better than a sample interval. Since February, 2009, we have installed

  7. Strong Motion Seismograph Based On MEMS Accelerometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teng, Y.; Hu, X.

    2013-12-01

    The MEMS strong motion seismograph we developed used the modularization method to design its software and hardware.It can fit various needs in different application situation.The hardware of the instrument is composed of a MEMS accelerometer,a control processor system,a data-storage system,a wired real-time data transmission system by IP network,a wireless data transmission module by 3G broadband,a GPS calibration module and power supply system with a large-volumn lithium battery in it. Among it,the seismograph's sensor adopted a three-axis with 14-bit high resolution and digital output MEMS accelerometer.Its noise level just reach about 99μg/√Hz and ×2g to ×8g dynamically selectable full-scale.Its output data rates from 1.56Hz to 800Hz. Its maximum current consumption is merely 165μA,and the device is so small that it is available in a 3mm×3mm×1mm QFN package. Furthermore,there is access to both low pass filtered data as well as high pass filtered data,which minimizes the data analysis required for earthquake signal detection. So,the data post-processing can be simplified. Controlling process system adopts a 32-bit low power consumption embedded ARM9 processor-S3C2440 and is based on the Linux operation system.The processor's operating clock at 400MHz.The controlling system's main memory is a 64MB SDRAM with a 256MB flash-memory.Besides,an external high-capacity SD card data memory can be easily added.So the system can meet the requirements for data acquisition,data processing,data transmission,data storage,and so on. Both wired and wireless network can satisfy remote real-time monitoring, data transmission,system maintenance,status monitoring or updating software.Linux was embedded and multi-layer designed conception was used.The code, including sensor hardware driver,the data acquisition,earthquake setting out and so on,was written on medium layer.The hardware driver consist of IIC-Bus interface driver, IO driver and asynchronous notification driver. The

  8. Orbital motion in strongly perturbed environments applications to asteroid, comet and planetary satellite orbiters

    CERN Document Server

    Scheeres, Daniel J

    2012-01-01

    The proposed book will provide a detailed, technical introduction to the analysis of orbital motion in strongly perturbed environments, focusing on motion about small Solar System bodies, such as comets and asteroids. The author shows why such small bodies are of interest and why they can be used as a motivation for the general analysis of orbital mechanics. He shows how it is possible to model the small body environment, including specialised cases such as those of binary asteroids, comets and ‘rubble piles’, and how the fundamental equations of motion are derived. The properties of the various solutions to the equations of motion are described and the methods of analysis and their application are discussed. Both ballistic motion and powered motion on and about small bodies are considered and case studies for different small body missions are presented. The author concludes his comprehensive treatment with a discussion of the mechanics of multi-body small body systems and a review of advanced topics and ...

  9. Does Inward FDI Promote or Hinder Outward FDI?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Ying; Li, Ming Hua; Lu, Jiangyong

    In this paper we evaluate the mechanisms underlying dynamic linkages between inward FDI and outward internationalization in the Chinese automobile industry. While several studies have examined the relationship between outward and inward investment using empirical data, this is among the first to ...... may be more driven to expand internationally while firms with IJVs may face constraints from venturing abroad. Our study further delineates strategies for how automakers without IJVs may rely on external growth to springboard back into the domestic car market....

  10. On Drift Effects in Velocity and Displacement of Greek Uncorrected Digital Strong Motion Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skarlatoudis, A.; Margaris, B.

    2005-12-01

    Fifty years after the first installation of analog accelerographs, digital instruments recording the strong-motion came in operation. Their advantages comparing to the analog ones are obvious and they have been described in detail in several works. Nevertheless it has been pointed out that velocity and displacement values derived from several accelerograms, recorded in various strong earthquakes worldwide (e.g. 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Hector Mine, 2002 Denali) by digital instruments, are plagued by drifts when only a simple baseline correction derived from the pre-event portion of the record is removed. In Greece a significant number of accelerographic networks and arrays have been deployed covering the whole area. Digital accelerographs now constitute a significant part of the National Strong Motion network of the country. Detailed analyses of the data processing of accelerograms recorded by digital instruments exhibited that the same drifts exist in the Greek strong motion database. In this work, a methodology proposed and described in various articles (Boore, 2001; 2003; 2005) for removing the aforementioned drifts of the accelerograms is applied. It is also attempted a careful look of the nature of the drifts for understanding the noise characteristics relative to the signal. The intrinsic behaviour of signal to noise ratio is crucial for the adequacy of baseline corrections applied on digital uncorrected accelerograms. Velocities and displacements of the uncorrected and corrected accelerograms are compared and the drift effects in the Fourier and response spectra are presented.

  11. Strong seismic ground motion propagation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seale, S.; Archuleta, R.; Pecker, A.; Bouchon, M.; Mohammadioun, G.; Murphy, A.; Mohammadioun, B.

    1988-10-01

    At the McGee Creek, California, site, 3-component strong-motion accelerometers are located at depths of 166 m, 35 m and 0 m. The surface material is glacial moraine, to a depth of 30.5 m, overlying homfels. Accelerations were recorded from two California earthquakes: Round Valley, M L 5.8, November 23, 1984, 18:08 UTC and Chalfant Valley, M L 6.4, July 21, 1986, 14:42 UTC. By separating out the SH components of acceleration, we were able to determine the orientations of the downhole instruments. By separating out the SV component of acceleration, we were able to determine the approximate angle of incidence of the signal at 166 m. A constant phase velocity Haskell-Thomson model was applied to generate synthetic SH seismograms at the surface using the accelerations recorded at 166 m. In the frequency band 0.0 - 10.0 Hz, we compared the filtered synthetic records to the filtered surface data. The onset of the SH pulse is clearly seen, as are the reflections from the interface at 30.5 m. The synthetic record closely matches the data in amplitude and phase. The fit between the synthetic accelerogram and the data shows that the seismic amplification at the surface is a result of the contrast of the impedances (shear stiffnesses) of the near surface materials

  12. A comparison of two methods for earthquake source inversion using strong motion seismograms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. C. Beroza

    1994-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we compare two time-domain inversion methods that have been widely applied to the problem of modeling earthquake rupture using strong-motion seismograms. In the multi-window method, each point on the fault is allowed to rupture multiple times. This allows flexibility in the rupture time and hence the rupture velocity. Variations in the slip-velocity function are accommodated by variations in the slip amplitude in each time-window. The single-window method assumes that each point on the fault ruptures only once, when the rupture front passes. Variations in slip amplitude are allowed and variations in rupture velocity are accommodated by allowing the rupture time to vary. Because the multi-window method allows greater flexibility, it has the potential to describe a wider range of faulting behavior; however, with this increased flexibility comes an increase in the degrees of freedom and the solutions are comparatively less stable. We demonstrate this effect using synthetic data for a test model of the Mw 7.3 1992 Landers, California earthquake, and then apply both inversion methods to the actual recordings. The two approaches yield similar fits to the strong-motion data with different seismic moments indicating that the moment is not well constrained by strong-motion data alone. The slip amplitude distribution is similar using either approach, but important differences exist in the rupture propagation models. The single-window method does a better job of recovering the true seismic moment and the average rupture velocity. The multi-window method is preferable when rise time is strongly variable, but tends to overestimate the seismic moment. Both methods work well when the rise time is constant or short compared to the periods modeled. Neither approach can recover the temporal details of rupture propagation unless the distribution of slip amplitude is constrained by independent data.

  13. The near-source strong-motion accelerograms recorded by an experimental array in Tangshan, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, K.; Xie, Lingtian; Li, S.; Boore, D.M.; Iwan, W.D.; Teng, T.L.

    1985-01-01

    A joint research project on strong-motion earthquake studies between the People's Republic of China and the United States is in progress. As a part of this project, an experimental strong-motion array, consisting of twelve Kinemetrics PDR-1 Digital Event Recorders, was deployed in the meizoseismal area of the Ms = 7.8 Tangshan earthquake of July 28, 1976. These instruments have automatic gain ranging, a specified dynamic range of 102 dB, a 2.5 s pre-event memory, programmable triggering, and are equipped with TCG-1B Time Code Generators with a stability of 3 parts in 107 over a range of 0-50??C. In 2 y of operation beginning July, 1982 a total of 603 near-source 3-component accelerograms were gathered from 243 earthquakes of magnitude ML = 1.2-5.3. Most of these accelerograms have recorded the initial P-wave. The configuration of the experimental array and a representative set of near-source strong-motion accelerograms are presented in this paper. The set of accelerograms exhibited were obtained during the ML = 5.3 Lulong earthquake of October 19, 1982, when digital event recorders were triggered. The epicentral distances ranged from 4 to 41 km and the corresponding range of peak horizontal accelerations was 0.232g to 0.009g. A preliminary analysis of the data indicates that compared to motions in the western United States, the peak acceleration attenuates much more rapidly in the Tangshan area. The scaling of peak acceleration with magnitude, however, is similar in the two regions. Data at more distant sites are needed to confirm the more rapid attenuation. ?? 1985.

  14. The effect of regional variation of seismic wave attenuation on the strong ground motion from earthquakes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung, D H; Bernreuter, D L

    1981-10-01

    Attenuation is caused by geometric spreading and absorption. Geometric spreading is almost independent of crustal geology and physiographic region, but absorption depends strongly on crustal geology and the state of the earth's upper mantle. Except for very high frequency waves, absorption does not affect ground motion at distances less than about 25 to 50 km. Thus, in the near-field zone, the attenuation in the eastern United States is similar to that in the western United States. Beyond the near field, differences in ground motion can best be accounted for by differences in attenuation caused by differences in absorption. The stress drop of eastern earthquakes may be higher than for western earthquakes of the same seismic moment, which would affect the high-frequency spectral content. But we believe this factor is of much less significance than differences in absorption in explaining the differences in ground motion between the East and the West. The characteristics of strong ground motion in the conterminous United States are discussed in light of these considerations, and estimates are made of the epicentral ground motions in the central and eastern United States. (author)

  15. Estimation of slip scenarios of mega-thrust earthquakes and strong motion simulations for Central Andes, Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulido, N.; Tavera, H.; Aguilar, Z.; Chlieh, M.; Calderon, D.; Sekiguchi, T.; Nakai, S.; Yamazaki, F.

    2012-12-01

    We have developed a methodology for the estimation of slip scenarios for megathrust earthquakes based on a model of interseismic coupling (ISC) distribution in subduction margins obtained from geodetic data, as well as information of recurrence of historical earthquakes. This geodetic slip model (GSM) delineates the long wavelength asperities within the megathrust. For the simulation of strong ground motion it becomes necessary to introduce short wavelength heterogeneities to the source slip to be able to efficiently simulate high frequency ground motions. To achieve this purpose we elaborate "broadband" source models constructed by combining the GSM with several short wavelength slip distributions obtained from a Von Karman PSD function with random phases. Our application of the method to Central Andes in Peru, show that this region has presently the potential of generating an earthquake with moment magnitude of 8.9, with a peak slip of 17 m and a source area of approximately 500 km along strike and 165 km along dip. For the strong motion simulations we constructed 12 broadband slip models, and consider 9 possible hypocenter locations for each model. We performed strong motion simulations for the whole central Andes region (Peru), spanning an area from the Nazca ridge (16^o S) to the Mendana fracture (9^o S). For this purpose we use the hybrid strong motion simulation method of Pulido et al. (2004), improved to handle a general slip distribution. Our simulated PGA and PGV distributions indicate that a region of at least 500 km along the coast of central Andes is subjected to a MMI intensity of approximately 8, for the slip model that yielded the largest ground motions among the 12 slip models considered, averaged for all assumed hypocenter locations. This result is in agreement with the macroseismic intensity distribution estimated for the great 1746 earthquake (M~9) in central Andes (Dorbath et al. 1990). Our results indicate that the simulated PGA and PGV for

  16. The Engineering Strong Ground Motion Network of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velasco Miranda, J. M.; Ramirez-Guzman, L.; Aguilar Calderon, L. A.; Almora Mata, D.; Ayala Hernandez, M.; Castro Parra, G.; Molina Avila, I.; Mora, A.; Torres Noguez, M.; Vazquez Larquet, R.

    2014-12-01

    The coverage, design, operation and monitoring capabilities of the strong ground motion program at the Institute of Engineering (IE) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is presented. Started in 1952, the seismic instrumentation intended initially to bolster earthquake engineering projects in Mexico City has evolved into the largest strong ground motion monitoring system in the region. Today, it provides information not only to engineering projects, but also to the near real-time risk mitigation systems of the country, and enhances the general understanding of the effects and causes of earthquakes in Mexico. The IE network includes more than 100 free-field stations and several buildings, covering the largest urban centers and zones of significant seismicity in Central Mexico. Of those stations, approximately one-fourth send the observed acceleration to a processing center in Mexico City continuously, and the rest require either periodic visits for the manual recovery of the data or remote interrogation, for later processing and cataloging. In this research, we document the procedures and telecommunications systems used systematically to recover information. Additionally, we analyze the spatial distribution of the free-field accelerographs, the quality of the instrumentation, and the recorded ground motions. The evaluation criteria are based on the: 1) uncertainty in the generation of ground motion parameter maps due to the spatial distribution of the stations, 2) potential of the array to provide localization and magnitude estimates for earthquakes with magnitudes greater than Mw 5, and 3) adequacy of the network for the development of Ground Motion Prediction Equations due to intra-plate and intra-slab earthquakes. We conclude that the monitoring system requires a new redistribution, additional stations, and a substantial improvement in the instrumentation and telecommunications. Finally, we present an integral plan to improve the current network

  17. Quantitative prediction of strong motion for a potential earthquake fault

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shamita Das

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a new method for calculating strong motion records for a given seismic region on the basis of the laws of physics using information on the tectonics and physical properties of the earthquake fault. Our method is based on a earthquake model, called a «barrier model», which is characterized by five source parameters: fault length, width, maximum slip, rupture velocity, and barrier interval. The first three parameters may be constrained from plate tectonics, and the fourth parameter is roughly a constant. The most important parameter controlling the earthquake strong motion is the last parameter, «barrier interval». There are three methods to estimate the barrier interval for a given seismic region: 1 surface measurement of slip across fault breaks, 2 model fitting with observed near and far-field seismograms, and 3 scaling law data for small earthquakes in the region. The barrier intervals were estimated for a dozen earthquakes and four seismic regions by the above three methods. Our preliminary results for California suggest that the barrier interval may be determined if the maximum slip is given. The relation between the barrier interval and maximum slip varies from one seismic region to another. For example, the interval appears to be unusually long for Kilauea, Hawaii, which may explain why only scattered evidence of strong ground shaking was observed in the epicentral area of the Island of Hawaii earthquake of November 29, 1975. The stress drop associated with an individual fault segment estimated from the barrier interval and maximum slip lies between 100 and 1000 bars. These values are about one order of magnitude greater than those estimated earlier by the use of crack models without barriers. Thus, the barrier model can resolve, at least partially, the well known discrepancy between the stress-drops measured in the laboratory and those estimated for earthquakes.

  18. Uniform risk spectra of strong earthquake ground motion: NEQRISK

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, V.W.; Trifunac, M.D.

    1987-01-01

    The concept of uniform risk spectra of Anderson and Trifunac (1977) has been generalized to include (1) more refined description of earthquake source zones, (2) the uncertainties in estimating seismicity parameters a and b in log 10 N = a - bM, (3) to consider uncertainties in estimation of maximum earthquake size in each source zone, and to (4) include the most recent results on empirical scaling of strong motion amplitudes at a site. Examples of using to new NEQRISK program are presented and compared with the corresponding case studies of Anderson and Trifunac (1977). The organization of the computer program NEQRISK is also briefly described

  19. Spray Modeling for Outwardly-Opening Hollow-Cone Injector

    KAUST Repository

    Sim, Jaeheon

    2016-04-05

    The outwardly-opening piezoelectric injector is gaining popularity as a high efficient spray injector due to its precise control of the spray. However, few modeling studies have been reported on these promising injectors. Furthermore, traditional linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) model was originally developed for pressure swirl hollow-cone injectors with moderate spray angle and toroidal ligament breakups. Therefore, it is not appropriate for the outwardly-opening injectors having wide spray angles and string-like film structures. In this study, a new spray injection modeling was proposed for outwardly-opening hollow-cone injector. The injection velocities are computed from the given mass flow rate and injection pressure instead of ambiguous annular nozzle geometry. The modified Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor (KH-RT) breakup model is used with adjusted initial Sauter mean diameter (SMD) for modeling breakup of string-like structure. Spray injection was modeled using a Lagrangian discrete parcel method within the framework of commercial CFD software CONVERGE, and the new model was implemented through the user-defined functions. A Siemens outwardly-opening hollow-cone spray injector was characterized and validated with existing experimental data at the injection pressure of 100 bar. It was found that the collision modeling becomes important in the current injector because of dense spray near nozzle. The injection distribution model showed insignificant effects on spray due to small initial droplets. It was demonstrated that the new model can predict the liquid penetration length and local SMD with improved accuracy for the injector under study.

  20. The Quake-Catcher Network: Improving Earthquake Strong Motion Observations Through Community Engagement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cochran, E. S.; Lawrence, J. F.; Christensen, C. M.; Chung, A. I.; Neighbors, C.; Saltzman, J.

    2010-12-01

    The Quake-Catcher Network (QCN) involves the community in strong motion data collection by utilizing volunteer computing techniques and low-cost MEMS accelerometers. Volunteer computing provides a mechanism to expand strong-motion seismology with minimal infrastructure costs, while promoting community participation in science. Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) triaxial accelerometers can be attached to a desktop computer via USB and are internal to many laptops. Preliminary shake table tests show the MEMS accelerometers can record high-quality seismic data with instrument response similar to research-grade strong-motion sensors. QCN began distributing sensors and software to K-12 schools and the general public in April 2008 and has grown to roughly 1500 stations worldwide. We also recently tested whether sensors could be quickly deployed as part of a Rapid Aftershock Mobilization Program (RAMP) following the 2010 M8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake. Volunteers are recruited through media reports, web-based sensor request forms, as well as social networking sites. Using data collected to date, we examine whether a distributed sensing network can provide valuable seismic data for earthquake detection and characterization while promoting community participation in earthquake science. We utilize client-side triggering algorithms to determine when significant ground shaking occurs and this metadata is sent to the main QCN server. On average, trigger metadata are received within 1-10 seconds from the observation of a trigger; the larger data latencies are correlated with greater server-station distances. When triggers are detected, we determine if the triggers correlate to others in the network using spatial and temporal clustering of incoming trigger information. If a minimum number of triggers are detected then a QCN-event is declared and an initial earthquake location and magnitude is estimated. Initial analysis suggests that the estimated locations and magnitudes are

  1. Experiments on the photophoretic motion of chondrules and dust aggregates -indications for the transport of matter in protoplanetary disks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wurm, Gerhard; Teiser, Jens; Bischoff, Addi

    2010-01-01

    In a set of 16 drop tower experiments the motion of sub-millimeter to millimeter-sized particles under microgravity was observed. Illumination by a halogen lamp induced acceleration of the particles due to photophoresis. Photophoresis on dust-free chondrules, on chondrules, glass spheres and meta....... The strength of the photophoretic force varies for chondrules, dust covered particles and pure dust from low to strong, respectively. The measurements support the idea that photophoresis in the early Solar System can be efficient to transport solid particles outward....

  2. China's Outward Direct Investment in Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cheung, Yin-Wong; de Haan, Jakob; Qian, Xingwang; Yu, Shu

    The empirical determinants of China's outward direct investment (ODI) in Africa are examined using an officially approved ODI dataset and a relatively new OECDIMF format ODI dataset. China's ODI is found responding to the canonical economic determinants that include the market seeking motive, the

  3. Assessing the Utility of Strong Motion Data to Determine Static Ground Displacements During Great Megathrust Earthquakes: Tohoku and Iquique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herman, M. W.; Furlong, K. P.; Hayes, G. P.; Benz, H.

    2014-12-01

    Strong motion accelerometers can record large amplitude shaking on-scale in the near-field of large earthquake ruptures; however, numerical integration of such records to determine displacement is typically unstable due to baseline changes (i.e., distortions in the zero value) that occur during strong shaking. We use datasets from the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake to assess whether a relatively simple empirical correction scheme (Boore et al., 2002) can return accurate displacement waveforms useful for constraining details of the fault slip. The coseismic deformation resulting from the Tohoku earthquake was recorded by the Kiban Kyoshin network (KiK-net) of strong motion instruments as well as by a dense network of high-rate (1 Hz) GPS instruments. After baseline correcting the KiK-net records and integrating to displacement, over 85% of the KiK-net borehole instrument waveforms and over 75% of the KiK-net surface instrument waveforms match collocated 1 Hz GPS displacement time series. Most of the records that do not match the GPS-derived displacements following the baseline correction have large, systematic drifts that can be automatically identified by examining the slopes in the first 5-10 seconds of the velocity time series. We apply the same scheme to strong motion records from the 2014 Mw 8.2 Iquique earthquake. Close correspondence in both direction and amplitude between coseismic static offsets derived from the integrated strong motion time series and those predicted from a teleseismically-derived finite fault model, as well as displacement amplitudes consistent with InSAR-derived results, suggest that the correction scheme works successfully for the Iquique event. In the absence of GPS displacements, these strong motion-derived offsets provide constraints on the overall distribution of slip on the fault. In addition, the coseismic strong motion-derived displacement time series (50-100 s long) contain a near-field record of the temporal evolution of the

  4. Processing and review interface for strong motion data (PRISM) software, version 1.0.0—Methodology and automated processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jeanne; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher

    2017-02-23

    A continually increasing number of high-quality digital strong-motion records from stations of the National Strong-Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as well as data from regional seismic networks within the United States, call for automated processing of strong-motion records with human review limited to selected significant or flagged records. The NSMP has developed the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software to meet this need. In combination with the Advanced National Seismic System Quake Monitoring System (AQMS), PRISM automates the processing of strong-motion records. When used without AQMS, PRISM provides batch-processing capabilities. The PRISM version 1.0.0 is platform independent (coded in Java), open source, and does not depend on any closed-source or proprietary software. The software consists of two major components: a record processing engine and a review tool that has a graphical user interface (GUI) to manually review, edit, and process records. To facilitate use by non-NSMP earthquake engineers and scientists, PRISM (both its processing engine and review tool) is easy to install and run as a stand-alone system on common operating systems such as Linux, OS X, and Windows. PRISM was designed to be flexible and extensible in order to accommodate new processing techniques. This report provides a thorough description and examples of the record processing features supported by PRISM. All the computing features of PRISM have been thoroughly tested.

  5. A strong-motion database from the Central American subduction zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arango, Maria Cristina; Strasser, Fleur O.; Bommer, Julian J.; Hernández, Douglas A.; Cepeda, Jose M.

    2011-04-01

    Subduction earthquakes along the Pacific Coast of Central America generate considerable seismic risk in the region. The quantification of the hazard due to these events requires the development of appropriate ground-motion prediction equations, for which purpose a database of recordings from subduction events in the region is indispensable. This paper describes the compilation of a comprehensive database of strong ground-motion recordings obtained during subduction-zone events in Central America, focusing on the region from 8 to 14° N and 83 to 92° W, including Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. More than 400 accelerograms recorded by the networks operating across Central America during the last decades have been added to data collected by NORSAR in two regional projects for the reduction of natural disasters. The final database consists of 554 triaxial ground-motion recordings from events of moment magnitudes between 5.0 and 7.7, including 22 interface and 58 intraslab-type events for the time period 1976-2006. Although the database presented in this study is not sufficiently complete in terms of magnitude-distance distribution to serve as a basis for the derivation of predictive equations for interface and intraslab events in Central America, it considerably expands the Central American subduction data compiled in previous studies and used in early ground-motion modelling studies for subduction events in this region. Additionally, the compiled database will allow the assessment of the existing predictive models for subduction-type events in terms of their applicability for the Central American region, which is essential for an adequate estimation of the hazard due to subduction earthquakes in this region.

  6. A semi-empirical analysis of strong-motion peaks in terms of seismic source, propagation path, and local site conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamiyama, M.; Orourke, M. J.; Flores-Berrones, R.

    1992-09-01

    A new type of semi-empirical expression for scaling strong-motion peaks in terms of seismic source, propagation path, and local site conditions is derived. Peak acceleration, peak velocity, and peak displacement are analyzed in a similar fashion because they are interrelated. However, emphasis is placed on the peak velocity which is a key ground motion parameter for lifeline earthquake engineering studies. With the help of seismic source theories, the semi-empirical model is derived using strong motions obtained in Japan. In the derivation, statistical considerations are used in the selection of the model itself and the model parameters. Earthquake magnitude M and hypocentral distance r are selected as independent variables and the dummy variables are introduced to identify the amplification factor due to individual local site conditions. The resulting semi-empirical expressions for the peak acceleration, velocity, and displacement are then compared with strong-motion data observed during three earthquakes in the U.S. and Mexico.

  7. Cover Art: River's Edge: Downward, Outward, Upward

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonee Kulman Brigham

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Artist's Statement for the cover art of IJPS volume 4, issue 3: River's Edge: Downward, Outward, Upward, 2015. Mixed Media: photograph, inkjet printed on presentation matte of colored pencil over photograph.

  8. Application of a net-based baseline correction scheme to strong-motion records of the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Rui; Wang, Rongjiang; Zhang, Yong; Walter, Thomas R.

    2014-06-01

    The description of static displacements associated with earthquakes is traditionally achieved using GPS, EDM or InSAR data. In addition, displacement histories can be derived from strong-motion records, allowing an improvement of geodetic networks at a high sampling rate and a better physical understanding of earthquake processes. Strong-motion records require a correction procedure appropriate for baseline shifts that may be caused by rotational motion, tilting and other instrumental effects. Common methods use an empirical bilinear correction on the velocity seismograms integrated from the strong-motion records. In this study, we overcome the weaknesses of an empirically based bilinear baseline correction scheme by using a net-based criterion to select the timing parameters. This idea is based on the physical principle that low-frequency seismic waveforms at neighbouring stations are coherent if the interstation distance is much smaller than the distance to the seismic source. For a dense strong-motion network, it is plausible to select the timing parameters so that the correlation coefficient between the velocity seismograms of two neighbouring stations is maximized after the baseline correction. We applied this new concept to the KiK-Net and K-Net strong-motion data available for the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake. We compared the derived coseismic static displacement with high-quality GPS data, and with the results obtained using empirical methods. The results show that the proposed net-based approach is feasible and more robust than the individual empirical approaches. The outliers caused by unknown problems in the measurement system can be easily detected and quantified.

  9. Acceleration and volumetric strain generated by the Parkfield 2004 earthquake on the GEOS strong-motion array near Parkfield, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borcherdt, Rodger D.; Johnston, Malcolm J.S.; Dietel, Christopher; Glassmoyer, Gary; Myren, Doug; Stephens, Christopher

    2004-01-01

    An integrated array of 11 General Earthquake Observation System (GEOS) stations installed near Parkfield, CA provided on scale broad-band, wide-dynamic measurements of acceleration and volumetric strain of the Parkfield earthquake (M 6.0) of September 28, 2004. Three component measurements of acceleration were obtained at each of the stations. Measurements of collocated acceleration and volumetric strain were obtained at four of the stations. Measurements of velocity at most sites were on scale only for the initial P-wave arrival. When considered in the context of the extensive set of strong-motion recordings obtained on more than 40 analog stations by the California Strong-Motion Instrumentation Program (Shakal, et al., 2004 http://www.quake.ca.gov/cisn-edc) and those on the dense array of Spudich, et al, (1988), these recordings provide an unprecedented document of the nature of the near source strong motion generated by a M 6.0 earthquake. The data set reported herein provides the most extensive set of near field broad band wide dynamic range measurements of acceleration and volumetric strain for an earthquake as large as M 6 of which the authors are aware. As a result considerable interest has been expressed in these data. This report is intended to describe the data and facilitate its use to resolve a number of scientific and engineering questions concerning earthquake rupture processes and resultant near field motions and strains. This report provides a description of the array, its scientific objectives and the strong-motion recordings obtained of the main shock. The report provides copies of the uncorrected and corrected data. Copies of the inferred velocities, displacements, and Psuedo velocity response spectra are provided. Digital versions of these recordings are accessible with information available through the internet at several locations: the National Strong-Motion Program web site (http://agram.wr.usgs.gov/), the COSMOS Virtual Data Center Web site

  10. Strong-Field Modulated Diffraction Effects in the Correlated Electron-Nuclear Motion in Dissociating H2+

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Feng; Becker, Andreas; Thumm, Uwe

    2008-01-01

    We show that the electronic dynamics in a molecule driven by a strong field is complex and potentially even counterintuitive. As a prototype example, we simulate the interaction of a dissociating H 2 + molecule with an intense infrared laser pulse. Depending on the laser intensity, the direction of the electron's motion between the two nuclei is found to follow or oppose the classical laser-electric force. We explain the sensitive dependence of the correlated electronic-nuclear motion in terms of the diffracting electronic momentum distribution of the dissociating two-center system. The distribution is dynamically modulated by the nuclear motion and periodically shifted in the oscillating infrared electric field

  11. Seismic rupture modelling, strong motion prediction and seismic hazard assessment: fundamental and applied approaches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berge-Thierry, C.

    2007-05-01

    The defence to obtain the 'Habilitation a Diriger des Recherches' is a synthesis of the research work performed since the end of my Ph D. thesis in 1997. This synthesis covers the two years as post doctoral researcher at the Bureau d'Evaluation des Risques Sismiques at the Institut de Protection (BERSSIN), and the seven consecutive years as seismologist and head of the BERSSIN team. This work and the research project are presented in the framework of the seismic risk topic, and particularly with respect to the seismic hazard assessment. Seismic risk combines seismic hazard and vulnerability. Vulnerability combines the strength of building structures and the human and economical consequences in case of structural failure. Seismic hazard is usually defined in terms of plausible seismic motion (soil acceleration or velocity) in a site for a given time period. Either for the regulatory context or the structural specificity (conventional structure or high risk construction), seismic hazard assessment needs: to identify and locate the seismic sources (zones or faults), to characterize their activity, to evaluate the seismic motion to which the structure has to resist (including the site effects). I specialized in the field of numerical strong-motion prediction using high frequency seismic sources modelling and forming part of the IRSN allowed me to rapidly working on the different tasks of seismic hazard assessment. Thanks to the expertise practice and the participation to the regulation evolution (nuclear power plants, conventional and chemical structures), I have been able to work on empirical strong-motion prediction, including site effects. Specific questions related to the interface between seismologists and structural engineers are also presented, especially the quantification of uncertainties. This is part of the research work initiated to improve the selection of the input ground motion in designing or verifying the stability of structures. (author)

  12. Prediction of strong acceleration motion depended on focal mechanism; Shingen mechanism wo koryoshita jishindo yosoku ni tsuite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaneda, Y; Ejiri, J [Obayashi Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

    1996-10-01

    This paper describes simulation results of strong acceleration motion with varying uncertain fault parameters mainly for a fault model of Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake. For the analysis, based on the fault parameters, the strong acceleration motion was simulated using the radiation patterns and the breaking time difference of composite faults as parameters. A statistic waveform composition method was used for the simulation. For the theoretical radiation patterns, directivity was emphasized which depended on the strike of faults, and the maximum acceleration was more than 220 gal. While, for the homogeneous radiation patterns, the maximum accelerations were isotopically distributed around the fault as a center. For variations in the maximum acceleration and the predominant frequency due to the breaking time difference of three faults, the response spectral value of maximum/minimum was about 1.7 times. From the viewpoint of seismic disaster prevention, underground structures including potential faults and non-arranging properties can be grasped using this simulation. Significance of the prediction of strong acceleration motion was also provided through this simulation using uncertain factors, such as breaking time of composite faults, as parameters. 4 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

  13. Nonlinear Site Response Validation Studies Using KIK-net Strong Motion Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asimaki, D.; Shi, J.

    2014-12-01

    Earthquake simulations are nowadays producing realistic ground motion time-series in the range of engineering design applications. Of particular significance to engineers are simulations of near-field motions and large magnitude events, for which observations are scarce. With the engineering community slowly adopting the use of simulated ground motions, site response models need to be re-evaluated in terms of their capabilities and limitations to 'translate' the simulated time-series from rock surface output to structural analyses input. In this talk, we evaluate three one-dimensional site response models: linear viscoelastic, equivalent linear and nonlinear. We evaluate the performance of the models by comparing predictions to observations at 30 downhole stations of the Japanese network KIK-Net that have recorded several strong events, including the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Velocity profiles are used as the only input to all models, while additional parameters such as quality factor, density and nonlinear dynamic soil properties are estimated from empirical correlations. We quantify the differences of ground surface predictions and observations in terms of both seismological and engineering intensity measures, including bias ratios of peak ground response and visual comparisons of elastic spectra, and inelastic to elastic deformation ratio for multiple ductility ratios. We observe that PGV/Vs,30 — as measure of strain— is a better predictor of site nonlinearity than PGA, and that incremental nonlinear analyses are necessary to produce reliable estimates of high-frequency ground motion components at soft sites. We finally discuss the implications of our findings on the parameterization of nonlinear amplification factors in GMPEs, and on the extensive use of equivalent linear analyses in probabilistic seismic hazard procedures.

  14. Outward Bound Giwaykiwin: Connecting to Land and Culture through Indigenous Outdoor Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowan, Greg

    2007-01-01

    Outward Bound Canada's (OBC) Giwaykiwin Program was founded in 1985 in response to a recognized need for programming specific to students from Indigenous backgrounds. The Giwaykiwin program aims to integrate Outward Bound (OB) and Indigenous philosophies and traditions. Giwaykiwin means "coming home" in Ojibwa and signifies the program's…

  15. Methods for prediction of strong earthquake ground motion. Final technical report, October 1, 1976--September 30, 1977

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trifunac, M.D.

    1977-09-01

    The purpose of this report is to summarize the results of the work on characterization of strong earthquake ground motion. The objective of this effort has been to initiate presentation of simple yet detailed methodology for characterization of strong earthquake ground motion for use in licensing and evaluation of operating Nuclear Power Plants. This report will emphasize the simplicity of the methodology by presenting only the end results in a format that may be useful for the development of the site specific criteria in seismic risk analysis, for work on the development of modern standards and regulatory guides, and for re-evaluation of the existing power plant sites

  16. Chinese outward foreign direct investments to Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blomkvist, Katarina; Drogendijk, Rian

    This paper addresses Chinese outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) in Europe. We aim to provide more knowledge on the ongoing research discussion about Chinese OFDI, more specifically, we answer questions about what is driving Chinese firms to invest in Europe, and whether Chinese investment

  17. Institutional Field for Outward Foreign Direct Investment:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marinova, Svetla Trifonova; Child, John; Marinov, Marin Alexandrov

    2012-01-01

    The paper AU :3 explores the stages of development of an outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) institutional field during periods of major system change in big emerging economies. The state and its agencies appear to be the principal institutional entrepreneurs in developing the OFDI...

  18. Probing Motion of Fast Radio Burst Sources by Timing Strongly Lensed Repeaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Liang; Lu, Wenbin

    2017-09-01

    Given the possible repetitive nature of fast radio bursts (FRBs), their cosmological origin, and their high occurrence, detection of strongly lensed sources due to intervening galaxy lenses is possible with forthcoming radio surveys. We show that if multiple images of a repeating source are resolved with VLBI, using a method independent of lens modeling, accurate timing could reveal non-uniform motion, either physical or apparent, of the emission spot. This can probe the physical nature of FRBs and their surrounding environments, constraining scenarios including orbital motion around a stellar companion if FRBs require a compact star in a special system, and jet-medium interactions for which the location of the emission spot may randomly vary. The high timing precision possible for FRBs (˜ms) compared with the typical time delays between images in galaxy lensing (≳10 days) enables the measurement of tiny fractional changes in the delays (˜ {10}-9) and hence the detection of time-delay variations induced by relative motions between the source, the lens, and the Earth. We show that uniform cosmic peculiar velocities only cause the delay time to drift linearly, and that the effect from the Earth’s orbital motion can be accurately subtracted, thus enabling a search for non-trivial source motion. For a timing accuracy of ˜1 ms and a repetition rate (of detected bursts) of ˜0.05 per day of a single FRB source, non-uniform displacement ≳0.1-1 au of the emission spot perpendicular to the line of sight is detectable if repetitions are seen over a period of hundreds of days.

  19. Detailed site effect estimation in the presence of strong velocity reversals within a small-aperture strong-motion array in Iceland

    KAUST Repository

    Rahpeyma, Sahar

    2016-08-11

    The rock site characterization for earthquake engineering applications in Iceland is common due to the easily exposed older bedrock and more recent volcanic lava rock. The corresponding site amplification is generally assumed to be low but has not been comprehensively quantified, especially for volcanic rock. The earthquake strong-motion of the Mw6.3 Ölfus earthquake on 29 May 2008 and 1705 of its aftershocks recorded on the first small-aperture strong-motion array (ICEARRAY I) in Iceland showed consistent and significant variations in ground motion amplitudes over short distances (<2 km) in an urban area located mostly on lava rock. This study analyses the aftershock recordings to quantify the local site effects using the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) and Standard Spectral Ratio (SSR) methods. Additionally, microseismic data has been collected at array stations and analyzed using the HVSR method. The results between the methods are consistent and show that while the amplification levels remain relatively low, the predominant frequency varies systematically between stations and is found to correlate with the geological units. In particular, for stations on lava rock the underlying geologic structure is characterized by repeated lava-soil stratigraphy characterized by reversals in the shear wave velocity with depth. As a result, standard modeling of HVSR using vertically incident body waves does not apply. Instead, modeling the soil structure as a two-degree-of-freedom dynamic system is found to capture the observed predominant frequencies of site amplification. The results have important implications for earthquake resistant design of structures on rock sites characterized by velocity reversals. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

  20. Regional Characterization of the Crust in Metropolitan Areas for Prediction of Strong Ground Motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirata, N.; Sato, H.; Koketsu, K.; Umeda, Y.; Iwata, T.; Kasahara, K.

    2003-12-01

    Introduction: After the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the Japanese government increased its focus and funding of earthquake hazards evaluation, studies of man-made structures integrity, and emergency response planning in the major urban centers. A new agency, the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (MEXT) has started a five-year program titled as Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas (abbreviated to Dai-dai-toku in Japanese) since 2002. The project includes four programs: I. Regional characterization of the crust in metropolitan areas for prediction of strong ground motion. II. Significant improvement of seismic performance of structure. III. Advanced disaster management system. IV. Investigation of earthquake disaster mitigation research results. We will present the results from the first program conducted in 2002 and 2003. Regional Characterization of the Crust in Metropolitan Areas for Prediction of Strong Ground Motion: A long-term goal is to produce map of reliable estimations of strong ground motion. This requires accurate determination of ground motion response, which includes a source process, an effect of propagation path, and near surface response. The new five-year project was aimed to characterize the "source" and "propagation path" in the Kanto (Tokyo) region and Kinki (Osaka) region. The 1923 Kanto Earthquake is one of the important targets to be addressed in the project. The proximity of the Pacific and Philippine Sea subducting plates requires study of the relationship between earthquakes and regional tectonics. This project focuses on identification and geometry of: 1) Source faults, 2) Subducting plates and mega-thrust faults, 3) Crustal structure, 4) Seismogenic zone, 5) Sedimentary basins, 6) 3D velocity properties We have conducted a series of seismic reflection and refraction experiment in the Kanto region. In 2002 we have completed to deploy seismic profiling lines in the Boso peninsula (112 km) and the

  1. Assessment of potential strong ground motions in the city of Rome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Malagnini

    1994-06-01

    Full Text Available A methodology is used which combines stochastic generation of random series with a finite-difference technique to estimate the expected horizontal ground motion for the city of Rome as induced by a large earthquake in the Central Apennines. In this approach, source properties and long-path propagation are modelled through observed spectra of ground motion in the region, while the effects of the near-surface geology in the city are simulated by means of a finite-difference technique applied to 2-D models including elastic and anelastic properties of geologic materials and topographic variations. The parameters commonly used for earthquake engineering purposes are estimated from the simulated time histories of horizontal ground motion. We focus our attention on peak ground acceleration and velocity, and on the integral of the squared acceleration and velocity (that are proportional to the Arias intensity and seismic energy flux, respectively. Response spectra are analyzed as well. Parameter variations along 2-D profiles visualize the effects of the small-scale geological heterogeneities and topography irregularities on ground motion in the case of a strong earthquake. Interestingly, the largest amplification of peak ground acceleration and Arias intensity does not necessarily occur at the same sites where peak ground velocity and flux of seismic energy reach their highest values, depending on the frequency band of amplification. A magnitude 7 earthquake at a distance of 100 km results in peak ground accelerations ranging from 30 to 70 gals while peak ground velocities are estimated to vary from 5 to 7 cm/s; moreover, simulated time histories of horizontal ground motion yield amplitudes of 5% damped pseudovelocity response spectra as large as 15-20 cm/s for frequencies from 1to 3 Hz. In this frequency band, the mean value is 7 cm/s for firm sites and ranges from 10 to 13 cm/s for soil sites. All these results are in good agreement with predictions

  2. Addressing earthquakes strong ground motion issues at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wong, I.G.; Silva, W.J.; Stark, C.L.; Jackson, S.; Smith, R.P.

    1991-01-01

    In the course of reassessing seismic hazards at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), several key issues have been raised concerning the effects of the earthquake source and site geology on potential strong ground motions that might be generated by a large earthquake. The design earthquake for the INEL is an approximate moment magnitude (M w ) 7 event that may occur on the southern portion of the Lemhi fault, a Basin and Range normal fault that is located on the northwestern boundary of the eastern Snake River Plain and the INEL, within 10 to 27 km of several major facilities. Because the locations of these facilities place them at close distances to a large earthquake and generally along strike of the causative fault, the effects of source rupture dynamics (e.g., directivity) could be critical in enhancing potential ground shaking at the INEL. An additional source issue that has been addressed is the value of stress drop to use in ground motion predictions. In terms of site geology, it has been questioned whether the interbedded volcanic stratigraphy beneath the ESRP and the INEL attenuates ground motions to a greater degree than a typical rock site in the western US. These three issues have been investigated employing a stochastic ground motion methodology which incorporates the Band-Limited-White-Noise source model for both a point source and finite fault, random vibration theory and an equivalent linear approach to model soil response

  3. Determine Earthquake Rupture Directivity Using Taiwan TSMIP Strong Motion Waveforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Kaiwen; Chi, Wu-Cheng; Lai, Ying-Ju; Gung, YuanCheng

    2013-04-01

    Inverting seismic waveforms for the finite fault source parameters is important for studying the physics of earthquake rupture processes. It is also significant to image seismogenic structures in urban areas. Here we analyze the finite-source process and test for the causative fault plane using the accelerograms recorded by the Taiwan Strong-Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP) stations. The point source parameters for the mainshock and aftershocks were first obtained by complete waveform moment tensor inversions. We then use the seismograms generated by the aftershocks as empirical Green's functions (EGFs) to retrieve the apparent source time functions (ASTFs) of near-field stations using projected Landweber deconvolution approach. The method for identifying the fault plane relies on the spatial patterns of the apparent source time function durations which depend on the angle between rupture direction and the take-off angle and azimuth of the ray. These derived duration patterns then are compared with the theoretical patterns, which are functions of the following parameters, including focal depth, epicentral distance, average crustal 1D velocity, fault plane attitude, and rupture direction on the fault plane. As a result, the ASTFs derived from EGFs can be used to infer the ruptured fault plane and the rupture direction. Finally we used part of the catalogs to study important seismogenic structures in the area near Chiayi, Taiwan, where a damaging earthquake has occurred about a century ago. The preliminary results show a strike-slip earthquake on 22 October 1999 (Mw 5.6) has ruptured unilaterally toward SSW on a sub-vertical fault. The procedure developed from this study can be applied to other strong motion waveforms recorded from other earthquakes to better understand their kinematic source parameters.

  4. Oscillating molecular dipoles require strongly correlated electronic and nuclear motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Bo Y; Shin, Seokmin; Palacios, Alicia; Martín, Fernando; Sola, Ignacio R

    2015-01-01

    To create an oscillating electric dipole in an homonuclear diatomic cation without an oscillating driver one needs (i) to break the symmetry of the system and (ii) to sustain highly correlated electronic and nuclear motion. Based on numerical simulations in H 2 + we present results for two schemes. In the first one (i) is achieved by creating a superposition of symmetric and antisymmetric electronic states freely evolving, while (ii) fails. In a second scheme, by preparing the system in a dressed state of a strong static field, both conditions hold. We then analyze the robustness of this scheme with respect to features of the nuclear wave function and its intrinsic sources of decoherence. (tutorial)

  5. Strong ground motion prediction applying dynamic rupture simulations for Beppu-Haneyama Active Fault Zone, southwestern Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshimi, M.; Matsushima, S.; Ando, R.; Miyake, H.; Imanishi, K.; Hayashida, T.; Takenaka, H.; Suzuki, H.; Matsuyama, H.

    2017-12-01

    We conducted strong ground motion prediction for the active Beppu-Haneyama Fault zone (BHFZ), Kyushu island, southwestern Japan. Since the BHFZ runs through Oita and Beppy cities, strong ground motion as well as fault displacement may affect much to the cities.We constructed a 3-dimensional velocity structure of a sedimentary basin, Beppu bay basin, where the fault zone runs through and Oita and Beppu cities are located. Minimum shear wave velocity of the 3d model is 500 m/s. Additional 1-d structure is modeled for sites with softer sediment: holocene plain area. We observed, collected, and compiled data obtained from microtremor surveys, ground motion observations, boreholes etc. phase velocity and H/V ratio. Finer structure of the Oita Plain is modeled, as 250m-mesh model, with empirical relation among N-value, lithology, depth and Vs, using borehole data, then validated with the phase velocity data obtained by the dense microtremor array observation (Yoshimi et al., 2016).Synthetic ground motion has been calculated with a hybrid technique composed of a stochastic Green's function method (for HF wave), a 3D finite difference (LF wave) and 1D amplification calculation. Fault geometry has been determined based on reflection surveys and active fault map. The rake angles are calculated with a dynamic rupture simulation considering three fault segments under a stress filed estimated from source mechanism of earthquakes around the faults (Ando et al., JpGU-AGU2017). Fault parameters such as the average stress drop, a size of asperity etc. are determined based on an empirical relation proposed by Irikura and Miyake (2001). As a result, strong ground motion stronger than 100 cm/s is predicted in the hanging wall side of the Oita plain.This work is supported by the Comprehensive Research on the Beppu-Haneyama Fault Zone funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Japan.

  6. Development of tipping-over analysis of cask subjected to earthquake strong motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shirai, Koji; Ito, Chihiro; Ryu, Hiroshi

    1993-01-01

    Since a cask is vertically oriented during loading in cask-storage, it is necessary to investigate the integrity of the cask against tipping-over during strong earthquakes. The rocking and sliding behavior of the cask during strong earthquakes can be analyzed as a dynamic vibration problem for a rigid cylinder. In this paper, in order to clarify the tipping-over characteristics of a cask during strong earthquakes, the authors applied the Distinct Element Method (DEM) to the seismic response analysis of the cask. DEM was introduced by Cundall P.A. in 1971. It is based on the use of an explicit numerical scheme. The cask was considered to be a rigid polygonal element, which satisfied the equation of motion and the law of action and reaction. They examined the applicability of this code by comparison with experimental results obtained from shaking table tests using scale model casks considering the dimension of a 100 ton class full-scale cask

  7. Spray Modeling for Outwardly-Opening Hollow-Cone Injector

    KAUST Repository

    Sim, Jaeheon; Badra, Jihad; Elwardani, Ahmed Elsaid; Im, Hong G.

    2016-01-01

    linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) model was originally developed for pressure swirl hollow-cone injectors with moderate spray angle and toroidal ligament breakups. Therefore, it is not appropriate for the outwardly-opening injectors having wide

  8. Source, propagation and site effects: impact on mapping strong ground motion in Bucharest area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radulian, R.; Kuznetsov, I.; Panza, G.F.

    2004-01-01

    Achievements in the framework of the NATO SfP project 972266 focused on the impact of Vrancea earthquakes on the security of Bucharest urban area are presented. The problem of Bucharest city security to Vrancea earthquakes is discussed in terms of numerical modelling of seismic motion and intermediate term earthquake prediction. A hybrid numerical scheme developed by Faeh et al. (1990; 1993) for frequencies up to 1 Hz is applied for the realistic modelling of the seismic ground motion in Bucharest. The method combines the modal summation for the 1D bedrock model and the finite differences for the 2D local structure model. All the factors controlling the ground motion at the site are considered: source, propagation and site effects, respectively. The input data includes the recent records provided by the digital accelerometer network developed within the Romanian-German CRC461 cooperation programme and CALIXTO'99, VRANCEA'99, VRANCEA2001 experiments. The numerical simulation proves to be a powerful tool in mapping the strong ground motion for realistic structures, reproducing acceptably from engineering point of view the observations. A new model of the Vrancea earthquake scaling is obtained and implications for the determination of the seismic motion parameters are analyzed. The role of the focal mechanism and attenuation properties upon the amplitude and spectral content of the ground motion are outlined. CN algorithm is applied for predicting Vrancea earthquakes. Finally, implications for the disaster management strategy are discussed. (authors)

  9. Effects of Implied Motion and Facing Direction on Positional Preferences in Single-Object Pictures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Stephen E; Langlois, Thomas A

    2017-07-01

    Palmer, Gardner, and Wickens studied aesthetic preferences for pictures of single objects and found a strong inward bias: Right-facing objects were preferred left-of-center and left-facing objects right-of-center. They found no effect of object motion (people and cars showed the same inward bias as chairs and teapots), but the objects were not depicted as moving. Here we measured analogous inward biases with objects depicted as moving with an implied direction and speed by having participants drag-and-drop target objects into the most aesthetically pleasing position. In Experiment 1, human figures were shown diving or falling while moving forward or backward. Aesthetic biases were evident for both inward-facing and inward-moving figures, but the motion-based bias dominated so strongly that backward divers or fallers were preferred moving inward but facing outward. Experiment 2 investigated implied speed effects using images of humans, horses, and cars moving at different speeds (e.g., standing, walking, trotting, and galloping horses). Inward motion or facing biases were again present, and differences in their magnitude due to speed were evident. Unexpectedly, faster moving objects were generally preferred closer to frame center than slower moving objects. These results are discussed in terms of the combined effects of prospective, future-oriented biases, and retrospective, past-oriented biases.

  10. Learning by outward FDI: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Yaping

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Using firm-level data of Chinese manufacturing enterprises between 1998 and 2007, we investigate the existence and channels of “learning by outward FDI”. Difference-in-differences estimation reveals that productivity of Chinese parent firms is significantly improved by their outward foreign direct investment and the learning effects form a “V” shape in the following years. There is no significant difference in learning effects between state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises; neither do we find any evidence that investing in countries with advanced technology gives more learning effects. In addition, we find that learning effects mainly come from technology transfer, technology spillovers and an enlarged production scale.

  11. Pharmacological Conversion of a Cardiac Inward Rectifier into an Outward Rectifier Potassium Channel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno-Galindo, Eloy G; Sanchez-Chapula, Jose A; Tristani-Firouzi, Martin; Navarro-Polanco, Ricardo A

    2016-09-01

    Potassium (K(+)) channels are crucial for determining the shape, duration, and frequency of action-potential firing in excitable cells. Broadly speaking, K(+) channels can be classified based on whether their macroscopic current outwardly or inwardly rectifies, whereby rectification refers to a change in conductance with voltage. Outwardly rectifying K(+) channels conduct greater current at depolarized membrane potentials, whereas inward rectifier channels conduct greater current at hyperpolarized membrane potentials. Under most circumstances, outward currents through inwardly rectifying K(+) channels are reduced at more depolarized potentials. However, the acetylcholine-gated K(+) channel (KACh) conducts current that inwardly rectifies when activated by some ligands (such as acetylcholine), and yet conducts current that outwardly rectifies when activated by other ligands (for example, pilocarpine and choline). The perplexing and paradoxical behavior of KACh channels is due to the intrinsic voltage sensitivity of the receptor that activates KACh channels, the M2 muscarinic receptor (M2R). Emerging evidence reveals that the affinity of M2R for distinct ligands varies in a voltage-dependent and ligand-specific manner. These intrinsic receptor properties determine whether current conducted by KACh channels inwardly or outwardly rectifies. This review summarizes the most recent concepts regarding the intrinsic voltage sensitivity of muscarinic receptors and the consequences of this intriguing behavior on cardiac physiology and pharmacology of KACh channels. Copyright © 2016 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

  12. Designed microtremor array based actual measurement and analysis of strong ground motion at Palu city, Indonesia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thein, Pyi Soe, E-mail: pyisoethein@yahoo.com [Geology Department, Yangon University (Myanmar); Pramumijoyo, Subagyo; Wilopo, Wahyu; Setianto, Agung [Geological Engineering Department, Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia); Brotopuspito, Kirbani Sri [Physics Department, Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia); Kiyono, Junji; Putra, Rusnardi Rahmat [Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University (Japan)

    2015-04-24

    In this study, we investigated the strong ground motion characteristics under Palu City, Indonesia. The shear wave velocity structures evaluated by eight microtremors measurement are the most applicable to determine the thickness of sediments and average shear wave velocity with Vs ≤ 300 m/s. Based on subsurface underground structure models identified, earthquake ground motion was estimated in the future Palu-Koro earthquake by using statistical green’s function method. The seismic microzonation parameters were carried out by considering several significant controlling factors on ground response at January 23, 2005 earthquake.

  13. Preliminary analysis of strong-motion recordings from the 28 September 2004 Parkfield, California earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakal, A.; Graizer, V.; Huang, M.; Borcherdt, R.; Haddadi, H.; Lin, K.-W.; Stephens, C.; Roffers, P.

    2005-01-01

    The Parkfield 2004 earthquake yielded the most extensive set of strong-motion data in the near-source region of a magnitude 6 earthquake yet obtained. The recordings of acceleration and volumetric strain provide an unprecedented document of the near-source seismic radiation for a moderate earthquake. The spatial density of the measurements alon g the fault zone and in the linear arrays perpendicular to the fault is expected to provide an exceptional opportunity to develop improved models of the rupture process. The closely spaced measurements should help infer the temporal and spatial distribution of the rupture process at much higher resolution than previously possible. Preliminary analyses of the peak a cceleration data presented herein shows that the motions vary significantly along the rupture zone, from 0.13 g to more than 2.5 g, with a map of the values showing that the larger values are concentrated in three areas. Particle motions at the near-fault stations are consistent with bilateral rupture. Fault-normal pulses similar to those observed in recent strike-slip earthquakes are apparent at several of the stations. The attenuation of peak ground acceleration with distance is more rapid than that indicated by some standard relationships but adequately fits others. Evidence for directivity in the peak acceleration data is not strong. Several stations very near, or over, the rupturing fault recorded relatively low accelerations. These recordings may provide a quantitative basis to understand observations of low near-fault shaking damage that has been reported in other large strike-slip earthquak.

  14. An empirical assessment of near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 mb (7.5 MS) earthquake in the Eastern United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, Kenneth W.

    1984-06-01

    To help assess the impact of the current U.S. Geological Survey position on the seismic safety of nuclear power plants in the Eastern United States (EUS), several techniques for estimating near-source strong ground motion for a Charleston size earthquake were evaluated. The techniques for estimating the near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 m b (7.5 M S ) in the Eastern United States which were assessed are methods based on site specific analyses, semi-theoretical scaling techniques, and intensity-based estimates. The first involves the statistical analysis of ground motion records from earthquakes and recording stations having the same general characteristics (earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.5 M S or larger, epicentral distances of 25 km or less, and sites of either soil or rock). Some recommendations for source and characterization scaling of the bias resulting primarily from an inadequate sample of near-source recordings from earthquakes of large magnitude are discussed. The second technique evaluated requires that semi-theoretical estimates of peak ground motion parameters for a 6.6 m b (7.5 M S ) earthquake be obtained from scaling relations. Each relation uses a theoretical expression between peak acceleration magnitude and distance together with available strong motion data (majority coming from California) to develop a scaling relation appropriate for the Eastern United States. None of the existing ground motion models for the EUS include the potential effects of source or site characteristics. Adjustments to account for fault mechanisms, site topography, site geology, and the size and embedment of buildings are discussed. The final approach used relations between strong ground motion parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity in conjunction with two methods to estimate peak parameters for a 6.6 m s (7.5 M S ) earthquake. As with other techniques, adjustment of peak acceleration estimates are discussed. Each method differently approaches the problem

  15. Spatiotemporal seismic velocity change in the Earth's subsurface associated with large earthquake: contribution of strong ground motion and crustal deformation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawazaki, K.

    2016-12-01

    It is well known that seismic velocity of the subsurface medium changes after a large earthquake. The cause of the velocity change is roughly attributed to strong ground motion (dynamic strain change), crustal deformation (static strain change), and fracturing around the fault zone. Several studies have revealed that the velocity reduction down to several percent concentrates at the depths shallower than several hundred meters. The amount of velocity reduction correlates well with the intensity of strong ground motion, which indicates that the strong motion is the primary cause of the velocity reduction. Although some studies have proposed contributions of coseismic static strain change and fracturing around fault zone to the velocity change, separation of their contributions from the site-related velocity change is usually difficult. Velocity recovery after a large earthquake is also widely observed. The recovery process is generally proportional to logarithm of the lapse time, which is similar to the behavior of "slow dynamics" recognized in laboratory experiments. The time scale of the recovery is usually months to years in field observations, while it is several hours in laboratory experiments. Although the factor that controls the recovery speed is not well understood, cumulative strain change due to post-seismic deformation, migration of underground water, mechanical and chemical reactions on the crack surface could be the candidate. In this study, I summarize several observations that revealed spatiotemporal distribution of seismic velocity change due to large earthquakes; especially I focus on the case of the M9.0 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Combining seismograms of Hi-net (high-sensitivity) and KiK-net (strong motion), geodetic records of GEONET and the seafloor GPS/Acoustic ranging, I investigate contribution of the strong ground motion and crustal deformation to the velocity change associated with the Tohoku earthquake, and propose a gross view of

  16. Estimation of 1-D velocity models beneath strong-motion observation sites in the Kathmandu Valley using strong-motion records from moderate-sized earthquakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bijukchhen, Subeg M.; Takai, Nobuo; Shigefuji, Michiko; Ichiyanagi, Masayoshi; Sasatani, Tsutomu; Sugimura, Yokito

    2017-07-01

    The Himalayan collision zone experiences many seismic activities with large earthquakes occurring at certain time intervals. The damming of the proto-Bagmati River as a result of rapid mountain-building processes created a lake in the Kathmandu Valley that eventually dried out, leaving thick unconsolidated lacustrine deposits. Previous studies have shown that the sediments are 600 m thick in the center. A location in a seismically active region, and the possible amplification of seismic waves due to thick sediments, have made Kathmandu Valley seismically vulnerable. It has suffered devastation due to earthquakes several times in the past. The development of the Kathmandu Valley into the largest urban agglomerate in Nepal has exposed a large population to seismic hazards. This vulnerability was apparent during the Gorkha Earthquake (Mw7.8) on April 25, 2015, when the main shock and ensuing aftershocks claimed more than 1700 lives and nearly 13% of buildings inside the valley were completely damaged. Preparing safe and up-to-date building codes to reduce seismic risk requires a thorough study of ground motion amplification. Characterizing subsurface velocity structure is a step toward achieving that goal. We used the records from an array of strong-motion accelerometers installed by Hokkaido University and Tribhuvan University to construct 1-D velocity models of station sites by forward modeling of low-frequency S-waves. Filtered records (0.1-0.5 Hz) from one of the accelerometers installed at a rock site during a moderate-sized (mb4.9) earthquake on August 30, 2013, and three moderate-sized (Mw5.1, Mw5.1, and Mw5.5) aftershocks of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake were used as input motion for modeling of low-frequency S-waves. We consulted available geological maps, cross-sections, and borehole data as the basis for initial models for the sediment sites. This study shows that the basin has an undulating topography and sediment sites have deposits of varying thicknesses

  17. WAVES AS THE SOURCE OF APPARENT TWISTING MOTIONS IN SUNSPOT PENUMBRAE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bharti, L.; Cameron, R. H.; Hirzberger, J.; Solanki, S. K.; Rempel, M.

    2012-01-01

    The motion of dark striations across bright filaments in a sunspot penumbra has become an important new diagnostic of convective gas flows in penumbral filaments. The nature of these striations has, however, remained unclear. Here, we present an analysis of small-scale motions in penumbral filaments in both simulations and observations. The simulations, when viewed from above, show fine structure with dark lanes running outward from the dark core of the penumbral filaments. The dark lanes either occur preferentially on one side or alternate between both sides of the filament. We identify this fine structure with transverse (kink) oscillations of the filament, corresponding to a sideways swaying of the filament. These oscillations have periods in the range of 5-7 minutes and propagate outward and downward along the filament. Similar features are found in observed G-band intensity time series of penumbral filaments in a sunspot located near disk center obtained by the Broadband Filter Imager on board the Hinode. We also find that some filaments show dark striations moving to both sides of the filaments. Based on the agreement between simulations and observations we conclude that the motions of these striations are caused by transverse oscillations of the underlying bright filaments.

  18. Update of Earthquake Strong-Motion Instrumentation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murray, Robert C. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Following the January 1980 earthquake that was felt at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a network of strong-motion accelerographs was installed at LLNL. Prior to the 1980 earthquake, there were no accelerographs installed. The ground motion from the 1980 earthquake was estimated from USGS instruments around the Laboratory to be between 0.2 – 0.3 g horizontal peak ground acceleration. These instruments were located at the Veterans Hospital, 5 miles southwest of LLNL, and in San Ramon, about 12 miles west of LLNL. In 2011, the Department of Energy (DOE) requested to know the status of our seismic instruments. We conducted a survey of our instrumentation systems and responded to DOE in a letter. During this survey, it was found that the recorders in Buildings 111 and 332 were not operational. The instruments on Nova had been removed, and only three of the 10 NIF instruments installed in 2005 were operational (two were damaged and five had been removed from operation at the request of the program). After the survey, it was clear that the site seismic instrumentation had degraded substantially and would benefit from an overhaul and more attention to ongoing maintenance. LLNL management decided to update the LLNL seismic instrumentation system. The updated system is documented in this report.

  19. Strong motion modeling at the Paducah Diffusion Facility for a large New Madrid earthquake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrmann, R.B.

    1991-01-01

    The Paducah Diffusion Facility is within 80 kilometers of the location of the very large New Madrid earthquakes which occurred during the winter of 1811-1812. Because of their size, seismic moment of 2.0 x 10 27 dyne-cm or moment magnitude M w = 7.5, the possible recurrence of these earthquakes is a major element in the assessment of seismic hazard at the facility. Probabilistic hazard analysis can provide uniform hazard response spectra estimates for structure evaluation, but a deterministic modeling of a such a large earthquake can provide strong constraints on the expected duration of motion. The large earthquake is modeled by specifying the earthquake fault and its orientation with respect to the site, and by specifying the rupture process. Synthetic time histories, based on forward modeling of the wavefield, from each subelement are combined to yield a three component time history at the site. Various simulations are performed to sufficiently exercise possible spatial and temporal distributions of energy release on the fault. Preliminary results demonstrate the sensitivity of the method to various assumptions, and also indicate strongly that the total duration of ground motion at the site is controlled primarily by the length of the rupture process on the fault

  20. Magnetosheath density fluctuations and magnetopause motion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sibeck, D.G. [Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Lab., Laurel, MD (United States); Gosling, J.T. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

    1996-01-01

    The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation controls foreshock densities and modulates the fraction of the solar wind dynamic pressure applied to the magnetosphere. Such pressure variations produce bow shock and magnetopause motion and cause the radial profiles for various magnetosheath parameters to sweep inward and outward past nearly stationary satellites. The authors report ISEE 2 observations of correlated density and speed fluctuations, and anticorrelated density and temperature fluctuations, on an outbound pass through the northern dawnside magnetosheath. Densities decreased when the magnetic field rotated southward and draped about the magnetopause. In the absence of any significant solar wind density or dynamic pressure variations, they interpret the magnetosheath fluctuations as evidence for radial magnetosheath motion induced by variations in the IMF orientation. 41 refs., 8 figs.

  1. U.S. Geological Survey National Strong-Motion Project strategic plan, 2017–22

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aagaard, Brad T.; Celebi, Mehmet; Gee, Lind; Graves, Robert; Jaiswal, Kishor; Kalkan, Erol; Knudsen, Keith L.; Luco, Nicolas; Smith, James; Steidl, Jamison; Stephens, Christopher D.

    2017-12-11

    The mission of the National Strong-Motion Project is to provide measurements of how the ground and built environment behave during earthquake shaking to the earthquake engineering community, the scientific community, emergency managers, public agencies, industry, media, and other users for the following purposes: Improving engineering evaluations and design methods for facilities and systems;Providing timely information for earthquake early warning, damage assessment, and emergency response action; andContributing to a greater understanding of the mechanics of earthquake rupture, groundmotion characteristics, and earthquake effects.

  2. Survey of strong motion earthquake effects on thermal power plants in California with emphasis on piping systems. Volume 2, Appendices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, J.D.

    1995-11-01

    Volume 2 of the ''Survey of Strong Motion Earthquake Effects on Thermal Power Plants in California with Emphasis on Piping Systems'' contains Appendices which detail the detail design and seismic response of several power plants subjected to strong motion earthquakes. The particular plants considered include the Ormond Beach, Long Beach and Seal Beach, Burbank, El Centro, Glendale, Humboldt Bay, Kem Valley, Pasadena and Valley power plants. Included is a typical power plant piping specification and photographs of typical power plant piping specification and photographs of typical piping and support installations for the plants surveyed. Detailed piping support spacing data are also included

  3. POLAND`S OUTWARD FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Buczkowski Bogdan

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper contributes to the discussion of motives, determinants and effects of outward FDI of companies from emerging economies. We analyze the the scale, structure, geographical location and effects of Polish foreign direct investments as well as we prioritize their determinants. The interest of Polish companies in investing abroad has increased sharply over the last decade, due to the need to broaden the scale of business operations and geographical scope of their economic activities after the Poland`s accession to the European Union.

  4. Visualization of strong around motion calculated from the numerical simulation of Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake; Suchi simulation de miru Hyogoken nanbu jishin no kyoshindo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Furumura, T [Hokkaido Univ. of Education, Sapporo (Japan); Koketsu, K [The University of Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan). Earthquake Research Institute

    1996-10-01

    Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake with a focus in the Akashi straits has given huge earthquake damages in and around Awaji Island and Kobe City in 1995. It is clear that the basement structure, which is steeply deepened at Kobe City from Rokko Mountains towards the coast, and the focus under this related closely to the local generation of strong ground motion. Generation process of the strong ground motion was discussed using 2D and 3D numerical simulation methods. The 3D pseudospectral method was used for the calculation. Space of 51.2km{times}25.6km{times}25.6km was selected for the calculation. This space was discretized with the lattice interval of 200m. Consequently, it was found that the basement structure with a steeply deepened basement, soft and weak geological structure thickly deposited on the basement, and earthquake faults running under the boundary of base rock and sediments related greatly to the generation of strong ground motion. Numerical simulation can be expected to predict the strong ground motion by shallow earthquakes. 9 refs., 7 figs.

  5. Survey of strong motion earthquake effects on thermal power plants in California with emphasis on piping systems. Volume 1, Main report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, J.D.

    1995-11-01

    Since 1982, there has been a major effort expended to evaluate the susceptibility of nuclear Power plant equipment to failure and significant damage during seismic events. This was done by making use of data on the performance of electrical and mechanical equipment in conventional power plants and other similar industrial facilities during strong motion earthquakes. This report is intended as an extension of the seismic experience data collection effort and a compilation of experience data specific to power plant piping and supports designed and constructed US power piping code requirements which have experienced strong motion earthquakes. Eight damaging (Richter Magnitude 7.7 to 5.5) California earthquakes and their effects on 8 power generating facilities in use natural gas and California were reviewed. All of these facilities were visited and evaluated. Seven fossel-fueled (dual use natural gas and oil) and one nuclear fueled plants consisting of a total of 36 individual boiler or reactor units were investigated. Peak horizontal ground accelerations that either had been recorded on site at these facilities or were considered applicable to these power plants on the basis of nearby recordings ranged between 0.20g and 0.5lg with strong motion durations which varied from 3.5 to 15 seconds. Most US nuclear power plants are designed for a safe shutdown earthquake peak ground acceleration equal to 0.20g or less with strong motion durations which vary from 10 to 15 seconds

  6. Innovative Adolescent Chemical Dependency Treatment and Its Outcome: A Model Based on Outward Bound Programming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McPeake, John D.; And Others

    1991-01-01

    Describes adolescent chemical dependency treatment model developed at Beech Hill Hospital (New Hampshire) which integrated Twelve Step-oriented alcohol and drug rehabilitation program with experiential education school, Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. Describes Beech Hill Hurricane Island Outward Bound School Adolescent Chemical Dependency…

  7. Fault Structural Control on Earthquake Strong Ground Motions: The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake as an Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yan; Zhang, Dongli; Li, Xiaojun; Huang, Bei; Zheng, Wenjun; Wang, Yuejun

    2018-02-01

    Continental thrust faulting earthquakes pose severe threats to megacities across the world. Recent events show the possible control of fault structures on strong ground motions. The seismogenic structure of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake is associated with high-angle listric reverse fault zones. Its peak ground accelerations (PGAs) show a prominent feature of fault zone amplification: the values within the 30- to 40-km-wide fault zone block are significantly larger than those on both the hanging wall and the footwall. The PGA values attenuate asymmetrically: they decay much more rapidly in the footwall than in the hanging wall. The hanging wall effects can be seen on both the vertical and horizontal components of the PGAs, with the former significantly more prominent than the latter. All these characteristics can be adequately interpreted by upward extrusion of the high-angle listric reverse fault zone block. Through comparison with a low-angle planar thrust fault associated with the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, we conclude that different fault structures might have controlled different patterns of strong ground motion, which should be taken into account in seismic design and construction.

  8. Strongly coupled partitioned six degree-of-freedom rigid body motion solver with Aitken's dynamic under-relaxation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeng Hei Chow

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available An implicit method of solving the six degree-of-freedom rigid body motion equations based on the second order Adams-Bashforth-Moulten method was utilised as an improvement over the leapfrog scheme by making modifications to the rigid body motion solver libraries directly. The implementation will depend on predictor-corrector steps still residing within the hybrid Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators - Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations (PIMPLE outer corrector loops to ensure strong coupling between fluid and motion. Aitken's under-relaxation is also introduced in this study to optimise the convergence rate and stability of the coupled solver. The resulting coupled solver ran on a free floating object tutorial test case when converged matches the original solver. It further allows a varying 70%–80% reduction in simulation times compared using a fixed under-relaxation to achieve the required stability.

  9. Many-body-localization: strong disorder perturbative approach for the local integrals of motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monthus, Cécile

    2018-05-01

    For random quantum spin models, the strong disorder perturbative expansion of the local integrals of motion around the real-spin operators is revisited. The emphasis is on the links with other properties of the many-body-localized phase, in particular the memory in the dynamics of the local magnetizations and the statistics of matrix elements of local operators in the eigenstate basis. Finally, this approach is applied to analyze the many-body-localization transition in a toy model studied previously from the point of view of the entanglement entropy.

  10. Perceptual Training Strongly Improves Visual Motion Perception in Schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norton, Daniel J.; McBain, Ryan K.; Ongur, Dost; Chen, Yue

    2011-01-01

    Schizophrenia patients exhibit perceptual and cognitive deficits, including in visual motion processing. Given that cognitive systems depend upon perceptual inputs, improving patients' perceptual abilities may be an effective means of cognitive intervention. In healthy people, motion perception can be enhanced through perceptual learning, but it…

  11. Self-noise models of five commercial strong-motion accelerometers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ringler, Adam; Evans, John R.; Hutt, Charles R.

    2015-01-01

    Strong‐motion accelerometers provide onscale seismic recordings during moderate‐to‐large ground motions (e.g., up to tens of m/s2 peak). Such instruments have played a fundamental role in improving our understanding of earthquake source physics (Bocketal., 2011), earthquake engineering (Youdet al., 2004), and regional seismology (Zollo et al., 2010). Although strong‐motion accelerometers tend to have higher noise levels than high‐quality broadband velocity seismometers, their higher clip‐levels provide linear recordings at near‐field sites even for the largest of events where a collocated broadband sensor would no longer be able to provide onscale recordings (Clinton and Heaton, 2002).

  12. Evaluation and summary of seismic response of above ground nuclear power plant piping to strong motion earthquakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, J.D.

    1985-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to summarize the observations and experience which has been developed relative to the seismic behavior of above-ground, building-supported, industrial type piping (similar to piping used in nuclear power plants) in strong motion earthquakes. The paper also contains observations regarding the response of piping in experimental tests which attempted to excite the piping to failure. Appropriate conclusions regarding the behavior of such piping in large earthquakes and recommendations as to future design of such piping to resist earthquake motion damage are presented based on observed behavior in large earthquakes and simulated shake table testing

  13. Detailed modelling of strong ground motion in Trieste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaccari, F.; Romanelli, F.; Panza, G.

    2005-05-01

    Trieste has been included in category IV by the new Italian seismic code. This corresponds to a horizontal acceleration of 0.05g for the anchoring of the elastic response spectrum. A detailed modelling of the ground motion in Trieste has been done for some scenario earthquakes, compatible with the seismotectonic regime of the region. Three-component synthetic seismograms (displacements, velocities and accelerations) have been analyzed to obtain significant parameters of engineering interest. The definition of the seismic input, derived from a comprehensive set of seismograms analyzed in the time and frequency domains, represents a powerful and convenient tool for seismic microzoning. In the specific case of Palazzo Carciotti, depending on the azimuth of the incoming wavefield, an increase of one degree in intensity may be expected due to different amplification patterns, while a nice stability can be seen in the periods corresponding to the peak values, with amplifications around 1 and 2 Hz. For Palazzo Carciotti, the most dangerous scenario considered, for an event of M=6.5 at an epicentral distance of 21 km, modelled taking into account source finiteness and directivity, leads to a peak ground acceleration value of 0.2 g. The seismic code, being based on a probabilistic approach, can be considered representative of the average seismic shaking for the province of Trieste, and can slightly underestimate the seismic input due the seismogenic potential (obtained from the historical seismicity and seismotectonics). Furthermore, relevant local site effects are mostly neglected. Both modelling and observations show that site conditions in the centre of Trieste can amplify the ground motion at the bedrock by a factor of five, in the frequency range of engineering interest. We may therefore expect macroseismic intensities as high as IX (MCS) corresponding to VIII (MSK). Spectral amplifications obtained for the considered scenario earthquakes are strongly event

  14. Recent developments in matter of strong motions data bank creation held by ENEA (Rome), Imperial College (London) and CEA/IPSN (Paris)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goula, X.; Mohammadioun, G.; Bommer, J.

    1988-03-01

    A pooling of strong motion data held by ENEA (Rome), Imperial College (London) and CEA/IPSN (Paris) will, in the future, give rise to a unified set of data, accessible from any one of the three centers, composed of a data bank of uncorrected accelerograms associated with an accessory data base containing as ample information as possible concerning the earthquake itself and the recording conditions. All three centers are equipped with VAX computer material, and a DECNET link is currently under consideration. The data thus structured is destined to form the basis of a European strong-motion data bank [fr

  15. The strong motion amplitudes from Himalayan earthquakes and a pilot study for the deterministic first order microzonation of Delhi City

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parvez, Imtiyaz A.; Panza, G.F.; Gusev, A.A.; Vaccari, F.

    2001-09-01

    The interdependence among the strong-motion amplitude, earthquake magnitude and hypocentral distance has been established (Parvez et al. 2001) for the Himalayan region using the dataset of six earthquakes, two from Western and four from Eastern Himalayas (M w =5.2-7.2) recorded by strong-motion networks in the Himalayas. The level of the peak strong motion amplitudes in the Eastern Himalayas is three fold larger than that in the Western Himalayas, in terms of both peak acceleration and peak velocities. In the present study, we include the strong motion data of Chamoli earthquake (M w =6.5) of 1999 from the western sub-region to see whether this event supports the regional effects and we find that the new result fits well with our earlier prediction in the Western Himalayas. The minimum estimates of peak acceleration for the epicentral zone of M w =7.5-8.5 events is A peak =0.25-0.4 g for the Western Himalayas and as large as A peak =1.0-1.6 g for the Eastern Himalayas. Similarly, the expected minimum epicentral values of V peak for M w =8 are 35 cm/s for Western and 112 cm/s for Eastern Himalayas. The presence of unusually high levels of epicentral amplitudes for the eastern subregion also agrees well with the macroseismic evidence (Parvez et al. 2001). Therefore, these results represent systematic regional effects, and may be considered as a basis for future regionalized seismic hazard assessment in the Himalayan region. Many metropolitan and big cities of India are situated in the severe hazard zone just south of the Himalayas. A detailed microzonation study of these sprawling urban centres is therefore urgently required for gaining a better understanding of ground motion and site effects in these cities. An example of the study of site effects and microzonation of a part of metropolitan Delhi is presented based on a detailed modelling along a NS cross sections from the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) to Sewanagar. Full synthetic strong motion waveforms have been

  16. A Diffusion Approximation Based on Renewal Processes with Applications to Strongly Biased Run-Tumble Motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thygesen, Uffe Høgsbro

    2016-03-01

    We consider organisms which use a renewal strategy such as run-tumble when moving in space, for example to perform chemotaxis in chemical gradients. We derive a diffusion approximation for the motion, applying a central limit theorem due to Anscombe for renewal-reward processes; this theorem has not previously been applied in this context. Our results extend previous work, which has established the mean drift but not the diffusivity. For a classical model of tumble rates applied to chemotaxis, we find that the resulting chemotactic drift saturates to the swimming velocity of the organism when the chemical gradients grow increasingly steep. The dispersal becomes anisotropic in steep gradients, with larger dispersal across the gradient than along the gradient. In contrast to one-dimensional settings, strong bias increases dispersal. We next include Brownian rotation in the model and find that, in limit of high chemotactic sensitivity, the chemotactic drift is 64% of the swimming velocity, independent of the magnitude of the Brownian rotation. We finally derive characteristic timescales of the motion that can be used to assess whether the diffusion limit is justified in a given situation. The proposed technique for obtaining diffusion approximations is conceptually and computationally simple, and applicable also when statistics of the motion is obtained empirically or through Monte Carlo simulation of the motion.

  17. Wind speed and direction shears with associated vertical motion during strong surface winds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, M. B.; Camp, D. W.

    1984-01-01

    Strong surface winds recorded at the NASA 150-Meter Ground Winds Tower facility at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, are analyzed to present occurrences representative of wind shear and vertical motion known to be hazardous to the ascent and descent of conventional aircraft and the Space Shuttle. Graphical (percentage frequency distributions) and mathematical (maximum, mean, standard deviation) descriptions of wind speed and direction shears and associated updrafts and downdrafts are included as functions of six vertical layers and one horizontal distance for twenty 5-second intervals of parameters sampled simultaneously at the rate of ten per second during a period of high surface winds.

  18. Supply-demand balance in outward-directed networks and Kleiber's law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Painter, Page R

    2005-11-10

    Recent theories have attempted to derive the value of the exponent alpha in the allometric formula for scaling of basal metabolic rate from the properties of distribution network models for arteries and capillaries. It has recently been stated that a basic theorem relating the sum of nutrient currents to the specific nutrient uptake rate, together with a relationship claimed to be required in order to match nutrient supply to nutrient demand in 3-dimensional outward-directed networks, leads to Kleiber's law (b = 3/4). The validity of the supply-demand matching principle and the assumptions required to prove the basic theorem are assessed. The supply-demand principle is evaluated by examining the supply term and the demand term in outward-directed lattice models of nutrient and water distribution systems and by applying the principle to fractal-like models of mammalian arterial systems. Application of the supply-demand principle to bifurcating fractal-like networks that are outward-directed does not predict 3/4-power scaling, and evaluation of water distribution system models shows that the matching principle does not match supply to demand in such systems. Furthermore, proof of the basic theorem is shown to require that the covariance of nutrient uptake and current path length is 0, an assumption unlikely to be true in mammalian arterial systems. The supply-demand matching principle does not lead to a satisfactory explanation for the approximately 3/4-power scaling of mammalian basal metabolic rate.

  19. Attenuation Characteristics of Strong Motions during the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes including Near-Field Records

    Science.gov (United States)

    Si, H.; Koketsu, K.; Miyake, H.; Ibrahim, R.

    2016-12-01

    During the two major earthquakes occurred in Kumamoto prefecture, at 21:26 on 14 April, 2016 (Mw 6.2, GCMT), and at 1:25 on 16 April, 2016 (Mw7.0, GCMT), a large number of strong ground motions were recorded, including those very close to the surface fault. In this study, we will discuss the attenuation characteristics of strong ground motions observed during the earthquakes. The data used in this study are mainly observed by K-NET, KiK-net, Osaka University, JMA and Kumamoto prefecture. The 5% damped acceleration response spectra (GMRotI50) are calculated based on the method proposed by Boore et al. (2006). PGA and PGV is defined as the larger one among the PGAs and PGVs of two horizontal components. The PGA, PGV, and GMRotI50 data were corrected to the bedrock with Vs of 1.5km/s based on the method proposed by Si et al. (2016) using the average shear wave velocity (Vs30) and the thickness of sediments over the bedrock. The thickness is estimated based on the velocity structure model provided by J-SHIS. We use a source model proposed by Koketsu et al. (2016) to calculate the fault distance and the median distance (MED) which defined as the closest distance from a station to the median line of the fault plane (Si et al., 2014). We compared the observed PGAs, PGVs, and GMRotI50 with the GMPEs developed in Japan using MED (Si et al., 2014). The predictions by the GMPEs are generally consistent with the observations during the two Kumamoto earthquakes. The results of the comparison also indicated that, (1) strong motion records from the earthquake on April 14th are generally consistent with the predictions by GMPE, however, at the periods of 0.5 to 2 seconds, several records close to the fault plane show larger amplitudes than the predictions by GMPE, including the KiK-net station Mashiki (KMMH16); (2) for the earthquake on April 16, the PGAs and GMRotI50 at periods from 0.1s to 0.4s with short distance from the fault plane are slightly smaller than the predictions by

  20. Near Fault Strong Ground Motion Records in the Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Nepal Earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takai, N.; Shigefuji, M.; Rajaure, S.; Bijukchhen, S.; Ichiyanagi, M.; Dhital, M. R.; Sasatani, T.

    2015-12-01

    Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal and is located in the Kathmandu Valley, which is formed by soft lake sediments of Plio-Pleistocene origin. Large earthquakes in the past have caused significant damage as the seismic waves were amplified in the soft sediments. To understand the site effect of the valley structure, we installed continuous recording accelerometers in four different parts of the valley. Four stations were installed along a west-to-east profile of the valley at KTP (Kirtipur; hill top), TVU (Kirtipur; hill side), PTN (Patan) and THM (Thimi). On 25 April 2015, a large interplate earthquake Mw 7.8 occurred in the Himalayan Range of Nepal. The focal area estimated was about 200 km long and 150 km wide, with a large slip area under the Kathmandu Valley where our strong motion observation stations were installed. The strong ground motions were observed during this large damaging earthquake. The maximum horizontal peak ground acceleration at the rock site was 271 cm s-2, and the maximum horizontal peak ground velocity at the sediment sites reached 112 cm s-1. We compared these values with the empirical attenuation formula for strong ground motions. We found the peak accelerations were smaller and the peak velocities were approximately the same as the predicted values. The rock site KTP motions are less affected by site amplification and were analysed further. The horizontal components were rotated to the fault normal (N205E) and fault parallel (N115E) directions using the USGS fault model. The velocity waveforms at KTP showed about 5 s triangular pulses on the N205E and the up-down components; however the N115E component was not a triangular pulse but one cycle sinusoidal wave. The velocity waveforms at KTP were integrated to derive the displacement waveforms. The derived displacements at KTP are characterized by a monotonic step on the N205E normal and up-down components. The displacement waveforms of KTP show permanent displacements of 130 cm in the fault

  1. A strong-motion hot spot of the 2016 Meinong, Taiwan, earthquake (Mw = 6.4

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroo Kanamori

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite a moderate magnitude, Mw = 6.4, the 5 February 2016 Meinong, Taiwan, earthquake caused significant damage in Tainan City and the surrounding areas. Several seismograms display an impulsive S-wave velocity pulse with an amplitude of about 1 m s-1, which is similar to large S-wave pulses recorded for the past several larger damaging earthquakes, such as the 1995 Kobe, Japan, earthquake (Mw = 6.9 and the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake (Mw = 6.7. The observed PGV in the Tainan area is about 10 times larger than the median PGV of Mw = 6.4 crustal earthquakes in Taiwan. We investigate the cause of the localized strong ground motions. The peak-to-peak ground-motion displacement at the basin sites near Tainan is about 35 times larger than that at a mountain site with a similar epicentral distance. At some frequency bands (0.9 - 1.1 Hz, the amplitude ratio is as large as 200. Using the focal mechanism of this earthquake, typical “soft” and “hard” crustal structures, and directivity inferred from the observed waveforms and the slip distribution, we show that the combined effect yields an amplitude ratio of 17 to 34. The larger amplitude ratios at higher frequency bands can be probably due to the effects of complex 3-D basin structures. The result indicates that even from a moderate event, if these effects simultaneously work together toward amplifying ground motions, the extremely large ground motions as observed in Tainan can occur. Such occurrences should be taken into consideration in hazard mitigation measures in the place with frequent moderate earthquakes.

  2. Academic Perspectives on the Outcomes of Outward Student Mobility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bridger, Kath

    2015-01-01

    This research project was commissioned by the UK Higher Education International Unit (IU) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in June 2014 to explore academic perspectives on the outcomes of outward mobility at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels for UK domiciled students, and to consider how best to facilitate the take up as well…

  3. Hollow-Cone Spray Modeling for Outwardly Opening Piezoelectric Injector

    KAUST Repository

    Sim, Jaeheon

    2016-01-04

    Linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) breakup model has been widely used for modeling hollow-cone spray. However, the model was originally developed for inwardlyopening pressure-swirl injectors by assuming toroidal ligament breakups. Therefore, LISA model is not suitable for simulating outwardly opening injectors having string-like structures at wide spray angles. Furthermore, the varying area and shape of the annular nozzle exit makes the modeling difficult. In this study, a new spray modeling was proposed for outwardly opening hollow-cone injector. The injection velocities are computed from the given mas flow rate and injection pressure regardless of ambiguous nozzle exit geometries. The modified Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor (KH-RT) breakup model is used with adjusted initial Sauter mean diameter (SMD) for modeling breakup of string-like liquid film spray. Liquid spray injection was modeled using Lagrangian discrete parcel method within the framework of commercial CFD software CONVERGE, and the detailed model was implemented by user defined functions. It was found that the new model predicted the liquid penetration length and local SMD accurately for various fuels and chamber conditions.

  4. Supply-demand balance in outward-directed networks and Kleiber's law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Painter Page R

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent theories have attempted to derive the value of the exponent α in the allometric formula for scaling of basal metabolic rate from the properties of distribution network models for arteries and capillaries. It has recently been stated that a basic theorem relating the sum of nutrient currents to the specific nutrient uptake rate, together with a relationship claimed to be required in order to match nutrient supply to nutrient demand in 3-dimensional outward-directed networks, leads to Kleiber's law (b = 3/4. Methods The validity of the supply-demand matching principle and the assumptions required to prove the basic theorem are assessed. The supply-demand principle is evaluated by examining the supply term and the demand term in outward-directed lattice models of nutrient and water distribution systems and by applying the principle to fractal-like models of mammalian arterial systems. Results Application of the supply-demand principle to bifurcating fractal-like networks that are outward-directed does not predict 3/4-power scaling, and evaluation of water distribution system models shows that the matching principle does not match supply to demand in such systems. Furthermore, proof of the basic theorem is shown to require that the covariance of nutrient uptake and current path length is 0, an assumption unlikely to be true in mammalian arterial systems. Conclusion The supply-demand matching principle does not lead to a satisfactory explanation for the approximately 3/4-power scaling of mammalian basal metabolic rate.

  5. Contributions to the European workshop on investigation of strong motion processing procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohammadioun, B.; Goula, X.; Hamaide, D.

    1985-11-01

    The first paper is one contribution to a joint study program in the numerical processing of accelerograms from strong earthquakes. A method is proposed for generating an analytic signal having characteristics similar to those of an actual ground displacement. From this signal, a simulated accelerogram is obtained analytically. Various numerical processing techniques are to be tested using this signal: the ground displacements they yield will be compared with the original analytic signal. The second contribution deals with a high-performance digitization complex, custom-designed to stringent technical criteria by the CISI Petrole Services, which has recently been put into service at the Bureau d'Evaluation des Risques Sismiques pour la Surete des Installations Nucleaires. Specially tailored to cope with the problems raised by the sampling of Strong-Motion photographic recordings, it offers considerable flexibility, due to its self-teaching conception, constant monitoring of the work ongoing, and numerous preprocessing options. In the third contribution, a critical examination of several processing techniques applicable to photographic recordings of SMA-1 type accelerometers is conducted. The basis for comparison was a set of two accelerograms drawn from synthetic signals, the characteristics of which were already well known

  6. Main factors affecting strong ground motion calculations: Critical review and assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mohammadioun, B [DAS/SASC (France); Pecker, A [Societe Geodynamique et Structure (France)

    1990-07-01

    In the interests of guarding lives and property against the effects of earthquakes, building codes are frequently enforced when erecting conventional structures, usually calling for simple, static calculations. Where more vulnerable facilities are involved, the failure of which, or of parts of which, could subject the environment to harmful substances, more sophisticated methods are used to compute or verify their design, often accompanied by safety margins intended to compensate for uncertainties encountered at various stages of the analysis that begins with input seismic data and culminates with an effective anti-seismic design. The forthcoming discussion will deal with what is known of the characteristics of strong ground motion, highly variable according to context, without entering into the problems raised by seismotectonic studies, which actually constitute the first aspect that must be addressed when performing such an analysis. Our conclusion will be devoted to cogent R and D work in this area.

  7. Main factors affecting strong ground motion calculations: Critical review and assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohammadioun, B.; Pecker, A.

    1990-01-01

    In the interests of guarding lives and property against the effects of earthquakes, building codes are frequently enforced when erecting conventional structures, usually calling for simple, static calculations. Where more vulnerable facilities are involved, the failure of which, or of parts of which, could subject the environment to harmful substances, more sophisticated methods are used to compute or verify their design, often accompanied by safety margins intended to compensate for uncertainties encountered at various stages of the analysis that begins with input seismic data and culminates with an effective anti-seismic design. The forthcoming discussion will deal with what is known of the characteristics of strong ground motion, highly variable according to context, without entering into the problems raised by seismotectonic studies, which actually constitute the first aspect that must be addressed when performing such an analysis. Our conclusion will be devoted to cogent R and D work in this area

  8. Molecular aspects of adrenergic modulation of the transient outward current

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Heyden, Marcel A. G.; Wijnhoven, Tessa J. M.; Opthof, Tobias

    2006-01-01

    Transient outward channels have a different impact on action potential configuration in small mammals compared to large mammals. Small mammals depend primarily on Ito1 for repolarization, while in larger animals Ito1 only indirectly determines action potential duration by setting the level of the

  9. Safe-Taipei a Program Project for Strong Motions, Active Faults, and Earthquakes in the Taipei Metropolitan Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jeen-Hwa

    Strong collision between the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates causes high seismicity in the Taiwan region, which is often attacked by large earthquakes. Several cities, including three mega-cities, i.e., Taipei, Taichung, and Kaoshung, have been constructed on western Taiwan, where is lying on thick sediments. These cities, with a high-population density, are usually a regional center of culture, economics, and politics. Historically, larger-sized earthquakes, e.g. the 1935 Hsingchu—Taichung earthquake and the 1999 Chi—Chi earthquake, often caused serious damage on the cities. Hence, urban seismology must be one of the main subjects of Taiwan's seismological community. Since 2005, a program project, sponsored by Academia Sinica, has been launched to investigate seismological problems in the Taipei Metropolitan Area. This program project is performed during the 2005—2007 period. The core research subjects are: (1) the deployment of the Taipei Down-hole Seismic Array; (2) the properties of earthquakes and active faults in the area; (3) the seismogenic-zone structures, including the 3-D velocity and Q structures, of the area; (4) the characteristics of strong-motions and sites affects; and (5) strong-motion prediction. In addition to academic goals, the results obtained from the program project will be useful for seismic hazard mitigation not only for the area but also for others.

  10. Strong ground motion spectra for layered media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Askar, A.; Cakmak, A.S.; Engin, H.

    1977-01-01

    This article presents an analytic method and calculations of strong motion spectra for the energy, displacement, velocity and acceleration based on the physical and geometric ground properties at a site. Although earthquakes occur with large deformations and high stress intensities which necessarily lead to nonlinear phenomena, most analytical efforts to date have been based on linear analyses in engineering seismology and soil dynamics. There are, however, a wealth of problems such as the shifts in frequency, dispersion due to the amplitude, the generation of harmonics, removal of resonance infinities, which cannot be accounted for by a linear theory. In the study, the stress-strain law for soil is taken as tau=G 0 γ+G 1 γ 3 +etaγ where tau is the stress, γ is the strain, G 0 and G 1 are the elasticity coefficients and eta is the damping and are different in each layer. The above stress-strain law describes soils with hysterisis where the hysterisis loops for various amplitudes of the strain are no longer concentric ellipses as for linear relations but are oval shapes rotated with respect to each other similar to the materials with the Osgood-Ramberg law. It is observed that even slight nonlinearities may drastically alter the various response spectra from that given by linear analysis. In fact, primary waves cause resonance conditions such that secondary waves are generated. As a result, a weak energy transfer from the primary to the secondary waves takes place, thus altering the wave spectrum. The mathematical technique that is utilized for the solution of the nonlinear equation is a special perturbation method as an extension of Poincare's procedure. The method considers shifts in the frequencies which are determined by the boundedness of the energy

  11. Report of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Piping Review Committee. Summary and evaluation of historical strong-motion earthquake seismic response and damage to aboveground industrial piping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-04-01

    The primary purpose of this report is to collect in one reference document the observation and experience that has been developed with regard to the seismic behavior of aboveground, building-supported, industrial-type process piping (similar to piping used in nuclear power plants) in strong-motion earthquakes. The report will also contain observations regarding the response of piping in strong-motion experimental tests and appropriate conclusions regarding the behavior of such piping in large earthquakes. Recommendations are included covering the future design of such piping to resist earthquake motion damage based on observed behavior in large earthquakes and simulated shake table testing. Since available detailed data on the behavior of aboveground (building-supported) piping are quite limited, this report will draw heavily on the observations and experiences of experts in the field. In Section 2 of this report, observed earthquake damage to aboveground piping in a number of large-motion earthquakes is summarized. In Section 3, the available experience from strong-motion testing of piping in experimental facilities is summarized. In Section 4 are presented some observations that attempt to explain the observed response of piping to strong-motion excitation from actual earthquakes and shake table testing. Section 5 contains the conclusions based on this study and recommendations regarding the future seismic design of piping based on the observed strong-motion behavior and material developed for the NPC Piping Review Committee. Finally, in Section 6 the references used in this study are presented. It should be understood that the use of the term piping in this report, in general, is limited to piping supported by building structures. It does not include behavior of piping buried in soil media. It is believed that the seismic behavior of buried piping is governed primarily by the deformation of the surrounding soil media and is not dependent on the inertial response

  12. On development and improvement of evaluation techniques for strong ground motion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-08-15

    Issues regarding evaluation of active fault and ground motion for formulation of design basis ground motion (Ss) were identified during NISA and NSC seismic safety reviewing activities, which have been conducted in the light of the revision of the relevant seismic regulatory guide in 2006 and the experiences of the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007 and the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake. In this theme following four subjects were investigated to resolve the important problems for ground motion evaluation, (1) advanced evaluation of ground motion using fault model and uncertainty; (2) improving evaluation of ground motion using attenuation relation of response spectrum; (3) development of advanced technique for ground motion observation and observation tool in deep borehole; (4) improving the evaluation of site effect and seismic wave propagation characteristics. Obtained results will be incorporated into the national safety review and also in the safety standard guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) using its Extra-Budgetary Program (IAEA EBP), thereby contributing to technical cooperation in global nuclear seismic safety. (author)

  13. An empirical assessment of near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 m{sub b} (7.5 M{sub S}) earthquake in the Eastern United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Campbell, Kenneth W

    1984-06-01

    To help assess the impact of the current U.S. Geological Survey position on the seismic safety of nuclear power plants in the Eastern United States (EUS), several techniques for estimating near-source strong ground motion for a Charleston size earthquake were evaluated. The techniques for estimating the near-source strong ground motion for a 6.6 m{sub b} (7.5 M{sub S}) in the Eastern United States which were assessed are methods based on site specific analyses, semi-theoretical scaling techniques, and intensity-based estimates. The first involves the statistical analysis of ground motion records from earthquakes and recording stations having the same general characteristics (earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.5 M{sub S} or larger, epicentral distances of 25 km or less, and sites of either soil or rock). Some recommendations for source and characterization scaling of the bias resulting primarily from an inadequate sample of near-source recordings from earthquakes of large magnitude are discussed. The second technique evaluated requires that semi-theoretical estimates of peak ground motion parameters for a 6.6 m{sub b} (7.5 M{sub S}) earthquake be obtained from scaling relations. Each relation uses a theoretical expression between peak acceleration magnitude and distance together with available strong motion data (majority coming from California) to develop a scaling relation appropriate for the Eastern United States. None of the existing ground motion models for the EUS include the potential effects of source or site characteristics. Adjustments to account for fault mechanisms, site topography, site geology, and the size and embedment of buildings are discussed. The final approach used relations between strong ground motion parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity in conjunction with two methods to estimate peak parameters for a 6.6 m{sub s} (7.5 M{sub S}) earthquake. As with other techniques, adjustment of peak acceleration estimates are discussed. Each method

  14. Procedure to predict the storey where plastic drift dominates in two-storey building under strong ground motion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hibino, Y.; Ichinose, T.; Costa, J.L.D.

    2009-01-01

    A procedure is presented to predict the storey where plastic drift dominates in two-storey buildings under strong ground motion. The procedure utilizes the yield strength and the mass of each storey as well as the peak ground acceleration. The procedure is based on two different assumptions: (1....... The efficiency of the procedure is verified by dynamic response analyses using elasto-plastic model....

  15. Outward transport of high-temperature materials around the midplane of the solar nebula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciesla, Fred J

    2007-10-26

    The Stardust samples collected from Comet 81P/Wild 2 indicate that large-scale mixing occurred in the solar nebula, carrying materials from the hot inner regions to cooler environments far from the Sun. Similar transport has been inferred from telescopic observations of protoplanetary disks around young stars. Models for protoplanetary disks, however, have difficulty explaining the observed levels of transport. Here I report the results of a new two-dimensional model that shows that outward transport of high-temperature materials in protoplanetary disks is a natural outcome of disk formation and evolution. This outward transport occurs around the midplane of the disk.

  16. Time evolution of coarse-grained entropy in classical and quantum motions of strongly chaotic systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Yan; Wang, Jiao

    1997-02-01

    We study relaxation of an ensemble of cat maps with initially localized phase-space distributions. Calculations of the coarse-grained entropy Sɛ ( t) for both classical and quantum motions are presented. It is shown that, within the relaxation period, both classical and quantum entropies increase with a nearly constant rate which can be identified as the largest Lyapunov exponent of the classical cat. After an empirical relaxation time, the time behavior for two entropies becomes different. While the classical entropy increases to the equilibrium entropy Seqm and stays there, its quantum analogue fluctuates incessantly around a mean overlineSɛ which is less than Seqm. We regard the entropy difference ΔS = S eqm - overlineSɛ as a measure of nonergodicity of the quantum motion of strongly chaotic systems and investigate its dependence on the Planck constant h. For fixed initial phase-space distributions, numerical results suggest that there is a scaling law ΔSαhβ with β ≈ 0.72 in the semiclassical regime.

  17. Regular and chaotic motion of two dimensional electrons in a strong magnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bar-Lev, Oded; Levit, Shimon.

    1992-05-01

    For two dimensional system of electrons in a strong magnetic field a standard approximation is the projection on a single Landau level. The resulting Hamiltonian is commonly treated semiclassically. An important element in applying the semiclassical approximation is the integrability of the corresponding classical system. We discuss the relevant integrability conditions and give a simple example of a non-integrable system-two interacting electrons in the presence of two impurities-which exhibits a coexistence of regular and chaotic classical motions. Since the inverse of the magnetic field plays the role of the Planck constant in these problems, one has the opportunity to control the 'closeness' of chaotic physical systems to the classical limit. (author)

  18. Comparison of the inelastic response of steel building frames to strong earthquake and underground nuclear explosion ground motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murray, R.C.; Tokarz, F.J.

    1976-01-01

    Analytic studies were made of the adequacy of simulating earthquake effects at the Nevada Test Site for structural testing purposes. It is concluded that underground nuclear explosion ground motion will produce inelastic behavior and damage comparable to that produced by strong earthquakes. The generally longer duration of earthquakes compared with underground nuclear explosions does not appear to significantly affect the structural behavior of the building frames considered. A comparison of maximum ductility ratios, maximum story drifts, and maximum displacement indicate similar structural behavior for both types of ground motion. Low yield (10 - kt) underground nuclear explosions are capable of producing inelastic behavior in large structures. Ground motion produced by underground nuclear explosions can produce inelastic earthquake-like effects in large structures and could be used for testing large structures in the inelastic response regime. The Nevada Test Site is a feasible earthquake simulator for testing large structures

  19. Deep subsurface structure modeling and site amplification factor estimation in Niigata plain for broadband strong motion prediction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, Hiroaki

    2009-01-01

    This report addresses a methodology of deep subsurface structure modeling in Niigata plain, Japan to estimate site amplification factor in the broadband frequency range for broadband strong motion prediction. In order to investigate deep S-wave velocity structures, we conduct microtremor array measurements at nine sites in Niigata plain, which are important to estimate both long- and short-period ground motion. The estimated depths of the top of the basement layer agree well with those of the Green tuff formation as well as the Bouguer anomaly distribution. Dispersion characteristics derived from the observed long-period ground motion records are well explained by the theoretical dispersion curves of Love wave group velocities calculated from the estimated subsurface structures. These results demonstrate the deep subsurface structures from microtremor array measurements make it possible to estimate long-period ground motions in Niigata plain. Moreover an applicability of microtremor array exploration for inclined basement structure like a folding structure is shown from the two dimensional finite difference numerical simulations. The short-period site amplification factors in Niigata plain are empirically estimated by the spectral inversion analysis from S-wave parts of strong motion data. The resultant characteristics of site amplification are relative large in the frequency range of about 1.5-5 Hz, and decay significantly with the frequency increasing over about 5 Hz. However, these features can't be explained by the calculations from the deep subsurface structures. The estimation of site amplification factors in the frequency range of about 1.5-5 Hz are improved by introducing a shallow detailed structure down to GL-20m depth at a site. We also propose to consider random fluctuation in a modeling of deep S-wave velocity structure for broadband site amplification factor estimation. The Site amplification in the frequency range higher than about 5 Hz are filtered

  20. Direct Visualization of Valence Electron Motion Using Strong-Field Photoelectron Holography

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Mingrui; Li, Yang; Zhou, Yueming; Li, Min; Cao, Wei; Lu, Peixiang

    2018-03-01

    Watching the valence electron move in molecules on its intrinsic timescale has been one of the central goals of attosecond science and it requires measurements with subatomic spatial and attosecond temporal resolutions. The time-resolved photoelectron holography in strong-field tunneling ionization holds the promise to access this realm. However, it remains to be a challenging task hitherto. Here we reveal how the information of valence electron motion is encoded in the hologram of the photoelectron momentum distribution (PEMD) and develop a novel approach of retrieval. As a demonstration, applying it to the PEMDs obtained by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for the prototypical molecule H2+ , the attosecond charge migration is directly visualized with picometer spatial and attosecond temporal resolutions. Our method represents a general approach for monitoring attosecond charge migration in more complex polyatomic and biological molecules, which is one of the central tasks in the newly emerging attosecond chemistry.

  1. Site-specific strong ground motion prediction using 2.5-D modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narayan, J. P.

    2001-08-01

    An algorithm was developed using the 2.5-D elastodynamic wave equation, based on the displacement-stress relation. One of the most significant advantages of the 2.5-D simulation is that the 3-D radiation pattern can be generated using double-couple point shear-dislocation sources in the 2-D numerical grid. A parsimonious staggered grid scheme was adopted instead of the standard staggered grid scheme, since this is the only scheme suitable for computing the dislocation. This new 2.5-D numerical modelling avoids the extensive computational cost of 3-D modelling. The significance of this exercise is that it makes it possible to simulate the strong ground motion (SGM), taking into account the energy released, 3-D radiation pattern, path effects and local site conditions at any location around the epicentre. The slowness vector (py) was used in the supersonic region for each layer, so that all the components of the inertia coefficient are positive. The double-couple point shear-dislocation source was implemented in the numerical grid using the moment tensor components as the body-force couples. The moment per unit volume was used in both the 3-D and 2.5-D modelling. A good agreement in the 3-D and 2.5-D responses for different grid sizes was obtained when the moment per unit volume was further reduced by a factor equal to the finite-difference grid size in the case of the 2.5-D modelling. The components of the radiation pattern were computed in the xz-plane using 3-D and 2.5-D algorithms for various focal mechanisms, and the results were in good agreement. A comparative study of the amplitude behaviour of the 3-D and 2.5-D wavefronts in a layered medium reveals the spatial and temporal damped nature of the 2.5-D elastodynamic wave equation. 3-D and 2.5-D simulated responses at a site using a different strike direction reveal that strong ground motion (SGM) can be predicted just by rotating the strike of the fault counter-clockwise by the same amount as the azimuth of

  2. Using a Full Complex Site Transfer Function to Estimate Strong Ground Motion in Port-au-Prince (Haiti).

    Science.gov (United States)

    ST Fleur, S.; Courboulex, F.; Bertrand, E.; Mercier De Lepinay, B. F.; Hough, S. E.; Boisson, D.; Momplaisir, R.

    2017-12-01

    To assess the possible impact of a future earthquake in the urban area of Port-au-Prince (Haiti), we have implemented a simulation approach for complex ground motions produced by an earthquake. To this end, we have integrated local site effect in the prediction of strong ground motions in Port-au-Prince using the complex transfer functions method, which takes into account amplitude changes as well as phase changes. This technique is particularly suitable for basins where a conventional 1D digital approach proves inadequate, as is the case in Port-au-Prince. To do this, we use the results of the Standard Spectral Ratio (SSR) approach of St Fleur et al. (2016) to estimate the amplitude of the response of the site to a nearby rock site. Then, we determine the phase difference between sites, interpreted as changes in the phase of the signal related to local site conditions, using the signals of the 2010 earthquake aftershocks records. Finally, the accelerogram of the simulated earthquake is obtain using the technique of the inverse Fourier transform. The results of this study showed that the strongest soil motions are expected in neighborhoods of downtown Port-au-Prince and adjacent hills. In addition, this simulation method by complex transfer functions was validated by comparison with recorded actual data. Our simulated response spectra reproduce very well both the amplitude and the shape of the response spectra of recorded earthquakes. This new approach allowed to reproduce the lengthening of the signal that could be generated by surface waves at certain stations in the city of Port-au-Prince. However, two points of vigilance must be considered: (1) a good signal-to-noise ratio is necessary to obtain a robust estimate of the site-reference phase shift (ratio at least equal to 10); (2) unless the amplitude and phase changes are measured on strong motion records, this technique does not take non-linear effects into account.

  3. A study on the characteristics of strong ground motions in southern Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bang, Chang Eob; Lee, Kie Hwa; Kang, Tae Seob

    2001-12-01

    Ground motion characteristics in southern Korea are analyzed such as the variations of ground motion durations depending on the hypocentral distance, the earthquake magnitude and the frequency contents of the motion, and the predominant frequency of the maximum ground motion, the ratio of the horizontal to the vertical component amplitudes, the frequency dependence of the Coda Q values, the local distribution of Lg Q values using recorded data sets

  4. A study on the characteristics of strong ground motions in southern Korea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bang, Chang Eob; Lee, Kie Hwa; Kang, Tae Seob [Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2001-12-15

    Ground motion characteristics in southern Korea are analyzed such as the variations of ground motion durations depending on the hypocentral distance, the earthquake magnitude and the frequency contents of the motion, and the predominant frequency of the maximum ground motion, the ratio of the horizontal to the vertical component amplitudes, the frequency dependence of the Coda Q values, the local distribution of Lg Q values using recorded data sets.

  5. Reversible rectification of vortex motion in magnetic and non-magnetic asymmetric pinning potentials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez, E.M.; Gonzalez, M.P.; Nunez, N.O.; Villegas, J.E.; Anguita, J.V.; Jaafa, M.; Asenjo, A.; Vicent, J.L.

    2006-01-01

    Nb films have been grown on arrays of asymmetric pinning centers. The lattice vortex dynamics could be modified, almost at will, by periodic pinning potentials. In the case of asymmetric pinning potentials a vortex ratchet effect occurs: the vortex lattice motion is rectified. That is, an injected ac current yields an output dc voltage, which polarity could be tuned. The output signal polarity could be switched with the applied magnetic field and the ac current strength. Ratchet effect occurs when asymmetric potentials induce outward particles flow under external fluctuations in the lack of driven direct outward forces. The output signal is similar using magnetic or non-magnetic submicrometric array of pinning centers. This device works as an adiabatic rocking ratchet. This superconducting ratchet could be a model to study biological motors

  6. Strong ground motion in the Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takai, Nobuo; Shigefuji, Michiko; Rajaure, Sudhir; Bijukchhen, Subeg; Ichiyanagi, Masayoshi; Dhital, Megh Raj; Sasatani, Tsutomu

    2016-01-01

    On 25 April 2015, a large earthquake of Mw 7.8 occurred along the Main Himalayan Thrust fault in central Nepal. It was caused by a collision of the Indian Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate. The epicenter was near the Gorkha region, 80 km northwest of Kathmandu, and the rupture propagated toward east from the epicentral region passing through the sediment-filled Kathmandu Valley. This event resulted in over 8000 fatalities, mostly in Kathmandu and the adjacent districts. We succeeded in observing strong ground motions at our four observation sites (one rock site and three sedimentary sites) in the Kathmandu Valley during this devastating earthquake. While the observed peak ground acceleration values were smaller than the predicted ones that were derived from the use of a ground motion prediction equation, the observed peak ground velocity values were slightly larger than the predicted ones. The ground velocities observed at the rock site (KTP) showed a simple velocity pulse, resulting in monotonic-step displacements associated with the permanent tectonic offset. The vertical ground velocities observed at the sedimentary sites had the same pulse motions that were observed at the rock site. In contrast, the horizontal ground velocities as well as accelerations observed at three sedimentary sites showed long duration with conspicuous long-period oscillations, due to the valley response. The horizontal valley response was characterized by large amplification (about 10) and prolonged oscillations. However, the predominant period and envelope shape of their oscillations differed from site to site, indicating a complicated basin structure. Finally, on the basis of the velocity response spectra, we show that the horizontal long-period oscillations on the sedimentary sites had enough destructive power to damage high-rise buildings with natural periods of 3 to 5 s.

  7. The cooperative voltage sensor motion that gates a potassium channel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pathak, Medha; Kurtz, Lisa; Tombola, Francesco; Isacoff, Ehud

    2005-01-01

    The four arginine-rich S4 helices of a voltage-gated channel move outward through the membrane in response to depolarization, opening and closing gates to generate a transient ionic current. Coupling of voltage sensing to gating was originally thought to operate with the S4s moving independently from an inward/resting to an outward/activated conformation, so that when all four S4s are activated, the gates are driven to open or closed. However, S4 has also been found to influence the cooperative opening step (Smith-Maxwell et al., 1998a), suggesting a more complex mechanism of coupling. Using fluorescence to monitor structural rearrangements in a Shaker channel mutant, the ILT channel (Ledwell and Aldrich, 1999), that energetically isolates the steps of activation from the cooperative opening step, we find that opening is accompanied by a previously unknown and cooperative movement of S4. This gating motion of S4 appears to be coupled to the internal S6 gate and to two forms of slow inactivation. Our results suggest that S4 plays a direct role in gating. While large transmembrane rearrangements of S4 may be required to unlock the gating machinery, as proposed before, it appears to be the gating motion of S4 that drives the gates to open and close.

  8. Shear-wave velocity characterization of the USGS Hawaiian strong-motion network on the Island of Hawaii and development of an NEHRP site-class map

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Ivan G.; Stokoe, Kenneth; Cox, Brady R.; Yuan, Jiabei; Knudsen, Keith L.; Terra, Fabia; Okubo, Paul G.; Lin, Yin-Cheng

    2011-01-01

    To assess the level and nature of ground shaking in Hawaii for the purposes of earthquake hazard mitigation and seismic design, empirical ground-motion prediction models are desired. To develop such empirical relationships, knowledge of the subsurface site conditions beneath strong-motion stations is critical. Thus, as a first step to develop ground-motion prediction models for Hawaii, spectral-analysis-of-surface-waves (SASW) profiling was performed at the 22 free-field U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) strong-motion sites on the Big Island to obtain shear-wave velocity (VS) data. Nineteen of these stations recorded the 2006 Kiholo Bay moment magnitude (M) 6.7 earthquake, and 17 stations recorded the triggered M 6.0 Mahukona earthquake. VS profiling was performed to reach depths of more than 100 ft. Most of the USGS stations are situated on sites underlain by basalt, based on surficial geologic maps. However, the sites have varying degrees of weathering and soil development. The remaining strong-motion stations are located on alluvium or volcanic ash. VS30 (average VS in the top 30 m) values for the stations on basalt ranged from 906 to 1908 ft/s [National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) site classes C and D], because most sites were covered with soil of variable thickness. Based on these data, an NEHRP site-class map was developed for the Big Island. These new VS data will be a significant input into an update of the USGS statewide hazard maps and to the operation of ShakeMap on the island of Hawaii.

  9. Outward Foreign Direct Investment from Emerging Economies and National Development Strategies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammeltoft, Peter; Kokko, Ari

    2013-01-01

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an integral part of national development strategy throughout the developing world. However, while traditionally strategies have focused on the role of inward flows only, today, outward FDI is used on a larger scale and more deliberately to access markets...

  10. Auditory Motion Elicits a Visual Motion Aftereffect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berger, Christopher C; Ehrsson, H Henrik

    2016-01-01

    The visual motion aftereffect is a visual illusion in which exposure to continuous motion in one direction leads to a subsequent illusion of visual motion in the opposite direction. Previous findings have been mixed with regard to whether this visual illusion can be induced cross-modally by auditory stimuli. Based on research on multisensory perception demonstrating the profound influence auditory perception can have on the interpretation and perceived motion of visual stimuli, we hypothesized that exposure to auditory stimuli with strong directional motion cues should induce a visual motion aftereffect. Here, we demonstrate that horizontally moving auditory stimuli induced a significant visual motion aftereffect-an effect that was driven primarily by a change in visual motion perception following exposure to leftward moving auditory stimuli. This finding is consistent with the notion that visual and auditory motion perception rely on at least partially overlapping neural substrates.

  11. Auditory Motion Elicits a Visual Motion Aftereffect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher C. Berger

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The visual motion aftereffect is a visual illusion in which exposure to continuous motion in one direction leads to a subsequent illusion of visual motion in the opposite direction. Previous findings have been mixed with regard to whether this visual illusion can be induced cross-modally by auditory stimuli. Based on research on multisensory perception demonstrating the profound influence auditory perception can have on the interpretation and perceived motion of visual stimuli, we hypothesized that exposure to auditory stimuli with strong directional motion cues should induce a visual motion aftereffect. Here, we demonstrate that horizontally moving auditory stimuli induced a significant visual motion aftereffect—an effect that was driven primarily by a change in visual motion perception following exposure to leftward moving auditory stimuli. This finding is consistent with the notion that visual and auditory motion perception rely on at least partially overlapping neural substrates.

  12. Steel Moment-Resisting Frame Responses in Simulated Strong Ground Motions: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Big One

    OpenAIRE

    Olsen, Anna

    2008-01-01

    This thesis studies the response of steel moment-resisting frame buildings in simulated strong ground motions. I collect 37 simulations of crustal earthquakes in California. These ground motions are applied to nonlinear finite element models of four types of steel moment frame buildings: six- or twenty-stories with either a stiffer, higherstrength design or a more flexible, lower-strength design. I also consider the presence of fracture-prone welds in each design. Since these b...

  13. Visual motion influences the contingent auditory motion aftereffect

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vroomen, J.; de Gelder, B.

    2003-01-01

    In this study, we show that the contingent auditory motion aftereffect is strongly influenced by visual motion information. During an induction phase, participants listened to rightward-moving sounds with falling pitch alternated with leftward-moving sounds with rising pitch (or vice versa).

  14. Attenuation Tomography Based on Strong Motion Data: Case Study of Central Honshu Region, Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Parveen; Joshi, A.; Verma, O. P.

    2013-12-01

    Three-dimensional frequency dependent S-wave quality factor (Qβ(f)) value for the central Honshu region of Japan has been determined in this paper using an algorithm based on inversion of strong motion data. The method of inversion for determination of three-dimensional attenuation coefficients is proposed by H ashida and S himazaki (J Phys Earth. 32, 299-316, 1984) and has been used and modified by J oshi (Curr Sci. 90, 581-585, 2006; Nat Hazards. 43, 129-146, 2007) and J oshi et al. (J. Seismol. 14, 247-272, 2010). Twenty-one earthquakes digitally recorded on strong motion stations of Kik-net network have been used in this work. The magnitude of these earthquake ranges from 3.1 to 4.2 and depth ranging from 5 to 20 km, respectively. The borehole data having high signal to noise ratio and minimum site effect is used in the present work. The attenuation structure is determined by dividing the entire area into twenty-five three-dimensional blocks of uniform thickness having different frequency-dependent shear wave quality factor. Shear wave quality factor values have been determined at frequencies of 2.5, 7.0 and 10 Hz from record in a rectangular grid defined by 35.4°N to 36.4°N and 137.2°E to 138.2°E. The obtained attenuation structure is compared with the available geological features in the region and comparison shows that the obtained structure is capable of resolving important tectonic features present in the area. The proposed attenuation structure is compared with the probabilistic seismic hazard map of the region and shows that it bears some remarkable similarity in the patterns seen in seismic hazard map.

  15. Motion sickness: a negative reinforcement model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowins, Brad

    2010-01-15

    Theories pertaining to the "why" of motion sickness are in short supply relative to those detailing the "how." Considering the profoundly disturbing and dysfunctional symptoms of motion sickness, it is difficult to conceive of why this condition is so strongly biologically based in humans and most other mammalian and primate species. It is posited that motion sickness evolved as a potent negative reinforcement system designed to terminate motion involving sensory conflict or postural instability. During our evolution and that of many other species, motion of this type would have impaired evolutionary fitness via injury and/or signaling weakness and vulnerability to predators. The symptoms of motion sickness strongly motivate the individual to terminate the offending motion by early avoidance, cessation of movement, or removal of oneself from the source. The motion sickness negative reinforcement mechanism functions much like pain to strongly motivate evolutionary fitness preserving behavior. Alternative why theories focusing on the elimination of neurotoxins and the discouragement of motion programs yielding vestibular conflict suffer from several problems, foremost that neither can account for the rarity of motion sickness in infants and toddlers. The negative reinforcement model proposed here readily accounts for the absence of motion sickness in infants and toddlers, in that providing strong motivation to terminate aberrant motion does not make sense until a child is old enough to act on this motivation.

  16. SM-ROM-GL (Strong Motion Romania Ground Level Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioan Sorin BORCIA

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The SM-ROM-GL database includes data obtained by the processing of records performed at ground level by the Romanian seismic networks, namely INCERC, NIEP, NCSRR and ISPH-GEOTEC, during recent seismic events with moment magnitude Mw ≥ 5 and epicenters located in Romania. All the available seismic records were re-processed using the same basic software and the same procedures and options (filtering and baseline correction, in order to obtain a consistent dataset. The database stores computed parameters of seismic motions, i.e. peak values: PGA, PGV, PGD, effective peak values: EPA, EPV, EPD, control periods, spectral values of absolute acceleration, relative velocity and relative displacement, as well as of instrumental intensity (as defined bz Sandi and Borcia in 2011. The fields in the database include: coding of seismic events, stations and records, a number of associated fields (seismic event source parameters, geographical coordinates of seismic stations, links to the corresponding ground motion records, charts of the response spectra of absolute acceleration, relative velocity, relative displacement and instrumental intensity, as well as some other representative parameters of seismic motions. The conception of the SM-ROM-GL database allows for an easy maintenance; such that elementary knowledge of Microsoft Access 2000 is sufficient for its operation.

  17. Displaced rocks, strong motion, and the mechanics of shallow faulting associated with the 1999 Hector Mine, California, earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, Andrew J.; Ross, Stephanie L.; Stenner, Heidi D.

    2002-01-01

    The paucity of strong-motion stations near the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake makes it impossible to make instrumental studies of key questions about near-fault strong-motion patterns associated with this event. However, observations of displaced rocks allow a qualitative investigation of these problems. By observing the slope of the desert surface and the frictional coefficient between these rocks and the desert surface, we estimate the minimum horizontal acceleration needed to displace the rocks. Combining this information with observations of how many rocks were displaced in different areas near the fault, we infer the level of shaking. Given current empirical shaking attenuation relationships, the number of rocks that moved is slightly lower than expected; this implies that slightly lower than expected shaking occurred during the Hector Mine earthquake. Perhaps more importantly, stretches of the fault with 4 m of total displacement at the surface displaced few nearby rocks on 15?? slopes, suggesting that the horizontal accelerations were below 0.2g within meters of the fault scarp. This low level of shaking suggests that the shallow parts of this rupture did not produce strong accelerations. Finally, we did not observe an increased incidence of displaced rocks along the fault zone itself. This suggests that, despite observations of fault-zone-trapped waves generated by aftershocks of the Hector Mine earthquake, such waves were not an important factor in controlling peak ground acceleration during the mainshock.

  18. Radial Variations of Outward and Inward Alfvénic Fluctuations Based on Ulysses Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, L.; Lee, L. C.; Li, J. P.; Luo, Q. Y.; Kuo, C. L.; Shi, J. K.; Wu, D. J.

    2017-12-01

    Ulysses magnetic and plasma data are used to study hourly scale Alfvénic fluctuations in the solar polar wind. The calculated energy ratio {R}{vA}2(cal) of inward to outward Alfvén waves is obtained from the observed Walén slope through an analytical expression, and the observed {R}{vA}2(obs) is based on a direct decomposition of original Alfvénic fluctuations into outward- and inward-propagating Alfvén waves. The radial variation of {R}{vA}2(cal) shows a monotonically increasing trend with heliocentric distance r, implying the increasing local generation or contribution of inward Alfvén waves. The contribution is also shown by the radial increase in the occurrence of dominant inward fluctuations. We further pointed out a higher occurrence (˜ 83 % of a day in average) of dominant outward Alfvénic fluctuations in the solar wind than previously estimated. Since {R}{vA}2(cal) is more accurate than {R}{vA}2(obs) in the measurement of the energy ratio for dominant outward fluctuations, the values of {R}{vA}2(cal) in our results are likely more realistic in the solar wind than those previously estimated as well as {R}{vA}2(obs) in our results. The duration ratio R T of dominant inward to all Alfvénic fluctuations increases monotonically with r, and is about two or more times that from Voyager 2 observations at r≥slant 4 {au}. These results reveal new qualitative and quantitative features of Alfvénic fluctuations therein compared with previous studies and put constraints on modeling the variation of solar wind fluctuations.

  19. Stochastic ground motion simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaeian, Sanaz; Xiaodan, Sun; Beer, Michael; Kougioumtzoglou, Ioannis A.; Patelli, Edoardo; Siu-Kui Au, Ivan

    2014-01-01

    Strong earthquake ground motion records are fundamental in engineering applications. Ground motion time series are used in response-history dynamic analysis of structural or geotechnical systems. In such analysis, the validity of predicted responses depends on the validity of the input excitations. Ground motion records are also used to develop ground motion prediction equations(GMPEs) for intensity measures such as spectral accelerations that are used in response-spectrum dynamic analysis. Despite the thousands of available strong ground motion records, there remains a shortage of records for large-magnitude earthquakes at short distances or in specific regions, as well as records that sample specific combinations of source, path, and site characteristics.

  20. Institutional System Development for Outward Foreign Direct Investment in China and Russia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marinova, Svetla Trifonova; Child, John; Marinov, Marin Alexandrov

    This paper examines institutional formation and institutional entrepreneurship relating to outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in China and Russia since the beginning of their market-oriented economic reforms. It focuses on the stages of OFDI institutional development during these periods...

  1. Empirical equations for the prediction of PGA and pseudo spectral accelerations using Iranian strong-motion data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zafarani, H.; Luzi, Lucia; Lanzano, Giovanni; Soghrat, M. R.

    2018-01-01

    A recently compiled, comprehensive, and good-quality strong-motion database of the Iranian earthquakes has been used to develop local empirical equations for the prediction of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and 5%-damped pseudo-spectral accelerations (PSA) up to 4.0 s. The equations account for style of faulting and four site classes and use the horizontal distance from the surface projection of the rupture plane as a distance measure. The model predicts the geometric mean of horizontal components and the vertical-to-horizontal ratio. A total of 1551 free-field acceleration time histories recorded at distances of up to 200 km from 200 shallow earthquakes (depth < 30 km) with moment magnitudes ranging from Mw 4.0 to 7.3 are used to perform regression analysis using the random effects algorithm of Abrahamson and Youngs (Bull Seism Soc Am 82:505-510, 1992), which considers between-events as well as within-events errors. Due to the limited data used in the development of previous Iranian ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) and strong trade-offs between different terms of GMPEs, it is likely that the previously determined models might have less precision on their coefficients in comparison to the current study. The richer database of the current study allows improving on prior works by considering additional variables that could not previously be adequately constrained. Here, a functional form used by Boore and Atkinson (Earthquake Spect 24:99-138, 2008) and Bindi et al. (Bull Seism Soc Am 9:1899-1920, 2011) has been adopted that allows accounting for the saturation of ground motions at close distances. A regression has been also performed for the V/H in order to retrieve vertical components by scaling horizontal spectra. In order to take into account epistemic uncertainty, the new model can be used along with other appropriate GMPEs through a logic tree framework for seismic hazard assessment in Iran and Middle East region.

  2. Adjoint Inversion for Extended Earthquake Source Kinematics From Very Dense Strong Motion Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ampuero, J. P.; Somala, S.; Lapusta, N.

    2010-12-01

    Addressing key open questions about earthquake dynamics requires a radical improvement of the robustness and resolution of seismic observations of large earthquakes. Proposals for a new generation of earthquake observation systems include the deployment of “community seismic networks” of low-cost accelerometers in urban areas and the extraction of strong ground motions from high-rate optical images of the Earth's surface recorded by a large space telescope in geostationary orbit. Both systems could deliver strong motion data with a spatial density orders of magnitude higher than current seismic networks. In particular, a “space seismometer” could sample the seismic wave field at a spatio-temporal resolution of 100 m, 1 Hz over areas several 100 km wide with an amplitude resolution of few cm/s in ground velocity. The amount of data to process would be immensely larger than what current extended source inversion algorithms can handle, which hampers the quantitative assessment of the cost-benefit trade-offs that can guide the practical design of the proposed earthquake observation systems. We report here on the development of a scalable source imaging technique based on iterative adjoint inversion and its application to the proof-of-concept of a space seismometer. We generated synthetic ground motions for M7 earthquake rupture scenarios based on dynamic rupture simulations on a vertical strike-slip fault embedded in an elastic half-space. A range of scenarios include increasing levels of complexity and interesting features such as supershear rupture speed. The resulting ground shaking is then processed accordingly to what would be captured by an optical satellite. Based on the resulting data, we perform source inversion by an adjoint/time-reversal method. The gradient of a cost function quantifying the waveform misfit between data and synthetics is efficiently obtained by applying the time-reversed ground velocity residuals as surface force sources, back

  3. On development and improvement of evaluation techniques for strong ground motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsutsumi, Hideaki; Wu, Changjiang; Kobayashi, Genyu; Mamada, Yutaka

    2011-01-01

    The NSC regulatory guide for reviewing seismic design, revised in September 2006 requires revision of evaluation method for design seismic ground motion. The new design seismic ground motion must be evaluated based on not only response spectra method but also fault model method. In the case of evaluation method using fault model, factors which affect ground motion (heterogeneous fault rupture, frequency dependence of radiation pattern on seismic waves and high-frequency reduction on observed spectrum (fmax)) were studied in order to apply the models to actual phenomenon. In the case of response spectra, attenuation relationships for earthquake response spectra on seismic basement, considering the earthquake source types (e.g. inter-plate, intra-plate and crustal types), were developed. In addition, in coping with the problems on evaluating ground motion amplification and attenuation in deep underground, JNES drills 3000 m deep boring and acquires the data for verification of new evaluation methods at deep borehole locating on sedimentary rock site in the Niigata Institute of Technology. Moreover JNES develops borehole seismometer enduring high temperature and high pressure and enabling multi-depth seismic observation system to perform vertical seismic array observation. (author)

  4. Identification of strong earthquake ground motion by using pattern recognition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Kohei; Tozawa, Shoji; Temmyo, Yoshiharu.

    1983-01-01

    The method of grasping adequately the technological features of complex waveform of earthquake ground motion and utilizing them as the input to structural systems has been proposed by many researchers, and the method of making artificial earthquake waves to be used for the aseismatic design of nuclear facilities has not been established in the unified form. In this research, earthquake ground motion was treated as an irregular process with unsteady amplitude and frequency, and the running power spectral density was expressed as a dark and light image on a plane of the orthogonal coordinate system with both time and frequency axes. The method of classifying this image into a number of technologically important categories by pattern recognition was proposed. This method is based on the concept called compound similarity method in the image technology, entirely different from voice diagnosis, and it has the feature that the result of identification can be quantitatively evaluated by the analysis of correlation of spatial images. Next, the standard pattern model of the simulated running power spectral density corresponding to the representative classification categories was proposed. Finally, the method of making unsteady simulated earthquake motion was shown. (Kako, I.)

  5. Influence of earthquake strong motion duration on nonlinear structural response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meskouris, K.

    1983-01-01

    The effects of motion duration on nonlinear structural response of high-rise, moment resisting frames are studied by subjecting shear beam models of a 10- and a 5-story frame to a series of synthetic accelerograms, all matching the same NEWMARK/HALL design spectrum. Two different hysteretic laws are used for the story springs, and calculations are carried out for target ductility values of 2 and 4. Maximum ductilities reached and energy-based damage indicators (maximum seismically input energy, hysteretically dissipated energy) are evaluated and correlated with the motion characteristics. A reasonable extrapolative determination of structural response characteristics based on these indicators seems possible. (orig.)

  6. Inward-outward linkages in the internationalization process of firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Choquette, Eliane

    , on the one hand, that firms with importing experience from a specific market prior to initiating exports to this market have a shorter export spell. This in line with the thesis that prior importing experience facilitates firms’ outward internationalization by reducing the sunk costs associated with export...... market entry and that export survival is negatively correlated with these sunk costs. Only importing experience within the same market affects (shortens) a firm’s export spell, which also is in line with the argument that a priori import experience reduces firms’ export market specific sunk costs...

  7. Deep Borehole Instrumentation Along San Francisco Bay Bridges: 1996 - 2003 and Strong Ground Motion Systhesis Along the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hutchings, L; Foxall, W; Kasameyer, P; larsen, S; Hayek, C; Tyler-Turpin, C; Aquilino, J; Long, L

    2005-04-22

    As a result of collaboration between the Berkeley Seismographic Station, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Caltrans, instrument packages have been placed in bedrock in six boreholes and two surface sites along the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge. Since 1996 over 200 local earthquakes have been recorded. Prior to this study few seismic recording instruments existed in bed-rock in San Francisco Bay. We utilized the data to perform analysis of ground motion variability, wave passage, site response, and up-and down-hole wave propagation along the Bay Bridge. We also synthesized strong ground motion at nine locations along the Bay Bridge. Key to these studies is LLNL's effort to exploit the information available in weak ground motions (generally from earthquakes < M=4.0) to enhance predictions of seismic hazards. We found that Yerba Island has no apparent site response at the surface relative to a borehole site. The horizontal to vertical spectral ratio method best revealed no site response, while the complex signal spectral ratio method had the lowest variance for spectral ratios and best predicted surface recordings when the borehole recording was used as input. Both methods identified resonances at about the same frequencies. Regional attenuation results in a significant loss of high frequencies in both surface and borehole recordings. Records are band limited at near 3 Hz. Therefore a traditional rock outcrop site response, flat to high frequency in displacement, is not available. We applied a methodology to predict and synthesize strong ground motion along the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge from a M=7.25 earthquake along the Hayward fault, about12 km distant. We synthesized for three-components and broad-band (0.0-25.0 Hz) ground motion accelerations, velocities, and displacements. We examined two different possible rupture scenarios, a ''mean'' and ''one standard deviation'' model. We combined the high

  8. Chinese outward foreign direct investment: Is ASEAN a new destination?

    OpenAIRE

    Nguyen, Thi Tuong Anh; Doan, Quang Hung

    2016-01-01

    The paper re-investigates the determinants of China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) employing panel data analysis collecting between 2003 and 2014. The results highlight that the market-seeking variables as GDP, GDP Per Capita, and openness to trade have a positive impact on China’s OFDI. In addition, Chinese investors are likely to be not associated with economic growth of host countries. Importantly, the previous studies confirmed that only the rich natural resources and the weak...

  9. Supply-demand balance in outward-directed networks and Kleiber's law

    OpenAIRE

    Painter Page R

    2005-01-01

    Abstract Background Recent theories have attempted to derive the value of the exponent α in the allometric formula for scaling of basal metabolic rate from the properties of distribution network models for arteries and capillaries. It has recently been stated that a basic theorem relating the sum of nutrient currents to the specific nutrient uptake rate, together with a relationship claimed to be required in order to match nutrient supply to nutrient demand in 3-dimensional outward-directed n...

  10. Outward Foreign Direct Investment and Human Capital Development: A Small Country Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonnell, Anthony

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the pattern of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) by Irish MNCs, and more specifically, to investigate their approach to human capital development and how these correspond to foreign MNCs in Ireland. In particular, it seeks to investigate training and development expenditure, adoption of…

  11. Stochastic strong motion generation using slip model of 21 and 22 May 1960 mega-thrust earthquakes in the main cities of Central-South Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz, S.; Ojeda, J.; DelCampo, F., Sr.; Pasten, C., Sr.; Otarola, C., Sr.; Silva, R., Sr.

    2017-12-01

    In May 1960 took place the most unusual seismic sequence registered instrumentally. The Mw 8.1, Concepción earthquake occurred May, 21, 1960. The aftershocks of this event apparently migrated to the south-east, and the Mw 9.5, Valdivia mega-earthquake occurred after 33 hours. The structural damage produced by both events is not larger than other earthquakes in Chile and lower than crustal earthquakes of smaller magnitude. The damage was located in the sites with shallow soil layers of low shear wave velocity (Vs). However, no seismological station recorded this sequence. For that reason, we generate synthetic acceleration times histories for strong motion in the main cities affected by these events. We use 155 points of vertical surface displacements recopiled by Plafker and Savage in 1968, and considering the observations of this authors and local residents we separated the uplift and subsidence information associated to the first earthquake Mw 8.1 and the second mega-earthquake Mw 9.5. We consider the elastic deformation propagation, assume realist lithosphere geometry, and compute a Bayesian method that maximizes the probability density a posteriori to obtain the slip distribution. Subsequently, we use a stochastic method of generation of strong motion considering the finite fault model obtained for both earthquakes. We considered the incidence angle of ray to the surface, free surface effect and energy partition for P, SV and SH waves, dynamic corner frequency and the influence of site effect. The results show that the earthquake Mw 8.1 occurred down-dip the slab, the strong motion records are similar to other Chilean earthquake like Tocopilla Mw 7.7 (2007). For the Mw 9.5 earthquake we obtain synthetic acceleration time histories with PGA values around 0.8 g in cities near to the maximum asperity or that have low velocity soil layers. This allows us to conclude that strong motion records have important influence of the shallow soil deposits. These records

  12. Classical confinement and outward convection of impurity ions in the MST RFP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumar, S. T. A.; Den Hartog, D. J.; Mirnov, V. V.; Eilerman, S.; Nornberg, M.; Reusch, J. A.; Sarff, J. S. [Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States); Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States); Caspary, K. J.; Chapman, B. E.; Parke, E. [Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States); Magee, R. M. [Department of Physics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506 (United States); Brower, D. L.; Ding, W. X.; Lin, L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States); Craig, D. [Physics Department, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois 60187 (United States); Fiksel, G. [Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States); Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York (United States)

    2012-05-15

    Impurity ion dynamics measured with simultaneously high spatial and temporal resolution reveal classical ion transport in the reversed-field pinch. The boron, carbon, oxygen, and aluminum impurity ion density profiles are obtained in the Madison Symmetric Torus [R. N. Dexter et al., Fusion Technol. 19, 131 (1991)] using a fast, active charge-exchange-recombination-spectroscopy diagnostic. Measurements are made during improved-confinement plasmas obtained using inductive control of tearing instability to mitigate stochastic transport. At the onset of the transition to improved confinement, the impurity ion density profile becomes hollow, with a slow decay in the core region concurrent with an increase in the outer region, implying an outward convection of impurities. Impurity transport from Coulomb collisions in the reversed-field pinch is classical for all collisionality regimes, and analysis shows that the observed hollow profile and outward convection can be explained by the classical temperature screening mechanism. The profile agrees well with classical expectations. Experiments performed with impurity pellet injection provide further evidence for classical impurity ion confinement.

  13. On the existence of global strong solutions to the equations modeling a motion of a rigid body around a viscous fluid

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Nečasová, Šárka; Wolf, J.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 36, č. 3 (2016), s. 1539-1562 ISSN 1078-0947 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-00522S Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : incompressible fluid * motion of rigid body * strong solutions Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.099, year: 2016 http://www.aimsciences.org/journals/displayArticlesnew.jsp?paperID=11589

  14. Oscillation thresholds for "striking outwards" reeds coupled to a resonator

    OpenAIRE

    Silva , Fabrice; Kergomard , Jean; Vergez , Christophe

    2007-01-01

    International audience; This paper considers a "striking outwards" reed coupled to a resonator. This expression, due to Helmholtz, is not discussed here : it corresponds to the most common model of a lip-type valve, when the valve is assumed to be a one degree of freedom oscillator. The presented work is an extension of the works done by Wilson and Beavers (1974), Tarnopolsky (2000). The range of the playing frequencies is investigated. The first results are analytical : when no losses are pr...

  15. Effect of Electric Field on Outwardly Propagating Spherical Flame

    KAUST Repository

    Mannaa, Ossama

    2012-06-01

    The thesis comprises effects of electric fields on a fundamental study of spheri­cal premixed flame propagation.Outwardly-propagating spherical laminar premixed flames have been investigated in a constant volume combustion vessel by applying au uni-directional electric potential.Direct photography and schlieren techniques have been adopted and captured images were analyzed through image processing. Unstretched laminar burning velocities under the influence of electric fields and their associated Markstein length scales have been determined from outwardly prop­agating spherical flame at a constant pressure. Methane and propane fuels have been tested to assess the effect of electric fields on the differential diffusion of the two fuels.The effects of varying equivalence ratios and applied voltages have been in­vestigated, while the frequency of AC was fixed at 1 KHz. Directional propagating characteristics were analyzed to identify the electric filed effect. The flame morphology varied appreciably under the influence of electric fields which in turn affected the burning rate of mixtures.The flame front was found to propagate much faster toward to the electrode at which the electric fields were supplied while the flame speeds in the other direction were minimally influenced. When the voltage was above 7 KV the combustion is markedly enhanced in the downward direction since intense turbulence is generated and as a result the mixing process or rather the heat and mass transfer within the flame front will be enhanced.The com­bustion pressure for the cases with electric fields increased rapidly during the initial stage of combustion and was relatively higher since the flame front was lengthened in the downward direction.

  16. Strong seismic wave scattering beneath Kanto region derived from dense K-NET/KiK-net strong motion network and numerical simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takemura, S.; Yoshimoto, K.

    2013-12-01

    Observed seismograms, which consist of the high-frequency body waves through the low-velocity (LV) region at depth of 20-40 km beneath northwestern Chiba in Kanto, show strong peak delay and spindle shape of S waves. By analyzing dense seismic records from K-NET/KiK-net, such spindle-shape S waves are clearly observed in the frequency range of 1-8 Hz. In order to investigate a specific heterogeneous structure to generate such observations, we conduct 3-D finite-difference method (FDM) simulation using realistic heterogeneous models and compare the simulation results with dense strong motion array observations. Our 3-D simulation model is covering the zone 150 km by 64 km in horizontal directions and 75 km in vertical direction, which has been discretized with uniform grid size 0.05 km. We assume a layered background velocity structure, which includes basin structure, crust, mantle and subducting oceanic plate, base on the model proposed by Koketsu et al. (2008). In order to introduce the effect of seismic wave scattering, we assume a stochastic random velocity fluctuation in each layer. Random velocity fluctuations are characterized by exponential-type auto-correlation function (ACF) with correlation distance a = 3 km and rms value of fluctuation e = 0.05 in the upper crust, a = 3 km and e = 0.07 in the lower crust, a = 10 km and e = 0.02 in the mantle. In the subducting oceanic plate, we assume an anisotropic random velocity fluctuation characterized by exponential-type ACF with aH = 10 km in horizontal direction, aZ = 0.5 km in vertical direction and e = 0.02 (e.g., Furumura and Kennett, 2005). In addition, we assume a LV zone at northeastern part of Chiba with depth of 20-40 km (e.g., Matsubara et al., 2004). In the LV zone, random velocity fluctuation characterized by Gaussian-type ACF with a = 1 km and e = 0.07 is superposed on exponential-type ACF with a = 3 km and e = 0.07, in order to modulate the S-wave propagation in the dominant frequency range of

  17. The SCEC Broadband Platform: Open-Source Software for Strong Ground Motion Simulation and Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, F.; Goulet, C. A.; Maechling, P. J.; Callaghan, S.; Jordan, T. H.

    2016-12-01

    The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Broadband Platform (BBP) is a carefully integrated collection of open-source scientific software programs that can simulate broadband (0-100 Hz) ground motions for earthquakes at regional scales. The BBP can run earthquake rupture and wave propagation modeling software to simulate ground motions for well-observed historical earthquakes and to quantify how well the simulated broadband seismograms match the observed seismograms. The BBP can also run simulations for hypothetical earthquakes. In this case, users input an earthquake location and magnitude description, a list of station locations, and a 1D velocity model for the region of interest, and the BBP software then calculates ground motions for the specified stations. The BBP scientific software modules implement kinematic rupture generation, low- and high-frequency seismogram synthesis using wave propagation through 1D layered velocity structures, several ground motion intensity measure calculations, and various ground motion goodness-of-fit tools. These modules are integrated into a software system that provides user-defined, repeatable, calculation of ground-motion seismograms, using multiple alternative ground motion simulation methods, and software utilities to generate tables, plots, and maps. The BBP has been developed over the last five years in a collaborative project involving geoscientists, earthquake engineers, graduate students, and SCEC scientific software developers. The SCEC BBP software released in 2016 can be compiled and run on recent Linux and Mac OS X systems with GNU compilers. It includes five simulation methods, seven simulation regions covering California, Japan, and Eastern North America, and the ability to compare simulation results against empirical ground motion models (aka GMPEs). The latest version includes updated ground motion simulation methods, a suite of new validation metrics and a simplified command line user interface.

  18. Nanosecond electric pulses differentially affect inward and outward currents in patch clamped adrenal chromaffin cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisha Yang

    Full Text Available This study examined the effect of 5 ns electric pulses on macroscopic ionic currents in whole-cell voltage-clamped adrenal chromaffin cells. Current-voltage (I-V relationships first established that the early peak inward current was primarily composed of a fast voltage-dependent Na+ current (INa, whereas the late outward current was composed of at least three ionic currents: a voltage-gated Ca2+ current (ICa, a Ca2+-activated K+ current (IK(Ca, and a sustained voltage-dependent delayed rectifier K+ current (IKV. A constant-voltage step protocol was next used to monitor peak inward and late outward currents before and after cell exposure to a 5 ns pulse. A single pulse applied at an electric (E-field amplitude of 5 MV/m resulted in an instantaneous decrease of ~4% in peak INa that then declined exponentially to a level that was ~85% of the initial level after 10 min. Increasing the E-field amplitude to 8 or 10 MV/m caused a twofold greater inhibitory effect on peak INa. The decrease in INa was not due to a change in either the steady-state inactivation or activation of the Na+ channel but instead was associated with a decrease in maximal Na+ conductance. Late outward current was not affected by a pulse applied at 5 MV/m. However, for a pulse applied at the higher E-field amplitudes of 8 and 10 MV/m, late outward current in some cells underwent a progressive ~22% decline over the course of the first 20 s following pulse exposure, with no further decline. The effect was most likely concentrated on ICa and IK(Ca as IKV was not affected. The results of this study indicate that in whole-cell patch clamped adrenal chromaffin cells, a 5 ns pulse differentially inhibits specific voltage-gated ionic currents in a manner that can be manipulated by tuning E-field amplitude.

  19. European Integration and Outward FDI from Central and Eastern Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jindra, B.; Hassan, S. S.; Gunther, J.

    2015-01-01

    countries (CEECs) within the EU 27 (1996-2010). We find that the EU integration process is related with increasing importance of market access and less emphasis on labour cost advantages. We find heterogeneity in the valuation of foreign knowledge-related assets. The location probability within the EU15......The European Union (EU) Member States in central and eastern Europe (CEE) witnessed a surge in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) between 2000 and the start of the global financial crisis. This article investigates whether the European integration process altered the relative importance...

  20. Motions in Prominence Barbs as observed by Hinode/SOT and IRIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucera, Therese A.; Ofman, Leon; Tarbell, Theodore D.

    2016-05-01

    We discuss observations of prominence barb dynamics as observed by Hinode/SOT and IRIS. Prominence barbs extend outwards to the side of the main prominence spine and downwards towards the chromosphere. Their properties, including the structure of their magnetic field and the nature of the motions observed in them are a subject of current debate. We use a combination of high cadence, high resolution imaging, H-alpha Doppler, and Mg II line profile data to analyze and understand waves and flows in barbs and discuss their ramifications in terms of a model of the barb magnetic field as collection of dipped field lines.

  1. Joint Inversion of 1-Hz GPS Data and Strong Motion Records for the Rupture Process of the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake: Objectively Determining Relative Weighting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Z.; Kato, T.; Wang, Y.

    2015-12-01

    The spatiotemporal fault slip history of the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake, Japan, is obtained by the joint inversion of 1-Hz GPS waveforms and near-field strong motion records. 1-Hz GPS data from GEONET is processed by GAMIT/GLOBK and then a low-pass filter of 0.05 Hz is applied. The ground surface strong motion records from stations of K-NET and Kik-Net are band-pass filtered for the range of 0.05 ~ 0.3 Hz and integrated once to obtain velocity. The joint inversion exploits a broader frequency band for near-field ground motions, which provides excellent constraints for both the detailed slip history and slip distribution. A fully Bayesian inversion method is performed to simultaneously and objectively determine the rupture model, the unknown relative weighting of multiple data sets and the unknown smoothing hyperparameters. The preferred rupture model is stable for different choices of velocity structure model and station distribution, with maximum slip of ~ 8.0 m and seismic moment of 2.9 × 1019 Nm (Mw 6.9). By comparison with the single inversion of strong motion records, the cumulative slip distribution of joint inversion shows sparser slip distribution with two slip asperities. One common slip asperity extends from the hypocenter southeastward to the ground surface of breakage; another slip asperity, which is unique for joint inversion contributed by 1-Hz GPS waveforms, appears in the deep part of fault where very few aftershocks are occurring. The differential moment rate function of joint and single inversions obviously indicates that rich high frequency waves are radiated in the first three seconds but few low frequency waves.

  2. Moderate hypoxia influences potassium outward currents in adipose-derived stem cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mayuri Prasad

    Full Text Available Moderate hypoxic preconditioning of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs enhances properties such as proliferation and secretion of growth factors, representing a valuable strategy to increase the efficiency of cell-based therapies. In a wide variety of cells potassium (K+ channels are key elements involved in the cellular responses to hypoxia, suggesting that ASCs cultured under low oxygen conditions may display altered electrophysiological properties. Here, the effects of moderate hypoxic culture on proliferation, whole-cell currents, and ion channel expression were investigated using human ASCs cultured at 5% and 20% oxygen. Although cell proliferation was greatly enhanced, the dose-dependent growth inhibition by the K+ channel blocker tetraethylammonium (TEA was not significantly affected by hypoxia. Under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, ASCs displayed outward K+ currents composed by Ca2+-activated, delayed rectifier, and transient components. Hypoxic culture reduced the slope of the current-voltage curves and caused a negative shift in the voltage activation threshold of the whole-cell currents. However, the TEA-mediated shift of voltage activation threshold was not affected by hypoxia. Semiquantitative real-time RT-PCR revealed that expression of genes encoding for various ion channels subunits related to oxygen sensing and proliferation remained unchanged after hypoxic culture. In conclusion, outward currents are influenced by moderate hypoxia in ASCs through a mechanism that is not likely the result of modulation of TEA-sensitive K+ channels.

  3. ‘The Edification of the Church’: Richard Hooker’s Theology of Worship and the Protestant Inward / Outward Disjunction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Littlejohn W. Bradford

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Sixteenth-century English Protestants struggled with the legacy left them by the Lutheran reformation: a strict disjunction between inward and outward that hindered the development of a robust theology of worship. For Luther, outward forms of worship had more to do with the edification of the neighbour than they did with pleasing God. But what exactly did ‘edification’ mean? On the one hand, English Protestants sought to avoid the Roman Catholic view that certain elements of worship held an intrinsic spiritual value; on the other hand, many did not want to imply that forms of worship were spiritually arbitrary and had a merely civil value. Richard Hooker developed his theology of worship in response to this challenge, seeking to maintain a clear distinction between the inward worship of the heart and the outward forms of public worship, while refusing to disassociate the two. The result was a concept of edification which sought to do justice to both civil and spiritual concerns, without, pace Peter Lake and other scholars, conceding an inch to a Catholic theology of worship

  4. Outward foreign direct investments and home country's economic growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciesielska, Dorota; Kołtuniak, Marcin

    2017-09-01

    The study examines the time stability of the causality direction and cross-correlations between the home country's economic growth and pace of growth of its outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) stocks within the complex system of the Polish national economy. The research has been performed in order to verify, using both the time and frequency domains time series analyses, if economic agents' long term decisions on outward foreign direct investments, leading to cross-border value chains and production fragmentation processes, are of adaptive or predictive character. Consequently, the aim was to check if the home country's economic growth leads the internationalization processes of domestic enterprises, which stays in line with Dunning's Investment Development Path (IDP) paradigm, or if these complex processes, thanks to entrepreneurs' ability to formulate relevant rational expectations, precede the home country's economic growth, which would be supported with the introduction of the policy on reinforcing the internationalization processes of domestic enterprises. The presence of the unidirectional economic growth-led internationalization, consistent with the IDP concept's base assumptions, has been ascertained by the results of the short term Granger causality tests. Nevertheless, the results of the wavelet analyses, supported with the results of the econometric block exogeneity long term causality Wald tests, have revealed that in the long term the OFDI stocks' growth permanently precedes the home country's economic growth, which stays in the unequivocal contrast with the IDP paradigm's premises, as well as with the indicated above short term Granger causality tests' outcomes and indicates that economic agents' choices are not strictly of adaptive but also of predictive character, which influences the current state of knowledge on economic complex systems' characteristics. Such a result is of a great importance in the light of the existence of the significant

  5. A Motion Planning Approach to Studying Molecular Motions

    KAUST Repository

    Amato, Nancy M.; Tapia, Lydia; Thomas, Shawna

    2010-01-01

    While structurally very different, protein and RNA molecules share an important attribute. The motions they undergo are strongly related to the function they perform. For example, many diseases such as Mad Cow disease or Alzheimer's disease

  6. Exploring Familial Relationship Growth and Negotiation: A Case Study of Outward Bound Family Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overholt, Jillisa R.

    2013-01-01

    This study explored the phenomenon of father-child relationship development within the context of an Outward Bound (OB) family course, an environment that may both disrupt the ordinary aspects of an established relationship, and provide activities to purposefully encourage relationship development through a variety of aspects inherent to the…

  7. Rupture history of the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan, China, earthquake: Evaluation of separate and joint inversions of geodetic, teleseismic, and strong-motion data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartzell, Stephen; Mendoza, Carlos; Ramírez-Guzmán, Leonardo; Zeng, Yuesha; Mooney, Walter

    2013-01-01

    An extensive data set of teleseismic and strong-motion waveforms and geodetic offsets is used to study the rupture history of the 2008 Wenchuan, China, earthquake. A linear multiple-time-window approach is used to parameterize the rupture. Because of the complexity of the Wenchuan faulting, three separate planes are used to represent the rupturing surfaces. This earthquake clearly demonstrates the strengths and limitations of geodetic, teleseismic, and strong-motion data sets. Geodetic data (static offsets) are valuable for determining the distribution of shallower slip but are insensitive to deeper faulting and reveal nothing about the timing of slip. Teleseismic data in the distance range 30°–90° generally involve no modeling difficulties because of simple ray paths and can distinguish shallow from deep slip. Teleseismic data, however, cannot distinguish between different slip scenarios when multiple fault planes are involved because steep takeoff angles lead to ambiguity in timing. Local strong-motion data, on the other hand, are ideal for determining the direction of rupture from directivity but can easily be over modeled with inaccurate Green’s functions, leading to misinterpretation of the slip distribution. We show that all three data sets are required to give an accurate description of the Wenchuan rupture. The moment is estimated to be approximately 1.0 × 1021 N · m with the slip characterized by multiple large patches with slips up to 10 m. Rupture initiates on the southern end of the Pengguan fault and proceeds unilaterally to the northeast. Upon reaching the cross-cutting Xiaoyudong fault, rupture of the adjacent Beichuan fault starts at this juncture and proceeds bilaterally to the northeast and southwest.

  8. 5-HT modulation of hyperpolarization-activated inward current and calcium- dependent outward current in a crustacean motor neuron

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kiehn, O.; Harris-Warrick, R. M.

    1992-01-01

    1. Serotonergic modulation of a hyperpolarization-activated inward current, I(h), and a calcium-dependent outward current, I(o(Ca)), was examined in the dorsal gastric (DG) motor neuron, with the use of intracellular recording techniques in an isolated preparation of the crab stomatogastric....... The time course of activation of I(h) was well fitted by a single exponential function and strongly voltage dependent. 5-HT increased the rate of activation of I(h). 5- HT also slowed the rate of deactivation of the I(h) tail on repolarization to -50 mV. 6. The activation curve for the conductance (G...... reduced or eliminated the 5-HT response in the depolarizing range, suggesting that 5-HT specifically reduces I(o(Ca)). 11. These results demonstrate that 5-HT has dual effects on the DG motor neuron, in the crab stomatogastric ganglion. We suggest that changes in the two conductances are responsible...

  9. Elastin is a key regulator of outward remodeling in arteriovenous fistulas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, C Y; Rothuizen, T C; de Vries, M R; Rabelink, T J; Hamming, J F; van Zonneveld, A J; Quax, P H A; Rotmans, J I

    2015-04-01

    Maturation failure is the major limitation of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) as hemodialysis access conduits. Indeed, 30-50% of AVFs fail to mature due to intimal hyperplasia and insufficient outward remodeling. Elastin has emerged as an important determinant of vascular remodeling. Here the role of elastin in AVF remodeling in elastin haplodeficient (eln(+/-)) mice undergoing AVF surgery has been studied. Unilateral AVFs between the branch of the jugular vein and carotid artery in an end to side manner were created in wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 (n = 11) and in eln(+/-) mice (n = 9). Animals were killed at day 21 and the AVFs were analyzed histologically and at an mRNA level using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Before AVF surgery, a marked reduction in elastin density in the internal elastic lamina (IEL) of eln(+/-) mice was observed. AVF surgery resulted in fragmentation of the venous internal elastic lamina in both groups while the expression of the tropoelastin mRNA was 53% lower in the eln(+/-) mice than in WT mice (p elastin has an important role in vascular remodeling following AVF creation, in which a lower amount of elastin results in enhanced outward remodeling. Interventions targeting elastin degradation might be a viable option in order to improve AVF maturation. Copyright © 2015 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Strong ground motion in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during the M7.0 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hough, Susan E; Given, Doug; Taniguchi, Tomoyo; Altidor, J.R.; Anglade, Dieuseul; Mildor, S-L.

    2011-01-01

    No strong motion records are available for the 12 January 2010 M7.0 Haiti earthquake. We use aftershock recordings as well as detailed considerations of damage to estimate the severity and distribution of mainshock shaking in Port-au-Prince. Relative to ground motions at a hard - rock reference site, peak accelerations are amplified by a factor of approximately 2 at sites on low-lying deposits in central Port-au-Prince and by a factor of 2.5 - 3.5 on a steep foothill ridge in the southern Port-au-Prince metropolitan region. The observed amplification along the ridge cannot be explained by sediment - induced amplification , but is consistent with predicted topographic amplification by a steep, narrow ridge. Although damage was largely a consequence of poor construction , the damage pattern inferred from analysis of remote sensing imagery provides evidence for a correspondence between small-scale (0.1 - 1.0 km) topographic relief and high damage. Mainshock shaking intensity can be estimated crudely from a consideration of macroseismic effects . We further present detailed, quantitative analysis of the marks left on a tile floor by an industrial battery rack displaced during the mainshock, at the location where we observed the highest weak motion amplifications. Results of this analysis indicate that mainshock shaking was significantly higher at this location (~0.5 g , MMI VIII) relative to the shaking in parts of Port-au-Prince that experienced light damage. Our results further illustrate how observations of rigid body horizontal displacement during earthquakes can be used to estimate peak ground accelerations in the absence of instrumental data .

  11. Cooperating the BDS, GPS, GLONASS and strong-motion observations for real-time deformation monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Rui; Liu, Jinhai; Lu, Cuixian; Zhang, Rui; Zhang, Pengfei; Lu, Xiaochun

    2017-06-01

    An approach of cooperating the BDS, GPS, GLONASS and strong-motion (SM) records for real-time deformation monitoring was presented, which was validated by the experimental data. In this approach, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data were processed with the real-time kinematic positioning technology to retrieve the GNSS displacement, and the SM data were calibrated to acquire the raw acceleration; a Kalman filter was then applied to combine the GNSS displacement and the SM acceleration to obtain the integrated displacement, velocity and acceleration. The validation results show that the advantages of each sensor are completely complementary. For the SM, the baseline shifts are estimated and corrected, and the high-precision velocity and displacement are recovered. While the noise of GNSS can be reduced by using the SM-derived high-resolution acceleration, thus the high-precision and broad-band deformation information can be obtained in real time. The proposed method indicates a promising potential and capability in deformation monitoring of the high-building, dam, bridge and landslide.

  12. Observing Structure and Motion in Molecules with Ultrafast Strong Field and Short Wavelength Laser Radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bucksbaum, Philip H

    2011-04-13

    The term "molecular movie" has come to describe efforts to track and record Angstrom-scale coherent atomic and electronic motion in a molecule. The relevant time scales for this range cover several orders of magnitude, from sub-femtosecond motion associated with electron-electron correlations, to 100-fs internal vibrations, to multi-picosecond motion associated with the dispersion and quantum revivals of molecular reorientation. Conventional methods of cinematography do not work well in this ultrafast and ultrasmall regime, but stroboscopic "pump and probe" techniques can reveal this motion with high fidelity. This talk will describe some of the methods and recent progress in exciting and controlling this motion, using both laboratory lasers and the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source x-ray free electron laser, and will further try to relate the date to the goal of molecular movies.

  13. Application of bounding spectra to seismic design of piping based on the performance of above ground piping in power plants subjected to strong motion earthquakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevenson, J.D.

    1995-02-01

    This report extends the potential application of Bounding Spectra evaluation procedures, developed as part of the A-46 Unresolved Safety Issue applicable to seismic verification of in-situ electrical and mechanical equipment, to in-situ safety related piping in nuclear power plants. The report presents a summary of earthquake experience data which define the behavior of typical U.S. power plant piping subject to strong motion earthquakes. The report defines those piping system caveats which would assure the seismic adequacy of the piping systems which meet those caveats and whose seismic demand are within the bounding spectra input. Based on the observed behavior of piping in strong motion earthquakes, the report describes the capabilities of the piping system to carry seismic loads as a function of the type of connection (i.e. threaded versus welded). This report also discusses in some detail the basic causes and mechanisms for earthquake damages and failures to power plant piping systems

  14. Denmark: Outward FDI from Denmark and Its Policy Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammeltoft, Peter

    2013-01-01

    Except for a peak in 2011 due to large one-off investments, Danish flows of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) have been dampened since 2007 by the lingering European sovereign debt crisis, which continues to hamper the Danish economy. Over a longer time span however, the Danish corporate...... sector has developed a substantial international presence since the 1980s. Today, about half of the workforce in Danish manufacturing industries is employed abroad. Companies plan to expand their foreign operations further still, with 60% of companies with foreign operations planning to expand...... their production of goods and services abroad toward 2015. The Danish Government supports the internationalization of Danish companies, and recently more emphasis has been put on OFDI into the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and other growth markets....

  15. A diffusion approximation based on renewal processes with applications to strongly biased run–tumble motion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thygesen, Uffe Høgsbro

    2016-01-01

    We consider organisms which use a renewal strategy such as run–tumble when moving in space, for example to perform chemotaxis in chemical gradients. We derive a diffusion approximation for the motion, applying a central limit theorem due to Anscombe for renewal-reward processes; this theorem has ....... The proposed technique for obtaining diffusion approximations is conceptually and computationally simple, and applicable also when statistics of the motion is obtained empirically or through Monte Carlo simulation of the motion....

  16. Analysis of seismic waves and strong ground motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simpson, I.C.; Sutton, R.

    1976-10-01

    A number of Western USA earthquake acceleration-time histories concerning events of magnitude less than 6 are considered and their Fourier spectra calculated. An analysis of some of the simpler types of seismic wave is given in order to consider the generation of a spatially dependent acceleration-time history suitable for input into a soil-structure program of analysis. Such an acceleration-time history is required by a comprehensive analysis of soil-structure interaction since the conventionally assumed model of vertically propagating seismic waves, which give rise to three spatially independent ground motions, can lead to over-conservative estimates of the building response in the high frequency range. The possible application is discussed of a given component of a recorded acceleration-time history to the base of structure under the assumption of surface Rayleigh waves or obliquely incident P and SV bulk waves. (author)

  17. Motion Tree Delineates Hierarchical Structure of Protein Dynamics Observed in Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kei Moritsugu

    Full Text Available Molecular dynamics (MD simulations of proteins provide important information to understand their functional mechanisms, which are, however, likely to be hidden behind their complicated motions with a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. A straightforward and intuitive analysis of protein dynamics observed in MD simulation trajectories is therefore of growing significance with the large increase in both the simulation time and system size. In this study, we propose a novel description of protein motions based on the hierarchical clustering of fluctuations in the inter-atomic distances calculated from an MD trajectory, which constructs a single tree diagram, named a "Motion Tree", to determine a set of rigid-domain pairs hierarchically along with associated inter-domain fluctuations. The method was first applied to the MD trajectory of substrate-free adenylate kinase to clarify the usefulness of the Motion Tree, which illustrated a clear-cut dynamics picture of the inter-domain motions involving the ATP/AMP lid and the core domain together with the associated amplitudes and correlations. The comparison of two Motion Trees calculated from MD simulations of ligand-free and -bound glutamine binding proteins clarified changes in inherent dynamics upon ligand binding appeared in both large domains and a small loop that stabilized ligand molecule. Another application to a huge protein, a multidrug ATP binding cassette (ABC transporter, captured significant increases of fluctuations upon binding a drug molecule observed in both large scale inter-subunit motions and a motion localized at a transmembrane helix, which may be a trigger to the subsequent structural change from inward-open to outward-open states to transport the drug molecule. These applications demonstrated the capabilities of Motion Trees to provide an at-a-glance view of various sizes of functional motions inherent in the complicated MD trajectory.

  18. What determines Chinese outward direct investment in Africa? Case study: CNPC and Huawei

    OpenAIRE

    WU, XUANYONG

    2014-01-01

    Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from China has increased substantially in recent years. Africa, as one of the most significant destinations of OFDI, has attracted increased global attention. The determinants of China’s OFDI to Africa are primarily linked to poorly governed countries with abundant natural resources. However, the results are inconclusive because of the differences between state-controlled and privately owned firms. In order to explore what drives Chinese OFDI in Africa...

  19. Nanoparticle motion on the surface of drying droplets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Mingfei; Yong, Xin

    2018-03-01

    Advances in solution-based printing and surface patterning techniques for additive manufacturing demand a clear understanding of particle dynamics in drying colloidal droplets and its relationship with deposit structure. Although the evaporation-driven deposition has been studied thoroughly for the particles dispersed in the bulk of the droplet, few investigations have focused on the particles strongly adsorbed to the droplet surface. We modeled the assembly and deposition of the surface-active particles in a drying sessile droplet with a pinned contact line by the multiphase lattice Boltzmann-Brownian dynamics method. The particle trajectory and its area density profile characterize the assembly dynamics and deposition pattern development during evaporation. While the bulk-dispersed particles continuously move to the contact line, forming the typical "coffee-ring" deposit, the interface-bound particles migrate first toward the apex and then to the contact line as the droplet dries out. To understand this unexpected behavior, we resolve the droplet velocity field both in the bulk and within the interfacial region. The simulation results agree well with the analytical solution for the Stokes flow inside an evaporating droplet. At different stages of evaporation, our study reveals that the competition between the tangential surface flow and the downward motion of the evaporating liquid-vapor interface governs the dynamics of the interface-bound particles. In particular, the interface displacement contributes to the particle motion toward the droplet apex in a short phase, while the outward advective flow prevails at the late stage of drying and carries the particles to the contact line. The final deposit of the surface-adsorbed particles exhibits a density enhancement at the center, in addition to a coffee ring. Despite its small influence on the final deposit in the present study, the distinct dynamics of surface-active particles due to the interfacial confinement

  20. Differential effects of the transient outward K(+) current activator NS5806 in the canine left ventricle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Calloe, Kirstine; Soltysinska, Ewa; Jespersen, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    To examine the electrophysiological and molecular properties of the transient outward current (I(to)) in canine left ventricle using a novel I(to) activator, NS5806, I(to) was measured in isolated epicardial (Epi), midmyocardial (Mid) and endocardial (Endo) cells using whole-cell patch-clamp tech...

  1. Strong-motion characteristics and source process during the Suruga Bay earthquake in 2009 through observed records on rock sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shiba, Yoshiaki; Sato, Hiroaki; Kuriyama, Masayuki

    2010-01-01

    On 11 August 2009, a moderate earthquake of M 6.5 occurred in the Suruga Bay region, south of Shizuoka prefecture. During this event, JMA Seismic Intensity reached 6 lower in several cities around the hypocenter, and at Hamaoka nuclear power plant of Chubu Electric Power reactors were automatically shutdown due to large ground motions. Though the epicenter is located at the eastern edge of source area for the assumed great Tokai earthquake of M 8, this event is classified into the intra-plate (intra-slab) earthquake, due to its focal depth lower than that of the plate boundary and fault geometry supposed from the moment tensor solution. Dense strong-motion observation network has been deployed mainly on the rock outcrops by our institute around the source area, and the waveform data of the main shock and several aftershocks were obtained at 13 stations within 100 km from the hypocenter. The observed peak ground motions and velocity response spectral amplitudes are both obviously larger than the empirical attenuation relations derived from the inland and plate-boundary earthquake data, which displays the characteristics of the intra-slab earthquake faulting. Estimated acceleration source spectra of the main shock also exhibit the short period level about 1.7 times larger than the average of those for past events, and it corresponds with the additional term in the attenuation curve of the peak ground acceleration for the intra-plate earthquake. Detailed source process of the main shock is inferred using the inversion technique. The initial source model is assumed to be composed of two distinct fault planes according to the minute aftershock distribution. Estimated source model shows that large slip occurred near the hypocenter and at the boundary region between two fault planes where the rupture transfers from primary to secondary fault. Furthermore the broadband source inversion using velocity motions in the frequency up to 5 Hz demonstrates the high effective

  2. Surface wave site characterization at 27 locations near Boston, Massachusetts, including 2 strong-motion stations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Eric M.; Carkin, Bradley A.; Baise, Laurie G.; Kayen, Robert E.

    2014-01-01

    The geotechnical properties of the soils in and around Boston, Massachusetts, have been extensively studied. This is partly due to the importance of the Boston Blue Clay and the extent of landfill in the Boston area. Although New England is not a region that is typically associated with seismic hazards, there have been several historical earthquakes that have caused significant ground shaking (for example, see Street and Lacroix, 1979; Ebel, 1996; Ebel, 2006). The possibility of strong ground shaking, along with heightened vulnerability from unreinforced masonry buildings, motivates further investigation of seismic hazards throughout New England. Important studies that are pertinent to seismic hazards in New England include source-parameter studies (Somerville and others, 1987; Boore and others, 2010), wave-propagation studies (Frankel, 1991; Viegas and others, 2010), empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPE) for computing ground-motion intensity (Tavakoli and Pezeshk, 2005; Atkinson and Boore, 2006), site-response studies (Hayles and others, 2001; Ebel and Kim, 2006), and liquefaction studies (Brankman and Baise, 2008). The shear-wave velocity (VS) profiles collected for this report are pertinent to the GMPE, site response, and liquefaction aspects of seismic hazards in the greater Boston area. Besides the application of these data for the Boston region, the data may be applicable throughout New England, through correlations with geologic units (similar to Ebel and Kim, 2006) or correlations with topographic slope (Wald and Allen, 2007), because few VS measurements are available in stable tectonic regions.Ebel and Hart (2001) used felt earthquake reports to infer amplification patterns throughout the greater Boston region and noted spatial correspondence with the dominant period and amplification factors obtained from ambient noise (horizontal-to-vertical ratios) by Kummer (1998). Britton (2003) compiled geotechnical borings in the area and produced a

  3. External K+ dependence of strong inward rectifier K+ channel conductance is caused not by K+ but by competitive pore blockade by external Na.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishihara, Keiko

    2018-06-15

    Strong inward rectifier K + (sKir) channels determine the membrane potentials of many types of excitable and nonexcitable cells, most notably the resting potentials of cardiac myocytes. They show little outward current during membrane depolarization (i.e., strong inward rectification) because of the channel blockade by cytoplasmic polyamines, which depends on the deviation of the membrane potential from the K + equilibrium potential ( V - E K ) when the extracellular K + concentration ([K + ] out ) is changed. Because their open - channel conductance is apparently proportional to the "square root" of [K + ] out , increases/decreases in [K + ] out enhance/diminish outward currents through sKir channels at membrane potentials near their reversal potential, which also affects, for example, the repolarization and action-potential duration of cardiac myocytes. Despite its importance, however, the mechanism underlying the [K + ] out dependence of the open sKir channel conductance has remained elusive. By studying Kir2.1, the canonical member of the sKir channel family, we first show that the outward currents of Kir2.1 are observed under the external K + -free condition when its inward rectification is reduced and that the complete inhibition of the currents at 0 [K + ] out results solely from pore blockade caused by the polyamines. Moreover, the noted square-root proportionality of the open sKir channel conductance to [K + ] out is mediated by the pore blockade by the external Na + , which is competitive with the external K + Our results show that external K + itself does not activate or facilitate K + permeation through the open sKir channel to mediate the apparent external K + dependence of its open channel conductance. The paradoxical increase/decrease in outward sKir channel currents during alternations in [K + ] out , which is physiologically relevant, is caused by competition from impermeant extracellular Na . © 2018 Ishihara.

  4. Outward Rectification of Voltage-Gated K+ Channels Evolved at Least Twice in Life History.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janin Riedelsberger

    Full Text Available Voltage-gated potassium (K+ channels are present in all living systems. Despite high structural similarities in the transmembrane domains (TMD, this K+ channel type segregates into at least two main functional categories-hyperpolarization-activated, inward-rectifying (Kin and depolarization-activated, outward-rectifying (Kout channels. Voltage-gated K+ channels sense the membrane voltage via a voltage-sensing domain that is connected to the conduction pathway of the channel. It has been shown that the voltage-sensing mechanism is the same in Kin and Kout channels, but its performance results in opposite pore conformations. It is not known how the different coupling of voltage-sensor and pore is implemented. Here, we studied sequence and structural data of voltage-gated K+ channels from animals and plants with emphasis on the property of opposite rectification. We identified structural hotspots that alone allow already the distinction between Kin and Kout channels. Among them is a loop between TMD S5 and the pore that is very short in animal Kout, longer in plant and animal Kin and the longest in plant Kout channels. In combination with further structural and phylogenetic analyses this finding suggests that outward-rectification evolved twice and independently in the animal and plant kingdom.

  5. Seismic Intensity Map Triggered by Observed Strong Motion Records Considering Site Amplification and its service based on Geo-spatial International Standard

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuoka, Masashi

    2014-01-01

    Instrumental seismic intensity measurement is carried out at approximately 4,200 points in Japan, but the correct values at points without seismometers cannot always be provided because seismic motion depends on geologic and geomorphologic features. Quick provision of accurate information on seismic intensity distribution over wide areas is required for disaster mitigation. To estimate seismic intensity at specific points, it is important to prepare ground amplification characteristics for local areas beforehand and use an interpolation algorithm. The QuiQuake system (quick estimation system for earthquake maps triggered by using observation records from K-NET and KiK-net that have been released by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention), which uses these, was developed; it can be started up automatically using seismograms and can immediately display a seismic intensity distribution map. The calculation results are sent to IAEA and JNES in the form of strong motion evaluation maps with a mesh size of 250 x 250 m. These maps are also sent to the general public via social networking web sites. (author)

  6. Seismic velocity site characterization of 10 Arizona strong-motion recording stations by spectral analysis of surface wave dispersion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kayen, Robert E.; Carkin, Brad A.; Corbett, Skye C.

    2017-10-19

    Vertical one-dimensional shear wave velocity (VS) profiles are presented for strong-motion sites in Arizona for a suite of stations surrounding the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The purpose of the study is to determine the detailed site velocity profile, the average velocity in the upper 30 meters of the profile (VS30), the average velocity for the entire profile (VSZ), and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) site classification. The VS profiles are estimated using a non-invasive continuous-sine-wave method for gathering the dispersion characteristics of surface waves. Shear wave velocity profiles were inverted from the averaged dispersion curves using three independent methods for comparison, and the root-mean-square combined coefficient of variation (COV) of the dispersion and inversion calculations are estimated for each site.

  7. Orbit-attitude coupled motion around small bodies: Sun-synchronous orbits with Sun-tracking attitude motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kikuchi, Shota; Howell, Kathleen C.; Tsuda, Yuichi; Kawaguchi, Jun'ichiro

    2017-11-01

    The motion of a spacecraft in proximity to a small body is significantly perturbed due to its irregular gravity field and solar radiation pressure. In such a strongly perturbed environment, the coupling effect of the orbital and attitude motions exerts a large influence that cannot be neglected. However, natural orbit-attitude coupled dynamics around small bodies that are stationary in both orbital and attitude motions have yet to be observed. The present study therefore investigates natural coupled motion that involves both a Sun-synchronous orbit and Sun-tracking attitude motion. This orbit-attitude coupled motion enables a spacecraft to maintain its orbital geometry and attitude state with respect to the Sun without requiring active control. Therefore, the proposed method can reduce the use of an orbit and attitude control system. This paper first presents analytical conditions to achieve Sun-synchronous orbits and Sun-tracking attitude motion. These analytical solutions are then numerically propagated based on non-linear coupled orbit-attitude equations of motion. Consequently, the possibility of implementing Sun-synchronous orbits with Sun-tracking attitude motion is demonstrated.

  8. Pregnancy causes diminished myogenic tone and outward hypotrophic remodeling of the cerebral vein of Galen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Wijk, Anne-Eva; Schreurs, Malou P H; Cipolla, Marilyn J

    2013-04-01

    Pregnancy increases the risk of several complications associated with the cerebral veins, including thrombosis and hemorrhage. In contrast to the cerebral arteries and arterioles, few studies have focused on the effect of pregnancy on the cerebral venous side. Here, we investigated for the first time the effect of pregnancy on the function and structure of the cerebral vein of Galen in rats. Our major finding was that cerebral veins from late-pregnant (LP, n=11) rats had larger lumen diameters and thinner walls than veins from nonpregnant (NP, n=13) rats, indicating that pregnancy caused outward hypotrophic remodeling of the vein of Galen. Moreover, veins from NP animals had a small amount of myogenic tone at 10 mm Hg (3.9±1.0%) that was diminished in veins during pregnancy (0.8±0.3%; Ppregnancy. Using immunohistochemistry, we show that the vein of Galen receives perivascular innervation, and that serotonergic innervation of cerebral veins is significantly higher in veins from LP animals. Outward hypotrophic remodeling and diminished tone of cerebral veins during pregnancy may contribute to the development of venous pathology through elevated wall tension and wall stress, and possibly by promoting venous blood stasis.

  9. Reversed sense of the ''outward'' direction for dynamical effects of rotation close to a Schwarzschild black hole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abramowicz, M.A.; Prasanna, A.R.

    1988-10-01

    Anderson and Lemos (1988) noticed that the direction in which viscous torque transports angular momentum changes, close to a black hole, from outwards to inwards. We find here that close to a black hole the centrifugal force attracts particles towards the hole. We argue that these are particular examples of a general reversal in sense of the inward and outward directions for all dynamical effects of rotation close to the hole. Using results from the recent paper by Abramowicz, Carter and Lasota (1988) we explain that the reversal is not connected with dragging of inertial frames or with the difference between the angular velocities of the hole and of the surrounding matter but rather, it is an effect of curvature. For a Schwarzschild black hole the reversal takes place at the circular photon orbit (r=3M-tilde) because the geodesic curvature, R-tilde=r(1-3M-tilde/r), of the circles r = const. changes its sign there. (author). 13 refs, 7 figs, 1 tab

  10. Construction method and application of 3D velocity model for evaluation of strong seismic motion and its cost performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuyama, Hisanori; Fujiwara, Hiroyuki

    2014-01-01

    Based on experiences of making subsurface structure models for seismic strong motion evaluation, the advantages and disadvantages in terms of convenience and cost for several methods used to make such models were reported. As for the details, gravity and micro-tremor surveys were considered to be highly valid in terms of convenience and cost. However, stratigraphy and seismic velocity structure are required to make accurate 3-D subsurface structures. To realize these, methods for directly examining subsurface ground or using controlled tremor sources (at high cost) are needed. As a result, it was summarized that in modeling subsurface structures, some sort of plan including both types of methods is desirable and that several methods must be combined to match one's intended purposes and budget. (authors)

  11. Near-Field Ground Motion Modal versus Wave Propagation Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artur Cichowicz

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The response spectrum generally provides a good estimate of the global displacement and acceleration demand of far-field ground motion on a structure. However, it does not provide accurate information on the local shape or internal deformation of the response of the structure. Near-field pulse-like ground motion will propagate through the structure as waves, causing large, localized deformation. Therefore, the response spectrum alone is not a sufficient representation of near-field ground motion features. Results show that the drift-response technique based on a continuous shear-beam model has to be employed here to estimate structure-demand parameters when structure is exposed to the pulse like ground motion. Conduced modeling shows limited applicability of the drift spectrum based on the SDOF approximation. The SDOF drift spectrum approximation can only be applied to structures with smaller natural periods than the dominant period of the ground motion. For periods larger than the dominant period of ground motion the SDOF drift spectra model significantly underestimates maximum deformation. Strong pulse-type motions are observed in the near-source region of large earthquakes; however, there is a lack of waveforms collected from small earthquakes at very close distances that were recorded underground in mines. The results presented in this paper are relevant for structures with a height of a few meters, placed in an underground excavation. The strong ground motion sensors recorded mine-induced earthquakes in a deep gold mine, South Africa. The strongest monitored horizontal ground motion was caused by an event of magnitude 2 at a distance of 90 m with PGA 123 m/s2, causing drifts of 0.25%–0.35%. The weak underground motion has spectral characteristics similar to the strong ground motion observed on the earth's surface; the drift spectrum has a maximum value less than 0.02%.

  12. Determination of GMPE functional form for an active region with limited strong motion data: application to the Himalayan region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajaj, Ketan; Anbazhagan, P.

    2018-01-01

    Advancement in the seismic networks results in formulation of different functional forms for developing any new ground motion prediction equation (GMPE) for a region. Till date, various guidelines and tools are available for selecting a suitable GMPE for any seismic study area. However, these methods are efficient in quantifying the GMPE but not for determining a proper functional form and capturing the epistemic uncertainty associated with selection of GMPE. In this study, the compatibility of the recent available functional forms for the active region is tested for distance and magnitude scaling. Analysis is carried out by determining the residuals using the recorded and the predicted spectral acceleration values at different periods. Mixed effect regressions are performed on the calculated residuals for determining the intra- and interevent residuals. Additionally, spatial correlation is used in mixed effect regression by changing its likelihood function. Distance scaling and magnitude scaling are respectively examined by studying the trends of intraevent residuals with distance and the trend of the event term with magnitude. Further, these trends are statistically studied for a respective functional form of a ground motion. Additionally, genetic algorithm and Monte Carlo method are used respectively for calculating the hinge point and standard error for magnitude and distance scaling for a newly determined functional form. The whole procedure is applied and tested for the available strong motion data for the Himalayan region. The functional form used for testing are five Himalayan GMPEs, five GMPEs developed under NGA-West 2 project, two from Pan-European, and one from Japan region. It is observed that bilinear functional form with magnitude and distance hinged at 6.5 M w and 300 km respectively is suitable for the Himalayan region. Finally, a new regression coefficient for peak ground acceleration for a suitable functional form that governs the attenuation

  13. Wave, particle-family duality and the conservation of discrete symmetries in strong interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van der Spuy, E.

    1984-01-01

    This paper starts from a nonlinear fermion field equation of motion with a strongly coupled self-interaction. Nonperturbative quark solutions of the equation of motion are constructed in terms of a Reggeized infinite component free spinor field. Such a field carries a family of strongly interacting unstable compounds lying on a Regge locus in the analytically continued quark spin. Such a quark field is naturally confined and also possesses the property of asymptotic freedom. Furthermore, the particular field self-regularizes the interactions and naturally breaks the chiral invariance of the equation of motion. We show why and how the existence of such a strongly coupled solution and its particle-family, wave duality forces a change in the field equation of motion such that it conserves C,P,T, although its individual interaction terms are of V-A and thus C,P nonconserving type

  14. Wave, particle-family duality and the conservation of discrete symmetries in strong interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van der Spuy, E.

    1984-01-01

    This paper starts from a nonlinear fermion field equation of motion with a strongly coupled selfinteraction. Nonperturbative quark solutions of the equation of motion are constructed in terms of a Reggeized infinite component free spinor field. Such a field carries a family of strongly interacting unstable compounds lying on a Regge locus in the analytically continued quark spin. Such a quark field is naturally confined and also possesses the property of asymptotic freedom. Furthermore the particular field selfregularizes the interactions and naturally breaks the chiral invariance of the equation of motion. We show why and how the existence of such a strongly coupled solution and its particle-family, wave duality forces a change in the field equation of motion such that it conserves C, P, T although its individual interaction terms are of V - A and thus C, P nonconserving type

  15. Directional bias of illusory stream caused by relative motion adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomimatsu, Erika; Ito, Hiroyuki

    2016-07-01

    Enigma is an op-art painting that elicits an illusion of rotational streaming motion. In the present study, we tested whether adaptation to various motion configurations that included relative motion components could be reflected in the directional bias of the illusory stream. First, participants viewed the center of a rotating Enigma stimulus for adaptation. There was no physical motion on the ring area. During the adaptation period, the illusory stream on the ring was mainly seen in the direction opposite to that of the physical rotation. After the physical rotation stopped, the illusory stream on the ring was mainly seen in the same direction as that of the preceding physical rotation. Moreover, adapting to strong relative motion induced a strong bias in the illusory motion direction in the subsequently presented static Enigma stimulus. The results suggest that relative motion detectors corresponding to the ring area may produce the illusory stream of Enigma. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  16. Ambiguity in Tactile Apparent Motion Perception.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emanuela Liaci

    Full Text Available In von Schiller's Stroboscopic Alternative Motion (SAM stimulus two visually presented diagonal dot pairs, located on the corners of an imaginary rectangle, alternate with each other and induce either horizontal, vertical or, rarely, rotational motion percepts. SAM motion perception can be described by a psychometric function of the dot aspect ratio ("AR", i.e. the relation between vertical and horizontal dot distances. Further, with equal horizontal and vertical dot distances (AR = 1 perception is biased towards vertical motion. In a series of five experiments, we presented tactile SAM versions and studied the role of AR and of different reference frames for the perception of tactile apparent motion.We presented tactile SAM stimuli and varied the ARs, while participants reported the perceived motion directions. Pairs of vibration stimulators were attached to the participants' forearms and stimulator distances were varied within and between forearms. We compared straight and rotated forearm conditions with each other in order to disentangle the roles of exogenous and endogenous reference frames.Increasing the tactile SAM's AR biased perception towards vertical motion, but the effect was weak compared to the visual modality. We found no horizontal disambiguation, even for very small tactile ARs. A forearm rotation by 90° kept the vertical bias, even though it was now coupled with small ARs. A 45° rotation condition with crossed forearms, however, evoked a strong horizontal motion bias.Existing approaches to explain the visual SAM bias fail to explain the current tactile results. Particularly puzzling is the strong horizontal bias in the crossed-forearm conditions. In the case of tactile apparent motion, there seem to be no fixed priority rule for perceptual disambiguation. Rather the weighting of available evidence seems to depend on the degree of stimulus ambiguity, the current situation and on the perceptual strategy of the individual

  17. Synaptic excitation in spinal motoneurons alternates with synaptic inhibition and is balanced by outward rectification during rhythmic motor network activity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guzulaitis, Robertas; Hounsgaard, Jorn

    2017-01-01

    channels. Intrinsic outward rectification facilitates spiking by focusing synaptic depolarization near threshold for action potentials. By direct recording of synaptic currents, we also show that motoneurons are activated by out-of-phase peaks in excitation and inhibition during network activity, whereas......Regular firing in spinal motoneurons of red-eared turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans, either sex) evoked by steady depolarization at rest is replaced by irregular firing during functional network activity. The transition caused by increased input conductance and synaptic fluctuations in membrane...... potential was suggested to originate from intense concurrent inhibition and excitation. We show that the conductance increase in motoneurons during functional network activity is mainly caused by intrinsic outward rectification near threshold for action potentials by activation of voltage and Ca2+ gated K...

  18. City Kids in the Wilderness: A Pilot-Test of Outward Bound for Foster Care Group Home Youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Robert L.; Attah, E. B.

    2001-01-01

    A study examined perceptions of a 7-day Outward Bound program among 23 urban youths, foster parents, and foster care workers from group homes in Atlanta (Georgia). Foster parents reported improved self-esteem and behavior among the teens, but foster care workers reported worse behavior. Negative program impressions lessened among male youths but…

  19. Ground characteristics at observation site of strong motion in Hachinohe Inst. Tech. Hachinohe, Aomori; Hachinohe Kodai konai ni secchishita kyoshin kansokuten no jiban tokusei

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sakajiri, N [Hachinohe Institute of Technology, Aomori (Japan)

    1997-10-22

    Discussions were given on ground structures in the city of Hachinohe and vibration characteristics of the grounds during earthquakes. In order to identify ground structures and vibration characteristics thereof in the city of Hachinohe, strong motion seismographs were installed in five locations of the city and in the Tohoku University. At the Hachinohe Institute of Technology, strong motion seismographs were installed underground (-65 m) and on the ground, where S-wave logging experiments were performed using the plank hammering method. The records therefrom were used to estimate Q values, and the Q values were used to compare the computed ground amplification characteristics with the spectral ratio of seismic waves in and on the ground. The analysis has conducted the Q value estimation on each bed from a depth greater than 4 m, whereas relatively reasonable values were derived only from sections from 4 m to 13 m, and other sections showed no stable values. According to the result of observations derived from the seismographs installed in and on the ground, the maximum amplitude of the ground surface seismograph was found about five times greater than that of underground in the NS components, about eight times in the EW components, and about six times in vertical movements. The result indicates that the amplitude is obviously affected greatly by the characteristics of the ground. 4 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

  20. State of the art in the calculation of a reference motion for design purposes. Modification of bedrock motion by superficial, young deposit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohammadioun, B.

    1986-10-01

    Engineering sismology is aimed, among others, at predicting a strong reference motion for the site of a given critical structure to be used in the design of said installation. A common practice, when modal analysis is performed in view of the anti-seismic design of structures, is to use, as the input motion, a set of spectra with progressive values of damping. Such a practice is discussed. Parallel to those empirical predictions, attention has been drawn on strong motion studies. Progress has been made in the theoretical simulation of seismic sources and wave propagation. Reliability of inverse problems relating to type of rocks is discussed. Attempts of solutions are recalled

  1. Bunch-motion feedback for B-factories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambertson, G.R.

    1992-09-01

    The colliding electron and positron beams in a B-factory must have average current of one ampere or more to produce the required luminosity. The high current interacts with structures in the beam tube to drive strong coupled-bunch (c.b.) instabilities. To suppress these instabilities requires negative feedback of the bunch motions. Beam impedances arising from strong rf cavity modes should first be reduced to make the required feedback damping rate practical and the cost economical. In what follows, control of transverse motions will be discussed first, then longitudinal. We shall use the parameters of the 3.1 GeV ring of PEP-II to illustrate the general requirements

  2. Clinical significance of perceptible fetal motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rayburn, W F

    1980-09-15

    The monitoring of fetal activity during the last trimester of pregnancy has been proposed to be useful in assessing fetal welfare. The maternal perception of fetal activity was tested among 82 patients using real-time ultrasonography. All perceived fetal movements were visualized on the scanner and involved motion of the lower limbs. Conversely, 82% of all visualized motions of fetal limbs were perceived by the patients. All combined motions of fetal trunk with limbs were preceived by the patients and described as strong movements, whereas clusters of isolated, weak motions of the fetal limbs were less accurately perceived (56% accuracy). The number of fetal movements perceived during the 15-minute test period was significantly (p fetal motion was present (44 of 45 cases) than when it was absent (five of 10 cases). These findings reveal that perceived fetal motion is: (1) reliable; (2) related to the strength of lower limb motion; (3) increased with ruptured amniotic membranes; and (4) reassuring if considered to be active.

  3. Short- and long-range correlated motion observed in colloidal glasses and liquids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weeks, Eric R; Crocker, John C; Weitz, D A

    2007-01-01

    We use a confocal microscope to examine the motion of individual particles in a dense colloidal suspension. Close to the glass transition, particle motion is strongly spatially correlated. The correlations decay exponentially with particle separation, yielding a dynamic length scale of O(2-3σ) (in terms of particle diameter σ). This length scale grows modestly as the glass transition is approached. Further, the correlated motion exhibits a strong spatial dependence on the pair correlation function g(r). Motion within glassy samples is weakly correlated, but with a larger spatial scale for this correlation

  4. A comparative study of surface waves inversion techniques at strong motion recording sites in Greece

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panagiotis C. Pelekis,; Savvaidis, Alexandros; Kayen, Robert E.; Vlachakis, Vasileios S.; Athanasopoulos, George A.

    2015-01-01

    Surface wave method was used for the estimation of Vs vs depth profile at 10 strong motion stations in Greece. The dispersion data were obtained by SASW method, utilizing a pair of electromechanical harmonic-wave source (shakers) or a random source (drop weight). In this study, three inversion techniques were used a) a recently proposed Simplified Inversion Method (SIM), b) an inversion technique based on a neighborhood algorithm (NA) which allows the incorporation of a priori information regarding the subsurface structure parameters, and c) Occam's inversion algorithm. For each site constant value of Poisson's ratio was assumed (ν=0.4) since the objective of the current study is the comparison of the three inversion schemes regardless the uncertainties resulting due to the lack of geotechnical data. A penalty function was introduced to quantify the deviations of the derived Vs profiles. The Vs models are compared as of Vs(z), Vs30 and EC8 soil category, in order to show the insignificance of the existing variations. The comparison results showed that the average variation of SIM profiles is 9% and 4.9% comparing with NA and Occam's profiles respectively whilst the average difference of Vs30 values obtained from SIM is 7.4% and 5.0% compared with NA and Occam's.

  5. Neural representations of kinematic laws of motion: evidence for action-perception coupling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dayan, Eran; Casile, Antonino; Levit-Binnun, Nava; Giese, Martin A; Hendler, Talma; Flash, Tamar

    2007-12-18

    Behavioral and modeling studies have established that curved and drawing human hand movements obey the 2/3 power law, which dictates a strong coupling between movement curvature and velocity. Human motion perception seems to reflect this constraint. The functional MRI study reported here demonstrates that the brain's response to this law of motion is much stronger and more widespread than to other types of motion. Compliance with this law is reflected in the activation of a large network of brain areas subserving motor production, visual motion processing, and action observation functions. Hence, these results strongly support the notion of similar neural coding for motion perception and production. These findings suggest that cortical motion representations are optimally tuned to the kinematic and geometrical invariants characterizing biological actions.

  6. The 2011 Mineral, VA M5.8 Earthquake Ground Motions and Stress Drop: An Important Contribution to the NGA East Ground Motion Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, C. H.; Kutliroff, J.; Dangkua, D.

    2011-12-01

    The M5.8 Mineral, Virginia earthquake of August 23, 2011 is the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in eastern North America since the 1988 M5.9 Saguenay, Canada earthquake. Historically, a similar magnitude earthquake occurred on May 31, 1897 at 18:58 UCT in western Virginia west of Roanoke. Paleoseismic evidence for larger magnitude earthquakes has also been found in the central Virginia region. The Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) East project to develop new ground motion prediction equations for stable continental regions (SCRs), including eastern North America (ENA), is ongoing at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The available recordings from the M5.8 Virginia are being added to the NGA East ground motion database. Close in (less than 100 km) strong motion recordings are particularly interesting for both ground motion and stress drop estimates as most close-in broadband seismometers clipped on the mainshock. A preliminary estimate for earthquake corner frequency for the M5.8 Virginia earthquake of ~0.7 Hz has been obtained from a strong motion record 57 km from the mainshock epicenter. For a M5.8 earthquake this suggests a Brune stress drop of ~300 bars for the Virginia event. Very preliminary comparisons using accelerometer data suggest the ground motions from the M5.8 Virginia earthquake agree well with current ENA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) at short periods (PGA, 0.2 s) and are below the GMPEs at longer periods (1.0 s), which is the same relationship seen from other recent M5 ENA earthquakes. We will present observed versus GMPE ground motion comparisons for all the ground motion observations and stress drop estimates from strong motion recordings at distances less than 100 km. A review of the completed NGA East ENA ground motion database will also be provided.

  7. Broadband Ground Motion Observation and Simulation for the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyake, H.; Chimoto, K.; Yamanaka, H.; Tsuno, S.; Korenaga, M.; Yamada, N.; Matsushima, T.; Miyakawa, K.

    2016-12-01

    During the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, strong motion data were widely recorded by the permanent dense triggered strong motion network of K-NET/KiK-net and seismic intensity meters installed by local government and JMA. Seismic intensities close to the MMI 9-10 are recorded twice at the Mashiki town, and once at the Nishihara village and KiK-net Mashiki (KMMH16 ground surface). Near-fault records indicate extreme ground motion exceeding 400 cm/s in 5% pSv at a period of 1 s for the Mashiki town and 3-4 s for the Nishihara village. Fault parallel velocity components are larger between the Mashiki town and the Nishihara village, on the other hand, fault normal velocity components are larger inside the caldera of the Aso volcano. The former indicates rupture passed through along-strike stations, and the latter stations located at the forward rupture direction (e.g., Miyatake, 1999). In addition to the permanent observation, temporary continuous strong motion stations were installed just after the earthquake in the Kumamoto city, Mashiki town, Nishihara village, Minami-Aso village, and Aso town, (e.g., Chimoto et al., 2016; Tsuno et al., 2016; Yamanaka et al. 2016). This study performs to estimate strong motion generation areas for the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence using the empirical Green's function method, then to simulate broadband ground motions for both the permanent and temporary strong motion stations. Currently the target period range is between 0.1 s to 5-10 s due to the signal-to-noise ratio of element earthquakes used for the empirical Green's functions. We also care fault dimension parameters N within 4 to 10 to avoid spectral sags and artificial periodicity. The simulated seismic intensities as well as fault normal and parallel velocity components will be discussed.

  8. Procedures for evaluation of vibratory ground motions of soil deposits at nuclear power plant sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1975-06-01

    According to USNRC requirements set forth in Appendix A, 10 CFR, Part 100, vibratory ground motion criteria for a nuclear plant must be based on local soil conditions, as well as on the seismicity, geology, and tectonics of the region. This report describes how such criteria can be developed by applying the latest technology associated with analytical predictions of site-dependent ground motions and with the use of composite spectra obtained from the current library of strong motion records. Recommended procedures for defining vibratory ground motion criteria contain the following steps: (1) geologic and seismologic studies; (2) site soils investigations; (3) site response sensitivity studies; (4) evaluation of local site response characteristics; (5) selection of site-matched records; and (6) appraisal and selection of seismic input criteria. An in-depth discussion of the engineering characteristics of earthquake ground motions including parameters used to characterize earthquakes and strong motion records, geologic factors that influence ground shaking, the current strong motion data base, and case histories of the effects of past earthquake events is presented. Next, geotechnical investigations of the seismologic, geologic, and site soil conditions required to develop vibratory motion criteria are briefly summarized. The current technology for establishing vibratory ground motion criteria at nuclear plant sites, including site-independent and site-dependent procedures that use data from strong motion records and from soil response analyses is described. (auth)

  9. A method for regulating strong nonlinear vibration energy of the flexible arm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yushu Bian

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available For an oscillating system, large amplitude indicates strong vibration energy. In this article, modal interaction is used as a useful means to regulate strong nonlinear vibration energy of the flexible arm undergoing rigid motion. A method is put forward to migrate and dissipate vibration energy based on modal interaction. By means of multiple-scale perturbation analysis, it is proven that internal resonance can be successfully established between modes of the flexible arm and the vibration absorber. Through examples and analyses, it is verified that this control method is effective in regulating strong vibration energy and can be used to suppress strong nonlinear vibration of the flexible arm undergoing rigid motion.

  10. Estimation of strong ground motion and micro-zonation for the city of Rome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faeh, D.; Iodice, C.; Suhadolc, P.; Panza, G.F.

    1994-03-01

    A hybrid technique, based on mode summation and finite differences, is used to simulate the ground motion induced in the city of Rome by possible earthquakes occurring in the main seismogenetic areas surrounding the city: the Central Apennines and the Alban Hills. The results of the numerical simulations are used for a first order seismic micro-zonation in the city of Rome, which can be used for the retrofitting of buildings of special social and cultural value. Rome can be divided into six main zones: (1) the edge and (2) the central part of the alluvial basin of the river Tiber; (3) the edges and (4) the central part of the Paleotiber basin; the areas outside the large basins of the Tiber and Paleotiber, where we distinguish between (5) areas without, and (6) areas with a layer of volcanic rocks close to the surface. The strongest amplification effects have to be expected at the edges of the Tiber basin, with maximum spectral amplification of the order of 5 to 6, and strong amplifications occur inside the entire alluvial basin of the Tiber. The presence of a near-surface layer of rigid material is not sufficient to classify a location as a ''hard-rock site'', when the rigid material covers a sedimentary complex. The reason is that the underlying sedimentary complex causes amplifications at the surface due to resonance effects. This phenomenon can be observed in the Paleotiber basin, where spectral amplifications in the frequency range 0.3-1.0 Hz reach values of the order of 3 to 4. (author). 17 refs, 5 figs, 2 tabs

  11. Effect of strong-focusing field distortions on particle motion in a linear accelerator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bondarev, B.I.; Durkin, A.P.; Solov'ev, L.Yu.

    1979-01-01

    The increased sensitivity of quadrupole focusing channel used in the highenergetic part of the linear accelerator makes it necessary to pay serious attention to the effect of various distortions of focusing fields on the transverse motion of the beam. The distortions may cause the inadmissible losses of particles in the accelerator. To achieve this aim the main equation of disturbed motion of particles in the linear accelerator, obtained by analogy with the cyclic accelerator theory is presented. The investigation of the solutions of this equation has permitted to obtain the analytical formulas for the estimation of the beam size increase under the effect of focusing field distortions of various types, such as structural non-linearity, gradient errors, random non-linearity, channel axis deformation. While studying the effect of structural non-linearity considered are the resonance effects and obtained are the relations describing the maximum beam size increase in the channel of the linear accelerator in the presence and in the absence of the resonance

  12. Motion of Rydberg atoms with strong permanent-electric-dipole interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonçalves, Luís Felipe; Thaicharoen, Nithiwadee; Raithel, Georg

    2016-01-01

    Using classical trajectories simulations, we investigate the dynamics of a cold sample of Rydberg atoms with high permanent electric dipole moments. The dipolar state can be created using an adiabatic passage through an avoided crossing between an S-like state and a linear Stark state. The simulations yield the pair-correlation functions (PCF) of the atom samples, which allow us to extract the motion of Rydberg-atom pairs in the many-body system. The results reveal the strength and the anisotropic character of the underlying interaction. The simulation is employed to test the suitability of experimental methods designed to derive interaction parameters from PCF. Insight is obtained about the stability of the method against variation of experimentally relevant parameters. Transient correlations due to interaction-induced heating are observed. (paper)

  13. Correlation of horizontal and vertical components of strong ground motion for response-history analysis of safety-related nuclear facilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang, Yin-Nan, E-mail: ynhuang@ntu.edu.tw [Dept. of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Yen, Wen-Yi, E-mail: b01501059@ntu.edu.tw [Dept. of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Whittaker, Andrew S., E-mail: awhittak@buffalo.edu [Dept. of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, MCEER, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260 (United States)

    2016-12-15

    Highlights: • The correlation of components of ground motion is studied using 1689 sets of records. • The data support an upper bound of 0.3 on the correlation coefficient. • The data support the related requirement in the upcoming edition of ASCE Standard 4. - Abstract: Design standards for safety-related nuclear facilities such as ASCE Standard 4-98 and ASCE Standard 43-05 require the correlation coefficient for two orthogonal components of ground motions for response-history analysis to be less than 0.3. The technical basis of this requirement was developed by Hadjian three decades ago using 50 pairs of recorded ground motions that were available at that time. In this study, correlation coefficients for (1) two horizontal components, and (2) the vertical component and one horizontal component, of a set of ground motions are computed using records from a ground-motion database compiled recently for large-magnitude shallow crustal earthquakes. The impact of the orientation of the orthogonal horizontal components on the correlation coefficient of ground motions is discussed. The rules in the forthcoming edition of ASCE Standard 4 for the correlation of components in a set of ground motions are shown to be reasonable.

  14. Development of a new modeling technique of 3D S-wave velocity structure for strong ground motion evaluation - Integration of various geophysical and geological data using joint inversion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugimoto, Yoshihiro

    2014-01-01

    A restricted stripe-like zone suffered major damage due to the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake, and ground motion of the south side of the Kashiwazaki NPP site was much greater than that of the north side in the 2007 Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki earthquake. One reason for these phenomena is thought to be the focusing effect due to irregularly shaped sedimentary basins (e.g., basin-edge structure, fold structure, etc.) This indicates that precise evaluation of S-wave velocity structure is important. A calculation program that was developed to make S-wave velocity models using the joint inversion method was presented. This program unifies various geophysical and geological data and can make a complex structure model for evaluating strong ground motion with high precision. (author)

  15. The ShakeOut earthquake source and ground motion simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graves, R.W.; Houston, Douglas B.; Hudnut, K.W.

    2011-01-01

    The ShakeOut Scenario is premised upon the detailed description of a hypothetical Mw 7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault and the associated simulated ground motions. The main features of the scenario, such as its endpoints, magnitude, and gross slip distribution, were defined through expert opinion and incorporated information from many previous studies. Slip at smaller length scales, rupture speed, and rise time were constrained using empirical relationships and experience gained from previous strong-motion modeling. Using this rupture description and a 3-D model of the crust, broadband ground motions were computed over a large region of Southern California. The largest simulated peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) generally range from 0.5 to 1.0 g and 100 to 250 cm/s, respectively, with the waveforms exhibiting strong directivity and basin effects. Use of a slip-predictable model results in a high static stress drop event and produces ground motions somewhat higher than median level predictions from NGA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs).

  16. Installation of a digital, wireless, strong-motion network for monitoring seismic activity in a western Colorado coal mining region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peter Swanson; Collin Stewart; Wendell Koontz [NIOSH, Spokane, WA (USA). Spokane Research Laboratory

    2007-01-15

    A seismic monitoring network has recently been installed in the North Fork Valley coal mining region of western Colorado as part of a NIOSH mine safety technology transfer project with two longwall coal mine operators. Data recorded with this network will be used to characterize mining related and natural seismic activity in the vicinity of the mines and examine potential hazards due to ground shaking near critical structures such as impoundment dams, reservoirs, and steep slopes. Ten triaxial strong-motion accelerometers have been installed on the surface to form the core of a network that covers approximately 250 square kilometers (100 sq. miles) of rugged canyon-mesa terrain. Spread-spectrum radio networks are used to telemeter continuous streams of seismic waveform data to a central location where they are converted to IP data streams and ported to the Internet for processing, archiving, and analysis. 4 refs.

  17. Blind retrospective motion correction of MR images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loktyushin, Alexander; Nickisch, Hannes; Pohmann, Rolf; Schölkopf, Bernhard

    2013-12-01

    Subject motion can severely degrade MR images. A retrospective motion correction algorithm, Gradient-based motion correction, which significantly reduces ghosting and blurring artifacts due to subject motion was proposed. The technique uses the raw data of standard imaging sequences; no sequence modifications or additional equipment such as tracking devices are required. Rigid motion is assumed. The approach iteratively searches for the motion trajectory yielding the sharpest image as measured by the entropy of spatial gradients. The vast space of motion parameters is efficiently explored by gradient-based optimization with a convergence guarantee. The method has been evaluated on both synthetic and real data in two and three dimensions using standard imaging techniques. MR images are consistently improved over different kinds of motion trajectories. Using a graphics processing unit implementation, computation times are in the order of a few minutes for a full three-dimensional volume. The presented technique can be an alternative or a complement to prospective motion correction methods and is able to improve images with strong motion artifacts from standard imaging sequences without requiring additional data. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., a Wiley company.

  18. Ground motion input in seismic evaluation studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sewell, R.T.; Wu, S.C.

    1996-07-01

    This report documents research pertaining to conservatism and variability in seismic risk estimates. Specifically, it examines whether or not artificial motions produce unrealistic evaluation demands, i.e., demands significantly inconsistent with those expected from real earthquake motions. To study these issues, two types of artificial motions are considered: (a) motions with smooth response spectra, and (b) motions with realistic variations in spectral amplitude across vibration frequency. For both types of artificial motion, time histories are generated to match target spectral shapes. For comparison, empirical motions representative of those that might result from strong earthquakes in the Eastern U.S. are also considered. The study findings suggest that artificial motions resulting from typical simulation approaches (aimed at matching a given target spectrum) are generally adequate and appropriate in representing the peak-response demands that may be induced in linear structures and equipment responding to real earthquake motions. Also, given similar input Fourier energies at high-frequencies, levels of input Fourier energy at low frequencies observed for artificial motions are substantially similar to those levels noted in real earthquake motions. In addition, the study reveals specific problems resulting from the application of Western U.S. type motions for seismic evaluation of Eastern U.S. nuclear power plants

  19. Overview of the relations earthquake source parameters and the specification of strong ground motion for design purposes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernreuter, D.L.

    1977-08-01

    One of the most important steps in the seismic design process is the specification of the appropriate ground motion to be input into the design analysis. From the point-of-view of engineering design analysis, the important parameters are peak ground acceleration, spectral shape and peak spectral levels. In a few cases, ground displacement is a useful parameter. The earthquake is usually specified by giving its magnitude and either the epicentral distance or the distance of the closest point on the causitive fault to the site. Typically, the appropriate ground motion parameters are obtained using the specified magnitude and distance in equations obtained from regression analysis among the appropriate variables. Two major difficulties with such an approach are: magnitude is not the best parameter to use to define the strength of an earthquake, and little near-field data is available to establish the appropriate form for the attenuation of the ground motion with distance, source size and strength. These difficulties are important for designing a critical facility; i.e., one for which a very low risk of exceeding the design ground motion is required. Examples of such structures are nuclear power plants, schools and hospitals. for such facilities, a better understanding of the relation between the ground motion and the important earthquake source parameters could be very useful for several reasons

  20. Visualization of intermittent blobby plasma transport in attached and detached plasmas of the NAGDIS-II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohno, Noriyasu; Furuta, Katsuhiro; Takamura, Shuichi

    2004-01-01

    We investigated the intermittent convective plasma transport in a attached and/or detached plasma condition of the linear divertor plasma simulator, NAGDIS-II. Images taken by a fast-imaging camera clearly show that in attached plasmas, blobs are peeled off the bulk plasma, and propagate outward with an azimuthal motion. In detached plasmas, plasma turbulence observed near the plasma recombining region drives strong intermittent radial plasma transport, which could broaden the radial density profile. (author)

  1. A combined method to calculate co-seismic displacements through strong motion acceleration baseline correction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhan, W.; Sun, Y.

    2015-12-01

    High frequency strong motion data, especially near field acceleration data, have been recorded widely through different observation station systems among the world. Due to tilting and a lot other reasons, recordings from these seismometers usually have baseline drift problems when big earthquake happens. It is hard to obtain a reasonable and precision co-seismic displacement through simply double integration. Here presents a combined method using wavelet transform and several simple liner procedures. Owning to the lack of dense high rate GNSS data in most of region of the world, we did not contain GNSS data in this method first but consider it as an evaluating mark of our results. This semi-automatic method unpacks a raw signal into two portions, a summation of high ranks and a low ranks summation using a cubic B-spline wavelet decomposition procedure. Independent liner treatments are processed against these two summations, which are then composed together to recover useable and reasonable result. We use data of 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and choose stations with a near GPS recording to validate this method. Nearly all of them have compatible co-seismic displacements when compared with GPS stations or field survey. Since seismometer stations and GNSS stations from observation systems in China are sometimes quite far from each other, we also test this method with some other earthquakes (1999 Chi-Chi earthquake and 2011 Tohoku earthquake). And for 2011 Tohoku earthquake, we will introduce GPS recordings to this combined method since the existence of a dense GNSS systems in Japan.

  2. The upper spatial limit for perception of displacement is affected by preceding motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefanova, Miroslava; Mateeff, Stefan; Hohnsbein, Joachim

    2009-03-01

    The upper spatial limit D(max) for perception of apparent motion of a random dot pattern may be strongly affected by another, collinear, motion that precedes it [Mateeff, S., Stefanova, M., &. Hohnsbein, J. (2007). Perceived global direction of a compound of real and apparent motion. Vision Research, 47, 1455-1463]. In the present study this phenomenon was studied with two-dimensional motion stimuli. A random dot pattern moved alternately in the vertical and oblique direction (zig-zag motion). The vertical motion was of 1.04 degrees length; it was produced by three discrete spatial steps of the dots. Thereafter the dots were displaced by a single spatial step in oblique direction. Each motion lasted for 57ms. The upper spatial limit for perception of the oblique motion was measured under two conditions: the vertical component of the oblique motion and the vertical motion were either in the same or in opposite directions. It was found that the perception of the oblique motion was strongly influenced by the relative direction of the vertical motion that preceded it; in the "same" condition the upper spatial limit was much shorter than in the "opposite" condition. Decreasing the speed of the vertical motion reversed this effect. Interpretations based on networks of motion detectors and on Gestalt theory are discussed.

  3. Electromagnetic modes in cold magnetized strongly coupled plasmas

    OpenAIRE

    Tkachenko, I. M.; Ortner, J.; Rylyuk, V. M.

    1999-01-01

    The spectrum of electromagnetic waves propagating in a strongly coupled magnetized fully ionized hydrogen plasma is found. The ion motion and damping being neglected, the influence of the Coulomb coupling on the electromagnetic spectrum is analyzed.

  4. The determinants of the outward foreign direct investment of China and India: whither the home country?

    OpenAIRE

    Tolentino, P.E.

    2008-01-01

    The current study examines the relationships between several home country-specific \\ud macroeconomic factors and the level of the outward FDI of China and India using multiple \\ud time-series data from 1982 to 2006 and from 1980 to 2006, respectively. With the use of a \\ud vector autoregressive model assessing the causal relationships of the endogenous variables, \\ud the empirical research proves that Chinese national characteristics associated with income per \\ud capita, openness of the econ...

  5. A Panel data analysis of locational determinants of outward Foreign Direct Investment from China and India

    OpenAIRE

    Duanmu, J; Guney, Y

    2009-01-01

    The upsurge of Chinese and Indian outward foreign direct investment (FDI) raises an unanswered question about locational determinants of direct investment from the two countries. Using an unbalanced bilateral FDI database, we find that Chinese and Indian FDI are attracted to countries with large market size, low GDP growth, high volumes of imports from China or India, and low corporate tax rates. We also find important differences between China and India. While Chinese FDI is drawn to countri...

  6. China’s Outward FDI in Africa: Enterprises with Different Ownership Types

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hai-Tao Tsao

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to discuss the consequences of China’s outward direct investments in Africa in terms of enterprises with different ownership types. First, this paper contributes to the examination of a large number of Chinese enterprises’ investment projects in Africa. Second, in addition to the investment activities of central state-owned enterprises, investment activities initiated by local state-owned enterprises and private enterprises are also addressed in this paper. Third, this paper demonstrates the diversity ofChinese investment in Africa through the discussion of a large number of cases. We find that the motives of central state-owned enterprises comply with government policies. However, most private enterprises and non-central state-owned enterprises invest in Africa for profit considerations. This paper concludes that China’s investments in Africa are diverse and complex and cannot be explained using a single model of the extant theories.

  7. Ground-motion prediction from tremor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baltay, Annemarie S.; Beroza, Gregory C.

    2013-01-01

    The widespread occurrence of tremor, coupled with its frequency content and location, provides an exceptional opportunity to test and improve strong ground-motion attenuation relations for subduction zones. We characterize the amplitude of thousands of individual 5 min tremor events in Cascadia during three episodic tremor and slip events to constrain the distance decay of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV). We determine the anelastic attenuation parameter for ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) to a distance of 150 km, which is sufficient to place important constraints on ground-motion decay. Tremor PGA and PGV show a distance decay that is similar to subduction-zone-specific GMPEs developed from both data and simulations; however, the massive amount of data present in the tremor observations should allow us to refine distance-amplitude attenuation relationships for use in hazard maps, and to search for regional variations and intrasubduction zone differences in ground-motion attenuation.

  8. Interpersonal Coordination of Head Motion in Distressed Couples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammal, Zakia; Cohn, Jeffrey F.; George, David T.

    2015-01-01

    In automatic emotional expression analysis, head motion has been considered mostly a nuisance variable, something to control when extracting features for action unit or expression detection. As an initial step toward understanding the contribution of head motion to emotion communication, we investigated the interpersonal coordination of rigid head motion in intimate couples with a history of interpersonal violence. Episodes of conflict and non-conflict were elicited in dyadic interaction tasks and validated using linguistic criteria. Head motion parameters were analyzed using Student’s paired t-tests; actor-partner analyses to model mutual influence within couples; and windowed cross-correlation to reveal dynamics of change in direction of influence over time. Partners’ RMS angular displacement for yaw and RMS angular velocity for pitch and yaw each demonstrated strong mutual influence between partners. Partners’ RMS angular displacement for pitch was higher during conflict. In both conflict and non-conflict, head angular displacement and angular velocity for pitch and yaw were strongly correlated, with frequent shifts in lead-lag relationships. The overall amount of coordination between partners’ head movement was more highly correlated during non-conflict compared with conflict interaction. While conflict increased head motion, it served to attenuate interpersonal coordination. PMID:26167256

  9. Application and API for Real-time Visualization of Ground-motions and Tsunami

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoi, S.; Kunugi, T.; Suzuki, W.; Kubo, T.; Nakamura, H.; Azuma, H.; Fujiwara, H.

    2015-12-01

    Due to the recent progress of seismograph and communication environment, real-time and continuous ground-motion observation becomes technically and economically feasible. K-NET and KiK-net, which are nationwide strong motion networks operated by NIED, cover all Japan by about 1750 stations in total. More than half of the stations transmit the ground-motion indexes and/or waveform data in every second. Traditionally, strong-motion data were recorded by event-triggering based instruments with non-continues telephone line which is connected only after an earthquake. Though the data from such networks mainly contribute to preparations for future earthquakes, huge amount of real-time data from dense network are expected to directly contribute to the mitigation of ongoing earthquake disasters through, e.g., automatic shutdown plants and helping decision-making for initial response. By generating the distribution map of these indexes and uploading them to the website, we implemented the real-time ground motion monitoring system, Kyoshin (strong-motion in Japanese) monitor. This web service (www.kyoshin.bosai.go.jp) started in 2008 and anyone can grasp the current ground motions of Japan. Though this service provides only ground-motion map in GIF format, to take full advantage of real-time strong-motion data to mitigate the ongoing disasters, digital data are important. We have developed a WebAPI to provide real-time data and related information such as ground motions (5 km-mesh) and arrival times estimated from EEW (earthquake early warning). All response data from this WebAPI are in JSON format and are easy to parse. We also developed Kyoshin monitor application for smartphone, 'Kmoni view' using the API. In this application, ground motions estimated from EEW are overlapped on the map with the observed one-second-interval indexes. The application can playback previous earthquakes for demonstration or disaster drill. In mobile environment, data traffic and battery are

  10. Strong Turbulence in Low-beta Plasmas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tchen, C. M.; Pécseli, Hans; Larsen, Søren Ejling

    1980-01-01

    An investigation of the spectral structure of turbulence in a plasma confined by a strong homogeneous magnetic field was made by means of a fluid description. The turbulent spectrum is divided into subranges. Mean gradients of velocity and density excite turbulent motions, and govern the production......-cathode reflex arc, Stellarator, Zeta discharge, ionospheric plasmas, and auroral plasma turbulence....

  11. Seismic rupture modelling, strong motion prediction and seismic hazard assessment: fundamental and applied approaches; Modelisation de la rupture sismique, prediction du mouvement fort, et evaluation de l'alea sismique: approches fondamentale et appliquee

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berge-Thierry, C

    2007-05-15

    The defence to obtain the 'Habilitation a Diriger des Recherches' is a synthesis of the research work performed since the end of my Ph D. thesis in 1997. This synthesis covers the two years as post doctoral researcher at the Bureau d'Evaluation des Risques Sismiques at the Institut de Protection (BERSSIN), and the seven consecutive years as seismologist and head of the BERSSIN team. This work and the research project are presented in the framework of the seismic risk topic, and particularly with respect to the seismic hazard assessment. Seismic risk combines seismic hazard and vulnerability. Vulnerability combines the strength of building structures and the human and economical consequences in case of structural failure. Seismic hazard is usually defined in terms of plausible seismic motion (soil acceleration or velocity) in a site for a given time period. Either for the regulatory context or the structural specificity (conventional structure or high risk construction), seismic hazard assessment needs: to identify and locate the seismic sources (zones or faults), to characterize their activity, to evaluate the seismic motion to which the structure has to resist (including the site effects). I specialized in the field of numerical strong-motion prediction using high frequency seismic sources modelling and forming part of the IRSN allowed me to rapidly working on the different tasks of seismic hazard assessment. Thanks to the expertise practice and the participation to the regulation evolution (nuclear power plants, conventional and chemical structures), I have been able to work on empirical strong-motion prediction, including site effects. Specific questions related to the interface between seismologists and structural engineers are also presented, especially the quantification of uncertainties. This is part of the research work initiated to improve the selection of the input ground motion in designing or verifying the stability of structures. (author)

  12. Effects on ground motion related to spatial variability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vanmarcke, E.H.

    1987-01-01

    Models of the spectral content and the space-time correlation structure of strong earthquake ground motion are combined with transient random vibration analysis to yield site-specific response spectra that can account for the effect of local spatial averaging of the ground motion across a rigid foundation of prescribed size. The methodology is presented with reference to sites in eastern North America, although the basic approach is applicable to other seismic regions provided the source and attenuation parameters are regionally adjusted. Parameters in the spatial correlation model are based on data from the SMART-I accelerograph array, and the sensitivity of response spectra reduction factors with respect to these parameters is examined. The starting point of the analysis is the Fourier amplitude spectrum of site displacement expresses as a function of earthquake source parameters and source-to-site distance. The bedrock acceleration spectral density function at a point, derived from the displacement spectrum, is modified to account for anelastic attenuation, and where appropriate, for local soil effects and/or local spatial averaging across a foundation. Transient random vibration analysis yields approximate analytical expressions for median ground motion amplitudes and median response spectra of an earthquake defined in terms of its spectral density function and strong motion duration. The methodology is illustrated for three events characterized by their m b magnitude and epicentral distance. The focus in this paper is on the stochastic response prediction methodology enabling explicit accounting for strong motion duration and the effect of local spatial averaging on response spectra. The numerical examples enable a preliminary assessment of the reduction of response spectral amplitudes attributable to local spatial averaging across rigid foundations of different sizes. 36 refs

  13. Ground motion modeling of Hayward fault scenario earthquakes II:Simulation of long-period and broadband ground motions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aagaard, B T; Graves, R W; Rodgers, A; Brocher, T M; Simpson, R W; Dreger, D; Petersson, N A; Larsen, S C; Ma, S; Jachens, R C

    2009-11-04

    We simulate long-period (T > 1.0-2.0 s) and broadband (T > 0.1 s) ground motions for 39 scenarios earthquakes (Mw 6.7-7.2) involving the Hayward, Calaveras, and Rodgers Creek faults. For rupture on the Hayward fault we consider the effects of creep on coseismic slip using two different approaches, both of which reduce the ground motions compared with neglecting the influence of creep. Nevertheless, the scenario earthquakes generate strong shaking throughout the San Francisco Bay area with about 50% of the urban area experiencing MMI VII or greater for the magnitude 7.0 scenario events. Long-period simulations of the 2007 Mw 4.18 Oakland and 2007 Mw 4.5 Alum Rock earthquakes show that the USGS Bay Area Velocity Model version 08.3.0 permits simulation of the amplitude and duration of shaking throughout the San Francisco Bay area, with the greatest accuracy in the Santa Clara Valley (San Jose area). The ground motions exhibit a strong sensitivity to the rupture length (or magnitude), hypocenter (or rupture directivity), and slip distribution. The ground motions display a much weaker sensitivity to the rise time and rupture speed. Peak velocities, peak accelerations, and spectral accelerations from the synthetic broadband ground motions are, on average, slightly higher than the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) ground-motion prediction equations. We attribute at least some of this difference to the relatively narrow width of the Hayward fault ruptures. The simulations suggest that the Spudich and Chiou (2008) directivity corrections to the NGA relations could be improved by including a dependence on the rupture speed and increasing the areal extent of rupture directivity with period. The simulations also indicate that the NGA relations may under-predict amplification in shallow sedimentary basins.

  14. Red Trojan Horses? A New Look at Chinese SOEs' Outward Investment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Jiang

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available How dangerous is Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI because of the state's influence over business, particularly state-owned enterprises (SOEs? To what extent are business and politics interwoven in Chinese investment decisions? Crucial knowledge is lacking on the relationship between the state and companies in China's OFDI. This study does not claim to completely refute the conventional view that Chinese companies, particularly SOEs, are controlled by the state in their OFDI activities. However, it tries to provide some evidence that suggests the need for a revised look at them. It argues that although Chinese SOEs are supported by Chinese diplomacy and loans in their OFDI and have a tacit understanding of certain strategic goals of the state, they enjoy autonomy to make business decisions and have prioritized maximizing their own business interests. Importantly, this is enabled by the state's view that the profit of SOEs is consistent with national interests.

  15. Strong Gravity Effects of Rotating Black Holes: Quasiperiodic Oscillations

    OpenAIRE

    Aliev, Alikram N.; Esmer, Göksel Daylan; Talazan, Pamir

    2012-01-01

    We explore strong gravity effects of the geodesic motion in the spacetime of rotating black holes in general relativity and braneworld gravity. We focus on the description of the motion in terms of three fundamental frequencies: The orbital frequency, the radial and vertical epicyclic frequencies. For a Kerr black hole, we perform a detailed numerical analysis of these frequencies at the innermost stable circular orbits and beyond them as well as at the characteristic stable orbits, at which ...

  16. Strong Coupling Corrections in Quantum Thermodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perarnau-Llobet, M.; Wilming, H.; Riera, A.; Gallego, R.; Eisert, J.

    2018-03-01

    Quantum systems strongly coupled to many-body systems equilibrate to the reduced state of a global thermal state, deviating from the local thermal state of the system as it occurs in the weak-coupling limit. Taking this insight as a starting point, we study the thermodynamics of systems strongly coupled to thermal baths. First, we provide strong-coupling corrections to the second law applicable to general systems in three of its different readings: As a statement of maximal extractable work, on heat dissipation, and bound to the Carnot efficiency. These corrections become relevant for small quantum systems and vanish in first order in the interaction strength. We then move to the question of power of heat engines, obtaining a bound on the power enhancement due to strong coupling. Our results are exemplified on the paradigmatic non-Markovian quantum Brownian motion.

  17. The Effectiveness of Simulator Motion in the Transfer of Performance on a Tracking Task Is Influenced by Vision and Motion Disturbance Cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grundy, John G; Nazar, Stefan; O'Malley, Shannon; Mohrenshildt, Martin V; Shedden, Judith M

    2016-06-01

    To examine the importance of platform motion to the transfer of performance in motion simulators. The importance of platform motion in simulators for pilot training is strongly debated. We hypothesized that the type of motion (e.g., disturbance) contributes significantly to performance differences. Participants used a joystick to perform a target tracking task in a pod on top of a MOOG Stewart motion platform. Five conditions compared training without motion, with correlated motion, with disturbance motion, with disturbance motion isolated to the visual display, and with both correlated and disturbance motion. The test condition involved the full motion model with both correlated and disturbance motion. We analyzed speed and accuracy across training and test as well as strategic differences in joystick control. Training with disturbance cues produced critical behavioral differences compared to training without disturbance; motion itself was less important. Incorporation of disturbance cues is a potentially important source of variance between studies that do or do not show a benefit of motion platforms in the transfer of performance in simulators. Potential applications of this research include the assessment of the importance of motion platforms in flight simulators, with a focus on the efficacy of incorporating disturbance cues during training. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

  18. High-frequency source radiation during the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, Japan, inferred from KiK-net strong-motion seismograms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumagai, Hiroyuki; Pulido, Nelson; Fukuyama, Eiichi; Aoi, Shin

    2013-01-01

    investigate source processes of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, we utilized a source location method using high-frequency (5-10 Hz) seismic amplitudes. In this method, we assumed far-field isotropic radiation of S waves, and conducted a spatial grid search to find the best fitting source locations along the subducted slab in each successive time window. Our application of the method to the Tohoku-Oki earthquake resulted in artifact source locations at shallow depths near the trench caused by limited station coverage and noise effects. We then assumed various source node distributions along the plate, and found that the observed seismograms were most reasonably explained when assuming deep source nodes. This result suggests that the high-frequency seismic waves were radiated at deeper depths during the earthquake, a feature which is consistent with results obtained from teleseismic back-projection and strong-motion source model studies. We identified three high-frequency subevents, and compared them with the moment-rate function estimated from low-frequency seismograms. Our comparison indicated that no significant moment release occurred during the first high-frequency subevent and the largest moment-release pulse occurred almost simultaneously with the second high-frequency subevent. We speculated that the initial slow rupture propagated bilaterally from the hypocenter toward the land and trench. The landward subshear rupture propagation consisted of three successive high-frequency subevents. The trenchward propagation ruptured the strong asperity and released the largest moment near the trench.

  19. PG&E's Seismic Network Goes Digital With Strong Motion: Successes and Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanton, M. A.; Cullen, J.; McLaren, M. K.

    2008-12-01

    Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is in year 3 of a 5-year project to upgrade the Central Coast Seismic Network (CCSN) from analog to digital. Located along the south-central California coast, the CCSN began operation in 1987, with 20 analog stations; 15 vertical component and 5 dual gain 3-component S-13 sensors. The analog signals travel over FM radio telemetry links and voice channels via PG&E's microwave network to our facility in San Francisco (SF), where the A/D conversion is performed on a computer running Earthworm v7.1, which also transmits the data to the USGS in Menlo Park. At the conversion point the dynamic ranges of the vertical and dual-gain sensors are 40-50dB and 60-70dB, respectively. Dynamic range exceedance (data clipping) generally occurs for a M2.5 or greater event within about 40 km of a station. The motivations to upgrade the seismic network were the need for higher dynamic range and to retire obsolete analog transmission equipment. The upgraded digital stations consist of the existing velocity sensors, a 131A-02/3 accelerometer and a Reftek 130-01 Broadband Seismic Recorder for digital data recording and transmission to SF. Vertical only stations have one component of velocity and 3 components of acceleration. Dual gain sites have 3 components of velocity and 3 of acceleration. To date we have successfully upgraded 6 sites; 3 more will be installed by the end of 2008. Some of the advantages of going digital are 1) data is recorded at each site and in SF, 2) substantially increased dynamic range of the velocity sensors to 120dB, as observed by on scale, close-by recordings from a M3.9 San Simeon aftershock on 04/29/2008, 3) accelerometers for on scale recording of large earthquakes, and 4) ability to contribute our strong motion data to USGS ShakeMaps. A significant challenge has been consistent radio communications. To resolve this issue we are installing point-to-multipoint Motorola Canopy spread spectrum radios at the stations and

  20. A Fully Nonlinear, Dynamically Consistent Numerical Model for Solid-Body Ship Motion. I. Ship Motion with Fixed Heading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Ray-Quing; Kuang, Weijia

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, we describe the details of our numerical model for simulating ship solidbody motion in a given environment. In this model, the fully nonlinear dynamical equations governing the time-varying solid-body ship motion under the forces arising from ship wave interactions are solved with given initial conditions. The net force and moment (torque) on the ship body are directly calculated via integration of the hydrodynamic pressure over the wetted surface and the buoyancy effect from the underwater volume of the actual ship hull with a hybrid finite-difference/finite-element method. Neither empirical nor free parametrization is introduced in this model, i.e. no a priori experimental data are needed for modelling. This model is benchmarked with many experiments of various ship hulls for heave, roll and pitch motion. In addition to the benchmark cases, numerical experiments are also carried out for strongly nonlinear ship motion with a fixed heading. These new cases demonstrate clearly the importance of nonlinearities in ship motion modelling.

  1. The transient outward current in mice lacking the potassium channel gene Kv1.4

    Science.gov (United States)

    London, Barry; Wang, Dao W; Hill, Joseph A; Bennett, Paul B

    1998-01-01

    The transient outward current (Ito) plays a prominent role in the repolarization phase of the cardiac action potential. Several K+ channel genes, including Kv1.4, are expressed in the heart, produce rapidly inactivating currents when heterologously expressed, and may be the molecular basis of Ito.We engineered mice homozygous for a targeted disruption of the K+ channel gene Kv1.4 and compared Ito in wild-type (Kv1.4+/+), heterozygous (Kv1.4+/-) and homozygous ‘knockout’ (Kv1.4−/−) mice. Kv1.4 RNA was truncated in Kv1.4−/− mice and protein expression was absent.Adult myocytes isolated from Kv1.4+/+, Kv1.4+/− and Kv1.4−/− mice had large rapidly inactivating outward currents. The peak current densities at 60 mV (normalized by cellular capacitance, in pA pF−1; means ± s.e.m.) were 53.8 ± 5.3, 45.3 ± 2.2 and 44.4 ± 2.8 in cells from Kv1.4+/+, Kv1.4+/− and Kv1.4−/− mice, respectively (P mice.The voltage dependence and time course of inactivation were not changed by targeted disruption of Kv1.4. The mean best-fitting V½ (membrane potential at 50 % inactivation) values for myocytes from Kv1.4 +/+, Kv1.4+/− and Kv1.4−/− mice were -53.5 ± 3.7, -51.1 ± 2.6 and -54.2 ± 2.4 mV, respectively. The slope factors (k) were -10.1 ± 1.4, -8.8 ± 1.4 and -9.5 ± 1.2 mV, respectively. The fast time constants for development of inactivation at -30 mV were 27.8 ± 2.2, 26.2 ± 5.1 and 19.6 ± 2.1 ms in Kv1.4+/+, Kv1.4+/− and Kv1.4−/− myocytes, respectively. At +30 mV, they were 35.5 ± 2.6, 30.0 ± 2.1 and 28.7 ± 1.6 ms, respectively. The time constants for the rapid phase of recovery from inactivation at -80 mV were 32.5 ± 8.2, 23.3 ± 1.8 and 39.0 ± 3.7 ms, respectively.Nearly the entire inactivating component as well as more than 60 % of the steady-state outward current was eliminated by 1 mm 4-aminopyridine in Kv1.4+/+, Kv1.4+/− and Kv1.4−/− myocytes.Western blot analysis of heart membrane extracts showed no significant

  2. Seismic rupture modelling, strong motion prediction and seismic hazard assessment: fundamental and applied approaches; Modelisation de la rupture sismique, prediction du mouvement fort, et evaluation de l'alea sismique: approches fondamentale et appliquee

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berge-Thierry, C

    2007-05-15

    The defence to obtain the 'Habilitation a Diriger des Recherches' is a synthesis of the research work performed since the end of my Ph D. thesis in 1997. This synthesis covers the two years as post doctoral researcher at the Bureau d'Evaluation des Risques Sismiques at the Institut de Protection (BERSSIN), and the seven consecutive years as seismologist and head of the BERSSIN team. This work and the research project are presented in the framework of the seismic risk topic, and particularly with respect to the seismic hazard assessment. Seismic risk combines seismic hazard and vulnerability. Vulnerability combines the strength of building structures and the human and economical consequences in case of structural failure. Seismic hazard is usually defined in terms of plausible seismic motion (soil acceleration or velocity) in a site for a given time period. Either for the regulatory context or the structural specificity (conventional structure or high risk construction), seismic hazard assessment needs: to identify and locate the seismic sources (zones or faults), to characterize their activity, to evaluate the seismic motion to which the structure has to resist (including the site effects). I specialized in the field of numerical strong-motion prediction using high frequency seismic sources modelling and forming part of the IRSN allowed me to rapidly working on the different tasks of seismic hazard assessment. Thanks to the expertise practice and the participation to the regulation evolution (nuclear power plants, conventional and chemical structures), I have been able to work on empirical strong-motion prediction, including site effects. Specific questions related to the interface between seismologists and structural engineers are also presented, especially the quantification of uncertainties. This is part of the research work initiated to improve the selection of the input ground motion in designing or verifying the stability of structures. (author)

  3. Motivations of Russian firms to invest abroad: how do sanctions affect Russia’s outward foreign direct investment?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liuhto Kari

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In 2013, Russia’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI soared and the OFDI stock exceeded $ 500 billion. However, a year later, Russia’s OFDI dropped by nearly 15 per cent. Rapid upward and downward swings make it necessary to analyze the motivation of Russian firms to invest abroad as well as to assess the impact of sanctions on Russian OFDI. The author points out that a significant part of Russia’s outward FDI stock is accounted for by the operations of Russian corporations in their home market. It is concluded that although Western sanctions target a relatively small number of Russian citizens and companies, they nevertheless affect some of Russia’s key people, largest banks, and hydrocarbon producers. Therefore, their direct impact could be substantial. Alongside the direct impact, one should consider their indirect impact, such as the tumbling rouble exchange rate and Russian banks’ increasing interest rates, which decrease Russian firms’ capability to invest abroad. Moreover, a less amicable politic al atmosphere in the West may push some Russian corporations out of the Western markets and diminish the enthusiasm of new ones to enter them. Today, Russia’s counter-sanctions do not directly restrict the country’s OFDI, but Russian state-owned enterprises may reach a decision to hold foreign investments to support Russia’s sanction policy.

  4. The German model of capitalism and the persistence of outward foreign direct investment: evidence from German manufacturing industries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin T Bohl

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Against the backdrop of critique on the German model of capitalism in general, and German public policy in particular as to the ability to successfully adjust to rapid change and exogenous shocks in wake of economic globalisation, this paper investigates the degree of shock persistence in foreign direct investment (FDI of ten German manufacturing industries for the period 1976 to 2003. Theory on exports and non-FDI investment suggests that FDI should exhibit a considerable degree of shock persistence because they are subject to high sunk costs because of high entry and exit costs associated with the high level of asset specificity that is normally connected to FDI. Persistence in foreign direct investment time series data is established by applying various unit root tests. The results are robust to the potential presence of structural breaks in the data. The empirical analysis shows that German outward FDI in mature manufacturing industries, with one exception, exhibits a high degree of shock persistence. The results suggest, at least for mature German industries, that the sunk costs view on shock persistency is confirmed for outward FDI. The results furnish evidence for a tentative assessment of the relationship between German public policy and FDI strategies of multinational firms.

  5. String-like cooperative motion in homogeneous melting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hao; Khalkhali, Mohammad; Liu, Qingxia; Douglas, Jack F

    2013-03-28

    Despite the fundamental nature and practical importance of melting, there is still no generally accepted theory of this ubiquitous phenomenon. Even the earliest simulations of melting of hard discs by Alder and Wainwright indicated the active role of collective atomic motion in melting and here we utilize molecular dynamics simulation to determine whether these correlated motions are similar to those found in recent studies of glass-forming (GF) liquids and other condensed, strongly interacting, particle systems. We indeed find string-like collective atomic motion in our simulations of "superheated" Ni crystals, but other observations indicate significant differences from GF liquids. For example, we observe neither stretched exponential structural relaxation, nor any decoupling phenomenon, while we do find a boson peak, findings that have strong implications for understanding the physical origin of these universal properties of GF liquids. Our simulations also provide a novel view of "homogeneous" melting in which a small concentration of interstitial defects exerts a powerful effect on the crystal stability through their initiation and propagation of collective atomic motion. These relatively rare point defects are found to propagate down the strings like solitons, driving the collective motion. Crystal integrity remains preserved when the permutational atomic motions take the form of ring-like atomic exchanges, but a topological transition occurs at higher temperatures where the rings open to form linear chains similar in geometrical form and length distribution to the strings of GF liquids. The local symmetry breaking effect of the open strings apparently destabilizes the local lattice structure and precipitates crystal melting. The crystal defects are thus not static entities under dynamic conditions, such as elevated temperatures or material loading, but rather are active agents exhibiting a rich nonlinear dynamics that is not addressed in conventional "static

  6. Stochastic strong ground motion simulations for the intermediate-depth earthquakes of the south Aegean subduction zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kkallas, Harris; Papazachos, Konstantinos; Boore, David; Margaris, Vasilis

    2015-04-01

    We have employed the stochastic finite-fault modelling approach of Motazedian and Atkinson (2005), as described by Boore (2009), for the simulation of Fourier spectra of the Intermediate-depth earthquakes of the south Aegean subduction zone. The stochastic finite-fault method is a practical tool for simulating ground motions of future earthquakes which requires region-specific source, path and site characterizations as input model parameters. For this reason we have used data from both acceleration-sensor and broadband velocity-sensor instruments from intermediate-depth earthquakes with magnitude of M 4.5-6.7 that occurred in the south Aegean subduction zone. Source mechanisms for intermediate-depth events of north Aegean subduction zone are either collected from published information or are constrained using the main faulting types from Kkallas et al. (2013). The attenuation parameters for simulations were adopted from Skarladoudis et al. (2013) and are based on regression analysis of a response spectra database. The site amplification functions for each soil class were adopted from Klimis et al., (1999), while the kappa values were constrained from the analysis of the EGELADOS network data from Ventouzi et al., (2013). The investigation of stress-drop values was based on simulations performed with the EXSIM code for several ranges of stress drop values and by comparing the results with the available Fourier spectra of intermediate-depth earthquakes. Significant differences regarding the strong-motion duration, which is determined from Husid plots (Husid, 1969), have been identified between the for-arc and along-arc stations due to the effect of the low-velocity/low-Q mantle wedge on the seismic wave propagation. In order to estimate appropriate values for the duration of P-waves, we have automatically picked P-S durations on the available seismograms. For the S-wave durations we have used the part of the seismograms starting from the S-arrivals and ending at the

  7. Hole dynamics and spin currents after ionization in strong circularly polarized laser fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barth, Ingo; Smirnova, Olga

    2014-01-01

    We apply the time-dependent analytical R-matrix theory to develop a movie of hole motion in a Kr atom upon ionization by strong circularly polarized field. We find rich hole dynamics, ranging from rotation to swinging motion. The motion of the hole depends on the final energy and the spin of the photoelectron and can be controlled by the laser frequency and intensity. Crucially, hole rotation is a purely non-adiabatic effect, completely missing in the framework of quasistatic (adiabatic) tunneling theories. We explore the possibility to use hole rotation as a clock for measuring ionization time. Analyzing the relationship between the relative phases in different ionization channels we show that in the case of short-range electron-core interaction the hole is always initially aligned along the instantaneous direction of the laser field, signifying zero delays in ionization. Finally, we show that strong-field ionization in circular fields creates spin currents (i.e. different flow of spin-up and spin-down density in space) in the ions. This phenomenon is intimately related to the production of spin-polarized electrons in strong laser fields Barth and Smirnova (2013 Phys. Rev. A 88 013401). We demonstrate that rich spin dynamics of electrons and holes produced during strong field ionization can occur in typical experimental conditions and does not require relativistic intensities or strong magnetic fields. (paper)

  8. Site classification for National Strong Motion Observation Network System (NSMONS) stations in China using an empirical H/V spectral ratio method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Kun; Ren, Yefei; Wen, Ruizhi

    2017-10-01

    Reliable site classification of the stations of the China National Strong Motion Observation Network System (NSMONS) has not yet been assigned because of lacking borehole data. This study used an empirical horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio (hereafter, HVSR) site classification method to overcome this problem. First, according to their borehole data, stations selected from KiK-net in Japan were individually assigned a site class (CL-I, CL-II, or CL-III), which is defined in the Chinese seismic code. Then, the mean HVSR curve for each site class was computed using strong motion recordings captured during the period 1996-2012. These curves were compared with those proposed by Zhao et al. (2006a) for four types of site classes (SC-I, SC-II, SC-III, and SC-IV) defined in the Japanese seismic code (JRA, 1980). It was found that an approximate range of the predominant period Tg could be identified by the predominant peak of the HVSR curve for the CL-I and SC-I sites, CL-II and SC-II sites, and CL-III and SC-III + SC-IV sites. Second, an empirical site classification method was proposed based on comprehensive consideration of peak period, amplitude, and shape of the HVSR curve. The selected stations from KiK-net were classified using the proposed method. The results showed that the success rates of the proposed method in identifying CL-I, CL-II, and CL-III sites were 63%, 64%, and 58% respectively. Finally, the HVSRs of 178 NSMONS stations were computed based on recordings from 2007 to 2015 and the sites classified using the proposed method. The mean HVSR curves were re-calculated for three site classes and compared with those from KiK-net data. It was found that both the peak period and the amplitude were similar for the mean HVSR curves derived from NSMONS classification results and KiK-net borehole data, implying the effectiveness of the proposed method in identifying different site classes. The classification results have good agreement with site classes

  9. Ranking of several ground-motion models for seismic hazard analysis in Iran

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghasemi, H; Zare, M; Fukushima, Y

    2008-01-01

    In this study, six attenuation relationships are classified with respect to the ranking scheme proposed by Scherbaum et al (2004 Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 94 1–22). First, the strong motions recorded during the 2002 Avaj, 2003 Bam, 2004 Kojour and 2006 Silakhor earthquakes are consistently processed. Then the normalized residual sets are determined for each selected ground-motion model, considering the strong-motion records chosen. The main advantage of these records is that corresponding information about the causative fault plane has been well studied for the selected events. Such information is used to estimate several control parameters which are essential inputs for attenuation relations. The selected relations (Zare et al (1999 Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng. 18 101–23); Fukushima et al (2003 J. Earthq. Eng. 7 573–98); Sinaeian (2006 PhD Thesis International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Tehran, Iran); Boore and Atkinson (2007 PEER, Report 2007/01); Campbell and Bozorgnia (2007 PEER, Report 2007/02); and Chiou and Youngs (2006 PEER Interim Report for USGS Review)) have been deemed suitable for predicting peak ground-motion amplitudes in the Iranian plateau. Several graphical techniques and goodness-of-fit measures are also applied for statistical distribution analysis of the normalized residual sets. Such analysis reveals ground-motion models, developed using Iranian strong-motion records as the most appropriate ones in the Iranian context. The results of the present study are applicable in seismic hazard assessment projects in Iran

  10. Characteristics of Earthquake Ground Motion Attenuation in Korea and Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, In-Kil; Choun, Young-Sun; Nakajima, Masato; Ohtori, Yasuki; Yun, Kwan-Hee

    2006-01-01

    The characteristics of a ground motion attenuation in Korea and Japan were estimated by using the earthquake ground motions recorded at the equal distance observation station by KMA, K-NET and KiK-net of Korea and Japan. The ground motion attenuation equations proposed for Korea and Japan were evaluated by comparing the predicted value for the Fukuoka earthquake with the observed records. The predicted values from the attenuation equations show a good agreement with the observed records and each other. It can be concluded from this study that the ground motion attenuation equations can be used for the prediction of strong ground motion attenuation and for an evaluation of the attenuation equations proposed for Korea

  11. Synthesis of High-Frequency Ground Motion Using Information Extracted from Low-Frequency Ground Motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwaki, A.; Fujiwara, H.

    2012-12-01

    Broadband ground motion computations of scenario earthquakes are often based on hybrid methods that are the combinations of deterministic approach in lower frequency band and stochastic approach in higher frequency band. Typical computation methods for low-frequency and high-frequency (LF and HF, respectively) ground motions are the numerical simulations, such as finite-difference and finite-element methods based on three-dimensional velocity structure model, and the stochastic Green's function method, respectively. In such hybrid methods, LF and HF wave fields are generated through two different methods that are completely independent of each other, and are combined at the matching frequency. However, LF and HF wave fields are essentially not independent as long as they are from the same event. In this study, we focus on the relation among acceleration envelopes at different frequency bands, and attempt to synthesize HF ground motion using the information extracted from LF ground motion, aiming to propose a new method for broad-band strong motion prediction. Our study area is Kanto area, Japan. We use the K-NET and KiK-net surface acceleration data and compute RMS envelope at four frequency bands: 0.5-1.0 Hz, 1.0-2.0 Hz, 2.0-4.0 Hz, .0-8.0 Hz, and 8.0-16.0 Hz. Taking the ratio of the envelopes of adjacent bands, we find that the envelope ratios have stable shapes at each site. The empirical envelope-ratio characteristics are combined with low-frequency envelope of the target earthquake to synthesize HF ground motion. We have applied the method to M5-class earthquakes and a M7 target earthquake that occurred in the vicinity of Kanto area, and successfully reproduced the observed HF ground motion of the target earthquake. The method can be applied to a broad band ground motion simulation for a scenario earthquake by combining numerically-computed low-frequency (~1 Hz) ground motion with the empirical envelope ratio characteristics to generate broadband ground motion

  12. Diffraction scattering of strongly bound system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuzmichev, V.E.

    1982-04-01

    The scattering of a hadron on a strongly bound system of two hadrons (dihadron) is considered in the high-energy limit for the relative hadron-dihadron motion. The dihadron scatterer motion and the internal interaction are included in our consideration. It is shown that only small values of the internal transfer momentum of dihadron particles bring the principal contribution to the three-particle propagator in eikonal approximation. On the basis of the exact analytical solution of the integral equation for the total Green function the scattering amplitude is derived. It is shown that the scattering amplitude contains only single, double, and triple scattering terms. The three new terms to the Glauber formula for the total cross section are obtained. These terms decrease both the true total hadron-hadron cross section and the screening correction. (orig.)

  13. A Motion Planning Approach to Studying Molecular Motions

    KAUST Repository

    Amato, Nancy M.

    2010-01-01

    While structurally very different, protein and RNA molecules share an important attribute. The motions they undergo are strongly related to the function they perform. For example, many diseases such as Mad Cow disease or Alzheimer\\'s disease are associated with protein misfolding and aggregation. Similarly, RNA folding velocity may regulate the plasmid copy number, and RNA folding kinetics can regulate gene expression at the translational level. Knowledge of the stability, folding, kinetics and detailed mechanics of the folding process may help provide insight into how proteins and RNAs fold. In this paper, we present an overview of our work with a computational method we have adapted from robotic motion planning to study molecular motions. We have validated against experimental data and have demonstrated that our method can capture biological results such as stochastic folding pathways, population kinetics of various conformations, and relative folding rates. Thus, our method provides both a detailed view (e.g., individual pathways) and a global view (e.g., population kinetics, relative folding rates, and reaction coordinates) of energy landscapes of both proteins and RNAs. We have validated these techniques by showing that we observe the same relative folding rates as shown in experiments for structurally similar protein molecules that exhibit different folding behaviors. Our analysis has also been able to predict the same relative gene expression rate for wild-type MS2 phage RNA and three of its mutants.

  14. Spatial correlation of probabilistic earthquake ground motion and loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wesson, R.L.; Perkins, D.M.

    2001-01-01

    Spatial correlation of annual earthquake ground motions and losses can be used to estimate the variance of annual losses to a portfolio of properties exposed to earthquakes A direct method is described for the calculations of the spatial correlation of earthquake ground motions and losses. Calculations for the direct method can be carried out using either numerical quadrature or a discrete, matrix-based approach. Numerical results for this method are compared with those calculated from a simple Monte Carlo simulation. Spatial correlation of ground motion and loss is induced by the systematic attenuation of ground motion with distance from the source, by common site conditions, and by the finite length of fault ruptures. Spatial correlation is also strongly dependent on the partitioning of the variability, given an event, into interevent and intraevent components. Intraevent variability reduces the spatial correlation of losses. Interevent variability increases spatial correlation of losses. The higher the spatial correlation, the larger the variance in losses to a port-folio, and the more likely extreme values become. This result underscores the importance of accurately determining the relative magnitudes of intraevent and interevent variability in ground-motion studies, because of the strong impact in estimating earthquake losses to a portfolio. The direct method offers an alternative to simulation for calculating the variance of losses to a portfolio, which may reduce the amount of calculation required.

  15. The perception of object versus objectless motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hock, Howard S; Nichols, David F

    2013-05-01

    Wertheimer, M. (Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane, 61:161-265, 1912) classical distinction between beta (object) and phi (objectless) motion is elaborated here in a series of experiments concerning competition between two qualitatively different motion percepts, induced by sequential changes in luminance for two-dimensional geometric objects composed of rectangular surfaces. One of these percepts is of spreading-luminance motion that continuously sweeps across the entire object; it exhibits shape invariance and is perceived most strongly for fast speeds. Significantly for the characterization of phi as objectless motion, the spreading luminance does not involve surface boundaries or any other feature; the percept is driven solely by spatiotemporal changes in luminance. Alternatively, and for relatively slow speeds, a discrete series of edge motions can be perceived in the direction opposite to spreading-luminance motion. Akin to beta motion, the edges appear to move through intermediate positions within the object's changing surfaces. Significantly for the characterization of beta as object motion, edge motion exhibits shape dependence and is based on the detection of oppositely signed changes in contrast (i.e., counterchange) for features essential to the determination of an object's shape, the boundaries separating its surfaces. These results are consistent with area MT neurons that differ with respect to speed preference Newsome et al (Journal of Neurophysiology, 55:1340-1351, 1986) and shape dependence Zeki (Journal of Physiology, 236:549-573, 1974).

  16. Physiological roles of the transient outward current Ito in normal and diseased hearts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cordeiro, Jonathan M.; Callø, Kirstine; Aschar-Sobbi, Roozbeh

    2016-01-01

    The Ca2+-independent transient outward K+ current (Ito) plays a critical role in underlying phase 1 of repolarization of the cardiac action potential and, as a result, is central to modulating excitation-contraction coupling and propensity for arrhythmia. Additionally, Ito and its molecular...... potential and the mechanisms by which Ito modulates excitation-contraction coupling. We also describe the effects of mutations in the subunits constituting the Ito channel as well as the role of Ito in the failing myocardium. Finally, we review pharmacological modulation of Ito and discuss the evidence...... constituents are consistently reduced in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. In this review, we discuss the physiological role of Ito as well as the molecular basis of this current in human and canine hearts, in which Ito has been thoroughly studied. In particular, we discuss the role of Ito in the action...

  17. On the relative motions of long-lived Pacific mantle plumes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konrad, Kevin; Koppers, Anthony A P; Steinberger, Bernhard; Finlayson, Valerie A; Konter, Jasper G; Jackson, Matthew G

    2018-02-27

    Mantle plumes upwelling beneath moving tectonic plates generate age-progressive chains of volcanos (hotspot chains) used to reconstruct plate motion. However, these hotspots appear to move relative to each other, implying that plumes are not laterally fixed. The lack of age constraints on long-lived, coeval hotspot chains hinders attempts to reconstruct plate motion and quantify relative plume motions. Here we provide 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages for a newly identified long-lived mantle plume, which formed the Rurutu hotspot chain. By comparing the inter-hotspot distances between three Pacific hotspots, we show that Hawaii is unique in its strong, rapid southward motion from 60 to 50 Myrs ago, consistent with paleomagnetic observations. Conversely, the Rurutu and Louisville chains show little motion. Current geodynamic plume motion models can reproduce the first-order motions for these plumes, but only when each plume is rooted in the lowermost mantle.

  18. Deformations and Rotational Ground Motions Inferred from Downhole Vertical Array Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graizer, V.

    2017-12-01

    Only few direct reliable measurements of rotational component of strong earthquake ground motions are obtained so far. In the meantime, high quality data recorded at downhole vertical arrays during a number of earthquakes provide an opportunity to calculate deformations based on the differences in ground motions recorded simultaneously at different depths. More than twenty high resolution strong motion downhole vertical arrays were installed in California with primary goal to study site response of different geologic structures to strong motion. Deformation or simple shear strain with the rate γ is the combination of pure shear strain with the rate γ/2 and rotation with the rate of α=γ/2. Deformations and rotations were inferred from downhole array records of the Mw 6.0 Parkfield 2004, the Mw 7.2 Sierra El Mayor (Mexico) 2010, the Mw 6.5 Ferndale area in N. California 2010 and the two smaller earthquakes in California. Highest amplitude of rotation of 0.60E-03 rad was observed at the Eureka array corresponding to ground velocity of 35 cm/s, and highest rotation rate of 0.55E-02 rad/s associated with the S-wave was observed at a close epicentral distance of 4.3 km from the ML 4.2 event in Southern California at the La Cienega array. Large magnitude Sierra El Mayor earthquake produced long duration rotational motions of up to 1.5E-04 rad and 2.05E-03 rad/s associated with shear and surface waves at the El Centro array at closest fault distance of 33.4km. Rotational motions of such levels, especially tilting can have significant effect on structures. High dynamic range well synchronized and properly oriented instrumentation is necessary for reliable calculation of rotations from vertical array data. Data from the dense Treasure Island array near San Francisco demonstrate consistent change of shape of rotational motion with depth and material. In the frequency range of 1-15 Hz Fourier amplitude spectrum of vertical ground velocity is similar to the scaled tilt

  19. Observing electron motion in molecules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chelkowski, S; Yudin, G L; Bandrauk, A D

    2006-01-01

    We study analytically the possibility for monitoring electron motion in a molecule using two ultrashort laser pulses. The first prepares a coherent superposition of two electronic molecular states whereas the second (attosecond pulse) photoionizes the molecule. We show that interesting information about electron dynamics can be obtained from measurement of the photoelectron spectra as a function of the time delay between two pulses. In particular, asymmetries in photoelectron angular distribution provide a simple signature of the electron motion within the initial time-dependent coherently coupled two molecular states. Both asymmetries and electron spectra show very strong two-centre interference patterns. We illustrate these effects using as an example a dissociating hydrogen molecular ion probed by the attosecond pulses

  20. Pellet injection in a tokamak hot plasma. Theory and experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Picchiottino, J.M.

    1994-01-01

    The ultimate aim of pellet ablation studies is to predict what the plasma temperature and density profiles are just after a pellet injection. This requires description of the pellet ablation process, the parallel expansion of the ablatant and the fast outward motion of the deposited material since these three phenomena successively occur from the time of pellet injection to the moment when new axisymmetric profiles are reached. Only the two first points have been quantitatively modelled. If the most important processes of ablation physics are identified and although current models reproduce both measured penetrations and averaged characteristics of ablation clouds, some debatable points remain, mainly bearing on the drifts associated with the pellet motion and, consequently, on the effective shielding efficiency of the ionized part of the ablation cloud. During its parallel expansion, the ablated material experiences a strong poloidal rotation which depends on the ratio of the pellet and plasma masses and is due to the total kinetic momentum conservation on each magnetic surface. The fact that this rotation occurs on the same timescale as the outward motion suggests that both phenomena can be linked and that a comprehensive model of the whole fuelling process may emerge from considering the pellet and the plasma as a unique system. (author). 94 refs., 142 figs., 4 annexes

  1. Sideband cooling of micromechanical motion to the quantum ground state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teufel, J D; Donner, T; Li, Dale; Harlow, J W; Allman, M S; Cicak, K; Sirois, A J; Whittaker, J D; Lehnert, K W; Simmonds, R W

    2011-07-06

    The advent of laser cooling techniques revolutionized the study of many atomic-scale systems, fuelling progress towards quantum computing with trapped ions and generating new states of matter with Bose-Einstein condensates. Analogous cooling techniques can provide a general and flexible method of preparing macroscopic objects in their motional ground state. Cavity optomechanical or electromechanical systems achieve sideband cooling through the strong interaction between light and motion. However, entering the quantum regime--in which a system has less than a single quantum of motion--has been difficult because sideband cooling has not sufficiently overwhelmed the coupling of low-frequency mechanical systems to their hot environments. Here we demonstrate sideband cooling of an approximately 10-MHz micromechanical oscillator to the quantum ground state. This achievement required a large electromechanical interaction, which was obtained by embedding a micromechanical membrane into a superconducting microwave resonant circuit. To verify the cooling of the membrane motion to a phonon occupation of 0.34 ± 0.05 phonons, we perform a near-Heisenberg-limited position measurement within (5.1 ± 0.4)h/2π, where h is Planck's constant. Furthermore, our device exhibits strong coupling, allowing coherent exchange of microwave photons and mechanical phonons. Simultaneously achieving strong coupling, ground state preparation and efficient measurement sets the stage for rapid advances in the control and detection of non-classical states of motion, possibly even testing quantum theory itself in the unexplored region of larger size and mass. Because mechanical oscillators can couple to light of any frequency, they could also serve as a unique intermediary for transferring quantum information between microwave and optical domains.

  2. Auditory motion capturing ambiguous visual motion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arjen eAlink

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, it is demonstrated that moving sounds have an effect on the direction in which one sees visual stimuli move. During the main experiment sounds were presented consecutively at four speaker locations inducing left- or rightwards auditory apparent motion. On the path of auditory apparent motion, visual apparent motion stimuli were presented with a high degree of directional ambiguity. The main outcome of this experiment is that our participants perceived visual apparent motion stimuli that were ambiguous (equally likely to be perceived as moving left- or rightwards more often as moving in the same direction than in the opposite direction of auditory apparent motion. During the control experiment we replicated this finding and found no effect of sound motion direction on eye movements. This indicates that auditory motion can capture our visual motion percept when visual motion direction is insufficiently determinate without affecting eye movements.

  3. Anharmonicity in nuclear wobbling motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oi, M.

    2007-01-01

    An unexpected strong anharmonicity was observed in the wobbling spectrum in 163 Lu. In an attempt to understand what causes the deviation from the original wobbling model by Bohr and Mottelson, an analysis is presented using several different approaches, such as exact diagonalization, a semiclassical model to deal with anharmonic wobbling motion, and a microscopic method based on the self-consistent cranking calculation

  4. Source Rupture Process of the 2016 Kumamoto, Japan, Earthquake Inverted from Strong-Motion Records

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wenbo; Zheng, Ao

    2017-04-01

    On 15 April, 2016 the great earthquake with magnitude Mw7.1 occurred in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. The focal mechanism solution released by F-net located the hypocenter at 130.7630°E, 32.7545°N, at a depth of 12.45 km, and the strike, dip, and the rake angle of the fault were N226°E, 84˚ and -142° respectively. The epicenter distribution and focal mechanisms of aftershocks implied the mechanism of the mainshock might have changed in the source rupture process, thus a single focal mechanism was not enough to explain the observed data adequately. In this study, based on the inversion result of GNSS and InSAR surface deformation with active structures for reference, we construct a finite fault model with focal mechanism changes, and derive the source rupture process by multi-time-window linear waveform inversion method using the strong-motion data (0.05 1.0Hz) obtained by K-NET and KiK-net of Japan. Our result shows that the Kumamoto earthquake is a right-lateral strike slipping rupture event along the Futagawa-Hinagu fault zone, and the seismogenic fault is divided into a northern segment and a southern one. The strike and the dip of the northern segment are N235°E, 60˚ respectively. And for the southern one, they are N205°E, 72˚ respectively. The depth range of the fault model is consistent with the depth distribution of aftershocks, and the slip on the fault plane mainly concentrate on the northern segment, in which the maximum slip is about 7.9 meter. The rupture process of the whole fault continues for approximately 18-sec, and the total seismic moment released is 5.47×1019N·m (Mw 7.1). In addition, the essential feature of the distribution of PGV and PGA synthesized by the inversion result is similar to that of observed PGA and seismic intensity.

  5. Cohesive motion in one-dimensional flocking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dossetti, V

    2012-01-01

    A one-dimensional rule-based model for flocking, which combines velocity alignment and long-range centering interactions, is presented and studied. The induced cohesion in the collective motion of the self-propelled agents leads to unique group behavior that contrasts with previous studies. Our results show that the largest cluster of particles, in the condensed states, develops a mean velocity slower than the preferred one in the absence of noise. For strong noise, the system also develops a non-vanishing mean velocity, alternating its direction of motion stochastically. This allows us to address the directional switching phenomenon. The effects of different sources of stochasticity on the system are also discussed. (paper)

  6. Strong cosmic censorship in de Sitter space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias, Oscar J. C.; Eperon, Felicity C.; Reall, Harvey S.; Santos, Jorge E.

    2018-05-01

    Recent work indicates that the strong cosmic censorship hypothesis is violated by nearly extremal Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black holes. It was argued that perturbations of such a black hole decay sufficiently rapidly that the perturbed spacetime can be extended across the Cauchy horizon as a weak solution of the equations of motion. In this paper we consider the case of Kerr-de Sitter black holes. We find that, for any nonextremal value of the black hole parameters, there are quasinormal modes which decay sufficiently slowly to ensure that strong cosmic censorship is respected. Our analysis covers both scalar field and linearized gravitational perturbations.

  7. Protein Loop Dynamics Are Complex and Depend on the Motions of the Whole Protein

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael T. Zimmermann

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the relationship between the motions of the same peptide loop segment incorporated within a protein structure and motions of free or end-constrained peptides. As a reference point we also compare against alanine chains having the same length as the loop. Both the analysis of atomic molecular dynamics trajectories and structure-based elastic network models, reveal no general dependence on loop length or on the number of solvent exposed residues. Rather, the whole structure affects the motions in complex ways that depend strongly and specifically on the tertiary structure of the whole protein. Both the Elastic Network Models and Molecular Dynamics confirm the differences in loop dynamics between the free and structured contexts; there is strong agreement between the behaviors observed from molecular dynamics and the elastic network models. There is no apparent simple relationship between loop mobility and its size, exposure, or position within a loop. Free peptides do not behave the same as the loops in the proteins. Surface loops do not behave as if they were random coils, and the tertiary structure has a critical influence upon the apparent motions. This strongly implies that entropy evaluation of protein loops requires knowledge of the motions of the entire protein structure.

  8. PET Motion Compensation for Radiation Therapy Using a CT-Based Mid-Position Motion Model: Methodology and Clinical Evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kruis, Matthijs F.; Kamer, Jeroen B. van de; Houweling, Antonetta C.; Sonke, Jan-Jakob; Belderbos, José S.A.; Herk, Marcel van

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Four-dimensional positron emission tomography (4D PET) imaging of the thorax produces sharper images with reduced motion artifacts. Current radiation therapy planning systems, however, do not facilitate 4D plan optimization. When images are acquired in a 2-minute time slot, the signal-to-noise ratio of each 4D frame is low, compromising image quality. The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate the construction of mid-position 3D PET scans, with motion compensated using a 4D computed tomography (CT)-derived motion model. Methods and Materials: All voxels of 4D PET were registered to the time-averaged position by using a motion model derived from the 4D CT frames. After the registration the scans were summed, resulting in a motion-compensated 3D mid-position PET scan. The method was tested with a phantom dataset as well as data from 27 lung cancer patients. Results: PET motion compensation using a CT-based motion model improved image quality of both phantoms and patients in terms of increased maximum SUV (SUV max ) values and decreased apparent volumes. In homogenous phantom data, a strong relationship was found between the amplitude-to-diameter ratio and the effects of the method. In heterogeneous patient data, the effect correlated better with the motion amplitude. In case of large amplitudes, motion compensation may increase SUV max up to 25% and reduce the diameter of the 50% SUV max volume by 10%. Conclusions: 4D CT-based motion-compensated mid-position PET scans provide improved quantitative data in terms of uptake values and volumes at the time-averaged position, thereby facilitating more accurate radiation therapy treatment planning of pulmonary lesions

  9. PRISM Software: Processing and Review Interface for Strong‐Motion Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jeanne M.; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher D.; Ng, Peter

    2017-01-01

    A continually increasing number of high‐quality digital strong‐motion records from stations of the National Strong Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as data from regional seismic networks within the United States, calls for automated processing of strong‐motion records with human review limited to selected significant or flagged records. The NSMP has developed the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software to meet this need. In combination with the Advanced National Seismic System Quake Monitoring System (AQMS), PRISM automates the processing of strong‐motion records. When used without AQMS, PRISM provides batch‐processing capabilities. The PRISM software is platform independent (coded in Java), open source, and does not depend on any closed‐source or proprietary software. The software consists of two major components: a record processing engine composed of modules for each processing step, and a review tool, which is a graphical user interface for manual review, edit, and processing. To facilitate use by non‐NSMP earthquake engineers and scientists, PRISM (both its processing engine and review tool) is easy to install and run as a stand‐alone system on common operating systems such as Linux, OS X, and Windows. PRISM was designed to be flexible and extensible to accommodate implementation of new processing techniques. All the computing features have been thoroughly tested.

  10. Validation and Comparison of One-Dimensional Ground Motion Methodologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    B. Darragh; W. Silva; N. Gregor

    2006-01-01

    Both point- and finite-source stochastic one-dimensional ground motion models, coupled to vertically propagating equivalent-linear shear-wave site response models are validated using an extensive set of strong motion data as part of the Yucca Mountain Project. The validation and comparison exercises are presented entirely in terms of 5% damped pseudo absolute response spectra. The study consists of a quantitative analyses involving modeling nineteen well-recorded earthquakes, M 5.6 to 7.4 at over 600 sites. The sites range in distance from about 1 to about 200 km in the western US (460 km for central-eastern US). In general, this validation demonstrates that the stochastic point- and finite-source models produce accurate predictions of strong ground motions over the range of 0 to 100 km and for magnitudes M 5.0 to 7.4. The stochastic finite-source model appears to be broadband, producing near zero bias from about 0.3 Hz (low frequency limit of the analyses) to the high frequency limit of the data (100 and 25 Hz for response and Fourier amplitude spectra, respectively)

  11. Validation and Comparison of One-Dimensional Graound Motion Methodologies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    B. Darragh; W. Silva; N. Gregor

    2006-06-28

    Both point- and finite-source stochastic one-dimensional ground motion models, coupled to vertically propagating equivalent-linear shear-wave site response models are validated using an extensive set of strong motion data as part of the Yucca Mountain Project. The validation and comparison exercises are presented entirely in terms of 5% damped pseudo absolute response spectra. The study consists of a quantitative analyses involving modeling nineteen well-recorded earthquakes, M 5.6 to 7.4 at over 600 sites. The sites range in distance from about 1 to about 200 km in the western US (460 km for central-eastern US). In general, this validation demonstrates that the stochastic point- and finite-source models produce accurate predictions of strong ground motions over the range of 0 to 100 km and for magnitudes M 5.0 to 7.4. The stochastic finite-source model appears to be broadband, producing near zero bias from about 0.3 Hz (low frequency limit of the analyses) to the high frequency limit of the data (100 and 25 Hz for response and Fourier amplitude spectra, respectively).

  12. Controlling vortex motion and vortex kinetic friction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nori, Franco; Savel'ev, Sergey

    2006-01-01

    We summarize some recent results of vortex motion control and vortex kinetic friction. (1) We describe a device [J.E. Villegas, S. Savel'ev, F. Nori, E.M. Gonzalez, J.V. Anguita, R. Garcia, J.L. Vicent, Science 302 (2003) 1188] that can easily control the motion of flux quanta in a Niobium superconducting film on an array of nanoscale triangular magnets. Even though the input ac current has zero average, the resulting net motion of the vortices can be directed along either one direction, the opposite direction, or producing zero net motion. We also consider layered strongly anisotropic superconductors, with no fixed spatial asymmetry, and show [S. Savel'ev, F. Nori, Nature Materials 1 (2002) 179] how, with asymmetric drives, the ac motion of Josephson and/or pancake vortices can provide a net dc vortex current. (2) In analogy with the standard macroscopic friction, we present [A. Maeda, Y. Inoue, H. Kitano, S. Savel'ev, S. Okayasu, I. Tsukada, F. Nori , Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 077001] a comparative study of the friction force felt by vortices in superconductors and charge density waves

  13. Controlling vortex motion and vortex kinetic friction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nori, Franco; Savel'ev, Sergey

    2006-05-01

    We summarize some recent results of vortex motion control and vortex kinetic friction. (1) We describe a device [J.E. Villegas, S. Savel'ev, F. Nori, E.M. Gonzalez, J.V. Anguita, R. Garcìa, J.L. Vicent, Science 302 (2003) 1188] that can easily control the motion of flux quanta in a Niobium superconducting film on an array of nanoscale triangular magnets. Even though the input ac current has zero average, the resulting net motion of the vortices can be directed along either one direction, the opposite direction, or producing zero net motion. We also consider layered strongly anisotropic superconductors, with no fixed spatial asymmetry, and show [S. Savel'ev, F. Nori, Nature Materials 1 (2002) 179] how, with asymmetric drives, the ac motion of Josephson and/or pancake vortices can provide a net dc vortex current. (2) In analogy with the standard macroscopic friction, we present [A. Maeda, Y. Inoue, H. Kitano, S. Savel'ev, S. Okayasu, I. Tsukada, F. Nori , Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 077001] a comparative study of the friction force felt by vortices in superconductors and charge density waves.

  14. Neural mechanisms of speed perception: transparent motion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krekelberg, Bart; van Wezel, Richard Jack Anton

    2013-01-01

    Visual motion on the macaque retina is processed by direction- and speed-selective neurons in extrastriate middle temporal cortex (MT). There is strong evidence for a link between the activity of these neurons and direction perception. However, there is conflicting evidence for a link between speed

  15. The limits of earthquake early warning: Timeliness of ground motion estimates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minson, Sarah E.; Meier, Men-Andrin; Baltay, Annemarie S.; Hanks, Thomas C.; Cochran, Elizabeth S.

    2018-01-01

    The basic physics of earthquakes is such that strong ground motion cannot be expected from an earthquake unless the earthquake itself is very close or has grown to be very large. We use simple seismological relationships to calculate the minimum time that must elapse before such ground motion can be expected at a distance from the earthquake, assuming that the earthquake magnitude is not predictable. Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are in operation or development for many regions around the world, with the goal of providing enough warning of incoming ground shaking to allow people and automated systems to take protective actions to mitigate losses. However, the question of how much warning time is physically possible for specified levels of ground motion has not been addressed. We consider a zero-latency EEW system to determine possible warning times a user could receive in an ideal case. In this case, the only limitation on warning time is the time required for the earthquake to evolve and the time for strong ground motion to arrive at a user’s location. We find that users who wish to be alerted at lower ground motion thresholds will receive more robust warnings with longer average warning times than users who receive warnings for higher ground motion thresholds. EEW systems have the greatest potential benefit for users willing to take action at relatively low ground motion thresholds, whereas users who set relatively high thresholds for taking action are less likely to receive timely and actionable information.

  16. Smoothing of respiratory motion traces for motion-compensated radiotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ernst, Floris; Schlaefer, Alexander; Schweikard, Achim

    2010-01-01

    The CyberKnife system has been used successfully for several years to radiosurgically treat tumors without the need for stereotactic fixation or sedation of the patient. It has been shown that tumor motion in the lung, liver, and pancreas can be tracked with acceptable accuracy and repeatability. However, highly precise targeting for tumors in the lower abdomen, especially for tumors which exhibit strong motion, remains problematic. Reasons for this are manifold, like the slow tracking system operating at 26.5 Hz, and using the signal from the tracking camera "as is." Since the motion recorded with the camera is used to compensate for system latency by prediction and the predicted signal is subsequently used to infer the tumor position from a correlation model based on x-ray imaging of gold fiducials around the tumor, camera noise directly influences the targeting accuracy. The goal of this work is to establish the suitability of a new smoothing method for respiratory motion traces used in motion-compensated radiotherapy. The authors endeavor to show that better prediction--With a lower rms error of the predicted signal--and/or smoother prediction is possible using this method. The authors evaluated six commercially available tracking systems (NDI Aurora, PolarisClassic, Polaris Vicra, MicronTracker2 H40, FP5000, and accuTrack compact). The authors first tracked markers both stationary and while in motion to establish the systems' noise characteristics. Then the authors applied a smoothing method based on the a trous wavelet decomposition to reduce the devices' noise level. Additionally, the smoothed signal of the moving target and a motion trace from actual human respiratory motion were subjected to prediction using the MULIN and the nLMS2 algorithms. The authors established that the noise distribution for a static target is Gaussian and that when the probe is moved such as to mimic human respiration, it remains Gaussian with the exception of the FP5000 and the

  17. Smoothing of respiratory motion traces for motion-compensated radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ernst, Floris; Schlaefer, Alexander; Schweikard, Achim

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The CyberKnife system has been used successfully for several years to radiosurgically treat tumors without the need for stereotactic fixation or sedation of the patient. It has been shown that tumor motion in the lung, liver, and pancreas can be tracked with acceptable accuracy and repeatability. However, highly precise targeting for tumors in the lower abdomen, especially for tumors which exhibit strong motion, remains problematic. Reasons for this are manifold, like the slow tracking system operating at 26.5 Hz, and using the signal from the tracking camera ''as is''. Since the motion recorded with the camera is used to compensate for system latency by prediction and the predicted signal is subsequently used to infer the tumor position from a correlation model based on x-ray imaging of gold fiducials around the tumor, camera noise directly influences the targeting accuracy. The goal of this work is to establish the suitability of a new smoothing method for respiratory motion traces used in motion-compensated radiotherapy. The authors endeavor to show that better prediction--With a lower rms error of the predicted signal--and/or smoother prediction is possible using this method. Methods: The authors evaluated six commercially available tracking systems (NDI Aurora, PolarisClassic, Polaris Vicra, MicronTracker2 H40, FP5000, and accuTrack compact). The authors first tracked markers both stationary and while in motion to establish the systems' noise characteristics. Then the authors applied a smoothing method based on the a trous wavelet decomposition to reduce the devices' noise level. Additionally, the smoothed signal of the moving target and a motion trace from actual human respiratory motion were subjected to prediction using the MULIN and the nLMS 2 algorithms. Results: The authors established that the noise distribution for a static target is Gaussian and that when the probe is moved such as to mimic human respiration, it remains Gaussian with the

  18. PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC ASSESSMENT OF BASE-ISOLATED NPPS SUBJECTED TO STRONG GROUND MOTIONS OF TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AHMER ALI

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The probabilistic seismic performance of a standard Korean nuclear power plant (NPP with an idealized isolation is investigated in the present work. A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA of the Wolsong site on the Korean peninsula is performed by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA as an earthquake intensity measure. A procedure is reported on the categorization and selection of two sets of ground motions of the Tohoku earthquake, i.e. long-period and common as Set A and Set B respectively, for the nonlinear time history response analysis of the base-isolated NPP. Limit state values as multiples of the displacement responses of the NPP base isolation are considered for the fragility estimation. The seismic risk of the NPP is further assessed by incorporation of the rate of frequency exceedance and conditional failure probability curves. Furthermore, this framework attempts to show the unacceptable performance of the isolated NPP in terms of the probabilistic distribution and annual probability of limit states. The comparative results for long and common ground motions are discussed to contribute to the future safety of nuclear facilities against drastic events like Tohoku.

  19. Probabilistic seismic assessment of base-isolated NPPs subjected to strong ground motions of Tohoku earthquake

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ali, Ahmer; Hayah, Nadin Abu; Kim, Doo Kie [Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kunsan National University, Kunsan (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Sung Gook [R and D Center, JACE KOREA Company, Gyeonggido (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    The probabilistic seismic performance of a standard Korean nuclear power plant (NPP) with an idealized isolation is investigated in the present work. A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of the Wolsong site on the Korean peninsula is performed by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA) as an earthquake intensity measure. A procedure is reported on the categorization and selection of two sets of ground motions of the Tohoku earthquake, i.e. long-period and common as Set A and Set B respectively, for the nonlinear time history response analysis of the base-isolated NPP. Limit state values as multiples of the displacement responses of the NPP base isolation are considered for the fragility estimation. The seismic risk of the NPP is further assessed by incorporation of the rate of frequency exceedance and conditional failure probability curves. Furthermore, this framework attempts to show the unacceptable performance of the isolated NPP in terms of the probabilistic distribution and annual probability of limit states. The comparative results for long and common ground motions are discussed to contribute to the future safety of nuclear facilities against drastic events like Tohoku.

  20. Ground motion characteristics of 2007 Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki earthquake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hijikata, Katsuichirou; Nishimura, Isao; Mizutani, Hiroyuki; Tokumitsu, Ryoichi; Mashimo, Mitsugu; Tanaka, Shinya

    2010-01-01

    Strong motion records of 2007 Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki earthquake were examined in order to evaluate ground motion characteristics of the earthquake. Ground motions observed at Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant site were significantly larger than the response spectra evaluated on the basis of Noda et al. (2002), and the level of the ground motion observed at Arahama area (unit 1-4 side) was approximately twice as large as that at Ominato area (unit 5-7 side). Observation records of the offshore events other than the earthquake were also larger than the response spectra based on Noda et al. (2002), whereas records of the inland events were smaller than those. In addition, these characteristics were also observed in the vicinity of the site through the analysis of the ground motion records obtained by KiK-net. (author)

  1. Status of Ground Motion Mitigation Techniques for CLIC

    CERN Document Server

    Snuverink, J; Collette, C; Duarte Ramos, F; Gaddi, A; Gerwig, H; Janssens, S; Pfingstner, J; Schulte, D; Balik, G; Brunetti, L; Jeremie, A; Burrows, P; Caron, B; Resta-Lopez, J

    2011-01-01

    The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) accelerator has strong stability requirements on the position of the beam. In particular, the beam position will be sensitive to ground motion. A number of mitigation techniques are proposed - quadrupole stabilisation and positioning, final doublet stabilisation as well as beam based orbit and interaction point (IP) feedback. Integrated studies of the impact of the ground motion on the CLIC Main Linac (ML) and Beam Delivery System (BDS) have been performed, which model the hardware and beam performance in detail. Based on the results future improvements of the mitigation techniques are suggested and simulated. It is shown that with the current design the tight luminosity budget for ground motion effects is fulfilled and accordingly, an essential feasibility issue of CLIC has been addressed.

  2. Estimating tropical vertical motion profile shapes from satellite observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Back, L. E.; Handlos, Z.

    2013-12-01

    The vertical structure of tropical deep convection strongly influences interactions with larger scale circulations and climate. This research focuses on investigating this vertical structure and its relationship with mesoscale tropical weather states. We test the hypothesis that vertical motion shape varies in association with weather state type. We estimate mean state vertical motion profile shapes for six tropical weather states defined using cloud top pressure and optical depth properties from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project. The relationship between vertical motion and the dry static energy budget are utilized to set up a regression analysis that empirically determines two modes of variability in vertical motion from reanalysis data. We use these empirically determined modes, this relationship and surface convergence to estimate vertical motion profile shape from observations of satellite retrievals of rainfall and surface convergence. We find that vertical motion profile shapes vary systematically between different tropical weather states. The "isolated systems" regime exhibits a more ''bottom-heavy'' profile shape compared to the convective/thick cirrus and vigorous deep convective regimes, with maximum upward vertical motion occurring in the lower troposphere rather than the middle to upper troposphere. The variability we observe with our method does not coincide with that expected based on conventional ideas about how stratiform rain fraction and vertical motion are related.

  3. Methodology to evaluate the site standard seismic motion to a nuclear facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soares, W.A.

    1983-01-01

    For the seismic design of nuclear facilities, the input motion is normally defined by the predicted maximum ground horizontal acceleration and the free field ground response spectrum. This spectrum is computed on the basis of records of strong motion earthquakes. The pair maximum acceleration-response spectrum is called the site standard seismic motion. An overall view of the subjects involved in the determination of the site standard seismic motion to a nuclear facility is presented. The main topics discussed are: basic principles of seismic instrumentation; dynamic and spectral concepts; design earthquakes definitions; fundamentals of seismology; empirical curves developed from prior seismic data; available methodologies and recommended procedures to evaluate the site standard seismic motion. (Author) [pt

  4. Observation of inward and outward particle convection in the core of electron cyclotron heated and current driven plasmas in the Tokamak a Configuration Variable

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Furno, I.; Weisen, H.

    2003-01-01

    In the Tokamak a Configuration Variable [F. Hofmann, J.B. Lister, M. Anton et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 36, B277 (1994)], inward or outward convection in the core of electron cyclotron heated and current driven plasmas is observed, depending on discharge conditions. In sawtoothing discharges with central electron cyclotron heating, outward convection is observed when a quasicontinuous m=1 kink mode is present, resulting in inverted sawteeth on the central electron density, while in the absence thereof, inward convection between successive sawtooth crashes leads to 'normal' sawteeth. The occurrence of a kink mode depends sensitively on plasma triangularity. When sawteeth are stabilized with central co- or counterelectron cyclotron current drive, stationary hollow electron density profiles are observed in the presence of m=1 modes, while peaked or flat profiles are observed in magnetohydrodynamic quiescent discharges. The observation of peaked density profiles in fully electron cyclotron driven plasmas demonstrates that pinch processes other than the Ware pinch must be responsible for these phenomena

  5. Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-11-01

    This report develops and applies a method for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Specifically considered are ground motions resulting from earthquakes with magnitudes from 5 to 8, fault distances from 0 to 500 km, and frequencies from 1 to 35 Hz. The two main objectives were: (1) to develop generic relations for estimating ground motion appropriate for site screening; and (2) to develop a guideline for conducting a thorough site investigation needed to define the seismic design basis. For the first objective, an engineering model was developed to predict the expected ground motion on rock sites, with an additional set of amplification factors to account for the response of the soil column over rock at soil sites. The results incorporate best estimates of ground motion as well as the randomness and uncertainty associated with those estimates. For the second objective, guidelines were developed for gathering geotechnical information at a site and using this information in calculating site response. As a part of this development, an extensive set of geotechnical and seismic investigations was conducted at three reference sites. Together, the engineering model and guidelines provide the means to select and assess the seismic suitability of a site

  6. Langevin theory of anomalous Brownian motion made simple

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tothova, Jana; Vasziova, Gabriela; Lisy, VladimIr; Glod, Lukas

    2011-01-01

    During the century from the publication of the work by Einstein (1905 Ann. Phys. 17 549) Brownian motion has become an important paradigm in many fields of modern science. An essential impulse for the development of Brownian motion theory was given by the work of Langevin (1908 C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris 146 530), in which he proposed an 'infinitely more simple' description of Brownian motion than that by Einstein. The original Langevin approach has however strong limitations, which were rigorously stated after the creation of the hydrodynamic theory of Brownian motion (1945). Hydrodynamic Brownian motion is a special case of 'anomalous Brownian motion', now intensively studied both theoretically and in experiments. We show how some general properties of anomalous Brownian motion can be easily derived using an effective method that allows one to convert the stochastic generalized Langevin equation into a deterministic Volterra-type integro-differential equation for the mean square displacement of the particle. Within the Gibbs statistics, the method is applicable to linear equations of motion with any kind of memory during the evolution of the system. We apply it to memoryless Brownian motion in a harmonic potential well and to Brownian motion in fluids, taking into account the effects of hydrodynamic memory. Exploring the mathematical analogy between Brownian motion and electric circuits, which are at nanoscales also described by the generalized Langevin equation, we calculate the fluctuations of charge and current in RLC circuits that are in contact with the thermal bath. Due to the simplicity of our approach it could be incorporated into graduate courses of statistical physics. Once the method is established, it allows bringing to the attention of students and effectively solving a number of attractive problems related to Brownian motion.

  7. Effects of earthquake rupture shallowness and local soil conditions on simulated ground motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Apsel, Randy J.; Hadley, David M.; Hart, Robert S.

    1983-03-01

    The paucity of strong ground motion data in the Eastern U.S. (EUS), combined with well recognized differences in earthquake source depths and wave propagation characteristics between Eastern and Western U.S. (WUS) suggests that simulation studies will play a key role in assessing earthquake hazard in the East. This report summarizes an extensive simulation study of 5460 components of ground motion representing a model parameter study for magnitude, distance, source orientation, source depth and near-surface site conditions for a generic EUS crustal model. The simulation methodology represents a hybrid approach to modeling strong ground motion. Wave propagation is modeled with an efficient frequency-wavenumber integration algorithm. The source time function used for each grid element of a modeled fault is empirical, scaled from near-field accelerograms. This study finds that each model parameter has a significant influence on both the shape and amplitude of the simulated response spectra. The combined effect of all parameters predicts a dispersion of response spectral values that is consistent with strong ground motion observations. This study provides guidelines for scaling WUS data from shallow earthquakes to the source depth conditions more typical in the EUS. The modeled site conditions range from very soft soil to hard rock. To the extent that these general site conditions model a specific site, the simulated response spectral information can be used to either correct spectra to a site-specific environment or used to compare expected ground motions at different sites. (author)

  8. Vertical motion and ''scarred'' eigenfunctions in the stadium billiard

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christoffel, K.M.; Brumer, P.

    1985-01-01

    A subset of pseudoregular eigenfunctions of the classically chaotic stadium billiard is shown to participate strongly in vertically directed motion, supporting the conjectures of McDonald and of Heller regarding periodic orbits and pseudoregular eigenfunctions

  9. Neoclassical impurity transport and observations of poloidal asymmetries in JET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feneberg, W.; Mast, F.K.; Martin, P.; Gottardi, N.

    1986-01-01

    Bolometrically measured asymmetries of emissivity for some characteristic JET discharges are presented and are in good agreement with theoretical results of calculations worked out in the frame of neoclassical theory. Application of theory to the case of strong toroidal rotation as induced with neutral injection shows a sensitive dependance of the impurity transport perpendicular to the magnetic surfaces from the parameter of poloidal rotation. The main result is the existence of a classical flow reversal. Without any poloidal rotation of the background ions, a large inward flow of impurities for co- and counter-injection is always predicted, while poloidal rotation in the direction of the ion diamagnetic drift motion leads to a strong outward drift. (author)

  10. An algorithm developed in Matlab for the automatic selection of cut-off frequencies, in the correction of strong motion data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakkas, Georgios; Sakellariou, Nikolaos

    2018-05-01

    Strong motion recordings are the key in many earthquake engineering applications and are also fundamental for seismic design. The present study focuses on the automated correction of accelerograms, analog and digital. The main feature of the proposed algorithm is the automatic selection for the cut-off frequencies based on a minimum spectral value in a predefined frequency bandwidth, instead of the typical signal-to-noise approach. The algorithm follows the basic steps of the correction procedure (instrument correction, baseline correction and appropriate filtering). Besides the corrected time histories, Peak Ground Acceleration, Peak Ground Velocity, Peak Ground Displacement values and the corrected Fourier Spectra are also calculated as well as the response spectra. The algorithm is written in Matlab environment, is fast enough and can be used for batch processing or in real-time applications. In addition, the possibility to also perform a signal-to-noise ratio is added as well as to perform causal or acausal filtering. The algorithm has been tested in six significant earthquakes (Kozani-Grevena 1995, Aigio 1995, Athens 1999, Lefkada 2003 and Kefalonia 2014) of the Greek territory with analog and digital accelerograms.

  11. Common Observations for Near-Source Ground Motions and Seismo-Traveling Ionosphere Disturbances Following the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bor-Shouh Huang

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The time history and spatial dependence of seismic-wave propagation on the ground surface and through the ionosphere following the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake were reconstructed from dense seismic networks and from Global Positioning System (GPS array observations, respectively. Using total electron content (TEC data recorded by a dense GPS receiver network, the near-source ionosphere perturbations induced by this giant earthquake were analyzed and high-resolution images of seismic-wave propagation in the ionosphere are presented. Similar spatial images of ground motions were reconstructed from observations by a dense seismic array. Observations of this event provide, for the first time, the opportunity to compare near-source ground motions with the near-field seismo-traveling ionosphere disturbance (STID excited by the ground motions. Based on the results, the nature of the source rupture and seismic-wave propagation are discussed. Both seismic and ionosphere observations indicate that seismic energy propagated radially outward initially from the hypocenter, but that the circular shape of the propagation front became gradually distorted as the source rupture became extended. Coherent wavefronts from the two analyses show contrasting patterns during the later stage of propagation, possibly due to different patterns of spatial variations in the physical properties of the solid earth and of the ionosphere.

  12. Scalar strong interaction hadron theory

    CERN Document Server

    Hoh, Fang Chao

    2015-01-01

    The scalar strong interaction hadron theory, SSI, is a first principles' and nonlocal theory at quantum mechanical level that provides an alternative to low energy QCD and Higgs related part of the standard model. The quark-quark interaction is scalar rather than color-vectorial. A set of equations of motion for mesons and another set for baryons have been constructed. This book provides an account of the present state of a theory supposedly still at its early stage of development. This work will facilitate researchers interested in entering into this field and serve as a basis for possible future development of this theory.

  13. Motion and properties of nuclear radio components in Seyfert galaxies seen with VLBI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Middelberg, E.; Roy, A. L.; Nagar, N. M.; Krichbaum, T. P.; Norris, R. P.; Wilson, A. S.; Falcke, H.; Colbert, E. J. M.; Witzel, A.; Fricke, K. J.

    2004-04-01

    We report EVN, MERLIN and VLBA observations at 18 cm, 6 cm and 3.6 cm of the Seyfert galaxies NGC 7674, NGC 5506, NGC 2110 and Mrk 1210 to study their structure and proper motions on pc scales and to add some constraints on the many possible causes of the radio-quietness of Seyferts. The component configurations in NGC 7674 and NGC 2110 are simple, linear structures, whereas the configurations in NGC 5506 and Mrk 1210 have multiple components with no clear axis of symmetry. We suggest that NGC 7674 is a low-luminosity compact symmetric object. Comparing the images at different epochs, we find a proper motion in NGC 7674 of (0.92±0.07) c between the two central components separated by 282 pc and, in NGC 5506, we find a 3 σ upper limit of 0.50 c for the components separated by 3.8 pc. Our results confirm and extend earlier work showing that the outward motion of radio components in Seyfert galaxies is non-relativistic on pc scales. We briefly discuss whether this non-relativistic motion is intrinsic to the jet-formation process or results from deceleration of an initially relativistic jet by interaction with the pc or sub-pc scale interstellar medium. We combined our sample with a list compiled from the literature of VLBI observations made of Seyfert galaxies, and found that most Seyfert nuclei have at least one flat-spectrum component on the VLBI scale, which was not seen in the spectral indices measured at arcsec resolution. We found also that the bimodal alignment of pc and kpc radio structures displayed by radio galaxies and quasars is not displayed by this sample of Seyferts, which shows a uniform distribution of misalignment between 0° and 90°. The frequent misalignment could result from jet precession or from deflection of the jet by interaction with gas in the interstellar medium.

  14. Micro-motion Recognition of Spatial Cone Target Based on ISAR Image Sequences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Changyong Shu

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The accurate micro-motions recognition of spatial cone target is the foundation of the characteristic parameter acquisition. For this reason, a micro-motion recognition method based on the distinguishing characteristics extracted from the Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR sequences is proposed in this paper. The projection trajectory formula of cone node strong scattering source and cone bottom slip-type strong scattering sources, which are located on the spatial cone target, are deduced under three micro-motion types including nutation, precession, and spinning, and the correctness is verified by the electromagnetic simulation. By comparison, differences are found among the projection of the scattering sources with different micro-motions, the coordinate information of the scattering sources in the Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar sequences is extracted by the CLEAN algorithm, and the spinning is recognized by setting the threshold value of Doppler. The double observation points Interacting Multiple Model Kalman Filter is used to separate the scattering sources projection of the nutation target or precession target, and the cross point number of each scattering source’s projection track is used to classify the nutation or precession. Finally, the electromagnetic simulation data are used to verify the effectiveness of the micro-motion recognition method.

  15. Dispersion relation of linearly polarized strong electromagnetic waves

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferrari, A; Massaglia, S [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica; Dobrowolny, M [Comitato Nazionale per l' Energia Nucleaire, Frascati (Italy). Lab. Plasma Spazio

    1975-12-15

    A numerical study is presented of the dispersion relation of linearly polarized strong electromagnetic waves in a cold electron plasma. The nonlinear effects introduced by the relativistic motion of electrons are: (1) the dispersion relation depends explicitly on the field strength ..cap alpha..=eE/sub 0//mc..omega../sub 0/, and (2) the propagation of modes with frequencies below the formal electron plasma frequency is allowed.

  16. Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-01-01

    This report develops and applies a methodology for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The motivation was to develop a much needed tool for use in developing the seismic requirements for structural designs. An earthquake's ground motion is a function of the earthquake's magnitude, and the physical properties of the earth through which the seismic waves travel from the earthquake fault to the site of interest. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Eastern North America is a stable continental region, having sparse earthquake activity with rare occurrences of large earthquakes. While large earthquakes are of interest for assessing seismic hazard, little data exists from the region to empirically quantify their effects. The focus of the report is on the attributes of ground motion in Eastern North America that are of interest for the design of facilities such as nuclear power plants. This document, Volume II, contains Appendices 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 covering the following topics: Eastern North American Empirical Ground Motion Data; Examination of Variance of Seismographic Network Data; Soil Amplification and Vertical-to-Horizontal Ratios from Analysis of Strong Motion Data From Active Tectonic Regions; Revision and Calibration of Ou and Herrmann Method; Generalized Ray Procedure for Modeling Ground Motion Attenuation; Crustal Models for Velocity Regionalization; Depth Distribution Models; Development of Generic Site Effects Model; Validation and Comparison of One-Dimensional Site Response Methodologies; Plots of Amplification Factors; Assessment of Coupling Between Vertical ampersand Horizontal Motions in Nonlinear Site Response Analysis; and Modeling of Dynamic Soil Properties

  17. Strong convective and shock wave behaviour in solar flares

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bloomberg, H.W.; Davis, J.; Boris, J.P.

    1977-01-01

    A model has been developed to study the gasdynamics of a flare region heated by a stream of energetic electrons. It is shown that the energy deposition can introduce strong chromospheric dynamical effects. As a result of fluid motion into rarified regions, there is considerable redistribution of mass causing a profound influence on the emitted line radiation. (author)

  18. Quantifying the predictability of diaphragm motion during respiration with a noninvasive external marker

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vedam, S.S.; Kini, V.R.; Keall, P.J.; Ramakrishnan, V.; Mostafavi, H.; Mohan, R.

    2003-01-01

    The aim of this work was to quantify the ability to predict intrafraction diaphragm motion from an external respiration signal during a course of radiotherapy. The data obtained included diaphragm motion traces from 63 fluoroscopic lung procedures for 5 patients, acquired simultaneously with respiratory motion signals (an infrared camera-based system was used to track abdominal wall motion). During these sessions, the patients were asked to breathe either (i) without instruction, (ii) with audio prompting, or (iii) using visual feedback. A statistical general linear model was formulated to describe the relationship between the respiration signal and diaphragm motion over all sessions and for all breathing training types. The model parameters derived from the first session for each patient were then used to predict the diaphragm motion for subsequent sessions based on the respiration signal. Quantification of the difference between the predicted and actual motion during each session determined our ability to predict diaphragm motion during a course of radiotherapy. This measure of diaphragm motion was also used to estimate clinical target volume (CTV) to planning target volume (PTV) margins for conventional, gated, and proposed four-dimensional (4D) radiotherapy. Results from statistical analysis indicated a strong linear relationship between the respiration signal and diaphragm motion (p<0.001) over all sessions, irrespective of session number (p=0.98) and breathing training type (p=0.19). Using model parameters obtained from the first session, diaphragm motion was predicted in subsequent sessions to within 0.1 cm (1 σ) for gated and 4D radiotherapy. Assuming a 0.4 cm setup error, superior-inferior CTV-PTV margins of 1.1 cm for conventional radiotherapy could be reduced to 0.8 cm for gated and 4D radiotherapy. The diaphragm motion is strongly correlated with the respiration signal obtained from the abdominal wall. This correlation can be used to predict diaphragm

  19. Probing strong-field electron-nuclear dynamics of polyatomic molecules using proton motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Markevitch, Alexei N.; Smith, Stanley M.; Levis, Robert J.; Romanov, Dmitri A.

    2007-01-01

    Proton ejection during Coulomb explosion is studied for several structure-related organic molecules (anthracene, anthraquinone, and octahydroanthracene) subjected to 800 nm, 60 fs laser pulses at intensities from 0.50 to 4.0x10 14 W cm -2 . The proton kinetic energy distributions are found to be markedly structure specific. The distributions are bimodal for anthracene and octahydroanthracene and trimodal for anthraquinone. Maximum (cutoff) energies of the distributions range from 50 eV for anthracene to 83 eV for anthraquinone. The low-energy mode (∼10 eV) is most pronounced in octahydroanthracene. The dependence of the characteristic features of the distributions on the laser intensity provides insights into molecular specificity of such strong-field phenomena as (i) nonadiabatic charge localization and (ii) field-mediated restructuring of polyatomic molecules polarized by a strong laser field

  20. Exit from Synchrony in Joint Improvised Motion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Assi Dahan

    Full Text Available Motion synchrony correlates with effective and well-rated human interaction. However, people do not remain locked in synchrony; Instead, they repeatedly enter and exit synchrony. In many important interactions, such as therapy, marriage and parent-infant communication, it is the ability to exit and then re-enter synchrony that is thought to build strong relationship. The phenomenon of entry into zero-phase synchrony is well-studied experimentally and in terms of mathematical modeling. In contrast, exit-from-synchrony is under-studied. Here, we focus on human motion coordination, and examine the exit-from-synchrony phenomenon using experimental data from the mirror game paradigm, in which people perform joint improvised motion, and from human tracking of computer-generated stimuli. We present a mathematical mechanism that captures aspects of exit-from-synchrony in human motion. The mechanism adds a random motion component when the accumulated velocity error between the players is small. We introduce this mechanism to several models for human coordinated motion, including the widely studied HKB model, and the predictor-corrector model of Noy, Dekel and Alon. In all models, the new mechanism produces realistic simulated behavior when compared to experimental data from the mirror game and from tracking of computer generated stimuli, including repeated entry and exit from zero-phase synchrony that generates a complexity of motion similar to that of human players. We hope that these results can inform future research on exit-from-synchrony, to better understand the dynamics of coordinated action of people and to enhance human-computer and human-robot interaction.

  1. Ion Motion in a Plasma Interacting with Strong Magnetic Fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weingarten, A.; Grabowski, C.; Chakrabarti, N.; Maron, Y.; Fruchtmant, A.

    1999-01-01

    The interaction of a plasma with strong magnetic fields takes place in many laboratory experiments and astrophysical plasmas. Applying a strong magnetic field to the plasma may result in plasma displacement, magnetization, or the formation of instabilities. Important phenomena in plasma, such as the energy transport and the momentum balance, take a different form in each case. We study this interaction in a plasma that carries a short-duration (80-ns) current pulse, generating a magnetic field of up to 17 kG. The evolution of the magnetic field, plasma density, ion velocities, and electric fields are determined before and during the current pulse. The dependence of the plasma limiting current on the plasma density and composition are studied and compared to theoretical models based on the different phenomena. When the plasma collisionality is low, three typical velocities should be taken into consideration: the proton and heavier-ion Alfven velocities (v A p and v A h , respectively) and the EMHD magnetic-field penetration velocity into the plasma (v EMHD ). If both Alfven velocities are larger than v EMHD the plasma is pushed ahead of the magnetic piston and the magnetic field energy is dissipated into ion kinetic energy. If v EMHD is the largest of three velocities, the plasma become magnetized and the ions acquire a small axial momentum only. Different ion species may drift in different directions along the current lines. In this case, the magnetic field energy is probably dissipated into electron thermal energy. When vs > V EMHD > vi, as in the case of one of our experiments, ion mass separation occurs. The protons are pushed ahead of the piston while the heavier-ions become magnetized. Since the plasma electrons are unmagnetized they cannot cross the piston, and the heavy ions are probably charge-neutralized by electrons originating from the cathode that are 'born' magnetized

  2. ShakeMapple : tapping laptop motion sensors to map the felt extents of an earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bossu, Remy; McGilvary, Gary; Kamb, Linus

    2010-05-01

    There is a significant pool of untapped sensor resources available in portable computer embedded motion sensors. Included primarily to detect sudden strong motion in order to park the disk heads to prevent damage to the disks in the event of a fall or other severe motion, these sensors may also be tapped for other uses as well. We have developed a system that takes advantage of the Apple Macintosh laptops' embedded Sudden Motion Sensors to record earthquake strong motion data to rapidly build maps of where and to what extent an earthquake has been felt. After an earthquake, it is vital to understand the damage caused especially in urban environments as this is often the scene for large amounts of damage caused by earthquakes. Gathering as much information from these impacts to determine where the areas that are likely to be most effected, can aid in distributing emergency services effectively. The ShakeMapple system operates in the background, continuously saving the most recent data from the motion sensors. After an earthquake has occurred, the ShakeMapple system calculates the peak acceleration within a time window around the expected arrival and sends that to servers at the EMSC. A map plotting the felt responses is then generated and presented on the web. Because large-scale testing of such an application is inherently difficult, we propose to organize a broadly distributed "simulated event" test. The software will be available for download in April, after which we plan to organize a large-scale test by the summer. At a specified time, participating testers will be asked to create their own strong motion to be registered and submitted by the ShakeMapple client. From these responses, a felt map will be produced representing the broadly-felt effects of the simulated event.

  3. VEGF attenuated increase of outward delayed-rectifier potassium currents in hippocampal neurons induced by focal ischemia via PI3-K pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, K W; Yang, P; Li, S S; Liu, C W; Sun, F Y

    2015-07-09

    We recently indicated that the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protects neurons against hypoxic death via enhancement of tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv1.2, an isoform of the delayed-rectifier potassium channels through activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) signaling pathway. The present study investigated whether VEGF could attenuate ischemia-induced increase of the potassium currents in the hippocampal pyramidal neurons of rats after ischemic injury. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) to induce brain ischemia. The whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used to record the potassium currents of hippocampal neurons in brain slices from the ischemically injured brains of the rats 24h after MCAO. We detected that transient MCAO caused a significant increase of voltage-gated potassium currents (Kv) and outward delayed-rectifier potassium currents (IK), but not outward transient potassium currents (IA), in the ipsilateral hippocampus compared with the sham. Moreover, we found that VEGF could acutely, reversibly and voltage-dependently inhibit the ischemia-induced IK increase. This inhibitory effect of VEGF could be completely abolished by wortmannin, an inhibitor of PI3-K. Our data indicate that VEGF attenuates the ischemia-induced increase of IK via activation of the PI3-K signaling pathway. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Rashba spin–orbit coupling effects on a current-induced domain wall motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryu, Jisu; Seo, Soo-Man; Lee, Kyung-Jin; Lee, Hyun-Woo

    2012-01-01

    A current-induced domain wall motion in magnetic nanowires with a strong structural inversion asymmetry [I.M. Miron, T. Moore, H. Szambolics, L.D. Buda-Prejbeanu, S. Auffret, B. Rodmacq, S. Pizzini, J. Vogel, M. Bonfim, A. Schuhl, G. Gaudin, Nat. Mat. 10 (2011) 419] seems to have novel features such as the domain wall motion along the current direction or the delay of the onset of the Walker breakdown. In such a highly asymmetric system, the Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC) may affect a domain wall motion. We studied theoretically the RSOC effects on a domain wall motion and found that the RSOC, indeed, can induce the domain wall motion along the current direction in certain situations. It also delays the Walker breakdown and for a strong RSOC, the Walker breakdown does not occur at all. The RSOC effects are sensitive to the magnetic anisotropy of nanowires and also to the ratio between the Gilbert damping parameter α and the non-adiabaticity parameter β. - Highlights: ► Effects of Rashba spin–orbit coupling on a domain wall motion is calculated. ► The effects depend highly on the anisotropy of a magnetic system. ► It modifies the wall velocity for the system with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. ► The modified velocity can be along the current direction in certain situations. ► Rashba spin–orbit coupling also hinders the onset of the Walker breakdown.

  5. Perception of animacy from the motion of a single sound object

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Rasmus Høll; Vuust, Peter; Wallentin, Mikkel

    2015-01-01

    Research in the visual modality has shown that the presence of certain dynamics in the motion of an object has a strong effect on whether or not the entity is perceived as animate. Cues for animacy are, among others, self-propelled motion and direction changes that are seemingly not caused...... that a change in the velocity of motion is positively correlated with perceived animacy, and changes in direction were found to influence animacy judgment as well. This suggests that an ability to facilitate and sustain self-movement is perceived as a living quality not only in the visual domain...

  6. Motion of the esophagus due to cardiac motion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacob Palmer

    Full Text Available When imaging studies (e.g. CT are used to quantify morphological changes in an anatomical structure, it is necessary to understand the extent and source of motion which can give imaging artifacts (e.g. blurring or local distortion. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of esophageal motion due to cardiac motion. We used retrospective electrocardiogram-gated contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography images for this study. The anatomic region from the carina to the bottom of the heart was taken at deep-inspiration breath hold with the patients' arms raised above their shoulders, in a position similar to that used for radiation therapy. The esophagus was delineated on the diastolic phase of cardiac motion, and deformable registration was used to sequentially deform the images in nearest-neighbor phases among the 10 cardiac phases, starting from the diastolic phase. Using the 10 deformation fields generated from the deformable registration, the magnitude of the extreme displacements was then calculated for each voxel, and the mean and maximum displacement was calculated for each computed tomography slice for each patient. The average maximum esophageal displacement due to cardiac motion for all patients was 5.8 mm (standard deviation: 1.6 mm, maximum: 10.0 mm in the transverse direction. For 21 of 26 patients, the largest esophageal motion was found in the inferior region of the heart; for the other patients, esophageal motion was approximately independent of superior-inferior position. The esophagus motion was larger at cardiac phases where the electrocardiogram R-wave occurs. In conclusion, the magnitude of esophageal motion near the heart due to cardiac motion is similar to that due to other sources of motion, including respiratory motion and intra-fraction motion. A larger cardiac motion will result into larger esophagus motion in a cardiac cycle.

  7. Strong movement data currently available at IPSN/DAS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamaide, D.; Mohammadioun, B.; Mohammadioun, G.

    1986-01-01

    The collection of recordings and other data on strong seismic motion compiled by the Departement d'Analyse de Surete de l'Institut de Protection et de Surete Nucleaire (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) to form a data base known as ''sismotheque'' are presented. Following an introduction wherein the necessity of creating such a repertory for evaluating seismic hazard on the sites of nuclear facilities is explained, a description is given of the means engaged, i.e. motion recorded by the DAS's own laboratory or data procured from other research units in France or abroad. The quantity and quality of the data now available are summarized, as well as the techniques designed to gain access to desired information, illustrated by concrete examples. The paper concludes with recommendations for future developments [fr

  8. Necessary conditions for tumbling in the rotational motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrera, Danny H. Z.; Weber, Hans I.

    2012-11-01

    The goal of this work is the investigation of the necessary conditions for the possible existence of tumbling in rotational motion of rigid bodies. In a stable spinning satellite, tumbling may occur by sufficient strong action of external impulses, when the conical movement characteristic of the stable attitude is de-characterized. For this purpose a methodology is chosen to simplify the study of rotational motions with great amplitude, for example free bodies in space, allowing an extension of the analysis to non-conservative systems. In the case of a satellite in space, the projection of the angular velocity along the principal axes of inertia must be known, defining completely the initial conditions of motion for stability investigations. In this paper, the coordinate systems are established according to the initial condition in order to allow a simple analytical work on the equations of motion. Also it will be proposed the definition of a parameter, calling it tumbling coefficient, to measure the intensity of the tumbling and the amplitude of the motion when crossing limits of stability in the concept of Lyapunov. Tumbling in the motion of bodies in space is not possible when this coefficient is positive. Magnus Triangle representation will be used to represent the geometry of the body, establishing regions of stability/instability for possible initial conditions of motion. In the study of nonconservative systems for an oblate body, one sufficient condition will be enough to assure damped motion, and this condition is checked for a motion damped by viscous torques. This paper seeks to highlight the physical understanding of the phenomena and the influence of various parameters that are important in the process.

  9. The Air Blast Wave from a Nuclear Explosion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reines, Frederick

    the air increases and in the limit of small distances and increasingly strong shocks the net outward displacement of the shocked air is equal to the maximum outward displacement. These statements are applicable for short times of the order of seconds following the explosion since the heated air l behind by the shock wave will rise. The pressures and air mass motions associated with the rise of the atomic cloud are relatively unimportant in the free air pressure ranges from 2-15 psi for bomb yields under 100 kilotons (KT)…

  10. Influence of Visual Motion, Suggestion, and Illusory Motion on Self-Motion Perception in the Horizontal Plane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblatt, Steven David; Crane, Benjamin Thomas

    2015-01-01

    A moving visual field can induce the feeling of self-motion or vection. Illusory motion from static repeated asymmetric patterns creates a compelling visual motion stimulus, but it is unclear if such illusory motion can induce a feeling of self-motion or alter self-motion perception. In these experiments, human subjects reported the perceived direction of self-motion for sway translation and yaw rotation at the end of a period of viewing set visual stimuli coordinated with varying inertial stimuli. This tested the hypothesis that illusory visual motion would influence self-motion perception in the horizontal plane. Trials were arranged into 5 blocks based on stimulus type: moving star field with yaw rotation, moving star field with sway translation, illusory motion with yaw, illusory motion with sway, and static arrows with sway. Static arrows were used to evaluate the effect of cognitive suggestion on self-motion perception. Each trial had a control condition; the illusory motion controls were altered versions of the experimental image, which removed the illusory motion effect. For the moving visual stimulus, controls were carried out in a dark room. With the arrow visual stimulus, controls were a gray screen. In blocks containing a visual stimulus there was an 8s viewing interval with the inertial stimulus occurring over the final 1s. This allowed measurement of the visual illusion perception using objective methods. When no visual stimulus was present, only the 1s motion stimulus was presented. Eight women and five men (mean age 37) participated. To assess for a shift in self-motion perception, the effect of each visual stimulus on the self-motion stimulus (cm/s) at which subjects were equally likely to report motion in either direction was measured. Significant effects were seen for moving star fields for both translation (p = 0.001) and rotation (pperception was shifted in the direction consistent with the visual stimulus. Arrows had a small effect on self-motion

  11. A proton-activated, outwardly rectifying chloride channel in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ma Zhiyong; Zhang Wei; Chen Liang; Wang Rong; Kan Xiaohong; Sun Guizhen; Liu Chunxi; Li Li; Zhang Yun

    2008-01-01

    Extracellular acidic pH-activated chloride channel I Cl,acid , has been characterized in HEK 293 cells and mammalian cardiac myocytes. This study was designed to characterize I Cl,acid in human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs). The activation and deactivation of the current rapidly and repeatedly follows the change of the extracellular solution at pH 4.3, with the threshold pH 5.3. In addition, at very positive potentials, the current displays a time-dependent facilitation. pH-response relationship for I Cl,acid revealed that EC 50 is pH 4.764 with a threshold pH value of pH 5.3 and nH of 14.545. The current can be blocked by the Cl - channel inhibitor DIDS (100 μM). In summary, for the first time we report the presence of proton-activated, outwardly rectifying chloride channel in HUVECs. Because an acidic environment can develop in local myocardium under pathological conditions such as myocardial ischemia, I Cl,acid would play a role in regulation of EC function under these pathological conditions

  12. Recollection and unitization in associating actors with extrinsic and intrinsic motions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersten, Alan W; Earles, Julie L; Berger, Johanna D

    2015-04-01

    Four experiments provide evidence for a distinction between 2 different kinds of motion representations. Extrinsic motions involve the path of an object with respect to an external frame of reference. Intrinsic motions involve the relative motions of the parts of an object. This research suggests that intrinsic motions are represented conjointly with information about the identities of the actors who perform them, whereas extrinsic motions are represented separately from identity information. Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants remembered which actor had performed a particular intrinsic motion better than they remembered which actor had performed a particular extrinsic motion. Experiment 2 replicated this effect with incidental encoding of actor information, suggesting that encoding intrinsic motions leads one to automatically encode identity information. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 were fit by Yonelinas's (1999) source-memory model to quantify the contributions of familiarity and recollection to memory for the actors who carried out the intrinsic and extrinsic motions. Successful performance with extrinsic motion items in Experiment 3 required participants to remember in which scene contexts an actor had appeared, whereas successful performance in Experiment 4 required participants to remember the exact path taken by an actor in each scene. In both experiments, discrimination of old and new combinations of actors and extrinsic motions relied strongly on recollection, suggesting independent but associated representations of actors and extrinsic motions. In contrast, participants discriminated old and new combinations of actors and intrinsic motions primarily on the basis of familiarity, suggesting unitized representations of actors and intrinsic motions. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  13. The Moderating Role of Dysfunctional Parent-Child Relationships on the Association Between Outward Anger Expression and Physical Health in Youth From Low-Income Families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guenther, Kassie D; Van Dyk, Tori R; Kidwell, Katherine M; Nelson, Timothy D

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the role of outward anger expression on physical health outcomes (number of illnesses in the past year, 2-year medical service utilization, and health-related quality of life) while also expanding on previous research by assessing the moderating effect of parent-child dysfunction. An ethnically diverse sample of 125 children, ages 8 to 11 years, was recruited from a family medicine practice serving a low-income population. High levels of outward anger expression were related to a greater number of illnesses, greater medical service utilization, and lower health-related quality of life. Additionally, worse parent-child dysfunction exacerbated this relationship for a number of illnesses and medical service utilization. Results suggest that health care providers should consider the influence of environmental and familial factors on the physical health of children with anger. Recommendations for identifying at-risk youth and improving anger expression as well as parent-child relationships are provided. Copyright © 2016 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Influence of Visual Motion, Suggestion, and Illusory Motion on Self-Motion Perception in the Horizontal Plane.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven David Rosenblatt

    Full Text Available A moving visual field can induce the feeling of self-motion or vection. Illusory motion from static repeated asymmetric patterns creates a compelling visual motion stimulus, but it is unclear if such illusory motion can induce a feeling of self-motion or alter self-motion perception. In these experiments, human subjects reported the perceived direction of self-motion for sway translation and yaw rotation at the end of a period of viewing set visual stimuli coordinated with varying inertial stimuli. This tested the hypothesis that illusory visual motion would influence self-motion perception in the horizontal plane. Trials were arranged into 5 blocks based on stimulus type: moving star field with yaw rotation, moving star field with sway translation, illusory motion with yaw, illusory motion with sway, and static arrows with sway. Static arrows were used to evaluate the effect of cognitive suggestion on self-motion perception. Each trial had a control condition; the illusory motion controls were altered versions of the experimental image, which removed the illusory motion effect. For the moving visual stimulus, controls were carried out in a dark room. With the arrow visual stimulus, controls were a gray screen. In blocks containing a visual stimulus there was an 8s viewing interval with the inertial stimulus occurring over the final 1s. This allowed measurement of the visual illusion perception using objective methods. When no visual stimulus was present, only the 1s motion stimulus was presented. Eight women and five men (mean age 37 participated. To assess for a shift in self-motion perception, the effect of each visual stimulus on the self-motion stimulus (cm/s at which subjects were equally likely to report motion in either direction was measured. Significant effects were seen for moving star fields for both translation (p = 0.001 and rotation (p0.1 for both. Thus, although a true moving visual field can induce self-motion, results of this

  15. New physical concepts for cell amoeboid motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, E

    1993-04-01

    Amoeboid motion of cells is an essential mechanism in the function of many biological organisms (e.g., the regiment of scavenger cells in the immune defense system of animals). This process involves rapid chemical polymerization (with numerous protein constituents) to create a musclelike contractile network that advances the cell over the surface. Significant progress has been made in the biology and biochemistry of motile cells, but the physical dynamics of cell spreading and contraction are not well understood. The reason is that general approaches are formulated from complex mass, momentum, and chemical reaction equations for multiphase-multicomponent flow with the nontrivial difficulty of moving boundaries. However, there are strong clues to the dynamics that allow bold steps to be taken in simplifying the physics of motion. First, amoeboid cells often exhibit exceptional kinematics, i.e., steady advance and retraction of local fixed-shape patterns. Second, recent evidence has shown that cell projections "grow" by polymerization along the advancing boundary of the cell. Together, these characteristics represent a local growth process pinned to the interfacial contour of a contractile network. As such, the moving boundary becomes tractable, but subtle features of the motion lead to specific requirements for the chemical nature of the boundary polymerization process. To demonstrate these features, simple examples for limiting conditions of substrate interaction (i.e., "strong" and "weak" adhesion) are compared with data from experimental studies of yeast particle engulfment by blood granulocytes and actin network dynamics in fishscale keratocytes.

  16. A critical revision of the empirical literature on Chinese outward investment: A new proposal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodríguez Carlos

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Research on China’s role in the globalization of economic activity focuses mainly on its involvement in trade and on its competitiveness as a manufacturing location for foreign investors. However, since the mid-1990s China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI has become an important part of its integration into the global economy. This dimension is poorly understood, and few empirical studies about the drivers behind Chinese OFDI have been published thus far. After reviewing critically the empirical literature, which provides ambiguous results about the explanatory power of some of the large list of determinants put forward, we aim to provide a more accurate description of the motives behind Chinese OFDI. Using a panel data approach for the period 1995 to 2009 and for a large host country sample, we identify some key drivers. We find that host market size, natural resources and FDI openness are of paramount relevance. However, the asset seeking hypothesis is not confirmed.

  17. Direct measurement of conformational strain energy in protofilaments curling outward from disassembling microtubule tips.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driver, Jonathan W; Geyer, Elisabeth A; Bailey, Megan E; Rice, Luke M; Asbury, Charles L

    2017-06-19

    Disassembling microtubules can generate movement independently of motor enzymes, especially at kinetochores where they drive chromosome motility. A popular explanation is the 'conformational wave' model, in which protofilaments pull on the kinetochore as they curl outward from a disassembling tip. But whether protofilaments can work efficiently via this spring-like mechanism has been unclear. By modifying a previous assay to use recombinant tubulin and feedback-controlled laser trapping, we directly demonstrate the spring-like elasticity of curling protofilaments. Measuring their mechanical work output suggests they carry ~25% of the energy of GTP hydrolysis as bending strain, enabling them to drive movement with efficiency similar to conventional motors. Surprisingly, a β-tubulin mutant that dramatically slows disassembly has no effect on work output, indicating an uncoupling of disassembly speed from protofilament strain. These results show the wave mechanism can make a major contribution to kinetochore motility and establish a direct approach for measuring tubulin mechano-chemistry.

  18. Outward Foreign Direct Investment from BRIC countries: Comparing strategies of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese multinational companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wladimir Andreff

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available An overall comparative study of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI from BRIC countries and strategies conducted by multinational companies (MNCs based in the BRICs is elaborated on with a same methodology for Brazil, Russia, India and China. The comparison pertains to the historical emergence of firms’ internationalisation, their booming expansion in the 2000s then their muddling through the current crisis, the specificities of OFDI from each home country, OFDI geographical distribution and industrial structure, econometric testing of the respective determinants of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese OFDI, and the role of home countries’ governments vis-à-vis home-based MNCs. Beyond some common characteristics, BRICs’ MNCs exhibit a number of major country-specific features.

  19. Permian-Triassic Tethyan realm reorganization: Implications for the outward Pangea margin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riel, Nicolas; Jaillard, Etienne; Martelat, Jean-Emmanuel; Guillot, Stéphane; Braun, Jean

    2018-01-01

    We present a new conceptual model to explain the first order Permian-Triassic evolution of the whole > 30 000 km long Pangea margin facing the Panthalassa ocean. Compilation of available geological, geochemical, geochronogical and paleomagnetic data all along this system allowed us to distinguish three part of the margin: western Laurentia, western Gondwana and eastern Gondwana. These segments record distinct tectonic and magmatic events, which all occur synchronously along the whole margin and correlate well with the main geodynamic events of this period, i.e. subduction of the Paleotethys mid-ocean ridge at 310-280 Ma, opening of the Neotethys at 280-260 Ma, counterclockwise rotation of Pangea at 260-230 Ma and closure of the Paleotethys at 230-220 Ma. Between 260 and 230 Ma, the reorganization of the Tethyan realm triggered the up to 35° rotation of Pangea around an Euler pole located in northernmost South America. This implied both an increase and a decrease of the convergence rate between the margin and the Panthalassa ocean, north and south of the Euler pole, respectively. Thus, the Permian-Triassic Pangean margin was marked: in western Laurentia by marginal sea closure, in western Gondwana by widespread bimodal magmatic and volcanic activity, in eastern Gondwana by transpressive orogenic phase. Therefore, we propose that the Permian-Triassic evolution of the outward margin of Pangea was controlled by the Tethyan realm reorganization.

  20. Neck proprioception shapes body orientation and perception of motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettorossi, Vito Enrico; Schieppati, Marco

    2014-01-01

    This review article deals with some effects of neck muscle proprioception on human balance, gait trajectory, subjective straight-ahead (SSA), and self-motion perception. These effects are easily observed during neck muscle vibration, a strong stimulus for the spindle primary afferent fibers. We first remind the early findings on human balance, gait trajectory, SSA, induced by limb, and neck muscle vibration. Then, more recent findings on self-motion perception of vestibular origin are described. The use of a vestibular asymmetric yaw-rotation stimulus for emphasizing the proprioceptive modulation of motion perception from the neck is mentioned. In addition, an attempt has been made to conjointly discuss the effects of unilateral neck proprioception on motion perception, SSA, and walking trajectory. Neck vibration also induces persistent aftereffects on the SSA and on self-motion perception of vestibular origin. These perceptive effects depend on intensity, duration, side of the conditioning vibratory stimulation, and on muscle status. These effects can be maintained for hours when prolonged high-frequency vibration is superimposed on muscle contraction. Overall, this brief outline emphasizes the contribution of neck muscle inflow to the construction and fine-tuning of perception of body orientation and motion. Furthermore, it indicates that tonic neck-proprioceptive input may induce persistent influences on the subject's mental representation of space. These plastic changes might adapt motion sensitiveness to lasting or permanent head positional or motor changes.

  1. Proposal for the rocking analysis model of the dry cask for spent nuclear fuel attached to the storage pallet subjected to the strong earthquake motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kondo, Shunsuke; Shirai, Koji; Namba, Kosuke

    2016-01-01

    In Japan, a dry cask for spent nuclear fuel attached to a storage pallet should be transferred and stored in the vertical orientation on the concrete floor in an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility at or outside reactor site, and a transfer system using air supply will be adopted for such pallet. In case of the hypothetical event, the shutdown of the air supply due to the strong earthquake motions, it is important to evaluate a stability of the metal cask on the concrete floor during seismic motions. A dynamic analysis by the analysis code 'TDAPIII' was executed with a simple lumped mass model by adopting joint elements between a concrete floor and pallet, to reproduce the rocking and sliding behavior. Joint stiffness values were equivalently set to the vibration modes obtained by an eigenvalue analysis. The seismic analysis results were compared with the previous shaking table test results with 2/5 scale model of a real size cask. As a result, although discrepancies of the velocity response of the converted from maximum uplifting potential energy appeared in the range of μ ± 3σ (0.57 ∼ 1.46) among 45 analysis cases comparing with experiment results, it was confirmed that maximum value was about 110kine considerably less than the overturning threshold value 190kine. Moreover, an applicability of the proposed prediction methodology to the real size model was also confirmed. (author)

  2. Effects of ship's vibration and motion on plant parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kakuta, Tsunemi; Kitamura, Toshikatsu; Mizushima, Toshihiko; Yamazaki, Hiroshi; Nakahara, Takeshi; Kamiya, Eisei; Kudou, Takahiro; Naitoh, Akira; Tominaga, Mineo.

    1992-03-01

    Present report was written about the study of the effects of ship's vibration and motion on reactor plant performances measured and analyzed to confirm the total balance for control systems of reactor to propulsion. On July 10, 1990, or on the first day of the first voyage for the power up test, the sea trials of MUTSU, nuclear ship made first in Japan, started from the anchoring test. The trial tests had finished through the third voyage between October 30 and November 9 to the fourth voyage between 7 and 14 of December. The trial tests had been conducted over ten items or so containing in-house tests of the measurements of ship's vibration and motion in order to research the effects on reactor performance. We here call the in-house tests the plant correlation tests. In regard to the correlation with ship's vibration, we confirmed that the inherent vibrations of hull and reactor containment arisen from ship structure had precisely been measured and that the plant correlations due to the hull and local vibrations arising from propeller revolutions are very small. Concerning the correlation with ship's motion, it was shown that her rolling motion strongly had affected on the propulsion system such as shaft power and shaft revolutions. About the correlation with reactor systems it was found that her pitching motion had given effect on the water level in pressurizer, primary coolant average temperature, ε-signal of the auto-control of reactor power and primary coolant pressure etc, particularly, most-strongly on the water level in pressurizer; her rolling and pitching motions had given effect on nuclear characteristics such as reactivity and startup rate; in addition the fluctuation of 0.06 Hz, we think the response inherent in (MUTSU) reactor systems, had been observed on her reactor parameters like reactivity and startup rate, and her propulsion systems like shaft horse power. (author)

  3. Trampoline effect in extreme ground motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoi, Shin; Kunugi, Takashi; Fujiwara, Hiroyuki

    2008-10-31

    In earthquake hazard assessment studies, the focus is usually on horizontal ground motion. However, records from the 14 June 2008 Iwate-Miyagi earthquake in Japan, a crustal event with a moment magnitude of 6.9, revealed an unprecedented vertical surface acceleration of nearly four times gravity, more than twice its horizontal counterpart. The vertical acceleration was distinctly asymmetric; the waveform envelope was about 1.6 times as large in the upward direction as in the downward direction, which is not explained by existing models of the soil response. We present a simple model of a mass bouncing on a trampoline to account for this asymmetry and the large vertical amplitude. The finding of a hitherto-unknown mode of strong ground motion may prompt major progress in near-source shaking assessments.

  4. Suppressing turbulence of self-propelling rods by strongly coupled passive particles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Yen-Shuo; Wang, Hao-Chen; I, Lin

    2015-03-01

    The strong turbulence suppression, mainly for large-scale modes, of two-dimensional self-propelling rods, by increasing the long-range coupling strength Γ of low-concentration passive particles, is numerically demonstrated. It is found that large-scale collective rod motion in forms of swirls or jets is mainly contributed from well-aligned dense patches, which can push small poorly aligned rod patches and uncoupled passive particles. The more efficient momentum transfer and dissipation through increasing passive particle coupling leads to the formation of a more ordered and slowed down network of passive particles, which competes with coherent dense active rod clusters. The frustration of active rod alignment ordering and coherent motion by the passive particle network, which interrupt the inverse cascading of forming large-scale swirls, is the key for suppressing collective rod motion with scales beyond the interpassive distance, even in the liquid phase of passive particles. The loosely packed active rods are weakly affected by increasing passive particle coupling due to the weak rod-particle interaction. They mainly contribute to the small-scale modes and high-speed motion.

  5. Bimodal voltage dependence of TRPA1: mutations of a key pore helix residue reveal strong intrinsic voltage-dependent inactivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Xia; Lu, Yungang; Chen, Xueqin; Xiong, Jian; Zhou, Yuanda; Li, Ping; Xia, Bingqing; Li, Min; Zhu, Michael X; Gao, Zhaobing

    2014-07-01

    Transient receptor potential A1 (TRPA1) is implicated in somatosensory processing and pathological pain sensation. Although not strictly voltage-gated, ionic currents of TRPA1 typically rectify outwardly, indicating channel activation at depolarized membrane potentials. However, some reports also showed TRPA1 inactivation at high positive potentials, implicating voltage-dependent inactivation. Here we report a conserved leucine residue, L906, in the putative pore helix, which strongly impacts the voltage dependency of TRPA1. Mutation of the leucine to cysteine (L906C) converted the channel from outward to inward rectification independent of divalent cations and irrespective to stimulation by allyl isothiocyanate. The mutant, but not the wild-type channel, displayed exclusively voltage-dependent inactivation at positive potentials. The L906C mutation also exhibited reduced sensitivity to inhibition by TRPA1 blockers, HC030031 and ruthenium red. Further mutagenesis of the leucine to all natural amino acids individually revealed that most substitutions at L906 (15/19) resulted in inward rectification, with exceptions of three amino acids that dramatically reduced channel activity and one, methionine, which mimicked the wild-type channel. Our data are plausibly explained by a bimodal gating model involving both voltage-dependent activation and inactivation of TRPA1. We propose that the key pore helix residue, L906, plays an essential role in responding to the voltage-dependent gating.

  6. The limits of earthquake early warning: Timeliness of ground motion estimates

    OpenAIRE

    Minson, Sarah E.; Meier, Men-Andrin; Baltay, Annemarie S.; Hanks, Thomas C.; Cochran, Elizabeth S.

    2018-01-01

    The basic physics of earthquakes is such that strong ground motion cannot be expected from an earthquake unless the earthquake itself is very close or has grown to be very large. We use simple seismological relationships to calculate the minimum time that must elapse before such ground motion can be expected at a distance from the earthquake, assuming that the earthquake magnitude is not predictable. Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are in operation or development for many regions aroun...

  7. The Role of Motion Concepts in Understanding Non-Motion Concepts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omid Khatin-Zadeh

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses a specific type of metaphor in which an abstract non-motion domain is described in terms of a motion event. Abstract non-motion domains are inherently different from concrete motion domains. However, motion domains are used to describe abstract non-motion domains in many metaphors. Three main reasons are suggested for the suitability of motion events in such metaphorical descriptions. Firstly, motion events usually have high degrees of concreteness. Secondly, motion events are highly imageable. Thirdly, components of any motion event can be imagined almost simultaneously within a three-dimensional space. These three characteristics make motion events suitable domains for describing abstract non-motion domains, and facilitate the process of online comprehension throughout language processing. Extending the main point into the field of mathematics, this article discusses the process of transforming abstract mathematical problems into imageable geometric representations within the three-dimensional space. This strategy is widely used by mathematicians to solve highly abstract and complex problems.

  8. Theory of a four-electron 2-D system in a strong magnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuandong Dai; Bingjian Ni; Fusui Liu.

    1985-10-01

    An orthogonal and complete set for relative motion of four-electron 2-D system in strong magnetic field is given, the energy of ground state of relative motion is calculated. This paper also calculates the energy of ground state whose maximum of single electron angular momentum is limited by the degeneracy under a given magnetic field, obtains the energy minimums corresponding to a fractional quantized Hall effect of 2/5, 2/7, and from it the physical meaning of 'magic number' is interpreted. (author)

  9. Precise Aperture-Dependent Motion Compensation with Frequency Domain Fast Back-Projection Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Man Zhang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Precise azimuth-variant motion compensation (MOCO is an essential and difficult task for high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR imagery. In conventional post-filtering approaches, residual azimuth-variant motion errors are generally compensated through a set of spatial post-filters, where the coarse-focused image is segmented into overlapped blocks concerning the azimuth-dependent residual errors. However, image domain post-filtering approaches, such as precise topography- and aperture-dependent motion compensation algorithm (PTA, have difficulty of robustness in declining, when strong motion errors are involved in the coarse-focused image. In this case, in order to capture the complete motion blurring function within each image block, both the block size and the overlapped part need necessary extension leading to degeneration of efficiency and robustness inevitably. Herein, a frequency domain fast back-projection algorithm (FDFBPA is introduced to deal with strong azimuth-variant motion errors. FDFBPA disposes of the azimuth-variant motion errors based on a precise azimuth spectrum expression in the azimuth wavenumber domain. First, a wavenumber domain sub-aperture processing strategy is introduced to accelerate computation. After that, the azimuth wavenumber spectrum is partitioned into a set of wavenumber blocks, and each block is formed into a sub-aperture coarse resolution image via the back-projection integral. Then, the sub-aperture images are straightforwardly fused together in azimuth wavenumber domain to obtain a full resolution image. Moreover, chirp-Z transform (CZT is also introduced to implement the sub-aperture back-projection integral, increasing the efficiency of the algorithm. By disusing the image domain post-filtering strategy, robustness of the proposed algorithm is improved. Both simulation and real-measured data experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposal.

  10. Ground motion optimized orbit feedback design for the future linear collider

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pfingstner, J., E-mail: juergen.pfingstner@cern.ch [CERN, Geneva 23, CH-1211 (Switzerland); Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Wien (Austria); Snuverink, J. [CERN, Geneva 23, CH-1211 (Switzerland); John Adams Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey (United Kingdom); Schulte, D. [CERN, Geneva 23, CH-1211 (Switzerland)

    2013-03-01

    The future linear collider has strong stability requirements on the position of the beam along the accelerator and at the interaction point (IP). The beam position will be sensitive to dynamic imperfections in particular ground motion. A number of mitigation techniques have been proposed to be deployed in parallel: active and passive quadrupole stabilization and positioning as well as orbit and IP feedback. This paper presents a novel design of the orbit controller in the main linac and beam delivery system. One global feedback controller is proposed based on an SVD-controller (Singular Value Decomposition) that decouples the large multi-input multi-output system into many independent single-input single-output systems. A semi-automatic procedure is proposed for the controller design of the independent systems by exploiting numerical models of ground motion and measurement noise to minimize a target parameter, e.g. luminosity loss. The novel design for the orbit controller is studied for the case of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) in integrated simulations, which include all proposed mitigation methods. The impact of the ground motion on the luminosity performance is examined in detail. It is shown that with the proposed orbit controller the tight luminosity budget for ground motion effects is fulfilled and accordingly, an essential feasibility issue of CLIC has been addressed. The orbit controller design is robust and allows for a relaxed BPM resolution, while still maintaining a strong ground motion suppression performance compared to traditional methods. We believe that the described method could easily be applied to other accelerators and light sources.

  11. Factors Attributing to Outwards Direct Investments from Developing Countries to Developed Countries: Evidence from China and India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diyah Ayu Amalia Avina

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to explore the growing trend of outward foreign direct investments (OFDIs from developing countries to developed countries. Market-seeking and strategic asset explorations are the main motivations for conducting OFDIs in developed countries. Meanwhile, cross-border greenfield investments and cross-border mergers and acquisitions are the main entry strategies used by developing countries when penetrating the developed markets. Finally, this paper reveals mixed results about the explaining ability of John Dunning’s International Development Path (IDP theory on the patterns of selected developing markets' OFDIs to developed countries. On the one hand, China’s OFDIs follow the paths in the IDP theory. On the other hand, those of India do not confirm so.

  12. Impact of ground motion characterization on conservatism and variability in seismic risk estimates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sewell, R.T.; Toro, G.R.; McGuire, R.K.

    1996-07-01

    This study evaluates the impact, on estimates of seismic risk and its uncertainty, of alternative methods in treatment and characterization of earthquake ground motions. The objective of this study is to delineate specific procedures and characterizations that may lead to less biased and more precise seismic risk results. This report focuses on sources of conservatism and variability in risk that may be introduced through the analytical processes and ground-motion descriptions which are commonly implemented at the interface of seismic hazard and fragility assessments. In particular, implication of the common practice of using a single, composite spectral shape to characterize motions of different magnitudes is investigated. Also, the impact of parameterization of ground motion on fragility and hazard assessments is shown. Examination of these results demonstrates the following. (1) There exists significant conservatism in the review spectra (usually, spectra characteristic of western U.S. earthquakes) that have been used in conducting past seismic risk assessments and seismic margin assessments for eastern U.S. nuclear power plants. (2) There is a strong dependence of seismic fragility on earthquake magnitude when PGA is used as the ground-motion characterization. When, however, magnitude-dependent spectra are anchored to a common measure of elastic spectral acceleration averaged over the appropriate frequency range, seismic fragility shows no important nor consistent dependence on either magnitude or strong-motion duration. Use of inelastic spectral acceleration (at the proper frequency) as the ground spectrum anchor demonstrates a very similar result. This study concludes that a single, composite-magnitude spectrum can generally be used to characterize ground motion for fragility assessment without introducing significant bias or uncertainty in seismic risk estimates

  13. Impact of ground motion characterization on conservatism and variability in seismic risk estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sewell, R.T.; Toro, G.R.; McGuire, R.K.

    1996-07-01

    This study evaluates the impact, on estimates of seismic risk and its uncertainty, of alternative methods in treatment and characterization of earthquake ground motions. The objective of this study is to delineate specific procedures and characterizations that may lead to less biased and more precise seismic risk results. This report focuses on sources of conservatism and variability in risk that may be introduced through the analytical processes and ground-motion descriptions which are commonly implemented at the interface of seismic hazard and fragility assessments. In particular, implication of the common practice of using a single, composite spectral shape to characterize motions of different magnitudes is investigated. Also, the impact of parameterization of ground motion on fragility and hazard assessments is shown. Examination of these results demonstrates the following. (1) There exists significant conservatism in the review spectra (usually, spectra characteristic of western U.S. earthquakes) that have been used in conducting past seismic risk assessments and seismic margin assessments for eastern U.S. nuclear power plants. (2) There is a strong dependence of seismic fragility on earthquake magnitude when PGA is used as the ground-motion characterization. When, however, magnitude-dependent spectra are anchored to a common measure of elastic spectral acceleration averaged over the appropriate frequency range, seismic fragility shows no important nor consistent dependence on either magnitude or strong-motion duration. Use of inelastic spectral acceleration (at the proper frequency) as the ground spectrum anchor demonstrates a very similar result. This study concludes that a single, composite-magnitude spectrum can generally be used to characterize ground motion for fragility assessment without introducing significant bias or uncertainty in seismic risk estimates.

  14. Neck proprioception shapes body orientation and perception of motion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vito Enrico Pettorossi

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This review article deals with some effects of neck muscle proprioception on human balance, gait trajectory, subjective straight-ahead, and self-motion perception. These effects are easily observed during neck muscle vibration, a strong stimulus for the spindle primary afferent fibers.We first remind the early findings on human balance, gait trajectory, subjective straight-ahead, induced by limb and neck muscle vibration. Then, more recent findings on self-motion perception of vestibular origin are described. The use of a vestibular asymmetric yaw-rotation stimulus for emphasizing the proprioceptive modulation of motion perception from the neck is mentioned. In addition, an attempt has been made to conjointly discuss the effects of unilateral neck proprioception on motion perception, subjective straight-ahead and walking trajectory.Neck vibration also induces persistent aftereffects on the subjective straight-ahead and on self-motion perception of vestibular origin. These perceptive effects depend on intensity, duration, side of the conditioning vibratory stimulation, and on muscle status. These effects can be maintained for hours when prolonged high-frequency vibration is superimposed on muscle contraction. Overall, this brief outline emphasizes the contribution of neck muscle inflow to the construction and fine-tuning of perception of body orientation and motion. Furthermore, it indicates that tonic neck proprioceptive input may induce persistent influences on the subject's mental representation of space. These plastic changes might adapt motion sensitiveness to lasting or permanent head positional or motor changes.

  15. Fractional Hoppinglike Motion in Columnar Mesophases of Semiflexible Rodlike Particles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Naderi, S.; Pouget, E.; Ballesta, P.; van der Schoot, P. P. A. M.; Lettinga, M.P.; Grelet, E

    2013-01-01

    We report on single-particle dynamics of strongly interacting filamentous fd virus particles in the liquid-crystalline columnar state in aqueous solution. From fluorescence microscopy, we find that rare, discrete events take place, in which individual particles engage in sudden, jumplike motion

  16. A parallelizable real-time motion tracking algorithm with applications to ultrasonic strain imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang, J; Hall, T J

    2007-01-01

    Ultrasound-based mechanical strain imaging systems utilize signals from conventional diagnostic ultrasound systems to image tissue elasticity contrast that provides new diagnostically valuable information. Previous works (Hall et al 2003 Ultrasound Med. Biol. 29 427, Zhu and Hall 2002 Ultrason. Imaging 24 161) demonstrated that uniaxial deformation with minimal elevation motion is preferred for breast strain imaging and real-time strain image feedback to operators is important to accomplish this goal. The work reported here enhances the real-time speckle tracking algorithm with two significant modifications. One fundamental change is that the proposed algorithm is a column-based algorithm (a column is defined by a line of data parallel to the ultrasound beam direction, i.e. an A-line), as opposed to a row-based algorithm (a row is defined by a line of data perpendicular to the ultrasound beam direction). Then, displacement estimates from its adjacent columns provide good guidance for motion tracking in a significantly reduced search region to reduce computational cost. Consequently, the process of displacement estimation can be naturally split into at least two separated tasks, computed in parallel, propagating outward from the center of the region of interest (ROI). The proposed algorithm has been implemented and optimized in a Windows (registered) system as a stand-alone ANSI C++ program. Results of preliminary tests, using numerical and tissue-mimicking phantoms, and in vivo tissue data, suggest that high contrast strain images can be consistently obtained with frame rates (10 frames s -1 ) that exceed our previous methods

  17. Motion of gas in highly rarefied space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chirkunov, Yu A.

    2017-10-01

    A model describing a motion of gas in a highly rarefied space received an unlucky number 13 in the list of the basic models of the motion of gas in the three-dimensional space obtained by L.V. Ovsyannikov. For a given initial pressure distribution, a special choice of mass Lagrangian variables leads to the system describing this motion for which the number of independent variables is less by one. Hence, there is a foliation of a highly rarefied gas with respect to pressure. In a strongly rarefied space for each given initial pressure distribution, all gas particles are localized on a two-dimensional surface that moves with time in this space We found some exact solutions of the obtained system that describe the processes taking place inside of the tornado. For this system we found all nontrivial conservation laws of the first order. In addition to the classical conservation laws the system has another conservation law, which generalizes the energy conservation law. With the additional condition we found another one generalized energy conservation law.

  18. Source rupture process of the 2016 Kaikoura, New Zealand earthquake estimated from the kinematic waveform inversion of strong-motion data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Ao; Wang, Mingfeng; Yu, Xiangwei; Zhang, Wenbo

    2018-03-01

    On 2016 November 13, an Mw 7.8 earthquake occurred in the northeast of the South Island of New Zealand near Kaikoura. The earthquake caused severe damages and great impacts on local nature and society. Referring to the tectonic environment and defined active faults, the field investigation and geodetic evidence reveal that at least 12 fault sections ruptured in the earthquake, and the focal mechanism is one of the most complicated in historical earthquakes. On account of the complexity of the source rupture, we propose a multisegment fault model based on the distribution of surface ruptures and active tectonics. We derive the source rupture process of the earthquake using the kinematic waveform inversion method with the multisegment fault model from strong-motion data of 21 stations (0.05-0.35 Hz). The inversion result suggests the rupture initiates in the epicentral area near the Humps fault, and then propagates northeastward along several faults, until the offshore Needles fault. The Mw 7.8 event is a mixture of right-lateral strike and reverse slip, and the maximum slip is approximately 19 m. The synthetic waveforms reproduce the characteristics of the observed ones well. In addition, we synthesize the coseismic offsets distribution of the ruptured region from the slips of upper subfaults in the fault model, which is roughly consistent with the surface breaks observed in the field survey.

  19. Modulation of orientation-selective neurons by motion: when additive, when multiplicative?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Torsten eLüdge

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The recurrent interaction among orientation-selective neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1 is suited to enhance contours in a noisy visual scene. Motion is known to have a strong pop-up effect in perceiving contours, but how motion-sensitive neurons in V1 support contour detection remains vastly elusive. Here we suggest how the various types of motion-sensitive neurons observed in V1 should be wired together in a micro-circuitry to optimally extract contours in the visual scene. Motion-sensitive neurons can be selective about the direction of motion occurring at some spot or respond equally to all directions (pandirectional. We show that, in the light of figure-ground segregation, direction-selective motion neurons should additively modulate the corresponding orientation-selective neurons with preferred orientation orthogonal to the motion direction. In turn, to maximally enhance contours, pandirectional motion neurons should multiplicatively modulate all orientation-selective neurons with co-localized receptive fields. This multiplicative modulation amplifies the local V1-circuitry among co-aligned orientation-selective neurons for detecting elongated contours. We suggest that the additive modulation by direction- specific motion neurons is achieved through synaptic projections to the somatic region, and the multiplicative modulation by pandirectional motion neurons through projections to the apical region of orientation-specific pyramidal neurons. For the purpose of contour detection, the V1- intrinsic integration of motion information is advantageous over a downstream integration as it exploits the recurrent V1-circuitry designed for that task.

  20. Maintaining an outward image: a Korean immigrant's life with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pistulka, Gina M; Winch, Peter J; Park, Hyunjeong; Han, Hae-Ra; Kim, Miyong T

    2012-06-01

    Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) disproportionately affect minority populations in the United States, including Korean American immigrants (KAI). We conducted qualitative interviews with middle-aged KAI in Maryland living with DM and HTN to examine the illness experience to inform future intervention strategies. Study results show that participants utilized strategies to maintain respect and Korean identity, including an image of being healthy and in control of their behavior in the public arena. These strategies included the lack of disclosure of their illness, even to family members, and avoiding outside assistance when engaging in problem solving. Maintaining an outward image of health was a common goal that affected the self-care of KAI in this study, a finding that might prove significant in the management of other chronic illnesses affecting this population. The study findings demonstrate the importance of in-depth understanding of specific populations when treating chronic illness, and caretakers' sensitivity to each population's unique cultural issues regarding identity, image, and disclosure.

  1. S4-1: Motion Detection Based on Recurrent Network Dynamics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bart Krekelberg

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The detection of a sequence of events requires memory. The detection of visual motion is a well-studied example; there the memory allows the comparison of current with earlier visual input. This comparison results in an estimate of direction and speed of motion. The dominant model of motion detection in primates—the motion energy model—assumes that this memory resides in subclasses of cells with slower temporal dynamics. It is not clear, however, how such slow dynamics could arise. We used extracellularly recorded responses of neurons in the macaque middle temporal area to train an artificial neural network with recurrent connectivity. The trained network successfully reproduced the population response, and had many properties also found in the visual cortex (e.g., Gabor-like receptive fields, a hierarchy of simple and complex cells, motion opponency. When probed with reverse-correlation methods, the network's response was very similar to that of a feed-forward motion energy model, even though recurrent feedback is an essential part of its architecture. These findings show that a strongly recurrent network can masquerade as a feed-forward network. Moreover, they suggest a conceptually novel role for recurrent network connectivity: the creation of flexible temporal delays to implement short term memory and compute velocity.

  2. New French basic safety rule on seismic input ground motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forner, Sophie; Boulaigue, Yves

    2002-01-01

    French regulatory practice requires that the main safety functions of a land-based major nuclear facility, in particular in accordance with its specific characteristics, safe shutdown, cooling and containment of radioactive substances, be assured during and/or after earthquake events that can plausibly occur at the site where the installation is located. This rule specifies an acceptable method for determining the seismic motion to be taken into account when designing a facility to address the seismic risk. In regions where deformation factors are low, such as in metropolitan France, the intervals between strong earthquakes are long and it can be difficult to associate some earthquakes with known faults. In addition, despite substantial progress in recent years, it is difficult, given the French seismotectonic situation, to identify potentially seismogenic faults and determine the characteristics of the earthquakes that are liable to occur. Therefore, the approach proposed in this Basic Safety Rule is intended to avoid this difficulty by allowing for all direct and indirect influences that can play a role in the occurrence of earthquakes, as well as all seismic knowledge. Furthermore, as concerns calculation of seismic motion, the low number of records of strong motion in metropolitan France makes it necessary to use data from other regions of the world

  3. Broadband Ground Motion Simulation Recipe for Scenario Hazard Assessment in Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koketsu, K.; Fujiwara, H.; Irikura, K.

    2014-12-01

    The National Seismic Hazard Maps for Japan, which consist of probabilistic seismic hazard maps (PSHMs) and scenario earthquake shaking maps (SESMs), have been published every year since 2005 by the Earthquake Research Committee (ERC) in the Headquarter for Earthquake Research Promotion, which was established in the Japanese government after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The publication was interrupted due to problems in the PSHMs revealed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and the Subcommittee for Evaluations of Strong Ground Motions ('Subcommittee') has been examining the problems for two and a half years (ERC, 2013; Fujiwara, 2014). However, the SESMs and the broadband ground motion simulation recipe used in them are still valid at least for crustal earthquakes. Here, we outline this recipe and show the results of validation tests for it.Irikura and Miyake (2001) and Irikura (2004) developed a recipe for simulating strong ground motions from future crustal earthquakes based on a characterization of their source models (Irikura recipe). The result of the characterization is called a characterized source model, where a rectangular fault includes a few rectangular asperities. Each asperity and the background area surrounding the asperities have their own uniform stress drops. The Irikura recipe defines the parameters of the fault and asperities, and how to simulate broadband ground motions from the characterized source model. The recipe for the SESMs was constructed following the Irikura recipe (ERC, 2005). The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) then made simulation codes along this recipe to generate SESMs (Fujiwara et al., 2006; Morikawa et al., 2011). The Subcommittee in 2002 validated a preliminary version of the SESM recipe by comparing simulated and observed ground motions for the 2000 Tottori earthquake. In 2007 and 2008, the Subcommittee carried out detailed validations of the current version of the SESM recipe and the NIED

  4. Hybrid Simulations of the Broadband Ground Motions for the 2008 MS8.0 Wenchuan, China, Earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, X.; Zhang, W.

    2012-12-01

    The Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake occurred on 12 May 2008 at 14:28 Beijing Time. It is the largest event happened in the mainland of China since the 1976, Mw7.6, Tangshan earthquake. Due to occur in the mountainous area, this great earthquake and the following thousands aftershocks also caused many other geological disasters, such as landslide, mud-rock flow and "quake lakes" which formed by landslide-induced reservoirs. These resulted in tremendous losses of life and property. Casualties numbered more than 80,000 people, and there were major economic losses. However, this earthquake is the first Ms 8 intraplate earthquake with good close fault strong motion coverage. Over four hundred strong motion stations of the National Strong Motion Observation Network System (NSMONS) recorded the mainshock. Twelve of them located within 20 km of the fault traces and another 33 stations located within 100 km. These observations, accompanying with the hundreds of GPS vectors and multiple ALOS INSAR images, provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the rupture process of such a great intraplate earthquake. In this study, we calculate broadband near-field ground motion synthetic waveforms of this great earthquake using a hybrid broadband ground-motion simulation methodology, which combines a deterministic approach at low frequencies (f < 1.0 Hz) with a theoretic Green's function calculation approach at high frequency ( ~ 10.0 Hz). The fault rupture is represented kinematically and incorporates spatial heterogeneity in slip, rupture speed, and rise time that were obtained by an inversion kinematic source model. At the same time, based on the aftershock data, we analyze the site effects for the near-field stations. Frequency-dependent site-amplification values for each station are calculated using genetic algorithms. For the calculation of the synthetic waveforms, at first, we carry out simulations using the hybrid methodology for the frequency up to 10.0 Hz. Then, we consider for

  5. Noninvasive detection of coronary artery wall thickening with age in healthy subjects using high resolution MRI with beat-to-beat respiratory motion correction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Andrew D; Keegan, Jennifer; Mohiaddin, Raad H; Firmin, David N

    2011-10-01

    To demonstrate coronary artery wall thickening with age in a small healthy cohort using a highly efficient, reliable, and reproducible high-resolution MR technique. A 3D cross-sectional MR vessel wall images (0.7 × 0.7 × 3 mm resolution) with retrospective beat-to-beat respiratory motion correction (B2B-RMC) were obtained in the proximal right coronary artery of 21 healthy subjects (age, 22-62 years) with no known cardiovascular disease. Lumen and outer wall (lumen + vessel wall) areas were measured in one central slice from each subject and average wall thickness and wall area/outer wall area ratio (W/OW) calculated. Imaging was successful in 18 (86%) subjects with average respiratory efficiency 99.3 ± 1.7%. Coronary vessel wall thickness and W/OW significantly correlate with subject age, increasing by 0.088 mm and 0.031 per decade respectively (R = 0.53, P = 0.024 and R = 0.48, P = 0.046). No relationship was found between lumen area and vessel wall thickness (P = NS), but outer wall area increased significantly with vessel wall thickness at 19 mm(2) per mm (P = 0.046). This is consistent with outward vessel wall remodeling. Despite the small size of our healthy cohort, using high-resolution MR imaging and B2B-RMC, we have demonstrated increasing coronary vessel wall thickness and W/OW with age. The results obtained are consistent with outward vessel wall remodeling. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  6. Motion of charged particles in a knotted electromagnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arrayas, M; Trueba, J L

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we consider the classical relativistic motion of charged particles in a knotted electromagnetic field. After reviewing how to construct electromagnetic knots from maps between the three-sphere and the two-sphere, we introduce a mean quadratic radius of the energy density distribution in order to study some properties of this field. We study the classical relativistic motion of electrons in the electromagnetic field of the Hopf map, and compute their trajectories. It is observed that these electrons initially at rest are strongly accelerated by the electromagnetic force, becoming ultrarelativistic in a period of time that depends on the knot energy and size.

  7. Motion of charged particles in a knotted electromagnetic field

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arrayas, M; Trueba, J L, E-mail: joseluis.trueba@urjc.e [Area de Electromagnetismo, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Camino del Molino s/n, 28943 Fuenlabrada, Madrid (Spain)

    2010-06-11

    In this paper we consider the classical relativistic motion of charged particles in a knotted electromagnetic field. After reviewing how to construct electromagnetic knots from maps between the three-sphere and the two-sphere, we introduce a mean quadratic radius of the energy density distribution in order to study some properties of this field. We study the classical relativistic motion of electrons in the electromagnetic field of the Hopf map, and compute their trajectories. It is observed that these electrons initially at rest are strongly accelerated by the electromagnetic force, becoming ultrarelativistic in a period of time that depends on the knot energy and size.

  8. Inhibitory Control of Feature Selectivity in an Object Motion Sensitive Circuit of the Retina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tahnbee Kim

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Object motion sensitive (OMS W3-retinal ganglion cells (W3-RGCs in mice respond to local movements in a visual scene but remain silent during self-generated global image motion. The excitatory inputs that drive responses of W3-RGCs to local motion were recently characterized, but which inhibitory neurons suppress W3-RGCs’ responses to global motion, how these neurons encode motion information, and how their connections are organized along the excitatory circuit axis remains unknown. Here, we find that a genetically identified amacrine cell (AC type, TH2-AC, exhibits fast responses to global motion and slow responses to local motion. Optogenetic stimulation shows that TH2-ACs provide strong GABAA receptor-mediated input to W3-RGCs but only weak input to upstream excitatory neurons. Cell-type-specific silencing reveals that temporally coded inhibition from TH2-ACs cancels W3-RGC spike responses to global but not local motion stimuli and, thus, controls the feature selectivity of OMS signals sent to the brain.

  9. Deficient Biological Motion Perception in Schizophrenia: Results from a Motion Noise Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jejoong eKim

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Schizophrenia patients exhibit deficient processing of perceptual and cognitive information. However, it is not well understood how basic perceptual deficits contribute to higher level cognitive problems in this mental disorder. Perception of biological motion, a motion-based cognitive recognition task, relies on both basic visual motion processing and social cognitive processing, thus providing a useful paradigm to evaluate the potentially hierarchical relationship between these two levels of information processing. Methods: In this study, we designed a biological motion paradigm in which basic visual motion signals were manipulated systematically by incorporating different levels of motion noise. We measured the performances of schizophrenia patients (n=21 and healthy controls (n=22 in this biological motion perception task, as well as in coherent motion detection, theory of mind, and a widely used biological motion recognition task. Results: Schizophrenia patients performed the biological motion perception task with significantly lower accuracy than healthy controls when perceptual signals were moderately degraded by noise. A more substantial degradation of perceptual signals, through using additional noise, impaired biological motion perception in both groups. Performance levels on biological motion recognition, coherent motion detection and theory of mind tasks were also reduced in patients. Conclusion: The results from the motion-noise biological motion paradigm indicate that in the presence of visual motion noise, the processing of biological motion information in schizophrenia is deficient. Combined with the results of poor basic visual motion perception (coherent motion task and biological motion recognition, the association between basic motion signals and biological motion perception suggests a need to incorporate the improvement of visual motion perception in social cognitive remediation.

  10. Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Guidelines for determining design basis ground motions. Volume 2, Appendices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1993-03-18

    This report develops and applies a methodology for estimating strong earthquake ground motion. The motivation was to develop a much needed tool for use in developing the seismic requirements for structural designs. An earthquake`s ground motion is a function of the earthquake`s magnitude, and the physical properties of the earth through which the seismic waves travel from the earthquake fault to the site of interest. The emphasis of this study is on ground motion estimation in Eastern North America (east of the Rocky Mountains), with particular emphasis on the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Eastern North America is a stable continental region, having sparse earthquake activity with rare occurrences of large earthquakes. While large earthquakes are of interest for assessing seismic hazard, little data exists from the region to empirically quantify their effects. The focus of the report is on the attributes of ground motion in Eastern North America that are of interest for the design of facilities such as nuclear power plants. This document, Volume II, contains Appendices 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 covering the following topics: Eastern North American Empirical Ground Motion Data; Examination of Variance of Seismographic Network Data; Soil Amplification and Vertical-to-Horizontal Ratios from Analysis of Strong Motion Data From Active Tectonic Regions; Revision and Calibration of Ou and Herrmann Method; Generalized Ray Procedure for Modeling Ground Motion Attenuation; Crustal Models for Velocity Regionalization; Depth Distribution Models; Development of Generic Site Effects Model; Validation and Comparison of One-Dimensional Site Response Methodologies; Plots of Amplification Factors; Assessment of Coupling Between Vertical & Horizontal Motions in Nonlinear Site Response Analysis; and Modeling of Dynamic Soil Properties.

  11. Brownian motion, martingales, and stochastic calculus

    CERN Document Server

    Le Gall, Jean-François

    2016-01-01

    This book offers a rigorous and self-contained presentation of stochastic integration and stochastic calculus within the general framework of continuous semimartingales. The main tools of stochastic calculus, including Itô’s formula, the optional stopping theorem and Girsanov’s theorem, are treated in detail alongside many illustrative examples. The book also contains an introduction to Markov processes, with applications to solutions of stochastic differential equations and to connections between Brownian motion and partial differential equations. The theory of local times of semimartingales is discussed in the last chapter. Since its invention by Itô, stochastic calculus has proven to be one of the most important techniques of modern probability theory, and has been used in the most recent theoretical advances as well as in applications to other fields such as mathematical finance. Brownian Motion, Martingales, and Stochastic Calculus provides a strong theoretical background to the reader interested i...

  12. Cyclotron resonance cooling by strong laser field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tagcuhi, Toshihiro; Mima, Kunioka

    1995-01-01

    Reduction of energy spread of electron beam is very important to increase a total output radiation power in free electron lasers. Although several cooling systems of particle beams such as a stochastic cooling are successfully operated in the accelerator physics, these cooling mechanisms are very slow and they are only applicable to high energy charged particle beams of ring accelerators. We propose here a new concept of laser cooling system by means of cyclotron resonance. Electrons being in cyclotron motion under a strong magnetic field can resonate with circular polarized electromagnetic field, and the resonance take place selectively depending on the velocity of the electrons. If cyclotron frequency of electrons is equal to the frequency of the electromagnetic field, they absorb the electromagnetic field energy strongly, but the other electrons remain unchanged. The absorbed energy will be converted to transverse kinetic energy, and the energy will be dumped into the radiation energy through bremastrahlung. To build a cooling system, we must use two laser beams, where one of them is counter-propagating and the other is co-propagating with electron beam. When the frequency of the counter-propagating laser is tuned with the cyclotron frequency of fast electrons and the co-propagating laser is tuned with the cyclotron frequency of slow electrons, the energy of two groups will approach and the cooling will be achieved. We solve relativistic motions of electrons with relativistic radiation dumping force, and estimate the cooling rate of this mechanism. We will report optimum parameters for the electron beam cooling system for free electron lasers

  13. Measurement of shoulder motion fraction and motion ratio

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Yeong Han

    2006-01-01

    This study was to understand about the measurement of shoulder motion fraction and motion ratio. We proposed the radiological criterior of glenohumeral and scapulothoracic movement ratio. We measured the motion fraction of the glenohumeral and scapulothoracic movement using CR (computed radiological system) of arm elevation at neutral, 90 degree, full elevation. Central ray was 15 .deg., 19 .deg., 22 .deg. to the cephald for the parallel scapular spine, and the tilting of torso was external oblique 40 .deg., 36 .deg., 22 .deg. for perpendicular to glenohumeral surface. Healthful donor of 100 was divided 5 groups by age (20, 30, 40, 50, 60). The angle of glenohumeral motion and scapulothoracic motion could be taken from gross arm angle and radiological arm angle. We acquired 3 images at neutral, 90 .deg. and full elevation position and measured radiographic angle of glenoheumeral, scapulothoracic movement respectively. While the arm elevation was 90 .deg., the shoulder motion fraction was 1.22 (M), 1.70 (W) in right arm and 1.31, 1.54 in left. In full elevation, Right arm fraction was 1.63, 1.84 and left was 1.57, 1.32. In right dominant arm (78%), 90 .deg. and Full motion fraction was 1.58, 1.43, in left (22%) 1.82, 1.94. In generation 20, 90 .deg. and Full motion fraction was 1.56, 1.52, 30' was 1.82, 1.43, 40' was 1.23, 1.16, 50' was 1.80, 1.28,60' was 1.24, 1.75. There was not significantly by gender, dominant arm and age. The criteria of motion fraction was useful reference for clinical diagnosis the shoulder instability

  14. Markerless motion estimation for motion-compensated clinical brain imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kyme, Andre Z.; Se, Stephen; Meikle, Steven R.; Fulton, Roger R.

    2018-05-01

    Motion-compensated brain imaging can dramatically reduce the artifacts and quantitative degradation associated with voluntary and involuntary subject head motion during positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and computed tomography (CT). However, motion-compensated imaging protocols are not in widespread clinical use for these modalities. A key reason for this seems to be the lack of a practical motion tracking technology that allows for smooth and reliable integration of motion-compensated imaging protocols in the clinical setting. We seek to address this problem by investigating the feasibility of a highly versatile optical motion tracking method for PET, SPECT and CT geometries. The method requires no attached markers, relying exclusively on the detection and matching of distinctive facial features. We studied the accuracy of this method in 16 volunteers in a mock imaging scenario by comparing the estimated motion with an accurate marker-based method used in applications such as image guided surgery. A range of techniques to optimize performance of the method were also studied. Our results show that the markerless motion tracking method is highly accurate (brain imaging and holds good promise for a practical implementation in clinical PET, SPECT and CT systems.

  15. PET motion correction using PRESTO with ITK motion estimation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Botelho, Melissa [Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Science Faculty of University of Lisbon (Portugal); Caldeira, Liliana; Scheins, Juergen [Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany); Matela, Nuno [Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Science Faculty of University of Lisbon (Portugal); Kops, Elena Rota; Shah, N Jon [Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany)

    2014-07-29

    The Siemens BrainPET scanner is a hybrid MRI/PET system. PET images are prone to motion artefacts which degrade the image quality. Therefore, motion correction is essential. The library PRESTO converts motion-corrected LORs into highly accurate generic projection data [1], providing high-resolution PET images. ITK is an open-source software used for registering multidimensional data []. ITK provides motion estimation necessary to PRESTO.

  16. PET motion correction using PRESTO with ITK motion estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Botelho, Melissa; Caldeira, Liliana; Scheins, Juergen; Matela, Nuno; Kops, Elena Rota; Shah, N Jon

    2014-01-01

    The Siemens BrainPET scanner is a hybrid MRI/PET system. PET images are prone to motion artefacts which degrade the image quality. Therefore, motion correction is essential. The library PRESTO converts motion-corrected LORs into highly accurate generic projection data [1], providing high-resolution PET images. ITK is an open-source software used for registering multidimensional data []. ITK provides motion estimation necessary to PRESTO.

  17. Radiation, photon orbits, and torsion in strongly curved spacetimes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandberg, V.D.

    1975-01-01

    Four topics on the strong field aspects of general relativity are presented. These are the role of constraining forces for ultrarelativistic particle motion as a source of gravitational radiation, the study of electromagnetic radiation due to space-time oscillations, the light scattering properties of a class of naked singularities, and the relation of gravitation theories with torsion to general relativity. The astrophysical implications and unusual physical phenomena associated with very intense gravitational fields are discussed for these four topics

  18. Motion control report

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    Please note this is a short discount publication. In today's manufacturing environment, Motion Control plays a major role in virtually every project.The Motion Control Report provides a comprehensive overview of the technology of Motion Control:* Design Considerations* Technologies* Methods to Control Motion* Examples of Motion Control in Systems* A Detailed Vendors List

  19. Carrier-Mediated Transport of Nicotine Across the Inner Blood-Retinal Barrier: Involvement of a Novel Organic Cation Transporter Driven by an Outward H(+) Gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tega, Yuma; Kubo, Yoshiyuki; Yuzurihara, Chihiro; Akanuma, Shin-Ichi; Hosoya, Ken-Ichi

    2015-09-01

    The present study was carried out to investigate the blood-to-retina transport of nicotine across the inner blood-retinal barrier (BRB). Using the in vivo vascular injection method, the blood-to-retina influx clearance of nicotine across the BRB was determined as 131 μL/(min?g retina), which is much higher than that of a nonpermeable paracellular marker, and blood-to-retina transport of nicotine was inhibited by organic cations such as pyrilamine and verapamil. The nicotine uptake by a conditionally immortalized rat retinal capillary endothelial cell line (TR-iBRB2 cells), an in vitro model of the inner BRB, exhibited time, temperature, and concentration dependence with a Km of 492 μM. These results suggest the involvement of a carrier-mediated transport process in nicotine transport in the inner BRB. The nicotine uptake by TR-iBRB2 cells was stimulated by an outwardly directed H(+) gradient, and the uptake was significantly inhibited by bulky and hydrophobic cationic drugs, whereas inhibitors of organic cation transporters did not show inhibitory effect. These results suggest that the novel organic cation transport system driven by an outwardly directed H(+) gradient is involved in the blood-to-retina transport of nicotine across the inner BRB. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

  20. On-chip visual perception of motion: a bio-inspired connectionist model on FPGA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Huitzil, César; Girau, Bernard; Castellanos-Sánchez, Claudio

    2005-01-01

    Visual motion provides useful information to understand the dynamics of a scene to allow intelligent systems interact with their environment. Motion computation is usually restricted by real time requirements that need the design and implementation of specific hardware architectures. In this paper, the design of hardware architecture for a bio-inspired neural model for motion estimation is presented. The motion estimation is based on a strongly localized bio-inspired connectionist model with a particular adaptation of spatio-temporal Gabor-like filtering. The architecture is constituted by three main modules that perform spatial, temporal, and excitatory-inhibitory connectionist processing. The biomimetic architecture is modeled, simulated and validated in VHDL. The synthesis results on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device show the potential achievement of real-time performance at an affordable silicon area.

  1. Fréchet derivative with respect to the shape of a strongly convex nonscattering region in optical tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyvönen, Nuutti

    2007-10-01

    The aim of optical tomography is to reconstruct the optical properties inside a physical body, e.g. a neonatal head, by illuminating it with near-infrared light and measuring the outward flux of photons on the object boundary. Because a brain consists of strongly scattering tissue with imbedded cavities filled by weakly scattering cerebrospinal fluid, propagation of near-infrared photons in the human head can be treated by combining the diffusion approximation of the radiative transfer equation with geometrical optics to obtain the radiosity-diffusion forward model of optical tomography. At the moment, a disadvantage with the radiosity-diffusion model is that the locations of the transparent cavities must be known in advance in order to be able to reconstruct the physiologically interesting quantities, i.e., the absorption and the scatter in the strongly scattering brain tissue. In this work we show that the boundary measurement map of optical tomography is Fréchet differentiable with respect to the shape of a strongly convex nonscattering region. Using this result, we introduce a numerical algorithm for approximating an unknown nonscattering cavity by a ball if the background diffuse optical properties of the object are known. The functionality of the method is demonstrated through two-dimensional numerical experiments.

  2. Motion control in double-walled carbon nanotube systems using a Stone-Thrower-Wales defect cluster

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Ping; Zhang Yongwei

    2010-01-01

    The ability to control the motion of a single molecule will have an important impact in nano-mechanical systems. Multi-walled carbon nanotube systems, which have extremely low intertube friction and strong motion confinement, can form the basis for mechanically based motion control. We devise two molecular motion control units based on double-walled carbon nanotubes embedded with a Stone-Thrower-Wales defect cluster, and perform molecular dynamics simulations to determine the characteristics of these two control units. We show that one of the molecular control units is able to perform a logic operation on one logic input and produce three logic outputs, while the other is able to produce two logic outputs. Potential applications of the motion control units include molecular switches, shuttles and mechanically based logic devices.

  3. SU-E-J-115: Correlation of Displacement Vector Fields Calculated by Deformable Image Registration Algorithms with Motion Parameters of CT Images with Well-Defined Targets and Controlled-Motion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jaskowiak, J; Ahmad, S; Ali, I [University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK (United States); Alsbou, N [Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH (United States)

    2015-06-15

    Purpose: To investigate correlation of displacement vector fields (DVF) calculated by deformable image registration algorithms with motion parameters in helical axial and cone-beam CT images with motion artifacts. Methods: A mobile thorax phantom with well-known targets with different sizes that were made from water-equivalent material and inserted in foam to simulate lung lesions. The thorax phantom was imaged with helical, axial and cone-beam CT. The phantom was moved with a cyclic motion with different motion amplitudes and frequencies along the superior-inferior direction. Different deformable image registration algorithms including demons, fast demons, Horn-Shunck and iterative-optical-flow from the DIRART software were used to deform CT images for the phantom with different motion patterns. The CT images of the mobile phantom were deformed to CT images of the stationary phantom. Results: The values of displacement vectors calculated by deformable image registration algorithm correlated strongly with motion amplitude where large displacement vectors were calculated for CT images with large motion amplitudes. For example, the maximal displacement vectors were nearly equal to the motion amplitudes (5mm, 10mm or 20mm) at interfaces between the mobile targets lung tissue, while the minimal displacement vectors were nearly equal to negative the motion amplitudes. The maximal and minimal displacement vectors matched with edges of the blurred targets along the Z-axis (motion-direction), while DVF’s were small in the other directions. This indicates that the blurred edges by phantom motion were shifted largely to match with the actual target edge. These shifts were nearly equal to the motion amplitude. Conclusions: The DVF from deformable-image registration algorithms correlated well with motion amplitude of well-defined mobile targets. This can be used to extract motion parameters such as amplitude. However, as motion amplitudes increased, image artifacts increased

  4. Attention, biological motion, and action recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, James; Parasuraman, Raja

    2012-01-02

    Interacting with others in the environment requires that we perceive and recognize their movements and actions. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have indicated that a number of brain regions, particularly the superior temporal sulcus, are involved in a number of processes essential for action recognition, including the processing of biological motion and processing the intentions of actions. We review the behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggesting that while some aspects of action recognition might be rapid and effective, they are not necessarily automatic. Attention is particularly important when visual information about actions is degraded or ambiguous, or if competing information is present. We present evidence indicating that neural responses associated with the processing of biological motion are strongly modulated by attention. In addition, behavioral and neuroimaging evidence shows that drawing inferences from the actions of others is attentionally demanding. The role of attention in action observation has implications for everyday social interactions and workplace applications that depend on observing, understanding and interpreting actions. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Modelling of the ground motion at Russe site (NE Bulgaria) due to the Vrancea earthquakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kouteva, Mihaela; Panza, Giuliano F.; Paskaleva, Ivanka; Romanelli, Fabio

    2001-11-01

    An approach, capable of synthesising strong ground motion from a basic understanding of fault mechanism and of seismic wave propagation in the Earth, is applied to model the seismic input at a set of 25 sites along a chosen profile at Russe, NE Bulgaria, due to two intermediate-depth Vrancea events (August 30, 1986, Mw=7.2, and May 30, 1990, Mw=6.9). According to our results, once a strong ground motion parameter has been selected to characterise the ground motion, it is necessary to investigate the relationships between its values and the features of the earthquake source, the path to the site and the nature of the site. Therefore, a proper seismic hazard assessment requires an appropriate parametric study to define the different ground shaking scenarios corresponding to the relevant seismogenic zones affecting the given site. Site response assessment is provided simultaneously in frequency and space domains, and thus the applied procedure differs from the traditional engineering approach that discusses the site as a single point. The applied procedure can be efficiently used to estimate the ground motion for different purposes like microzonation, urban planning, retrofitting or insurance of the built environment. (author)

  6. Rigorous noise test and calibration check of strong-motion instrumentation at the Conrad Observatory in Austria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steiner, R.; Costa, G.; Lenhardt, W.; Horn, N.; Suhadolc, P.

    2012-04-01

    In the framework of the European InterregIV Italy/Austria project: "HAREIA - Historical and Recent Earthquakes in Italy and Austria" the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and Mathematic and Geosciences Department of University of Trieste (DMG) are upgrading the transfrontier seismic network of South-Eastern Alps with new 12 accelerometric stations to enhance the strong motion instrument density near the Austria/Italy border. Various public institutions of the provinces Alto Adige (Bolzano Province), Veneto (ARPAV) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (Regional Civil Defense) in Italy and in the Austrian province of Tyrol are involved in the project. The site selection was carried out to improve the present local network geometry thus meeting the needs of public Institutions in the involved regions. In Tyrol and Alto Adige some strategic buildings (hospitals and public buildings) have been selected, whereas in Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia the sites are in the free field, mainly located near villages. The instruments will be installed in an innovative box, designed by ZAMG, that provides electric and water isolation. The common choice regarding the instrument selection has been the new Kinemetrics Basalt ® accelerograph to guarantee homogeneity with the already installed instrumentation and compatibility with the software already in use at the different seismic institutions in the area. Prior to deployment the equipment was tested at the Conrad Observatory and a common set-up has been devised. The Conrad Observatory, seismically particularly quiet, permits to analyze both the sensor and the acquisition system noise. The instruments were connected to the network and the data sent in real-time to the ZAMG data center in Vienna and the DMG data center in Trieste. The data have been collected in the database and analyzed using signal processing modules PQLX and Matlab. The data analysis of the recordings at the ultra-quiet Conrad Observatory pointed out

  7. Kinematic model of some types of motion of matter in active regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Platov, Yu.V.

    1983-01-01

    The kinematics of matter motion in variable magnetic fields of active regions on the Sun in the MHD approximation of a strong field and cold plasma is investigated. It is shown that the variation of sunspot magnetic moments lead to the development of different active phenomena in the solar atmosphere. The development of such phenomena at first can occur at the phase of active region growth, when new sunspots together with developed sunspots emerge in an active region or relative motions take place in a sunspot group

  8. Relation of external surface to internal tumor motion studied with cine CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chi, P.-C.M.; Balter, Peter; Luo Dershan; Mohan, Radhe; Pan Tinsu

    2006-01-01

    The accuracy of delivering gated-radiation therapy to lung tumors using an external respiratory surrogate relies on not only interfractional and intrafractional reproducibility, but also a strong correlation between external motion and internal tumor motion. The purpose of this work was to use the cine images acquired by four-dimensional computed tomography acquisition protocol to study the relation between external surface motion and internal tumor motion. The respiratory phase information of tumor motion and chest wall motion was measured on the cine images using a proposed region-of-interest (ROI) method and compared to measurement of an external respiratory monitoring device. On eight lung patient data sets, the phase shifts were measured between (1) the signal of a real-time positioning-management (RPM) respiratory monitoring device placed in the abdominal region and four surface locations on the chest wall (2) the RPM signal in the abdominal region and tumor motions, and (3) chest wall surface motions and tumor motions. Respiratory waveforms measured at different surface locations during the same respiratory cycle often varied and had significant phase shifts. Seven of the 8 patients showed the abdominal motion leading chest wall motion. The best correlation (smallest phase shift) was found between the abdominal motion and the superior-inferior (S-I) tumor motion. A wide range of phase shifts was observed between external surface motion and tumor anterior-posterior (A-P)/lateral motion. The result supported the placement of the RPM block in the abdominal region and suggested that during a gated therapy utilizing the RPM system, it is necessary to place the RPM block at the same location as it is during treatment simulation in order to reduce potential errors introduced by the position of the RPM block. Correlations between external motions and lateral/A-P tumor motions were inconclusive due to a combination of patient selection and the limitation of the ROI

  9. Source Rupture Process of the 2016 Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, Earthquake Derived from Near-Source Strong-Motion Records

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, A.; Zhang, W.

    2016-12-01

    On 15 April, 2016 the great earthquake with magnitude Mw7.1 occurred in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. The focal mechanism solution released by F-net located the hypocenter at 130.7630°E, 32.7545°N, at a depth of 12.45 km, and the strike, dip, and the rake angle of the fault were N226°E, 84° and -142° respectively. The epicenter distribution and focal mechanisms of aftershocks implied the mechanism of the mainshock might have changed in the source rupture process, thus a single focal mechanism was not enough to explain the observed data adequately. In this study, based on the inversion result of GNSS and InSAR surface deformation with active structures for reference, we construct a finite fault model with focal mechanism changes, and derive the source rupture process by multi-time-window linear waveform inversion method using the strong-motion data (0.05 1.0Hz) obtained by K-NET and KiK-net of Japan. Our result shows that the Kumamoto earthquake is a right-lateral strike slipping rupture event along the Futagawa-Hinagu fault zone, and the seismogenic fault is divided into a northern segment and a southern one. The strike and the dip of the northern segment are N235°E, 60° respectively. And for the southern one, they are N205°E, 72° respectively. The depth range of the fault model is consistent with the depth distribution of aftershocks, and the slip on the fault plane mainly concentrate on the northern segment, in which the maximum slip is about 7.9 meter. The rupture process of the whole fault continues for approximately 18-sec, and the total seismic moment released is 5.47×1019N·m (Mw 7.1). In addition, the essential feature of the distribution of PGV and PGA synthesized by the inversion result is similar to that of observed PGA and seismic intensity.

  10. Strong field effects on binary systems in Einstein-aether theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foster, Brendan Z.

    2007-01-01

    'Einstein-aether' theory is a generally covariant theory of gravity containing a dynamical preferred frame. This article continues an examination of effects on the motion of binary pulsar systems in this theory, by incorporating effects due to strong fields in the vicinity of neutron star pulsars. These effects are included through an effective approach, by treating the compact bodies as point particles with nonstandard, velocity dependent interactions parametrized by dimensionless sensitivities. Effective post-Newtonian equations of motion for the bodies and the radiation damping rate are determined. More work is needed to calculate values of the sensitivities for a given fluid source; therefore, precise constraints on the theory's coupling constants cannot yet be stated. It is shown, however, that strong field effects will be negligible given current observational uncertainties if the dimensionless couplings are less than roughly 0.1 and two conditions that match the PPN parameters to those of pure general relativity are imposed. In this case, weak field results suffice. There then exists a one-parameter family of Einstein-aether theories with 'small-enough' couplings that passes all current observational tests. No conclusion can be reached for larger couplings until the sensitivities for a given source can be calculated

  11. Waves in strong centrifugal fields: dissipationless gas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogovalov, S. V.; Kislov, V. A.; Tronin, I. V.

    2015-04-01

    Linear waves are investigated in a rotating gas under the condition of strong centrifugal acceleration of the order 106 g realized in gas centrifuges for separation of uranium isotopes. Sound waves split into three families of the waves under these conditions. Dispersion equations are obtained. The characteristics of the waves strongly differ from the conventional sound waves on polarization, velocity of propagation and distribution of energy of the waves in space for two families having frequencies above and below the frequency of the conventional sound waves. The energy of these waves is localized in rarefied region of the gas. The waves of the third family were not specified before. They propagate exactly along the rotational axis with the conventional sound velocity. These waves are polarized only along the rotational axis. Radial and azimuthal motions are not excited. Energy of the waves is concentrated near the wall of the rotor where the density of the gas is largest.

  12. Full-gap superconductivity with strong electron correlations in the β-pyrochlore KOs2O6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasahara, Y.; Shimono, Y.; Kato, T.; Hashimoto, K.; Shibauchi, T.; Matsuda, Y.; Yonezawa, S.; Muraoka, Y.; Yamaura, J.; Nagao, Y.; Hiroi, Z.

    2008-01-01

    To elucidate the superconducting gap structure and the influence of rattling motion on quasiparticle dynamics in the superconducting state of KOs 2 O 6 , the thermal conductivity and microwave surface impedance were measured at low temperatures. The magnetic field dependence of thermal conductivity and temperature dependence of penetration depth demonstrate full-gap superconductivity in KOs 2 O 6 . The quasiparticle scattering time is strongly enhanced in the superconducting state, indicating a strong electron inelastic scattering in the normal state. These results highlight that KOs 2 O 6 is unique among superconductors with strong electron correlations

  13. Ground Motion Characteristics of Induced Earthquakes in Central North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, G. M.; Assatourians, K.; Novakovic, M.

    2017-12-01

    The ground motion characteristics of induced earthquakes in central North America are investigated based on empirical analysis of a compiled database of 4,000,000 digital ground-motion records from events in induced-seismicity regions (especially Oklahoma). Ground-motion amplitudes are characterized non-parametrically by computing median amplitudes and their variability in magnitude-distance bins. We also use inversion techniques to solve for regional source, attenuation and site response effects. Ground motion models are used to interpret the observations and compare the source and attenuation attributes of induced earthquakes to those of their natural counterparts. Significant conclusions are that the stress parameter that controls the strength of high-frequency radiation is similar for induced earthquakes (depth of h 5 km) and shallow (h 5 km) natural earthquakes. By contrast, deeper natural earthquakes (h 10 km) have stronger high-frequency ground motions. At distances close to the epicenter, a greater focal depth (which increases distance from the hypocenter) counterbalances the effects of a larger stress parameter, resulting in motions of similar strength close to the epicenter, regardless of event depth. The felt effects of induced versus natural earthquakes are also investigated using USGS "Did You Feel It?" reports; 400,000 reports from natural events and 100,000 reports from induced events are considered. The felt reports confirm the trends that we expect based on ground-motion modeling, considering the offsetting effects of the stress parameter versus focal depth in controlling the strength of motions near the epicenter. Specifically, felt intensity for a given magnitude is similar near the epicenter, on average, for all event types and depths. At distances more than 10 km from the epicenter, deeper events are felt more strongly than shallow events. These ground-motion attributes imply that the induced-seismicity hazard is most critical for facilities in

  14. Investigating source directivity for the 2012 Ml5.9 Emilia (Northern Italy) earthquake by jointly using High-rate GPS and Strong motion data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avallone, A.; Herrero, A.; Latorre, D.; Rovelli, A.; D'Anastasio, E.

    2012-12-01

    On May, 20th 2012, the Ferrara and Modena provinces (Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy) were struck by a moderate magnitude earthquake (Ml 5.9). The focal mechanism is consistent with a ~E-W-striking thrust fault. The mainshock was recorded by 29 high-rate sampling (1-Hz) continuous GPS (HRGPS) stations belonging to scientific or commercial networks and by 55 strong motion (SM) stations belonging to INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) and RAN (Rete Accelerometrica Nazionale) networks, respectively. The spatial distribution of both HRGPS and SM stations with respect to the mainshock location allows a satisfactory azimuthal coverage of the area. To investigate directivity effects during the mainshock occurrence, we analyze the spatial variation of the peak ground displacement (PGD) measured either for HRGPS or SM sites, using different methods. For each HRGPS and SM site, we rotated the horizontal time series to the azimuth direction and we estimated the GPS-related and the SM-related peak ground displacement (G-PGD and S-PGD, respectively) retrieved by transverse component. However, in contrast to GPS displacements, the double integration of the SM data can be affected by the presence of drifts and, thus, they have to be corrected by quasi-manual procedures. To more properly compare the G-PGDs to the S-PGDs, we used the response spectrum. A response spectrum is simply the response of a series of oscillators of varying natural frequency, that are forced into motion by the same input. The asymptotic value of the displacement response spectrum is the peak ground displacement. Thus, for each HRGPS and SM site, we computed the value of this asymptotic trend (G-PGDrs and S-PGDrs, respectively). This method allows simple automatic procedures. The consistency of the PGDs derived from HRGPS and SM is also evaluated for sites where the two instruments are collocated. The PGDs obtained by the two different methods and the two different data types suggest a

  15. Fast Computation of Ground Motion Shaking Map base on the Modified Stochastic Finite Fault Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, W.; Zhong, Q.; Shi, B.

    2012-12-01

    Rapidly regional MMI mapping soon after a moderate-large earthquake is crucial to loss estimation, emergency services and planning of emergency action by the government. In fact, many countries show different degrees of attention on the technology of rapid estimation of MMI , and this technology has made significant progress in earthquake-prone countries. In recent years, numerical modeling of strong ground motion has been well developed with the advances of computation technology and earthquake science. The computational simulation of strong ground motion caused by earthquake faulting has become an efficient way to estimate the regional MMI distribution soon after earthquake. In China, due to the lack of strong motion observation in network sparse or even completely missing areas, the development of strong ground motion simulation method has become an important means of quantitative estimation of strong motion intensity. In many of the simulation models, stochastic finite fault model is preferred to rapid MMI estimating for its time-effectiveness and accuracy. In finite fault model, a large fault is divided into N subfaults, and each subfault is considered as a small point source. The ground motions contributed by each subfault are calculated by the stochastic point source method which is developed by Boore, and then summed at the observation point to obtain the ground motion from the entire fault with a proper time delay. Further, Motazedian and Atkinson proposed the concept of Dynamic Corner Frequency, with the new approach, the total radiated energy from the fault and the total seismic moment are conserved independent of subfault size over a wide range of subfault sizes. In current study, the program EXSIM developed by Motazedian and Atkinson has been modified for local or regional computations of strong motion parameters such as PGA, PGV and PGD, which are essential for MMI estimating. To make the results more reasonable, we consider the impact of V30 for the

  16. Successor oscillations of internal disruptive instabilities in the PLT tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sauthoff, N.R.; von Goeler, S.; Eames, D.R.; Stodiek, W.

    1979-06-01

    The experimentally observed persistence of the m = 1 mode following an internal disruption is described. The hot central region appears to spiral outward, being pared by interception with the radius of q = 1 (as deduced from the radial extend of the m = 1 mode). The outward motion of the axis can be arrested and the surviving helical filament can subsequently spiral inward, rather than being annihilated as expected from nonlinear resistive internal kink mode simulations

  17. Potentiation of glycine-gated NR1/NR3A NMDA receptors relieves Ca2+-dependent outward rectification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Madry

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Glycine has diverse functions within the mammalian central nervous system. It inhibits postsynaptic neurons via strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors (GlyRs and enhances neuronal excitation through co-activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA receptors. Classical Ca2+-permeable NMDA receptors are composed of glycine-binding NR1 and glutamate-binding NR2 subunits, and hence require both glutamate and glycine for efficient activation. In contrast, recombinant receptors composed of NR1 and the glycine binding NR3A and/or NR3B subunits lack glutamate binding sites and can be activated by glycine alone. Therefore these receptors are also named excitatory glycine receptors. Co-application of antagonists of the NR1 glycine-binding site or of the divalent cation Zn2+ markedly enhances the glycine responses of these receptors. To gain further insight into the properties of these glycine-gated NMDA receptors, we investigated their current-voltage (I-V dependence. Whole-cell current-voltage relations of glycine currents recorded from NR1/NR3B and NR1/NR3A/NR3B expressing oocytes were found to be linear under our recording conditions. In contrast, NR1/NR3A receptors displayed a strong outwardly rectifying I-V relation. Interestingly, the voltage-dependent inward current block was abolished in the presence of NR1 antagonists, Zn2+ or a combination of both. Further analysis revealed that Ca2+ (1.8 mM present in our recording solutions was responsible for the voltage-dependent inhibition of ion flux through NR1/NR3A receptors. Since physiological concentrations of the divalent cation Mg2+ did not affect the I-V dependence, our data suggest that relief of the voltage-dependent Ca2+ block of NR1/NR3A receptors by Zn2+ may be important for the regulation of excitatory glycinergic transmission, according to the Mg2+-block of conventional NR1/NR2 NMDA receptors.

  18. Uniform risk functionals for characterization of strong earthquake ground motions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, J.G.; Trifunac, M.D.

    1978-01-01

    A uniform risk functional (e.g., Fourier spectrum, response spectrum, duration, etc.) is defined so that the probability that it is exceeded by some earthquake during a selected period of time is independent of the frequency of seismic waves. Such a functional is derived by an independent calculation, at each frequency, for the probability that the quantity being considered will be exceeded. Different aspects of the seismicity can control the amplitude of a uniform risk functional in different frequency ranges, and a uniform risk functional does not necessarily describe the strong shaking from any single earthquake. To be useful for calculating uniform risk functionals, a scaling relationship must provide an independent estimate of amplitudes of the functional in several frequency bands. The scaling relationship of Trifunac (1976) for Fourier spectra satisfies this requirement and further describes the distribution of spectral amplitudes about the mean trend; here, it is applied to find uniform risk Fourier amplitude spectra. In an application to finding the uniform risk spectra at a realistic site, this method is quite sensitive to the description of seismicity. Distinct models of seismicity, all consistent with our current level of knowledge of an area, can give significantly different risk estimates

  19. Effect of friction on the motion of plasma filaments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garcia, Odd Erik; Madsen, Jens; Naulin, Volker

    is influenced by the collisional friction with the neutral gas fluid. In magnetically confined plasmas, the motion of filamentary structures in the edge region can be influenced by parallel dynamics in a manner that resembles an effective friction. In the presence of strong ballooning, such a frictional...... an effective friction, is investigated. In the inertial regime the radial filament velocity scales as the square root of its size. In the limit of strong friction regime the velocity scales as the inverse of the structure size. A discussion of these results will be given in the context of irregularities...

  20. Ground Motion Prediction Trends For Eastern North America Based on the Next Generation Attenuation East Ground Motion Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, C. H.; Kutliroff, J.; Dangkua, D.

    2010-12-01

    A five-year Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) East project to develop new ground motion prediction equations for stable continental regions (SCRs), including eastern North America (ENA), has begun at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center funded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the Department of Energy (DOE). The initial effort focused on database design and collection of appropriate M>4 ENA broadband and accelerograph records to populate the database. Ongoing work has focused on adding records from smaller ENA earthquakes and from other SCRs such as Europe, Australia, and India. Currently, over 6500 horizontal and vertical component records from 60 ENA earthquakes have been collected and prepared (instrument response removed, filtering to acceptable-signal band, determining peak and spectral parameter values, quality assurance, etc.) for the database. Geologic Survey of Canada (GSC) strong motion recordings, previously not available, have also been added to the NGA East database. The additional earthquakes increase the number of ground motion recordings in the 10 - 100 km range, particularly from the 2008 M5.2 Mt. Carmel, IL event, and the 2005 M4.7 Riviere du Loup and 2010 M5.0 Val des Bois earthquakes in Quebec, Canada. The goal is to complete the ENA database and make it available in 2011 followed by a SCR database in 2012. Comparisons of ground motion observations from four recent M5 ENA earthquakes with current ENA ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) suggest that current GMPEs, as a group, reasonably agree with M5 observations at short periods, particularly at distances less than 200 km. However, at one second, current GMPEs over predict M5 ground motion observations. The 2001 M7.6 Bhuj, India, earthquake provides some constraint at large magnitudes, as geology and regional attenuation is analogous to ENA. Cramer and Kumar, 2003, have

  1. Broadband Ground Motion Reconstruction for the Kanto Basin during the 1923 Kanto Earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sekiguchi, Haruko; Yoshimi, Masayuki

    2011-03-01

    Ground motions of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake inside the Kanto Basin are numerically simulated in a wide frequency range (0-10 Hz) based on new knowledge of the earthquake's source processes, the sedimentary structure of the basin, and techniques for generating broadband source models of great earthquakes. The Kanto Earthquake remains one of the most important exemplars for ground motion prediction in Japan due to its size, faulting geometry, and location beneath the densely populated Kanto sedimentary basin. We reconstruct a broadband source model of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake from inversion results by introducing small-scale heterogeneities. The corresponding ground motions are simulated using a hybrid technique comprising the following four calculations: (1) low-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a finite difference method; (2) high-frequency ground motion of the engineering basement, modeled using a stochastic Green's function method; (3) total ground motion of the engineering basement (i.e. 1 + 2); and (4) ground motion at the surface in response to the total basement ground motion. We employ a recently developed three-dimensional (3D) velocity structure model of the Kanto Basin that incorporates prospecting data, microtremor observations and measurements derived from strong ground motion records. Our calculations reveal peak ground velocities (PGV) exceeding 50 cm/s in the area above the fault plane: to the south, where the fault plane is shallowest, PGV reaches 150-200 cm/s at the engineering basement and 200-250 cm/s at the surface. Intensity 7, the maximum value in the Japan Meteorological Agency's intensity scale, is calculated to have occurred widely in Sagami Bay, which corresponds well with observed house-collapse rates due to the 1923 event. The modeling reveals a pronounced forward directivity effect for the area lying above the southern, shallow part of the fault plane. The high PGV and intensity seen above the

  2. A synchronous surround increases the motion strength gain of motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linares, Daniel; Nishida, Shin'ya

    2013-11-12

    Coherent motion detection is greatly enhanced by the synchronous presentation of a static surround (Linares, Motoyoshi, & Nishida, 2012). To further understand this contextual enhancement, here we measured the sensitivity to discriminate motion strength for several pedestal strengths with and without a surround. We found that the surround improved discrimination of low and medium motion strengths, but did not improve or even impaired discrimination of high motion strengths. We used motion strength discriminability to estimate the perceptual response function assuming additive noise and found that the surround increased the motion strength gain, rather than the response gain. Given that eye and body movements continuously introduce transients in the retinal image, it is possible that this strength gain occurs in natural vision.

  3. Direct Contribution of Auditory Motion Information to Sound-Induced Visual Motion Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Souta Hidaka

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available We have recently demonstrated that alternating left-right sound sources induce motion perception to static visual stimuli along the horizontal plane (SIVM: sound-induced visual motion perception, Hidaka et al., 2009. The aim of the current study was to elucidate whether auditory motion signals, rather than auditory positional signals, can directly contribute to the SIVM. We presented static visual flashes at retinal locations outside the fovea together with a lateral auditory motion provided by a virtual stereo noise source smoothly shifting in the horizontal plane. The flashes appeared to move in the situation where auditory positional information would have little influence on the perceived position of visual stimuli; the spatiotemporal position of the flashes was in the middle of the auditory motion trajectory. Furthermore, the auditory motion altered visual motion perception in a global motion display; in this display, different localized motion signals of multiple visual stimuli were combined to produce a coherent visual motion perception so that there was no clear one-to-one correspondence between the auditory stimuli and each visual stimulus. These findings suggest the existence of direct interactions between the auditory and visual modalities in motion processing and motion perception.

  4. A Common Framework for the Analysis of Complex Motion? Standstill and Capture Illusions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Max Reinhard Dürsteler

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available A series of illusions was created by presenting stimuli, which consisted of two overlapping surfaces each defined by textures of independent visual features (i.e. modulation of luminance, color, depth, etc.. When presented concurrently with a stationary 2-D luminance texture, observers often fail to perceive the motion of an overlapping stereoscopically defined depth-texture. This illusory motion standstill arises due to a failure to represent two independent surfaces (one for luminance and one for depth textures and motion transparency (the ability to perceive motion of both surfaces simultaneously. Instead the stimulus is represented as a single non-transparent surface taking on the stationary nature of the luminance-defined texture. By contrast, if it is the 2D-luminance defined texture that is in motion, observers often perceive the stationary depth texture as also moving. In this latter case, the failure to represent the motion transparency of the two textures gives rise to illusionary motion capture. Our past work demonstrated that the illusions of motion standstill and motion capture can occur for depth-textures that are rotating, or expanding / contracting, or else spiraling. Here I extend these findings to include stereo-shearing. More importantly, it is the motion (or lack thereof of the luminance texture that determines how the motion of the depth will be perceived. This observation is strongly in favor of a single pathway for complex motion that operates on luminance-defines texture motion signals only. In addition, these complex motion illusions arise with chromatically-defined textures with smooth, transitions between their colors. This suggests that in respect to color motion perception the complex motions’ pathway is only able to accurately process signals from isoluminant colored textures with sharp transitions between colors, and/or moving at high speeds, which is conceivable if it relies on inputs from a hypothetical dual

  5. A multistage motion vector processing method for motion-compensated frame interpolation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Ai- Mei; Nguyen, Truong Q

    2008-05-01

    In this paper, a novel, low-complexity motion vector processing algorithm at the decoder is proposed for motion-compensated frame interpolation or frame rate up-conversion. We address the problems of having broken edges and deformed structures in an interpolated frame by hierarchically refining motion vectors on different block sizes. Our method explicitly considers the reliability of each received motion vector and has the capability of preserving the structure information. This is achieved by analyzing the distribution of residual energies and effectively merging blocks that have unreliable motion vectors. The motion vector reliability information is also used as a prior knowledge in motion vector refinement using a constrained vector median filter to avoid choosing identical unreliable one. We also propose using chrominance information in our method. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme has better visual quality and is also robust, even in video sequences with complex scenes and fast motion.

  6. Motion in radiotherapy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korreman, Stine Sofia

    2012-01-01

    This review considers the management of motion in photon radiation therapy. An overview is given of magnitudes and variability of motion of various structures and organs, and how the motion affects images by producing artifacts and blurring. Imaging of motion is described, including 4DCT and 4DPE...

  7. Smoothing Motion Estimates for Radar Motion Compensation.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doerry, Armin W. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-07-01

    Simple motion models for complex motion environments are often not adequate for keeping radar data coherent. Eve n perfect motion samples appli ed to imperfect models may lead to interim calculations e xhibiting errors that lead to degraded processing results. Herein we discuss a specific i ssue involving calculating motion for groups of pulses, with measurements only available at pulse-group boundaries. - 4 - Acknowledgements This report was funded by General A tomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) Mission Systems under Cooperative Re search and Development Agre ement (CRADA) SC08/01749 between Sandia National Laboratories and GA-ASI. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affilia te of privately-held General Atomics, is a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and rel ated mission systems, includin g the Predator(r)/Gray Eagle(r)-series and Lynx(r) Multi-mode Radar.

  8. Wave motion as inquiry the physics and applications of light and sound

    CERN Document Server

    Espinoza, Fernando

    2017-01-01

    This undergraduate textbook on the physics of wave motion in optics and acoustics avoids presenting the topic abstractly in order to emphasize real-world examples. While providing the needed scientific context, Dr. Espinoza also relies on students' own experience to guide their learning. The book's exercises and labs strongly emphasize this inquiry-based approach. A strength of inquiry-based courses is that the students maintain a higher level of engagement when they are studying a topic that they have an internal motivation to know, rather than solely following the directives of a professor. "Wave Motion" takes those threads of engagement and interest and weaves them into a coherent picture of wave phenomena. It demystifies key components of life around us--in music, in technology, and indeed in everything we perceive--even for those without a strong math background, who might otherwise have trouble approaching the subject matter.

  9. Directional Limits on Motion Transparency Assessed Through Colour-Motion Binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maloney, Ryan T; Clifford, Colin W G; Mareschal, Isabelle

    2018-03-01

    Motion-defined transparency is the perception of two or more distinct moving surfaces at the same retinal location. We explored the limits of motion transparency using superimposed surfaces of randomly positioned dots defined by differences in motion direction and colour. In one experiment, dots were red or green and we varied the proportion of dots of a single colour that moved in a single direction ('colour-motion coherence') and measured the threshold direction difference for discriminating between two directions. When colour-motion coherences were high (e.g., 90% of red dots moving in one direction), a smaller direction difference was required to correctly bind colour with direction than at low coherences. In another experiment, we varied the direction difference between the surfaces and measured the threshold colour-motion coherence required to discriminate between them. Generally, colour-motion coherence thresholds decreased with increasing direction differences, stabilising at direction differences around 45°. Different stimulus durations were compared, and thresholds were higher at the shortest (150 ms) compared with the longest (1,000 ms) duration. These results highlight different yet interrelated aspects of the task and the fundamental limits of the mechanisms involved: the resolution of narrowly separated directions in motion processing and the local sampling of dot colours from each surface.

  10. Effect of cylindrical confinement on the determination of laminar flame speeds using outwardly propagating flames

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burke, Michael P.; Chen, Zheng; Ju, Yiguang; Dryer, Frederick L. [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

    2009-04-15

    The effect of nonspherical (i.e. cylindrical) bomb geometry on the evolution of outwardly propagating flames and the determination of laminar flame speeds using the conventional constant-pressure technique is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The cylindrical chamber boundary modifies the propagation rate through the interaction of the wall with the flow induced by thermal expansion across the flame (even with constant pressure), which leads to significant distortion of the flame surface for large flame radii. These departures from the unconfined case, especially the resulting nonzero burned gas velocities, can lead to significant errors in flame speeds calculated using the conventional assumptions, especially for large flame radii. For example, at a flame radius of 0.5 times the wall radius, the flame speed calculated neglecting confinement effects can be low by {proportional_to}15% (even with constant pressure). A methodology to estimate the effect of nonzero burned gas velocities on the measured flame speed in cylindrical chambers is presented. Modeling and experiments indicate that the effect of confinement can be neglected for flame radii less than 0.3 times the wall radius while still achieving acceptable accuracy (within 3%). The methodology is applied to correct the flame speed for nonzero burned gas speeds, in order to extend the range of flame radii useful for flame speed measurements. Under the proposed scaling, the burned gas speed can be well approximated as a function of only flame radius for a given chamber geometry - i.e. the correction function need only be determined once for an apparatus and then it can be used for any mixture. Results indicate that the flow correction can be used to extract flame speeds for flame radii up to 0.5 times the wall radius with somewhat larger, yet still acceptable uncertainties for the cases studied. Flow-corrected burning velocities are measured for hydrogen and syngas mixtures at atmospheric and

  11. MotionExplorer: exploratory search in human motion capture data based on hierarchical aggregation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernard, Jürgen; Wilhelm, Nils; Krüger, Björn; May, Thorsten; Schreck, Tobias; Kohlhammer, Jörn

    2013-12-01

    We present MotionExplorer, an exploratory search and analysis system for sequences of human motion in large motion capture data collections. This special type of multivariate time series data is relevant in many research fields including medicine, sports and animation. Key tasks in working with motion data include analysis of motion states and transitions, and synthesis of motion vectors by interpolation and combination. In the practice of research and application of human motion data, challenges exist in providing visual summaries and drill-down functionality for handling large motion data collections. We find that this domain can benefit from appropriate visual retrieval and analysis support to handle these tasks in presence of large motion data. To address this need, we developed MotionExplorer together with domain experts as an exploratory search system based on interactive aggregation and visualization of motion states as a basis for data navigation, exploration, and search. Based on an overview-first type visualization, users are able to search for interesting sub-sequences of motion based on a query-by-example metaphor, and explore search results by details on demand. We developed MotionExplorer in close collaboration with the targeted users who are researchers working on human motion synthesis and analysis, including a summative field study. Additionally, we conducted a laboratory design study to substantially improve MotionExplorer towards an intuitive, usable and robust design. MotionExplorer enables the search in human motion capture data with only a few mouse clicks. The researchers unanimously confirm that the system can efficiently support their work.

  12. Orientation tuning of contrast masking caused by motion streaks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apthorp, Deborah; Cass, John; Alais, David

    2010-08-01

    We investigated whether the oriented trails of blur left by fast-moving dots (i.e., "motion streaks") effectively mask grating targets. Using a classic overlay masking paradigm, we varied mask contrast and target orientation to reveal underlying tuning. Fast-moving Gaussian blob arrays elevated thresholds for detection of static gratings, both monoptically and dichoptically. Monoptic masking at high mask (i.e., streak) contrasts is tuned for orientation and exhibits a similar bandwidth to masking functions obtained with grating stimuli (∼30 degrees). Dichoptic masking fails to show reliable orientation-tuned masking, but dichoptic masks at very low contrast produce a narrowly tuned facilitation (∼17 degrees). For iso-oriented streak masks and grating targets, we also explored masking as a function of mask contrast. Interestingly, dichoptic masking shows a classic "dipper"-like TVC function, whereas monoptic masking shows no dip and a steeper "handle". There is a very strong unoriented component to the masking, which we attribute to transiently biased temporal frequency masking. Fourier analysis of "motion streak" images shows interesting differences between dichoptic and monoptic functions and the information in the stimulus. Our data add weight to the growing body of evidence that the oriented blur of motion streaks contributes to the processing of fast motion signals.

  13. A programmable motion phantom for quality assurance of motion management in radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunn, L.; Franich, R.D.; Kron, T.; Taylor, M.L.; Johnston, P.N.; McDermott, L.N.; Callahan, J.

    2012-01-01

    A commercially available motion phantom (QUASAR, Modus Medical) was modified for programmable motion control with the aim of reproducing patient respiratory motion in one dimension in both the anterior–posterior and superior–inferior directions, as well as, providing controllable breath-hold and sinusoidal patterns for the testing of radiotherapy gating systems. In order to simulate realistic patient motion, the DC motor was replaced by a stepper motor. A separate 'chest-wall' motion platform was also designed to accommodate a variety of surrogate marker systems. The platform employs a second stepper motor that allows for the decoupling of the chest-wall and insert motion. The platform's accuracy was tested by replicating patient traces recorded with the Varian real-time position management (RPM) system and comparing the motion platform's recorded motion trace with the original patient data. Six lung cancer patient traces recorded with the RPM system were uploaded to the motion platform's in-house control software and subsequently replicated through the phantom motion platform. The phantom's motion profile was recorded with the RPM system and compared to the original patient data. Sinusoidal and breath-hold patterns were simulated with the motion platform and recorded with the RPM system to verify the systems potential for routine quality assurance of commercial radiotherapy gating systems. There was good correlation between replicated and actual patient data (P 0.003). Mean differences between the location of maxima in replicated and patient data-sets for six patients amounted to 0.034 cm with the corresponding minima mean equal to 0.010 cm. The upgraded motion phantom was found to replicate patient motion accurately as well as provide useful test patterns to aid in the quality assurance of motion management methods and technologies.

  14. Atomic physics of strongly correlated systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, C.D.

    1986-01-01

    This abstract summarizes the progress made in the last year and the future plans of our research in the study of strongly correlated atomic systems. In atomic structure and atomic spectroscopy we are investigating the classification and supermultiplet structure of doubly excited states. We are also beginning the systematic study of triply excited states. In ion-atom collisions, we are exploring an AO-MO matching method for treating multi-electron collision systems to extract detailed information such as subshell cross sections, alignment and orientation parameters, etc. We are also beginning ab initio calculations on the angular distributions for electron transfer processes in low-energy (about 10-100eV/amu) ion-atom collisions in a full quantum mechanical treatment of the motion of heavy particles

  15. Dissipative motion perturbation theory and exact solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lodder, J.J.

    1976-06-01

    Dissipative motion of classical and quantum systems is described. In particular, attention is paid to systems coupled to the radiation field. A dissipative equation of motion for a particle in an arbitrary potential coupled to the radiation field is derived by means of perturbation theory. The usual divrgencies associated with the radiation field are eliminated by the application of a theory of generalized functions. This theory is developed as a subject in its own right and is presented independently. The introduction of classical zero-point energy makes the classical equa tion of motion for the phase density formally the same as its quantum counterpart. In particular, it is shown that the classical zero-point energy prevents the collapse of a classical H-atom and gives rise to a classical ground state. For systems with a quadratic Hamiltoian, the equation of motion can be solved exactly, even in the continuum limit for the radiation field, by means of the new generalized functions. Classically, the Fokker-Planck equation is found without any approximations, and quantum mechanically, the only approximation is the neglect of the change in the ground state caused by the interaction. The derivation is valid even for strong damping and arbitrarily short times. There is no transient time. For harmonic oscillators complete equivalence is shown to exist between quantum mechanics and classical mechanics with zero-point energy. A discussion of the derivation of the Pauli equation is given and perturbation theory is compared with the exact derivation. The exactly solvable models are used to calculate the Langevin force of the radiation field. The result is that the classical Langevin force is exactly delta-correlated, while the quantum Langevin force is not delta-correlated at all. The fluctuation-dissipation theorem is shown to be an exact consequence of the solution to the equations of motion

  16. Hydrogen-isotope motion in scandium studied by ultrasonic measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leisure, R.G.; Schwarz, R.B.; Migliori, A.; Torgeson, D.R.; Svare, I.

    1993-01-01

    Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy has been used to investigate ultrasonic attenuation in single crystals of Sc, ScH 0.25 , and ScD 0.18 over the temperature range of 10--300 K for frequencies near 1 MHz. Ultrasonic-attenuation peaks were observed in the samples containing H or D with the maximum attenuation occurring near 25 K for ScH 0.25 and near 50 K for ScD 0.18 . The general features of the data suggest that the motion reflected in the ultrasonic attenuation is closely related to the low-temperature motion seen in nulcear-magnetic-resonance spin-lattice-relaxation measurements. The ultrasonic results were fit with a two-level-system (TLS) model involving tunneling between highly asymmetric sites. The relaxation of the TLS was found to consist of two parts: a weakly temperature-dependent part, probably due to coupling to electrons; and a much more strongly temperature-dependent part, attributed to multiple-phonon processes. The strongly temperature-dependent part was almost two orders of magnitude faster in ScH 0.25 than in ScD 0.18 , in accordance with the idea that tunneling is involved in the motion. Surprisingly, the weakly temperature-dependent part was found to be about the same for the two isotopes. The asymmetries primarily responsible for coupling the TLS to the ultrasound are attributed to interactions between hydrogen ions that lie on adjacent c axes. The results are consistent with an isotope-independent strength for the coupling of the TLS to the ultrasound

  17. Regionalization of ground motion attenuation in the conterminous United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, D.H.; Bernreuter, D.L.

    1979-01-01

    Attenuation results from geometric spreading and from absorption. The former is almost independent of crustal geology or physiographic region. The latter depends strongly on crustal geology and the state of the earth's upper mantle. Except for very high-frequency waves, absorption does not affect ground motion at distances less than 25 to 50 km. Thus, in the near-field zone, the attenuation in the eastern United States will be similar to that in the western United States. Most of the differences in ground motion can be accounted for by differences in attenuation caused by differences in absorption. The other important factor is that for some Western earthquakes the fault breaks the earth's surface, resulting in larger ground motion. No Eastern earthquakes are known to have broken the earth's surface by faulting. The stress drop of Eastern earthquakes may be higher than for Western earthquakes of the same seismic moment, which would affect the high-frequency spectral content. This factor is believed to be of much less significance than differences in absorption in explaining the differences in ground motion between the East and the West. 6 figures

  18. Strongly Localized Image States of Spherical Graphitic Particles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Godfrey Gumbs

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the localization of charged particles by the image potential of spherical shells, such as fullerene buckyballs. These spherical image states exist within surface potentials formed by the competition between the attractive image potential and the repulsive centripetal force arising from the angular motion. The image potential has a power law rather than a logarithmic behavior. This leads to fundamental differences in the nature of the effective potential for the two geometries. Our calculations have shown that the captured charge is more strongly localized closest to the surface for fullerenes than for cylindrical nanotube.

  19. Long-period Ground Motion Simulation in the Osaka Basin during the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwata, T.; Kubo, H.; Asano, K.; Sato, K.; Aoi, S.

    2014-12-01

    Large amplitude long-period ground motions (1-10s) with long duration were observed in the Osaka sedimentary basin during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) and its aftershock (Ibaraki-Oki, Mw7.7), which is about 600 km away from the source regions. Sato et al. (2013) analyzed strong ground motion records from the source region to the Osaka basin and showed the following characteristics. (1) In the period range of 1 to 10s, the amplitude of horizontal components of the ground motion at the site-specific period is amplified in the Osaka basin sites. The predominant period is about 7s in the bay area where the largest pSv were observed. (2) The velocity Fourier amplitude spectra with their predominant period of around 7s are observed at the bedrock sites surrounding the Osaka basin. Those characteristics were observed during both of the mainshock and the largest aftershock. Therefore, large long-period ground motions in the Osaka basin are generated by the combination of propagation-path and basin effects. They simulated ground motions due to the largest aftershock as a simple point source model using three-dimensional FDM (GMS; Aoi and Fujiwara, 1999). They used a three-dimensional velocity structure based on the Japan Integrated Velocity Structure Model (JIVSM, Koketsu et al., 2012), with the minimum effective period of the computation of 3s. Their simulation result reproduced the observation characteristics well and it validates the applicability of the JIVSM for the long period ground motion simulation. In this study, we try to simulate long-period ground motions during the mainshock. The source model we used for the simulation is based on the SMGA model obtained by Asano and Iwata (2012). We succeed to simulate long-period ground motion propagation from Kanto area to the Osaka basin fairly well. The long-period ground motion simulations with the several Osaka basin velocity structure models are done for improving the model applicability. We used strong motion

  20. Strong crustal seismic anisotropy in the Kalahari Craton based on Receiver Functions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thybo, Hans; Soliman, Mohammad Youssof Ahmad; Artemieva, Irina

    2015-01-01

    Earlier seismic studies of the Kalahari Craton in southern Africa infer deformation of upper mantle by flow with fast direction of seismic anisotropy being parallel to present plate motion, and/or report anisotropy frozen into the lithospheric mantle. We present evidence for very strong seismic...... is uniform within tectonic units and parallel to orogenic strike in the Limpopo and Cape fold belts. It is further parallel to the strike of major dyke swarms which indicates that a large part of the observed anisotropy is controlled by lithosphere fabrics and macroscopic effects. The directions of the fast...... that the crust and lithospheric mantle may have been coupled since cratonisation. If so, the apparent match between mantle anisotropy and the present plate motion is coincidental....

  1. ECG-gated interventional cardiac reconstruction for non-periodic motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohkohl, Christopher; Lauritsch, Günter; Biller, Lisa; Hornegger, Joachim

    2010-01-01

    The 3-D reconstruction of cardiac vasculature using C-arm CT is an active and challenging field of research. In interventional environments patients often do have arrhythmic heart signals or cannot hold breath during the complete data acquisition. This important group of patients cannot be reconstructed with current approaches that do strongly depend on a high degree of cardiac motion periodicity for working properly. In a last year's MICCAI contribution a first algorithm was presented that is able to estimate non-periodic 4-D motion patterns. However, to some degree that algorithm still depends on periodicity, as it requires a prior image which is obtained using a simple ECG-gated reconstruction. In this work we aim to provide a solution to this problem by developing a motion compensated ECG-gating algorithm. It is built upon a 4-D time-continuous affine motion model which is capable of compactly describing highly non-periodic motion patterns. A stochastic optimization scheme is derived which minimizes the error between the measured projection data and the forward projection of the motion compensated reconstruction. For evaluation, the algorithm is applied to 5 datasets of the left coronary arteries of patients that have ignored the breath hold command and/or had arrhythmic heart signals during the data acquisition. By applying the developed algorithm the average visibility of the vessel segments could be increased by 27%. The results show that the proposed algorithm provides excellent reconstruction quality in cases where classical approaches fail. The algorithm is highly parallelizable and a clinically feasible runtime of under 4 minutes is achieved using modern graphics card hardware.

  2. Structural motion engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Connor, Jerome

    2014-01-01

    This innovative volume provides a systematic treatment of the basic concepts and computational procedures for structural motion design and engineering for civil installations. The authors illustrate the application of motion control to a wide spectrum of buildings through many examples. Topics covered include optimal stiffness distributions for building-type structures, the role of damping in controlling motion, tuned mass dampers, base isolation systems, linear control, and nonlinear control. The book's primary objective is the satisfaction of motion-related design requirements, such as restrictions on displacement and acceleration. The book is ideal for practicing engineers and graduate students. This book also: ·         Broadens practitioners' understanding of structural motion control, the enabling technology for motion-based design ·         Provides readers the tools to satisfy requirements of modern, ultra-high strength materials that lack corresponding stiffness, where the motion re...

  3. Explosion-produced ground motion: technical summary with respect to seismic hazards

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodean, Howard C [Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Livermore, CA (United States)

    1970-05-15

    This paper summarizes the present technical knowledge, experimental and theoretical, of how underground nuclear explosions produce seismic motion that may be a hazard at distances measured in tens of kilometers. The effects of explosion yield and rock properties (at the explosion, along the signal propagation path, and at the site where a hazard may exist) on the ground motion are described in detail, and some consideration is given to the relation between ground motion and damage criteria. The energy released in a nuclear explosion is sufficient to vaporize the explosive and to generate an intense shock wave that is propagated outward into the surrounding rock. Part of the energy transported by the shock wave is dissipated in the shocked material. The shock wave strength decreases with distance from the center of the explosion as a consequence of this energy loss and because of geometric (approximately spherical) divergence. The dissipated energy fraction ranges from over 95% (for competent rocks like granite) to over 99% (for crushable, porous rocks like alluvium) of the explosion yield. Therefore, the energy fraction that is radiated in the form of seismic waves ranges from a few percent down to a few tenths of a percent. This is consistent with the observation that explosions in granite produce more severe ground motion than corresponding explosions in alluvium. The effects of explosion yield and rock properties on the frequency spectrum of the seismic source function are demonstrated by both experimental measurements and theoretical analysis. The characteristics of an ideal elastic medium are such that its frequency response is that of a low-pass filter, with its cutoff frequency being a function of the elastic properties of the material and the radius at which the explosion-produced stress wave becomes elastic. There is further frequency- and distance-dependent attenuation (especially of the higher frequencies) of the seismic waves, because rocks are not

  4. Explosion-produced ground motion: technical summary with respect to seismic hazards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodean, Howard C.

    1970-01-01

    This paper summarizes the present technical knowledge, experimental and theoretical, of how underground nuclear explosions produce seismic motion that may be a hazard at distances measured in tens of kilometers. The effects of explosion yield and rock properties (at the explosion, along the signal propagation path, and at the site where a hazard may exist) on the ground motion are described in detail, and some consideration is given to the relation between ground motion and damage criteria. The energy released in a nuclear explosion is sufficient to vaporize the explosive and to generate an intense shock wave that is propagated outward into the surrounding rock. Part of the energy transported by the shock wave is dissipated in the shocked material. The shock wave strength decreases with distance from the center of the explosion as a consequence of this energy loss and because of geometric (approximately spherical) divergence. The dissipated energy fraction ranges from over 95% (for competent rocks like granite) to over 99% (for crushable, porous rocks like alluvium) of the explosion yield. Therefore, the energy fraction that is radiated in the form of seismic waves ranges from a few percent down to a few tenths of a percent. This is consistent with the observation that explosions in granite produce more severe ground motion than corresponding explosions in alluvium. The effects of explosion yield and rock properties on the frequency spectrum of the seismic source function are demonstrated by both experimental measurements and theoretical analysis. The characteristics of an ideal elastic medium are such that its frequency response is that of a low-pass filter, with its cutoff frequency being a function of the elastic properties of the material and the radius at which the explosion-produced stress wave becomes elastic. There is further frequency- and distance-dependent attenuation (especially of the higher frequencies) of the seismic waves, because rocks are not

  5. Domain wall kinetics of lithium niobate single crystals near the hexagonal corner

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Ju Won [Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712 (Korea, Republic of); Ko, Do-Kyeong [Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712 (Korea, Republic of); Advanced Photonics Research Institute, GIST, 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712 (Korea, Republic of); Yu, Nan Ei, E-mail: neyu@gist.ac.kr, E-mail: jhro@pnu.edu [Advanced Photonics Research Institute, GIST, 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712 (Korea, Republic of); Kitamura, Kenji [National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044 (Japan); Ro, Jung Hoon, E-mail: neyu@gist.ac.kr, E-mail: jhro@pnu.edu [Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Busan 602-739 (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-03-09

    A mesospheric approach based on a simple microscopic 2D Ising model in a hexagonal lattice plane is proposed to explain macroscopic “asymmetric in-out domain wall motion” observation in the (0001) plane of MgO-doped stoichiometric lithium niobate. Under application of an electric field that was higher than the conventional coercive field (E{sub c}) to the ferroelectric crystal, a natural hexagonal domain was obtained with walls that were parallel to the Y-axis of the crystal. When a fraction of the coercive field of around 0.1E{sub c} is applied in the reverse direction, this hexagonal domain is shrunk (moved inward) from the corner site into a shape with a corner angle of around 150° and 15° wall slopes to the Y-axis. A flipped electric field of 0.15E{sub c} is then applied to recover the natural hexagonal shape, and the 150° corner shape changes into a flat wall with 30° slope (moved outward). The differences in corner domain shapes between inward and outward domain motion were analyzed theoretically in terms of corner and wall site energies, which are described using the domain corner angle and wall slope with respect to the crystal Y-axis, respectively. In the inward domain wall motion case, the energy levels of the evolving 150° domain corner and 15° slope walls are most competitive, and could co-exist. In the outward case, the energy levels of corners with angles >180° are highly stable when compared with the possible domain walls; only a flat wall with 30° slope to the Y-axis is possible during outward motion.

  6. Active Brownian motion models and applications to ratchets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiasconaro, A.; Ebeling, W.; Gudowska-Nowak, E.

    2008-10-01

    We give an overview over recent studies on the model of Active Brownian Motion (ABM) coupled to reservoirs providing free energy which may be converted into kinetic energy of motion. First, we present an introduction to a general concept of active Brownian particles which are capable to take up energy from the source and transform part of it in order to perform various activities. In the second part of our presentation we consider applications of ABM to ratchet systems with different forms of differentiable potentials. Both analytical and numerical evaluations are discussed for three cases of sinusoidal, staircaselike and Mateos ratchet potentials, also with the additional loads modelled by tilted potential structure. In addition, stochastic character of the kinetics is investigated by considering perturbation by Gaussian white noise which is shown to be responsible for driving the directionality of the asymptotic flux in the ratchet. This stochastically driven directionality effect is visualized as a strong nonmonotonic dependence of the statistics of the right versus left trajectories of motion leading to a net current of particles. Possible applications of the ratchet systems to molecular motors are also briefly discussed.

  7. Equation of motion of an interstellar Bussard ramjet with radiation and mass losses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Semay, Claude; Silvestre-Brac, Bernard

    2008-01-01

    An interstellar Bussard ramjet is a spaceship using the protons of the interstellar medium in a fusion engine to produce thrust. In recent papers, it was shown that the relativistic equation of motion of an ideal ramjet and that of a ramjet with radiation loss are analytical. When a mass loss appears, the limit speed of the ramjet is more strongly reduced. However, the parametric equations in terms of the ramjet's speed for the position of the ramjet in the inertial frame of the interstellar medium, the time in this frame and the proper time indicated by the clocks on board the spaceship can still be obtained in an analytical form. The non-relativistic motion and the motion near the limit speed are studied

  8. Equation of motion of an interstellar Bussard ramjet with radiation and mass losses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Semay, Claude [Groupe de Physique Nucleaire Theorique, Universite de Mons-Hainaut, Academie universitaire Wallonie-Bruxelles, Place du Parc 20, B-7000 Mons (Belgium); Silvestre-Brac, Bernard [LPSC, Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, Avenue des Martyrs 53, F-38026 Grenoble-Cedex (France)], E-mail: claude.semay@umh.ac.be, E-mail: silvestre@lpsc.in2p3.fr

    2008-11-15

    An interstellar Bussard ramjet is a spaceship using the protons of the interstellar medium in a fusion engine to produce thrust. In recent papers, it was shown that the relativistic equation of motion of an ideal ramjet and that of a ramjet with radiation loss are analytical. When a mass loss appears, the limit speed of the ramjet is more strongly reduced. However, the parametric equations in terms of the ramjet's speed for the position of the ramjet in the inertial frame of the interstellar medium, the time in this frame and the proper time indicated by the clocks on board the spaceship can still be obtained in an analytical form. The non-relativistic motion and the motion near the limit speed are studied.

  9. Seismic Excitation of the Polar Motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Benjamin Fong; Gross, Richard S.; Han, Yan-Ben

    1996-01-01

    The mass redistribution in the earth as a result of an earthquake faulting changes the earth's inertia tensor, and hence its rotation. Using the complete formulae developed by Chao and Gross (1987) based on the normal mode theory, we calculated the earthquake-induced polar motion excitation for the largest 11,015 earthquakes that occurred during 1977.0-1993.6. The seismic excitations in this period are found to be two orders of magnitude below the detection threshold even with today's high precision earth rotation measurements. However, it was calculated that an earthquake of only one tenth the size of the great 1960 Chile event, if happened today, could be comfortably detected in polar motion observations. Furthermore, collectively these seismic excitations have a strong statistical tendency to nudge the pole towards approx. 140 deg E, away from the actually observed polar drift direction. This non-random behavior, similarly found in other earthquake-induced changes in earth rotation and low-degree gravitational field by Chao and Gross (1987), manifests some geodynamic behavior yet to be explored.

  10. Experimental motion behavior of submerged fuel racks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellingson, F.J.; Wachter, W.; Moscardini, R.L.

    1989-01-01

    The design of submerged nuclear storage racks for light water reactor nuclear fuel has undergone a change from fixed position to a free-standing arrangement. Seismic analysis of the motion of the free-standing racks requires three-dimensional computer modeling that uses past studies of hydrodynamic mass and hydraulic coupling for rigid flat plates. This paper describes the results of experiments that show a reduced value for hydrodynamic mass and coupling forces when flexible elements are involved. To support this work, experiments were run with two full-scale welded box sections submerged in a water tank. The preliminary results indicate reduction in hydrodynamic mass due to box wall flexibility, a lack of impacting of box wall to box wall over the entire frequency range, and large hydrodynamic coupling forces under all test conditions. It is hypothesized that the coupling forces are sufficiently strong to prevent rotational motion of one rack when surrounded by adjacent racks

  11. Correlated electron motion, flux states and superconductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lederer, P.; Poilblanc, D.; Rice, T.K.

    1989-01-01

    This paper discusses how, when the on-site correlation is strong, electrons can move by usual hopping only on to empty sites but they can exchange position with their neighbors by a correlated motion. The phase in the former process is fixed and it favors Bloch states. When the concentration of empty sites is small then the latter process dominates and one is free to introduce a phase provided it is chosen to be the same for ↑ and ↓-spin electrons. Since for a partly filled band of non-interacting electrons the introduction of a uniform commensurate flux lowers the energy, the correlated motion can lead to a physical mechanism to generate flux states. These states have a collective gauge variable which is the same for ↑ and ↓-spins and superconducting properties are obtained by expanding around the optimum gauge determined by the usual kinetic energy term. If this latter term has singularities at special fillings then these may affect the superconducting properties

  12. Motion compensation for structured light sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biswas, Debjani; Mertz, Christoph

    2015-05-01

    In order for structured light methods to work outside, the strong background from the sun needs to be suppressed. This can be done with bandpass filters, fast shutters, and background subtraction. In general this last method necessitates the sensor system to be stationary during data taking. The contribution of this paper is a method to compensate for the motion if the system is moving. The key idea is to use video stabilization techniques that work even if the illuminator is switched on and off from one frame to another. We used OpenCV functions and modules to implement a robust and efficient method. We evaluated it under various conditions and tested it on a moving robot outdoors. We will demonstrate that one can not only do 3D reconstruction under strong ambient light, but that it is also possible to observe optical properties of the objects in the environment.

  13. Testing human sperm chemotaxis: how to detect biased motion in population assays.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leah Armon

    Full Text Available Biased motion of motile cells in a concentration gradient of a chemoattractant is frequently studied on the population level. This approach has been particularly employed in human sperm chemotactic assays, where the fraction of responsive cells is low and detection of biased motion depends on subtle differences. In these assays, statistical measures such as population odds ratios of swimming directions can be employed to infer chemotactic performance. Here, we report on an improved method to assess statistical significance of experimentally determined odds ratios and discuss the strong impact of data correlations that arise from the directional persistence of sperm swimming.

  14. Semicalssical quantization of interacting anyons in a strong magnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levit, S.; Sivan, N.

    1992-01-01

    We represent a semiclassical theory of charged interacting anyons in strong magnetic fields. We apply this theory to a number of few anyons systems including two interacting anyons in the presence of an impurity and three interacting anyons. We discuss the dependence of their energy levels on the statistical parameter and find regions in which this dependence follows very different patterns. The semiclassical arguments allow to correlate these patterns with the change in the character of the classical motion of the system. (author)

  15. Radiation Damping in a Non-Abelian Strongly-Coupled Gauge Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Chernicoff, Mariano; Garcia, J. Antonio; Guijosa, Alberto

    2010-01-01

    We study a `dressed' or `composite' quark in strongly-coupled N=4 super-Yang-Mills (SYM), making use of the AdS/CFT correspondence. We show that the standard string dynamics nicely captures the physics of the quark and its surrounding quantum non-Abelian field configuration, making it possible to derive a relativistic equation of motion that incorporates the effects of radiation damping. From this equation one can deduce a non-standard dispersion relation for the composite quark, as well as a...

  16. Microtremor Array Measurement Survey and Strong Ground Motion Observation Activities of The MarDiM (SATREPS) Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozgur Citak, Seckin; Karagoz, Ozlem; Chimoto, Kosuke; Ozel, Oguz; Yamanaka, Hiroaki; Aksahin, Bengi; Arslan, Safa; Hatayama, Ken; Ohori, Michihiro; Hori, Muneo

    2015-04-01

    Since 1939, devastating earthquakes with magnitude greater than seven ruptured North Anatolian Fault (NAF) westward, starting from 1939 Erzincan (Ms=7.9) at the eastern Turkey and including the latest 1999 Izmit-Golcuk (Ms=7.4) and the Duzce (Ms=7.2) earthquakes in the eastern Marmara region, Turkey. On the other hand, the west of the Sea of Marmara an Mw7.4 earthquake ruptured the NAF' s Ganos segment in 1912. The only un-ruptured segments of the NAF in the last century are within the Sea of Marmara, and are identified as a "seismic gap" zone that its rupture may cause a devastating earthquake. In order to unravel the seismic risks of the Marmara region a comprehensive multidisciplinary research project The MarDiM project "Earthquake And Tsunami Disaster Mitigation in The Marmara Region and Disaster Education in Turkey", has already been started since 2003. The project is conducted in the framework of "Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS)" sponsored by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). One of the main research field of the project is "Seismic characterization and damage prediction" which aims to improve the prediction accuracy of the estimation of the damages induced by strong ground motions and tsunamis based on reliable source parameters, detailed deep and shallow velocity structure and building data. As for detailed deep and shallow velocity structure microtremor array measurement surveys were conducted in Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul and Tekirdag province at about 81 sites on October 2013 and September 2014. Also in September 2014, 11 accelerometer units were installed mainly in public buildings in both Zeytinburnu and Tekirdag area and are currently in operation. Each accelerometer unit compose of a Network Sensor (CV-374A2) by Tokyo Sokushin, post processing PC for data storage and power supply unit. The Network Sensor (CV-374A2) consist of three servo

  17. Is Diaphragm Motion a Good Surrogate for Liver Tumor Motion?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Juan [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong (China); Cai, Jing [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Wang, Hongjun [School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong (China); Chang, Zheng; Czito, Brian G. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Bashir, Mustafa R. [Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Palta, Manisha [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Yin, Fang-Fang, E-mail: fangfang.yin@duke.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States)

    2014-11-15

    Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between liver tumor motion and diaphragm motion. Methods and Materials: Fourteen patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (10 of 14) or liver metastases (4 of 14) undergoing radiation therapy were included in this study. All patients underwent single-slice cine–magnetic resonance imaging simulations across the center of the tumor in 3 orthogonal planes. Tumor and diaphragm motion trajectories in the superior–inferior (SI), anterior–posterior (AP), and medial–lateral (ML) directions were obtained using an in-house-developed normalized cross-correlation–based tracking technique. Agreement between the tumor and diaphragm motion was assessed by calculating phase difference percentage, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman analysis (Diff). The distance between the tumor and tracked diaphragm area was analyzed to understand its impact on the correlation between the 2 motions. Results: Of all patients, the mean (±standard deviation) phase difference percentage values were 7.1% ± 1.1%, 4.5% ± 0.5%, and 17.5% ± 4.5% in the SI, AP, and ML directions, respectively. The mean intraclass correlation coefficient values were 0.98 ± 0.02, 0.97 ± 0.02, and 0.08 ± 0.06 in the SI, AP, and ML directions, respectively. The mean Diff values were 2.8 ± 1.4 mm, 2.4 ± 1.1 mm, and 2.2 ± 0.5 mm in the SI, AP, and ML directions, respectively. Tumor and diaphragm motions had high concordance when the distance between the tumor and tracked diaphragm area was small. Conclusions: This study showed that liver tumor motion had good correlation with diaphragm motion in the SI and AP directions, indicating diaphragm motion in the SI and AP directions could potentially be used as a reliable surrogate for liver tumor motion.

  18. Can walking motions improve visually induced rotational self-motion illusions in virtual reality?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riecke, Bernhard E; Freiberg, Jacob B; Grechkin, Timofey Y

    2015-02-04

    Illusions of self-motion (vection) can provide compelling sensations of moving through virtual environments without the need for complex motion simulators or large tracked physical walking spaces. Here we explore the interaction between biomechanical cues (stepping along a rotating circular treadmill) and visual cues (viewing simulated self-rotation) for providing stationary users a compelling sensation of rotational self-motion (circular vection). When tested individually, biomechanical and visual cues were similarly effective in eliciting self-motion illusions. However, in combination they yielded significantly more intense self-motion illusions. These findings provide the first compelling evidence that walking motions can be used to significantly enhance visually induced rotational self-motion perception in virtual environments (and vice versa) without having to provide for physical self-motion or motion platforms. This is noteworthy, as linear treadmills have been found to actually impair visually induced translational self-motion perception (Ash, Palmisano, Apthorp, & Allison, 2013). Given the predominant focus on linear walking interfaces for virtual-reality locomotion, our findings suggest that investigating circular and curvilinear walking interfaces offers a promising direction for future research and development and can help to enhance self-motion illusions, presence and immersion in virtual-reality systems. © 2015 ARVO.

  19. Forced pitch motion of wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leble, V.; Barakos, G.

    2016-09-01

    The possibility of a wind turbine entering vortex ring state during pitching oscillations is explored in this paper. The aerodynamic performance of the rotor was computed using the Helicopter Multi-Block flow solver. This code solves the Navier-Stokes equations in integral form using the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation for time-dependent domains with moving boundaries. A 10-MW wind turbine was put to perform yawing and pitching oscillations suggesting the partial vortex ring state during pitching motion. The results also show the strong effect of the frequency and amplitude of oscillations on the wind turbine performance.

  20. Forced pitch motion of wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leble, V; Barakos, G

    2016-01-01

    The possibility of a wind turbine entering vortex ring state during pitching oscillations is explored in this paper. The aerodynamic performance of the rotor was computed using the Helicopter Multi-Block flow solver. This code solves the Navier-Stokes equations in integral form using the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation for time-dependent domains with moving boundaries. A 10-MW wind turbine was put to perform yawing and pitching oscillations suggesting the partial vortex ring state during pitching motion. The results also show the strong effect of the frequency and amplitude of oscillations on the wind turbine performance. (paper)

  1. A topological method for vortex identification in turbulent flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhong, Qiang; Chen, Huai; Li, Danxun [State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Chen, Qigang, E-mail: lidx@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn [School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China)

    2017-02-15

    We present a novel vortex identification method based on structured vorticity ( ω {sub s}) of the direction field of flow (velocity vectors set to unit magnitude). As a direct measure of streamline curvature is insensitive to vortex strength, ω {sub s} is effective in detecting vortices of various strengths. The effectiveness has been tested against both analytical flows (pure shear flow, Oseen vortex flow, strong outward spiraling motion, straining flow, Taylor–Green flow) and experimental flows (closed cavity flow, closed and open channel flow). Comparison of the new method with the swirling-strength method indicates that the new method shows promise as being a simple and effective criterion for vortex identification. (paper)

  2. Curves from Motion, Motion from Curves

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    De linearum curvarum cum lineis rectis comparatione dissertatio geometrica - an appendix to a treatise by de Lalouv~re (this was the only publication... correct solution to the problem of motion in the gravity of a permeable rotating Earth, considered by Torricelli (see §3). If the Earth is a homogeneous...in 1686, which contains the correct solution as part of a remarkably comprehensive theory of orbital motions under centripetal forces. It is a

  3. Enhancement of spin Hall effect induced torques for current-driven magnetic domain wall motion: Inner interface effect

    KAUST Repository

    Bang, Do; Yu, Jiawei; Qiu, Xuepeng; Wang, Yi; Awano, Hiroyuki; Manchon, Aurelien; Yang, Hyunsoo

    2016-01-01

    We investigate the current-induced domain wall motion in perpendicular magnetized Tb/Co wires with structure inversion asymmetry and different layered structures. We find that the critical current density to drive domain wall motion strongly depends on the layered structure. The lowest critical current density ∼15MA/cm2 and the highest slope of domain wall velocity curve are obtained for the wire having thin Co sublayers and more inner Tb/Co interfaces, while the largest critical current density ∼26MA/cm2 required to drive domain walls is observed in the Tb-Co alloy magnetic wire. It is found that the Co/Tb interface contributes negligibly to Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, while the effective spin-orbit torque strongly depends on the number of Tb/Co inner interfaces (n). An enhancement of the antidamping torques by extrinsic spin Hall effect due to Tb rare-earth impurity-induced skew scattering is suggested to explain the high efficiency of current-induced domain wall motion.

  4. Enhancement of spin Hall effect induced torques for current-driven magnetic domain wall motion: Inner interface effect

    KAUST Repository

    Bang, Do

    2016-05-23

    We investigate the current-induced domain wall motion in perpendicular magnetized Tb/Co wires with structure inversion asymmetry and different layered structures. We find that the critical current density to drive domain wall motion strongly depends on the layered structure. The lowest critical current density ∼15MA/cm2 and the highest slope of domain wall velocity curve are obtained for the wire having thin Co sublayers and more inner Tb/Co interfaces, while the largest critical current density ∼26MA/cm2 required to drive domain walls is observed in the Tb-Co alloy magnetic wire. It is found that the Co/Tb interface contributes negligibly to Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, while the effective spin-orbit torque strongly depends on the number of Tb/Co inner interfaces (n). An enhancement of the antidamping torques by extrinsic spin Hall effect due to Tb rare-earth impurity-induced skew scattering is suggested to explain the high efficiency of current-induced domain wall motion.

  5. Slow motion in films and video clips: Music influences perceived duration and emotion, autonomic physiological activation and pupillary responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wöllner, Clemens; Hammerschmidt, David; Albrecht, Henning

    2018-01-01

    Slow motion scenes are ubiquitous in screen-based audiovisual media and are typically accompanied by emotional music. The strong effects of slow motion on observers are hypothetically related to heightened emotional states in which time seems to pass more slowly. These states are simulated in films and video clips, and seem to resemble such experiences in daily life. The current study investigated time perception and emotional response to media clips containing decelerated human motion, with or without music using psychometric and psychophysiological testing methods. Participants were presented with slow-motion scenes taken from commercial films, ballet and sports footage, as well as the same scenes converted to real-time. Results reveal that slow-motion scenes, compared to adapted real-time scenes, led to systematic underestimations of duration, lower perceived arousal but higher valence, lower respiration rates and smaller pupillary diameters. The presence of music compared to visual-only presentations strongly affected results in terms of higher accuracy in duration estimates, higher perceived arousal and valence, higher physiological activation and larger pupillary diameters, indicating higher arousal. Video genre affected responses in addition. These findings suggest that perceiving slow motion is not related to states of high arousal, but rather affects cognitive dimensions of perceived time and valence. Music influences these experiences profoundly, thus strengthening the impact of stretched time in audiovisual media.

  6. Motion control, motion sickness, and the postural dynamics of mobile devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoffregen, Thomas A; Chen, Yi-Chou; Koslucher, Frank C

    2014-04-01

    Drivers are less likely than passengers to experience motion sickness, an effect that is important for any theoretical account of motion sickness etiology. We asked whether different types of control would affect the incidence of motion sickness, and whether any such effects would be related to participants' control of their own bodies. Participants played a video game on a tablet computer. In the Touch condition, the device was stationary and participants controlled the game exclusively through fingertip inputs via the device's touch screen. In the Tilt condition, participants held the device in their hands and moved the device to control some game functions. Results revealed that the incidence of motion sickness was greater in the Touch condition than in the Tilt condition. During game play, movement of the head and torso differed as a function of the type of game control. Before the onset of subjective symptoms of motion sickness, movement of the head and torso differed between participants who later reported motion sickness and those that did not. We discuss implications of these results for theories of motion sickness etiology.

  7. Realistic modelling of observed seismic motion in complex sedimentary basins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faeh, D.; Panza, G.F.

    1994-03-01

    Three applications of a numerical technique are illustrated to model realistically the seismic ground motion for complex two-dimensional structures. First we consider a sedimentary basin in the Friuli region, and we model strong motion records from an aftershock of the 1976 earthquake. Then we simulate the ground motion caused in Rome by the 1915, Fucino (Italy) earthquake, and we compare our modelling with the damage distribution observed in the town. Finally we deal with the interpretation of ground motion recorded in Mexico City, as a consequence of earthquakes in the Mexican subduction zone. The synthetic signals explain the major characteristics (relative amplitudes, spectral amplification, frequency content) of the considered seismograms, and the space distribution of the available macroseismic data. For the sedimentary basin in the Friuli area, parametric studies demonstrate the relevant sensitivity of the computed ground motion to small changes in the subsurface topography of the sedimentary basin, and in the velocity and quality factor of the sediments. The total energy of ground motion, determined from our numerical simulation in Rome, is in very good agreement with the distribution of damage observed during the Fucino earthquake. For epicentral distances in the range 50km-100km, the source location and not only the local soil conditions control the local effects. For Mexico City, the observed ground motion can be explained as resonance effects and as excitation of local surface waves, and the theoretical and the observed maximum spectral amplifications are very similar. In general, our numerical simulations permit the estimate of the maximum and average spectral amplification for specific sites, i.e. are a very powerful tool for accurate micro-zonation. (author). 38 refs, 19 figs, 1 tab

  8. Response spectra for differential motion of structures supports during earthquakes in Egypt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed I.S. Elmasry

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Differential motions of ground supports of stiff structures with large plan dimensions and separate foundations under earthquakes were studied by researchers during the last few decades. Such a type of structural response was previously underestimated. The importance of studying such a response comes up from the fact that usually the structures affected are of strategic importance such as bridges. During their expected life, structures may experience vibrations excited by ground waves of short wavelengths during near-source earthquakes, or during amplified earthquake signals, during explosions, or during vibrations induced from nearby strong vibration sources. This is the case when the differential motion of supports becomes considerable. This paper aims to review the effects of seismic signal variations along the structures dimensions with emphasis on Egypt as a case study. The paper shows some patterns of the damage imposed by such differential motion. A replication of the differential motion in the longitudinal direction is applied on a frame bridge model. The resulting straining actions show the necessity for considering the differential motion of supports in the design of special structures in Egypt. Finally, response spectra for the differential motion of supports, based on the available data from previous earthquakes in Egypt, is derived and proposed for designers to include in the design procedure when accounting for such type of structural response, and especially in long-span bridges.

  9. Embodied learning of a generative neural model for biological motion perception and inference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrodt, Fabian; Layher, Georg; Neumann, Heiko; Butz, Martin V

    2015-01-01

    Although an action observation network and mirror neurons for understanding the actions and intentions of others have been under deep, interdisciplinary consideration over recent years, it remains largely unknown how the brain manages to map visually perceived biological motion of others onto its own motor system. This paper shows how such a mapping may be established, even if the biologically motion is visually perceived from a new vantage point. We introduce a learning artificial neural network model and evaluate it on full body motion tracking recordings. The model implements an embodied, predictive inference approach. It first learns to correlate and segment multimodal sensory streams of own bodily motion. In doing so, it becomes able to anticipate motion progression, to complete missing modal information, and to self-generate learned motion sequences. When biological motion of another person is observed, this self-knowledge is utilized to recognize similar motion patterns and predict their progress. Due to the relative encodings, the model shows strong robustness in recognition despite observing rather large varieties of body morphology and posture dynamics. By additionally equipping the model with the capability to rotate its visual frame of reference, it is able to deduce the visual perspective onto the observed person, establishing full consistency to the embodied self-motion encodings by means of active inference. In further support of its neuro-cognitive plausibility, we also model typical bistable perceptions when crucial depth information is missing. In sum, the introduced neural model proposes a solution to the problem of how the human brain may establish correspondence between observed bodily motion and its own motor system, thus offering a mechanism that supports the development of mirror neurons.

  10. Embodied Learning of a Generative Neural Model for Biological Motion Perception and Inference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabian eSchrodt

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Although an action observation network and mirror neurons for understanding the actions and intentions of others have been under deep, interdisciplinary consideration over recent years, it remains largely unknown how the brain manages to map visually perceived biological motion of others onto its own motor system. This paper shows how such a mapping may be established, even if the biologically motion is visually perceived from a new vantage point. We introduce a learning artificial neural network model and evaluate it on full body motion tracking recordings. The model implements an embodied, predictive inference approach. It first learns to correlate and segment multimodal sensory streams of own bodily motion. In doing so, it becomes able to anticipate motion progression, to complete missing modal information, and to self-generate learned motion sequences. When biological motion of another person is observed, this self-knowledge is utilized to recognize similar motion patterns and predict their progress. Due to the relative encodings, the model shows strong robustness in recognition despite observing rather large varieties of body morphology and posture dynamics. By additionally equipping the model with the capability to rotate its visual frame of reference, it is able to deduce the visual perspective onto the observed person, establishing full consistency to the embodied self-motion encodings by means of active inference. In further support of its neuro-cognitive plausibility, we also model typical bistable perceptions when crucial depth information is missing. In sum, the introduced neural model proposes a solution to the problem of how the human brain may establish correspondence between observed bodily motion and its own motor system, thus offering a mechanism that supports the development of mirror neurons.

  11. Ambient Noise Green's Function Simulation of Long-Period Ground Motions for Reverse Faulting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyake, H.; Beroza, G. C.

    2009-12-01

    Long-time correlation of ambient seismic noise has been demonstrated as a useful tool for strong ground motion prediction [Prieto and Beroza, 2008]. An important advantage of ambient noise Green's functions is that they can be used for ground motion simulation without resorting to either complex 3-D velocity structure to develop theoretical Green’s functions, or aftershock records for empirical Green’s function analysis. The station-to-station approach inherent to ambient noise Green’s functions imposes some limits to its application, since they are band-limited, applied at the surface, and for a single force. We explore the applicability of this method to strong motion prediction using the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, Japan, earthquake (Mw 6.6, depth = 9 km), which excited long-period ground motions in and around the Kanto basin almost 200 km from the epicenter. We test the performance of ambient noise Green's function for long-period ground motion simulation. We use three components of F-net broadband data at KZK station, which is located near the source region, as a virtual source, and three components of six F-net stations in and around the Kanto basin to calculate the response. An advantage to applying this approach in Japan is that ambient-noise sources are active in diverse directions. The dominant period of the ambient noise for the F-net datasets is mostly 7 s over the year, and amplitudes are largest in winter. This period matches the dominant periods of the Kanto and Niigata basins. For the 9 components of the ambient noise Green’s functions, we have confirmed long-period components corresponding to Love wave and Rayleigh waves that can be used for simulation of the 2007 Chuetsu-oki earthquake. The relative amplitudes, phases, and durations of the ambient noise Green’s functions at the F-net stations in and around the Kanto basin respect to F-net KZK station are fairly well matched with those of the observed ground motions for the 2007 Chuetsu

  12. Attention and apparent motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horowitz, T; Treisman, A

    1994-01-01

    Two dissociations between short- and long-range motion in visual search are reported. Previous research has shown parallel processing for short-range motion and apparently serial processing for long-range motion. This finding has been replicated and it has also been found that search for short-range targets can be impaired both by using bicontrast stimuli, and by prior adaptation to the target direction of motion. Neither factor impaired search in long-range motion displays. Adaptation actually facilitated search with long-range displays, which is attributed to response-level effects. A feature-integration account of apparent motion is proposed. In this theory, short-range motion depends on specialized motion feature detectors operating in parallel across the display, but subject to selective adaptation, whereas attention is needed to link successive elements when they appear at greater separations, or across opposite contrasts.

  13. Clayey landslide initiation and acceleration strongly modulated by soil swelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulz, William; Smith, Joel B.; Wang, Gonghui; Jiang, Yao; Roering, Joshua J.

    2018-01-01

    Largely unknown mechanisms restrain motion of clay-rich, slow-moving landslides that are widespread worldwide and rarely accelerate catastrophically. We studied a clayey, slow-moving landslide typical of thousands in northern California, USA, to decipher hydrologic-mechanical interactions that modulate landslide dynamics. Similar to some other studies, observed pore-water pressures correlated poorly with landslide reactivation and speed. In situ and laboratory measurements strongly suggested that variable pressure along the landslide's lateral shear boundaries resulting from seasonal soil expansion and contraction modulated its reactivation and speed. Slope-stability modeling suggested that the landslide's observed behavior could be predicted by including transient swell pressure as a resistance term, whereas modeling considering only transient hydrologic conditions predicted movement 5–6 months prior to when it was observed. All clayey soils swell to some degree; hence, our findings suggest that swell pressure likely modulates motion of many landslides and should be considered to improve forecasts of clayey landslide initiation and mobility.

  14. Example-based human motion denoising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Hui; Chai, Jinxiang

    2010-01-01

    With the proliferation of motion capture data, interest in removing noise and outliers from motion capture data has increased. In this paper, we introduce an efficient human motion denoising technique for the simultaneous removal of noise and outliers from input human motion data. The key idea of our approach is to learn a series of filter bases from precaptured motion data and use them along with robust statistics techniques to filter noisy motion data. Mathematically, we formulate the motion denoising process in a nonlinear optimization framework. The objective function measures the distance between the noisy input and the filtered motion in addition to how well the filtered motion preserves spatial-temporal patterns embedded in captured human motion data. Optimizing the objective function produces an optimal filtered motion that keeps spatial-temporal patterns in captured motion data. We also extend the algorithm to fill in the missing values in input motion data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system by experimenting with both real and simulated motion data. We also show the superior performance of our algorithm by comparing it with three baseline algorithms and to those in state-of-art motion capture data processing software such as Vicon Blade.

  15. A Motion-Adaptive Deinterlacer via Hybrid Motion Detection and Edge-Pattern Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    He-Yuan Lin

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available A novel motion-adaptive deinterlacing algorithm with edge-pattern recognition and hybrid motion detection is introduced. The great variety of video contents makes the processing of assorted motion, edges, textures, and the combination of them very difficult with a single algorithm. The edge-pattern recognition algorithm introduced in this paper exhibits the flexibility in processing both textures and edges which need to be separately accomplished by line average and edge-based line average before. Moreover, predicting the neighboring pixels for pattern analysis and interpolation further enhances the adaptability of the edge-pattern recognition unit when motion detection is incorporated. Our hybrid motion detection features accurate detection of fast and slow motion in interlaced video and also the motion with edges. Using only three fields for detection also renders higher temporal correlation for interpolation. The better performance of our deinterlacing algorithm with higher content-adaptability and less memory cost than the state-of-the-art 4-field motion detection algorithms can be seen from the subjective and objective experimental results of the CIF and PAL video sequences.

  16. A Motion-Adaptive Deinterlacer via Hybrid Motion Detection and Edge-Pattern Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Hsin-Te

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract A novel motion-adaptive deinterlacing algorithm with edge-pattern recognition and hybrid motion detection is introduced. The great variety of video contents makes the processing of assorted motion, edges, textures, and the combination of them very difficult with a single algorithm. The edge-pattern recognition algorithm introduced in this paper exhibits the flexibility in processing both textures and edges which need to be separately accomplished by line average and edge-based line average before. Moreover, predicting the neighboring pixels for pattern analysis and interpolation further enhances the adaptability of the edge-pattern recognition unit when motion detection is incorporated. Our hybrid motion detection features accurate detection of fast and slow motion in interlaced video and also the motion with edges. Using only three fields for detection also renders higher temporal correlation for interpolation. The better performance of our deinterlacing algorithm with higher content-adaptability and less memory cost than the state-of-the-art 4-field motion detection algorithms can be seen from the subjective and objective experimental results of the CIF and PAL video sequences.

  17. Alpha motion based on a motion detector, but not on the Müller-Lyer illusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Masahiro

    2014-07-01

    This study examined the mechanism of alpha motion, the apparent motion of the Müller-Lyer figure's shaft that occurs when the arrowheads and arrow tails are alternately presented. The following facts were found: (a) reduced exposure duration decreased the amount of alpha motion, and this phenomenon was not explainable by the amount of the Müller-Lyer illusion; (b) the motion aftereffect occurred after adaptation to alpha motion; (c) occurrence of alpha motion became difficult when the temporal frequency increased, and this characteristic of alpha motion was similar to the characteristic of a motion detector that motion detection became difficult when the temporal frequency increased from the optimal frequency. These findings indicated that alpha motion occurs on the basis of a motion detector but not on the Müller-Lyer illusion, and that the mechanism of alpha motion is the same as that of general motion perception.

  18. MotionFlow: Visual Abstraction and Aggregation of Sequential Patterns in Human Motion Tracking Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Sujin; Elmqvist, Niklas; Ramani, Karthik

    2016-01-01

    Pattern analysis of human motions, which is useful in many research areas, requires understanding and comparison of different styles of motion patterns. However, working with human motion tracking data to support such analysis poses great challenges. In this paper, we propose MotionFlow, a visual analytics system that provides an effective overview of various motion patterns based on an interactive flow visualization. This visualization formulates a motion sequence as transitions between static poses, and aggregates these sequences into a tree diagram to construct a set of motion patterns. The system also allows the users to directly reflect the context of data and their perception of pose similarities in generating representative pose states. We provide local and global controls over the partition-based clustering process. To support the users in organizing unstructured motion data into pattern groups, we designed a set of interactions that enables searching for similar motion sequences from the data, detailed exploration of data subsets, and creating and modifying the group of motion patterns. To evaluate the usability of MotionFlow, we conducted a user study with six researchers with expertise in gesture-based interaction design. They used MotionFlow to explore and organize unstructured motion tracking data. Results show that the researchers were able to easily learn how to use MotionFlow, and the system effectively supported their pattern analysis activities, including leveraging their perception and domain knowledge.

  19. Drag force in a strongly coupled anisotropic plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chernicoff, Mariano; Fernández, Daniel; Mateos, David; Trancanelli, Diego

    2012-08-01

    We calculate the drag force experienced by an infinitely massive quark propagating at constant velocity through an anisotropic, strongly coupled {N} = 4 plasma by means of its gravity dual. We find that the gluon cloud trailing behind the quark is generally misaligned with the quark velocity, and that the latter is also misaligned with the force. The drag coefficient μ can be larger or smaller than the corresponding isotropic value depending on the velocity and the direction of motion. In the ultra-relativistic limit we find that generically μ ∝ p. We discuss the conditions under which this behaviour may extend to more general situations.

  20. Unusual motions due to nonlinear effects in a driven vibrating string

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanson, Roger J.

    2005-09-01

    Usual nonlinear effects observed in a sinusoidally driven vibrating string include generation of motion perpendicular to the driving plane, sudden jumps of amplitude and associated hysteresis, and generation of higher harmonics. In addition, under some conditions, there can be a rich variety of unusual, very complex motions of a point on the string, the pattern of which, together with associated harmonic (and sometimes subharmonic) content, can change dramatically with a slight change in driving frequency or sometimes with constant driving frequency and force. Intrinsic string asymmetries can also have a profound effect on the behavior. In a brass harpsichord string (wire) such asymmetries can cause a small splitting of each natural frequency of free vibration into two closely spaced frequencies (relative separation ~0.2% to 2%, strongly dependent on tension.) The two frequency components are associated, respectively, with the transverse motion along two orthogonal characteristic wire axes. Emphasis will be on display of optically detected unusual motion patterns of a point on the string, including an example of a pattern period of 10 s when driving at 50 Hz. See R. J. Hanson et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 400-412 (2005) for a more complete treatment.

  1. Suppressive mechanisms in visual motion processing: From perception to intelligence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tadin, Duje

    2015-10-01

    Perception operates on an immense amount of incoming information that greatly exceeds the brain's processing capacity. Because of this fundamental limitation, the ability to suppress irrelevant information is a key determinant of perceptual efficiency. Here, I will review a series of studies investigating suppressive mechanisms in visual motion processing, namely perceptual suppression of large, background-like motions. These spatial suppression mechanisms are adaptive, operating only when sensory inputs are sufficiently robust to guarantee visibility. Converging correlational and causal evidence links these behavioral results with inhibitory center-surround mechanisms, namely those in cortical area MT. Spatial suppression is abnormally weak in several special populations, including the elderly and individuals with schizophrenia-a deficit that is evidenced by better-than-normal direction discriminations of large moving stimuli. Theoretical work shows that this abnormal weakening of spatial suppression should result in motion segregation deficits, but direct behavioral support of this hypothesis is lacking. Finally, I will argue that the ability to suppress information is a fundamental neural process that applies not only to perception but also to cognition in general. Supporting this argument, I will discuss recent research that shows individual differences in spatial suppression of motion signals strongly predict individual variations in IQ scores. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  2. Acceleration, Energy Loss and Screening in Strongly-Coupled Gauge Theories

    OpenAIRE

    Chernicoff, Mariano; Guijosa, Alberto

    2008-01-01

    We explore various aspects of the motion of heavy quarks in strongly-coupled gauge theories, employing the AdS/CFT correspondence. Building on earlier work by Mikhailov, we study the dispersion relation and energy loss of an accelerating finite-mass quark in N=4 super-Yang-Mills, both in vacuum and in the presence of a thermal plasma. In the former case, we notice that the application of an external force modifies the dispersion relation. In the latter case, we find in particular that when a ...

  3. Effects of energetic coherent motions on the power and wake of an axial-flow turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamorro, L. P.; Hill, C.; Neary, V. S.; Gunawan, B.; Arndt, R. E. A.; Sotiropoulos, F.

    2015-05-01

    A laboratory experiment examined the effects of energetic coherent motions on the structure of the wake and power fluctuations generated by a model axial-flow hydrokinetic turbine. The model turbine was placed in an open-channel flow and operated under subcritical conditions. The incoming flow was locally perturbed with vertically oriented cylinders of various diameters. An array of three acoustic Doppler velocimeters aligned in the cross-stream direction and a torque transducer were used to collect high-resolution and synchronous measurements of the three-velocity components of the incoming and wake flow as well as the turbine power. A strong scale-to-scale interaction between the large-scale and broadband turbulence shed by the cylinders and the turbine power revealed how the turbulence structure modulates the turbine behavior. In particular, the response of the turbine to the distinctive von Kármán-type vortices shed from the cylinders highlighted this phenomenon. The mean and fluctuating characteristics of the turbine wake are shown to be very sensitive to the energetic motions present in the flow. Tip vortices were substantially dampened and the near-field mean wake recovery accelerated in the presence of energetic motions in the flow. Strong coherent motions are shown to be more effective than turbulence levels for triggering the break-up of the spiral structure of the tip-vortices.

  4. Periodicity and chaos in strongly perturbed classical orbitals for Coulomb interactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klar, H

    1986-01-01

    Within the framework of classical mechanics two prototypes of strongly perturbed orbitals, the diamagnetism in hydrogen and electronic double excitation, are analyzed near critical phase space points (fixed points). The motion of the hydrogen electron under the joint influence of the Coulomb field and the magnetic field is periodic for any field strengths. For a two-electron atom however the author finds a chaotic time evolution of the electron pair correlation, causing presumably irregular spectral patterns. (Auth.).

  5. Learning Motion Features for Example-Based Finger Motion Estimation for Virtual Characters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mousas, Christos; Anagnostopoulos, Christos-Nikolaos

    2017-09-01

    This paper presents a methodology for estimating the motion of a character's fingers based on the use of motion features provided by a virtual character's hand. In the presented methodology, firstly, the motion data is segmented into discrete phases. Then, a number of motion features are computed for each motion segment of a character's hand. The motion features are pre-processed using restricted Boltzmann machines, and by using the different variations of semantically similar finger gestures in a support vector machine learning mechanism, the optimal weights for each feature assigned to a metric are computed. The advantages of the presented methodology in comparison to previous solutions are the following: First, we automate the computation of optimal weights that are assigned to each motion feature counted in our metric. Second, the presented methodology achieves an increase (about 17%) in correctly estimated finger gestures in comparison to a previous method.

  6. Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a self-similar spherical expansion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernstein, I.B.; Book, D.L.

    1978-01-01

    The self-similar motion of a spherically symmetric isentropic cloud of ideal gas driven outward by an expanding low-density medium (e.g., radiation pressure from a pulsar) is shown to be unstable to Rayleigh-Taylor modes which develop in the neighborhood of the interface. A complete solution of the linearized equations of motion is obtained. The implications for astrophysical phenomena are discussed

  7. Ground motion modeling of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake II: Ground motion estimates for the 1906 earthquake and scenario events

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aagaard, B; Brocher, T; Dreger, D; Frankel, A; Graves, R; Harmsen, S; Hartzell, S; Larsen, S; McCandless, K; Nilsson, S; Petersson, N A; Rodgers, A; Sjogreen, B; Tkalcic, H; Zoback, M L

    2007-02-09

    We estimate the ground motions produced by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake making use of the recently developed Song et al. (2008) source model that combines the available geodetic and seismic observations and recently constructed 3D geologic and seismic velocity models. Our estimates of the ground motions for the 1906 earthquake are consistent across five ground-motion modeling groups employing different wave propagation codes and simulation domains. The simulations successfully reproduce the main features of the Boatwright and Bundock (2005) ShakeMap, but tend to over predict the intensity of shaking by 0.1-0.5 modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) units. Velocity waveforms at sites throughout the San Francisco Bay Area exhibit characteristics consistent with rupture directivity, local geologic conditions (e.g., sedimentary basins), and the large size of the event (e.g., durations of strong shaking lasting tens of seconds). We also compute ground motions for seven hypothetical scenarios rupturing the same extent of the northern San Andreas fault, considering three additional hypocenters and an additional, random distribution of slip. Rupture directivity exerts the strongest influence on the variations in shaking, although sedimentary basins do consistently contribute to the response in some locations, such as Santa Rosa, Livermore, and San Jose. These scenarios suggest that future large earthquakes on the northern San Andreas fault may subject the current San Francisco Bay urban area to stronger shaking than a repeat of the 1906 earthquake. Ruptures propagating southward towards San Francisco appear to expose more of the urban area to a given intensity level than do ruptures propagating northward.

  8. Structural Motion Grammar for Universal Use of Leap Motion: Amusement and Functional Contents Focused

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byungseok Lee

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Motions using Leap Motion controller are not standardized while the use of it is spreading in media contents. Each content defines its own motions, thereby creating confusion for users. Therefore, to alleviate user inconvenience, this study categorized the commonly used motion by Amusement and Functional Contents and defined the Structural Motion Grammar that can be universally used based on the classification. To this end, the Motion Lexicon was defined, which is a fundamental motion vocabulary, and an algorithm that enables real-time recognition of Structural Motion Grammar was developed. Moreover, the proposed method was verified by user evaluation and quantitative comparison tests.

  9. Low work-function thermionic emission and orbital-motion-limited ion collection at bare-tether cathodic contact

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Xin, E-mail: xin.chen@upm.es; Sanmartín, J. R., E-mail: juanr.sanmartin@upm.es [Departamento de Física Aplicada, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Aeronáutica y del Espacio, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Plaza Cardenal Cisneros, 3, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

    2015-05-15

    With a thin coating of low-work-function material, thermionic emission in the cathodic segment of bare tethers might be much greater than orbital-motion-limited (OML) ion collection current. The space charge of the emitted electrons decreases the electric field that accelerates them outwards, and could even reverse it for high enough emission, producing a potential hollow. In this work, at the conditions of high bias and relatively low emission that make the potential monotonic, an asymptotic analysis is carried out, extending the OML ion-collection analysis to investigate the probe response due to electrons emitted by the negatively biased cylindrical probe. At given emission, the space charge effect from emitted electrons increases with decreasing magnitude of negative probe bias. Although emitted electrons present negligible space charge far away from the probe, their effect cannot be neglected in the global analysis for the sheath structure and two thin layers in between sheath and the quasineutral region. The space-charge-limited condition is located. It is found that thermionic emission increases the range of probe radius for OML validity and is greatly more effective than ion collection for cathodic contact of tethers.

  10. The gluonic field of a heavy quark in conformal field theories at strong coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chernicoff, Mariano; Güijosa, Alberto; Pedraza, Juan F.

    2011-10-01

    We determine the gluonic field configuration sourced by a heavy quark undergoing arbitrary motion in mathcal{N} = 4 super-Yang-Mills at strong coupling and large number of colors. More specifically, we compute the expectation value of the operator Tr[ F 2 + …] in the presence of such a quark, by means of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Our results for this observable show that signals propagate without temporal broadening, just as was found for the expectation value of the energy density in recent work by Hatta et al. We attempt to shed some additional light on the origin of this feature, and propose a different interpretation for its physical significance. As an application of our general results, we examine (Tr[ F 2 + …])when the quark undergoes oscillatory motion, uniform circular motion, and uniform acceleration. Via the AdS/CFT correspondence, all of our results are pertinent to any conformal field theory in 3 + 1 dimensions with a dual gravity formulation.

  11. Stirring Strongly Coupled Plasma

    CERN Document Server

    Fadafan, Kazem Bitaghsir; Rajagopal, Krishna; Wiedemann, Urs Achim

    2009-01-01

    We determine the energy it takes to move a test quark along a circle of radius L with angular frequency w through the strongly coupled plasma of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. We find that for most values of L and w the energy deposited by stirring the plasma in this way is governed either by the drag force acting on a test quark moving through the plasma in a straight line with speed v=Lw or by the energy radiated by a quark in circular motion in the absence of any plasma, whichever is larger. There is a continuous crossover from the drag-dominated regime to the radiation-dominated regime. In the crossover regime we find evidence for significant destructive interference between energy loss due to drag and that due to radiation as if in vacuum. The rotating quark thus serves as a model system in which the relative strength of, and interplay between, two different mechanisms of parton energy loss is accessible via a controlled classical gravity calculation. We close by speculating on the implicati...

  12. Correlation-based motion vector processing with adaptive interpolation scheme for motion-compensated frame interpolation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Ai-Mei; Nguyen, Truong

    2009-04-01

    In this paper, we address the problems of unreliable motion vectors that cause visual artifacts but cannot be detected by high residual energy or bidirectional prediction difference in motion-compensated frame interpolation. A correlation-based motion vector processing method is proposed to detect and correct those unreliable motion vectors by explicitly considering motion vector correlation in the motion vector reliability classification, motion vector correction, and frame interpolation stages. Since our method gradually corrects unreliable motion vectors based on their reliability, we can effectively discover the areas where no motion is reliable to be used, such as occlusions and deformed structures. We also propose an adaptive frame interpolation scheme for the occlusion areas based on the analysis of their surrounding motion distribution. As a result, the interpolated frames using the proposed scheme have clearer structure edges and ghost artifacts are also greatly reduced. Experimental results show that our interpolated results have better visual quality than other methods. In addition, the proposed scheme is robust even for those video sequences that contain multiple and fast motions.

  13. Dimensionality and integrals of motion of the Trappist-1 planetary system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floß, Johannes; Rein, Hanno; Brumer, Paul

    2018-04-01

    The number of isolating integrals of motion of the Trappist-1 system - a late M-dwarf orbited by seven Earth-sized planets - was determined numerically, using an adapted version of the correlation dimension method. It was found that over the investigated time-scales of up to 20 000 years the number of isolating integrals of motion is the same as one would find for a system of seven non-interacting planets - despite the fact that the planets in the Trappist-1 system are strongly interacting. Considering perturbed versions of the Trappist-1 system shows that the system may occupy an atypical part of phase-space with high stability. These findings are consistent with earlier studies.

  14. The effect of patient anxiety and depression on motion during myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lyra, Vassiliki; Kallergi, Maria; Rizos, Emmanouil; Lamprakopoulos, Georgios; Chatziioannou, Sofia N.

    2016-01-01

    Patient motion during myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging (MPI) may be triggered by a patient’s physical and/or psychological discomfort. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of state anxiety (patient’s reaction to exam-related stress), trait anxiety (patient’s personality characteristic) and depression on patient motion during MPI. All patients that underwent MPI in our department in a six-month period were prospectively enrolled. One hundred eighty-three patients (45 females; 138 males) filled in the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), along with a short questionnaire regarding their age, height and weight, level of education in years, occupation, and marital status. Cardiovascular and other co-morbidity factors were also evaluated. Through inspection of raw data on cinematic display, the presence or absence of patient motion was registered and classified into mild, moderate and severe, for both phases involved in image acquisition. The correlation of patient motion in the stress and delay phases of MPI and each of the other variables was investigated and the corresponding Pearson’s coefficients of association were calculated. The anxiety-motion (r = 0.43, P < 0.0001) and depression-motion (r = 0.32, P < 0.0001) correlation results were moderately strong and statistically significant for the female but not the male patients. All the other variables did not demonstrate any association with motion in MPI, except a weak correlation between age and motion in females (r = 0.23, P < 0.001). The relationship between anxiety-motion and depression-motion identified in female patients represents the first supporting evidence of psychological discomfort as predisposing factor for patient motion during MPI

  15. A Method of Calculating Motion Error in a Linear Motion Bearing Stage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gyungho Khim

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We report a method of calculating the motion error of a linear motion bearing stage. The transfer function method, which exploits reaction forces of individual bearings, is effective for estimating motion errors; however, it requires the rail-form errors. This is not suitable for a linear motion bearing stage because obtaining the rail-form errors is not straightforward. In the method described here, we use the straightness errors of a bearing block to calculate the reaction forces on the bearing block. The reaction forces were compared with those of the transfer function method. Parallelism errors between two rails were considered, and the motion errors of the linear motion bearing stage were measured and compared with the results of the calculations, revealing good agreement.

  16. A Method of Calculating Motion Error in a Linear Motion Bearing Stage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khim, Gyungho; Park, Chun Hong; Oh, Jeong Seok

    2015-01-01

    We report a method of calculating the motion error of a linear motion bearing stage. The transfer function method, which exploits reaction forces of individual bearings, is effective for estimating motion errors; however, it requires the rail-form errors. This is not suitable for a linear motion bearing stage because obtaining the rail-form errors is not straightforward. In the method described here, we use the straightness errors of a bearing block to calculate the reaction forces on the bearing block. The reaction forces were compared with those of the transfer function method. Parallelism errors between two rails were considered, and the motion errors of the linear motion bearing stage were measured and compared with the results of the calculations, revealing good agreement. PMID:25705715

  17. Motion perception in motion : how we perceive object motion during smooth pursuit eye movements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Souman, J.L.

    2005-01-01

    Eye movements change the retinal image motion of objects in the visual field. When we make an eye movement, the image of a stationary object will move across the retinae, while the retinal image of an object that we follow with the eyes is approximately stationary. To enable us to perceive motion in

  18. Understanding the distribution of strong motions and the damage caused during the September 19th, 2017 earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguirre, J.; Ramirez-Guzman, L.; Leonardo Suárez, M.; Quintanar, L.

    2017-12-01

    On September 19, 2017, a normal fault earthquake of magnitude Mw 7.1 occurred 120 km from Mexico City. The quake generated large accelerations, more than 200 cm/s*s at least in two stations in Mexico City, where there was extensive damage. The damage pattern, which includes more than 40 building collapses, differs from the one induced by the 1985 Michoacan earthquake. While the observed accelerations in stations located in the Hill and Transition zones are the largest ever recorded, in the Lake zone the intensities were lower than those recorded in 1985. Even though the proximity of the epicenter could partially explain the accelerations, other factors need to be explored to understand the nuances of the ground motion. Unlike 1985, there is a substantially larger number of acceleration records in Mexico City, operated and maintained by different institutions. In this paper, we present the analysis of acceleration records and 3D numerical simulations to understand if effects such as focusing and directionality participate in the amplified motion. Finally, transfer functions between Lake and Hill zones and response and design spectral values are analyzed in regions where the building code requirements were exceeded. Acknowledgments: Records used in this research are obtained, processed and maintained by the National Autonomous University of Mexico through the Seismic Instrumentation Unit of the Institute of Engineering and the National Seismological Service of the Institute of Geophysics. The Centro de Intrumentacion y Registro Sismico A.C. (CIRES) kindly provided their records. This Project was funded in part by the Secretaria de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SECITI) of Mexico City. Project SECITI/073/2016.

  19. Neurons Responsive to Global Visual Motion Have Unique Tuning Properties in Hummingbirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaede, Andrea H; Goller, Benjamin; Lam, Jessica P M; Wylie, Douglas R; Altshuler, Douglas L

    2017-01-23

    Neurons in animal visual systems that respond to global optic flow exhibit selectivity for motion direction and/or velocity. The avian lentiformis mesencephali (LM), known in mammals as the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT), is a key nucleus for global motion processing [1-4]. In all animals tested, it has been found that the majority of LM and NOT neurons are tuned to temporo-nasal (back-to-front) motion [4-11]. Moreover, the monocular gain of the optokinetic response is higher in this direction, compared to naso-temporal (front-to-back) motion [12, 13]. Hummingbirds are sensitive to small visual perturbations while hovering, and they drift to compensate for optic flow in all directions [14]. Interestingly, the LM, but not other visual nuclei, is hypertrophied in hummingbirds relative to other birds [15], which suggests enhanced perception of global visual motion. Using extracellular recording techniques, we found that there is a uniform distribution of preferred directions in the LM in Anna's hummingbirds, whereas zebra finch and pigeon LM populations, as in other tetrapods, show a strong bias toward temporo-nasal motion. Furthermore, LM and NOT neurons are generally classified as tuned to "fast" or "slow" motion [10, 16, 17], and we predicted that most neurons would be tuned to slow visual motion as an adaptation for slow hovering. However, we found the opposite result: most hummingbird LM neurons are tuned to fast pattern velocities, compared to zebra finches and pigeons. Collectively, these results suggest a role in rapid responses during hovering, as well as in velocity control and collision avoidance during forward flight of hummingbirds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Motion and relativity

    CERN Document Server

    Infeld, Leopold

    1960-01-01

    Motion and Relativity focuses on the methodologies, solutions, and approaches involved in the study of motion and relativity, including the general relativity theory, gravitation, and approximation.The publication first offers information on notation and gravitational interaction and the general theory of motion. Discussions focus on the notation of the general relativity theory, field values on the world-lines, general statement of the physical problem, Newton's theory of gravitation, and forms for the equation of motion of the second kind. The text then takes a look at the approximation meth