Crushed rock aggregate responds in a rational and predictable manner to the two tests designed by British Standards for assessing aggregate strength, i.e., Aggregate Impact (IV) and Crushing Values (ACV). The values obtained in both tests are influenced by intrinsic geological factors namely, petrology, petrography, rock and clast fabric. The Impact Value is affected further by procedural variables which have been identified and evaluated. When the effects of all these variables are known it is possible to understand the meaning of variation in test values within and between rock groups.Two new indices Impact and Aggregate Crushing Value Residues were introduced to probe more deeply the effects of cataclasis during testing. These have proved to be sensitive indicators of the geological variables like petrology and clast shape.In view of the rational behaviour of aggregate in the predictive tests it is possible to erect a new and more utilitarian classification of roadstone materials based on mechanical factors rather than the mineralogical-chemical basis of existing classifications. An outline of such a classification is presented. 相似文献
State governments in the United States are well placed to identify opportunities for mitigation and the needs for adaptation to climate change. However, the cost of these efforts can have important implications for budgets that already face pressures from diverse areas such as unfunded pensions and growing health care costs. In this work, the current level of spending on climate-related activities at the state level are evaluated and policy recommendations are developed to improve financial management practices as they relate to climate risk. An examination of state budgets reveals that climate mitigation and adaptation activities represent less than 1% of spending in most states. The data collection highlights the obstacles to collecting accurate spending data and the lack of budgetary and accounting procedures in place. More importantly, the difficulty in benchmarking these activities poses challenges for the analysis of state-level policies as well as planning and modelling future climate-related spending. Other policy contexts, including public pensions and infrastructure, can provide guidance on budgetary and accounting tools that may help states prepare for and more efficiently manage climate-related expenditures.
Key policy insights
Climate change mitigation and adaptation will require substantial investments across many levels of government on a wide range of activities.
Currently, US states are not clearly demarcating climate expenditures, hindering the identification of climate-related budgetary risks.
In the absence of guidelines, these longer term fiscal outlays may remain chronically underfunded in favour of more near-term spending priorities.
Establishing appropriate financial management and data collection practices is important for more sophisticated cost-effectiveness and policy analyses.
As hypoxic conditions spread in our oceans, indices that quickly and efficiently assess oxygen content in sediment pore water, and habitat quality are increasingly becoming desirable. Depth to the appa... 相似文献
The viable heterotrophic bacteria of Lake Grasmere in inland Canterbury (43° 05 S, 171° 45 E) were studied. Numbers of bacteria in water above a spring were positively correlated with rainfall in the 7 days before sampling, but bacteria in open water and from over the macrophyte Elodea canadensis were not. There was some increase in the bacterial population in the water over E. canadensis in the autumn to winter months. Numbers of bacteria in the open water ranged from 55 to 1020 cells per millilitre, and were outnumbered by algae by a factor of between 4 and 34. The bacterial population tended to increase after blooms of zooplankton, but there was little or no response to changes in phytoplankton populations. Benthic bacteria rarely increased in numbers after the deposition of organic matter. 相似文献
Although geographers are highly visible in research into contemporary climate changes accompanying greenhouse gas increases (“global warming”), a relatively little explored component by them is the impact of aviation. This contrasts with the atmospheric science community of cloud physicists, chemists, and numerical modelers, who use geographic tools of trade. Geographers are well positioned to investigate aviation-climate impacts, especially related to contrail clouds, given geographic traditions of environment, spatial variation, regionalization, generalization, and the integrative approach to studying physical and human systems (here, climate, transportation, and energy). We highlight the role played by geographers in contrail-climate studies and advocate for a broader involvement in aviation policy formulation. 相似文献
Southwest Pacific nations are among some of the worst impacted and most vulnerable globally in terms of tropical cyclone (TC)-induced flooding and accompanying risks. This study objectively quantifies the fractional contribution of TCs to extreme rainfall (hereafter, TC contributions) in the context of climate variability and change. We show that TC contributions to extreme rainfall are substantially enhanced during active phases of the Madden–Julian Oscillation and by El Niño conditions (particularly over the eastern southwest Pacific region); this enhancement is primarily attributed to increased TC activity during these event periods. There are also indications of increasing intensities of TC-induced extreme rainfall events over the past few decades. A key part of this work involves development of sophisticated Bayesian regression models for individual island nations in order to better understand the synergistic relationships between TC-induced extreme rainfall and combinations of various climatic drivers that modulate the relationship. Such models are found to be very useful for not only assessing probabilities of TC- and non-TC induced extreme rainfall events but also evaluating probabilities of extreme rainfall for cases with different underlying climatic conditions. For example, TC-induced extreme rainfall probability over Samoa can vary from ~ 95 to ~ 75% during a La Niña period, if it coincides with an active or inactive phase of the MJO, and can be reduced to ~ 30% during a combination of El Niño period and inactive phase of the MJO. Several other such cases have been assessed for different island nations, providing information that have potentially important implications for planning and preparing for TC risks in vulnerable Pacific Island nations.
CP Tuc (AX J2315–592) shows a dip in X-rays which lasts for approximately half the binary orbit and is deeper in soft X-rays compared with hard X-rays. It has been proposed that this dip is due to the accretion stream obscuring the accretion region from view. If CP Tuc were a polar, as has been suggested, then the length of such a dip would make it unique amongst polars since in those polars in which a dip is seen in hard X-rays the dip lasts for only 0.1 of the orbit. We present optical polarimetry and RXTE observations of CP Tuc which show circular polarization levels of ∼10 per cent and find evidence for only one photometric period. These data confirm CP Tuc as a polar. Our modelling of the polarization data implies that the X-ray dip is due to the bulk of the primary accretion region being self-eclipsed by the white dwarf. The energy dependence of the dip is due to a combination of this self-eclipse and also the presence of an X-ray temperature gradient over the primary accretion region. 相似文献
Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs), such as mulch biowalls, have been installed at numerous groundwater cleanup sites, and laboratory and field studies have demonstrated biotic and abiotic processes that degrade chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) in groundwater passing through these engineered remedies. However, the longevity of mulch biowalls remains a fundamental research question. Soil and groundwater sampling at seven mulch biowalls at Altus Air Force Base (AFB) approximately 10 years after installation demonstrated the ongoing degradation of CVOCs. Trichloroethene was not detected in five of seven groundwater samples collected from the biowall despite upgradient detections above federal drinking water standards. Microbial sampling established the presence of key dechlorinating bacteria and the abundance of genes encoding specific enzymes for degradation, high methane concentrations, low sulfate concentrations, and negative oxidation-reduction potential, all indicative of highly reducing conditions within the biowalls and favorable conditions for CVOC destruction via microbial reductive dechlorination. High cellulose content (>79%) of the mulch, elevated total organic carbon (TOC) content in groundwater, and elevated potentially bioavailable organic carbon (PBOC) measurements in soil samples further supports an ongoing, long-lived source of carbon. These results demonstrate the ongoing and long-term efficacy of the mulch biowalls at Altus AFB. In addition, concentrations of bacteria, TOC, PBOC, and other geochemical parameters suggest a modest impact of the biowalls downgradient. The continued presence of CVOCs downgradient may be attributable to back diffusion from low-permeability shale. However, the biowalls continue to provide benefits by removing CVOCs in groundwater, thus reducing further CVOC loading to the downgradient, low-permeability strata. 相似文献
The vast majority of microorganisms in aquifers live as biofilms on sediment surfaces, which presents significant challenges for sampling as only the suspended microbes will be sampled through normal pumping. The use of a down-well low frequency sonicator has been suggested as a method of detaching microbes from the biofilm and allowing rapid sampling of this community. We developed a portable, easy to use, low-frequency electric sonicator and evaluated its performance for a range of well depths (tested up to 42 m below ground level) and casing types. Three sonicators were characterized in laboratory experiments using a 1 m long tank filled with pea gravel. These included a commercially available pneumatic sonicator, a rotating flexible shaft sonicator, and the prototype electric sonicator. The electric sonicator detached between 56 and 74% of microbes grown on gravel-containing biobags at distances ranging between 2 and 50 cm from the sonicator. The field testing comprises of a total of 55 sampling events from 48 wells located in 4 regions throughout New Zealand. Pre- and post-sonication samples showed an average 33 times increase in bacterial counts. Microbial sequence data showed that the same classes are present in pre- and post-sonicated samples and only slight differences were seen in the proportions present. The sampling process was rapid and the significant increases in bacterial counts mean that microbial samples can be quickly obtained from wells, which permits more detailed analysis than previously possible. 相似文献