Life beyond Earth: The intelligent Earthling's guide to life in the universe: By Gerald Feinberg and Robert Shapiro. Morrow,New York, 1980. 464 pp., $16.95 (hardcover), $9.95 (paperback)     

Tobias Owen 《Icarus》1981,46(1):133-135

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Effect of rod friction on vane shear tests in very soft organic harbour mud     

Benjamin F. Schlue  Tobias Mörz  Stefan Kreiter 《Acta Geotechnica》2007,2(4):281-289

Very soft organic harbour mud is increasingly used as a filling and construction material in harbour construction and reorganization. The undrained shear strength of such soft sediments is the critical geotechnical soil parameter with regard to any specific construction design. Field and laboratory vane shear testing is a standard method to quickly determine this important parameter. So far, the effect of rod friction on vane shear tests in very soft organic soils is unclear. In this study we present results from laboratory experiments on harbour mud from a construction site in northern Germany. Relations among vane and rod geometry, penetration depth, water content, rod friction and undrained shear strength are derived. Based on these relations the influence of rod friction on vane shear test results is investigated. The results indicate that field and laboratory vane shear test measurements may be significantly influenced by rod friction. Methods are proposed to correct for the rod influence, which is shown to increase with rising water contents.  相似文献   

The BEAM-project: prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities in the aquatic environment     

Thomas Backhaus  Rolf Altenburger  sa Arrhenius  Hans Blanck  Michael Faust  Antonio Finizio  Paola Gramatica  Matthias Grote  Marion Junghans  Wiebke Meyer  Manuela Pavan  Tobias Porsbring  Martin Scholze  Roberto Todeschini  Marco Vighi  Helge Walter  L. Horst Grimme 《Continental Shelf Research》2003,23(17-19):1757

Freshwater and marine ecosystems are exposed to various multi-component mixtures of pollutants. Nevertheless, most ecotoxicological research and chemicals regulation focus on hazard and exposure assessment of individual substances only, the problem of chemical mixtures in the environment is ignored to a large extent. In contrast, the assessment of combination effects has a long tradition in pharmacology, where mixtures of chemicals are specifically designed to develop new products, e.g. human and veterinary drugs or agricultural and non-agricultural pesticides. In this area, two concepts are frequently used and are thought to describe fundamental relationships between single substance and mixture effects: Independent Action (Response Addition) and Concentration Addition. The question, to what extent these concepts may also be applied in an ecotoxicological and regulatory context may be considered a research topic of major importance, as the concepts would allow to make use of already existing single substance toxicity data for the predictive assessment of mixture toxicities. Two critical knowledge gaps are identified: (a) There is a lack of environmental realism, as a huge part of our current knowledge about the applicability of the concepts is restricted to artificial situations with respect to mixture composition or biological effect assessment. (b) The knowledge on what exactly is needed for using the concepts as tools for the predictive mixture toxicity assessment is insufficient. Both gaps seriously hamper the necessary, scientifically sound consideration of mixture toxicities in a regulatory context.In this paper, the two concepts will be briefly introduced, the necessity of considering the toxicities of chemical mixtures in the environment will be demonstrated and the applicability of Independent Action and Concentration Addition as tools for the prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities will be discussed. An overview of the specific aims and approaches of the BEAM project to fill in the identified knowledge gaps is given and first results are outlined.  相似文献   

Chemical Mechanism Development: Laboratory Studies and Model Applications     

Harald Geiger  Ian Barnes  Karl H. Becker  Birger Bohn  Theo Brauers  Birgit Donner  Hans-Peter Dorn  Manfred Elend  Carlos M. Freitas Dinis  Dirk Grossmann  Heinz Hass  Holger Hein  Axel Hoffmann  Lars Hoppe  Frank Hülsemann  Dieter Kley  Björn Klotz  Hans G. Libuda  Tobias Maurer  Djuro Mihelcic  Geert K. Moortgat  Romeo Olariu  Peter Neeb  Dirk Poppe  Lars Ruppert  Claudia G. Sauer  Oleg Shestakov  Holger Somnitz  William R. Stockwell  Lars P. Thüner  Andreas Wahner  Peter Wiesen  Friedhelm Zabel  Reinhard Zellner  Cornelius Zetzsch 《Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry》2002,42(1):323-357

Within the German Tropospheric Research Programme (TFS) numerous kinetic and mechanistic studies on the tropospheric reaction/degradation of the following reactants were carried out: oxygenated VOC, aromatic VOC, biogenic VOC, short-lived intermediates, such as alkoxy and alkylperoxy radicals.At the conception of the projects these selected groups were classes of VOC or intermediates for which the atmospheric oxidation mechanisms were either poorly characterised or totally unknown. The motivation for these studies was the attainment of significant improvements in our understanding of the atmospheric chemical oxidation processes of these compounds, particularly with respect to their involvement in photooxidant formation in the troposphere. In the present paper the types of experimental investigations performed and the results obtained within the various projects are briefly summarised. The major achievements are highlighted and discussed in terms of their contribution to improving our understanding of the chemical processes controlling photosmog formation in the troposphere.  相似文献   

Sustainability schizophrenia or “actually existing sustainabilities?” toward a broader understanding of the politics and promise of local sustainability in the US     

Rob Krueger  Julian Agyeman 《Geoforum》2005,36(4):410-417

As an approach to development, many see capitalism as reaching across an enormous range of scholarly domains and political interests. For some time geographers and others have begun to conceptualize capitalism as less of a system of intrinsic economic logic and more a collection of social and discursive relationships. By bringing capitalism into the “discursive world” these commentators and others have provided the theoretical ground for an exploration of alternative economic forms, especially those that are more socially and ecologically just. This paper makes an argument for putting sustainable development through the same theoretical scrutiny. Drawing on examples from the US we recruit the concept of “actually existing sustainabilities” from Altvater’s concept “actually existing socialisms” as an entry point to this conversation. Our purpose is to show that the potential for sustainability in the US exists in current local policies and practices if we rethink how we frame it.  相似文献   

Revising the paradigm of tidal analysis – the uses of non-stationary data     

David A.?JayEmail author  Tobias?Kukulka 《Ocean Dynamics》2003,53(3):110-125

Surface elevation and current records contain non-tidal variance, often dismissed as noise. The processes responsible for the non-tidal component may also modulate the tidal signal, altering its strength and frequency structure. Because of their manner of generation and propagation, internal tides are inherently irregular. The non-stationary character of these and other tidal processes provides an integral and useful property of tidal records, because it provides an opportunity to obtain insights into tidal dynamics and the interaction of tidal and non-tidal processes. It is, moreover, productive to use multiple approaches in analyzing coastal and estuarine tidal processes so that both the time-varying and average frequency content are determined. Only by confronting the causes of non-stationary behaviour in this way can some of the remaining challenges in tidal analysis and prediction be overcome, e.g. shelf and estuarine currents, river tides, internal tides, tide-surge interactions and tidally influenced ecological processes. Several examples illustrate the utility of non-stationary tidal analysis methods.Responsible Editor: Jens Kappenberg  相似文献   

Reply to Discussion of “Perceptual models of uncertainty for socio-hydrological systems: a flood risk change example”*     

Ida K. Westerberg  Giuliano Di Baldassarre  Keith J. Beven  Gemma Coxon  Tobias Krueger 《水文科学杂志》2020,65(Z2):2001-2003

ABSTRACT

Ertsen discusses the representation of reality and uncertainty in our paper, raising three critical points. In response to the first, we agree that discussion of different interpretations of the concept of uncertainty is important when developing perceptual models – making different uncertainty interpretations explicit was a key motivation behind our method. Secondly, we do not, as Ertsen suggests, deny anyone who is not a “certified” scientist to have relevant knowledge. The elicitation of diverse views by discussing perceptual models is a basis for open discussion and decision making. Thirdly, Ertsen suggests that it is not useful to treat socio-hydrological systems as if they exist. We argue that we act as “pragmatic realists” in most practical applications by treating socio-hydrological systems as an external reality that can be known. But the uncertainty that arises from our knowledge limitations needs to be recognized, as it may impact on practical decision making and associated costs.  相似文献   

Modulation and symmetry changes in stellar dynamos     

E. Knobloch  S. M. Tobias  & N. O. Weiss 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》1998,297(4):1123-1138

Stellar dynamos are governed by non-linear partial differential equations (PDEs) which admit solutions with dipole, quadrupole or mixed symmetry (i.e. with different parities). These PDEs possess periodic solutions that describe magnetic cycles, and numerical studies reveal two different types of modulation. For modulations of Type 1 there are parity changes without significant changes of amplitude, while for Type 2 there are amplitude changes without significant changes in parity. In stars like the Sun, cyclic magnetic activity is interrupted by grand minima that correspond to Type 2 modulation. Although the Sun's magnetic field has maintained dipole symmetry for almost 300 yr, there was a significant parity change at the end of the Maunder Minimum. We infer that the solar field may have flipped from dipole to quadrupole polarity (and back) after deep minima in the past and may do so again in the future. Other stars, with different masses or rotation rates, may exhibit cyclic activity with dipole, quadrupole or mixed parity. The origins of such behaviour can be understood by relating the PDE results to solutions of appropriate low-order systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Type 1 modulation is reproduced in a fourth-order system while Type 2 modulation occurs in a third-order system. Here we construct a new sixth-order system that describes both types of modulation and clarifies the interactions between symmetry-breaking and modulation of activity. Solutions of these non-linear ODEs reproduce the qualitative behaviour found for the PDEs, including flipping of polarity after a prolonged grand minimum. Thus we can be confident that these patterns of behaviour are robust, and will apply to stars that are similar to the Sun.  相似文献   

The Martian paleoclimate and enhanced atmospheric carbon dioxide     

R.D. Cess  V. Ramanathan  Tobias Owen 《Icarus》1980,41(1):159-165

Current evidence indicates that the Martian surface is abundant with water presently in the form of ice, while the atmosphere was at one time more massive with a past surface pressure of as much as 1 atm of CO₂. In an attempt to understand the Martian paleoclimate, we have modeled a past CO₂H₂O greenhouse and find global temperatures which are consistent with an earlier presence of liquid surface water, a finding which agrees with the extensive evidence for past fluvial erosion. An important aspect of the CO₂H₂O greenhouse model is the detailed inclusion of CO₂ hot bands. For a surface pressure of 1 atm of CO₂, the present greenhouse model predicts a global mean surface temperature of 294°K, but if the hot bands are excluded, a surface temperature of only 250°K is achieved.  相似文献   

Abundances of isotopes in planetary atmospheres     

Tobias Owen 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》1978,19(2):297-303

Carbon and oxygen isotopes show no large anomalies on Venus (10–15%) or Mars (<5%); the high value of¹⁵N/¹⁴N found on Mars is explained by non-thermal escape of nitrogen. The isotopes of non-radiogenic noble gases in the atmosphere of Mars exhibit abundance patterns similar to those in the primordial component of meteoritic gases and in the Earth's atmosphere. This implies that gas fractionation took place in the inner solar nebula prior to planet formation. The relatively high value of¹²⁹Xe on Mars emphasizes its deficiency on Earth, implying a difference in accretion histories of volatiles for the two planets. In the outer solar system, we find normal isotope ratios for nitrogen and carbon on Jupiter, and for carbon on Saturn, but precision is low (±15% at best). Controversy exists about the correct value of D/H, with current estimates ranging from 2.3±1.1 to 5.1±0.7×10^–5. Planetary missions planned for the next few years should add considerably to the quantity and quality of these data.Paper presented at the Conference on Protostars and Planets, held at the Planetary Science Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, between January 3 and 7, 1978.  相似文献