The coastal edge of the Northeast Water polynya in spring 1993

Multidisciplinary, marine ecological observations were conducted at the shallow water edge of the Northeast Water in June, 1993. Although variable in size and shape, a small polynya was constantly present at Eskimonaes, at the fast-ice edge of Ingolfsfjord. A shallow stratified layer developed at the water sufface at negative water and air temperatures—an effect of sea ice melting in cold water early in the season. Nutrients were recorded in considerable quantities, although by mid July NO₃ had become depleted. The chlorophyll and phytoplankton maxima at 8–12 m depth had peak values of 2 mg chl a m⁻³, typical for Arctic algal blooms. The phytoplankton included over 90 species and was dominated by the Fragillariopsis group. Zooplankton was poor in biomass and density, but over 23 taxa were found, with the copepods Oithona similis and Pseudocalanus acuspes being numerically dominant. Sedimentation was approximately 0.2 g dry weight m⁻² d⁻¹ and suspended matter concentrations ranged from 4 to 19 mg l⁻¹. The benthos was represented by hard bottom forms only, with a surprisingly dense cover of macrophytes. Juvenile sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis), brittle stars (Ophiocten sericeum) and amphipods were dominant. Higher trophic levels were represented by benthic feeders, such as eiders and walruses. The area observed was more similar to high Arctic fjord ecosystems than to the offshore central Northeast Water polynya.     

Eddies around Madagascar — The retroflection re-considered

The Agulhas Current with its retroflection and attendant eddy-shedding is the cause of some of the greatest mesoscale variability in the ocean. This paper considers the area to the south and east of Madagascar, which provides some of the source waters of the Agulhas Current, and examines the propagating sea surface height signals in altimetry and output from a numerical model, OCCAM. Both show bands of variability along the axis of the East Madagascar Current (EMC) and along a zonal band near 25°S. Sequences of images plus associated temperature data suggest that a number of westward-propagating eddies are present in this zonal band. The paper then focuses on the region to the south of the island, where ocean colour and infra-red imagery are evocative of an East Madagascar Retroflection. The synthesis of data analysed in this paper, however, shows that remotely observed features in this area can be explained by anticyclonic eddies moving westward through the region, and this explanation is consistent with numerical model output and the trajectories of drifting buoys.     

Second-order perturbation added mass fluctuation on vertical vibration of tension leg platforms

Total motion in waves can be considered as a superposition of the motion of the body in still water and the forces on the restrained body. In this study the effect of added mass fluctuation on vertical vibration of tension leg platforms (TLP) in the case of vibration in still water for both free and forced vibration subjected to axial load at the top of the leg is presented. This effect is more important when the amplitude of vibration is large. Also this is important in fatigue life study of tethers. The structural model used here is very simple. Perturbation method is used to formulate and solve the problem. First- and second-order perturbations are used to solve the free and forced vibrations, respectively.     

A review of the Effect of α/W ratio on fracture toughness （Ⅱ） experimental investigation in LEFM

In part I of this series, experimental investigation in EPFM （elastic-plastic fracture mechanics） had been discussed. In this paper, experimental investigation in LEFM （ linear elastic fracture mechanics） is given. Fracture toughness tests had been carried out on three different strength steels, using both through-cracked specimens with different α/W ratio and semi-elliptical cracked specimens with variable crack size and shape. Results show that the fracture toughness KIC increases with decreasing α/W when α/W 〈 0.3 for three-point-bend specimens, and that for α/W 〉 0.3, it is independent of α/W. Shallow crack specimens, both through-cracked and surface-cracked, gave markedly higher values than deeply notched specimens. However, the effect of crack shape on fracture toughness is negligible. Results also show that the LEFM approach to fracture is not tenable for design stresses where αc is often very small, far less than 2.5 （ KIC/σy）^2.     

Regional impacts of new transport infrastructure: a multisectoral potentials approach

This is the second of two background papers sponsored for the Symposium by the Administrative Commission for the north of the Netherlands. Its purpose is to provide an indication of the effects of the proposed high speed rail line between Amsterdam, Groningen and Hamburg on employment in the corridor. The authors first review the techniques of forecasting these effects discussed in the literature. The potentials approach is adopted for their analysis, the mathematics and underlying assumptions of which are presented. Finally, this model is run to provide an estimate of the impact on regional employment of three variants of the proposed rail line.     

Micro-Grinding Performance of Hard-Brittle Chip Materials in Precision Micro-Grinding Microgroove

The micro-structure on hard-brittle chip materials (HBCMs) surface can produce predominant functions and features. The micro-grinding with diamond wheel micro-tip is an efficient method to machine microstructure on HBCMs. However, different HBCMs and crystal orientation may have a significant influence on the micro-grinding performance. In this paper, the micro-grinding performance along different crystal orientation of HBCMs is investigated. First, a dressed 600^# diamond grinding wheel is used to micro-grind micro-structure on HBCMs. Then, the experiment of micro-grinding force test is completed. Finally, the quality of microgroove, the grinding ratio and the micro-grinding force are investigated and they are related to the crystal orientation of HBCMs. It is shown that the stronger resistance to the micro-crack propagation has the best quality of microgroove and the smallest grinding ratio. Moreover, the hardest single-crystal SiC has the best machinability and the micro-grinding force is 38.9%, 10.8% and 46.8% less than the one of sapphire, single-crystal Si and quartz glass, respectively. The direction to micro-grind easily is the crystal orientation 〈10\(\overline 1 \)0〉 for single-crystal SiC and sapphire. In addition, the micro-grinding force increases with the increase of the micro-grinding depth and feed rate and decreases with the increase of the grinding wheel speed.     

Lattice-based group signature with verifier-local revocation

Among several post quantum primitives proposed in the past few decades, lattice-based cryptography is considered as the most promising one, due to its underlying rich combinatorial structure, and the worst-case to average-case reductions. The first lattice-based group signature scheme with verifier-local revocation(VLR) is treated as the first quantum-resistant scheme supported member revocation, and was put forward by Langlois et al. This VLR group signature(VLR-GS) has group public key size of O(nm log N log q), and a signature size of O(tm log N log q log β). Nguyen et al. constructed a simple efficient group signature from lattice, with significant advantages in bit-size of both the group public key and the signature. Based on their work, we present a VLR-GS scheme with group public key size of O(nm log q) and signature size of O(tm log q). Our group signature has notable advantages: support of membership revocation, and short in both the public key size and the signature size.     

Regulatory reform and freight mode choice

Reform of trucking Vehicle Weights and Dimensions (VWD) regulations in Canada is now underway. The effect these reforms will have on the freight transportation industry are only recently the subject of research. This paper is part of this new research effort, aimed at understanding how regulatory reform in the trucking sector will affect the existing competitive relationship between trucks and the railways. The paper presents the results of study and research into modelling the relationship between mode choice and the service characteristics that are affected by VWD reform.Using several periods of data, a series of econometric models are developed which help to elucidate the relative relationships between the mode service characteristics for both of the principal interprovincial freight modes. A technique is developed and presented to model railway user costs in order to overcome the complex and often unrepresentable pricing activities of Canadian railways.The strength of the developed econometric models is presented, including their significance and statistical reliability. This is further reinforced by the similarities exhibited by all the models in the series. The selected model is applied to predict market service responses required of the railway industry in order to compete with the trucking sector now adapting to the new regulations.The impact of the newly implemented vehicle weight and dimension reform on the rail transportation industry is analyzed and railway industry improvements aimed at maintaining its market share are presented. The results predicted by the model show that railway user cost reductions should be moderate, and likely less than the level of inflation over the period of time when trucking converts its fleet to take advantage of the new regulations.Abbreviations AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials - CCMTA Canadian Conference of Motor Transport Administrators - EPI End products, inedible commodity classification - GVW Gross Vehicle Weight - NA 1988 VWD National Agreement - RTAC Roads and Transportation Association of Canada - VWD Vehicle Weight(s) and Dimension(s) - WA 1988 VWD Western Agreement     

Active Roll Control of Single Unit Heavy Road Vehicles

Summary Strategies are investigated for controlling active anti-roll systems in single unit heavy road vehicles, so as to maximise roll stability. The achievable roll stability improvements that can be obtained by applying active anti-roll torques to truck suspensions are discussed. Active roll control strategies are developed, based on linear quadratic controllers. It is shown that an effective controller can be designed using the LQG approach, combined with the loop transfer recovery method to ensure adequate stability margins. A roll controller is designed for a torsionally flexible single unit vehicle, and the vehicle response to steady-state and transient cornering manoeuvres is simulated. It is concluded that roll stability can be improved by between 26% and 46% depending on the manoeuvre. Handling stability is also improved significantly.