A regional investigation of urban land-use change for potential landslide hazard assessment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area,People's Republic of China: Zigui to Wanzhou

The near-completion of the Three Gorges Dam has led to the creation of a narrow reservoir that, when completed in 2009, will stretch over 660 km upstream and result in the displacement of approximately 1.2 million people. This reservoir will drown more than 100 towns, some of which have already been lost due to the rising waters, and result in a significant change in land use. New urban areas have been constructed at higher elevations to avoid the rising water but it is feared that some of these settlements may now be exposed to a greater risk of landslides due to slope failure. A geographic information system (GIS) consisting of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), and Environmental Satellite-Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ENVISAT-ASAR) data has been created and used to monitor the urban changes from before the Dam's construction to the present day as well as changes in landslide susceptibility. To perform this analysis, a new 30 m high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) was derived by combining an ASTER and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM. Fieldwork was carried out along the Yangtze River, where the urban boundaries were field-checked using GPS to navigate to the satellite-derived checkpoints. The results show that a majority of the new urban areas are in fact located on shallow slopes, but are often positioned below steep slopes, which could pose a future threat of landslide risk to the inhabitants of the new towns.     

An interdiffusion study of a NiAl alloy using single-phase diffusion couples

The intermetallic compound NiAl is highly ordered at stoichiometry, even at high temperatures. For instance, its point-defect concentration at 900 °C is on the order of 10⁻³ at this composition. Moreover, its enthalpy of formation is highly negative and exhibits a minimum at stoichiometry. All of these data suggest that the interdiffusion coefficient should exhibit a minimum at this composition. Yet, the literature data show that the minimum interdiffusion coefficient occurred between 48 and 49 at. pct Al. Accordingly, we have carried out diffusion-couple measurements employing single-phase NiAl wafers over the temperature interval from 700 °C to 1000 °C. The measured concentration profiles were analyzed in terms of the lattice mole fraction, yielding interdiffusion coefficients as a function of composition and temperature. For all the temperatures studied, the interdiffusion coefficients were found to exhibit a minimum at the stoichiometric composition, with a corresponding maximum in the activation energies obtained from the temperature dependence of the interdiffusion coefficients.     

Ceramic fuel cells to replace metal burners

Global warming is thought to result from emissions largely caused by combustion reactions. Designs of burners and specifications of their materials are therefore of primary importance in restraining the warming phenomena. This paper proposes a new type of ceramic burner which incorporates many of the innovations which are needed to improve burner performance, including catalytic combustion, premixed fuel/air, recuperation of combustion heat, recycling of reaction products, electric-ignition and electron extraction. The key problems of fuel variation and thermal shock resistance of the ceramic are addressed through the concept of 'reaction gradient' in which the rich sequence of oxidation reactions during combustion is spread through three extended catalytic regimes along the isothermal ceramic device. It is evident that ceramic burners are necessary to provide catalytic activity and to promote electron transfer. The conclusion is that ceramic will ultimately replace metal in burners requiring low emissions and high exergy output.     

Effect of Depo-Provera or Microgynon on the painful crises of sickle cell anemia patients

Forty-three homozygous (SS) female sickle cell anemic patients with a history of at least one painful crisis per month and desiring a reversible contraceptive were administered DMPA/3 months or Microgynon monthly. A third group of 16 surgically sterilized patients served as control. Patients were followed for 1 year to assess possible effects of the contraceptives on the patients' painful crises. No changes were observed in any of the groups in the hematological parameters. At the end of the study, 70% of the patients receiving DMPA were pain-free and only 16% of those still reporting painful crises rated them as intense. Patients receiving Microgynon also had an amelioration of the painful crises, although at a lower rate; after 12 months, 45.5% still experienced some crises. Although less marked than in the other groups, 50.5% of the control patients also reported an improvement of their painful crisis, which may be a result of closer medical care.     

Magnetic-induced tricritical point in alloys and the low-temperature Fe−Ni and Fe−Ni−Cr phase diagrams

Phase equilibria at temperatures above and below the tricritical point of binary alloys are discussed in terms of thermodynamic principles. The existence of a second spinodal curve for the disordered phase within the magnetic-induced miscibility gap is rationalized. The relative interplay of the chemical and magnetic contributions to the stabilities of various types of phase equilibria in binary alloys is also discussed. The effect of magnetic contribution to the Fe?Ni and Fe-Ni-Cr phase stabilities at low temperatures is reviewed. The calculated phase diagrams of the Fe?Ni and Fe-Ni-Cr systems considering the magnetic and nonmagnetic terms are compared with experimental results. These results were obtained either from meteorites or from synthesized alloys subjected to irradiation. The meteorites, which have cooled slowly in space, may have achieved metastable/stable equilibrium conditions. The many defects introduced by irradiation for the synthesized alloys may have helped to achieve metastable/stable equilibrium conditions.