The Mediating Role of Interaction Between Watching Motivation and Flow of Sports Broadcasting in Multi-Channel Network

This study aimed to grasp the structural path to watchers’ flow by applying watching motivation to multi-channel network (MCN), which is spreading as a new sports broadcasting medium and to emphasize the role of interaction in MCN. A survey for the MCN users over the age of 19 participating in sports contents was conducted. Results showed that among watching motivation factors fun, host appeal, and content appeal had significant positive effects on interaction in sports broadcasting of MCN. Interaction was also found to have a positive effect on watchers’ flow. In the relationship between watching motivation and watchers’ flow, it was shown that fun, host appeal, and content appeal had significant positive effects on watchers’ flow by a partial mediating effect of interaction. The watchers’ flow through interaction is expected to result in sustainable participation behaviors in sports broadcasting of MCN.

Solute Transport Control at Channel Junctions Using Adjoint Sensitivity

Water quality control and the control of contaminant spill in water in particular are becoming a primary need today. Gradient descent sensitivity methods based on the adjoint formulation have proved to be encouraging techniques in this context for river and channel flows. Taking into account that most channels and rivers include junctions with other branches, the objective of this study is to explore the adjoint technique on a channel network to reconstruct the upstream boundary condition of the convection-reaction equation. For this purpose, the one-dimensional shallow water equations and the transport equation for a reactive solute are considered. The control is formulated through the gradient-descent technique supplied with a first-order iterative process. Both the physical and the adjoint equations are supplied with suitable internal boundary conditions at the junction and are numerically solved using a finite volume upwind scheme. The results reveal that the adjoint technique is capable of reconstructing the inlet solute concentration boundary condition in an acceptable number of iterations for both steady state and transient configurations using a downstream measurement location. It was also observed that the reconstruction of the boundary condition tends to be less effective the further away the measurement station is from the target.

The Morphological Evolution of a Step–Pool Stream after an Exceptional Flood and Subsequent Ordinary Flow Conditions

Mountain streams are frequently characterized by step–pool morphology that provides stability and energy dissipation to the channel network. Large flooding events can overturn the equilibrium of the step–pool condition by altering the entire configuration. This work focuses on the impact of the “Vaia” storm (27–30 October 2018) on a step–pool mountain stream (Rio Cordon, Northeast Italy) and on its evolution after two years of ordinary flow conditions. To achieve the aims, this work uses both remote sensing data (LiDAR and UAV) and direct field measurements (i.e., longitudinal profiles and grain sizes distributions) performed pre-event, post-event, and 2 years later (current conditions). The results show a significant widening (width +81%, area +68%) and the creation of a new avulsion after the storm and a substantial change between the number of units (51 in the pre-event, 22 post-event, and 51 in the current conditions) and characteristics of step–pool sequences between pre- and post-conditions. Furthermore, it proves the ongoing processes of morphological stabilization since the current step–pool sequences parameters are heading back to the pre-event values. Such results suggest clear susceptibility of step–pool to exceptional events and fast recovery of such setting during barely two years of ordinary flow conditions.

Evolution of eastern Tibetan river systems is driven by the indentation of India

The main rivers that originate from the Tibetan Plateau are important as a resource and for the sedimentary and biogeochemical exchange between mountains and oceans. However, the dominant mechanism for the evolution of eastern Tibetan river systems remains ambiguous. Here we conduct geomorphological analyses of river systems and assess catchment-average erosion rates in the eastern Tibetan Plateau using a digital elevation model and cosmogenic radionuclide data. We find that major dividing ranges have northeast oriented asymmetric geometries and that erosion rates reduce in the same direction. This coincides with the northeastward indentation of India and we suggest this indicates a primarily tectonic influence on the large-scale configuration of eastern Tibetan river systems. In contrast, low-level streams appear to be controlled by fluvial self-organization processes. We propose that this distinction between high- and low-order channel evolution highlights the importance of local optimization of optimal channel network models in tectonically active areas.

Multi-Dimensional Remote Sensing Analysis Documents Beaver-Induced Permafrost Degradation, Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Beavers have established themselves as a key component of low arctic ecosystems over the past several decades. Beavers are widely recognized as ecosystem engineers, but their effects on permafrost-dominated landscapes in the Arctic remain unclear. In this study, we document the occurrence, reconstruct the timing, and highlight the effects of beaver activity on a small creek valley confined by ice-rich permafrost on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska using multi-dimensional remote sensing analysis of satellite (Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, Planet CubeSat, and DigitalGlobe Inc./MAXAR) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) imagery. Beaver activity along the study reach of Swan Lake Creek appeared between 2006 and 2011 with the construction of three dams. Between 2011 and 2017, beaver dam numbers increased, with the peak occurring in 2017 (n = 9). Between 2017 and 2019, the number of dams decreased (n = 6), while the average length of the dams increased from 20 to 33 m. Between 4 and 20 August 2019, following a nine-day period of record rainfall (>125 mm), the well-established dam system failed, triggering the formation of a beaver-induced permafrost degradation feature. During the decade of beaver occupation between 2011 and 2021, the creek valley widened from 33 to 180 m (~450% increase) and the length of the stream channel network increased from ~0.6 km to more than 1.9 km (220% increase) as a result of beaver engineering and beaver-induced permafrost degradation. Comparing vegetation (NDVI) and snow (NDSI) derived indices from Sentinel-2 time-series data acquired between 2017 and 2021 for the beaver-induced permafrost degradation feature and a nearby unaffected control site, showed that peak growing season NDVI was lowered by 23% and that it extended the length of the snow-cover period by 19 days following the permafrost disturbance. Our analysis of multi-dimensional remote sensing data highlights several unique aspects of beaver engineering impacts on ice-rich permafrost landscapes. Our detailed reconstruction of the beaver-induced permafrost degradation event may also prove useful for identifying degradation of ice-rich permafrost in optical time-series datasets across regional scales. Future field- and remote sensing-based observations of this site, and others like it, will provide valuable information for the NSF-funded Arctic Beaver Observation Network (A-BON) and the third phase of the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Field Campaign.

Diagenesis and reservoir space types of alkaline lake-type shale in Fengcheng Formation of Mahu Sag, Junggar Basin, China

Using observations and descriptions of drilling cores, image logging, microscopic section, argon ion polishing field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and whole-rock trace element analysis, the study of shale reservoir diagenesis and space types in the Fengcheng Formation of the Mahu Sag was conducted. Considering the trace element contents and their ratios (Sr/Ba, V/Ni, Th/U, V/(V + Ni), U/Mo, and Sr/Cu), the Fengcheng Formation is formed in a dry and hot continental lacustrine basin with a paleoenvironment of saltwater and anoxic/lean oxygen conditions. The shale reservoirs of the Fengcheng Formation with the characteristic of multisource mixed sedimentation include terrigenous clastic, volcaniclastics, and carbonate rocks. Currently, the Fengcheng reservoir of the Mahu Sag is in the middle of diagenetic-stage B. The principal factors for reservoir densification are compaction, dissolution, carbonate mineral cementation, and clay mineral cementation. The Fengcheng Formation develops multiple reservoir storage space types, such as rock fractures, stylolites, and micro–nanoscale pore-throat systems. The macroreservoir space types include tectonic, induced, bedding, and dissolution–expansion fracture types. The microreservoir space types include microfractures, stylolites, and micro–nanoscale pore throats. The research showed that the Fengcheng Formation has tectonic fracture-pore systems (tectonic fracture-type reservoirs) and stylolite-matrix pore-tectonic microfracture systems (shale oil reservoirs), forming the shale oil preponderant charging channel network. Reservoir space type and its spatial distribution are the principal factors for shale oil accumulation of the Fengcheng Formation in the Mahu Sag.

Rapid In-Field Approaches for Delineating VOC in Both Soil Vapour and Groundwater for Vapour Intrusion Assessment

Traditional contaminated site characterisation approaches are time-consuming, labour-intensive, and demand a high level of expertise. This case study provides a rapid field-based solution to investigating a VOC contaminated site and its vapour incursion by combining soil vapour and groundwater survey. To fully assess the volatile organic compound (VOC) distribution in a contaminated site, a number of self-developed soil vapour sampling probes (SVSPs) were placed vertically at different locations in a grid with different depths. Hence, 3D subsurface contour maps for VOC concentrations in soil vapour can be obtained and used to help identify hot spots and the migration patterns of VOCs. This SVSP is “easy-to-install” in the field and a cost-effective solution for rapid assessment of soil vapour samples. The SVSPs can be installed both vertically and horizontally. If there is a requirement to take soil vapour samples beneath an existing building from a potential contamination source zone, SVSPs can be horizontally installed beneath the building without compromising its structural integrity. In addition, to ascertain the correct groundwater channels that are likely to carry contaminants from a potential source zone, an electrical resistivity tomography technique was employed to provide the preliminary information for groundwater delineation in a complex groundwater channel network.