THE HYDRAULICS OF NATURE-LIKE FISHWAYS

Nature-like fishway arrangements are commonly used because these structures imitate the characteristics of natural rivers and effectively allow fish to migrate past river sections blocked by hydraulic structures. In this paper, physical models were analyzed, and the velocity distributions of two different fishway structures (Types I and II) were compared. Results showed that the maximum mainstream velocity of the Type I structure was 5.3% lower than that of the Type II structure. However, the average mainstream velocity of the Type I structure was 21.1% greater than that of the Type II structure. The total per-cycle length of the mainstream path in the Type II structure was 2.1 times greater than that of the Type I structure, which indicated that the length of the mainstream path was somewhat proportional to the average velocity of the mainstream. When the flow rate was kept constant, increases in the velocity of the main flow associated with changes in the internal structure of the fishway decreased the average velocity of the main flow, while decreases in the total length of the flow path led to increases in the average velocity of the main flow. Due to frictional head loss along the fishway and local head loss, as well as the overlaps between these factors, the overall flow rate gradually decreased every cycle, despite periodic fluctuations.

Business Cycles in a Two-Sided Altruism Model

This study demonstrates that business cycles with complex periodic fluctuations may arise in an overlapping generations model with two-sided altruism. The structure of an equilibrium dynamical system strongly depends on the degree of altruism in the model. If either altruism of a generation to the parent or the child disappears, the study also demonstrates that complex periodic fluctuations never occur. In this sense, two-sided altruism is essential for a complex business cycle.

AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF TEMPERATURE AND POWER CONDITIONS DURING ROUGH GRINDING OF SLABS

The production of high-quality rolled products (slabs), the formation of its surface phase-structural composition, texture, stress state during rough grinding depends on the temperature in the area of contact between the wheel and the slab. During processing, due to geometric errors of the rolled surface, as well as due to local changes in hardness, periodic fluctuations of the instantaneous depth of cut occur, which can be determined indirectly by controlling one of the technological parameters, for example, the power spent on grinding, with subsequent recalculation it to online temperature values. The grinding temperature is described as a control object in the form of an aperiodic link. Computer simulation has confirmed the efficiency of the system for maintaining the specified temperature of slab grinding under various operating conditions that simulate the situations of real production.

Is the diatom sex clock a clock?

The unique life cycle of diatoms with continuous decreasing and restoration of the cell size leads to periodic fluctuations in cell size distribution and has been regarded as a multi-annual clock. To understand the long-term behaviour of a population analytically, generic mathematical models are investigated algebraically and numerically for their capability to describe periodic oscillations. Whereas the generally accepted simple concepts for the proliferation dynamics do not sustain oscillating behaviour owing to broadening of the size distribution, simulations show that a proposed limited lifetime of a newly synthesized cell wall slows down the relaxation towards a time-invariant equilibrium state to the order of a hundred thousand generations. In combination with seasonal perturbation events, the proliferation scheme with limited lifetime is able to explain long-lasting rhythms that are characteristic for diatom population dynamics. The life cycle thus resembles a pendulum clock that has to be wound up from time to time by seasonal perturbations rather than an oscillator represented by a limit cycle.

Soil carbon sequestration through crops rotation in a Mediterranean Cambisols: measurement and modelling

<p>Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) has been identified by the IPCC as one of the most promising and cheap methodology to reduce atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>. Moreover, an increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) levels improves soil quality by increasing soil structure (and, hence, resistance to erosion) and promoting soil ecosystems services like water retention, productivity, and biodiversity. Various agricultural techniques are available to increase SOC; among them, crop rotation can improve SOC through soil coverage, changes in water regimes, increase in both carbon inputs, and increase in soil aggregates formation.</p><p>SOC dynamic models, such as RothC, have been suggested by the IPCC as a way to evaluate the SCS potentials of different soils. Such models could also be used to evaluate the sequestration potential of different agricultural practices. Moreover RothC allows to estimate the time within which the SOC variation, due to a certain agronomic management, can be considered significant as measurable above a threshold value.</p><p>In this study, we evaluated the SOC changes for different crop rotations through direct measurements and RothC modelling, with the objective of: (a) estimating their SCS potential, and (b) propose a robust monitoring methodology for SCS practices. We performed the study in an agricultural field close to Ravenna (Italy) characterized by Cambisols and humid subtropical climate. Soil carbon content was assessed before the setup of the crop rotation, and after 3 years of rotation. A RothC model was calibrated with field data, and used to estimate SOC dynamics to 50 years, in order to assess long-term SCS. The model results were also used to assess the best methodology to estimate the SOC variation significance.</p><p>The measured SOC was similar to the equilibrium SOC predicted by the RothC model, on average, for the crop rotations. The measurements showed that the SOC, already low at the beginning of the experiment, further decreased due to the crop rotation practice. Of those tested, the best for SCS involves the following crops: corn, soybeans, wheat on tilled soil, and soybeans; while the worst is with corn, wheat on tilled soil, and wheat on untilled soil. However, the SOC variations predicted by RothC for the various rotations were too small to be observable in the field during experimentation. This could be due both to the uncertainty associated with SOC sampling and analysis, and to the short duration of the experiment. The moving average computations on the simulation values allowed us to assess the time required to measure the long-term trend of SOC variation as significant with respect to the environmental background, instrumental error, and SOC periodic fluctuations. That time was estimated to range from 8 to 50 years, changing depending on the rotation type. Periodic fluctuations in SOC should be carefully considered in a monitoring protocol to assess SCS.</p>

Specific features of sandstones of Upper Devonian Tayokuyakhinskaya Formation on southeastern slope of the Kanin Kamen range (Kanin Peninsula)

The results of studying the lithological and geochemical characteristics of sandstones of the Upper Devonian Tayaokuyakhinskaya Formation in the southeastern part of the Kanin Nos Peninsula are presented. The accumulation of sandstones of the Tayaokuyakhinskaya Formation occurred in the absence of volcanic activity in a shallow basin with small periodic fluctuations in sea level, which led to a change in the degree of maturity, sorting, and the ratio of clay and sandy components in the rock. The accumulation of the psammitic strata occurred due to the destruction and redeposition of weakly weathered sedimentary rocks in a moderately warm climate. It was established that the formation of the composition of sandstones was influenced by at least two sources of clastic material — garnet-bearing crystalline shales and feldspar-quartz sandstones metamorphosed into the greenschist facies. The latter, most likely, were the source of the indicative gold contents found in the Devonian clastic rocks.

LOW ENERGY NEUTRINOS AS THE CAUSE OF ANOMALIES IN BETA DECAYS AND COLD NUCLEAR TRANSMUTATIONS

In a number of experiments, when registering particles emitted in beta decays, periodic fluctuations in the counting rate with an amplitude of up to tenths of a percent of the average value were detected, and short bursts were found that significantly exceed the usual counting rate. These anomalies can be comprehensively explained by the participation of extremely low-energy cosmic neutrinos in beta decays. The assumption that neutrino-antineutrino pairs are generated by collisions of matter particles during thermal motion allows us to find approaches to explaining the phenomenon of cold nuclear transmutations. Experiments proving this hypothesis are described.