ALBERT

Description: The thermal characteristics of outdoor urban spaces and the street networks connecting them are vital to the assessment of the liveability and sustainability of cities. When urban spaces are thermally comfortable, city dwellers spend more time outdoors. This has several benefits for human health and wellbeing, also reducing indoor energy consumption and contributing to local economy. Studies on outdoor thermal comfort have highlighted the need to develop interdisciplinary frameworks that integrate physical, physiological, psychological, and social parameters to assist urban planners and designers in design decisions. In this paper, an extensive literature review of outdoor thermal comfort studies over the past decade was undertaken, including both rational and adaptive thermal comfort approaches, from the contextualize the behaviour perspectives related to the use of urban space. Consequently, the paper suggests a comprehensive framework for evaluating the relationship between the quantitative and qualitative parameters linking the microclimatic environment with subjective thermal assessment and social behaviour. The framework aims to contribute to the development of exclusive thermal comfort standards for outdoor urban settings.

Description: Modified pyrite (MPy), which was obtained from calcination in an N2 atmosphere, was used as a sorbent for removing Hg(II) from aqueous solutions. Fixed-bed column experiments were conducted to determine the Hg(II) removal ability of MPy from aqueous solutions. MPy was found to be much better than natural pyrite for mercury removal. The concentration of Hg(II) in effluents was much lower than that of the emission standard used for Hg wastewater in China (0.05 mg/L), and the removal efficiency of Hg(II) was greater than 99% before breakthrough. When the capacity was 3274 times the column bed volume (1 bed volume = 25.12 cm3), the column breakthrough and the sorption amount of Hg(II) were 54.44 mg/g. The Hg(II) content in the used MPy sorbent was up to 24.79%. The mechanism was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The main mechanism of Hg(II) removal by MPy was the chemical reactions between mercury ions and mineral fillers, and HgS precipitated on the surface of MPy to remove Hg(II). The reaction was also accompanied by surface complexation and adsorption. The results of this work show that MPy can be used as a sorbent for continuous Hg(II) removal.

Description: The generation of strongly potassic melts in the mantle requires the presence of phlogopite in the melting assemblage, while isotopic and trace element analyses of ultrapotassic rocks frequently indicate the involvement of subducted crustal lithologies in the source. However, phlogopite-free experiments that focus on melting of sedimentary rocks and subsequent hybridization with mantle rocks at pressures of 1–3 GPa have not successfully produced melts with K2O 〉5 wt%–6 wt%, while ultrapotassic igneous rocks reach up to 12 wt% K2O. Accordingly, a two-stage process that enriches K2O and increases K/Na in intermediary assemblages in the source prior to ultrapotassic magmatism seems likely. Here, we simulate this two-stage formation of ultrapotassic magmas using an experimental approach that involves re-melting of parts of an experimental product in a second experiment. In the first stage, reaction experiments containing layered sediment and dunite produced a modally metasomatized reaction zone at the border of a depleted peridotite. For the second-stage experiment, the metasomatized dunite was separated from the residue of the sedimentary rock and transferred to a smaller capsule, and melts were produced with 8 wt%–8.5 wt% K2O and K/Na of 6–7. This is the first time that extremely K-enriched ultrapotassic melts have been generated experimentally from sediments at low pressure applicable to a post-collisional setting.

Description: This research presents the influence of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and/or water glass addition on fly ash alkali-activated mortar and concrete. The results show that fly ash (FA) concrete activated with a NaOH solution and water glass mixture had better resistance to freeze and thaw, carbonation, alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and developed higher compressive strength and static elastic modulus compared with the FA concrete activated only with an NaOH solution. The addition of OPC contributes to the development of a denser microstructure of alkali activated concrete (AAC) samples. In the presence of water glass and OPC, the compressive strength (52.60 MPa) of the samples increased more than two times as compared with the reference sample (21.36 MPa) without OPC and water glass. The combination of OPC and water glass showed the increased strength and enhanced durability of AAC. The samples were more resistant to freeze and thaw, ASR, and carbonation.

Description: The Yamansu deposit, which is hosted in the volcanic-sedimentary sequence of the Carboniferous Yamansu Formation in Eastern Tianshan, NW China, contains many skarns, and the orebodies occur in the ore district in stratoidal, banded or lenticular forms. Four alteration stages, namely, albite–tourmaline–apatite–Grt1 (Stage I), K-feldspar–Grt2 (Stage II), magnetite–chlorite–epidote (Stage III), and quartz–calcite–axinite–Grt3 (Stage IV), are distinguished in the Yamansu deposit. The mineral geochemistry associated with each different stage is presented to provide a better understanding of the corresponding metallogenic processes. The ore-forming fluid in Stage I was derived from a magmatic–hydrothermal source and formed at high temperatures with many volatiles. This ore-forming fluid, which contained considerable metallogenic materials during the early stage, likely experienced diffusive metasomatism in a closed system with low water/rock (W/R) ratios. Mineral geochemical analyses show that the Fe content gradually increases from Stage I to Stage II, indicating that accumulated ore-forming materials were available during changes in the physicochemical conditions from a reducing environment with neutral pH to oxidizing conditions with mildly acidic pH. During the main metallogenic stage (Stage III), mineral assemblages reflect moderate- to high-temperature conditions, and the ore-forming fluid was created and destroyed periodically; the magnetite ores were deposited in a fluctuating fluid system. The multilayered orebodies, multigenerational garnets, and minerals with oscillatory zoning indicate that the ore-forming fluid may have developed periodic fluctuations, and this special multistage fluctuation of the hydrothermal fluid in the Yamansu deposit was the key factor controlling the multiple extraction, enrichment and precipitation of metallogenic materials.

Description: This paper presents a novel numerical method for simulation controlled-source audio-magnetotellurics (CSAMT) and radio-magnetotellurics (CSRMT) data. These methods are widely used in mineral exploration. Interpretation of the CSAMT and CSRMT data collected over an area with the complex geology requires application of effective methods of numerical modeling capable to represent the geoelectrical model of a deposit well. In this paper, we considered an approach to 3D electromagnetic (EM) modeling based on new types of preconditioned iterative solvers for finite-difference (FD) EM simulation. The first preconditioner used fast direct inversion of the layered Earth FD matrix (Green’s function preconditioner). The other combined the first with a contraction operator transformation. To illustrate the effectiveness of the developed numerical modeling methods, a 3D resistivity model of Aleksandrovka study area in Kaluga Region, Russia, was prepared based on drilling data, AMT, and a detailed CSRMT survey. We conducted parallel EM simulation of the full CSRMT survey. Our results indicated that the developed methods can be effectively used for modeling EM responses over a realistic complex geoelectrical model for a controlled source EM survey with hundreds of receiver stations. The contraction-operator preconditioner outperformed the Green’s function preconditioner by factor of 7–10, both with respect to run-time and iteration count, and even more at higher frequencies.

Description: The Database of Topographic Objects (DTO) is the official database of Poland for collecting and providing spatial data with the detail level of a topographic map. Polish national DTOs manage information about the spatial location and attribute values of geographic objects. Data in the DTO are the starting point for geographic information systems (GISs) for various central and local governments as well as private institutions. Every set of spatial data based on measurement-derived data is susceptible to uncertainty. Therefore, the widespread awareness of data uncertainty is of vital importance to all GIS users. Cartographic visualisation techniques are an effective approach to informing spatial dataset users about the uncertainty of the data. The objective of the research was to define a set of methods for visualising the DTO data uncertainty using expert know-how and experience. This set contains visualisation techniques for presenting three types of uncertainty: positional, attribute, and temporal. The positional uncertainty for point objects was presented using visual variables, object fill with hue colour and lightness, and glyphs placed at map symbol positions. The positional uncertainty for linear objects was presented using linear object contours made of dotted lines and glyphs at vertices. Fill grain density and contour crispness were employed to represent the positional uncertainty for surface objects. The attribute value uncertainty and the temporal uncertainty were represented using fill grain density and fill colour value. The proposed set of the DTO uncertainty visualisation methods provides a finite array of visualisation techniques that can be tested and juxtaposed. The visualisation methods were comprehensively evaluated in a survey among experts who use spatial databases. Results of user preference analysis have demonstrated that the set of the DTO data uncertainty visualisation techniques may be applied to the full extent. The future implementation of the proposed visualisation methods in GIS databases will help data users interpret values correctly.

Description: The lowermost Late Permian coal seam (C4 Coal) in the Tongzi Coalfield offers an opportunity to investigate the influence of terrigenous detrital materials from the Qianbei Upland on the mineralogical and geochemical patterns of the C4 Coal. The minerals are mainly dominated by pyrite and, to a lesser extent, tobelite, kaolinite, and calcite, along with traces of Al-oxyhydroxide minerals. The various degrees of marine influence may have resulted in the variation in the amount of Fe-sulfides (e.g., pyrite) and elements having Fe-sulfides affinity. Furthermore, the abundant Fe ions involved in the formation of Fe-sulfides were most likely derived from the claystone on the Qianbei Upland. The tobelite identified in the C4 Coal probably originated from the interaction between pre-existing kaolinite and NH4+ from NH3 released from the thermally affected organic matter at least shortly after the highly volatile bituminous stage under NH4+-rich and K+-poor conditions. The terrigenous detrital materials were derived from two possible sediment-region sources—the Qianbei Upland and Kangdian Upland—which is different from Late Permian coals in Western Guizhou Province. The claystone on the Qianbei Upland may have served as parent rock, as indicated by the presence of the Al-oxyhydroxide minerals as well as low SiO2/Al2O3 ratio (0.66 on average) and low quartz content. Meanwhile, the detrital materials from the Kangdian Upland most likely originated from the erosion of the felsic rocks at the uppermost part of the Kangdian Upland, as evidenced by the high Al2O3/TiO2 ratio (36.0 on average) and the strongly negative Eu anomaly (0.61 on average).

Description: Organic carbon content is one of the major proxies of aquatic primary production and implication of environmental changes. However, there is a scarcity of information regarding the decadal variation of organic carbon production in inner-shelf of South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS). To bridge this gap of information two sediment cores were collected from the inner shelf of SCS (Leizhou Peninsula) and ECS. Then, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Total Inorganic Carbon (TIC) and Total Nitrogen (TN) content were examined. The TOC content in the Leizhou Peninsula averaged 0.56% and varied from 0.35% to 0.81%. At decadal time scale, the TOC content of Leizhou Peninsula erratically increased in the last century, and it distinctly peaked after 1990’s. This is related to increased primary production due to the increased input of anthropogenic nutrients and rainfall level. The TOC content of the inner shelf of ECS averaged 0.5% and varied narrowly from 0.46% to 0.53%. The TOC:TN ratio of ECS averaged 5.65 and varied from 4.42 to 7.85, indicating there is high degree of organic matter degradations. The TN:TP ratios were below 10 for the periods before late-1990’s, indicating that there had been a potential nitrogen limitation in the inner shelf of ECS. Generally, this study showed that the TOC and TIC of ECS and SCS inner-shelf had undergone substantial changes in the last century.

Description: The nearshore sand bar-sheet sedimentary system of the K-Successions sandstones of the Zhujiang Formation (23.8-16.5 Ma) in H21 Area of Huizhou Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin has been identified in this research according to lithological characteristics, lithofacies, sedimentary sequence and seismic attributes. Seven lithofacies were recognized: fine-grained massive sandstone (Sm), fine-grained trough cross-bedded sandstone (St), fine-grained planar-bedded sandstone (Sp), fine-grained ripple cross-bedded sandstone (Sr), fine grained horizontally-bedded sandstone (Sh), laminated claystone with interbedded siltstone (Fl) and massive mudstone (Fm). Three sedimentary microfacies were further divided: sand bar, sand sheet and interbar. With the progradation and retrogradation process influenced by sea level changing, delta evolution of K-Successions sandstones in H21 area of Huizhou Depression can be divided into four stages: the early stage of the transgressive systems tract, A/S〉1; the medium stage of the transgressive systems tract, A/S〉1; the end stage of transgressive systems tract; the stage of the highstand systems tract, A/S