• Title/Summary/Keyword: Tohoku area

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Surface Heat Flux and Oceanic Heat Advection in Sendai Bay

  • Yang Chan-Su;Hanawa Kimio
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.11-24
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    • 2006
  • Coastal sea surface temperature (CSST) and meteorological data from January through December 1995 are used to estimate the net surface heat flux and heat content for Sendai Bay. The average annual surface heat flux in the area north of the bay is estimated to be $+35Wm^{-2}$, whereas the southwestern area is estimated to be $+56Wm^{-2}$. Therefore, the net surface heat flux shows a net gain of heat over the whole bay. The largest heat gain occurs near Matsukawaura, where the strong Kuroshio/Oyashio interaction produces anomalously cold SST and wind is more moderate than in other regions of Sendai Bay over most of the year. The lowest heat gain occurs around Tashiro Island, where the temperature difference between air and sea surface is lower and wind is stronger. The heat budget shows that both surface forcing and horizontal advection are potentially important contributors to the seasonal evolution of CSST in the bay. From the A VHRR and SeaWiFS data, it is found that offshore conditions between the bay and Eno Island are different due to the presence of the Ojika Peninsula. It is also shown that the temporal behaviors of SSTs in the bay are closely connected with the air-sea heat flux and offshore conditions.

Habitat Distribution Change Prediction of Asiatic Black Bears (Ursus thibetanus) Using Maxent Modeling Approach (Maxent 모델을 이용한 반달가슴곰의 서식지 분포변화 예측)

  • Kim, Tae-Geun;Yang, DooHa;Cho, YoungHo;Song, Kyo-Hong;Oh, Jang-Geun
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.49 no.3
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    • pp.197-207
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    • 2016
  • This study aims at providing basic data to objectively evaluate the areas suitable for reintroduction of the species of Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) in order to effectively preserve the Asiatic black bears in the Korean protection areas including national parks, and for the species restoration success. To this end, this study predicted the potential habitats in East Asia, Southeast Asia and India, where there are the records of Asiatic black bears' appearances using the Maxent model and environmental variables related with climate, topography, road and land use. In addition, this study evaluated the effects of the relevant climate and environmental variables. This study also analyzed inhabitation range area suitable for Asiatic black and geographic change according to future climate change. As for the judgment accuracy of the Maxent model widely utilized for habitat distribution research of wildlife for preservation, AUC value was calculated as 0.893 (sd=0.121). This was useful in predicting Asiatic black bears' potential habitat and evaluate the habitat change characteristics according to future climate change. Compare to the distribution map of Asiatic black bears evaluated by IUCN, Habitat suitability by the Maxent model were regionally diverse in extant areas and low in the extinct areas from IUCN map. This can be the result reflecting the regional difference in the environmental conditions where Asiatic black bears inhabit. As for the environment affecting the potential habitat distribution of Asiatic black bears, inhabitation rate was the highest, according to land coverage type, compared to climate, topography and artificial factors like distance from road. Especially, the area of deciduous broadleaf forest was predicted to be preferred, in comparison with other land coverage types. Annual mean precipitation and the precipitation during the driest period were projected to affect more than temperature's annual range, and the inhabitation possibility was higher, as distance was farther from road. The reason is that Asiatic black bears are conjectured to prefer more stable area without human's intervention, as well as prey resource. The inhabitation range was predicted to be expanded gradually to the southern part of India, China's southeast coast and adjacent inland area, and Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia in the eastern coastal areas of Southeast Asia. The following areas are forecast to be the core areas, where Asiatic black bears can inhabit in the Asian region: Jeonnam, Jeonbuk and Gangwon areas in South Korea, Kyushu, Chugoku, Shikoku, Chubu, Kanto and Tohoku's border area in Japan, and Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian border area in China. This study is expected to be used as basic data for the preservation and efficient management of Asiatic black bear's habitat, artificially introduced individual bear's release area selection, and the management of collision zones with humans.

Risk Management on Radiation Under Prolonged Exposure Situation - Focusing on the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in Japan Under the TEPCO Fukushima dai-ich NPP Accident -

  • Iimoto, Takeshi;Hayashi, Rumiko;Kuroda, Reiko;Furusawa, Mami;Umekage, Tadashi;Ohkubo, Yasushi;Takahashi, Hiroyuki;Nakamura, Takashi
    • International Journal of Safety
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.33-36
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    • 2012
  • Examples and experiences of risk management on radiation under prolonged exposure situation are shown. The accident of the Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant after the great east Japan earthquake (11 March, 2011) elevates background level of environmental radiation around the east Japan. For example, ambient dose equivalent rate around Tohkatsu area next to Tokyo located about 200 km-south from the plant, is about 0.1-0.6 micro-Sv $h^{-1}$ mainly due to $^{134}Cs$ and $^{137}Cs$ falling on the ground soil. This level is about double or up to ten times higher than the genuine natural level around the area. International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommends how to face the existing exposure situation; that is the prolonged exposure situation. Referring to ICRP's reports and/or related international/domestic documents, we have been discussing and acting to gain public's safety and relief, who have a possibility to be exposed to prolonged lower-dose radiation. Here, we introduce our several experiences on risk management, especially focusing on risk communication, radiation education to public, and stakeholder involvements into making decision in local governments on radiation protection, relating to the accident.

Risk Management on Radiation under Prolonged Exposure Situation - Focusing on the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in Japan Under the TEPCO Fukushima Dai-ich NPP Accident -

  • Iimoto, Takeshi;Hayashi, Rumiko;Kuroda, Reiko;Furusawa, Mami;Umekage, Tadashi;Ohkubo, Yasushi;Takahashi, Hiroyuki;Nakamura, Takashi
    • International Journal of Safety
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.6-9
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    • 2011
  • Examples and experiences of risk management on radiation under prolonged exposure situation are shown. The accident of the Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant after the great east Japan earthquake (11 March, 2011) elevates background level of environmental radiation around the east Japan. For example, ambient dose equivalent rate around Tohkatsu area next to Tokyo located about 200 km-south from the plant, is about 0.1-0.6 micro-Sv $h^{-1}$ mainly due to $^{134}Cs$ and $^{137}Cs$ falling on the ground soil. This level is about double or up to ten times higher than the genuine natural level around the area. International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommends how to face the existing exposure situation; that is the prolonged exposure situation. Referring to ICRP's reports and/or related international/domestic documents, we have been discussing how to manage this situation and acting to gain safety and relief of public, who have a possibility to be exposed to prolonged lower-dose radiation. Here, we introduce our several experiences on risk management, especially focusing on risk communication, radiation education to public, and stakeholder involvements into decision making in local governments on radiation protection, relating to the accident.

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AKARI IRC SURVEY OF THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD: AN OVERVIEW OF THE SURVEY AND A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE POINT SOURCE CATALOG

  • Ita, Yoshifusa;Kato, Daisuke;Onaka, Takashi;AKAR.LMC survey team
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.165-169
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    • 2012
  • We observed an area of 10 $deg^2$ of the Large Magellanic Cloud using the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI. The observations were carried out using five imaging filters (3, 7, 11, 15, and $24{\mu}m$) and the prism disperser ($2-5{\mu}m$, ${\lambda}/{\Delta}{\lambda}{\sim}20$) equipped in the IRC. This paper presents an outline of the survey project and also describes very briefly the newly compiled near- to mid-infrared point source catalog. The $10{\sigma}$ limiting magnitudes are 17.9, 13.8, 12.4, 9.9, and 8.6 mag at 3.2, 7, 11, 15 and $24{\mu}m$, respectively. The photometric accuracy is estimated to be about 0.1 mag at $3.2{\mu}m$ and 0.06 - 0.07 mag in the other bands. The position accuracy is 0.3" at 3.2, 7 and $11{\mu}m$ and 1.0" at 15 and $24{\mu}m$. The sensitivities at 3.2, 7, and $24{\mu}m$ are roughly comparable to those of the Spitzer SAGE LMC point source catalog, while the AKARI catalog provides the data at 11 and $15{\mu}m$, covering the near- to mid-infrared spectral range continuously.

Excitonic transitions and dynamics in front and back surfaces of ZnO films grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

  • Lee, Seon-Gyun;Go, Hang-Ju;Yao, Takafumi;Jo, Yong-Hun
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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    • 2010.02a
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    • pp.119-119
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    • 2010
  • We report strong exciton transition and exciton-phonon couplings in photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO thin films grown on MgO/sapphire (buffer/substrate) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The PL spectra at 10 K showed the intensity of the dominant emission, donor-bound exciton transition of front surface (top surface, the latter part in growth) is found to be about 100 times higher than that of back surface (in-depth bottom area, the initial part), while the room temperature PL spectra showed dominant contributions from the free exciton emissions and phonon-replicas of free excitons for front surface and back surface, respectively, It could be attributed to the strong contributions of exciton-phonon coupling. Time resolved PL spectra reveal that the life time of exciton recombination from the front surface are longer than those from back surface. This is most probably due to the fact that reduction of non-radiative recombination in the front surface. This investigation indicates that the existence of native defects or trap centers which can be reduced by the proper initial condition in growth and the exciton-phonon interaction couplings play an important role in optical properties and crystal quality of ZnO thin films.

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Genetics of Residual Feed Intake in Cattle and Pigs: A Review

  • Hoque, M.A.;Suzuki, K.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.22 no.5
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    • pp.747-755
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    • 2009
  • The feed resource for animals is a major cost determinant for profitability in livestock production enterprises, and thus any effort at improving the efficiency of feed use will help to reduce feed cost. Feed conversion ratio, expressed as feed inputs per unit output, is a traditional measure of efficiency that has significant phenotypic and genetic correlations with feed intake and growth traits. The use of ratio traits for genetic selection may cause problems associated with prediction of change in the component traits in future generations. Residual feed intake, a linear index, is a trait derived from the difference between actual feed intake and that predicted on the basis of the requirements for maintenance of body weight and production. Considerable genetic variation exists in residual feed intake for cattle and pigs, which should respond to selection. Phenotypic independence of phenotypic residual feed intake with body weight and weight gain can be obligatory. Genetic residual feed intake is genetically independent of its component traits (body weight and weight gain). Genetic correlations of residual feed intake with daily feed intake and feed conversion efficiency have been strong and positive in both cattle and pigs. Residual feed intake is favorably genetically correlated with eye muscle area and carcass weight in cattle and with eye muscle area and backfat in pigs. Selection to reduce residual feed intake (excessive intake of feed) will improve the efficiency of feed and most of the economically important carcass traits in cattle and pigs. Therefore, residual feed intake can be used to replace traditional feed conversion ratio as a selection criterion of feed efficiency in breeding programs. However, further studies are required on the variation of residual feed intake during different developmental stage of production.

Characteristics of Atmosphere-rice Paddy Exchange of Gaseous and Particulate Reactive Nitrogen in Terms of Nitrogen Input to a Single-cropping Rice Paddy Area in Central Japan

  • Hayashi, Kentaro;Ono, Keisuke;Matsuda, Kazuhide;Tokida, Takeshi;Hasegawa, Toshihiro
    • Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.202-216
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    • 2017
  • Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient. Thus, evaluating its flows and stocks in rice paddy ecosystems provides important insights into the sustainability and environmental loads of rice production. Among the N sources of paddy fields, atmospheric deposition and irrigation inputs remain poorly understood. In particular, insufficient information is available for atmosphere-rice paddy exchange of gaseous and particulate reactive N (Nr, all N species other than molecular N) which represents the net input or output through dry deposition and emission. In this study, we assessed the N inputs via atmospheric deposition and irrigation to a Japanese rice paddy area by weekly monitoring for 2 years with special emphasis on gas and particle exchange. The rice paddy during the cropping season acted as a net emitter of ammonia ($NH_3$) to the atmosphere regardless of the N fertilizer applications, which reduced the effects of dry deposition to the N input. Dry N deposition was quantitatively similar to wet N deposition, when subtracting the rice paddy $NH_3$ emissions from N exchange. The annual N inputs to the rice paddy were 3.2 to $3.6\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for exchange, 8.1 to $9.8\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for wet deposition, and 11.1 to $14.5\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for irrigation. The total N input, 22.8 to $27.5\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$, corresponded to 38% to 55% of the N fertilizer application rate and 53% to 67% of the brown rice N uptake. Monitoring of atmospheric deposition and irrigation as N sources for rice paddies will therefore be necessary for adequate N management.

Rockfall Behavior with Catchment Area Condition (포집공간 조건에 따른 낙석의 거동)

  • Lee, Jundae;Kwon, Youngcheul;Bae, Wooseok
    • Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.35-42
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    • 2019
  • Various development works inevitably increase cutting slopes due to land use, and many of trails managed by different authorities are being deteriorated by long-term weathering. Collapse of slopes causes unavoidable damage of property and loss of lives because of its uncertainty and difficulty in predicting its occurrence. In order to overcome the unavoidability, America, Japan, and several European nations analyze the kinetic energy and moving distance when rocks of upper slope move along the inclined plane, via field tests and computerized interpretation of the test results. Also, they are making efforts to develop measures with which the kinetic energy of the rocks moving along the slope is absorbed and fails to reach to specific structures. However, domestic researches just focus on fragmentary prediction of rockfall using existing programs, and there have been few approaches to identify interpretation methods appropriate for domestic cases or determination of parameters. In this context, we in this study defined rockfall types and affecting factors and analyzed effects of parameters using a general-purpose rockfall simulation program to understand principles of rockfall and to estimate effects of various parameters.

Evaluation of Van Khan Tooril's castle, an archaeological site in Mongolia, by Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR을 이용한 몽고 유적지 반 칸 투리일의 성 (Van Khan Tooril's castle)의 평가)

  • Khuut, Tseedulam;Sato, Motoyuki
    • Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.69-76
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    • 2009
  • We report an implementation of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey at a site that corresponds to a ruined castle. The objective of the survey was to characterise buried archaeological structures such as walls and tiles in Van Khan Tooril's Ruin, Mongolia, by 2D and 3D GPR techniques. GPR datasets were acquired in an area 10mby 9 m, with 10 cm line spacing. Two datasets were collected, using GPR with 500MHz and 800MHz frequency antennas. In this paper, we report the use of instantaneous parameters to detect archaeological targets such as tile, brick, and masonry by polarimetric GPR. Radar polarimetry is an advanced technology for extraction of target scattering characteristics. It gives us much more information about the size, shape, orientation, and surface condition of radar targets. We focused our interpretation on the strongest reflections. The image is enhanced by the use of instantaneous parameters. Judging by the shape and the width of the reflections, it is clear that moderate to high intensity response in instantaneous amplitude corresponds to brick and tiles. The instantaneous phase map gave information about the location of the targets, which appeared as discontinuities in the signal. In order to increase our ability to interpret these archaeological targets, we compared the GPR datasets acquired in two orthogonal survey directions. A good correlation is observed for the alignments of reflections when we compare the two datasets. However, more reflections appear in the north-south survey direction than in the west-east direction. This is due to the electric field orientation, which is in the horizontal plane for north-south survey directions and the horizontally polarised component of the backscattered high energy is recorded.