Influence of Seasonal Ground Water Level Fluctuations on the Stability of the Rohingya Refugee Camp Hills of Ukhiya, Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh—A Threat for Sustainable Development

Bangladesh is a south Asian Monsoonal Country and the recent precipitation pattern in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh is changing and increasing the number of monsoonal slope failures and landslide hazards in the Kutubpalong & Balukhali Rohingya camp area. An attempt has been made to see the influence of seasonal variation of ground water level (G.W.L.) fluctuations on the stability of the eco hills and forests of Ukhiya Teknaf region. Ukhiya hills are in great danger because of cutting trees from the hill slopes and it is well established that due to recent change of climate, short term rainfall for few consecutive days during monsoon might show an influence on the factor of safety (Fs) values of the camp hill slopes. A clear G.W.L. variation between dry and wet seasons has an influence on the stability (Fs) values indicating that climate has a strong influence on the stability and threatening sustainable development. A stable or marginally stable slope might be unstable during raining and show a variation of ground water level (G.W.L.). The generation of pore water pressure (P.W.P.) is also influenced by seasonal variation of ground water level. During wet season negative P.W.P. called suction plays an important role to occur slope failures in the Ukhiya hills. Based on all calculated factor of safety values (Fs) at different locations, four (4) susceptible landslide risk zones are identified. They are very high risk (Fs = 0.18 to 0.46), high risk (Fs = 0.56 to 0.75), medium risk (Fs = 0.76 to 1.0) and marginally stable areas (Fs ≈ 1). Proper geo-engineering measures must be taken by the concerned authorizes to reduce P.W.P. during monsoon by installing rain water harvesting system, allowing sufficient drainage & other geotechnical measures to reduce the risk of slope failures in the Ukhiya hills. Based on the stability factor (Fs) at different slope locations of the camp hills, a risk map of the investigated area has been produced for the local community for their safety and to build up awareness & to motivate them to evacuate the site during monsoonal slope failures. The established “Risk Maps” can be used for future geological engineering works as well as for sustainable planning, design and construction purposes relating to adaptation and mitigation of landslide risks in the investigated area.

Use of Geosynthetic Access Mats in Construction

A stable surface to move manpower and equipment is a key for the construction operations. To create a stable road surface, the road construction techniques are time-consuming and expensive for a traditional construction which requires compaction of soil, aggregate base, sub-base and asphaltic layers. A Geosynthetic Access Mat (GAM) system can serve as an alternative to other traditional construction techniques to accommodate temporary construction. Due to its rigidity, the mat system can provide substantial vertical resistance to the applied load under a large deflection subject to soil conditions. This paper provides details of GAM specifications, soil conditions, applications, installation procedure, comparison with other soil stabilization methods and Aramco experience for deployments of these mats.

Cost-Effective Control of Ground-Level Ozone Pollution in and around Beijing

Ground level ozone pollution has become a significant air pollution problem in Beijing. Because of the complex way in which ozone is formed, it is difficult for policy makers to identify optimal control options on a cost-effective basis. This paper identi-fies and assesses a range of options for addressing this problem. We apply the Ambient Least Cost Model and compare the eco-nomic costs of control options, then recommend the most effective sequence to realize pollution control at the lowest cost. The study finds that installing of Stage II gasoline vapor recovery system at Beijing's 1446 gasoline stations would be the most cost-effective option. Overall, options to reduce ozone pollution by cutting ve-hicular emissions are much more cost-effective than options to "clean up" coal-fired power plants.

Four-Parameter Scheme for Ground Level of Helium Atom

In this paper,the ground state wave function of four parameters is developed and expression of the ground state level is derived for the helium atom when the radial Schrodinger equation of the helium atom is solved. The ground energy is respectively computed by the optimized aJgorithms of Matlab 7.0 and the Monte Carlo methods. Furthermore, the ground state wave function is obtained. Compared with the experiment value and the value with the variation calculus in reference, the results of this paper show that in the four-parameter scheme, not only the calculations become more simplified and precise, but also the radial wave function of the helium atom meets the space symmetry automatically in ground state.

The Conservation of Ground Water Levels in the Peat Swamp Forest at Ayer Hitam North Forest Reserve, Muar in Johor, Malaysia

The management of peat swamp forests in Malaysia contends with two major issues: forest fires and the effects of abandoned forest-logging drainage systems or canals. Forest fire occurs during low rainfall season related to the local people activities. The drainage networks change the hydrological function of the intact forest ecosystem. A key function of the hydrological system in the undisturbed forest is to absorb water during rainfall season, thus delaying downstream runoff and preventing flash floods. The objective of the project described here is to restore the hydrological function of peat swamp forest (PSF) at Ayer Hitam North Forest Reserve (AHNFR) in Muar, Johor, Malaysia. The oil palm plantations, especially in the southern part of the area affect the forest reserve. Water flows out of the forest reserve through the drainage system constructed for managing these plantations. In 2016 and 2017, two water block structures or check dams were constructed near the boundaries of the forest reserve to hold the water and raise the groundwater level in the forest reserve. The implementation of the check dams at the two locations has conserved the groundwater level and subsequently, about 1.2 million m3 of water was saved annually from leaving the forest reserve from each of the check dam. This project is also part of the Coca-Cola Company’s sustainability commitment for water strategy with the global that is to replenish 100% of the equivalent volume of water consumed in their products and production by 2020. Replenishment is the key sustainability commitment for the Company.

3-D rheologic model of earthquake prepa-ration (III): Precursor field

On the basis of the theory of viscoelastic displacement and strain field for the three-dimensional rheologic model of earthquake preparation, this paper mainly studies the theoretical solution of precursor field for the three-dimensional rheologic model of earthquake preparation. We derive the viscoelastic analytical expressions of the ground tilt, underground water level, earth resistivity at an arbitrary point （x, y, z） in the rheologic medium, and analyzed the earth resistivity preliminarily, providing a certain theoretical basis for the precursor analysis of seismogenic process.

Estimation of the interaction force between human and passive lower limb exoskeleton device during level ground walking

To develop sophisticated and efficient control strategies for exoskeleton devices,acquiring the information of interaction forces between the wearer and the wearable device is essential.However,obtaining the interaction force via conventional methods,such as direct measurement using force sensors,is problematic.This paper proposes a kinematic data-based estimation method to evaluate the interaction force between human lower limbs and passive exoskeleton links during level ground walking.Unlike conventional methods,the proposed method requires no force sensors and is computationally cheaper to obtain the calculation results.To obtain more accurate kinematic data,a marker refinement algorithm based on bilevel optimization framework is adopted.The interaction force is evaluated by a spring model,which is used to imitate the binding behavior between human limbs and the exoskeleton links.The deflection of the spring model is calculated based on the assumption that the phase delay between human limb and exoskeleton link can be presented by the sequence of frames of kinematic data.Experimental results of six subjects indicate that our proposed method can estimate the interaction forces during level ground walking.Moreover,a case study of bandage location optimization is conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of obtaining the interaction information.

Proton spectrum of the 2005 January 20 solar flare

An extreme solar cosmic ray event broke out on 2005 January 20. Not only is it the most intensive solar energetic particle （SEP） event, with 〉100 MeV particles measured by GOES satellite since 1986, but it has been the largest ground level enhancement （GLE） event recorded by the ground-based neutron monitors since 1956. This work presents the solar proton spectra for this event with data obtained by GOES in multiple energy channels. These spectra are well fitted by a modified power-law function. The spectral index of around -1 indicates that the January 20 event has a hard energy spectrum. Possible mechanisms for the acceleration of relativistic protons are discussed.