The suitability of residue sand (the coarse fraction remaining from Bayer's process of bauxite refining) for constructing the surface cover of closed bauxite residue storage areas was investigated. Specifically, its properties as a medium for plant growth are of interest to ensure residue sand can support a sustainable ecosystem following site closure. The geochemical evolution of the residue s...

Understanding the interaction between bacterial cells and solid surfaces is essential to our attempts to quantify and predict the transport of microbes in groundwater aquifers, whether from the point of view of contamination or from that of bioremediation. The sorption of bacterial cells suspended in groundwater to porous medium grains was examined in batch studies. Bacterial sorption to clean ...

Alluvial slopes are piedmonts characterized by parallel steam channels rather than alluvial fans. They are common landforms in extensional basins of the south-western United States but have received little attention from geomorphologists or sedimentologists. Persistence of channellized flow across piedmonts, as opposed to sheetflooding due to loss of flow confinement on alluvialfan surfaces, di...

Assessing the architectural optimality of animal constructions is in most cases extremely difficult, but is feasible for antlion larvae, which dig simple pits in sand to catch ants. Slope angle, conicity and the distance between the head and the trap bottom, known as off-centring, were measured using a precise scanning device. Complete attack sequences in the same pits were then quantified, wit...

We present experimental findings on the flow rule for granular flows on a rough inclined plane using various materials, including sand and glass beads of various sizes and four types of copper particles with different shapes. We characterize the materials by measuring hs (the thickness at which the flow subsides) as a function of the plane inclination theta on various surfaces. Measuring the su...

Numerical modeling was carried out to investigate the responses of suction bucket foundations under vertical cyclic loading. Numerical results were compared with centrifuge experiment results. Before the capacity of the model suction bucket to resist cyclic loading could be investigated, the static pullout capacities had to be determined. The buckets with different aspect ratio are investigated...

An increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]) and morphological were simultaneously observed by epifluorescence and differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy during fertilization of the sand dollar, Clypeaster japonicus. [Ca2+], which was detected by a Ca2+ indicator, Fluo-3, initially increased just beneath the sperm-attached site on the egg surface 8.6 sec after attachmen...

We summarize information concerning Recent and Pleistocene-Holocene Uruguayan sand dollars (Mellitidae), as well as Miocene taxa (Monophorasteridae). Recent and Pleistocene-Holocene species (Encope emarginata, Mellita quinquiesperforata, and Leodia sexisperforata) are at their southernmost limits of distribution, with only E. emarginata recorded further south than Uruguay. Lower temperatures to...

Many larvae and other plankton have complex and variable morphologies of unknown functional significance. We experimentally and theoretically investigated the functional consequences of the complex morphologies of larval sand dollars, Dendraster excentricus (Eschscholtz), for hydrodynamic interactions between swimming and turbulent water motion. Vertical shearing flows (horizontal gradients of ...

Vegetation pattern in lowlands between active sand dunes has rarely been studied, but itmay play an important role in maintaining the biodiversity. This paper aims to quantify relationships between lowland area and species richness, composition and vegetation distribution and to provide suggestions on biodiversity conservation in the active dune field. Considering each interdune lowlandasa self...