Patterns and rates of landsliding and fluvial sediment transfer in mountain catchments are determined by the strength and location of rain storms and earthquakes, and by the sequence in which they occur. To explore this notion, landslides caused by three tropical cyclones and a very large earthquake have been mapped in the Chenyoulan catchment in the Taiwan Central Range, where water and sediment discharges and rock strengths are well known. Prior to the M W 7·6 Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999, storm-driven landslide rates were modest. Landslides occurred primarily low within the landscape in shallow slopes, reworking older colluvial material. The Chi-Chi earthquake caused wide-spread landsliding in the steepest bedrock slopes high within the catchment due to topographic focusing of incoming seismic waves. After the earthquake landslide rates remained elevated, landslide patterns closely tracking the distribution of coseismic landslides. These patterns have not been strongly affected by rock strength. Sediment loads of the Chenyoulan River have been limited by supply from hillslopes. Prior to the Chi-Chi earthquake, the erosion budget was dominated by one exceptionally large flood, with anomalously high sediment concentrations, caused by typhoon Herb in 1996. Sediment concentrations were much higher than normal in intermediate size floods during the first 5 years after the earthquake, giving high sediment yields. In 2005, sediment concentrations had decreased to values prevalent before 1999. The hillslope response to the Chi-Chi earthquake has been much stronger than the five-fold increase of fluvial sediment loads and concentrations, but since the earthquake, hillslope sediment sources have become increasingly disconnected from the channel system, with 90 per cent of landslides not reaching into channels. Downslope advection of landslide debris associated with the Chi-Chi earthquake is driven by the impact of tropical cyclones, but occurs on a time-scale longer than this study. . Here we report on landslide patterns and rates caused by this sequence of triggers, and the concomitant fluvial sediment transfer, in a mountain area drained by the Chenyoulan River, close to the epicentre of the Chi-Chi earthquake. Specifically, we have investigated the rate and location of landsliding as a function of topography, substrate properties and the nature of active and preceding triggers. We have also considered how hillslope mass wasting in the Chenyoulan catchment is reflected in the downstream transfer of sediment. Study AreaThe mountain island of Taiwan has formed from the rapid, oblique collision between the Luzon Arc on the Philippine Sea Plate, and the Eurasian continental margin. Its current mean annual precipitation is 2·5 m year −1 , about 80 per cent of which falls between May and October, and the island receives an average of four typhoon hits per year (Shieh, 2000). The combination of strong climatic and tectonic forcing results in rapid rates of geomorphological processes, with average erosion rates of 3 -7 mm year ...

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Forty-one out of 408 cases (or 10%) of primary glomerular disease had diffuse fine granular to arc-like short linear mesangial deposits of IgM by direct immunofluorescence. The IgM deposition was accompanied by C1q and/or C4 in the same locality in 29 cases, by C3 in 10, and by trace amounts of IgA in 6. Properdin-factor B was not detected. Fine granular electron dense deposits of low density were detected in the mesangium in all 41 cases by electron microscopy, usually as a discrete granular or arc-like pattern beneath the mesangial glomerular basement membrane and correlated well with the immunofluorescence findings. An immune complex disease with complement activation via the classical pathway is suggested. The ages of the patients varied from 2 to 58 years (average 23.8 years). A male predominance of 2.2:1 was identified. Serum IgM level was elevated in 46.7% of the cases. The majority (87.8%) of the cases manifested a nephrotic syndrome or relapse at time of biopsy, and the remaining cases experienced persistent or intermittent proteinuria. Among the 36 nephrotic patients, 22 cases (61.1%) demonstrated complete remission with steroid therapy, 9 cases (25%) were resistant, and 5 cases (13.9%) had partial remission. Complete and partial remissions were later achieved with cytotoxic drugs or methylprednisolone pulse therapy in 3 and 4 cases respectively in the steroid resistant patients. Frequent relapses occurred during the course in 22 out of 32 cases (68.8%) who had experienced complete or partial remission. Follow-up study after biopsy demonstrated that sustained complete remission was achieved with prednisolone with or without cytotoxic drugs and pulse therapy in only 14 (42.4%) of the 33 nephrotic cases who had been followed up for longer than 6 months, and six of them had had previous relapses. Pathologically, 56.1% of the patients showed mild to moderate increase in mesangial matrix and cellularity. Focal and segmental sclerosis was demonstrated in four cases (9.8%). However, minimal glomerular change was also common (34.1%). The patients with minimal change seemed to have a higher complete remission rate than patients with more evident glomerular alterations, although the difference was not statistically significant. This clinical and immunopathological study suggests that mesangial IgM nephropathy is an important disease in Taiwan, with a variable response to treatment and frequent relapses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Abstract. Debris flows pose severe hazards to communities in mountainous areas, often resulting in the loss of life and property. Helping debris-flow-prone communities delineate potential hazard zones provides local authorities with useful information for developing emergency plans and disaster management policies. In 2003, the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of Taiwan proposed an empirical model to delineate hazard zones for all creeks (1420 in total) with potential of debris flows and utilized the model to help establish a hazard prevention system. However, the model does not fully consider hydrologic and physiographical conditions for a given creek in simulation. The objective of this study is to propose new approaches that can improve hazard zone delineation accuracy and simulate hazard zones in response to different rainfall intensity. In this study, a two-dimensional commercial model FLO-2D, physically based and taking into account the momentum and energy conservation of flow, was used to simulate debris-flow inundated areas.Sensitivity analysis with the model was conducted to determine the main influence parameters which affect debris flow simulation. Results indicate that the roughness coefficient, yield stress and volumetric sediment concentration dominate the computed results. To improve accuracy of the model, the study examined the performance of the rainfallrunoff model of FLO-2D as compared with that of the HSPF (Hydrological Simulation Program Fortran) model, and then the proper values of the significant parameters were evaluated through the calibration process. Results reveal that the HSPF model has a better performance than the FLO-2D model at peak flow and flow recession period, and the volumetric sediment concentration and yield stress can be estimated by the channel slope. The validation of the model for Correspondence to: S. M. Hsu (shihmeng@sinotech.org.tw) simulating debris-flow hazard zones has been confirmed by a comparison of field evidence from historical debris-flow disaster data. The model can successfully replicate the influence zone of the debris-flow disaster event with an acceptable error and demonstrate a better result than the empirical model adopted by the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of Taiwan.

The study indicates a prevalence of nocturnal enuresis in the Taiwanese population comparable to that in western populations, showing that nocturnal enuresis is an international problem that should be considered seriously. Findings of familial factors associated with nocturnal enuresis provide a clue for future studies of psychosocial factors in different cultural societies and their intervention.

Severe In fluctuation was observed in In0.3Ga0.7N/GaN multiple quantum well solar cells using scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The high In content and fluctuation lead to low fill factor (FF) of 30% and energy conversion efficiency (η) of 0.48% under the illumination of AM 1.5G. As the temperature was increased from 250 to 300 K, FF and η were substantially enhanced. This strong temperature-dependent enhancement is attributed to the additional contribution to the photocurrents by the thermally activated carriers, which are originally trapped in the shallow quantum wells resulting from the inhomogeneous In distribution.

Electroluminescence (EL) of the metal-insulator-semiconductor light-emitting diodes (MISLEDs) made by Si-rich SiNx and SiOx films with buried Si nanocrystals are compared. The SiNx facilitates carrier transport and EL from MISLED with turn-on current and voltage of 4 μA and 12 V by reducing barrier heights at indium tin oxide /SiNx and SiNx/Si-nc interfaces. The SiNx MISLED exhibits larger charge loss rate of 12% within 200 s and shorter delay time of 3.86×10−4 sec than SiOx one, which limit its external EL quantum efficiency by strong carrier escaping effect due to the insufficient carrier confinement in Si nanocrystals with low interfacial barriers.