Journal of Ocean University of Qingdao

Underwater optical imaging produces images with high resolution and abundant information and hence has outstanding advantages in short-distance underwater target detection. However, low-light and high-noise scenarios pose great challenges in underwater image and video analyses. To improve the accuracy and anti-noise performance of underwater target image edge detection, an underwater target edge detection method based on ant colony optimization and reinforcement learning is proposed in this paper. First, the reinforcement learning concept is integrated into artificial ants’ movements, and a variable radius sensing strategy is proposed to calculate the transition probability of each pixel. These methods aim to avoid undetection and misdetection of some pixels in image edges. Second, a double-population ant colony strategy is proposed, where the search process takes into account global search and local search abilities. Experimental results show that the algorithm can effectively extract the contour information of underwater targets and keep the image texture well and also has ideal anti-interference performance.

The corrosion resistance of electroless Ni-P deposits with phosphorous contents from 12% to 14% in sodium chloride solutions was studied. The deposits were immersed in 3.5% NaCl solutions for 29 d to obtain the electrochemical parameters and were examined in a standard salt spray test for 15 d respectively. The corrosion resistance of the deposits was studied by potentio-dynamic scan, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and cold-field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDX). The patterns of XRD and the results of FE-SEM showed that the prepared deposits were amorphous. But after a 15 d standard salt spray test, a few pinholes appeared on the surface of the deposit and the weight content of phosphorus on the surface of the deposit was higher (which was beneficial to the formation of the passivation films) than that before the standard salt spray test when the nickel content was lower because the dissolved weight of nickel was greater than that of phosphorus. The results from potentio-dynamic scan and EIS showed that passivation films formed on the Ni-P deposit after immersion in the NaCl solutions, which decreased the corrosion rate of Ni-P samples. The results of this work show their potential applications in marine corrosion.

To investigate sulfide detoxification in Urechis unicinctus, oxygen consumption rate and sulfide detoxification products were analyzed during sulfide exposure under controlled laboratory conditions. The results showed that oxygen consumption rates were elevated significantly during 3 h sulfide exposure compared to the control (P<0.05). The concentration of sulfite in body wall and hindgut of experimental worms increased significantly (P<0.05) when exposed to 50 μmolL−1 sulfide, reached a maximum at 24 h and then decreased. Similar result was observed in worms exposed to 150 μmolL−1 sulfide except that sulfite concentration reached a maximum at 12 h. Contents of thiosulfate in body wall and hindgut of U. unicinctus exposed to sulfide were also significantly higher than that of the control without sulfide exposure. In conclusion, during short-time sulfide exposure U. unicinctus may raise oxygen consumption to detoxify toxic sulfide into sulfite and thiosulfate. Sulfide detoxification was restrained when the exposure time was prolonged or sulfide concentration was increased, which was indicated by decrease of sulfite, the intermediate product of sulfide detoxification.

Chitosan derived from crab shells, was used to prepare the graft polymer in aqueous solution with acrylamide (AM) and methacrylatoethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (DMC) as raw materials and ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as initiator. The flocculation ability of the resulting polymer (PCAD) was studied in waste water treatment experiments. Its properties were determined on the basis of the transmittance of waste water after flocculation. The effects of chitosan and DMC content on PCAD’s flocculation ability were studied. Flocculation experiments were also undertaken under various pH conditions. According to the experimental data, the flocculation ability could be improved when chitosan content decreased in the raw material, but the monomer conversion would decrease obviously. When the chitosan’s content was more than 65%, AM and DMC groups were less on each chitosan molecule. So PCAD’s flocculation ability was poor. Similarly, high content of DMC would result in low monomer conversion and high flocculation ability. PCAD molecules with more DMC group had more positive charges. It was favorable to flocculation. However, monomer conversion would decrease with the increase of DMC content. The suitable conditions were that chitosan and DMC contents were 65% and 15–20%, respectively. The experiment data showed that PCAD had good flocculation ability under weak acidic condition. Its ability would be weakened by strong acidic or alkaline condition. The flocculation efficiency was the best at pH of 5.5 when PCAD’s dosage was 8mg·L−1. Compared with cationic polymer (the copolymer of AM and DMC, PAD), PCAD showed better flocculation ability under acid and neutral conditions, but worse ability under alkaline condition.

The Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) package is used to better understand the variabilities of surface current transport in the Tropical Pacific Ocean from 1950 to 1999. Seasonal variation, internnual and decadal variability analyses are conducted on the three major surface currents of the Tropical Pacific Ocean: the North Equatorial Current (NEC), the North Equatorial Countecurrent (NECC), and the South Equatorial Current (SEC). The transport of SEC is quite larger than those of NEC and NECC. The SEC has two maximums in February and August. The NEC has a small annual variation. The NECC has a maximum in October and is very weak in March and April. All currents have remarkable interannual and decadal variabilities. The variabilities of the NEC and the SEC related to the winds over them well, but the relationship between the NECC and the wind over it is not close. Analysis related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) suggests that before El Niño (La Niña) the SEC is weaker (stronger) and the NECC is stronger (weaker), after El Niño (La Niña) the SEC is stronger (weaker) and the SEC is weaker (stronger). There is no notable relationship between the NEC and ENSO.

Marine risers play a key role in the deep and ultra-deep water oil and gas production. The vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of marine risers constitutes an important problem in deep water oil exploration and production. VIV will result in high rates of structural failure of marine riser due to fatigue damage accumulation and diminishes the riser fatigue life. In-service monitoring or full scale testing is essential to improve our understanding of VIV response and enhance our ability to predict fatigue damage. One marine riser fatigue acoustic telemetry scheme is proposed and an engineering prototype machine has been developed to monitor deep and ultra-deep water risers’ fatigue and failure that can diminish the riser fatigue life and lead to economic losses and eco-catastrophe. Many breakthroughs and innovation have been achieved in the process of developing an engineering prototype machine. Sea trials were done on the 6th generation deep-water drilling platform HYSY-981 in the South China Sea. The inclination monitoring results show that the marine riser fatigue acoustic telemetry scheme is feasible and reliable and the engineering prototype machine meets the design criterion and can match the requirements of deep and ultra-deep water riser fatigue monitoring. The rich experience and field data gained in the sea trial which provide much technical support for optimization in the engineering prototype machine in the future.

Hong Kong is often affected by tropical cyclones. The Hong Kong observatory issues warning signals based on the impact of tropical cyclones on the region. The joint frequency analysis of tropical cyclones in Hong Kong can provide a scientific basis for disaster reduction and prevention and post-disaster reconstruction of tropical cyclones. First, the maximum hourly mean wind speed (W), warning signal duration (D), maximum sea level (L), and total rainfall (R) of each tropical cyclone that affected Hong Kong from 1985 to 2019 are selected and fitted using the Gumbel, Weibull, Pearson type 3, and lognormal distributions. Then, bivariate copula functions, such as the Clayton, Frank, Gumbel-Hougaard, and Gaussian copulas, are applied to construct the joint probability models of W, D, L, and R, respectively. The joint return periods of W and D and those of L and R are defined as the meteorological and hydrological intensities of tropical cyclones, respectively. The results show that the joint return periods are good indicators of the comprehensive effect of the meteorological and hydrological intensities of tropical cyclones. No necessary correlation between meteorological and hydrological intensities of tropical cyclones exists. The meteorological and hydrological intensities of tropical cyclones show an upward trend in recent years.

Morphology and life history of a brown alga Scytosiphon lomentaria (Lyngbye) Link (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) were investigated from 2005 to 2009 in the coastal waters of Dalian, China. The erect thalli collected in the field were tubular, hollow, and commonly constricted at intervals. Ascocysts were presented. Plurilocular gametangia, which were positioned in continuous sori on the erect thallus surface, produced biflagellar gametes. Gametophytes were dioecious and gametes were nearly isogamous. Gametes fusion occurred in three types. Type one, female and male gametes fused directly while swimming; type two, female gamete settled first, with which a male one contacted and fused rapidly; type three, while settling adjacently, a male gamete’s entire protoplast moved slowly into the previously settled female one, with only an empty cell membrane left. In culture zygotes developed into crustose sporophytes that formed unilocular sporangia. Biflagellar zoospores developed into erect thalli that formed plurilocular gametangia. The results indicated that a periodical heteromorphic alternation history with haploid gametophyte generation and diploid sporophyte generation exists in S. lomentaria of the Dalian populations.

The morphology and phylogeny of two little-known species, Loxodes kahli Dragesco & Njiné, 1971 and L. rostrumMüller, 1786, isolated from freshwater muddy sediments in China, were investigated based on live features, infraciliature, and small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) sequence data. Loxodes kahli is distinguished from its congeners mainly by the number and arrangement of macronuclei (6–17 in one row) and the number of right somatic ciliary rows (11–26). The Chinese populations of L. kahli also exhibit differences with other populations in terms of the body size and the number of right ciliary rows. The characteristics of L. rostrum are consistent with those of previous studies except for the number of right ciliary rows (9–10). The studied species were redefined based on the new information and previous descriptions. This study also gave a brief morphological summary of the species in the genus Loxodes by an identification key. SSU rDNA sequence-based phylogenetic analyses revealed that both species are grouped with their congeners, supporting the monophyly of the genus Loxodes.