Overview of Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea

For hundreds of years, the seas have been used as a place to dispose of wastes from human activities. Although no high level radioactive waste has been disposed of into the sea, variable amounts of packaged low level radioactive wastes have been dumped at 47 sites in the northern part of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. in 1946 the first sea dumping operation took place at a site in the North-East Pacific Ocean. the last dumping operation was in 1982, at a site off the European continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean. Between these two dates, an estimated 46 PBq (1.24 MCi) of radioactive waste coming from research, medical, military and industrial activities have been disposed of at sea. the present trend, through the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other Matter and other Regional Conventions, points towards the prohibition of the dumping of any radioactive waste into the marine environment.     

华北地区下古生界海相烃源岩芳烃生物标志物地球化学特征──兼论饱和烃、芳烃生源组合特征

本文详细总结了华北地区下古生界海相烃源岩中芳烃生物标志物特征，主要包括菲系列、联苯系列、苯并芴系列，三芴系列、荧蒽系列、芘系列、苯并荧蒽和苯并芘系列、　系列和三芳甾烷系列，而萘系列含量较低。我们发现三芳甾烷C(28)（20S）／C(28)（20R）比值似乎显示了较好的热演化特征。     

全球环境变化与全球不平等南北方的不同立场

全球环境变化给发展中国家和南北关系带来深刻影响，理解环境问题的全球不平等需要以发展中国家80年代开始的经济结构调整和沉重债务为背景。南方的环境政策优先在很大程度上与其生活的可持续性相连，而不是通常与全球环境变化的长期性风险相关，然而，全球环境变化又与发展中国家贫困人口的日常生活紧密相关。从南方的立场看，当“问题”对他们不十分迫切时，就很难同意采取措施，仅此原因，北方对全球环境变化的关切要得到成功回应，真正的全球契约就需要解决基本“发展”问题，主要是贫困。     

铅芯橡胶支座等效线性分析模型参数的研究

针对目前铅芯橡胶支座等效线性分析模型动力参数选取不够合理的现状 ,笔者通过对铅芯橡胶支座水平动态试验分析 ,系统研究了铅芯橡胶支座等效线性分析模型参数与其几何结构及外加动力荷载特性的关系。研究结果表明 :铅芯橡胶支座等效线性分析模型参数 (水平耗能、等效刚度及等效阻尼比 )主要由其本身的几何构造及组成材料决定 ,且在往复加、卸载循环过程中具有较好的稳定性。笔者对试验数据进行数学统计分析 ,归纳出一些经验公式 ,为其等效线性化动力分析模型参数的合理选取提供了计算方法 ,从而提高其动力分析结果的安全性。     

钢筋混凝土桥墩抗震性能的试验研究之一——试验概况及试验结果

针对铁路桥梁中使用量最大、应用最广泛的单柱式桥墩 ,通过 2 4根大比例的桥墩模型的伪静力试验 ,研究了其延性抗震性能。通过对试验数据的分析 ,研究了这类桥墩的力—位移关系、滞回模式等变化规律。笔者对钢筋混凝土桥墩模型的动力抗震试验进行研究 ,其思路和方法 ,对提高和改善此类桥墩的抗震性、安全性以及工程抗震设计都是十分有益的。     

钢筋混凝土桥墩抗震性能的试验研究之二 试验结果分析与结论

笔者针对前文所述试验中出现的破坏现象和试验数据 ,通过统计分析 ,研究了该类桥墩的力—位移关系、延性变形能力、抗力特性、滞回模式、耗能指标、损伤破坏模式 ,以及配筋率、箍筋布置、剪跨比等结构参量对该类参数的影响 ,进而为实际铁路桥梁的延性抗震设计提供了必要的试验依据     

CUMULATIVE IMPACTS OF LANDUSE ON WATER QUALITY IN A SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: Water quality variables were sampled over 109 weeks along Coweeta Creek, a fifth-order stream located in the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina. The purpose of this study was to observe any changes in water quality, over a range of flow conditions, with concomitant downstream changes in the mix of landuses. Variables sampled include pH, HCO₃^2?, conductivity, NO₃^?_?-N, NH₄⁺-N, PO₄^3?-P, C1^?-, Na, K, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, SO₄^2?, 5iO₂, turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, total and fecal coliform, and focal streptococcus. Landcover/landuse was interpreted from 1:20,000 aerial photographs and entered in a GIS, along with information on total and paved road length, building location and density, catchment boundaries, hydrography, and slope. Linear regressions were performed to relate basin and near-stream landscape variables to water quality. Consistent, cumulative, downstream changes in water quality variables were observed along Coweeta Creek, concomitant with downstream, human-caused changes in landuse. Furthermore, larger downstream changes in water quality variables were observed during stormflow when compared to baseflow, suggesting cumulative impacts due to landscape alteration under study conditions were much greater during storm events. Although most water quality regulations, legislation, and sampling are promulgated for baseflow conditions, this work indicates they should also consider the cumulative impacts of physical, chemical, and biological water quality during stormflow.     

Maize: The Native North American’s Legacy of Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity

Recent research has focused on establishing the values of preserving biodiversity both in agriculture and in less managed ecosystems, and in showing the importance of the role of cultural diversity in preserving biodiversity in food production systems. A study of the philosophy embedded in cultural systems can reveal the importance of the technological information for preserving genetic biodiversity contained in such systems and can be used to support arguments for the protection/preservation of cultural diversity. For example, corn or maize can serve as a paradigm of Native American thinking and can provide one of the few areas from which common philosophical conceptions can emerge. An examination of the cultivation of corn or maize as an agricultural activity and as a cultural activity in Native American literature reveals a philosophy that recognizes the importance of biodiversity and provides techniques for its preservation. Corn, and the food and the materials derived from it, is something thought out, not by specialists, but by the entire tribe and its ancestors, even if this thinking is done within what we might consider a framework of highly mythical notions. Importantly, this framework yields an understanding of both the genetics and nutrition of corn. A survey of these mythical notions (myths and stories) and agricultural practices makes this thought explicit and exemplifies the value of cultural diversity and biodiversity.     

Using long-term data for a reintroduced population to empirically estimate future consequences of inbreeding

Inbreeding depression is an important long-term threat to reintroduced populations. However, the strength of inbreeding depression is difficult to estimate in wild populations because pedigree data are inevitably incomplete and because good data are needed on survival and reproduction. Predicting future population consequences is especially difficult because this also requires projecting future inbreeding levels and their impacts on long-term population dynamics, which are subject to many uncertainties. We illustrate how such projections can be derived through Bayesian state-space modeling methods based on a 26-year data set for North Island Robins (Petroica longipes) reintroduced to Tiritiri Matangi Island in 1992. We used pedigree data to model increases in the average inbreeding level (F ) over time based on kinship of possible breeding pairs and to estimate empirically N_e/N (effective/census population size). We used multiple imputation to model the unknown components of inbreeding coefficients, which allowed us to estimate effects of inbreeding on survival for all 1458 birds in the data set while modeling density dependence and environmental stochasticity. This modeling indicated that inbreeding reduced juvenile survival (1.83 lethal equivalents [SE 0.81]) and may have reduced subsequent adult survival (0.44 lethal equivalents [0.81]) but had no apparent effect on numbers of fledglings produced. Average inbreeding level increased to 0.10 (SE 0.001) as the population grew from 33 (0.3) to 160 (6) individuals over the 25 years, giving a ratio of 0.56 (0.01). Based on a model that also incorporated habitat regeneration, the population was projected to reach a maximum of 331–1144 birds (median 726) in 2130, then to begin a slow decline. Without inbreeding, the population would be expected stabilize at 887–1465 birds (median 1131). Such analysis, therefore, makes it possible to empirically derive the information needed for rational decisions about inbreeding management while accounting for multiple sources of uncertainty.     

Systematic Temporal Patterns in the Relationship Between Housing Development and Forest Bird Biodiversity

As people encroach increasingly on natural areas, one question is how this affects avian biodiversity. The answer to this is partly scale‐dependent. At broad scales, human populations and biodiversity concentrate in the same areas and are positively associated, but at local scales people and biodiversity are negatively associated with biodiversity. We investigated whether there is also a systematic temporal trend in the relationship between bird biodiversity and housing development. We used linear regression to examine associations between forest bird species richness and housing growth in the conterminous United States over 30 years. Our data sources were the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the 2000 decennial U.S. Census. In the 9 largest forested ecoregions, housing density increased continually over time. Across the conterminous United States, the association between bird species richness and housing density was positive for virtually all guilds except ground nesting birds. We found a systematic trajectory of declining bird species richness as housing increased through time. In more recently developed ecoregions, where housing density was still low, the association with bird species richness was neutral or positive. In ecoregions that were developed earlier and where housing density was highest, the association of housing density with bird species richness for most guilds was negative and grew stronger with advancing decades. We propose that in general the relationship between human settlement and biodiversity over time unfolds as a 2‐phase process. The first phase is apparently innocuous; associations are positive due to coincidence of low‐density housing with high biodiversity. The second phase is highly detrimental to biodiversity, and increases in housing density are associated with biodiversity losses. The long‐term effect on biodiversity depends on the final housing density. This general pattern can help unify our understanding of the relationship of human encroachment and biodiversity response. Patrones Sistemáticos Temporales en la Relación entre Desarrollos Urbanos y la Biodiversidad de Aves de Bosque