A new giant pterosaur with a robust skull from the latest cretaceous of Romania

A new giant pterosaur, Hatzegopteryx thambema, nov.gen., nov.sp., from the Maastrichtian Densu?-Ciula Formation of Romania is remarkable for its very large size (estimated wing span > or = 12 m) and for the robustness of its large skull, which may have been nearly 3 m long. The stout skull bones contrast with the usually thin and slender skull elements of other pterosaurs, and raise the question of how the weight of the skull was reduced in order to make flight possible. The answer probably lies in the very peculiar internal structure of the bones, which consists of a dense network of very thin trabeculae enclosing small alveoli. This structure is reminiscent of expanded polystyrene and, like it, probably combined strength with lightness.     

生命周期评价新发展与工业应用

从国际生命周期小组的统计和国内外的案例,综述了新世纪生命周期评价（LCA）的发展和工业应用现状,对存在的问题进行探讨,就如何进一步改进提出建议。     

Different mechanisms of extinction of conditioned taste aversion are dependent on time intervals of extinction following conditioning

After extinction, the reappearance of a conditioned response induced by an unconditioned stimulus which is weaker than that used during the conditioning training indicates that the extinction procedure does not eliminate the original conditioned memory. Recent studies on fear conditioning have shown that rats exhibited little or no recovery of conditioned responding if the time interval between fear acquisition and extinction was short, suggesting that the extinction process may erase the original conditioning trace in this situation. In the present study, a saving experiment was conducted in rats to investigate whether an aversive response could be recovered following extinction training with different time intervals after acquisition of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Male Long–Evans rats developed CTA by associating a 0.2% sucrose solution with malaise induced by intraperitoneal injection of 4 ml/kg 0.15 M LiCl and were subjected to extinction training with an interval of 5 h (5H group) or 24 h (24H group) after acquisition of CTA. Rats in the 5H group, but not in the 24H group, exhibited no aversive responding to the sucrose solution followed by the injection of a lower dose of LiCl (1 ml/kg). These findings indicate that the extinction procedure administered at different time points following the acquisition of CTA affects recovery of extinguished aversive memory and suggest that an unlearning process may be involved in the mechanisms of CTA extinction with short intervals between acquisition and extinction.     

我国发展循环经济的最新进展

从循环经济的发展逐步纳入规划、立法取得的进展、政策体系的逐步完善以及理论研究和技术支撑作用的逐步增强四个方面,论述了我国发展循环经济的最新进展,并指出在我国已初步形成了再生资源循环利用产业体系、产业园区循环经济发展模式、全社会资源循环利用体系以及发展循环经济的一批典型企业。     

对水污染控制技术发展的最新阐释--《废水生物处理新技术》评介

废水生物处理技术已有一百多年的历史,其理论和实用技术在此一百多年间也不断发展和进步,并得到广泛应用,对控制水污染和改善水体水质起到了重要作用。而从全世界范围看,水污染至今还没有得到有效控制,特别是在广大的发展中国家。在我国,水污染依然严重,水环境与水生生态状况仍十分严峻,近年来我国城市废水处理厂建设进入了一个新的高速发展时期,对废水处理新技术的要求日益增长。广大环境保护科技工作非常需要一部系统全面、反映废水处理技术现状和发展的作。由张忠祥、钱易主编,顾夏声、胡纪萃审定,清华大学出版社出版的《废水生物处理新技术》一书正适合这一时代需要,对废水生物处理技术近年来的发展进步、功能作用及特性进行了分析,并在此基础上展望了发展前景。     

环境科学与现代生物技术的完美结合--评《现代环境生物技术》

环境生物技术的起源可以追溯到一百多年前的活性污泥工艺的发展，其理论和实用技术在此一百多年来不断发展和进步，并得到广泛应用，对控制环境污染和改善环境质量起到了重要作用。而从全世界范围看，环境污染至今还没有得到有效控制，特别是在发展中国家。在我国，随着经济的迅猛发展。环境污染现状依然严峻，并有加剧的趋势。近年来，我国的环境污染治理力度不断加大，进入了一个新的高速发展时期，对环境污染治理新技术的要求日益迫切。随着现代生物技术的发展，尤其是现代分子生物学技术的出现，为环境科学的发展带来了新的机遇。现代环境生物技术就是在这一形势下形成的，它是现代生物技术在环境科学领域中的应用，是现代生物技术与环境科学紧密结合而形成的新兴交叉学科，是一种经济效益和环境效益俱佳的、解决复杂环境污染问题的有效手段，是当代环境科学研究发展的主导方向之一。     

The first definitive Asian spinosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the early cretaceous of Laos

Spinosaurids are among the largest and most specialized carnivorous dinosaurs. The morphology of their crocodile-like skull, stomach contents, and oxygen isotopic composition of the bones suggest they had a predominantly piscivorous diet. Even if close relationships between spinosaurids and Middle Jurassic megalosaurs seem well established, very little is known about the transition from a generalized large basal tetanuran to the specialized morphology of spinosaurids. Spinosaurid remains were previously known from the Early to Late Cretaceous of North Africa, Europe, and South America. Here, we report the discovery of a new spinosaurid theropod from the late Early Cretaceous Savannakhet Basin in Laos, which is distinguished by an autapomorphic sinusoidal dorsosacral sail. This new taxon, Ichthyovenator laosensis gen. et sp. nov., includes well-preserved and partially articulated postcranial remains. Although possible spinosaurid teeth have been reported from various Early Cretaceous localities in Asia, the new taxon I. laosensis is the first definite record of Spinosauridae from Asia. Cladistic analysis identifies Ichthyovenator as a member of the sub-clade Baryonychinae and suggests a widespread distribution of this clade at the end of the Early Cretaceous. Chilantaisaurus tashouikensis from the Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, and an ungual phalanx from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado are also referred to spinosaurids, extending both the stratigraphical and geographical range of this clade.     

The evolution of man and the extinction of animals

Africa has lost only very few big mammals at the end of the pleistocene. Evidence is put forward that the reason for the present richness of the African mammal fauna is a very early coevolution between evolving man and the megafauna of this area. Areas without such an early coevolution suffered severe losses (up to 100%) of their native megafauna, when early hunters invaded them.     

Effect of gradual increase of salt on performance and microbial community during granulation process

Salinity was considered to have effects on the characteristics,performance microbial com-munities of aerobic granular sludge.This study investigated granulation process with grad-ual increase of salt under different gradients.Two identical sequencing batch reactors were operated,while the influent of Ra and Rb was subjected to stepwise increments of NaCl con-centrations(0-4 g/L and 0-10 g/L).The presence of filamentous bacteria may contribute to granules formed under lower salinity conditions,potentially leading to granules fragmenta-tion.Excellent removal efficiency achieved in both reactors although there was a small accu-mulation of nitrite in Rb at later stages.The removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand(COD),total nitrogen(TN),and total phosphorus(TP)in Ra were 95.31％,93.70％and 88.66％,while the corresponding removal efficiencies in Rb were 94.19％,89.79％and 80.74％.Salinity stimulated extracellular polymeric substances(EPS)secretion and enriched EPS producing bacteria to help maintain the integrity and stability of the aerobic granules.Heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria were responsible for NH4+-N and NO2--N oxidation of salinity systems and large number of denitrifying bacteria were detected,which ensure the high removal efficiency of TN in the systems.     

The last polar dinosaurs: high diversity of latest Cretaceous arctic dinosaurs in Russia

A latest Cretaceous (68 to 65 million years ago) vertebrate microfossil assemblage discovered at Kakanaut in northeastern Russia reveals that dinosaurs were still highly diversified in Arctic regions just before the Cretaceous–Tertiary mass extinction event. Dinosaur eggshell fragments, belonging to hadrosaurids and non-avian theropods, indicate that at least several latest Cretaceous dinosaur taxa could reproduce in polar region and were probably year-round residents of high latitudes. Palaeobotanical data suggest that these polar dinosaurs lived in a temperate climate (mean annual temperature about 10°C), but the climate was apparently too cold for amphibians and ectothermic reptiles. The high diversity of Late Maastrichtian dinosaurs in high latitudes, where ectotherms are absent, strongly questions hypotheses according to which dinosaur extinction was a result of temperature decline, caused or not by the Chicxulub impact.     

中国工商业的可持续发展新趋势——中国可持续发展工商理事会第九届可持续发展新趋势报告会在北京隆重召开

2013年4月18日中国可持续发展工商理事会(CBCSD)在北京召开了以"可持续发展路径与工商业的角色"为主题的第九届可持续发展新趋势报告会。来自CBCSD理事、会员企业和工商业、政府、学界及社会组织的180余位高层领导、代表出席了会议。CEC会长、原全国政协常务副主席王忠禹先生在致辞中充分肯定CBCSD作为专业社会组织,通过引进先进理念和工具,协助制定行业节能减排标准和统计方法,推动了可持续发展量化考核工作的     

A new dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) with Asian affinities from the latest Cretaceous of North America

Dromaeosaurids from the Maastrichtian of North America have a poor fossil record and are known largely from isolated teeth, which have typically been referred to taxa based on more complete material from earlier Campanian strata. An almost complete maxilla with well-preserved dentition and an associated dentary from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana are used to establish a new dromaeosaurid taxon in the latest Maastrichtian, immediately prior to the end-Cretaceous extinction event. Acheroraptor temertyorum gen. et sp. nov. is differentiated from other dromaeosaurids on the basis of a hypertrophied postantral wall that projects posteriorly into the antorbital fenestra, a maxillary fenestra positioned low in the antorbital fossa and directly posterior to the promaxillary fenestra, and distinctive dentition with marked apicobasal ridges. The new material allows a dromaeosaurid from the Maastrichtian of North America to be placed within a phylogenetic framework for the first time. Phylogenetic analysis suggests Acheroraptor is a velociraptorine that is more closely related to Asian dromaeosaurids, including Tsaagan and Velociraptor, than it is to Dromaeosaurus, Saurornitholestes, or any other taxon from North America. As part of the Lancian Tyrannosaurus–Triceratops fauna, A. temertyorum is the latest occurring dromaeosaurid. Its relationships and occurrence suggest a complex historical biogeographic scenario that involved multiple, bi-directional faunal interchanges between Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous.     

A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic

Non-avian theropod dinosaurs attained large body sizes, monopolising terrestrial apex predator niches in the Jurassic–Cretaceous. From the Middle Jurassic onwards, Allosauroidea and Megalosauroidea comprised almost all large-bodied predators for 85 million years. Despite their enormous success, however, they are usually considered absent from terminal Cretaceous ecosystems, replaced by tyrannosaurids and abelisaurids. We demonstrate that the problematic allosauroids Aerosteon, Australovenator, Fukuiraptor and Neovenator form a previously unrecognised but ecologically diverse and globally distributed clade (Neovenatoridae, new clade) with the hitherto enigmatic theropods Chilantaisaurus, Megaraptor and the Maastrichtian Orkoraptor. This refutes the notion that allosauroid extinction pre-dated the end of the Mesozoic. Neovenatoridae includes a derived group (Megaraptora, new clade) that developed long, raptorial forelimbs, cursorial hind limbs, appendicular pneumaticity and small size, features acquired convergently in bird-line theropods. Neovenatorids thus occupied a 14-fold adult size range from 175 kg (Fukuiraptor) to approximately 2,500 kg (Chilantaisaurus). Recognition of this major allosauroid radiation has implications for Gondwanan paleobiogeography: The distribution of early Cretaceous allosauroids does not strongly support the vicariant hypothesis of southern dinosaur evolution or any particular continental breakup sequence or dispersal scenario. Instead, clades were nearly cosmopolitan in their early history, and later distributions are explained by sampling failure or local extinction.