南昌台气氡异常核实

前兆观测资料异常产生的原因总体可分为两大类:观测物理量自身变化和外部因素影响,后者即通常所称的干扰.要提取出观测资料中有价值的震兆信息,必须首先将干扰剔除,但由于前兆干扰成因本身具有复杂性和多样性,并随不同测项、不同环境而存在个体差异,故要求异常核实工作深入、细致、全面、客观.本文通过一个实例,详细介绍了异常核实的思路和流程,并确定此次异常为仪器干扰,不属于震兆异常.     

Preparation of ceria-zirconia solid solution with enhanced oxygen storage capacity and redox performance

A new method called ultrasonic-assisted membrane reaction (UAMR) was reported for the fabrication of ceria-zirconia solid solution. A series of ceria-zirconia solid solutions with different Ce/Zr molar ratios were prepared by the UAMR method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption, hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The UAMR method proved to be superior, especially when the Ce/Zr molar ratio was lower than 1, in fabricating ceria-zirconia solid solutions with large BET surface area, high oxygen storage capacity (OSC), and low reduction temperature.     

Hydrogen storage and distribution systems

Hydrogen storage and transportation or distribution is closely linked together. Hydrogen can be distributed continuously in pipelines or batch wise by ships, trucks, railway or airplanes. All batch transportation requires a storage system but also pipelines can be used as pressure storage system. Hydrogen exhibits the highest heating value per weight of all chemical fuels. Furthermore, hydrogen is regenerative and environment friendly. There are two reasons why hydrogen is not the major fuel of toady’s energy consumption: First of all, hydrogen is just an energy carrier. And, although it is the most abundant element in the universe, it has to be produced, since on earth it only occurs in the form of water. This implies that we have to pay for this energy, which results in a difficult economic task, because since the industrialization we are used to consuming energy for free. The second difficulty with hydrogen as an energy carrier is the low critical temperature of 33 K, i.e. hydrogen is a gas at room temperature. For mobile and in many cases also for stationary applications the volumetric and gravimetric density of hydrogen in a storage system is crucial. Hydrogen can be stored by six different methods and phenomena: high pressure gas cylinders (up to 800 bar), liquid hydrogen in cryogenic tanks (at 21 K), adsorbed hydrogen on materials with a large specific surface area (at T < 100 K), absorbed on interstitial sites in a host metal (at ambient pressure and temperature), chemically bond in covalent and ionic compounds (at ambient pressure), oxidation of reactive metals e.g. Li, Na, Mg, Al, Zn with water. These metals easily react with water to the corresponding hydroxide and liberate the hydrogen from the water. Finally, the metal hydroxides can be thermally reduced to the metals in a solar furnace.     

Fossil insect evidence for the end of the Western Settlement in Norse Greenland

The fate of Norse farming settlements in southwest Greenland has often been seen as one of the great mysteries of North Atlantic colonization and expansion. Preservation of organic remains in the permafrost of the area of the Western Settlement, inland from the modern capital Nuuk, allowed very detailed study of the phases of occupation. Samples were taken from house floors and middens during the process of archaeological excavations and from insect remains were abstracted and identified in the laboratory. In this study, we present a new paleoecological approach principally examining the fossil fly faunas from house floors. The results of our study provide contrasting detailed pictures of the demise of two neighboring farms, Gården under Sandet and Nipaatsoq, one where abandonment appears as part of a normal process of site selection and desertion, and the other where the end was more traumatic. The level of detail, which was obtained by analysis of the dipterous (true fly) remains, exceeds all previous work and provides insights otherwise unobtainable.     

Last Glacial mammals in South America: a new scenario from the Tarija Basin (Bolivia)

The chronology, sedimentary history, and paleoecology of the Tarija Basin (Bolivia), one of the richest Pleistocene mammalian sites in South America, are revised here based on a multidisciplinary study, including stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology, paleontology, isotope geochemistry, and ¹⁴C geochronology. Previous studies have indicated a Middle Pleistocene age for this classic locality. We have been able to obtain a series of ¹⁴C dates encompassing all the fossil-bearing sequences previously studied in the Tarija Basin. The dated layers range in age from about 44,000 to 21,000 radiocarbon years before present (BP), indicating that the Tarija fauna is much younger than previously thought. Glacial advances correlated to marine isotopic stages (MIS) 4 and 2 (ca. 62 and 20 ka BP, respectively) are also documented at the base and at the very top of the Tarija–Padcaya succession, respectively, indicating that the Bolivian Altiplano was not dry but sustained an ice cap during the Last Glacial Maximum. The results of this multidisciplinary study enable us to redefine the chronological limits of the Tarija sequence and of its faunal assemblage and to shift this paleontological, paleoclimatological, and paleoecological framework to the time interval from MIS 4 to MIS 2.     

A male gift to its partner? Cyanogenic glycosides in the spermatophore of longwing butterflies (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Heliconius</Emphasis>)

Males of several insect species transfer nuptial gifts to females during mating, typically in the form of a protein-rich spermatophore. In chemically defended species, males could potentially enhance such a gift with chemicals that help protect the female, her eggs, or both. This was shown for lepidopteran species that accumulate pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Most Heliconius butterflies are presumably protected from predators by virtue of de novo synthesized and/or sequestered cyanogenic glycosides. Males of Heliconius species are known to transfer nutritional gifts to the females but whether defensive chemicals could also be transferred is not known. To ascertain whether transfer of cyanogens occurs, we dissected freshly mated females from nine different Heliconius species and analyzed spermatophores for cyanogenic glycosides. We found cyanogens in the spermatophores of all nine species. This is the first time cyanogenic glycosides are reported in the spermatophores of arthropods. We discuss the implications of these findings for Heliconius biology and for other cyanogenic insects as well. We suggest that chemically defended species commonly lace their nuptial gifts with defensive chemicals to improve gift quality.     

Fire use: Is it really the cheaper land preparation method for large-scale plantations?

During the last two decades Indonesia has experienced immense forest and land fires. Often these fires are associated with extended drought and widespread use of fire to clear previously logged forest and other degraded land in preparation for oil palm, rubber, or pulpwood plantations. There are many reasons for the use of fire in land clearing activities, but probably the most important one is economics. There is still acceptance that fire is the cheapest, fastest, and most effective land clearing method with the added benefit of providing nutrients from ash residues. This paper provides a review of existing information on the financial costs and benefits of using fire for land clearing in agriculture and forestry plantations as compared with zero-burning techniques. The findings indicate that the economic advantage of fire use varies widely and depends on many factors, such as soil fertility, vegetation density, labour cost, equipment and training costs, and the costs of fire management. For large-scale land clearing, the financial analysis of the costs and benefits of fire versus zero-burning shows that when applied to low-volume vegetation, zero-burning methods are not more expensive than burning – and may actually be more cost effective in the long term. This is the case for clearing oil palm or rubber plantations for replanting, low secondary vegetation, and heavily logged-over forest. Under high-volume forest conditions, burning remains less expensive because it is more difficult, time consuming, and costly to dispose of high volumes of piled wood mechanically.     

北运河下游典型河网区水体中氮磷分布与富营养化评价

选择北运河下游典型河网区(闸坝多、水流慢和湖库化)为研究对象,通过为期1 a的水质监控,阐述了河网区氮、磷的时空变化特征,并利用对数型幂函数普适指数公式对其水体营养状态进行了评价.结果表明,河网区水体中TN平均质量浓度为12.50 mg.L-1(NH4+-N占67.41%),TP为1.45 mg.L-1(SRP占80.81%).河网区水体中氮、磷的时空分布特征明显,TN和NO 3--N质量浓度随季节变化特征趋于一致,NH 4+-N稍有不同;TP和SRP质量浓度随季节变化特征基本一致.从河网区进水带至出水带,水体中氮、磷质量浓度均呈逐渐下降趋势,其中TN、NH4+-N和NO3--N平均质量浓度分别从19.30、13.22和2.19mg.L-1降至7.98、4.45和1.50 mg.L-1;TP和SRP分别从1.95和1.59 mg.L-1降至1.11和0.91 mg.L-1.富营养化评价综合指数表明,河网区水体在时空尺度上均处于"极富"营养状态.     

三峡库区蓄水运用期表层沉积物重金属污染及其潜在生态风险评价

为全面了解蓄水运用期三峡库区表层沉积物中重金属含量及其潜在生态危害程度,在三峡库区干流及支流共采集了24个沉积物样品,测定了Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Ni、Cr、As和Hg的含量,并采用地积累指数法和潜在生态风险指数法对沉积物中的重金属污染进行了评价.结果表明,三峡库区重金属元素Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Ni、Cr、As和Hg的平均含量分别为:76.03、59.40、137.63、0.75、46.81、86.31、18.07和0.109 mg.kg-1,均高于长江沉积物背景值.地积累指数法评价结果显示:重金属元素污染程度顺序为:Cd>Pb>Cu>As>Zn>Ni>Hg>Cr.潜在生态风险指数法评价结果表明,各重金属污染对三峡库区构成的潜在生态危害由强至弱依次为:Cd>Hg>Cu>As>Pb>Cr>Zn,其中Cd的贡献因子最大.总体上讲,三峡库区蓄水运用期处于轻微生态危害等级,并未受到明显的重金属污染.