Movements and wintering areas of breeding age Thick-billed Murre <Emphasis Type="Italic">Uria lomvia</Emphasis> from two colonies in Nunavut,Canada

The non-breeding movements of marine birds were poorly known until recently, but this information is essential to understanding the risk to different geographical populations from events on the wintering grounds. We tracked the migration routes and wintering areas of Thick-billed Murre Uria lomvia from two breeding colonies in eastern Canada: Coats Island in northern Hudson Bay and The Minarets, Baffin Island, during the period August 2007–May 2008 using geolocation loggers. Birds from The Minarets moved south rapidly post-breeding and wintered principally off Newfoundland and southern Labrador, or between Newfoundland and southern Greenland, remaining south of 55°N until at least the spring equinox. Those from Coats Island remained in Hudson Bay until at least mid-November, after which they moved rapidly through Hudson Strait to winter in southern Davis Strait and the northern Labrador Sea, mostly north of 55°N. Many individuals stayed throughout the winter in areas of heavy ice cover. Adults from the two colonies appear to be completely segregated in winter and those from Coats Island probably did not enter the area of the winter hunt in Newfoundland. Unexpectedly, some birds from The Minarets wintered in waters beyond the continental slope and outside the distribution of pack ice, demonstrating that particular individuals can be wholly pelagic throughout the winter. Coats Island birds returned through Hudson Strait as soon as open water areas became available in spring. Their sojourn in Hudson Bay coincided very closely with the occurrence of areas with <90% ice cover. In spite of the relatively large error in positions obtained from geolocation loggers, our results demonstrated the value of these devices by uncovering a number of previously unknown aspects of Thick-billed Murre non-breeding ecology in the Northwest Atlantic. Comparison of the non-breeding ecology based on SST experienced in winter show that the winter niche is broader than hitherto assumed, demonstrating that separate populations may experience different selection in the face of climate change.     

Functional autoregressive forecasting of long-term seabed evolution

There is a need for decadal predictions of the seabed evolution, for example to inform resurvey strategies when maintaining navigation channels. The understanding of the physical processes involved in morphological evolution, and the viability of process models to accurately model evolution over these time scales, are currently limited. As a result, statistical approaches are used to supply long-term forecasts. In this paper, we introduce a novel statistical approach for this problem: the autoregressive Hilbertian model (ARH). This model naturally assesses the time evolution of spatially-distributed measurements. We apply the technique to a coastal area in the East Anglian coast over the period 1846 to 2002, and compare with two other statistical methods used recently for seabed prediction: the autoregressive model and the EOF model. We evaluate the performance of the three methods by comparing observations and predictions for 2002. The ARH model enables a reduction of 10% of the root mean squared errors. Finally, we compute the variability in the predictions related to time sampling using the jackknife, a method that uses subsamples to quantify uncertainties.     

The Role of Abatement Costs in GHG Permit Allocations: A Global Stabilization Scenario Analysis

Our objective is to propose permit allocation schemes that lead to a fair distribution of the net abatement cost among regions in a global greenhouse gas (GHG) stabilization scenario. We use a detailed technology-based energy model, World-MARKAL, to determine efficient abatement decisions, and to calculate the regional gross abatement costs (before permit allocation and trading). The net abatement costs are then calculated and used for different permit allocation schemes.     

Widespread waterborne pollution in central Swedish lakes and the Baltic Sea from pre-industrial mining and metallurgy

Metal pollution is viewed as a modern problem that began in the 19th century and accelerated through the 20th century; however, in many parts of the globe this view is wrong. Here, we studied past waterborne metal pollution in lake sediments from the Bergslagen region in central Sweden, one of many historically important mining regions in Europe. With a focus on lead (including isotopes), we trace mining impacts from a local scale, through a 120-km-long river system draining into Mälaren - Sweden's third largest lake, and finally also the Baltic Sea. Comparison of sediment and peat records shows that pollution from Swedish mining was largely waterborne and that atmospheric deposition was dominated by long-range transport from other regions. Swedish ore lead is detectable from the 10th century, but the greatest impact occurred during the 16th-18th centuries with improvements occurring over recent centuries, i.e., historical pollution > modern industrial pollution.     

Prenatal sonographic assessment of early,rapidly growing fetal cervical teratoma

Although malignant transformation of fetal cervical teratoma is extremely rare, perinatal morbidity is high and usually related to the size of the tumour, which may compromise fetal swallowing and subsequently lead to upper airway obstruction. We present a case in which mid-trimester serial sonography demonstrated markedly rapid early growth of a lesion of this type between 17 and 19 weeks' gestation indicating the aggressive nature of this tumour, assisting parental decision to terminate the pregnancy. Histopathology confirmed grade 3 immaturity of the lesion.     

重型柴油车车载排放实测与加载影响研究

采用车载排放测试仪,对2辆重型柴油卡车在空载和加载条件下进行实际道路车载排放测试.通过分析获得了油耗与排放速率的速度-加速度及其工况点的分布,发现高油耗与高排放工况点主要集中在高速加速区域,加载时油耗与排放高值随工况点分布更广;车辆在(30±2.5)km·h^-1等速及加速行驶时受加载影响最大,此时加载油耗与排放约是空载的1.6～3.2倍左右;由实测结果发现,卡车Ⅰ和卡车Ⅱ加载时油耗及CO、HC、NO_x排放因子分别是空载的1.6倍、3.5倍、1.1倍、1.5倍以及1.2倍、1.0倍、0.9倍和1.5倍,加载对油耗与NO_x排放影响最为明显,对HC影响最小,CO影响取决于车辆保养水平;卡车Ⅱ较卡车Ⅰ车型更大,发动机功率更高,相同荷载时受加载影响较小,说明重型车在发动机负荷可承受的范围内合理装载,有助于避免油耗与排放恶化,提高燃油经济性和排放水平.     

应用IVE模型计算上海市机动车污染物排放

为了解上海市机动车污染现状,建立上海市机动车源排放清单,分别选择上海市中心城区、商业区和收入相对较低区域中的主干道、快速道和次干道3种共9条典型道路,开展机动车技术水平参数、比功率(VSP)分布状况、启动状况等测试,并在此基础上将International Vehicle E-mission(IVE)模型本地化.调查结果表明,上海市区实际道路上轻型客车、出租车、公交巴士、卡车和摩托车(包含助动车)分别占道路总车流量的41.0%、30.8%、15.6%、6.9%和5.7%;从技术组成看,约85%的轻型客车和97%的出租车均安装有三元催化装置,约30%的公交巴士和90%的卡车没有达到欧Ⅰ标准;机动车的VSP分布主要集中在-2.9～1.2 kw·t-1.模式计算结果表明,2004年上海市机动车CO、VOC、NOx和PM排放量分别为57.06×104t、7.75×104t、9.20×104t和0.26×104t;20%的高排放车对总排放量的贡献占到25%～45%;启动过程中排放的CO、VOC和PM占总排放量的15%～25%,NOx仅占总排放量的4.5%.     

公交柴油车道路排放特征的实测研究初探

利用GPS和SEMTECH-D车载排放测试仪测量了上海市公交车行驶工况和公交柴油车在市区道路上的排放状况.该研究共获得193400组公交车行驶工况数据,累计测量里程820 km,排放数据75420个.测量结果显示,上海市公交车平均车行速度14 km·h-1,最高车速为60 km·h-1;市区公交车平均车行速度14 km·h-1,最高车速小于60 km·h-1,市区公交车的怠速时间比在25%以上.被测公交柴油车的CO、THC和NOx平均里程排放因子为(3.41±0.86)、(1.95±0.47)和(4.56±0.99) g·km-1,与陈长虹等人2005年提供的卡车3和卡车5的排放状况相近.测量结果还显示,被测车辆进出站时单位里程排放量是正常行驶条件下的10倍.此外,在交通高峰期或拥堵期,车行速度降低至0～5 km·h-1时,被测公交柴油车的CO、THC和NOx平均里程排放因子升高至17.49、6.68和15.85 g·km-1,是平均车速时候的5.13倍、3.4倍和3.48倍,车辆排放污染将明显加剧.测量结果说明,加强城市交通管理,减少车辆拥堵,不仅可以提高公交车运行效率,而且也是降低公交车污染的有效措施.     

Sounds associated with the reproductive behavior of the black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci)

Passive acoustic and synchronous video recordings were made at two spawning aggregation sites to study the sounds associated with reproductive behaviors of Mycteroperca bonaci. A characteristic sound was produced during courtship displays involving behaviors commonly observed for groupers of this genus at aggregations. The sound has a short pulsing section followed by a longer tonal portion with a mean peak frequency below 100 Hz. Courtship-associated sounds were quantified over one spawning season at Mona Island, Puerto Rico. Most of the daily sound production occurred during a period of 2 h prior to sunset. The highest rates of sound production lasted for a period of 10 days with lunar periodicity over three consecutive months coincident with the reported season of reproduction. Passive acoustics provide a tool to measure the variability of the reproductive activity of M. bonaci over time and may provide a method to evaluate current strategies designed to protect multi-species spawning aggregations that are critical for the recovery of threatened groupers.