A modular approach to Integrated Assessment modeling

In this paper, we present a new approach to model coupling that probably forms the methodological basis of a new generation of Integrated Assessment models. This approach respects the knowledge and expertise that is embodied in existing models and encourages their gradual evolution. Modularity is the guiding principle. Our approach is distinguished by the way modules are coupled which is based on an interplay of a job control module, a numerical coupling module, and a couple of stand-alone functional modules. The numerical coupling module - the core component - serves to treat the feedbacks between the functional modules. A first implemented example that couples an economic and a climate module by means of a two-phase meta-optimization is presented here. The algorithm and mathematical structure behind are discussed as well as important features such as convergence behavior and reliability.     

中国北方干旱地区沙尘矿物特征研究

为了开展对我国沙暴传输规律的研究,了解我国北方干旱地区沙尘矿物特征有重要意义。本文对我国新疆塔克拉玛干沙漠区,内蒙腾格里沙漠区,贺兰山及银川等处的沙尘样品用X射线粉末衍射法进行矿物分析鉴定,并用原子吸收法作了特征元素的分析对比,根据矿物的X射线粉末衍射结果,结合元素分析,对沙漠源区及其以东地区沙尘矿物特征作了比较,判析了两个源区的矿物组成,讨论了它们的传输过程。     

Optimizing the removal of small fish passage barriers

Removing small artificial barriers that hinder upstream migrations of fish is a major problem in riparian habitat restoration. Because of budgetary limitations, it is necessary to prioritize barrier removal and repair decisions. These have usually been based on scoring and ranking procedures, which, although simple to use, can be very inefficient in terms of increasing the amount of accessible instream habitat. We develop a novel decision-making approach, based on integer programming techniques, which optimizes repair and removal decisions. Results show based on real datasets of barrier culverts located in Washington State that scoring and ranking is over 25% below the optimum on average and a full 100% below in the worst case, producing no net habitat gain whatsoever. This is compared to a dynamic programming method that was able to find optimal solutions in less than a second, even for problems with up to several hundred variables, and a heuristic method, which found solutions with less than a 1% average optimality gap in even less time.     

沙湾荒漠区生态环境的植物监测

利用植物生态学常规方法进行了荒漠植被种群生物量和数量特证调查,以植物为监测对象,并就群落地上部分生物量,Shannon-Wiener多样性指数,群落均匀度,生态优势度等指标探讨了在荒漠生态环境监测和评价中的具体应用。     

The modern theory of biological evolution: an expanded synthesis

In 1858, two naturalists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, independently proposed natural selection as the basic mechanism responsible for the origin of new phenotypic variants and, ultimately, new species. A large body of evidence for this hypothesis was published in Darwins Origin of Species one year later, the appearance of which provoked other leading scientists like August Weismann to adopt and amplify Darwins perspective. Weismanns neo-Darwinian theory of evolution was further elaborated, most notably in a series of books by Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, Julian Huxley and others. In this article we first summarize the history of life on Earth and provide recent evidence demonstrating that Darwins dilemma (the apparent missing Precambrian record of life) has been resolved. Next, the historical development and structure of the modern synthesis is described within the context of the following topics: paleobiology and rates of evolution, mass extinctions and species selection, macroevolution and punctuated equilibrium, sexual reproduction and recombination, sexual selection and altruism, endosymbiosis and eukaryotic cell evolution, evolutionary developmental biology, phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic inheritance and molecular evolution, experimental bacterial evolution, and computer simulations (in silico evolution of digital organisms). In addition, we discuss the expansion of the modern synthesis, embracing all branches of scientific disciplines. It is concluded that the basic tenets of the synthetic theory have survived, but in modified form. These sub-theories require continued elaboration, particularly in light of molecular biology, to answer open-ended questions concerning the mechanisms of evolution in all five kingdoms of life.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Ernst Mayr on the occasion of his 100th birthdayThis revised version was published online in March 2004, with corrections to the caption of Figure 6.     

寻找紧缺的银矿资源——地质工作者的急迫使命

由于近二十年来全世界工业的快速发展 ,银的用途益发广泛 ,白银需求量迅猛增加 ,它不仅是我国紧缺的矿产资源 ,而且已成为世界市场上的走俏商品 ,全世界已连续九年需大于供 ,九年累计缺银 1 0亿盎司 ,并且缺口越来越大。专家们预测 :到 1 998年底全世界库存的银锭消耗殆尽。我国前几年有 1 / 2 -1 / 3的白银靠进口 ,1 997年还进口白银 1 55吨。因而 ,银价剧烈上扬 ,从 1 996年的 4美元 /盎司 ,涨到 1 998年 2月份的 7.81美元 /盎司。与白银相反 ,近两年黄金供远过于求 ,1 997年全世界多出 3 93吨 ,故金价急剧下跌 ,从 1 996年的 3 87.87美元 /盎司 ,降到 1 998年 6月份的 2 87.9美元/盎司。由于银需求量增大 ,加之有色金属工业的不景气 ,银产量不仅不能增长 ,而且反而下降。因而人们提出寻找能根据需要而生产的、具有独立开采价值的银矿床 ,即独立银矿床。全世界有三大巨型成矿带 ,我国有四大银成矿区。这些成矿区带的核心是火山 -岩浆活动带。银成矿区带都受巨型或区域深大断裂带控制 ,独立银矿床多产于区域深大断裂带旁侧的次级断层交汇处或附近。独立银矿床的直接围岩可以是火成岩、沉积岩和变质岩 ,但是它们位于火山岩浆活动带中 ,而且以火山岩为主。     

广州市实施二氧化硫排污权交易研究

在排污权交易的理论基础上,借鉴美国二氧化硫排放权交易的政策和方法,设计了一套广州市实施二氧化硫排污权交易的框架,旨在为广州市控制削减二氧化硫排放提供一种基于市场的环境管理手段.     

治理催化超临界水氧化处理1,5-萘二磺酸

采用Mn2O3γAl2O3和V2O5γAl2O3为催化剂,在一连续流固定床反应器中进行了超临界水氧化1,5萘二磺酸实验。实验结果表明,在380～440℃,24MPa条件下,Mn2O3γAl2O3和V2O5γAl2O3催化剂对1,5萘二磺酸的氧化降解具有显著的促进作用,TOC去除率达到90%以上;催化剂的催化效果随反应温度的升高而增强,随pH值的降低而增强,随停留时间的延长先增强后趋于平缓。     

Overestimates of black carbon in soils and sediments

Several recent reports suggest that black carbon (BC), which broadly encompasses charcoal, soot, and other forms of pyrogenic carbon, may constitute a significant proportion of the refractory carbon in soil and sedimentary organic matter. BC is a sink for biospheric and atmospheric carbon dioxide, and is intimately tied to the biogeochemical cycling of both carbon and oxygen through its role in organic matter cycling. Additionally, BC may represent a large fraction of the missing carbon sink in global carbon accounting. Here, we demonstrate that documented measurements of BC may be the result of methodological artifacts, which inadvertently overestimate the amount of BC. We found that a widely used thermal oxidative method can create a residue that falls under the operational definition of BC in samples that are relatively BC-free. Moreover, during this procedure, labile organic matter constituents are condensed into pyrogenic carbon, implying that the labile components are present in lesser quantities. These methodological deficiencies are promoting overestimates in the amount of refractory carbon in soil and sedimentary organic matter and may endorse inaccuracies in the rates of carbon fluxes, the mean residence times of terrestrial carbon, and organic matter burial rates in oceanic environments.