Biofluorescence as a survey tool for cryptic marine species

As ecosystems come under increasing anthropogenic pressure, rare species face the highest risk of extinction. Paradoxically, data necessary to evaluate the conservation status of rare species are often lacking because of the challenges of detecting species with low abundance. One group of fishes subject to this undersampling bias are those with cryptic body patterns. Twenty‐one percent of cryptic fish species assessed for their extinction risk (International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN]) are data deficient. We developed a nondestructive method for surveying cryptically patterned marine fishes based on the presence of biofluorescence (underwater biofluorescence census, UBC). Blue LED torches were used to investigate how widespread biofluorescence was in cryptic reef fishes in the Coral Triangle region. The effectiveness of UBC to generate abundance data was tested on a data‐deficient pygmy seahorse species (Hippocampus bargibanti) and compared with data obtained from standard underwater visual census (UVC) surveys. We recorded 95 reef fish species displaying biofluorescence, 73 of which had not been previously described as biofluorescent. Of those fish with cryptic patterns, 87% were biofluorescent compared with 9% for noncryptic fishes. The probability of species displaying biofluorescence was 70.9 times greater for cryptic species than for noncryptic species. Almost twice the number of H. bargibanti was counted using the UBC compared with UVC. For 2 triplefin species (Ucla xenogrammus, Enneapterygius tutuilae), the abundance detected with UBC was triple that detected with UVC. The UBC method was effective at finding cryptic species that would otherwise be difficult to detect and thus will reduce interobserver variability inherent to UVC surveys. Biofluorescence is ubiquitous in cryptic fishes, making this method applicable across a wide range of species. Data collected using UBC could be used with multiple IUCN criteria to assess the extinction risk of cryptic species. Adopting this technique will enhance researchers’ ability to survey cryptic species and facilitate management and conservation of cryptic marine species.     

Effects of temperature and precipitation on grassland bird nesting success as mediated by patch size

Grassland birds are declining faster than any other bird guild across North America. Shrinking ranges and population declines are attributed to widespread habitat loss and increasingly fragmented landscapes of agriculture and other land uses that are misaligned with grassland bird conservation. Concurrent with habitat loss and degradation, temperate grasslands have been disproportionally affected by climate change relative to most other terrestrial biomes. Distributions of grassland birds often correlate with gradients in climate, but few researchers have explored the consequences of weather on the demography of grassland birds inhabiting a range of grassland fragments. To do so, we modeled the effects of temperature and precipitation on nesting success rates of 12 grassland bird species inhabiting a range of grassland patches across North America (21,000 nests from 81 individual studies). Higher amounts of precipitation in the preceding year were associated with higher nesting success, but wetter conditions during the active breeding season reduced nesting success. Extremely cold or hot conditions during the early breeding season were associated with lower rates of nesting success. The direct and indirect influence of temperature and precipitation on nesting success was moderated by grassland patch size. The positive effects of precipitation in the preceding year on nesting success were strongest in relatively small grassland patches and had little effect in large patches. Conversely, warm temperatures reduced nesting success in small grassland patches but increased nesting success in large patches. Mechanisms underlying these differences may be patch‐size‐induced variation in microclimates and predator activity. Although the exact cause is unclear, large grassland patches, the most common metric of grassland conservation, appears to moderate the effects of weather on grassland‐bird demography and could be an effective component of climate‐change adaptation.     

Participatory monitoring to connect local and global priorities for forest restoration

New global initiatives to restore forest landscapes present an unparalleled opportunity to reverse deforestation and forest degradation. Participatory monitoring could play a crucial role in providing accountability, generating local buy in, and catalyzing learning in monitoring systems that need scalability and adaptability to a range of local sites. We synthesized current knowledge from literature searches and interviews to provide lessons for the development of a scalable, multisite participatory monitoring system. Studies show that local people can collect accurate data on forest change, drivers of change, threats to reforestation, and biophysical and socioeconomic impacts that remote sensing cannot. They can do this at one‐third the cost of professionals. Successful participatory monitoring systems collect information on a few simple indicators, respond to local priorities, provide appropriate incentives for participation, and catalyze learning and decision making based on frequent analyses and multilevel interactions with other stakeholders. Participatory monitoring could provide a framework for linking global, national, and local needs, aspirations, and capacities for forest restoration.     

“Horizontal” and “vertical” diffusion: The cumulative influence of Impact and Benefit Agreements (IBAs) on mining policy-production in New Caledonia

The scale, duration and intensity of conflicts over mineral resources vary greatly. However, they always involve, in varying proportions, the triad stakeholder model—corporation, state, community—each element of which is internally heterogeneous. Increasingly, new players are entering the scene: international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), environmental grassroots groups, indigenous transnational networks, international aid and development agencies. Nevertheless, conflicts and arrangements around access to and control over mineral resources can take the apparent form of dyadic relationships between companies and local communities, resulting in negotiated company-community agreements, often called “Impact and Benefit Agreements” (IBAs). In our analysis, local agreements on mineral resource governance are seen as building blocks in the production of mining policy “from below”, even though they seem at first sight to exclude the state. This paper argues that these agreements, and the negotiations surrounding them, inform debates around mining through both “horizontal diffusion” (influence on other localities facing similar situations) and “vertical diffusion” (influence on policy design and implementation at upper political and administrative levels). This diffusion may occur in a “positive” sense, effecting further change in line with the intent of the original agreement, or in a “negative” one, actually making substantive change less likely, whether at a community or policy level. We build this argument through two case studies from New Caledonia, in the south-west Pacific, where mining has long been a key issue, especially in the current context of “negotiated decolonization” launched by the 1998 Nouméa Accord.     

The least‐cost biodiversity impact mitigation hierarchy with a focus on marine fisheries and bycatch issues

Least‐cost implementation of the mitigation hierarchy of impacts on biodiversity minimizes the cost of a given level of biodiversity conservation, at project or ecosystem levels, and requires minimizing costs across and within hierarchy steps. Incentive‐based policy instruments that price biodiversity to alter producer and consumer behavior and decision making are generally the most effective way to achieve least‐cost implementation across and within the different hierarchy steps and across all producers and conservation channels. Nonetheless, there are circumstances that favor direct regulation or intrinsic motivation. Conservatory offsets, introduced within the conservatory first three steps of the mitigation hierarchy, rather than the fourth step to compensate the residual, provide an additional incentive‐based policy instrument. The least‐cost mitigation hierarchy framework, induced through incentive‐based policy instruments, including conservatory offsets, mitigates fisheries bycatch consistent with given targets, the Law of the Sea, and the Convention on Biological Diversity.     

电动汽车辐射源的仿真分析

本文运用目前较为流行的三种仿真工具来对电动汽车辐射源进行仿真分析,运用MATLAB的simulink模块对汽车电池模型等效电路进行模型的搭建与仿真分析电路电流,得到电流的表达式和仿真图,再根据对电流图形进行曲线拟合,得到电流的近似表达式。把表达式当作是时间的函数,这样就可以将电池工作时的电流导入到CST中并作为激励源进行空间的仿真分析,得到电磁波的分布图。     

ZrO2掺杂对La2Ce2O7力学和热物理性能 影响的研究

目的提高La_2Ce_2O_7(LC)陶瓷材料的断裂韧性。方法采用固相反应方法合成Y_2O_3稳定ZrO_2(YSZ)掺杂的La_2Ce_2O_7(LC)陶瓷材料(LCZ),研究LCZ块材的弹性模量、断裂韧性等力学性能,以及热膨胀系数、热传导率等热物理性能。结果 10%YSZ摩尔分数掺杂的LCZ块材的断裂韧性约为1.4 MPa·m1/2,比LC提高了近10%。YSZ掺杂有效地抑制了LC在200～400℃温度区间热膨胀系数下降的现象。在200～1200℃温度范围内,LCZ块材的热膨胀系数为10×10-6～12×10-6K-1,在1200℃的热导率约为0.75W/(m·K),比YSZ降低了50%以上,显示了优异的隔热性能。结论 YSZ的掺杂使LC中部分Zr4+取代了La3+,降低了晶格中的O空位浓度,原子的横向剪切运动被削弱,有效地抑制了LC在200～400℃温度区间热膨胀系数下降的现象。由于t-ZrO_2→m-ZrO_2的相变对微裂纹的愈合作用,10%YSZ掺杂使LC块材的断裂韧性得到有效提高。     

Determination of paraquat in water samples using a sensitive fluorescent probe titration method

Paraquat (PQ), a nonselective herbicide, is non-fluorescent in aqueous solutions. Thus, its determination through direct fluorescent methods is not feasible. The supramolecular inclusion interaction of PQ with cucurbit[7]uril was studied by a fluorescent probe titration method. Significant quenching of the fluorescence intensity of the cucurbit[7]uril-coptisine fluorescent probe was observed with the addition of PQ. A new fluorescent probe titration method with high selectivity and sensitivity at the ng/mL level was developed to determine PQ in aqueous solutions with good precision and accuracy based on the significant quenching of the supramolecular complex fluorescence intensity. The proposed method was successfully used in the determination of PQ in lake water, tap water, well water, and ditch water in an agricultural area, with recoveries of 96.73% to 105.77%. The fluorescence quenching values (ΔF) showed a good linear relationship with PQ concentrations from 1.0×10^-8 to 1.2× 10^-5 mol/L with a detection limit of 3.35×10^-9 mol/L. In addition, the interaction models of the supramolecular complexes formed between the host and the guest were established using theoretical calculations. The interaction mechanism between the cucurbit[7]uril and PQ was confirmed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy.     

基于MATLAB的火灾探测报警系统寿命分布和可靠度研究

基于不同的系统可靠性寿命分布类型对应的可靠度模型,介绍4种常见的系统可靠性寿命分布模型的适用情况、特征、规律。根据概率论和数理统计相关理论,研究在MATLAB下判断系统寿命分布模型的方法,利用MATLAB函数对模型参数进行估计,构建系统可靠度模型。并以某商场的火灾探测报警系统作为研究对象,收集一段时间的系统故障数据,运用MATLAB数值分析方法,得出火灾探测报警系统的可靠度模型,找出系统可靠度随使用寿命的变化规律。结果表明:计算得到的商场火灾探测报警系统的可靠度随着使用时间变化规律与实际情况基本吻合。     

基于汶川地震的地震人员伤亡预测模型研究

地震发生以后及时掌握人员伤亡情况对灾后救援具有重要作用,因此,建立地震人员伤亡预测模型是极为重要的。以2008年汶川地震人员伤亡数据及房屋破坏面积数据为基础,运用线性回归分析方法模拟出地震人员伤亡预测模型。该函数模型是以建筑物的易损性为自变量,分别以死亡人数、受伤人数为因变量构建的。同时对回归模型进行误差分析,并参考前人模型可知房屋内人口密度和地震发生时间2个因素对模型有很大影响,进而对回归系数进行调整。最后利用文中模型和其他几种预测模型分别对汶川地震和玉树地震进行验证,并与地震实际伤亡结果进行比较,证明研究的模型的准确性和适用性。