Cyclo-stationary maximum cross-covariance analysis for exogenously forced environmental systems

The response of an ecological system to external forcings shows marked seasonality and complex time delays. In order to take seasonality into account, the assumption of stationarity inherent in most statistical models for time series is replaced here by more flexible cyclo-stationarity. To describe the dominant modes of the cross-covariance structure of the system and the forcing, temporal (orthonormal) patterns are derived. They are estimated by a singular value decomposition of the cyclo-stationary sample cross-covariance matrix. These patterns allow to formulate a prediction scheme for the system once the forcing is known. The method has comparatively little tendency for multi-collinearity, so that it is well applicable also for multivariate settings and shorter data records. The method is illustrated for an aquatic ecosystem with distinct phases of a biological succession.     

DISCHARGE AND SUSPENDED SEDIMENT PATTERNS OF AN INTERMITTENT COLD DESERT STREAM1

Sage Creek in south‐central Wyoming is listed as impaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) due to its sediment contribution to the North Platte River. Despite the magnitude of sediment impacts on streams, little research has been conducted to characterize patterns of sediment transport or to model suspended sediment concentration in many arid western U.S. streams. This study examined the relationship between stream discharge and suspended sediment concentration near the Sage Creek and North Platte River confluence from 1998 through 2003. The objectives were to determine patterns of stream discharge and suspended sediment concentration, produce a sediment prediction model, and compare sediment concentrations for the six‐year period. Stream discharge and suspended sediment transport responded rapidly to convective storms and spring runoff events. During the study period, events exceeding 0.23 m³/s accounted for 92 percent of the sediment load, which is believed to originate from erodible headwater uplands. Further analysis of these data indicates that time series modeling is superior to simple linear regression in predicting sediment concentration. Significant increases in suspended sediment concentration occurred in all years except 2003. This analysis suggests that a six‐year monitoring record was insufficient to factor out impacts from climate, geology, and historical sediment storage.     

Individual changes in human EEG caused by 450 MHz microwave modulated at 40 and 70 Hz

This study was aimed to investigate the changes in the human electroencephalographic (EEG) signal caused by modulated low-level microwaves. The 450 MHz microwave exposure modulated at 40 Hz and 70 Hz frequencies was applied to a group of 15 volunteers. The field power density at the scalp was 0.16 mW/cm². Ten cycles of the exposure (1 min on and 1 min off) at both modulation frequencies were applied. Analysis of the EEG signal was performed using three different methods: nonlinear method of scaling analysis for length distribution of low variability periods (LDLVP), relative changes in EEG energy (S-parameter) and beta ratio (H-parameter). The analysis revealed significant changes caused by microwave for the whole group (H-parameter method). The exposure caused increase of the EEG beta power (S-parameter method). Statistically significant changes in EEG were detected for four subjects (26.7%) at 40 Hz modulation frequency (LDLVP method).     

FROM FLOW TO FISH TO DOLLARS: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO WATER ALLOCATION1

This paper details a case study of economic and natural system responses to alternative water management policies in the Cache La Poudre River basin, Colorado, 1980–1994. The case study is presented to highlight the value and application of a conceptual integration of economic, salmonid population, physical habitat, and water allocation models. Five alternative regimes, all intended to increase low winter flows, were investigated. Habitat enhancements created by alternative regimes were translated to population responses and economic benefits. Analysis concluded that instream flows cannot compete on the northern Colorado water rental market; cooperative agreements offer an economically feasible way to enhance instream flows; and establishing an instream flow program on the Cache La Poudre River mainstem is a potentially profitable opportunity. The alliance of models is a dynamic multidisciplinary tool for use in professional settings and offers valuable insight for decision-making processes involved in water management.     

Municipal solid waste production and composition in Finland—Changes in the period 1960–2002 and prospects until 2020

Waste reduction was recognised as the main goal of waste management policy in the EU in the 1990s. Although knowledge of past waste generation is essential for effective waste reduction policy there are no comprehensive statistics on the past development of municipal solid waste (MSW) production. MSW management is currently under turmoil in many EU countries as the requirements of the EC landfill directive (1999/31/EC) are set into force. In this study, the production and composition of MSW in Finland between 1960 and 2002 is presented using historical data. The impact of population, affluence and technology on MSW production are analysed using the IPAT equation and three scenarios are constructed until year 2020. The results are compared with national future targets on MSW production. Production of MSW increased in Finland until 1990, declined to year 1997, increased to 2000 and then declined again. The share of organic and plastic waste increased over the study period while the share of paper and cardboard declined. The results suggest that so far national targets on MSW reduction have been set fairly low. Moreover, our scenarios depict a wide range of future MSW production, even though the time horizon is not longer than 15 years into the future. In order to narrow this range, continuous improvement of the statistics of MSW is essential.     

Fish forewarning of comprehensive toxicity in water environment based on Bayesian sequential method

Environmental impact of pollutants can be analyzed effectively by acquiring fish behavioral signals in water with biological behavior sensors. However, a variety of factors, such as the complexity of biological organisms themselves, the device error and the environmental noise, may compromise the accuracy and timeliness of model predictions. The current methods lack prior knowledge about the fish behavioral signals corresponding to characteristic pollutants, and in the event of a pollutant invasion, the fish behavioral signals are poorly discriminated. Therefore, we propose a novel method based on Bayesian sequential, which utilizes multi-channel prior knowledge to calculate the outlier sequence based on wavelet feature followed by calculating the anomaly probability of observed values. Furthermore, the relationship between the anomaly probability and toxicity is analyzed in order to achieve forewarning effectively. At last, our algorithm for fish toxicity detection is verified by integrating the data on laboratory acceptance of characteristic pollutants. The results show that only one false positive occurred in the six experiments, the present algorithm is effective in suppressing false positives and negatives, which increases the reliability of toxicity detections, and thereby has certain applicability and universality in engineering applications.     

两种应用场景下NDVI时间序列数据拟合方法研究

植被覆盖指数（NDVI）时间序列数据集包含地表植被的长势、生长周期、时空变化等信息,其拟合重建结果可应用于物候信息提取、生态质量评价、人类活动扰动识别、覆被变化动态监测等方面。基于TIMESAT软件,选取物候参数提取和扰动识别2个应用场景,结合地面站点数据和Jacknife法模拟数据,对比分析非对称高斯函数拟合法（AG法）、双Logistic函数拟合法（D-L法）和Savitzky-Golay滤波法（S-G法）3种方法的拟合效果。结果表明：（1）3种方法拟合重建后提取的生长开始时间（SOS）、生长结束时间（EOS）、生长周期（LOS）等物候参数接近站点数据,AG法和D-L法保持NDVI时序曲线整体变化特征的能力较强,提取的SOS和EOS更接近站点数据;（2）人类活动扰动识别应用场景中,S-G法在滤波时能够最大限度地保留时序曲线细节变化,恢复速率相关系数达到0.618,回归估计标准差低于AG法和D-L法,因此识别精度最优。     

沙尘暴变化的时空特征——基于站日和站时数据的对比分析

利用中国强沙尘暴序列及其支撑数据集,分别以站日和站时为计算单位,建立了中国50 a(1958-2007年)沙尘暴时间序列,分析了两个序列的关系,并比较了两者所反映出的沙尘暴时空变化特征。结果表明,站日和站时序列总体变化趋势比较一致,但细节有所差别,有时会影响某些结论。在反映沙尘暴的时间变化和空间分布时,两者存在明显的差异。     

甲醛及苯系物混合暴露对小鼠肺脏的氧化损伤作用

为探讨甲醛、苯、甲苯及二甲苯混合气体急性暴露对小鼠肺脏的氧化损伤作用,选用雄性健康昆明种小鼠50只,随机分为对照组和4个染毒组。染毒组1到4中甲醛、苯、甲苯和二甲苯浓度依次为:1.0+1.1+2.0+2.0μg·L-1、3.0+3.3+6.0+6.0μg·L-1、5.0+5.5+10.0+10.0μg·L-1、10.0+11.0+20.0+20.0μg·L-1,各染毒组混合气体的浓度分别是我国室内空气质量标准(GB/T18883-2002)的10、30、50和100倍。用静式吸入染毒方式,每天染毒2h,共染毒10d,实验结束后,测定小鼠肺脏中的氧化损伤指标。结果表明:染毒组小鼠的体重增加幅度均低于对照组,肝脏和脾脏系数显著低于对照组,肺脏ROS、MDA含量随染毒剂量的增加而增加,T-AOC、GSH、CAT、GSH-Px及SOD活力随染毒剂量的增加而降低,并且ROS、MDA含量与混合气体的浓度呈显著的正相关关系,GSH含量与混合气体的浓度呈显著的负相关关系。研究结果显示,甲醛、苯、甲苯及二甲苯混合气体急性暴露对小鼠肺脏具有氧化损伤作用,混合气体的联合毒性效应强于单一组分,ROS、MDA和GSH可以作为评价VOCs急性暴露对机体氧化损伤作用的敏感生物学标志。     

超高层建筑风致响应中的数据挖掘

超高层建筑的风致响应问题已经越来越受到人们的重视.应用数据挖掘技术对广州中信广场大厦的实测数据进行了分析,并对该原型实测风致响应中的时间序列数据进行了相似性挖掘,发现了一些特征和规律,对该问题的进一步研究具有一定的参考价值.