Effect of Climatic Changes on Radial Increment and Age Structure Formation in High-Mountain Larch Forests of the Kuznetsk Ala Tau

The relationship between growth indices and renewal rates of the Siberian larch (Larix sibiricaLedeb.) stands that have grown at the timberline in the Kuznetsk Ala Tau mountains during the past 350 years was analyzed. The age generations of larch were formed in the 1640s, 1660s, 1680s, 1700s, 1720s, 1740s, 1760s–1770s, 1800s–1810s, 1850s, 1870s–1880s, 1900s, 1920s, and 1930s–1940s. It was shown that the formation of these age generations coincided with 10- to 30-year periods of increased growth of larch and improved temperature conditions in summer.     

Availability estimation of a multi-state wind farm in fuzzy environment

Wind is one of the fastest growing renewable energy resources in the electric power system. Availability of wind energy is volatile in nature due to the stochastic behavior of wind speed and non-linear variation of the wind power curve of wind turbine generator. Because of this impression and uncertainty, the availability estimation of wind power has become a challenging issue. In this paper, Markov Fuzzy Reward technique has been proposed for finding out the reliability of wind farm by assessing the availability of wind power. According to this technique, availability of the wind power has been estimated considering wind farm and demand both as a multi-state system. In addition to the availability, different reliability indices such as the number of absolute failures, mean time to deficiency, and probability of failures of a wind farm have been assessed in a time horizon, which can provide useful information for the power system planner at wind farm installing stage. A comparison of this study reveals the efficacy of the proposed Markov Fuzzy Reward approach over the conventional Markov Reward approach.     

Characterization of phosphogypsum wastes associated with phosphoric acid and fertilizers production

The present work is directed to characterize the phosphogypsum (PG) wastes associated with phosphoric acid produced by the wet process in industrial facility for the production of fertilizers and chemicals in Egypt. The PG waste samples were characterized in terms of spectroscopic analysis (X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, IR spectra) and radiometric analysis (γ- and α-measurements). The γ-ray measurements showed that the average activity concentrations are 140 ± 12.6, 459 ± 36.7, 323 ± 28.4, 8.3 ± 0.76 and 64.3 ± 4.1 Bq/kg for U-238, Ra-226, Pb-210, Th-232 and K-40, respectively. The α-particle measurements of uranium isotopes showed that the average activity concentrations of U-238, U-235 and U-234 were 153 ± 9.8, 7 ± 0.38, 152 ± 10.4 Bq/kg, respectively. The average radiochemical recovery (%) of the destructive α-particle measurements is ∼70% with a resolution (FWHM) of ∼30 keV. Activity ratios of U-238/Ra-226 and U-238/Pb-210 were less than unity (i.e., <1) and equal to 0.31 ± 0.02 and 0.47 ± 0.16, respectively. The isotopic ratios of U-238/U-235 and U-238/U-234 (in PG and PR samples) were close to the normal values of ∼21.7 and ∼1, respectively and are not affected by the wet processing of phosphate rock (PR). The obtained results of PG waste samples were compared with phosphate rock (PR) samples. The radiation hazard indices are namely, radium activity index (Ra-Eq > 370 Bq/kg), total absorbed gamma dose rate (D_γr > 5 nGy/h) and radon emanation fraction (Rn-EF > 20%). Uncertainty of the sample counting was 95% confidence level of σ. The results indicated the necessity to find suitable routes to decrease and/or redistribute the radionuclide of environmental interest (i.e., Ra-226) in PG wastes, consequently to reduce its radiation impacts in the surrounding environment.     

Using optical remote sensing techniques to track the development of ozone-induced stress

In this paper, a literature review about optical remote sensing (RS) of O₃ stress is presented. Studies on O₃-induced effects on vegetation reflectance have been conducted since late ‘70s based on the analysis of optical RS data. Literature review reveals that traditional RS techniques were able to detect changes in leaf and canopy reflectance related to O₃-induced stress when visible symptoms already occurred. Only recently, advanced RS techniques using hyperspectral sensors, demonstrated the feasibility of detecting the stress in its early phase by monitoring excess energy dissipation pathways such as chlorophyll fluorescence and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Steady-state fluorescence (Fs), measured by exploiting the Fraunhofer line depth principle and NPQ related xanthophyll-cycle, estimated through the photochemical reflectance index (PRI) responded to O₃ fumigation before visible symptoms occurred. This opens up new possibilities for the early detection of vegetation O₃ stress by means of hyperspectral RS.     

Measurement and Spatial Distribution of Urban Land Use Compactness in Chaoyang District of Beijing, China

China is in the process of rapid urbanization, and wise land use is critical to the long-term sustainability of Chinese cities.Promotion of a compact city is typically believed to be helpful for sustainable land use management. However, given the fact that Chinese cities are characterized by high population densities, the applicability of a more compact solution to expand cities in China remains questionable; there is little evidence to support the many claims in its favor. In seeking to provide empirical data to explore the application of compact city theory in China, one of the key problems researchers face is the task of measuring the urban com-pactness, in order to objectively investigate the current characteristics of urban compactness. To meet this need, indices were developed for measuring the urban land use compactness, by which the spatial distribution characteristics of urban land use compactness were identified and applied to the Chaoyang District of Beijing. The conclusions can be made as follows: (1) comprehensive land use compactness in Chaoyang District has increased during the period of 2001-2007, especially the population density; (2) the spatial distribution of land use compactness has the characteristics of a ring structure, which shows a decreasing trend with its distance to the city center; (3) there is a strong positive correlation between urban land use compactness and location. The better the location is, the higher the land use compactness is.     

洞庭湖区湿地景观指数选取与格局分析

在遥感与地理信息系统的支持下,从2000年的LANDSAT TM影像中提取洞庭湖湿地信息,结合景观结构分析软件FRAGSTATS计算湿地景观指数,采用主成分分析法与方差矩阵分析法选取最能表征湿地结构及功能的核心景观指数,分析洞庭湖区湿地的景观结构特征及功能状态。研究表明：Shannon多样性指数、斑块面积标准差、斑块丰富度密度与景观类型平均分维度最能反应湿地景观的信息及特征;研究区景观格局的空间差异性与组织结构状态具有明显的不均衡性,湿地景观类型比例不均,水田与湖泊景观优势显著;以洞庭湖核心区滨湖的县市和远离湿地核心区的县市为两大群体,在景观格局复杂性和多样性状态中表现出两大群体相似的特征。     

稀土元素La对油菜某些生理指标的影响及其临界浓度

通过水培试验 ,研究了稀土元素La对油菜生物量和叶绿素含量、硝酸还原酶活性、根系活力、POD活性等一系列生理指标的影响。结果表明 :喷施或根施 0 0 3～ 3mg/kg的La3+对油菜的生长起了一定的促进作用 ,表现为生物量、叶绿素含量、硝酸还原酶活性和根系活力增加 ;而高于 3 0mg/kg浓度的La3+对油菜的生长产生了抑制作用 ,油菜生物量、叶绿素含量、硝酸还原酶活性和根系活力降低 ,POD活性增高。La对油菜的临界浓度为 3 0mg/kg。     

动物园中褐马鸡生理生化指标的研究

褐马鸡（Ｃｒｏｓｏｐｔｉｌｏｎｍａｎｔｃｈｕｒｉｃｕｎ）是我国一类保护动物,世界濒危物种．建立自然保护区和动物园饲养是保护濒危动物的有效措施．因此,了解在不同生态环境中褐马鸡生理生化指标的变化对它的饲养、繁殖和疾病防治及其保护都具有一定的实际意义．迄...     

The application of Geographical Information Systems to determine environmental impact significance

This paper presents a new methodology for impact assessment—SIAM (Spatial Impact Assessment Methodology)—which is based on the assumption that the importance of environmental impacts is dependent, among other things, on the spatial distribution of the effects and of the affected environment. The information generated by the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in impact identification and prediction stages of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is used in the assessment of impact significance by the computation of a set of impact indices. For each environmental component (e.g., air pollution, water resources, biological resources), impact indices are calculated based on the spatial distribution of impacts. A case study of impact evaluation of a proposed highway in Central Portugal illustrates the application of the methodology and shows its capabilities to be adapted to the particular characteristics of a given EIA problem.     

1960~2010年长江流域极端降水的时空演变及未来趋势

本文采用长江流域内分布较均匀、无缺测站点的1960~2010年逐日降水资料,借助趋势和突变分析、R/S分析和水文频率分析等方法,研究该流域极端降水的时空演变特征和未来趋势。结果表明：（1）长江流域区域平均气候平均降水量（PAV）、简单日降水强度（PINT）、强降水贡献率（PQ95）、强降水阈值（PF95）、最大1日-10日降水量（PX1D-PX10D）基本均呈上升趋势,中下游各极端降水指数均大于上游,同时,中下游的各指数年际变化比上游更剧烈。（2）PAV与PF95的空间分布类似,但前者在流域中部地区下降、两侧上升,而后者为中部上升、两侧下降;PINT与PQ95的空间分布相似,均为大部分地区呈上升趋势,仅西北部下降。PX1D-PX10D总体上以上升为主,但随着持续时间的增长,下降的区域有明显的扩大,而上升的区域有明显的缩小。（3）未来长江流域极端降水将以现有趋势继续发展,并将以上升趋势为主,流域洪涝灾害风险加大。（4）遂宁站PX1D、安化站PX10D极端降水的频率分析表明,直接采用整体数据计算设计降水量会使结果偏于不安全,对于较长重现期的设计降水表现更显著,因此对于极端降水量发生显著变化的情况需要深入研究,探讨更好的设计降水估计方法。