Mapping and evaluating sugarcane expansion in Brazil’s savanna using MODIS and intensity analysis: a case-study from the state of Tocantins

In Brazil, the main biofuel crop is sugarcane, and with its rapid expansion, there is much debate about what land uses and land covers it is replacing, and what are the associated environmental and social impacts. Some argue sugarcane is mainly replacing cattle pasture, thus having minimal impacts on native vegetation and small-scale family farming. In contrast, others claim sugarcane is replacing cropland traditionally under soybeans, rice, beans, and corn. Thus, food security is negatively affected and small-scale family farming livelihoods and culture are threatened. This is a proof-of-concept paper illustrating methods contributing toward the resolution of such debates. First we map land use and cover change in areas undergoing sugarcane expansion using satellite data from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer); second, we test the hypothesis that sugarcane is replacing traditional annual crops using intensity analysis, via a case study of land change in the municipality of Pedro Afonso, Tocantins in northern Brazil between the 2008–2013 crop years. Maps matched reference data with overall agreements between 87–91%. Intensity analysis confirmed sugarcane is replacing annual crops much more than cattle pasture and other land uses and covers, pointing to particular economic and social processes driving land change.     

Starting improvement of micro-wind turbines operating in low wind speed regions

The study deals with the design and optimization of external and internal geometry of micro-wind turbines blades. A specified objective function which consists of the power coefficient and the starting time was defined and the genetic algorithm optimization technique in conjunction with the blade-element momentum theory was adopted to find the geometry of the blades including the distributions of the chord, the twist angle and also the shell thickness. Moreover, the allowable stress of the blades was considered as a constraint to the objective function. Results show that a reasonable compromise is achievable such that the starting time of the blades reduces noticeably in return for a small drop in the power coefficient. The significant improvement of the hollow blades over the solid ones indicates that the power coefficient and the starting performance could be improved through the appropriate distributions of the considered decision variables, i.e. the chord, the twist angle and also the shell thickness.     

Protected areas and deforestation: new results from high‐resolution panel data

This paper investigates the effectiveness of protected areas in slowing tropical forest clearing in 64 countries in Asia/Pacific, Africa and Latin America during the period of 2001–2012 by comparing deforestation rates inside and within 10 km outside of the boundaries of protected areas. Annual time series of these deforestation rates were constructed from recently published high‐resolution data on forest clearing from Hansen et al. (2013). For 4,028 parks, panel estimation based on a variety of park characteristics was conducted to test if deforestation was lower in protected areas because of their protected status, or if other factors explained the difference. From a sample of 726 parks established since 2002, a test was also conducted to investigate the effect of park establishment on protection. Findings suggest park size, national park status and management by indigenous people all are significantly associated with effective protection across regions. For the Asia/Pacific region, the test offers compelling evidence that park establishment has a near‐immediate and powerful effect.     

陕西榆林地区北部塌陷地震初步分析

介绍了陕西榆林地区北部所发生的几次典型塌陷地震的宏观情况,并利用陕西数字地震台网所记录的50次塌陷地震的地震波资料,从波形及时间、空间分布上初步分析了陕西榆林地区塌陷地震发生的基本特征。     

地震动差动作用下大跨度空间网壳结构的反应分析

选取100 m跨度的双层柱面网壳结构为研究对象,采用时程分析法,分别进行了结构在单向和三向地震行波输入作用下的反应分析,并针对多种视波速情况进行了研究,考查了地震动不同输入情况下结构杆件内力的分布特点,对其进行了对比分析,为大跨网壳结构的抗震设计提供了理论依据。研究表明,考虑行波效应会使结构部分构件内力有一定程度的提高,多维地震作用比单维地震作用下结构的杆件内力大。由此得出结论:对于大跨度空间网壳结构,应该进行多维非一致输入下的地震反应分析;为保证抗震安全,应对可能出现的地面视波速进行全面分析。     

固结时间对软粘土动剪切模量的影响

随着固结时间的增加,试样逐渐变硬的硬化效应使软粘土的动剪切模量增大;同时,随着固结时间的增加,试样高度和直径明显减小的尺寸效应,也使软粘土的动剪切模量受到显著的影响。通过软粘土自振柱试验,分析了固结时间对软粘土的最大动剪切模量、动剪切模量比和试样尺寸的影响;根据自振柱试验的基本原理,分析了试样尺寸的变化对软粘土动剪切模量的影响;结合试验得到的固结时间和试样尺寸的关系,分析了固结时间通过试样尺寸对软粘土动剪切模量的影响。     

区域滑坡时间分布的自相似性研究

滑坡时间分布是滑坡预测和预警报研究的关键内容,对一定区域滑坡分布时间规律的研究可为区域滑坡预测和预警报提供参考和指导。本文以长江三峡库区滑坡为研究对象,对滑坡的年际分布和月份分布的相似性分别进行了研究。结果表明,两种时间的分布规律具有较好的相似性,且滑坡规模越接近,相似性程度越高。对滑坡时间分布的相似性研究,为应用分形理论研究该区域滑坡时间分布规律提供了理论基础。     

长江上游河流输沙量时间序列跃变现象研究

长江上游来水来沙条件是三峡工程泥沙问题研究的重要基础。长江上游流域面积约100万km2,产输沙条件复杂。根据有序聚类分析法、里和海哈林法和费希尔最优分割法,对长江上游干流和主要支流控制站输沙量时间序列的跃变现象进行了研究。在显著水平005下,长江上游在径流量变化不大的情况下,河流输沙量在1991年后出现了明显减小的质变过程,干流寸滩站 1991～2005年年均输沙量为313亿t,较 1953～1990年均值减小了32%,特别是2001年后输沙量减小更为显著,2002～2005年仅为211亿t。水库拦沙、水土保持工程减沙等人类活动是导致长江上游输沙量时间序列出现跃变现象的主要原因,1991～2005年与1990年前相比,人类活动新增减沙量为1187亿t/a,占三峡入库总减沙量的75%,且随着三峡上游一系列大型水利枢纽的建成和生态环境的持续改善,三峡水库在相当长时间内会保持较少的来沙量。研究成果可为三峡工程入库泥沙代表系列的选取提供依据。     

Air ventilation impacts of the “wall effect” resulting from the alignment of high-rise buildings

The objective of this study is to investigate the air ventilation impacts of the so called “wall effect” caused by the alignment of high-rise buildings in complex building clusters. The research method employs the numerical algorithm of computational fluid dynamics (CFD – FLUENT) to simulate the steady-state wind field in a typical Hong Kong urban setting and investigate pollutant dispersion inside the street canyon utilizing a pollutant transport model. The model settings of validation study were accomplished by comparing the simulation wind field around a single building block to wind tunnel data. The results revealed that our model simulation is fairly close to the wind tunnel measurements. In this paper, a typical dense building distribution in Hong Kong with 2 incident wind directions (0° and 22.5°) is studied. Two performance indicators are used to quantify the air ventilation impacts, namely the velocity ratio (VR) and the retention time (T_r) of pollutants at the street level. The results indicated that the velocity ratio at 2 m above ground was reduced 40% and retention time of pollutants increased 80% inside the street canyon when high-rise buildings with 4 times height of the street canyon were aligned as a “wall” upstream. While this reduction of air ventilation was anticipated, the magnitude is significant and this result clearly has important implications for building and urban planning.     

T型氧化沟提高脱氮效率的技术改造

采用延长边沟闷曝时间的方法对BOD降解模式T型氧化沟进行提高脱氮效率的改造。结果表明,边沟闷曝时间由0.5 h增至1 h,系统反硝化和硝化运行时间比t_DN/t_N由0.56调整至0.50时,提高了系统的NH₃-N的硝化效率,强化了脱氮能力。工艺改造后出水NH3-N浓度由改造前15.5 mg/L显著降低至10.4 mg/L,达到了广东省地方标准（DB 44/26-2001）第一时段的二级排放要求;系统脱氮效率由改造前52.1%显著提高到68.3％,有效地解决了污水厂出水NH₃-N浓度过高的问题;具有投资少、效果明显的特点,有一定的推广价值。