Priority areas for conservation of Old World vultures

The prosperity and well-being of human societies relies on healthy ecosystems and the services they provide. However, the biodiversity crisis is undermining ecosystems services and functions. Vultures are among the most imperiled taxonomic groups on Earth, yet they have a fundamental ecosystem function. These obligate scavengers rapidly consume large amounts of carrion and human waste, a service that may aid in both disease prevention and control of mammalian scavengers, including feral dogs, which in turn threaten humans. We combined information about the distribution of all 15 vulture species found in Europe, Asia, and Africa with their threats and used detailed expert knowledge on threat intensity to prioritize critical areas for conserving vultures in Africa and Eurasia. Threats we identified included poisoning, mortality due to collision with wind energy infrastructures, and other anthropogenic activities related to human land use and influence. Areas important for vulture conservation were concentrated in southern and eastern Africa, South Asia, and the Iberian Peninsula, and over 80% of these areas were unprotected. Some vulture species required larger areas for protection than others. Finally, countries that had the largest share of all identified important priority areas for vulture conservation were those with the largest expenditures related to rabies burden (e.g., India, China, and Myanmar). Vulture populations have declined markedly in most of these countries. Restoring healthy vulture populations through targeted actions in the priority areas we identified may help restore the ecosystem services vultures provide, including sanitation and potentially prevention of diseases, such as rabies, a heavy burden afflicting fragile societies. Our findings may guide stakeholders to prioritize actions where they are needed most in order to achieve international goals for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.     

Effects of connectivity and spatial resolution of analyses on conservation prioritization across large extents

The outcome of analyses that prioritize locations for conservation on the basis of distributions of species, land cover, or other elements is influenced by the spatial resolution of data used in the analyses. We explored the influence of data resolution on prioritization of Finnish forests with Zonation, a software program that ranks the priority of cells in a landscape for conservation. We used data on the distribution of different forest types that were aggregated to nine different resolutions ranging from 0.1 × 0.1 km to 25.6 × 25.6 km. We analyzed data at each resolution with two variants of Zonation that had different criteria for prioritization, with and without accounting for connectivity and with and without adjustment for the effect on the analysis of edges between areas at the project boundary and adjacent areas for which data do not exist. Spatial overlap of the 10% of cells ranked most highly when data were analyzed at different resolutions varied approximately from 15% to 60% and was greatest among analyses with similar resolutions. Inclusion of connectivity or edge adjustment changed the location of areas that were prioritized for conservation. Even though different locations received high priority for conservation in analyses with and without accounting for connectivity, accounting for connectivity did not reduce the representation of different forest types. Inclusion of connectivity influenced most the outcome of fine-resolution analyses because the connectivity extents that we based on dispersal distances of typical forest species were small. When we kept the area set aside for conservation constant, representation of the forest types increased as resolution increased. We do not think it is necessary to avoid use of high-resolution data in spatial conservation prioritization. Our results show that large extent, fine-resolution analyses are computationally feasible, and we suggest they can give more flexibility to implementation of well-connected reserve networks.     

基于OpenFOAM的城市街区毒气扩散模拟

为了对毒气扩散过程进行及时、有效的模拟,将开源计算流体动力学软件OpenFOAM与PISO算法(pressure implicit with splitting of operators,压力隐式算子分割算法)相结合,进行城市街区毒气扩散模拟研究. 将SIMPLE(semi-implicit method for pressure linked equations,压力耦合方程组的半隐式算法)与PISO算法进行了对比,指出以PISO算法为基础的数值模拟在城市街区这类大范围毒气扩散模拟中具有容差性强、计算较为稳定等优点. 以福州大学怡山校区为扩散区虚拟地理环境,选用氯气为假定毒气,利用OpenFOAM对氯气的扩散传播过程进行了模拟, 并与商用软件FLUENT在相同条件下的ρ(Cl₂)模拟结果进行了对比. 结果表明,结合PISO算法的OpenFOAM能够较好地完成复杂虚拟地理环境下的毒气扩散过程模拟,其ρ(Cl₂)模拟结果与FLUENT模拟结果的平均偏差小于5%,但在计算效率上却提高了41.89%.      

软土地区风井风口施工对下部既有越江隧道影响的数值分析

上海在区间隧道上方建造风井在国内尚属首例。随着人们绿色环保意识的增强,隧道通风井将会越来越多地修建在远离都市核心区的区间隧道的上方,因而研究风口基坑施工引起区间隧道位移的变化将会是岩土工程领域的又一崭新问题。本文结合上海人民路隧道风井风口基坑工程,针对是否降低承压水水位2种工况,采用M IDA S-GTS软件,对既有盾构隧道隆起进行数值模拟,从理论上量化在这2种工况下隧道的变形程度,探讨该方法的可行性,为最终选择何种工况施工提供了理论指导。实际的监测数据验证了本文方法的可行性,为今后的相关工程建设提供了一个成功范例。     

大型河谷场地地震动特性研究

采用有限差分方法,通过算例研究了大型河谷场地地震动特性分析中的人工边界的选取方法,对比分析了不同人工边界的选取对数值模拟结果的影响,确定了散射场地震反应分析输入边界的地震动输入方法,认为在进行有限差分动力计算时,模型两侧施加自由场边界的模拟效果要优于两侧施加粘性边界的模拟效果;同时,对FLAC计算软件进行二次开发,对2个地形差异较大的河谷场地,采用线性和非线性摩尔-库仑模型进行了地震反应对比分析,研究了河谷场地地震动幅值和频谱特性随地形变化的规律。模拟数据表明,河谷场地谷底处地震动基本无放大作用,地势凸起处放大作用则较为明显;当考虑土体非线性时,随着地震动强度的增加,放大作用逐渐减小;谱分析结果表明,地势凸起处受高频地震动的影响显著,而地势平坦的谷底则受低频地震动的影响显著。     

南通市大气降水中硫酸根的影响因素研究

随着环境空气污染的日益加重,研究硫酸根与降水中其他因子的相关关系对准确反映大气的质量状况具有重要意义.根据南通市2018年的降水监测数据,采用SPSS统计分析软件对降水中的硫酸根浓度与pH值、电导率以及常见阴、阳离子进行相关性分析,推断出离子的可能来源.通过多元线性回归模型可以对南通的硫酸根离子浓度进行预测.研究为南通...     

基于ABAQUS的强度折减有限元法边坡稳定性分析

将强度折减有限元法与ABAQU S软件相结合,充分利用ABAQU S软件强大的后处理功能,动态显示广义塑性应变和塑性区的开展情况,以此对边坡稳定性进行判定。在ABAQU S软件的模拟计算中,通过不断调整强度折减系数F的大小,改变土体的强度指标c、值,得到不同折减系数下边坡中广义塑性应变的发展情况;当塑性区趋于贯通,且广义塑性应变和位移发生突变时,则边坡处于破坏的临界状态,此时的折减系数就定义为边坡的最小稳定安全系数。通过天然直立边坡及开挖边坡的实例分析,表明该法可以较准确形象地预测边坡潜在滑裂面的位置及评价边坡的稳定性,在复杂条件下的基坑边坡稳定性分析中是简便实用的。     

Precision Measurements from Very-Large Scale Aerial Digital Imagery

Managers need measurements and resource managers need the length/width of a variety of items including that of animals, logs, streams, plant canopies, man-made objects, riparian habitat, vegetation patches and other things important in resource monitoring and land inspection. These types of measurements can now be easily and accurately obtained from very large scale aerial (VLSA) imagery having spatial resolutions as fine as 1 millimeter per pixel by using the three new software programs described here. VLSA images have small fields of view and are used for intermittent sampling across extensive landscapes. Pixel-coverage among images is influenced by small changes in airplane altitude above ground level (AGL) and orientation relative to the ground, as well as by changes in topography. These factors affect the object-to-camera distance used for image-resolution calculations. ‘ImageMeasurement’ offers a user-friendly interface for accounting for pixel-coverage variation among images by utilizing a database. ‘LaserLOG’ records and displays airplane altitude AGL measured from a high frequency laser rangefinder, and displays the vertical velocity. ‘Merge’ sorts through large amounts of data generated by LaserLOG and matches precise airplane altitudes with camera trigger times for input to the ImageMeasurement database. We discuss application of these tools, including error estimates. We found measurements from aerial images (collection resolution: 5–26 mm/pixel as projected on the ground) using ImageMeasurement, LaserLOG, and Merge, were accurate to centimeters with an error less than 10%. We recommend these software packages as a means for expanding the utility of aerial image data.     

危险性气体泄漏扩散数学模拟研究

总结归纳了描述气态危险物质泄漏扩散过程的多种现有模型及其特点.根据在其基础上开发的相关模拟软件的运行模式不同分为扩散模式模拟和数值计算模拟两类,并对具体流程作了详细阐述.提出了目前该领域仍存在的问题及今后的发展趋势.