The red and the black: habituation and the dear-enemy phenomenon in two desert Pheidole ants

Many species of territorial animals are more aggressive toward strangers than neighbors, a pattern of aggression referred to as the ’dear-enemy phenomenon.’ In many cases, the mechanism by which neighbors are discriminated from strangers and the function of neighbor-stranger discrimination remain controversial. We investigated the spatial patterns of inter-colony aggression within and between two Pheidole species of seed-harvesting ants in the Mojave Desert of California by quantifying aggression between colonies in standardized staged encounters. We also tested whether the level of fighting between workers of two colonies is affected by previous exposure to each other. We show that neighbors (i.e., colonies less that 2.6 m away) of either species are treated less aggressively than more distant colonies and that habituation may be a mechanism by which this discrimination is achieved. The variation in aggression among spatially distant colonies also suggests that additional genetic or environmental factors are involved in recognition. The function of the dear-enemy phenomenon in these ant species may be related to the greater risk to the resources of a colony presented by strange workers than workers from a neighboring colony. Received: 18 November 1999 / Received in revised form: 3 April 2000 / Accepted: 3 May 2000     

Characterization and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in sediments of Haihe River, Tianjin, China

In this study sediment samples were collected from 13 sites of Haihe River in Tianjin City, China, sixteen of priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） listed in USEPA were analyzed by means of GC-MS. The total concentrations of PAH ranged from 774.81 to 255371.91 ng/g dw, and two to four rings of PAHs were dominant in sediment samples. Molecular ratios, such as phenanthrene/anthracene, fluoranthene/pyrene and low-molecular-weight PAH/high-molecular-weight PAH, were used to study the possible sources of pollution. It indicated a mixed pattern of parolytic and petrogenic inputs of PAHs in sediments in Haihe River. The petrogenic PAHs may be mainly derived from the leakage of refined products, e.g., gasoline, diesel fuel and fuel oil vehicle traffics or gas stations from urban area. The pyrolytic PAHs might be from the discharge of industrial wastewater and the emission of atmospheric particles from petrochemical factories. In addition, the levels of PAHs in the urban and industrial areas are far beyond the values reported from other rivers and marine systems reported. This situation may be due to polluted discharging from some petrochemical industrial manufactories and worse traffic conditions in Tianjin.     

泥石流灾害风险评价方法及其应用研究

探讨泥石流灾害风险评价的理论和方法;利用已有的泥石流灾害资料,建立泥石流风险评价体系和实施流程;提出风险评价的定量计算方法;结合遥感和地理信息系统技术,完成了云南省昆明市东川区泥石流灾害的定量风险评价。研究结果与泥石流实际分布和调查资料基本一致,表明所提出的泥石流灾害风险评价的理论与方法具有一定的理论价值和现实意义,可以为泥石流灾害风险评价和防灾减灾管理提供有益的科学依据。     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Rutherford H., Platt et al. Disasters and Democracy: The Politics of Extreme Natural Events
S., Suri Orissa Disaster: Agony of the Living     

The Accuracy of Mortality Reporting in Displaced Persons Camps During the Post-emergency Phase

For humanitarian organisations, accurate data are essential to identify emerging health problems and determine programme needs. We visited 45 post-emergency phase displaced persons camps and collected three months' mortality data which we compared with organisations' routine mortality reports. Organisations reported 612 deaths and we identified 741 deaths, for a mortality-reporting ratio, defined as the number of organisation-reported deaths divided by the number of investigator-identified deaths, of 83 per cent. For the majority of camps which under-reported deaths, mortality reporting ratios were significantly higher for women than men, and for camps with central mortality registers rather than those without. In the few camps which over-reported deaths, these occurred primarily among children younger than five years of age, probably due to the inclusion of abortions and stillbirths. Despite the overall under-reporting of deaths by humanitarian organisations, the existing health information systems appear to estimate mortality rates adequately in these post-emergency camps. However, organisations should improve the precision and completeness with which they report the characteristics of deaths in order to provide valuable data to target their programmes at the most vulnerable people.     

多参数环境自动监测数据采集传输装置研究

为加强环境自动监测系统的建设,提供了一个支持多种类型现场信息宽接入的信息采集、支持有线和无线信息传输的开放式在线数据采集传输装置.装置用标准化的工控机作为控制核心,具备模拟信号、LonWorks信号、视频信号、RS-485信号输入接口,网络通信和GPRS远程通信方式,采用Windows操作系统和数据库技术,应用方便灵活,有助于提供有效、客观的现场环境信息,实现环境自动监测与管理.     

Investigation of some nonlinear singular model ecosystems and new concerned mathematical problems

The work is devoted to the investigation of nonlinear singular ecological models with initial functional conditions and determination of solutions of problems, which are connected with these models. It is also considered some of its applications in field of ecological modelling under formulation and investigation of the so-called keeping and protection problems. We shall investigate nonlinear models that are described with the help of partial differential equation of first and second orders. Solutions of linear and some singular nonlinear problems with functional initial conditions are obtained in the form depending from initial parameters.     

复杂人机系统班组人误模型与量化分析

讨论一个班组人员行为模型,即包括:任务模型、事件模型、班组模型和人-机交互模型4个模块,并用其模拟和分析事故状态下的运行班组对异常事故的响应过程;利用班组认知过程流程图模型表征事件发展过程中班组成员对事故的征兆识别、决策、计划和行动执行的响应过程;采用CREAM的量化分析技术,对核电站的蒸汽发生器管道破管事故的班组认知失误事件进行量化分析。     

南宁市可持续发展评价指标体系及可持续发展度研究

本文在对南宁市社会、经济和环境三个子系统研究的基础上，采用层次分析、专家咨询等方法，建立了城市可持续发展指标体系，运用指标体系和分析方法，对南宁市可持续发展水平进行了综合评价分析。     

A Gis‐Based Approach to Watershed Classification for Nebraska Reservoirs1

Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is charged with establishing standards and criteria for assessing lake water quality. It is, however, increasingly evident that a single set of national water quality standards that do not take into account regional hydrogeologic and ecological differences will not be viable as lakes clearly have different inherent capacities to meet such standards. We demonstrate a GIS‐based watershed classification strategy for identifying groups of Nebraska reservoirs that have similar potential capacity to attain a certain level of water quality standard. A preliminary cluster analysis of 78 reservoirs was performed to determine the potential number of Nebraska reservoir groups. Subsequently, a Classification Trees method was used to refine number of classes, describe the structure of reservoir watershed classes, and to develop a predictive model that relates watershed conditions to reservoir classes. Results suggest that Nebraska reservoirs can be represented by nine classes and that soil organic matter content in the watershed is the most important single variable for segregating the reservoirs. The cross‐validation prediction error rate of the Classification Tree model was 26.3%. Because all geospatial data used in this work are available nationally, the method could be adopted throughout the U.S. Hence, this GIS‐based watershed classification approach could provide water resources managers an effective decision‐support tool in managing reservoir water quality.