Cave molly females (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei) like well-fed males

We examined the preference of Atlantic molly females (Poecilia mexicana) to associate with a well-fed or a starved male in simultaneous choice tests. Females from three different populations were tested in three treatments: (1) the females could choose on the basis of multiple cues from the males (visual plus non-visual); (2) only non-visual cues could be perceived in darkness, (3) only visual cues were presented. The three tested populations differ clearly in their ecology: one population occurs in a typical river habitat, the second one in a milky sulfur creek outside a cave, and the third population occurs in a cave habitat (cave molly). In the river-dwelling population, females never showed a preference. In the population from the sulfur creek, females preferred to associate with the well-nourished male when visual cues from the males were available. Only cave molly females exhibited a strong preference for well-nourished males in all treatments. A morphological comparison demonstrated that wild-caught males from river habitats are typically in a good nutritional state. In the sulfur creek, males showed signs of starvation. Cave molly males were in an even worse nutritional state. In the cave population, saturated males probably indicate high fitness, thereby driving the evolution of the preference for good male nutritional state.Communicated by K. Lindström     

Metropolitan Open-Space Protection with Uncertain Site Availability

Abstract:  Urban planners acquire open space to protect natural areas and provide public access to recreation opportunities. Because of limited budgets and dynamic land markets, acquisitions take place sequentially depending on available funds and sites. To address these planning features, we formulated a two-period site selection model with two objectives: maximize the expected number of species represented in protected sites and maximize the expected number of people with access to protected sites. These objectives were both maximized subject to an upper bound on area protected over two periods. The trade-off between species representation and public access was generated by the weighting method of multiobjective programming. Uncertainty was represented with a set of probabilistic scenarios of site availability in a linear-integer formulation. We used data for 27 rare species in 31 candidate sites in western Lake County, near the city of Chicago, to illustrate the model. Each trade-off curve had a concave shape in which species representation dropped at an increasing rate as public accessibility increased, with the trade-off being smaller at higher levels of the area budget. Several sites were included in optimal solutions regardless of objective function weights, and these core sites had high species richness and public access per unit area. The area protected in period one depended on current site availability and on the probabilities of sites being undeveloped and available in the second period. Although the numerical results are specific for our study, the methodology is general and applicable elsewhere.     

Choosing a home: how the scouts in a honey bee swarm perceive the completion of their group decision making

This study considers the mystery of how the scout bees in a honey bee swarm know when they have completed their group decision making regarding the swarm's new nest site. More specifically, we investigated how the scouts sense when it is appropriate for them to begin producing the worker piping signals that stimulate their swarm-mates to prepare for the flight to their new home. We tested two hypotheses: "consensus sensing," the scouts noting when all the bees performing waggle dances are advertising just one site; and "quorum sensing," the scouts noting when one site is being visited by a sufficiently large number of scouts. Our test involved monitoring four swarms as they discovered, recruited to, and chose between two nest boxes and their scouts started producing piping signals. We found that a consensus among the dancers was neither necessary nor sufficient for the start of worker piping, which indicates that the consensus sensing hypothesis is false. We also found that a buildup of 10–15 or more bees at one of the nest boxes was consistently associated with the start of worker piping, which indicates that the quorum sensing hypothesis may be true. In considering why the scout bees rely on reaching a quorum rather than a consensus as their cue of when to start preparing for liftoff, we suggest that quorum sensing may provide a better balance between accuracy and speed in decision making. In short, the bees appear to begin preparations for liftoff as soon as enough of the scout bees, but not all of them, have approved of one of the potential nest sites.

陕西省黄土崩塌隐患区宅基地选址方案研究

在对黄土崩塌所造成的伤亡、损失及灾害成因的调查的基础上,结合对黄土地形地貌、颗粒结构、岩土特征和力学特性的研究分析,提出了在黄土高原区内黄土崩塌隐患区居民宅基选址应注意的问题,变被动防灾为主动预防,这对地处黄土高原区山西、陕西、甘肃等省的居民宅基选址具有重要的指导意义和参考价值。     

冲压模CAE技术及软件选型方法

综述了国内外常用冲压模具CAE分析软件的内容和种类 ,从实用角度讨论了CAE系统应用中诸如规划、软件选型、人员培训、应用推广等问题 ,对其选型和实施方法作了重点介绍     

环境监测优化布点的物元分析模型

为了探索物元分析法在环境监测优化布点中应用的可能性，在确定了最佳和最次理想点基础上，建立了标准事物和节域事物的物元矩阵，并根据监测点对标准物元的关联函数值分布对采样点进行优化。实例表明物元分析法用于环境监测优化布点是可行的     

关于风景评价中心理物理学方法局限性的探讨

由于对西方风景评价理论和方法缺乏足够的了解和深入的研究，现今国内对其中的心理物理学方法及其作用产生了一些误解。本文在扼要介绍了心理物理学派的主要方法思路之后，着重对该学派所存在的重大理论缺陷和方法局限性做了较深入的分析。     

黏胶纤维厂特征污染因子的筛选及其对河流水质的影响

以丹东化学纤维公司为例,对黏胶纤维厂生产工艺进行了分析,并对其污染源进行了调查、监测,物料衡算及污染因子的评价,筛选出了主要污染物、特征污染物与评价因子,并运用水质预测模型对其纳污河流的水质影响进行了研究。     

基于GIS和多目标的生活垃圾运输路线优化研究

随着城市建设和规模的发展,人们生活水平日益提高,城市生活垃圾管理系统的改进与提高势在必行。为了探索生活最优运输路径,研究以北京市海淀区生活垃圾转运设施(五路居转运站)和处理设施(六里屯填埋场)为例,基于Arcgis9.2软件平台,利用最短路径搜索法和GIS(地理信息系统)中网络分析工具以及AHP(层次分析法),建立了可视化多目标运输体系,并搜索出不同目标(路线最短、时间最短、环境最优和综合加权)下生活垃圾最佳运输路径。该研究结果为海淀区生活垃圾运输系统提供可选优化路径和研究方法,从而为城市生活垃圾转运系统提高收运效率、减少运输过程中环境污染以及针对不同情况采用不同路线等问题提供理论指导和技术支持。     

优化模型在污泥处理厂选址中的应用

在我国大中城市,污水处理厂的不断兴建使污泥处理问题应运而生。采用混合整数优化模型可以解决污泥处理厂的科学选址问题,达到科学布点、合理运输、节省投资费用的目的。在传统厂群规划模型的基础上将目标规划、周密的约束条件等融于其中,并采用对于线形规划和非线性规划问题适用的LINGO软件进行求解。根据东莞市拟建的36个污水处理厂污泥产生预测情况,对污泥处理厂的设置进行了分析预测,详细对比了建一个、两个、三个污泥处理厂的运输费用、投资费用、运行费用等,最终确定兴建两个规模均为800t/d的处理厂,其位置分别位于东莞市厚街镇和常平镇,为厂址选择和规模提供了科学依据和保障。