Traditional agriculture in transition: examining the impacts of agricultural modernization on smallholder farming in Ghana under the new Green Revolution

Following the renewed effort at achieving a new green revolution for Africa, emphasis has been placed on modernizing smallholder agriculture through the deployment of improved inputs especially mechanized technologies. In Ghana, the government has in the last decade emphasized the provision of subsidized mechanized ploughing services to farmers alongside a rapidly growing private sector tractor service market. While mechanized technology adoption rates have increased rapidly, the deployment of these technologies has been without critical analysis of the impacts on production patterns and local agrarian systems. This paper examines the distributional impacts of agriculture mechanization on cropping patterns and farm sizes of smallholder farmers in northern Ghana using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, and semi-structured interviews with smallholder farmers (n=60). Specifically, comparative analysis of the field sizes and cropping patterns of participant farmers prior to and after the adoption of mechanized technologies was conducted. In-depth interviews were used to contextualize the experiences of smallholder farmers toward understanding how mechanization may be impacting traditional agriculture. Our findings reveal a mechanization paradox in which farm sizes are expanding, while cropping patterns are shifting away from traditional staple crops (pearl millet and sorghum bicolor) to market-oriented crops (maize, rice and groundnuts). This transition we argue, has adverse implications on the cultural dimension of food security, the organization of social life, and climate change adaptation. We recommend a retooling of the current agricultural policy focus to ensure context sensitivity for a more robust battle against food insecurity.     

发现式学习与新课程改革

布鲁纳在20世纪60年代以结构主义理论为基础领导了美国的课程改革运动.虽然此次课程改革以失败而告终,但是发现式学习方法及其教学方法的提出却受到了广泛的关注.布鲁纳也曾就发现式学习进行了专门的论述.本文从发现式学习法的特点、作用出发来探求我国目前正在进行的第八轮新课程改革,试图为我国新课程改革中学习、教学方法的改革提供一个新的视角.     

机动车轮胎磨损颗粒物化学组分特征研究

为研究机动车道路行驶过程中轮胎磨损排放的颗粒物理化特性,利用轮胎轮廓仿真磨耗仪,对国内主流17种轮胎胎面进行仿真磨耗实验,获得颗粒物样品,提取并检测其中18种元素和20种多环芳烃（PAHs）的含量.结果显示,元素和PAHs含量因轮胎品牌和速度等级的不同而差异显著.18种元素平均含量为（99.04±68.43）mg/g,占样品总重的9.90%,其中Si（88.97±67.85）mg/g、Zn（6.77±1.64）mg/g和Na（1.05±0.75）mg/g的平均含量均超过1mg/g,Cd的含量最低,为（0.43±0.31）μg/g.20种PAHs含量之和（∑20PAHs）在12.13~433.64 μg/g,平均为（94.13±110.18）μg/g,PY的平均含量最高（30.98±31.27）μg/g,其次是CHR、BaP、FA、PHE和BghiP,平均含量最低的是AC（0.58±0.2）μg/g;从环数看,以4环PAHs为主（占∑20PAHs的45.03%~67.93%）,其次为3环（平均含量为15.45%）和5环（平均含量为12.62%）.总体来说,国外品牌轮胎样品中元素和PAHs含量略高于国内品牌,而主要PAHs环数略低于国内品牌.     

雨水管道沉积物中典型无机氮的干期粒径分布

以南京江北新区分流制雨水管道沉积物为研究对象,考察不同粒径沉积物中铵态氮（NH₃-N）和硝态氮（NO₃^--N）干期分布特征,分析其随干期长度的变化关系,并探讨沉积物理化性质及微生物菌群结构对NH₃-N和NO₃^--N干期分布的影响.结果表明：粒径≤0.075mm的沉积物中NH₃-N占比最高（交通区30.8%,商业区36.7%）;交通区粒径≤0.075mm的沉积物中NO₃^--N占比最高（33.0%）,而商业区粒径0.075~0.15mm沉积物中NO₃^--N占比最高（34.4%）;干期长度与交通区0.075~0.15mm粒径段的沉积物中NO₃^--N含量及商业区粒径≥0.3mm的沉积物中NH₃-N含量之间的相关性均最显著;雨水管道沉积物中NH₃-N和NO₃^--N的干期分布与O-H和N-H等官能团、表面极性和亲水性、微观形貌等有一定关联;交通区雨水管道沉积物中Gemmobacter等反硝化优势菌种（相对丰度总和为20.15%）对NO₃^--N干期分布影响更显著.     

Role of glycine on sulfuric acid-ammonia clusters formation: Transporter or participator

Glycine(Gly) is ubiquitous in the atmosphere and plays a vital role in new particle formation(NPF).However,the potential mechanism of its on sulfuric acid(SA)-ammonia(A)clusters formation under various atmospheric conditions is still ambiguous.Herein,a(Gly)_x·(SA)_y·(A)_z(z≤x+y≤3) multicomponent system was investigated by using density functional theory(DFT) combined with Atmospheric Cluster Dynamics Code(ACDC) at different temperatures and precursor concentrations.The results show that Gly,with one carboxyl(-COOH) and one amine(-NH_2) group,can interact strongly with SA and A in two directions through hydrogen bonds or proton transfer.Within the relevant range of atmospheric concentrations,Gly can enhance the formation rate of SA-A-based clusters,especially at low temperature,low [SA],and median [A].The enhancement(R) of Gly on NPF can be up to 340 at T=218.15 K,[SA]=10~4,[A]=10~9,and [Gly]=10~7 molecules/cm~3.In addition,the main growth paths of clusters show that Gly molecules participate into cluster formation in the initial stage and eventually leave the cluster by evaporation in subsequent cluster growth at low [Gly],it acts as an important "transporter" to connect the smaller and larger cluster.With the increase of [Gly],it acts as a "participator" directly participating in NPF.     

加入SOA示踪的深圳大气PM2.5受体模型源解析

为厘清包括二次有机气溶胶（SOA）在内的深圳市区PM_2.5各种一次和二次来源贡献,本文于2017年9月2日~2018年8月29日在深圳市大学城点位开展PM_2.5样品采集,并进行化学组分和水溶性有机物（WSOM）质谱测量,共获得162组有效数据.观测期间深圳市大气PM_2.5平均质量浓度为26μg/m³,在传统PMF源解析的基础上加入羧基离子碎片（CO₂⁺）作为SOA的示踪物,加入水溶性有机氧（WSOO）用于计算各因子O/C,验证有机物解析效果.结果表明,SOA可以被独立解析出,其O/C明显高于其他一次污染源中有机物;机动车、二次硫酸盐、二次硝酸盐、SOA为最主要的4个源,对PM_2.5质量浓度的贡献分别为25%、23%、17%和10%,船舶、地面扬尘、老化海盐、建筑尘、生物质燃烧、燃煤和工业贡献均在5%以内.各个源的变化特征表明,机动车、二次硫酸盐、二次硝酸盐、SOA等源贡献呈现冬高夏低的季节特征,与冬季季风条件下源自内陆的污染传输密切相关.污染天气时,二次硝酸盐和SOA的贡献增加相对最显著,因此NOx和挥发性有机物是减排的关键.     

星形线电除尘器内EHD流动与粒子行为数值模拟

为了研究星形线电除尘器内电流体动力学（EHD）流动与荷电粒子运动行为及两者间相互作用,构建了线板式电除尘器（ESP）内关于EHD和带电粒子运动学的耦合数值模型.该模型采用有限体积法离散求解电场方程和空间电荷方程,在拉格朗日法下建立带电粒子运动方程,并与FLUENT湍流模型进行耦合.利用这一模型,对3种电场风速下星形线电除尘器内流动形态与粒子运动行为进行了细致模拟,并分析了二次流动对气流、粒子浓度分布的影响.结果表明,星形线电除尘通道内二次流动对流动形态和粒子浓度分布存在显著作用.随电场风速的降低,这一作用将越明显.EHD流动对细小荷电粒子运动的影响更为显著.二次流动产生涡旋并作用于主流来影响粒子运动行为.收尘板面的涡旋挤压粒子流远离壁面向流动中心运动,放电极下游的涡旋则促进粒子流向收尘板壁面靠近.此外,由于捕集通道中强二次流的存在,Deutsch计算式对除尘效率、特别是对于亚微米粒子捕集效率的计算并不准确.     

利用HYSPLIT模型研究珠三角地区VOCs时空分布特征

于2016年在中国广东大气超级监测站,开展4个季节的VOCs长时间观测,共获得2142组有效数据,并利用HYSPLIT模型分析珠三角地区VOCs时空分布特征.结果表明,各类VOCs混合比和化学反应活性具有明显的季节变化特点.观测期间,VOCs平均浓度为（18.523±20.978）×10^-9,其中,低碳烯烃和苯系物二者混合比之和仅占46%,但贡献了85%的·OH消耗速率（L_OH）、82%的臭氧生成潜势（OFP）和97%的二次气溶胶生成潜势（SOAFP）.观测站点主要受来自北部内陆地区气团（1#）、西部内陆地区气团（2#）、台湾海峡南端气团（3#）以及南部海洋地区气团（4#）的影响.1#气团中炔烃和苯系物的混合比占比最高,分别达到10%、37%,而3#气团中低碳烷烃的浓度水平最高,达到（8.437±5.561）×10^-9.通过估算气团中VOCs的化学反应活性,可以发现,1#气团的VOCs化学反应活性最强,其对O₃和SOA的生成贡献最高.1#、2#、3#和4#气团中VOCs的化学反应活性主要由苯系物和低碳烯烃贡献.     

颗粒物分界层Mie散射激光雷达识别的sigmoid算法

基于成都市2013年6月~2015年5月期间由Mie散射激光雷达探测的大气消光系数廓线资料,发现混合层以上在颗粒物消光和分子消光之间一致存在一个S型的过渡区,利用sigmoid函数对此分布形态进行模拟,通过计算该函数上下曲率最大点所在的高度,据此提出了颗粒物分界层Mie散射激光雷达识别的sigmoid算法.针对该算法模拟效果的分析表明,颗粒物分界层过渡区附近大气消光系数理论廓线和实测廓线保持了高度的相关性,二者在春夏秋冬四季的相关系数（R）分别为0.9971±0.0052、0.9935±0.0167、0.9979±0.0038和0.9990±0.0021（均通过α=0.05的显著性检验）.基于sigmoid算法计算的颗粒物分界层过渡区与成都市温江站探空资料得到的逆温层之间存在很好的对应关系.     

Analysis of pollutant levels in central Hong Kong applying neural network method with particle swarm optimization

Air pollution has emerged as an imminent issue in modernsociety. Prediction of pollutant levels is an importantresearch topic in atmospheric environment today. For fulfillingsuch prediction, the use of neural network (NN), and inparticular the multi-layer perceptrons, has presented to be acost-effective technique superior to traditional statisticalmethods. But their training, usually with back-propagation (BP)algorithm or other gradient algorithms, is often with certaindrawbacks, such as: 1) very slow convergence, and 2) easilygetting stuck in a local minimum. In this paper, a newlydeveloped method, particle swarm optimization (PSO) model, isadopted to train perceptrons, to predict pollutant levels, andas a result, a PSO-based neural network approach is presented. The approach is demonstrated to be feasible and effective bypredicting some real air-quality problems.