Benthic foraminiferal fauna and sediment provenance of Eocene syn-rift sequences in Taiwan: implication for onset of Asian epi-continental marginal seas off China coast

Marine Geophysical Research - Early Cenozoic rift basins developed commonly on the Mesozoic basement along the SE Asia Continent. However, Eocene–Oligocene sequences were only exposed widely...     

Petrogenesis of Early Cretaceous hornblende gabbro in Khanka Massif: evidence from geochronology and geochemistry

The authors report zircon U-Pb geochronological,whole-rock geochemical and zircon Lu-Hf isotope data for the hornblende gabbro within the Khanka Massif,with the aim of constraining its formation time and petrogenesis. The zircon U-Pb dating shows that ~(206)Pb/~(238)Pb ages of zircons from the hornblende gabbro range from 120 to 129 Ma,yielding a weighted mean age of 123 ± 2 Ma,i. e.,the Early Cretaceous. The hornblende gabbro has SiO_2 of 44. 77%--46. 58% and belongs to the tholeiitic series on FeO~t/MgO-SiO_2 diagram. It displays a right-inclined REE pattern with( La/Yb)_N ratios of 3. 44 to 4. 42. The trace element spidergram shows that they are enriched in large ion lithophile elements( LILE) such as Rb,Th,U,K and Pb,and depleted in high field strength elements( HFSE) such as Nb,Ta,Ti and P,indicating an affinity to arc igneous rocks.The ε_(Hf)( t) values of zircons vary from -2. 6 to + 3. 9 and Hf model ages( T_(DM1)) range from 622 to 883 Ma.These geochemical characteristics indicate that primary magma of the hornblende gabbro could be derived from partial melting of young mantle material accreted during the Neoproterozoic. Combined with the Early Cretaceous igneous rock assemblages in NE Asia. It is concluded that the hornblende gabbro formed in an active continental margin related to the westward subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Khanka Massif.     

Spatial patch structure and adaptive strategy for desert shrub of Reaumuria soongorica in arid ecosystem of the Heihe River Basin

In many arid ecosystems, vegetation frequently occurs in high-cover patches interspersed in a matrix of low plant cover. However, theoretical explanations for shrub patch pattern dynamics along climate gradients remain unclear on a large scale. This context aimed to assess the variance of the Reaumuria soongorica patch structure along the precipitation gradient and the factors that affect patch structure formation in the middle and lower Heihe River Basin (HRB). Field investigations on vegetation patterns and heterogeneity in soil properties were conducted during 2014 and 2015. The results showed that patch height, size and plant-to-patch distance were smaller in high precipitation habitats than in low precipitation sites. Climate, soil and vegetation explained 82.5% of the variance in patch structure. Spatially, R. soongorica shifted from a clumped to a random pattern on the landscape towards the MAP gradient, and heterogeneity in the surface soil properties (the ratio of biological soil crust (BSC) to bare gravels (BG)) determined the R. soongorica population distribution pattern in the middle and lower HRB. A conceptual model, which integrated water availability and plant facilitation and competition effects, was revealed that R. soongorica changed from a flexible water use strategy in high precipitation regions to a consistent water use strategy in low precipitation areas. Our study provides a comprehensive quantification of the variance in shrub patch structure along a precipitation gradient and may improve our understanding of vegetation pattern dynamics in the Gobi Desert under future climate change.

     

Walking Access Distance of Metro Passengers and Relationship with Demographic Characteristics: A Case Study of Nanjing Metro

In the metropolises of China, the metro plays an increasingly important role in commuting because of its efficiency, affordability, and cleanliness. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between walking access distance to metro stations and the demographic characteristics of passengers, such as age, monthly income, travel frequency, gender, and travel purpose, as well as the influence of the urban context. Nanjing Metro Line 2 is selected as the case study. By using different methods such as a questionnaire survey, spatial decay function, analysis of covariance (ANOVA), network analysis of routes, and K-means cluster analysis, it is suggested that demographic characteristics have a significant impact on the pedestrian walking distance, with the exception of gender. Furthermore, the paper finds a spatial decay effect in walking access distance, the decay rate of which, however, varies across stations. Terminal stations have a larger pedestrian catchment area than in regular and exchange stations. Moreover, the passengers of Nanjing Metro Line 2 can be classified into six groups according to their demographic characteristics, among which education and occupation are vital indicators in determining their willingness to walk to the stations. Middle-class passengers have a higher dependence on the metro and tend to walk longer than other groups do. This study provides an important reference for planners and transport sectors to optimize land-use and transport infrastructures.     

Soil and Vegetation Spectral Coupling Difference (SVSCD) for Minerals Extraction from Hyperion Data in Vegetation Covered Area

Remote sensing data have been widely applied to extract minerals in geologic exploration, however, in areas covered by vegetation, extracted mineral information has mostly been small targets bearing little information. In this paper, we present a new method for mineral extraction aimed at solving the difficulty of mineral identification in vegetation covered areas. The method selected six sets of spectral difference coupling between soil and plant (SVSCD). These sets have the same vegetation spectra reflectance and a maximum different reflectance of soil and mineral spectra from Hyperion image based on spectral reflectance characteristics of measured spectra. The central wavelengths of the six, selected band pairs were 2314 and 701 nm, 1699 and 721 nm, 1336 and 742 nm, 2203 and 681 nm, 2183 and 671 nm, and 2072 and 548 nm. Each data set’s reflectance was used to calculate the difference value. After band difference calculation, vegetation information was suppressed and mineral abnormal information was enhanced compared to the scatter plot of original band. Six spectral difference couplings, after vegetation inhibition, were arranged in a new data set that requires two components that have the largest eigenvalue difference from principal component analysis (PCA). The spatial geometric structure features of PC1 and PC2 was used to identify altered minerals by spectral feature fitting (SFF). The collecting rocks from the 10 points that were selected in the concentration of mineral extraction were analyzed under a high-resolution microscope to identify metal minerals and nonmetallic minerals. Results indicated that the extracted minerals were well matched with the verified samples, especially with the sample 2, 4, 5 and 8. It demonstrated that the method can effectively detect altered minerals in vegetation covered area in Hyperion image.     

Explicit stress–strain equations for modeling frictional materials

In this paper, a comprehensive study on simulating the shearing behavior of frictional materials is performed. A set of two explicit equations, describing the relationship among the shear stress ratio and the distortional strain and the volumetric strain, are formulated independently. The equations contain three stress parameters and three strain parameters and another parameter representing the nonuniformity of stress and strain during softening. All the parameters have clear physical significance and can be determined experimentally. It is demonstrated that the proposed equations have the capacity of simulating the complicated shearing behavior of many types of frictional materials including geomaterials. The proposed equations are used to simulate the stress–strain behavior for 27 frictional materials with 98 tests. These materials include soft and stiff clays in both reconstituted and structured states, silicon sands and calcareous sands, silts, compacted fill materials, volcanic soils, decomposed granite soils, cemented soils (both artificially and naturally cemented), partially saturated soils, ballast, rocks, reinforced soils, tire chips, sugar, wheat, and rapeseed. It has been demonstrated that the proposed explicit constitutive equations have the capacity to capture accurately the shearing behavior of frictional materials both qualitatively and quantitatively. A study on model parameters has been performed.     

Effects of stocking density on the growth and immunity of Atlantic salmon salmo salar reared in recirculating aquaculture system (RAS)

Atlantic salmon reared in recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) may lead to inappropriately high stocking density, because fish live in a limited space. Finding the suitable stocking density of Atlantic salmon reared in RAS is very important for RAS industry. In this paper, the influence of stocking density on growth and some stress related physiological factors were investigated to evaluate the effects of stocking density. The fish were reared for 220 days at five densities (A: 24 kg/m³; B: 21 kg/m³; C: 15 kg/m³; D: 9 kg/ m³ and E: 6 kg/m³ ). The results show that 30 kg/m³ might be the maximum density which RAS can afford in China. The stocking densities under 30 kg/m³ have no effect on mortality of Atlantic salmon reared in RAS. However, the specific growth rate (SGR), final weight and weight gain in the high density group were significantly lower than the lower density groups and middle density groups. Moreover, feed conversion rate (FCR) had a negative correlation with density. Plasma hormone T₃ and GH showed significant decrease with the increase of the stocking density of the experiment. Furthermore, thyroid hormone (T₃), GH (growth hormone) activities were decreased with stocking density increase. However, plasma cortisol, GOT (glutamic oxalacetic transaminase) and GPT (glutamic pyruvic transaminase) activities were increase with stocking density increase. And the stocking density has no effects on plasma lysozyme of Atlantic salmon reared in RAS. These investigations would also help devise efficient ways to rear adult Atlantic salmon in China and may, in a way, help spread salmon mariculture in China.

     

两株南极枝孢霉属真菌Cladosporium sp.NJF4和NJF6的次级代谢产物研究

南极因其独特的自然环境成为潜在、重要的微生物资源库,是产生新型生物活性物质和先导化合物菌株的潜在种源地,南极微生物正在成为创新药物研究新的重要资源。虽然近年来对南极微生物次级代谢产物的研究逐渐增加,但与温带和热带微生物研究相比仍处于初级阶段。对从南极普里兹湾海洋沉积物中获得的两株枝孢霉属真菌Cladosporium sp. NJF4和NJF6进行次级代谢产物分离及结构鉴定,获得20个化合物。化合物结构类型包括甾醇(1)、倍半萜类(7—8)、生物碱类(9—14)、二酮哌嗪(2—5、15—17)、芳香酸(6、18—19)等,其中倍半萜类(7—8)为首次从枝孢霉属真菌中分离得到,以上研究将为丰富南极微生物次级代谢产物库奠定一定的研究基础。     

邮轮属性评价与品牌定位

以全球最大的邮轮点评网站——邮轮评论家为数据来源渠道，以编辑（Editor/Expert）的文本点评以及对167艘邮轮10大属性的打分数据为样本，利用词频分析、回归分析、聚类分析和方差分析等方法，对全球21个邮轮品牌的产品属性、总体评价以及品牌定位问题进行了系统研究。结果表明，对于专业型游客来说，餐饮、客房和娱乐是关注度最高的船上属性，服务、性价比和公共空间是满意度最高的船上属性，客房、餐饮、公共空间、性价比和娱乐属性对邮轮总评具有显著影响。方差分析表明，与行业界定下的品牌行为相比，基于专业型游客感知的品牌划分更有效。     

A case study on Landscape Component Niche based on Landscape Pattern Indices: Yanchi,Ningxia Province,China

Yanchi County is located in the agro-pastoral ecotone and belongs to the ecologically fragile area of Northwest China.It is important to study the evolution of landscape pattern to curb its environmental degradation.In order to intuitively show how the landscape pattern of the study area changes over time,Landsat Thematic Mappers(TM)and Landsat Operational Land Imager(OLI)data of 1991,2000,2010 and 2017 were used.This paper attempts to apply niche theories and methods into landscape ecology,and constructs a niche model of landscape components by using"n-dimentional hypervolume niche theory"and landscape pattern indices.By evaluating the spatial and temporal evolution of niche from the perspective of two-dimensional space to reflect the changes of landscape pattern in the study area over the past 26 years,new theories and methods were introduced for the characterization of landscape pattern.The results indicate that:1)The larger the attribute and dominance value of landscape components,the higher the ecological niche and the stronger the control effect on the overall landscape.2)The ecological niche of each landscape component was significantly different,just as its control effect on the overall landscape.3)The dynamic change of the ecological niche of each landscape component was different,with grassland,unused land and arable land always in a high dominant position,although the ecological niche of construction land and water area was always low.In general,the introduction of niche theory into the landscape ecology provided a new method to study the changes in regional landscape pattern.