The KHOLOD experiment: A search for a new population of radio sources

Published data from long-term observations of a strip of sky at declination ?? ?? 5° carried out at 7.6 cm on the RATAN-600 radio telescope are used to estimate some statistical properties of radio sources. Limits on the sensitivity of the survey due to noise imposed by background sources, which dominates the radiometer sensitivity, are refined. The vast majority of noise due to background sources is associated with known radio sources (for example, from the NVSS with a detection threshold of 2.3 mJy) with normal steep spectra (?? = 0.7?C0.8, S ?? ?? ^??? ), which have also been detected in new deep surveys at decimeter wavelengths. When all such objects are removed from the observational data, this leaves another noise component that is observed to be roughly identical in independent groups of observations. We suggest this represents a new population of radio sources that are not present in known catalogs at the 0.6 mJy level at 7.6 cm. The studied redshift dependence of the number of steep-spectrum objects shows that the sensitivity of our survey is sufficient to detect powerful FRII radio sources at any redshift, right to the epoch of formation of the first galaxies. The inferred new population is most likely associated with low-luminosity objects at redshifts z < 1. In spite of the appearance of new means of carrying out direct studies of distant galaxies, searches for objects with very high redshifts among steep and ultra-steep spectrum radio sources remains an effective method for studying the early Universe.     

Radio identification and continuum spectra of decameter-wavelength sources

The paper describes a method for the radio identification of decameter-wavelength sources based on their continuum spectra and analysis of their coordinates in relatively large error boxes surrounding a specified position on the sky. The distribution of continuum spectra and identifications in other wavelength ranges are analyzed for the resulting radio catalog. Using identifications with the FIRST and NVSS surveys, the statistics of the spectral index-size and spectral index-flux density distributions for steep-spectrum sources have been studied, and a catalog of ultrasteep-spectrum (α相似文献   

Astroinformatics: data-oriented astronomy research and education

The growth of data volumes in science is reaching epidemic proportions. Consequently, the status of data-oriented science as a research methodology needs to be elevated to that of the more established scientific approaches of experimentation, theoretical modeling, and simulation. Data-oriented scientific discovery is sometimes referred to as the new science of X-Informatics, where X refers to any science (e.g., Bio-, Geo-, Astro-) and informatics refers to the discipline of organizing, describing, accessing, integrating, mining, and analyzing diverse data resources for scientific discovery. Many scientific disciplines are developing formal sub-disciplines that are information-rich and data-based, to such an extent that these are now stand-alone research and academic programs recognized on their own merits. These disciplines include bioinformatics and geoinformatics, and will soon include astroinformatics. We introduce Astroinformatics, the new data-oriented approach to 21st century astronomy research and education. In astronomy, petascale sky surveys will soon challenge our traditional research approaches and will radically transform how we train the next generation of astronomers, whose experiences with data are now increasingly more virtual (through online databases) than physical (through trips to mountaintop observatories). We describe Astroinformatics as a rigorous approach to these challenges. We also describe initiatives in science education (not only in astronomy) through which students are trained to access large distributed data repositories, to conduct meaningful scientific inquiries into the data, to mine and analyze the data, and to make data-driven scientific discoveries. These are essential skills for all 21st century scientists, particularly in astronomy as major new multi-wavelength sky surveys (that produce petascale databases and image archives) and grand-scale simulations (that generate enormous outputs for model universes, such as the Millennium Simulation) become core research components for a significant fraction of astronomical researchers.     

Synchronization,desynchronization, and resynchronization as mechanisms for the formation of variable polyrhythmicity in biological and geophysical systems

The variable polyrhythmicity observed in natural, technical, and humanitarian spheres can be the result of mutual desynchronization of conjugate rhythmic processes. One example of desynchronization in medicine is fibrillations of heart ventricles. To bring a patient out of this state, electroshock is applied, which frequently leads to defibrillation and recovery of normal heart rhythm (resynchronization). This phenomenon has analogies in other fields of science. It is known that lunar–solar tides cause subsurface seismic noise. We give an example of detecting such noise in the Ashkhabad seismic survey area. This noise can appear and disappear, and the reason may be certain shock impacts, in particular, earthquakes. Similar results have been obtained in studying lunar seismicity, where tidal phenomena are more strongly pronounced than on Earth.

     

Y-12 航空物探综合站野外飞行工作中 一些重要问题的探讨

飞行安全、数据质量和飞行效率是航空物探野外飞行工作的基础.本文围绕此基础,结合Y-12航空物探(电/磁/放)综合站野外飞行工作经验,对一些相关重要问题作了全面的分析和总结,旨在为物探工作者提供一个参考.本文主要探讨了飞行生产前期工作、飞行计划的制定和实施和飞行生产相关环节.对于航空物探工作来说,一个好的飞行计划,可以提高飞行效率,节约飞行成本.飞行高度不仅是飞行安全的生命线,也是航空物探数据质量的生命线.没有飞行安全,一切生产工作都无从谈起;没有数据质量,一切生产工作都徒劳无功.因此,我们在飞行生产当中的要求是,在保证安全的前提下尽量降低飞行高度.实践证明,上述问题对野外飞行工作的顺利开展十分重要,应予以重视和研究.     

Deep surveys and the nonthermal noise of radio telescopes

The paper presents an analysis of catalogs of discrete radio sources and the results of deep surveys carried out with angular resolutions to 1.5″ and limiting flux densities to 9 μJy at frequencies from 80 MHz to 8.5 GHz using large radio telescopes around the world. We consider the influence on the sensitivity of a radio telescope of the nonthermal noise associated with variations in the total flux due to fluctuations in the number of unresolved sources with fluxes lower than the observed value that fall in the main lobe of the antenna beam when the direction in which the receiver is pointed is changed (the first component), and also due to sources with fluxes higher than the observed value that arrive in the scattering region of the telescope (the second component). With growth in the sensitivity and resolution of a telescope, the second component of this nonthermal noise determines to an appreciable extent the limiting capability of the telescope for carrying out deep surveys. We estimate the number of antenna beams per source that are required to reach a specified sensitivity in deep surveys. The results of our calculations are compared with data derived from catalogs and numerous surveys.     

Science and security expertise: Authority,knowledge, subjectivity

What role does science play in shaping the political? This themed issue brings together scholars from political science, human geography, natural science and related fields with the common aim of exploring links between science/expertise and politics with a specific focus on security implications. The increasing attention to threats and risks related to issues such as climate change, migration, energy security, or emerging technologies creates a demand for new types of experts and expertise relevant for security politics. By looking at the actors who operate at the boundary between science, bureaucracy and security politics, this themed issue seeks to destabilize the notion of an apolitical sphere of science and expertise, while at the same time demonstrating how the politics of expertise shapes the authority and subjectivity of scientists and reconfigures the meanings and roles of scientific knowledge. In this editorial, we connect relevant literatures and introduce the individual articles that compose the themed issue.     

Deep RATAN-600 surveys at the declination of SS 433 carried out in 1987–2000 at 7.6 and 2.7 cm

We discuss the results of deep surveys of a ±10′ strip of the sky, centered on the declination of SS 433, carried out on the Northern sector of the RATAN-600 telescope at 2.7 and 7.6 cm in 1987–2000. The survey objects are cross-identified with sources in the NVSS catalog and the corresponding two-frequency spectral indices determined. We find a decrease in the mean spectral index in the transition from objects with flux densities S ₂₁ ≥ 30 mJy to those with 15 < S ₂₁ < 30 mJy. The constructed log N — logS relation at 2.7 cm has a slope of 3/2 at flux densities ≥300 mJy and flattens at weaker flux densities. The 1.4 GHz (NVSS), 3.94 GHz (RATAN-600), and 11.11 GHz (RATAN-600) data are used to estimate the number of objects per square degree at a wavelength of 1 cm.     

The Invasive Species Challenge in Estuarine and Coastal Environments: Marrying Management and Science

Despite the widely acknowledged threat posed by invasive species in coastal estuaries, there are substantial gaps at the intersection of science and policy that are impeding invasive species management. In the face of pressing management needs in coastal and estuarine environments, we advocate that introduced species should receive the kind of management effort dedicated, for example, to reducing pollution. We support our argument with some examples of economic costs of estuarine and coastal introduced species and a summary of recent evidence for the ecological costs. We highlight some of the issues that either thwart or facilitate the successful marriage between science and management of introduced species, including the regulatory framework for management. We use the available information on coastal eradication programs, including case histories of the programs for Caulerpa taxifolia and Spartina alterniflora (and hybrids) in the western USA, to indicate the feasibility of managing introduced species and to help point out how management and science can improve the outcome. We close with a research agenda that focuses primarily on science that will really assist with invasive species management and reflects our own experience and the opinions of managers directly involved with this issue.     

黄淮海地区湿地水生态过程、水环境效应及生态安全调控

围绕国家重点基础研究发展计划(973计划)项目“黄淮海地区湿地水生态过程、水环境效应及生态安全调控”,介绍了湿地水生态过程、水环境效应和生态安全调控研究对我国社会与科技发展的意义、研究现状和发展趋势、拟解决的关键科学问题、主要研究内容和研究总体方案。该项研究的最终目标是发展一套集河流、湖沼、河口等湿地系统组分于一体的湿地系统层面上的湿地学理论,解决我国湿地研究面临的一系列基础科学问题,有效协调区域社会经济发展与湿地保护之间的矛盾,为建立不同目标下湿地系统整体调控模式,构建生态、社会和经济相互协调及环境友好型社会体系提供理论和技术支撑。     

Detection of sources of periodic radio emission with the Large Phased Array of the Lebedev Physical Institute

A method for searching for new periodic radio sources is described. The method is based on the spectral analysis of data from daily monitoring of the sky on the Large Phased Antenna (LPA) of the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory at 111 MHz in a 2.5-MHz band. The 96-beam directivity pattern of the LPA is used. The signal is received in six 0.42-MHz frequency channels with a sampling rate of 0.1 s. The duration of the processed survey is four months. The particulars of detecting periodic sources with the LPA are considered. In total, 16 such radio sources have been detected, for which equatorial and Galactic coordinates, periods, and dispersion measures are given.     

Socio-economic determinants of women’s livelihood time use in rural Bangladesh

Achieving gender well-being and equality is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. A close examination of female livelihood time allocation can reveal gender inequality in livelihood choices between males and females. Using the feminist political ecology framework, this paper examines how gendered knowledge, roles, and responsibilities influence female livelihood time use in a patriarchal society like Bangladesh. We use a nationally representative household survey data to create Multiple Linear Regression Model to understand the association between economic, cultural, and environmental shocks with the total time allocation toward livelihood activities by women. Our results suggest that use of ‘Purdah’ by Muslim women acts as a negative detrimental factor towards their livelihood time allocation, thus affirming the complex role of culture and gendered economic activities. Women also allocate less time toward livelihood activities during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding. We find that female livelihood time use also depends on their ability to speak in public, their autonomy in livelihood decision processes, and their ownership in business enterprises. This research suggests creating more robust and gender sensitive policies in Bangladesh that can help achieve the United Nation’s goals of Sustainable Development.

     

Multiwavelength astronomy and big data

Two major characteristics of modern astronomy are multiwavelength (MW) studies (fromγ-ray to radio) and big data (data acquisition, storage and analysis). Present astronomical databases and archives contain billions of objects observed at various wavelengths, both galactic and extragalactic, and the vast amount of data on them allows new studies and discoveries. Astronomers deal with big numbers. Surveys are the main source for discovery of astronomical objects and accumulation of observational data for further analysis, interpretation, and achieving scientific results. We review the main characteristics of astronomical surveys, compare photographic and digital eras of astronomical studies (including the development of wide-field observations), describe the present state of MW surveys, and discuss the Big Data in astronomy and related topics of Virtual Observatories and Computational Astrophysics. The review includes many numbers and data that can be compared to have a possibly overall understanding on the Universe, cosmic numbers and their relationship to modern computational facilities.     

Radio Sources in the Central Section of the RZF Catalog. Search for Objects with Ultra-Steep Spectra

Results of reducing and selecting data from the Ratan Zenith Field (RZF) are presented. A deep survey in the region 0^h ≤ R.A. ≤ 24^h, 40.5° ≤ DEC ≤ 42.5° carried out on the RATAN-600 radio telescope was used. Within +2′ of the center of the survey region, 448 objects were detected, 69 of them with ultra-steep spectra (USS). The SDSS digital optical survey (DR12), NVSS radio maps, and the FIRST catalogs have been used to cross-identify 208 radio sources from the RZF catalog, obtained as part of the “Genetic Code of the Universe” project. The characteristics of these objects are studied, and the distribution of the SDSS galaxies in a two-color diagram is obtained. Photometric redshifts and radio luminosities at 3940 and 1400 MHz are determined for 27 objects with spectral indices α < −1.1 (S ∝ ν^α) for which magnitudes in various filters are presented in the SDSS. In the sample of USS objects, 12 galaxies have redshifts z < 0.5, are detected at wavelength λ = 7.6 cm, and have relatively high radio luminosities (type FR II or intermediate type FR I–FR II). Only one radio galaxy proved to be a rare nearby galaxy with relatively low radio luminosity L_{1400 MHz} = 1.51 × 10²⁴ W/Hz (type FR I). Two objects are candidate GHz-Peaked Spectrum objects.

     

Seeing the Copperbelt: Science,mining and colonial power in Northern Rhodesia

This article explores the relationship between science and the extension of colonial power through an examination of the rise of the Northern Rhodesian (later, Zambian) Copperbelt in the 1930s. The rise of the Copperbelt rested in part on scientific prospecting operations perhaps unparalleled in size and scope in the world at the time. These operations brought new ‘scientific’ prospecting techniques to the area which enabled the Northern Rhodesian subsurface to be ‘seen’ in new ways. The seemingly universal and fixed knowledge scientists produced served both political and commercial aims, animating the ‘civilising’ project of imperial power and transforming a newly acquired territory into a profitable annex to empire. Two prospecting operations are explored in detail: (1) the first large concession floated as the Rhodesian Congo Border Concession and (2) the first attempt to use geological science to generate a complete geological map of mineral resources on the Copperbelt in the Nkana Concession. Examining the efforts of these two prospecting operations reveals the methodological, theoretical and epistemological challenges of producing a viable mineral investment and practicing science in the periphery. Finally, the disconnects between the logics and goals of science and those of colonial extraction in Africa are explored. Here it is argued that it was the very malleability of the knowledge produced by European scientists, rather than its abstract fixity or placeless universality, that enabled it to become part of wider political and economic flows.     

Lessons learnt in addressing environmental issues of new water resource projects – a case study in KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Developing new water resource projects without taking cognisance of the environmental impacts, both biophysical and social, has received global condemnation for many years now and is largely becoming a practice of the past. However, it is the prominence, extent of issues addressed, timing and intensity of the investigations and the commitment to environmental protection and mitigation that has increased significantly over the past few years. Practices in South Africa are no exception to this. Environmental legislation in South Africa requires that an Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) approach be adopted when any new project is being considered. This IEM approach was recently put to the test in South Africa during the planning and implementation of an inter-basin transfer scheme in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This paper will discuss the steps that were taken to address the environmental issues during a protracted planning phase, and what was accomplished. It will compare how these recommendations were taken forward into the construction phase and the operations phase, and the lessons learnt from the process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ozone and climate governance: An implausible path dependence

Many observers and commentators have used the case of ozone science and politics as a role model for climate science and politics. Two crucial assumptions underpin this view: (1) that science drives policymaking, and (2) that a unified, international science assessment is essential to provide “one voice” of science that speaks to policymakers. I will argue that these assumptions are theoretically problematic and empirically questionable. We should realize that both cases, ozone and climate, are profoundly different and only have superficial similarities. Ozone science developed late, but efforts to protect the ozone layer happened swiftly. The relation between carbon dioxide and climate change has been studied for many decades, but efforts to control global warming have failed so far. I will discuss the linear model of the science-policy relationship and use the typology of tame and wicked problems to explain this stark difference.     

江苏省矿山地质环境调查研究工作现状及其展望

回顾了以往江苏省矿山地质环境调查研究工作现状及工作成就，剖析了我省矿山地质环境调查研究工作存在的问题。在此基础上，提出了江苏省矿山地质环境调查研究工作的目标与方向，部署全省矿山地质环境重点研究领域的工作，为江苏生态省建设和矿山环境保护提出了建设性意见。     

Financing rapid community reconstruction after catastrophic disaster: lessons from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

Catastrophic disasters can change the course of urban development and challenge the long-run sustainability of cities and regions. How to rapidly reconstruct communities impaired by catastrophic disaster is a world-wide challenge. The reconstruction after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China was an unusual case of very rapid reconstruction after a catastrophic disaster. Over US$147 billion was invested to rebuild the damaged areas within 3 years. The reconstruction was not simply building back what was destroyed, but was used as an opportunity to advance national goals for urbanization, rural transformation, and poverty reduction. In this article, we review how the reconstruction was planned, budgeted, and financed in the sociopolitical context of 2008 China. Particularly, we discuss two innovative programs, namely pair assistance and land-based financing. Despite the unique circumstances of China, lessons can be learned to speed up post-disaster reconstruction and urban development in other countries. Conversely, this case illustrates that a narrow focus on physical reconstruction may overlook broader economic and social issues.

     

基于地质建造的生态地质调查方法——以河北省承德市国家生态文明示范区综合地质调查为例

生态地质（学）是研究生态与地质环境相互关系及作用机理的科学。通过“承德市国家生态文明示范区综合地质调查”项目的实践，探索总结出一套适合山区、基于地质建造的生态地质调查思路和技术方法框架。按照全域背景（基准）调查—重点小流域调查—生态关键带解剖3个层次开展工作，逐步深化对承德市生态地质特征和作用规律的认知。通过全域1：25万地质建造分析与编（填）图，查明生态地质背景，划分生态地质单元，快速筛选生态资源优势区和生态环境问题区；针对筛选出的生态资源优势区和生态环境问题区，开展以小流域为单元的重点区1：5万调查，以查明优势资源特征，评价生态环境风险；开展重要地质建造典型生态关键带1：1万调查与研究，揭示生态地质系统三维结构特征和相互作用机理，为综合监测和生态系统演变趋势预测提供依据。构建了生态地质调查“需求—调查—转化”体系框架，依据生态地质调查成果，为承德市国土空间规划、生态产业发展和生态保护修复，提出了相应的地学建议。