Use of N stable isotope and microbial analyses to define wastewater influence in Mobile Bay, AL

We assessed short-term ecological and potential human health effects of wastewater treatment plant (WTP) effluent by measuring δ¹⁵N‰ and microbial concentrations in oysters and suspended particulate matter (SPM). We also tested male-specific bacteriophage (MSB) as an alternative to fecal coliforms, to assess potential influence of wastewater contamination on shellfish. WTP effluent did not affect oyster growth or survival, but SPM and oysters acquired wastewater-specific δ¹⁵N‰. δ¹⁵N values were depleted near the WTP, typical of low-level processed wastewater. Fecal coliform and MSB concentrations were higher in samples taken closest to the WTP, and MSB values were significantly correlated with δ¹⁵N‰ in oyster tissues. Overall, oysters demonstrated relatively rapid integration and accumulation of wastewater-specific δ¹⁵N‰ and indicator microorganisms compared to water samples. These data suggest oysters were superior sentinels compared to water, and MSB was a more reliable indicator of wastewater influence on shellfish than fecal coliforms.     

Population similarity analysis of indicator bacteria for source prediction of faecal pollution in a coastal lake

Biochemical fingerprinting (BF) databases of 524 enterococci and 571 Escherichia coli isolates and an antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA) database comprising of 380 E. coli isolates from four suspected sources (i.e. dogs, chickens, waterfowls, and human sewage) were developed to predict the sources of faecal pollution in a recreational coastal lake. Twenty water samples representing four sampling episodes were collected from five sites and the enterococci and E. coli population from each site were compared with those of the databases. The degree of similarity between bacterial populations was measured as population similarity (Sp) coefficient. Using the BF-database, bacterial populations of waterfowls showed the highest similarity with the water samples followed by a sewage treatment plant (STP). Higher population similarities were found between samples from STP and water samples especially at two sites (T2 and T3) which were located near the sewerage pipes collecting wastewater from the study area. When using the ARA-database, the highest similarity was found between E. coli populations from STP and water samples at sites T2 and T4. Both faecal indicators and as well as methods predicted human faecal pollution, possibly through leakage from submerged sewerage pipes. The results indicated that the Sp-analysis of faecal indicator bacterial populations from suspected sources and water samples can be used as a simple tool to predict the source(s) of faecal pollution in surface waters.     

Daubechies小波在射电成图降噪处理中的应用

在超新星遗迹的认证中,如何有效去除观测资料中的干扰噪音,突出其中的有用信号,一直是实验工作关注的焦点。小波分析法是一种新近发展超来的新的时频分析方法。与Ｆｏｕｒｉｅｒ分析方法一样,任意的能量有限函数可以用小波正交展开。与Ｆｏｕｒｉｅｒ正交基不同的是,小波正交基具有局域性好的特性,这为分离观测资料中的局部噪音。提供了一个十分不效的工具,在利用Ｄａｕｂｅｃｈｉｅｓ４离散小波时,成功地去除了射电源成图中     

Cleaning Radio Frequency Interference in Pulsar-Folded Data Based on the Conditional Random Fields with an Adaptive Prior

Radio astronomy observations are frequently impacted by radio frequency interference(RFI). We propose a novel method, named 2σCRF, for cleaning RFI in the folded data of pulsar observations, utilizing a Bayesian-based model called conditional random fields(CRFs). This algorithm minimizes the “energy” of every pixel given an initial label. The standard deviations(i.e., rms values) of the folded pulsar data are utilized as pixels for all subintegrations and channels. Non-RFI data without obvious i...     

A spectral response approach for detecting dominant phytoplankton size class from satellite remote sensing

An important goal in ocean colour remote sensing is to accurately detect different phytoplank- ton groups with the potential uses including the validation of multi-phytoplankton carbon cycle models; synoptically monitoring the health of our oceans, and improving our understanding of the bio-geochemical interactions between phytoplankton and their environment. In this paper a new algorithm is developed for detecting three dominant phytoplankton size classes based on distinct differences in their optical signatures. The technique is validated against an independent cou- pled satellite reflectance and in situ pigment dataset and run on the 10-year NASA Sea viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWiFS) data series. Results indicate that on average 3.6% of the global oceanic surface layer is dominated by microplankton, 18.0% by nanoplankton and 78.4% by picoplankton. Results, however, are seen to vary depending on season and ocean basin.     

酪蛋白小肽和氨基酸对草鱼(Ctenopharyngodon idella)血液循环和组织蛋白质合成的影响

采用草鱼前肠灌注和3H-Tyr同位素标记方法,进行酪蛋白小肽和氨基酸对草鱼血液循环和组织蛋白质合成的影响研究。结果表明,灌注酶解酪蛋白(CSP)溶液组的草鱼血液循环中总肽量为19430.82μv/μl,灌注游离氨基酸(FAA)溶液组的草鱼血液循环中总肽量为16033.00μv/μl,前者显著高于后者(P0.05),同时前者的大多数肽段肽量也高于后者,2组血浆中某些肽段肽量有显著(P0.05)或极显著差异(P0.01)。CSP与FAA组草鱼肠道、肝脏、背肌组织蛋白质合成率(%/d)分别为96.84和72.25,98.64和81.65,65.38和46.59,CSP组草鱼显著或极显著高于FAA组(P0.05或P0.05)。草鱼血浆中总肽量和某些肽段肽量分别与草鱼肠道、肝胰脏和背肌组织蛋白质合成率有明显的正相关。实验表明,肠道对酪蛋白小肽的迅速吸收和进入血液循环中的某些小肽可能是促进草鱼组织蛋白合成的重要因素。     

Annual temperatures during the last 2485 years in the mid-eastern Tibetan Plateau inferred from tree rings

By combining living trees and archaeological wood, the annual mean temperatures were reconstructed based on ring-width indices of the mid-eastern Tibetan Plateau for the past 2485 years. The climate variations revealed by the reconstruction indicate that there were four periods to have average temperatures similar to or even higher than that mean of 1970 to 2000 AD. A particularly notable rapid shift from cold to warm, we call it the “Eastern Jin Event”, occurred from 348 AD to 413 AD. Calculation results show that the temperature variations over the mid-eastern Tibetan Plateau are not only representative for large parts of north-central China, but also closely correspond to those of the entire Northern Hemisphere over long time scales. During the last 2485 years, the downfall of most major dynasties in China coincides with intervals of low temperature. Compared with the temperature records in other regions of China during the last 1000 years, this reconstruction from the Tibetan Plateau shows a significant warming trend after the 1950s. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40525004, 40599420, 40890051), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2007BAC30B00, 2004CB720200, 2006CB400503) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA, Grant to Hans W. Linderholm)     

Lessons in bridge damage learned from the Wenchuan earthquake

A strong earthquake occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China, on May 12, 2008. Shortly after the earthquake, the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center of the Federal Highway Administration, in partnership with the Research Institute of Highways, the Ministry of Communication of China, led a reconnaissance team to conduct a post-earthquake bridge performance investigation of the transportation system in the earthquake affected areas. The U.S.transportation system reconnaissance team visited the area during July 20-24, 2008. This paper presents the findings and lessons learned by the team.     

Anti-plane （SH） waves diffraction by cavity： analytical an underground semi-circular solution

Diffraction of a two-dimensional (2D) semi-circular cavity in a half-space under incident SH-waves is studied using the classic wave function expansion method with a new de-coupling technique. This so-called “improved cosine halfrange expansion” algorithm exhibits an excellent performance in reducing displacement residual errors at two rim points of concern. The governing equations are developed in a manner that minimizes the residues of the boundary conditions. Detailed derivation and analysis procedures as well as truncation of infinite linear governing equations are presented. The semi-circular cavity model presented in this paper, due to its simple profile, is expected to be used in seismic wave propagation studies as a benchmark for examining the accuracies of various analytical or numerical methods for mixed-boundary wave propagation problems.     

米仓山-汉南隆起白垩纪以来的剥露作用：磷灰石(U-Th)/He年龄记录

对米仓山南江-南郑剖面上的13个花岗岩类样品进行了磷灰石(U-Th)/He测年和剥露速率计算,分析过程综合考虑了样品冷却速率、晶体大小等因素对磷灰石(U-Th)/He封闭温度的影响和地形起伏、岩体热传导、热对流及放射性元素生热等因素对地温场的影响.研究表明,米仓山南部沉积变形区自~50 Ma以来发生快速剥露 (剥露速率为~70 m/Ma),新生代以来的剥蚀量超过了3 km;中部光雾山杂岩体记录了~90 Ma时一次快速剥露事件(剥露速率>75 m/Ma);北部汉南隆起区~100 Ma以前以快速剥露为特点,平均剥露速率>40 m/Ma,此后转为缓慢剥露.整个米仓山-汉南隆起区在90~50 Ma基本处于缓慢剥露状态,平均剥露速率仅有10~25 m/Ma.