Surface-deformation monitoring in the permafrost regions over the Tibetan Plateau,using Sentinel-1 data

Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar(D-In SAR) has been widely used to measure surface deformation over the Tibetan Plateau. However, the accuracy and applicability of the D-In SAR method are not well estimated due to the lack of in-situ validation. In this paper, we mapped the seasonal and long-term displacement of Tanggula(TGL) and Liangdaohe(LDH) permafrost regions with a stack of Sentinel-1 acquisitions using the Small Baseline Subset In SAR(SBAS-In SAR) method. In the TGL region, with its dry soils and sparse vegetation, the In SAR-derived surface-deformation trend was consistent with ground-based leveling results; long-term changes of the active layer showed a settlement rate of around 1 to 3 mm/a due to the melting of ground ice, indicating a degrading permafrost in this area. Around half of the deformation was picked up on monitoring, in contrast with in-situ measurements in LDH, implying that the D-In SAR method remarkably underestimated the surface-deformation. This phenomenon may be induced by the large soil-water content, high vegetation coverage, or a combination of these two factors in this region. This study demonstrates that surface deformation could be mapped accurately for a specific region with Sentinel-1 C-band data, such as in the TGL region.Moreover, although the D-In SAR technology provides an efficient solution for broad surface-deformation monitoring in permafrost regions, it shows a poor performance in the region with high soil-water content and dense vegetation coverage.     

我国荒漠植物的水分饱和亏

本文研究了我国荒漠植物的水分饱和亏, 结果以典型的荒漠旱生植物珍珠和红砂最大, 分别为43.4%和35.6%, 梭梭34.7%, 籽蒿37.1%。中生植物刺槐和钻天杨水分饱和亏最小, 分别为15.0%和14.3%。这就表明, 荒漠植物在干旱条件下, 免于伤害的能力与水分饱和亏的大小密切相关。     

Identification of Gleissberg Cycles and a Rising Trend in a 315-Year-Long Series of Sunspot Numbers

We show in this short note that the method of singular spectrum analysis (SSA) is able to clearly extract a strong, clean, and clear component from the longest available sunspot (International Sunspot Number, ISN) time series (1700?–?2015) that cannot be an artifact of the method and that can be safely identified as the Gleissberg cycle. This is not a small component, as it accounts for 13% of the total variance of the total original signal. Almost three and a half clear Gleissberg cycles are identified in the sunspot number series. Four extended solar minima (XSM) are determined by SSA, the latest around 2000 (Cycle 23/24 minimum). Several authors have argued in favor of a double-peaked structure for the Gleissberg cycle, with one peak between 55 and 59 years and another between 88 and 97 years. We find no evidence of the former: solar activity contains an important component that has undergone clear oscillations of \(\approx90\) years over the past three centuries, with some small but systematic longer-term evolution of “instantaneous” period and amplitude. Half of the variance of solar activity on these time scales can be satisfactorily reproduced as the sum of a monotonous multi-secular increase, a \(\approx90\)-year Gleissberg cycle, and a double-peaked (\(\approx10.0\) and 11.0 years) Schwabe cycle (the sum amounts to 46% of the total variance of the signal). The Gleissberg-cycle component definitely needs to be addressed when attempting to build dynamo models of solar activity. The first SSA component offers evidence of an increasing long-term trend in sunspot numbers, which is compatible with the existence of the modern grand maximum.     

Microbial community changes in the digestive tract of the clam Meretrix petechialis in response to Vibrio parahaemolyticus challenge

Journal of Oceanology and Limnology - Disease in clams frequently occurred over the last decade and has become a serious threat to the clam aquaculture industry and natural stocks. Mass clam...     

Automatic Determination of Stellar Atmospheric Parameters Using Neural Networks and Instance-Based Machine Learning

In this article we show how machine learning methods can beeffectively applied to the problem of automatically predictingstellar atmospheric parameters from spectral information, a veryimportant problem in stellar astronomy. We apply feedforwardneural networks, Kohonen's self-organizing maps andlocally-weighted regression to predict the stellar atmosphericparameters effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicityfrom spectral indices. Our experimental results show that thethree methods are capable of predicting the parameters with verygood accuracy. Locally weighted regression gives slightly betterresults than the other methods using the original dataset asinput, while self-organizing maps outperform the other methods when significant amounts of noise are added. We also implemented a heterogeneous ensemble of predictors, combining the results given by the three algorithms. This ensemble yields better results than any of the three algorithms alone, using both the original and the noisy data.     

香山绝对点周围的局部地壳变形及其对重力测量结果的影响

为了监视北京地区的地壳稳定性，北京测绘院对10多个基岩点和北京市区进行了多次沉降观测，结果表明香山点近10多年来高程变化只有几毫米，其重力效应可略而不计，但测点东北和东南方有两个较大的下沉区。用线积分法计算了两个局部沉降的重力效应，在沉降区中心其影响可达0.38μms^-2，但对香山点的重力效应非常小，完全可以忽略。因此得出如下结论：香山点观测到的重力变化不是地壳变形引起的。     

A new model for the periodic outbursts of the BL Lac object OJ287

Recent observations provide strong evidence for the BL Lac object OJ287 exhibiting a 11.6±0.5 yr periodicity with a double-peaked maxima in its optical flux variations. Several models have been proposed for the optical behavior. The 2005 November outburst in OJ287 gives us a surprising result since calculation based on the periodicity was predicting such an outburst in late 2006. Here we suggest a new model, it can not only explain the optical quasi-periodic behavior, but also the radio flares behavior which is and simultaneous with the optical flares. We propose that OJ287 is a binary pair of super-massive black holes, both of them creating a jet. The quasi-periodic double peaks would be due to the relativistic beaming effect on the emission coming from the double helix jets. We used “core flares” to explain the large lags between light curves at different frequencies, and the assumption of two jets appear to be merged with each other partly in the radio frequency emitting regions provides a viable interpretation that we can see only a broad maximum which contains two radio flares that we cannot distinguish.     

Expression of putative zinc-finger protein lcn61 gene in lymphocystis disease virus China （LCDV-cn） genome

An open reading frame (lcn61) of lymphocystis disease virus China (LCDV-cn), probably responsible for encoding putative zinc-finger proteins was amplified and inserted into pET24a (+) vector. Then it expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3), and His-tag fusion protein of high yield was obtained. It was found that the fusion protein existed in E. coli mainly as inclusion bodies. The bioinformatics analysis indicates that LCN61 is C2H2 type zinc-finger protein containing four C2H2 zinc-finger motifs. This work provides a theory for functional research of lcn61 gene. Supported by High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, No. 2006AA100309)