Local Spatiotemporal Modeling of House Prices: A Mixed Model Approach

The real estate market has long provided an active application area for spatial–temporal modeling and analysis and it is well known that house prices tend to be not only spatially but also temporally correlated. In the spatial dimension, nearby properties tend to have similar values because they share similar characteristics, but house prices tend to vary over space due to differences in these characteristics. In the temporal dimension, current house prices tend to be based on property values from previous years and in the spatial–temporal dimension, the properties on which current prices are based tend to be in close spatial proximity. To date, however, most research on house prices has adopted either a spatial perspective or a temporal one; relatively little effort has been devoted to situations where both spatial and temporal effects coexist. Using ten years of house price data in Fife, Scotland (2003–2012), this research applies a mixed model approach, semiparametric geographically weighted regression (GWR), to explore, model, and analyze the spatiotemporal variations in the relationships between house prices and associated determinants. The study demonstrates that the mixed modeling technique provides better results than standard approaches to predicting house prices by accounting for spatiotemporal relationships at both global and local scales.     

Observed characteristics of atmospheric ducts over the South China Sea in autumn

The observed characteristics of lower atmospheric ducts over the South China Sea(SCS) were analyzed based on Global Position Systerm(GPS) radiosonde data collected four times daily during autumn open cruises from 2006 to 2012.Duct occurrence,thickness,and strength over the SCS were about 40%,150-m thick,and 8 M units,respectively,which were larger than during the summer monsoon period.Most ducts occurred at heights 1 500 m and these ducts easily trap electromagnetic wave clusters with wavelengths 2 m.Diurnal variation of the SCS ducts appeared evident.They occurred more often at midnight at higher altitudes(about 1 100 m),with a thickest layer of about 145 m and less frequently during the evening at lower altitudes(about 800 m),with a thinnest layer of about 125 m.Moreover,ducts during the daytime at a mean height of about 900 m,with the greatest strength of about 10 M units.Furthermore,all duct variables observed over the SCS in autumn decreased from north to south.These findings are useful not only in the design of radar and communication systems,but also for evaluating possible effects of anomalous propagation on meteorological radar and military applications.     

The Fragmentation in a Protoplanetary Disk and the Properties of the Resultant Self-Gravitating Clumps

We study the fragmentation properties in the protoplanetary disk and properties of the resultant self-gravitating clumps using our newly constructed disk model. Our disk model includes the mass inflall term from a molecular cloud core and the photoevaporation winds effect. We adopt the conventional fragmentation criterion to judge whether a protoplanetary disk can fragment. In this work, we follow our previous work to investigate the properties of the resultant self-gravitating clumps. In our calculation, the initial masses of the resultant self-gravitating clumps lie in the range of tens of M_J to more than one hundred of M_J, where M_J is the Jupiter mass. These initial masses can seemingly account for the masses of extrasolar planets in magnitude. We also calculate the subsequent gas accretion of clumps in 1.27 × 10⁴ yr after the formation of self-gravitating clumps. We find that the subsequent gas accretion of self-gravitating clumps is very efficient, and the clump masses grow to hundreds of M_J and the physical radii R_c of clumps increase to about 10 AU. Additionally, we also calculate the orbital migration of clumps. We find that most clumps have short migration timescale to be accreted onto the protostar, and only a small fraction of clumps have long migration timescale (>10⁶ yr) to successfully become gas giant planets. These results are consistent with previous studies.     

Characterizing groundwater/surface-water interactions in the interior of Jianghan Plain,central China

Hydrogeology Journal - Quantifying groundwater/surface-water interactions is essential for managing water resources and revealing contaminant fate. There has been little concern on the exchange...     

Correlation analysis between drought indices and terrestrial water storage from 2002 to 2015 in China

Drought monitoring is a key topic in environmental monitoring and assessment although there is still a need to determine the correlation between drought monitoring indices and remote sensing products. We analyzed the correlation between the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc_PDSI), the Standardized Precipitation Index and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and terrestrial water storage monitored through the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) on a monthly timescale from 2002 to 2015 in China. As a consequence of anomalies in the soil water budget, the highly significant correlation between the sc_PDSI and the GRACE satellite-observed terrestrial water storage suggested that these two datasets are the most suitable for use in monitoring droughts. In comparing the three drought indices, the sc_PDSI was introduced as a means of drought monitoring in the Yangtze, Pearl, Huaihe, Southeast and Songhua River Basins, whereas the SPEI was found to be more applicable to other major river basins, such as the Inland River Basin. These diverse spatial behaviors are caused by the differences between the hydrological droughts characterized by these three drought indices.     

Variations of methane stable isotopic values from an Alpine peatland on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Acta Geochimica - Isotopic signature is a powerful tool to discriminate methane (CH4) source types and constrain regional and global scale CH4 budgets. Peatlands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are...     

谈新形势下地勘单位改革发展的现状及未来发展方向

新中国成立以来,地勘单位先后在计划经济和市场经济下为国家的发展做出了重要贡献,也先后经历了初步探索、属地化管理、事企分体运行等不同阶段。十九大以来,随着事业单位改革的逐步深入,地勘单位改革迫在眉睫。为了更好的适应时代发展,又快又好地进行地勘单位转型,通过研究不同历史时期地勘单位发展的问题和困难,指出现阶段面临的主要问题是改革意愿不强烈、转型工勘领域受阻、资本占有率低和人才匮乏。以此为基础,提出转变思想、学习集团化企业路线、投身地方产业结构、全面提升自然资源意识、加强自身建设和长期持续稳定转型的发展建议,供转型发展的地勘单位参考。     

珠江口典型海岛周边水域浮游植物分布特征及其影响因素*

旅游业为海岛带来可观经济效益的同时, 人类活动也导致水体生态环境恶化, 如水体富营养化加剧、赤潮频发等。文章通过对珠江口东南部典型海岛——庙湾岛和外伶仃岛周边水域丰水期和枯水期现场环境数据与浮游植物分布特征的对比研究, 分析珠江径流等自然因素以及人类活动对河口天然海岛周边水体生态的潜在影响。枯水期外伶仃岛和庙湾岛周边水域海水分别镜检鉴定出76种和74种浮游植物, 两个海岛浮游植物平均细胞密度分别为2.62×10⁴个·L^-1和2.08×10⁴个·L^-1; 丰水期则分别鉴定出38种和47种浮游植物, 平均细胞密度分别为52.91×10⁴个·L^-1和170.57× 10⁴个·L^-1。在外伶仃岛和庙湾岛, 丰水期中肋骨条藻(Skeletonema coatatum)均为绝对优势种, 而枯水期两个岛的最主要优势种分别为窄隙角毛藻(Chaetoceros affinis)和新月筒柱藻(Cylindrotheca closterium), 物种多样性指数均明显高于丰水期。两个海岛微型浮游植物相对于其他两个粒级常占据优势地位, 但在丰水期, 小型浮游植物贡献明显上升, 其中外伶仃岛相对于枯水期由16.32%升至26.75%, 庙湾岛则由12.12%升高至24.78%。两个海岛在丰水期和枯水期均仅检出聚球藻(Synechococcus, Syn)和真核微微型藻类(eukaryotic, Euk)两大微微型浮游植物类群, 两者细胞密度分别为~10⁷个·L^-1及~10⁸个·L^-1量级。与环境因子的对比分析表明, 两个海岛浮游植物的区域分布与季节变化受多种因素影响, 其季节性差异主要受径流影响强度、影响范围以及相应的盐度、营养盐等环境因素的季节变化所调控。丰水期岛屿屏蔽效应对浮游植物丰度的区域分布特征有显著影响, 无论小型浮游植物还是微微型浮游植物均发现存在迎流面出现丰度高值分布的现象, 但对群落结构的分布影响不明显; 在枯水期, 水体环境很可能主要受人类活动与水体垂直混合扰动的综合影响, 总体上浮游植物分布的区域差异较小。