Truncation of the distribution of ground-motion residuals

Recent studies to assess very long-term seismic hazard in the USA and in Europe have highlighted the importance of the upper tail of the ground-motion distribution at the very low annual frequencies of exceedance required by these projects. In particular, the use of an unbounded lognormal distribution to represent the aleatory variability of ground motions leads to very high and potentially unphysical estimates of the expected level of shaking. Current practice in seismic hazard analysis consists of truncating the ground-motion distribution at a fixed number (ε _max) of standard deviations (σ). However, there is a general lack of consensus regarding the truncation level to adopt. This paper investigates whether a physical basis for choosing ε _max can be found, by examining records with large positive residuals from the dataset used to derive one of the ground-motion models of the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) project. In particular, interpretations of the selected records in terms of causative physical mechanisms are reviewed. This leads to the conclusion that even in well-documented cases, it is not possible to establish a robust correlation between specific physical mechanisms and large values of the residuals, and thus obtain direct physical constraints on ε _max. Alternative approaches based on absolute levels of ground motion and numerical simulations are discussed. However, the choice of ε _max is likely to remain a matter of judgment for the foreseeable future, in view of the large epistemic uncertainties associated with these alternatives. Additional issues arise from the coupling between ε _max and σ, which causes the truncation level in terms of absolute ground motion to be dependent on the predictive equation used. Furthermore, the absolute truncation level implied by ε _max will also be affected if σ is reduced significantly. These factors contribute to rendering a truncation scheme based on a single ε _max value impractical.     

我国省域工业主导产业的遴选与发展

工业主导产业在国民经济发展中起着决定性和指向性的作用。主导产业的选择是经济发展阶段的重要课题。依据6个量化指标,从4个维度对"十一五"期间主导产业进行遴选,发现以能源及相关产业为代表的重化工业是各省的重点,高新技术产业成为主导产业的省份较少,劳动密集型产业依然是东部发达省市的重点,预期中的产业转移并未实现;以行业为变量对各省份的主导产业进行聚类分析,可将31个省份划分为5类,反映了我国各省份主导产业布局特点;在此基础上,依据产业生命周期理论和各地区"十二五"发展趋势,提出了相应的对策建议。     

我国港口城市的功能模式研究

基于港口城市功能的评价指标体系,采用主成分分析法,提取反映港口城市功能特征的4个主成分因子;运用分层聚类法对我国21个港口城市的主成分得分进行聚类分析;结合港口功能、城市功能、港口与城市关系等指标对我国港口城市功能模式进行总结,并分析不同功能模式港口城市的发展特征和存在问题;基于港口城市功能模式差异性分析,提出我国港口城市发展的几点建议。     

评<青藏高原晚新生代隆升与环境变化>

由施雅风、李吉均、李炳元先生主编的<青藏高原晚新生代隆升与环境变化>一书,由广东科技出版社正式出版了.这本书总结了"八五"攀登项目"青藏高原形成演变、环境变迁与生态系统研究"的第二课题的研究成果,为青藏高原乃至全球环境演化的研究做出了积极的贡献.     

红壤丘陵小区域水平上不同时段土壤质量变化的评价和分析

引相相对土壤质量指数的概念，应用地理信息系统技术，为小区域水平上土壤质量时空变化的评价提供了一种方法，并用于千烟洲试验站开垦利用１１ａ后土壤质量变化的评价。统计分析服农田，桔园，牧草地，人工林，天然林等多种土地利用方式下土壤质量变化的特征。     

论冷战后国际政治的基本态势及世界政治地理的研究任务与重点

本文立足于政冶地理学的基本理论，从冷战后国际政治基本态势的分析入手，系统阐述了当前世界政治地理研究的基本任务，并在此基础上提出了当前及今后一段时期世界政治地理研究应以世界政治地理格局的演变、国家形成与消亡的地理政治背景、国际领土及边界争端和各国行政区划的基本原则为重点。     

祁连山讨赖河流域1957—2012年极端气候变化

全球气候变化背景下,极端气候事件发生的频率逐年增大,由此引发的气象灾害事件也随之增加。鉴此,本文利用祁连山讨赖河流域1957—2012年的气象观测资料,对该流域23个极端气候指数的时空变化特征做了研究。结果表明：（1）极端气温升高趋势明显,夜间和白天极端低温日数显著减少,极端气温昼指数显著增大;气温日较差变化幅度很小,霜冻日数显著减少,生长季长度明显加长,冰冻日数2000年后增加;夜指数增大幅度大于昼指数,秋、冬季极端气温升高幅度大于春、夏季。（2）极端降水指数增大趋势明显,雨日降水总量、连续五日降水总量和中雨天数均展现出增大态势,反映出连续降水事件的增加;极端降水量事件增大显著,但雨日降水强度变化不大;除最多连续无降水日数外,极端降水日数指数展现出增大趋势;降水日数夏、秋季节分配趋向均匀化;降水量的增加主要是单次降水时间持续加长和中雨日数增加的贡献;高海拔区极端降水事件发生的频次较大。     

A new MODIS daffy cloud free snow cover mapping algorithm on the Tibetan Plateau

Because of similar reflective characteristics of snow and cloud, the weather status seriously affects snow monitoring using optical remote sensing data. Cloud amount analysis during 2010 to 2011 snow seasons shows that cloud cover is the major limitation for snow cover monitoring using MOD10A1 and MYD10A1. By use of MODIS daily snow cover products and AMSR-E snow wa- ter equivalent products （SWE）, several cloud elimination methods were integrated to produce a new daily cloud flee snow cover product, and information of snow depth from 85 climate stations in Tibetan Plateau area （TP） were used to validate the accuracy of the new composite snow cover product. The results indicate that snow classification accuracy of the new daily snow cover product reaches 91.7% when snow depth is over 3 cm. This suggests that the new daily snow cover mapping algorithm is suitable for monitoring snow cover dynamic changes in TP.     

Late Tertiary paleoclimatic interpretation from lacustrine rhythmites in the Gray Fossil Site,northeastern Tennessee,USA

The Gray Fossil Site (GFS) includes a small (<2 ha) paleosinkhole lake fill with an exceptionally well-preserved record of sedimentation and fossils from the latest Miocene to earliest Pliocene. The uppermost lacustrine stratigraphy is characterized by rhythmites that regularly alternate between coarse-grained and organic-rich (A) laminae and fine-grained, silty clay (B) laminae. Both the A and B components are almost exclusively comprised of exogenic sediment (including organic matter). Periodicities of 24 and 4.4 are recorded within a continuous 96 interpreted year sequence of rhythmite sediment. In a small lake with a poorly oxygenated bottom, the presence of laterally continuous laminated sediment that includes well-known periodicities in rhythmite thickness is interpreted as representing annually generated varves that correspond to seasonal variations in sedimentation. The distinctly larger fraction of medium sand-size quartz grains present within the A laminae, as well as the abrupt transitions between A and B components suggest that the rhythmites represent deposition during alternating high-energy and lower-energy seasons, which is consistent with a monsoonal precipitation pattern. The seasonal climate may relate to changes in the ocean circulation pattern prior to 4.6 Ma that resulted in an increased temperature and atmospheric pressure gradient between the east coast of North America and the Atlantic Ocean, but this climate phase seems to be only a temporary condition, as underlying and overlying sediment are both consistent with drier conditions. The periodicity at 24 interpreted years is consistent with the well-known Hale solar cycle. The 4.4 interpreted-year periodicity occurs within the ENSO frequency band, and if this documentation of ENSO-like interannual climate change is correct, then it suggests that ENSO operated at times during the warm Earth conditions characterizing the late Tertiary.