Lead contamination of small cetaceans in European waters--the use of stable isotopes for identifying the sources of lead exposure

Lead concentrations and isotopic composition have been measured in bone and teeth of small cetaceans belonging to three species (Delphinus delphis, Phocoena phocoena and Stenella coeruleoalba), to evaluate the toxicological risk and to determine sources of lead in the European waters. Lead concentrations, far lower than threshold value inducing toxic effects in human, were higher in teeth than in bones, but highly correlated between the two tissues (r=0.92, p<0.001). Large variations of 206Pb/207Pb values in bone tissue showed that cetaceans must be submitted to various atmospheric influences. No geographical differences appeared which is consistent with studies on their distribution indicating seasonal movements between Brittany waters and the Bay of Biscay. The negative correlation between 206Pb/207Pb ratios and age of the individuals reflected the decrease in the production of alkyl lead in Europe, i.e., the increasing use of unleaded gasoline.     

An index of biotic integrity based on the summer polyhaline zooplankton community of the Chesapeake Bay

A zooplankton index of biotic integrity was developed for the polyhaline waters of the Chesapeake Bay using data from a long-term environmental assessment program in which both zooplankton and water quality were regularly monitored. Summer (July to September) sampling events were classified as either coming from impaired or reference (least-impaired) conditions based on water quality conditions. Seventeen zooplankton community metrics were evaluated under these criteria and nine were chosen for a composite index. These were the Simpson diversity index, and abundance of barnacle larvae, rotifers, cladocerans, copepods, total mesozooplankton, and predators. The composite index of biotic integrity correctly classified about 94% of the impaired samples and about 82% of the reference samples. Average classification efficiency was 88%. This index appears to be an effective measure of eutrophication for the summer polyhaline waters of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.     

Differential sensitivity of flounder (Platichthys flesus) in response to oestrogenic chemical exposure: an issue for design and interpretation of monitoring and research programmes

This study was conducted as an initial investigation of 'differential response' in one of the main sentinel organisms used for monitoring programmes in United Kingdom estuaries, the flounder Platichthys flesus. It has been hypothesised that monitoring using species with a wide geographical spread and limited migration, such as flounder, might result in the comparison of different genetic stocks and certainly of populations with differing early life stage contaminant exposure histories. Furthermore, it is probable that these pre-exposure and genetic differences could manifest themselves in an ability to respond differently to contaminant exposure, so-called 'differential response'. It is important that the extent and nature of this response is understood, if we want to be able to fully interpret the monitoring data from such programmes. During this study, flounder were collected from four separate sources; wild caught fish from the estuaries of the Rivers Alde, Mersey and Tyne, and farmed flounder from Port Erin Farm, Isle of Man. Under controlled laboratory conditions, groups of fish from each source were exposed to water-borne concentrations of the synthetic oestrogen ethynylestradiol (EE2) at a nominal concentration of 50 ng/l. Plasma was taken from each male fish after 6 and 10 days exposure and analysed for the presence of vitellogenin (VTG) using an ELISA technique. Significant levels of VTG induction were evident in fish from all sources after both 6 and 10 days exposure. Flounder from the Mersey were the only fish with significantly elevated initial background levels of VTG (day 0) and this appeared to be reflected in that these specimens showed the highest induction response after day 6. However, after day 10, fish from all other sites had a slightly higher mean VTG than those from the Mersey which showed significantly (p < 0.05) lower mean plasma VTG. It is suggested that other differential responses may have been masked by the use of a high dose of EE2 which produced maximum induction in nearly all fish. The findings of the study are discussed in terms of implications for further research into the differential response issue and how the initial plasma VTG figures contribute to a time-series from the Mersey, Tyne and Alde estuaries.     

Application of soft computing techniques for shallow foundation reliability in geotechnical engineering

This research focuses on the application of three soft computing techniques including Minimax Probability Machine Regression(MPMR),Particle Swarm Optimization based Artificial Neural Network(ANN-PSO)and Particle Swarm Optimization based Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System(ANFIS-PSO)to study the shallow foundation reliability based on settlement criteria.Soil is a heterogeneous medium and the involvement of its attributes for geotechnical behaviour in soil-foundation system makes the prediction of settlement of shallow a complex engineering problem.This study explores the feasibility of soft computing techniques against the deterministic approach.The settlement of shallow foundation depends on the parametersγ(unit weight),e0(void ratio)and CC(compression index).These soil parameters are taken as input variables while the settlement of shallow foundation as output.To assess the performance of models,different performance indices i.e.RMSE,VAF,R^2,Bias Factor,MAPE,LMI,U(95),RSR,NS,RPD,etc.were used.From the analysis of results,it was found that MPMR model outperformed PSO-ANFIS and PSO-ANN.Therefore,MPMR can be used as a reliable soft computing technique for non-linear problems for settlement of shallow foundations on soils.     

Challenges in the Detection and Attribution of Northern Hemisphere Surface Temperature Trends Since 1850

Since 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) has heavily relied on the comparison between global climate model hindcasts and global surface temperature(ST) estimates for concluding that post-1950s global warming is mostly human-caused. In Connolly et al., we cautioned that this approach to the detection and attribution of climate change was highly dependent on the choice of Total Solar Irradiance(TSI) and ST data sets.We compiled 16 TSI and five ST data sets and found by alter...     

全球城市研究热点与进展——首届“全球城市与城市区域”青年学者学术研讨会会议综述

首届"全球城市与城市区域"青年学者学术研讨会暨华东师范大学城市与区域科学学院学术论坛于2018年11月16-17日在上海华东师范大学中山北路校区成功举办,来自英国、中国香港和上海等科研院所的城市地理学界的30多位学者,其中不乏国家自然科学基金优秀青年科学基金项目入选者、中组部"青年千人计划"入选者等,参加了本次会议。会议经过热烈而富有成效的讨论后一致认为,全体城市研究热点为全球城市空间更新、全球城市区域发展、全球城市创建政策和全球城市区域网络等。与会学者还讨论了中国全球城市与区域研究发展方向。     

北冰洋hinlopen—yermak滑坡以及发生海啸可能性的数值模拟

从有冰川供给的斯瓦尔巴特群岛北部陆缘采集到的多波束资料揭示出一个大型海底滑坡-Hinlopen—Yemaak滑坡的详细地形特征。有许多个几百米高的平坦断崖,其中位于横穿陆架的Hirdopen深海槽口的最大的滑坡后壁的高度超过了1400m。除了有明显的压缩外,地震剖面上还见有半透声体,表明块体运移沉积物可能是重塑或液化的碎屑流堆积物,这些堆积物在一些地方有几百米厚。在大范围的块体运移沉积物的外缘,许多漂浮的块体从半透明的沉积单元中突起,     

西北非陆缘的大规模块体坡移：被动陆缘块体坡移的一般推论

西北非海域的陆缘地貌因受到顺陆坡而下和平行于陆坡两个方向沉积物运移作用的相互影响而有很大改变。在几个航次的调查中,通过地球物理、沉积学和地球化学方法,对位于12&#176;～26&#176;N之间的塞内加尔和毛利塔尼亚海域的沉积物运移作用进行了调查。测深和高分辨率地震资料被用于研究再沉积的延伸范围以及内部结构。根据这些测量结果进行了沉积物取芯,并进行了沉积学和地球化学分析。     

南极Scotia海Dove山脉形成的火山作用及其岩石学、地球化学和构造环境

本研究对来自DOVE盆地（Scotia海南部）中部火山山脊的拖网样品进行了详细的岩石学、地球化学分析,辅以K—Ar年代学分析。研究区水深2000～3000m,地理坐标范围为59&#176;21～23′S和42&#176;27～31′w。本研究的目的在于,通过比较研究区火成岩和形成Scotia、Antartic—Phoenix洋中脊及南设得兰群岛的火山岩之间的地球化学特征和同位素特征,厘定研究区岩浆形成的地球动力学背景以及岩浆作用的绝对年龄。