Streamflow regimes of the Yanhe River under climate and land use change,Loess Plateau,China

Soil and water conservation measures including terracing, afforestation, construction of sediment‐trapping dams, and the ‘Grain for Green Program’ have been extensively implemented in the Yanhe River watershed, of the Loess Plateau, China, over the last six decades, and have resulted in large‐scale land use and land cover changes. This study examined the trends and shifts in streamflow regime over the period of 1953–2010 and relates them to changes in land use and soil and water conservation and to the climatic factors of precipitation and air temperature. The non‐parametric Mann–Kendall test and the Pettitt test were used to identify trends and shifts in streamflow and base flow. A method based on precipitation and potential evaporation was used to evaluate the impacts of climate variability and changes in non‐climate factors changes on annual streamflow. A significant decrease (p = 0.01) in annual streamflow was observed related to a significant change point in 1996, mostly because of significant decreases in streamflow (p = 0.01) in the July to September periods in subsequent years. The annual base flow showed no significant trend from 1953 to 2010 and no change point year, mostly because there were no significant seasonal trends, except for significant decreases (p = 0.05) in the July to September periods. There was no significant trend for precipitation over the studied time period, and no change point was detected. The air temperature showed a significant increasing trend (p < 0.01), and 1986 (p < 0.01) was the change point year. The climate variability, as measured by precipitation and temperature, and non‐climate factors including land use changes and soil and water conservation were estimated to have contributed almost equally to the reduction in annual streamflow. Soil and water conservation practices, including biological measures (e.g. revegetation, planting trees and grass) and engineering measures (such as fish‐scale pits, horizontal trenches, and sediment‐trapping dams) play an important role in reduction of the conversion of rainfall to run‐off. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationships between typhoons,climate and crime rates in Taiwan

The literature indicates climate change is likely to cause more frequent and intense extreme weather events along with higher temperatures and altered precipitation. Taiwan frequently suffers from extremes in the form of typhoons, and their effects threaten both social stability and public security. Temperature effects through climate change are also expected to alter crime rates. We examine the immediate and longer-run impacts of typhoons and other climate variables on crime rates in Taiwan. The immediate results suggest that typhoon intensity has a significantly negative influence on rates of crime, including all violent crimes and automobile thefts. They also show that warmer temperatures have a strong positive effect on all violent crimes and all the subtypes of violent crimes. In addition, longer duration typhoons increase the immediate rates of all violent crimes, automobile thefts and muggings while decreasing the rate of burglaries. In the long run, we find that typhoon intensity, duration and landfall have persistent, lagged effects on crime that vary from negative to positive. For example, strong-intensity typhoons have significantly negative lagged effects on crimes 3–5 months in the future but positive lagged effects on crimes in future months 6–9. Finally, projections under the IPCC climate change scenarios show all violent crimes will increase.     

Review of vibroseis data acquisition and processing for better amplitudes: adjusting the sweep and deconvolving for the time-derivative of the true groundforce

The goal of vibroseis data acquisition and processing is to produce seismic reflection data with a known spatially-invariant wavelet, preferably zero phase, such that any variations in the data can be attributed to variations in geology. In current practice the vibrator control system is designed to make the estimated groundforce equal to the sweep and the resulting particle velocity data are cross-correlated with the sweep. Since the downgoing far-field particle velocity signal is proportional to the time-derivative of the groundforce, it makes more sense to cross-correlate with the time-derivative of the sweep. It also follows that the ideal amplitude spectrum of the groundforce should be inversely proportional to frequency. Because of non-linearities in the vibrator, bending of the baseplate and variable coupling of the baseplate to the ground, the true groundforce is not equal to the pre-determined sweep and varies not only from vibrator point to vibrator point but also from sweep to sweep at each vibrator point. To achieve the goal of a spatially-invariant wavelet, these variations should be removed by signature deconvolution, converting the wavelet to a much shorter zero-phase wavelet but with the same bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio as the original data. This can be done only if the true groundforce is known. The principle may be applied to an array of vibrators by employing pulse coding techniques and separating responses to individual vibrators in the frequency domain. Various approaches to improve the estimate of the true groundforce have been proposed or are under development; current methods are at best approximate.     

Human health benefits supplied by Mediterranean marine biodiversity

This paper summarizes the overall benefits supplied by Mediterranean marine biodiversity to human health and highlights the anthropogenic and environmental causes that are threatening these benefits. First, the Mediterranean Sea is a valuable source of seafood, which is an important component of the so-called “Mediterranean diet”. This type of diet has several health benefits, including cardio and cancer protective effects, which are attributed to the high intake of seafood-derived n-3 (omega-3) fatty acids. Second, the Mediterranean marine organisms, particularly the benthic ones, have furnished a large variety of bioactive metabolites, some of which are being developed into new drugs to threat major human diseases such as cancer. Third, the Mediterranean coastal areas provide environments for practising maritime leisure activities that provide physical and psychological benefits to users. Despite all this, fishing, tourism, contamination and sea warming are deteriorating this rich marine ecosystem, which needs to be protected to assure human welfare.     

Soil erosion changes over the past five decades in the red soil region of Southern China

This paper reports the dynamic changes of soil and water loss in the red soil region of Southern China since the 1950s. The red soil region covers eight provinces: Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and Hainan. From the 1950s to 1986, the annual rate of soil erosion increased by 3.4%. From 1986 to 1996 and from 1996 to 2000, the annual rates of soil erosion decreased by 2.0% and 0.32%, respectively. Field surveys showed that from 2000 to 2005, the area of soil and water loss decreased annually by 1.2%. This decrease was a result of large-scale erosion control activities across China. Although the eroded soil has been restored, the restoration process is very slow and full restoration will take a long time. Our report suggests that controlling soil and water loss is a challenging task, and additional measures must be taken to effectively control the soil erosion in the red soil region.     

地下工程施工监控地质地理信息系统研究

主要设计与实现了地下工程施工监控地质地理信息系统（MGGIS）。首先分析了系统特点、结构、具有的功能以及采用的平台和相关技术,定义了数据的获取和存储格式。然后在此基础上进行了3个功能独立的子系统的详细设计与实现,分别为工程计划显示子系统、平面时空效应子系统和断面图显示子系统。首次提出在RIA技术支持下,实现B/S架构下的工程地质地理信息系统;提出了反映随施工进度变化地下工程及环境空间信息的显示平台技术方案,充分反应了地下工程施工中空间信息具有时空效应的特点,适合地下工程安全风险管理的需要。该系统与同类型地理信息系统平台相比具有使用简单、交互性强、速度快等优点,研究成果已经在北京轨道交通工程安全风险监控系统和南京地铁工程安全风险监控系统等相关项目中得以应用。     

中国伊犁河流域生态建设战略与互动模式

运用流域生态学和生态恢复学理论与方法,分析伊犁河流域生态环境背景和利弊因素,划分伊犁河流域为河谷次生林封育治理区、伊犁河谷平原农业和农林牧综合生态建设区、沙漠防风固沙林建设区、逆温带生态经济林建设区、山地水源涵养林建设区、高山冰雪及高寒荒漠生态区等生态建设区,以及乌孙山北部山前平原生态建设重点区;通过对各建设区的分析评价以及流域生态环境特点、资源配置结构、生态服务建设功能耦合关系的研究,提出流域垂直立体的生态建设格局、方向、重点等战略措施,以及流域生态与大农业"双赢"互动模式。为实现流域生态良性循环与大农业可持续发展提供依据。     

Modelling ice conditions in the easternmost Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea

To model ice conditions in the eastern Gulf of Finland, a high-resolution three-dimensional hydrodynamic model is coupled with the advanced sea-ice model HELMI (Haapala et al., 2005). To test the model in extreme situations, the ice pattern in the eastern Gulf of Finland was simulated for a mild ice winter (2007–2008) and for a moderate one (2003–2004). The reference runs were performed on the assumption that the ice in the model domain is fast ice if the sea depth is less than 10 m. Using this assumption, the ice thickness averaged over the Neva Bay (the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland) is overestimated by the model for almost the entire wintertime in the mild winter and during the ice formation and melting periods in the moderate winter, as compared with the thickness reported in ice charts.     

Green space planning and land use: An assessment of urban regional and green structure planning in Greater Copenhagen

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 106(2):7–20, 2006

In its Regional Plan of 2005, The Greater Copenhagen Authority (abbreviated as “HUR” in Danish) places special emphasis on the future recreational values associated with the regional green structure. In this paper, the development of the urban green structure in Greater Copenhagen is elaborated upon, focusing on land use changes and the effectiveness of regionally coordinated planning measures. EU MOLAND data are used to analyse the development of the region's green structure during the period 1954 to 1998. Analysis of two “green wedges” within the green structure illustrates that the development of the green recreational areas is the result of both formal and more informal planning initiatives. Development has shown equal phases that correspond to the applied regional planning measures and the general economic conditions. However, local preferences in the involved municipalities likewise have played an important role and have resulted in different urbanisation pressure within the two wedges. Land use has transformed from an agricultural to a primarily recreational landscape. In some areas, however, urbanisation pressure has resulted in residential and green industrial areas instead of the planned recreational land use. Based on its historical development it is concluded that future preservation and development of the green structure in Greater Copenhagen requires regional planning measures to be incorporated into municipal plans. In this way the increasingly independent municipalities will comply to objectives of the Regional Plan 2005.     

Population landscape: a geometric approach to studying spatial patterns of the US urban hierarchy

We present a geometric and graphic approach to studying spatial patterns of urban hierarchy in the US. The multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram is found to be effective for visualizing theoretical regions delineated by socio‐economic variables. The population landscape of the continental US demonstrates overall and stepwise patterns reflecting population, neighborhood and distance, with overwhelming influence from huge metropolitan areas. Stepwise exploration and cluster analysis of the spatial pattern reveal an urban hierarchy. Attributes and arrangement are the two important factors of urban hierarchy, with attribute having a stronger local influence and arrangement having a stronger global influence. The study also presents a variation of Zipf's law to visualize the rank‐size distribution from tabular and statistical space to map space.