The analytic properties of the flapping current sheets in the earth magnetotail

The current sheet in Earth’s magnetotail often flaps, and the flapping waves could be induced propagating towards the dawn and dusk flanks, which could make the current sheet dynamic. To explore the dynamic characteristics of current sheet associated with the flapping motion holistically and provide reasonable physical interpretations, detailed direct calculation and analysis have been applied to one approximate analytic model of magnetic field in the flapping current sheet. The main results from the model demonstrate: (1) the magnetic fluctuation amplitude is attenuated from the center of current sheet to the lobe regions; The larger wave amplitude would induce the larger magnetic amplitude; (2) the curvature of magnetic field lines (MFLs), with maximum at the center of current sheet, is only dependent on the displacement Z along the south-north direction from the center of current sheet, regardless of the tilt of current sheet; (3) the half-thickness of neutral sheet, h, the minimum curvature radius of MFLs, R_cmin, and the tilt angle of current sheet, δ, satisfies h=R_cmin cos δ; (4) the gradient of magnetic strength forms a double-peak profile, and the peak value would be more intense if the local current sheet is more tilted; (5) current density j and its j_y, j_z components reach the extremum at the center of CS. j and j_z would be more intense if the local current sheet is more tilted, but it is not the case for j_y; and (6) the field-aligned component of current density mainly appears in the neutral sheet, and the sign of it would change alternatively as the flapping waves passing by. To check the validity of the model, one simulation on the virtual measurements has been made, and the results are in well consistence with actual observations of Cluster.     

Preparation of pure gum raw materials-low brown algae application

Octenylsuccinate starch ester, also called pure gum, is non-toxic and odourless modified starch which is widely used in many food fields. This study synthesized pure gum in a reaction kettle using the low molecular weight trehalose and octenyl succinic acid. An orthogonal test was carried out to find how the reaction factors affect the synthetization of octenylsuccinic acid polysaccharide ester and to optimize the reaction at single factor level. The optimal products were obtained using 1:2 of octenylsuccinic acid:alginic acid, catalysed by 0.1% p-toluenesulfonic acid catalyst for 1.5 h at 200℃ under vacuum conditions.The gained product contains up to 46% of seaweed gel monoesters. The degree of esterification of the polysaccharide is controlled by the use of the small-molecule trehalose. Compared with the traditional methods, our process can reduce raw material cost and improve emulsification stability of pure gum. These all can significantly improve the market competitiveness of pure gum products.     

Mass density of the upper atmosphere derived from Starlette’s Precise Orbit Determination with Satellite Laser Ranging

The atmospheric mass density of the upper atmosphere from the spherical Starlette satellite’s Precise Orbit Determination is first derived with Satellite Laser Ranging measurements at 815 to 1115 km during strong solar and geomagnetic activities. Starlette’s orbit is determined using the improved orbit determination techniques combining optimum parameters with a precise empirical drag application to a gravity field. MSIS-86 and NRLMSISE-00 atmospheric density models are compared with the Starlette drag-derived atmospheric density of the upper atmosphere. It is found that the variation in the Starlette’s drag coefficient above 800 km corresponds well with the level of geomagnetic activity. This represents that the satellite orbit is mainly perturbed by the Joule heating from geomagnetic activity at the upper atmosphere. This result concludes that MSIS empirical models strongly underestimate the mass density of the upper atmosphere as compared to the Starlette drag-derived atmospheric density during the geomagnetic storms. We suggest that the atmospheric density models should be analyzed with higher altitude acceleration data for a better understanding of long-term solar and geomagnetic effects.     

用遗传算法对自动控制系统数学模型寻优

探讨用遗传算法对数学模型进行优化。考虑到控制系统稳健性的要求 ,用遗传算法寻找出控制系统最佳稳定域 ,实现控制系统数学模型的寻优。阐述了用遗传算法求解问题的步骤和参数的取值 ,并用仿真实验对优化结果进行了检验。结果表明 :在控制系统数学模型的优化中 ,遗传算法具有其他算法无可比拟的优越性。     

Study on methods of land use dynamic monitoring at county level

Remote sensing technique has played an important role in land use dynamic monitoring, but as for the land use dynamic monitoring at county level, traditional remote sensing methods such as satellite imagery visual interpretation and computer classification can not meet its demand for accuracy. The result of 1: 10 000 land use investigation map has high accuracy, but this method can not be used to dynamically monitor the land use because of its big expenses, long period and difficulty in updating data. In this paper, the characteristics of physiognomy, climate and the status of land use in Dehui County are taken into consideration and a set of method, which takes use of 3S techniques and applies to Northeast China Plain, is come up with. When the land use type of a land parcel changed as a whole, the date updating can be make by changing its land type ID in the attribute table in a GIS. When the land use type of an irregular area changed, GPS receivers are used to position its border. This set of method is characteristic of high accuracy and low expenses. It gets the information of land use change timely and can be used to dynamically monitor the land use. Foundation item: Under the auspices of the key project of the National Ninth Five-year Plan (96-B02-01-07). Biography: LI Lin-yi (1968 —), female, a native of Jilin, Ph. D. candidate of Changchun Institute of Geography, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research interest includes land use change monitoring and crop yield estimation using “3S” techniques.     

中国汽车空调行业HFC-134a需求和排放预测

 近年来HFC-134a作为中国汽车空调行业CFC-12制冷剂最主要的替代品,其消费量增长迅速,是中国消费量最大的HFCs（氢氟烃类物质）。以2005年为基线,通过制冷剂替代、技术进步、熟练操作和政策控制等情景假设,预测了中国汽车空调行业HFC-134a的需求量及排放量。结果表明：到2010和2015年,汽车空调HFC-134a的消费量将分别接近2.0万和3.5万t,排放量将分别接近1.6万和3.0万t,约折合排放21.0 和39.0 Mt CO₂当量。上述排放相对基线情景（即维持当前政策措施和不开展回收活动）,2010年和2015年减排温室气体分别为6.7 和13.0 Mt CO₂当量。     

Ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storm on 13–17 April 2006 in the West Pacific region

This paper presents an investigation of geomagnetic storm effects in the equatorial and middle-low latitude F-region in the West Pacific sector during the intense geomagnetic storm on 13–17 April, 2006. The event, preceded by a minor storm, started at 2130 UT on April 13 while interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B_z component was ready to turn southward. From 14–17 the ionosphere was characterized by a large scale enhancement in critical frequency, foF2 (4～6 MHz) and total electron content (TEC) (～30TECU, 1TECU=1×10¹⁶el/m²) followed by a long-duration negative phase observed through the simultaneous ionospheric sounding measurements from 14 stations and GPS network along the meridian 120°E. A periodic wave structure, known as traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) was observed in the morning sector during the initial phase of the storm which should be associated with the impulsive magnetospheric energy injection to the auroral. In the afternoon and nighttime, the positive phase should be caused by the combination of equatorward winds and disturbed electric fields verified through the equatorial F-layer peak height variation and modeled upward drift of Fejer and Scherliess [1997. Empirical models of storm time equatorial electric fields. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, 24,047–24,056]. It is shown that the large positive storm effect was more pronounced in the Southern Hemisphere during the morning-noon sector on April 15 and negative phase reached to lower magnetic latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere which may be related to the asymmetry of the thermospheric condition during the storm.     

Cd(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) Removal from Contaminated Water by Biosorption Using Activated Sludge Biomass

Biosorption using activated sludge biomass (ASB) as a potentially sustainable technology for the treatment of wastewater containing different metal ions (Cd(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II)) was investigated. ASB metal uptake clearly competed with protons consumed by microbial biomass compared with control tests with non‐activated sludge biomass. Biosorption tests confirmed maximum exchange between metal ions and protons at pH 2.0–4.5. It was revealed by the study that the amount of metal ions released from the biomass increased with biomass sludge concentration. The result showed that maximum absorption of metal ions was observed for Cd(II) at pH 3.5, Pb(II) at pH 4.0, and pH 4.5 for Zn(II) ions. The maximum absorption capacities of ASB for Cd(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) were determined to be 59.3, 68.5 and 86.5%, respectively. The biosorption of heavy metals was directly proportional to ASB stabilization corresponding to a reduction in heavy metals in the order of Cd < Pb < Zn. The order of increase of biosorption of metal ions in ASB was Zn(II) < Pb(II) < Cd(II), and this was opposite to that of non active sludge. The results indicate that ASB is a sustainable tools for the bioremediation of Cd(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) ions from industrial sludge and wastewater treatment plants.     

Modelling combined open channel flow by artificial neural networks

Combined open channel flow is encountered in many hydraulic engineering structures and processes, such as irrigation ditches and wastewater treatment facilities. Extensive experimental studies have conducted to investigate combined flow characteristics. Nevertheless, there is no simple relationship that can fully describe the velocity profiles in a turbulent flow. The artificial neural network (ANN) has great computational capability for solving various complex problems, such as function approximation. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the applicability of the ANN for simulating velocity profiles, velocity contours and estimating the discharges accordingly. The velocity profiles measured by an acoustic doppler velocimeter in the open channel of the Chihtan purification plant, Taipei, with different discharges at fixed measuring section and different depths are presented. The total number of data sets is 640 and the data sets are split into two subsets, i.e. training and validation sets. The backpropagation algorithm is used to construct the neural network. The results demonstrate that the velocity profiles can be modelled by the ANN, and the ANN constructed can nicely fit the velocity profiles and can precisely predict the discharges for the conditions investigated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leveraging similarity analysis to understand variability in movement behavior

The increasingly large volume of trajectories of moving entities obtained through GPS and cellphone tracking, telemetry, and other location-aware technologies motivates researchers to understand the implicit patterns hidden in movement trajectories and understand how movement is influenced by the environmental context. Trajectory similarity serves as an important tool in computational movement analysis and as the foundation of revealing those patterns. However, there are various trajectory similarity measures, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. In this article, we present a hierarchical clustering framework that integrates five commonly used similarity measures, including Fréchet distance, dynamic time warping, Hausdorff distance, longest common subsequence, and normalized weighted edit distance, a special kind of edit distance for movement analysis. The framework aims at clustering similar patterns and identifying variability in movement. The optimal number of clusters are first obtained. Then, the clusters are characterized by environmental variables to explore the associations between variability in movement and the environmental conditions. We evaluate the proposed framework using 15 years of tracking data of turkey vultures, tracked at 1- to 3-h sampling intervals, during their fall and spring migration seasons. The results suggest that, at 5% significance level, turkey vultures select their movement paths intentionally and those selections appear to be related to certain environmental context variables, including thermal uplift, vegetation state (observed indirectly through Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), temperature, precipitation, tailwind, and crosswind. And interestingly, there exist preferential differences among individuals. Although the preference of the same turkey vulture is not strictly consistent over different years, each individual tends to preserve a more similar preference over different years, compared with the preferences of other turkey vultures.