Resolving the landfill siting impasse: modelling technocratic and indigenous perspectives using GIS multicriteria approach

Increase in waste generation calls for an effective waste management as this has become a necessity for environmental sustainability. Several methods are adopted in managing waste, which include waste reduction, reuse, thermal treatment, recycling and landfilling. The landfill method is recognised as the most used of all the waste management methods in developing countries such as Ghana. However, the selection of a suitable landfill site is very difficult and tedious. This is because it involves a consideration of many factors such as environmental, topographic, economic, socio-cultural and civil engineering. This research sought to identify a suitable landfill site by applying GIS multicriteria and weighted overlay approach in the Bongo District of Northern Ghana. The analysis relied on criteria and weights provided by the technocrats and the indigenes in the district as a way of demonstrating how landfill siting impasse can be resolved by incorporating the various stakeholders. The results obtained provided clear areas for landfill sites in the study area from the technocratic and the indigenous perspectives. However, the technocratic perspective failed to include an important cultural criterion, sacred groves, as a factor. The indigenous perspective also compromised on the factor related to nearness to residential areas, and is equally not sufficient on its own. The optimal landfill sites, which meets the expectations of both the technocrats and indigenes, was identified. This perspective has produced technically favourable and socio-culturally acceptable landfill site. However, it is recommended an environmental impact assessment (EIA) be conducted to identify the full environmental and social cost of the site. It is concluded that in landfill site selection much attention be given to cultural factors in the same way as the technical factors.     

爆破加速度测量及标定误差分析

本文首先介绍了在频率域上对爆破加速度测量系统的低频响应误差和高频响应误差的详细分析过程,并对输入、输出波形采用频谱分析及计算幅频曲线,用幅频曲线所包围的不同面积来计算经过测量系统后所引起的误差.其次介绍了采用傅里叶变换法如何在频率域上标定冲击加速度计,给出了确定加速度灵敏度的方法.     

Temporal and spatial dynamical simulation of groundwater characteristics in Minqin Oasis

Application scope of geostatistics has been gradually extended from original geologic field to soil science and ecological field, etc. and its successful application results have been widely demonstrated. But little information is reported as to the direct use of geostatistical method to work out the distribu- tion map of groundwater characteristics. In this paper the semivariogram of geostatistics, in combina- tion with GIS, was used to quantitatively study the spatial variation characteristics of groundwater table depth and mineralization degree and their relation to the landuse changes. F test of the used spherical model reached a very significant level, and the theoretical model can well reflect the spatial structural characteristics of groundwater table depth and mineralization degree and achieve an ideal result. This shows that the application of the method in the dynamical simulation of groundwater is feasible. And this paper also provides useful reference for the application of geostatistics in the study of the dy- namical variations of groundwater resources in the oasis.     

A Long-Term Decrease of the Mid-Size Segmentation Lengths Observed in the He <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">ii</Emphasis> (30.4 nm) Solar EUV Emission

Power spectra of segmentation-cell length (a dominant length scale of EUV emission in the transition region) from full-disk He?ii extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images observed by the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) during periods of quiet-Sun conditions for a time interval from 1996 to 2015 were analyzed. The spatial power as a function of the spatial frequency from about 0.04 to 0.27 (EIT) or up to 0.48 (AIA) Mm^?1 depends on the distribution of the observed segmentation-cell dimensions – a structure of the solar EUV network. The temporal variations of the spatial power reported by Didkovsky and Gurman (Solar Phys. 289, 153, 2014) were suggested as decreases at the mid-spatial frequencies for the compared spectra when the power curves at the highest spatial frequencies of 0.5 pix^?1 were adjusted to match each other. This approach has been extended in this work to compare spectral ratios at high spatial frequencies expressed in the solar spatial frequency units of Mm^?1. A model of EIT and AIA spatial responses allowed us to directly compare spatial spectral ratios at high spatial frequencies for five years of joint operation of EIT and AIA, from 2010 to 2015. Based on this approach, we represent these ratio changes as a long-term network transformation that may be interpreted as a continuous dissipation of mid-size network structures to the smaller-size structures in the transition region. In contrast to expected cycling of the segmentation-cell dimension structures and associated spatial power in the spectra with the solar cycle, the spectra demonstrate a significant and steady change of the EUV network. The temporal trend across these structural spectra is not critically sensitive to any long-term instrumental changes, e.g. degradation of sensitivity, but to the change of the segmentation-cell dimensions of the EUV network structure.     

Climatic and geographic factors affect ecosystem multifunctionality through biodiversity in the Tibetan alpine grasslands

Ecosystem multifunctionality(EMF), the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem functions, is often affected by biodiversity and environmental factors. We know little about how the interactions between biodiversity and environmental factors affect EMF. In this case study, a structural equation model was used to clarify climatic and geographic pathways that affect EMF by varying biodiversity in the Tibetan alpine grasslands. In addition to services related to carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling, forage supply, which is related to plantproductivity and palatability, was included in the EMF index. The results showed that 72% of the variation in EMF could be explained by biodiversity and other environmental factors. The ratio of palatable richness to all species richness explained 8.3% of the EMF variation. We found that air temperature, elevation, and latitude all affected EMF, but in different ways. Air temperature and elevation impacted the aboveground parts of the ecosystem, which included plant height, aboveground biomass, richness of palatable species, and ratio of palatable richness to all species richness. Latitude affected EMF by varying both aboveground and belowground parts of the ecosystem, which included palatable speciesrichness and belowground biomass. Our results indicated that there are still uncertainties in the biodiversity–EMF relationships related to the variable components of EMF, and climatic and geographic factors. Clarification of pathways that affect EMF using structural equation modeling techniques could elucidate the mechanisms by which environmental changes affect EMF.     

Artificial light at night: implications for early life stages development in four temperate freshwater fish species

Flora and fauna have both evolved under a natural cycle of light and dark. But especially in urban areas, the night is now increasingly disturbed by artificial light. Many traits and behaviours in fish are triggered by a circadian clock, for example hatching and swim bladder inflation, which predominantly take place at dusk or night. As lighting becomes brighter and extends farther into rural areas, the distinction between day and night becomes increasingly blurred. Therefore, the loss of diurnal trigger by artificial light at night was hypothesized having deleterious effects on these traits and impact fish reproduction. To assess these effects, eggs of four native freshwater fishes, Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, roach Rutilus rutilus, bleak Alburnus alburnus and chub Leuciscus cephalus, were incubated under two different light conditions: a photoperiod of 14 h light:10 h darkness (LD) and continuous illumination (LL). The time to hatch and swim bladder inflation was recorded. The species showed inconsistent reactions to the light treatments. In roach and bleak, the time to 50% hatch was longer in LL, whereas continuous lighting had an accelerating effect in chub. Incubation in LL elongated the hatching period in perch and roach and, in perch, the onset of darkness seemed to trigger hatching. The swim bladder inflation was significantly promoted by continuous light in chub and bleak but was not affected in roach. In conclusion, nocturnal artificial illumination could have an effect on hatching and initial swim bladder filling by masking the day–night-change and thereby diminish the trigger effect. However, the reactions were species specific and the increase in variation indicated a lack of diurnal triggering, whilst a general deleterious effect of artificial light at night has not been identified on early life stages.     

基于离散元方法的落石碰撞破碎研究

落石是山区公路边坡常见的地质灾害。落石撞击破碎是落石灾害中常见的现象,落石破碎致使运动轨迹改变往往会增大落石的危害性,但其通常未被考虑到落石的防护设计中。因此,落石破碎机理的研究对落石防护措施设计有重要的指导意义。本文运用离散元方法（离散元开源软件Esys-Particle）模拟落石铅直撞击地面的过程。在模型中,落石由大量的颗粒组成,并且相邻的颗粒由可断裂的黏结材料黏接;地面由一层固定的颗粒组成,从而模拟地面的摩擦、弹性变形性质。模型模拟出落石反弹、破碎和粉碎等过程,分析黏结材料的杨氏模量、颗粒间凝聚力和内摩擦角对落石撞击地面过程的影响,得出落石撞击过程中破坏率和动能的变化过程。研究发现：当杨氏模量和凝聚力的比值较小时,落石将会发生反弹;当杨氏模量和凝聚力的比值增大到一定程度时,落石将会破碎成不同大小的块体;当杨氏模量和凝聚力的比值超过一定限度时,落石将会破碎成非常细小的块体;内摩擦角的变化对撞击过程影响非常小。     

2016年度呼图壁地下天然储气库对周缘微地震活动性的影响

呼图壁储气库是中国目前存储量最大的天然气储气库,位于新疆准噶尔盆地南缘,北天山山前坳陷带内的呼图壁背斜上.储气库靠近百万人口大城市乌鲁木齐,气库的注放气活动对其周缘地震活动的长期影响是事关生产和生活的重要安全问题.本文以呼图壁储气库为中心,在86.5°E—87.5°E,43.5°N—44.5°N的范围内,基于新疆维吾尔自治区地震局在该区域建立的密集流动台阵数据,应用模板匹配滤波技术对2016年全年的波形数据进行搜索识别,检测到遗漏地震事件151个,完善扩充了原有地震目录,使得该区域完备震级由1.1降到约0.7.通过分析新目录中404个地震的时空分布规律,我们发现2016年,即气库建成第三年以后,储气库的气压变化依然会影响周缘地区的地震活动.当储气库的气压增大到超过约22 MPa的阈值后,较小的气压波动也会导致该区域地震活动性明显增强;气压变化对距储气库中心最远约40 km范围内区域的地震活动存在较为明显的影响.

     

历史时期(1765-1980年)西藏水旱雪灾规律的探讨

本文利用近千份藏文灾情历史档案和清政府驻西藏办事大臣有泰的日记和联豫的奏稿,以及西藏气象观测记录(1951—1980年),对西藏高原历史时期的水、旱、雪灾作了初步探讨,主要结论如下: 1.近百年来藏南的水旱灾是交替出现的,有三个多水期(1883—1906,1916—1934,1947—1962)和三个干旱期(1907—1915,1935—1946,1963—1980)。干旱期有逐渐加长的趋势。 2.西藏除了有变干的总趋势外,水旱灾还有明显的3.8—2.6年的周期。这与普遍存在的“准两年脉动”周期大体上一致。 3.藏南农区的降水量即使高于常年的一倍也不易形成洪水泛滥和大面积的内涝,但年降水量比常年少100mm以上就可造成严重干旱,农业生产大幅度减产。 4.造成西藏干旱的原因很多也很复杂,除高原气候近期有变干暖的总趋势外,近20年来水浇地和有效灌溉面积的扩大,以及农作物的种植比例不适当,象过份扩大冬小麦种植面积等亦会造成农业干旱。 5.19世纪以来,藏北高原共发生15次严重大雪灾,其中尤以1828—1829年,1927—1928年,1887—1888年三次雪灾最为严重。但近50年,发生的雪灾较过去有所减轻。不过,1967—1968年雪灾也较为严重。