The three screen doors: can marine "protected" areas be effective?

The great majority of marine protected areas (MPAs) fail to meet their management objectives. So MPAs can be effective conservation tools, we recommend two paradigm shifts, the first related to how they are located and the second related to how they are managed. MPAs are unlikely to be effective if they are located in areas that are subject to numerous, and often uncontrollable, external stressors from atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic sources, all of which can degrade the environment and compromise protection. MPA effectiveness is also limited by low institutional and community capacity for management and inappropriate size with respect to ecological needs. In particular, the check list approach to management does not ensure that key threats are dealt with, or that management expenditures provide a quantifiable return. We recommend a business planning approach to MPA management, in which managers focus on the viability of the management system, i.e., the ability of the MPA to provide ecological goods and services to its target users over the long term.     

蓄水型人工增雨效果检验

利用1960～2007年古田水库的雨量资料和入库流量资料,采用非随机化试验方案,根据水库流域面雨量、入库流量和径流系数的变化开展蓄水型人工增雨效果检验。结果表明,在水库流域开展科学的蓄水型人工增雨,使1350km2水库流域面雨量增加18.87%,绝对增加22.4mm,总降水量增加3024万m3,径流系数提高9.31%,入库流量增加29.95%,绝对增加5.17m3/s,总入库流量增加1359.395万m3。改善了水库流域生态环境,提高了地表土壤的湿润度,使径流系数增大,使得入库流量相对增值比水库流域面雨量相对增值大。蓄水型人工增雨的经济效益大于"抗旱型"人工增雨。     

The effect of biological soil crusts on soil moisture dynamics under different rainfall conditions in the Tengger Desert,China

Rainfall is considered as the dominant water replenishment in desert ecosystems, and the conversion of rainfall into soil water availability plays a central role in sustaining the ecosystem function. In this study, the role of biological soil crusts (BSCs), typically formed in the revegetated desert ecosystem in the Tengger Desert of China, in converting rainfall into soil water, especially for the underlying soil moisture dynamics, was clarified by taking into account the synthetic effects of BSCs, rainfall characteristics, and antecedent soil water content on natural rainfall conditions at point scale. Our results showed that BSCs retard the infiltration process due to its higher water holding capacity during the initial stage of infiltration, such negative effect could be offset by the initial wet condition of BSCs. The influence of BSCs on infiltration amount was dependent on rainfall regime and soil depth. BSCs promoted a higher infiltration through the way of prolonged water containing duration in the ground surface and exhibited a lower infiltration at deep soil layer, which were much more obvious under small and medium rainfall events for the BSCs area compared with the sand area. Generally, the higher infiltration at top soil layer only increased soil moisture at 0.03 m depth; in consequence, there was no water recharge for the deep soil, and thus, BSCs had a negative effect on soil water effectiveness, which may be a potential challenge for the sustainability of the local deep‐rooted vegetation under the site specific rainfall conditions in northwestern China.     

泥石流沟谷坊坝群治理效应——以地震极重灾区北川县化石板沟为例

谷坊坝是泥石流治理的重要工程措施之一。化石板沟泥石流治理工程共设13座谷坊坝,组成梯级谷坊坝群;坝体主要分布在泥石流形成区和流通区,混凝土结构,轴向两端嵌入沟道两侧基岩0.5～1 m。通过对比化石板沟谷坊工程修建前后沟床纵坡比降、沟道两侧斜坡稳定性及泥石流侵蚀速率等方面的差异,证明谷坊工程能够有效拦蓄松散固体物质、稳固沟床和岸坡、降低沟道纵坡比降、降低泥石流流速和耗散流体能量、抬高沟道上游泥石流侵蚀基准面。研究发现,化石板沟谷坊坝群共拦截固体物质2.76×104 m3,仅占流域物源总量574.9×104 m3的0.5%,占近期可供给泥石流活动的物源量85×104 m3的3.3%;稳固沟床松散物质4.37×104 m3,仅占流域物源总量的0.76%,占近期可供给泥石流活动的物源量的5.2%;稳固沟道两侧坡体松散物质134.07×104 m3,占流域物源总量的23.3%,泥石流物源减少;回淤的沟道比降为原比降的60%～75%,相同频率下泥石流流速、峰值流量降低,沟道侵蚀速率下降,泥石流输沙量减少35%～57%;上游泥石流支沟侵蚀基准面抬升0.3～0.5 m。泥石流呈现从粘性到稀性,再到含沙水流的趋势发展。     

The Implementation and Effectiveness of Geographic Information Systems Technology and Methods in Secondary Education

Abstract

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology and methods have transformed decision-making in society by bringing geographic analysis to the desktop computer. Although some educators consider GIS to be a promising means for implementing reform, it has been adopted by less than 2 percent of American high schools. The reasons behind the interest in GIS, its slow implementation, and its effectiveness in teaching and learning are unclear. To address these concerns, this research describes the extent to which GIS is being implemented in American secondary education and assesses the effectiveness of lessons that use GIS. A survey of 1,520 high schools that own GIS software, along with experiments and case studies in three high schools, provided primary data for assessing the implementation and effectiveness of GIS.     

Amplitude reduction of elastic waves by a row of piles in poroelastic soil

This paper studies the displacements behind a row of elastic piles in a homogeneous unbounded poroelastic soil after excitation by the passage of elastic waves. Biot’s theory is employed to describe soil behavior. Using a Fourier–Bessel series expansion with the aid of a translational addition theorem, closed-form expressions for the scattering coefficients are developed by imposing continuity conditions at the pile–soil interfaces. The influence of certain parameters, such as pile rigidity and soil permeability on the screening performance of the pile barrier is investigated. Particular attention is focused on the influence of the soil permeability on the screening effectiveness of a row of piles in the frequency domain.     

Measuring effectiveness,efficiency and equity in an experimental Payments for Ecosystem Services trial

There is currently a considerable effort to evaluate the performance of Payments for Ecosystem Services as an environmental management tool. The research presented here contributes to this work by using an experimental design to evaluate Payments for Ecosystem Services as a tool for supporting biodiversity conservation in the context of an African protected area. The trial employed a ‘before and after’ and ‘with and without’ design. We present the results of social and ecological surveys to investigate the impacts of the trial in terms of its effectiveness, efficiency and equity. We find the scheme to be effective at bringing about additional conservation outcomes. However, we also found that increased monitoring is similarly effective in the short term, at lower cost. The major difference – and arguably the significant contribution of the Payments for Ecosystem Services – was that it changed the motives for protecting the park and improved local perceptions both of the park and its authority. We discuss the implications of these results for conservation efficiency, arguing that efficiency should not be defined in terms of short-term cost-effectiveness, but also in terms of the sustainability of behavioral motives in the long term. This insight helps us to resolve the apparent trade-off between goals of equity and efficiency in Payments for Ecosystem Services.     

电磁屏蔽对无线充电系统的影响分析

在介绍电磁屏蔽理论的基础上,利用电磁场仿真软件HFSS,建模仿真分析了电磁屏蔽体的屏蔽效能及其对无线充电系统耦合效率的影响.通过屏蔽体外特殊点屏蔽前后的场强对比,分析屏蔽效能;通过仿真接收线圈内一点屏蔽前后的磁场强度变化,运用相关公式计算互感变化分析其对耦合效率的影响.分析结果表明:采取电磁屏蔽措施,不仅能减少系统对外界的电磁辐射干扰,而且能增大系统的耦合传输效率.实验结果证明了仿真分析的正确性.     

基于QR分解的Ⅱ类病态性诊断

为了对现代测绘数据处理中参数估计系统的Ⅱ类病态性[1]进行诊断,利用观测结构分析方法解决了观测有效性的分析问题.通过对观测矩阵的QR分解,将观测结构的分析过渡到对R矩阵的分析,提出了相对体积法,方法几何意义明确.算例表明,该方法能够准确度量参数估计系统的Ⅱ类病态性程度,是一种对Ⅱ类病态性进行定量诊断的新方法.     

鲁西金伯利岩勘查中电法勘探的应用效果分析

以在已知金伯利岩管上直流电阻率法视电阻率异常和低频电磁法虚分量异常特征分析为例,论证了电法勘探在金伯利岩勘查中的效果,并指出扩大电法勘探应用的有效途径。