Local disappearance of bivalves in the Azores during the last glaciation

The Pleistocene (Eemian) outcrops of Lagoinhas and Prainha, located at Santa Maria Island (Azores), were investigated and their fossil mollusc content reported. These studies revealed that the last glaciation affected two groups of molluscs: the ‘warm‐guest’ gastropods with West African or Caribbean affinities (e.g. Conus spp., Cantharus variegatus, Bulla amygdala, Trachypollia nodulosa) and shallow bivalve species mainly associated with sandy habitats (Ensis minor, Lucinella divaricata, and probably Laevicardium crassum). In this paper we focus on this group of bivalves, which has since locally disappeared from the Azores. We relate the local disappearance of these bivalves in the Azores with the lack of sand in the shelf. The specific characteristics of the Santa Maria shelf combined with the sea‐level drop during the Weichselian prevented deposition of the lowstand deposits and permitted erosion of the previous ones, leaving the shelf without a sediment cover. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A method for assessing local variation among scattered measurements

Automatic triangulation of scattered locations permits analysis of local variation in a dependent variable through calculation of a roughness index. This is approached by treating triangles of the triangulation (including the dependent variable) as vectorial structures, and accumulating at each data point the vector sum of the cluster of triangles surrounding it. The roughness index is defined as the complement of the ratio of the area of a triangle cluster to the area of component triangles as projected onto a gradient plane defined by their vector sum. The roughness index provides a measure of consistency of data values relative to surrounding observations and can be interpreted as a local index of reliability of interpolation.     

Non‐local damage modelling of concrete: a procedure for the determination of model parameters

This paper presents a procedure for the determination of parameters of non‐local damage models. This is to assure a consistent response of a non‐local damage model, as choice of the internal length and other parameters of the model are varied. Correlations between the internal length and other parameters governing the local constitutive behaviour of the model are addressed and exploited. Focus is put on the relationship between the internal length of the non‐local model and the width of the fracture process zone. Numerical examples are used to demonstrate the rigour of the proposed method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multifractal analysis as a tool for validating a rainfall model

A multifractal analysis was carried out in order to validate the simulation of hourly rainfall records of a local climate model for the Iberian Peninsula. Observed and simulated hourly rainfall data from four locations in Andalusia (southern Spain) were used to carry out the study. In order to detect the influence of the length of the data series on the results, two different sizes were used for the real data: 4 years, and 20 years. The results show that algebraic tails are required to fit the probability distribution of extreme rain event sizes, and rain and dry event durations for both kinds of rainfall data. Similar results are found for the extreme rain event sizes and dry event durations fits when the real and synthetic data are considered. Nevertheless, some differences appear in the cases of rain event durations. The detection of the presence of a first‐order multifractal phase transition associated with a critical moment in the empirical moment scaling exponent function and the results of the extreme rain event sizes fits, reveal that real rainfall is a self‐organized criticality (SOC) process. That behaviour is less evident in the simulated rainfall series. The same ‘synoptic maximum’ value was found for each place with both types of rainfall data. A time clustering analysis was carried out applying the count‐based periodogram and the Fano factor methods. Some periodicities have been detected in the periodograms, especially for the longest real rainfall data series. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

以地理国情监测为契机改造地理科学专业——以滁州学院为例

在当前社会经济发展形势下,传统地理科学专业人才培养模式存在着诸多不足,实践能力弱、就业范围窄、学无所用等。结合当前学科发展趋势,对传统地理科学专业进行改造,以滁州学院为例,在充分分析总结地科专业发展现状的基础上,阐述了该专业应紧紧抓住地理国情监测这一契机确定专业改革方向,并对改革的可行性与发展目标进行了详细论述和讨论,认为以地理国情监测为契机改造地理科学专业是可行的。可为地方院校地理科学专业向地理国情监测方向转型提供参考。     

Local responses to changed circumstances: Coalmining in the market economy in Upper Silesia, Poland

It is argued that the emphasis of much recent research into coalmining has been placed on international and national scale influences which affect coalfields as a whole; change at the intra-coalfield scale has received less attention. After providing a background to events in Poland during communism, attention focuses on developments since 1989, commencing with coalfield-wide influences. There follows an examination of the work of the state body Państwowa Agencja Węgla Kamiennego, which executes government policy at the local level, and whose membership is drawn from the coalfield region. This agency recommends the closure and amalgamation of mines, but otherwise rationalisation measures are left to the seven mining companies and the colliery managers. The restructuring which has been carried out is considered under five heads: organisational change within the collieries, employment, production and technical change, and ecological adjustment. While recognising the importance of the socioeconomic and political environment and geology, there is much evidence to suggest that intra-coalfield patterns are strongly determined by local decision-makers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observed Impact of the South Asian Summer Monsoon on the Local Meteorology in the Himalayas

The South Asian summer monsoon(SASM) is the most important climate system in Asia.Using observational data from the HEST2006(Himalayan Exchange between the Surface and Troposphere 2006) campaign and large-scale grid data,this paper analyzed the SASM impact on local meteorological parameters including radiation,temperature,humidity,and wind in the Himalayas.The SASM experienced one active and one break period during the HEST2006 campaign.The local meteorological parameters exhibit great differences between the active period and the break period of the SASM.The radiation fluxes are greater in the break period than in the active period.The air temperature and specific humidity are lower,but soil temperature and wind speed are higher in the break period than in the active period.Further analysis indicates that the SASM greatly affects the meteorological features of the Himalayan region.     

Les manifestations tectoniques synsédimentaires associées à la compression éocène en Tunisie : implications paléogéographiques et structurales sur la marge Nord-Africaine

In central Tunisia, a synsedimentary tectonic episode has been pointed out through the tectonic movements affecting the Late Palaeocene–Early Eocene successions. This tectonic episode has controlled, to a large extent, the palaeogeographic setting of the area during that period and confirmed the important effect induced by the Pyrenean shortening phase on the edge of the African plate, which obviously has witnessed a common history with the southern part of the European plate. To cite this article: A. El Ghali et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).     

网络3维地球软件客户端缓存动态管理设计与实现

本地缓存机制能够显著减少数据请求,提高网络数据传输与可视化效率。本文探讨了多线程模式下的网络3维地球软件客户端空间数据访问与缓存替换流程,针对性设计并实现了一种基于内外双缓存及单一大数据文件模式的空间数据缓存动态管理机制,通过实验验证了方法的有效性。     

混沌理论在桥梁变形监测中的应用

针对桥梁的非线性下沉问题,引用了混沌理论,首先求取时间序列的两重构参数时间延迟τ和嵌入维数m进行相空间重构;随后进行混沌特性判别,确定该时间序列存在混沌迹象;最后根据所求参数建立加权零阶局域预计模型和RBF神经网络混沌预计模型对观测数据进行预计分析,并与系数为0.9的指数平滑预测模型进行比较,结果显示混沌预计模型值更接...