The bivalve Lembulus bicuspidatus may enhance denitrification in shelf sediment at the Angola–Benguela Frontal Zone

We collected living individuals of the bivalve Lembulus bicuspidatus, which shows an unusual preference for the oxygen-deficient habitat found at the Angola–Benguela Frontal Zone of the southeastern Atlantic. With a series of incubation experiments with ¹⁵N-labelled nitrate as a tracer in combination with membrane-inlet mass spectrometry, we studied the potential contribution of L. bicuspidatus to nitrate reduction in the upper sediment layer. Our preliminary results suggest that L. bicuspidatus enhances nitrate reduction if the oxygen concentration is sufficiently low. The Lembulus-mediated nitrate reduction rate is then similar to the rate of microbial nitrate reduction in the surrounding sediment.     

Sulfide intrusion in the tropical seagrasses Thalassia testudinum and Syringodium filiforme

Sulfur and oxygen dynamics in the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum and Syringodium filiforme and their sediments were studied in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) in order to explore sulfide intrusion into tropical seagrasses. Four study sites were selected based on the iron concentration in sediments and on proximity to anthropogenic nutrient sources. Meadow characteristics (shoot density, above- and below-ground biomass, nutrient content) were sampled along with sediment biogeochemistry. Sulfide intrusion was high in T. testudinum, as up to 96% of total sulfur in the plant was derived from sediment-derived sulfides. The sulfide intrusion was negatively correlated to the turnover of sulfides in the sediments regulated by both plant parameters and sediment sulfur pools. Sediment iron content played an indirect role by affecting sulfide turnover rates. Leaf production was negatively correlated with sulfide intrusion suggesting that active growth reduced sulfide intrusion. Sulfide intrusion was lower in S. filiforme (up to 44%) compared to T. testudinum consistent with a higher internal nighttime oxygen concentrations found for S. filiforme. When S. filiforme can take advantage of its ability to maintain high internal oxygen concentrations, as was the case on the USVI, it could increase its success in colonizing unvegetated disturbed sediments with potentially high sulfide concentrations.     

Predicting size effect on diffusion-limited current density of oxygen reduction by copper wire

The size effect of copper wire radius (0.04–0.82 mm) on the diffusion-limited current density of an oxygen reduction reaction in stagnant simulated seawater (naturally aerated 0.5 mol/L NaCl) is investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and compared with the results obtained in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4. In the oxygen diffusion-limited range, size effect is found to occur independent of electrolytes, which is attributed to non-linear diffusion. Additionally, to sati...     

海洋磁力测量中多站地磁日变改正基值归算

海洋磁力测量多站日变改正时,为了减小磁场水平差异的影响,需要进行地磁日变基值归算。分析了地磁日变化时空分布特点,研究了地磁日变基值对多站地磁日变改正时磁测的影响,提出了多站地磁日变基值归算方法。经地磁日变同步观测数据验证表明：一定空间范围内,各站地磁日变数据日平均值基本上呈同步变化,利用此方法归算得到的分站地磁日变基值稳定。     

枣庄南部岩溶塌陷风险预测及评估

枣庄南部岩溶塌陷发育,严重制约着当地经济的发展,并对居民生产、生活构成威胁。通过对影响岩溶塌陷的各要素进行系统的调查,结合当地社会经济发展资料,采用信息预测的方法,对枣庄南部岩溶塌陷进行风险预测及评估,并对不同地段的岩溶塌陷风险等级进行划分,从而为枣庄市地下水资源合理开发利用、环境治理、保护与规划提供了决策依据。     

伪谱法弹性波场数值模拟中的边界条件

边界条件问题长期以来一直是困扰地震波数值模拟研究者的一个难题,许多人都提出了有效的方法,但是该问题仍然需要研究.本文针对伪谱法地震波场数值模拟的特殊要求,即所有网格点相互耦合,且傅立叶变换的周期性使得方程在网格边界上很难得到一个吸收的替代方程,研究衰减边界条件中衰减系数的变化对边界反射波衰减效果的影响.数值实验结果说明,随着衰减系数的增大,振幅衰减加快,用很少的过渡带网格就可以使边界上的反射波能量很小.但是如果衰减率过大,就会在传播区和过渡带产生干扰波场.因此,在衰减系数的选择上应采取折中办法,即在取某一较小的衰减系数的前提下,设置较少的过渡带网格数使边界的能量反射最少.     

防灾减灾系统灾情信息集成技术研究

全球各类自然灾害的频繁发生,给各国人民的生活和生产带来了严重灾难和重大损失。通过建立防灾减灾系统,有效减少灾害带来的损失,越来越受到各国政府及灾害主管部门的重视。本文结合地理信息系统的地理编码技术、大型关系数据库技术、动态数据交换技术,详细阐述了应用于政府部门的防灾减灾系统中灾情信息的集成方法及具体实现。     

水稻免耕栽培的减灾效应研究

为探索稻田保护性耕作技术——水稻免耕的减灾效应,将免耕与传统稻作方法相结合组成常耕移栽、常耕抛秧、免耕移栽、免耕抛秧4个处理进行试验,并运用生态学原理对试验结果进行了分析研究。结果表明,稻田保护性耕作能提高作物产量,降低部分生育期间水稻病虫害,抑制农田杂草的生长。     

Effect of connecting rain barrels on the storage size reduction

In this article, the possibility of sharing rain barrels and the potential benefit of reducing storage size through physical and non‐physical connections of rain barrels in a community are investigated. Using the concepts of homogeneous/heterogeneous users in rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS), two simple cases of a community composed of four prospective users are examined. The first is performed with the users who have the same mean and variance in water demands (homogeneous users), and the second is with the users with different means and variances (heterogeneous users). To take account for the rainfall characteristics in different places, historical records from six cities in the USA are used for storage–reliability–yield analysis. The result indicates that required total storage can be reduced by connecting multiple rain barrels. In addition, a significant difference is found between homogeneous and heterogeneous user groups. Homogeneous users do not achieve a substantial benefit from connecting their rain barrels; these users may even be disadvantaged by sharing. In contrast, heterogeneous users receive benefit by reducing the total required storage. Most benefit is expected between users with maximum difference in mean water demands. The reduction in storage size was as considerable as 37% in this study. The quantity of storage reduction depends on locations and target reliabilities. Knowledge of the benefits and limitations of rain barrel connections can improve RWHS performance through ability to customize a network plan for individual users. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preconditioned IDR(s) iterative solver for non‐symmetric linear system associated with FEM analysis of shallow foundation

Non‐associated flow rule is essential when the popular Mohr–Coulomb model is used to model nonlinear behavior of soil. The global tangent stiffness matrix in nonlinear finite element analysis becomes non‐symmetric when this non‐associated flow rule is applied. Efficient solution of this large‐scale non‐symmetric linear system is of practical importance. The standard Krylov solver for a non‐symmetric solver is Bi‐CGSTAB. The Induced Dimension Reduction [IDR(s)] solver was proposed in the scientific computing literature relatively recently. Numerical studies of a drained strip footing problem on homogenous soil layer show that IDR(s = 6) is more efficient than Bi‐CGSTAB when the preconditioner is the incomplete factorization with zero fill‐in of global stiffness matrix K_ep (ILU(0)‐K_ep). Iteration time is reduced by 40% by using IDR(s = 6) with ILU(0)‐K_ep. To further reduce computational cost, the global stiffness matrix K_ep is divided into two parts. The first part is the linear elastic stiffness matrix K_e, which is formed only once at the beginning of solution step. The second part is a low‐rank matrix Δ, which is re‐formed at each Newton–Raphson iteration. Numerical studies show that IDR(s = 6) with this ILU(0)‐K_e preconditioner is more time effective than IDR(s = 6) with ILU(0)‐K_ep when the percentage of yielded Gauss points in the mesh is less than 15%. The total computation time is reduced by 60% when all the recommended optimizing methods are used. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.