Tufa Accumulations in Ephemeral Streams: Observations from The Kimberley,north-west Australia

Four types of tufa occur along creeks draining the Oscar Range in the Kimberley region of Western Australia; stream-bed tufa, tufa dams, stream-bed tufa waterfalls, and rimstone pools. Well-developed tufa dam and waterfall formations occur at significant breaks of slope within the channel long profile. This suggests that disruption of the hydraulic flow regime and increased turbulence at these points has an important role to play in determining the location of tufa deposits. However, the best-developed stream-bed tufa deposits are located immediately upstream of dam and waterfall formations, which indicates that the evaporation of water ponded behind these flow obstructions may lead to calcium carbonate precipitation during the dry season. The presence of plant and cyanobacterial communities on, and the incorporation of organic material into, the best-developed tufa formations indicates that biological activity may have an important role to play in determining both the rate of tufa deposition and the internal structure of the resulting accumulations.     

A Review of Mineral Resources and GIS Applications in Mineral Resource Assessment in Northeast China

IntroductionThe Northeast China region locates in the centre of Northeast Asia economic zone, and borders onRepublic of Mongolia in the north, Russian Far Eastin the east, and Democratic People, s Republic ofKorea in the south. It includes three provinces…     

A MASCOTTE-based characterization of MCSs over Spain, 2000–2002

A 3-year Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) database, which extends from 2000 to 2002, has been built for the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands using the objective method MASCOTTE (MAximum Spatial COrrelation Technique). It was originally developed to track the evolution of convective systems over the Amazon region; after modifications, it is able to track MCS evolution even with an hour and a half of missed images and provides essential information of both dynamical and morphological characteristics of MCSs. MASCOTTE is tested against a visual and subjective method, and is found to offer advantages such as automation and a simple and efficient operation that make it very useful for building large MCS databases.Thirty-five MCSs were found between June and October, most of them originated along the Mediterranean coast and near the Pyrenees, showing an increasing occurrence from June to September, when the maximum is found. The regions most influenced by MCS occurrences are Balearic Islands, Valencia, Catalonia, Murcia and the Basque Country. The MCSs tend to be small, short-lived and linear, usually moving eastward or northeastward with low velocities.The MCSs-associated precipitation presents high variability, ranging from 80 to 0 mm h⁻¹ as maximum hourly records. Two different convective regions are identified based on MCS behavior in extreme precipitation events: Northern Spain (the Basque Country) with abundant and continuous precipitation regime but little MCS influence, and the Mediterranean coast, where precipitation is sporadic but much more intense.     

广州前汛期暴雨各层天气系统特征分析

本文对广州前汛期暴雨的地面、850hPa、500hPa、200hPa系统特征进行了分析，给出了各层系统配置图，为日常预报业务提供分析依据。     

Relocation optimization of electric cars in one-way car-sharing systems: modeling,exact solving and heuristics algorithms

Car-sharing system with electric cars is a very convenient service for urban transportation: it allows users to pick up a vehicle at a station and rent it during a short time. To manage this kind of system in the best way, it is necessary to solve the critical problem of vehicle stock imbalance across the stations. Several decision levels must be considered to balance the car distribution by taking into account the quality of service and the system operation cost. To this end, a linear programming model is proposed to formalize the problem in a mathematical framework, which allows the computation of optimal vehicle distribution strategies. To make our solution time efficient and usable for solving large problems, a greedy algorithm and a tabu search algorithm are proposed. These two algorithms are applied to the Auto Bleue network in Nice and its surrounding (France) using extensive simulations. Besides, an integrated mapping method is provided within the Geographical Information System QGIS to estimate flows and their locations. Numerical results demonstrate that the tabu search algorithm is able to find near-optimal solutions and good compromises between client satisfaction, number of staff agents and vehicles used, and computing time.     

The interaction between individual,social and environmental factors and their influence on dietary intake among adults in Toronto

Health outcomes related to vegetable and fruit consumption are widely recognized in the literature. This study investigates how dietary intake is influenced by individual, social, and environmental factors in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area. The analysis and findings are based on data from the Canadian Community Health Survey which provides self‐reported vegetable and fruit intake from 6,513 adults in 2009‐2010. Food environment measures were constructed from commercial databases using kernel density estimates and network drive times. Spatial and multivariable techniques were used to determine the associations between diet, the food environment, and other health and socioeconomic factors. Particular emphasis was given to understanding the interaction between the food environment and socioeconomic position. Unexpectedly, supermarket density was found to have an inverse association with vegetable and fruit intake. Interaction terms for individuals with low income and reduced mobility produced different responses in men and women, confirming that the influence of the food environment is not uniform for all subgroups.     

论海平面变化与层控矿床成因

桂北及桂中大瑶山西侧泥盆纪层控型站矿床成因研究表明，矿床形成赋矿盆地的海平面变化密切相关，它们是“层、系、相、位”四位一体主因素地质场作用的结果，这一新的矿床成因新模式可以概括为：区域赋矿层位与层序边界面关系密切，研究区内共划分出７个 序边界面，其中ＳＢ１（Ｉ），ＳＢ３（Ⅲ）及ＳＢ７（Ｉ）是主要的区域性赋 层位；矿体一般产于Ｉ型层序边界面之上，或产于Ⅱ，Ⅲ层序边界面之下；容矿主岩与一定的沉积体系域     

GIS techniques and statistical models in evaluating landslide hazard

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and numerical cartography may greatly facilitate the development and use of statistical models for the assessment of regional landslide hazard. From a small drainage basin located in Central Italy, relevant geological and geomorphological factors were collected and processed by applying GIS technology. In particular, modules were used which both generate high-fidelity digital terrain models and automatically partition the terrain into main slope-units. The resulting information was then analysed by discriminant analysis which enabled landslide hazard and risk to be evaluated in each slope-unit. Although not lacking drawbacks, the method proved to be a feasible and cost-effective approach to landslide susceptibility assessment and mapping.     

一个基于打靶法的大气污染源反演自适应算法

污染源反演对大气污染预报及控制有重要意义。目前普遍采用的源反演统计方法存在对观测误差、源清单先验估计误差敏感等弱点。基于打靶法思想的各种算法以其精度高、程序简单、实用性强的特点被广泛应用于系统控制领域。本文提出的基于打靶法思想的大气污染源反演自适应算法在精度高、算法简明的基础上弥补了统计方法的不足:能处理源清单中的大误差、初值大误差、观测值在个别时间点的大误差;无需先验分布假设及误差估计。本文还以简单模型的理想试验为例,展示了该自适应算法的计算效果。     

Assessing environmental justice through potential exposure to air pollution: A socio-spatial analysis in Madrid and Barcelona,Spain

The concept of environmental justice (EJ) has recently gained currency, both as a factor for and a goal of sustainable development. Its implementation in practice implies establishing current environmental injustice patterns and analysing planning policies, with the aim to reduce socio-demographic inequalities in the negative environmental impact borne by different population groups. This paper proposes a method to assess differential exposure to excessive pollution levels by socio-demographic groups in intra-urban spaces.The approach developed in this paper is based upon GIS and quantitative spatial analysis techniques. It incorporates the idea of an ‘environmental justice weighting scale’ for policy-making, using normative pollution thresholds to measure inequalities more objectively and consistently. Spain’s two largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, have been chosen as case-studies, taking nitrogen dioxide as the pollutant, and the geographic distribution of six vulnerable population groups (children, elderly people and international immigrants) in the year 2010. The results reveal that a large part of these groups suffer exposure to air pollution exceeding the maximum permitted levels disproportionately, which would imply a case of environmental injustice.