Variations of phytoplankton productivity and biomass over an annual cycle in Saanich Inlet,a British Columbia fjord

Saanich Inlet is a highly productive temperate fjord with the capability to record inter-annual patterns of water-column primary production in undisturbed laminated sediments. We investigated spatial and temporal variations in primary productivity, total and size-fractionated phytoplankton chl a, dissolved nutrients, temperature and salinity at the head and mouth of Saanich Inlet from May 2005 to November 2006. New primary productivity was also measured from May to October 2006. During the growing season (spring, summer and fall), primary productivity was 1.5 times higher at the mouth than at the head of Saanich Inlet and, averaged across stations, total productivity was 460 g C m⁻² y⁻¹. Average new productivity was 53% and 58% of total primary productivity at the head and mouth of the inlet, respectively, and during the growing season micro-phytoplankton (>20 μm; mainly diatoms) was the most abundant size-class of phytoplankton. These rates of primary production are as high as or higher than those measured in other fjords, possibly because of a tidally-driven fortnightly gravity exchange that supplies nutrients to surface waters that enhance biological production when nutrients would otherwise be limiting. This exchange delivers nutrients at least as far inland as the head station, while nutrients associated with an eddy near the mouth may be the cause of even higher productivity there. We discuss the impact of these nutrient sources to Saanich Inlet on the records of paleoproduction generated from two Ocean Drilling Program cores extracted from this fjord, and suggest that the fortnightly exchange buffers variations in nutrient supply occurring on sub-decadal or decadal scales.     

Solving density driven flow problems with efficient spatial discretizations and higher-order time integration methods

Modelling density driven flow problems requires an excessive computational time and/or heavy equipments due to the non-linear coupling between flow and transport equations. In this work, we develop a robust numerical model with efficient advanced approximations for both spatial and temporal discretizations in order to reduce the excessive computational requirement while maintaining accuracy.     

The new blackbirds? Vanuatu guestworkers in New Zealand

An agricultural guestworker scheme for Pacific island states began in New Zealand in 2007 to remedy domestic agricultural labour shortages. Vanuatu was one of the first countries to take advantage of the scheme. After a pilot venture in 2007 greater numbers of workers were recruited in 2008. In Tanna, the recruits, though mainly male, represented a cross‐section of the population. Their objectives were income generation for education fees, house building and eventually small business development. Early returnees acquired significant capital and met some of these objectives. The scheme has benefited both countries and the first generation of guestworkers.     

基于Topsis法的区域创新系统的有效性评价——以中部六省为例

区域创新系统的运行融合了区域经济发展的各个主体,促使创新资源在各个主体间流动,并最终产生知识的创新与成果的转化。但由于创新环境的不完善,这个过程中存在着市场失效的的现象。导致创新资源有时并不按照市场的规则来执行资源的分配与利用。本文运用Topsis法,在考虑环境对创新系统的影响下对中部六省各个区域创新系统的有效性运行进行了分析。     

Quantification of aquatic sediment prokaryotes—A multiple-steps optimization testing sands from pristine and contaminated aquifers

The total number of prokaryotic cells in aquatic sediments is a crucial measure tightly linked to energetic constraints, microbial productivity, and ecosystem status. While counting cells in water samples is routine, reliable procedures for the determination of prokaryotic cells associated to aquatic sediments are especially needed. A protocol for the direct quantification of prokaryotic cell abundance in aquatic sediments was developed and tested with sandy material from pristine and contaminated aquifers. Individual steps required in sample preparation, including preservation, cell dislodgement, density gradient centrifugation providing sample purification, and staining, were critically evaluated and optimized. Quantification of cells is conducted by flow cytometry promoting a high-throughput sample processing. Although tested for only two different types of aquifer sediments, researchers may easily adapt the protocol for their individual samples and purposes, thus conducting a brief efficiency re-evaluation of individual steps highlighted in this study.     

In-plane soil–structure interaction in layered,fluid-saturated,poroelastic half-space I: Structural response

Linear in-plane soil–structure interaction in two dimensions (2D) is studied in fluid-saturated, poroelastic, layered half-space using the Indirect Boundary Element Method (IBEM). The structure is a shear wall supported by a rigid embedded foundation. Exact stiffness matrices for the soil layer and half-space, and Green׳s functions of uniformly distributed loads and pore pressure on an inclined line are derived. Results of the system response in the frequency domain are presented for the special case of single soil layer over bedrock, semi-circular foundation and zero seepage force. The effects of water saturation, soil porosity, depth of soil layer, rigidity contrast between layer and bedrock are investigated in the frequency domain for incident plane P- and SV waves. The results suggest that water saturation may cause increase of the system frequency by more than 10%.     

Static and seismic bearing capacity of shallow strip footings

In this study, the evaluation of static and seismic bearing capacity factors for a shallow strip footing was carried out by using the method of characteristics, which was extended to the seismic condition by means of the pseudo-static approach. The results, for both smooth and rough foundations, were checked against those obtained through finite element analyses.Under seismic conditions the three bearing capacity problems for N_c, N_q and N_γ were solved independently and the seismic bearing capacity factors were evaluated accounting separately for the effect of horizontal and vertical inertia forces arising in the soil, in the lateral surcharge and in the superstructure.Empirical formulae approximating the extensive numerical results are proposed to compute the static values of N_γ and the corrective coefficients that can be introduced in the well-known Terzaghi׳s formula of the bearing capacity to extend its applicability to seismic design of foundations.     

新型框架结构弹塑性地震反应的等效线性化方法研究

等效线性化方法是计算结构弹塑性地震反应的实用方法.通过对几种等效线性化方法的比较分析,提出了基于FEMA440 （2005）计算等效刚度和等效阻尼比的等效线性化方法;分别采用静力弹塑性分析方法和等效线性化方法,分析了局部使用高性能纤维增强混凝土新型框架结构的弹塑性地震反应.结果表明,两种方法所得结构的地震反应均比较接近.因此,本文建议的等效线性化方法能够较好地预测新型框架结构的弹塑性地震反应.     

基于C4.5算法的遥感影像分类

随着城市化进程的加快,湿地对整个生态系统的可持续发展具有重要的意义。以洪泽湖湿地为研究区,集合TM影像的光谱信息和纹理信息构建空间数据库,获取训练样本,并从训练样本集中获取分类规则;然后利用C4.5算法构建决策树,并基于知识规则推理得到遥感影像分类结果;最后将分类结果与传统的最大似然法进行比较分析。实验表明,基于C4.5算法得到的分类结果的分类总精度为91.9701%,其分类总精度结果明显高于传统的最大似然法的80.0885%;同样,前者的分类结果的Kappa系数为0.900 3,也远远高于最大似然法的0.746 5。     

基于道格拉斯-普克算法的图像分割初探

利用道格拉斯-普克算法化简灰度直方图,从化简后的直方图中获取图像分割的阈值。为了评估所提出算法的优劣,本文采用多峰法和大津法进行了对比实验。实验表明道格拉斯-普克算法分割某些图像具有一定的优势。