Aerosol polarized phase function and single-scattering albedo retrieved from ground-based measurements

Aerosol optical parameters, polarized phase function and single-scattering albdeo, have been retrieved from ground-based sun photometer measurements in Beijing 2003. The measured aerosol optical thickness varies from 0.12 to 0.77 with an average value of 0.39. The measured Ångström coefficient ranges from 0.75 to 1.47 with an average value of 1.21. The retrieved single-scattering albedo at 870 nm is within the 0.76–0.94 range and the average value is 0.85, suggests there are considerable aerosol absorptions in Beijing. The maximum value of retrieved polarized phase function at 870 nm ranges from 0.068 to 0.225 with an average value of 0.16, and it illustrates good correlations with the Ångström coefficient, i.e. the relative size of aerosol particles. Analyses of measurements and theoretical calculations show the polarized phase function is sensitive to aerosol size distribution and complex refractive index, especially the imaginary part of the refractive index which denotes aerosol light absorbing effects. These results suggest that the polarized phase function is an effective and unique aerosol optical parameter and is able to improve the retrieval of aerosol physical properties.     

Recent Progress and Future Prospects in Solar Physics, and Their Relevance for Planet Earth

Understanding our star, the Sun, is of fundamental interest for life on Earth. In this paper, the status of knowledge in solar physics of roughly two decades ago is summarised, and the most recent developments in this very active field are shown, many of them achieved by means of space based missions. The Sun–Earth connection is described and, finally, an outlook on future solar research is given.     

Molecular modeling of the 10-Å phase at subduction zone conditions

Molecular dynamics (MD) modeling of the 10-Å phase, Mg₃Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂·xH₂O, with x=2/3, 1.0 and 2.0 shows complex structural changes with pressure, temperature and water content and provides new insight into the structures and stabilization of these phases under subduction zone conditions. The structure(s) of this phase and its role as a reservoir of water in the mantle have been controversial, and these calculations provide specific predictions that can be tested by in situ diffraction studies. At ambient conditions, the computed structures of talc (x=0) and the 10-Å phases with x=2/3 and 1.0 are stable over the 350-ps period of the MD simulations. Under these conditions, the 10-Å phases show phlogopite-like layer stacking in good agreement with previously published structures based on powder X-ray diffraction data for samples quenched from high-pressure and high-temperature experiments. The calculations show that the 10-Å phase with x=2.0 is unstable at ambient conditions. The computed structures at P=5.5 GPa and T=750 K, well within the known stability field of the 10-Å phase, change significantly with water content, reflecting changing H-bonding configurations. For x=2/3, the layer stacking is talc-like, and for x=1.0, it is phlogopite-like. The calculations show that transformation between these two stackings occurs readily, and that the talc-like stacking for the x=2/3 composition is unlikely to be quenchable to ambient conditions. For x=2.0, the layer stacking at P=5.5 GPa and T=750 K is different than any previously proposed structure for a 10-Å phase. In this structure, the neighboring basal oxygens of adjacent magnesium silicate layers are displaced by b/3 (about 3 Å) resulting in the Si atoms of one siloxane sheet being located above the center of the six-member ring across the interlayer. The water molecules are located 1.2 Å above the center of all six-member rings and accept H-bonds from the OH groups located below the rings. The b/3-displaced structure does not readily transform to either the talc-like or phlogopite-like structure, because neither of these stackings can accommodate two water molecules per formula unit. There is likely to be a compositional discontinuity and phase transition between the b/3-displaced phase and the phase with phlogopite-like stacking. The simulations reported here are the first to use the recently developed CLAYFF force field to calculate mineral structures at elevated pressures and temperatures.     

Electron microscopy study of the sakhaite from endogenous borate deposit in Hunan, China

Sakhaite was first discovered by Ostrovskaya, Pertsev and Nikitina at Siberia in the former Soviet Union. By using the X-ray diffraction technique, they proved that the crystal system of sakhaite was cubic (a = 1.464 nm), its possible space groups were Fm3m, F432, F43m, Fm3, F23, and its crystal chemical for-mula was Ca48Mg16(CO3)16(BO3)28Cl4(OH)8 4H2O[1]. Chichagov, Simonov and Belov studied the crystal structure of synthetic sakhaite and determined that its space group was F4132, …     

Frequency domain modal analysis of earthquake input energy to highly damped passive control structures

A new complex modal analysis‐based method is developed in the frequency domain for efficient computation of the earthquake input energy to a highly damped linear elastic passive control structure. The input energy to the structure during an earthquake is an important measure of seismic demand. Because of generality and applicability to non‐linear structures, the earthquake input energy has usually been computed in the time domain. It is shown here that the formulation of the earthquake input energy in the frequency domain is essential for deriving a bound on the earthquake input energy for a class of ground motions and for understanding the robustness of passively controlled structures to disturbances with various frequency contents. From the viewpoint of computational efficiency, a modal analysis‐based method is developed. The importance of overdamped modes in the energy computation of specific non‐proportionally damped models is demonstrated by comparing the energy transfer functions and the displacement transfer functions. Through numerical examinations for four recorded ground motions, it is shown that the modal analysis‐based method in the frequency domain is very efficient in the computation of the earthquake input energy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

相空间中划分大尺度异常雨型的初步研究

文中针对以往雨型研究中的不足 ,从动力学角度将相空间引入到大尺度异常雨型的划分 ,通过估计EOF相平面上的概率密度函数、并确定局部极大值区域来划分主要雨型。分析表明 ,新雨型不仅再现了传统的 3类雨型特征 ,还得到了其他分型 ,并且能够反映出异常降水分布的季节内低频变化 ;分别采用 10和 2 0d低通滤波数据划分的雨型形态比较接近 ,但其种类、持续性和季节内分布等特征存在一定差异 ;雨型的气候分布与季风雨带有一定对应关系 ,其形成与夏季风异常关系密切。通过对简单直观的二维相平面问题的探讨 ,不仅证实了在相空间中划分大尺度雨型的可行性 ,也为进一步在高维空间中讨论雨型问题提供了依据。     

均匀色空间中绿色翡翠的色差

采用MPV-Ⅲ型显微光度计测定了32个翡翠样品的可见光吸收光谱，计算了部分样品的三刺激值。在此基础上引入色度学中均匀色空间及色差的概念，通过计算样品NBS值定量分析了不同翡翠样品间的绿色差异。结果表明，色差的定量计算可以反映样品间的真实颜色差别，并且不同于同色异谱指数，可作为绿色翡翠颜色鉴别中一种较为有效的定量方法。     

四川新康风化淋滤型海泡石的热相变研究

以四川新康风化淋滤型海泡石为研究对象，利用X射线衍射分析和红外光谱分析技术，对海泡石的热相变过程及特征进行了研究。结果发现，四川新康风化淋滤型海泡石的相变过程与沉积型、热液型海泡石相变过程明显不同，其相变过程可以划分为两个阶段：800℃以下保持海泡石相；800℃以上海泡石相转化为斜顽辉石相。     

Dislocating modernity: Identity, space and representations of street trade in Durban, South Africa

South Africa’s cities have experienced dramatic changes over the past decade. Cities are now home to a multiracial population, and have been transformed by new forms of economic and social interaction. For some, these changes have become a significant source of fear and anxiety. In this paper, we examine reactions to urban spatial change in the city of Durban, as expressed in local newspapers and interviews with suburban residents. We describe how the discourses of urban change in Durban have centred on the increased presence of street traders within the city’s public spaces, and the various ways in which the activity of street trade has disrupted long-established modernist norms governing the occupation and use of the urban space. Specifically, we offer a detailed reading of three prominent narratives within the discussion of street traders in Durban--chaos, congestion and pollution. We argue that street traders have come to embody a wide range of more deeply seated cultural anxieties, which have been brought to the fore in the context of South Africa’s transition. These anxieties arise from the ways in which modern understandings of order, agency and subjectivity have been called into question by material changes in the city, and have implications for the nature of citizenship and civic engagement in post-apartheid South Africa.     

Differential spaces of critical geography

This intervention address some of the social and epistemological mechanisms that construct an `international' writing space imbued with an Anglo-American hegemony. This is done by way of three examples, each making it possible to infer one of the general mechanisms at work. Taking off from the, comment, by the way of examples from Denmark, tries to illustrate how a truthful acknowledgement of the contextuality of geographical knowledges can multiply the spaces of critical geography--in the end enriching Anglo-American and non-Anglo-American debates alike.