Hydrological trends and the evolution of catchment research in the Alptal valley,central Switzerland

When the observation of small headwater catchments in the pre-Alpine Alptal valley (central Switzerland) started in the late 1960s, the researchers were mainly interested in questions related to floods and forest management. Investigations of geomorphological processes in the steep torrent channels followed in the 1980s, along with detailed observations of biogeochemical and ecohydrological processes in individual forest stands. More recently, research in the Alptal has addressed the impacts of climate change on water supply and runoff generation. In this article, we describe, for the first time, the evolution of catchment research at Alptal, and present new analyses of long-term trends and short-term hydrologic behaviour. Hydrometeorological time series from the past 50 years show substantial interannual variability, but only minimal long-term trends, except for the ~2°C increase in mean annual air temperature over the 50-year period, and a corresponding shift towards earlier snowmelt. Similar to previous studies in larger Alpine catchments, the decadal variations in mean annual runoff in Alptal's small research catchments reflect the long-term variability in annual precipitation. In the Alptal valley, the most evident hydrological trends were observed in late spring and are related to the substantial change in the duration of the snow cover. Streamflow and water quality are highly variable within and between hydrological events, suggesting rapid shifts in flow pathways and mixing, as well as changing connectivity of runoff-generating areas. This overview illustrates how catchment research in the Alptal has evolved in response to changing societal concerns and emerging scientific questions.     

A CASE STUDY ON CONCENTRATION AND DECENTRALIZATION：BEHAVIOR AND DYNAMIC MECHANISM OF SPATIAL EVOLUTION IN METROPOLITAN AREA，NANJING，CHINA

In rapid socio-economic development,the process of concentration and dispersal of various elements tends to be more dramatic,tremendously influencing the shaping and transformation of the space in metropolitan area.Survey of spatial concentration and decentralization has thus become a basic method in examining metropolitan spatial evolution.In this research,three elements were selected as the essential indicators of the process:demographic density distribu-tion,employment density distribution and business office location.Performance of these elements in Nanjing City was exam-ined historically.As Nanjing City could be regarded as a representative of metropolitan areas in China,its situation large-ly suggestes the general characteristics in similar areas of China.Hence based on the investigation of Nanjing City,four general implications were highlighted.First ,metropolitan areas in China are in a violent process and shift of spatial concentra-tion and decentralization.Second,from now to at least the near future,concentration will continue to be the central fea-ture.Third,the landscape of metropolitan areas basically exhibits a dual structure character.The gap in environmental and ecological qualities among different districts will continue for a long time.Fourth,Central Business District (CBD) is playing an important role in helping to convert the traditionally single-centered city structure into a polycentric one.     

RECENT TECTONIC DEFORMATION ANOMALY AND EARTHQUAKES IN GANSU-NINGXIA-QINGHAI AREA

1　IntroductionAccordingtogeologicalstructure ,theGansu Ningxia Qinghaiareabelongstothenortheastmar ginofQinghai Tibetblock .Thisareahasbeenpaidmuchattentionby geo specialistsinChinaandabroadbecauseofitssignificanttectonicmovement,itsintensiveseismicity ,anditsimportanceinearth quakehazardmitigation .IntheDevelopmentPro gramonNationalKeyBasicResearchesundertheProject“MechanismandPredictionofContinentalStrongEarthquakes”,themechanismsofcontinen talstrongearthquakesarestudied ,usinghypo…     

Influence of the Choice of Core-Envelope Transition Point on the Binary Merger of Two Main-sequence Components

We have studied the influence of different choices of core-envelope transition point on the final merger of contact binaries with two main-sequence components. A binary of 1.00 + 0.90M⊙ with an initial orbital period of 0.35d is examined. The mass fraction of the primary mixed with the matter of the secondary, qmix, determined by the chosen core-envelope transition point, ranges from 0.04 to 1.00 in our analysis. If as qmix< 0.8, none of the     

Mobile Agent系统结构及其关键技术

Mobile Agent技术是一门新兴的技术,具有移动性、智能性和异步计算的特点,已成为计算机网络和分布式系统最具活力的发展方向.现对Mobile Agent的概念、系统结构及其关键技术进行了分析和探讨.