Observation and theoretical analysis for the sand-waves migration in the North Gulf of South China Sea

According to the environmental characteristic of the north gulf of South China Sea, a quasi-3D mechanics model has been built for simulating the small scale sand-waves migration in the seas of southwest of Hainan Island. Based on the submarine micro-geomorphic data induced by multi-beam system and hydrographic survey record, the migrations of the sand-waves in the study area are predicted. The results show that calculation is consistent with the observation data in the groove of sand ridge, but not well in the crest of sand ridge. It is indicated that the mechanics model should be used to predict the migration of the small scale sand-waves which are dominated by bed load in the seas. This paper is very meaningful to project the route of submarine pipeline.

Diel vertical migration of zooplankton following optimal food intake under predation

A model is developed to investigate the trade-offs between benefits and costs involved in zooplanktonic diel vertical migration (DVM) strategies. The 'venturous revenue' (VR) is used as the criterion for optimal trade-offs. It is a function of environmental factors and the age of zooplankter. During vertical migration, animals are assumed to check instantaneously the variations of environmental parameters and thereby select the optimal behavioral strategy to maximize the value of VR, i.e. taking up as much food as possible with a certain risk of mortality. The model is run on a diel time scale (24 h) in four possible scenarios during the animal's life history. The results show that zooplankton can perform normal DVM balancing optimal food intake against predation risk, with the profile of DVM largely modified by the age of zooplankter.

Control mechanisms of diel vertical migration: Theoretical assumptions

We explore control mechanisms underlying the vertical migration of zooplankton in the water column under the predator-avoidance hypothesis. Two groups of assumptions in which the organisms are assumed to migrate vertically in order to minimize realized or effective predation pressure (type-I) and to minimize changes in realized or effective predation pressure (type-II), respectively, are investigated. Realized predation pressure is defined as the product of light intensity and relative predation abundance and the part of realized predation pressure that really affects organisms is termed as effective predation pressure. Although both types of assumptions can lead to the migration of zooplankton to avoid the mortality from predators, only the mechanisms based on type-II assumptions permit zooplankton to undergo a normal diel vertical migration (morning descent and evening ascent). The assumption of minimizing changes in realized predation pressure is based on consideration of DVM induction only by light intensity and predators. The assumption of minimizing changes in effective predation pressure takes into account, apart from light and predators also the effects of food and temperature. The latter assumption results in the same expression of migration velocity as the former one when both food and temperature are constant over water depth. A significant characteristic of the two type-II assumptions is that the relative change in light intensity plays a primary role in determining the migration velocity. The photoresponse is modified by other environmental variables: predation pressure, food and temperature. Both light and predation pressure are necessary for organisms to undertake DVM. We analyse the effect of each single variable. The modification of the phototaxis of migratory organisms depends on the vertical distribution of these variables. (C) 2001 Academic Press.

地震波谱元法数值模拟和偏移研究

With the development of both seismic theory and computer technology, numerical modeling technology of seismic wave has achieved great advancement during the past half century. The current methods under development include finite differentiation method (FDM), finite element method (FEM), pseudospectral method (PSM), integral equation method (IEM) and spectral element method (SEM). They exert their very important roles in every corner of seismology and seismic prospecting. Large quantity of researches towards spectral element method in the end of last century bring this method to a new era, which results in perfect solution of many difficult problems. However, parts of posterior works such as seismic migration and inversion which base on spectral element method have never been studied widely at least up to the present whereas are of importance to seismic imaging and seismic wave propagation. Based on previous work, this paper uses spectral element method to investigate the characteristics and laws of the seismic wave propagation in isotropic and anisotropic media. By thoroughly studying this high-accuracy method, we implement a kind of reverse-time pre- and post-stack migration based on SEM. In order to verify the validity of the SEM method, we have simulated the propagation of seismic wave in several different models. The simulation results show that: (1) spectral element method can be used to model any complex models and the computational results are comparable with the expected results and the analytic results; (2) the optimum accuracy can be achieved when the rank is between 4 and 9. When it is below 4, the dispersion may occur; and when it is above 9, the time step-length will be changed accordingly with the reducing space step-length in order to keep the computation stability. This will exponentially increase the computation time and at the same time the memory even if simulating the same media. This paper also applies explosive reflection surface imaging technology, time constancy principle of wave-filed extrapolation and least travetime raytracing technology of surface source to SEM pre- and post-stack migration of isotropic and anisotropic media. All imaging results derived by the above methods agree well with the real geological models and the position of interface and inflexions can also return to their right location well. This indicates that the method proposed in this paper is a kind of technology with high accuracy and robust stability. It can serve as an alternative method in real seismic data processing. All these work can boost the development of high-accuracy seismic imaging, and therefore have significant inference value.

Electrophoretic migration behavior of DNA fragments in polymer solution

A newly developed polymer coil shrinking theory is described and compared with the existing entangled solution theory to explain electrophoretic migration behaviour of DNA in hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) polymer solution in buffer containing 100 mM tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane 100 mM boric acid, 2 mm ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid at pH 8.3. The polymer coil shrinking theory gave a better model to explain the results obtained. The polymer coil shrinking concentration, C-s, was found to be 0.305% and the uniform entangled concentration, C+, 0.806%. The existence of three regions (the dilute, semidilute, and concentrated solution) at different polymer concentrations enables a better understanding of the system to guide the selection of the best conditions to separate DNA fragments. For separating large fragments (700/800 bp), dilute solutions (HPMC < 0.3%) should be used to achieve a short migration time (10 min). For small fragments (200/300 bp), concentrated solutions are preferred to obtain constant resolution and uniform separation. The best resolution is 0.6% HPMC due to a combined interaction of the polymer coils and the entangled structure. The possibility of DNA separation in semidilute solution is often neglected and the present results indicate that this region has a promising potential for analytical separation of DNA fragments.