Cross-shelf circulation in the Yellow and East China Seas indicated by MODIS satellite observations

Ocean color and sea surface temperature data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite are used to study the cross-shelf circulation and transport of suspended sediments in the Yellow and the East China Seas. The ocean color images show a significant turbid water plume extending in the southeast direction from the Subei coasts of China to the shelf edge south of Cheju during fall-winter, suggesting significant cross-shelf currents in the Yellow Sea/East China Sea in winter. The currents transport suspended sediments from the area of the old Huanghe mouth into the Okinawa Trough. Part of the turbid plume joins the Yellow Sea Warm Current to enter the Yellow Sea trough in winter. The satellite images suggest that the time scales of cross-shelf transport and surface-to-subsurface descending of the suspended sediments are a few weeks. The turbid plume grows in fall, reaches its maximum expansion and intensity in winter-spring, and subsides in late spring. In summer, the plume becomes coastally trapped. Substantial interannual variations of the intensity and coverage of the turbid plume are indicated by the observations. In comparison, the Changjiang Diluted Water in summer only transports a small amount of the Changjiang suspended sediment to the outer shelf south of Cheju, which does not enter the Yellow Sea owing to the weak intrusion of the Yellow Sea Warm Current in summer. The dynamics of the cross-shelf circulation in the Yellow Sea in winter are hypothesized to be associated with (1) the convergence of the Yellow Sea Coastal Current and the Taiwan Warm Current off the Changjiang mouth and (2) the time-dependent forcing of the northerly wind bursts that drives the intrusion of the Yellow Sea Warm Current. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Variability of surface circulation in the South China Sea from satellite altimeter data

11-year satellite altimeter sea surface height (SSH) anomaly data from January 1993 to December 2003 are used to present the dominant spatial patterns and temporal variations of the South China Sea (SCS) surface circulation through Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. The first three EOF modes show the obvious seasonal variations of SSH in the SCS. EOF mode one is generally characterized by a basin-wide circulation. Mode two describes the double-cell basin scale circulation structure. The two cells were located off west of the Luzon Island and southeast of Vietnam, respectively. EOF mode three presents the mesoscale eddy structure in the western SCS, which develops into a strong cyclonic eddy rapidly from July to September. EOF mode one and mode three are also embedded with interannual signals, indicating that the SCS surface circulation variation is influenced by El Nino events prominently. The strong El Nino of 1997/98 obviously changed the SCS circulation structure. This study also shows that there existed a series of mesoscale eddies in the western SCS, and their temporal variation indicates intra-seasonal and interannual signals.

Roles of equatorial waves and western boundary reflection in the seasonal circulation of the equatorial Indian Ocean

An ocean general circulation model (OGCM) is used to study the roles of equatorial waves and western boundary reflection in the seasonal circulation of the equatorial Indian Ocean. The western boundary reflection is defined as the total Kelvin waves leaving the western boundary, which include the reflection of the equatorial Rossby waves as well as the effects of alongshore winds, off-equatorial Rossby waves, and nonlinear processes near the western boundary. The evaluation of the reflection is based on a wave decomposition of the OGCM results and experiments with linear models. It is found that the alongshore winds along the east coast of Africa and the Rossby waves in the off-equatorial areas contribute significantly to the annual harmonics of the equatorial Kelvin waves at the western boundary. The semiannual harmonics of the Kelvin waves, on the other hand, originate primarily from a linear reflection of the equatorial Rossby waves. The dynamics of a dominant annual oscillation of sea level coexisting with the dominant semiannual oscillations of surface zonal currents in the central equatorial Indian Ocean are investigated. These sea level and zonal current patterns are found to be closely related to the linear reflections of the semiannual harmonics at the meridional boundaries. Because of the reflections, the second baroclinic mode resonates with the semiannual wind forcing; that is, the semiannual zonal currents carried by the reflected waves enhance the wind-forced currents at the central basin. Because of the different behavior of the zonal current and sea level during the reflections, the semiannual sea levels of the directly forced and reflected waves cancel each other significantly at the central basin. In the meantime, the annual harmonic of the sea level remains large, producing a dominant annual oscillation of sea level in the central equatorial Indian Ocean. The linear reflection causes the semiannual harmonics of the incoming and reflected sea levels to enhance each other at the meridional boundaries. In addition, the weak annual harmonics of sea level in the western basin, resulting from a combined effect of the western boundary reflection and the equatorial zonal wind forcing, facilitate the dominance by the semiannual harmonics near the western boundary despite the strong local wind forcing at the annual period. The Rossby waves are found to have a much larger contribution to the observed equatorial semiannual oscillations of surface zonal currents than the Kelvin waves. The westward progressive reversal of seasonal surface zonal currents along the equator in the observations is primarily due to the Rossby wave propagation.

H5N1 avian influenza re-emergence of Lake Communication Qinghai: phylogenetic and antigenic analyses of the newly isolated viruses and roles of migratory birds in virus circulation

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus has swept west across the globe and caused serious debates on the roles of migratory birds in virus circulation since the first large-scale outbreak in migratory birds of Lake Qinghai, 2005. In May 2006, another outbreak struck Lake Qinghai and six novel strains were isolated. To elucidate these QH06 viruses, the six isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analyses show that QH06 viruses are derived from the lineages of Lake Qinghai, 2005. Five of the six novel isolates are adjacent to the strain A/Cygnus olor/Croatia/1/05, and the last one is related to the strain A/duck/Novosibirsk/ 02/05, an isolate of the flyway. Antigenic analyses suggest that QH06 and QH05 viruses are similar to each other. These findings implicate that QH06 viruses of Lake Qinghai may travel back via migratory birds, though not ruling out the possibility of local circulation of viruses of Lake Qinghai.

Blood-gas properties of plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi)

Plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) is one of the blind subterranean mole rats that spend their life solely underground in scaled burrows. It is one of the special species of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. In their burrows, oxygen is low and carbon dioxide is high and their contents fluctuate with the change of seasons, soil types, rain and depth of burrows. However, plateau zokors show successful adaptation to that extreme environment. In this study, their adapting mechanisms to the hypoxic hypercapnic environment were analyzed through the comparison of their blood-gas properties with that of pikas (Ochotona curzniae) and Sprague-Dawley rats. The results indicated that plateau zokors had higher red blood corpuscle counts (8.11 +/- 0.59 (10(12)/L)) and hemoglobin concentrations (147 +/- 9.85 g/L), but hematocrit (45.9 +/- 3.29%) and mean corpuscular volume (56.67 +/- 2.57 fL) were lower than the other rodents. Their arterial blood and venous blood pH were 7.46 +/- 0.07 and 7.27 +/- 0.07. Oxygen pressure in arterial blood of plateau zokors was about 1.5 times higher than that of pikas and rats, and it was 0.36 and 0.26 times in their venous blood. Partial pressure for carbon dioxide in arterial and venous blood of plateau zokors was 1.5-fold and 2.0-fold higher, respectively, than in rats and pikas. Oxygen saturation of plateau zokors was 5.7 and 9.3 times lower in venous blood than that of pikas and rats, respectively. As result, the difference of oxygen saturation in arterial blood to venous blood was 2- and 4.5-fold higher in plateau zokors as that of pikas and rats, respectively. In conclusion, plateau zokors had a high tolerance to pH changes in tissues, together with strong capabilities to obtain oxygen from their hypoxic-hypercapnic environment. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Optimal Fuzzy PID Controller with Incomplete Derivation and Its Simulation Research on Application of Intelligent Artificial Legs

提出了一种新的最优模糊PID控制器，它由两部分组成，即在线模糊推理机构和带有不完全微分的常规PID控制器，在模糊推理机构中，引入了三个可调节因子xp,xi和xd，其作用是进一步修改和优化模糊推理的结果，以使控制器对一个给定对象具有最优的控制效果，可调节因子的最优值采用ITAE准则及Nelder和Mead提出的柔性多面体最优搜索算法加以确定，这种PID控制器被用来控制由作者设计的智能人工腿中的一个直流电机，仿真结果表明该控制器的设计是非常有效的，它可被用于控制各种不同的对象和过程。

Protein A tangential flow affinity membrane cartridge for extracorporeal immunoadsorption therapy

Tangential flow affinity membrane cartridge (TFAMC) fs a new model of immunoadsorption therapy for hemoperfusion. Recombinant Protein A was immobilized on the membrane cartridge through Schiff base formation for extracorporeal IgG and immune complex removal from blood. Flow characteristics, immunoadsorption capacity and biocompatibility of protein A TFAMC were studied. The results showed that the pressure drop increased with the increasing flow rate of water, plasma and blood, demonstrating reliable strength of membrane at high now rare. The adsorption capacities of protein A TFAMC for IgG from human plasma and blood were measured. The cartridge with 139 mg protein A immobilized on the matrix (6 mg protein A/g dry matrix) adsorbed 553 mg IgG (23.8 mg IgG/g dry matrix) from human plasma and 499.4 mg IgG (21.5 mg IgG/g dry matrix) from human blood, respectively. The circulation time had a major influence on IgG adsorption capacity, but the flow rate had little influence. Experiments in vitro and in vivo confirmed that protein A TFAMC mainly adsorbed Ige and Little of other plasma proteins, and that blood cell damage was negligible. The extracorporeal circulation system is safe and reliable. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.