Degradation of tropical forest in Hainan, China, 1991-2008: Conservation implications for Hainan Gibbon (Nomascus hainanus)

The Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is one of the most endangered primates in the world, confined to mature natural forest in Hainan Island, China. We assessed changes in habitat condition on the island between 1991 and 2008, using vegetation maps generated by remote-sensing images. We defined forest suitable for gibbons based on composition, tree size and canopy cover. During the 17-year period, the area of suitable gibbon forest decreased by 540 km(2) (35%) across the whole island, and by 6.3 km(2) (7%) in the locality of the sole remaining gibbon population at Bawangling National Nature Reserve. The forest patches large enough (>1 km(2)) to support a gibbon group decreased from 754 km(2) to 316 km(2) in total area, and from 92 to 64 in number. Suitable natural forest was mainly replaced by plantations below 760 m, or degraded by logging, grazing and planting of pines above 760 m. Meanwhile, forests in former confirmed gibbon areas became more fragmented: mean area of patches decreased by 53%. We mapped the patches of natural forest in good condition which could potentially support gibbons. We recommend a freeze on further expansion of plantations between core patches at Bawangling, Jiaxi-Houmiling and Yinggeling Nature Reserves in accordance with forest protection regulations; establishment of nature reserves in currently unprotected natural forest patches elsewhere in line with the local government's nature reserve expansion policy; and active natural-forest restoration between remaining fragments at Bawangling. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

榆神府煤田开采对地下水和植被的影响

在简要说明榆神府矿区生态脆弱性和煤田开发对我国国民经济发展的重要性基础上,概述了矿区生态环境的现状、地下水的基本特征、采煤对地下水和植被的影响、以及矿区地下水与植被的相互关系;说明地下水资源是支撑矿区生态环境可持续发展的重要因子,采煤对地下水的破坏会严重影响矿区植被的恢复与重建;指出了目前矿区地下水与植被互动关系研究的不足,并提出了今后该领域应着重研究的方向.

黄土高原(陕西部分)雨水资源化潜力初步分析

根据黄土高原（ 陕西部分） 的１４５ 个雨量观测站的３０ａ 逐月降水资料，分析了陕西雨水资源的时空分布特征，并在次基础上，分别对西北地区的作物地土壤拦蓄潜力，陕北、渭北、关中３ 地区居民工矿与交通用地的雨水汇流潜力进行了测算。初步结果为：两北地区作物地年总无效蒸发耗水达３３ ×１０８ ｍ３ ，若采取集流保墒措施，年可减少蒸发损失６－４ ×１０８ ｍ３ ；３ 地区居民工矿与交通用地年可汇流６－２７ ×１０８ ｍ ３ ，若一半用于粮食生产，并采取节水灌溉，初步推算黄土高原地区可增产粮食约２８－８ ×１０８ ｋｇ。

急倾斜金属矿体开采岩体移动规律与变形趋势预测研究

Rockmass movement due to mining steep metallic ore body is a considerable question in the surface movement and deformation issue caused by underground mining. Research on coal mining induced rockmass movement and its prediction problem have been performed for a long-term, and have achieved great progress at home and abroad. However, the rockmass movement caused by mining steep metal mine is distinctivly different from coal seam mining.. Existing surface movement laws and deformation prediction methods are not applicable to the rockmass movement caused by mining steep metal mine. So far the home and abroad research to this theory is presently at an early stage, and there isn’t mature theory or practical prediction method, which made a great impact on production. In this paper, the research object—Jinchuan nickel mine, which is typical steep metal mine, characterized by complex geological conditions, developed faults, cracked rockmass, high geostress, and prominent engineering stability problems. In addition, backfill mining method is used in the mine, the features of rockmass movement caused by this mining method are also different from other mining methods. In this paper, the laws of rock mass movement, deformation and destroy mechanism, and its prediction were analyzed based on the collection of data, detailed in-sit engineering geology survey, ground movement monitoring by GPS, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. According to the GPS monitoring of ground surface movement, ground subsidence basin with apparent asymmetry is developing, the influence scope is larger in the upper faulted block than in the lower faulted block, and the center of ground movement is moving along the upper faulted block direction with increasing depth of mining. During the past half and seven years, the largest settlement has amounted to 1287.5mm, and corresponding horizontal displacement has amounted to 664.6mm. On the ground surface, two fissure belts show a fast-growing trend of closure. To sum up, mining steep metal mine with backfill method also exist the same serious problem of rockmass movement hazards. Fault, as a low intensity zone in rockmass, when it located within the region of mining influence, the change of potential energy mainly consumed in fault deformation associated with rockmass structure surface friction, which is the essence of displacement and stress barrier effects characterized by fault rupture zone. when steep fault located in the tensile deformation region incurred by underground excavation, no matter excavation in hangingwall or in footwall of the fault, there will be additional tensile stress on the vertical fault plane and decrease in the shear strength, and always showing characteristics of normal fault slip, which is the main reason of fault escarpment appeared on the ground surface. The No.14 shaft deformation and failure is triggered by fault activation, which showed with sidewall move, rupture, and break down features as the main form of a concentrated expression of fault effects. The size and orientation of principal stress in surrounding rock changed regularly with mining; therefore, roadway deformation and damage at different stages have different characteristics and distribution models. During the process of mining, low-intensity weak structures surface always showed the most obvious reaction, accompany with surface normal stress decrease and shear strength bring down, to some extent, occurred with relative slide and deformation. Meanwhile, the impact of mining is a relatively long process, making the structure surface effect of roadway deformation and damage more prominent than others under the influence of mining. Roadway surrounding rockmass deformation caused by the change of strain energy density field after excavation mainly belongs to elastic deformation, and the correspondented damage mainly belongs to brittle rupture, in this circumstance, surrounding rockmass will not appear large deformation. The large deformation of surrounding rockmass can only be the deformation associated with structure surface friction or the plastic deformation of itself, which mainly caused by the permanent self-weigh volume force，and long-term effect of mining led to the durability of this deformation Good pitting fill effect and supporting effect of backfill, as well as the friction of rockmass structure surface lead to obvious macro-rockmass movement with long-lag characteristics. In addition, the loss of original intensity and new structure surface arisen increased flexibility in rockmass and fill deformation in structure surface, which made the time required for rockmass potential energy translate into deformation work associated with plastic deformation and structure surface friction consumed much, and to a large extent, eliminated the time needed to do those plastic work during repeated mining, all of which are the fundamental reason of rockmass movement aftereffect more significant than before. Mining steep deposits in high tectonic stress area and in gravity stress area have different movement laws and deformation mechanism. The steep deposit, when the vertical size of the mining areas is smaller than the horizontal size of the orebody, no matter mining in gravity stress area or in high tectonic stress area, they have similar features of ground movement with mining horizontal orebody; contrarily, there will appear double settlement centers on the ground surface under the condition of mining in high tectonic stress area, while there will always be a single center under the other condition. Meanwhile the ground movement lever, scale of mining influence area and macro features of ground movement, deformation and fracture are also different from mining in gravity stress area, and the fundamental reason lies in the impact of orientation of the maximum principal stress on rock movement features in in-site rock stress field. When mining thick and steep deposit, the ground surface movement and deformation characteristic curves are significantly different from excavating the horizontal ore bed and thin steep deposit. According to the features of rockmass movement rate, the development process of mining-induced rockmass movement is divided into three stages: raising stage, steadily stage and gradually decay stage. Considering the actual exploitation situation, GPS monitoring results and macro-characteristics of surface movement, the current subsidence pattern of Jinchuan No.2 mine is in the early stage of development. Based on analysis of surface movement rate, surface subsidence rate increase rapidly when mining in double lever at the same time, and reach its peak until the exploitation model ended. When double lever mining translate into single, production decreased, surface subsidence rate suddenly start to reduce and maintain a relatively low value, and the largest subsidence center will slowly move along with the hangingwall ore body direction with increasing depth of mining, at the same time, the scope and extent of subsidence in footwall ore body will begin magnify, and a sub-settlement center will appear on ground surface, accompanied with the development and closure trend of ground fissure, the surrounding rockmass of shaft and roadway will be confronted to more frequent and severe deformation and failure, and which will have a negative impact on the overall stability of No.2 mine mining. On the premise of continuity of rockmass movement, gray system model can be used in ground rockmass movement prediction for good results. Under the condition of backfill mining step by step, the loose effect of compact status of the hard, broken rockmass led to lower energy release rate, although surrounding rockmass has high elastic energy, loose and damage occurred in the horizontal ore body, which made the mining process safety without any large geological hazards. During the period of mining the horizontal ore body to end, in view of its special “residual support role”, there will be no large scale rockmass movement hazards. Since ground surface movement mainly related to the intensity of mining speed and backfill effect, on the premise of constant mining speed, during the period of mining the horizontal ore body to end, the rate of ground surface rockmass movement and deformation won’t have sudden change.

贵州省典型土法炼汞地区汞的生物地球化学循环和人体汞暴露评价

贵州省是我国最重要的汞工业基地，境内分布着大量的汞矿床，汞金属储量88000 t，占全国总储量近80%。汞矿开采、冶炼历史悠久，大规模的汞矿开采冶炼活动都已经停止。但是，由于汞矿区偏僻的自然地理位置、落后的经济水平和近期金属汞价格的攀升，这些地区仍然存在着较大规模的土法炼汞活动。大面积的土法炼汞活动和长期的大规模汞矿开采冶炼活动，给矿区生态环境造成了严重的汞污染。土法炼汞工艺十分落后，冶炼过程向周围大气释放大量的汞，而土法炼汞工人也必然会遭受严重的汞蒸气暴露。释放到大气的汞在进入周围环境后，在自然条件下通过微生物活动，会转化为毒性、生物有效性更强的甲基汞，并通过食物链富集放大，最终对矿区居民的身体健康构成一定的威胁。 本文选择贵州省务川汞矿区、万山汞矿区和铜仁垢溪、老屋场土法炼汞地区，进行了土法炼汞的汞释放量估算、汞矿地区环境汞污染调查及炼汞工人和矿区居民汞暴露调查和健康风险评价，系统阐述了贵州典型土法炼汞地区汞的生物地球化学循环特征及人体汞暴露评价。 1. 务川和铜仁垢溪地区的土法炼汞活动是当地大气的最主要人为释汞源。务川汞矿区土法炼汞的平均释汞因子为18.2%（6.9-32.1%），土法炼汞活动每年向大气排汞3.7-9.6 t；铜仁垢溪地区土法炼汞的平均释汞因子为9.8%（6.6-14.5%），土法炼汞活动每年向大气排汞1.3-2.7 t。 2. 务川汞矿区大面积的土法炼汞活动和长期大规模的汞矿活动以及垢溪、老屋场地区的土法炼汞活动，给当地的大气、地表水体和土壤造成了严重的汞污染，而汞污染程度受汞矿开采冶炼活动的历史和规模的影响显著。务川汞矿区大气汞浓度空间变化很大（7-40000 ng•m-3），受矿业活动影响的区域，大气汞含量明显升高；重污染区大气汞平均浓度为15000 ng•m-3，轻污染区为120 ng•m-3，对照区为24 ng•m-3。务川矿区地表水体的总汞含量的变化范围为43-2100 ng•L-1，总甲基汞含量变化范围为0.30-1.1 ng•L-1；垢溪、老屋场地区地表水体总汞含量的变化范围为92-2300 ng•L-1，总甲基汞含量变化范围为2.6-7.9 ng•L-1，地表水体显示了极强的甲基化能力。颗粒态汞占地表水体总汞含量的绝大部分比例，是矿区地表水体汞迁移的主要方式；而甲基汞则以溶解态为主。务川汞矿区土壤总汞含量的变化范围为1.3-360 mg•kg-1，垢溪、老屋场地区土壤总汞含量的变化范围为0.18-47.5 mg•kg-1，土壤剖面表层土壤汞的富集表明大气汞的沉降是土壤汞的重要来源，而土壤pH、有机质含量和土地利用类型影响着土壤中汞的迁移和富集。 3. 务川汞矿区土法炼汞工人尿汞含量的平均值高达1060 g•g-1 Cr，铜仁垢溪地区炼汞工人尿汞含量的平均值为347 g•g-1 Cr，铜仁老屋场地区炼汞工人尿汞含量的平均值为917 g•g-1 Cr，土法炼汞工人尿汞平均含量远远超过世界卫生组织规定的职业暴露人群的最大允许值-50 g•g-1 Cr，说明土法炼汞工人遭受严重的汞蒸气暴露。部分土法炼汞工人已经表现出轻度慢性汞中毒的症状，其肾脏已经遭受到一定程度的损伤。铜仁垢溪地区一般居民尿汞的平均值为40.0 g•g-1 Cr，铜仁老屋场地区一般居民尿汞含量的平均值为66.2 g•g-1 Cr，万山汞矿区大水溪居民尿汞含量的平均值为56.9 g•g-1 Cr，说明土法炼汞地区一般居民也遭受一定的汞蒸气暴露。对照区人群尿汞含量的平均值为1.30 g•g-1 Cr，万山下场溪村居民尿汞含量的平均值为2.5 g•g-1 Cr，其尿汞水平与对照组接近。 4. 食用大米是汞矿区居民甲基汞暴露的主要途径。万山汞矿区大水溪、下场溪和报溪3个村庄居民头发总汞含量的几何平均值分别为7.3、1.9和2.3 g•g-1，而头发甲基汞的平均含量分别为2.8、1.3和1.5 g•g-1，说明万山汞矿区居民存在一定程度的汞暴露。3个村庄居民食用大米总汞的平均含量分别为58.5、21.3和33.1 ng•g-1，大米甲基汞的平均含量分别为14.6、5.7和4.0 ng•g-1。居民食用的蔬菜、猪肉和饮水也表现出很高的总汞含量，但是甲基汞含量很低。3个村庄居民食用大米的摄入量占总甲基汞摄入量的平均比例分别为97.5%、94.1%和93.5%，且不同参与者每日通过食用大米的甲基汞摄入量和对应的头发甲基汞含量之间存在显著的相关关系 (r=0.65, p<0.01)，这证实了居民头发甲基汞的来源确实是食用大米，食用大米是汞矿区居民甲基汞暴露的主要途径。 5. 铜仁垢溪、老屋场地区炼汞工人头发甲基汞的平均含量分别为5.05 g•g-1（2.35-10.6 g•g-1）和5.63 g•g-1（2.54-9.55 g•g-1），而一般居民头发甲基汞的平均含量分别为3.53 g•g-1（1.87-5.65 g•g-1）和4.01 g•g-1（2.29-9.23 g•g-1）。万山汞矿区大水溪、下场溪和报溪3个村庄居民头发甲基汞的平均含量分别为2.8、1.3和1.5 g•g-1。务川汞矿区土法炼汞工人和居民的头发甲基汞含量的变化范围为0.47-5.69 μg•g-1。对照组头发甲基汞的平均含量为0.65 g•g-1，变化范围为0.26¬-1.38 g•g-1。食用大米甲基汞摄入量的估算表明，铜仁垢溪和老屋场地区部分居民的甲基汞摄入量已经超过世界卫生组织2003年制定的标准-0.23 g•d-1•kg-1，汞矿区大部分人群的甲基汞摄入量超过了美国环保局的推荐值－0.1 g•d-1•kg-1 (USEPA, 1997)，而对照区居民的甲基汞摄入量均没有超过这一推荐值，表明铜仁垢溪和老屋场地区居民存在一定的甲基汞暴露风险，而其他汞矿区人群也存在通过食用大米暴露甲基汞的潜在风险。

中国混汞法采金地区汞的环境地球化学研究-以陕西潼关为例

本研究选择有代表性的陕西省潼关县（小秦岭地区）采金地区作为研究对象，从环境地球化学的角度出发，研究了该地区由于受采金活动的影响后，大气、水体、土壤以及农作物中总汞和甲基汞的分布，探讨汞在采金地区环境中迁移、转化和富集的环境地球化学行为和规律，并估算了渲关县及全国在过去二十多年里，由混汞法炼金活动向环境释放汞的总量，最后对混汞法采金地区的环境管理提出可行性建一议。通过本论文的详细研究，主要得出以下结论：1．潼关县辖区大气汞的分布呈明显的空间梯度关系，炼金厂密集区大气汞含量明显高于其它地区，距离炼金厂越远，大气汞含量越低。大型炼金厂混汞提金车间内的平均大气汞浓度为18，047ng／m~3，最高达33，080ng／m~3；距离炼金厂密集区较近和较远的居民区的平均大气汞浓度分别为385ng／m~3和77ng／m~3；而一些偏远地区大气汞的平均浓度降至29ng／m~3，受炼金活动影响较 小的黄河沿岸背景区的平均大气汞浓度只有2ng／m~3。通过估算，潼关县炼金矿工汞蒸气的平均摄入量高达72，804～75，268ng／d，而当地非矿工居民（成人）每天的摄入量也有924～4，620ng。2．潼关县内泉水和井水中总汞的平均浓度有329.2ng／L，其中各形态汞的浓度都相对较高，说明金矿地区的汞背景值可能较高，且地下水也可能受到一定程度的汞污染；冷暖两季水样中溶解态汞浓度和暖季的甲基汞浓度要比泉水和井水中的溶解态汞和甲基汞浓度分别高出几倍，其它形态汞则要高出几百倍；水样中的活性汞和溶解态汞浓度表现出极显著的相关关系；冷季水样的活性汞和溶解态汞平均浓度要略高于暖季的水样，而颗粒态汞恰恰相反；两季采集的一些水样中活性汞在溶解态汞中占有较高的比例，但总汞均以颗粒态为主，大多超过50％。3．冷暖两季沉积物中平均总汞浓度分别高达151.1和44.6μg／g，甲基汞平均浓度分别为7.1和3.6ng／g，而暖季沉积物中总汞与甲基汞含量表现出极显著的相关关系；水体颗粒物和沉积物主要来源于炼金厂排出的废渣和尾矿，拥有较高的重金属（Hg、Fe、Mn和Cu）含量，且两者之间体现出一定的继承关系，但颗粒物由于粒径小，表面积大，含有机颗粒多，吸附能力强，所以其中的重金属含量要明显高于沉积物中的重金属含量；颗粒物中汞含量与Fe、Mn、Cu的含量之间均表现出极显著的相关性，而沉积物中汞含量仅与Cu含量之间有一定的相关性，与其它重金属含量的相关性不明显。4．潼关县辖区金矿石中汞的平均含量是69.2ng/g，而炼金尾矿中汞的平均含量竟高达628，4林吮，高出原矿石样中汞平均含量10，000倍，其它重金属（Fe、Mn、Cu）由于受炼金活动影响较小，其含量变化并不十分明显；黄土由于自身的特殊质地和性质，受炼金活动的干扰较小，其中的各重金属含量能够较好的反映其背景含量水平；撞关地区采集的土壤样品中总汞和甲基汞含量均要比黄土中的含量高约50倍，而其它重金属含量与黄土背景值无明显差异；土壤中甲基汞在总汞含量中所占比例较小（分布在0.001％～0.57％之间），说明潼关地区土壤中汞的甲基化水平较低。5．苔鲜样品中的高汞含量反映了采金地区较高的大气汞沉降水平；河流水藻中高含量的总汞和甲基汞体现出汞在生物体内超强的富集作用；潼关县大多数农作物样品中的汞主要来源于大气，且几乎所有样品的汞含量都严重超出国家食用标准，最高超标倍数达到60；农作物中甲基汞含量占总汞的比例在0.12％～12.34％之间波动，其中蔬菜类作物的甲基汞比例要高于粮食作物，而总体来说，作物体内的总汞和甲基汞含量之间表现出一定的负相关关系；通过估算，潼关县居民由于粮食作物（小麦）的食用每天摄入的总汞量高达54，72Ong，要高于当地居民（非矿工）通过呼吸吸入的汞蒸气量，且已超出国际上对人体汞摄入量标准的有关规定。6．潼关县水体、沉积物、土壤以及农作物中的甲基汞含量相对总汞而言，都表现了相对较低的水平，原因可能是受石英脉型金矿地区地质背景的影响，大量存在的Fe、Mn类化合物对离子态汞有着较强的束缚能力，减缓或抑制了甲基化的发生。7．通过混汞法生产黄金的产量和汞释放因子的调研和确定，估算在1980～2003年期间，全国混汞炼金行业向环境释放汞累计达1476.6t，其中约有78％进入大气；而仅潼关县就有116.5t，约占全国的7.9％：目前（1996年以后），由于混汞法工艺的改进，汞的释放量大大降低，全国混汞炼金行业平均每年释放汞约30t，憧关县平均每年有3.9t，约占全国年平均释放量的13％。

人口统计信息空间可视化系统研究

Population research is a front area concerned by domestic and overseas, especially its researches on its spatial visualization and its geo-visualization system design, which provides a sound base for understanding and analysis of the regional difference in population distribution and its spatial rules. With the development of GIS, the theory of geo-visualization more and more plays an important role in many research fields, especially in population information visualization, and has been made the big achievements recently. Nevertheless, the current research is less attention paid to the system design for statistical-geo visualization for population information. This paper tries to explore the design theories and methodologies for statistical-geo-visualization system for population information. The researches are mainly focused on the framework, the methodologies and techniques for the system design and construction. The purpose of the research is developed a platform for population atlas by the integration of the former owned copy software of the research group in statistical mapping system. As a modern tool, the system will provide a spatial visual environment for user to analyze the characteristics of population distribution and differentiate the interrelations of the population components. Firstly, the paper discusses the essentiality of geo-visualization for population information and brings forward the key issue in statistical-geo visualization system design based on the analysis of inland and international trends. Secondly, the geo-visualization system for population design, including its structure, functionality, module, user interface design, is studied based on the concepts of theory and technology of geo-visualization. The system design is proposed and further divided into three parts: support layer, technical layer, user layer. The support layer is a basic operation module and main part of the system. The technical layer is a core part of the system, supported by database and function modules. The database module mainly include the integrated population database (comprises spatial data, attribute data and geographical features information), the cartographic symbol library, the color library, the statistical analysis model. The function module of the system consists of thematic map maker component, statistical graph maker component, database management component and statistical analysis component. The user layer is an integrated platform, which provides the functions to design and implement a visual interface for user to query, analysis and management the statistic data and the electronic map. Based on the above, China's E-atlas for population was designed and developed by the integration of the national fifth census data with 1:400 million scaled spatial data. The atlas illustrates the actual development level of the population nowadays in China by about 200 thematic maps relating with 10 map categories(environment, population distribution, sex and age, immigration, nation, family and marriage, birth, education, employment, house). As a scientific reference tool, China's E-atlas for population has already received the high evaluation after published in early 2005. Finally, the paper makes the deep analysis of the sex ratio in China, to show how to use the functions of the system to analyze the specific population problem and how to make the data mining. The analysis results showed that: 1. The sex ratio has been increased in many regions after fourth census in 1990 except the cities in the east region, and the high sex ratio is highly located in hilly and low mountain areas where with the high illiteracy rate and the high poor rate; 2. The statistical-geo visualization system is a powerful tool to handle population information, which can be used to reflect the regional differences and the regional variations of population in China and indicate the interrelations of the population with other environment factors. Although the author tries to bring up a integrate design frame of the statistical-geo visualization system, there are still many problems needed to be resolved with the development of geo-visualization studies.

Surface Tension and Its Temperature Coefficient of Molten Tin Determined with the Sessile Drop Method at Different Oxygen Partial Pressures

The surface tension of molten tin has been determined by the sessile drop method at The surface tension of molten tin has been determined by the sessile drop method at temperatures ranging from 523 to 1033 K and in the oxygen partial pressure (P-O2) range from 2.85 x 10(-19) to 8.56 x 10(-6) MPa, and its dependence on temperature and oxygen partial pressure has been analyzed. At P-O2 = 2.85 x 10(-19) and 1.06 x 10(-15) MPa, the surface tension decreases linearly with the increase of temperature and its temperature coefficients are -0.151 and -0.094 mNm(-1) K-1, respectively. However, at high P-O2 (3.17 x 10(-10), 8.56 x 10(-6) MPa), the surface tension increases with the temperature near the melting point (505 K) and decreases above 723 K. The surface tension decrease with increasing P-O2 is much larger near the melting point than at temperatures above 823 K. The contact angle between the molten tin and the alumina substrate is 158-173degrees, and the wettability is poor.

Effects of superimposed pulse bias on TiN coating in cathodic arc deposition

Orthogonal designs are used to investigate the main factors when doing experiments in which pulse bias is superimposed on d.c. bias during cathodic are deposition of TiN. Pulse peak, duty cycle, frequency, direct voltage, are current and pressure all are investigated when coating TiN on HSS substrates. Roughness, surface micrograph, microhardness and thickness are tested. By analysis of variance, it is shown that pressure and frequency are the main factors. R-a and droplet density of the film with (d.c. + pulse) bias decrease. A simple explanation for the result is suggested.

A coupling model for terrestrial processes in arid areas and its application

In this paper, the importance of investigation on terrestrical processes in arid areas for mankind's living environment protection and local economy development as well as its present state of the art are elucidated. A coupling model, which evaluates heat, mass, momentum and radiative fluxes in the SPAC system, is developed for simulating microclimate over plant and bare soil. Especially, it is focussed on the details of turbulence transfer. For illustration, numerical simulation of the water-heat exchange processes at Shapotou Observatory, GAS, Ninxia Province are conducted, and the computational results show that the laws of land-surface processes are rather typical in the arid areas.

Substrate Effects on the Micro/Nanomechanical Properties of TiN Coatings

Nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests were performed for titanium nitride (TiN) coatings on different tool steel substrates to investigate the indentation/scratch induced deformation behavior of the coatings and the adhesion of the coating–substrate interfaces and their tribological property. In this work, TiN coatings with a thickness of about 500 nm were grown on GT35, 9Cr18 and 40CrNiMo steels using vacuum magnetic-filtering arc plasma deposition. In the nanoindentation tests, the hardness and modulus curves for TiN/GT35 reduced the slowest around the film thickness 500 nm with the increase of indentation depth, followed by TiN/9Cr18 and TiN/40CrNiMo. Improving adhesion properties of coating and substrate can decrease the differences of internal stress field. The scratch tests showed that the scratch response was controlled by plastic deformation in the substrate. The substrate plays an important role in determining the mechanical properties and wear resistance of such coatings. TiN/GT35 exhibited the best load-carrying capacity and scratch/wear resistance. As a consequence, GT35 is the best substrate for TiN coatings of the substrate materials tested.

Thermocapillary Flows In Liquid Bridges Of Molten Tin With Small Aspect Ratios

Numerical simulations were conducted to study thermocapillary flows in short half-zone liquid bridges of molten tin with Prandtl number Pr = 0.009, under ramped temperature difference. The spatio-temporal structures in the thermocapillary flows in short half-zone liquid bridges with aspect ratios As = 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 were investigated. The first critical Marangoni numbers were compared with those predicted by linear stability analyses (LSA). The second critical Marangoni numbers for As = 0.6 and 0.8 were found to be larger than that for As = 1.0. The time evolutions of the thermocapillary flows exhibited unusual features such as a change in the azimuthal wave number during the three-dimensional stationary (non-oscillating) flow regime, a change in the oscillation mode during the three-dimensional oscillatory flow regime, and the decreasing and then increasing of amplitudes in a single oscillation mode. The effects of the ramping rate of the temperature difference on the flow modes and critical conditions were studied as well. In this paper, the experimental observability of the critical conditions was also discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Studies on terrestrial interface processes in arid areas, China

In the present paper, we have elucidated the importance of energy and water cycling in arid areas to investigate global climate and local economics. Then, we were concerned with the physical arguments as how to stratify the soil, and the stability of the numerical scheme in the mathematical model for predicting temperature variation and water motion. Furthermore, we discuss the methods to estimate evaporation in arid areas. Numerical simulation of energy and water cycling at the Acsu Observatory, CAS, Xinjiang province and Shapuotou Observatory, CAS, Ningxia Province are conducted as case studies. The results show that the laws of terrestrial processes are rather typical in these arid areas. Planting drought-endurable trees can alleviate unfavourable conditions to a certain extent. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.