Identification of river sections for domestic water supply along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China

This paper presents major findings from a recent study aiming to systematically determine suitable river sections for local domestic water supply along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China. On the basis of analysis on the current riverbank utilization and bank stability, accessible and stable river sections in the region were selected. The water quality in these river sections was then studied using a two-dimensional unsteady flow and pollutant transport/transformation model, RBFVM-2D. The model was calibrated and verified against the hydrodynamic data, water quality data and remote sensing data collected from the river. The investigation on the pollution sources along the river identified 56 main pollution point sources. The pollution zones downstream of these point sources are the main threat for the water quality in the river. The model was used to compute the pollution zones. In particular, simulations were conducted to establish the relationship between the extent of the pollution zone and the wastewater discharge rate of the associated point source. These water quality simulation results were combined with the riverbank stability analysis to determine suitable river sections for local domestic water supply.

A broad framework for the exploration of South China Sea hydrocarbon deposits in the context of the Trans-ASEAN gas pipeline

Proposals to interconnect the existing gas infrastructure of ASEAN states by a Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline carry potential for increased economic development, efficiency and improved energy security in South East Asia - plans to expand the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline to remote hydrocarbon deposits in the South China Sea is subject to contradicting claims of sovereignty by several nations - recent developments in the relationship between ASEAN and China indicate that an interim arrangement is possible, holding great potential to be economically, socially and politically beneficial to the entire region.

Family average income and body mass index above the healthy weight range among urban and rural residents in regional Mainland China

Objective: To explore the relationship between family average income (FAI; an index of socio-economic status) and body mass index (BMI; a widely used, inexpensive indicator of weight status) above the healthy weight range in a region of Mainland China. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study, conducted between October 1999 and March 2000 on a sample of regular local residents aged 35 years or older who were selected by random cluster sampling. Setting: Forty-five administrative villages selected from three urban districts and two rural counties of Nanjing municipality, Mainland China, with a regional population of 5.6 million. Subjects: In total, 29 340 subjects participated; 67.7% from urban and 32.3% from rural areas; 49.8% male and 50.2% female. The response rate among eligible participants was 90.1%. Results: The proportion of participants classified as overweight was 30.5%, while 7.8% were identified as obese. After adjusting for possible confounding variables (age, gender, area of residence, educational level, occupational and leisure-time physical activity, daily vegetable consumption and frequency of red meat intake), urban participants were more likely to be overweight or obese relative to their rural counterparts, more women than men were obese, and participants in the lowest FAI tertile were the least likely to be above the healthy weight range. Conclusions: The proportion of adults with BMI above the healthy weight range was positively related to having a higher socio-economic status (indexed by FAI) in a regional Chinese population.

delta O-18, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca records of Porites lutea corals from Leizhou Peninsula, northern South China Sea, and their applicability as paleoclimatic indicators

Combined seasonal to monthly resolution coral skeletal delta(18)O, Sr/Ca, and Mg/Ca records are reported for one modem and two late Holocene Porites lutea corals from a fringing reef at Leizhou Peninsula, the northern coast of the South China Sea (SCS). All the profiles for the period 1989-2000 reveal annual cycles well correlated with instrumental sea surface temperatures (SST), and display broad peaks in summer and narrow troughs in winter, reflecting seasonal growth rate variations. Calibration against instrumental SST yields the following equations: delta(18)O=-0.174(+/- 0.010)xSST(degrees C)-1.02(+/- 0.27) (MSWD=5.8), Sr/Ca-(mmol/mol)=-0.0424(+/- 0.0031)xSST(degrees C)+9.836(+/- 0.082) (MSWD=8.6), and Mg/Ca-(mmol/mol)=0.110(+/- 0.009)XSST(degrees C)+ 1.32(+/- 0.23) (MSWD=55). The scatter in the Mg/Ca-SST relationship is much larger than analytical uncertainties can account for, suggesting the presence of SST-unrelated components in the Mg/Ca variation. Calculated Sr/Ca-SST values for two later Holocene Porites lutea samples (U-series ages similar to 541 BC and similar to 487 AD, respectively) from the same reef suggest that SST in the SCS at similar to 541 BC was nearly as warm as in the 1990s (the warmest decade of the last century), but at similar to 487 AD, it was significantly cooler. This observation is consistent with climatic data reported in Chinese historic documents, confirming that the Sr/Ca-SST relationship is a reliable thermometer. Removing the SST component in the delta(18)O variation based on calculated Sr/Ca-SST values, the residual delta(18)O reflects the deviation of the Holocene seawater delta(18)O from the modem value, which is also a measure of the Holocene sea surface salinity (SSS) or the summer monsoon moisture level in mainland China. Such residual delta(18)O was close to zero at similar to 541 BC and -0.3 parts per thousand at similar to 487 AD, suggesting that it was as wet as in the 1990s at similar to 541 BC but significantly drier at similar to 487 AD in mainland China, which are also consistent with independent historic records. Calculated Mg/Ca-SST values for the two late Holocene corals are significantly lower than the Sr/Ca-SST values and are also in conflict with Chinese historic records, suggesting that coral Mg/Ca is not reliable proxy for SST. At comparable Sr/Ca ranges, fossil corals always display negative Mg/Ca offsets if compared with the modem coral of the same site. We interpret this observation as due to preferential loss of Mg during meteoric dissolution of cryptic Mg-calcite-bearing microbialites in the exposed fossil corals. Microbialites (MgO up to 17%, Sr only 100-300 ppm) are ubiquitous during reef-building processes and their presence in only a trace amount will have a significant impact on coral Mg/Ca ratios without detectable influence on coral Sr/Ca ratios. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Geochronology of the Pengjiakuang and Rushan gold deposits, Eastern Jiaodong Gold Province, Northeastern China: Implications for regional mineralization and geodynamic setting

The Jiaodong gold province, the largest gold-producing district in China, is located in the jiaodong peninsula at the eastern margin of the North China craton and bounded by the continental scale Tan-Lu fault, 40 kin to the west. Previous geochronological studies suggest that pervasive gold deposition took place in the western part of the province between 122 and 119 Ma. Here we report high-quality Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of the Pengjiakuang and Rushan deposits from the eastern part of the jiaodong gold province, placing additional chronological constraints on the timing of regional mineralization. Seven sericite grains extracted from auriferous alteration assemblages at the Pengiiakuang deposit yielded well-defined plateau ages between 120.9 +/- 0.4 and 119.1 +/- 0.2 Ma (2 sigma). Three separates of igneous biotite from a sample of the Queshan gneissic granite, adjacent to the Pengjiakuang deposit, gave reproducible plateau ages of 124.6 +/- 0.6 to 123.9 +/- 0.4 Ma (2 sigma). Six sericite separates front two samples in the Rushan deposit yielded Ar-40/Ar-39 plateau ages at 109.3 +/- 0.3 to 107.7 +/- 0.5 Ma (2 sigma), whereas biotite from the Kunyushan monzogranite that hosts the Rushan deposit had plateau ages ranging from 129.0 +/- 0.6 to 126.9 +/- 0.6 Ma (3 separates front one sample). The apparent age gap between hydrothermal sericite and magmtic biotite from both deposits, together with the similar argon closure temperatures for these mica minerals, suggest that gold mineralization had no direct relationship to the granitoid magmatism. Instead, gold deposition coincided with the emplacement of mafic to intermediate dikes widespread in the jiaodong gold province, which have been dated at ca. 122 to 119 Ma and, less commonly, at 110 to 102 Ma. The new Ar-40/Ar-39 ages from the eastern jiaodong peninsula, when combined with published data from the western part suggest that gold mineralization was broadly contemporaneous throughout the district. The Early Cretaceous gold mineralization also is widely developed in four other major gold districts along the Tan-Lu fault. The temporal and spatial correlation of these gold deposits with mafic to intermediate dikes commonly found in most mineralized areas, the presence of well-documented metamorphic core complexes and half-graben basins along the Tan-Lu fault, and voluminous basalts therein, suggest that the Early Cretaceous was an important period of lithospheric extension, possibly caused by the late Mesozoic lithospheric thinning beneath the eastern block of the North China craton. Lithospheric thinning and extension could have resulted in abnormally high heat and fluid fluxes necessary for large-scaled gold mineralization.

On the relationship between the critical temperature and the London penetration depth in layered organic superconductors

We present an analysis of previously published measurements of the London penetration depth of layered organic superconductors. The predictions of the BCS theory of superconductivity are shown to disagree with the measured zero temperature, in plane, London penetration depth by up to two orders of magnitude. We find that fluctuations in the phase of the superconducting order parameter do not determine the superconducting critical temperature as the critical temperature predicted for a Kosterlitz–Thouless transition is more than an order of magnitude greater than is found experimentally for some materials. This places constraints on theories of superconductivity in these materials.

Workgroup emotional intelligence: Scale development and relationship to team process effectiveness and goal focus

Over the last decade, ambitious claims have been made in the management literature about the contribution of emotional intelligence to success and performance. Writers in this genre have predicted that individuals with high emotional intelligence perform better in all aspects of management. This paper outlines the development of a new emotional intelligence measure, the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile, Version 3 (WEIP-3), which was designed specifically to profile the emotional intelligence of individuals in work teams. We applied the scale in a study of the link between emotional intelligence and two measures of team performance: team process effectiveness and team goal focus. The results suggest that the average level of emotional intelligence of team members, as measured by the WEIP-3, is reflected in the initial performance of teams. In our study, low emotional intelligence teams initially performed at a lower level than the high emotional intelligence teams. Over time, however, teams with low average emotional intelligence raised their performance to match that of teams with high emotional intelligence.

The effect of organisational culture perceptions on the relationship between budgetary participation and managerial job-related outcomes

The impact of managers' perceptions of their organizational culture (OC) on the relationship between budgetary participation (BP) and managerial job-related outcomes, operationalized as managerial performance and job-related tension (JRT) is examined. Data supported predictions that increasing BP would lower JRT for managers perceiving a high emphasis on innovation within their OC, regardless of their perceptions of an emphasis on attention to detail. When managers perceived low innovation, however, their perception of level of attention to detail had a significant effect on the relationship between BP and JRT.

Effect of ionic strength and clay mineralogy on Na-Ca exchange and the SAR-ESP relationship

The relationship between sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) for all soils has traditionally been assumed to be similar to that developed by the United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL) in 1954. However, under certain conditions, this relationship has been shown not to be constant, but to vary with both ionic strength and clay mineralogy. We conducted a detailed experiment to determine the effect of ionic strength on the Na+-Ca2+ exchange of four clay minerals (kaolinite, illite, pyrophyllite, and montmorillonite), with results related to the diffuse double-layer (DDL) model. Clays in which external exchange sites dominated (kaolinite and pyrophyllite) tended to show an overall preference for Na+, with the magnitude of this preference increasing with decreasing ESP. For these external surfaces, increases in ionic strength were found to increase preference for Na+. Although illite (2:1 non-expanding mineral) was expected to be dominated by external surfaces, this clay displayed an overall preference for Ca2+, possibly indicating the opening of quasicrystals and the formation of internal exchange surfaces. For the expanding 2:1 clay, montmorillonite, Na+-Ca2+ exchange varied due to the formation of quasicrystals (and internal exchange surfaces) from individual clay platelets. At small ionic strength and large ESP, the clay platelets dispersed and were dominated by external exchange surfaces (displaying preference for Na+). However, as ionic strength increased and ESP decreased, quasicrystals (and internal exchange surfaces) formed, and preference for Ca2+ increased. Therefore, the relationship between SAR and ESP is not constant and should be determined directly for the soil of interest.