Diversidad taxonómica y funcional de invertebrados acuáticos en la Península Ibérica: patrones de distribución espacial

[ES] Las estructuras de las comunidades de agua dulce pueden variar bajo diferentes gradientes de origen natural y antropogénico. En nuestro trabajo testamos la relación entre variables geográficas ambientales y la diversidad, tanto taxonómica como funcional, de macroinvertebrados acuáticos, con la idea de poder definir patrones de distribución espacial a lo largo de los sistemas fluviales de la Península Ibérica. La altitud del punto de muestreo, el tamaño de la cuenca, los usos del suelo, la pluviometría y la geología de las cuencas aguas arriba de los puntos de muestreo fueron usadas como variables predictoras. Encontramos que el grado de cobertura urbana afectaba negativamente a la diversidad taxonómica, reduciendo así mismo la diversidad funcional. Sin embargo, nuestros resultados indicaron un efecto positivo en la diversidad bajo el efecto perturbador de las coberturas agrícolas. A su vez, encontramos una correlación entre la altitud y la cobertura de áreas urbanizadas y agrícolas en la cuenca. La geología de la cuenca tenía una mínima repercusión en las estructuras de las comunidades. En general, nuestros resultados sugieren que la diversidad de macroinvertebrados responde con mayor fuerza a las presiones antrópicas que a los gradientes naturales.

Avaliação dos algoritmos de Picard-Krylov e Newton-Krylov na solução da equação de Richards

A engenharia geotécnica é uma das grandes áreas da engenharia civil que estuda a interação entre as construções realizadas pelo homem ou de fenômenos naturais com o ambiente geológico, que na grande maioria das vezes trata-se de solos parcialmente saturados. Neste sentido, o desempenho de obras como estabilização, contenção de barragens, muros de contenção, fundações e estradas estão condicionados a uma correta predição do fluxo de água no interior dos solos. Porém, como a área das regiões a serem estudas com relação à predição do fluxo de água são comumente da ordem de quilômetros quadrados, as soluções dos modelos matemáticos exigem malhas computacionais de grandes proporções, ocasionando sérias limitações associadas aos requisitos de memória computacional e tempo de processamento. A fim de contornar estas limitações, métodos numéricos eficientes devem ser empregados na solução do problema em análise. Portanto, métodos iterativos para solução de sistemas não lineares e lineares esparsos de grande porte devem ser utilizados neste tipo de aplicação. Em suma, visto a relevância do tema, esta pesquisa aproximou uma solução para a equação diferencial parcial de Richards pelo método dos volumes finitos em duas dimensões, empregando o método de Picard e Newton com maior eficiência computacional. Para tanto, foram utilizadas técnicas iterativas de resolução de sistemas lineares baseados no espaço de Krylov com matrizes pré-condicionadoras com a biblioteca numérica Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation (PETSc). Os resultados indicam que quando se resolve a equação de Richards considerando-se o método de PICARD-KRYLOV, não importando o modelo de avaliação do solo, a melhor combinação para resolução dos sistemas lineares é o método dos gradientes biconjugados estabilizado mais o pré-condicionador SOR. Por outro lado, quando se utiliza as equações de van Genuchten deve ser optar pela combinação do método dos gradientes conjugados em conjunto com pré-condicionador SOR. Quando se adota o método de NEWTON-KRYLOV, o método gradientes biconjugados estabilizado é o mais eficiente na resolução do sistema linear do passo de Newton, com relação ao pré-condicionador deve-se dar preferência ao bloco Jacobi. Por fim, há evidências que apontam que o método PICARD-KRYLOV pode ser mais vantajoso que o método de NEWTON-KRYLOV, quando empregados na resolução da equação diferencial parcial de Richards.

Can environmental constraints determine random patterns of plant species co-occurrence?

Plant community ecologists use the null model approach to infer assembly processes from observed patterns of species co-occurrence. In about a third of published studies, the null hypothesis of random assembly cannot be rejected. When this occurs, plant ecologists interpret that the observed random pattern is not environmentally constrained - but probably generated by stochastic processes. The null model approach (using the C-score and the discrepancy index) was used to test for random assembly under two simulation algorithms. Logistic regression, distance-based redundancy analysis, and constrained ordination were used to test for environmental determinism (species segregation along environmental gradients or turnover and species aggregation). This article introduces an environmentally determined community of alpine hydrophytes that presents itself as randomly assembled. The pathway through which the random pattern arises in this community is suggested to be as follows: Two simultaneous environmental processes, one leading to species aggregation and the other leading to species segregation, concurrently generate the observed pattern, which results to be neither aggregated nor segregated - but random. A simulation study supports this suggestion. Although apparently simple, the null model approach seems to assume that a single ecological factor prevails or that if several factors decisively influence the community, then they all exert their influence in the same direction, generating either aggregation or segregation. As these assumptions are unlikely to hold in most cases and assembly processes cannot be inferred from random patterns, we would like to propose plant ecologists to investigate specifically the ecological processes responsible for observed random patterns, instead of trying to infer processes from patterns

Gulf of Mexico tidal creeks serve as sentinel habitats for assessing the impact of coastal development on ecosystem health

A study was conducted, in association with the Alabama and Mississippi National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRs) in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) as well as the Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina NERRs in the Southeast (SE), to evaluate the impacts of coastal development on tidal creek sentinel habitats, including potential impacts to human health and well-being. Uplands associated with Southeast and Gulf of Mexico tidal creeks, and the salt marshes they drain, are popular locations for building homes, resorts, and recreational facilities because of the high quality of life and mild climate associated with these environments. Tidal creeks form part of the estuarine ecosystem characterized by high biological productivity, great ecological value, complex environmental gradients, and numerous interconnected processes. This research combined a watershed-level study integrating ecological, public health and human dimension attributes with watershed-level land cover data. The approach used for this research was based upon a comparative watershed and ecosystem approach that sampled tidal creek networks draining developed watersheds (e.g., suburban, urban, and industrial) as well as undeveloped sites (Holland et al. 2004, Sanger et al. 2008). The primary objective of this work was to define the relationships between coastal development with its concomitant land cover changes, and non-point source pollution loading and the ecological and human health and wellbeing status of tidal creek ecosystems. Nineteen tidal creek systems, located along the Southeastern United States coast from southern North Carolina to southern Georgia, and five Gulf of Mexico systems from Alabama and Mississippi were sampled during summer (June-August) 2005, 2006 (SE) and 2008 (GoM). Within each system, creeks were divided into two primary segments based upon tidal zoning: intertidal (i.e., shallow, narrow headwater sections) and subtidal (i.e., deeper and wider sections), and watersheds were delineated for each segment. In total, we report findings on 29 intertidal and 24 subtidal creeks. Indicators sampled throughout each creek included water quality (e.g., dissolved oxygen, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll-a levels), sediment quality (e.g., characteristics, contaminant levels including emerging contaminants), pathogen and viral indicators (e.g., fecal coliform, enterococci, F+ coliphages, F- coliphages), and abundance and tissue contamination of biological resources (e.g., macrobenthic and nektonic communities, shellfish tissue contaminants). Tidal creeks have been identified as a sentinel habitat to assess the impacts of coastal development on estuarine areas in the southeastern US. A conceptual model for tidal creeks in the southeastern US identifies that human alterations (stressors) of upland in a watershed such as increased impervious cover will lead to changes in the physical and chemical environment such as microbial and nutrient pollution (exposures), of a receiving water body which then lead to changes in the living resources (responses). The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the applicability of the current tidal creek classification framework and conceptual model linking tidal creek ecological condition to potential impacts of development and urban growth on ecosystem value and function in the Gulf of Mexico US in collaboration with Gulf of Mexico NERR sites. The conceptual model was validated for the Gulf of Mexico US tidal creeks. The tidal creek classification system developed for the southeastern US could be applied to the Gulf of Mexico tidal creeks; however, some differences were found that warrant further examination. In particular, pollutants appeared to translate further downstream in the Gulf of Mexico US compared to the southeastern US. These differences are likely the result of the morphological and oceanographic differences between the two regions. Tidal creeks appear to serve as sentinel habitats to provide an early warning of the ensuing harm to the larger ecosystem in both the Southeastern and Gulf of Mexico US tidal creeks.

Horizontal and vertical movements of juvenile bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in relation to oceanographic conditions of the western North Atlantic, determined with ultrasonic telemetry

We employed ultrasonic transmitters to follow (for up to 48 h) the horizontal and vertical movements of five juvenile (6.8–18.7 kg estimated body mass) bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the western North Atlantic (off the eastern shore of Virginia). Our objective was to document the fishes’ behavior and distribution in relation to oceanographic conditions and thus begin to address issues that currently limit population assessments based on aerial surveys. Estimation of the trends in adult and juvenile Atlantic bluefin tuna abundance by aerial surveys, and other fishery-independent measures, is considered a priority. Juvenile bluefin tuna spent the majority of their time over the continental shelf in relatively shallow water (generally less then 40 m deep). Fish used the entire water column in spite of relatively steep vertical thermal gradients (≈24°C at the surface and ≈12°C at 40 m depth), but spent the majority of their time (≈90%) above 15 m and in water warmer then 20°C. Mean swimming speeds ranged from 2.8 to 3.3 knots, and total distance covered from 152 to 289 km (82–156 nmi). Because fish generally remained within relatively con-fined areas, net displacement was only 7.7–52.7 km (4.1–28.4 nmi). Horizontal movements were not correlated with sea surface temperature. We propose that it is unlikely that juvenile bluefin tuna in this area can detect minor horizontal temperature gradients (generally less then 0.5°C/km) because of the steep vertical temperature gradients (up to ≈0.6°C/m) they experience during their regular vertical movements. In contrast, water clarity did appear to influence behavior because the fish remained in the intermediate water mass between the turbid and phytoplankton-rich plume exiting Chesapeake Bay (and similar coastal waters) and the clear oligotrophic water east of the continental shelf.

Spatial and temporal patterns in the demersal fish community on the shelf and upper slope regions of the Gulf of Alaska

We analyzed data from National Marine Fisheries Service bottom trawl surveys carried out triennially from 1984 to 1996 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). The continental shelf and upper slope (0–500 m) of the GOA support a rich demersal fish fauna dominated by arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias), walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), and Pacific Ocean perch (Sebastes alutus). Average catch per unit of effort (CPUE) of all groundfish species combined increased with depth and had a significant peak near the shelf break at 150–200 m. Species richness and diversity had significant peaks at 200–300 m. The western GOA was characterized by higher CPUEs and lower species richness and diversity than the eastern GOA. Highest CPUEs were observed in Shelikof Strait, along the shelf break and upper slope south of Kodiak Island, and on the banks and in the gullies northeast of Kodiak Island. Significant differences in total CPUE among surveys suggest a 40% increase in total groundfish biomass between 1984 and 1996. A multivariate analysis of the CPUE of 72 groundfish taxa revealed strong gradients in species composition with depth and from east to west, and a weak but significant trend in species composition over time. The trend over time was associated with increases in the frequency of occurrence and CPUE of at least eight taxa, including skates (Rajidae), capelin (Mallotus villosus), three flatfish species, and Pacific Ocean perch, and decreases in frequency of occurrence and CPUE of several sculpin (Myoxocephalus spp.) species. Results are discussed in terms of spatial and temporal patterns in productivity and in the context of their ecological and management implications.

典型草原优势植物养分回收特性对养分和水分梯度变化的响应

养分回收是植物衰老时，养分从衰老组织向活的组织体转移的一种过程。该过程延长了养分在植物体内的滞留时间，提高了植物保持养分的能力，因此是植物适应养分贫瘠生境的策略之一。全球气候变化，包括降水格局改变和氮（N）沉降增加，改变了生态系统正常的生物地球化学循环，因此可能会对植物的养分回收特性产生影响。研究不同N、磷（P）、水梯度上，植物物种养分回收特性的响应格局，对于预测N沉降增加和降水格局改变对物种养分利用策略的潜在影响，具有一定的理论与实践意义。本研究以中国科学院植物研究所多伦恢复生态学实验站长期施N肥实验（0，1，2，4，8，16，32，64 g N m-2 yr-1等8个水平）为研究平台研究了克氏针茅（Stipa krylovii）群落中优势植物养分回收随N素添加梯度的变化，同时结合三个盆栽控制实验（施N肥实验：0，0.5，1，2，4，8，16，32，64，128 g N m-2等10个水平;施P肥实验：梯度同施N肥实验;控水实验：3600，4000，4500，5143，6000，7200，9000，12000，18000，36000 mL pot-1等10个水平），主要探讨了羊草（Leymus chinensis）养分回收效率（从衰老组织中回收转移的养分百分数，RE）和养分回收度（以枯叶中养分浓度衡量，RP）以及其它叶片养分特性(绿叶养分浓度和比叶面积SLA)对环境因子改变的响应格局。同时，我们还调查了枯叶C:N比和C:P比等参数，研究环境因子改变对凋落物分解的影响。 1）连续4年施N肥显著降低了五个物种叶片N素回收度（NRP），对P素回收度（PRP）的影响在各物种间差异较大，但低N提高了多数物种的PRP;物种间，冷蒿（Artemisia frigida）RP（枯叶N和P浓度分别为14.3±2.0 mg g-1和0.68±0.09 mg g-1）最低，砂韭（Allium bidentatum）（N：5.2±0.2 mg g-1，P：0.12±0.01 mg g-1）最高。沿施N梯度，N素回收效率（NRE）的变化趋势在物种间差异较小但在方法间（叶干重水平，叶面积水平和单株水平）差异较大，而P素回收效率（PRE）的变化在物种间和方法间差别都较大。叶干重水平和叶面积水平上，NRE在四个物种中表现出显著降低的趋势，PRE只在糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）和星毛委陵菜（Potentilla acaulis）中显著降低，其它三个物种变化不显著。单株水平上，所有物种NRE（除了克氏针茅）和PRE均与施N量梯度无显著性关系。物种间，砂韭的RE最高（＞80.0%），冷蒿和星毛委陵菜最低（＜60.0%）。方法间，叶片水平上的RE均高于单株水平上。沿施N肥梯度，两个禾本科物种SLA无显著变化规律，而其它三个物种SLA表现出先增加后变化不大的趋势。物种间，最高和最低的SLA分别表现在冷蒿和克氏针茅。沿施N肥梯度，五个物种C:N比呈先显著降低后缓慢降低的趋势。物种间，最大和最小的C:N比分别出现在砂韭和冷蒿。 2）盆栽施N肥实验中，一定范围内，施N肥显著提高了羊草地上地下生物量、SLA和绿叶N浓度，显著降低了C:N比、NRP、NRE和PRE，但对绿叶P浓度、叶片PRP和C:P比无明显影响。平均枯叶N浓度和枯叶P浓度分别为16.2 mg g-1和1.01 mg g-1，平均NRE和PRE分别为46.1﹪和58.1﹪。10月时，地下生物量和养分积累均高于地上部分。 3）盆栽施P肥实验中，一定范围内，施P肥显著地提高了羊草地上地下生物量、SLA、绿叶N浓度和绿叶P浓度，显著降低了C:N比、C:P比、NRP、PRP和PRE，但对NRE无显著影响。平均枯叶N浓度和枯叶P浓度分别为9.9 mg g-1和7.43 mg g-1，平均NRE和PRE分别为58.2﹪，平均PRE为56.1﹪。10月时地下部分生物量和N库积累均高于地上部分，而P库在两个部分间差别不大。 4）盆栽控水实验中，一定范围内，供水量增加显著增加了羊草地上地下生物量、SLA、NRP、PRP、PRE、C:N比和C:P比，显著降低了绿叶N浓度，但对绿叶P浓度和NRE无显著性影响。平均枯叶N浓度和枯叶P浓度分别为10.4 mg g-1和0.32 mg g-1，平均NRE和PRE分别为54.4﹪和76.8﹪。10月时，地下部分生物量和养分积累均高于地上部分。 以上结果表明，N、P和水分因子的改变影响了植物生物量和养分分配、叶片养分特性、养分回收能力以及枯叶分解质量等，且不同梯度影响程度也不同。因此，未来全球变化包括N沉降增加和降水格局改变可能影响植物养分利用策略和凋落物分解特性，进而可能对植被-土壤系统养分循环产生影响。

内蒙古草原温度梯度上3个典型群落的能量平衡研究

通量测量点的能量收支总是表现出不平衡，即使在地势平坦、植被分布均一、稀疏植被下垫面的情况下也有约30%的能量失衡状况。能量平衡闭合 (EBC) 问题在验证涡度相关系统质量方面，得到了广泛的关注。实验在内蒙古草原3个地点，通过涡度相关系统附近移动能量平衡系统的测定手段，采用能量平衡余项法和最小二乘 (OLS) 线性回归法，研究了土壤热通量、净辐射及可供能量空间变异对能量平衡闭合的影响。 结果显示，EBC 在三个研究点的平均余项为8~19 W m-2，OLS 斜率为0.83~0.96。EBC 在土壤湿润情况的站点要高于干旱站点。 土壤热通量的空间变异三站点平均为白天48 W m-2 (占同时间 Rn 的13%)，夜间15 W m-2 (34%)，平均29 W m-2 (24%)。通过8个工作站的测量，这个变异会造成9% (从0.93到1.01) 的 OLS 斜率差别。夜间的能量平衡不闭合可以由土壤热通量的空间变异解释。如果在本研究的的三个草原站点上忽略了土壤热通量，则会造成较大的余项 (峰值时110 W m-2) 产生，从而使 OLS 斜率增大23%。特别是通量板埋置在地面以下30 mm处时，上层的土壤热储部分占到全部土壤热通量的50%，这不仅影响到 EBC 的大小，更起到调节土壤热通量与“真实的波形” 相一致的作用。如果该部分热储被忽略掉，EBC 余项会增加60 W m-2，OLS 斜率也会变化 (减少) 9%。用大尺度多点测量与涡度塔附近的小尺度测定相比较，后者表现出稍高的闭合率，即 OLS 斜率增加4%。 相对于土壤热通量，净辐射的空间变异较小，三站点平均为白天17 W m-2 (5%)，夜间7 W m-2 (13%)，平均 12 W m-2 (5%)。可以引起3% (从0.88到0.91) 的 OLS 斜率差异。研究结果还表明，风速校正应该在 Q7.1 净辐射仪中应用，校正后的结果与 CNR1 的结果在白天有吻合较好，但在其它时段仍有较大差异，特别是在夜间，风速校正基本不起作用，使得两种仪器间差异达20 W m-2。比较表明，风速校正可以提高白天 Rn 的6%，仅降低夜间0.3%。因此，无论是用余项法还是用 OLS 线性回归法，在比较使用不同仪器的站点间的闭合状况时 (本研究的结果适用于草地 Q7.1 与 CNR1 间的比较)，可以用9：00-15：00 h 时段的数据进行比较，这样可以避免因使用不同仪器的差异所造成的影响。用该时段的数据进行比较，仪器间的差异余项法小于6 W m-2，OLS 法小于3%。 受可供能量空间变异影响，三个站点平均 EBC 的不确定性为白天66 W m-2 (19%)，夜间23 W m-2 (50%)，平均42 W m-2 (36%);或者改变 OLS 斜率11%。用最大值和最小值来衡量，EBC 最大不确定性，正午时在站点 I、II 和 III 中分别为81，114和91 W m-2。故在探讨能量平衡和能量平衡闭合问题时，必须充分考虑到这种不确定性，否则会产生偏差，或者得出错误结论。 研究还表明，即使考虑到白天所有可供能量的最大不确定性，仍然不能使能量平衡闭合。中午 (12：00 h)，站点 I，II 和 III 仍然有14±15，48±12和47±14 W m-2 的失衡不能够归因于可供能量的空间不确定性。因此，其它影响因素也需进行细致的探讨。 在两站点不同测量深度土壤热通量结果的差异性比较实验中，无论在站点 I 还是 III，均表现出一致的结论，即随通量板布置深度加深，其测量结果会越高，与浅层布置的相比，差别可高达150 W m-2。深层土壤热通量的计算仍是个难题，需进一步研究。 在不同植被结构对净辐射测定影响的实验中发现，随刈割强度增加，一天中大部分时间净辐射均减少。正午依次为413，395和388 W m-2。无论正午还是全天合计，重度刈割地点的净辐射均比不刈割对照处理少6%，而且，在整个生长季也少6%，约合40,000 W m-2。测量高度不同，不同处理间对测定结果影响不同：刈割处理中，由于下垫面较均一，结果相差不显著;而对照则表现出较高的差异，用两配对样本T检验表明差异达到极显著 (P<0.000，9:30-15:00 h data)。当使用不同新旧程度的 domes 时，对净辐射结果会产生明显的影响。新 domes 的测量结果白天明显高，晚上明显低，使用了11个月的旧 domes，峰值时，白天低估25 W m-2，晚上高估10 W m-2。说明该差异在进行能量平衡闭合计算时，不能忽略。而全用新的和全用旧的进行比较，晚上仅有2-3 W m-2差异。 考虑生态系统中非生物因子对干扰条件下生物多样性动态和功能的影响，有助于更精确地阐明生物多样性-稳定性功能的关系。为此，设计了一个单因子刈割实验——内蒙古地区一种广泛存在的土地利用方式。主要目的是研究不同强度刈割影响下，微气候变量特别是能量平衡各分量和群落结构的变化及二者的关系。连续4年刈割，占第一位的优势种明显由低矮半灌木冷蒿 (Artemisia frigida) 取代了高大丛生禾草克氏针茅 (Stipa kylovii)。重度刈割下，针茅的盖度、生物量和丛重，群落叶面积、绿色生物量、凋落物量和群落高度一致低于轻度刈割/不刈割处理。微气候由于群落特征的这些变化也呈规律性变化。与对照相比，重度刈割降低了生长季土壤含水量的47.5%，但中午和日均土壤表面温度分别增加了7.4和1.2 °C，并且增加地表下2 cm土壤温度日较差 (日最高与最低温度之差) 4.2 °C。刈割处理由于凋落物少、反射强而表现出较低的净辐射，但土壤热通量显著提高，表现为土层加热和冷却快。因此，重度刈割处理较对照降低了可供能量8%，约合52,000 W m-2 。不同刈割强度间来看，NPP 或 LAI 与土壤热通量和净辐射的比值 (G/Rn) 以及波文比 (H/LE) 间呈负相关。重度刈割处理感热通量显著提高，但潜热通量在处理间差异不显著，表明未刈割处理虽然冠层伸展大，但是并没有导致更大的水分亏缺。未刈割处理增加了抵抗物种改变的能力，而刈割处理在连续一年一割的第四年显著增加了物种数，可能与因刈割影响而导致的群落结构与微气候的改变有关。本研究表明，未刈割处理可以减轻高温干旱季节的高温和干旱胁迫，表现出对环境变化的高抵抗性。未刈割处理的凋落物层和较高的垂直结构所形成的遮荫，可以形成一个阻挡蒸发的篱笆，这是维持其水分的保证。因此，为了恢复退化草原生态系统功能，需要修复能导致微气候变化的植物群落结构，否则难以成功。 本研究立足于原创性的实验研究，在中国特有的自然草原生态系统上开展，结合不同温度梯度的三地区涡度相关系统进行了能量平衡闭合的移动比较实验，以及结合常用土地利用方式的定点能量平衡实验。在翔实的数据基础上，为涡度相关方法的陆地表面能量平衡失衡问题提供了解释。增加了对两个主要能量流——土壤热通量和净辐射空间变异规律的认识，研究对于能量平衡和湍流通量相关研究是有价值的。在三个代表性地区首次利用多个净辐射仪和土壤热通量板的结果与三个标准的涡度相关系统进行了比较，这类量化失衡原因的相关研究应受到高度重视并进一步拓展，以提高对能量失衡的认识，进而推进水热和碳循环研究向更深层次发展。

Defect and disorder reduction by annealing in hydrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon

Hydrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:H) is a form of diamond-like carbon with a high sp3 content (>60%), grown here using a plasma beam source. Information on the behaviour of hydrogen upon annealing is obtained from effusion measurements, which show that hydrogen does not effuse significantly at temperatures less than 500 °C in films grown using methane and 700 °C in films grown using acetylene. Raman measurements show no significant structural changes at temperatures up to 300 °C. At higher temperatures, corresponding to the onset of effusion, the Raman spectra show a clustering of the sp2 phase. The density of states of ta-C:H is directly measured using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy. The measured gradients of the conduction and valence band tails increase up to 300 °C, confirming the occurrence of band tail sharpening. Examination of the photoluminescence background in the Raman spectra shows an increase in photoluminescence intensity with decreasing defect density, providing evidence that paramagnetic defects are the dominant non-radiative recombination centres in ta-C:H.

Secondary flows and loss caused by blade row interaction in a turbine stage

A study of the three-dimensional stator-rotor interaction in a turbine stage is presented. Experimental data reveal vortices downstream of the rotor which are stationary in the absolute frame - indicating that they are caused by the stator exit flowfield. Evidence of the rotor hub passage vortices is seen, but additional vortical structures away from the endwalls, which would not be present if the rotor were tested in isolation, are also identified. An unsteady computation of the rotor row is performed using the measured stator exit flowfield as the inlet boundary condition. The strength and location of the vortices at rotor exit are predicted. A formation mechanism is proposed whereby stator wake fluid with steep spanwise gradients of absolute total pressure is responsible for all but one of the rotor exit vortices. This mechanism is then verified computationally using a passive-scalar tracking technique. The predicted loss generation through the rotor row is then presented and a comparison made with a steady calculation where the inlet flow has been mixed out to pitchwise uniformity. The loss produced in the steady simulation, even allowing for the mixing loss at inlet, is 10% less than that produced in the unsteady simulation. This difference highlights the importance of the time-accurate calculation as a tool of the turbomachine designer.

Secondary flow near an undulatory surface induced by wall blocking effect

Prandtl's secondary mean motions of the second kind near an undulating surface were explained in terms of turbulent blocking effect and kinematic boundary conditions at the surface, and its order of magnitude was estimated. Isotropic turbulence is distorted by the undulating surface of wavelength λ and amplitude h with a low slope, so that h « λ. The prime mechanism for generating the mean flow is that the far-field Isotropic turbulence is distorted by the non-local blocking effect of the surface to become anisotropic axisymmetric turbulence near the surface with principal axis that is not aligned with the local curvature of the undulation. Then the local analysis can be applied and the mechanism is similar to the mean flow generation mechanism for homogeneous axisymmetric turbulence over a planer surface, i.e. gradients of the Reynolds stress caused by the turbulent blocking effect generate the mean motions. The results from this simple analysis are consistent with previous exact analysis in which the effects of curvature are strictly taken into account. The results also qualitatively agree with flow visualization over an undulating surface in a mixing-box.

Parameter measurement for heavy-vehicle fuel consumption modelling

A mathematical model is developed to predict the energy consumption of a heavy vehicle. It includes the important factors of heavy-vehicle energy consumption, namely engine and drivetrain performances, losses due to accessories, aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance, road gradients, and driver behaviour. Novel low-cost testing methods were developed to determine engine and drivetrain characteristics. A simple drive cycle was used to validate the model. The model is able to predict the fuel use for a 371 tractor-semitrailer vehicle over a 4 km drive cycle within 1 per cent. This paper demonstrates that accurate and reliable vehicle benchmarking and model parameter measurement can be achieved without expensive equipment overheads, e.g. engine and chassis dynamometers.

Natural actor and belief critic: Reinforcement algorithm for learning parameters of dialogue systems modelled as POMDPs

This article presents a novel algorithm for learning parameters in statistical dialogue systems which are modeled as Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs). The three main components of a POMDP dialogue manager are a dialogue model representing dialogue state information; a policy that selects the system's responses based on the inferred state; and a reward function that specifies the desired behavior of the system. Ideally both the model parameters and the policy would be designed to maximize the cumulative reward. However, while there are many techniques available for learning the optimal policy, no good ways of learning the optimal model parameters that scale to real-world dialogue systems have been found yet. The presented algorithm, called the Natural Actor and Belief Critic (NABC), is a policy gradient method that offers a solution to this problem. Based on observed rewards, the algorithm estimates the natural gradient of the expected cumulative reward. The resulting gradient is then used to adapt both the prior distribution of the dialogue model parameters and the policy parameters. In addition, the article presents a variant of the NABC algorithm, called the Natural Belief Critic (NBC), which assumes that the policy is fixed and only the model parameters need to be estimated. The algorithms are evaluated on a spoken dialogue system in the tourist information domain. The experiments show that model parameters estimated to maximize the expected cumulative reward result in significantly improved performance compared to the baseline hand-crafted model parameters. The algorithms are also compared to optimization techniques using plain gradients and state-of-the-art random search algorithms. In all cases, the algorithms based on the natural gradient work significantly better. © 2011 ACM.

Geometrical properties and turbulent flame speed measurements in stationary premixed V-flames using direct numerical simulation

Three dimensional, fully compressible direct numerical simulations (DNS) of premixed turbulent flames are carried out in a V-flame configuration. The governing equations and the numerical implementation are described in detail, including modifications made to the Navier-Stokes Characteristic Boundary Conditions (NSCBC) to accommodate the steep transverse velocity and composition gradients generated when the flame crosses the boundary. Three cases, at turbulence intensities, u′/sL, of 1, 2, and 6 are considered. The influence of the flame holder on downstream flame properties is assessed through the distributions of the surface-conditioned displacement speed, curvature and tangential strain rates, and compared to data from similarly processed planar flames. The distributions are found to be indistinguishable from planar flames for distances greater than about 17δth downstream of the flame holder, where δth is the laminar flame thermal thickness. Favre mean fields are constructed, and the growth of the mean flame brush is found to be well described by simple Taylor type diffusion. The turbulent flame speed, sT is evaluated from an expression describing the propagation speed of an isosurface of the mean reaction progress variable c̃ in terms of the imbalance between the mean reactive, diffusive, and turbulent fluxes within the flame brush. The results are compared to the consumption speed, sC, calculated from the integral of the mean reaction rate, and to the predictions of a recently developed flame speed model (Kolla et al., Combust Sci Technol 181(3):518-535, 2009). The model predictions are improved in all cases by including the effects of mean molecular diffusion, and the overall agreement is good for the higher turbulence intensity cases once the tangential convective flux of c̃ is taken into account. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Development and evaluation of an alternative method for processing elastic-lidar return signals

A method for interpreting elastic-lidar return signals in heavily-polluted atmospheres is presented. It is based on an equation derived directly from the classic lidar equation, which highlights gradients of the atmospheric backscattering properties along the laser optical path. The method is evaluated by comparing its results with those obtained with the differential absorption technique. The results were obtained from locating and ranging measurements in pollutant plumes and contaminated environments around central México. © World Scientific Publishing Company.