In vitro iron enrichment experiments in the Prydz Bay, the Southern Ocean: A test of the iron hypothesis

In "high nitrate, low chlorophyll" (HNLC) ocean regions, iron has been typically regarded as the limiting factor for phytoplankton production. This "iron hypothesis" needs to be tested in various oceanic environments to understand the role of iron in marine biological and biogeochemical processes. In this paper, three in vitro iron enrichment experiments were performed in Prydz Bay and at the Polar Front north of the Ross Sea, to study the role of iron on phytoplankton production. At the Polar Front of Ross Sea, iron addition significantly (P < 0.05, Student's t-test) stimulated phytoplankton growth. In Prydz Bay, however, both the iron treatments and the controls showed rapid phytoplankton growth, and no significant effect (P > 0.05, Student's t-test) as a consequence of iron addition was observed. These results confirmed the limiting role of iron in the Ross Sea and indicated that iron was not the primary factor limiting phytoplankton growth in Prydz Bay. Because the light environment for phytoplankton was enhanced in experimental bottles, light was assumed to be responsible for the rapid growth of phytoplankton in all treatments and to be the limiting factor controlling field phytoplankton growth in Prydz Bay. During the incubation experiments, nutrient consumption ratios also changed with the physiological status and the growth phases of phytoplankton cells. When phytoplankton growth was stimulated by iron addition, N was the first and Si was the last nutrient which absorption enhanced. The Si/N and Si/P consumption ratios of phytoplankton in the stationary and decay phases were significantly higher than those of rapidly growing phytoplankton. These findings were helpful for studies of the marine ecosystem and biogeochemistry in Prydz Bay, and were also valuable for biogeochemical studies of carbon and nutrients in various marine environments.

Application of Neomysis awatschensis as a standard marine toxicity test organism in China

The small mysid crustacean Neomysis awatschensis was collected in the west coast of Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, China in 1992 and acclimated and cultured in laboratory conditions since then. Standard acute toxicity tests using 4-6 d juvenile mysids of this species were conducted and the results were compared with Mysidopsis bahia, a standard toxicity test organism used in the US in terms of their sensitivities to reference toxins, as well as their taxonomy, morphology and geographic distributions. Because of its wide distribution along the Chinese coast, similar sensitivity to pollutants as M. bahia, short life history, small size and the case of handling, this study intended to use N. awatschensis as one of the standard marine organisms for toxicity testing in China. The species were applied to acute toxicity evaluations of drilling fluid and its additives I organotin TPT and toxic algae, and to chronic ( life cycle) toxicity assays of organotin TPT and a toxic dinofalgellate Alexandrium tamarense, respectively. Using N, awatschensis as a standard toxicity testing organism in marine pollution assessment in China is suggested.

Studies on the hemolytic activity of tentacle extracts of jellyfish Rhopilema esculentum Kishinouye: Application of orthogonal test

The present work is first reporting the hemolytic activity of venom from jellyfish Rhopilema esculentum Kishinouye extracted by different phosphate buffer solutions and incubated at different temperature according to the orthogonal test L6(1) x 3(6). Of the seven controllable independent variables, incubated temperature and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) had strongest effect on the hemolytic activity. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

填土边坡水文作用机理与破坏过程研究—以深圳羊宝地填土滑坡为例

A full understanding of failure mechanism, critical hydrological condition, and process of mobilization and deposition of a landslide is essential for optimal design of stabilization measure and forecasting of landslide hazard. This requires a quantitative study of hydrological response of a slope to rainfall through field monitoring, laboratory test and numerical modelling. At 13:40 on September 18, 2002, a fill slope failed following a period of prolonged rain in Shenzhen, resulting in 5 fatalities and 31 injuries. The failed mass with a volume about 2.5×104m3 traveled about 140m on level ground. Field monitoring, laboratory test, theoretical analysis and numerical modelling were carried out to undestand the hydrological response and failure mechanism of this fill slope. This thesis mainly focuses on the following aspects: (1) The hydrological responses and failure processes of slopes under rainfall infiltration were reviewed. Firstly, the factors influencing on the hydrological responses of slopes were analysed. Secondly, the change of stress state of slope soil and modelling methods of slope failure under rainfall infiltration were reviewed. (2) The characteristics of the Yangbaodi landslide and associated rainfall triggering the failure were presented. The failure was characterized by shallow flowslide, due to an increase of ground water table caused by rainfall infiltration. (3) A fully automated instrumentation was carried out to monitor rainfall, and saturated – unsaturated hydrological response of the fill slope, using a raingauge, piezometers, tensiometers and moisture probes. A conceptual hydrogeological model was presented based on field monitoring and borehole data. Analysis of monitoring data showed that the high pore water pressure in fill slope was caused by upward flow of semiconfined groundwater in the moderately decomposed granite. (4) Laboratory and in-situ testing was performed to study the physical and mechanical properties of fills. Isotropically consolidated undrained compression tests and anisotropically consolidated constant shear stress tests were carried out to understand the failure mechanism of the fill slope. It is indicated that loosely compacted soil is of strain-softening behaviour under undrained conditions, accompanied with a rapid increase in excess pore water pressure. In anisotropically consolidated constant shear stress tests, a very small axial strain was required to induce the failure and the excess pore water pressure increased quickly at failure. This indicated that static liquefaction caused by rise in groundwater table due to rainfall infiltration occurred. (5) The hydraulic conductivity of the highly and moderately decomposed granite was estimated using monitering data of pore water pressure. A saturated – unsaturated flow was modeled to study the hydrological response of the fill slope using rainfall records. It was observed that the lagged failure was due to the geological conditions and the discrepancy of hydraulic conductivity of slope soils. The hydraulic conductivity of moderately decomposed granite is relatively higher than the other materials, resulting in a semiconfied groundwater flow in the moderately decomposed granite, and subsequent upward flow into the upper fill layer. When the ground water table in the fill layer was increased to the critical state, the fill slope failed. (6) Numerical exercises were conducted to replay the failure process of the fill slope, based on field monitoring, laboratory and in-situ testing. It was found that the fill slope was mobilized by a rapid transfer of the concentrated shear stress. The movement of failure mass was characterized by viscosity fluid with a gradual increase in velocity. The failure process, including mobilization and subsequent movement and deposition, was studied using numerical methods.

Methane aromatization in the absence of an added oxidant and the bench scale reaction test

A bench scale reaction test for methane aromatization in the absence of an added oxidant was performed and its reaction result evaluated based on the carbon balance of the system. The result was compared with those obtained from the micro-reaction test to ensure the accuracy of the internal standard analyzing method employed in this paper. The catalytic performances of modified Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts were examined. It was found that pre-treatment by steam on HZSM-5 weakened the serious deposition of coke, and pre-impregnation of n-ethyl silicate on HZSM-5 could improve the conversion of CH4, but had little effect on coke formation. A low temperature activation procedure including pre-reduction of the catalyst with methane prevents the zeolite lattice from being seriously destroyed by high valence state Mo species when the Mo loading is high. It was suggested that Mo2C species detected by XRD spectra was the active phase for CH4 aromatization.

真实和虚拟现实环境下场景识别中的空间更新

Currently，one of the important research areas in Spatial updating is the role of external (for instance visual) and internal (for instance proprioceptive or vestibular) information in spatial updating of scene recognition. Our study uses the paradigm of classic spatial updating research and the experimental design of investigation of Burgess(2004),first, we will explore the concrete influence of locomotion on scene recognition in real world; next, we will use virtual reality technology, which can control many spatial learning parameters and exclude the influence of extra irrelevant variables, to explore the influence of pure locomotion without visual cue on scene recognition, and furthermore, we will explore whether the ability of spatial updating can be transferred to new situations in a short period of time and compare the result pattern in real word with that in virtual reality to test the validity of virtual reality technology in spatial updating of scene recognition research. The main results of this paper can be summarized as follows： 1. In real world, we found two effects: the spatial updating effect and the viewpoint dependent effect, this result indicated that the spatial updating effect based on locomotion does not eliminate the viewpoint dependent effect during the scene recognition process in physical environment. 2. In virtual reality environment, we still found two effects: the spatial updating effect and the viewpoint dependent effect, this result showed us that the spatial updating effect based on locomotion does not eliminate the viewpoint dependent effect during the scene recognition process in virtual reality environment either. 3. The spatial updating effect based on locomotion plays double role in scene recognition: When subjects were tested in different viewpoint, spatial updating based on locomotion promoted scene recognition; while subjected were tested in same viewpoint, spatial updating based on locomotion had a negative influence on scene recognition, these results show us that spatial updating based on locomotion is automated and can not be ignored. 4. The ability of spatial updating can be transferred to new situations in a short period of time , and the experiment in the immersed virtual reality environment got the same result pattern with that in the physical environment, suggesting VR technology is a very effective method to do research on spatial updating of the scene recognition studies. 5. This study about scene recognition provides evidence to double system model of spatial updating in the immersed virtual reality environment.

Automated Program Recognition by Graph Parsing

Recognizing standard computational structures (cliches) in a program can help an experienced programmer understand the program. We develop a graph parsing approach to automating program recognition in which programs and cliches are represented in an attributed graph grammar formalism and recognition is achieved by graph parsing. In studying this approach, we evaluate our representation's ability to suppress many common forms of variation which hinder recognition. We investigate the expressiveness of our graph grammar formalism for capturing programming cliches. We empirically and analytically study the computational cost of our recognition approach with respect to two medium-sized, real-world simulator programs.

Automated Acquisition of Evolving Informal Descriptions

The Listener is an automated system that unintrusively performs knowledge acquisition from informal input. The Listener develops a coherent internal representation of a description from an initial set of disorganized, imprecise, incomplete, ambiguous, and possibly inconsistent statements. The Listener can produce a summary document from its internal representation to facilitate communication, review, and validation. A special purpose Listener, called the Requirements Apprentice (RA), has been implemented in the software requirements acquisition domain. Unlike most other requirements analysis tools, which start from a formal description language, the focus of the RA is on the transition between informal and formal specifications.

Test Generation Guided Design for Testability

This thesis presents a new approach to building a design for testability (DFT) system. The system takes a digital circuit description, finds out the problems in testing it, and suggests circuit modifications to correct those problems. The key contributions of the thesis research are (1) setting design for testability in the context of test generation (TG), (2) using failures during FG to focus on testability problems, and (3) relating circuit modifications directly to the failures. A natural functionality set is used to represent the maximum functionalities that a component can have. The current implementation has only primitive domain knowledge and needs other work as well. However, armed with the knowledge of TG, it has already demonstrated its ability and produced some interesting results on a simple microprocessor.