Spatiotemporal Variation of nutrient concentrations in the Upper Shule River Basin, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

This study aimed to understand the spatiotemporal variation of nutrient concentrations in stream water, using analyses of total nitrogen (TN), NO3−-N, NH4+-N and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations from April to October in 2016 in the upper Shule River basin in the northeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN; NO3−-N + NH4+-N) concentrations in both groundwater and stream water were the predominant form of TN, accounting for about 88%. Median concentrations in stream water were 815 μg L−1 for TN, 459 μg L−1 for NO3−-N, 253 μg L−1 for NH4+-N, and 25 μg L−1 for TP. Great spatiotemporal variations of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in stream water were observed, which likely resulted from varying recharge sources (snow and groundwater) and biogeochemical processes. Monthly variations in nutrient concentrations in stream water had a reciprocal pattern between nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. Our results demonstrated that the quality of steam water in the upper reach of Shule River basin was basically good for drinking purposes according to the environmental quality standards for surface water, China. The results also improved our understanding of how nutrient concentrations varied in stream water and provided baseline information for future studies on nutrients in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Assessing the existing guidelines of environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures for future hydropower projects in Pakistan

Introduction: More than 16% of the total electricity used worldwide is met by hydropower, having local to regional environmental consequences. With positive indicators that energy is becoming more broadly available and sustainable, the world is moving closer to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). Pakistan became the first nation to include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its national development strategy.Methodology: The current study sought to investigate the structural limits of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines for hydropower development in Pakistan. The study included the document review of the EIA reports about hydropower projects in Pakistan, scientific questionnaires from decision-makers, and public consultation.Results and Discussion: The document evaluates that an adequate mechanism is available, and donors like the Asian Development Bank and World Bank observe the implementation process of EIA in Pakistan. However, a comprehensive analysis of the EIA system found several things that could be improved, not only in the institutional framework but also in actual implementation and practices. More than 20% of respondent decision-makers disagreed with the compliance of the current Institutional Framework with EIA guidelines, and 25% think that the existing guidelines followed in Pakistan are not aligned with international standards and practices for Hydropower in actual practice. EIA has a limited impact on decision-making due to insufficient technical and financial resources.Recommendations: There should be a think tank with experts who can meet the needs of present and future epochs. The public should be communicated with and educated about EIA. For better efficiency, the officers and decision-makers should be trained internationally, i.e., the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)

Towards Language-guided Visual Recognition via Dynamic Convolutions

In this paper, we are committed to establishing an unified and end-to-end multi-modal network via exploring the language-guided visual recognition. To approach this target, we first propose a novel multi-modal convolution module called Language-dependent Convolution (LaConv). Its convolution kernels are dynamically generated based on natural language information, which can help extract differentiated visual features for different multi-modal examples. Based on the LaConv module, we further build the first fully language-driven convolution network, termed as LaConvNet, which can unify the visual recognition and multi-modal reasoning in one forward structure. To validate LaConv and LaConvNet, we conduct extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets of two vision-and-language tasks, i.e., visual question answering (VQA) and referring expression comprehension (REC). The experimental results not only shows the performance gains of LaConv compared to the existing multi-modal modules, but also witness the merits of LaConvNet as an unified network, including compact network, high generalization ability and excellent performance, e.g., +4.7% on RefCOCO+

Variation in the hydrological cycle in the Three-River Headwaters Region based on multi-source data

The hydrological processes in the Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR), which is located in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and includes the Yangtze River Headwater Region (YARHR), the Yellow River Headwater Region (YERHR), and the Lantsang River Headwater Region (LARHR), have changed under climate warming. Based on multi-source data, the spatial and temporal changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil water storage, glacier melt, snowmelt and runoff in the Three-River Headwaters Region from 1982 to 2014 were comprehensively analysed. The annual precipitation data for the Three-River Headwaters Region from ERA5-Land, the Climatic Research Unit, the China Meteorological Forcing Dataset and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) all showed an increasing trend; the annual evapotranspiration data from ERA5-Land, Global Land Data Assimilation System, Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) and Terrestrial Evapotranspiration Dataset across China (TEDC) all showed an increasing trend; and the annual soil water storage data from ERA5-Land, Global Land Data Assimilation System and Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model all showed an increasing trend. The annual snowmelt data from ERA5-Land, Global Land Data Assimilation System and SMT-Y datasets all showed a decreasing trend. The annual glacier melt increased in the Yangtze River Headwater Region and Yellow River Headwater Region and decreased in the Lantsang River Headwater Region. The increases in precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil water content and glacial melt, and the decreases in snowfall and snowmelt indicate an accelerated hydrological cycle in the Three-River Headwaters Region over the 1982 to 2014 period. The significant increase in precipitation is the main reason for the significant increase in runoff in the Yangtze River Headwater Region. The increase in precipitation in the Yellow River Headwater Region was less than the sum of the increase in evapotranspiration and soil water storage, resulting in a decreasing trend of runoff in the Yellow River Headwater Region. The increase in precipitation in the Lantsang River Headwater Region was slightly larger than the sum of that in evapotranspiration and soil water storage, and there was an insignificant increase in the runoff in the Lantsang River Headwater Region

Serum proteome analysis for profiling protein markers associated with carcinogenesis and lymph node metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), one of the most common cancers in population with Chinese or Asian progeny, poses a serious health problem for southern China. It is unfortunate that most NPC victims have had lymph node metastasis (LNM) when first diagnosed. We believe that the 2D based serum proteome analysis can be useful in discovering new biomarkers that may aid in the diagnosis and therapy of NPC patients. To filter the tumor specific antigen markers of NPC, sera from 42 healthy volunteers, 27 non-LNM NPC patients and 37 LNM NPC patients were selected for screening study using 2D combined with MS. Pretreatment strategy, including sonication, albumin and immunoglobulin G (IgG) depletion, was adopted for screening differentially expressed proteins of low abundance in serum. By 2D image analysis and MALDI-TOF-MS identification, twenty-three protein spots were differentially expressed. Three of them were further validated in the sera using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Our research demonstrates that HSP70, sICAM-1 and SAA, confirmed with ELISA at sera and immunohistochemistry, are potential NPC metastasis-specific serum biomarkers which may be of great underlying significance in clinical detection and management of NPC

Seismic stratigraphy of the central South China Sea basin and implications for neotectonics

Coring/logging data and physical property measurements from International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 349 are integrated with, and correlated to, reflection seismic data to map seismic sequence boundaries and facies of the central basin and neighboring regions of the South China Sea. First-order sequence boundaries are interpreted, which are Oligocene/Miocene, middle Miocene/late Miocene, Miocene/Pliocene, and Pliocene/Pleistocene boundaries. A characteristic early Pleistocene strong reflector is also identified, which marks the top of extensive carbonate-rich deposition in the southern East and Southwest Subbasins. The fossil spreading ridge and the boundary between the East and Southwest Subbasins acted as major sedimentary barriers, across which seismic facies changes sharply and cannot be easily correlated. The sharp seismic facies change along the Miocene-Pliocene boundary indicates that a dramatic regional tectonostratigraphic event occurred at about 5 Ma, coeval with the onsets of uplift of Taiwan and accelerated subsidence and transgression in the northern margin. The depocenter or the area of the highest sedimentation rate switched from the northern East Subbasin during the Miocene to the Southwest Subbasin and the area close to the fossil ridge in the southern East Subbasin in the Pleistocene. The most active faulting and vertical uplifting now occur in the southern East Subbasin, caused most likely by the active and fastest subduction/obduction in the southern segment of the Manila Trench and the collision between the northeast Palawan and the Luzon arc. Timing of magmatic intrusions and seamounts constrained by seismic stratigraphy in the central basin varies and does not show temporal pulsing in their activities.Keywords: South China Sea, Neotectonism, Core-well-seismic integration, Seismic facies, Seismic stratigraphy, IODP Expedition 34