The Knowledge and Attitude to Species Invasion Issue in Greenway Planning: A Study in China

Greenway is important green infrastructure which has ecological, recreational and cultural/historic functions applied in macro(country), medium(region) and micro(city) levels. Generally, greenway is in linear or reticular forms so that it is called “way”. Greenway has a long history in United States and Europe, and many successful projects have been implemented. Conversely, greenway has a very short history in China, because China lately started it urbanization in 1990s with a low degree of urbanization, which had grown from 26.37% in 1991 to 36.22% to 2000. Thus, for a long time, Chinese landscape architects had focuses on the level of urban area and lower ones, rather than higher levels of region and nation. The first paper on greenway in China published on a journal of urban planning, introducing greenway movement in United States [1]. Unfortunately, this paper had not drawn enough attention of landscape architects, because of the disciplinary separation of landscape architecture and urban planning in China. There had been no paper on greenway for 10 years since then. In the new century, greenway starts to be paid attention. In 2001, it was first time when paper on greenway was published in a journal of landscape architecture in China, which introduced the development of greenway in United States [2]. After it, the number of papers on greenway increases. Two groups of papers selected from the 2rd Fobos International Conference on Greenway and Landscape Planning 2010 were published as special topic on the Journal of Chinese Landscape Architecture and the Journal of Landscape Architecture, China, which introduced greenway development and projects in United States and European countries to Chinese professionals, and evoked wide repercussions. Two books on greenway, Greenways: A Guide To Planning Design And Development by Charles Flink (Author), Robert Searns (Author), Loring LaB. Schwarz (Editor) and Ecological Networks And Greenways: Concept, Design, Implementation by Rob H. G. Jongman and Gloria Pungetti (Editor) was published in China in 2009 and 2011, and became “must read” books for greenway planners. As the result of rapid urbanization, a growth from 36% to 50% during the first decade of new century, and rethinking of urban-rural integration, greenway projects starts in China. Though Zhejiang government first made its provincial greenway planning in 2004, Guangdong is the first province who started greenway implementation in 2010. Guangdong plans to build 8770 km province-level greenway by 2015, and it had finished 2372 km province-level greenway and 4978 km city-level greenway by the end of 2012. Stimulated by Guangdong, other provinces or metropolises have started their ambitious plans of greenways, as rapid and colossal as their urbanization plans (Table 1). Moreover, during the project of Supplying Water from South China to North, and the project of historic preservation of the Grant Canal for World Heritage application, national greenways are surmised to be built along the canals and pipelines. Now, greenway planning projects have been a new growth point of landscape architecture industry. Though many landscape architecture firms and contractors benefit from the prosperity of greenway, as well as the users, the speed of greenway movement is worrying. The procedure of decision making is hasty. Many decision makers don’t know what the definition of greenway is, how it functions, whether they need it, but they decide to build it because other provinces or cities have greenway plans. Some even believe greenway is just another name for trial or parkway. The hasty decision also causes irrational plans characterized by oversized scale, fast period, and repeated duplication, which leave insufficient time to study, plan, and implement. Moreover, the greenway planners don’t have enough experience and knowledge so that they underestimate the potential hazards. Therefore, under such a situation, fast and large greenway plans might lead to grave consequences

Synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopic study of ferropericlase at high pressures and temperatures

The electronic spin state of Fe^(2+) in ferropericlase, (Mg_(0.75)Fe_(0.25))O, transitions from a high-spin (spin unpaired) to low-spin (spin paired) state within the Earth’s mid-lower mantle region. To better understand the local electronic environment of high-spin Fe^(2+) ions in ferropericlase near the transition, we obtained synchrotron Mössbauer spectra (SMS) of (Mg_(0.75),Fe_(0.25))O in externally heated and laser-heated diamond anvil cells at relevant high pressures and temperatures. Results show that the quadrupole splitting (QS) of the dominant high-spin Fe^(2+) site decreases with increasing temperature at static high pressure. The QS values at constant pressure are fitted to a temperature-dependent Boltzmann distribution model, which permits estimation of the crystal-field splitting energy (Δ_3) between the d_(xy_ and d_(xz) or d_(zy) orbitals of the t_(2g) states in a distorted octahedral Fe^(2+) site. The derived Δ_3 increases from approximately 36 meV at 1 GPa to 95 meV at 40 GPa, revealing that both high pressure and high temperature have significant effects on the 3d electronic shells of Fe^(2+) in ferropericlase. The SMS spectra collected from the laser-heated diamond cells within the time window of 146 ns also indicate that QS significantly decreases at very high temperatures. A larger splitting of the energy levels at high temperatures and pressures should broaden the spin crossover in ferropericlase because the degeneracy of energy levels is partially lifted. Our results provide information on the hyperfine parameters and crystal-field splitting energy of high-spin Fe^(2+) in ferropericlase at high pressures and temperatures, relevant to the electronic structure of iron in oxides in the deep lower mantle

Short-Wave Near-Infrared Spectrometer for Alcohol Determination and Temperature Correction

A multichannel short-wave near-infrared (SW-NIR) spectrometer module based on charge-coupled device (CCD) detection was designed. The design relied on a tungsten lamp enhanced by light emitting diodes, a fixed grating monochromator and a linear CCD array. The main advantages were high optical resolution and an optimized signal-to-noise ratio (0.24 nm and 500, resp.) in the whole wavelength range of 650 to 1100 nm. An application to alcohol determination using partial least squares calibration and the temperature correction was presented. It was found that the direct transfer method had significant systematic prediction errors due to temperature effect. Generalized least squares weighting (GLSW) method was utilized for temperature correction. After recalibration, the RMSEP found for the 25°C model was 0.53% v/v and errors of the same order of magnitude were obtained at other temperatures (15, 35 and 40°C). And an r2 better than 0.99 was achieved for each validation set. The possibility and accuracy of using the miniature SW-NIR spectrometer and GLSW transfer calibration method for alcohol determination at different temperatures were proven. And the analysis procedure was simple and fast, allowing a strict control of alcohol content in the wine industry

Molecular subgroups of adult medulloblastoma: a long-term single-institution study

Background Recent transcriptomic approaches have demonstrated that there are at least 4 distinct subgroups in medulloblastoma (MB); however, survival studies of molecular subgroups in adult MB have been inconclusive because of small sample sizes. The aim of this study is to investigate the molecular subgroups in adult MB and identify their clinical and prognostic implications in a large, single-institution cohort. Methods We determined gene expression profiles for 13 primary adult MBs. Bioinformatics tools were used to establish distinct molecular subgroups based on the most informative genes in the dataset. Immunohistochemistry with subgroup-specific antibodies was then used for validation within an independent cohort of 201 formalin-fixed MB tumors, in conjunction with a systematic analysis of clinical and histological characteristics. Results Three distinct molecular variants of adult MB were identified: the SHH, WNT, and group 4 subgroups. Validation of these subgroups in the 201-tumor cohort by immunohistochemistry identified significant differences in subgroup-specific demographics, histology, and metastatic status. The SHH subgroup accounted for the majority of the tumors (62%), followed by the group 4 subgroup (28%) and the WNT subgroup (10%). Group 4 tumors had significantly worse progression-free and overall survival compared with tumors of the other molecular subtypes. Conclusions We have identified 3 subgroups of adult MB, characterized by distinct expression profiles, clinical features, pathological features, and prognosis. Clinical variables incorporated with molecular subgroup are more significantly informative for predicting adult patient outcome

Magmatic record of India-Asia collision

This work was financially co-supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB03010301) and other Chinese funding agencies (Project 973: 2011CB403102 and 2015CB452604; NSFC projects: 41225006, 41273044, and 41472061).New geochronological and geochemical data on magmatic activity from the India-Asia collision zone enables recognition of a distinct magmatic flare-up event that we ascribe to slab breakoff. This tie-point in the collisional record can be used to back-date to the time of initial impingement of the Indian continent with the Asian margin. Continental arc magmatism in southern Tibet during 80-40 Ma migrated from south to north and then back to south with significant mantle input at 70-43 Ma. A pronounced flare up in magmatic intensity (including ignimbrite and mafic rock) at ca. 52-51 Ma corresponds to a sudden decrease in the India-Asia convergence rate. Geological and geochemical data are consistent with mantle input controlled by slab rollback from ca. 70 Ma and slab breakoff at ca. 53 Ma. We propose that the slowdown of the Indian plate at ca. 51 Ma is largely the consequence of slab breakoff of the subducting Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere, rather than the onset of the India-Asia collision as traditionally interpreted, implying that the initial India-Asia collision commenced earlier, likely at ca. 55 Ma.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Experimental Decoy Quantum Key Distribution Up To 130KM Fiber

Decoy State Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), being capable of beating PNS attack and uncon- ditionally secure, have become an attractive one recently. But, in many QKD systems, disturbances of transmission channel make quantum bit error rate (QBER) increase which limits both security distance and key bit rate of real-life decoy state QKD systems. We demonstrate the two-intensity decoy QKD with one-way Faraday-Michelson phase modulation system, which is free of channel dis- turbance and keeps interference fringe visibility (99%) long period, near 130KM single mode optical fiber in telecom (1550 nm) wavelength. This is longest distance fiber decoy state QKD system based on two intensity protocol.Comment: 4 pages, 2figure