Groundwater Diffuse Recharge and its Response to Climate Changes in Semi-Arid Northwestern China

Understanding the processes and rates of groundwater recharge in arid and semi-arid areas is crucial for utilizing and managing groundwater resources sustainably. We obtained three chloride profiles of the unsaturated-zone in the desert/loess transition zone of northwestern China and reconstructed the groundwater recharge variations over the last 11, 21, and 37 years, respectively, using the generalized chloride mass balance (GCMB) method. The average recharge rates were 43.7, 43.5, and 45.1 mm yr-1, respectively, which are similar to those evaluated by the chloride mass balance (CMB) or GCMB methods in other semi-arid regions. The results indicate that the annual recharge rates were not in complete linear proportion to the corresponding annual precipitations, although both exhibited descending tendencies on the whole. Comparisons between the daily precipitation aggregate at different intensity and recharge rates reveal that the occurrence of relatively heavy daily precipitation per year may contribute to such nonlinearity between annual precipitation and recharge. The possible influences of vegetation cover alterations following precipitation change cannot be excluded as well. The approximately negative correlation between the average annual recharge and temperature suggests that changes in temperature have had significant influences on recharge

Simulation for non-point source pollution based on QUAL2E in the Jinghe River, Shaanxi Province, China

Wang, J., Huo, A., Hu, A., Zhang, X., & Wu, Y. (March-April, 2017). Simulation for non-point source pollution based on QUAL2E in the Jinghe River, Shaanxi Province, China. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 8(2), 117-126. Water pollution in river basins is significantly influenced by point-source and non-point-source pollutants. Compared with point-source pollutants, the identification and quantification of non-point-source pollutants are critical but difficult issues in water environmental pollution studies. The Jinghe River is one of the main tributaries of the Weihe River. However, the non-point-source pollution of this river is not well understood. In order to analyze the sources of pointand non-point loads to river water, the river water quality model QUAL2E and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) & Factor Analysis (FA) were applied simultaneously to calculate the point- and non-point-source loads of ammonia nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen, respectively, in dry and wet seasons from 2002 to 2007. The results show that NO3 - -N can be associated with point-source pollution, such as domestic sewage in dry seasons, but non-point-source pollution generated by precipitation in wet seasons. NH4 +-N can be associated with point-source pollution throughout the year. The methods applied in this research provide reliable results on non-point-source pollution caused by storm runoff

Facile and Low-Waste Self-Digitization of Samples by Oil-Triggered, Template-Confined Dewetting on a Networked Microwell Array

In this work, we present a simple, straightforward, and robust method for spontaneously digitizing samples into an array of dis-crete volumes. The method is based on an oil-triggered, template-confined dewetting phenomenon. To realize the dewetting-induced sample digitization, an aqueous sample is firstly infused into a networked microwell array (NMA) through a predegassing-based self-pumping mechanism, and then an immiscible oil phase is applied over the surface of NMA chip to induce the templated dewetting. Due to a periodic interfacial tension heterogeneity, such dewetting ruptures the sample at the thinnest parts (i.e., con-nection channels) and spontaneously splits the sample into droplets in individual microwells. Without requiring any complex pump-ing or valving systems, this method can discretize a sample into tens of thousands of addressable droplets in a matter of minutes with nearly 98% usage. To demonstrate the utility and universality of this self-digitization method, we exploited it to discretize samples into 40,233 wells for digital PCR assay, digital quantification of bacteria, and self-assembly of spherical colloidal photonic crystals. We believe this facile technique will be useful in a broad range of applications where partitioning of samples into a large number of small individual volumes is required

Groundwater Diffuse Recharge and its Response to Climate Changes inSemi-Arid Northwestern China

Understanding the processes and rates of groundwater recharge in arid and semi-arid areas is crucial for utilizing and managing groundwater resources sustainably. We obtained three chloride profiles of the unsaturated-zone in the desert/loess transition zone of northwestern China and reconstructed the groundwater recharge variations over the last 11, 21, and 37 years, respectively, using the generalized chloride mass balance (GCMB) method. The average recharge rates were 43.7, 43.5, and 45.1 mm yr-1, respectively, which are similar to those evaluated by the chloride mass balance (CMB) or GCMB methods in other semi-arid regions. The results indicate that the annual recharge rates were not in complete linear proportion to the corresponding annual precipitations, although both exhibited descending tendencies on the whole. Comparisons between the daily precipitation aggregate at different intensity and recharge rates reveal that the occurrence of relatively heavy daily precipitation per year may contribute to such nonlinearity between annual precipitation and recharge. The possible influences of vegetation cover alterations following precipitation change cannot be excluded as well. The approximately negative correlation between the average annual recharge and temperature suggests that changes in temperature have had significant influences on recharge.</p

A Novel Dry Selective Isotropic Atomic Layer Etching of SiGe for Manufacturing Vertical Nanowire Array with Diameter Less than 20 nm

Semiconductor nanowires have great application prospects in field effect transistors and sensors. In this study, the process and challenges of manufacturing vertical SiGe/Si nanowire array by using the conventional lithography and novel dry atomic layer etching technology. The final results demonstrate that vertical nanowires with a diameter less than 20 nm can be obtained. The diameter of nanowires is adjustable with an accuracy error less than 0.3 nm. This technology provides a new way for advanced 3D transistors and sensors