Economic Valuation of Black-faced Spoonbill Conservation in Macao

The general objective of this study is to estimate the economic benefits of black-faced Spoonbill conservation in Macao based on public preferences. The specific objectives are as follows to investigate the public's awareness, attitudes and behaviors regarding black-faced Spoonbill conservation in Macao; to estimate the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for the conservation of black-faced Spoonbills in Macao; to identify the factors that affect the WTP; to determine the cost and benefits of a conservation program for black-faced Spoonbills in Macao, to recommend potential funding mechanisms; to run an experiment on hypothetical and real WTP in Macao to validate the large scale CVM study.economic valuation, Macao

Area theorem and univalence criterion

In this note we investigate the Prawitz's area theorem and establish a new univalence criterion for the locally univalent analytic functions in the unit disk, which generalizes some related results of Aharonov [Duke Math. J., 36(1969), 599-604].Comment: 14 page

Generalized Ces\`aro operators on Dirichlet-type spaces

In this note, we introduce and study a new kind of generalized Ces\`aro operators $\mathcal{C}_{\mu}$, induced by a positive Borel measure $\mu$ on $[0, 1)$, between the Dirichlet-type spaces. We characterize the measures $\mu$ for which $\mathcal{C}_{\mu}$ is bounded (compact) from one Dirichlet-type space $\mathcal{D}_{\alpha}$ into another one $\mathcal{D}_{\beta}$.Comment: Accepted by Acta Mathematica Scienti

Constraining Middle Atmospheric Moisture in GEOS-5 Using EOS-MLS Observations

Middle atmospheric water vapor plays an important role in climate and atmospheric chemistry. In the middle atmosphere, water vapor, after ozone and carbon dioxide, is an important radiatively active gas that impacts climate forcing and the energy balance. It is also the source of the hydroxyl radical (OH) whose abundances affect ozone and other constituents. The abundance of water vapor in the middle atmosphere is determined by upward transport of dehydrated air through the tropical tropopause layer, by the middle atmospheric circulation, production by the photolysis of methane (CH4), and other physical and chemical processes in the stratosphere and mesosphere. The Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis with GEOS-5 did not assimilate any moisture observations in the middle atmosphere. The plan is to use such observations, available sporadically from research satellites, in future GEOS-5 reanalyses. An overview will be provided of the progress to date with assimilating the EOS-Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) moisture retrievals, alongside ozone and temperature, into GEOS-5. Initial results demonstrate that the MLS observations can significantly improve the middle atmospheric moisture field in GEOS-5, although this result depends on introducing a physically meaningful representation of background error covariances for middle atmospheric moisture into the system. High-resolution features in the new moisture field will be examined, and their relationships with ozone, in a two-year assimilation experiment with GEOS-5. Discussion will focus on how Aura MLS moisture observations benefit the analyses

Study on Influence of Residual Magnetite in Panzhihua Ilmenite Flotation

AbstractThe main utilization mode of titano-magnetite was firstly separating titano-magnetite by low intensity magnetic separation, then concentrating ilmenite from magnetic separation tailings. Magnetic separation tailings mainly contained ilmenite, but there was still a small quantity of titano-magnetite. Magnetic agglomeration of titanomagnetite occured because of existentence of remanence and pre-flotation grinding. It was found that titanomagnetite presented more optimal floatability than ilmenite. Therefore some gangues wrapped by titano-magnetite went into the floatation concentrate. In a word, titano-magnetite had negative effect on ilmenite floatation by decreasing grade and recovery of concentrate and increasing reagent consumption. The pre-removal of residual titano-magnetite before cleaning ilmenite from magnetic separation tailings by floatation was essential

Associations of Muscle Mass and Strength with All-Cause Mortality among US Older Adults

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies suggested that muscle mass and muscle strength may independently or synergistically affect aging-related health outcomes in older adults; however, prospective data on mortality in the general population are sparse. METHODS: We aimed to prospectively examine individual and joint associations of low muscle mass and low muscle strength with all-cause mortality in a nationally representative sample. This study included 4449 participants age 50 yr and older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2002 with public use 2011 linked mortality files. Weighted multivariable logistic regression models were adjusted for age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol use, education, leisure time physical activity, sedentary time, and comorbid diseases. RESULTS: Overall, the prevalence of low muscle mass was 23.1% defined by appendicular lean mass (ALM) and 17.0% defined by ALM/BMI, and the prevalence of low muscle strength was 19.4%. In the joint analyses, all-cause mortality was significantly higher among individuals with low muscle strength, whether they had low muscle mass (odds ratio [OR], 2.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-3.24 for ALM; OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.64-3.88 for ALM/BMI) or not (OR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.53-4.62 for ALM; OR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.29-3.64 for ALM/BMI). In addition, the significant associations between low muscle strength and all-cause mortality persisted across different levels of metabolic syndrome, sedentary time, and LTPA. CONCLUSIONS: Low muscle strength was independently associated with elevated risk of all-cause mortality, regardless of muscle mass, metabolic syndrome, sedentary time, or LTPA among US older adults, indicating the importance of muscle strength in predicting aging-related health outcomes in older adults

Assimilating GCOM-W1 AMSR2 and TRMM TMI Radiance Data in GEOS Analysis and Reanalysis

The Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) observed the Earth in lower latitudes between 1997 - 2015. Its conical-scan radiometer has nine channels and measured microwave radiances between 10 and 89 GHz. These data provide information on atmospheric temperature, humidity, clouds, precipitation, as well as sea surface temperature. Radiance data from other microwave radiometers such as Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) onboard various Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites are assimilated in clear-sky conditions in the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and its version 2 (MERRA-2) data sets at the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The GMAO's Hybrid 4D-EnVar-based Atmospheric Data Assimilation System (ADAS) is enhanced with an all-sky microwave radiance data assimilation capability in the real-time GEOS-Forward Processing (FP) system. Currently, the FP system assimilates Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) microwave imager (GMI) radiance data utilizing this all-sky capability, and is being extended to use more all-sky data from other microwave radiometers. In this presentation, we will focus on impacts of all-sky TMI radiance data on GEOS analyses of atmospheric moisture, precipitation and other fields, and discuss their applications for future GEOS reanalyses