Decoupling coefficients of dilatational wave for Biot's dynamic equation and its Green's functions in frequency domain

Green's functions for Biot's dynamic equation in the frequency domain can be a highly useful tool for the investigation of dynamic responses of a saturated porous medium. Its applications are found in soil dynamics, seismology, earthquake engineering,rock mechanics, geophysics, and acoustics. However, the mathematical work for deriving it can be daunting. Green's functions have been presented utilizing an analogy between the dynamic thermoelasticity and the dynamic poroelasticity in the frequency domain using the u-p formulation. In this work, a special term "decoupling coefficient" for the decomposition of the fast and slow dilatational waves is proposed and expressed to present a new methodology for deriving the poroelastodynamic Green's functions. The correctness of the solution is demonstrated by numerically comparing the current solution with Cheng's previous solution. The separation of the two waves in the present methodology allows the more accurate evaluation of Green's functions, particularly the solution of the slow dilatational wave. This can be advantageous for the numerical implementation of the boundary element method(BEM) and other applications.

Coping with extremes:lowered myocardial phosphofructokinase activities and glucose content but increased fatty acids content in highland Eurasian Tree Sparrows

Background:Efficient and selective utilization of metabolic substrates is one of the key strategies in high-altitude animals to cope with hypoxia and hypothermia.Previous findings have shown that the energy substrate utilization of highland animals varies with evolutionary history and phylogeny.The heart is a proxy for the cardiopulmonary system,and the metabolic substrate utilization in the myocardium is also under the strong selective pressure of chronically hypoxic and hypothermic environments.However,little information is available on the physiological adjustments in relation to metabolic substrate utilization in the myocardium for coping with high-altitude environments.Methods:We compared the metabolic enzyme activities,including hexokinase(HK),phosphofructokinase(PFK),pyruvate kinase(PK),citrate synthase(CS),carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1(CPT-1),lactic dehydrogenase(LDH),and creatine kinase(CK),and metabolic substrate contents including glucose(Glu),triglyceride(TG),and free fatty acid(FFA)in the myocardium of a typical human commensal species,Eurasian Tree Sparrows(Passer montanus)between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(the QTP,3230 m)and low altitude population(Shijiazhuang,80 m),and between sexes.Results:Among the seven metabolic enzymes and three substrates investigated,we identified no significant differences in PK,CPT-1,HK,CS,LDH,and CK activities and TG content of the myocardium between high and low altitude populations.However,the QTP sparrows had significantly lower Glu content and PFK activities but higher FFA content relative to their lowland counterparts.In addition,male sparrows had higher myocardial HK and CS activities relative to females,independent of altitude.Conclusions:Our results showed that the QTP sparrows elevated fatty acid utilization rather than glucose preference in the myocardium relative to lowland counterpart,which contributes to uncovering both the physiological adjustments for adapting to the extreme conditions of the QTP,intraspecifically.

青藏高原植被结构变化反映环境变迁

草地植被结构对于其生产和生态功能至关重要,但大尺度信息严重匮乏.本研究结合多源遥感数据和深度学习,在区域尺度上厘清了青藏高原高寒草地基于群系的植物群落结构空间格局,并比较了其历史变化.过去40年,高寒草甸在高寒草地中的比例从50%上升到69%,反映了变暖变湿的环境变化.此外,高寒草甸和高寒草原中高山嵩草草甸和紫花针茅草原的优势度分别增强到76%和92%.其中,气候因子驱动了紫花针茅草原近些年的分布;高山嵩草草甸近些年的分布则并非完全由气候驱动,人类活动可能起重要作用.本研究首次探索了区域尺度植被结构特征与历史变化,为认识青藏高原草地变化的驱动力及其空间异质性提供了新视角.

Water resource conservation promotes synergy between economy and environment in China’s northern drylands

Water resource availability is the major limiting factor for sustainable development in drylands.Climate change intensifies the conflicting water demands between people and the environment and highlights the importance of effective water resource management for achieving a balance between economic development and environmental protection.In 2008,Inner Mongolia,typical dryland in northern China,proposed strict regulations on water exploitation and utilization aimed at achieving sustainable development.Our study is the first to investigate the effectiveness and performance of these long-standing water conservation regulations.Our analyses found that the regulations drove industrial transformation,evidenced by the decreasing proportion of environmentally harmful industries such as coal and steel,and the increasing proportion of tertiary industries(especially tourism).Following industrial transformation,economic development decoupled from industrial water consumption and subsequently led to reduced negative environmental impacts.Based on these results,adaptive strategies were developed for 12 cities by revealing and integrating their development pathways and relative status in achieving sustainable development.Integration and cooperation between cities were proposed,e.g.,a water trade agreement between eastern Inner Mongolia(an economically underdeveloped region with relatively abundant water resources)and central Inner Mongolia(an economically developed region with high water stress).Such an agreement may enable the holistic achievement of sustainable development across regions.By integrating the findings of our research,our study presents a reproducible framework for water-management-based sustainable development strategies in drylands.