MAINTENANCE MECHANISMS OF THE STATIONARY WAVE ANOMALY TELECONNECTION PATTERNS IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERE

The spatial structure and temporal variations of the stationary wave anomalies in the upper troposphere during the Northern Hemisphere winter are studied with the ECMWF data of 1980— 1988 and PCA(principal component analysis)method.The vorticity source anomalies of the main teleconnection patterns are analyzed,and their roles in the maintenance of the stationary wave anomaly teleconnection patterns are investigated with the harotropic model.The results show that the anomalies of transient vorticity flux convergences tend to cancel the anomaly of vorticity sources generated by divergent winds.The stationary wave anomaly patterns caused by divergent wind anomalies only are very different from observations.However,if the anomalous transient vorticity flux convergences are also included in the vorticity sources,the simulated patterns will be greatly improved.

Plant diversity and its maintenance in Populus euphratica riparian forests in the Ejina Oasis,China

The dynamic environments in riparian zones support a variety of life-history strategies, which constitute a fundamental mechanism for development and maintenance of biodiversity in riparian forest ecosystems. To demonstrate the effect of life-history strategies on biodiversity, we investigated community-level diversity and its relationship to environmental variability in the riparian Populus euphratica forests of the Ejina Oasis. Communities were divided into 14 associations on the basis of their species impor- tance values. The Simpson＇s index, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou＇s evenness index and the regional Whittaker＇s index were applied to calculate community diversity. An ordination of the sample plots was carried out by correspondence analysis （CA）. Biodiversity was relatively low across the entire study area, but there was high community diversity （flw = 8.09） due to the spatial heterogeneity of habitats in different plots. In addition, we investigated the relationship between biodiversity and several environmental factors, such as water availability, community components and soil conditions. We conclude that the heterogeneity of soil and water availability drives community diversity patterns in riparian zones and that community-level diversity favors the maintenance of species diversity in the P euphratica forests in the Ejina Oasis.

Dynamic changes of telomeric restriction fragment (TRF) lengths in cells during the developmental process from embryos to seedlings and a comparison with the embryonal calli in Ginkgo biloba L.

Telomeres are the structures that locate at the terminals of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. They can play essential roles in many cellular processes. The terminal location ofArabidopsis-type TTTAGGG tandem repeats were thought to be highly conserved. The terminal location of Ginkgo biloba L. consisting of TTTAGGG tandem repeats, were confirmed by Bal31 exonuclease degradation and Southern blotting. By comparing telomeric restriction fragment （TRF） lengths at different developmental stages from embryos to seedlings, a fluctuant tendency towards variation was found in these samples. The TRF length of embryos was also compared with that of embryonal calli and an upward trend was discovered in callus culture. The results suggest that there should be a telomerase mechanism or/and ALT mechanism for the maintenance of telomere length.

Robustness evaluation of cutting tool maintenance planning for soft ground tunneling projects

Tunnel boring machines require extensive maintenance and inspection effort to provide a high availability.The cutting tools of the cutting wheel must be changed timely upon reaching a critical condition.While one possible maintenance strategy is to change tools only when it is absolutely necessary,tools can also be changed preventively to avoid further damages.Such different maintenance strategies influence the maintenance duration and the overall project performance.However,determine downtime related to a particular mainte-nance strategy is still a challenging task.This paper shows an analysis of the robustness to achieve the planned project performance of a maintenance strategy considering uncertainties of wear behavior of the cutting tools.A simulation based analysis is presented,imple-menting an empirical wear prediction model.Different strategies of maintenance planning are compared by performing a parameter vari-ation study including Monte-Carlo simulations.The maintenance costs are calculated and evaluated with respect to their robustness.Finally,an improved and robust maintenance strategy has been determined.