S. E. M. analysis of quartz sand grains from selected Hong Kong and Chinese littoral environments

This pilot study attempts to demonstrate some underlying scanning electron microscopy themes of quartz grain surface textures. A variety of textural patterns and individual features are described for grains selected from various littoral environments. An attempt was made to differentiate samples on surface textures alone, but limitations of using this technique in sedimentological isolation were apparent. Statistical analysis of checklist data and photographic evidence revealed some of the more important feature combinations used in environmental diagnosis. The use of discriminant analysis provided quantitative sample separation.

A Line Complex-Based Evolutionary Algorithm for Many-Objective Optimization

In solving many-objective optimization problems(MaO Ps),existing nondominated sorting-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithms suffer from the fast loss of selection pressure.Most candidate solutions become nondominated during the evolutionary process,thus leading to the failure of producing offspring toward Pareto-optimal front with diversity.Can we find a more effective way to select nondominated solutions and resolve this issue?To answer this critical question,this work proposes to evolve solutions through line complex rather than solution points in Euclidean space.First,Plücker coordinates are used to project solution points to line complex composed of position vectors and momentum ones.Besides position vectors of the solution points,momentum vectors are used to extend the comparability of nondominated solutions and enhance selection pressure.Then,a new distance function designed for high-dimensional space is proposed to replace Euclidean distance as a more effective distancebased estimator.Based on them,a novel many-objective evolutionary algorithm(MaOEA)is proposed by integrating a line complex-based environmental selection strategy into the NSGAⅢframework.The proposed algorithm is compared with the state of the art on widely used benchmark problems with up to 15 objectives.Experimental results demonstrate its superior competitiveness in solving MaOPs.

A procedure to assess the spatial variability in the importance of abiotic factors affecting distributions： the case of world freshwater fishes

Understanding the factors shaping species＇ distributions is a key longstanding topic in ecology with unresolved issues. The aims were to test whether the relative contribution of abiotic factors that set the geographical range of freshwater fish species may vary spatially and/or may depend on the geographical extent that is being considered. The relative contribution of factors, to discriminate between the conditions prevailing in the area where the species is present and those existing in the considered extent, was estimated with the instability index included in the R pack- age SPEDInstabR. We used 3 different extent sizes： 1） each river basin where the species is present （local）; 2） all river basins where the species is present （regional）; and 3） the whole Earth （global）. We used a data set of 16,543 freshwater fish species with a total of 845,764 geographical records, together with bioclimatic and topographic variables. Factors associated with tempera- ture and altitude show the highest relative contribution to explain the distribution of freshwater fishes at the smaller considered extent. Altitude and a mix of factors associated with temperature and precipitation were more important when using the regional extent. Factors associated with precipitation show the highest contribution when using the global extent. There was also spatial variability in the importance of factors, both between species and within species and from region to region. Factors associated with precipitation show a clear latitudinal trend of decreasing in importance toward the equator.

Metal separations of interest to the Chinese metallurgical industry

IBC Advanced Technologies’ Molecular Recognition Technology(MRT) SuperLig products selectively and rapidly bind with target species enabling their selective removal from solutions.The MRT process can produce a high purity separation product of maximum added value at a competitive cost.SuperLig products have high selectivity for many target species which can include metal ions,anions,and neutral molecules.In operation,the SuperLig product is first placed in a packed column.A solution containing a mixture of the target species and other chemical species is then passed through the column.The target species is removed selectively by the SuperLig product,the column is washed to remove residual feed solution,and the target species is recovered by a minimal quantity of eluent.The result is a pure and concentrated species that can be kept for its value or disposed of safely.The process is environmentally and ecologically friendly with no organic solvents being used.This paper provides a review of some examples of applications of MRT to separations of interest to the Chinese metallurgical industry.Included are several applications of MRT,including Pd separations from Pt metal refinery streams and low-grade spent catalyst wastes,Rh recovery from spent auto catalyst and other feeds,Re removal from selected impurity ions,Cd removal from Co electrolyte,Bi removal from Cu electrolyte,In and Ge separations from difficult matrices,and removal of bivalent first transition series and other metal ions from acid mine drainage(Berkeley Pit,Montana).Finally,the potential application of MRT to separations involving the recovery of rare earth metals and Li from low-level waste solutions and end-of-life products is discussed.