The elevated supersaturation of total dissolved gas (TDG) downstream of a high-dam spill has deleterious effects on fish in a large range. A one-dimensional (l-D) longitudinal model is optimal for the prediction o...The elevated supersaturation of total dissolved gas (TDG) downstream of a high-dam spill has deleterious effects on fish in a large range. A one-dimensional (l-D) longitudinal model is optimal for the prediction of supersaturated TDG dissipation over a long distance. The key issue of the model is to determine the dissipation coefficient accurately. In agreement with field observations and experiment data, dimensional analysis and regression were performed to propose a formula for estimating the dissipation coefficient of supersaturated TDG in various rivers and reservoirs, and it involves the effects of the turbulence intensity, the hydro-pressure and the solid-liquid interface. The friction velocity, water depth, hydraulic radius and Froude number are independent variables in the formula which are easy to determine in practical applications. The 1-D longitudinal model is implemented to calculate the dissipation of TDG in a reach of the Jinsha River. Good agreement is found between the calculated results and field data for both the dissipation coefficient and the dissipation process.展开更多
Microchannel reactors are commonly used in micro-chemical technology. The performance of microreactors is greatly affected by the velocity field in the microchannel. The flow field is disturbed by the cylindrical etch...Microchannel reactors are commonly used in micro-chemical technology. The performance of microreactors is greatly affected by the velocity field in the microchannel. The flow field is disturbed by the cylindrical etch holes caused by air dust on the microchannel surface during its processing procedure. In this approach, a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is put forward to study the effect of etch holes on flow field. The influenced area of single or two concave etch holes is studied for the case of laminar flow. The hole diameter, the Reynolds number and the distance between the center of holes are found to have influences on the flow field. Numerical results indicate that the effects of etch hole on the flow field should be evaluated and the way of choosing the economic class of cleanroom for microreactor manufacture is presented.展开更多
The ecotone, the spatial transition zone between two vegetation communities, is claimed to have more species than the adjoining communities. However, empirical studies do not always confirm higher richness at the ecot...The ecotone, the spatial transition zone between two vegetation communities, is claimed to have more species than the adjoining communities. However, empirical studies do not always confirm higher richness at the ecotone. The ecotone position and structure are dynamic over time and space and it is driven by the changes in climate, land use or their interaction. In this context, we assessed the forest- grassland ecotone of temperate mountains in central Nepal by i) comparing species composition and richness across the ecotone, ii) analyzing if the forestgrassland ecotone is shifting towards the grassland center by colonizing them with trees, and iii) discussing the consequence of changed disturbance regime in the dynamics of this ecotone and the surrounding grasslands. We analyzed vegetation data sampled from belt transects laid across the forest- grassland ecotone in semi-natural grassland patches. Vegetation data consisting of species richness and composition, and size structure and regeneration of the two most dominant tree species, namely Rhododendron arboreum and Abies spectabilis, from the transects, were used to analyze the trend of the forest-grassland ecotone. Forest and grasslands were different in terms of floristic composition and diversity. Vascular plant speciesrichness linearly increased while moving from forest interior to grassland center. Spatial pattern of tree size structure and regeneration infers that forest boundary is advancing towards the grasslands at the expense of the grassland area, and tree establishment in the grasslands is part of a suceessional process. Temporally, tree establishment in grasslands started following the gradual decline in disturbance. We argue that local processes in terms of changed land use may best explain the phenomenon of ecotone shift and consequent forest expansion in these grasslands. We underpin the need for further research on the mechanism, rate and spatial extent of ecotone shift by using advaneed tools to understand the process indepth.展开更多
The utilization of biomimicry of bacterial foraging strategy was considered to develop an adaptive control strategy for mobile robot, and a bacterial foraging approach was proposed for robot path planning. In the prop...The utilization of biomimicry of bacterial foraging strategy was considered to develop an adaptive control strategy for mobile robot, and a bacterial foraging approach was proposed for robot path planning. In the proposed model, robot that mimics the behavior of bacteria is able to determine an optimal collision-free path between a start and a target point in the environment surrounded by obstacles. In the simulation, two test scenarios of static environment with different number obstacles were adopted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Simulation results show that the robot which reflects the bacterial foraging behavior can adapt to complex environments in the planned trajectories with both satisfactory accuracy and stability.展开更多
Research on information spillover effects between financial markets remains active in the economic community. A Granger-type model has recently been used to investigate the spillover between London Metal Exchange(LME)...Research on information spillover effects between financial markets remains active in the economic community. A Granger-type model has recently been used to investigate the spillover between London Metal Exchange(LME) and Shanghai Futures Exchange(SHFE) ,however,possible correlation between the future price and return on different time scales have been ignored. In this paper,wavelet multiresolution decomposition is used to investigate the spillover effects of copper future returns between the two markets. The daily return time series are decomposed on 2n(n=1,…,6) frequency bands through wavelet mul-tiresolution analysis. The correlation between the two markets is studied with decomposed data. It is shown that high frequency detail components represent much more energy than low-frequency smooth components. The relation between copper future daily returns in LME and that in SHFE are different on different time scales. The fluctuations of the copper future daily returns in LME have large effect on that in SHFE in 32-day scale,but small effect in high frequency scales. It also has evidence that strong effects exist between LME and SHFE for monthly responses of the copper futures but not for daily responses.展开更多
Generally, the sequence decision of the development and utilization of Chinese mineral resources is based on national and provincial overall plan of the mineral resources. Such plan usually cannot reflect the relative...Generally, the sequence decision of the development and utilization of Chinese mineral resources is based on national and provincial overall plan of the mineral resources. Such plan usually cannot reflect the relative size of the suitability of the development and utilization of mineral resources. To solve the problem, the paper has selected the gift condition, the market condition, the technological condition,socio-economic condition and environmental condition as the starting-points to analyze the influential factors of the priority-sequence of mineral resources' development and utilization. The above 5 conditions are further specified into 9 evaluative indicators to establish an evaluation indicator system. At last,we propose a decision model of the priority sequence based on grey relational analysis method, and figure out the observation objects by the suitability index of development. Finally, the mineral resources of a certain province in China were analyzed as an example. The calculation results indicate that silver(2.0057), coal(1.9955), zinc(1.9442), cement limestone(1.9077), solvent limestone(1.5624) and other minerals in the province are suitable for development and utilization.展开更多
Based on the Tang-Othmer Ca^2+ model, the drift behavior of intracellular Ca^2+ spiral waves under the influence of weak electric field is investigated. Numerical results show that the dependence of drift velocity o...Based on the Tang-Othmer Ca^2+ model, the drift behavior of intracellular Ca^2+ spiral waves under the influence of weak electric field is investigated. Numerical results show that the dependence of drift velocity of the spiral tip on dc electric field is similar to experimental observations in BZ system. When an ac electric field is applied, interesting resonant-drift phenomenon is observed with ω=2ω0. All results can be explained analytically using a proximate method.展开更多
This investigation on the seasonal trend of fruit markets in Changsha indicated that the fruit varieties on the market in Changsha were abundant,up to 49 varieties;seasonal fresh fruits were continuously provided arou...This investigation on the seasonal trend of fruit markets in Changsha indicated that the fruit varieties on the market in Changsha were abundant,up to 49 varieties;seasonal fresh fruits were continuously provided around the year;most fruits were domestic produce from all over the country,and about 3996 of the varieties were imported mainly from southeast Asia,America,New Zealand and Brazil;the imported fruits and a few kinds of domestic fruits were higher in the quality grades than most domestic fruits,which accounted for approximately half of the total fruit volume;and fruit prices varied markedly with fruit varieties,quality grades and time of marketing.In a word,the Hunan fruit industry must increase fruit quality and diversity in order to achieve a favourable position in the strong international competition.展开更多
Apart from spontaneous market force, the development of industrial clusters is indispensable from government role in that their development entails the guidance and support from local governments. During the developme...Apart from spontaneous market force, the development of industrial clusters is indispensable from government role in that their development entails the guidance and support from local governments. During the development process, local governments play an extremely important role. On the basis of former research results, the author raises that while developing industrial clusters, local governments should play their important role by formulating a scientific and complete policy supporting system.展开更多
Traditional thermal methods of drying food have often led to loss of flavours, nutrients, vitamins, etc., which encourages non-thermal pretreatments such as osmotic dehydration (OD) and/or high electric field (HEF...Traditional thermal methods of drying food have often led to loss of flavours, nutrients, vitamins, etc., which encourages non-thermal pretreatments such as osmotic dehydration (OD) and/or high electric field (HEF) application to improve the overall product quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of osmotic dehydration (50% sucrose) with high electric field strengths of 0.5 and 1.0 kV/cm as pretreatments on the drying kinetics and mass transfer of green apples during convective drying at 65 ~C and microwave drying at 1 W/g. The added value of the OD and HEF on the drying kinetics, and the effective mass transfer coefficients of the subsequent drying methods were investigated through this research. The efficacy of these pre-treatments was assessed and compared using cell disintegration index, product texture and thus bring forth new correlations between these pre-treatments and the cell disintegration index using dielectric spectroscopy and its effect on the product texture.展开更多
This paper presents an ex-ante assessment of the potential implications of the 2011 Human Rights Watch Report on the South African fruit industry. The report explicitly mentions the lack of compliance with ethical cod...This paper presents an ex-ante assessment of the potential implications of the 2011 Human Rights Watch Report on the South African fruit industry. The report explicitly mentions the lack of compliance with ethical codes within the fruit industry, the prevalence of exploitative conditions for farm workers and diverse human rights abuses in farms. The report recommends import ban on culprits as well as engaging third party auditing to ensure compliance. The high vulnerability of the smallholder farmers justified the special interest in the implications on their reputation and hence their ability to access profitable export markets. Although large-scale commercial farmers are potentially at risk of reputational damage due to the Human Rights Watch Report, they are better able to cope owing to their stronger capital base. The opinions of knowledgeable industry insiders were therefore elicited through qualitative research that used a five-point Likert scale to assess perceptions about market access. On the basis of the results, it is probable that the report will lead to improved working conditions for farm workers, improved concern for consumers' health, and enforcement of legislation by the govemment. The negative implications involve increased competition, possibility of retailers' rationalising their supply base and increased evaluation that ends at the farm gate. There is also high probability of increased marginalisation of the already disadvantaged smallholder suppliers, and possible increase in costs of auditing and accreditation for the entire fruit industry. Thus, active collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure the competitiveness of the fruit industry is inevitable.展开更多
This paper presents an empirical analysis of the effect that participation in an agricultural cooperative has on the transaction costs and net income of apple- growing farmers in Shandong province. Compared with indep...This paper presents an empirical analysis of the effect that participation in an agricultural cooperative has on the transaction costs and net income of apple- growing farmers in Shandong province. Compared with independent farming, agricultural cooperatives reduce transaction costs by 48 yuan/mu and increase farmers' net income by 321 yuan/mu. Other factors found to influence transaction costs and farmers'net income were farmer's gender, educational attainment, farm size, the availability of market information, distance to market, and level of government support. Independent farmers" most common explanations for not participating in agricultural cooperatives were that doing so would not reduce transaction costs significantly and that the cooperatives would impede the autonomy of their decision-making.展开更多
基金Projects(51179111,51279115)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(20110181110073)supported by the Doctoral Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China
文摘The elevated supersaturation of total dissolved gas (TDG) downstream of a high-dam spill has deleterious effects on fish in a large range. A one-dimensional (l-D) longitudinal model is optimal for the prediction of supersaturated TDG dissipation over a long distance. The key issue of the model is to determine the dissipation coefficient accurately. In agreement with field observations and experiment data, dimensional analysis and regression were performed to propose a formula for estimating the dissipation coefficient of supersaturated TDG in various rivers and reservoirs, and it involves the effects of the turbulence intensity, the hydro-pressure and the solid-liquid interface. The friction velocity, water depth, hydraulic radius and Froude number are independent variables in the formula which are easy to determine in practical applications. The 1-D longitudinal model is implemented to calculate the dissipation of TDG in a reach of the Jinsha River. Good agreement is found between the calculated results and field data for both the dissipation coefficient and the dissipation process.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20676093).
文摘Microchannel reactors are commonly used in micro-chemical technology. The performance of microreactors is greatly affected by the velocity field in the microchannel. The flow field is disturbed by the cylindrical etch holes caused by air dust on the microchannel surface during its processing procedure. In this approach, a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is put forward to study the effect of etch holes on flow field. The influenced area of single or two concave etch holes is studied for the case of laminar flow. The hole diameter, the Reynolds number and the distance between the center of holes are found to have influences on the flow field. Numerical results indicate that the effects of etch hole on the flow field should be evaluated and the way of choosing the economic class of cleanroom for microreactor manufacture is presented.
基金financial support from the NOrad's Program for MAsters Studies (NOMA) at Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepalfunded by the Norwegian Research Council (190153/V10)Grolle Olsens Legat
文摘The ecotone, the spatial transition zone between two vegetation communities, is claimed to have more species than the adjoining communities. However, empirical studies do not always confirm higher richness at the ecotone. The ecotone position and structure are dynamic over time and space and it is driven by the changes in climate, land use or their interaction. In this context, we assessed the forest- grassland ecotone of temperate mountains in central Nepal by i) comparing species composition and richness across the ecotone, ii) analyzing if the forestgrassland ecotone is shifting towards the grassland center by colonizing them with trees, and iii) discussing the consequence of changed disturbance regime in the dynamics of this ecotone and the surrounding grasslands. We analyzed vegetation data sampled from belt transects laid across the forest- grassland ecotone in semi-natural grassland patches. Vegetation data consisting of species richness and composition, and size structure and regeneration of the two most dominant tree species, namely Rhododendron arboreum and Abies spectabilis, from the transects, were used to analyze the trend of the forest-grassland ecotone. Forest and grasslands were different in terms of floristic composition and diversity. Vascular plant speciesrichness linearly increased while moving from forest interior to grassland center. Spatial pattern of tree size structure and regeneration infers that forest boundary is advancing towards the grasslands at the expense of the grassland area, and tree establishment in the grasslands is part of a suceessional process. Temporally, tree establishment in grasslands started following the gradual decline in disturbance. We argue that local processes in terms of changed land use may best explain the phenomenon of ecotone shift and consequent forest expansion in these grasslands. We underpin the need for further research on the mechanism, rate and spatial extent of ecotone shift by using advaneed tools to understand the process indepth.
基金Project(61173032)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(20090406)supported by the Tianjin Scientific and Technological Development Fund of Higher Education of China
文摘The utilization of biomimicry of bacterial foraging strategy was considered to develop an adaptive control strategy for mobile robot, and a bacterial foraging approach was proposed for robot path planning. In the proposed model, robot that mimics the behavior of bacteria is able to determine an optimal collision-free path between a start and a target point in the environment surrounded by obstacles. In the simulation, two test scenarios of static environment with different number obstacles were adopted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Simulation results show that the robot which reflects the bacterial foraging behavior can adapt to complex environments in the planned trajectories with both satisfactory accuracy and stability.
文摘Research on information spillover effects between financial markets remains active in the economic community. A Granger-type model has recently been used to investigate the spillover between London Metal Exchange(LME) and Shanghai Futures Exchange(SHFE) ,however,possible correlation between the future price and return on different time scales have been ignored. In this paper,wavelet multiresolution decomposition is used to investigate the spillover effects of copper future returns between the two markets. The daily return time series are decomposed on 2n(n=1,…,6) frequency bands through wavelet mul-tiresolution analysis. The correlation between the two markets is studied with decomposed data. It is shown that high frequency detail components represent much more energy than low-frequency smooth components. The relation between copper future daily returns in LME and that in SHFE are different on different time scales. The fluctuations of the copper future daily returns in LME have large effect on that in SHFE in 32-day scale,but small effect in high frequency scales. It also has evidence that strong effects exist between LME and SHFE for monthly responses of the copper futures but not for daily responses.
基金Financial support from the key project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.71273118)is gratefully acknowledged
文摘Generally, the sequence decision of the development and utilization of Chinese mineral resources is based on national and provincial overall plan of the mineral resources. Such plan usually cannot reflect the relative size of the suitability of the development and utilization of mineral resources. To solve the problem, the paper has selected the gift condition, the market condition, the technological condition,socio-economic condition and environmental condition as the starting-points to analyze the influential factors of the priority-sequence of mineral resources' development and utilization. The above 5 conditions are further specified into 9 evaluative indicators to establish an evaluation indicator system. At last,we propose a decision model of the priority sequence based on grey relational analysis method, and figure out the observation objects by the suitability index of development. Finally, the mineral resources of a certain province in China were analyzed as an example. The calculation results indicate that silver(2.0057), coal(1.9955), zinc(1.9442), cement limestone(1.9077), solvent limestone(1.5624) and other minerals in the province are suitable for development and utilization.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos.10575041 and 10747005
文摘Based on the Tang-Othmer Ca^2+ model, the drift behavior of intracellular Ca^2+ spiral waves under the influence of weak electric field is investigated. Numerical results show that the dependence of drift velocity of the spiral tip on dc electric field is similar to experimental observations in BZ system. When an ac electric field is applied, interesting resonant-drift phenomenon is observed with ω=2ω0. All results can be explained analytically using a proximate method.
文摘This investigation on the seasonal trend of fruit markets in Changsha indicated that the fruit varieties on the market in Changsha were abundant,up to 49 varieties;seasonal fresh fruits were continuously provided around the year;most fruits were domestic produce from all over the country,and about 3996 of the varieties were imported mainly from southeast Asia,America,New Zealand and Brazil;the imported fruits and a few kinds of domestic fruits were higher in the quality grades than most domestic fruits,which accounted for approximately half of the total fruit volume;and fruit prices varied markedly with fruit varieties,quality grades and time of marketing.In a word,the Hunan fruit industry must increase fruit quality and diversity in order to achieve a favourable position in the strong international competition.
文摘Apart from spontaneous market force, the development of industrial clusters is indispensable from government role in that their development entails the guidance and support from local governments. During the development process, local governments play an extremely important role. On the basis of former research results, the author raises that while developing industrial clusters, local governments should play their important role by formulating a scientific and complete policy supporting system.
文摘Traditional thermal methods of drying food have often led to loss of flavours, nutrients, vitamins, etc., which encourages non-thermal pretreatments such as osmotic dehydration (OD) and/or high electric field (HEF) application to improve the overall product quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of osmotic dehydration (50% sucrose) with high electric field strengths of 0.5 and 1.0 kV/cm as pretreatments on the drying kinetics and mass transfer of green apples during convective drying at 65 ~C and microwave drying at 1 W/g. The added value of the OD and HEF on the drying kinetics, and the effective mass transfer coefficients of the subsequent drying methods were investigated through this research. The efficacy of these pre-treatments was assessed and compared using cell disintegration index, product texture and thus bring forth new correlations between these pre-treatments and the cell disintegration index using dielectric spectroscopy and its effect on the product texture.
文摘This paper presents an ex-ante assessment of the potential implications of the 2011 Human Rights Watch Report on the South African fruit industry. The report explicitly mentions the lack of compliance with ethical codes within the fruit industry, the prevalence of exploitative conditions for farm workers and diverse human rights abuses in farms. The report recommends import ban on culprits as well as engaging third party auditing to ensure compliance. The high vulnerability of the smallholder farmers justified the special interest in the implications on their reputation and hence their ability to access profitable export markets. Although large-scale commercial farmers are potentially at risk of reputational damage due to the Human Rights Watch Report, they are better able to cope owing to their stronger capital base. The opinions of knowledgeable industry insiders were therefore elicited through qualitative research that used a five-point Likert scale to assess perceptions about market access. On the basis of the results, it is probable that the report will lead to improved working conditions for farm workers, improved concern for consumers' health, and enforcement of legislation by the govemment. The negative implications involve increased competition, possibility of retailers' rationalising their supply base and increased evaluation that ends at the farm gate. There is also high probability of increased marginalisation of the already disadvantaged smallholder suppliers, and possible increase in costs of auditing and accreditation for the entire fruit industry. Thus, active collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure the competitiveness of the fruit industry is inevitable.
文摘This paper presents an empirical analysis of the effect that participation in an agricultural cooperative has on the transaction costs and net income of apple- growing farmers in Shandong province. Compared with independent farming, agricultural cooperatives reduce transaction costs by 48 yuan/mu and increase farmers' net income by 321 yuan/mu. Other factors found to influence transaction costs and farmers'net income were farmer's gender, educational attainment, farm size, the availability of market information, distance to market, and level of government support. Independent farmers" most common explanations for not participating in agricultural cooperatives were that doing so would not reduce transaction costs significantly and that the cooperatives would impede the autonomy of their decision-making.