A preliminary investigation on the topology of Chinese climate networks

Complex networks have been studied across many fields of science in recent years. In this paper, we give a brief introduction of networks, then follow the original works by Tsonis et al （2004, 2006） starting with data of the surface temperature from 160 Chinese weather observations to investigate the topology of Chinese climate networks. Results show that the Chinese climate network exhibits a characteristic of regular, almost fully connected networks, which means that most nodes in this case have the same number of links, and so-called super nodes with a very large number of links do not exist there. In other words, though former results show that nodes in the extratropical region provide a property of scale-free networks, they still have other different local fine structures inside. We also detect the community of the Chinese climate network by using a Bayesian technique; the effective number of communities of the Chinese climate network is about four in this network. More importantly, this technique approaches results in divisions which have connections with physics and dynamics; the division into communities may highlight the aspects of the dynamics of climate variability.

Modelling the impact of climate change on rangeland forage production using a generalized regression neural network:a case study in Isfahan Province,Central Iran

Monitoring of rangeland forage production at specified spatial and temporal scales is necessary for grazing management and also for implementation of rehabilitation projects in rangelands. This study focused on the capability of a generalized regression neural network（GRNN） model combined with GIS techniques to explore the impact of climate change on rangeland forage production. Specifically, a dataset of 115 monitored records of forage production were collected from 16 rangeland sites during the period 1998–2007 in Isfahan Province, Central Iran. Neural network models were designed using the monitored forage production values and available environmental data（including climate and topography data）, and the performance of each network model was assessed using the mean estimation error（MEE）, model efficiency factor（MEF）, and correlation coefficient（r）. The best neural network model was then selected and further applied to predict the forage production of rangelands in the future（in 2030 and 2080） under A1 B climate change scenario using Hadley Centre coupled model. The present and future forage production maps were also produced. Rangeland forage production exhibited strong correlations with environmental factors, such as slope, elevation, aspect and annual temperature. The present forage production in the study area varied from 25.6 to 574.1 kg/hm^2. Under climate change scenario, the annual temperature was predicted to increase and the annual precipitation was predicted to decrease. The prediction maps of forage production in the future indicated that the area with low level of forage production（0–100 kg/hm^2） will increase while the areas with moderate, moderately high and high levels of forage production（≥100 kg/hm^2） will decrease both in 2030 and in 2080, which may be attributable to the increasing annual temperature and decreasing annual precipitation. It was predicted that forage production of rangelands will decrease in the next couple of decades, especially in the western and southern parts of Isfahan Province. These changes are more pronounced in elevations between 2200 and 2900 m. Therefore, rangeland managers have to cope with these changes by holistic management approaches through mitigation and human adaptations.

Worldwide Marine Transportation Network： Efficiency and Container Throughput

Through empirical analysis of the global structure of the Worldwide Marine Transportation Network （WMTN）, we find that the WMTN, a small-world network, exhibits an exponential-like degree distribution. We hereby investigate the efficiency of the WMTN by employing a simple definition. Compared with many other transportation networks, the WMTN possesses relatively low efficiency. Furthermore, by exploring the relationship between the topological structure and the container throughput, we find that strong correlations exist among the container throughout the degree and the clustering coefficient. Also, considering the navigational process that a ship travels in a real shipping line, we obtain that the weight of a seaport is proportional to the total probability contributed by all the passing shipping lines.

Chaotic Control of Network Traffic

A method of chaotic control on network traffic is presented. By this method, the chaotic network traffic can be controlled to a pre-assigned equilibrium point according to chaotic prediction and the largest Lyapunov exponent ofthe traffic on congested link is reduced, thereby the probability of traffic burst and network congestion can be reduced. Numerical examples show that this method is effective.

COMPLEX NETWORK OF EXTREME PRECIPITATION IN EAST ASIA

In order to study the spatial structure and dynamical mechanism of extreme precipitation in East Asia, a corresponding climate network is constructed by employing the method of event synchronization. It is found that the area of East Asian summer extreme precipitation can be separated into two regions: one with high area-weighted connectivity receiving heavy precipitation mostly during the active phase of the East Asian Summer Monsoon(EASM),and another one with low area-weighted connectivity receiving heavy precipitation during both the active and the retreating phase of the EASM. Besides, a new way for the prediction of extreme precipitation is also developed by constructing a directed climate networks. The simulation accuracy in East Asia is 58% with a 0-day lead, and the prediction accuracy is 21% and average 12% with a 1-day and an n-day(2≤n≤10) lead, respectively. Compared to the normal EASM year, the prediction accuracy is low in weak years and high in strong years, which is relevant to the differences of correlations and extreme precipitation rates in different EASM situations. Recognizing and indentifying these effects is good for understanding and predicting extreme precipitation in East Asia.

Collective behaviour of climate indices in the North Pacific air-sea system and its potential relationships with decadal climate changes

A climate network of six climate indices of the North Pacific air-sea system is constructed during the period of 1948-2009. In order to find out the inherent relationship between the intrinsic mechanism of climate index network and the important climate shift, the synchronization behaviour and the coupling behaviour of these indices are investigated. Results indicate that climate network synchronization happened around the beginning of the 1960s, in the middle of the 1970s and at the beginnings of the 1990s and the 2000s separately. These synchronization states were always followed by the decrease of the coupling coefficient. Each synchronization of the network was well associated with the abrupt phase or trend changes of annually accumulated abnormal values of North Pacific sea-surface temperature and 500-hPa height, among which the one that happened in the middle of the 1970s is the most noticeable climate shift. We can also obtain this mysterious shift from the first mode of the empirical orthogonal function of six indices. That is to say, abrupt climate shift in North Pacific air-sea system is not only shown by the phase or trend changes of climate indices, but also might be indicated by the synchronizing and the coupling of climate indices. Furthermore, at the turning point of 1975, there are also abrupt correlation changes in the yearly mode of spatial degree distribution of the sea surface temperature and 500-hPa height in the region of the North Pacific, which further proves the probability of climate index synchronization and coupling shift in air sea systems.

Lie Symmetries, Perturbation to Symmetries and Adiabatic Invariants of a Generalized Birkhoff System

We study the perturbation to symmetries and adiabatic invariants of a generalized Birkhoff system. Based on the invariance of differential equations under infinitesimal transformations, Lie symmetries, laws of conservations, perturbation to the symmetries and adiabatic invariants of the generalized Birkhoff system are presented. First, the concepts of Lie symmetries and higher order adiabatic invariants of the generalized Birkhoff system are proposed. Then, the conditions for the existence of the exact invariants and adiabatic invariants are proved, and their forms are given. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the method and results.

A Thermodynamic Cavitation Model for Cavitating Flow Simulation in a Wide Range of Water Temperatures

A thermodynamic cavitation model is developed to simulate the cavitating water flow in a wide temperature range. The thermal effect on bubble growth during cavitation is introduced in the developed model by considering both pressure difference and heat transfer between the vapor and liquid phase. The cavitating turbulent flow over a NACA0015 hydrofoil has been simulated at various temperatures from room temperature to 150°C by using the present cavitation model, which has been validated by the experimental data. It is seen that the thermodynamic effects of cavitation, vapor depression and temperature depression are much more predominant in high temperature water compared with those in room temperature water. These results indicate that the proposed thermodynamic cavitation model is reasonably applicable to the cavitating water flow in a wide temperature range.

Diffusion-Based Recommendation in Collaborative Tagging Systems

Recently, collaborative tagging systems have attracted more and more attention and have been wlaely appnea in web systems. Tags provide highly abstracted information about personal preferences and item content, and therefore have the potential to help in improving better personalized recommendations, We propose a diffusion- based recommendation algorithm considering the personal vocabulary and evaluate it in a real-world dataset： Del.icio.us. Experimental results demonstrate that the usage of tag information can significantly improve the accuracy of personalized recommendations.

Schemes for Teleportation of an Unknown Single-Qubit Quantum State by Using an Arbitrary High-Dimensional Entangled State

We propose a scheme to teleport an unknown single-qubit state by using a high-dimensional entangled state as the quantum channel. As a special case, a scheme for teleportation of an unknown single-qubit state via three-dimensional entangled state is investigated in detail. Also, this scheme can be directly generalized to an unknown f-dimensional state by using a d-dimensional entangled state （d〉f） as the quantum channel.

Optical Switch Formation in Antimony Super-Resolution Mask Layers Induced by Picosecond Laser Pulses

Sb is a classic material of a super-resolution near field structure （super-RENS） mask layer in which the optical switch formation is often realized by nanosecond laser pulse stimulation. We achieve fast and repeatable optical switching driven by picosecond laser pulses in a proper fluence range on Sb thin films. The optical properties of Sb thin films before and after switching are studied by surface-sensitive micro-area ellipsometry. The change of optical constants after switching is less than 2% in the whole visible range. The Sb mask layer is shown to be very promising for ultrafast super-resolution optical storage applications.

Vibration Characteristics of Acoustically Levitated Object with Rigid and Elastic Reflectors

Levitation stability is a crucial factor that influences acoustic levitation capability. We present two sample-including models for a single-axis acoustic levitator with either a rigid or elastic reflector. Numerical analysis shows that, with the rigid reflector, both the decay time from initial disturbance and the vibration amplitude increase with sample density, which is unfavorable for levitation stability. However, with the elastic reflector, the decay time and the vibration amplitude are greatly reduced by choosing appropriate parameters of the reflector. Experimental results agree well with theoretical predictions, indicating that levitation stability can be remarkably enhanced by replacing the rigid reflector with an elastic reflector.

Fractal Analysis of Surface Roughness of Particles in Porous Media

A fractal dimension for roughness height （RH） is introduced to characterize the degree of roughness or disorder of particle surface characters which significantly influence physical-chimerical processes in porous media. An analytical expression for the fractal dimension of RH on statistically self-similar fractal surfaces is derived and is expressed as a function of roughness parameters. The specific surface area （SSA） of porous materials with spherical particles is also derived, and the proposed fractal model for the SSA of particles with rough surfaces is expressed as a function of fractal dimension for RH and fractal dimension for particle size distribution, relative roughness of particle surface, and ratio of the minimum to the maximum particle diameters of spherical particles.

Evaluation of Thermal Degradation Induced Material Damage Using Nonlinear Lamb Waves

We report on the evaluation of thermal degradation damage in metal material using the nonlinear effect of Lamb wave propagation. A mountain-shape＇＇ change in the second harmonic of Lamb wave propagation versus the level of thermal degradation in the specimens is observed. It is attributed to the precipitations in the early stage and the microvoids after long-term service in terms of metallographic studies. The results show that the nonlinear Lamb wave is very sensitive to the microstructure evolution and is a good potential for quantitative evaluation of the thermal damaged materials.

Density Functional Theory Approach for Charged Hard Sphere Fluids Confined in Spherical Micro-Cavity

Within the framework of the density functional theory for classical fluids, the equilibrium density profiles of charged hard sphere fluid confined in micro-cavity are studied by means of the modified fundamental measure theory. The dimension of micro-cavity, the charge of hard sphere and the applied electric field are found to have significant effects on the density profiles. In particular, it is shown that Coulomb interaction, excluded volume interaction and applied electric field play the central role in controlling the aggregated structure of the system.

Planar Metamaterial Microwave Absorber for all Wave Polarizations

We present a design for a polarization insensitive metamaterial absorber at 9.5 GHz by utilizing properly arranged resonant unit cells with orthogonal polarization sensitivity. Full-wave electromagnetic simulation demonstrates nearly perfect microwave absorption, which has been verified by experimental measurement with a maximum absorption of about 92% for incident wave with different polarizations. Furthermore, we find such a metamaterial thin absorber could work for a wide incident angle ranging from 0° to 50°with absorption no less than 80° for both the transverse electric mode and transverse magnetic mode.

Jet-Photon Production at RHIC and LHC

We calculate the production of prompt and thermal photons which includes the contribution of gluons in relativistic heavy ion collisions with the equilibrium and non-equilibrium quark-gluon plasma. We develop a new thermal jet-photon conversion mechanism which plays a vital role in the low transverse momentum region. The effect of the non-equilibrium quark-gluon plasma enhances the contribution of the thermal photons. The shadowing and iso-spin of the nucleus which can properly estimate the prompt photon production are also considered in our calculation.

Pulse Operation of Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser by Pulsed Gas Discharge with the Assistance of Spark Pre-ionization

The continuous wavelength chemical oxygen-iodine laser can be turned into pulse operation mode in order to obtain high energy and high pulse power. We propose an approach to produce iodine atoms instantaneously by pulsed gas discharge with the assistance of spark pre-ionization to achieve the pulsed goal. The influence of spark pre-ionization on discharge homogeneity is discussed. Voltage-current characteristics are shown and discussed in existence of the pre-ionization capacitor and peaking capacitor. The spark pre-ionization and peaking capacitor are very helpful in obtaining a stable and homogeneous discharge. The lasing is achieved at the total pressure of 2.2-2.9 kPa and single pulse energy is up to 180 mJ, the corresponding specific output energy is 1.0 3/L.

Low-Cost UV-IR Dual Band Detector Using Nonporous ZnO Film Sensitized by PbS Quantum Dots

A low-cost photoconductive dual-band detector was prepared using a nanoporous ZnO film sensitized by PbS quantum dots （QDs）. At room temperature the device shows a UV response in the wavelength range of 200-400 nm with a 370 nm peak responsivity of 4.0×105 V/W and a vis-NIR response from 500 to 1400 nm with a 700 nm peak responsivity of 5.4×105 V/W. By increasing the size of the PbS QD, the response can be extended up to 2.9 μm. It is suggested that the UV response is a result of interband absorption of UV radiation by ZnO and the IR response comes from the absorption of PbS QDs.

Highly Symmetric Planar Metamaterial Absorbers Based on Annular and Circular Patches

We present the simple designs of metamaterial absorbers which are composed of a periodic array of copper annular （or circular） patches, FR4 substrate, and copper film. With appropriate geometrical parameters, these metamaterials can provide the electric and magnetic resonances overlapping in the given frequency range, and the experiments demonstrate the absorptivities of 97.6% and 96.7% with only a single layer of the metamaterial absorber. The surface currents and field distributions of these metamaterials are discussed to look straight into the resonance mechanism. Furthermore, our numerical simulations confirm that these metamaterial absorbers could be operated at wide angles of incidence. The simple and highly symmetric structures of the metamaterial absorbers proposed would greatly accelerate the practical applications in optics and electromagnetics.