New Approach for Rapid Assessment of Trophic Status of Yellow Sea and East China Sea Using Easy-to-Measure Parameters

To realize potential cost savings in coastal monitoring programs and provide timely advice for marine management, there is an urgent need for efficient evaluation tools based on easily measured variables for the rapid and timely assessment of estuarine and offshore eutrophication. In this study, using parallel factor analysis(PARAFAC), principal component analysis(PCA), and discriminant function analysis(DFA) with the trophic index(TRIX) for reference, we developed an approach for rapidly assessing the eutrophication status of coastal waters using easy-to-measure parameters, including chromophoric dissolved organic matter(CDOM), fluorescence excitation–emission matrices, CDOM UV-Vis absorbance, and other water-quality parameters(turbidity, chlorophyll a, and dissolved oxygen). First, we decomposed CDOM excitation-emission matrices(EEMs) by PARAFAC to identify three components. Then, we applied PCA to simplify the complexity of the relationships between the water-quality parameters. Finally, we used the PCA score values as independent variables in DFA to develop a eutrophication assessment model. The developed model yielded classification accuracy rates of 97.1%, 80.5%, 90.3%, and 89.1% for good, moderate, and poor water qualities, and for the overall data sets, respectively. Our results suggest that these easy-to-measure parameters could be used to develop a simple approach for rapid in-situ assessment and monitoring of the eutrophication of estuarine and offshore areas.

Study of time resolution by digital methods with a DRS4 module

A new Digital Pulse Processing（DPP） module has been developed, based on a domino ring sampler version 4 chip（DRS4）, with good time resolution for La Br3 detectors, and different digital timing analysis methods for processing the raw detector signals are reported. The module, composed of an eight channel DRS4 chip, was used as the readout electronics and acquisition system to process the output signals from XP20D0 photomultiplier tubes（PMTs）. Two PMTs were coupled with La Br3 scintillators and placed on opposite sides of a radioactive positron22 Na source for 511 ke V γ-ray tests. By analyzing the raw data acquired by the module, the best coincidence timing resolution is about 194.7 ps（FWHM）, obtained by the digital constant fraction discrimination（d CFD） method,which is better than other digital methods and analysis methods based on conventional analog systems which have been tested. The results indicate that it is a promising approach to better localize the positron annihilation in positron emission tomography（PET） with time of flight（TOF）, as well as for scintillation timing measurement,such as in TOF-？E and TOF-E systems for particle identification, with picosecond accuracy timing measurement.Furthermore, this module is more simple and convenient than other systems.

Effect of chip rate on the ranging accuracy in a regenerative pseudo-noise ranging system

The ranging accuracy of a pseudo-noise ranging system is mainly decided by range jitter and time delay discrimination. Many factors can affect the ranging accuracy, one of which is the chip rate. In digital signal processing, the time delay discrimination and autocorrelation function of sampled ranging sequences of different chip rates are very different. An approximation simulation model is established according to an in-phase quadrature (I/Q) correlator which is used to evaluate the time delay. Simulation results of the range jitter and time delay discrimination show that the chip rate which provides a non-integer sample-to-chip rate ratio can achieve a higher ranging accuracy, and some test results validate the simulation model. In some design missions, the simulation results may help to select an optimum sample-to-chip rate ratio to satisfy the design requirement on the ranging accuracy.