Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Changbai Mountains in northeastern China

The Changbai Mountains （2749 m a.s.l.） in northeastern China are one of the typical mountain regions with glaciation since late Pleistocene as evidenced by well-preserved erosive and accumulative landforms at elevations above 2000 m a.s.l, formed by glaciers around the crater lake, Tianchi Lake. Cirque glaciers developed on both the inner and outer sides of the volcanic cone. Well-preserved cirques, glacial trough valleys, glacial threholds, polished surfaces of the glacial erratics and the moraine ridges indicate that several glaciation processes took place during the last glacial period in this region. Resuits of optically stimulated luminescence （OSL） dating on the moraine sediments, and the K/Ar, thermal ionization mass spectrometry （TIMS）, electronic spinning resonance （ESR） dating on the volcanic rocks suggest two periods of glacier advances. One is named the Black Wind Mouth glacier advance taking place on the west and north slopes of the volcanic cone at an elevation of 2000-2100 m a.s.l., which is dated to about 20 ka, being the result of the Last Glacial Maximum （LGM）. The other is named the Meteorological Station glacier advance at the elevation of 2400-2600 m a.s.l., dated to 11 ka during the late glacial period, and is tentatively correlated to the Younger Dryas stage. The scope of the former glacier advance is larger than that of the latter. Regional comparisons showed that the glacial sequences in the Changbai Mountains are similar to other glaciated areas in eastern Asia during the later part of the last glacial cycle.     

Slow light in tapered slot photonic crystal waveguide

A slotted single-mode photonic crystal waveguide with a linear tapered slot is presented to realize slow light, whose dispersion curve is shifted by changing the slot width. When the slot width is reduced, the band curve shifts in the tapered structure, and the group velocity of light approach zero at the cut-off frequency. Therefore, different frequency components of the guided light are slowed down even localized along the propagation direction inside a tapered slot photonic crystal waveguide. Furthermore, this structure can confine slow light-wave in a narrow slot waveguide, which may effectively enhance the interaction between slow light and the low-index wave-guiding materials filled in the slot. In addition, this tapered slot structure can be used to compensate group velocity dispersion of slow light by modifying the structure, thus opening the opportunity for ultra-wide bandwidth slow light.     

Global warming accelerates the upfreezing of permafrost in arid middle Tianshan Mountains

Upfreezing is an important geomorphic process in the periglacial environment. It is a product of cold climate and thus an important part of the cryospheric processes. Based on the long-term positioning observations in the source area of the Urumqi River, this article represents an in-depth discussion of the characteristics of sorted circles and upfreezing mechanisms in the Tianshan Mountains. In the source area of the Urumqi River, the intensity of upfreezing is the highest within the top 25 cm near the surface, while targets with a diameter of 3 cm are least affected by upfreezing. There is no distinct difference between the centre with fine grains and the margin with coarse debris within the same sorted circle in terms of the intensity of upfreezing. The correlation analysis demonstrates that temperature plays an important role in upfreezing and the development of sorted circles. A long-time positioning observation of sorted circles reveals that periglacial landforms are sensitive to regional climate change and respond quickly to the temperature increase of the recent two decades. Enhanced upfreezing was found to be due to increased soil moisture content.     

个性化三维打印仿生骨骼术前诊断模型

目前骨科临床手术利用CT数字图像诊断病案、规划手术方案及复位策略,不易在术前进行操作练习,所选取的内固定骨钉和骨板无法测定力学匹配,从而难以避免术后应力并发症.术中依赖手术医生的经验和工具反复测量以便准确选取内固定器械,从而延长了患者创面开放时间,增加术中静脉血栓甚至动脉血栓并发症几率.尤其对于血管和神经丰富的股骨头更是容易引起术中并发症,甚至致残致死.本文分析了骨骼解剖模型的结构,研究了骨骼的内部微细结构、术前诊断模型外形轮廓以及力学性能的仿生设计方法,在此基础上,通过控制三维打印工艺、粉体材料成分和材料参数,得到不同力学性能的骨支架,从而实现了个性化定制的全骨仿生术前诊断模型.利用该模型可有效反映病患骨折和骨缺损真实特点,并可增加观察视场,明确骨折和骨缺损的实际情况和病症分型,从而有助于制定固定骨钉和骨板实际操作方案和规划替代骨植入方案,为术前手术设计、复位模拟、内置物选择、三维数据测量等重要手术环节提供物理操作模型,可明显改善手术效果,有效缩短手术时间,减少术中和术后并发症几率.