Characteristics of the short rachillae of rice from archaeological sites dating to 7000 years ago

The abscission layer formed on a pedicel situated at the basal part of a short rachilla is an important characteristic for discriminating between wild, japonica, and indica rice. The short rachillae of paddy rice grains excavated from the Kuahuqiao, Luojiajiao, and Tianluoshan sites, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and dating to 7000 years old, were observed. The results showed that the short rachillae could be divided into two types: a wild type and japonica type. These results indicated that the rice had been domesticated, but was a primitive cultivated rice that retained some of the characteristics of wild rice. The results also suggested that the rice was changing to resemble japonica type rice. Based on the ratios of wild and japonica types, it was inferred that rice domestication began 10000 years ago.     

Abrupt climate change and collapse of ancient civilizations at 2200BC-2000BC

Plentiful evidence of historical, archaeological and palaeoclimatic studies proved that an abrupt change from wetter to drier climate occurred over the Nile Valley, the Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Huanghe River Valley at 2200BC-2000BC. The abrupt change was developed based on the general lowering of temperature in the middle latitudes, and was a strong cold event since the beginning of the Megathermal (8.5-3.0 kaBP). Collapse of Nile civilization appeared at the First Intermediate Period (2181BC-2040BC). Civilization of Mesopotamia began collapse following the disintegration of Akkadian Empire. This process lasted to the foundation of Babylon Kingdom from 2200BC to 1900BC. Indus civilization abruptly fell off at 1800BC. A widespread alternation of archaeological cultures happened in China at ca. 2000BC except only in its central part. Longsheng culture was replaced by the Erlitou culture, which is now acknowledged in China as Xia Culture. Foundation of Xia Dynasty at 2070BC opened a new chapter in the development of Chinese civilization. Studies indicated that abrupt climate change may be caused by the weakening of the Thermohaline Circulation (THC).     

Quantitative reconstruction of the paleosalinity at Qinghai Lake in the past 900 years

Based on the function relationship between the shell length of Limnocythere inopinata and the salinity of its living water in Tibetan Plateau lakes, the paleosalinty of Qinghai Lake in the past 900 years was reconstructed through the measurement of the adult body length of Limnocythere inopinata. Meanwhile, the paleosalinity sequence of Qinghai Lake during the same period was rebuilt by the St/Ca ratio of the shell of Eucypris inflata combined with the St/Ca ratio of living ostracod valves from the species of genus Eucypris inflata and the host water. The paleosalinity results obtained by two different methods were compared and assessed in this paper. To check the result, it was also contrasted with other historical climatic sequences of this area including tree ring and ice core. It was shown that the paleosalinity sequence rebuilt by adult ostracod body length had high reliability, and the paleosalinity reconstruction method by trace elements of ostracod shells was not suitable for Qinghai Lake. From the reconstructed paleosalinty sequence of Qinghai Lake, it can be found that low salinity during 1160-1290 AD showed the humid climate condition on the Mediaeval Warm Period in this area, while the high salinity during 1410-1540 AD, 1610-1670 AD and 1770-1850 AD which was corresponding to the three cold pulses of the Little Ice Age with a dry climate condition. And the high salinity in the latest several decades was consistent with recent warm and dry trends of the climate in this area. The good consistency of the reconstructed palaeosalinity sequence and the precipitation sequence in this area rebuilt by tree ring proves the reconstruction of past lake salinity is reliable.     

Model–proxy comparison for overshoot phenomenon of Atlantic thermohaline circulation at Bφlling–Allerφd

The overshoot phenomenon of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation （THC） is a transient climate response to meltwater forcing and could induce intense climate change by increasing the magnitudes of Atlantic THC changes at the end of meltwater discharges. This phenomenon was formally presented with the successfully simulated Bolling-Allerod （BA） event in the first transient simulation of the last deglaciation with fully coupled model NCAR-CCSM3 （TraCE-21K）. Currently, not all proxy records of Atlantic THC support the occurrence of the THC overshoot at BA. Commonly used THC proxy from Bermuda Rise （GGC5） does not exhibit THC overshoot at BA but other proxies such as TTR-451 at Eirik Drift do. How to interpret this regional discrepancy of proxy records is a key question for the validation of the Atlantic THC overshoot at BA. Here, we show that the vigor of deep circulation varies regionally during the Atlantic THC overshoot at BA in TraCE-21K simulation, and this regional discrepancy in the simulation is consistent with that in the marine sediment records in North Atlantic. The consistent model-proxy evidence supports the occurrence of Atlantic THC overshoot at BA.     

Decadal co-variability of the summer surface air temperature and soil moisture in China under global warming

The self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is calculated using newly updated ground observations of monthly surface air temperature (SAT) and precipitation in China. The co-variabilities of PDSI and SAT are examined for summer for the period 1961-2004. The results show that there exist decadal climate co-variabilities and strong nonlinear interactions between SAT and soil moisture in many regions of China. Some of the co-variabilities can be linked to global warming. In summer,sig-nificant decadal co-variabilities from cool-wet to warm-dry conditions are found in the east region of Northwest China,North China,and Northeast China. An important finding is that in the west region of Northwest China and Southeast China,pronounced decadal co-variabilities take place from warm-dry to cool-wet conditions. Because significant warming was observed over most areas of the global land surface during the past 20-30 years,the shift to cool-wet conditions is a unique phenomenon which may deserve much scientific attention. The nonlinear interactions between SAT and soil moisture may partly account for the observed decadal co-variabilities. It is shown that anomalies of SAT will greatly affect the climatic co-variabilities,and changes of SAT may bring notable influence on the PDSI in China. These results provide observational evidence for increasing risks of decadal drought and wet-ness as anthropogenic global warming progresses.     

Summer sea-surface temperatures and climate events on the North Icelandic shelf through the last 3000 years

Diatom data from core MD992271 on the North Icelandic shelf record a cooling trend through the last 3000 years. This is indicated by a general decrease in warm water species and an increase in cold water taxa. The relative abundance of these two diatom groups changed periodically, suggesting that the climate also fluctuated within this time period. The results of diatom-based transfer function calculation show that the summer sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) before 1400 cal. a BP were generally higher than the mean value for the last 3000 years and the summer SSTs fluctuated around the mean between 1400 and 700 cal. a BP, and dropped to the values below the mean after 700 cal. a BP. Four cooling events were distinguished, centered at around 2600, 1900, 1300 and 600 cal. a BP respectively. The results are not only consistent with the data from neighbouring cores HM107-03 and MD992275, but also comparable with those from the GISP2 ice core and from other marine sediment records in the North Atlantic. This suggests that changes in the summer SSTs reflect regional climate variations in the North Atlantic. On the North Icelandic shelf, the summer SST variation is a result of changes in the in-teraction between the cold and the warm currents in the area.     

Reconstruction of precipitation in the last 140 years from tree ring at south margin of the Tengger Desert, China

Based on the tree ring width index of Pinus tabulaeformis, precipitation in the last 140 years was reconstructed at south margin of the Tengger Desert. The results indicated that there were obvious fluctuations of dry-wet changes in precipitation： two wet periods occurred during 1868-1876 and 1932-1939, and two dry periods during 1877-1894 and 1924-1932, however, the years 1887 and 1888 were a little wet. There were small changes in precipitation during 1895-1923 and 1940-2000. As compared to the average, the maximum increasing range of precipitation amounted to 56% during the wet periods, and 42% during the dry periods. And the range of variability of precipitation exceeded 30% in 19 years. There was no obvious consistent drying or wetting trend in the last 140 years. But since 1940 fluctuating scope of precipitation tended to be smaller, while the frequency of the fluctuation tended to be larger. Power spectrum analyses suggested that precipitation of south margin of the Tengger Desert had significant periodicities of 2.46-2.64 a and quasi periodicity of 11.67 a.     

Reconstruction and analysis of time series of ENSO for the last 500 years

This paper reports the classification of ENSO into seven categories according to annual (March to February of next year) mean SST of Ni(n)o 3.4 and composite index (ΔI) for the period of 1861～2000. Categories +3, +2, and +1 denote very strong, strong and weak warm episodes (E), -3, -2, and -1 mean very strong, strong and weak cold episodes (A). Absolute SST anomalies are about 1.5 ℃, 1.0 ℃ and 0.5 ℃ respectively for the categories 3, 2, and 1 (or -3, -2, and -1). The normal years are expressed as category 0. Annual categories of ENSO are estimated on the basis of proxy data from AD 1501 to 1860. And a series of ENSO category is established for the period of 1501～2000 in conjunction with the observational data. Comparison of proxy data with observations for 1874～1973 indicates that about 80% of the El Ni(n)o years and La Ni(n)a years can be reconstructed from proxy data, and the reliability of the reconstruction is verified. Analysis of the power spectrum of the reconstructed ENSO series shows significant peaks at QBO, 3～4a (year), 5～6a, and 10a period, the former three are in accordance with the observations for the last 100 years or more. Studies on long term variability of ENSO indicates that ENSO frequency is relatively stationary during the last 500 years, including the Little Ice Age (LIA) (1550～1850) and Modern Warming Period (the 20th century). However, the frequency of E is a little higher in the 20th century and that of A is somewhat higher during the LIA.     

Meridional seesaw-like distribution of the Meiyu rainfall over the Changjiang-Huaihe River Valley and characteristics in the anomalous climate years

Although Meiyu rainfall has its in-phase spatial variability over the Changjiang-Huaihe River Valley (CHRV) in most years, it is distributed in some years like a seesaw to the north and south of the Changjiang River, when the precipitation tends to be nearly normal throughout the valley, which would inevitably increase difficulties of making short-term prediction of the rainfall. For this reason, EOF analysis is made on 15 related stations’ precipitation from June to July during 1951─2004, revealing that the EOF2 mode shows largely a north-south seesaw-like pattern, and thereby classifying Meiyu patterns into two types: "northern drought and southern flood (NDSF)" and "northern flood and southern drought (NFSD)". Afterwards, the authors investigated ocean-atmospheric characteristics when these two anomalous types occured using the NCEP reanalysis (version 1) and the extended reconstructed SSTs (version 2). The results show that in the NDSF years, the low-level frontal area and moisture convergence center lie more southward, accompanied by weaker subtropical summer mon- soon over East Asia, with the western Pacific subtropical high and 200 hPa South Asia High being more southward. Both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Annular Modes are stronger than normal in preceding February; SST is higher off China during boreal winter and spring and the opposite happens in the NFSD years. Also, this seesaw-form Meiyu rainfall distribution might be affected to some degree by the previous ENSO event.     

Effect of global warming on the distribution of Lucifer intermedius and L. hanseni （Decapoda） in the Changjiang estuary

We conducted an oceanographic census in 1959, 2002, and 2005 to evaluate changes in the temporo-spatial distribution and abundance of Lucifer intermedius and L. hanseni in the Changjiang estuary. In general, the abundance and frequency of occurrence (OF) for these two species were highest during the summer. We measured a significant change in the abundance and OF between years. The abundance and OF of L. intermedius increased from 3.7 individuals m⁻³ and 66.67%, respectively, in 1959, to 8.93 individuals m⁻³ and 85.19%, in 2002. In 1959, L. hanseni was only found during the summer (abundance: 0.01 individuals m⁻³, OF: 3.70%). However, in 2002, this species was collected during all seasons except the winter. Furthermore, abundance (0.47 individuals m⁻³) and OF (25.93%) were higher in 2002 than in 1959. Further increases in abundance and OF were measured during cruises during the spring of 2005. We hypothesize that global warming is responsible for the increase in abundance of L. intermedius and L. hanseni and the northward expansion of L. hanseni in the Changjiang estuary. Given our results, monitoring of both species may be useful to evaluate the effects of climate change.     

Separation and analysis of the soluble trimer of Aβ1-40 and its effects on the rise in intracellular calcium

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the progressive neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein conformational transition, generally known as protein conformational disorders[1]. The general characteriza- tions of AD are the intracellular fibrillar…     

MOU Signed Between the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Tsinghua University

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Tsinghua University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison on May 24, 2007, during the visit of Chancellor John D. Wiley, the University of Wisconsin at Madison.     

Characteristics of climatic trends and correlation between pan-evaporation and environmental factors in the last 40 years over China

Using the data observed by 62 Chinese Routine Meteorological Stations (CRMS) with long term radiation observation, the climatic trends and the relationship between pan-evaporation and its environmental factors are analyzed comprehensively. The results show that during the last 40 years, the relative humidity is uptrend in west China, downtrend in east China, and their extrema are 0.20%/a and -0.22%/a respectively; the precipitations of about 61% CRMS keep uptrend, its maximum can reach 10.52 mm/a^2 while the cloud amounts of about 79% CRMS keep downtrend slightly. About 98% CRMS display the air temperature uptrend, and the maximum is 0.11℃/a. About 76% CRMSdisplay the land surface temperature uptrend. About 87% CRMS show the daily range of temperature downtrend. The global radiations observed by about 85% CRMS and the 10 m wind speeds observed by about 77% CRMS hold downtrend. The annual pan-evaporations of about 66% CRMS hold descend trend, and the biggest descent reaches -24.9 mm/a^2. The pan-evaporation has good relationship with many environmental factors, but the relationship with the relative humidity is the best. All of the climatic trends respond to the global climate changes.     

Three-dimensional Numerical Prediction of the Flow and Temperature Field at the Surface of a PDC Bit

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Temporal and spatial variation of enviromental evolution in Western China during the last 10000 years

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Intense hurricane activity over the past 5,000 years controlled by El Niño and the West African monsoon

The processes that control the formation, intensity and track of hurricanes are poorly understood. It has been proposed that an increase in sea surface temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change has led to an increase in the frequency of intense tropical cyclones, but this proposal has been challenged on the basis that the instrumental record is too short and unreliable to reveal trends in intense tropical cyclone activity. Storm-induced deposits preserved in the sediments of coastal lagoons offer the opportunity to study the links between climatic conditions and hurricane activity on longer timescales, because they provide centennial- to millennial-scale records of past hurricane landfalls. Here we present a record of intense hurricane activity in the western North Atlantic Ocean over the past 5,000 years based on sediment cores from a Caribbean lagoon that contain coarse-grained deposits associated with intense hurricane landfalls. The record indicates that the frequency of intense hurricane landfalls has varied on centennial to millennial scales over this interval. Comparison of the sediment record with palaeo-climate records indicates that this variability was probably modulated by atmospheric dynamics associated with variations in the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation and the strength of the West African monsoon, and suggests that sea surface temperatures as high as at present are not necessary to support intervals of frequent intense hurricanes. To accurately predict changes in intense hurricane activity, it is therefore important to understand how the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation and the West African monsoon will respond to future climate change.     

Collapse ratios of buildings due to the 1995 Kobe earthquake and interference between S-wave and the second surface wave at basin edge

The distribution characteristics of collapse ratios of buildings in Kobe city due to the 1995 M7.2 Hyogo-ken Nanbu, Japan (Kobe) earthquake and the interferenres due to SH or P-SV and the second surface waves propagating in heterogeneous medium are discussed in this paper by using numerical simulation technique of wave equation. The staggered grid real value fast Fourier transform differentiation (SGRFFTD) is used in the pseudospectral method of ground motion simulations because of its speed, high stability and accuracy. The results show that the maximum amplitude of simulated acceleration waveforms on the ground coincides well with the complicated distributions of collapse ratios of buildings. The peak collapse ratio of buildings away from the earthquake fault also coincides well with the peak ground acceleration. The spatial interference process is analyzed by using the snap shots of seismic wave propagation. The peak ground acceleration is probably caused by the interferences due to the second surfare wave transmitting from the bedrock to sedimentary basin and the upward body wave. Analyses of the interference process show that seismic velocity structure and geologic structure strongly influence the distribution of the maximum amplitude of acceleration waveforms. Interferences occurring near the basin boundary are probably the cause of the peak collapse ratio of buildings away from the fault. Therefore it is necessary to analyze wave propagations and interference process using numerical simulation strategy for studies on the seismic disasters.     

Mode of débitage and technical cognition of hominids at the Guanyindong site

Exploring and interpreting the mode of cognition and behavioral patterns of prehistoric hunter-gatherers is always one of the main goals of current Paleolithic research. In the 1940s, French prehistorians proposed the technological method for studying lithic assemblages which opened a brand-new perspective on the prehistoric domain. In the 1960s, French ethnographer and anthropologist Andre Leroi-Gourhan proposed the concept ＂chaine operatoire＂ and established the theory of lithic technological study. After the 1980s, the concept ＂chaine operatoire＂ was substituted for two different but complementary concepts： techno-cognition and techno-economy, which contributed not only to revealing the technical knowledge and know-how applied during lithic production but also to interpreting the technical behavior of prehistoric hunter-gatherers from social and economic viewpoints. The lithic technological study of the Guanyindong site, presented in this paper, was carried out for the first time by applying lithic technological method developed by French prehistorians to the Chinese materials. Our analytical results demonstrated that the debitage system of Guanyindong is quite distinct from the concept Levallois largely used in Europe, Near-East and Africa. The differentiation between these two debitage modes may contribute to exploring and interpreting the relationship in Middle Paleolithic between China and Europe, Near-East and Africa.     

Research on the relationship between site function and environment at the site of Zhongba,Chongqing City,China

The Zhongba site has been demonstrated to be a location of salt production based on multi-disciplinary research including salt archaeology,environmental archaeology,zooarchaeology,paleobotany,and other natural science examinations.The continuity of salt production from the Han Dynasty to the present day as understood primarily from ancient texts can now be traced back to even earlier times. Based on the characteristics of cultural layer deposits,features,and artifacts,Zhongba can be clearly distinguished from known settlements,and from bronze,iron,pottery and porcelain workshops.According to various natural science examinations,the major impurities in local salt brine are also found in floor features,brine troughs,and rounded bottom pots at the site even though NaCl itself was not preserved.These traces were left over from the salt production process rather than being naturally deposited.Zhongba and its constituent features and artifacts share many common characters with other salt production sites around the world.Consequently,the Zhongba site can be confidently identified as a salt production site where activity continued for several thousand years.The formation of the site cannot be separated from salt production,and it is also highly related to its natural environment.     

The expression and function of VEGF at embryo implantation “window” in the mouse

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an endothelial cell-specific mitogen that plays a critical role in angiogenesis. Recent reports indicated that VEGF was closely involved in embryo implantation and embryonic vasculogenesis. However, very little information is available about the detailed expression and function of VEGF at implantation “window”. In this work, VEGFs were primarily present on uterine epithelial cell monolayer and blastocysts including the outgrew trophoblasts at implantation window. VEGF antibodies decreased the number of mice embryos implanted and the percentage of blastocysts with attachment and outgrowth in a co-culture model in a dose-dependant manner. These findings demonstrate that VEGF is one of the essential cytokines for embryo implanta-tion in mouse. VEGF may act as a local mediator to regulate the maternal-fetal interaction, and facilitate blastocyst implantation.