The age of formation of the mirabilite and sand wedges in the Hexi Corridor and their paleoclimatic interpretation

The Hexi Corridor is located at the transition zone of the Asian summer monsoon and westerly airflow, and lies in an important position in terms of its ecological fragility and climatic sensitivity. During a recent field expedition to this region, we found a sedimentary mirabilite layer in a number of localities including Suwushan, Yanchi, Baitujing, Yanchi Gaotai, Huahai, Yumen, Halanuo扙r, and Dunhuang (Fig. 1), which have the potential to provide important information about environmenta…     

Temperature variations on the Tibetan Plateau over the last two millennia

The paleoclimate data recovered from ice cores,tree rings and lake sediments indicate regional features of cfimatic change on the Tibeta n Plateau (TP) during the last 2000 years. The composite temperature reconstructions in-dicate that several main climatic episodes, such as the “LittleIce Age“ between 1400 and 1900, the “Medieval Warm Pe-riod“ in 1150-1400, a less warm period in 800-1100, and an earlier cold period between the 3rd and 5th centuries,occurred in the TP. In addition, temperature varied from region to region. The period from AD 800 to 1100, which waswarm in northeastern TP, was contemporaneous with cool-ing in the western and southern TP. The southern TP ex-perienced warming between 1150 and 1400. For western TP,the δ^18O records of the Guliya ice core indicate that the pe-Hod 1250-1500 witnessed a clear warming. Large-scaletrends in the temperature history from northeastern TP aremore similar to those in eastern China than are the trendsfrom the Guliya ice cap far to the west and southern TP. The most prominent similarities between the temperature varia-tions of the TP and eastern China are such cold phases as 1100-1150, 1500-1550, 1650-1700 and 1800-1850, andthe latter three cold events match with three widespreadg lacial advances which occurred on the TP during the Little Ice A2e.     

Time-division phase modulated single-photon interference in a Sagnac interferometer

We introduce a stable, long-distance singlephoton Sagnac interferometer, which has a balanced configuration to efficiently compensate phase drift caused by change of the fiber-optic path. By using time-division phase modulation, single-photon interference was realized at 1550nm in a 5-km-long as well as 27-km-long Sagnac fiber loops,with a fringe visibility higher than 90% and long-term stability. The stable performance of the single-photon interference indicated that the time-division phase-modulated Sagnac interferometer might readily lead to practical applications in single-photon routing and quantum cryptography.     

NPP distribution related to the terrains along the North-South Transect of Eastern China

Vegetation net primary productivity (NPP) is defined as the accumulative amount of organic matters per unit area and time, which is calculated from the difference between accumulative photosynthesis and accumulative autotrophic respiration by green plants. Since the NPP reflects the physiological and ecological characteristics of the plants and the interactive results of the environmental factors, it is an important index to evaluate a structure of ecological system, functional features and …     

MERGING OPTIMALITY CONDITIONS WITH GENETIC ALGORITHM OPERATORS TO SOLVE SINGLE MACHINE TOTAL WEIGHTED TARDINESS PROBLEM

1.Introduction Production sequencing and scheduling is one of the most important activities in production planning and control.Sequencing is defined as the order in which the jobs are processed through the machines.The allocation of machines over time to process a collection of jobs is defined as Scheduling.Several methods have been developed to solve the scheduling problem which can be classified as follows:1)efficient optimal methods,2)implicit and explicit,or complete enumerative methods,a…     

On the Strong Law of Large Numbers for Non-Independent B-Valued Random Variables

This paper investigates some conditions which imply the strong laws of large numbers for Banach space valued random variable sequences. Some generalizations of the Marcinkiewicz- Zygmund theorem and the HoffmannJφrgensen and Pisier theorem are obtained.     

Swelling Studies of Chitosan-Gelatin Films Cross-Linked by Sulfate

0　IntroductionChitosanisadeacetylatedderivativeofchitin ,containinginitsstructure glucosamineandacetylglucosamine joinedthroughβ (1→ 4 )linkages.ItisinsolubleinwaterandcommonorganicsolventsbutsolubleatapHunder 6 .5acidicmedia.Duetoitsexcellentbiodegradableandbiocompatiblecharacter,chi tosanhasbeenexaminedextensivelyinthepharmaceuticalindus tryforitspotentialinthedevelopmentofdrugdeliverysys tems[1 ,2 ] .Gelatinisabiodegradablepolymerofwidesafety ,pro ducedfromcollagen ,themostabundantprote…     

Soil Erosion on a Slope without Vegetation： a Simulating Experiment on a Bare Land in Mt. Tanakami

0　IntroductionManystudieshavebeendoneonthesedimentdischargeinMt.Tanakami .Thosestudiesconcerntheamountofsedi mentsandfewdiscussionsabouttheprocessonly .Andthesedi mentyieldmechanismindevastatedslopeinMt.Tanakamiisnotfullyunderstood.Inordertorecordthewholeprocessofsoilero sionfromthebeginningofprecipitation ,totheendofsedimentmovement,asimulatingexperimentbyusingartificialrainiscon ducted .Basedonthisexperiment,andbyfurthercomparingwiththepreviousdataofsedimentsinthisarea,somebasicdataaboutc…     

Systems Thinking and Scenario Planning: Application in the Clothing Sector

Industrial sectors that operate in uncertain environments - with demand variability, product seasonality and different industrialisation structures - need studies that enable identification and forecast trends. Therefore, the development of competitiveness extends beyond a company’s individual performance. Collective action, whether toward consumer markets, supplier markets, competitors and substitutes, can reinforce or help reformulate the current practices of an organisation, besides providing better results in the development of strategies and competitive positioning. Thus, clothing, the sector addressed in this work, is characterised by a long, fragmented, heterogeneous production chain, the competitiveness of which is linked to product differentiation. Therefore, the use of systemic approaches to study this sector is effective. In this sense, this research aims at adapting Systems Thinking and Scenario Planning (STSP) so that it supports the development and planning process in a given sector. Thus, this research applies STSP adapted to an analysis of the clothing sector in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. As a result, in academic terms, this research proposed and validated a method for analysing industrial sectors of the clothing industry. In the sectoral context, this research identified elements that leverage the sector’s competitiveness, besides generating knowledge and learning aimed at strengthening the sectoral structure identified, and fostering the formation of a new clothing cluster.     

Systemic Indicators for Rural Communities in Developing Economies: Bringing the Shared Vision into Being

Community indicators have been a frequent focus of the scholarly literature. There has been little exploration, however, in relation to rural communities, especially in developing countries. This reflects the special challenges associated with the complexity of rural systems, and the difficulties involved in developing appropriate and systemic indicators for rural communities. Identifying indicators that help the community to monitor progress towards sustainable outcomes requires a framework that is both practical and holistic. This paper introduces a participatory systemic framework for identifying community indicators, which respects the principles of complexity and honours the sense of ownership present in the communities. This framework is an iterative, sharing, co-learning engagement process that extends from creating a shared vision and extracting its core messages, to identifying indicators of progress and determining what actions to try. Importantly, this framework enables us to rank the indicators identified by communities with reference to ‘leverage points’, the best places to intervene in the social-environmental system for transformational change. This framework provides a potential pathway for sustainable rural development and perhaps also for organisations and urban communities.