Inorganic chemical composition and source signature of PM2.5 in Beijing during ACE-Asia period

Aerosol samples for PM2.5 were collected in Beijing for 38 consecutive days from March to April 2001 using an IMPROVE Sampler. Concentrations of 20 elements in PM2.5 were determined using a PIXE method. Results show that the average mineral dust concentration of PM2.5 was 14.6 Ilg/m3 during the observation period. On the sand-dust event days of March 21 and April 10, dust PM2.5 mass concentrations were 62.4 and 54.1 μg/m^3, respectively.These demonstrate that fine particle pollution by dust event in Beijing was very severe. The enrichment factors of S and Cu reached minimums on the dusty days and were high on the non-dusty days. It is considered that enrichment factors of elements in PM2.5, which are associated with human activities, can probably provide an effective method to distinguish local sources from external sources of dust. Factor analysis on the chemical composition in PM2.5 shows that sources of crustal matters, anthropogenic emission, and oil combustion contributed to PM2.5 levels in air in the springtime of 2001 in Beijing.     

Progress in the study of tectophysicochemistry

Tectophysicochemistry is a research area that deals with the interrelations between physical and chemical changes of crustal materials caused by tectonism. A given tectonic force may be resolved into two parts: homogeneous stress and differential stress. Homogeneous stress refers to isotopic pressure, which is superimposed on the original pressure and affects the equilibrium of various chemical reactions. It is also a factor that influences petrogenesis,metallogenesis and metamorphism. Differential stress is commonly produced when external forces act on a given solid body. It may cause deformation of crustal materials and generate various kinds of structural features. Tectophysicochemistry pays special attention to pressure, temperature and other physicochemical conditions produced or induced by tectonism and studies the influences of additional tectonic parameters on various chemical equilibria, so it gradually develops into an independent area of science.     

Automatic evolutionary modeling by the Lattice-Boltzmann method

The Lattice-Boltzmann method is an effective tool for solving fluid mechanics problems, but there isn’t still a good scheme to determinate some parameters in Boltzmann equations. In this paper, a technique using evolutionary algorithm to automatically model Boltzmann equations is introduced. Numerical simulation shows that the designed scheme is fast and efficient. Biography: Chen Ju-hua ( 1963-), male, Associate professor, research direction: Lattice-Boltzmann method, evolutionary algorithm.     

A preliminary study of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in the endangered aquatic quillwortIsoetes sinensis Palmer in China

Isoetes sinensis Palmer (Isoetaceae) is an aquatic or amphibious plant that is critically endangered in China. Previous studies have revealed the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)-like photosynthetic pathway occurs commonly in submerged leaves in genusIsoetes. Water chemistry parameters and the titratable acidity content of the plant extract were measured from samples obtained in the early morning (7∶00) and late afternoon (15∶00) from twoI. sinensis populations in China. One population occurs in the eulittoral zone of a freshwater tidal river at low elevation (134 m) and another occurs in a densely vegetated, high elevation (1 100 m) alpine shallow pool. Significant differences in pH and titratable acidity of the plant extract were detected between the morning and afternoon samples. These changes are associated with diurnal changes in water chemistry. Our results provide the first evidence for the existence of the CAM pathway in the East Asian endemicIsoetes sinensis Palmer. The magnitude of fluctuations in the titratable acidity of the plant extract may be correlated with the severe carbon limitation imposed on the plants by its aquatic habitat. Foundation item: Supported by the State Key Basic Research and Development Plan (G2000046805) Biography:Pang Xin-an (1974-), male, Master candidate, research direction: conservation biology.     

Stress corrosion cracking and its anisotropy of a PZT ferroelectric ceramics

It is known that some types of ceramics, like Al2O3 and ZrO2, undergo stress corrosion cracking (SCC) or static fatigue fracture under static loading, ever in a rela-tively mild environment, such as moist atmosphere or water at room temperature, which leads to a time-dependent fracture[1—4]. For a transmission electron microscopy specimen of YBa2Cu3O7-x ceramics superconductor, SCC induced by residual stress can occur in an atmosphere with low moisture content[5]. For a lead zirconate ti…     

Do multiple cycles of aeolian deposit-pedogenesis exist in the reticulate red clay sections in southern China?

Since the Quaternary scientists successfully dis-closed the paleoclimatic significance of the loess-paleo- sol sequence in the Loess Plateau, Northwest China, the loess-paleosol sequence has become well-known terres-trial materials revealing the multiple cyclic changes of Quaternary climates. As a carrier of paleoenvironmental information, it could compare beauty with the deep ocean deposit[8]. In recent years, however, the researchers began to put their sights to southern China. They try t…     

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.