Impacts of Nile Perch,Lates niloticus,introduction on the ecology,economy and conservation of Lake Victoria,East Africa

Nile perch were secretly introduced into Lake Victoria in the 1950s, and officially in the 1960s, amid unresolved controversy. Proponents were of the view that the introduction would improve fisheries production and sport fishing. Although the former objective was achieved, the side effects were dire, including extinction of many native species, especially the ecologically important haplochromines, because of predation. The introduction also changed the habitat, trophic dynamics and water clarity. The change in water clarity is thought to be responsible for hybridization of haplochromines, further contributing to the loss of species diversity among cichlids. The establishment and expansion of the Nile perch also altered the fishery and socio‐economic settings characterizing the lake. A local economy which, until the early 1980s, was based on native fish species has been replaced by an export‐oriented exotic fish processing industry that destroyed the once‐cherished traditional resource. Other socio‐economic issues associated with Nile perch include the high HIV/AIDS prevalence among fishers, and border conflicts attributable to the migratory and transboundary nature of the fishery resource. Conservation measures for the fishery should include establishment of co‐management units that have so far registered both successes and challenges. Other efforts include establishment of the Nile perch Fisheries Management Plans that focus on curbing overfishing and eradicating illegal fishing.     

BENTHIC COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO WATER REMOVAL IN TROPICAL MOUNTAIN STREAMS

Mountain streams that originally supported Hawaiian cultural practices have been diverted for development, agriculture and tourism for over 150 years. Habitat characteristics and benthic macroinvertebrate community responses to water withdrawal were studied in four West Maui Mountain watersheds. We compared riffle and cascade habitats upstream and downstream of the highest‐elevation diversion in each stream and further compared streams to understand variation among watersheds. Riffles were shallow areas with moderate flow, whereas cascades had high‐velocity water flowing over boulders and were separated into torrenticolous (submerged) and amphibious (splash zones on adjacent exposed rock) microhabitats. Among streams, downstream discharge was reduced by 84–99%, flow velocity was four times greater upstream, and depth was 50% lower downstream. There was a significant 44% reduction in downstream macroinvertebrate density (t = 3.261, df = 136, p = 0.0014); however, density did not significantly differ among streams (F = 1.95, df = 3, p = 0.125). Habitat‐corrected density, based on total available habitat area, indicated significantly greater proportions of native taxa in amphibious microhabitats compared with riffle and torrenticolous habitats. Non‐native Chironomidae and Trichoptera (Cheumatopsyche sp. and Hydroptila sp.) were dominant (>95%) and ubiquitous in riffles, whereas native Limonia sp. dominated (30%) amphibious microhabitats. Macroinvertebrate community structure varied among streams, sites and microhabitats, indicating inconsistent response to water withdrawal, dependent upon watershed size and microhabitat conditions. Our findings contribute to water management and restoration efforts focused on conservation of native species and habitat integrity in tropical streams worldwide. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do Management Actions to Restore Rare Habitat Benefit Native Fish Conservation? Distribution of Juvenile Native Fish Among Shoreline Habitats of the Colorado River

Many management actions in aquatic ecosystems are directed at restoring or improving specific habitats to benefit fish populations. In the Grand Canyon reach of the Colorado River, experimental flow operations as part of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program have been designed to restore sandbars and associated backwater habitats. Backwaters can have warmer water temperatures than other habitats, and native fish, including the federally endangered humpback chub Gila cypha, are frequently observed in backwaters, leading to a common perception that this habitat is critical for juvenile native fish conservation. However, it is unknown how fish densities in backwaters compare with that in other habitats or what proportion of juvenile fish populations reside in backwaters. Here, we develop and fit multi‐species hierarchical models to estimate habitat‐specific abundances and densities of juvenile humpback chub, bluehead sucker Catostomus discobolus, flannelmouth sucker Catostomus latipinnis and speckled dace Rhinichthys osculus in a portion of the Colorado River. Densities of all four native fish were greatest in backwater habitats in 2009 and 2010. However, backwaters are rare and ephemeral habitats, so they contain only a small portion of the overall population. For example, the total abundance of juvenile humpback chub in this study was much higher in talus than in backwater habitats. Moreover, when we extrapolated relative densities based on estimates of backwater prevalence directly after a controlled flood, the majority of juvenile humpback chub were still found outside of backwaters. This suggests that the role of controlled floods in influencing native fish population trends may be limited in this section of the Colorado River. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高心墙堆石坝原生集成式智能无人碾压系统研发及应用

无人碾压技术是大坝填筑施工研究的前沿,有助于提高堆石坝施工质量和效率。然而,目前缺乏对多料种复杂施工环境条件下无人碾压系统的研究,且现有的无人碾压多基于RTK-GNSS和毫米波雷达对位姿与障碍物进行感知,缺乏对压实质量、环境障碍物和位姿的多模态感知;现有的无人碾压多采用外挂执行机构的方式进行改装,设备耐久性和稳定性难以得到保证。针对上述不足,采用感知设备、执行设备和控制设备统一设计和集成装配的方式,自主研发了集成多模态智能感知、智能规划决策和智能控制等功能的无驾驶舱原生集成式智能无人碾压系统。其中,智能感知采用RTK-GNSS、毫米波雷达和机器视觉等多种模态方法实现对车体位姿和环境障碍物的精准感知;基于能量守恒原则,采用加速度计等实现对有效压实功率的精准感知;智能规划决策集成了事前的全覆盖路径规划与事中的碾压参数动态优化等算法;智能控制中通过蝴蝶优化算法动态调控比例-积分-微分算法的控制参数,实现了复杂条件下循迹的精准控制;此外,基于B/S架构研发了原生集成式智能无人碾压数字孪生平台,实现了碾压施工过程中物理空间与孪生空间的双向交互。研发的原生集成式智能无人碾压系统在两河口水电站堆石区...     

Downstream environmental effects of dam operations: Changes in habitat quality for native fish species

Hydropeaking dam operation and water extractions for irrigation have been broadly stated as alterations to natural flow regimes, which have also been noticed in the Biobío Watershed, in Central Chile, since 1996. In the Biobío River, most of native fish species are endemic and very little is known about them. Their ecological and social values have never been estimated, and there is lack of information about their habitat preferences. Furthermore, changes on fish habitat availability due to natural and/or man‐made causes have not been evaluated. In this study, eight native fish species, in a representative reach of the Biobío River, were studied and their preferred habitats were surveyed and characterized. A hydrodynamic model was built and linked to the fish habitat simulation model CASiMiR. Fuzzy rules and fuzzy sets were developed for describing habitat preference of the native fish species. CASiMiR was then used to simulate how physical habitat conditions vary due to flow control (i.e. upstream dams). Results show how overall habitat quality, expressed as weighted usable area (WUA) and hydraulic habitat suitability (HHS), changes and fluctuates due to the dam operation and how the daily hydropeaking is influencing quantity, quality and location of different habitats. The study suggests that the analysed fish are highly susceptible to flow control, as dams are currently operated, and fish habitat improvement suggestions are proposed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

生态钢纤维混凝土弯曲韧性和断裂性能

为掌握生态钢纤维混凝土的弯曲韧性和断裂性能,分别对掺率(体积分数)为1.0%,1.7%,2.4%的2种异形生态钢纤维混凝土和掺率为0.7%,1.3%的原生高强钢纤维增强混凝土进行了无切口梁四点弯曲韧性试验和切口梁三点弯曲断裂试验。研究结果表明:生态钢纤维掺率为1.0%时,无切口梁四点弯曲荷载 挠度曲线和切口梁三点弯曲荷载 挠度及荷载 切口张开位移曲线在达到峰值后都出现局部陡降,试件残余强度较小,断裂韧度值较低,纤维对改善混凝土弯曲韧性和断裂性能的作用较小;当生态钢纤维掺率为1.7%时,混凝土弯曲韧性和断裂性能均得到显著提高,混凝土在变形达到15δ_ult,p（δ_ult,p为素混凝土峰值荷载对应的挠度）或70D_ult,p（D_ult,p为素混凝土峰值荷载对应的切口张开位移）水平时,依然具有较高的持荷能力和较好的韧性,波浪型生态钢纤维混凝土断裂能和断裂韧度是素混凝土的27.59倍和8.35倍;生态钢纤维掺率为2.4%时,混凝土弯曲韧性指标、断裂能和断裂韧度进一步增加;掺率为1.7%的生态钢纤维混凝土增韧和抗断裂效果与掺率为0.7%的原生高强钢纤维混凝土相当。     

The effect of neighbourhood on rodent communities: an example from Pampean agroecosystems

Pampean region agroecosystems are devoted to agricultural and farming activities, but in the crop field matrix there are relicts of remnant natural habitats. Poultry farms mainly harbour commensal species as house mice and rats, which are rarely present in surrounding habitats. We assessed if neighbourhood to poultry farms affect the presence of Mus musculus in crop fields and their borders, and if rodent community in poultry farms is influenced by the species present in surrounding crop fields and borders. We found that habitat had a significant effect on the abundance of M. musculus. This species showed higher abundance in poultry farms than in crop field borders. Calomys laucha was the unique native species that was captured in farm sheds. We found higher abundance of native species in crop field borders than in crop fields independent of the proximity to the poultry farms. We conclude that rodent communities in poultry farms are little influenced by the surroundings, and show a dominance of M. musculus independently of the presence of native rodent species in neighbour habitats. On the other hand, farms do not export M. musculus to surrounding habitats, and borders only function as corridors for dispersal among farms, while crop fields are rarely used.     

Flavonoids as stabilizers of fish oil: An alternative to synthetic antioxidants

The antioxidant activities against fish oil oxidation of six commercially available flavonoids and of five flavonoids purified from two Chilean native plants were compared to those ofdl-α-tocopherol and of two synthetic antioxidants, butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole. Among the commercial flavonoids, catechin, morin and quercetin showed a higher activity when fish oil oxidation (either spontaneous or Fe²⁺-induced) was assessed from the formation of peroxides or thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances. Among the native flavonoids, the 5,3′,4′-trihydroxy-7-methoxy flavanone (designated as Pt-2) showed the highest antioxidant activity. Mixtures of quercetin or of Pt-2 withdl-α-tocopherol produced better inhibitory effects when compared to that of each substance assayed by itself. Also, when Pt-2 and quercetin were assayed in combination (0.3 g/kg oil and 0.7 g/kg oil, respectively), a synergistic antioxidant effect was observed. Results indicate that several flavonoids could be used as natural antioxidants as a means to replace those synthetic antioxidants, the use of which has been questioned.     

JNI技术在软件开发中的应用研究

介绍了JNI的基本概念,叙述了如何使用JNI在Java编写的程序中调用其他高级语言编写的本地库和本地方法,并用一个实例来说明如何应用JNI来解决Java语言与其他高级语言之间的通讯问题.     

Use of native species and biodegradable chelating agents in the phytoremediation of abandoned mining areas

BACKGROUND: The application of phytostabilization and assisted phytoextraction to the remediation of abandoned mining areas can be a valuable method to reclaim these areas without modifying soil and landscape characteristics. An in situ application of a continuous phytoextraction technique was carried out in the area of Campo Pisano (Sardinia, Italy), followed by a laboratory assisted phytoextraction test using the biodegradable chelating agents methylglycine diacetic acid (MGDA) and iminodissuccinic acid (IDSA). The plants used were Scrophularia canina subsp. bicolor, Cistus salviifolius and Teucrium flavum subsp. glaucum. RESULTS: The plant that accumulated more Pb was T. glaucum (353 mg kg^?1) while C. salviifolius demonstrated better ability to accumulate Zn (1560 mg kg^?1). S. bicolor showed a better tolerance to metals but accumulated 119 mg kg^?1 of Pb. Accumulation of metals immediately after chelant application was up to 300 mg kg^?1 of Pb and 3000 mg kg^?1 of Zn which did not further increase during the assisted phytoextraction experiment. CONCLUSION: The plant that demonstrated to be most suitable for phytoremediation application was S. bicolor due to its higher biomass production and tolerance to metals. The low cation exchange capacity and the high concentration of Ca and Mg in soil determined a low chelant effectiveness. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry