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Flood risk analysis is more complex in urban areas than that in rural areas because of their closely packed buildings, different kinds of land uses, and large number of flood control works and drainage systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose a practical framework for flood risk analysis and benefit assessment of flood control measures in urban areas. Based on the concept of disaster risk triangle (hazard, vulnerability and exposure), a comprehensive analysis method and a general procedure were proposed for urban flood risk analysis. Urban Flood Simulation Model (UFSM) and Urban Flood Damage Assessment Model (UFDAM) were integrated to estimate the flood risk in the Pudong flood protection area (Shanghai, China). S-shaped functions were adopted to represent flood return period and damage (R-D) curves. The study results show that flood control works could significantly reduce the flood risk within the 66-year flood return period and the flood risk was reduced by 15.59%. However, the flood risk was only reduced by 7.06% when the flood return period exceeded 66-years. Hence, it is difficult to meet the increasing demands for flood control solely relying on structural measures. The R-D function is suitable to describe the changes of flood control capacity. This frame work can assess the flood risk reduction due to flood control measures, and provide crucial information for strategy development and planning adaptation.

Realistic representations of plant carbon exchange processes are necessary to reliably simulate biosphere–atmosphere feedbacks. These processes are known to vary over time and space, though the drivers of the underlying rates are still widely debated in the literature. Here, we measured leaf carbon exchange in >500 individuals of 98 species from the Neotropics to high boreal biomes to determine the drivers of photosynthetic and dark respiration capacity. Covariate abiotic (long- and short-term climate) and biotic (plant type, plant size, ontogeny, water status) data were used to explore significant drivers of temperature-standardized leaf carbon exchange rates. Using model selection, we found the previous week’s temperature and soil moisture at the time of measurement to be a better predictor of photosynthetic capacity than long-term climate, with the combination of high recent temperatures and low soil moisture tending to decrease photosynthetic capacity. Non-trees (annual and perennials) tended to have greater photosynthetic capacity than trees, and, within trees, adults tended to have greater photosynthetic capacity than juveniles, possibly as a result of differences in light availability. Dark respiration capacity was less responsive to the assessed drivers than photosynthetic capacity, with rates best predicted by multi-year average site temperature alone. Our results suggest that, across large spatial scales, photosynthetic capacity quickly adjusts to changing environmental conditions, namely light, temperature, and soil moisture. Respiratory capacity is more conservative and most responsive to longer-term conditions. Our results provide a framework for incorporating these processes into large-scale models and a data set to benchmark such models.

When the multi-receiver synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) works with a wide-bandwidth signal, the performance of the range-Doppler (R-D) algorithm is seriously affected by two approximation errors, i.e., point target reference spectrum (PTRS) error and residual quadratic coupling error. The former is generated by approximating the PTRS with the second-order term in terms of the instantaneous frequency. The latter is caused by neglecting the cross-track variance of secondary range compression (SRC). In order to improve the imaging performance in the case of wide-bandwidth signals, an improved R-D algorithm is proposed in this paper. With our method, the multi-receiver SAS data is first preprocessed based on the phase center approximation (PCA) method, and the monostatic equivalent data are obtained. Then several sub-blocks are generated in the cross-track dimension. Within each sub-block, the PTRS error and residual quadratic coupling error based on the center range of each sub-block are compensated. After this operation, all sub-blocks are coerced into a new signal, which is free of both approximation errors. Consequently, this new data is used as the input of the traditional R-D algorithm. The processing results of simulated data and real data show that the traditional R-D algorithm is just suitable for an SAS system with a narrow-bandwidth signal. The imaging performance would be seriously distorted when it is applied to an SAS system with a wide-bandwidth signal. Based on the presented method, the SAS data in both cases can be well processed. The imaging performance of the presented method is nearly identical to that of the back-projection (BP) algorithm.

Continuous treatment of Acid Red B (ARB) with activated sludge (AS) bioaugmented by an azo-degrading yeast Candida tropicalis TL-F1 under aerobic conditions was investigated in the form of sequencing batch tests. Dynamics of both bacterial and fungal communities were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) method. The results showed that bioaugmentation with the yeast TL-F1 improved the performance of AS for continuously decolorizing, degrading and detoxifying ARB. Meanwhile, the AS systems bioaugmented by the yeast TL-F1 showed higher sludge concentration and better AS settleability. The result of PCR-DGGE suggested that microbial communities of both bacteria and fungi shifted due to treatment of ARB and bioaugmentation. Some dominant bacteria and fungi were identified as probably efficient degraders of ARB or its decolorization byproducts. Furthermore, the yeast TL-F1 was found as one of the dominant fungi in all the three bioaugmented systems, suggesting that bioaugmentation was successful due to the colonization of the yeast TL-F1 in AS systems.

In recent years, geographical engagements with issues surrounding different forms of memory have become increasingly diverse. Responding to Owain Jones's recent call for more attention to be paid in geography to the individual and private memories that are crucial components in the makings of our lives, this paper seeks to investigate the processes of (re)remembering childhood worlds and the importance of thinking in more depth about the presentness of the past Utilizing R.D. Laing's 'archive', his autobiography Wisdom, Madness and Folly (1985), and a documentary film that appeared as part of John McGreevy's Cities project in the late 1970s, this paper seeks to explore Laing's (re)remembered childhood worlds in order to think more explicitly about the significance of these different sites and spaces – and their memories – on his ways of interpreting and making sense of the world in the present. Storying (past) lives and (past) places in such a way brings to the fore the narrative quality of memory, opening up alternative ways of thinking about how memories are produced and (re)told.

SUN Y. (2000) Spatial distribution of patents in China, Reg. Studies 34 , 441-454. It is found that patents in China are highly clustered in two groups of provinces: one is the economically fast growing coastal provinces; and the other is inland provinces with large bases of populations, while the degree of spatial concentration of patents is declining over time. It is also revealed that export, together with 'technical infrastructure' including producer services and development of technology transfer market explains most of the provincial variation of patents. Furthermore, foreign ventures do not seem to be an important player in China's innovation system, while both state-owned and collective-owned industries contribute significantly to creations of new products in China. Finally, some commonly cited significant factors for innovations in western literature such as research and development (R&D) and agglomeration do not seem to explain the spatial distribution of patents in China. It is argued that such discrepancies between western 'common sense' and Chinese experience are largely attributed to China's inefficient innovation system, which has not been able to develop its potentiality. SUN Y. (2000) La distribution géographique des brevets en Chine, Reg. Studies 34 , 441-454. Il s'avère qu'en Chine les brevets sont groupés autour de deux grappes de provinces: l'une comprend les provinces côtières en pleine expansion, l'autre inclut les provinces intérieures caractérisées par de grands bassins de populations. Toujours est-il que la concentration géographique des brevets diminue avec le temps. Il est évident aussi que l'exportation, conjointement avec l'infrastructure technique, y compris les services d'équipement et le développement du marché du transfert de la technologie, explique dans une large mesure la distribution provinciale des brevets. De plus, il semble que les entreprises étrangères n'ont pas de rôle important à jouer dans le système d'innovation en Chine, alors que les industries sous contrôle de l'État ou collectivisées contribuent de façon importante aux créations des produits nouveaux en Chine. Pour conclure, quelques idées reçues, puisées dans la documentation occidentale, sur les facteurs qui facilitent l'apparition des innovations, tels la recherche et le développement (R et D), et l'agglomération, ne suffisent pas à expliquer la distribution géographique des brevets en Chine. On affirme que de tels écarts entre le bon sens occidental et l'expérience chinoise peuvent être attribués dans une large mesure au système d'innovation chinois inefficace qui n'a pas exploité pleinement ses possibilités. SUN Y. (2000) Räumliche Verteilung von Patenten in China, Reg. Studies 34 , 441-454. Es erweist sich, daß Patente in China stark gehäuft in zwei Provinzgruppen auftreten: eine in den Küstenprovinzen, die ein rasches Wachstum zu verzeichnen haben, die andere in den Inlandprovinzen, die Standort beträchtlicer Bevölkerungszahlen sind, doch das Ausmaß der räumlichen Konzentration von Patenten läßt im Laufe der Zeit nach. Es zeigt sich auch, daß Export, sowie ''technische Infrastruktur'' einschließlich HerstellerDienstleistungen und Entwicklung von Märkten für Technologietransfer größtenteils die Unterschiede zwischen Provinzen bezüglich Patenten erklären. Darüberhinaus scheinen Auslandsunternehmungen keine bedeutende Rolle im Innovationssystem Chinas zu spielen, während sowohl im staatlichen Besitz wie im Kollektivbesitz befindliche Industrien in China beträchtlich zur Schaffung neuer Produkte beitragen. Manche in der westlichen Literatur oft als für Innovation bedeutsam erklärten Faktoren schließlich, wie etwa Forschung und Entwicklung, und Ballung, geben jedoch anscheinend keine gute Erklärung für die räumliche Verteilung von Patenten in China ab. Es wird die Behauptung aufgestellt, daß solche Diskrepanzen zwischen westlichem ''gesunden Menschenverstand'' und Erfahrungen, die in China gemacht wurden, weitgehend Chinas schlecht funktionierendes Innovationssystem zugeschrieben werden, dem es nicht gelungen ist, sein Potential zu erreichen.

The plasma of monkeys envenomated with tiger snake ( Notechis scutatus) venom was monitored by radioimmunoassay for both crude venom and a neurotoxin. When the injected limb was immobilised and a pressure of 55 mm Hg applied to the injection site, only very low levels of circulating venom or neurotoxin were detectable. In practical terms, venom movement can be effectively delayed for long periods by the application of a firm crepe bandage to the length of the bitten limb combined with immobilisation by a splint. Pressure alone or immobilisation alone did not delay venom movement.

This 1963 paper explains that physicians must help balance their patients' desire to live a pleasurable life with their desire to be healthy, noting that if they insist upon only health-promoting behaviors, their patients will view them as being \"warriors against pleasure\" and may not follow their advice. (SM)

This paper deals with the first part of an experimental programme in a pilot plant configured for advanced biological nutrient removal processes treating domestic wastewater of Bilbao. The IAWPRC Model No. 1 was calibrated in order to optimize the design of the full-scale plant. In this first phase the R-D-N process, incorporating an anoxic selector, was tested for eight months at three temperatures of approximately 20°C, 15°C and 11°C. Under quasi-steady state conditions the ammonia effluent varied from 1 to 5 mg N/l. A partial inhibition of nitrification in some periods was detected. This was clearly shown by regular maximum AUR batch tests and by the model calibration. The influent COD/TKN ratio was rather low (8-9) and the effluent nitrate concentrations varied from 10 to 12 mg N/l. The DSVI increased from 50 to 115 ml/g as the temperature decreased from 20°C to 11°C. An appropriate balance between floc-forming and filamentous microorganisms was maintained as a consequence of the combined configuration of the anoxic selector and the regeneration zone.