The distribution and accumulation of mercury and methylmercury in surface sediments beneath the East China Sea.

China is a massive mercury emitter, responsible for a quarter of the world's mercury emissions, which transit the atmosphere and accumulate throughout its watercourses. The Changjiang (Yangtze) River is the third largest river in the world, integrating mercury emissions over its 1.8 × 10 km catchment and channelling them to the East China Sea where they can be buried.

Prediction of pKa Values for Neutral and Basic Drugs based on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Methods.

The pKa value of drugs is an important parameter in drug design and pharmacology. In this paper, an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was proposed based on the population entropy diversity. In the improved algorithm, when the population entropy was higher than the set maximum threshold, the convergence strategy was adopted; when the population entropy was lower than the set minimum threshold the divergence strategy was adopted; when the population entropy was between the maximum and minimum threshold, the self-adaptive adjustment strategy was maintained.

Fungal community dynamics during a marine dinoflagellate (Noctiluca scintillans) bloom.

Contamination and eutrophication have caused serious ecological events (such as algal bloom) in coastal area. During this ecological process, microbial community structure is critical for algal bloom succession. The diversity and composition of bacteria and archaea communities in algal blooms have been widely investigated; however, those of fungi are poorly understood.

[Distribution of suspended matter concentration in the Changjiang Estuary and adjacent area after the first-stage storage of the Three Gorges Project].

The first-stage storage of the Three Gorges Project started on the 1st June, 2003 and ended on the 10th June, 2003. In order to investigate the influences of the Three Gorges Project on the Changjiang Estuary and adjacent area environment, a cruise was carried out from the 15th June, 2003 to the 25th June, 2003 to synthetically study the environment. Suspended matter concentrations (SMC) in different water layers at different sites were calculated and distributions of SMC were discussed combining with salinity and temperature of water based on recovered data.

Haptics-constrained motion for surgical intervention.

Current open-heart procedures requiring the use of a medial sternotomy and a heart-lung machine can potentially be performed by entering the heart through the cardiac wall. A new procedure in cardiac surgery involves introducing an ablation tool through the appendage of the left atrium. This method, intended for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, septal defect repair and valve replacement, provides increased control over the ablating instrument.