ABSTRACT:With the objective of making calcium alginate gel beads with small and uniform size, membrane emulsification coupled with internal gelation was proposed. Spherical gel beads with mean size of about 50 m, and even smaller ones in water, and with narrow size distribution were successfully obtained. Experimental studies focusing mainly on the effect of process parameters on bead properties were performed. The size of the beads was mainly dependent on the diameter of the membrane pores. High transmembrane pressure made for large gel beads with wide size distribution. Low sodium alginate concentration produced nonspherical beads, whereas a high concentration was unsuitable for the production of small beads with narrow distribution. Thus 1.5% w/v was enough. A high surfactant concentration favored the formation of small beads, but the adverse effect on mass transfer should be considered in this novel process.

Abstract. Influences of the Earth's astronomical forcing on the evolution of East Asian monsoon have been demonstrated with various geological records and climate models. Here, we present time series of climatic proxies from the Chinese Loess Plateau and Sanbao/Hulu caves and the winter/summer monsoon intensity index from a long-term transient climate model simulation. Both the observations and modelling results reveal consistently distinct responses of East Asian summer and winter monsoons to astronomical forcing. Different from the dominant local impact on the summer monsoon at the precession scale (∼20 ka period), the East Asian winter monsoon is driven predominantly by the obliquity forcing (∼40 ka period). We propose that the obliquity forcing controls the meridional insolation difference and, therefore, exerts a more significant effect on the evolution of the East Asian winter monsoon than previously expected.