Gravity desalination is an important method for obtaining fresh water from sea ice; however, the large amount of ice that is exposed to air for long periods of time sublimates and evaporates, which results in a reduction of the freshwater resource. This paper describes a study of sea ice sublimation and evaporation performed during the winter of 2013 at the western shore of Bohai Bay, China, to determine the relationship between the amount of sublimation and evaporation and the atmospheric parameters. Substantial amounts of the Bohai sea ice sublimated and evaporated, ranging from 15 to 35 % of the total. The sublimation and evaporation amount was significantly different between the day and night and was greater in the daytime because of the relative humidity difference. Sublimation and evaporation is primarily affected by atmospheric parameters, and the amount of sublimation and evaporation exhibits a good linear relationship with the relative humidity and the wind speed; a comprehensive parameters formula was determined for the Bohai Rim in China. A 10 % increase of daily relative humidity will reduce approximately 1.5kg/m 2 /day of the sublimation and evaporation, and the amount of sublimation and evaporation increases by 1.76 kg/m 2 /day when the daily wind speed increases by 1 m/ s. To reduce the sublimation and evaporation and maximize the amount of this freshwater resource, gravity desalination sites should be selected where the wind speed is low and the relative humidity is high, i.e., the sea ice should be configured to reduce the adverse effects of sunlight, low humidity, and air turbulence.

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Background Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and albumin level were considered to be related to the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study aims to investigate the correlation between RAR and 90-day mortality in AMI patients. Methods Data of AMI patients were obtained from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database. According to the median, RAR < 4.32 was regarded as low RAR level group, and RAR ≥ 4.32 as high RAR level group; low RDW level group was defined as < 14.00%, and high RDW level group as ≥ 14.00%; albumin < 3.30 g/dL was low level group, and albumin ≥ 3.30 g/dL as high level group. The outcome was the mortality rate within 90 days after admission to ICU. Univariate and multivariate Cox models were performed to determine the relationship between RAR and 90-day mortality in AMI patients with hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Stratification analyses were conducted to explore the effect of RAR on 90-day mortality in different subgroups of age, gender, simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II), elixhauser comorbidity index (ECI) score, treatment modalities and white blood cell. Results Of the total 2081 AMI patients, 543 (26.09%) died within 90-day follow-up duration. The results showed that high RAR (HR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.34–2.03) and high RDW levels (HR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.08–1.61) were associated with an increased risk of death in AMI patients, and that high albumin level was related to a decreased risk of death (HR = 0.77, 95%CI 0.64–0.93). The relationship of RAR level and the mortality of AMI patients was also observed in the subgroup analysis. Additionally, the finding indicated that RAR might be a more effective biomarker for predicting 90-day mortality of AMI patients than albumin, RDW. Conclusion RAR may be a potential marker for the prognostic assessment of AMI, and a high RAR level was correlated with increased risk of 90-day mortality of AMI patients.

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