An automated (novel) algorithm for estimating green vegetation cover fraction from digital image: UIP-MGMEP

Green vegetation cover fraction (VCF) is an important indicator of vegetation status in ecology and agronomy. Digital image analysis (DIA) has been widely accepted as a new VCF measurement technique. In this study, we present a novel fully automatic threshold segmentation algorithm for VCF measurements, which is named as upper inflection point plus mean gradient magnitude of edge pixels (UIP-MGMEP). The algorithm performs VCF estimation upon the vegetation index Excess Green (EXG). UIP-MGMEP optimizes the EXG threshold by searching the upper inflection point (UIP) of the M-Et curve (mean gradient magnitude of edge pixels (MGMEP) vs. EXG threshold), based on the assumption that EXG variance of the boundary pixels between vegetation and background is larger than the variance of the background. Five typical sample images are used to illustrate how ground complexity reduces the distinctness of the UIP. Three controlled experiments are illustrated to test the robustness of UIP-MGMEP to resolution, exposure, and ground complexity. The results show that UIP-MGMEP is a promising algorithm for automatic VCF estimation upon digital images. Compared to broad-leaved grass, narrow-leaved grass is more sensitive to resolution and exposure. To reduce ground complexity, smaller footprint size while more images to cover the same area may be better than one image with large footprint size. UIP-MGMEP is fully automatic, making it promising for batch processing of VCF measurements that is very difficult in any wide-range field survey in the past. UIP-MGMEP algorithm can only extract green vegetation and is not suitable for non-green (even grayish-green) vegetation, due to the limits of vegetation index EXG. In addition, UIP-MGMEP is not recommended for images with VCF less than 0.5% or greater than 99.5%.     

汉江流域土地利用/覆被变化的水文效应模拟研究

针对流域LUCC驱动因子众多、驱动因子与土地利用/覆被变化之间存在复杂的非线性动态关系的特点，以汉江上游流域LUCC模拟为例，构建基于人工神经网络（ANN）与元胞自动机（CA）的模拟土地利用/覆被变化的CA ANN耦合模型，并应用该模型预测汉江上游流域2020s年代的LUCC变化情景。结果表明：2020s汉江黄家港站上游流域水田、旱地、灌木林与建设用地面积均有不同程度的增加，其中建设用地增幅最大，与区域交通和城市化的迅猛发展趋势相符；除建设用地增幅变化较大之外，1980s～2000s与2000s～2020s两个时期其余土地利用/覆盖类型的面积变化率都比较相近，表明CA ANN耦合模型能够刻画土地利用/覆盖类型的转换规律，在流域土地利用/覆被变化的复杂非线性动态演变情景的模拟预测方面是可行的。在此基础上，应用SWAT分布式水文模型模拟汉江上游流域水文过程。研究结果表明：在1980s年代、2000s年代及预测的2020s年代LUCC情景下，汉江上游流域年平均径流量呈增加趋势，LUCC对径流量年内影响较汛期显著，多年平均蒸散发量呈增加趋势     

广州夏季办公室内细颗粒中多环芳烃污染特征研究

大部分的都市办公人群每天在办公室至少度过8 h。而室外环境的渗透、办公室内吸烟、办公设备使用和中央通风系统均可能导致细颗粒物及多环芳烃(PAHs)在室内积聚而造成微环境污染。2015年5—6月,在广州市3种不同功能区(商住区、高新产业区、工业区)共选取了14间不同类型的办公室,对其室内外PM_(2.5)和多环芳烃进行同步监测。结果表明,(1)14间中有12间办公室内的PM_(2.5)浓度水平高于世界卫生组织(WHO)的推荐值25μg·m-3;(2)与国内外类似研究相比,办公室内外∑16PAHs及Ba P-eq的监测浓度水平均较低,并呈现一致规律:文印>室外>吸烟>多人>单人>无窗(无人),其中Ba P-eq低于欧盟规定的安全限值1 ng·m-3;(3)文印工作和吸烟行为与室内PM_(2.5)和PAHs浓度升高有密切关系,分别对5环和4环PAHs贡献明显;(4)其他无明显内源的办公室的细颗粒中PAHs污染在监测期间主要来源于室外贡献。     

石墨烯纳米材料对哺乳动物的毒性及其作用机制

石墨烯是一种应用广泛的新兴非金属纳米材料，具有独特的电学机械性能、超大的比表面积以及潜在的生物相容性，在材料、电子、能源、光学以及生物医学等领域得到广泛应用。与此同时，石墨烯的环境行为和生物毒性也随之引起日益广泛的关注。本文通过对石墨烯纳米材料的动物毒性、细胞毒性、毒性影响因素和毒性机制等相关研究进展进行总结。石墨烯纳米材料可通过气管滴注、吸入、静脉注射、腹腔注射以及口服等方式进入体内，通过机械屏障、血脑屏障和血液胎盘屏障等积累在肺、肝、脾等部位引起急性或者慢性损伤；目前有关石墨烯毒性机制的研究主要集中于线粒体损伤、DNA损伤、炎性反应、凋亡等终点及氧化应激参与的复杂信号通路，不同石墨烯纳米材料的浓度、尺寸、表面结构和官能团等对石墨烯的生物毒性影响不同。鉴于当前该领域研究的局限性，对石墨烯纳米材料生物毒性研究的发展方向进行了展望，进而为石墨烯材料的安全应用提供理论借鉴和实践参考。     

Atrazine contamination in agricultural soils from the Yangtze River Delta of China and associated health risks

Atrazine is one of the most widely applied and persistent herbicides in the world. In view of limited information on the regional contamination of atrazine in soils in China, this study investigated the spatial distribution and environmental impacts of atrazine in agricultural soils collected from the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as an illustrative analysis of rapidly developing regions in the country. The results showed that the concentrations of atrazine in the YRD agricultural soils ranged from <1.0 to 113 ng/g dry weight, with a mean of 5.7 ng/g, and a detection rate of 57.7 % in soils. Pesticide factory might be a major source for the elevated levels of atrazine in Zhejiang Province. The contamination of atrazine was closely associated with land use types. The concentrations and detection rates of atrazine were higher in corn fields and mulberry fields than in rice paddy fields. There was no significant difference in compositions of soil microbial phospholipids fatty acids among the areas with different atrazine levels. Positive relationship (R = 0.417, p < 0.05, n = 30) was observed between atrazine and total microbial biomass. However, other factors, such as soil type and land management practice, might have stronger influences on soil microbial communities. Human health risks via exposure to atrazine in soils were estimated according to the methods recommended by the US EPA. Atrazine by itself in all the soil samples imposed very low carcinogenic risks (<10^?6) and minimal non-cancer risks (hazard index <1) to adults and children.     

Volcano-related materials in concretes: a comprehensive review

Massive volcano-related materials (VRMs) erupted from volcanoes bring the impacts to natural environment and humanity health worldwide, which include generally volcanic ash (VA), volcanic pumice (VP), volcanic tuff (VT), etc. Considering the pozzolanic activities and mechanical characters of these materials, civil engineers propose to use them in low carbon/cement and environment-friendly concrete industries as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) or artificial/natural aggregates. The utilization of VRMs in concretes has attracted increasing and pressing attentions from research community. Through a literature review, this paper presents comprehensively the properties of VRMs and VRM concretes (VRMCs), including the physical and chemical properties of raw VRMs and VRMCs, and the fresh, microstructural and mechanical properties of VRMCs. Besides, considering environmental impacts and the development of long-term properties, the durability and stability properties of VRMCs also are summarized in this paper. The former focuses on the resistance properties of VRMCs when subjected to aggressive environmental impacts such as chloride, sulfate, seawater, and freezing–thawing. The latter mainly includes the fatigue, creep, heat-insulating, and expansion properties of VRMCs. This study will be helpful to promote the sustainability in concrete industries, protect natural environment, and reduce the impacts of volcano disaster. Based on this review, some main conclusions are discussed and important recommendations regarding future research on the application of VRMs in concrete industries are provided.     

Valorisation of used cooking oil sludge by codigestion with swine manure

The addition of lipid wastes to the digestion of swine manure was studied as a means of increasing biogas production. Lipid waste was obtained from a biodiesel plant where used cooking oil is the feedstock. Digestion of this co-substrate was proposed as a way of valorising residual streams from the process of biodiesel production and to integrate the digestion process into the biorefinery concept.Batch digestion tests were performed at different co-digesting proportions obtaining as a result an increase in biogas production with the increase in the amount of co-substrate added to the mixture. Semi-continuous digestion was studied at a 7% (w/w) mass fraction of total solids. Co-digestion was successful at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d but a decrease to 30 d resulted in a decrease in specific gas production and accumulation of volatile and long chain fatty acids. The CH₄ yield obtained was 326 ± 46 l/kg VS_feed at an HRT of 50 d, while this value was reduced to 274 ± 43 l/kg VS_feed when evaluated at an HRT of 30 d. However these values were higher than the one obtained under batch conditions (266 ± 40 l/kg VS_feed), thus indicating the need of acclimation to the co-substrate. Despite of operating at low organic loading rate (OLR), measurements from respirometry assays of digestate samples (at an HRT of 50 d) suggested that the effluent could not be directly applied to the soil as fertiliser and might have a negative effect over soil or crops.     

Temporal and Spatial Variations of Phytoplankton Community Structure in Lake Erhai,a Chinese Plateau Lake,with Reference to Environmental Factors

Russian Journal of Ecology - Temporal and spatial variations of phytoplankton community in Lake Erhai were investigated from May 2010 to April 2011. A total of 124 species belonging to 8 phyla and...