Local circulation and aerosol water-soluble ions--a case study in Taiwan during Mei-yu season

The Mei-yu (plum rain) season is a short but important period when the weather changes from spring to summer in Taiwan. In this study, size-segregated aerosols were collected alternately at 5 sampling sites in northwestern Taiwan from June 16 to 24, 1994. For the first time in Taiwan, this study revealed the aerosol mass spectra and water-soluble ions in the Mei-yu season. For all samples, a bi-modal aerosol mass spectra was found with modal diameters at 3.2 and 0.32 microm, respectively. The aerosol samples were able to be divided into different groups to show their mass and ion spectra according to the calculated 5-hr backward air trajectory. The utilization of enrichment factors showed that aerosol Cl-, Na+, and Mg2+ for all sizes, and super-micron SO4(2-) were related to the sea. Both the scheme of "chlorine loss" (Ohta and Okita, 1990) and a multivariate analysis (Thurston and Spengler, 1985) for categorizing water-soluble ions showed that sea-salts were major contributors in the prevalence of a sea breeze. In contrast, the secondary salts were significant for land breeze and a mix of land-sea breeze. In conclusion, the influence of local circulation on the distribution of aerosol mass and ionic species was found to be prominent.     

三峡二期工程与湖北的机遇和挑战

１９９７年１１月１８日,三峡工程大江截流成功,标志着第一期工程结束、进入第二期工程实施阶段。长江三峡水利枢纽具有防洪、发电、航运和供水等巨大综合效益,是跨世纪特大型水利工程。它的建设,不仅对我国能源秘至整个经济布局产生极大的影响,而且对湖北长江经济带的形成与发展具有决定性的意义。     

Planning for cooler cities: a plan quality evaluation for Urban Heat Island consideration

ABSTRACT

City strategic plans and enabling policies provide a framework for and inform future development across multiple scales. An exemplar city strategic plan will be one based on evidence, enabled by complementary policy outcomes, and built on the knowledge of the existing landscape. This study evaluated the plan quality of eighteen metropolitan strategic plans for city members in the 100 Resilient Cities initiative. A protocol was developed containing thirty-two indicators to assess plans capacity to act as a strategic planning tool to develop, analyse and implement strategies for the Urban Heat Island (UHI) and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The evaluation indicated that strategies addressing the UHI are rarely included in metropolitan plans. Strategic plans showed a lack of evidence-base to inform the potential actions. Urban warming is often linked to extreme weather events anticipated under climate change, not the UHI as a systemic and increasing phenomenon. We recommend that the pathway to addressing UHI mitigation and adaptation may lie in its nexus to aspects of climate change that concurrently can serve to support liveable and resilient cities.     

Preferred surface microscopic geometric features on floors as potential interventions for slip and fall accidents on liquid contaminated surfaces

PROBLEM: Surface roughness affects friction, so selection of floor surfaces with certain roughness characteristics could potentially reduce slip and fall accidents. This article summarizes the preferred surface microscopic geometric features that could increase friction on surfaces covered with liquid contaminants. METHOD: Three types of surface features, represented by the average of the maximum height above the mean line in each cut-off length (R(pm)), the arithmetical average of surface slope (Delta(a)), and the kernel roughness depth (R(k)), are identified as preferred surface microscopic geometric features for a higher friction. The proper settings on the profilometers (instruments used to measure surface roughness) for optimizing these surface parameters are specified. The friction mechanisms involved reveal why these features are more desirable. RESULTS: Although surface roughness is important in determining slipperiness, there is still insufficient information to establish a safety criterion based on roughness; however, the method presented in this paper can readily provide a relative comparison. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The summary presented will help safety professionals properly select new floor surfaces or assess existing floors to reduce slip and fall accidents.     

Biodegradation of phthalate esters by two bacteria strains

In this study two aerobic phthalic acid ester (PAE) degrading bacteria strains, DK4 and O18, were isolated from river sediment and petrochemical sludge, respectively. The two strains were found to rapidly degrade PAE with shorter alkyl-chains such diethyl phthalate (DEP), dipropyl phthalate (DPrP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP) and diphenyl phthalate (DPP) are very easily biodegraded, while PAE with longer alkyl-chains such as dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCP) and dihexyl phthalate (DHP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) are poorly degraded. The degradation rates of the eight PAEs were higher for strain DK4 than for strain O18. In the simultaneous presence of strains DK4 and O18, the degradation rates of the eight PAEs examined were enhanced. When the eight PAEs were present simultaneously, degradation rates were also enhanced. We also found that PAE degradation was delayed by the addition of nonylphenol or selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at a concentration of 1 microg/g in the sediment. The bacteria strains isolated, DK4 and O18, were identified as Sphigomonas sp. and Corynebacterium sp., respectively.     

Utilization of Photographs for Determining Impact Indicators for Trail Management

Indicators are a key component of resource management, but selecting them can be difficult and controversial. This study explores different methods for selecting impact indicators for management of trail conditions by comparing photo survey methods (PSM) with written survey methods (WSM). A total of 661 subjects participated in interviews conducted within Mudeung- Mountain Provincial Park in Kwang-ju, Korea. PSM explained variation in acceptability better than WSM. Six major photo components (in order of importance: area of large rocks on trail, area of wood steps, area of bare roots, area of bare soil, area of small stones, and area of stone steps) explained 84.7% of the variation in acceptability of trail management conditions. This study suggests that PSM can be a useful tool for selecting impact indicators. Supported by the grant of Post-Doctoral Program, Chonbuk National University (2001)     

Removal of copper ions and dissolved phenol from water using micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration with mixed surfactants

A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the effects of composition and concentration of mixed anionic/nonionic surfactants on the efficiency of a micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) operation in removing metal ions/organic solutes from aqueous solutions. Based on the analysis of surface tensions and micelle sizes, it was found that for mixed sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS)/Triton X-100 surfactants, the critical micelle concentration (cmc) was significantly lower than that of SDS and mixed micelles formed. The mixed surfactant system was then applied in a cross-flow mode of MEUF, in which the concentration polarization can be neglected, to remove Cu2+ from aqueous solutions. With a surfactant concentration of 10 mM, the Cu2+ rejection was negligible by using pure Triton X-100 and increased with increasing SDS mole fraction with a value as high as 85%, which suggests that the rejection of Cu2+ was due to the electrostatic attraction between Cu2+ and SDS. Furthermore, pronounced Cu2+ rejection was obtained for a 5 mM SDS solution, which was attributable to a decrease in the cmc of SDS by the existence of Cu2+. When the MEUF technique was applied to remove Cu2+ and phenol simultaneously from aqueous solutions, the Cu2+ rejection was slightly enhanced in the presence of phenol. However, the rejection of phenol was comparatively low, approximately 27%, which may be caused by its relatively hydrophilic characteristic.     

废钻井液固化实验研究

利用经实验筛选的固化剂配方对废钻井液进行了固化处理的室内配方研究。结果表明,经该固化剂配方处理后的固结材料在水中浸泡5d后的浸出液在色度、化学需氧量、pH值、石油类、悬浮物含量和重金属含量等指标方面可达到国家《污水综合排放标准》(GB8978-1996)中的二级标准。     

聚氨酯泡沫材料阴燃发展过程的特性分析

分析对比了相同加热条件下的聚氨酯泡沫材料在有氧和无氧气氛下的升温过程,并对不同加热条件下的聚氨酯泡沫材料的阴燃传播速度进行研究.结果表明:沿着反应进行的方向,分离点的温度越来越低,不同热流条件下的温度分离曲线斜率在实验稳定发展段的变化规律表现得很相似,并在分离点出现后,有氧气氛中的该位置温度在短时间内急剧上升;在阴燃不稳定传播阶段时,热解前锋的速度小于氧化前锋的速度,在稳定传播阶段时,热解前锋速度与氧化前锋速度近乎相等.     

Performance measurement for incineration plants using multi-activity network data envelopment analysis: The case of Taiwan

This study proposes the use of multi-activity network data envelopment analysis to appraise how incineration plants in Taiwan perform. Sample data from 2006 is used to examine the trade-offs between efficiency enhancement and pollution abatement. The respective efficiencies of the waste treatment and electricity generation are also assessed in a unified framework. The empirical results indicate that it is more important to improve the efficiency of waste treatment activity than of electricity generation activity in order to enhance the overall performance of Taiwan's incinerators. Since ownership, location and length of operations do not in general affect their performance, any improvement has to come from the careful monitoring of each process of the waste treatment operations. Furthermore, given that the policy in Taiwan has moved away from incineration to recycling, the problem of an over-supply of incinerators may become apparent in the near future. Our results indicate that the availability of capacity size may be an important factor when policy-makers consider whether to close down some existing incinerators.