Gamergates in the myrmicine genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Metapone</Emphasis> (Hymenoptera:Formicidae)

Gamergates (i.e. mated reproductive workers) are mostly known from ant species within the Ponerinae. We report here the discovery of gamergates in two species of the subfamily Myrmicinae. Until now, mated reproductive females in colonies of myrmicine species have been considered morphologically distinct from the worker caste. However, in two species of the myrmicine Metapone (Metapone madagascarica and a newly discovered, not yet described Metapone species) all workers have six ovarioles and a spermatheca; and some of them are mated. There are no morphological differences between mated and non-mated workers. Field observations and laboratory studies indicate that colonies of the Metapone species can reproduce with gamergates only.     

Vocal acrobatics in a Chinese frog, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Amolops tormotus</Emphasis>

Although amphibians are highly vocal, they generally emit only a limited number of acoustic communication signals. We report here the extraordinarily rich vocal repertoire of Amolops tormotus, a ranid species in China. These frogs produce countless vocalizations, some of which share features of birdsong or primate calls, e.g., ultrasonic frequency components, multiple upward and downward FM sweeps, and sudden onset and offset of selective harmonic components within a call note. Frame-by-frame video analysis of the frog's calling behavior suggests the presence of two pairs of vocal sacs that may contribute to the remarkable call-note complexity in this species. Electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the Springer LINK server located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-002-0335-x.     

Inventory of emissions from major air pollutant categories in Turkey

In this study, an inventory of air pollutant emission estimates from major air polluting sources in Turkey for period between 1985 and 2005 with 5-year intervals were estimated. Inventory covers anthropogenic sources of five major air pollutants of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and non-methane volatile organic compounds. Their break-down with respect to main activity sectors were shown and their distribution by the largest industrial source categories were worked out as annual estimates. This inventory and its analysis point to serious environmental implications of air pollutants and a need to develop a policy plan for reducing these emissions.     

利用石化污泥生产新型除油吸附剂的试验研究

利用量大面广的石化污泥制备吸附材料用于水表面油的清除。该吸附剂制备的最佳工艺条件为：料层厚度65mm，碳化温度360℃-400℃，炭化时间4.5-5h。所制备的吸附剂具有很强的亲油疏水性和100%的悬浮率，20℃时对原油的饱和吸附量达到7.7g/g。     

Practical environmental monitoring of major construction projects

Independent teams undertook environmental monitoring of particular concentrations of major construction projects forming part of Hong Kong’s U.S. $20 billion airport infrastructure programme located in dense urban areas. The team combination of environmental specialists with experienced civil engineers enabled pragmatic mitigation measures to be developed and accepted by the construction personnel with the result that potentially significant adverse impacts were averted. The authors discuss the mechanism and success of this innovative approach.     

中国废旧农用塑料薄膜的回收与利用

介绍了中国废旧农用塑料薄膜回收利用的现状 ;重点阐述了中国废旧农膜再生造粒技术 ,从工艺、成本利益、再生粒料的应用市场等各方面对该技术进行了详细的介绍和剖析 ,在论述其优越性的同时 ,指出了再生造粒技术存在的问题 ,为研究人员今后的研究工作指明了方向 ;最后对废旧农膜再生造粒技术的应用前景进行了展望。     

我国农药废水的处理现状及发展趋势

随着我国农药产量的逐年提高，农药废水的处理形势也日益严峻，因此农药废水处理的新工艺、新方法成为科研工作者研究的热点。根据文献资料，概述了农药废水的种类、特点及其处理方法，主要包括物理法，化学法和生物化学法，以及近些年发展的磁分离法和超声波技术处理法，并叙述了目前我国有机磷、有机氯、有机硫等农药废水的处理现状及研究成果。同时指出了新技术、新工艺的研究及实行清洁生产制度将成为我国农药废水处理技术的发展趋势。     

饮用水中有毒污染物的筛查和健康风险评价

饮用水中含有痕量有机有毒污染物,其中相当一部分并不在水质标准管理范围.应用安捷伦公司解卷积报告软件(DRS)提供的保留时间锁定(RTL)、谱图解卷积(Deconvolution)技术和有毒化合物数据库(HCD),建立了1种可以应用于饮用水中有毒污染物的筛查和健康风险评价的方法.应用此方法对北京市自来水厂进出水中的有毒有机污染物进行了分析,定性筛查到113种有毒有机污染物,并对其中多环芳烃、有机氯农药、挥发性有机物和酚类物质等62种污染物进行了定量分析.结果表明,在有定量分析数据的污染物中,列入标准的有机有毒污染物浓度均未超过国际主要水质标准限值;对未列入水质标准或没有浓度限值的有机有毒污染物,初步进行了健康风险分析和水厂工艺的去除效果评价,发现它们的健康风险基本处于可接受的水平.此外,还定性筛查到当前国际水质标准中没有列入的51种有毒有机物,包括敌敌畏、五氯硝基苯、仲丁威、残杀威、邻苯基苯酚、叔丁基-4-羟基茴香醚、苯胺和腐霉利等,并分析了这些污染物的风险特征,是否存在健康风险需要进一步的研究.     

Hydrogen storage and distribution systems

Hydrogen storage and transportation or distribution is closely linked together. Hydrogen can be distributed continuously in pipelines or batch wise by ships, trucks, railway or airplanes. All batch transportation requires a storage system but also pipelines can be used as pressure storage system. Hydrogen exhibits the highest heating value per weight of all chemical fuels. Furthermore, hydrogen is regenerative and environment friendly. There are two reasons why hydrogen is not the major fuel of toady’s energy consumption: First of all, hydrogen is just an energy carrier. And, although it is the most abundant element in the universe, it has to be produced, since on earth it only occurs in the form of water. This implies that we have to pay for this energy, which results in a difficult economic task, because since the industrialization we are used to consuming energy for free. The second difficulty with hydrogen as an energy carrier is the low critical temperature of 33 K, i.e. hydrogen is a gas at room temperature. For mobile and in many cases also for stationary applications the volumetric and gravimetric density of hydrogen in a storage system is crucial. Hydrogen can be stored by six different methods and phenomena: high pressure gas cylinders (up to 800 bar), liquid hydrogen in cryogenic tanks (at 21 K), adsorbed hydrogen on materials with a large specific surface area (at T < 100 K), absorbed on interstitial sites in a host metal (at ambient pressure and temperature), chemically bond in covalent and ionic compounds (at ambient pressure), oxidation of reactive metals e.g. Li, Na, Mg, Al, Zn with water. These metals easily react with water to the corresponding hydroxide and liberate the hydrogen from the water. Finally, the metal hydroxides can be thermally reduced to the metals in a solar furnace.     

西鄂尔多斯国家级自然保护区旅游开发的战略意义及可行性分析

西鄂尔多斯自然保护区是一个以保护古老残遗植物及草原向荒漠过渡的植被带和多样的生态系统为主要对象的综合性自然保护区。受传统资源开发模式的影响，生态环境十分脆弱，保护难度极大。西部大开发为这一区域旅游开发提供了机遇，通过旅游开发，建立新的经济开发模式，促使区域生态环境好转，以促进保护区的建设和发展。本文就该区域旅游开发的战略意义和可行性进行了探讨。