Environmental quality control and environmental games

Conclusion  In this paper we have considered a specific environmental game emphasizing both control-prevention efforts and the propensity to pollute by a firm which adopts a given pollution abatement technology. A random payoff game was constructed and solved under a risk neutral assumption and quadratic utilities for both the firm and the environmental controller. The game thus defined, provides a wide range of interpretations and potential approaches for selecting a control-inspection policies to prevent environmental risks. There are of course many facets to this problem, which could be considered and have not been considered in sufficient depth. For example, more complex control mechanisms and liabilities, the effects of insurance and risk sharing, the application of cooperative efforts and subvention of pollution abatement investments (through tax incentives and their like), etc. have not been considered [5,7]. These are topics for further research. The basic presumption of this paper is that it is very difficult to fully enforce pollution prevention by firms, as a result, some controls are needed to ensure that firms be controlled so that appropriate efforts are carried.     

Modeling photocatalytic destruction of the organic contaminants in continuous stir flow reactor

Thin-film technique is becoming an industry standard for the preparation of TiO₂-based photocatalyst for organic destruction. The catalyst provides several advantages over the conventional powder TiO₂ in the treatment of wastewater and groundwater. In this study, a continuous stir flow reactor model is developed capable of describing the photocatalytic process. The model incorporates the following fundamental mechanisms: adsorption, diffusion, liquid-film transfer, UV attenuation, and photocatalytic reaction. All of the simulation results indicate that there exists a highly nonlinear relation between each of these parameters and the destruction rate. Various incident light intensities also are incorporated to simulate the energy efficiency. The simulations illustrate that the photocatalytic model can be used to elucidate the effect of process variables. It is also possible to “custom-design” a catalyst for the treatment of a particular waste stream.     

Integrating disciplinary research into an interdisciplinary framework: A case study in sustainability research

The complexity of today’s research problems increasingly demands that scientists move beyond the confines of their own discipline. In this special issue, the basics of a transdisciplinary framework are established and problems analyzed in a specific discipline are successfully integrated in this transdisciplinary network. The intent has been to go beyond only statements about the importance of enabling early stage researchers to work across disciplinary boundaries, and to show that important discoveries are being made at the intersection of disciplines. Embedding various research projects in a more global framework can meet the demands of an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approach (especially for early stage researchers) and contribute significantly to sustainable research.     

A study on the orbit of air temperature movement

In this paper, we describe an air temperature movement by mapping its time series to the polar coordinates: the value of the time series is plotted on the radial coordinate and the time on the angular coordinate. In this way, both the yearly and daily air temperature movements from five different locations of China are used to demonstrate that, in an intuitionistic view, air temperature movement is neither random nor chaotic, but has its own orbit. We then propose an elliptic orbit model for the air temperature movement. Our proposed model provides quite good results when it is applied to the evaluation of yearly air temperature movements in eight locations in various parts of the world, and the evaluation of daily air temperature movements in five locations in Hunan Province of China on December 17, 2005. Results show that our approach provides a concise and helpful model for air temperature analysis.     

铁路运输业污水治理系统分析

研究了乌鲁木剂铁路局系统污水治理污染控制方法及途径，提出了主要污染物为石油类，其最佳治理对策是：确定重点污染单位、污染源、用最低的治理投入，选择斜板隔油气浮工艺治理重点污染和次重点污染部门，得到较好的治理效果，否定盲目追求“零排放”的高投入方案。     

无剩余污泥的多级活性生化处理工艺

介绍了多级活性生化处理 (MSABP)这项新的废水处理技术的原理、技术特点及两个实例运用。这是此项技术在国内的首次运用 ,其最大的优点是无剩余污泥产生 ,不需要沉淀池     

Application of PCR and probe hybridization techniques in detection of airborne fungal spores in environmental samples

Specific PCR amplification and probe hybridization techniques were applied to examine the compositions of airborne fungi in samples from three different environments. The results from microscopic and CFU counting were compared to those of the molecular-based detections. The detection sensitivity for PCR amplifications was 9 to 73 spores and 1.3 to 19.3 CFUs per PCR reaction. The hybridization detection limit was 2 to 4 spores and 0.2 to 1.2 CFU. The hybridization method was more sensitive than PCR amplification and showed less variation among samples. Using specific PCR primers and probes we identified the presence of several fungal groups and species in the air samples. Specific detections through probe hybridization to PCR products amplified with universal or group-specific fungal primers have promising applications in the examination of air samples for environmental monitoring.     

Assessing land use impacts on flood processes in complex terrain by using GIS and modeling approach

A distributed hydrologic modeling and GIS approach is applied for the assessment of land use impact in the Steinsel sub-basin, Alzette, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The assessment focuses on the runoff contributions from different land use classes and the potential impact of land use changes on runoff generation. The results show that the direct runoff from urban areas is dominant for a flood event compared with runoff from other land use areas in this catchment, and tends to increase for small floods and for the dry season floods, whereas the interflow from forested, pasture and agricultural field areas contributes to the recession flow. Significant variations in flood volume, peak discharge, time to the peak, etc., are found from the model simulation based on the three hypothetical land use change scenarios.     

Application of a checklist for quality assistance in environmental modelling to an energy model

Large, complex energy models present considerable challenges to develop and test. Uncertainty assessments of such models provide only partial guidance on the quality of the results. We have developed a model quality assistance checklist to aid in this purpose. The model checklist provides diagnostic output in the form of a set of pitfalls for the model application. The checklist is applied here to an energy model for the problem of assessing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Use of the checklist suggests that results on this issue are contingent on a number of assumptions that are highly value-laden. When these assumptions are held fixed, the model is deemed capable of producing moderately robust results of relevance to climate policy over the longer term. Checklist responses also indicate that a number of details critical to policy choices or outcomes on this issue are not captured in the model, and model results should therefore be supplemented with alternative analyses.     

有机磷酸酯诱导迟发性神经毒性及其对神经毒性酯酶（NTE）活性影响的动态研究

以成年产卵来航母鸡为试验动物，研究了三甲基苯基磷酸酯（Ｔｒｉ－ｏ－ＣｒｅｓｙｌＰｈｏｓ－ｐｈａｔｅ，ＴＯＣＰ）诱导的迟发性神经毒性．试验发现，母鸡口服ＴＯＣＰ（７５０ｍｇ／ｋｇ）后，经过大约８－１０ｄ的潜伏期开始出现中毒症状，其表现为以步态失调为主要特征的运动障碍呈进行性加重，至第２１ｄ开始便发展为瘫痪，对鸡脑神经病损靶标酯酶（ＮｅｕｒｏｐａｔｈｙＴａｒｇｅｔＥｎｚｙｍｅ，ＮＴＥ）活性的测定表明，有机械诱导的迟发性神经毒性（Ｏｒｇａｎｏｐｈｏｓｐｈａｔｅ－ＩｎｄｕｃｅｄＤｅｌａｙｅｄＰｏｌｙｎｅｕｒｏｐａｔｈｙ，ＯＰＩＤＰ）与ＮＴＥ活性抑制之间的关系不平行，其毒性症状的轻重与ＮＴＥ活性被抑制的强弱也不呈正相关，很可能，在给药后２４ｈ，体内ＯＰＩＤＰ已被触发，此外，实验观察到给予ＴＯＣＰ后被试鸡的体重明显下降。