Natural variability and correlations in the metabolic profile of healthy Eisenia fetida earthworms observed using ¹H NMR metabolomics

¹H NMR metabolomics can be used to assess the sub-lethal toxicity of contaminants to earthworms by identifying alterations in the metabolic profiles of contaminant- exposed earthworms in contrast to those of healthy (control) individuals. In support of this method this study sought to better characterize the baseline metabolic profile of healthy, mature earthworms of the species, Eisenia fetida, which is recommended for both acute and sub-lethal toxicity testing for soil contaminants. Profiles of D₂O-buffer extracted metabolites were determined using ¹H NMR spectroscopy and both inter-individual metabolic variability and pair-wise metabolic correlations were assessed. The control earthworm extracts exhibited low overall inter-individual metabolic variability, with a spectrum-wide median relative standard deviation (%RSD = standard deviation/mean × 100) of 14%, which suggests that the metabolic profile of E. fetida earthworms is well controlled in laboratory conditions and supports further use of this organism in environmental metabolomics research. In addition, strong positive correlations were detected between the levels of maltose, betaine, glycine, and glutamate as well as between the levels of lactate, valine, leucine, alanine, lysine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine which had not previously been reported. Since comparison of pair-wise metabolic correlations between control and treated organisms can reveal changes in the underlying pattern of biochemical relationships between the metabolites, identification of these significant metabolic correlations in control earthworms provides an additional characteristic that may be applied to delineate between control and treated earthworms in future NMR-based metabolomic studies.     

2009年广州能见度变化规律及主要影响因素分析

通过对2009年的广州大气能见度和影响因素的数据资料统计,结合定性分析、相关性计算及各时间尺度中物理量的相互作用过程研究,得出能见度的变化规律和各因素的相关性特征。结果表明,2009年整体能见度水平略有提高;24h的降雨量、气温差值较大时,该日的能见度小时均值波动较大;风速、相对湿度与中尺度(24h)能见度的相关性较强;降雨量、气温对小尺度(1h、5min)能见度影响显著;相对湿度水平能制约风速对能见度的改善作用。灰霾现象等与能见度水平密切相关。     

测量不确定度在水质自动监测仪器中的应用

不确定度是反映某一测量方法,在一定置信概率条件下测量所产生的不确定度量。文章对水质自动监测仪器中氨氮全自动分析仪在测量过程中影响结果的各不确定度分量进行了分析,并计算出仪器示值误差的扩展不确定度。     

Dynamic floodplain vegetation model development for the Kootenai River, USA

The Kootenai River floodplain in Idaho, USA, is nearly disconnected from its main channel due to levee construction and the operation of Libby Dam since 1972. The decreases in flood frequency and magnitude combined with the river modification have changed the physical processes and the dynamics of floodplain vegetation. This research describes the concept, methodologies and simulated results of the rule-based dynamic floodplain vegetation model "CASiMiR-vegetation" that is used to simulate the effect of hydrological alteration on vegetation dynamics. The vegetation dynamics are simulated based on existing theory but adapted to observed field data on the Kootenai River. The model simulates the changing vegetation patterns on an annual basis from an initial condition based on spatially distributed physical parameters such as shear stress, flood duration and height-over-base flow level. The model was calibrated and the robustness of the model was analyzed. The hydrodynamic (HD) models were used to simulate relevant physical processes representing historic, pre-dam, and post-dam conditions from different representative hydrographs. The general concept of the vegetation model is that a vegetation community will be recycled if the magnitude of a relevant physical parameter is greater than the threshold value for specific vegetation; otherwise, succession will take place toward maturation stage. The overall accuracy and agreement Kappa between simulated and field observed maps were low considering individual vegetation types in both calibration and validation areas. Overall accuracy (42% and 58%) and agreement between maps (0.18 and 0.27) increased notably when individual vegetation types were merged into vegetation phases in both calibration and validation areas, respectively. The area balance approach was used to analyze the proportion of area occupied by different vegetation phases in the simulated and observed map. The result showed the impact of the river modification and hydrological alteration on the floodplain vegetation. The spatially distributed vegetation model developed in this study is a step forward in modeling riparian vegetation succession and can be used for operational loss assessment, and river and floodplain restoration projects.     

煤矿噪声对人的注意力影响实验研究

为了研究煤矿噪声对作业人员注意力的影响,采用舒尔特方格法对20名被试者进行5 d的测试,以反应时间和错误次数为评价标准,测试了5种不同分贝煤矿噪声下的注意力水平。运用SPSS,Excel等软件对实验所得的反应时间、出错次数和超时次数进行分析。结果表明:不同噪声等级刺激对矿工的注意力水平存在差异。噪声等级在35~85 db时,注意力水平变化不显著,当噪声等级超过85 db后,对注意力水平的影响趋于显著。煤矿安全规程规定井下作业场所的噪声不应超过85 db,如果超过此临界值,噪声会对矿工的注意力产生较大的负面影响,导致不安全行为的发生;不同噪声等级分别与矿工出错次数、超时次数成正相关关系。当噪声等级在35~85 db时,随噪声刺激的增大,矿工出错次数的增长率先增大后减小,而超时次数的增长率刚好相反。噪声等级超过85 db后,矿工出错次数、超时次数的增长率一致。     

Evolution of unsaturated hydraulic properties of municipal solid waste with landfill depth and age

Successful modeling of liquid and air flow and hence designing of liquid and air addition systems in the landfills are constrained by the lack of key parameters of unsaturated hydraulic properties of municipal solid waste (MSW), which are strongly dependent on the depth of burial and the degree of decomposition. In this study, water retention curves (WRC) of MSW are measured using pressure plate method on samples repacked according to the in situ unit weight measured during borehole sampling, representing the MSW in shallow, middle, and deep layers. The measured WRC of MSW is well-reproduced by the van Genuchten-Mualem model, and is used to predict the unsaturated hydraulic properties of MSW, including water retention characteristics and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. The estimated model parameters are consistent with other studies, suggesting that the pressure plate method yields reproducible results. As the landfill depth and age increase, the overburden pressure, the highly decomposed organic matter and finer pore space increase, hence the capillary pressure increases, causing increases in air-entry values, field capacity and residual water content, and decreases in steepness of WRC and saturated water content. The unsaturated hydraulic properties of MSW undergo changes with landfill depth and age, showing more silt loam-like properties as the landfill age increases.     

对显热比变化规律的理论分析

对矿井风流热交换计算常用的参数之一即显热比的变化规律进行了理论分析。定量分析了显热比与通风时间 (巷道壁面温度 )、巷道壁面的湿度系数、风流的相对湿度等参数之间的关系。通风开始后 ,壁面温度随着暴露时间的增长而降低 ,显热比也随通风时间增长而降低。显热比随巷道壁面湿度系数的增加而下降 ;随着风流相对湿度的增加 ,显热比增加     

庆阳市环境-经济耦合系统动态演变趋势分析:基于能值理论与计量经济分析模型

分析了1978～2007年庆阳市环境-经济系统的能值流量与能值效率的演变轨迹.并以环境负荷率(ELR)、能值废弃率(EWR)作为环境压力指标,运用协整检验、Granger因果检验和向量误差修正模型(VECM),通过分析人均GDP与环境压力指标变量之间在时序维度上的因果关系和相互影响程度,进一步阐述经济与环境系统的耦合关系及其动态特征.结果表明,庆阳市经济发展对不可更新资源的依赖度大,环境-经济系统的产出效率总体下降,但环境负荷不断上升.计量分析表明,经济增长与环境压力之间存在单向因果关系,且已形成"恶性循环圈",环境-经济耦合系统表现出不可持续的发展态势.     

基于熵权法的连云港市入海河流环境健康评价——以蔷薇河为例

建立包含压力-状态-响应要素的指标体系,采用基于熵权的模糊数学评价方法,运用相对隶属度算法评价在快速城市化胁迫下(2000～2007年)连云港市入海河流(以蔷薇河为例)相对健康程度,该方法避免了主观判断河流环境健康标准的不确定性.评价结果表明2000～2007年,连云港市蔷薇河相对健康整体大致呈下降趋势,最优年为200...     

How does agricultural intensification modulate changes in plant community composition?

Agricultural intensification, at local and landscape scales, has caused a decrease in plant diversity and changes in species composition in cereal fields. To better understand the role of landscape complexity and farming systems in shaping plant assemblages, it is of interest to focus on functional traits rather than on floristic composition, which may help to highlight trends in vegetation patterns. We analysed the relative abundance of various functional attributes (different life forms, growth forms, wind-pollinated species and wind-dispersed species) at three contrasted field positions (boundary, edge and centre) of 29 organic and 29 conventional cereal fields distributed in 15 agrarian localities of NE Spain. Agricultural intensification affected the biological attributes of the vegetation in dryland Mediterranean cereal fields; local factors (farming system and position) had a more prominent role in affecting plant functional composition than the surrounding landscape. Local factors were important for life form distribution, growth form and pollination type, whereas landscape complexity mainly affected the proportion of wind-dispersed species. Therefore, depending on the objective of the study, it is important to select functional attributes sensitive to the different scales of agricultural intensification, especially because landscape complexity and land-use intensity are commonly related.