Effectiveness of Africa's tropical protected areas for maintaining forest cover

The effectiveness of parks for forest conservation is widely debated in Africa, where increasing human pressure, insufficient funding, and lack of management capacity frequently place significant demands on forests. Tropical forests house a substantial portion of the world's remaining biodiversity and are heavily affected by anthropogenic activity. We analyzed park effectiveness at the individual (224 parks) and national (23 countries) level across Africa by comparing the extent of forest loss (as a proxy for deforestation) inside parks to matched unprotected control sites. Although significant geographical variation existed among parks, the majority of African parks had significantly less forest loss within their boundaries (e.g., Mahale Park had 34 times less forest loss within its boundary) than control sites. Accessibility was a significant driver of forest loss. Relatively inaccessible areas had a higher probability (odds ratio >1, p < 0.001) of forest loss but only in ineffective parks, and relatively accessible areas had a higher probability of forest loss but only in effective parks. Smaller parks less effectively prevented forest loss inside park boundaries than larger parks (T = ?2.32, p < 0.05), and older parks less effectively prevented forest loss inside park boundaries than younger parks (F_2,154 = ?4.11, p < 0.001). Our analyses, the first individual and national assessment of park effectiveness across Africa, demonstrated the complexity of factors (such as geographical variation, accessibility, and park size and age) influencing the ability of a park to curb forest loss within its boundaries.     

The multifunctionality of urban farming: perceived benefits for neighbourhood improvement

Urban farming – a type of urban agriculture focused on entrepreneurial food production – serves multiple functions in neighbourhoods; yet these are not well delineated. Expectations for urban farming often centre on traditional measures of economic development, potentially overlooking other benefits. Through a qualitative case study conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, we sought to understand community perceptions regarding the ways in which urban farms can benefit cities. Interviews with residents, neighbourhood leaders, and urban farmers in three residential neighbourhoods with urban farms revealed the pathways by which community members view farms as improving neighbourhoods. Benefits stemmed from four primary changes urban farms made to study neighbourhoods: creation of public projects welcoming involvement, physical improvement of degraded space, production of local food, and creation of new businesses. These changes led to multiple perceived benefits including increased social connectedness, a transformed physical landscape, improved neighbourhood reputation, increased access to fresh produce, and educational, youth development, and employment opportunities. Our findings demonstrate the importance of a multifunctional paradigm that accounts for social and educational functions in assessing the value of urban farming and bring empirical evidence to the concept of multifunctional agriculture. Urban farms with strong social aims may appear to contribute little to economic development if measured using traditional indicators of success such as job creation or fiscal impacts, but provide numerous other benefits for community development.     

Fenton试剂处理汽车油漆废渣

采用Fenton试剂处理汽车油漆废渣。考察了FeSO_4用量、H_2O_2用量、反应温度、反应时间对处理效果的影响。实验结果表明,在FeSO_4用量为20.5 mg/g、H_2O_2用量为0.6 g/g、反应温度为80 ℃、反应时间为3 h的最优条件下,清漆渣、色漆渣、底漆渣3种漆渣的干基减量率均为20%左右,湿基减量率分别为67.9%、48.2%和64.2%,3种产物的脱水性能均有不同程度的提高,处理后废液的COD均为2 000 mg/L左右。采用Fenton试剂处理后的清漆渣产物粒径与原料相似,产物颗粒球形度高,表面粗糙,内部为多孔结构,产物作为固体燃料时燃烧更充分。Fenton试剂处理未对漆渣中的树脂主体产生较大的破坏。     

丹江口水库表层沉积物不同形态氮的赋存特征及其生物有效性

为了揭示丹江口水库沉积物氮空间分布特征及其生物有效性,采用连续分级提取法研究了表层沉积物中可交换态氮(Exchangeable nitrogen,EN)、酸解态氮(Acid hydrolysable nitrogen,HN)及残渣态氮(Residue nitrogen,RN)的赋存特征,同时结合生物可利用态氮的含量,探讨了各形态氮对生物可利用态氮的贡献。结果表明,丹江口水库沉积物中总氮(Total nitrogen,TN)在425~5796 mg/kg之间,平均为1 319.32 mg/kg,其中EN、HN和RN的平均值相对比例为2.15∶1.95∶1,且各形态氮含量的空间分布呈入库河流大于库区开阔区域的特征,尤其在丹江、老灌河以及犟河-堵河入库口的含量较大。潜在矿化氮(Potential mineralized nitrogen,PMN)含量在40.20~1 468.95 mg/kg之间,平均为275.06 mg/kg,其中EN对丹江口水库沉积物PMN的贡献较大,比例在19.85%~90.80%之间,平均为63.47%。各形态氮在不同的水环境条件下发生迁移转化,保持着水-沉积物界面氮的动态平衡。     

Best Practices in Environmental Communication: A Case Study of Louisiana's Coastal Crisis

This mixed-method case study of environmental communication best practices in Louisiana, USA, identifies trends and approaches as informed by environmental psychology. The results provide key insights for environmental communicators, especially communicators in coastal regions. In-depth interviews with both environmental psychologists and environmental communicators showed that both groups emphasized knowing the audience, telling local stories, building relationships with target audiences and targeted messaging. Both psychologists and communicators also frequently mentioned general messaging concerns of source credibility, avoiding controversial terms and talking about issues, impacts and solutions to which the target audience can relate. A representative survey revealed that Louisiana residents are most interested in hearing about how environmental issues such as climate change, coastal land loss and flooding are affecting their own communities. This finding supports the idea that environmental communicators could do a better job tapping into strong place attachment and sense of community among coastal residents to promote action.     

氨气敏电极法和纳氏试剂分光光度法对地表水中氨氮的比对测试

采用不同质量浓度的氨氮标准样品和实际样品,用氨气敏电极法和纳氏试剂分光光度法进行同步测试。结果表明,2种分析方法在水样氨氮质量浓度在0. 159～2. 81 mg/L范围内具有良好的可比性、精密性和准确性。氨气敏电极法的检出限为0. 03 mg/L,平行6次测定样品的相对标准偏差为0. 4%～4. 2%,加标回收率为85. 0%～110%;纳氏试剂分光光度法的检出限为0. 025 mg/L,平行6次测定样品的相对标准偏差为0. 5%～6. 4%,加标回收率为93. 0%～99. 8%。同时氨气敏电极法在样品预处理、试剂配制和分析时间上要优于纳氏试剂分光光度法。氨气敏电极法能够满足地表水自动监测在线比对实际工作的需求,该方法具有良好的适用性。     

A review of measurement methods for peracetic acid (PAA)

• Physical and chemical properties and application of peracetic acid solution. • Determination method of high concentration peracetic acid. • Determination method of residual peracetic acid (low concentration). Peroxyacetic acid has been widely used in food, medical, and synthetic chemical fields for the past several decades. Recently, peroxyacetic acid has gradually become an effective alternative disinfectant in wastewater disinfection and has strong redox capacity for removing micro-pollutants from drinking water. However, commercial peroxyacetic acid solutions are primarily multi-component mixtures of peroxyacetic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and water. During the process of water treatment, peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) often coexist, which limits further investigation on the properties of peroxyacetic acid. Therefore, analytical methods need to achieve a certain level of selectivity, particularly when peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide coexist. This review summarizes the measurement and detection methods of peroxyacetic acid, comparing the principle, adaptability, and relative merits of these methods.     

HACH氨氮水质自动监测分析仪进口试剂国产化配方研究

分析HACH氨氮自动监测分析仪所用进口试剂配方中氧化剂、显色剂、催化剂、掩蔽剂、缓冲液的组分、试剂用量、反应机理、吸收光谱、酸碱度、发色时间和温度、显色产物的稳定性、灵敏度、干扰及消除,以及存放条件的差异,自行研发国产配方,并将该国产配方试剂与进口试剂做试验比对,结果 2种试剂的效能无显著差异。     

Development of heat transfer and evaporation model of LNG covered by Hi-Ex foam

Natural gas is a kind of clean, efficient green energy source, which is used widely. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is produced by cooling natural gas to −161 °C, at which it becomes the liquid. Once LNG was released, fire or explosion would happen when ignition source existed nearby. The high expansion foam (Hi-Ex foam) is believed to quickly blanket on the top of LNG spillage pool and warm the LNG vapor to lower the vapor cloud density at the ground level and raising vapor buoyancy. To identify the physical structure after it contacted with LN₂ and to develop heat transfer model, the small-scale field test with liquid nitrogen (LN₂) was designed. In experiment, three layers including frozen ice layer, frozen Hi-Ex layer and soft layer of Hi-Ex foam were observed at the steady state. By characterizing physical structure of the foam, formulas for calculating the surface of single foam bubble and counting foam film thickness were deduced. The micro heat transfer and evaporation model between cryogenic liquid and Hi-Ex foam was established. Indicating the physical structure of the frozen ice layer, there were a certain number of icicles below it. The heat transfer and evaporation mathematical model between the frozen ice layer and LNG was derived. Combining models above with the heat transfer between LNG, ground and cofferdam, the heat transfer and evaporation mathematical model of LNG covered by Hi-Ex foam was developed eventually. Finally, LN₂ evaporation rate calculated by this model was compared with the measured evaporation rate. The calculated results are 1.2–2.1 times of experimental results, which were acceptable in engineering and proved the model was reliable.     

基于数值模式的环境空气质量预报影响因素和改进方法

数值预报是各地开展环境空气质量业务预报的主流预报方法之一。模式预报产品、基础输入资料、外部技术支持、主客观预报偏差和预报命中概率等诸多因素均会不同程度地影响数值模式预报效果,研究探讨了上述因素对数值模式预报效果的影响及其针对性的改进方法,以期降低预报偏差,改善业务预报整体效果,为各地提高业务预报质量提供方法思路和技术参考。