Exploring Chemical Variables in Ligustrum lucidum Ait. F. Tricolor (Rehd.) Rehd. in Relation to Air Pollutants and Environmental Conditions

Ligustrum lucidum Ait. f. tricolor (Rehd.) Rehd. in relation to atmospheric pollutants in Córdoba city, Argentina. The study area receives regional pollutants and was categorized taking into account traffic level, industrial density, type of industry, location of the sample point in relation to the street corner, treeless condition, and topographic level. Dried weight/fresh weight ratio (DW/FW) and specific leaf area (SLA) were calculated, and concentrations of chlorophylls, carotenoids, total sulfur, soluble proteins, malondialdehyde (MDA), and hydroperoxy conjugated dienes (HPCD) were determined in leaf samples. Sulfur content correlates positively with traffic density and SLA correlates negatively with some combinations of the categorical variables; MDA correlates positively with topographic level and total protein concentration correlates negatively with treeless condition. On the basis of our results, traffic, location of trees, type of industry, situation of a tree with respect to others, and topographic level are the environmental variables to bear in mind when selecting analogous sampling points in a passive monitoring program. An approximation to predict tree injury may be obtained by measuring DW/FW ratio, proteins, pigments, HPCD, and MDA as they are responsible for the major variability of data.     

A comparison of different lysis buffers to assess allele dropout from single cells for preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Single cell polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) requires high efficiency and accuracy. Allele dropout (ADO), the random amplification failure of one of the two parental alleles, remains the most significant problem in PCR-based PGD testing since it can result in serious misdiagnosis for compound heterozygous or autosomal dominant conditions. A number of different strategies (including the use of lysis buffers to break down the cell and make the DNA accessible) have been employed to combat ADO with varying degrees of success, yet there is still no consensus among PGD centres over which lysis buffer should be used (ESHRE PGD Consortium, 1999 ). To address this issue, PCR amplification of three genes (CFTR, LAMA3 and PKP1) at different chromosomal loci was investigated. Single lymphocytes from individuals heterozygous for mutations within each of the three genes were collected and lysed in either alkaline lysis buffer (ALB) or proteinase K/SDS lysis buffer (PK). PCR amplification efficiencies were comparable between alkaline lysis and proteinase K lysis for PCR products spanning each of the three mutated loci (ΔF508 in CFTR 90% vs 88%; R650X in LAMA3 82% vs 78%; and Y71X in PKP1 91% vs 87%). While there was no appreciable difference between ADO rates between the two lysis buffers for the LAMA3 PCR product (25% vs 26%), there were significant differences in ADO rates between ALB and PK for the CFTR PCR product (0% vs 23%) and the PKP1 PCR product (8% vs 56%). Based on these results, we are currently using ALB in preference to PK/SDS buffer for the lysis of cells in clinical PGD. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国可持续社会养老保险的综合评价体系和实证分析

我国可持续社会养老保险的综合评价指标体系包括四个层次和三级子系统，内容涉及养老保险人数、机构设置、基金管理和代际平衡四个子目标。应用因子分析模糊综合评价方法对我国1990-2001年养老保险建设状况进行评价，本文认为基金管理，行政管理和代际失衡是影响我国可持续养老保险发展的主要因素。     

Fluctuations of Population Size and Structure in the Northern Mole Vole: Preliminary Analysis

Long-term stationary studies on the ecology of the northern mole vole (Ellobius talpinus Pall.), performed by the mark–recapture method from 1985 to 1997, have provided original data on population dynamics and structure. The analysis shows that, to reveal cyclic fluctuations of population size in this species, the period of three years should be taken as a unit of time for estimating the duration of one phase. The 12-year population cycle in E. talpinus has four distinct phases: an increase, a peak, a decline, and a minimum. At each phase, the population is characterized by certain features of family structure, age composition, birth and death rates, and the composition of migrants.     

湖北省雨涝灾害的风险评估与区划

随着我国灾害科学研究的不断深入及经济建设的日益发展，从风险角度分析灾害已成为灾害分析的一种新视角，它有助于决策者进行灾害管理和制定减灾策略时有针对性地选择最优技术政策，防患于末然。雨涝灾害是湖北省最严重的气象灾害之一，据统计，湖北省平均每年受雨涝危害的农田面积为80．62万hm^2，成灾面积为47．07万hm^2，特别是20世纪80年代以来湖北省工农业生产重地江汉平原和鄂东雨涝事件明显增多，严重威胁和制约着我省国民经济持续稳定发展。依据自然灾害风险分析原理，在分析湖北省雨涝灾害孕灾环境、致灾因子、承灾体密度和经济发展水平及承灾体的抗灾能力的基础上，综合评价了湖北省雨涝灾害风险程度的地域差异，以能综合体现风险程度的风险指数作为指标，将湖北省雨涝灾害分为极重度、重度、中度和轻度四个风险区，并提出了相应的对策措施，为有关部门灾害管理和减灾决策制定提供了参考依据。     

北京市发展CNG汽车的条件与前景分析

北京市汽车排放污染物贡献率已达到：HC73.5％，CO63．4％，NOx46％。用CNG代替汽油作汽车燃料，可使CO减少97％、HC减少72％、NOx减少39％、CO2减少24％、SO2减少90％。建立CNG加气站和CNG汽车改装这两个CNG应用关键问题在技术上、经济上都是可行的。北京市CNG燃料来源有保障。北京市车辆都比较适合使用CNG气体燃料。北京有很强的CNG汽车产业科技力量。对北京市当前发展CNG汽车产业提出了一些建议。     

Study on Assessing Economic Vulnerability of Small Island Regions

The main purpose of this study is to assess economic vulnerability of small island development regions as part of their sustainability constraints. By combining economic and environmental time series data, we assessed a composite index of economic vulnerability which is constructed from three exogenous variables, namely economic exposure, economic remoteness, and economic impact of environmental and natural disasters. We used the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan as the case studies for this paper.The results indicated that using a gross island products based valuation index, Kikaijima is the most vulnerable island in the Amami Islands with a composite economic vulnerability index (CEVI) value of 0.678, while by using a per capita based index, Okinoerabujima is considered the most vulnerable island with a CEVI value of 0.680. From the results we also revealed that smaller islands have relative higher vulnerability than the bigger one, which also confirms some previous country-level vulnerability studies.However, it is matter of fact that some islands that have relatively high vulnerability also have good economic performance as shown by their per capita income. In this regard, it can be argued that the success of these small islands could have been achieved in spite of and not because of their inherent vulnerability conditions as an indicator of sustainability constraint. Regarding these findings, we also examined a comparison between vulnerability results and the preliminary concept of an island's resilience in order to capture another perspective on sustainability assessment in a small island region.     

Utilization and degradation of imazaquin by a naturally occurring isolate of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes

A species of bacteria that is capable of utilizing imazaquin as the sole carbon source was isolated from soil with repeated imazaquin applications, and was identified as Arthrobacter crystallopoietes (designated as strain “WWX-1”). This isolate degrades imazaquin as high as 200 μg ml⁻¹, and the estimated dissipation half-lives increased from 1.51 d for the treatment at 50 μg ml⁻¹ to 4.75 d for 200 μg ml⁻¹. Optimal growth of WWX-1 in mineral salt medium with 50 μg ml⁻¹ imazaquin was obtained at 35 °C and a pH of 5.0. Growth of WWX-1 was also observed in mineral salt medium with the addition of other imidazolinone herbicides such as imazethapyr and imazapyr, but not with different classes of herbicides such as metsulfuron-methyl. Two imazaquin metabolites were detected, and spectral analysis with HPLC–MS, ¹H NMR, and IR revealed one metabolite with a molecular weight (MW) of 199 as quinoline-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride. We propose that A. crystallopoietes (WWX-1) could serve as an efficient biodegradation system for remediation of water and soils that are heavily contaminated with imazaquin or other structurally similar chemicals.     

生态型港口综合评价指标体系初探

基于上海市建设生态型城市的长期目标，将港口作为城市生态系统中重要的子系统，对如何建设生态型港口提出了综合评价指标体系。通过筛选得到45项单因素指标，针对不同类型的港区有所分异，整个评价体系分为5个准则层（生态环境、经济效率、污染控制、环境管理、社会评价）和10个因素层（大气/声环境、生物资源、基底质量、经济发展、生产效率、循环经济、污染排放、清洁生产、环保投入、社会参与），并采用AHP（层次分析）法确定了各层次的权重分配。进而根据2005年上海港年均生产状况和2006年上半年的港区环境－资源调查，尝试对上海港7种主要类型（集装箱、件杂货/成品、多用途、干散、粮食港区、液散、客运）的15个港区进行了现状评估。然而，生态港评价系统的指标选取、权重制定、评估级别等实践与完善仍需要多学科和政府职能部门的参与。最后，项目还提出了水生态健康、航道淤积、生态风险、水陆景观等非定量生态港评价因子。     

Diffusion pollution from livestock and poultry rearing in the Yangtze Delta,China

BACKGROUND: The Yangtze Delta is one of the most developed regions in China and includes Shanghai, eight cities in Jiangsu province and eight cities in Zhejiang province. Meat consumption in this region has increased with economic growth, and most of the consumed meat is produced locally. The water quality of surface waters has deteriorated in recent years. An example was the huge blue-green algae bloom in Tai Lake in late May 2007, which affected millions of people's daily drinking water. However, animal husbandry is considered to be one of the main pollution sources. METHODS: Pollutants (NH3-N, total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN)) excreted by livestock and poultry, and the resultant COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), were estimated using two different methods based on different data sets. RESULTS: The number of livestock and poultry has remained stable in the Yangtze Delta over the four years from 1999 to 2002, with the average number of pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry being 21.1 M, 0.4 M, 7.7 M and 597.6 M, respectively. Pollutants in livestock and poultry excreta estimated by Method I were: 0.12 Mt NH3-N, 0.11 Mt TP and 0.29 Mt TN, resulting in COD and BOD of 1.34 Mt and 1.30 Mt, respectively, while the estimations based on Method II were: 0.18 Mt NH3-N, 0.15 Mt TP and 0.40 Mt TN, resulting in COD and BOD of 1.95 Mt and 1.80 Mt, respectively. DISCUSSION: Pollutants excreted annually by livestock and poultry in the Yangtze Delta are estimated to be: 0.17 Mt NH3-N, 0.16 Mt TP and 0.42 Mt TN, giving rise to a COD of 1.86 Mt and a BOD of 1.72 Mt. Approximately 25% of this pollution was estimated to enter water bodies, which means that the annual pollutant load is 43,700 t NH3-N, 39,400 tTP, 104,600t TN with a COD of 465,000 tand a BOD of 430,100 t. Pollutants from animal husbandry were similar in magnitude to those from industrial wastewater. Pigs produced the most pollution, followed by poultry, cattle and sheep. The pollution load from animal husbandry in the Yangtze Delta is about twice the average level of the whole of China. CONCLUSIONS: Domestic wastewater was the main pollution source in the Yangtze Delta, followed by pollution from raising livestock and poultry and from industrial wastewater. The pollution load in Shanghai and Jiaxing were the greatest, followed by 7 cities of Jiangsu province (except Suzhou) and other cities of Zhejiang province and Suzhou. Pigs and poultry produced about 90% of the total pollutants from animal husbandry. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: The local governments, especially in Shanghai and Jiaxing, should focus their attention on the pollution produced by livestock and poulrry. Controlling pollution from pigs and poultry will have the greatest impact in this region. Control of pollution will be facilitated by the development of large-scale livestock and poultry farming units and a shift away from small scale husbandry.