On the effect of Fe(III) on proliferation of Microcystis aeruginosa at high nitrate and low chlorophyll condition

The impact of Fe concentrations on the growth of Microcystisaeruginosa in aquatic systems under high nitrate and low chlorophyll conditions was studied. The responses of cell density, total and cell chlorophyll-a intracellular Fe content and organic elemental composition of M. aeruginosa to different concentration gradients of Fe(III) in the solutions were analysed. The results showed that the proliferation speeds of M. aeruginosa were: (1) decelerated when the Fe(III) concentration was lower than 50 μg/L in the solutions, (2) promoted and positively related to the increase of Fe(III) concentration from 100 to 500 μg/L in the solutions over the experimental period, and (3) promoted in the early stage but decelerated in later stages by excess adsorption of Fe by cells when the Fe(III) concentration was higher than 500 μg/L in the solutions. The maximum cell density, total and cell chlorophyll-a were all observed at 500 μg Fe(III)/L concentration. The organic elemental composition of M. aeruginosa was also affected by the concentration of Fe(III) in the solutions, and the molecular formula of M. aeruginosa should be expressed as C_7–7.5H₁₄O_0.8–1.3N_3.5–5 according to the functions for different Fe(III) concentrations. Cell carbon and oxygen content appeared to increase slightly, while cell nitrogen content appeared to decrease as Fe(III) concentrations increased from 100 to 500 μg/L in the solutions. This was attributed to the competition of photosynthesis and nitrogen adsorption under varying cell Fe content.     

2013年京津冀重污染特征及其气象条件分析

2013年中国东部地区多次发生持续的重霾污染事件.为探究其气象条件与重污染事件的关系,本文使用欧洲中心2013年东亚地区的逐日气象数据和北京、天津、石家庄的逐时PM_2.5浓度数据以及2013年MICAPS观测数据,分析了重污染事件对应的天气形势,并使用NAQMPS针对2013年1月的重污染事件进行情景模拟.研究结果表明：1北京、天津和石家庄地区PM_2.5浓度,夏秋季节日变化不显著,秋冬季节白天低夜间高;3地PM_2.5浓度均表现为12-1月浓度最高,7月最低;.2500 hPa平直西风气流,850 hPa弱暖平流,地面处于弱高压后部或高压底部高低空配置下的天气系统,对应着重污染事件的高发期;3源强不变的情况下,京津冀地区由弱高压前部控制转为弱高压控制时,地面温度升高0~5℃,相对湿度增加30%~50%,风速下降2~3 m·s^-1,PM_2.5浓度变化可达300 μg·m^-3.     

基于模糊物元模型的西苕溪流域生态系统健康评价

本文借助RS/GIS技术,结合遥感影像数据、环境监测数据和社会经济数据,运用模糊物元模型,从水域、水陆交错带和陆域子系统选取21项评价指标,建立了流域生态系统健康综合评价指标体系,对西苕溪流域生态系统健康状况的空间分布规律和限制性因子进行了探讨.研究结果表明,西苕溪流域生态系统健康整体呈现出优良状态,其中,生态系统健康优秀地区面积占68.2%,良好地区面积占31.8%,能够正常发挥流域服务功能,维持生态系统可持续发展.西苕溪流域生态系统健康在空间分布上呈现出上游好、下游差的局面.在各子系统健康评价中,水域生态系统优于陆域生态系统,水陆交错带生态系统最差.底栖动物完整性遭受破坏、湿地退化、人为干扰活动、水源涵养功能减弱、点源和面源污染负荷较重是限制西苕溪流域部分评价单元生态系统健康的重要因素.     

天津市夏季PM10浓度及组成元素垂直分布特征

通过天津市气象局大气边界层观测站高255 m的气象铁塔,获得了10m、40m、120m和220 m 4个高度共80个PM10样品,分析了PM10的日均质量浓度及其元素的垂直分布特征.结果表明,4个高度处PM10质量浓度时序变化基本一致;PM10质量浓度及其组成元素总量随高度增加递减;10 m、40m和120m3个高度处的PM10质量浓度时间序列分布的相关性较好,组分分歧系数较小,而220 m处的PM10质量浓度时间序列分布与其他3个高度处的相关性较差,组分分歧系数较大.样品中元素质量浓度由高到低依次是Si、Al、Ca、Fe、Na、Mg、K、Zn、Ti、Cu、Mn、Pb、Cr、Ni、Co、V、As、Cd和Hg.其中,Si、Al、Na、K质量分数随高度变化不大;Ca、Fe、Mg质量分数随高度增加递减明显;Zn、Cu、Mn、Pb、Cr在10m、40m和120 m3个高度处质量分数接近,而在220m处明显降低;Ti元素在4个高度处的质量浓度接近,质量分数总体上随高度增加递增;Ni、Co、V、As、Cd、Hg质量分数随高度的变化不同,其中与燃煤有密切关系的Hg在120 m处质量分数明显高于其他高度处,而在220m处最低.Al、Fe、Na、K等元素相对富集因子小于或接近1,其质量浓度与PM10质量浓度时序分布的相关性较好,其中Al、Na相关系数随高度增加显著递减;Zn,Cu、Pb、Cr、As、Ni的相对富集因子显著大于1,其质量浓度与PM10质量浓度时序分布的相关性较差,相关系数随高度增加变化不大.     

Effect of Aging on Brain Injury Prediction in Rotational Head Trauma—A Parameter Study with a Rat Finite Element Model

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the possible effects of age-related intracranial changes on the potential outcome of diffuse axonal injuries and acute subdural hematoma under rotational head loading.

Methods: A simulation-based parametric study was conducted using an updated and validated finite element model of a rat head. The validation included a comparison of predicted brain cortex sliding with respect to the skull. Further, model material properties were modified to account for aging; predicted tissue strains were compared with experimental data in which groups of rats in 2 different lifecycle stages, young adult and mature adult, were subjected to rotational trauma. For the parameter study, 2 age-dependent factors—brain volume and region-specific brain material properties—were implemented into the model. The models young adult and old age were subjected to several injurious and subinjurious sagittal plane rotational acceleration levels.

Results: Sequential analysis of the simulated trauma progression indicates that an increase in acute subdural hematoma injury risk indicator occurs at an early stage of the trauma, whereas an increase in diffuse axonal injury risk indicators occurs at a later stage. Tissue stiffening from young adult to mature adult rats produced an increase in strain-based thresholds accompanied by a wider spread of strain distribution toward the rear part of the brain, consistent with rotational trauma experiments with young adult and mature adult rats. Young adult to old age brain tissue softening and brain atrophy resulted in an increase in diffuse axonal injuries and acute subdural hematoma injury risk indicators, respectively.

Conclusions: The findings presented in this study suggest that age-specific injury thresholds should be developed to enable the development of superior restraint systems for the elderly. The findings also motivate other further studies on age-dependency of head trauma.     

Development of a Computationally Efficient Full Human Body Finite Element Model

Introduction: A simplified and computationally efficient human body finite element model is presented. The model complements the Global Human Body Models Consortium (GHBMC) detailed 50th percentile occupant (M50-O) by providing kinematic and kinetic data with a significantly reduced run time using the same body habitus.

Methods: The simplified occupant model (M50-OS) was developed using the same source geometry as the M50-O. Though some meshed components were preserved, the total element count was reduced by remeshing, homogenizing, or in some cases omitting structures that are explicitly contained in the M50-O. Bones are included as rigid bodies, with the exception of the ribs, which are deformable but were remeshed to a coarser element density than the M50-O. Material models for all deformable components were drawn from the biomechanics literature. Kinematic joints were implemented at major articulations (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle) with moment vs. angle relationships from the literature included for the knee and ankle. The brain of the detailed model was inserted within the skull of the simplified model, and kinematics and strain patterns are compared.

Results: The M50-OS model has 11 contacts and 354,000 elements; in contrast, the M50-O model has 447 contacts and 2.2 million elements. The model can be repositioned without requiring simulation. Thirteen validation and robustness simulations were completed. This included denuded rib compression at 7 discrete sites, 5 rigid body impacts, and one sled simulation. Denuded tests showed a good match to the experimental data of force vs. deflection slopes. The frontal rigid chest impact simulation produced a peak force and deflection within the corridor of 4.63 kN and 31.2%, respectively. Similar results vs. experimental data (peak forces of 5.19 and 8.71 kN) were found for an abdominal bar impact and lateral sled test, respectively. A lateral plate impact at 12 m/s exhibited a peak of roughly 20 kN (due to stiff foam used around the shoulder) but a more biofidelic response immediately afterward, plateauing at 9 kN at 12 ms. Results from a frontal sled simulation showed that reaction forces and kinematic trends matched experimental results well. The robustness test demonstrated that peak femur loads were nearly identical to the M50-O model. Use of the detailed model brain within the simplified model demonstrated a paradigm for using the M50-OS to leverage aspects of the M50-O. Strain patterns for the 2 models showed consistent patterns but greater strains in the detailed model, with deviations thought to be the result of slightly different kinematics between models. The M50-OS with the deformable skull and brain exhibited a run time 4.75 faster than the M50-O on the same hardware.

Conclusions: The simplified GHBMC model is intended to complement rather than replace the detailed M50-O model. It exhibited, on average, a 35-fold reduction in run time for a set of rigid impacts. The model can be used in a modular fashion with the M50-O and more broadly can be used as a platform for parametric studies or studies focused on specific body regions.     

三维点云基础上排土场垮塌影响范围研究

高台阶排土场下游常分布有居民区、厂房等,一旦垮塌,后果严重,因此完善的防治与应急准备工作十分关键,而排土场垮塌影响范围的预测是这些工作的重要前提依据。为提升高台阶排土场垮塌影响范围的预测准确性,需要获取准确的地形边界基础数据。通过利用三维激光扫描仪对新建排土场及其下游地形精细扫描,对获取的三维点云数据去噪、拼接、建模等处理,生成精度更高的数字高程模型与三维实体模型。在此基础上,结合新建高台阶排土场地质勘查与设计资料,建立颗粒离散元数值模型,利用PFC3D计算高台阶排土场垮塌影响范围,并与经验公式法计算结果对比分析,结果表明排土场颗粒离散元数值模型精度符合要求,可快速、准确地计算影响范围,从而为相关部门提供科学决策依据。     

Composition and source apportionment of dust fall around a natural lake

The aim of this study was to determine the source apportionment of dust fall around Lake Chini, Malaysia. Samples were collected monthly between December 2012 and March2013 at seven sampling stations located around Lake Chini. The samples were filtered to separate the dissolved and undissolved solids. The ionic compositions(NO-3, SO2-4, Cl-and NH+4) were determined using ion chromatography(IC) while major elements(K, Na, Ca and Mg) and trace metals(Zn, Fe, Al, Ni, Mn, Cr, Pb and Cd) were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS). The results showed that the average concentration of total solids around Lake Chini was 93.49 ± 16.16 mg/(m2·day). SO2-4, Na and Zn dominated the dissolved portion of the dust fall. The enrichment factors(EF) revealed that the source of the trace metals and major elements in the rain water was anthropogenic, except for Fe. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis(HACA) classified the seven monitoring stations and 16 variables into five groups and three groups respectively. A coupled receptor model, principal component analysis multiple linear regression(PCA-MLR), revealed that the sources of dust fall in Lake Chini were dominated by agricultural and biomass burning(42%),followed by the earth's crust(28%), sea spray(16%) and a mixture of soil dust and vehicle emissions(14%).     

Application of CFD on the sensitivity analyses of some parameters of the modified Hartmann tube

The aim of this work is to determine the influence of operating parameters such as the dispersion pressure, the ignition delay and height on the dust flammability. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, based on an Euler–Lagrange approach, was developed with Ansys Fluent™ and validated experimentally. Such analysis will facilitate the choice of the most conservative conditions for a flammability test. This paper is focused on a case study performed on wheat starch with the modified Hartmann tube. The dispersion process of the powder was studied with granulometric analyses performed in situ and high speed videos. Tests were performed with injections at gas pressure ranging from 3 to 6 bars and the evolution of the particle size distribution (PSD) was recorded at different ignition heights (5, 10 and 15 cm over the dispersion nozzle). The observations highlighted the presence of agglomeration/deagglomeration processes and dust segregation. Besides, a CFD simulation analysis was aimed at evaluating the impact of a set of parameters on the PSD and the local turbulence, which are closely linked to some flammability parameters. For this computational analysis, the CFD simulation was coupled with a collision treatment based on a Discrete Element Method (DEM) in order to consider the cohesive behavior of the combustible dust. Thus the results suggest performing the injection of the gases at approximately 5 bars for the flammability tests of wheat starch in order to obtain the finest PSD at a given ignition height. It is also shown that the finest PSD are obtained at 5 cm over the dispersion nozzle. However, the local instabilities and turbulence levels are so high during the first stages of the dispersion that the flame growth can be disturbed for short ignition delays. Moreover, the stabilization of the bulk of the dust cloud requires longer periods of time when the ignition sources are located at 15 cm. As a result, the recommended height to perform a flammability test is 10 cm in this case. Finally, this study proposes some tools that might improve the procedure of dust flammability testing.     

重金属元素在厦门-漳州土壤剖面中的分布特征及其环境意义

利用等离子体发射光谱法、原子吸收光谱法、X射线光谱法等研究了厦门、漳州两市的9个土壤剖面样品中的Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Cr、Ni、Hg和As共8个重金属元素在剖面上的分布特征,以及Cu、Pb、Zn三种元素的全量与有效态含量在剖面上的变化特征,探讨了重金属元素垂向变化的环境意义。结果表明部分重金属元素在土壤表层有富集现象和相似的迁移和富集规律;Cu、Pb、Zn三元素的有效态与全量的相关性随着深度而变小,这表明Cu、Pb、Zn三元素的全量与有效态含量间的相关性与人类的活动关系较为密切。