A Water Allocation Decision‐Support Model and Tool for Predictions in Ungauged Basins in Northeast British Columbia,Canada

Pressures on water resources due to changing climate, increasing demands, and enhanced recognition of environmental flow needs result in the need for hydrology information to support informed water allocation decisions. However, the absence of hydrometric measurements and limited access to hydrology information in many areas impairs water allocation decision‐making. This paper describes a water balance‐based modeling approach and an innovative web‐based decision‐support hydrology tool developed to address this need. Using high‐resolution climate, vegetation, and watershed data, a simple gridded water balance model, adjusted to account for locational variability, was developed and calibrated against gauged watersheds, to model mean annual runoff. Mean monthly runoff was modeled empirically, using multivariate regression. The modeled annual runoff results are within 20% of the observed mean annual discharge for 78% of the calibration watersheds, with a mean absolute error of 16%. Modeled monthly runoff corresponds well to observed monthly runoff, with a median Nash–Sutcliffe statistic of 0.92 and a median Spearman rank correlation statistic of 0.98. Monthly and annual flow estimates produced from the model are incorporated into a map‐ and watershed‐based decision‐support system referred to as the Northeast Water Tool, to provide critical information to decision makers and others on natural water supply, existing allocations, and the needs of the environment.     

Analysis and prediction of $$\mathrm{PM}_{10}$$ concentration levels in Tunisia using statistical learning approaches

Over the past years, the health impact of airborne particulate matter \(\mathrm{PM}_{10}\) has become a very topical subject. Thereby, a lot of research effort in the environmental sciences goes towards the modeling and the prediction of ambient \(\mathrm{PM}_{10}\) concentrations. In this paper, we are interested in the statistical classification of the daily mean \(\mathrm{PM}_{10}\) concentration in Tunisia according to the authority regulation. We consider two monitoring stations: a big industrial station and a traffic station. The main goal of this work is to determine the pertinent predictors of \(\mathrm{PM}_{10}\) concentration within a nonlinear multiclass framework. To do this, we used two popular statistical learning methods; the support vector machines (SVM) and the random forests (RF). The statistical results obtained on the real datasets, show that RF outperform SVM for the purpose of variable selection even with a reduced number of observations compared to the number of explicative variables. It was also demonstrated that the \(\mathrm{PM}_{10}\) concentration measured yesterday is the most relevant predictor of its present-day value. Moreover, we found that the more delayed values of \(\mathrm{PM}_{10}\) concentration may be crucial to get an accurate prediction.     

上海北侧区域海陆风对污染物扩散的影响

利用数值模拟方法研究了上海北侧区域海陆风对污染物扩散的影响,包括上海城郊-崇明岛-启东市区及这三区域之间的北支水道与南支水道.使用当量法表征太阳辐射和长波辐射引起的近地面空气热量变化,模拟结果与ECMWF再分析数据呈现较好的一致性.结果表明,在海风阶段,宽海(南支水道)、窄海(北支水道)区域都能形成海风,前者较后者发生...     

Impact of heavy metals of industrial plant wastewater on benthic communities of Bizerte Lagoon (Tunisia)

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to assess the consequences of human impact on the characteristics of sediments heavy metal concentration, grain size and its influence on the structure of the microbial and meiofaunal community assemblages. A survey was carried out in July 2013 within six sites located in the Bizerte Lagoon (Tunisia), both downstream and upstream of industrial effluents. The highest total sediment metal concentrations were detected in stations located close to the industrial sewage discharge points. In these stations, the lowest densities of the total meiofauna (33?±?13?ind/10?cm^?2) and conversely the highest densities of cultivable bacteria that are heavy metal resistant have been reported (16?±?80.34?CFU?g^?1). Univariate (ANOVA) and multivariate (MDS/CCA) analyses demonstrate high dissimilarity (0.06) in meiofaunal and bacterial community structures between downstream and upstream industrial sewages. Furthermore, canonical correspondence analysis CCA results indicated that heavy metal sediment contamination promoted bacteria that are resistant to heavy metals, while heterotrophic bacteria supported the development of meiofauna taxa. The results highlight the importance of bacteria/meiofauna interactions, as both meiofaunal and microbial communities give indications of the ecological impact of heavy metal contamination in sediment.     

Analyses of phenolic compounds occurring in olive oil mill wastewaters by GC–MS

Phenolic compounds in olive oil mill wastewaters were analysed by HRGC–MS after extracting the acidified solution with ethyl acetate and derivatization with N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide. Both simple and complex phenols were detected with the latter being the most abundant. 1,2-dihydroxybenzene (catechol), p-hydroxyphenyl ethanol (tyrosol), 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl ethanol (hydroxytyrosol) and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl ethanol (homovanillyl alcohol) predominated among the simple phenols using a gas chromatograph coupled with a mass selective detector.     

Promising the moon? Evaluation of indigenous and lunar fishing calendars using semiparametric generalized mixed models of recreational catch data

Previous studies that have investigated relationships between the lunar cycle and recreational fishing success have all suffered from various problems—most notably, the failure to account for potential confounders in a statistically rigorous manner. We propose methods to account for season, fisher identity, fishing effort, day, and variation in biomass, all of which have previously either been omitted or handled in an ad hoc way. These are applied to two sets of data on recreational fishing of the snapper Pagrus auratus in New Zealand. In addition to estimating effects due to lunar phase, we also implement these methods to analyse the performance of a lunar-based indigenous M ${{\bar{\mathrm{a}}}}$ ori fishing calendar. Recreational fishers in New Zealand often make use of such calendars in order to predict fishing success on specific days, however little is known about the performance of such predictions or whether they hold any practical use to the everyday angler. A relationship between lunar phase and fishing success is identified, as well as support for some aspects of the M ${{\bar{\mathrm{a}}}}$ ori fishing calendar predictions. The magnitudes of these effects are small, however, casting doubt on the practical relevance of lunar based fishing predictions. In addition to the known seasonal trend associated with annual migration, an unexpected second trend is detected, and postulated to be associated with intense local fishing pressure over the summer vacation period.     

地震动关键特性对隔震连续梁桥碰撞响应的影响

为考虑地震动特性对隔震连续梁桥顺桥向主梁与桥台碰撞响应的影响,以某三跨混凝土隔震连续梁桥为例,基于ABAQUS建立了考虑混凝土材料损伤及三维接触碰撞的有限元模型。采用12条典型地震动输入,分析了不考虑碰撞时地震动峰值加速度与峰值速度的比值(PGA/PGV)对主梁顺桥向最大位移的影响;并进一步分析了考虑碰撞效应时PGA/PGV对主梁碰撞响应的影响;在此基础上,以一条典型地震动为例,分析了地震动峰值加速度对碰撞响应的影响。结果表明,当不考虑碰撞效应时,主梁顺桥向最大位移随着PGA/PGV的增大而呈现减小趋势;考虑碰撞时,碰撞次数和最大碰撞力的变化具有一定的相似性,但随PGA/PGV的变化并不明显。随着伸缩缝间隙的不同,最大碰撞力随着峰值加速度的增加既可能表现出线性增加的特征,也可能表现出较大波动。     

Wastewater treatment by catalytic wet air oxidation process over Al-Fe pillared clays synthesized using microwave irradiation

Microwave irradiation has been used to prepare Al, Fe-pillared clays from a natural Tunisian smectite from the El Hicha deposit (province of Gabes). Chemical analysis, XRD spectra and surface properties evidenced the success of pillaring process. The obtained solids present higher surface area and pore volume than conventionally prepared Al-Fe pillared clays. The main advantages of the microwave methodology are the considerable reduction of the synthesis time and the consumption of water. The microwave-derived Al-Fe pillared clays have been tested for catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol in a stirred tank at 160°C and 20 bar of pure oxygen pressure. These materials are efficient for CWAO of phenol and are highly stable despite the severe operating conditions (acidic media, high pressure, high temperature). The catalyst deactivation was also significantly hindered when compared to conventionally prepared clays. Al-Fe pillared clays prepared by microwave methodology are promising as catalysts for CWAO industrial water treatment.

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中国西北旱区农业水土资源利用情景潜力研究

西北旱区水土资源供需矛盾突出,同时作为该区农业生产的瓶颈因素,决定该区经济社会生态可持续发展,因此有必要开展西北旱区农业水土资源相结合的空间情景潜力研究。论文采用水土资源匹配指数计算分析了西北旱区现状年（2010年）农业水土资源的匹配状况,采用农业水土资源利用潜力估算方法计算了西北旱区2020、2030年RCP 8.5和RCP 4.5两种情景下的农业水土资源利用潜力,实现了西北旱区农业水土资源利用潜力的可视化表达。结果表明：2020和2030年RCP 8.5和RCP 4.5排放情景下,相对于2010年,西北旱区各省2020和2030年的总农业水资源量和种植面积均减小。西北旱区6省份2020和2030年两种情景下整体综合效益和整体潜力值均为正,表明各省种植结构整体得到了优化。2020年RCP 8.5和RCP 4.5情景下,西北旱区农业水土资源利用潜力分布范围分别在-0.10×10⁴~0.83×10⁴元/hm²之间和 -1.20×10⁴~0.97×10⁴元/hm²之间;2030年RCP 8.5和RCP 4.5情景下,农业水土资源利用潜力分布范围分别在-0.39×10⁴~2.17×10⁴元/hm²之间和-0.36×10⁴~1.66×10⁴元/hm²之间。