Selection of appropriate organic additives for enhancing Zn and Cd phytoextraction by hyperaccumulators

Chelant-enhanced phytoextraction is one of the most promising technologies to remove heavy metals from soil. The key of the technology is to choose suitable additives in combination with a suitable plant. In the present study, laboratory batch experiment of metal solubilization, cress seeds germination were undertaken to investigate the metal-mobilizing capability and the phytotoxicity of organic additives, including ethylene diamine triacetic acid （EDTA）, citric acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid, glutamine and monosodium glutamate waste liquid （MGWL） from food industry. Experiments in pots were carried out to study the effects of the additives on Zn and Cd phytoextraction. Furthermore, a leaching experiment with lysimeter was performed to evaluate the environmental risks of additive-induced leaching to underground water. The results showed that EDTA had a strong mobilizing ability for Zn and Cd, followed by mixed reagent （MR） and MGWL. MGWL and acetic acid at 5 mmol equivalent per liter resulted in seed germination index less than 2%. Experiments in pots verified the phytotoxicity of acetic acid and MGWL. Addition of the mixed reagent at 6--10 mmol/kg significantly increased Zn phytoextraction by Thlaspi caerulescens. The same for EDTA and the mixed reagent at 10 mmol/kg by Sedum dfredii. But only mixed reagents could significantly increase Cd phytoextraction by the studied hyperaccumulators. This suggested that the strong chelant was not always the good agent to enhance phytoextraction. S. alfredii combined with 2--10 mmol/kg soil MR was preferred for phytoremediation of Cd/Zn contaminated soils in southern China, this could result in high phytoextraction of Cd/Zn and reduce the leaching risk to underground water than EDTA assisted phytoextration.     

气凝胶消防服隔热层研制的可行性分析

为了减少火焰环境对消防员的伤害,基于消防服隔热层对消防员生命安全保障的重要性,运用对比描述的方法对现有隔热层进行了分析比较,探究了其优缺点和性能,提出了轻质且具有优异隔热性能是隔热层的发展趋势,通过对气凝胶性能的理论分析和服用性能分析,研究了利用气凝胶材料研制消防服的隔热层,结果表明气凝胶在服装领域应用已经比较广泛,在消防服领域中也已有初步应用,但用气凝胶研制消防服隔热层仍存在着一定的挑战。     

A bibliometric study of pool fire related publications

Pool fire is a common form of fire, which is constantly investigated along with the development of fire science and is also comprehensively employed as stable fire sources in examining other fire scenarios such as building and tunnel fires. According to the records in Science Citation Index Expanded database in the Web of Science Core Collection, a total of 1073 articles or reviews related to pool fires have been published from 1966 to 2019. In order to have a better understanding of knowledge structure of this topic and further identify its development history and currently popular concerns, a bibliometric analysis of pool fire research is conducted by means of visualization software VOSviewer and CiteSpace. This work visually provides a comprehensive overview of pool fire research in terms of annual publication output, source journals, productive countries/regions, authors and their cooperation network, subject terms, and reference co-citation analysis. The analysis provides networks of co-cited references, authors, countries, subject terms, and their respective clusters, indicating their ranking in contributions to the pool fire related publications. The results can be applied to enhance the understanding of pool fire research and support further work in this area.     

Study on explosion risk of aluminum powder under different dispersions

This paper mainly studied the influence of particle size distribution on the explosion risk of aluminum powder under the span of large particle size distribution. The measurement was carried out with the 20 L explosion ball and the Hartmann tube. The statistical analysis was used to analyze the relevance between the parameters of explosion risk and the particle size parameters. Test results showed that with the increase of particle size, the sensitivity parameter increases and the intensity parameter deceleration decreases. The effect of particle size change on MEC and MIE of small particle size aluminum powder is relatively small but greater impact on Pm and (dP/dt)m. The small particle size components greatly increasing the sensitivity of the explosion and accelerating the rate of the explosion reaction; while the large particle size component contributes to the maximum explosion pressure. D_3,2 particle size dust determines the risk of aluminum powder explosion.     

土壤污染风险规制中的行政裁量研究

我国土壤污染风险规制在专家遴选标准、建设用地和农用地污染风险管控要求,以及风险管控措施等方面存在不同程度的行政裁量。社会理性和科学理性的缺失形成了土壤污染风险行政裁量困局。土壤污染信息制度中“适时公开”的规定使得公众缺乏必要污染信息,弱化其参与程度,导致对行政决定合法性的质疑。此外,土壤污染风险管控标准中专家遴选标准和论证规则的欠缺导致土壤污染风险规制科学理性的缺失。为此,需要建构关照事实和规范的协商式行政裁量模式,强调公众的实质性参与以弥合技术理性和公众理性的鸿沟。同时,在程序上确定专家遴选标准和风险管控标准的论证规则以保证土壤污染风险管控的科学性和客观性。在不妨碍行政裁量权灵活性和能动性的前提下,规范行政裁量权的行使,控制行政裁量权的滥用。     

Utilization of MSWI fly ash as partial cement or sand substitute with focus on cementing efficiency and health risk assessment

• Washed MSWI fly ash was used as partial cement or sand substitute. • Sand replacing is beneficial for strength, while cement replacement reduces strength. • Cementing efficiency factor and mortar pore structure explain the strength results. • Health risk assessment was conducted for MSWI fly ash blended cement mortar. • CR and HI contributed by different exposures and heavy metals were analyzed. The strength of cement substituted mortar decreases with the increase in fly ash amount, whereas the strength increases when the fly ash is blended as sand substitute. A mortar with highest strength (compressive strength= 30.2 Mpa; flexural strength= 7.0 Mpa) was obtained when the sand replacement ratio was 0.75%. The k value (cementing efficiency) of fly ash varied between 0.36 and 0.15 for the fly ash fraction in binder between 5% and 25%. The k values of fly ash used for sand replacement were all significantly above that used for cement substitution. The macropores assigned to the gaps between particles decreased when the fly ash was used as sand replacement, providing an explanation for the strength enhancement. The waste-extraction procedure (toxicity-sulphuric acid and nitric acid method (HJ/T 299-2007)) was used to evaluate metal leaching, indicating the reuse possibility of fly ash blended mortar. For the mortar with the mass ratio of fly ash to binder of 0.5%, the carcinogenic risks (CR) and non-carcinogenic hazard quotient (HQ) in sensitive scenario for blended mortar utilization were 9.66 × 10^-7 and 0.06, respectively; these results were both lower than the threshold values, showing an acceptable health risk. The CR (9.89 × 10^-5) and HQ (3.89) of the non-sensitive scenario for fly ash treatment exceeded the acceptable threshold values, indicating health risks to onsite workers. The main contributor to the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk is Cr and Cd, respectively. The CR and HQ from inhalation was the main route of heavy metal exposure.     

Integrated Risk Framework for Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems

Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) are becoming increasingly important for the treatment and dispersal of effluent in new urbanised developments that are not serviced by centralised wastewater collection and treatment systems. However, the current standards and guidelines adopted by many local authorities for assessing suitable site and soil conditions for OWTS are increasingly coming under scrutiny due to the public health and environmental impacts caused by poorly performing systems, in particular septic tank-soil adsorption systems. In order to achieve sustainable onsite wastewater treatment with minimal impacts on the environment and public health, more appropriate means of assessment are required. This paper highlights an integrated risk based approach for assessing the inherent hazards associated with OWTS in order to manage and mitigate the environmental and public health risks inherent with onsite wastewater treatment. In developing a sound and cohesive integrated risk framework for OWTS, several key issues must be recognised. These include the inclusion of relevant stakeholders throughout framework development, the integration of scientific knowledge, data and analysis with risk assessment and management ideals, and identification of the appropriate performance goals for successful management and mitigation of associated risks. These issues were addressed in the development of the risk framework to provide a generic approach to assessing risk from OWTS. The utilisation of the developed risk framework for achieving more appropriate assessment and management techniques for OWTS is presented in a case study for the Gold Coast region, Queensland State, Australia.     

Incompatible Land Uses and the Topology of Cumulative Risk

The extensive literature on environmental justice has, by now, well defined the essential ingredients of cumulative risk, namely, incompatible land uses and vulnerability. Most problematic is the case when risk is produced by a large aggregation of small sources of air toxics. In this article, we test these notions in an area of Southern California, Southeast Los Angeles (SELA), which has come to be known as Asthmatown. Developing a rapid risk mapping protocol, we scan the neighborhood for small potential sources of air toxics and find, literally, hundreds of small point sources within a 2-mile radius, interspersed with residences. We also map the estimated cancer risks and noncancer hazard indices across the landscape. We find that, indeed, such large aggregations of even small, nondominant sources of air toxics can produce markedly elevated levels of risk. In this study, the risk profiles show additional cancer risks of up to 800 in a million and noncancer hazard indices of up to 200 in SELA due to the agglomeration of small point sources. This is significant (for example, estimates of the average regional point-source-related cancer risk range from 125 to 200 in a million). Most importantly, if we were to talk about the risk contour as if they were geological structures, we would observe not only a handful of distinct peaks, but a general “mountain range” running all throughout the study area, which underscores the ubiquity of risk in SELA. Just as cumulative risk has deeply embedded itself into the fabric of the place, so, too, must intervention seek to embed strategies into the institutions and practices of SELA. This has implications for advocacy, as seen in a recently initiated participatory action research project aimed at building health research capacities into the community in keeping with an ethic of care.     

Framing of Geoengineering Affects Support for Climate Change Mitigation

The growing recognition that climate change mitigation alone will be inadequate has led scientists and policymakers to discuss climate geoengineering. An experiment with a US sample found, contrary to previous research, that reading about geoengineering did not reduce conservatives’ skepticism about the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Moreover, depending on how it is framed, geoengineering can reduce support for mitigation among both conservatives and non-conservatives. When geoengineering is framed as a major solution, people worry less about climate change, leading to reduced mitigation support. When framed as disastrous, people perceived geoengineering as riskier, also leading to a decrease in mitigation support. A more moderate framing of geoengineering as a partial solution is less susceptible to moral hazard effects. Overall, results suggest that geoengineering will not lessen political polarization over anthropogenic climate change, and could undercut support for mitigation efforts. Instead, framing geoengineering as a small piece to solving a big puzzle seems to be the best strategy to weaken this potential moral hazard.     

Dissipation,residues, and risk assessment of imidacloprid in Zizania latifolia and purple sweet potato under field conditions using LC-MS/MS

A shortened version of Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe method (QuEChERS) for determining the dissipation and residue of imidacloprid present in Zizania latifolia and purple sweet potato was established by using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The average recoveries of imidacloprid in the two crops ranged from 82.12 to 113.79%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) of <7.32%. The dissipation dynamics of imidacloprid in Z. latifolia plants and purple sweet potato plants followed first-order kinetics, with half-lives of 3.2–5.5?days in each of sampling locations. The terminal imidacloprid residues in Z. latifolia and purple sweet potato at each of location were <0.005–0.120?mg kg^?1. According to the risk assessment results, both the acute dietary risk quotient and chronic dietary risk quotient values were <1, indicating that imidacloprid is unlikely to pose health risks to humans with normal recommended use. The present study may serve as a valuable reference for the safe and reasonable use of imidacloprid in Z. latifolia and purple sweet potato fields.