Assessment using CFD of the wind direction on the air discharges caused by natural ventilation of a poultry house

Air inside poultry houses must be removed on a regular basis to prevent excess of heat, particles and noxious gases that can imperil animals. To cope with this issue, natural ventilation could be an effective method when assisted by accurate predictions. This study investigates air discharges caused by natural ventilation of a poultry house by means of a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. It solves the governing equations of momentum, heat and mass transport, radiative transfers and animal-generated heat. Wind directions of 0°, 36° and 56° (0° corresponds to a wind blowing perpendicular to the ridgeline) were investigated; the CFD model predictions achieved a RMSE of 1.2 °C and 0.6 g[H₂O] kg^?1 [dry air] for internal temperature and absolute humidity, respectively, when air blew with an angle of 36°. Air renewal rates (ARR) were 39.5 (±?1.9), 34.9 (±?2.2) and 33.6 (±?1.7) volumes of the building per hour, when air blew at 0°, 36° and 56°, respectively. Such ARR predictions served to know how the gases contained in air would likely spread downstream from the building in order to define regions of potentially high gas concentration that could endanger neighbouring habitable facilities.     

Effects of Topographical Heterogeneity and Dispersal Limitation on Species Turnover in a Temperate Mountane Ecosystem: a Case Study in the Henan Province,China

Species turnover patterns can be inconsistent due to differences in the dispersal ability of different growth forms. Here, species of trees, shrubs, herbs, and bryophytes in the Xiaoqinling National Nature Reserve in China were analyzed to determine patterns of species turnover along an elevation and spatial gradient. Variance partitioning was used to assess the relative contribution of topographic heterogeneity and dispersal limitation to species turnover. Our results suggest that the effect of dispersal limitation is more important than topographic heterogeneity on species turnover in temperate mountane ecosystems in the study area. Dispersal limitation has a greater effect on trees species turnover than on shrubs, herbs or bryophytes species turnover.     

Associations between ambient high temperatures and suicide mortality: a multi-city time-series study in China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Suicide prevention has become a public health issue of great concern. Previous studies proved that ambient temperature had an impact on suicide death,...     

湖北九宫山甜槠群落结构与优势种的空间分布格局研究

通过对湖北九宫山国家级自然保护区甜槠群落建立的1ha固定森林样地进行植物群落调查,分析了样地内木本植物物种组成、区系成分、种群径级结构和空间分布格局,结果表明:(1)样地内木本植物(DBH≥1 cm)共有132种,隶属于42科78属,其中,杜鹃花科、壳斗科、樟科、蔷薇科、冬青科等是优势科,短柄袍、鹿角杜鹃、青冈、长叶石栎、甜槠等是优势种.(2)样地内植物科、属的分布类型均以泛热带分布类型为主,分别为30.95％和20.51％.(3)样地内所有木本植物个体的径级结构均呈倒"J"型,幼龄个体数量大,森林群落更新状况良好.(4)样地内木本植物个体的空间分布格局以聚集分布为主,部分优势物种在小尺度上呈聚集分布,而在较大尺度上则为随机分布.     

Systematic review of conservation interventions to promote voluntary behavior change

Understanding human behavior is vital to developing interventions that effectively lead to proenvironmental behavior change, whether the focus is at the individual or societal level. However, interventions in many fields have historically lacked robust forms of evaluation, which makes it hard to be confident that these conservation interventions have successfully helped protect the environment. We conducted a systematic review to assess how effective nonpecuniary and nonregulatory interventions have been in changing environmental behavior. We applied the Office of Health Assessment and Translation systematic review methodology. We started with more than 300,000 papers and reports returned by our search terms and after critical appraisal of quality identified 128 individual studies that merited inclusion in the review. We classified interventions by thematic area, type of intervention, the number of times audiences were exposed to interventions, and the length of time interventions ran. Most studies reported a positive effect (n = 96). The next most common outcome was no effect (n = 28). Few studies reported negative (n = 1) or mixed (n = 3) effects. Education, prompts, and feedback interventions resulted in positive behavior change. Combining multiple interventions was the most effective. Neither exposure duration nor frequency affected the likelihood of desired behavioral change. Comparatively few studies tested the effects of voluntary interventions on non-Western populations (n = 17) or measured actual ecological outcome behavior (n = 1). Similarly, few studies examined conservation devices (e.g., energy-efficient stoves) (n = 9) and demonstrations (e.g., modeling the desired behavior) (n = 5). There is a clear need to both improve the quality of the impact evaluation conducted and the reporting standards for intervention results.     

天津市地表水体与沉积物中7种高关注酚类化合物的污染特征与生态风险分析

为探究地表水体与沉积物中酚类化合物的污染分布特征和生态风险,选择天津市3个水源地与6条主要河流,采集了26个地表水样与6个沉积物样品,利用固相萃取与超声萃取、高效液相色谱-串联质谱法(HPLC-MS/MS)测定了水样及沉积物中1-萘酚(1-naphthol)、壬基酚(nonylphenol, NP)、双酚A(bisphenol A, BPA)、2-苯基苯酚(biphenyl-2-ol)、3,4-二氯酚(3,4-dichlorophenol)、四溴双酚A(tetrabromobisphenol A, TBBPA)和对叔丁基苯酚(p-tert-butylphenol, PTBP)等7种高关注酚类化合物的浓度水平,并应用物种敏感性分布(species sensitivity distribution, SSD)法和熵值法(ecological risk quotient, RQ)评估7种酚类化合物水环境和沉积物的生态风险。结果表明,地表水样中7种酚类化合物均全部检出;其中壬基酚的检出浓度最高,其次为四溴双酚A、对叔丁基苯酚、1-萘酚、2-苯基苯酚、3,4-二氯酚和双酚A。沉积物中酚类化合物的污染分布规律与水样相似,除双酚A外的目标物全部检出。其中,壬基酚浓度比其他物质浓度高2个数量级。风险评估结果显示,壬基酚对水环境与沉积物存在不可接受的风险;而四溴双酚A、对叔丁基苯酚、1-萘酚、2-苯基苯酚、3,4-二氯酚和双酚A则对环境具有较低风险或者存在一定的风险。     

Adsorption of Ammonium by Graphene Oxide-Based Composites Prepared by UV Irradiation and Using as Slow-Release Fertilizer

A novel sodium alginate-grafted poly(acrylic acid)/graphene oxide (NaAlg-g-PAA/GO) composite hydrogel was prepared via ultraviolet irradiation, and characterized by infrared spectroscopy spectrometer. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was employed to adsorb NH₄⁺ from aqueous solution and used as slow-release nitrogen fertilizers (SNFs). Result indicated that the adsorption process for NH₄⁺ reached equilibrium within 50 min, with the adsorption capacity of 6.6 mmol g^?1 even if 30 wt% GO was incorporated. The results of adsorption kinetic and isotherm were well described by the pseudo-second-order and Freundlich model. The thermodynamics analysis showed the adsorption process was spontaneous. The study indicated excellent water-holding ratio of soil with 2 wt% SNFs was 81.2%, and nitrogen release was up to 55.1% within 40 days in soil. Overall, NaAlg-g-PAA/GO could be considered as an efficient adsorbent for the recovery of nitrogen with the agronomic reuse as a fertilizer.     

齐齐哈尔市PM2.5与PM10污染趋势及相关性分析

对2014—2016年齐齐哈尔市PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)质量浓度的时间变化特征进行简要分析,并探究PM_(2.5)/PM_(10)以及PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)的相关性。结果表明:2014—2016年齐齐哈尔的PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)的年均质量浓度分别为36.7、62.9μg/m~3,且呈逐渐下降趋势;冬季的PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)浓度最高,秋季次之,春季与夏季相对较低;2014—2016年PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)质量浓度月变化趋势基本相同,整体呈现2—6月逐渐下降,9—11月逐渐上升的规律;PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)质量浓度的日变化均呈双峰现象;对PM_(2.5)与PM_(10)进行线性拟合,相关系数为0.896 3。同时,残差分析也说明两者拟合情况良好,四季相关系数为r_(秋季)(0.982 2)r_(冬季)(0.964 4)r_(夏季)(0.943 9)r_(春季)(0.829 6);2014—2016年PM_(2.5)/PM_(10)平均值为55.27%,大气颗粒物PM_(2.5)的贡献率高达一半以上。     

Circumpolar status of Arctic ptarmigan: Population dynamics and trends

Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and willow ptarmigan (L. lagopus) are Arctic birds with a circumpolar distribution but there is limited knowledge about their status and trends across their circumpolar distribution. Here, we compiled information from 90 ptarmigan study sites from 7 Arctic countries, where almost half of the sites are still monitored. Rock ptarmigan showed an overall negative trend on Iceland and Greenland, while Svalbard and Newfoundland had positive trends, and no significant trends in Alaska. For willow ptarmigan, there was a negative trend in mid-Sweden and eastern Russia, while northern Fennoscandia, North America and Newfoundland had no significant trends. Both species displayed some periods with population cycles (short 3–6 years and long 9–12 years), but cyclicity changed through time for both species. We propose that simple, cost-efficient systematic surveys that capture the main feature of ptarmigan population dynamics can form the basis for citizen science efforts in order to fill knowledge gaps for the many regions that lack systematic ptarmigan monitoring programs.