Upstream Sediment‐Control Dams: Five Decades of Experience in the Rapidly Eroding Dahan River Basin,Taiwan

Sedimentation is emerging as a key issue in sustainable reservoir management. One approach to controlling reservoir sedimentation is to trap sediment in hydraulic structures upstream of the reservoir. In the 1,163‐km² catchment of the Dahan River (Taiwan) over 120 “sabo” dams were built to reduce sediment yield to Shihmen Reservoir. Built in 1963 for water supply, Shihmen has lost over 40% of its 290‐Mm³ storage capacity to sedimentation. Most of these upstream structures were small, but three had capacities >9 Mm³. Field measurements and historical data from the Water Resources Agency show most smaller dams had filled with sediment by 1976. The three largest were full or nearly so by 2007, when one (Barlin Dam) failed, releasing a pulse of 7.5 Mm³, most of its 10.4 Mm³ stored sediment downstream. The Central Range of Taiwan is rapidly eroding (denudation rates 3‐6 mm/yr), so geologically high loads make sediment problems manifest sooner. Even in other environments, however, eventually small dams built upstream of large reservoirs are likely to fill themselves, creating multiple small sediment‐filled reservoirs, some located in sites inaccessible to mechanical removal. Our analysis suggests sabo dams do not offer a long‐term basis for controlling reservoir sedimentation in such a high‐sediment yield environment. Sustainable solutions must somehow pass sediment downstream, as would be accomplished by a sediment bypass around Shihmen Reservoir, as now being studied.     

Effects of fine particulate matter and its constituents on emergency room visits for asthma in southern Taiwan during 2008–2010: a population-based study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This population-based study evaluated the short-term association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and its constituents and...     

Short-term Model of the Production of Construction Aggregates in Taiwan Based on Artificial Neural Networks

BACKGROUND: Taiwan's geography and limited stock of sandstone have caused sandstone resources to gradually decline to the point of exhaustion after long-term excavation. Moreover, the Taiwanese government has continuously increased the amount of land area near rivers that cannot be excavated to facilitate riverbed remediation and promote conservation of water resources. Accordingly, predicting and managing the annual production of construction aggregates in future construction projects, and dealing appropriately with some thorny problems, for instance, demand that excess supply, excessive excavation, unregulated excavation, and the consequent environmental damage, will significantly affect the efficient use of natural resources in a manner that accords with the national policy of Sustainable Development (SD). METHODS:. This study establishes an empirical model for forecasting the annual production of future construction aggregates using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), based on 15 relevant socio-economic indicators, such as indicator of annual consumption of cement. A sensitivity analysis is then performed on these indicators. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This work applies ANN to estimate the annual production of construction aggregates; the estimates, the verification of the model and the sensitivity analysis are all acceptable. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis results indicate that the annual consumption of cement is the indicator that most strongly influences the production of construction aggregates, as well as whether construction waste can be recycled and steel structures can be used in buildings, helping to reduce the future production of construction aggregates in Taiwan. CONCLUSIONS: The elaborate prediction methodology presented in this study avoids some of the weaknesses or limitations of conventional linear statistics, linear programming or system dynamics. Additionally, the results not only provide a short-term prediction of the production of construction aggregates in Taiwan, but also provide a viable and flexible means of verifying quality certification of the production data of construction aggregates in the future by incorporating those relevant socio-economic indicators. RECOMMENDATIONS AND OUTLOOK: The continuity and quality of the database of relevant indicators used in this study should be closely scrutinized in order to ensure the SD means of exploiting resources.     

Environmental monitoring of carbaryl applied in urban areas to control the glassy-winged sharpshooter in California

Carbaryl insecticide was applied by ground spray to plants in urban areas to control a serious insect pest the glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata (Say), newly introduced inCalifornia. To assure there are no adverse impacts to human health and the environment from the carbaryl applications, carbaryl was monitored in tank mixtures, air, surface water, foliage and backyard fruits and vegetables.Results from the five urban areas – Porterville, Fresno, Rancho Cordova, Brentwood and Chico – showed there were no significanthuman exposures or impacts on the environment. Spray tank concentrations ranged from 0.1–0.32%. Carbaryl concentrationsin air ranged from none detected to 1.12 g m^-3, well below the interim health screening level in air of 51.7 g m^-3. There were three detections of carbaryl in surface water nearapplication sites: 0.125 ppb (parts per billion) from a water treatment basin; 6.94 ppb from a gold fish pond; and 1737 ppbin a rain runoff sample collected from a drain adjacent to a sprayed site. The foliar dislodgeable residues ranged from 1.54–7.12 g cm^-2, comparable to levels reported forsafe reentry of 2.4 to 5.6 g cm^-2 for citrus. Carbarylconcentrations in fruits and vegetables ranged from no detectableamounts to 7.56 ppm, which were below the U.S.EPA tolerance, allowable residue of 10 ppm.     

Using micro deep drawing with ironing stages to form stainless steel 304 micro cups

The needs of stainless steel 304 micro cups have been increasing tremendously due to the trend of miniaturization in medical and electronic devices, etc. For application purpose, it is highly desired to have stainless steel micro cups with high CH/OD (cup height/outer diameter) ratios. Due to the constraints of the limit draw ratio (LDR) of stainless steel 304 sheets in micro deep drawing, forming a micro cup with high CH/OD ratio at room temperature cannot be achieved by using a single stage deep drawing die. A process consisting of one micro deep drawing and two ironing stages was proposed for achieving this goal; three micro dies were designed, fabricated and used for experimental validation. A series of experiments were conducted by using the stainless steel 304 sheets of 200 μm thickness annealed at four different temperatures to understand the influence of size effects on this process for generating knowledge, know-how and technologies to form high quality stainless steel micro cups with large CH/OD ratio. No lubricant was used in this study. It was proven that the proposed process is a robust process as long as the sheets are annealed at the temperature no less than 900 °C for more than 3 min.     

Persistence of Human Noroviruses on Food Preparation Surfaces and Human Hands

The human noroviruses (NoV) are the major cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis and are commonly transmitted by foodborne routes. Epidemiological evidence from propagated outbreaks, as well as environmental sampling, suggest that these viruses are environmentally stable. The purpose of this study was to examine the persistence of representative human NoV on the fingertips of volunteers and on commonly used food preparation surfaces. Human fingerpads and surfaces (stainless steel, Formica^®, and ceramic) were inoculated with 20% fecal suspensions of Norwalk virus (NV) or Snow Mountain virus (SMV). The virus inocula were recovered by elution at serial time points ranging from 0 to 120 min post-inoculation (for fingerpads) and after up to 42 days (for surfaces). The quantity of detectable viral RNA, expressed as genome equivalent particles (GEP) was evaluated using quantitative real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR). The amount of NV RNA on the surface decreased gradually over time, with an average reduction ranging from 1.5 to 2.9 log₁₀ GEP after 21–28 days storage under ambient conditions. SMV showed greater environmental persistence, with a 0.4–1.2 log₁₀ GEP reduction on all three surfaces after 42 days of ambient storage. On fingerpads, the amount of human NoV RNA declined slightly (<0.25 log₁₀) after 15 min and remained relatively unchanged thereafter (through 120 min). These results support the epidemiological evidence that food preparation surfaces and human hands can act as vehicles for human NoV transmission long after the initial contamination event has occurred.