Effects of leachate accumulation on landfill stability in humid regions of China

Leachate levels are important to landfill stability and safety. High leachate or water levels often lead to landfill instability, which can cause accidents. Here a case study of a landfill located in a humid region of southern China is presented. Leachate distribution and quality were systematically analyzed, and the effect of leachate level on waste-mass stability was assessed. Boreholes were drilled in the field, samples were analyzed in the laboratory, and a simulation was performed. In addition, the safety and stability of the landfill was evaluated. The leachate level in the landfill was 9–19 m, which was higher than the top of the dam crest (8–20 m). Leachate accounted for more than 1/4 of the total landfill storage capacity. The contaminant concentration of the leachate samples collected directly from the waste body was very high, with large variation among the samples. The mean concentrations of NH₃–N, BOD, and COD from the waste body were 5404, 14,136, and 22,691 mg/L, nearly 2.7, 2.4, and 1.8 times the mean concentrations in the leachate pond, respectively. Three series of shear strength parameters were used in a slope stability analysis, and a limit equilibrium method was used to calculate the factor of safety (Fs). The analysis showed that Fs could be affected by potential anisotropy in the shear strength of the waste. The minimum values of Fs corresponding to series I were 1.84 and 1.17 for units ? and II, respectively. The Fs value of unit II was significantly lower than the safe design value (1.25). In addition, Fs decreased with increase in the normalized height of the leachate level, h/H, where h is the height of the leachate mound and H is the maximum thickness of the landfill. If the h/H values of units I and II are kept below 50% and 40%, respectively, a safe design value of 1.25 for Fs can be guaranteed. Therefore, some measures to prevent risk should be considered.     

含碳氨水回收集成分离技术的研究与应用

在研究NH3－CO2－H2O三元体系基础上,将解吸、精馏和防结晶技术相结合,开发出集成分离技术,并成功地将其用于原有含碳氨水回收装置的改造,取得了十分显著的经济与环保效益。     

Gender differences in relation to wayfinding strategies, navigational support design, and wayfinding task difficulty

This study investigated user wayfinding navigational performance in terms of two navigational support designs (guide sign and you-are-here map, i.e., YAH), wayfinding strategies (egocentric/route and allocentric/survey), task difficulty (terrestrial/2D or weightless/3D), and gender differences. Eighty participants (40 males and 40 females) were recruited for the wayfinding experiment. The experimental results and statistical analysis indicated that, in the weightless VR scene, navigation time for the terrestrial/2D task type was significantly shorter than for the weightless/3D task type. The guide sign support was significantly more effective than YAH map support. Moreover, the interactions between support style and gender difference indicated that males exhibit better wayfinding performance than females, but that appropriate support can improve navigational performance and eliminate gender differences. In addition, the Way-Finding Strategy Scale result showed that the females were more likely to adopt the egocentric strategy while males were more likely to adopt the allocentric strategy, and that their scores were negatively correlated with navigational performance. Our results can be used to evaluate the interface designs of navigational support systems taking into consideration gender differences with respect to 3D VR games, including VR diving or flying navigational systems.     

Development of the Metropolitan Water Availability Index (MWAI) and short-term assessment with multi-scale remote sensing technologies

Global climate change will influence environmental conditions including temperature, surface radiation, soil moisture, and sea level, and it will also significantly impact regional-scale hydrologic processes such as evapotranspiration (ET), precipitation, runoff, and snowmelt. The quantity and quality of water available for drinking and other domestic usage is also likely to be affected by changes in these processes. Consequently, it is necessary to assess and reflect upon the challenges ahead for water infrastructure and the general public in metropolitan regions. One approach to the problem is to use index-based assessment, forecasting and planning. The drought indices previously developed were not developed for domestic water supplies, and thus are insufficient for the purpose of such an assessment. This paper aims to propose and develop a “Metropolitan Water Availability Index (MWAI)” to assess the status of both the quantity and quality of available potable water sources diverted from the hydrologic cycle in a metropolitan region. In this approach, the accessible water may be expressed as volume per month or week (i.e., m³/month or m³/week) relative to a prescribed historical record, and such a trend analysis may result in final MWAI values ranging from ?1 to +1 for regional water management decision making. The MWAI computation uses data and information from both historical point measurements and spatial remote-sensing based monitoring. Variables such as precipitation, river discharge, and water quality changes at drinking water plant intakes at specific locations are past “point” measurements in MWAI calculations. On the other hand, remote sensing provides information on both spatial and temporal distributions of key variables. Examples of remote-sensing images and sensor network technologies are in-situ sensor networks, ground-based radar, air-borne aircraft, and even space-borne satellites. A case study in Tampa Bay, Florida is described to demonstrate the short-term assessment of the MWAI concept at a practical level. It is anticipated that such a forecasting methodology may be extended for middle-term and long-term water supply assessment.     

SPATIAL VARIATIONS OF WATER LOSS DURING DROUGH A CASE STUDY1

ABSTRACT: A regional water conservation system for drought management involves many uncertain factors. Water received from precipitation may stay on the ground surface, evaporate back into the atmosphere, or infiltrate into the ground. Reliable estimates of the amount of evapotranspiration and infiltration are not available for a large basin, especially during periods of drought. By applying a geographic information system, this study develops procedures to investigate spatial variations of unavailable water for given levels of drought severity. Levels of drought severity are defined by truncated values of monthly precipitation and daily streamflow to reflect levels of water availability. The greater the truncation level, the lower the precipitation or streamflow. Truncation levels of monthly precipitation are recorded in depth of water while those of daily streamflow are converted into monthly equivalent water depths. Truncation levels of precipitation and streamflow treated as regionalized variables are spatially interpolated by the unbiased minimum variance estimation. The interpolated results are vector values of precipitation and streamflow at a grid of points covering the studied basin. They are then converted into raster‐based values and expressed graphically. The image subtraction operation is used to subtract the image of streamflow from that of precipitation at their corresponding level of drought severity. It is done on a cell‐by‐cell basis resulting in new attribute values to form the spatial image representing a spatial distribution of potential water loss at a given level of drought severity.     

Experimental Evaluation of the Sustainability of Dwarf Bamboo (Pseudosasa usawai) Sprout-Harvesting Practices in Yangminshan National Park,Taiwan

Sustainable harvest of natural products that meets the needs of local people has been viewed by many as an important means for sustaining conservation projects. Although plants often respond to tissue damage through compensatory growth, it may not secure long-term sustainability of the populations because many plants enhance individual well-being at the expense of propagation. Sustainability may further be threatened by infrequent, large-scale events, especially ill-documented ones. We studied the impacts of sprout harvesting on sprout growth in a dwarf bamboo (Pseudosasa usawai) population that has seemingly recovered from an infrequent, large-scale masting event. Experimental results suggest that although a single sprout harvest did not significantly alter the subsequent abundance and structure of sprouts, culm damage that accompanied sprout harvesting resulted in shorter, thinner, and fewer sprouts. Weaker recovery was found in windward, continually harvested, and more severely damaged sites. These findings suggest that sprout growth of damaged dwarf bamboos is likely non-compensatory, but is instead supported through physiological integration whose strength is determined by the well-being of the supplying ramets. Healthy culms closer to the damage also provided more resources than those farther away. Sustainable harvesting of sprouts could benefit from organized community efforts to limit the magnitude of culm damage, provide adequate spacing between harvested sites, and ensure sufficient time interval between harvests. Vegetation boundaries relatively resilient to infrequent, large-scale events are likely maintained by climatic factors and may be sensitive to climate change. Continual monitoring is, therefore, integral to the sustainability of harvesting projects.     

吉林省主要覆膜作物地膜残留情况调查

通过文献调研、问卷调查和典型样点采集的方法对吉林省3种主要覆膜作物的地膜残留情况进行调查分析,结果表明：地膜残留量与覆膜年限、地膜回收方式以及种植作物种类密切相关。随覆膜时间的延长地膜残留量有增加的趋势。3种模式地膜残留量由高到低为：瓜菜模式〉玉米连作模式〉花生连作模式,连续覆膜10年,3种模式的地膜残留量分别为30、28.35 kg·hm^-2和15.9kg·hm^-2。以一级污染水平作为标准（75 kg·hm^-2）,覆膜量每年按75～150 kg·hm^-2、年残留率按1.2%～4.02%计,估算吉林省安全使用地膜的年限约为12～83年。     

Development of Customized Fire Behavior Fuel Models for Boreal Forests of Northeastern China

Knowledge of forest fuels and their potential fire behavior across a landscape is essential in fire management. Four customized fire behavior fuel models that differed significantly in fuels characteristics and environmental conditions were identified using hierarchical cluster analysis based on fuels data collected across a boreal forest landscape in northeastern China. Fuel model I represented the dense and heavily branched Pinus pumila shrubland which has significant fine live woody fuels. These forests occur mainly at higher mountain elevations. Fuel model II is applicable to forests dominated by Betula platyphylla and Populus davidiana occurring in native forests on hill slopes or at low mountain elevations. This fuel model was differentiated from other fuel models by higher herbaceous cover and lower fine live woody loading. The primary coniferous forests dominated by Larix gmelini and Pinus sylvestris L. var. mongolica were classified as fuel model III and fuel model IV. Those fuel models differed from one another in average cover and height of understory shrub and herbaceous layers as well as in aspect. The potential fire behavior for each fuel model was simulated with the BehavePlus5.0 fire behavior prediction system. The simulation results indicated that the Pinus pumila shrubland fuels had the most severe fire behavior for the 97th percentile weather condition, and had the least severe fire behavior under 90th percentile weather condition. Fuel model II presented the least severe fire potential across weather conditions. Fuel model IV resulted in greater fire severity than Fuel model III across the two weather scenarios that were examined.