Impacts of Upstream Building Width and Upwind Building Arrangements on Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion in a Street Canyon

A two-dimensional numerical model for evaluating the wind flow and pollutant dispersion within a street canyon was first developed using the FLUENT code, which was then validated against a wind tunnel experiment. Then, the effects of the upstream building width and upwind building arrangement on the airflow and pollutant dispersion inside an isolated street canyon were investigated numerically. The numerical results revealed that: (1) the in-canyon vortex center shifts downwards as the upstream building width increases; (2) the recirculation zone covers the entire upstream building roof for the cases when W/H = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 (W is the upstream building width and H is the building height), whereas the flow reattaches the upstream building roof for the cases when W/H = 2.5 and 3.0; (3) when the upstream building width is shorter than the critical width W_C (= 2H), an increase in the upstream building width leads to an increase in the pollution level on the leeward wall of the canyon and a decrease in the roof-level concentrations at the upstream building; (4) when the upstream building width is longer than the critical width, the roof-level concentrations at the upstream building are negligibly small and the pollution level on the leeward wall of the canyon is almost unaffected by a further increase in the upstream building width; (5) when the buildings are placed upwind of the canyon, the flow attaches the upstream building roof and, therefore, almost none of the pollutants are distributed on the upstream building roof; and (6) the pollution levels inside the canyon and on the downstream building roof increase significantly with the number of upwind buildings.     

Development and performance of the vehicle-mounted radiation monitoring equipment used in the Maralinga rehabilitation project

The rehabilitation of the former nuclear test site at Maralinga involved (among other processes) the removal of contaminated soil from an area of approximately 2.5 km2. The two most stringent rehabilitation criteria required measurements to ensure that no radioactive particle exceeding 100 kBq of 241Am activity, and no area of 1 ha exceeding 3 kBq/m2 of 241Am activity, remained in the rehabilitated area. The project timetable required that the area be scanned at the rate of approximately 3 ha/day. Two vehicle-mounted detection systems were developed and constructed to obtain the necessary measurements in the available timeframe. The scientific basis for the designs are presented, together with details of the selected equipment and technical solutions found. The performance of this equipment in the field is discussed in terms of both its scientific and technical operation. Based on the experience gained at Maralinga, improved versions of this equipment were produced under contract for the People's Republic of China.     

Plant/soil concentration ratios for paired field and garden crops, with emphasis on iodine and the role of soil adhesion

In the effort to predict the risks associated with contaminated soils, considerable reliance is placed on plant/soil concentration ratio (CR) values measured at sites other than the contaminated site. This inevitably results in the need to extrapolate among the many soil and plant types. There are few studies that compare CR among plant types that encompass both field and garden crops. Here, CRs for 40 elements were measured for 25 crops from farm and garden sites chosen so the grain crops were in close proximity to the gardens. Special emphasis was placed on iodine (I) because data for this element are sparse. For many elements, there were consistent trends among CRs for the various crop types, with leafy crops > root crops ≥ fruit crops ≈ seed crops. Exceptions included CR values for As, K, Se and Zn which were highest in the seed crops. The correlation of CRs from one plant type to another was evident only when there was a wide range in soil concentrations. In comparing CRs between crop types, it became apparent that the relationships differed for the rare earth elements (REE), which also had very low CR values. The CRs for root and leafy crops of REE converged to a minimum value. This was attributed to soil adhesion, despite the samples being washed, and the average soil adhesion for root crops was 500 mg soil kg⁻¹ dry plant and for leafy crops was 5 g kg⁻¹. Across elements, the log CR was negatively correlated with log Kd (the soil solid/liquid partition coefficient), as expected. Although, this correlation is expected, measures of correlation coefficients suitable for stochastic risk assessment are not frequently reported. The results suggest that r ≈ −0.7 would be appropriate for risk assessment.     

Theory and Model of Agricultural Insurance Subsidy

The issue of agricultural insurance subsidy is discussed in this paper aiming to make it provided more rationally and scientifically. It is started with the connection between agricultural insurance and financial subsidy. It is really necessary and crucial to implement the financial insurance due to the bad operational performance, especially in the developing countries. But the subsidy should be provided more rationally because financial subsidy has lots of negative effects. A model in competitive insurance markets developed by Ahsan et al （1982） and a farmers＇ decision model are developed to solve the optimal subsidized rate. Finally, the equation is got to calculate it. But a quantitative subsidized rate is not made here because the calculation should be under some restricted conditions, which are always absent in the developing countries. So the government should provide some subsidy for the ex ante research and preparation to get the scientific probability and premium rate.     

Optimisation of systems to locate discrete gamma-ray sources within a large search area

Most systems used to locate discrete gamma-ray sources involve systematically passing a detector over the search area while seeking a significant increase in the observed count-rate. This paper discusses the ways in which such systems may be designed to maximise the probability of locating a source. It is shown that optimised systems use a collimated, energy-discriminating detector and overlapping counting intervals determined by the scanning geometry and speed.     

China's Total Emission Control Policy:a Critical Review

As part of a comprehensive environmental management system, many countries establish emission control targets for mass emissions of a pollutant. Such targets are often the key objective of an environmental policy, such as an emission trading program. In China, however, it is more than just an objective of one particular policy; it has become a concept that has influenced many national environmental policies and activities. The objective of this article is to review the implementation of the total emission c...     

北京现代都市低碳农业的前景与策略

现代都市发展低碳农业是降低温室气体排放,实现国家宏观战略目标的重要组成部分.本文对低碳农业的定义、特征进行了初步阐述,认为低碳农业是通过技术改进和制度创新建立起来的一种低投、高产、低(负)碳、生态的现代农业,具有系统开放性、技术集成性、生命周期性、过程安全性四个特征.利用碳汇/源平衡方法分析北京农业现状,结果表明:目前北京农业领域的碳源与汇分别为10-20 TgCO2eq·a-1和10.23-14.16 TgCO2eq·a-1,碳源基本稳定,碳汇还有较大的发展潜力.根据北京市生态特点和未来农业的定位,发展低碳农业,在技术层面上,可以加强与种植相关的土壤碳汇建设,与养殖相关的减排和其他减排技术;在制度层面上,建立农业布局调整机制,大力发展清洁生产机制、生态补偿机制、农业准入机制和综合调节机制.预测北京低碳农业的前景,初步估算未来北京农业的碳汇潜力可以达到20-30 TgCO2eq·a-1,直接的碳源可以减少到4-5 TgCO2eq·a-1.通过发展低碳农业,不仅可以抵消农业碳源,还能抵消6%-10%总温室气体,真正起到净碳汇功能.     

上海崇明县植被覆盖度动态变化遥感监测研究

植被覆盖度是用于描述和评价生态系统的重要参数。基于1989、2001、2006年的TM/ETM+遥感数据,以上海市崇明县为研究区域,利用改进的像元二分模型,估算出不同时期内崇明县的植被覆盖度,并对其变化进行了定量分析。结果表明:1989-2001年,植被覆盖度负向变化地表约10.17%,正向变化约20.58%,乡镇和湿地区域正向变化的面积大于负向变化,农场区域则相反;2001-2006年,负向变化约29.1%,正向变化约12%,农场和湿地区域正向变化的面积大于负向变化,乡镇区域则相反,并且随着城市化进程的深入,各土地用地类型的植被覆盖度变化在一定程度上都呈现出生态退化的趋势。     

Seasonal variation of nitrogen and phosphorus in Xiaojiang River—A tributary of the Three Gorges Reservoir

A yearlong monitoring program in the backwater area of Xiaojiang River (XBA) was launched in order to investigate the eutrophication of backwater areas in tributaries of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in China, starting after the impoundment water level of the TGR reached 156 m. From March 2007 to March 2008, the average concentration of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were (1553±484) μg·L^?1 and (62±31) μg·L^?1, respectively. The mean value of chlorophyll was (9.07±0.91) μg·L^?1. The trophic level of XBA was meso-eutrophic, while the general nutrient limitation was phosphorus. The results indicated that XBA has a strong ability to purify itself and has non-point source pollution from terrestrial runoff. The variation of TN/TP ratio was caused by a variation in TN rather than in TP when TN/TP < 22. N-fixation from cyanobacteria occurred and became an important process in overcoming the nitrogen deficit under a low TN/TP ratio. When TN/TP ? 22, the variation of TP affected the TN/TP ratio more significantly than TN. The increase of TP in XBA was caused mainly by particulate phosphorus, which could originate from a non-point source as adsorptive inorganic forms after heavy rainfall and surface runoff. An increase in the river’s flow could also contribute to an unstable environment for the growth of phytoplankton.