Feedbacks in Human–Landscape Systems

This article identifies key questions and challenges for geomorphologists in investigating coupled feedbacks in human–landscape systems. While feedbacks occur in the absence of human influences, they are also altered by human activity. Feedbacks are a key element to understanding human-influenced geomorphic systems in ways that extend our traditional approach of considering humans as unidirectional drivers of change. Feedbacks have been increasingly identified in Earth-environmental systems, with studies of coupled human–natural systems emphasizing ecological phenomena in producing emerging concepts for social–ecological systems. Enormous gaps or uncertainties in knowledge remain with respect to understanding impact-feedback loops within geomorphic systems with significant human alterations, where the impacted geomorphic systems in turn affect humans. Geomorphology should play an important role in public policy by identifying the many diffuse and subtle feedbacks of both local- and global-scale processes. This role is urgent, while time may still be available to mitigate the impacts that limit the sustainability of human societies. Challenges for geomorphology include identification of the often weak feedbacks that occur over varied time and space scales ranging from geologic time to single isolated events and very short time periods, the lack of available data linking impact with response, the identification of multiple thresholds that trigger feedback mechanisms, the varied tools and metrics needed to represent both physical and human processes, and the need to collaborate with social scientists with expertise in the human causes of geomorphic change, as well as the human responses to such change.     

氧化铁投加方式对餐厨垃圾厌氧消化产气的影响

氧化铁可以促进产甲烷菌的代谢活动,从而加快厌氧消化体系的产甲烷速率。通过设计3组反应器,探究了不同的氧化铁添加方式对餐厨垃圾厌氧消化产甲烷的影响:包括空白组A(餐厨垃圾+厌氧污泥),以及2个实验组B(餐厨垃圾+厌氧污泥,48 h后投加氧化铁)和C(餐厨垃圾+厌氧污泥+氧化铁)。结果表明:反应器A酸化严重,进入长期产甲烷抑制状态;反应器B可以解除酸抑制,恢复体系产甲烷能力,但需要较长的启动期;反应器C则能较快达到产甲烷阶段。此外,截止到第54天实验结束,反应器C的累积产甲烷量(48 349 m L)高于B(35 665 m L)。对于餐厨垃圾厌氧消化,投加氧化铁可解除体系酸抑制,恢复其产甲烷能力。而在厌氧消化初期加入氧化铁可以更快地解除酸抑制,并促成更高的产甲烷速率。     

Application of eggshell waste for the immobilization of cadmium and lead in a contaminated soil

Liming materials have been used to immobilize heavy metals in contaminated soils. However, no studies have evaluated the use of eggshell waste as a source of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) to immobilize both cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in soils. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of eggshell waste on the immobilization of Cd and Pb and to determine the metal availability following various single extraction techniques. Incubation experiments were conducted by mixing 0–5% powdered eggshell waste and curing the soil (1,246 mg Pb kg^?1 soil and 17 mg Cd kg^?1 soil) for 30 days. Five extractants, 0.01 M calcium chloride (CaCl₂), 1 M CaCl₂, 0.1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl), 0.43 M acetic acid (CH₃COOH), and 0.05 M ethylendiaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), were used to determine the extractability of Cd and Pb following treatments with CaCO₃ and eggshell waste. Generally, the extractability of Cd and Pb in the soils decreased in response to treatments with CaCO₃ and eggshell waste, regardless of extractant. Using CaCl₂ extraction, the lowest Cd concentration was achieved upon both CaCO₃ and eggshell waste treatments, while the lowest Pb concentration was observed using HCl extraction. The highest amount of immobilized Cd and Pb was extracted by CH₃COOH or EDTA in soils treated with CaCO₃ and eggshell waste, indicating that remobilization of Cd and Pb may occur under acidic conditions. Based on the findings obtained, eggshell waste can be used as an alternative to CaCO₃ for the immobilization of heavy metals in soils.     

Fenton degradation of dialkylphthalates: products and mechanism

Contamination of wastewater by organic pollutants is a major worldwide issue. For instance plastic additives such as phthalates are found in wastewater. Efficient techniques are thus needed to clean wastewaters. The Fenton reaction involving H₂O₂ and Fe(II) salts can be used to treat polluted water. During the Fenton reaction pollutants are decomposed directly by hydroxyl radicals. In some cases toxic by-products are produced. Here dimethyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, and dipropyl phthalate by-products formed during the Fenton reaction were studied. Fenton degradation of selected phthalates yielded numerous transformation products such as hydroxylated phthalates. The hydroxylation reaction occurred at the aromatic ring of phthalates and yielded mono- and dihydroxylated phthalates. For monohydroxylated phthalate, 3-hydroxy- and 4-hydroxydialkylphthalates are the main transformation products. In addition to hydroxylated derivatives, aliphatic chain degraded mono- and dihydroxylated phthalates were also detected.     

An evaluation approach using a HARA and FMEDA for the hardware SIL

Safety instrumented systems (SIS) are becoming increasingly complex, and form a growing proportion of programmable electronic parts. The IEC 61508 global standard was established to ensure the functional safety of SIS; however, it was expressed in highly macroscopic terms. The safety integrity level (SIL) is a criterion describing whether a component meets the safety requirements of a SIS. The safety requirements give a target SIL for the expected risks using hazard analysis and risk assessment (HARA). The SIL must correspond to the safety requirements. This study introduces an evaluation process for determining the hardware SIL through failure modes, effects, and diagnostic analysis (FMEDA). First, the components of the SIS subsystem are defined in terms of failure modes and effects, and then the failure rate and failure mechanism distribution are assigned to each component. The safety mode and detectability of each failure mode are determined for each component and, finally, the hardware SIL is evaluated. We perform a case study to evaluate the hardware SIL of the flame scanner system using HARA and FMEDA, where the safety requirement of the flame scanner was determined using the risk graph method. We verified that the hardware SIL of the flame scanner corresponded to the safety requirement.     

发展家庭经济与区域资源的关系

家庭经济是农村经济的重要组成部分,它适应了区域资源的固有特征,因而在较长时期内仍将在我国农村广泛存在。但是,由于经营权的自主性和决策能力的先天不足,使家庭经济在其发展的每个阶段和生产经营的各个过程都暴露出种种矛盾,制约着家庭经济的发展,这就要求我们必须通过各种途径,引导自发的家庭经济向立足本地资源的产业模式集结,逐步形成各具特色的家庭经济小区。     

红外图谱计算机解析研究

本文提供了被认为比较准确的32种有机分子特征基团红外光谱吸收范围;提出了红外仪扫描时计算机同时采集数据,红外扫描结束后,计算机不用人工干予自动利用有机分子基团的特征吸收峰的峰位、强度信息判断有机分子所含基团的图谱解析方法。并提供了程序设计框图。给出了40个较有代表性化合物的图谱解析实验结果。     

Sonographic features of ileal duplication cyst at 12 weeks

Enteric duplication cyst is a congenital abnormality that is believed to arise from abnormal recanalization of the bowel during embryogenesis. Previous reports suggest that the condition may be suspected prenatally by sonographic demonstration of an intra-abdominal cystic mass in the second and third trimesters. We present the sonographic features of a fetus with ileal duplication cyst at 12 weeks of gestation, which show that the condition may present in the first trimester of pregnancy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.