Three-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling of the Chicago River, Illinois

We present and describe results from a three-dimensional model applied to the Chicago River under a wet weather condition. Chicago River is an integral part of Chicago, the third largest city in United States, for recreational, commercial and industrial purposes. Although the flow in the Chicago River is supposed to be from north to south, the flow acquires a three-dimensional nature at various points in the river. The reasons for the three dimensionality of the flow can be attributed to the dynamic boundary conditions generated by combined sewer overflow (CSO) events during wet weather conditions, as well as the presence of confluences of various branches of the river with creeks and slips. This work presents the hydrodynamic application and validation of a three dimensional numerical model, which was used to simulate the flow in the Chicago River for a period of 8?days in September of 2008, during which the torrential rains in the city of Chicago led to intense CSO events. The numerical model used for the aforementioned exercise is the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) which solves the three dimensional vertically hydrostatic, free surface, turbulence averaged equations of motions for a variable density fluid. The results obtained by the numerical model were validated with the help of stage values obtained from the USGS gauging station [Station No. 05536123] present inside the domain of interest. It was estimated that during the storm September 2008, several billion gallons of water were discharged into Lake Michigan from the Chicago River Controlling Works to prevent city flooding. The 3D model also provides a tool for the management of the waterways, in particular for future analysis of different alternatives being considered to reverse the Chicago River once again with the goal of preventing the passage of invasive species (e.g. Asian carp) towards the Great Lakes.     

Magnetic semiconductor nano-photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants

Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using suspended and dispersed semiconductor nano-photocatalysts in wastewater holds unique advantages, including high activity, low cost, solar utilization, and complete mineralization. But the recovery and reuse of photocatalysts are difficult because the fine particles are easily discharged in waters. Immobilization of photocatalysts on supports such as glass and zeolite results in decreased activities due to the low specific area and slow mass transfer. Furthermore, a large amount of the photocatalysts will result in colored contamination. Therefore, it is necessary to develop photocatalysts with a separation function for the reusable and cyclic application. In order to take advantage of the high activity and enable the semiconductor nano-photocatalysts to be reused, the concept of magnetic photocatalysts with separation function was raised. We review the photocatalytic principle, structure, and application of the magnetic semiconductor catalysts.     

灰色聚类法综合评价滴水湖水系环境质量

将滴水湖水系看作一个灰色系统进行研究,利用灰色聚类理论,以地表水环境标准和富营养化分级标准为基础建立灰类评价体系,确定聚类指标的隶属度和标准灰类的权重,得到各聚类指标对标准灰类的聚类系数,最大聚类系数关联的等级即水体质量等级。2010年,每2周1次对滴水湖水系11个监测点的溶解氧（DO）、化学需氧量（CODMn）、五日生化需氧量（BOD5）、总磷（TP）、总氮（TN）、氨氮（NH3-N）、透明度（SD）及叶绿素a（Chl.a）进行监测,取各指标的年均值,建立灰类评价系统。结果表明：滴水湖水源大治河及引水干道随塘河处水质属于Ⅳ类～Ⅴ类,呈富营养化和极度富营养化状态;闸外引水河芦潮引河段水质类型为Ⅲ类,为富营养化水平;闸内引水河道水质总体呈现富营养化状态,水质类型为Ⅲ类;滴水湖湖区水体质量良好,水质类型为Ⅲ类,呈中营养水平。     

冷藏技术对发光细菌活性及毒性测试性能的影响

由于发光细菌的在线毒性监测技术受到了细菌生物活性稳定性保持问题的制约,探索一种脱脂牛奶菌悬液冷藏复苏方法,以提高发光细菌活性的保持时间。比较了明亮发光杆菌新鲜菌液冷藏、冻干粉菌悬液冷藏和脱脂牛奶菌悬液冷藏对发光细菌生物活性的影响,同时,比较了不同渗透压调节液对菌悬液急性毒性测试的灵敏度和稳定性的影响。结果表明,质量分数为25%的脱脂牛奶可提高发光细菌生物活性的稳定性,菌悬液冷藏7d后复苏,相对发光率仍可达92%。2%NaCl和10%蔗糖为渗透压调节液时,冷藏至第7天的发光细菌脱脂牛奶菌悬液对重金属毒性测试的灵敏度,与新鲜菌液基本相同,但添加蔗糖降低了其对有机物的测试灵敏度。利用发光细菌脱脂牛奶冷藏菌悬液对Zn~(2+)进行连续7d的毒性测试,EC_(50)的变异系数小于15%,结果稳定性良好。     

镧、铈、钕对小鼠肝细胞线粒体的氧化损伤作用

轻稀土元素进入生物体后主要累积于肝脏,进入肝细胞,除蓄积在细胞核中,还存在于线粒体中。为探讨轻稀土元素对小鼠肝细胞线粒体的氧化损伤作用,选用5周龄雄性ICR小鼠分别以10、20和40mg·kg~(-1)的镧(La)、铈(Ce)和钕(Nd)灌胃,6周后测定小鼠肝细胞线粒体中超氧化物岐化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶(GPx)的活性,以及谷胱甘肽(GSH)和丙二醛(MDA)的含量。结果显示,与对照组相比,La中剂量组和Ce低剂量组SOD活性显著升高,La高剂量组和Nd中、高剂量组中SOD活性显著降低(P<0.05,P<0.01);除个别剂量组外,各染毒组CAT和GPx活性与GSH含量显著降低(P<0.05,P<0.01);Nd各剂量组、La高剂量组和Ce高剂量组的MDA含量显著升高(P<0.05,P<0.01)。研究表明,La、Ce和Nd所导致的CAT和GPx活性以及GSH含量降低可能是造成肝细胞线粒体氧化损伤的主要原因。     

Arsenic-induced health crisis in peri-urban Moyna and Ardebok villages, West Bengal, India: an exposure assessment study

Drinking of arsenic (As)-contaminated groundwater has adverse effects on health of millions of people worldwide. This study aimed to determine the degree of severity of As exposure from drinking water in peri-urban Moyna and Ardebok villages, West Bengal, India. Arsenic concentrations in hair, nail and urine samp les of the individuals were determined. Arsenical dermatosis, keratosis and melanosis were investigated through medical evaluation. We have evaluated the association between As exposure from drinking water, and keratosis and melanosis outcomes. The results showed that 82.7?% of the sampled tube wells contain As concentrations above 10?μg/L, while 57.7?% contain As concentrations above 50?μg/L. The hair, nail and urine As concentrations were positively correlated with As concentrations in drinking water. In our study population, we observed a strong association between As concentrations ranging 51-99?μg/L and keratosis and melanosis outcomes, although the probability decreases at higher concentration ranges perhaps due to switching away from the use of As-contaminated tube wells for drinking and cooking purposes. High As concentrations in hair, nail and urine were observed to be associated with the age of the study population. The level of As concentrations in hair, nail and urine samples of the study population indicated the degree of severity of As exposure in the study region.     

Preparation of TiO2/MCM-41 by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method and its photocatalytic activity

Titanium dioxide is coated on the surface of MCM-41 wafer through the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method using titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) as a precursor. Annealing temperature is a key factor affecting crystal phase of titanium dioxide. It will transform an amorphous structure to a polycrystalline structure by increasing temperature. The optimum anatase phase of TiO₂ which can acquire the best methanol conversion under UV-light irradiation is obtained under an annealing temperature of 700°C for 2 h, substrate temperature of 500°C, 70 mL·min^?1 of oxygen flow rate, and 100W of plasma power. In addition, the films are composed of an anatase-rutile mixed phase, and the ratio of anatase to rutile varies with substrate temperature and oxygen flow rate. The particle sizes of titanium dioxide are between 30.3 nm and 59.9 nm by the calculation of Scherrer equation. Under the reaction conditions of 116.8 mg·L^-1 methanol, 2.9 mg·L^?1 moisture, and 75°C of reaction temperature, the best conversion of methanol with UV-light is 48.2% by using the anatase-rutile (91.3/8.7) mixed phase TiO₂ in a batch reactor for 60 min. While under fluorescent light irradiation, the best photoactivity appears by using the anatase-rutile (55.4/44.6) mixed phase TiO₂ with a conversion of 40.0%.     

Transition to a low-carbon city: lessons learned from Suzhou in China

Climate change has become one of the most serious challenges facing humanity; developing a low-carbon economy provides new opportunities for addressing this issue. Building a low-carbon city has been pursued by people with a high degree of enthusiasm in China. Different from actions at the national level and distinct from practices of developed countries, low-carbon development in Chinese cities should be placed on diverse concerns. Taking Suzhou of Jiangsu Province of China as a case city, this paper adopts a scenario analysis approach to explore strategic focal points in the transition to a low-carbon city. Within this transition, we mainly focus on the different contributions from two factors-economic restructuring and technological upgrading. Scenario analysis results show that 1) in the case of no breakthrough technologies, it is difficult to achieve absolute emission reductions; 2) technologies involved in optimizing energy structure and improving energy efficiency of basic service sectors should be highly emphasized in local planning; 3) in comparison with technological upgrading, economic structural adjustment could be a stronger contributor to mitigation, which is one of the main differences from developed countries. However, the key issue of economic restructuring is to promote the growth of emerging low-carbon industries, which requires not only a strategic choice of new industries but also an introduction of advanced low-carbon technologies. It is also found that establishing a local carbon emissions accounting system is a prerequisite and the first priority for realizing a low-carbon transition and government capacity buildings should be strengthened accordingly.     

Hazard and vulnerability evaluation of water distribution system in cases of contamination intrusion accidents

In this paper, it proposed an index system for hazard and vulnerability evaluations of water distribution networks, based on the simulation of contamination events caused by pollutant injections at different junctions. It attempted to answer the following two questions in the case of contamination events: 1) Which are the most hazardous junctions? 2) Which are the most vulnerable junctions? With EPANET toolkit, it simulated the propagation of the contaminant, and calculated the peak concentration of the contaminant and mass delivered at different nodes. According to types of consumers, different weights were assigned to the consumer nodes for assessing the influence of the contaminant on the consumers. Using the method proposed herein, both the hazard index and vulnerability index were calculated for each node in the pipe network. The presented method was therefore applied to the water network of the city of Zhenjiang, which contains two water plants, two booster pump stations with storage tanks. In conclusion, the response time, the relationships between the peak concentration of contaminant and the total absorption are the most important factors in hazard and vulnerability evaluation of the water distribution network.     

Reduction of hexavalent chromium with scrap iron in a fixed bed reactor

The reduction of hexavalent chromium by scrap iron was investigated in continuous long-term fixed bed system. The effects of pH, empty bed contact time (EBCT), and initial Cr(VI) concentration on Cr(VI) reduction were studied. The results showed that the pH, EBCT, and initial Cr(VI) concentration significantly affected the reduction capacity of scrap iron. The reduction capacity of scrap iron were 4.56, 1.51, and 0.57 mg Cr(VI)·g^-1 Fe⁰ at pH 3, 5, and 7 (initial Cr(VI) concentration 4 mg·L^-1, EBCT 2 min, and temperature 25°C), 0.51, 1.51, and 2.85 mg Cr(VI)·g^-1 Fe⁰ at EBCTs of 0.5, 2.0, and 6.0 min (initial Cr(VI) concentration 4 mg·L^-1, pH 5, and temperature 25°C), and 2.99, 1.51, and 1.01 mg Cr(VI)·g^-1 Fe⁰ at influent concentrations of 1, 4, and 8 mg·L^-1 (EBCT 2 min, pH 5, and temperature 25°C), respectively. Fe(total) concentration in the column effluent continuously decreased in time, due to a decrease in time of the iron corrosion rate. The fixed bed reactor can be readily used for the treatment of drinking water containing low amounts of Cr(VI) ions, although the hardness and humic acid in water may shorten the lifetime of the reactor, the reduction capacity of scrap iron still achieved 1.98 mg Cr⁶⁺·g^-1 Fe. Scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersion spectrometer and X-ray diffraction were conducted to examine the surface species of the scrap iron before and after its use. In addition to iron oxides and hydroxide species, iron-chromium complex was also observed on the reacted scrap iron.