Reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory in Chinese drivers

Objective: The Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory (MDSI) has been widely used in assessing the associations between driving styles and traffic violations and accidents in different cultural contexts. Due to the lack of a valid instrument to assess driving style, studies concerning driving style and its influence factors are limited in China. Thus, this study aimed to adapt and validate a Chinese version of the MDSI.

Methods: Seven hundred and sixty drivers aged from 19 to 60 years old were asked to complete the MDSI and a personality scale (trait anger, sensation seeking, altruism, and normlessness). Exploratory factory analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to obtain the factorial structure of the MDSI. The external validity of the MDSI was then evaluated by examining the associations between driving styles and personality traits, demographic variables, and traffic violations and crashes.

Results: EFA revealed a 6-factor structure of the MDSI (i.e., risky, anxious, angry, distress reduction, careful, and dissociative driving styles). CFA confirmed that the model fit of the MDSI was acceptable. The MDSI factors were moderately or weakly correlated with trait anger, sensation seeking, altruism, and normlessness. Significant gender and age differences in driving styles were found. Moreover, drivers who had traffic violations or crashes in the past year scored higher on risky and angry driving styles and lower on careful driving style than those who had not have traffic violations or crashes.

Conclusions: The Chinese version of the MDSI proved to be a reliable, valid, and highly useful instrument. It could be used to assess Chinese drivers who are at risk due to their maladaptive driving styles.     

用事故树分析法进行炼厂油罐爆炸事故的环境风险评价

论述了风险、风险评价、环境风险评价的概念及其主要内容，说明利用事故树分析法进行工程环境风险评价的程序和方法。并运用这种方法对某炼厂油罐爆炸事故进行了大气环境风险评价。     

秦皇岛石河口海域沉积物重金属污染及生态风险评价

为了研究石河口海域的沉积物环境,于2009年9月对石河口海域表层沉积物的Cu、Pd、Zn、Cd、Hg、As含量进行了测定,探讨了重金属含量的分布特征和相关关系,采用地累积指数法和潜在生态风险指数法对重金属的富集程度和潜在生态风险进行了评价。结果表明:Cu和Pd、Cu和Cd、Pd和Cd之间存在显著正相关性。重金属富集程度排序为CdHgCuZnPdAs。石河口海域多种重金属潜在生态风险指数属于轻微风险状态。重金属潜在生态风险指数排序为CdHgPdCuAsZn,Cd的生态风险指数属中度风险状态,研究区域在一定程度上受到了Cd的污染。     

Analysis of spatial and temporal changes of vegetation cover and its driving forces in the Huainan mining area

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Huainan mining area is rich in coal resources and has sparse vegetation and many collapsed waterways. Large-scale and long-term underground coal...     

Improvements to lawn and garden equipment emissions estimates for Baltimore, Maryland

Lawn and garden equipment are a significant source of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants in suburban and urban areas. Emission estimates for this source category are typically prepared using default equipment populations and activity data contained in emissions models such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) NONROAD model or the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) OFFROAD model. Although such default data may represent national or state averages, these data are unlikely to reflect regional or local differences in equipment usage patterns because of variations in climate, lot sizes, and other variables. To assess potential errors in lawn and garden equipment emission estimates produced by the NONROAD model and to demonstrate methods that can be used by local planning agencies to improve those emission estimates, this study used bottom-up data collection techniques in the Baltimore metropolitan area to develop local equipment population, activity, and temporal data for lawn and garden equipment in the area. Results of this study show that emission estimates of VOCs, particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) for the Baltimore area that are based on local data collected through surveys of residential and commercial lawn and garden equipment users are 24-56% lower than estimates produced using NONROAD default data, largely because of a difference in equipment populations for high-usage commercial applications. Survey-derived emission estimates of PM and VOCs are 24 and 26% lower than NONROAD default estimates, respectively, whereas survey-derived emission estimates for CO, CO2, and NO(x) are more than 40% lower than NONROAD default estimates. In addition, study results show that the temporal allocation factors applied to residential lawn and garden equipment in the NONROAD model underestimated weekend activity levels by 30% compared with survey-derived temporal profiles.     

煤气脱硫废料综合利用新工艺

针对煤气脱硫废料（简称废料）的成分（硫、碳、萘及少量其他有机物）,提出了一种处理废料的新工艺,先用乙酸乙酯提取废料中的萘和少量其他有机物,再用复合溶剂B加热溶解废料,热过滤得碳粉,最后将溶液冷却结晶分离出硫。实验结果表明：在乙酸乙酯与废料的质量比（R1）为3.75,提取温度为60℃,提取时间为4h的条件下,萘回收率为98%,纯度大于等于70%,在复合溶剂B与提取剩余物的质量比（R2）为2.69,过滤温度为100℃的条件下,硫回收率接近100%,纯度大于等于99%,碳回收率和纯度为100%。     

Destruction of Aspergillus versicolor,Penicillium chrysogenum,Stachybotrys chartarum,and Cladosporium cladosporioides spores using chemical oxidation treatment process

The survival of aqueous suspensions of Penicillium chrysogenum, Stachybotrys chartarum, Aspergillus versicolor, and Cladosporium cladosporioides spores was evaluated using various combinations of hydrogen peroxide and Fe²⁺ as catalyst. Spore concentrations of 10⁶–10⁷ colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL) were suspended in water and treated with initial hydrogen peroxide and iron concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 10 percent and 100 to 200 ppm, respectively. After four hours of reaction time, samples were plated on agar plates, and the viable fraction of spores was determined by the number of colonies formed. Hydrogen peroxide concentrations above 50,000 ppm resulted in greater than 6‐log₁₀ reduction of viable spores for both catalyzed and noncatalyzed reactions. Iron had a strong catalytic effect when added to solutions with hydrogen peroxide concentration above 5,000 ppm and resulted in two to three orders of magnitude greater reduction compared to hydrogen peroxide alone. Additional samples taken after 24 hours of reaction time showed that the effect of the addition of 100 and 200 ppm of Fe²⁺ catalyst was mostly kinetic, and noncatalyzed hydrogen peroxide had sporicidal effects similar to catalyzed hydrogen peroxide. This study identified initial reagent concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and Fe²⁺ that accomplish a 6‐log₁₀ reduction of viable mold spores within reaction times of 4 and 24 hours. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Electrogeneration of H(2) for Pd-catalytic hydrodechlorination of 2,4-dichlorophenol in groundwater

A novel electrolytic groundwater remediation process, which used the H₂ continuously generated at cathode to achieve in situ catalytic hydrodechlorination, was developed for the treatment of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in groundwater. Catalytic hydrodechlorination using Pd supported on bamboo charcoal and external H₂ showed that 2,4-DCP was completely dechlorinated to phenol within 30 min at pH ? 5.5. In a divided electrolytic system, the catalytic hydrodechlorination of 2,4-DCP in cathodic compartment by H₂ generated at the cathode under 20 and 50 mA reached 100% at 120 and 60 min, respectively. Two column experiments with influent pHs of 5.5 (unconditioned) and 2 were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of this process. The 2,4-DCP removal efficiencies were about 63% and nearly 100% at influent pHs of 5.5 and 2, respectively. Phenol was solely produced by 2,4-DCP hydrodechlorination, and was subsequently degraded at the anode. A low pH could enhance the hydrodechlorination, but was not necessarily required. This study provides the preliminary results of a novel effective electrolytic process for the remediation of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated aromatics.     

Carrousel氧化沟的流动特性研究

采用颗粒动态分析仪(PDA)对倒伞形表面曝气机曝气的Carrousel小试氧化沟进行测试,得出了氧化沟内较系统的流动特性参数.比较了固液两相在氧化沟内流动的差别,发现固液两相流动速度差别较小,由于惯性的影响,固相的沉降速度略大于液相.考察了表曝机的转速、表曝机相对于液面的位置、氧化沟的深度等因素对氧化沟内流动的影响,随着表曝机转速的增大和表曝机浸入液面深度的增加,流动速度和沉降速度均会增大,而氧化沟深度增加时,距离液面同一深度处的速度则会减小.实验结果与污水处理厂的实际情形进行比较发现,二者变化趋势一致,说明本实验结果可用于指导工程实际,为氧化沟的优化设计提供依据.