Validation of Bacteroidales-based microbial source tracking markers for pig fecal pollution and their application in two rivers of North China

• Pig feces is the predominant excrement produced by animal husbandry in China. • The PF, Pig-1-Bac^TaqMan, and Pig-2-Bac^TaqMan MST assays showed better performance. • The pig-specific MST assays can contribute to managing the pig fecal pollution. In China, pig feces is the predominant source of excrement produced by animal husbandry. Improper use or direct discharge of pig feces can result in contamination of natural water systems. Microbial source tracking (MST) technology can identify the sources of fecal pollution in environmental water, and contribute to the management of pig fecal pollution by local environmental protection agencies. However, the accuracy of such assays can be context-dependent, and they have not been comprehensively evaluated under Chinese conditions. We aimed to compare the performance of five previously reported pig-specific MST assays (PF, Pig-Bac1^SYBR, Pig-Bac2^SYBR, Pig-1-Bac^TaqMan, and Pig-2-Bac^TaqMan, which are based on Bacteroidales 16S rRNA gene markers) and apply them in two rivers of North China. We collected a total of 173 fecal samples from pigs, cows, goats, chickens, humans, and horses across China. The PF assay optimized in this study showed outstanding qualitative performance and achieved 100% specificity and sensitivity. However, the two SYBR green qPCR assays (Pig-Bac1^SYBR and Pig-Bac2^SYBR) cross-reacted with most non-pig fecal samples. In contrast, both the Pig-1-Bac^TaqMan and Pig-2-Bac^TaqMan assays gave 100% specificity and sensitivity. Of these, the Pig-2-Bac^TaqMan assay showed higher reproducibility. Our results regarding the specificity of these pig-specific MST assays differ from those reported in Thailand, Japan, and America. Using the PF and Pig-2-Bac^TaqMan assays, a field test comparing the levels of pig fecal pollution in rivers near a pig farm before and after comprehensive environmental pollution governance indicated that pig fecal pollution was effectively controlled at this location.     

In situ hydrothermal fabrication of visible light-driven g-C3N4/SrTiO3 composite for photocatalytic degradation of TC

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A series of g-C3N4/SrTiO3 (CN/SrTiO3) composites with the different mass ratio of g-C3N4 were prepared by facile in situ hydrothermal growth method,...     

Manganese-modified biochar for highly efficient sorption of cadmium

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, corn stalk was modified by manganese (Mn) before (MBC1) and after (MBC2) pyrolysis at different temperatures (400~600 °C)...     

Compression behaviors of mechanically biologically treated wastes of Tianziling landfill in Hangzhou,China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study aimed to investigate the compression behaviors of mechanically biologically treated (MBT) wastes. For this purpose, the short-term...     

Functional wastepaper-montmorillonite composite aerogel for Cd2+ adsorption

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, a composite aerogel (WP-MMT) composed of wastepaper (WP) and montmorillonite (MMT) was prepared by ambient pressure drying technology...     

Integrated factor analysis of water level variation in geographically isolated ponds

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Small geographically isolated ponds provide a multitude of ecological functions and services, but water table fluctuations alter the magnitude of...     

间歇曝气序批式活性污泥法处理农村废水及其效果的模拟预测

采用两种不同运行模式的间歇曝气序批式活性污泥反应器(IASBR)处理农村废水,反应器连续稳定运行235d,考察了5个工况下,缺氧/好氧循环次数、进水碳氮比(C/N,质量比)、水力停留时间(HRT)等对总有机碳(TOC)、氨氮、TN、TP去除效果的影响。在进水C/N低时,缺氧/好氧循环次数为4的1~#IASBR的脱氮效率及稳定性明显比缺氧/好氧循环次数为2的2~#IASBR高,而脱碳和除磷效果无显著差异。氨氮去除方面,在进水C/N较低的工况1(C/N平均为2.3)、工况2(C/N平均为2.2)和工况4(C/N平均为2.0)下,1~#IASBR的出水氨氮质量浓度明显比2~#IASBR更低,而在进水C/N相对较高时两者无显著差异。TN去除与氨氮去除有类似规律。构建以进水TOC、氨氮、TN、TP、C/N和HRT、缺氧/好氧循环次数为输入的反向传播人工神经网络(BP-ANN)模型,对TOC、氨氮、TN、TP的去除率进行模拟预测,结果显示以上4个输出参数在训练组中的预测结果和实际检测结果之间绝对平均误差分别为2.65%、5.27%、3.56%、34.56%,在测试组中的预测结果和实际检测结果之间绝对平均误差分别为2.74%、3.40%、5.13%、28.32%。     

纳米二氧化铈的潜在生态风险及毒性作用机制研究进展

作为重要的纳米稀土化合物,纳米二氧化铈(CeO2 )被广泛应用于工、农、医学等领域,随之而来的是大量的纳米CeO2 在其生产使用和处理处置等过程中被释放进入到环境中,进而导致其生物安全性受到越来越多的关注.本文从纳米CeO2 对细胞、组织器官、植物、水生生物和土壤生物产生的毒性效应入手,系统综述了纳米CeO2 的潜在环...     

流量分布系数对低压热释放速率测量的影响

热释放速率是反映火灾规模的重要参数,但高海拔低压地区可燃物燃烧的热释放速率测量一直未得到有效解决。为此,引入烟气管道流量分布系数,并对其进行低压修正,基于耗氧原理分析了低压条件下可燃物燃烧的热释放速率测量原理,提出了低压燃烧热释放速率的计算方法。在此基础上,设计并搭建了低压燃烧舱模拟高海拔低压环境,开展了不同静态低压条件下的正庚烷池火试验,并对烟气管道流量分布系数与不同的静态环境低压进行线性关系、指数关系等拟合,发现试验工况压力下的流量分布系数与响应的环境压力呈指数函数关系,且拟合度高达97.2%。采用指数函数关系并根据能量守恒对试验测量出的低压热释放速率进行修正,误差不超过5%,表明该方法可行。     

Robust Regression with Data-Dependent Regularization Parameters and Autoregressive Temporal Correlations

We introduce robust procedures for analyzing water quality data collected over time. One challenging task in analyzing such data is how to achieve robustness in presence of outliers while maintaining high estimation efficiency so that we can draw valid conclusions and provide useful advices in water management. The robust approach requires specification of a loss function such as the Huber, Tukey’s bisquare and the exponential loss function, and an associated tuning parameter determining the extent of robustness needed. High robustness is at the cost of efficiency loss in parameter loss. To this end, we propose a data-driven method which leads to more efficient parameter estimation. This data-dependent approach allows us to choose a regularization (tuning) parameter that depends on the proportion of “outliers” in the data so that estimation efficiency is maximized. We illustrate the proposed methods using a study on ammonium nitrogen concentrations from two sites in the Huaihe River in China, where the interest is in quantifying the trend in the most recent years while accounting for possible temporal correlations and “irregular” observations in earlier years.