Enhancing the Ability of a Soil Moisture‐based Index for Agricultural Drought Monitoring by Incorporating Root Distribution

Agricultural drought differs from meteorological, hydrological, and socioeconomic drought, being closely related to soil water availability in the root zone, specifically for crop and crop growth stage. In previous studies, several soil moisture indices (e.g., the soil moisture index, soil water deficit index) based on soil water availability have been developed for agricultural drought monitoring. However, when developing these indices, it was generally assumed that soil water availability to crops was equal throughout the root zone, and the effects of root distribution and crop growth stage on soil water uptake were ignored. This article aims to incorporate root distribution into a soil moisture‐based index and to evaluate the performance of the improved soil moisture index for agricultural drought monitoring. The Huang‐Huai‐Hai Plain of China was used as the study area. Overall, soil moisture indices were significantly correlated with the crop moisture index (CMI), and the improved root‐weighted soil moisture index (RSMI) was more closely related to the CMI than averaged soil moisture indices. The RSMI correctly identified most of the observed drought events and performed well in the detection of drought levels. Furthermore, the RSMI had a better performance than averaged soil moisture indices when compared to crop yield. In conclusion, soil moisture indices could improve agricultural drought monitoring by incorporating root distribution.     

灭幼脲Ⅲ号杀虫剂在大白菜和土壤中持久性及残留的研究

本文报道灭幼脲Ⅲ号杀虫剂在大白菜和土壤中的残留试验结果.经在南北两地连续两年的田间试验表明,灭幼脲Ⅲ号属非持久性农药,在作物和土壤中都较快地消失,在大白菜上的半衰期为3.8—14.0d,在土壤中为8.8—27.0d.用25％灭幼脲Ⅲ号胶悬剂稀释2500倍,每亩每次按常规用药10g或加倍药量20g(有效成分)施药,喷施2或3次,距最后一次施药三周时,灭幼脲Ⅲ号杀虫剂在大白菜的最大残留量为2.67ppm,在土壤中为13.81ppm.建议该农药在大白菜上的最高允许残留量(MRL)为3ppm,安全间隔期为21d.     

重庆地下热水径流特征研究

重庆地下热水资源丰富,但对其径流特征缺乏研究,盲目开采致使许多温泉泉流量减小、水温降低,甚至断流、枯竭。为指导地下热水的科学开采,文章对重庆地下热水的常规化学组分及同位素组分特征进行了研究,分析了地下热水补给、径流条件,指出大气降水为其补给源,补给区在重庆以北大巴山及华莹山背斜华莹山和铜锣峡背斜北端的岩溶露头区,嘉陵江组(T1j)为其储水层,地下热水主要沿背斜T1j地层由北往南流,同一背斜地下热水由北到南为一个统一的热水系统。     

Analysis of gas flow behavior in an annular fluidized-bed reactor for polystyrene waste treatment

The characteristics of bubble properties and the chaotic flow behavior of gas were investigated in an annular fluidized bed (0.102 m in inner diameter and 2 m in height) because the behavior of gas flow in such a reactor is one of the important factors governing reactor operation, reactor performance, and the reaction itself. Pressure fluctuations as a state variable for the analysis of gas flow behavior were measured and analyzed. Bubble properties were determined by adopting the cross-correlation function of pressure fluctuations. The resultant chaotic flow behavior of gas was interpreted by means of chaotic parameters such as the Kolmogorov entropy. It was found that the Kolmogorov entropy could be utilized effectively to explain the nonlinear dynamic behavior of gas-solid flow in the annular fluidized bed. The pierced length and rising velocity of bubbles increased with increasing gas velocity, bed temperature, and particle size of the bed material. The bubble frequency increased with increasing gas velocity and bed temperature, while it decreased with increasing particle size of the bed material. Correlations to predict the bubble properties in annular fluidized-bed reactors were suggested.     

湖南长株潭城市群灾害应急管理能力评价

以城市应急管理能力及其内涵为基础,运用层次分析法,对湖南长株潭城市群灾害应急管理能力进行综合评价.结果表明:①从时间上看,长株潭灾害应急管理能力综合评分值由2005年的5.67、3.66、3.34分别增加到2006年的5.82、4.20、3.98,说明长株潭灾害应急管理能力均有所增强,这是因为应急管理能力是随城市社会经济的发展而增强的;②从空间上看,长株潭灾害应急管理能力存在一定的区域差异;③从整体上看,长株潭的灾害应急管理能力排名为长沙市＞株洲市＞湘潭市,其主要是由城市化水平及经济实力的差异所致.     

Photocatalytic purification of volatile organic compounds in indoor air: A literature review

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are prevalent components of indoor air pollution. Among the approaches to remove VOCs from indoor air, photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is regarded as a promising method. This paper is a review of the status of research on PCO purification of VOCs in indoor air. The review and discussion concentrate on the preparation and coating of various photocatalytic catalysts; different kinetic experiments and models; novel methods for measuring kinetic parameters; reaction pathways; intermediates generated by PCO; and an overview of various PCO reactors and their models described in the literature. Some recommendations are made for future work to evaluate the performance of photocatalytic catalysts, to reduce the generation of harmful intermediates and to design new PCO reactors with integrated UV source and reaction surface.     

Persistence of culturable Escherichia coli fecal contaminants in dairy alpine grassland soils

Our knowledge of Escherichia coli (E. coli) ecology in the field is very limited in the case of dairy alpine grassland soils. Here, our objective was to monitor field survival of E. coli in cow pats and underlying soils in four different alpine pasture units, and to determine whether the soil could constitute an environmental reservoir. E. coli was enumerated by MPN using a selective medium. E. coli survived well in cow pats (10(7) to 10(8) cells g(-1) dry pat), but cow pats disappeared within about 2 mo. In each pasture unit, constant levels of E. coli (10(3) to 10(4) cells g(-1) dry soil) were recovered from all topsoil (0-5 cm) samples regardless of the sampling date, that is, under the snow cover, immediately after snow melting, or during the pasture season (during and after the decomposition of pats). In deeper soil layers below the root zone (5-25 cm), E. coli persistence varied according to soil type, with higher numbers recovered in poorly-drained soils (10(3) to 10(4) cells g(-1) dry soil) than in well-drained soils (< 10(2) cells g(-1) dry soil). A preliminary analysis of 38 partial uidA sequences of E. coli from pat and soils highlighted a cluster containing sequences only found in this work. Overall, this study raises the possibility that fecal E. coli could have formed a naturalized (sub)population, which is now part of the indigenous soil community of alpine pasture grasslands, the soil thus representing an environmental reservoir of E. coli.     

Occurrence of organic contaminants in sewage sludges from eleven wastewater treatment plants, China

This study presents the occurrence of 43 semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) listed as priority pollutants by both China and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in sewage sludges collected from eleven wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of mainland and Hong Kong, China. Thirty-six SVOCs were detected by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and at least 14 in each sample. The most abundant compounds were phthalic acid esters (PAEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with total concentrations ranging from 10 to 114mgkg(-1) dry weight (d.w.) (with a mean of 30mgkg(-1) d.w.) and from 1.4 to 33mgkg(-1)d.w. (with a mean of 16mgkg(-1) d.w.), respectively, followed by chlorobenzenes, nitroaromatics, haloethers and halogenated hydrocarbons which occurred generally at concentrations lower than 10mgkg(-1) d.w. Large variations were observed between the concentrations of individual compounds as well as their total concentrations in sludge samples from different WWTPs. The highest values of sum concentration of 16 PAHs and of 6 PAEs were found in sewage sludge from Beijing. The mean total concentration of each class of SVOCs in sewage sludge from mainland was remarkably higher than that from Hong Kong. The concentrations of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in 91% sludge samples met the limit (100mgkg(-1)d.w.) proposed by the Europe Union for land application, whereas the PAH concentrations of 64% sludge samples exceeded the maximum permissible concentration (6.0mgkg(-1)d.w.). The occurrence of SVOCs in this study are compared with other studies and their sources are discussed.     

Characteristics of photocatalytic oxidation of toluene, benzene, and their mixture

The investigation of the photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of multicomponent volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is very important to the application of PCO technology, because there is seldom a single VOC component in indoor air. In this paper, the characteristics of binary indoor VOCs, toluene and benzene, were experimentally studied using a mass transfer based method that we developed. The concentration ranges for toluene and benzene were 4.48-27.4 mg/m3 and 1.82-4.08 mg/m3, respectively. We found the following: (1) the PCO of each individual contaminant studied obeys the unimolecular form of the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) rate form; (2) the PCO of the binary contaminants follow the competitive adsorption L-H rate form; (3) the reaction-coefficient for PCO of individual contaminants differs from that in the competitive adsorption L-H rate form; and (4) the component impact factor of A to B, put forward in this paper, is a useful parameter describing the influence of A on the reaction coefficient of B, and it was found that the impact factor of toluene (a chemically active component) on benzene (a chemically stable component) is high, and the impact factor of benzene on toluene is low.