Economic incentives for TQEM: Are they in your future?

Traditional command-and-control regulations provide few opportunities for total quality environmental management because they usually do not take into account cost and efficiency factors. However, in the past several years both Congress and EPA have shown increasing interest in using incentive-type approaches to regulate the environment. These include taxes, marketable pollution privileges, deposits and refunds, information disclosure provisions, and subsidies. The author details examples of each and discusses how they can effectively complement a quality program.     

Emerging technologies for in-situ groundwater remediation

There are numerous technologies currently being tested by EPA, universities throughout the world, and private research organizations. A few of the more promising innovative technologies as well as fully tested and proven remedies for treating contaminated groundwater are presented in this article. Although several of those technologies have been in existence for only four to five years, the results of full-scale testing are being produced. The method for each of these promising technologies is described, results from recent field-scale studies are summarized, and a discussion of cost is presented.     

It’s All in the Numbers: Acreage Tallies and Environmental Program Evaluation

Increasingly, performance measurement is being used to hold federal agencies accountable, represent environmental progress, and evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs. The need to track measurable outputs has created a tendency to present programmatic progress solely by quantifiable data, despite the inherent complexity of natural resource management. Wetlands and fire management programs are two specific environmental arenas that have come to overemphasize the tracking of acreage numbers to validate existing policy direction. In both of these arenas, we find the definition and categorization of "countable" acres to be inconsistent and unreliable. We explore this systemic flaw for both wetlands and fire programs and describe its implications for environmental policy and natural resource management more broadly. We conclude with recommendations for improved performance measurement in these arenas.     

Investigation of real-life operating patterns of wood-burning appliances using stack temperature data

ABSTRACT

A study was undertaken to identify patterns of consumer use of outdoor wood boilers or outdoor wood furnaces (technically referred to as outdoor wood-fired hydronic heaters (OWHHs)) and indoor wood stoves (IWSs) to inform the development of performance testing protocols that reflect real-life operating conditions. These devices are manually fed, and their usage protocols are a function of a number of variables, including user habits, household characteristics, and environmental factors. In this study, researchers logged the stack wall temperatures of 4 OWHH and 20 IWS units in the states of New York and Washington over two heating seasons. Stack wall temperature is an indicator of changes in combustion modes. Two algorithms were developed to identify usage modes and cold and warm start refueling events from the stack wall temperature time series. A linear correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of heat demand on usage patterns. The results and methods presented here will inform the cataloging of typical operational patterns of OWHHs and IWSs as a step in the development of performance testing procedures that represent actual in-home usage patterns.

Implications: Current US regulatory programs for residential wood heating use a certification program to assess emissions and efficiency performance. Testing under this program uses a test that burns 100% of a single, standardized wood fuel charge to assess performance at different steady-state load conditions. This study assessed in-field operational patterns to determine if the current certification approach accurately characterized typical homeowner use patterns. The data from this study can be used to inform revisions to testing methods to increase certification test comparability between lab and field performance.     

环境治理工程评标的双基点模型及应用

动用多指标综合排序的双基点法，建立了环境治理工程评标的数学模型。应用实例表明，该模型可以为环境治理工程评标提供客观、合理的方法。     

Females’ sampling strategy to comparatively evaluate prospective mates in the peacock blenny <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salaria pavo</Emphasis>

Emerging evidence suggests the occurrence of comparative decision-making processes in mate choice, questioning the traditional idea of female choice based on rules of absolute preference. In such a scenario, females are expected to use a typical best-of-n sampling strategy, being able to recall previous sampled males based on memory of their quality and location. Accordingly, the quality of preferred mate is expected to be unrelated to both the number and the sequence of female visits. We found support for these predictions in the peacock blenny, Salaria pavo, a fish where females have the opportunity to evaluate the attractiveness of many males in a short time period and in a restricted spatial range. Indeed, even considering the variability in preference among females, most of them returned to previous sampled males for further evaluations; thus, the preferred male did not represent the last one in the sequence of visited males. Moreover, there was no relationship between the attractiveness of the preferred male and the number of further visits assigned to the other males. Our results suggest the occurrence of a best-of-n mate sampling strategy in the peacock blenny.     

Individual differences in the mechanisms underlying the onset and maintenance of paternal behavior and the inhibition of infanticide in the monogamous biparental California mouse,Peromyscus californicus

Virgin male Peromyscus californicus tend to behave infanticidally or nonparentally towards pups, whereas virtually all males exhibit parental behavior following birth of their own young. Most males (65–75%) living with their pregnant partner attacked or ignored unfamiliar pups and did not become parental (behave parentally) prior to birth of their young. However, a significant minority of males (34%) living with their partner became parental after just 24 h of postcopulatory cohabitation with the female and remained parental throughout their mate's pregnancy. Males that were infanticidal before the birth of their young became parental only after their young were born. The presence of the mother was necessary for the postpartum maintenance of paternal behavior and the inhibition of infanticide in males that were infanticidal prepartum. In contrast, males that were paternal prior to birth of their young continued to be paternal after birth, even in the absence of postpartum contact with the mother. Thus, different mechanisms are involved in the inhibition of infanticide and the onset and maintenance of paternal behavior. Correspondence to: D.J. Gubernick     

Efficient degradation of rhodamine B using modified graphite felt gas diffusion electrode by electro-Fenton process

The electro-Fenton (EF) process treatment of 0.1-M (rhodamine B) RhB solution was studied with different graphite cathode materials, and graphite felt (GF) was selected as a promising material in further investigation. Then, the degradation performances of gas diffusion electrode (GDE) and graphite felt (GF) were compared, and GDE was confirmed to be more efficient in RhB removal. The operational parameters such as Fe²⁺ dosage and current density were optimized, and comparison among different modified methods—polytetrafluoroethylene-carbon black (PTFE-CB), polytetrafluoroethylene-carbon nanotube (PTFE-CNT), electrodeposition-CB, and electrodeposition-CNT—showed 98.49 % RhB removal by PTFE-CB-modified cathode in 0.05 M Na₂SO₄ at a current density of 50 A/m² and an air flow rate of 1 L/min after 20 min. Meanwhile, after cathode modified by PTFE-CB, the mineralization efficiency and mineralization current efficiency performed absolutely better than the pristine one. Cyclic voltammograms, SEM images, contact angles, and BET surface area were carried out to demonstrate stronger current responses and higher hydrophilicity of GF after modified. The value of biochemical oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand (BOD₅/COD) increased from 0.049 to 0.331 after 90-min treatment, suggesting the solution was biodegradable, and the modified cathode was confirmed to be stable after ten circle runs. Finally, a proposed degradation pathway of RhB was put forward.     

EBZ160 掘进机常见故障分析

本文在机械方面、液压方面分析了EBZ160掘进机的常见故障,为进一步研究掘进机提供了帮助。