Rapid amino acid cycling in arctic and antarctic soils

Amino acids constitute one of the largest inputs of organic nitrogen (N) to most polar soils and have been hypothesized to be important in regulating vegetational succession and productivity in Arctic ecosystems. Our understanding of amino acid cycling in these soils, however, is poor. The aim of this study was to investigate the size and rate of turnover of the amino acid pool in a range of Arctic and Antarctic soils. Our results indicate that in polar soils with either high or low ornithogenic inputs the amino acid pool is small in comparison to the inorganic N pool (NO^? ₃ and NH⁺ ₄). The free amino acid pool constituted only a small proportion of the total dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) pool in these soils. Here we show that these low concentrations may be due to rapid use by the soil microbial community in both Arctic and Antarctic soils. The turnover of the amino acid pool in soil was extremely rapid, with a half-life ranging from 2 to 24 h, indicating that this N pool can be turned over many hundred times each summer when polar soils are frequently unfrozen. The implications of amino acids in N cycling and plant and microbial nutrition are discussed.     

BASIN SCALE WATER MANAGEMENT AND FORECASTING USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS1

ABSTRACT: Water scarcity in the Sevier River Basin in south‐central Utah has led water managers to seek advanced techniques for identifying optimal forecasting and management measures. To more efficiently use the limited quantity of water in the basin, better methods for control and forecasting are imperative. Basin scale management requires advanced forecasts of the availability of water. Information about long term water availability is important for decision making in terms of how much land to plant and what crops to grow; advanced daily predictions of streamflows and hydraulic characteristics of irrigation canals are of importance for managing water delivery and reservoir releases; and hourly forecasts of flows in tributary streams to account for diurnal fluctuations are vital to more precisely meet the day‐to‐day expectations of downstream farmers. A priori streamflow information and exogenous climate data have been used to predict future streamflows and required reservoir releases at different timescales. Data on snow water equivalent, sea surface temperatures, temperature, total solar radiation, and precipitation are fused by applying artificial neural networks to enhance long term and real time basin scale water management information. This approach has not previously been used in water resources management at the basin‐scale and could be valuable to water users in semi‐arid areas to more efficiently utilize and manage scarce water resources.     

化学溶胀法分离废弃线路板中金属与基板

废弃线路板的粉碎和所含金属组分的高效解离是后续分选回收的前提条件。本研究分别使用乙二胺等10种溶剂浸泡废弃线路板,比较对线路板中铜箔与基板间剥离强度的影响,从而筛选出4种有代表性的溶剂,即溶剂D、溶剂F、丙酮和水, 比较废弃线路板经化学溶胀后的单体解离度和获得一定粒径分布的颗粒所需的破碎时间。研究结果表明,化学溶胀后破碎能大幅提高金属的单体解离度,浸泡效果的优良排序为：溶剂D>溶剂F>丙酮>水;浸泡时间越长,浸泡温度越高,对剥离强度的降低越有利;使用溶剂D在150℃、3 h或140℃、5 h的工艺下浸泡废弃线路板,可以使铜箔与基板自动脱落。研究结果为后续的分选提供了便利的条件。     

Biomarker responses and reproductive toxicity of the effluent from a Chinese large sewage treatment plant in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes)

The present study was conducted to assess the potential toxicity of the effluent from a large sewage treatment plant (GBD-STP) in Beijing. Japanese medakas (Oryzias latipes) at reproduction active period were exposed to a serial of graded concentrations of the effluent or 100 ng l-1 of 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2, positive control). Growth, gonadosomatic index (GSI), hepatosomatic index (HSI), reproductive success, induction potency of vitellogenin (VTG) in male fish and that of 7-ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity (EROD) in male fish liver were used as test endpoints. The growth suppression of fish was observed in a dose-dependent manner, resulting in significant differences in both body length and body weight of medaka above 5% effluent. This effluent can inhibit the growth of gonad of medakas and are more sensitive to male than to female. At exposure concentration of 40% and higher, there was an unexpected decrease of HSI values, which may be resulted from sub-lethal toxicity of effluent to fish liver. VTG of plasma in males were induced in all exposure concentration levels, but not in a dose-dependent manner. The concentration of 5% effluent would be the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) affecting reproductive success when examining fertile individuals, fecundity and fertilization rate. The overt CYP1A response and higher reproductive toxicity may be indicative of low process efficiency of this STP.     

电-生物耦合技术对偶氮染料的去除研究

酸性大红GR是一种较难生物降解的偶氮染料,采用一种电场和生物耦合的新型技术处理酸性大红GR模拟废水,并与单纯电化学法和好氧生物法进行试验对照。结果表明：反应6 h后,电化学法、好氧生物法、电-生物耦合技术对酸性大红GR的去除率分别达到15.7%、25.8%和71.2%,电-生物耦合技术能明显提高酸性大红GR的去除效果,起到强化生物处理的作用。在15 mA微电流条件下电-生物技术能克服50 mg/L酸性大红GR对好氧生物处理的抑制作用,为高浓度难降解染料废水的生物强化处理提供了可能。     

Improvements of nano-SiO2 on sludge/fly ash mortar

Sewage sludge ash has been widely applied to cementitious materials. In this study, in order to determine effects of nano-SiO(2) additives on properties of sludge/fly ash mortar, different amounts of nano-SiO(2) were added to sludge/fly ash mortar specimens to investigate their physical properties and micro-structures. A water-binding ratio of 0.7 was assigned to the mix. Substitution amounts of 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% of sludge/fly ash (1:1 ratio) were proposed. Moreover, 0%, 1%, 2%, and 3% of nano-SiO(2) was added to the mix. Tests, including SEM and compressive strength, were carried out on mortar specimens cured at 3, 7, and 28 days. Results showed that sludge/fly ash can make the crystals of cement hydration product finer. Moreover, crystals increased after nano-SiO(2) was added. Hence, nano-SiO(2) can improve the effects of sludge/fly ash on the hydration of mortar. Further, due to the low pozzolanic reaction active index of sludge ash, early compressive strengths of sludge/fly ash mortar were decreased. Yet, nano-SiO(2) could help produce hydration crystals, which implies that the addition of nano-SiO(2) to mortar can improve the influence of sludge/fly ash on the development of the early strength of the mortar.     

Will Observation Error and Biases Ruin the Use of Simple Extinction Models?

Abstract: Estimating the risk of extinction for populations of endangered species is an important component of conservation biology. These estimates must be made from data that contain both environmental noise in the year-to-year transitions in population size (so-called "process error"), random errors in sampling, and possible biases in sampling ( both forms of observation errors). To determine how much faith to place in estimated extinction rates, it is important to know how sensitive they are to observation error. We used three simple, commonly employed models of population dynamics to generate simulated population time series. We then combined random observation error or systematic biases with those data, fit models to the time series data, and observed how close the extinction dynamics of the fitted models compared with the dynamics of the underlying models. We found that systematic biases in sampling rarely affected estimates of extinction risk. We also found that even moderate levels of random observation error do not significantly affect extinction estimates except over a small range of process errors, corresponding to the region where extinction risk is most uncertain. With more substantial sampling error, estimates of extinction risk degraded rapidly. Field census techniques for a variety of taxa often involve observation errors within ±32% of actual population sizes. For typical time series used in conservation, therefore, we often may not need to be overly concerned about observation errors as an extra source of imperfection in our estimated extinction rates.     

草原退化与恢复过程中土壤有机矿质复合体分组研究

对采自处于不同发展方向和阶段的草原土壤分组提取有机矿质复合体,并对它的质量分数、腐殖质质量分数和组成、Ｃ／Ｎ比值等的变化做了分析,试图从土壤复合体变化的角度去认识草原的退化和恢复过程。研究发现土壤腐殖质绝大部分集中于粘粒和粉粒级复合体;退化草原恢复时,复合体腐殖质质量分数增加,并且组成也发生变化;而草原轻度退化时,复合体腐殖质质量分数会减少,但组成不会变化。