Decision‐Making Triggers in Adaptive Management

We analyzed whether decision‐making triggers increase accountability of adaptive‐management plans. Triggers are prenegotiated commitments in an adaptive‐management plan that specify what actions are to be taken and when on the basis of information obtained from monitoring. Triggers improve certainty that particular actions will be taken by agencies in the future. We conducted an in‐depth, qualitative review of the political and legal contexts of adaptive management and its application by U.S. federal agencies. Agencies must satisfy the judiciary that adaptive‐management plans meet substantive legal standards and comply with the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act. We examined 3 cases in which triggers were used in adaptive‐management plans: salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Columbia River, oil and gas development by the Bureau of Land Management, and a habitat conservation plan under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In all the cases, key aspects of adaptive management, including controls and preidentified feedback loops, were not incorporated in the plans. Monitoring and triggered mitigation actions were limited in their enforceability, which was contingent on several factors, including which laws applied in each case and the degree of specificity in how triggers were written into plans. Other controversial aspects of these plans revolved around who designed, conducted, interpreted, and funded monitoring programs. Additional contentious issues were the level of precaution associated with trigger mechanisms and the definition of ecological baselines used as points of comparison. Despite these challenges, triggers can be used to increase accountability, by predefining points at which an adaptive management plan will be revisited and reevaluated, and thus improve the application of adaptive management in its complicated political and legal context. Detonadores de la Toma de Decisiones en el Manejo Adaptativo     

The Contribution of Pre-impact Posture on Restrained Occupant Finite Element Model Response in Frontal Impact

Objective: The objective of this study was to discuss the influence of the pre-impact posture to the response of a finite element human body model (HBM) in frontal impacts.

Methods: This study uses previously published cadaveric tests (PMHS), which measured six realistic pre-impact postures. Seven postured models were created from the THUMS occupant model (v4.0): one matching the standard UMTRI driving posture as it was the target posture in the experiments, and six matching the measured pre-impact postures. The same measurements as those obtained during the cadaveric tests were calculated from the simulations, and biofidelity metrics based on signals correlation (CORA) were established to compare the response of the seven models to the experiments.

Results: The HBM responses showed good agreement with the PMHS responses for the reaction forces (CORA = 0.80 ± 0.05) and the kinematics of the lower part of the torso but only fair correlation was found with the head, the upper spine, rib strains (CORA= 0.50 ± 0.05) and chest deflections (CORA = 0.67 ± 0.08). All models sustained rib fractures, sternal fracture and clavicle fracture. The average number of rib fractures for all the models was 5.3 ± 1.0, lower than in the experiments (10.8 ± 9.0).

Variation in pre-impact posture greatly altered the time histories of the reaction forces, deflections and the rib strains, mainly in terms of time delay, but no definite improvement in HBM response or injury prediction was observed. By modifying only the posture of the HBM, the variability in the impact response was found to be equivalent to that observed in the experiments. The postured HBM sustained from 4 to 8 rib fractures, confirming that the pre-impact posture influenced the injury outcome predicted by the simulation.

Conclusions: This study tries to answer an important question: what is the effect of occupant posture on kinematics and kinetics. Significant differences in kinematics observed between HBM and PMHS suggesting more coupling between the pelvis and the spine for the models which makes the model response very sensitive to any variation in the spine posture. Consequently, the findings observed for the HBM cannot be extended to PMHS. Besides, pre-impact posture should be carefully quantified during experiments and the evaluation of HBM should take into account the variation in the predicted impact response due to the variation in the model posture.     

地震应急救灾效能研究

地震应急救灾效能是不同救援队震后救灾效果的最直接反映,救援队伍到达灾区的时间长短是影响救灾效能的最直接因素。该文首先分析了地震救援中被埋压人员的存活率问题,并将震后的救援力量分为三组:当地民众自救互救能力,当地及灾区周边的军队、武警、消防官兵的救援能力和地震专业救援队的救援能力,探讨了这三组救援队在地震救援过程中的救灾效能,及地震灾区的气温对救灾效能的影响。     

Phosphorus recovery from biogas fermentation liquid by Ca–Mg loaded biochar

Shortage in phosphorus (P) resources and P wastewater pollution is considered as a serious problem worldwide. The application of modified biochar for P recovery from wastewater and reuse of recovered P as agricultural fertilizer is a preferred process. This work aims to develop a calcium and magnesium loaded biochar (Ca–Mg/biochar) application for P recovery from biogas fermentation liquid. The physico-chemical characterization, adsorption efficiency, adsorption selectivity, and postsorption availability of Ca-Mg/biochar were investigated. The synthesized Ca–Mg/biochar was rich in organic functional groups and in CaO and MgO nanoparticles. With the increase in synthesis temperature, the yield decreased, C content increased, H content decreased, N content remained the same basically, and BET surface area increased. The P adsorption of Ca–Mg/biochar could be accelerated by nano-CaO and nano-MgO particles and reached equilibrium after 360 min. The process was endothermic, spontaneous, and showed an increase in the disorder of the solid–liquid interface. Moreover, it could be fitted by the Freundlich model. The maximum P adsorption amounts were 294.22, 315.33, and 326.63 mg/g. The P adsorption selectivity of Ca–Mg/biochar could not be significantly influenced by the typical pH level of biogas fermentation liquid. The nano-CaO and nano-MgO particles of Ca–Mg/biochar could reduce the negative interaction effects of coexisting ions. The P releasing amounts of postsorption Ca–Mg/biochar were in the order of Ca–Mg/B600 > Ca–Mg/B450 > Ca–Mg/B300. Results revealed that postsorption Ca–Mg/biochar can continually release P and is more suitable for an acid environment.     

Adsorption and biodegradation of three selected endocrine disrupting chemicals in river-based artificial groundwater recharge with reclaimed municipal wastewater

Endocrine disrupting chemical(EDC) pollution in river-based artificial groundwater recharge using reclaimed municipal wastewater poses a potential threat to groundwater-based drinking water supplies in Beijing, China. Lab-scale leaching column experiments simulating recharge were conducted to study the adsorption, biodegradation, and transport characteristics of three selected EDCs: 17β-estradiol(E2), 17α-ethinylestradiol(EE2) and bisphenol A(BPA). The three recharge columns were operated under the conditions of continual sterilization recharge(CSR), continual recharge(CR), and wetting and drying alternative recharge(WDAR). The results showed that the attenuation effect of the EDCs was in the order of WDAR CR CSR system and E2 EE2 BPA, which followed first-order kinetics. The EDC attenuation rate constants were 0.0783, 0.0505, and 0.0479 m-1 for E2, EE2 and BPA in the CR system, respectively. The removal rates of E2, EE2, and BPA in the CR system were 98%, 96% and 92%, which mainly depended on biodegradation and were affected by water temperature.In the CR system, the concentrations of BPA, EE2, and E2 in soil were 4, 6 and 10 times higher than in the WDAR system, respectively. According to the DGGE fingerprints, the bacterial community in the bottom layer was more diverse than in the upper layer, which was related to the EDC concentrations in the water-soil system. The dominant group was found to be proteobacteria, including Betaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria, suggesting that these microbes might play an important role in EDC degradation.     

农村生态环境中生活污水治理问题剖析研究--以重庆市江津区为例

对江津区2009年－2013年农村生活污水处理设施调查分析结果表明,目前江津区农村建设的生活污水处理设施采用的技术主要有生物技术、生态技术和生物生态组合技术三种类型。结合江津区农村的特点,分析了农村生活污水处理设施建设及运管方面存在的问题,并提出解决措施与建议。农村生活污水处理设施建设和运管费等是一项长期的投入,特别是在后期的运行过程中应加强管理,建立有效的运营管理机制,保证正常运行,才能达到预期的处理效果,有效改善农村生活环境。     

近断层桥梁最小搭接长度数值分析∗

为了研究近断层地震作用下桥梁合理的最小搭接长度,防止落梁破坏,基于有限元软件 ANSYS 建立了连续刚构桥三维有限元模型;考虑了近断层和断层处地震动以及结构弹塑性特征对高墩连续梁桥最小搭接长度的影响;基于国内外抗震设计规范,分析了远场、近断层和断层处地震动下结构的最小搭接长度需求。针对该桥分析, 研究结果表明：根据各国抗震规范要求,中国和日本规范相对较保守,其搭接长度约为美国规范计算结果 2 倍和 1.5 倍;考虑近断层地震的最小搭接长度满足《公路桥梁抗震设计规范》要求,而地表破裂的跨断层地震作用下最小搭接长度需求超出规范要求,跨断层桥梁应采用防落梁措施;搭接长度与桥梁结构设计参数(跨径,墩高和材料等)和地震动强度指标(PGA,断层错位,PGV 和 PGV/PGA 等)有关。     

Phosphorus recovery from biogas fermentation liquid by Ca-Mg loaded biochar

Shortage in phosphorus(P) resources and P wastewater pollution is considered as a serious problem worldwide. The application of modified biochar for P recovery from wastewater and reuse of recovered P as agricultural fertilizer is a preferred process. This work aims to develop a calcium and magnesium loaded biochar(Ca–Mg/biochar) application for P recovery from biogas fermentation liquid. The physico-chemical characterization, adsorption efficiency, adsorption selectivity, and postsorption availability of Ca-Mg/biochar were investigated. The synthesized Ca–Mg/biochar was rich in organic functional groups and in Ca O and Mg O nanoparticles. With the increase in synthesis temperature, the yield decreased, C content increased, H content decreased, N content remained the same basically, and BET surface area increased. The P adsorption of Ca–Mg/biochar could be accelerated by nano-Ca O and nano-Mg O particles and reached equilibrium after 360 min.The process was endothermic, spontaneous, and showed an increase in the disorder of the solid–liquid interface. Moreover, it could be fitted by the Freundlich model. The maximum P adsorption amounts were 294.22, 315.33, and 326.63 mg/g. The P adsorption selectivity of Ca–Mg/biochar could not be significantly influenced by the typical p H level of biogas fermentation liquid. The nano-Ca O and nano-Mg O particles of Ca–Mg/biochar could reduce the negative interaction effects of coexisting ions. The P releasing amounts of postsorption Ca–Mg/biochar were in the order of Ca–Mg/B600 Ca–Mg/B450 Ca–Mg/B300. Results revealed that postsorption Ca–Mg/biochar can continually release P and is more suitable for an acid environment.     

藻类对有机污染物生物吸附的研究进展

随着工业的迅猛发展,越来越多的有毒有机污染物被排放到环境中,进而引起一系列环境问题。大量研究表明,生物吸附已经成为去除有毒有机污染物的重要方法,而藻类作为一种理想的生物吸附剂,具有良好的吸附和降解有机污染物的能力。概述了藻类对染料、酚类、多环芳烃三种具有代表性的有毒有机污染物的生物吸附。