Short-term effects of gaseous pollutants on cause-specific mortality in Wuhan, China

In Asia, limited studies have been published on the association between daily mortality and gaseous pollutants of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Our previous studies in Wuhan, China, demonstrated long-term air pollution effects. However, no study has been conducted to determine mortality effects of air pollution in this region. This study was to determine the acute mortality effects of the gaseous pollutants in Wuhan, a city with 7.5 million permanent residents during the period from 2000 to 2004. There are approximately 4.5 million residents in Wuhan who live in the city's core area of 201 km2, where air pollution levels are highest, and pollution ranges are wider than the majority of the cities in the published literature. We used the generalized additive model to analyze pollution, mortality, and covariate data. We found consistent NO2 effects on mortality with the strongest effects on the same day. Every 10-microg/m3 increase in NO2 daily concentration on the same day was associated with an increase in nonaccidental (1.43%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87-1.99%), cardiovascular (1.65%; 95% CI: 0.87-2.45%), stroke (1.49%; 95% CI: 0.56-2.43%), cardiac (1.77%; 95% CI: 0.44-3.12%), respiratory (2.23%; 95% CI: 0.52-3.96%), and cardiopulmonary mortality (1.60%; 95% CI: 0.85-2.35%). These effects were stronger among the elderly than among the young. Formal examination of exposure-response curves suggests no-threshold linear relationships between daily mortality and NO2, where the NO2 concentrations ranged from 19.2 to 127.4 microg/m3. SO2 and O3 were not associated with daily mortality. The exposure-response relationships demonstrated heterogeneity, with some curves showing nonlinear relationships for SO2 and O3. We conclude that there is consistent evidence of acute effects of NO2 on mortality and suggest that a no-threshold linear relationship exists between NO2 and mortality.     

生态环境监理——天津市大港区的探索

环境保护包括污染防治和生态保护两大方面 ,目前 ,在污染源治理取得明显效果 ,生态环境遭受不同程度破坏的情况下 ,实施生态环境监理势在必行。大港区环保局就生态环境监理开展了探索性的工作。     

Highly efficient conversion of sugarcane bagasse pretreated with liquid hot water into ethanol at high solid loading

Liquid hot water (LHW), an environmental-friendly physico-chemical treatment, was applied to pretreat the sugarcane bagasse (SCB). Tween80, a non-ionic surfactant, was used to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated SCB. It found that 0.125 mL Tween80 /g dry matter could make the maximum increase (33.2%) of the glycan conversion of the LHW-pretreated SCB. A self-designed laboratory facility with a plate-and-frame impeller was applied to conduct batch hydrolysis, fed-batch hydrolysis, and the process of high-temperature (50°C) fed-batch hydrolysis following low-temperature (30°C) simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) which was adopted to overcome the incompatible optimum temperature of saccharification and fermentation in the SSF process. After hydrolyzing LHW-pretreated SCB for 120 h with commercial cellulase, the total sugar concentration and glycan conversion obtained from fed-batch hydrolysis were 91.6 g/L and 68.3%, respectively, which were 9.7 g/L and 7.3% higher than those obtained from batch hydrolysis. With Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y2034 fermenting under the non-sterile condition, the ethanol production and theoretical yield obtained from the process of SSF after fed-batch hydrolysis were 55.4 g/L and 88.3% for 72h, respectively, which were 15.5 g/L and 24.7% higher than those from separate fed-batch hydrolysis and fermentation. The result of this work was superior to the reported results obtained from the LHW-pretreated SCB.     

Research and application of method of oxygen isotope of inorganic phosphate in Beijing agricultural soils

Phosphorus (P) in agricultural ecosystems is an essential and limited element for plants and microorganisms. However, environmental problems caused by P accumulation as well as by P loss have become more and more serious. Oxygen isotopes of phosphate can trace the sources, migration, and transformation of P in agricultural soils. In order to use the isotopes of phosphate oxygen, appropriate extraction and purification methods for inorganic phosphate from soils are necessary. Here, we combined two different methods to analyze the oxygen isotopic composition of inorganic phosphate (δ¹⁸O_P) from chemical fertilizers and different fractions (Milli-Q water, 0.5 mol L^?1 NaHCO₃ (pH = 8.5), 0.1 mol L^?1 NaOH and 1 mol L^?1 HCl) of agricultural soils from the Beijing area. The δ¹⁸O_P results of the water extracts and NaHCO₃ extracts in most samples were close to the calculated equilibrium value. These phenomena can be explained by rapid P cycling in soils and the influence of chemical fertilizers. The δ¹⁸O_P value of the water extracts and NaHCO₃ extracts in some soil samples below the equilibrium value may be caused by the hydrolysis of organic P fractions mediated by extracellular enzymes. The δ¹⁸O_P values of the NaOH extracts were above the calculated equilibrium value reflecting the balance state between microbial uptake of phosphate and the release of intracellular phosphate back to the soil. The HCl extracts with the lowest δ¹⁸O_P values and highest phosphate concentrations indicated that the HCl fraction was affected by microbial activity. Hence, these δ¹⁸O_p values likely reflected the oxygen isotopic values of the parent materials. The results suggested that phosphate oxygen isotope analyses could be an effective tool in order to trace phosphate sources, transformation processes, and its utilization by microorganisms in agricultural soils.     

Evaluating anthropogenic N inputs to diverse lake basins: A case study of three Chinese lakes

The environmental degradation of lakes in China has become increasingly serious over the last 30 years and eutrophication resulting from enhanced nutrient inputs is considered a top threat. In this study, a quasi-mass balance method, net anthropogenic N inputs (NANI), was introduced to assess the human influence on N input into three typical Chinese lake basins. The resultant NANI exceeded 10 000 kg N km⁻² year⁻¹ for all three basins, and mineral fertilizers were generally the largest sources. However, rapid urbanization and shrinking agricultural production capability may significantly increase N inputs from food and feed imports. Higher percentages of NANI were observed to be exported at urban river outlets, suggesting the acceleration of NANI transfer to rivers by urbanization. Over the last decade, the N inputs have declined in the basins dominated by the fertilizer use but have increased in the basins dominated by the food and feed import. In the foreseeable future, urban areas may arise as new hotspots for nitrogen in China while fertilizer use may decline in importance in areas of high population density.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0638-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

移动床生物膜反应器—膜生物反应器深度处理模拟废水及工业园区综合废水

将移动床生物膜反应器(MBBR)与膜生物反应器(MBR)有机结合,研究了该MBBR—MBR串联系统在水力停留时间(HRT)为17.50、11.75h条件下的脱碳脱氮的效果以及对工业园区综合废水污染物的去除情况。结果表明:(1)MBBR—MBR串联系统脱碳脱氮的效果良好,HRT的改变对系统的去除效果有一定的影响,随着总HRT由17.50h变为11.75h,模拟废水中COD的去除效果降低,但氨氮、硝态氮和TN的去除效果基本不受影响。(2)MBBR—MBR串联系统处理印染工业园区综合废水也有较好的效果,当进水COD、氨氮分别为150~450、20~40mg/L时,出水COD、氨氮平均分别为53.1、1.8mg/L,MBBR—MBR串联系统对COD、氨氮的去除率平均分别为80.4%、93.1%,但系统对TN的去除效果不是很理想。     

蒽醌修饰石墨毡电极预处理头孢合成废水

以钛涂钌电极为阳极、自制蒽醌修饰石墨毡电极为阴极,对头孢合成废水(COD=25 000~30 000 mg/L、ρ(NH3-N)=850~1 300 mg/L、色度为2 300~2 680度)进行了电化学氧化预处理,优化了电解条件,并对电化学体系的动力学和稳定性进行了分析。实验结果表明:蒽醌的存在可改善电化学氧化降解效果;在电解时间50 min、电流密度0.14 A/cm2、Na2SO4浓度0.1 mol/L、极板间距2 cm、初始废水p H 7.0的条件下,废水的COD、色度、NH3-N的去除率分别可达45.3%,66.9%,33.6%;BOD5/COD由处理前的0.27增至0.40,可生化性得到改善;COD、色度、NH3-N的电化学氧化降解过程均近似符合一级动力学方程;且该电化学体系的应用稳定性良好。     

基于WARMF模型的杭埠-丰乐河流域水文模拟研究

研究了WARMF模型在杭埠-丰乐河流域(巢湖流域最大支流)的水文模拟适应性能并进行了流域水文系统分析.利用AVSWAT2000模型将流域划分为37个子流域,利用流域地貌-土壤分布对应关系、土壤剖面结构、地下水位埋深等条件,确定了子流域的平面分组与剖面土层结构,较大程度上降低了流域模型参数校准的难度与不确定性.利用2000～2003年的水文观测数据,在参数灵敏度分析基础上,对模型水文参数进行了校准与检验.结果表明,WARMF在研究区具有较好的适应性能.WARMF模型与AVSWAT2000模型的水文模拟结果对比表明,WARMF模型具有更好的日拟合性能.基于模型的模拟结果,在空间尺度上定量分析了流域从降水开始到入湖的水循环过程,在时间尺度上分析了年内降雨、径流的分布及其对应关系.流域概化、模型的校准与检验以及流域水文时空变化的系统分析方法等对流域水文、环境的模拟研究与系统分析具有探索意义.     

松花江下游底栖动物群落结构与水质生物学评价

1999—2005年对松花江下游江南屯断面及支流梧桐河断面进行了11次底栖动物生态调查.调查期间共发现底栖动物39种,其中水生昆虫21种,软体动物12种,环节动物4种,甲壳动物2种.江南屯与梧桐河底栖动物的种类组成呈现显著差异,在发现的39种底栖动物中,仅有14种于两断面都有分布.分布于江南屯断面的主要底栖动物及其出现率为:纹石蚕100%,箭蜓80%,黑龙江短沟蜷80%,钩虾80%,二尾蜉60%,细蜉60%,灯蛾蜉60%,东北田螺60%.分布于梧桐河断面的主要底栖动物及其出现率为:黑龙江短沟蜷100%,东北田螺100%,扁蛭100%,珍珠蚌60%.从栖息密度来看,梧桐河断面中软体动物密度最大, 优势种为东北田螺,江南屯断面则以水生昆虫占优势.此外,两断面的底栖动物数量在不同年份也存在显著变化.水质生物学评价结果表明,梧桐河断面多年处于中污染状态,江南屯断面的污染状况在总体上较梧桐河断面轻,这主要是由于梧桐河断面高负荷的耗氧有机物引起水体中溶解氧含量匮乏,从而导致底栖动物的生存条件严重恶化.