Effects of alfalfa coverage on runoff, erosion and hydraulic characteristics of overland flow on loess slope plots

An evaluation of the interactions between vegetation, overland and soil erosion can provide valuable insight for the conservation of soil and water. An experiment was conducted to study water infiltration, runoff generation process, rate of sediment erosion, and hydrodynamic characteristics of overland flow from a sloping hillside with different draw-off discharges from alfalfa and control plots with 20° slope. The effect of alfalfa on runoff and sediment transport reduction was quantitatively analyzed. Alfalfa was discussed for its ability to reduce the overland flow scouring force or change the runoff movement. Compared to the bare-soil plots, alfalfa plots generated a 1.77 times increase in infiltration rate. Furthermore, the down-slope water infiltration rate for the bare soil plots was higher than in the up-slope, while the opposite was found in the alfalfa plots. In addition, alfalfa had a significant effect on runoff and sediment yield. In comparison to the control, the runoff coefficient and sediment transportation rate decreased by 28.3% and 78.4% in the grass slope, respectively. The runoff generated from the alfalfa and bare-soil plots had similar trends with an initial increase and subsequent leveling to a steady-state rate. The transport of sediment reduced with time as a consequence of the depletion of loose surface materials. The maximum sediment concentration was recorded within the first few minutes of each event. The alfalfa plots had subcritical flow while the bare-soil plots had supercritical flow, which indicate that the capability of the alfalfa slope for resisting soil erosion and sediment movement was greater than for bare soil plots. Moreover, the flow resistance coefficient and roughness coefficient for the alfalfa plots were both higher than for the bare-soil plots, which indicate that overland flow in alfalfa plots had retarded and was blocked, and the flow energy along the runoff path had gradually dissipated. Finally, the ability to erode and transport sediment had decreased.     

Environmental dispersivity in free-water-surface-effect dominated wetland: multi-scale analysis

Distinct from the case with width-dominated shallow wetland flows, the longitudinal evolution of contaminant concentration in the most-typical pattern of wetland as dominated by free-water-surface-effect is characterized by a multi-scale analysis in the present study. An environmental dispersion model for the evolution of the mean concentration is deduced as an extension of Taylor's classical formulation by Mei’s multi-scale analysis. Corresponding environmental dispersivity is found identical to that determined by the method of concentration moments.     

Influence of Polyol Plasticizers on the Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol Films Fabricated by Melt Processing

In this work, high-alcoholysis polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films were fabricated by melt processing and the plasticizing effect of compound polyol plasticizers on PVA were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheological measurements, mechanical tests etc. Hydrogen bonding interactions occurred between PVA and plasticizer. With the increase of plasticizer, the flowability of PVA was improved and reached the maximum value at the plasticizer of 20%. Glass transition temperature (T _g) and melting point (T _m) decreased with the increase of plasticizer content. For the heterogeneous nucleation effect of plasticizer, new polymorph of PVA formed. The viscosity was sensitive to the shear rates. The incorporation of plasticizers into PVA resulted in the increase of elongation at break and impact strength, as well as the decrease of tensile strength.     

Removal of methylene blue by coupling black carbon adsorption with TiO2 photodegradation

In this study, the removal of methylene blue (MB) by the coupling of black carbon (BC) and TiO₂ was investigated. The effects of different parameters such as catalyst dose, sorbent, initial concentrations of dye, pH of the solutions, recycles on discoloration, and chemical oxidation demand (COD) reduction of MB were monitored to optimize the reaction conditions. The discoloration and COD conversation rate of MB obtained by the coupling process were 100% after 90?min irradiation. The synergistic effect of MB-adsorption on BC followed by degradation through TiO₂ photocatalysis was proved by FT–IR spectrophotometer. The BC as by-product of natural materials is a promising adsorbent for waste water treatment.     

Factors influencing sexual cannibalism and its benefit to fecundity and offspring survival in the wolf spider Pardosa pseudoannulata (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Sexual cannibalism is hypothesized to have evolved as a way to obtain a high-quality meal, as an extreme mate choice or as a consequence of female aggressive spillover. Here, we examined underlying factors likely to influence sexual cannibalism in the wolf spider Pardosa pseudoannulata (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) from China, including mating status, female egg-laid status, female hunger level, female adult age and mate size dimorphism. The results showed that about 10 % of P. pseudoannulata virgin females cannibalized the approaching males before mating and that 28 % of P. pseudoannulata virgin females immediately cannibalized the males after mating. No incidents of sexual cannibalism during copulation were observed. Before mating, previously mated females and starved females tended to engage in significantly higher rates of attacks compared to virgin and well-fed females. Females that had laid egg sacs tended to engage in a significantly higher rate of attacks and sexual cannibalism than virgin females before mating. Regardless of pre- or post-mating, there was a strong positive relationship between mate size dimorphism and the occurrence of sexual cannibalism. We also tested the effects of sexual cannibalism on the fecundity of cannibalistic females and the survival of their offspring. Our results indicated that sexual cannibalism affected positively the offspring survival of cannibalistic females, but not fecundity. Our findings support the hypothesis that sexual cannibalism has evolved as an adaptive component of female foraging strategy and that it benefits offspring survival as a result of paternal investment.     

软锰矿浆烟气同步脱硫脱硝资源化利用新工艺

燃煤烟气中的SO2和NOx是大气中重要的污染物,开发高效、经济的同步脱硫脱硝技术是环保领域的研究热点。针对现有同步脱硫脱硝技术存在的氧化剂成本较高和产物不能资源化利用等突出问题,提出了软锰矿浆烟气同步脱硫脱硝,并副产硫酸锰和硝酸锰的资源化新工艺。研究结果表明:软锰矿浆可以有效的脱除烟气中的SO2和NOx,反应产物分别为硫酸锰和硝酸锰。在烟道中注入臭氧,将难溶于水的NO快速氧化为NO2,可大大提高脱硝效率,在O3/NO=1.2的条件下可以达到72%的脱硝率、90%的脱硫率和85%的锰浸出率;吸收液经过空气氧化除铁和加入铜试剂除重金属后,结晶分离溶液得到的硫酸锰和硝酸锰可分别达到HG/T 2962—1999标准的硫酸锰产品和HG/T 3817—2006标准的工业硝酸锰产品要求。该工艺实现了SO2和NOx污染治理与低品位软锰矿资源化利用的双重目的,为SO2和NOx的资源化污染治理技术的开发和应用提供了新的思路。     

Arsenic in Two Taiwanese Bivalves,Crassostrea Gigas (Thumberg) and Meretrix Lusoria Röding

Abstract

Arsenic, one of the most toxic elements, is present naturally in marine organisms at much higher concentrations than in terrestrial organisms. the arsenic contents in two marine bivalves, Crassostrea gigas (Thumberg) and Meretrix lusoria Röding, from Taiwan were investigated. the total arsenic content of C. gigas (33.7–60.5 μg g^?1) is higher than that of M. lusoria (30.2–34.6 μg g^?1). These two bivalves from Lu-kang contain more arsenic in soft tissues than specimens from other areas (significant at 1%, t-test). On the other hand, samples from Pen-hu contain less arsenic than those from other areas (significant at 5%). the arsenic contents of other Indo-Pacific bivalves are also given for comparison.     

软骨藻酸神经毒性作用机制研究进展

在拟菱形藻引发的有毒赤潮中产生的记忆缺失性贝毒(amnesic shellfish poison,ASP)软骨藻酸,经贝类等海洋生物摄入进入食物链,在对海洋生物造成危害的同时,也对人类健康造成威胁。软骨藻酸中毒者临床上表现为呕吐、腹痛和头痛等症状,严重者出现神经系统功能紊乱,如昏迷、抽搐和记忆缺失。软骨藻酸结构上与兴奋性氨基酸谷氨酸相似,它可以通过直接活化KA(kainate)受体和AMPA(α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid)受体介导兴奋性神经毒。本文主要从线粒体功能紊乱、内质网应激和神经炎症等方面就软骨藻酸的神经毒性作用机制进行了综述。     

A GIS-based moving window analysis of landscape pattern in the Beijing metropolitan area,China

Quantifying landscape pattern and its change is essential for monitoring and assessment of ecological consequences of urbanization. Using the GIS-based land-use data for 2002, we combined moving window analysis along an urban-rural gradient and around the urban centre with landscape metrics to quantify the spatial pattern of urbanization in Beijing. The results of moving window analysis along the urban-rural gradient indicated that, for class-level metrics, the spatial pattern of urbanization could be quantified using landscape metrics, different land-use types exhibited distinctive spatial signatures, and, for landscape-level metrics, the increase in urbanization in the metropolitan Beijing region has resulted in dramatic increases in patch density (PD), edge density (ED), and patch and landscape shape complexity, and sharp decreases in the largest and mean patch size (MPS), agriculture land-use type, and landscape connectivity. The results of moving window analysis around the urban centre showed that the direction of urbanization could be quantified using the class-level metrics, and landscape-level metrics indicated similar results to gradient analysis. In general, moving window analysis showed that the increasingly urbanized landscape became compositionally more diverse, geometrically more complex, and ecologically more fragmented.     

Water quality of Lugu Lake: Changes,causes and measurements

Lugu lake is an alpine lake in Yunnan Province in western China. It is famous for its beautiful scenery and the special culture of Mosuo people in this area. The lake is becoming contaminated and eutrophicated because of the huge number of visitors and improvements in agriculture during the last decade. This paper uses the water quality index (WQI) as an indicator to describe trends in contamination of Lugu Lake from 1995 to 2004 and analyses several parameters to determine the causes and consequences of contamination. We found that the dominant cause was pollution from tourism and suggest some feasible measures to prevent further deterioration of the lake water quality.