Polychlorinated biphenyls in the atmosphere of Taizhou, a major e-waste dismantling area in China

PM2.5,total suspended particles(TSP) and gas phase samples were collected at two sites of Taizhou,a major e-waste dismantling area in China.Concentrations,seasonal variations,congener profiles,gas-particle partitioning and size distribution of the atmospheric polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) were studied to assess the current state of atmospheric PCBs after the phase out of massive historical dismantling of PCBs containing e-wastes.The average 38PCBs concentration in the ambient air(TSP plus gas phase) near the e-waste dismantling area was(12,407 ± 9592) pg/m3 in winter,which was substantially lower than that found one decade ago.However,the atmospheric PCBs level near the e-waste dismantling area was 54 times of the reference urban site,indicating that the impact of the historical dismantling of PCBs containing e-wastes was still significant.Tri-Penta-CBs were dominant homologues,consisting with their dominant global production.Size distribution of particle-bound PCBs showed that higher chlorinated CBs tended to partition more to the fine particles,facilitating its long range air transportation.     

Use of Remote-Trip Cameras for Wildlife Surveys and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Conservation Activities at a Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province,China

Monitoring the effectiveness of management activities within reserves is always a complicated task. When the focus of management activities is mammals, it is difficult to monitor their populations in a way that is rapid, effective, and inexpensive. We report on a mammal survey of a reserve in southwest China using remote-trip cameras. We surveyed 329 locations over 2 field seasons in 2002 and 2003. Sixteen species of mammals were detected with these cameras, with four species documented for the first time. After accounting for variation due to slope, aspect, elevation, and habitat type, the distribution of six species was positively associated with the location of conservation stations and/or patrolling routes. Species of medium-sized mammals are excellent candidates for monitoring programs based on these cameras, due to their relative abundance, sufficient size to be detected by the camera units, and sensitivity to human activity. The distribution of mammals relative to management efforts is a relatively rapid means to assess reserve effectiveness. The repeat use of the cameras as part of a monitoring plan should provide a quantifiable measure of reserve effectiveness.     

Road transport and urban air quality in China

１　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｈｅＣｈｉｎｅｓｅｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔｈａｓｔａｋｅｎｔｈｅａｕｔｏｍｏｂｉｌｅｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｙａｓｏｎｅｏｆｉｔｓｐｉｌｌａｒｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｉｅｓｏｆＣｈｉｎａ．Ｔｈｅｃｕｒｒｅｎｔｐｅｒｃｅｎｔａｇｅｏｆａｕｔｏｍｏｔｉｖｅｔｒａｎｓｐｏｒｔａｔｉｏｎｏｆｐａｓｓｅｎｇｅｒｓｉｓ４５％,ｗｈｉｌｅｔｈａｔｏｆｃａｒｇｏｉｓａｐｐｒｏｘｉｍａｔｅｌｙ１５％．Ａｕｔｏｍｏｂｉｌｅｎｏｗｐｌａｙｓａｍｏｒｅｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｒｏｌｅｉｎｓｈｏｒｔｒａｎｇｅｔｒａｎｓ…     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in food and associated human daily intake assessment considering bioaccessibility measured by simulated gastrointestinal digestion

The concentrations of PBDEs in 299 vegetable and animal-based food samples of 31 species, collected in Shanghai, China, and the bioaccessibility of PBDEs in part of the samples were determined. The PBDE concentrations ranged from 0 to 1245.4 pg g⁻¹ with animal-based food containing more PBDEs than vegetables. The bioaccessibility of PBDEs, determined by a method simulating human gastrointestinal digestion process, were from 2.6% to 39.9% in vegetables, and from 5.2% to 105.3% in animal-based food. For animal-based food, good correlations were observed between the bioaccessibility of PBDEs and the fat content, thus the fat content in animal-based food was able to be used to estimate the bioaccessibility of PBDEs. The total daily intake of PBDEs via ingestion of vegetables and animal-based food for an average Shanghai resident was estimated as 13 235.7 and 13 668.0 pg d⁻¹, respectively, but the amounts available for human absorption were reduced to 2674.4 and 4316.6 pg d⁻¹ after the PBDE bioaccessibility was considered. Finally, the contributions of different food groups to the total daily intake of PBDEs were evaluated. The results revealed that, when not considering the bioaccessibility of PBDEs, vegetables were the leading contributor (49.2%), followed by fish (34.0%). However, the sequence was reversed after the PBDE bioaccessibility was taken into account. The results indicated that human exposure to PBDEs via food ingestion might have been significantly overestimated and the exposure assessment could be misleading if the bioaccessibility of PBDEs was not considered.     

Photocatalytic degradation of mixed gaseous carbonyl compounds at low level on adsorptive TiO2/SiO2 photocatalyst using a fluidized bed reactor

An adsorptive silica-supported titania photocatalyst TiO(2)/SiO(2) was prepared by using nanosized titania (anatase) immobilized on silica gel by the sol-gel technique with the titanium tetra isopropoxide as the main raw material and acetic acid as the acid catalyst. Meanwhile the structure and properties of the TiO(2)/SiO(2) photocatalyst were studied by means of many modern analysis techniques such as TEM, XRD, and BET. Gas-solid heterogeneous photocatalytic decomposition of four carbonyl compounds mixture at low concentration levels over ultraviolet irradiated TiO(2)/SiO(2) photocatalyst were carried out with high degradation efficiencies in a coaxial triple-cylinder-type fluidized bed photocatalytic reactor, which provided efficient continuous contact of ultraviolet photons, silica-supported titania photocatalyst, and gaseous reactants. Experimental results showed that the photocatalyst had a high adsorption performance and a good photocatalytic activity for four carbonyl compounds mixture. Some factors influencing the photocatalytic decomposition of the mixed carbonyl compounds, i.e. the gas flowrate, relative humidity, concentration of oxygen, and illumination time, were discussed in detail. It is found that the photocatalytic reaction rate of four carbonyl compounds decreased in this order: propionaldehyde, acetone, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.     

The Empirical Analysis of the Impacts of Income Distribution Gap on Consumption Demand： Based on the Statistic Data of Chinese Urban Residents in 2000-2010

This paper analyzes the impact of income distribution gap on consumption demand from a theoretical view, and draws the conclusion that there is an inverse relationship between income distribution gap a...     

Contamination, source identification, and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in agricultural soil of Shanghai, China

The level, distribution, compositional pattern, and possible sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in agricultural soil of Shanghai were investigated. The concentrations ranged from 140.7 to 2,370.8 μg kg(?-1) for 21 PAHs and from 92.2 to 2,062.7 μg kg(?-1) for 16 priority PAHs, respectively. The higher level of PAHs was mainly distributed in the south and west of Shanghai region, and the lower concentration was found in Chongming Island. Generally, the composition pattern of PAHs was characterized with high molecular weight PAHs, the seven possible carcinogenic PAHs accounted for 4.8-50.8% of the total PAHs, and fluoranthene, pyrene, and benzo[b]fluoranthene were the most dominant components in soil samples. The correlation analysis suggested that low molecular weight PAHs and high molecular weight PAHs were originated from different sources and further corroborated that total organic carbon was a key soil property affecting the fate of persistent organic pollutants in the environment. The isomer ratios and principal component analysis indicated that PAHs in the investigated areas were derived primarily from combustion of biomass, coal, and petroleum. Compared to the soil quality standards of the Netherlands, all the target PAHs (except Ant) in most samples exceeded their target values. The Nemerow composite index based on the same soil quality standard showed that 69.4% of the soil samples were heavily polluted. The total BaP(eq) of ten Dutch target PAHs in 72% soil samples were higher than the reference total carcinogenic potency. Therefore, the agricultural soil in Shanghai is suffering from serious PAHs contamination.     

Preliminary evaluation of evaluation of the efficiency of aircraft liquid waste treatment using resolvable sanitizing liquid: a case study in Changchun

The physical, chemical, and biological indices of aircraft liquid wastes collected from multiple airplanes at Longjia Airport, Changchun, China were measured according to "Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard," evaluating treatment efficiency of resolvable sanitizing liquid. The results indicate that, after being treated by the resolvable sanitizing liquid, the indices of all first-class pollutants met the requirements of the standard, while among the second-class pollutants, the suspension content, biochemical oxygen demand after 5 days, and chemical oxygen demand as well as the contents of amino nitrogen, total phosphorus, anionic surfactants, total copper, absorbable organic halogen, and phenolic compounds did not reach the discharge standard. Particularly, the level of fecal coliform bacteria in the aircraft liquid wastes can meet the standard specification by adding more than 1 mL/L resolvable sanitizing liquid. The aircraft wastewater treated by resolvable sanitizing liquid cannot be directly discharged back into the environment as well as urban drainage systems.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and ecotoxicological characterization of sediments from the Huaihe River, China

The distribution, source, ecological risk and ecotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of sediments from 7 sampling sites, named as Xinyang (XY), Huainan (HN), Bengbu (BB), Xuyi (XuY), Fuyang (FY), Mengcheng (MC) and Zhengzhou (ZZ), in the Huaihe River basin, China, have been investigated. The total concentrations of 16 USEPA priority PAHs ranged from 62.9 to 2232.4 ng g?1 dry weight (d.w.) with a mean concentration of 1056.8 ng g?1 d.w. Through the assessment of ecological risk, we found that the levels of PAHs in the Huaihe River should not exert adverse biological effects. The total benzo[a]pyrene toxicity equivalent (TEQ) values calculated for samples varied from 0.01 to 194.1 ng g?1 d.w., with an average of 65.9 ng g?1. The toxicity data were accordant with the chemical analysis results in this study. HN, BB and ZZ showed the greatest pollution extent both in the chemical analysis and the study of ecotoxicological effects.     

Has EU ETS caused carbon leakage in the EU carbon-intensive industries?A study from the perspective of bilateral trade

Reducing carbon leakage is one of the important reasons that was put forward by the EU for their border adjustment tax proposal.However,there are not many empirical evidences supporting significant carbon leakage in the EU carbonintensive industries.This paper applied the structural breakpoint test for the time series of import and export of cement,aluminum,and steel between EU and China.No significant structural changes were detected in the import and export of cement and aluminum.However,there proved to be two breakpoints,i.e.,2003 and 2008,in the import and export of steel,in which at the second point the overall level of steel import increased.Furthermore,Granger causality test was applied to the carbon price from European Climate Exchange and the import and export of steel.It was found that the carbon price was the Granger cause for the changes of steel import,but not the Granger cause for the export.The results of the study showed that the impacts of EU ETS on the EU carbon-intensive industries were limited.Among the three industries,partial evidence of carbon leakage was only found in the steel industry.Therefore,reducing carbon leakage could not serve as a convincing justification for border adjustment tax.