Environmental assessment of plant protection strategies using scenarios for pig feed production

Two scenarios for future pig meat production were constructed. The first was a "business as usual" scenario, where the pig feed was based on domestic grain and imported soy-meal, and no efforts were made to reduce pesticide use. The second scenario had a strong environmental focus, and both peas and rapeseed were grown at pig-farm level to produce grain and protein feed. Preventive measures, such as a more diverse crop rotation and mechanical weed control, were combined to reduce pesticide use. The two scenarios were environmentally assessed by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a pesticide risk indicator model (PRI-Farm). The results showed environmentally sound possibilities to reduce pesticide dependency and risks by using altered plant protection strategies in pig-feed production. Organizing on-farm feed production so that protein feed crops are integrated with grain crops contributes to a more diverse crop rotation.     

An agenda for research and action toward diverse and just futures for life on Earth

Decades of research and policy interventions on biodiversity have insufficiently addressed the dual issues of biodiversity degradation and social justice. New approaches are therefore needed. We devised a research and action agenda that calls for a collective task of revisiting biodiversity toward the goal of sustaining diverse and just futures for life on Earth. Revisiting biodiversity involves critically reflecting on past and present research, policy, and practice concerning biodiversity to inspire creative thinking about the future. The agenda was developed through a 2-year dialogue process that involved close to 300 experts from diverse disciplines and locations. This process was informed by social science insights that show biodiversity research and action is underpinned by choices about how problems are conceptualized. Recognizing knowledge, action, and ethics as inseparable, we synthesized a set of principles that help navigate the task of revisiting biodiversity. The agenda articulates 4 thematic areas for future research. First, researchers need to revisit biodiversity narratives by challenging conceptualizations that exclude diversity and entrench the separation of humans, cultures, economies, and societies from nature. Second, researchers should focus on the relationships between the Anthropocene, biodiversity, and culture by considering humanity and biodiversity as tied together in specific contexts. Third, researchers should focus on nature and economies by better accounting for the interacting structures of economic and financial systems as core drivers of biodiversity loss. Finally, researchers should enable transformative biodiversity research and action by reconfiguring relationships between human and nonhuman communities in and through science, policy, and practice. Revisiting biodiversity necessitates a renewed focus on dialogue among biodiversity communities and beyond that critically reflects on the past to channel research and action toward fostering just and diverse futures for human and nonhuman life on Earth.     

Computational fluid dynamics modelling of flow and particulate contaminants sedimentation in an urban stormwater detention and settling basin

Sedimentation is a common but complex phenomenon in the urban drainage system. The settling mechanisms involved in detention basins are still not well understood. The lack of knowledge on sediment transport and settling processes in actual detention basins is still an obstacle to the optimization of the design and the management of the stormwater detention basins. In order to well understand the sedimentation processes, in this paper, a new boundary condition as an attempt to represent the sedimentation processes based on particle tracking approach is presented. The proposed boundary condition is based on the assumption that the flow turbulent kinetic energy near the bottom plays an important role on the sedimentation processes. The simulated results show that the proposed boundary condition appears as a potential capability to identify the preferential sediment zones and to predict the trapping efficiency of the basin during storm events.     

应用猪饲料生产情景分析法的植物保护策略环境评价

对未来的猪肉生产构建了两种情景.一种是"基型"(即一切照旧)(business as usual)情景,这一情景中,猪饲料是以国内生产的谷谷和进口的豆饼为基本原料,未努力减少农药的用量.第二种情景更多的关注环境,在猪场还种植豌豆和油菜用以提供谷物和蛋白质饲料.采用更多种不同作物的轮作和机械除草相结合来降低农药的用量,以达到降低环境污染的目的.这两种情景同时用两种方法进行环境评估:生命周期评价法(LCA)(Life cycle Assessment)和农药风险指标模型(PRI-Farm)(Pesticide risk indicator model).结论表明:在猪饲料生产中通过运用改变作物的保护策略以期降低农药的用量和减小其风险是环保可行的.组织起农场的饲料生产,使蛋白质饲料和谷物生产相结合可促成更多种作物的轮作.     

Prenatal overgrowth and mosaic trisomy 15q25-qter including the IGF1 receptor gene

Overgrowth is rarely associated with chromosomal imbalances. Here, we report on a male foetus presenting with overgrowth and additional material on the short arm of one of the chromosome 15 in 12% of lymphocytes and 50% of amniotic cells. Parents' karyotypes were normal, indicating a de novo origin for this unbalanced rearrangement. Complementary studies using cytogenetic and FISH studies showed that this additional material resulted in a 15q25-qter trisomy and confirmed the presence of three copies of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) gene, included in the trisomic region. Autopsy performed after termination of pregnancy revealed isolated overgrowth and absence of visceral malformations. The possible mechanisms and origins for the formation of this mosaic pure trisomy are complex. The present observation emphasises the hypothesis that the overgrowth phenotype, frequently reported in patients with trisomy including the 15q26 region, might be causally related to a dosage effect of the IGF1R gene, as well as the importance of chromosome analysis in patients with overgrowth. It also confirms that the overgrowth is of prenatal onset in those observations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

纳滤去除水中内分泌干扰物双酚A和四溴双酚A的研究

用死端过滤法考察纳滤膜Desal 5 DK处理水中内分泌干扰物双酚A(BPA)和四溴双酚A(TBBPA)的效率,并研究吸附对纳滤截留有机分子的影响.结果表明,纳滤膜Desal 5 DK对BPA的表观截留率随累积吸附量的增加而降低,从初始的89%降至达到平衡状态时的47%,BPA累积吸附量相应达到约30 μg·m-2.较高压力时,吸附层较高的溶质浓度引起膜通量下降.虽然Desal 5 DK对TBBPA累积吸附量达到50 μg·m-2,但由于分子量较大和分子结构复杂,截留率较高(>95%).5×105 Pa压力下解吸时TBBPA分子由于位阻效应几乎不能透过纳滤膜;而BPA则扩散通过纳滤膜,并且在流出30 mL时浓度达到峰值,流出的BPA总量约占总吸附量的30%.     

Prenatal incision of ureterocele causing bladder outlet obstruction: a multicenter case series

We reviewed data from a cohort of fetuses with ureterocele diagnosed and operated prenatally in four fetal therapy centers. Inclusion criteria were (1) ureterocele confirmed on detailed fetal ultrasound examination, (2) absence of additional fetal malformations, and (3) fetal intervention to decompress the ureterocele with local institutional review boards' approval. Data on sonographic follow-up, obstetrical, neonatal outcome, and postnatal evaluation were collected. Ten cases of prenatally treated ureterocele are described. Six cases benefited from a fetoscopy for laser incision and decompression, two cases had an ultrasound guided puncture before resorting to a fetoscopy with laser incision, one case had a balloon catheterization under ultrasound guidance, and one case had an ultrasound-guided opening of the ureterocele with a laser fiber passed through a 20-gauge needle. Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 21.6 GW. Two cases underwent termination of pregnancy. The remaining eight cases recovered normal amniotic fluid volume and delivered a liveborn child at a mean gestational age of 38.6 GW with normal creatinine levels during the first week of life. Prenatal incision provided complete treatment of severely obstructive ureteroceles in 80% of the cases and allowed improvement of urinary electrolytes, renal size and echogenicity, bladder filling in all survivors, and recollection of normal amniotic fluid volume, in case of oligoanhydramnios. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.