铁基硅盐对土壤环境镉砷赋存形态及转化影响

为探明铁基硅盐对土壤镉砷赋存形态影响及各形态间转化规律,采用室内长期淹水培养吸附实验,研究不同比例铁硅材料对土壤离子态镉砷活性影响;筛选适宜铁基硅盐(FS)配比同时添加腐殖酸(FSC)和金属氧化物(FSCa),明确复配处理土壤中镉砷分级形态转化程度.结果显示,铁:硅比值增加10%,土壤pH值平均降低0.35;F₂-S₈处理土壤离子态镉降幅71%;F₁₀-S₀处理土壤离子态砷降低59.9%,离子态镉砷含量与硅酸盐-铁盐施用量互呈反比;处理F₄-S₆和F₆-S₄之间镉、砷钝化率产生交点,约为25%~30%.土壤中镉主要以可溶态为主,占比58%;砷主要以铁铝氧化态和钙结合态为主,占比40%和23%.铁硅比例为5:5或5.5:4.5左右复配能有效将铝结合态砷和铁铝氧化态砷转变为钙结合态砷和残渣态砷,可溶态镉转化为碳酸盐结合态镉以及铁锰氧化态镉,同步降低土壤中镉砷的活性.     

Cultivar-dependent rhizobacteria community and cadmium accumulation in rice: Effects on cadmium availability in soils and iron-plaque formation

The association between the rhizospheric microbial community and Cd accumulation in rice is poorly understood. A field trial was conducted to investigate the different rhizobacterial communities of two rice cultivars with high Cd accumulation (HA) and low Cd accumulation (LA) at four growth stages. Results showed that the Cd content in the roots of the HA cultivar was 1.23 - 27.53 higher than that of the LA cultivar (0.08 - 10.5 µg/plant) at four stages. The LA cultivar had a significantly lower Cd availability in rhizosphere and a higher quantity of iron plaque (IP) on the root surface than the HA cultivar at four stages. This resulted in the reduction of Cd concentration in IPs and Cd translocation from IP-to-root. Microbial analysis indicated that the LA cultivar formed a distinct rhizobacterial community from the HA cultivar and had less α-diversity. The rhizosphere of the LA cultivar was enriched in specific bacterial taxa (e.g., Massilia and Bacillus) involved in Cd immobilization by phosphate precipitation and IP formation by iron oxidization. However, the rhizosphere in the HA cultivar assembled abundant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (e.g., Sulfuricurvum) and iron reduction bacteria (Geobacter). They promoted Cd mobilization and reduced IP formation via the metal redox process. This study reveals a potential approach in which specific rhizobacteria decrease or increase Cd accumulation in rice on contaminated soil and provides a new perspective for secure rice production.     

SiO2气凝胶隔热性能的影响因素研究

目的 在不同热流条件下,通过调整SiO2气凝胶的孔隙率、涂层厚度等,以满足合适的隔热要求。方法 针对中短程飞行器飞行时外壁面承受短时高热流的特点,在分析孔隙率对SiO2气凝胶热导率影响规律的基础上,通过数值仿真研究不同气凝胶孔隙率、气凝胶厚度及热流作用下的温度响应。结果 得到了不同条件下满足隔热要求的气凝胶最小厚度,以及气凝胶表面的最高温度。高温情况下,气凝胶孔隙率为96%时,有效热导率最低,孔隙率超过96%时,隔热性能变差。结论 当飞行器内壁面温度满足要求时,增大气凝胶的孔隙率,则需要减小气凝胶的厚度,相应的气凝胶表面温度会升高,但升幅很小。当飞行器外壁面承受长时间大热流时,仅调整气凝胶的厚度和孔隙率不能达到结构的隔热要求。     

贵州梵净山九龙池沉积物14C年代学研究及全新世碳累积速率变化

放射性碳同位素加速器质谱（ASM¹⁴C）测年法是湖泊沉积物定年的主要方法,并且是全新世年代学研究的热点。随着对全新世古气候与环境变化研究的深入,选取不同介质定年可能对年代模型的准确性造成误差,进而影响到气候指标的解译。本文选取贵州东北部梵净山九龙池沉积物中树枝、树叶、树皮、种子等植物残体和全样有机质作为测年介质,利用ASM¹⁴C进行定年。结果表明,相比全样有机质,使用植物残体定年可以在一定程度上避免碳库效应的影响。但相比于原位沉积且生长年限较短的叶片,树枝的定年结果偏老,不是一种理想的定年介质。另外,根据定年结果及总有机碳含量重建了全新世九龙池的碳累积速率,发现碳累积速率可以指示该地区亚洲夏季风强度的变化历史。     

The legacy of large dams in the United States

The sustainability of large dams has been questioned on several grounds. One aspect that has been less explored is that the development of dams and reservoirs often enables agricultural expansion and urban growth, which in turn increase water consumption. As such, dam development influences, while being influenced by, the spatial and temporal distribution of both supply and demand of water resources. In this paper, we explore the interplay between large dams, patterns of population growth and agricultural expansion in the United States over the past two centuries. Based on a large-scale analysis of spatial and temporal trends, we identify three distinct phases, in which different processes dominated the interplay. Then, we focus on agricultural water use in the Southwest region (Arizona, California and Nevada) and explore chicken-and-egg dynamics where water supply partly meets and partly fuels water demand. Lastly, we show that the legacy of dams in the United States consists of a lock-in condition characterized by high levels of water consumption, especially in the Southwest, which leads to severe water crises and groundwater overexploitation when droughts occur.     

Precious metals and rare earth elements in municipal solid waste – Sources and fate in a Swiss incineration plant

In Switzerland many kinds of waste, e.g. paper, metals, electrical and electronic equipment are separately collected and recycled to a large extent. The residual amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) has to be thermally treated before final disposal. Efforts to recover valuable metals from incineration residues have recently increased. However, the resource potential of critical elements in the waste input (sources) and their partitioning into recyclable fractions and residues (fate) is unknown. Therefore, a substance flow analysis (SFA) for 31 elements including precious metals (Au, Ag), platinum metal group elements (Pt, Rh) and rare earth elements (La, Ce, etc.) has been conducted in a solid waste incinerator (SWI) with a state-of-the-art bottom ash treatment according to the Thermo-Re® concept. The SFA allowed the determination of the element partitioning in the SWI, as well as the elemental composition of the MSW by indirect analysis. The results show that the waste-input contains substantial quantities of precious metals, such as 0.4 ± 0.2 mg/kg Au and 5.3 ± 0.7 mg/kg Ag. Many of the valuable substances, such as Au and Ag are enriched in specific outputs (e.g. non-ferrous metal fractions) and are therefore recoverable. As the precious metal content in MSW is expected to rise due to its increasing application in complex consumer products, the results of this study are essential for the improvement of resource recovery in the Thermo-Re® process.     

The role of wax and resin in the nestmate recognition system of a stingless bee, Tetragonisca angustula

Recent research has shown that entrance guards of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula make less errors in distinguishing nestmates from non-nestmates than all other bee species studied to date, but how they achieve this is unknown. We performed four experiments to investigate nestmate recognition by entrance guards in T. angustula. We first investigated the effect of colony odours on acceptance. Nestmates that acquired odour from non-nestmate workers were 63% more likely to be rejected while the acceptance rate of non-nestmates treated with nestmate odour increased by only 7%. We further hypothesised that guards standing on the wax entrance tube might use the tube as an odour referent. However, our findings showed that there was no difference in the acceptance of non-nestmates by guards standing on their own colony’s entrance tube versus the non-nestmate’s entrance tube. Moreover, treatment of bees with nestmate and non-nestmate resin or wax had a negative effect on acceptance rates of up to 65%, regardless of the origin of the wax or resin. The role of resin as a source of recognition cues was further investigated by unidirectionally transferring resin stores between colonies. Acceptance rates of nestmates declined by 37% for hives that donated resin, contrasting with resin donor hives where acceptance of non-nestmates increased by 21%. Overall, our results confirm the accuracy of nestmate recognition in T. angustula and reject the hypothesis that this high level of accuracy is due to the use of the wax entrance tubes as a referent for colony odour. Our findings also suggest that odours directly acquired from resin serve no primary function as nestmate recognition cues. The lack of consistency among colonies plus the complex results of the third and fourth experiments highlight the need for further research on the role of nest materials and cuticular profiles in understanding nestmate recognition in T. angustula.     

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the fetal brain

Fetal magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is technically feasible in utero and demonstrates similar findings to those observed in neonatal populations. MRS can provide additional information to conventional T1- and T2-weighted imaging of the fetal brain. It is of particular use when subtle changes are present on conventional fetal MRI sequences, and when imaging fetuses at risk of brain injury and metabolic abnormalities. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of environmental forcing on the fate of nutrients, dissolved organic matter and heavy metals released by a coastal wastewater pipeline

Discharges of nutrients, urea, dissolved organic matter and heavy metals by a sewage underwater pipeline are analysed in comparison to environmental conditions in a shallow coastal zone. Variable thermo-haline stratifications of the water column and currents in upper (2.62-34.97 cm s^-1) and deeper (0.83-10.91 cm s^-1) layers drive vertical diffusion and lateral transport of wastewaters. Loads of reactive phosphorus (0.13 tons d^-1) and ammonium (1.62 tons d^-1) by the pipeline are not negligible compared to the major river loads in the gulf. High concentrations of urea (≤11.51 μmol N dm^-3) were found in the area of wastewater release. Ammonium uptake (6.14-534 nmol N dm^-3 h^-1) strongly exceeded nitrate uptake (0.19-138 nmol N dm^-3 h^-1), indicating that discharges of ammonium by the pipeline are actively assimilated by plankton community even at low levels of light. Distribution of Zn (≤27.7 ppb), Cu (≤25.6 ppb), Cd (≤0.80 ppb) and Pb (≤13.5 ppb) in the water column and the measurement of their complex-forming capacity in seawater did not indicate a persistent perturbation of the pelagic environment due to heavy metals.