Health Assessment of the 1985 Flood Disaster in Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico, during October 1985, tropical storm Isabel caused widespread flooding, landslides, and collapsing of bridges. A maximum of 180 persons died, including an estimated 127 at a landslide where the majority (78%) of deaths resulted from traumatic injury. Approximately 3,000 homes were damaged with 4,400 persons temporarily displaced into 44 shelters. A shelter surveillance system was established to monitor 19 acute and chronic conditions in 28 shelters during a 5-week period. Trend analysis trends of selected reportable communicable diseases in the general community revealed no changes attributable to the disaster in the 12 most severely affected municipalities. In these municipalities, the number of persons using the scheduled outpatient clinics after the disaster decreased significantly, but the mean daily number of emergency room visits did not show significant change. Analysis of surveillance data showed that no infectious disease outbreaks had occurred in the shelters. The post-impact health consequences resulting from this widespread flooding were minimal. Even so, disease surveillance remains essential for efficacious resource allocation and prevention strategies.     

Chytridiomycosis and Seasonal Mortality of Tropical Stream‐Associated Frogs 15 Years after Introduction of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

Assessing the effects of diseases on wildlife populations can be difficult in the absence of observed mortalities, but it is crucial for threat assessment and conservation. We performed an intensive capture‐mark‐recapture study across seasons and years to investigate the effect of chytridiomycosis on demographics in 2 populations of the threatened common mist frog (Litoria rheocola) in the lowland wet tropics of Queensland, Australia. Infection prevalence was the best predictor for apparent survival probability in adult males and varied widely with season (0–65%). Infection prevalence was highest in winter months when monthly survival probabilities were low (approximately 70%). Populations at both sites exhibited very low annual survival probabilities (12–15%) but high recruitment (71–91%), which resulted in population growth rates that fluctuated seasonally. Our results suggest that even in the absence of observed mortalities and continued declines, and despite host–pathogen co‐existence for multiple host generations over almost 2 decades, chytridiomycosis continues to have substantial seasonally fluctuating population‐level effects on amphibian survival, which necessitates increased recruitment for population persistence. Similarly infected populations may thus be under continued threat from chytridiomycosis which may render them vulnerable to other threatening processes, particularly those affecting recruitment success. Quitridiomicosis y Mortalidad Estacional de Ranas Asociadas a Arroyos Tropicales Quince Años Después de la Introducción de Batrachochytrium dendrobatidisvsp     

Treatment of Sulfate/Sulfide-Containing Wastewaters Using a Microbial Fuel Cell: Single and Two-Anode Systems

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) was employed to convert reductive potential in sulfate-laden wastewaters to electricity via reducing sulfate to sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria and then oxidizing sulfide to sulfur by exoelectrogens. The excess sulfide presented in the anodic solution inhibited the activities of functional strains in MFC. This study proposed the use of a two-anode system, with a sulfate-reducing bacteria anode and an exoelectrogen (C27) anode in the anodic cell, to efficiently convert reductive potential of sulfate into electricity. The microbial community of sulfate-reducing bacteria anode and the electrochemical characteristics of the studied MFCs were reported.     

Landfill leachate treatment in assisted landfill bioreactor

Landfill is the major disposal route of municipal solid waste（MSW） in most Asian countries. Leachate from landfill presents a strong wastewater that needs intensive treatment before discharge. Direct recycling was proposed as an effective alternative for leachate treatment by taking the landfill as a bioreactor. This process was proved not only considerably reducing the pollution potential of leachate, but also enhancing organic degradation in the landfill. However, as this paper shows, although direct leachate recycling was effective in landfilled MSW with low food waste fraction （3.5%, w/w）, it failed in MSW containing 54% food waste, as normally noted in Asian countries. The initial acid stuck would inhibit methanogenesis to build up, hence strong leachate was yielded from landfill to threaten the quality of receiving water body. We demonstrated the feasibility to use an assisted bioreactor landfill, with a well-decomposed refuse layer as ex-situ anaerobic digester to reducing COD loading in leachate. By doing so, the refuse in simulated landfill column （2.3 m high） could be stabilized in 30 weeks while the COD in leachate reduced by 95%（61000 mg/L to 3000 mg/L）. Meanwhile, the biogas production was considerably enhanced, signaling by the much greater amount and much higher methane content in the biogas.     

Leaching of carbonated air pollution control residues using compliance leaching tests

The leaching characteristics of air pollution control (APC) residues collected in Shanghai, China, were compared by performing three compliance leaching tests. These were the standard Chinese method for determining the leaching toxicity of solid waste (GB 5086.1-1997), the USEPA's Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), and the new European shake test (EN 12457-3). In particular, behaviors of raw samples and samples that had been subjected to natural aging were compared. Both the leaching tests and natural aging substantially affected the leaching results concerning the APC residue samples. Most importantly, EN and GB tests classified the raw APC residues as hazardous, but the residues passed the TCLP test as nonhazardous. After it had been naturally aged for 720 h, however, the aged sample was classified as hazardous by the TCLP and EN tests, but as nonhazardous by the GB test. Metals that are thought to have been immobilized by carbonation were released at pH 6.3. Model calculations based on the geochemical thermodynamic equilibrium model MINTEQA2 revealed that the formation of metal carbonates did not correspond to the noted change in the leaching behaviors in the three leaching tests. Rather, the partial neutralization of alkaline ash by dissolved CO2 changing the final pH of the leachate dominated the leaching characteristics. The leaching results showed a change in leachate pH.     

生物壳体就位分析中存在的问题及研究进展

生物壳体碳酸盐的稳定氧、碳同位素已经被大量地应用在古气候、古环境研究中。几十年的研究取得了很多重大成果,但是在生物壳体的就位分析研究中仍存在以下几个主要问题:生物壳体氧、碳同位素的解释问题;生物壳体时间序列的确定问题;就位分析研究壳体剖面的选择问题等。解决这些问题对于利用生物壳体提取高分辨率的古气候环境信息至关重要。文章针对这些问题进行了论述,并介绍了国内外为解决这些问题出现的新的研究方法及其最新研究进展。     

Degradation of phenol by Acinetobacter strain isolated from aerobic granules

Aerobic granules effectively degrade phenol at high concentrations from which no Acinetobacter species, that can effectively degrade high concentrations of phenol, have ever been isolated from aerobic granules. The phenol-fed aerobic granule studied was made by merging several smaller granules, each with a core of proteins and nucleic acids surrounded by an outer layer enriched with polysaccharides. In the present study, a strain of Acinetobacter sp. was isolated from the phenol-fed aerobic granules and was identified using DNA sequencing. The fluorescent in situ hybridisation combined with the confocal laser scanning microscope test revealed that the isolated Acinetobacter strain was mainly distributed in the core regime of granule. Batch tests revealed that the suspended Acinetobacter strain could effectively degrade phenol at an initial phenol concentration of up to 1000 mg l(-1) with no cell growth taking place at a phenol concentration of 1500 mg l(-1). The Haldane model describes the inhibitory kinetics of the phenol degradation data. The suspended Acinetobacter strain had a propensity to attach to the surface of sterilized polyurethane foam at a concentration of 12.3mg dry cells mg(-1) dry foam. The immobilized cells could not only degrade phenol at a rate similar to the suspended cells at phenol concentration of 500 mg l(-1), but also effectively degraded phenol at 1500 mg l(-1). The polysaccharides outer layer protected the Acinetobacter strain from phenol's toxicity; while the strain may also contribute to bioaggregation of the granule for its high propensity to attach to solid surface.     

Temporary stabilization of air pollution control residues using carbonation

Carbonation presents a good prospect for stabilizing alkaline waste materials. The risk of metal leaching from carbonated waste was investigated in the present study; in particular, the effect of the carbonation process and leachate pH on the leaching toxicity of the alkaline air pollution control (APC) residues from municipal solid waste incinerator was evaluated. The pH varying test was conducted to characterize the leaching characteristics of the raw and carbonated residue over a broad range of pH. Partial least square modeling and thermodynamic modeling using Visual MINTEQ were applied to highlight the significant process parameters that controlled metal leaching from the carbonated residue. By lowering the pH to 8-11, the carbonation process reduced markedly the leaching toxicity of the alkaline APC residue; however, the treated APC residue showed similar potential risk of heavy metal release as the raw ash when subjected to an acid shock. The carbonated waste could, thereby, not be disposed of safely. Nonetheless, carbonation could be applied as a temporary stabilization process for heavy metals in APC residues in order to reduce the leaching risk during its transportation and storage before final disposal.     

Heavy metals mobility in full-scale bioreactor landfill: initial stage

Selected heavy metals (HMs) including Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn initially released from a full-scale bioreactor landfill were monitored over the first 20 months of operation. At the initial landfill stage, the leachate exhibited high HMs release, high organic matter content (27000-43000gl(-1) of TOC) and low pH (5-6). By the fifth month of landfilling, the methanogenic stage had been established, and HMs release was reduced below the Chinese National Standards. Total released HMs accounted for less than 1% of landfill deposited during the investigated period. Most landfill HMs were inorganic. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra data and model calculations using Visual MINTEQ indicated that humic substances strongly affected the mobility of organic fractions of HMs in the methanogenic landfill. The initial rates of HMs release could be enhanced by recycling the leachate back to bioreactor landfill, but the total quantity released may be reduced by early establishment of methanogenic stage in bioreactor landfill.     

Experimental and modeling study of de novo formation of PCDD/PCDF on MSW fly ash

The effect of sulfur dioxide （SO2） on the formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins （PCDDs） and polychlorinated dibenzofurans （PCDFs） has been studied in an entrained-flow reactor （EFR） under simulated waste combustion conditions. A chlorination model based on conditional probability was employed to evaluate the homologue patterns of PCDDs and PCDFs. Results revealed that the presence of SO2 did not alter the formation pathway although SO2 suppressed PCDD/F formation. The prediction model of PCDF showed good agreement with the experimental data （R--0.95）, whereas the prediction for PCDDs did not correlate well with the experimental data. This may be explained because potential chlorination pathways play a significant role in PCDF formation, whereas PCDDs are mainly formed through condensation reactions. Furthermore, the result indicated that the steric hindrance during formation has more effects on PCDD than on PCDF due to the symmetric molecular structures of PCDDs.