Spatial distribution and ecological assessment of nickel in sediments of a typical small plateau lake from Yunnan Province,China

Nickel (Ni) in small plateau lake sediments plays an important role in influencing the quality of lake ecosystems with a high degree of endemism and toxicity. This paper focuses on the spatial distribution and ecological risks of nickel in the sediments of Jianhu Lake, a small plateau lake in China, and the influence of pH and total organic carbon (TOC) on nickel concentrations. The results showed that average total nickel concentrations were 138.99 ± 57.57 mg/kg (n = 38) and 184.31 ± 92.12 mg/kg (n = 60) in surface sediments (0–10 cm top layer) and sediment cores (0–75 cm depth), respectively, and that the residual fraction was the main form of nickel. Simultaneously, through a semivariogram model, strong spatial dependence among pH, TOC, and the oxidizable fraction was revealed, whereas total nickel, exchangeable and the weak acid soluble fraction, reducible fraction, and residual fraction showed moderate spatial dependence. The vertical distribution revealed that nickel accumulated mainly in the bottom 5 cm (70-75 cm) of the sediment layer and that the pH was higher there, whereas TOC was concentrated mainly in the top 5 cm of sediment. Using geoaccumulation and a potential ecological risk index, moderate nickel pollution and moderate risk levels were found in most surface sediments, but moderate nickel pollution and high risk levels were observed in most sediment cores. In addition, pH and TOC were found to have a strong effect on the distribution and concentration of nickel and its fractions in the small plateau lake. In summary, nickel posed a certain degree of pollution and ecological risk, which deserves attention in the sediments of small plateau lakes.

     

Do higher education research and development expenditures affect environmental sustainability? New evidence from Chinese provinces

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Even though higher education R&D expenditures (HEEXP) are important determinants of economic growth that facilitate science, technology, new...     

Rapid prenatal diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy with gene duplications by ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with competitive multiplex polymerase chain reaction strategy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) are caused by various mutations in the dystrophin gene. Rapid prenatal diagnosis of DMD with gene duplications is difficult due to limitation in gene dosage determination and the requirement for a known disease-causing mutation in the pedigree to achieve a rapid and accurate diagnosis. We report, here, a case with rapid prenatal diagnosis of DMD-affected male with gene duplications in the absence of a known disease-causing variation in the pedigree by using ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (IP-RP-HPLC) coupled with competitive multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol. In cases with clinical diagnosis of DMD/BMD, this test should identify greater than 92% of disease-causing DNA variants. The postnatal genetic diagnosis of this case and the same disease-causing mutations subsequently identified in other members of the pedigree confirmed the accuracy of competitive multiplex PCR/IP-RP-HPLC assay in direct prenatal diagnosis of DMD. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

内蒙古生物质热电联产的效益研究

本文从生物质热电联产的必要性作为切入点,从经济、社会、生态效益三个方面分析了内蒙古发展生物质能热电联产的综合效益.     

Advances in emission control of diesel vehicles in China

Diesel vehicles have caused serious environmental problems in China. Hence, the Chinese government has launched serious actions against air pollution and imposed more stringent regulations on diesel vehicle emissions in the latest China VI standard. To fulfill this stringent legislation, two major technical routes, including the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and high-efficiency selective catalytic reduction (SCR) routes, have been developed for diesel engines. Moreover, complicated aftertreatment technologies have also been developed, including use of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) for controlling carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions, diesel particulate filter (DPF) for particle mass (PM) emission control, SCR for the control of NOx emission, and an ammonia slip catalyst (ASC) for the control of unreacted NH₃. Due to the stringent requirements of the China VI standard, the aftertreatment system needs to be more deeply integrated with the engine system. In the future, aftertreatment technologies will need further upgrades to fulfill the requirements of the near-zero emission target for diesel vehicles.     

Recent advances and perspectives towards emission inventories of mobile sources: Compilation approaches, data acquisition methods, and case studies

In recent years, great efforts have been devoted to reducing emissions from mobile sources with the dramatic growth of motor vehicle and nonroad mobile source populations. Compilation of a mobile source emission inventory is conducive to the analysis of pollution emission characteristics and the formulation of emission reduction policies. This study summarizes the latest compilation approaches and data acquisition methods for mobile source emission inventories. For motor vehicles, a high-resolution emission inventory can be developed based on a bottom-up approach with a refined traffic flow model and real-world speed-coupled emission factors. The top-down approach has advantages when dealing with macroscale vehicle emission estimation without substantial traffic flow infrastructure. For nonroad mobile sources, nonroad machinery, inland river ships, locomotives, and civil aviation aircraft, a top-down approach based on fuel consumption or power is adopted. For ocean-going ships, a bottom-up approach based on automatic identification system (AIS) data is adopted. Three typical cases are studied, including emission reduction potential, a cost-benefit model, and marine shipping emission control. Outlooks and suggestions are given on future research directions for emission inventories for mobile sources: building localized emission models and factor databases, improving the dynamic updating capability of emission inventories, establishing a database of emission factors of unconventional pollutants and greenhouse gas from mobile sources, and establishing an urban high temporal-spatial resolution volatile organic compound (VOC) evaporation emission inventory.     

雄安新区-白洋淀冬季冰封期水体好氧反硝化菌群落空间分布特征及驱动因素

为了定向精准地完成适于白洋淀低温期水体水质的好氧反硝化菌的筛选和分离,本文结合水质调查和好氧反硝化功能基因(napA)高通量测序技术,进行了水体水质、微生物群落α多样性、β多样性分析以及微生物网络分析.结果表明,该时期白洋淀不同采样点的水体水质存在显著差异,入淀河口区的氮素最高;各采样点α多样性存在显著差异(P0.05),藻苲淀(ZZD)和瀑河(BH)的菌群丰富度和多样性最低;与此同时,该时期水体的OTU主要属于变形菌门(Protebacteria)中的α-Proteobacteria纲、β-Proteobacteria纲和γ-Proteobacteria纲;韦恩图分析(Venn)表明各采样点水体好氧反硝化菌群组成存在明显差异;膨胀因子分析(VIF)和RDA分析显示,温度、溶解氧、氨氮、硝氮、溶解性总磷以及氧化还原电位是影响菌群组成的主要环境因子;网络分析表明,该时期微生物网络中物种间以共生关系为主;Mantel test分析得出温度、氧化还原电位、硝氮、氨氮、溶解性总磷以及铁锰是影响模块群落结构演变的关键环境因子.综上可知,基于好氧反硝化功能基因(napA)进行高通量测序来研究白洋淀冬季冰封期水体好氧反硝化菌群落特征和环境驱动因素可行,为实现适于该时期水体水质的好氧反硝化菌"定向-精准-高效"的筛选提供技术支撑.