Bioanalytical and instrumental analysis of estrogenic activities in drinking water sources from Yangtze River Delta

The estrogenic activities of source water from Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Taihu Lake and groundwater in Yangtze River Delta in the dry and wet season were determined by use of reporter gene assays based on African green monkey kidney (CV-1) cell lines. Higher estrogenic activities were observed in the dry season, and the estrogenic potentials in water samples from Taihu Lake were greater than other river basins. None of the samples from groundwater showed estrogen receptor (ER) agonist activity. The 17β-Estradiol (E2) equivalents (EEQs) of water samples in the dry season ranged from 9.41 × 10^?1 to 1.20 × 10¹ ng E2 L^?1. In the wet season, EEQs of all the water samples were below the detection limit as 9.00 × 10^?1 ng E2 L^?1 except for one sample from Huaihe River. The highest contribution of E2 was detected in Yangtze River as 99% of estrogenic activity. Nonylphenol (NP, 100% detection rate) and octylphenol (OP, 100% detection rate) might also be responsible for the estrogenic activities in water sources. Potential health risk induced by the estrogenic chemicals in source water may be posed to the residents through water drinking.     

用碳化法从制碱废渣一次盐泥中制取轻质氧化镁的研究

本研究是用制碱废渣一次盐泥作原料，采用二氧化碳碳化法制取轻质氧化镁。同时分析了提取轻质氧化镁后的残渣用于制造水泥或其它胶凝材料的原料的可行性。     

环境中的人为灾害

本文仅就环境保护中的大气、水质、噪声、土壤等几个主要方面酿成的人为灾害事例,谈及灾害原因,致灾损失及对策等。     

Differences in nitrous oxide fluxes from red soil under different land uses in mid-subtropical China

Red soil may play an important role in nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions due to its recent land use change pattern. To predict the land use change effect on N₂O emissions, we examined the relationship between soil N₂O flux and environmental determinants in four different types of land uses in subtropical red soil. During two years of study (January 2005-January 2007), biweekly N₂O fluxes were measured from 09:00 to 11:00 a.m. using static closed chamber method. Objectives were to estimate the seasonal and annual N₂O flux differences from land use change and, reveal the controlling factors of soil N₂O emission by studying the relationship of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), water filled pore space (WFPS) and soil temperature with soil N₂O flux. Nitrous oxide fluxes were significantly higher in hot-humid season than in the cool-dry season. Significant differences in soil N₂O fluxes were observed among four land uses; 2.9, 1.9 and 1.7 times increased N₂O emissions were observed after conventional land use conversion from woodland to paddy, orchard and upland, respectively. The mean annual budgets of N₂O emission were 0.71-2.21 kg N₂O-N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ from four land use types. The differences were partly attributed to increased fertilizer use in agriculture land uses. In all land uses, N₂O fluxes were positively related to soil temperature and DOC accounting for 22-48% and 30-46% of the seasonal N₂O flux variability, respectively. Nitrous oxide fluxes did significantly correlate with WFPS in orchard and upland only. Nitrous oxide fluxes responded positively to MBC in all land use types except orchard which had the lowest WFPS. We conclude that (1) land use conversion from woodland to agriculture land uses leads to increased soil N₂O fluxes, partly due increased fertilizer use, and (2) irrespective of land use, soil N₂O fluxes are under environmental controls, the main variables being soil temperature and DOC, both of which control the supply of nitrification and denitrification substrates.     

长江三角洲城市旅游与城市发展协调性及影响因素

城市旅游业作为城市服务业的重要部门,是推动城市发展的后续动力。运用信息熵赋权法和TOPSIS法相结合,从经济水平、社会发展、公共交通、城市绿化、环境保护、旅游发展6个方面对长江三角洲2003年和2008年的城市旅游与城市发展的协调性进行分析,借助ArcGIS软件的空间聚类法分析了城市旅游与城市发展协调水平的空间格局及演变,最后探讨影响因素。结果表明:长江三角洲16城市的城市旅游协调水平在研究期间相对稳定,具体可被划分为4个等级,第一、二等级城市数量较少,得分显著高于第三、四等级城市。城市旅游协调水平空间上存在较大差异,北部城市得分高于南部城市,基本格局保持稳定,呈现以上海、南京、杭州三个城市为核心向外围边缘城市的空间衰减。产业发展、城市旅游发展模式、城市旅游重大项目投资、区位条件是长江三角洲城市旅游协调水平产生空间分化的主要影响因素,可制定以城市旅游发展为手段的方式推动城市发展,促进区域均衡发展。     

Mechanism of lead immobilization by oxalic acid-activated phosphate rocks

Lead (Pb) chemical fixation is an important environmental aspect for human health. Phosphate rocks (PRs) were utilized as an adsorbent to remove Pb from aqueous solution. Raw PRs and oxalic acid-activated PRs (APRs) were used to investigate the effect of chemical modification on the Pb-binding capacity in the pH range 2.0-5.0. The Pb adsorption rate of all treatments above pH 3.0 reached 90%. The Pb binding on PRs and APRs was pH-independent, except at pH 2.0 in activated treatments. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the raw PRs formed cerussite after reacting with the Pb solution, whereas the APRs formed pyromorphite. The Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated that carbonate (CO₃^2-) in raw PRs and phosphate (PO₄^3-) groups in APRs played an important role in the Pb-binding process. After adsorption, anomalous block-shaped particles were observed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data further indicated that both chemical and physical reactions occurred during the adsorption process according to the binding energy. Because of lower solubility of pyromorphite compared to cerussite, the APRs are more effective in immobilizing Pb than that of PRs.     

Rapid decolorization of Acid Orange II aqueous solution by amorphous zero-valent iron

Some problems including low treatment capacity, agglomeration and clogging phenomena, and short working life, limit the application of pre-treatment methods involving zero-valent iron (ZVI). In this article, ZVI was frozen in an amorphous state through a melt-spinning technique, and the decolorization effect of amorphous ZVI on Acid Orange II solution was investigated under varied conditions of experimental variables such as reaction temperature, ribbon dosage, and initial pH. Batch experiments suggested that the decolorization rate was enhanced with the increase of reaction temperature and ribbon dosage, but decreased with increasing initial solution pH. Kinetic analyses indicated that the decolorization process followed a first order exponential kinetic model, and the surface-normalized decolorization rate could reach 2.09 L/(m². min) at room temperature, which was about ten times larger than any previously reported under similar conditions. Recycling experiments also proved that the ribbons could be reused at least four times without obvious decay of decolorization rate and efficiency. This study suggests a tremendous application potential for amorphous ZVI in remediation of groundwater or wastewater contaminated with azo dyes.     

Variation of cyanobacteria with different environmental conditions in Nansi Lake, China

Nansi Lake is located on the east line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China. A comprehensive study was carried out to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of cyanobacteria in the lake from June 2008 to May 2011 based on monthly sample monitoring from five stations. The effect of environmental factors on cyanobacterial abundance was also evaluated. The cyanobacterial community contained 15 genera and 23 species. The cyanobacterial abundance of each monitoring station ranged from 0 to 1.53× 10⁷ cells/L with an average of 1.45×10⁶ cells/L, which accounted for 11.66% of the total phytoplankton abundance. The dominant species of cyanobacteria were Pseudanabaena (32.94%) and Merismopedia (19.85%), not the bloom-forming algae such as Microcystis and Anabaena. In addition, the cyanobacterial community structure and water quality variables changed substantially over the survey period. Redundancy analysis (RDA) suggested that temperature and phosphorus were important environmental factors that affected cyanobacteria. Temperature was the most important factor affecting cyanobacterial abundance. The effect of phosphorus on cyanobacterial abundance was more notable in warm periods than in periods with low temperature.     

Ultrafine particle emission characteristics of diesel engine by on-board and test bench measurement

This study investigated the emission characteristics of ultrafine particles based on test bench and on-board measurements. The bench test results showed the ultrafine particle number concentration of the diesel engine to be in the range of (0.56-8.35) × 10⁸ cm^-3. The on-board measurement results illustrated that the ultrafine particles were strongly correlated with changes in real-world driving cycles. The particle number concentration was down to 2.0 × 10⁶ cm^-3 and 2.7 × 10⁷ cm^-3 under decelerating and idling operations and as high as 5.0 × 10⁸ cm^-3 under accelerating operation. It was also indicated that the particle number measured by the two methods increased with the growth of engine load at each engine speed in both cases. The particle number presented a "U" shaped distribution with changing speed at high engine load conditions, which implies that the particle number will reach its lowest level at medium engine speeds. The particle sizes of both measurements showed single mode distributions. The peak of particle size was located at about 50-80 nm in the accumulation mode particle range. Nucleation mode particles will significantly increase at low engine load operations like idling and decelerating caused by the high concentration of unburned organic compounds.     

Responses of protists with different feeding habits to the changes of activated sludge conditions: A study based on biomass data

Changes of protists, which were categorized into different functional groups primarily according to their feeding habits, in two full-scale municipal wastewater treatment systems experiencing sludge bulking were investigated over a period of 14 months. Protist biomass represented 3.7% to 5.2% of total biomass on average under normal sludge conditions, and the percentage increased significantly (p < 0.05) under sludge bulking conditions. The biomass of Chilodonella spp., capable of eating filamentous bacteria, tended to decrease in both systems when sludge bulking occurred, showing that the abnormal growth of filamentous bacteria did not lead to a biomass bloom of this group of protists. On the other hand, the bactivorous protists represented more than 96% of total protist biomass, and the biomass of this group, particularly the attached ciliates, increased significantly (p < 0.05) when sludge bulking occurred. The significant increase of the attached ciliates may have possibly facilitated the growth of filamentous bacteria through selectively preying on non-filamentous bacteria and further exacerbated sludge bulking. The redundancy analysis and correlation analysis results showed that the biomass changes of the attached ciliates were primarily related to the sludge volume index and to some extent related to five-day biochemical oxygen demand loading and hydraulic retention time.