Online detection of waterborne bioavailable copper by valve daily rhythms in freshwater clam Corbicula fluminea

Freshwater clam Corbicula fluminea, a surrogate species in metal toxicity testing, is a promising bioindicator of impairment in aquatic ecosystems. Little is known, however, about the relationship between clam valve daily rhythmic response and metal bioavailability related to a metal biological early warning system (BEWS) design. The purpose of this study was to link biotic ligand model (BLM)-based bioavailability and valve daily rhythm in C. fluminea to design a biomonitoring system for online in situ detection of waterborne copper (Cu). We integrated the Hill-based dose-time-response function and the fitted daily rhythm function of valve closure into a constructed programmatic mechanism. The functional presentation of the present dynamic system was completely demonstrated by employing a LabVIEW graphic control program in a personal computer. We used site-specific effect concentration causing 10% of total valve closure response (EC10) as the detection threshold to implement the proposed C. fluminea-based Cu BEWS. Here our results show that the proposed C. fluminea-based BEWS could be deliberately synthesized to online in situ transmit rapidly the information on waterborne bioavailable Cu levels under various aquatic environmental conditions through monitoring the valve daily rhythmic changes. We suggested that the developed C. fluminea-based dynamic biomonitoring system could assist in developing technically defensible site-specific water quality criteria to promote more efficient uses in water resources for protection of species health in aquatic environments.     

Disequilibrium and Indivisibility of Pollution Control Equipment Under a Permit-Trading System: A Case Study of Kao-Hsiung and Ping-Tung Counties in Taiwan

A mixed-integer programming model that minimizes the social abatement cost is used to investigate whether a market equilibrium condition could be reached in a newly proposed permit-trading market for nitrogen oxide control in Taiwan. Unlike in previous studies, unit pollution abatement cost is determined endogenously by incorporating technology adoption as a binary decision variable. The results show that when technologies are lumpy and irreversible, disequilibrium might occur due to firms’ inability to manage their emission levels after installing equipment with fixed size and control capacity.

Modeling VOC-odor exposure risk in livestock buildings

This paper describes a novel idea of linking models of exposure, internal dosimetry, and health effects. Risk assessment approach that integrates predicted odor caused by volatile organic compounds (VOC-odor) of toluene/xylene concentrations in human tissues leads to predict exposure risks in livestock buildings. First, VOC transport model was developed to calculate airborne toluene/xylene concentrations. Based on a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model, concentrations within five compartments representing lung, liver, fat, slowly perfused tissues, and rapidly perfused tissues could be quantified. By using a pharmacodynamic (PD) Hill model, we can optimally fit data from rat and human experiments to reconstruct dose-response relationships for accounting human health effects from nose poke and eye irritation. Results demonstrated that peak tissue concentration occurring at 5-10h in that fat contains the highest concentration than other tissues at around 4ppm of toluene and 1.8ppm of xylene. The EC(10) values are 114 and 232ppm, whereas expected risks are estimated to be 0.71% and 0.26% of human exposure to toluene and xylene, respectively. Risk analyses indicate that inhalation exposure in livestock buildings poses no significant threat to human health under the present environmental conditions. This method provides a rigorous and effective approach to relate target tissue concentration to human nose poke or eye irritation. We suggest that our probabilistic framework and methods be taken seriously because they produce general conclusions that are more robust and could offer a risk-management framework for discussion of future establishment of limits for respiratory exposure to VOC-odor.     

Co-treatment of hydrogen sulfide and methanol in a single-stage biotrickling filter under acidic conditions

Biofiltration of waste gases is cost-effective and environment-friendly compared to the conventional techniques for treating large flow rates of gas streams with low concentrations of pollutants. Pulp and paper industry off-gases usually contain reduced sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide and a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), e.g., methanol. It is desirable to eliminate both of these groups of compounds. Since the co-treatment of inorganic sulfur compounds and VOCs in biotrickling filters is a relatively unexplored area, the simultaneous biotreatment of H2S and methanol as the model VOC was investigated. The results showed that, after adaptation, the elimination capacity of methanol could reach around 236 g m(-3) h(-1) with the simultaneous complete removal (100%) of 12 ppm H2S when the empty bed residence time is 24 s. The pH of the system was around 2. Methanol removal was hardly affected by the presence of hydrogen sulfide, despite the low pH. Conversely, the presence of the VOC in the waste gas reduced the efficiency of H2S biodegradation. The maximal methanol removal decreased somewhat when increasing the gas flow rate. This is the first report on the degradation of methanol at such low pH in a biotrickling filter and on the co-treatment of H2S and VOCs under such conditions.     

对璧山县旅游产品策划的再思考

在回顾国内外策划发展史的基础上,提出了璧山县旅游产品策划的概念;结合璧山县旅游产品策划的背景,提出璧山县旅游产品策划的原则,重点对新资源古特色、新功能、全面整合等旅游产品策划方式进行了研究。通过挖掘璧山县旅游资源特色及文化内涵,提出了璧山县旅游产品策划的几个方向。     

昌黎黄金海岸自然保护区海域所面临的环境压力与对策

海洋环境压力是海洋生态监测中的一个重要方面,是指对海洋生态环境造成影响的各方面因素.正确掌握海洋环境压力是保护好海洋的基础.本文根据昌黎黄金海岸国家级自然护区近些年来的海洋生态监测结果,在对保护区海域现在所面临的环境压力及给海洋生态系统造成的影响的基础上,提出了相应的缓解对策.     

Global fallout Pu recorded in lacustrine sediments in Lake Hongfeng, SW China

Studies on the distribution and isotope compositions of fallout Pu are important for source characterization of possible future non-fallout Pu contamination in aquatic environments, and useful for dating of recent sediments to understand the pollution history of environmental contaminants. We present the historical record of atmospheric Pu fallout reconstructed from a sediment core from Lake Hongfeng, China. The Pu activity profile was in agreement with the 137Cs profile. Inventories were 50.7 Bq m(-2) for 239+240Pu and 1586 Bq m(-2) for 137Cs. The average 240Pu/239Pu atom ratio was 0.185+/-0.009, indicating that Pu originated from global stratospheric fallout rather than from direct tropospheric or close-in fallout from the Chinese nuclear testing conducted in the 1970s. Our data suggested that Lake Hongfeng would be an ideal setting for monitoring atmospheric fallout and environmental changes in this region.     

西安城市暴雨内涝灾害气象预警系统研究

介绍了西安城市暴雨内涝灾害气象预警系统的技术路线及原理.该系统包含本地化的城市暴雨内涝仿真模型,并以城区加密气象自动站资料、多普勒雷达降水估算产品、数值预报产品、主观预报等作为实况和模拟用的降雨边界条件,结合西安市区地理地貌特征、城市规划、排水系统特征、排水规则、防洪工程等多方面的非气象资料建立而成,具备一定的内涝动态监测预报能力.对2006年6月3日内涝过程进行了模拟,效果较好,能够满足预警需求.     

基于模糊四元联系数的防洪工程体系安全综合评价模型

防洪工程体系是由随机、模糊、未确知等众多不确定性因子组成的复杂系统,它至今仍是洪水灾害管理的主体,对该体系综合安全进行定量评价可为洪水灾害管理提供重要依据.模糊四元联系数是集对分析中同异反联系数的推广,它可更深入地分析系统中的各种不确定性.利用模糊四元联系数建立了防洪工程体系安全综合评价模型,用联系度可描述评价对象与评价标准之间的关系,其结果简便直观,能清晰地反应评价对象和评价标准间的动态联系.用该模型综合评价了实际防洪工程体系的安全程度,其结果与物元分析等方法所得结果一致.     

废塑料处理技术进展与展望

文章介绍了解决废塑料污染的几种方法,分析了目前我国废塑料回收利用技术的现状,并介绍作者在这方面进行的一些新的研究工作：（1）使用自制的催化剂完成了聚烯烃类塑料催化热解回收燃料油的小试,获得了较好的效果;（2）通过实验对发泡聚苯乙烯热解回收苯乙烯单体的工艺流程提出了优化操作条件。根据国内外实际,文章最后对废塑料回收利用提出了几点建议。