Uncovering the evolution of tin use in the United States and its implications

• US tin use decreases as the GDP value added by manufacturing sector increases. • Global and China’s tin use increases as the GDP added by manufacturing increases. • A sigmoid curve can fit the US tin use data well. • US tin use patterns is not due to the finite tin reserves or resources. • Policies, substitutions, etc. play key roles in the changing tin use patterns. Tin is of key importance to daily life and national security; it is considered an essential industrial metal. The United States (US) is the world’s largest economy and consumer of natural resources. Therefore, the analysis of historical tin use in the US is helpful for understanding future tin use trends in the world as a whole and in developing countries. Time series analysis, regression analysis with GDP or GDP/capita, and historical data fitted with logistic and Gompertz models are employed in this study. Historical tin use in the US shows three stages—increase-constant-decrease, as GDP per capita has increased. Tin use in the US is negatively correlated with the GDP value added by the manufacturing sector, while the use of tin worldwide and in China continues to increase along with the GDP value added by the manufacturing sector. Although a sigmoid curve can fit the US tin use data well, that use is not directly related to the limited tin reserves or resources. Rather, policies, economic restructuring, substitutions, new end-use markets, etc. have played key roles in the changing tin use patterns. This work contributes to understanding future tin use at both the global and national levels: tin use will continue to increase with GDP at the global level, but use patterns of tin at the national level can be changed through human intervention.     

Bibliometric analysis of ecosystem monitoring-related research in Africa: implications for ecological stewardship and scientific collaboration

Regional ecosystem monitoring is a central form of knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst scientists and decision makers on environmental health, land use change, and science-policy development. Despite the proliferation of such research networks on long-term monitoring on many continents, little has been achieved in Africa. This study aims to assess and examine the spatiotemporal trend and categorical patterns in ecosystem monitoring-related research in Africa for the benefits of conserving biodiversity and sustaining natural resource sectors for well-being and livelihood security, environmental planning, and ecological stewardship. A systematic review was conducted using bibliometric tools. Based on a set of search terms and peer-reviewed publications retrieved from various ecosystem monitoring networks and journal databases, further analysis was conducted using social network approaches, mapping tools, and content analysis. About 1442 scientific publications on ecosystem monitoring and related research were documented from 1987 to 2014 mostly published in English. The number of publication increased progressively since 1992 after the Convention on Biodiversity was signed and this trend peaked till 2008. South African Journal of Science was the most leading journal and Nature the most cited. Internationally coauthored and collaborative articles represented majority of the findings with the United Kingdom at the central position in the research network due to colonial relationships. Regional collaboration amongst countries is limited owing to language barriers and other institutional constraints such as funding and short-term projects. These findings have implication for prioritizing national and regional policies toward biodiversity science and its contribution to human well-being, food security, and global change responses.     

冶炼企业周边农田土壤的多环芳烃污染及其细菌群落效应

多环芳烃是一类持久性有机污染物,进入土壤后可能产生多方面生态效应。为研究多环芳烃对土壤微生物的影响,选取南京某冶炼企业周边农田样品,在分析污染物含量基础上,采用高通量测序、定量PCR等方法综合评价了土壤细菌多样性和组成以及多环芳烃降解细菌丰度等特征。17个土壤样品中,多环芳烃总量为0.25~31.08 mg·kg-1,并具有随污染源距离增加而降低的空间分布特征。与土壤理化性质如p H相比较,多环芳烃污染对土壤细菌的总体多样性和群落组成影响不显著。进一步分析发现多环芳烃与潜在降解微生物的相对丰度和降解功能基因(芳香环羟基化双加氧酶,PAH-RHDα)拷贝数显著正相关。污染较重样品的克隆、测序分析表明,土壤中PAH-RHDα基因主要属于革兰氏阳性细菌nid A3/fad A1类群,且与分支杆菌相关序列较为接近。这些结果综合评价了冶炼企业周边农田土壤多环芳烃污染对微生物群落的影响,提示土壤污染在多环芳烃潜在降解细菌中的富集作用,将为后续污染土壤生物修复提供重要科学依据。     

Changes of microbial composition during wastewater reclamation and distribution systems revealed by high-throughput sequencing analyses

This study employed 454-pyrosequencing to investigate microbial and pathogenic communities in two wastewater reclamation and distribution systems. A total of 11972 effective 16S rRNA sequences were acquired from these two reclamation systems, and then designated to relevant taxonomic ranks by using RDP classifier. The Chao index and Shannon diversity index showed that the diversities of microbial communities decreased along wastewater reclamation processes. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phylum in reclaimed water after disinfection, which accounted for 83% and 88% in two systems, respectively. Human opportunistic pathogens, including Clostridium, Escherichia, Shigella, Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium, were selected and enriched by disinfection processes. The total chlorine and nutrients (TOC, NH₃-N and NO₃-N) significantly affected the microbial and pathogenic communities during reclaimed water storage and distribution processes. Our results indicated that the disinfectant-resistant pathogens should be controlled in reclaimed water, since the increases in relative abundances of pathogenic bacteria after disinfection implicate the potential public health associated with reclaimed water.     

下向进路回采钢筋混凝土假顶稳定性分析

〗为确保下向进路采场高效安全回采,采用ABAQUS的损伤塑性模型对下向进路钢筋混凝土假顶进行稳定性分析,得到假顶的应力与位移分布规律,分别从假顶的应力分布、变形量对不同进路尺寸及假顶厚度的影响进行比较分析。结果表明,进路假顶产生的最大拉应力（089MPa）小于混凝土层的抗拉强度（127MPa）;最大压应力（416 MPa）小于混凝土层的抗压强度（119MPa）;假顶底部最易被拉裂位置为偏离假顶中央(05~1)m处;钢筋承载了大部分拉应力,受拉性能得到充分利用。在进路尺寸为3m×3m或者4m×3m时假顶厚度取06m,进路尺寸为4m×4m时假顶厚度取08m,假顶最大拉应力值均未超过混凝土的抗拉强度值,此时假顶较为稳定,便于进路维护与提高回采强度。研究结果对下向进路采场的安全生产提供技术保障。     

无锡冬季和春季大气中细粒子化学组分及其特性分析

本研究对无锡冬(2011年1月)春(2011年5月)两季PM2.5、PM10颗粒物浓度进行了传统的膜采样及离线检测分析,并运用大气气体/气溶胶水溶性离子在线收集及分析(GAC-IC)系统对PM2.5颗粒物中水溶性无机离子(WSII)进行了在线检测,时间分辨率为30 min.无锡冬、春两季PM2.5的浓度分别为108.15±41.76μg·m-3和84.40±26.74μg·m-3,其PM2.5/PM10比值分别为0.81±0.07和0.78±0.07,有较强的二次气溶胶生成过程.铵可用性指数(J冬季=101.2%±22.3%,J春季=79.5%±20.2%)分析表明冬季无锡大气颗粒物中铵(NH+4)相对比较富余,而春季则出现铵(NH+4)亏损现象,春季光化学反应更为活跃,硫氧化率(SOR)由冬季的0.15±0.05增至春季的0.35±0.13,硫酸盐(SO2-4)浓度增加明显,导致铵(NH+4)相对不足.硫氧化率(SOR)没有明显的季节变化,冬、春两季均为0.15.细粒子中的WSII与气态污染物、气象因子、硫氧化率(SOR)和氮氧化率(NOR)等的主成分分析表明无锡大气光化学反应与污染物的其他来源,例如工业源、交通移动源、生物质燃烧源等,有很好的协同作用,共同推高了大气中颗粒物的浓度.观测期间同时测得冬季PM2.5颗粒中有机碳(OC)与元素碳(EC)浓度之间有较好的相关性(R2=0.839),两者有一个共同的主导源,而春季来源则比较复杂,两者相关性较差;二次有机碳(SOC)的半定量分析表明春季大气中有机气溶胶的形成有较强的二次转化过程.     

珠江河网水产品中菊酯类农药残留调查及健康风险评价

2012年8月在珠江河网采集水产品样品(13种鱼,4种虾和2种贝),采用超声波提取-气相色谱法对样品中菊酯类农药(PYRs)进行残留检测,并对鱼类PYRs暴露水平进行健康风险评价。结果显示,鱼类肌肉、虾类和贝类中PYRs质量分数分别介于ND~3.05μg·kg-1、0.05~1.13μg·kg-1和0.69~1.20μg·kg-1(ND为未检出,以湿重计),平均值分别为0.90μg·kg-1、0.41μg·kg-1和0.99μg·kg-1。虾类和贝类中PYRs的检出率均很高,除联苯菊酯在虾类体内检出率为75%外,其他菊酯均为100%,鱼类肌肉中氯菊酯检出率最高,达到100%。氯菊酯在鱼类肌肉和贝类中的检出量最高,分别占总菊酯质量分数的52.2%和55.4%,溴氰菊酯在虾类中检出量最高,分别占总菊酯质量分数的33.0%;对居民通过食物摄入的PYRs进行食用暴露风险评估,结果表明,珠江河网水产品中PYRs人体健康危害的年总风险评价介于3.96×10-13~1.21×10-10a-1,水产品的安全消费量为5.54×104kg·d-1,水产品中的PYRs的健康危险风险很小。     

某湿地生态保护区水体中铜的生态风险评价及管理限值研究

铜是生物必需的微量元素,但过量暴露会对生物产生毒害效应。针对我国南方城市某湿地生态保护区水体重金属污染问题,参照《澳大利亚和新西兰淡水和海水水质指南》,应用物种敏感度分布(speeies sensitivity distribution,SSD)方法和联合概率曲线(joint probability curve,JPC)方法评价水体中铜的生态风险评价,在此基础上提出水体中铜浓度的管理限值。根据该湿地生态保护区生物调查历史数据以及其他文献数据,整理了415个本地物种的清单,通过美国环境保护署ECOTOX数据库以及其他文献共获取了13个物种的毒性数据,构建了Weibull分布、对数正态分布、正态分布、对数Logistic分布、Logistic分布、BurrⅢ型分布和Gumbel分布等7个SSD模型。结果表明,利用13个本地物种铜毒性数据构建的SSD模型具有合理性,不同模型计算得到的湿地生态保护区水体中铜的总体风险期望值为0.054~0.121。其中,BurrⅢ型分布模型的拟合效果最好,据此推导得到以保护水生生态系统为目标的铜的高可靠性与中等可靠性触发值分别为2.55μg·L~(-1)和1.41μg·L~(-1)。考虑到管理目标的可达性和现状的生态风险水平,提出该湿地生态保护区水体中铜浓度的管理限值为3μg·L~(-1)。     

Environmental dispersivity in free-water-surface-effect dominated wetland: multi-scale analysis

Distinct from the case with width-dominated shallow wetland flows, the longitudinal evolution of contaminant concentration in the most-typical pattern of wetland as dominated by free-water-surface-effect is characterized by a multi-scale analysis in the present study. An environmental dispersion model for the evolution of the mean concentration is deduced as an extension of Taylor's classical formulation by Mei’s multi-scale analysis. Corresponding environmental dispersivity is found identical to that determined by the method of concentration moments.     

Water quality of Lugu Lake: Changes,causes and measurements

Lugu lake is an alpine lake in Yunnan Province in western China. It is famous for its beautiful scenery and the special culture of Mosuo people in this area. The lake is becoming contaminated and eutrophicated because of the huge number of visitors and improvements in agriculture during the last decade. This paper uses the water quality index (WQI) as an indicator to describe trends in contamination of Lugu Lake from 1995 to 2004 and analyses several parameters to determine the causes and consequences of contamination. We found that the dominant cause was pollution from tourism and suggest some feasible measures to prevent further deterioration of the lake water quality.