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.     

关于国际油污赔偿基金组织索赔手册

介绍了国际油污赔偿基金组织索赔手册的主要内容，包括法律框架、索赔的提出以及可以得到的赔偿等。     

Effects of plant density on the photosynthetic and chloroplast characteristics of maize under high-yielding conditions

The Science of Nature - Knowledge on animal personality has provided new insights into evolutionary biology and animal ecology, as behavioural types have been shown to affect fitness. Animal...     

张家口地区生态可持续性评价研究

张家口市生态环境比较脆弱。经济上属于河北省落后地区，且近邻首都北京，因此它的发展不断引起人们的关注。本文选用了由加拿大生态学家Rees和Wackenagel等提出的生态足迹模型，对张家口地区进行可持续发展的定量测算。结果表明：张家口市自1990年到2000年一直处于不可持续状态，且人均生态赤字呈逐年增大的趋势。针对这种情况，本文提出全面发展精细农业、促进工业升级以及以“人”为本的区域发展对策。     

减灾的经济和社会效益初探

本文概述了目前减灾的经济和社会效益研究概况,指出现阶段灾害社会和经济学研究方面的四大问题;探讨了减灾与经济、减灾与政治、减灾与社会发展等的关系。     

FACE试验对土壤有机质库组分及其激发效应的影响

以意大利的FACE(Free atmospheric CO2 enrichment)长期定位试验区和大气环境控制装置为研究对象,用化学分步酸提法将土壤有机质分离为活性库、慢库和惰性库,并培养测定土壤有机氮的矿化率,研究人工模拟大气CO2富集、施氮肥及植株类型对土壤有机质库及激发效应的影响.第一茬(POP FACE)试验产生了激发效应.但第二茬(Euro FACE)试验CO2处理区的总碳增加最显著高于对照处理区.即激发效应终止.主成分分析显示,有效氮的矿化水平已成为有机质降解的制约因素.据此推断,试验区巾活性碳和有效氮控制的激发效应阶段转变为氮利用受限所引起的碳积累阶段.CO2富集对N矿化率、慢库和惰性库均无显著性影响.研究结果表明,土壤的激发效应不仅受有机碳的活性库制约,氮的矿化率也是影响其发生的关键因子之一.     

Effects of rare earth elements La and Yb on the morphological and functional development of zebrafish embryos

In recent years, with the wide applications and mineral exploitation of rare earth elements, their potential environmental and health effects have caused increasing public concern. Effect of rare earth elements La and Yb on the morphological and functional development of zebrafish embryos were studied. The embryos were exposed to La³⁺ or Yb³⁺ at 0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 mmol/L, respectively. Early life stage parameters such as egg and embryo mortality, gastrula development, tail detachment, eyes, somite formation, circulatory system, pigmentation, malformations, hatching rate, length of larvae and mortality were investigated. The results showed La³⁺ and Yb³⁺ delayed zebrafish embryo and larval development, decreased survival and hatching rates, and caused tail malformation in a concentration-dependent way. Moreover, heavy rare-earth ytterbium led to more severe acute toxicity of zebrafish embryo than light rare-earth lanthanum.     

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.