Preliminary Evaluation of the Use of Phosphogypsum for Reef Substrate. I. A Laboratory Study of Bioaccumulation of Radium and Six Heavy Metals in an Aquatic Food Chain

Phosphogypsum (PG), a solid by-product of phosphoric acid production, contains radionuclides and trace metals in concentrations which may pose a potential hazard to human health and the environment. to investigate the possibility of bioaccumulation of radium and six heavy metals over time when aquatic organisms experience both trophic and environmental exposure to PG, we designed a laboratory experiment representing three levels of an aquatic food chain. During the 135 day experiment, a meiobenthic copepod species (Amphiascoides atopus) was cultured in the presence of PG. the copepods were subsequently fed to grass shrimp (Palaemonetes vulgaris and P. pugio) which were in turn fed to gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis); both the grass shrimp and the killifish also experienced an environmental PG exposure. Other than elevated radium levels in the experimental grass shrimp, the experiment demonstrated little effect of environmental or trophic exposure to PG on microinvertebrates, macroinvertebrates, or fishes that could be attributed to PG. in all cases where increased concentrations were indicated within the experimental group, roughly equivalent increases in metal concentrations also occurred in the control group.     

Biodegradability of organic substances by ATP test

The aerobic biodegradability of organic substances in water is characterized by determination of energy change ‐ ATP content in microbial cells during biodegradation. A satisfactory result is obtained under the following conditions: the initial concentration of tested substance is 100mg/l (as DOC), the amount of the inoculum in the biological medium is 500mg/l (as MLSS), and the duration of test time is 14 days. The evaluating system (peak time, peak height and IA index) is proposed to assess the biodegradability of 46 organic compounds and 7 wastewaters.     

Carbon sequestration of black locust forests in the Yellow River Delta region,China

The Yellow River Delta region in China is a land area of 1,200,000 ha with rich natural resources. Adverse environmental conditions, such as low rainfall and high salinity, promote the dominance of black locust trees for afforestation. With the increase of CO₂ in the atmosphere, this forest and others throughout the world have become valued for their ability to sequester and store carbon. Forests store carbon in aboveground biomass (i.e. trees), belowground biomass (i.e. roots), soils and standing litter crop (i.e. forest floor and coarse woody debris). There are well-developed methods to sample forest ecosystems, including tree inventories that are used to quantify carbon in aboveground tree biomass. Such inventories are used to estimate the types of roundwood products removed from the forest during harvesting. Based on standard plot inventories and stem analyses, carbon sequestration estimates of trees were 222.41 t ha^?1 for the Yellow River Delta region accounted for 67.12% of the whole forest. Similarly, carbon storage by herbaceous matter and soil was 0.50 and 50.34 t ha^?1, respectively. The results suggest that carbon sequestration in the forest ecosystem was performed by most of the forest, which plays an increasingly important role in sequestering carbon as the stand grows.     

NGOs come and go but business continues: lessons from co-management institutional arrangements for governance of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve in Kenya

The objective of this paper is to examine the current institutional arrangements for governance of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve (ASFR) and show their major contribution in the ASFR co-management business of conserving the forest and providing livelihoods to the poor forest-dependent communities. Despite the fact that funding from non-governmental organizations ended, the ASFR co-management business did not stall. The institutional arrangements for co-management were deemed to be the major component that contributed to the continuation of the ASFR co-management business. To demonstrate this hypothesis, the paper explores four main areas that shape the institutional arrangement of the ASFR co-management regime, informed by common property theories: (1) how governance arrangement structures for the ASFR are organized; (2) villagers’ perceptions and awareness of the co-management structure; (3) co-management arrangement for access, ownership and use of the various forest resources; and (4) importance of the forest resources to the households. The co-management piloting and non-piloting communities adjacent to the forest and who have been depending on the forest as a source of their livelihoods are compared in order to understand the role of the ASFR co-management institutional arrangements in the sustainability of its business.     

土著细菌对江汉平原浅层含水层沉积物中砷迁移的影响

对江汉平原水文地质调查发现,该地区地下水砷含量已远超国家饮用水标准。以沉积物培养的土著细菌混合液为生物材料,以江汉平原高砷含水层沉积物为研究对象,在实验室内模拟地下水系统,研究厌氧环境条件下,不同生物量土著细菌和pH值对沉积物中砷迁移转化的影响,以及土著细菌活动下砷在不同沉积物中的迁移转化。结果表明,不同生物量菌悬液都能促进沉积物中As的释放,增加总As和As(III)的浓度,但150mL处理组,在研究后期,总As和As(III)的浓度呈现减缓趋势;在初始生物量一定的条件下,沉积物中As含量越高,细菌活动下总As相对释出量就越低,而且As(III)占所释出总As的比值就越高,但两个高砷含量沉积物组的差异较小;在初始pH值为5、7和9的培养条件下,细菌都能加速砷的迁移,但pH值为5的处理组(简称pH5处理组)最弱,在前8天,pH9处理组较pH7处理组的低,随后超过pH7处理组。研究表明,土著细菌悬液能加速As从沉积物中释出,并且释出的As以As(III)为主;在耐受的弱碱性环境条件下,细菌对砷的迁移和转化随环境的pH值增加而增强。     

酸胁迫对铜藻早期生长阶段的影响

为探究低pH胁迫对大型藻类早期生长的影响,以铜藻 Sargassum horneri 为研究对象,设置pH=3.5、4.5、5.5、6.5处理组和自然海水对照组,以不同处理时间分别对铜藻孢子和幼体进行胁迫实验。孢子实验中,于铜藻孢子附着前、后对其进行15、30、60、120 min的酸胁迫,以附着率和脱落率表征低pH对孢子附着的影响;幼体实验中,持续将铜藻幼体暴露于酸性条件下,以脱落死亡率表征pH对幼体的致死效应。结果显示,在短时间酸胁迫下,酸度对铜藻孢子附着的影响显著,附着率随pH值的下降而降低;胁迫时间对孢子的附着影响显著,附着率随胁迫时间的延长而降低,pH值与胁迫时间无交互作用;而当孢子已充分附着后,短期酸胁迫并没有显著影响孢子体的存活。在长时间酸胁迫下,与对照组相比,所有处理组铜藻幼体的存活率均显著降低。研究表明,低pH会对铜藻孢子、幼体的存活生长产生不利影响,并且这种影响在铜藻早期发育的不同阶段有所不同。     

Enhanced production of laccase by Coriolus hirsutus using molasses distillery wastewater

The effect of physical parameters of cultivation (load volume, temperature, pH, agitation, inoculum size, and incubation period) in the production of laccase by wood-rotting basidiomycete Coriolus hirsutus were studied using diluted molasses distillery wastewater (MDW) as a major composition. Using fractional factorial design, our study first identified load volume, agitation, and inoculum size as statistically significant factors. Optimal preferences and mutual interactions of the factors were then determined by the response surface method, which is based on the center composite design. A quadratic model was used to fit the experimental data. The optimized operational parameters for laccase production were determined to be the following: culture temperature of 25°C, pH 4, load volume of 40 mL diluted MDW in 150 mL flask, agitation rate of 183 r·min^?1, inoculation of 11.5% v/v, and cultivation time of 6 d. The experimental validation under these conditions (the maximum laccase production of 2198.2 U·mL^?1 was within the confidence interval) subsequently verified the accuracy of the constructed model. Moreover, the removal of chemical oxygen demand and nitrogen of MDW reached 62.85% and 48.00% respectively, and the decolorization ratio under the optimal condition was 41.85%. The enhanced production of laccase by C. hirsutus is a new recovery strategy for MDW.     

Degradation of bisphenol A by microorganisms immobilized on polyvinyl alcohol microspheres

In this study, microorganisms （named B111） were immobilized on polyvinyl alcohol microspheres prepared by the inverse suspension crosslinked method. The biodegradation of bisphenol A （BPA） and 4-hydro- xybenzaldehyde, a degradation product of BPA, by free and immobilized B lll was investigated. The BPA degradation studies were carried out at initial BPA concentrations ranging from 25 to 150 mg·L^-1. The affinity constant Ks and maximum degradation rate Rmax were 98.3 mg·L^-1 and 19.7mg·mg^-1VSS·d^-1 for free B111, as well as 87.2mg·L^-1 and 21.1mg·mg^-1VSS·d^-1 for immobilized B 111, respectively. 16S rDNA gene sequence analyses confirmed that the dominant genera were Pseudomonas and Brevundimonas for BPA biodegradation in microorganisms B 111.     

地震救援人员的心理伤害与预防

随着我国救灾体系的完善,有组织直接参与地震救援的人员群体随之增大。地震救援人员自身的心理救护问题也开始暴露,成为一个现实问题。综述了地震救援人员在地震救援中产生心理伤害的主要原因,分析了专业地震救援队员、应急救治人员和地震救援志愿者等不同类型的群体在地震现场形成的心理问题和特点。因为受到的训练不同,地震救援与实际工作的经验不同,事前受到训练与有过救援经历的人受到心理伤害的可能性相对较小。据此,提出了事前干预进行心理训练的建议。     

地震应急期关键时间阶段划分研究

在研究我国地震应急救援相关法律法规、预案,以及汶川、玉树、盈江、彝良和海地、东日本等国内外地震应急救援案例的基础上,将地震应急期划分成应急启动、紧急救援、过渡性安置等3个阶段,并对各阶段的持续时间、主要工作及其先后次序进行了梳理.在实际抗震救灾工作中,这3个阶段不是互不相干、相互独立的,而是存在一定的时间相关性.这就需要指挥者对不同阶段的重点工作优先考虑,同时兼顾各项相关工作,保证抗震救灾工作的顺利进行.