Concentrations of Potentially Toxic Metals in Urban Soils of Seville: Relationship with Different Land Uses

Fifty-two samples of surface soils were taken in the urban area of Seville, to assess the possible influence of different land uses on their metal contents and their relationship with several soil properties. The samples corresponded to five categories or land uses: agricultural, parks, ornamental gardens, riverbanks, and roadsides. Sequential extraction of metal according to the procedure proposed by the former Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) was carried out, and pseudo-total (aqua regia soluble) metal contents were determined. Lower organic C, total N and available P and K contents were found in riverbank samples, probably due to the lack of manuring of those sites, left in a natural status. In contrast, significantly higher electrical conductivity was found in those sites, due to the tidal influence of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Other land uses did not show significant differences in the general properties. Concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn, both aqua-regia soluble and sequentially extracted, were clearly higher in soils from ornamental gardens, whereas the concentrations in the riverbank samples were slightly lower than the other categories. In contrast, other metals (Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni) were uniformly distributed throughout all land uses. A strong statistical association is found among the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn and organic C, suggesting that the larger contents of these metals in ornamental gardens are partly due to organic amendments added to those sites more frequently than to other kinds of sites. Considering the conclusions of previous studies, heavy traffic can also contribute to those `urban’ metals in urban soils. Periodic monitoring of the concentrations of urban metals in busy city centres and of the quality of amendments added to soils of recreational areas are recommended.     

侵入体中透岩浆流体作用的标志

<正> 引言 有关透岩浆流体的假说是岩石学中一个基本的假说。Д.С.Коржинский主张把透岩浆流体理解为由地幔内自身脱气作用而产生的流体。这种流体上升时会使固态岩石发生熔融,并在其周围及所形成的岩浆物质上引起岩浆阶段的交代作用,继之还会使沉积物发生变质     

论绢云母的概念

<正> 在许多矿床的蚀变近矿岩石中,广泛分布着一种称之为“绢云母”的浅色细鳞片状云母。绢云母是交代岩和变质岩(诸如黄铁细晶岩、石英-绢云母交代岩、绢云母岩、绢云母板岩、千枚岩等)的标型矿物。长期以来,细鳞片状云母的鉴定都依靠光性数据,少数情况下依赖化学分析和热分析的结果。进一步研究查明,绢云母的特征是K和H_2O以及Al、Si、Mg和Fe的含量变化相当大。它的光学性质和其它性质也有明显改变。结构分析表明,它包括结构特征极不相同的云母。由于这些情况,在矿物学文献中,绢云母常常有“细鳞片状钾云母”、“细分散状浅色云母”和“细鳞片     

空气中PPb二氧化硫的差示脉冲伏安测定法

电化学法已广泛应用于大气中二氧化硫的测定。特别是电量和电导技术,它们灵敏度较高,但选择性较差。而极谱法,由于潜在干扰的问题,那些能在收集介质     

1990～2000年加拿大泥炭开采产生的温室气体排放:一个生命周期分析

这项研究采用生命周期分析来探讨加拿大1990～2000年间泥炭工业温室气体(GHG)净排放量.GHG交换通过土地利用变化、泥炭开采、处理、运输到市场,以及开采的泥炭原地分解来估算.根据一个累积GHG计算模型估计显示,1990年泥炭开采生命周期中排放GHG 0.54×106t,到2000年,增加到O.89×106t(以CO2当量表示,在100年时间水平下).与最终利用相关的泥炭分解是GHG最大的排放源,在11年中,占总排放量的71%.土地利用变化导致了泥炭田由GHG汇转变为源,占了15%的份额.泥炭运输占据了GHG总排放量的10%,开采和加工占4%.如果泥炭田恢复成功,并且被完全开采了的泥炭田重新成为净碳汇,碳库恢复到原来水平也大概得需要2000年时间.     

Long-term temporal-spatial dynamics of marine coastal water quality in the Tolo Harbor, Hong Kong, China

IntroductionToloHarborislocatedinthenortheasternpartofHongKong .Itisanearlyland lockedwaterbodywithonlyonenarrowexittotheopenseaatMirsBay(Fig .1) .Itslengthandsurfaceareaareapproximately 15kmand 5 2km2 ,respectively .Theaveragedepthvariesfromlessthan10min…     

Forensic entomology

Necrophagous insects are important in the decomposition of cadavers. The close association between insects and corpses and the use of insects in medicocriminal investigations is the subject of forensic entomology. The present paper reviews the historical background of this discipline, important postmortem processes, and discusses the scientific basis underlying attempts to determine the time interval since death. Using medical techniques, such as the measurement of body temperature or analysing livor and rigor mortis, time since death can only be accurately measured for the first two or three days after death. In contrast, by calculating the age of immature insect stages feeding on a corpse and analysing the necrophagous species present, postmortem intervals from the first day to several weeks can be estimated. These entomological methods may be hampered by difficulties associated with species identification, but modern DNA techniques are contributing to the rapid and authoritative identification of necrophagous insects. Other uses of entomological data include the toxicological examination of necrophagous larvae from a corpse to identify and estimate drugs and toxicants ingested by the person when alive and the proof of possible postmortem manipulations. Forensic entomology may even help in investigations dealing with people who are alive but in need of care, by revealing information about cases of neglect.     

Laboratory scale studies on removal of chromium from industrial wastes

Chromium being one of the major toxic pollutants is discharged from electroplating and chrome tanning processes and is also found in the effluents of dyes,paint pigments,manufacturing units etc.Chromium exists in aqueous systems in both trivalent(Cr^3 )and hexavalent (Cr^6 )forms.The hexavalent form is carcinogenic and toxic to aquatic life,whereas Cr^3 is however comparatively less toxic.This study was undertaken to investigate the total chromium removal from industial effluents by chemical means in order to achieve the Pakistan NEQS level of 1 mg/L by the methods of reduction and precipitation.The study was conducted in four phase Ⅰ,the optimum pH and cost effective reducing agent among the four popular commercial chemicals was selected.As a result,pH of 2 was found to be most suitable and sodium meta bisulfate was found to be the most cost effective reducing agent respectively.Phase Ⅱ showed that lower dose of sodium meta hisulfate was sufficient to obtain 100% efficiency in reducing Cr^6 to Cr^3 ,and it was noted that reaction time had no significance in the whole process.A design curve for reduction process was established which can act as a tool for treatment of industrial effluents.Phase Ⅲ studies indicated the best pH was 8.5 for precipitation of Cr^3 to chromium hydroxide by using lime.An efficiency of 100% was achievable and a settling time of 30 minutes produced clear effluent.Finally in Phase Ⅳ actual waste samples from chrome tanning and electroplating industries,when precipitated at pH of 12 gave 100% efficiency at a settling time of 30 minutes and confirmed that chemical means of reduction and precipitation is a feasible and viable solution for treating chromium wastes from industries.     

'Molecular farming' of antibodies in plants

'Molecular farming' is the production of valuable recombinant proteins in transgenic organisms on an agricultural scale. While plants have long been used as a source of medicinal compounds, molecular farming represents a novel source of molecular medicines, such as plasma proteins, enzymes, growth factors, vaccines and recombinant antibodies, whose medical benefits are understood at a molecular level. Until recently, the broad use of molecular medicines was limited because of the difficulty in producing these proteins outside animals or animal cell culture. The application of molecular biology and plant biotechnology in the 1990s showed that many molecular medicines or vaccines could be synthesised in plants and this technology is termed 'molecular farming'. It results in pharmaceuticals that are safer, easier to produce and less expensive than those produced in animals or microbial culture. An advantage of molecular farming lies in the ability to perform protein production on a massive scale using hectares of cultivated plants. These plants can then be harvested and transported using the agricultural infrastructure. Thus, molecular farming allows rapid progress from genetic engineering to crop production, and new cash crops producing recombinant proteins are already being commercially exploited. We speculate that as functional genomics teaches us more about the nature of disease, molecular farming will produce many of the protein therapeutics that can remedy it.     

消融的冰川：加拿大班夫国家公园亚高山带鲍湖中持久性有机氯的主要来源

有机氯杀虫剂和多氯联苯（PCB）是环境中普遍而稳固的化合物。现已查明，由于它们从温暖的地区逐渐蒸发出来，并在较冷的地区凝聚下来，因而它们富集在寒冷的环境中。在本研究中，我们的结果是，消融的冰川供给阿尔伯达亚高山带湖泊中的有机氯输入量为50%～97％，而提供的水量为73％。对氚的分析结果表明，在夏季的中、晚期，至少10％的冰川消融物是在1950～1970年期间沉积下来的，这期间它受到有机氯更多的污染。这一发现表明，气候变暖可能会使消融的冰川成为日益增多的淡水污染物来源。由于有机物贫乏的冰川粘土对多氯联苯这样的疏水化合物的吸附能力有限，因此冰川水流带来的有机氯大多呈溶解状态。