Soil erosion and non-point source pollution impacts assessment with the aid of multi-temporal remote sensing images

Soil erosion associated with non-point source pollution is viewed as a process of land degradation in many terrestrial environments. Careful monitoring and assessment of land use variations with different temporal and spatial scales would reveal a fluctuating interface, punctuated by changes in rainfall and runoff, movement of people, perturbation from environmental disasters, and shifts in agricultural activities and cropping patterns. The use of multi-temporal remote sensing images in support of environmental modeling analysis in a geographic information system (GIS) environment leading to identification of a variety of long-term interactions between land, resources, and the built environment has been a highly promising approach in recent years. This paper started with a series of supervised land use classifications, using SPOT satellite imagery as a means, in the Kao-Ping River Basin, South Taiwan. Then, it was designed to differentiate the variations of eight land use patterns in the past decade, including orchard, farmland, sugarcane field, forest, grassland, barren, community, and water body. Final accuracy was confirmed based on interpretation of available aerial photographs and global positioning system (GPS) measurements. Finally, a numerical simulation model (General Watershed Loading Function, GWLF) was used to relate soil erosion to non-point source pollution impacts in the coupled land and river water systems. Research findings indicate that while the decadal increase in orchards poses a significant threat to water quality, the continual decrease in forested land exhibits a potential impact on water quality management. Non-point source pollution, contributing to part of the downstream water quality deterioration of the Kao-Ping River system in the last decade, has resulted in an irreversible impact on land integrity from a long-term perspective.     

Assessing Impacts of Typhoons and the Chi-Chi Earthquake on Chenyulan Watershed Landscape Pattern in Central Taiwan Using Landscape Metrics

The Chi-Chi earthquake (M_L = 7.3) occurred in the central part of Taiwan on September 21, 1999. After the earthquake, typhoons Xangsane and Toraji produced heavy rainfall that fell across the eastern and central parts of Taiwan on November 2000 and July 2001. This study uses remote sensing data, landscape metrics, multivariate statistical analysis, and spatial autocorrelation to assess how earthquake and typhoons affect landscape patterns. It addresses variations of the Chenyulan watershed in Nantou County, near the earthquake’s epicenter and crossed by Typhoon Toraji. The subsequent disturbances have gradually changed landscape of the Chenyulan watershed. Disturbances of various types, sizes, and intensities, following various tracks, have various effects on the landscape patterns and variations of the Chenyulan watershed. The landscape metrics that are obtained by multivariate statistical analyses showed that the disturbances produced variously fragmented patches, interspersed with other patches and isolated from patches of the same type across the entire Chenyulan watershed. The disturbances also affected the isolation, size, and shape-complexity of patches at the landscape and class levels. The disturbances at the class level more strongly affected spatial variations in the landscape as well as patterns of grasslands and bare land, than variations in the watershed farmland and forest. Moreover, the earthquake with high magnitude was a starter to create these landscape variations in space in the Chenyulan watershed. The cumulative impacts of the disturbances on the watershed landscape pattern had existed, especially landslides and grassland in the study area, but were not always evident in space and time in landscape and other class levels.     

地铁多线换乘车站火灾模型实验研究—(1)模型装置设计

为研究地铁网络化运营枢纽车站火灾烟气扩散特征和防排烟技术,根据工程资料和标准规范对典型多线换乘车站进行1∶10火灾实验模型设计,并依据设计方案完成车站模型主体结构和通风排烟系统的搭建,同时在各个防烟分区设计安装温度、流速、烟气浓度和热辐射测量装置,可实现对“T”形、“十”形和“L”形换乘等不同换乘形式车站的火灾场景模拟和危险参数测量。研究结果表明:该模型装置能够开展一系列针对不同换乘形式和通风模式的火灾实验,对于全面揭示大型换乘车站火灾烟气运动规律、验证并优化火灾防排烟设计方法、支撑复杂结构枢纽车站火灾烟气控制技术具有重要意义。     

二噁英类物质CALUX报告基因法在造纸行业的应用探究

选择典型造纸厂,采用化学激活报告基因法(CALUX)测定造纸过程中废水和纸浆中的二噁英类物质,并将部分样品测定结果与高分辨气相色谱-高分辨质谱(HRGC-HRMS)法测定结果作线性回归,换算系数为0.21,表明CALUX可用于造纸行业废水中二噁英类物质的快速筛查。将CALUX用于测定造纸厂废水中二噁英类物质,结果表明用含元素氯的漂白工艺会产生大量二噁英类物质,其中漂白废水中的目标物毒性当量浓度最高,经处理后可达到国家排放标准;而用无元素氯的漂白工艺,二噁英类物质的产生量会大幅降低。     

内窥镜检查在电站锅炉内部检验中的应用

工业内窥镜是电站锅炉内部检验中不可或缺的设备,主要用来对集箱、减温器、受热面管等内部人眼无法观察到的地方进行检验,从而确定承压部件内部是否存在严重影响锅炉安全运行的缺陷.本文通过对锅炉内窥实例进行分析和总结,阐述内窥镜检查在锅炉内检中的重要性并给相关工作人员提供借鉴与参考.     

Enhanced triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) degradation through application of an O3/UV process: Performance optimization and degradation pathways

• UV/O₃ process had higher TAIC mineralization rate than O₃ process. • Four possible degradation pathways were proposed during TAIC degradation. • pH impacted oxidation processes with pH of 9 achieving maximum efficiency. • CO₃^2– negatively impacted TAIC degradation while HCO₃^– not. • Cl^– can be radicals scavenger only at high concentration (over 500 mg/L Cl^–). Triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC, C₁₂H₁₅N₃O₃) has featured in wastewater treatment as a refractory organic compound due to the significant production capability and negative environmental impact. TAIC degradation was enhanced when an ozone(O₃)/ultraviolet(UV) process was applied compared with the application of an independent O₃ process. Although 99% of TAIC could be degraded in 5 min during both processes, the O₃/UV process had a 70%mineralization rate that was much higher than that of the independent O₃ process (9%) in 30 min. Four possible degradation pathways were proposed based on the organic compounds of intermediate products identified during TAIC degradation through the application of independent O₃ and O₃/UV processes. pH impacted both the direct and indirect oxidation processes. Acidic and alkaline conditions preferred direct and indirect reactions respectively, with a pH of 9 achieving maximum Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removal. Both CO₃^2– and HCO₃^– decreased TOC removal, however only CO₃^2– negatively impacted TAIC degradation. Effects of Cl^– as a radical scavenger became more marked only at high concentrations (over 500 mg/L Cl^–). Particulate and suspended matter could hinder the transmission of ultraviolet light and reduce the production of HO· accordingly.     

Catalytic oxidation of CO over Pt/Fe3O4 catalysts: Tuning O2 activation and CO adsorption

• Strong metal-support interaction exists on Pt/Fe₃O₄ catalysts. • Pt metal particles facilitate the formation of oxygen vacancies on Fe₃O₄. • Fe₃O₄ supports enhance the strength of CO adsorption on Pt metal particles. The self-inhibition behavior due to CO poisoning on Pt metal particles strongly impairs the performance of CO oxidation. It is an effective method to use reducible metal oxides for supporting Pt metal particles to avoid self-inhibition and to improve catalytic performance. In this work, we used in situ reductions of chloroplatinic acid on commercial Fe₃O₄ powder to prepare heterogeneous-structured Pt/Fe₃O₄ catalysts in the solution of ethylene glycol. The heterogeneous Pt/Fe₃O₄ catalysts achieved a better catalytic performance of CO oxidation compared with the Fe₃O₄ powder. The temperatures of 50% and 90% CO conversion were achieved above 260°C and 290°C at Pt/Fe₃O₄, respectively. However, they are accomplished on Fe₃O₄ at temperatures higher than 310°C. XRD, XPS, and H₂-TPR results confirmed that the metallic Pt atoms have a strong synergistic interaction with the Fe₃O₄ supports. TGA results and transient DRIFTS results proved that the Pt metal particles facilitate the release of lattice oxygen and the formation of oxygen vacancies on Fe₃O₄. The combined results of O₂-TPD and DRIFTS indicated that the activation step of oxygen molecules at surface oxygen vacancies could potentially be the rate-determining step of the catalytic CO oxidation at Pt/Fe₃O₄ catalysts. The reaction pathway involves a Pt-assisted Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism.     

Combined toxicity of imidacloprid,acetochlor, and tebuconazole to zebrafish ( Danio rerio ): acute toxicity and hepatotoxicity assessment

Compound pollution refers to two or more kinds of pollutants with different properties, a pollutant from different sources, or the simultaneous existence of two or more different types of pollutants in the same environment. In this study, we aimed to investigate the individual and combined toxicity of the insecticide imidacloprid (IMI), the herbicide acetochlor (ACT), and the fungicide tebuconazole (TBZ) to zebrafish. The acute toxicity test results showed that the 96-h LC50 values of IMI, ACT, and TBZ were 276.84 (259.62–294.35) mg active ingredient (a.i.) L−1, 1.52 (1.34–1.74) mg a.i. L−1, and 8.16 (7.7–8.6) mg a.i. L−1, respectively. The combinations of IMI, ACT, and TBZ with toxicity ratios of 1:2:2, 1:4:4, 2:4:1, and 4:1:4 displayed synergistic toxic effects on zebrafish, while the toxicity ratios of 1:1:1, 1:1:2, 2:1:2, 2:2:1, and 4:2:1 of IMI, ACT, and TBZ, respectively, exhibited antagonistic toxic effects on zebrafish. The following experiments were performed with a toxicity ratio of 1:4:4 (IMI:ACT:TBZ). The activities of four enzyme biomarkers related to oxidative stress in the liver, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were evaluated in each exposure group on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. Compared with those of the control group, the activities of CAT, SOD, and GST and the MDA content were significantly altered at different time points in the individual and combined exposure groups. Additionally, the activities of CAT, SOD, and GST and the MDA content were significantly altered in the combined group compared with those of the individual group after 14 days or 21 days of exposure. Therefore, it was confirmed that combined toxicity studies are indispensable in risk assessment.     

Monitoring land cover change detection with NOAA-AVHRR and MODIS remotely sensed data in the North and West of Africa from 1982 to 2015

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Mapping land cover changes (LCC) cover three decades over North and West Africa regions provides critical insights for the climate research that...     

Removal of trace Cr(VI) from aqueous solution by porous activated carbon balls supported by nanoscale zero-valent iron composites

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, porous activated carbon balls supported by nanoscale zero-valent iron composites (Fe@PACB-700) were used for the first time for the...