Function Approximation and Documentation of Sampling Data Using Artificial Neural Networks

Biodiversity studies in ecology often begin with the fitting and documentation of sampling data. This study is conducted to make function approximation on sampling data and to document the sampling information using artificial neural network algorithms, based on the invertebrate data sampled in the irrigated rice field.Three types of sampling data, i.e., the curve species richness vs. the sample size, the curve rarefaction, and the curve mean abundance of newly sampled species vs.the sample size, are fitted and documented using BP (Backpropagation) network and RBF (Radial Basis Function) network. As the comparisons, The Arrhenius model, and rarefaction model, and power function are tested for their ability to fit these data. The results show that the BP network and RBF network fit the data better than these models with smaller errors.BP network and RBF network can fit non-linear functions (sampling data) with specified accuracy and don't require mathematical assumptions. In addition to the interpolation, BP network is used to extrapolate the functions and the asymptote of the sampling data can be drawn. BP network cost a longer time to train the network and the results are always less stable compared to the RBF network. RBF network require more neurons to fit functions and generally it may not be used to extrapolate the functions. The mathematical function for sampling data can be exactly fitted using artificial neural network algorithms by adjusting the desired accuracy and maximum iterations. The total numbers of functional species of invertebrates in the tropical irrigated rice field are extrapolated as 140 to 149 using trained BP network, which are similar to the observed richness.     

A Long-Term Forecast Analysis On Worldwide Land Uses

Abstact More and more lands worldwide are being cultivated for food production while forests are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. This paper aims to make a long-term forecast on land uses worldwide and provide the publics, researchers, and government officials with a clear profile for land uses in the future. Data of land uses since 1961 were used to fit historical trajectories and make the forecast. The results show that trajectories of land areas can be well fitted with univariate linear regressions. The forecasts of land uses during the coming 25 years were given in detail.Areas of agricultural land, arable land, and permanent pasture land worldwide would increase by 6.6%, 7.2%, and 6.3% respectively in the year 2030 as compared to the current areas. Permanent crops land area all over the world is forecasted to increase 0.64% by 2030. By the year 2030 the areas of forests and woodland, nonarable and nonpermanent land worldwide would decrease by 2.4% and 0.9% against the current areas. All other land area in the world would dramatically decline by 6.4% by the year 2030.Overall the land area related to agriculture would tend to decrease in developed countries, industrialized countries, Europe, and North and Central America. The agriculture related land area would considerably increase in developing countries, least developed countries, low-income countries, Asia, Africa, South America, etc.Developing countries hold larger total land area than developed countries. Dramatic and continuous growth in agricultural land area of developing countries would largely contribute to the expected growth of world agricultural land area in the coming years. Population explosion, food shortage and poverty in the world, especially in developing countries, together caused the excessive cultivation of land for agricultural uses in the past years. Increasing agricultural land area exacerbates the climate changes and degradation of environment. How to limit the growth of human population is a key problem for reducing agricultural land expansion. Development and use of high-yielding and high-quality crop and animal varieties, diversification of human food sources, and technical and financial assistance to developing countries from developed countries, should also be implemented and strengthened in the future in order to slow down or even reverse the increase trend of agricultural land area. Sustainable agriculture is the effective way to stabilize the agricultural land area without food shortage. Through various techniques and measures, sustainable agriculture may meet the food production goals with minimum environmental risk. Public awareness and interest in sustainable agriculture will help realize and ease the increasing stress from agricultural land expansion.     

我国10城市冬季大气颗粒物中多环芳烃污染及呼吸暴露风险评价

大气中颗粒物和多环芳烃对环境与人体健康危害较大,已引起社会各界的广泛关注。以我国10个城市2013年12月和2014年1月大气中空气动力学直径小于10μm的颗粒物(PM10)为研究对象,采用硅胶-氧化铝层析柱净化分离、气质联用仪分析的方法测定了27种多环芳烃(PAHs)的浓度水平,分析其谱分布及空间分布,并通过呼吸暴露途径估算了癌症病发增量(ILCRs)和人群归因危险度百分比(PAF)。结果表明,27种物质的总浓度为13.72~2 002 ng·m-3;在10个城市中晋中总浓度最高,厦门最低。PAHs空间污染水平呈现北方高于南方、东部沿海城市浓度相对较低的趋势。温度与总浓度有相关性。在27种PAHs中,占主导地位的单体为荧蒽(FLA,7.56%~19.8%),芘(PYR,6.72%~13.8%),艹屈(CHR,12.8%~19.6%)和苯并(k)荧蒽(Bk F,8.59%~15.5%),4者占到多环芳烃总浓度的42.1%~64.3%。根据研究区域苯并[a]芘(Ba P)人口加权浓度估算ILCRs范围为8.94×10-6~4.77×10-4,据此计算的PAFs为0.487%~13.2%,均值为3.44%,高于全国平均水平1.6%。上述研究结果为大气颗粒物中PAHs的研究提供重要的数据基础。     

微波焙烧法与马弗炉焙烧法处理废脱硝催化剂的效果比较

用Na_2CO_3作为助溶剂、Na_2O_2作为消解剂,采用微波焙烧法和马弗炉焙烧法消解处理废钒钨钛脱硝催化剂。通过XRF、BET、XRD和NH_3-TPD技术对两种消解方法制得的钛钨粉样品进行了表征。表征结果显示,与马弗炉焙烧法相比,微波焙烧法得到的钛钨粉纯度更高,TiO_2与WO_3含量之和大于96.7%(w),且该钛钨粉还具有更高的比表面积和酸性,可以作为钒钨钛脱硝催化剂的生产原料再利用。     

放射性松散污染真空吸尘装置的设计

针对普通工业吸尘器的局限性,根据放射性松散污染收集操作的需要及放射性废物最小化要求,提出了应用于放射性工作环境中的真空吸尘器设计方案。经旋风分离、滤袋过滤、高效过滤三级分离后,放射性松散污染可得到有效收集,尾气排放可达到核级排放标准,可达到保护环境、保护工作人员的效果,并实现放射性废物最小化。     

Simultaneous removal of phenanthrene and cadmium from contaminated soils by saponin, a plant-derived biosurfactant

Batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of saponin, a plant-derived biosurfactant, for simultaneously removing phenanthrene and cadmium from the combined contaminated soils. Results showed that phenanthrene was desorbed from the contaminated soils by saponin with the partition of phenanthrene into surfactant micelle, meanwhile cadmium was effectively removed from the contaminated soils by the complexation of cadmium with the external carboxyl groups of saponin micelle. The efficiencies of saponin for the removal of phenanthrene and cadmium from the contaminated soils were greater than that of Triton X100 and citric acid, respectively. At concentration of 3750 mg/L, saponin has a removal rate of 87.7% and 76.2% of cadmium and phenanthrene, respectively, from the combined contaminated soil. The removals of cadmium and phenanthrene from the soils were not obviously constrained each other. Thus, saponin has the potential for the removal of heavy metal and PAHs from the combined contaminated soils.     

介质阻挡放电处理甲苯及其放电参量的研究

采用等离子体反应器介质阻挡放电产生低温等离子体处理甲苯,在分析负载等效电路的基础上,利用电压-电荷Lis-sajous图形法对气体放电过程中的放电参量进行测量研究,并探讨了相关工况参数对甲苯去除率的影响.研究结果表明,该反应器所得能量随着电压的增大而增大;气隙等效电容随着外加电压和气隙厚度的增大而减小;电压较低时.电介质等效电容变化不大,随着电压的增大迅速升高,当电压达到一定值后,电介质等效电容变化平缓;该反应器采用粗电极对甲苯的去除率优于细电极;甲苯的去除率随着放电功率的上升而提高,但是能量效率却呈降低的趋势.此外,研究发现甲苯的初始浓度与气体流量与甲苯的去除率呈反比,而与甲苯的绝对去除量呈正比.     

Distribution of phthalate esters in topsoil: a case study in the Yellow River Delta, China

The Yellow River Delta (YRD) is a typical agricultural and petrochemical industrial area of China. To assess the current status of phthalate esters (PAEs) of soil residues, soil samples (0～20 cm) (n?=?82) were collected in Bincheng District, at the geographic center of the YRD. PAEs were detected in all topsoil samples analyzed, which indicated that PAEs are ubiquitous environmental contaminants. Concentrations of 11 PAEs are in the range of 0.794～19.504 μg g^?1, with an average value of 2.975 μg g^?1. It was presented that PAEs pollution in this area was weak and monotonously increasing along the rural–urban gradient. Higher concentrations were observed from roadsides (and/or gutters), densely anthropogenic activities areas (such as the urbanization and industrialization), and agriculture influence district, which mainly originated from construction waste, municipal sewage, agricultural waste and pesticide, discarded plastic effusion and atmospheric depositions. Concentrations of PAEs were weakly positivity correlated with soil organic carbon content and pH, which suggested both of them can affect the distribution of PAEs. The concentration of di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and di-n-butyl phthalate dominated in the 11 PAEs, with the average values of 0.735 and 1.915 μg g^?1, respectively, and accounted for 92.1 % of the whole PAEs’ concentrations. No significant differences of PAE congeneric profiles were observed between our work and others previously reported, which is consistent with the use of similar commercial PAEs around the world.     

Impacts of Nomad Sedentarization on Social and Ecological Systems at Multiple Scales in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,China

China’s government is now promoting the Nomad Sedentarization Project (NSP) in large areas of grassland as a solution for ecological restoration and poverty alleviation. To examine the effects of this policy, we conducted in-depth interviews at two of the project’s sites and examined the social and ecological systems at village, county, and catchment scales in Jinghe County of Xinjiang. We found that (1) the NSP in one village greatly improved the household standard of living and changed their resource utilization modes; (2) the success in this village can be attributed to resources imported from the social and ecological systems at larger scales, and could not be repeated in a second nearby village with different constraints; and (3) the NSP is poorly adapted to local ecosystem characteristics, and may therefore have negative impacts at larger scales. To avoid these problems, holistic assessments are necessary to judge the NSP’s impacts on social and ecological systems at multiple scales, and the program must be implemented cautiously to account for the potential risks in ecologically vulnerable areas.     

Reduction of nitrobenzene with sulfides catalyzed by the black carbons from crop-residue ashes

In this paper, three types of black carbons (BCs) named R-BC, W-BC, and C-BC were derived from rice straw ashes, wheat straw ashes, and corn straw ashes, respectively. Under room temperature and in an anaerobic aqueous solution, these three types of BCs could catalyze the reduction of nitrobenzene (NB) by sulfides rather than only act as the superabsorbent. The catalytic activities of BCs derived from different crop-residue ashes were very different and in the order of R-BC > W-BC > C-BC, since the reaction rate constants (k _obs) of NB with the BCs in the presence of 3 mM sulfides were 0.0186, 0.0063, and 0.0051 h^?1, respectively. The key catalytic active sites for NB reduction were evaluated, with four types of modified BCs and two types of tailored graphite as the model catalysts. The results indicated that BCs probably had two types of active sites for NB reduction, the microscopic graphene moieties and the surface oxygen functional groups. Since the sulfides and BCs often coexist in the environment, this BC-catalyzed reduction technology of NACs may be applied as an in situ remediation technique without the need for reagent addition.