Status and fuzzy comprehensive assessment of combined heavy metal and organo-chlorine pesticide pollution in the Taihu Lake region of China

The status of combined heavy metal and organo-chlorine pesticide (OCPs; i.e. HCH and DDT) pollution was investigated and the soil environmental quality of the Taihu Lake watershed, one of the most developed regions in China, was evaluated using a fuzzy comprehensive assessment. Statistical analyses showed the presence of combined pollution in the soil. At many sampling sites, heavy metal concentrations were above corresponding background values, indicating the effects of extraneous pollutants. It has been over 20 years since China banned the use of OCPs, but they can still be found in soil samples of this region. HCH levels at all investigated sites were below the Chinese Environmental Quality Standard for Soils. Fuzzy comprehensive assessment showed that the overall soil quality in this region could be categorized as class I. Nevertheless, the high coefficients of variation for levels of DDT, Cd and Hg indicated the existence of some point-source pollution. Continuous monitoring and further studies of the region are recommended to prevent pollution of farmland from these sources.     

火灾报警系统的软硬件研究与设计

火灾自动报警系统是一项很有社会意义的安全项目,包涵了众多的设备选型,与软硬件连接。本文对火灾探测系统的组成,设计进行了分析总结,对相关软硬件进行了研究与设计,给出了实现原理与方案。     

Reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory in Chinese drivers

Objective: The Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory (MDSI) has been widely used in assessing the associations between driving styles and traffic violations and accidents in different cultural contexts. Due to the lack of a valid instrument to assess driving style, studies concerning driving style and its influence factors are limited in China. Thus, this study aimed to adapt and validate a Chinese version of the MDSI.

Methods: Seven hundred and sixty drivers aged from 19 to 60 years old were asked to complete the MDSI and a personality scale (trait anger, sensation seeking, altruism, and normlessness). Exploratory factory analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to obtain the factorial structure of the MDSI. The external validity of the MDSI was then evaluated by examining the associations between driving styles and personality traits, demographic variables, and traffic violations and crashes.

Results: EFA revealed a 6-factor structure of the MDSI (i.e., risky, anxious, angry, distress reduction, careful, and dissociative driving styles). CFA confirmed that the model fit of the MDSI was acceptable. The MDSI factors were moderately or weakly correlated with trait anger, sensation seeking, altruism, and normlessness. Significant gender and age differences in driving styles were found. Moreover, drivers who had traffic violations or crashes in the past year scored higher on risky and angry driving styles and lower on careful driving style than those who had not have traffic violations or crashes.

Conclusions: The Chinese version of the MDSI proved to be a reliable, valid, and highly useful instrument. It could be used to assess Chinese drivers who are at risk due to their maladaptive driving styles.     

Multivariate characterization of elements accumulated in Wolfiporia extensa mushroom from Yunnan province of China

ABSTRACT

Dried sclerotia of Wolfiporia extensa have been used as medicine in Asia from Eastern Han Dynasty, and also used as traditional snack called “fulingjiabing” in Beijing, China. In this paper, 18 macro and trace elements (Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, V, and Zn) in both flesh and peel of Wolfiporia extensa from seven sites of Yunnan province in China were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. The average recovery rates of certified reference materials for GBW10015 (spinach leaves) ranged from 90.5 to 113%, for GBW10028 (citrus leaves) from 92.8 to 106%, and for GBW07603 (bush branch and leaves) from 83.3 to 114.6%. Generally speaking, the concentration of all elements determined was at common level. The results of this survey indicate that mineral compositions in peel were higher than in flesh. In peel, the contents of investigated trace metals in mushroom samples were found to be in the range of 1,660–13,400 µg·g^?1 dry matter (dm) for Fe and 29.6–710 µg·g^?1 dm for Mn. The mean contents of Cr, Cu, Rb, V, and Zn in peel were between 10 and 20 µg·g^?1 dm, followed by As, Co, Li, Ni, Pb, Se, and Sr with mean contents between 1 and 10 µg·g^?1 dm, while Ag, Cd, and Cs had mean contents of <1 µg·g^?1 dm. In flesh, the concentration of Fe was in the range of 54–900 µg·g^?1 dm, and it was 1.5–49 µg·g^?1 dm for Mn, followed by Ba, Cu, Rb, and Zn in the range of 1 to 10 µg·g^?1 dm, while for Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Li, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, and V it was <1 µg·g^?1 dm. The concentration of toxic elements, such as As, Cd, and Pb, in both flesh and peel was below the permissible limits of World Health Organization. However, As and Pb contents in peel were higher than the limits permitted in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The results of principal component analysis showed that the flesh of Wolfiporia extensa from all the seven sites of the Yunnan province tend to cluster together, most probably because the origin of mineral elements in both flesh and peel is wood substrate (old and dead pine trees).     

Short-duration hydrothermal fermentation of food waste: preparation of soil conditioner for amending organic-matter-impoverished arable soils

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Soil conditioners can be used to compensate for the insufficient soil nutrition and organic matter (OM) of arable soils. However, the traditional...     

Evolutionary game analysis of WEEE recycling tripartite stakeholders under variable subsidies and processing fees

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The standardization of formal recycling and rational subsidy plays an important role in waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling. In order...     

Scale Effects on Spatially Varying Relationships Between Urban Landscape Patterns and Water Quality

Scientific interpretation of the relationships between urban landscape patterns and water quality is important for sustainable urban planning and watershed environmental protection. This study applied the ordinary least squares regression model and the geographically weighted regression model to examine the spatially varying relationships between 12 explanatory variables (including three topographical factors, four land use parameters, and five landscape metrics) and 15 water quality indicators in watersheds of Yundang Lake, Maluan Bay, and Xinglin Bay with varying levels of urbanization in Xiamen City, China. A local and global investigation was carried out at the watershed-level, with 50 and 200 m riparian buffer scales. This study found that topographical features and landscape metrics are the dominant factors of water quality, while land uses are too weak to be considered as a strong influential factor on water quality. Such statistical results may be related with the characteristics of land use compositions in our study area. Water quality variations in the 50 m buffer were dominated by topographical variables. The impact of landscape metrics on water quality gradually strengthen with expanding buffer zones. The strongest relationships are obtained in entire watersheds, rather than in 50 and 200 m buffer zones. Spatially varying relationships and effective buffer zones were verified in this study. Spatially varying relationships between explanatory variables and water quality parameters are more diversified and complex in less urbanized areas than in highly urbanized areas. This study hypothesizes that all these varying relationships may be attributed to the heterogeneity of landscape patterns in different urban regions. Adjustment of landscape patterns in an entire watershed should be the key measure to successfully improving urban lake water quality.     

Exploring the risks and benefits of flexibility in biodiversity offset location in a case study of migratory shorebirds

Biodiversity offsets aim to counterbalance the residual impacts of development on species and ecosystems. Guidance documents explicitly recommend that biodiversity offset actions be located close to the location of impact because of higher potential for similar ecological conditions, but allowing greater spatial flexibility has been proposed. We examined the circumstances under which offsets distant from the impact location could be more likely to achieve no net loss or provide better ecological outcomes than offsets close to the impact area. We applied a graphical model for migratory shorebirds in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway as a case study to explore the problems that arise when incorporating spatial flexibility into offset planning. Spatially flexible offsets may alleviate impacts more effectively than local offsets; however, the risks involved can be substantial. For our case study, there were inadequate data to make robust conclusions about the effectiveness and equivalence of distant habitat-based offsets for migratory shorebirds. Decisions around offset placement should be driven by the potential to achieve equivalent ecological outcomes; however, when considering more distant offsets, there is a need to evaluate the likely increased risks alongside the potential benefits. Although spatially flexible offsets have the potential to provide more cost-effective biodiversity outcomes and more cobenefits, our case study showed the difficulty of demonstrating these benefits in practice and the potential risks that need to be considered to ensure effective offset placement.