Using improved neural network model to analyze RSP,NOx and NO2 levels in urban air in Mong Kok,Hong Kong

As the health impact of air pollutants existing in ambient addresses much attention in recent years, forecasting of airpollutant parameters becomes an important and popular topic inenvironmental science. Airborne pollution is a serious, and willbe a major problem in Hong Kong within the next few years. InHong Kong, Respirable Suspended Particulate (RSP) and NitrogenOxides NO_x and NO₂ are major air pollutants due to thedominant diesel fuel usage by public transportation and heavyvehicles. Hence, the investigation and prediction of the influence and the tendency of these pollutants are ofsignificance to public and the city image. The multi-layerperceptron (MLP) neural network is regarded as a reliable andcost-effective method to achieve such tasks. The works presentedhere involve developing an improved neural network model, whichcombines the principal component analysis (PCA) technique and theradial basis function (RBF) network, and forecasting thepollutant levels and tendencies based in the recorded data. Inthe study, the PCA is firstly used to reduce and orthogonalizethe original input variables (data), these treated variables arethen used as new input vectors in RBF neural network modelestablished for forecasting the pollutant tendencies. Comparingwith the general neural network models, the proposed modelpossesses simpler network architecture, faster training speed,and more satisfactory predicting performance. This improvedmodel is evaluated by using hourly time series of RSP, NO_x and NO₂ concentrations collected at Mong Kok Roadside Gaseous Monitory Station in Hong Kong during the year 2000. By comparing the predicted RSP, NO_x and NO₂ concentrationswith the actual data of these pollutants recorded at the monitorystation, the effectiveness of the proposed model has been proven.Therefore, in authors' opinion, the model presented in the paper is a potential tool in forecasting air quality parameters and hasadvantages over the traditional neural network methods.     

Determination of Nitrobenzene in Wastewater Using a Hanging Mercury Drop Electrode

The determination of trace amount nitrobenzene in wastewater on a hanging mercury drop electrode was studied. The determination conditions of pH, supporting electrolyte, accumulation potential, accumulation time, and voltammetric response were optimized. The sharp peak of the nitrobenzene was appeared at 0.05 V. The peak electric current was proportional to the concentration of nitrobenzene in the range of 1.47 × 10⁻⁵ ∼ 1.0 × 10⁻³ mol/l with relative standard deviations of 3.99 ∼ 8.94%. The detection limit of the nitrobenzene in water was 5 × 10⁻⁶ mol/l. The proposed method offered low limit of determination, easy operation, the use of simple instrumentation, high sensitivity and good reproducibility. It was applied to the determination of nitrobenzene in wastewater with an average recovery of 94.0% ∼ 105%. The proposed method provided fast, sensitive and sometimes real time detection of nitrobenzene.     

End-users’ knowledge,attitude, and behavior towards safe use of pesticides: a case study in the Guanting Reservoir area,China

Pesticides are widely used in China for crop protection. However, the use of some highly toxic and accumulative pesticides has led to serious pollution to the environment. The knowledge that end-users of pesticides have about hazards is important for the prevention of acute poisoning. Moreover, farmers, especially those who purchase and use pesticides, often make important and long-standing impacts on the local ecosystem and environment. In this study, a specially designed questionnaire was used to collect information on their knowledge, attitude, and behavior related to pesticides in the Guanting Reservoir area, north of China. Most pesticide end-users reported that they took incomplete preventive measures for lack of extensive pesticide knowledge and information. Pesticide information, instruction, and training among farmers should be promoted, and governmental intervention is needed to ensure proper management regarding public health risks and environmental hazards.     

Scenario-based assessment and multi-objective optimization of urban development plan with carrying capacity of water system

• Impact of urban development on water system is assessed with carrying capacity. • Impacts on both water resource quantity and environmental quality are involved. • Multi-objective optimization revealing system trade-off facilitate the regulation. • Efficiency, scale and structure of urban development are regulated in two stages. • A roadmap approaching more sustainable development is provided for the case city. Environmental impact assessments and subsequent regulation measures of urban development plans are critical to human progress toward sustainability, since these plans set the scale and structure targets of future socioeconomic development. A three-step methodology for assessing and optimizing an urban development plan focusing on its impacts on the water system was developed. The methodology first predicted the pressure on the water system caused by implementation of the plan under distinct scenarios, then compared the pressure with the carrying capacity threshold to verify the system status; finally, a multi-objective optimization method was used to propose regulation solutions. The methodology enabled evaluation of the water system carrying state, taking socioeconomic development uncertainties into account, and multiple sets of improvement measures under different decisionmaker preferences were generated. The methodology was applied in the case of Zhoushan city in South-east China. The assessment results showed that overloading problems occurred in 11 out of the 13 zones in Zhoushan, with the potential pressure varying from 1.1 to 18.3 times the carrying capacity. As a basic regulation measure, an environmental efficiency upgrade could relieve the overloading in 4 zones and reduce 9%‒63% of the pressure. The optimization of industrial development showed that the pressure could be controlled under the carrying capacity threshold if the planned scale was reduced by 24% and the industrial structure was transformed. Various regulation schemes including a more suitable scale and structure with necessary efficiency standards are provided for decisionmakers that can help the case city approach a more sustainable development pattern.     

新烟碱类杀虫剂吡虫啉和啶虫脒对人神经母细胞瘤SK-N-SH细胞的毒性作用

吡虫啉和啶虫脒是目前使用较广的2种新烟碱类杀虫剂,它们在环境、食品和人体样品中的普遍残留,对人体健康构成威胁,但目前关于其对人的神经毒性仍知之甚少.本文以人神经母细胞瘤SK-N-SH细胞为模型,采用体外细胞实验,研究不同浓度吡虫啉和啶虫脒暴露对细胞活力、细胞形态、烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体(nAChRs)α7亚基的mRNA和蛋...     

Control concept and countermeasures for shallow lakes’ eutrophication in China

Research on lake eutrophication in China began in the early 1970s, and many lakes in China are now known to be in meso-eutrophic status. Lake eutrophication has been showing a rapidly increasing trend since 2000. Investigations show that the main reasons for lake eutrophication include a fragile lake background environment, excessive nutrient loading into lakes, excessive human activities, ecological degeneration, weak environmental protection awareness, and lax lake management. Major mechanisms resulting from lake eutrophication include nutrient recycling imbalance, major changes in water chemistry (pH, oxygen, and carbon), lake ecosystem imbalance, and algal prevalence in lakes. Some concepts for controlling eutrophication should be persistently proposed, including lake catchment control, combination of pollutant source control with ecological restoration, protection of three important aspects (terrestrial ecology, lake coast zone, and submerged plant), and combination of lake management with regulation. Measures to control lake eutrophication should include pollution source control (i.e., optimize industrial structural adjustments in the lake catchment, reduce nitrogen and phosphorus emission amounts, and control endogenous pollution) and lake ecological restoration (i.e. establish a zone-lake buffer region and lakeside zone, protect regional vegetation, utilize hydrophytes in renovation technology); countermeasures for lake management should include implementing water quality management, identifying environmental and lake water goals, legislating and formulating laws and regulations to protect lakes, strengthening publicity and the education of people, increasing public awareness through participation in systems and mechanic innovations, establishing lake region management institutions, and ensuring implementation of governance and management measures.     

三江平原不同水位梯度湿地地上生物量动态特征

水分条件变化直接影响湿地植物群落的分布及其生产量,为了阐明不同水分条件湿地初级生产力的形成规律,揭示水文格局对湿地生态系统物质生产过程的调控机理,采用收获法研究了三江平原不同水位梯度上的小叶章(Calamagrostics angustifolia)、乌拉苔草(Carex meyeriana)和毛苔草(Carex lasiocarpa)湿地地上生物量的结构动态及其增长速率,结果表明:3类湿地地上及其各器官生物量均呈单峰型变化,小叶章湿地和乌拉苔草湿地地上生物量的峰值出现的时间早于毛苔草湿地,而且小叶章湿地和乌拉苔草湿地各季节地上生物量均大于毛苔草湿地.茎对小叶章湿地地上生物量的平均贡献率与毛苔草湿地相近,均大于乌拉苔草湿地;叶对小叶章湿地地上生物量的平均贡献率与毛苔草湿地相近,均小于乌拉苔草湿地.3类湿地地上生物量的绝对增长率和相对增长率的变化趋势基本相同,但不同阶段绝对增长率和相对增长率值的大小存在差异.3类湿地地上生物量及各组分生物量的季节动态变化均符合抛物线模型,并且各模型拟合精度均较高,R2基本都在0.92以上.     

利用皂土吸附和介电泳方法间接去除水中的Mn2+

水中重金属去除一直是水处理的技术难点.锰虽然是动物必需的微量元素之一,但是人和动物摄入过量的锰会对神经系统等产生毒害.利用皂土吸附水中的重金属Mn2+,在装有微电极阵列芯片的介电泳池研究装置中,通过调节外加交流电压,捕获悬浮液中的皂土从而间接去除Mn2+.吸附了微量重金属离子的皂土被捕获到电场强度较大的区域,发生了正介电泳.该研究为建立一种从废水中间接去除重金属离子的实际可行方法奠定了实验基础,不存在二次污染.     

2种防护涂层体系在湿热海洋环境下防护性能的劣化规律研究

目的 研究2种防护涂层体系在湿热海洋环境下自然暴露3 a的防护性能劣化规律。方法 确定试验件为钢–铝（钢）螺接连接件,试验地点为海南万宁,并按周期测得不同暴露时间下涂层A和涂层B的外观形貌、色差、光泽度、表面傅里叶红外光谱、电化学阻抗的相关数据。通过对比分析测试结果,判断2种涂层在不同暴露时间下的劣化程度,并最终得到其劣化规律。结果 涂层A自然暴露1 a老化严重,紧固件区域涂层剥落,平板区域失光率约为75%,阻抗模量降低5个数量级,色差ΔE~*为5（轻微变色）,涂层有机基团老化降解严重。涂层B自然暴露2 a,老化较严重,紧固件区域涂层剥落、生锈,平板失光率约为20%,阻抗模量降低2个数量级,色差ΔE~*为11（严重变色）,涂层有机基团轻微老化降解。结论 对于螺钉连接结构,连接区域不仅更容易被腐蚀,而且增加了附近平板区域的不一致性。涂层体系B的保护能力优于涂层体系A,涂层体系B的有效保护时间约为2 a,而涂层体系A则不到1 a。