Transition to a low-carbon city: lessons learned from Suzhou in China

Climate change has become one of the most serious challenges facing humanity; developing a low-carbon economy provides new opportunities for addressing this issue. Building a low-carbon city has been pursued by people with a high degree of enthusiasm in China. Different from actions at the national level and distinct from practices of developed countries, low-carbon development in Chinese cities should be placed on diverse concerns. Taking Suzhou of Jiangsu Province of China as a case city, this paper adopts a scenario analysis approach to explore strategic focal points in the transition to a low-carbon city. Within this transition, we mainly focus on the different contributions from two factors-economic restructuring and technological upgrading. Scenario analysis results show that 1) in the case of no breakthrough technologies, it is difficult to achieve absolute emission reductions; 2) technologies involved in optimizing energy structure and improving energy efficiency of basic service sectors should be highly emphasized in local planning; 3) in comparison with technological upgrading, economic structural adjustment could be a stronger contributor to mitigation, which is one of the main differences from developed countries. However, the key issue of economic restructuring is to promote the growth of emerging low-carbon industries, which requires not only a strategic choice of new industries but also an introduction of advanced low-carbon technologies. It is also found that establishing a local carbon emissions accounting system is a prerequisite and the first priority for realizing a low-carbon transition and government capacity buildings should be strengthened accordingly.     

内蒙古经济发展与环境污染之间关系的检验

利用内蒙古1986-2009年间的6类环境污染指标和人均GDP数据,基于VAR计量技术,通过变量平稳性和协整检验,Granger因果检验和脉冲响应分析对经济增长与环境污染的关系及其动态性进行了实证研究。结果显示:①当内蒙古粉尘排放量增长率、 工业固体废弃物产生量增长率、 工业二氧化硫排放量增长率和工业烟尘排放量增长率各增加1%时,人均GDP分别降低0.068%、 0.411%、 0.380%以及0.418%;当工业废气排放量增长率和工业废水排放量增长率分别增加1%时,人均GDP分别上升1.305%和1.601%。②人均GDP变化是工业固体废弃物产生量和工业废气排放量变化的Granger原因,但各污染物排放并不是人均GDP变化的Granger原因,这与研究期间内蒙古处于工业化尤其是工业中的采矿业发达的事实吻合。③人均GDP增长率对来自环境变量增长率的冲击影响其响应表现为在第1期均为0,从长期响应来看,给粉尘和废水排放增长率一个正的冲击,人均GDP增长率的响应为持续的降低;对来自废气排放增长率冲击响应函数图在前4期表现出"增长-降低-增长"的趋势,而在后6期表现为缓缓下降;对来自固体废弃物产生量增长率和二氧化硫排放量增长率冲击响应不明显;对来自烟尘排放量增长率的冲击其响应在第2期达到最大值,随后也呈递减趋势。④从方差分析的结果看,不考虑GDP自身的贡献率,内蒙古环境污染指标排放增长率对人均GDP增长率贡献率较小,而在不考虑内蒙古各个环境污染指标排放增长率自身的贡献率的情况下,内蒙古人均GDP增长率对环境污染指标排放的增长率的贡献较高。这进一步说明了内蒙古环境各污染因子排放量的增多并没有大幅度促进人均GDP的增长,但是人均GDP增长却带动了工业污染物排放的增长。     

工业和建筑固体废弃物再生研究

为了减轻我国的工业/建筑固体废弃物的污染压力,通过对工业和建筑固体废物、粉煤灰、水泥以及外加剂的组合配比实验,优化制作具有轻质高性能的混凝土建筑砌块的方法,并对所研制的混凝土砌块的强度和导热性能进行了测试,最终结果显示砌块性能良好。预计此类复合建筑材料可以在未来的市政建筑中发挥应有的作用。     

Historical trends of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) recorded in sediments across the Tibetan Plateau

Sediment cores from four lakes across the Tibetan Plateau were used as natural archives to study the time trends of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). The total concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (ΣDDT) and hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (ΣHCH) were in the range of 0.04–1.61 and 0.08–1.88 ng/g based on dry weight (dw), while the input fluxes were in the range of 0.3–236 and 0.7–295 pg/cm²/y in the core sediments, respectively. The input fluxes of ΣDDT and ΣHCH generally peaked in sediment layers corresponding to the 1970s–1990s and peaked in top sediment layers. The ratio of α/γ-HCH decreased in the top layer sediments, implying that the contribution of lindane (pure γ-HCH) has been increasing in recent years. In addition, the ratio of o,p′-DDT/p,p′-DDT increased significantly over the last 15–20 years, suggesting that dicofol (characterized by high ratio of o,p′-DDT/p,p′-DDT about 7.0) has recently become a relatively more important source of DDT compared to technical DDT itself. The time trends of OCPs recorded in lake sediments examined the impact on such remote alpine regions by human activities.     

Epigenetic effect of long-term bisphenol A exposure on human breast adenocarcinoma cells

In this research, epigenetic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were analyzed. Genome-wide DNA methylation and gene expression were analyzed in MCF-7 cells exposed to BPA (10^?5 and 10^?6 mol/L for 5 weeks). No significant changes in the global level of 5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine and 5-hydroxymethyl-2′-deoxycytidine were observed. DNA methylation profiling analysis indicated that BPA exposure resulted in the hypermethylation of FOXK2, LKB1, LMX1A and CUGBP2 and the hypomethylation of PTPRN2, TRIM27, BCAS3 and ZNF423. Decreased expression of apoptosis genes (P38 and BCL2L1) and increased expression of chemokine (Cxcl2 and ccl20) were detected. Changes of these genes were speculated to affect the ERα-related cell growth as well as cell apoptosis.     

Evaluation of fast atmospheric dispersion models in a regular street network

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The need to balance computational speed and simulation accuracy is a key challenge in designing atmospheric dispersion models that can be used in scenarios where...     

草甘膦与镉复合胁迫对玉米幼苗抗氧化酶活性及光合作用的影响

为了探讨草甘膦(PMG)与重金属镉(Cd)复合胁迫对作物(玉米幼苗)生长的影响作用机制。通过温室盆栽试验,分别进行了不同浓度的PMG单一处理(浓度分别设计为0、1.25、2.5、5、10、20 mg·kg~(-1))和不同浓度的PMG(浓度分别为0、1.25、2.5、5、10、20 mg·kg~(-1))与浓度5 mg·kg~(-1)Cd2+的复合处理。采用分光光度法和连续激发式荧光仪分别对玉米幼苗抗氧化酶(过氧化物酶POD、过氧化氢酶CAT、超氧化物歧化酶SOD)、丙二醛(MDA)、叶绿素含量、荧光动力学曲线及相关参数进行了测定。结果表明,单一和复合胁迫分别在PMG浓度为1.25~5 mg·kg~(-1)、1.25~2.5 mg·kg~(-1)时,玉米幼苗通过增大抗氧化酶(SOD、POD、CAT)活性,清除积累过多的活性氧自由基,提高叶绿素含量的合成,加大光合作用速率,促进玉米幼苗的生长;单一和复合胁迫分别在PMG浓度为5~20 mg·kg~(-1)、2.5~20 mg·kg~(-1)时,由于玉米幼苗积累了过多的膜脂过氧化物,导致抗氧化系统损坏,阻碍叶绿素含量的合成,同时也损害了PSII的功能(MO、φPO、ΨO、φEO、φDO、ABS/RC、TRO/RC、ETO/RC、DIO/RC、PIABS),导致玉米幼苗光合作用受到抑制,阻碍幼苗的生长。研究表明,草甘膦单一胁迫和与重金属镉复合胁迫,对玉米幼苗酶活性及光合作用的影响,均随处理浓度的升高表现为双阶段性,低浓度促进,高浓度抑制;与同浓度的PMG单一处理相比,Cd2+的存在,加大了PMG单独存在时的损害作用,使得玉米幼苗对PMG胁迫的敏感浓度点从5 mg·kg~(-1)降低到2.5 mg·kg~(-1)。     

Towards a politics of disaster response: presidential disaster instructions in China, 1998–2012

China's disaster management system contains no law‐based presidential disaster declarations; however, the national leader's instructions (pishi in Chinese) play a similar role to disaster declarations, which increase the intensity of disaster relief. This raises the question of what affects presidential disaster instructions within an authoritarian regime. This research shows that China's disaster politics depend on a crisis threshold system for operation and that the public and social features of disasters are at the core of this system. China's political cycle has no significant impact on disaster politics. A change in the emergency management system has a significant bearing on presidential disaster instructions, reflecting the strong influence of the concept of rule of law and benefiting the sustainable development of the emergency management system. In terms of disaster politics research, unlocking the black box of China's disaster politics and increasing the number of comparative political studies will benefit the development of empirical and theoretical study.     

TDS对制备纳米乳化油稳定性影响的实验研究

为有效评估地下水中溶解组分对制备纳米乳化油的潜在影响,通过人工模拟配制天然地下水开展地下水TDS对制备纳米乳化油稳定性影响的批实验研究.分别采用动态光散和多重光散技术表征TDS影响下纳米乳化油粒径、背散射光通量、光子自由程以及峰厚度等指标的动态变化,以此来反映TDS对制备纳米乳化油稳定性的影响.结果显示:在TDS浓度为300、500和1000 mg·L^-1 的情况下,TDS对纳米乳化油稳定性起到正向作用.反映纳米乳化油整体稳定性的TSI随TDS增大呈现先增大后减小的趋势,相较于空白样稳定性分别提高了68.1%、55.6%和14.3%,其中300 mg·L^-1 的样品稳定性最好.依据局部TSI、背散射光强度、峰厚度和光子自由程的变化进行局部稳定性分析,识别出纳米乳化油的不稳定性主要受顶部不稳区和底部不稳区的影响.纳米乳化油顶部不稳区的不稳定性主要影响因素为液滴上浮、聚并,具体表现为体积分数增大,液滴粒径增大;而底部不稳区受上浮影响引起的纳米乳化油体积分数减小是其不稳的主要原因.进一步分析表明,TDS降低了纳米乳化油的布朗运动速率.相比于空白样,实验设计的TDS(300、500和1000 mg·L^-1)对纳米乳化油的上浮现象和液滴的聚并现象起抑制作用,并随浓度增大逐渐减弱. 300 mg·L^-1的样品对两种不稳定因素分别减轻了88%和87.7%.因此,适宜的地下水TDS可以减弱布朗运动,降低上浮现象和聚并现象,从而对纳米乳化油的稳定性起正向作用,有利于纳米乳化油在多孔介质中的迁移.     

公路隧道压缩空气泡沫系统灭油池火实验研究

为研究压缩空气泡沫与4.65 m2汽油池火作用过程中隧道内温度、热辐射强度、高温烟气等的变化规律,采用30 m×6 m×6 m公路隧道实验模型,考察公路隧道压缩空气泡沫系统对油池火的灭火性能。结果表明:在供给强度为5.1 L/(min·m2)、气液比14∶1条件下,公路隧道压缩空气泡沫系统对于汽油池火具有优异的控灭火能力,控火时间为21 s,灭火时间为27 s,且泡沫性能稳定,抗复燃能力强;压缩空气泡沫对于隧道内高温烟气层扰动很小,不会导致高温烟气下降到隧道下部,故不影响人员逃生疏散;在压缩空气泡沫作用下,隧道顶部及侧壁100 ℃以上高温持续时间均不超过150 s,并且可在30 s内将油池火周围的热辐射强度降至安全范围。