Drowsy drivers: The effect of light and circadian rhythm on crash occurrence

Drowsiness has been recognized as a pervasive problem for drivers, with effects comparable to alcohol. Alcohol, however, has a clear legal limit for impairment; there are no comparable criteria to suggest sleepiness. Drowsiness has been associated with light and circadian rhythm. To investigate the joint effects of these factors on crash occurrence, along with other factors, single vehicle crashes reported in Ontario (1999–2004) were analyzed. Crashes occurring at four times of day, when light varies and circadian rhythm is low (2–5 a.m. and 2–4 p.m.) and with similar light conditions and higher circadian rhythm (9–11 p.m. and 10 a.m.–12 noon). Logistic regression was used to see how light and other factors are associated with single vehicle crashes occurring at times of low circadian rhythm, when drowsiness is more likely.Initial results indicated many circumstances associated with occurrence at these times: the age and sex of the driver and reported driver condition as well as weather. There is, however, an interaction between light and presumed alertness. In separate analyses for daytime and night time crashes most variables were significant for nighttime crashes but not for daytime events. The effects of alcohol and youth remained. A lack of light may exacerbate the effects of other factors at times of low alertness; this should be further investigated in controlled environments such as sleep laboratories and/or driving simulators.     

纳米羟基磷灰石对小麦植物酶及土壤酶活性的影响研究

采用土培方式研究纳米羟基磷灰石(NHAP)在不同质量分数下,小麦幼苗植株中3种植物酶及3种土壤酶活性的变化,并探讨添加不同质量分数NHAP对植物及土壤的影响.研究结果表明,添加NHAP后在初期(第7 d)能显著(p＜0.05)提高土壤pH值,但随着培养时间的推移,在第21 d时,对照处理(CK)与添加不同质量分数NHAP的处理1(T1)、处理2(T2)、处理3(T3)各处理间差异不显著(p＞0.05).添加NHAP可提高植物超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性,处理21 d后,与CK相比,除T1处理外,T2、T3处理SOD酶活性均显著提高.添加NHAP降低可过氧化物酶(POD)活性,在21 d处理时,T3处理POD酶活性显著降低,而T1、T2处理不明显.与CK相比,添加NHAP对植物过氧化氢酶(CAT)酶活性影响不显著.添加NHAP能提高小麦根际土壤过氧化氢酶活性,在第21 d,T1、T2、T3处理的土壤中过氧化氢酶活性显著增强,比CK分别提高19.5％、29.0％、49.8％.小麦根际土壤脲酶活性随时间延长变化不同,前14 d随NHAP质量分数升高而增加,之后随NHAP质量分数升高变化不明显.施加NHAP对土壤碱性磷酸酶活性影响不明显.综合考虑NHAP对小麦植物酶活性及土壤酶活性的影响以及经济成本等因素,确定添加纳米羟基磷灰石的适宜质量分数为1％.     

Acceleration of the particulate organic matter hydrolysis by start-up stage recovery and its original microbial mechanism

• Carbon availability was partially solved by POM recovery and fermentation. • 12% carbon sources were regenerated by fermentation of the entrapped 35% TCOD. • The unique microbial communities facilitated the efficient hydrolysis of the POM. • Considerable economic benefits in aeration power and ECS dosage were anticipated. To address the availability of carbon sources for denitrification, the accelerated hydrolysis of the most abundant but low-availability fraction of particulate organic matter (POM) was investigated. Mesh sieves with different pore sizes were used as primary pretreatment at the start-up-stage of the biological process to separate some POM from the liquid system. The changes in soluble carbohydrates and proteins were monitored to investigate the hydrolysis performance of the sieved POM, with waste activated sludge (WAS) as the control test. The results showed that an average of 35% POM could be entrapped before filtrate mat development. In addition, benefiting from the high polysaccharides concentration, as well as the high availability due to the relatively loose physical structure, a 23% hydrolysis efficiency of POM was obtained, in contrast to that of WAS (3.4%), with a hydrolysis constant of 0.39 h⁻¹. The prominent performance was also attributed to the unique microbial communities having been domesticated at a lower temperature, especially the cellulose-degrading bacteria Paraclostridium and psychrophile Psychrobacter, making up 6.94% and 2.56%, respectively. Furthermore, the potential benefits and application of improved POM hydrolysis by start-up stage recovery via mesh sieves combined with anaerobic fermentation were evaluated, including selective POM entrapment, alleviation of blockage and wear, and a reduction in aeration energy. By the proposed strategy, carbon availability for biological nutrient removal (BNR) processes is anticipated to be improved more economically than that can be achieved by primary clarifier elimination.     

Impacts of Dung Combustion on the Carbon Cycle of Alpine Grassland of the North Tibetan Plateau

Alpine grassland of Tibet is a frangible ecosystem in terms of carbon (C) emission. Yak dung is an important resident energy with about 80 % of yak dung combusted for energy in the north Tibetan plateau. This paper investigated the impact of dung combustion on the C cycle of the alpine grassland ecosystem in north Tibet, China. During the growing season of 2011, from a field survey and household questionnaires, the main impacts of dung collection for fuel on the C cycle of the ecosystem were identified. (1) The C sequestration and storage capacity, including the dung-derived C stored in soil and C captured by vegetation, decreased. The net primary production decreased remarkably because of the reduction of dung returned to soil. (2) In a given period, more C was emitted to the atmosphere in the dung combustion situation than that in the dung returned to soil situation. (3) The energy grazing alpine meadow ecosystem changed into a net C source, and the net biome production of the ecosystem dropped to ?15.18 g C/m² year in the dung combustion situation, 42.95 g C/m² year less than that in the dung returned situation. To reduce the CO₂ emission derived from dung use, the proportion of dung combustion should be reduced and alternative renewable energy such as solar, wind, or hydro energy should be advocated, which is suitable for, and accessible to, the north Tibetan plateau.     

鲤体内芳香烃受体的分离纯化及其与葸的相互作用

从暴露于污染物蒽的鲤肝脏中提取出芳香烃受体,并采用紫外可见分光光度计进行最大吸收波长扫描,再通过离子交换层析法分离纯化鲤体内的芳香烃受体,并采用聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳对受体进行鉴定,最后通过傅里叶变换红外光谱探讨芳香烃受体与蒽结合后的结构变化.结果表明,提取的芳香烃受体在280 nm处有特征吸收峰,测得质量浓度为27.3 mg/mL.通过离子交换层析法纯化了单一组分的受体蛋白质,其相对分子质量约为110 kD.测定了芳香烃受体的红外光谱,与蒽结合后其在一定波段的谱峰发生了明显位移,表明污染物配体蒽能与芳香烃受体结合,并对其蛋白二级结构产生明显影响.     

Evaluation for sustainable land use in coastal areas: A landscape ecological prospect

Evaluation of sustainability is the core of research on sustainable land use. To a certain extent, traditional social, economic and ecological evaluation for sustainable land use can be regarded as an appraisal on the temporal scale without evaluation of spatial patterns. Landscape ecology can help to realize spatial evaluation for sustainable land use. In this paper, we construct landscape ecological indicators for evaluating sustainable coastal land use from the aspects of landscape productivity, threats and stability, to realize a synthetic temporal-spatial evaluation. These cover the five pillars of sustainable land use, i.e. productivity, security, protection, viability and acceptability. The results of applying landscape ecological evaluation to a case study in Wudi County in China show that land use sustainability is somewhat low and there are great regional differences between its 11 villages. We classified the 11 villages into 5 grades: strong sustainable land use, sustainable land use, weak sustainable land use, weak unsustainable land use, and strong unsustainable land use. Each grade has different land use characteristics and differs in the counter-measures required. But the core countermeasures in all the grades are to improve landscape productivity, to reduce human threats and to optimize landscape patterns.     

建设项目环境影响评价软件EIA2000介绍 --气象联合频率的统计

本文详细介绍了建设项目环境影响评价软件EIA2 0 0 0中气象联合频率的统计方法及其统计程序。     

再谈废催化剂中金属的回收

介绍了含钯,钴,钼,钨的废催化剂的来源及从废催化剂中回收上述金属的工艺。