Quality assessment of groundwater from the south-eastern Arabian Peninsula

Assessment of groundwater quality plays a significant role in the utilization of the scarce water resources globally and especially in arid regions. The increasing abstraction together with man-made contamination and seawater intrusion have strongly affected groundwater quality in the Arabia Peninsula, exemplified by the investigation given here from the United Arab Emirates, where the groundwater is seldom reviewed and assessed. In the aim of assessing current groundwater quality, we here present a comparison of chemical data linked to aquifers types. The results reveal that most of the investigated groundwater is not suitable for drinking, household, and agricultural purposes following the WHO permissible limits. Aquifer composition and climate have vital control on the water quality, with the carbonate aquifers contain the least potable water compared to the ophiolites and Quaternary clastics. Seawater intrusion along coastal regions has deteriorated the water quality and the phenomenon may become more intensive with future warming climate and rising sea level.     

Histopathological changes in zebrafish embryos exposed to DLPCBs extract from Zhanjiang coastal sediment

Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DLPCBs) are ubiquitous persistent pollutants that cause adverse effects in many environmental organisms. DLPCBs in marine sediments can be absorbed by benthic organisms, bioaccumulate, and biomagnify through the food chain and threaten animal and human health. There are no reports of DLPCBs concentrations in the Zhanjiang Gulf seabed. This study was designed to investigate the concentration of DLPCBs in the Zhanjiang coastal sediment and histopathological changes in zebrafish (Diano rerio) embryos exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of DLPCBs. Of the five sites selected, two sites TS and JSW contained DLPCBs at concentrations of 0.08 and 22.54 ng/g dry sediment, respectively. Two groups of zebrafish embryos were used. One group was exposed to 3.75, 7.5, 15, 30, and 60 mg/ml of DLPCBs extracted from the sediments sampled from the TS site and the second group to 4.375, 8.75, 17.5, 35, and 70 mg/ml of DLPCBs from JSW site from 0.75 h post-fertilization (hpf) to 96 hpf. The zebrafish exposed to 60 and 70 mg/ml of DLPCBs at 96 hpf displayed gross histopathological changes with cardiac lesions including pericardial edema being the most deleterious. Other changes observed were hydropic degeneration of gill filaments and hepatocytes, loss of intestinal folds, and uninflated swim bladder. It appears that only a few sites of the Zhanjiang gulf are contaminated with DLPCBs. This is the first report of histopathological changes in the gills, hepatocytes, intestines, heart, and the swim bladder in zebrafish embryos exposed to DLPCBs from a coastal sediment. Further studies with sampling at different stages of development are required to identify which organ/tissue is most sensitive to DLPCBs.     

氨基化有机-无机杂化整体柱分离富集环境水中五价砷

将四乙氧基硅烷(TEOS)和N-(β-氨乙基)-γ-氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷(AEAPTES)作为共聚前体,采用在毛细管内原位聚合的方式制备得到氨基功能化的有机-无机杂化整体柱,将其作为针式固相微萃取(SPME)介质,建立了现场分离富集环境水中As(V)的SPME方法,优化了有机-无机杂化整体柱富集As(V)的实验条件,并研究了整体柱对As(V)的吸附/洗脱性能和富集能力,实现了环境水样中As(V)的高效、快速、高选择性检测。     

室内空气中的气态多环芳烃的被动采样监测

利用自制被动采样装置,在2011年秋冬季对南京市部分地区室内空气中5种气态多环芳烃(PAHs)(萘、苊烯、苊、芴、菲)进行了为期100d的连续采样检测,被动采样器的采样速率为0.012m3/d,5种PAHs的回收率在63%～105%之间,方法检出限在1.1～2.4ng范围内。结果表明,南京市5处不同室内环境空气中萘的浓度最高,占总量的90%以上。室内环境空气中5种PAHs的总浓度为230～1564ng/m3。住宅内人体对5种PAHs的暴露速率为479～560ng/h。     

Occurrence,sources, and ecological risks of PBDEs,PCBs, OCPs,and PAHs in surface sediments of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster,China

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 25 surface sediments in three cities (Nantong, Wuxi, and Suzhou) in the Yangtze River Delta, eastern China were measured. The mean concentrations were 378, 45.8, 1.98, 4,002 ng/g for PBDEs, OCPs, PCBs, and PAHs, respectively. Their levels in the sediments in the three cities were generally consistent with the city industrialization. PBDEs and OCPs were markedly dominated by deca-BDE (>90 %) and DDTs (>70 %). A principle component analysis of the analytes identified three major factors suggesting different sources of the contaminants in the sediments. PBDEs and the organic carbon in the sediments have common sources from industrial activities; whereas OCPs and PCBs, correlated with the second factor, were mainly from historical sources. The third factor with loadings of PAHs is indicative of various combustion sources. Ecological risk assessment indicated that the potential highest risk is from DDTs, for which 22 sites exceed the effects range low (ERL) values and three sites exceed the effects range median (ERM) value.     

Shaping effects of rice,wheat, maize,and soybean seedlings on their rhizosphere microbial community

The rhizosphere microbiome plays critical roles in plant growth and is an important interface for resource exchange between plants and the soil environment. Crops at various growing stages, especially the seedling stage, have strong shaping effects on the rhizosphere microbial community, and such community reconstruction will positively feed back to the plant growth. In the present study, we analyzed the variations of bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere of four crop species: rice, soybean, maize, and wheat during successive cultivations (three repeats for the seedling stages) using 16S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) high-throughput sequencing. We found that the relative abundances of specific microorganisms decreased after different cultivation times, e.g., Sphingomonas, Pseudomonas, Rhodanobacter, and Caulobacter, which have been reported as plant-growth beneficial bacteria. The relative abundances of potential plant pathogenic fungi Myrothecium and Ascochyta increased with the successive cultivation times. The co-occurrence network analysis showed that the bacterial and fungal communities under maize were much more stable than those under rice, soybean, and wheat. The present study explored the characteristics of bacteria and fungi in crop seedling rhizosphere and indicated that the characteristics of indigenous soil flora might determine the plant growth status. Further study will focus on the use of the critical microorganisms to control the growth and yield of specific crops.

     

旅游安全认知:内涵、结构及相关变量

旅游安全认知是信息加工的结果,广义上包括旅游者的安全意识、安全关注、安全认知程度和旅游从业人员的安全意识与安全管理认知；狭义上主要指旅游者的安全感知.其结构可分为综合维度认知结构、安全问题认知结构和旅游情境认知结构.前因变量包括人口统计学因素、熟悉程度、旅行经历、负性经历、旅行目的、文化背景等；结果变量包括目的地形象知觉、旅游决策、旅游行为及情绪、满意度、重游意愿和口碑宣传.未来研究应着重改善研究方法,深入探讨相关变量之间的作用机制,寻求旅游安全认知干预的有效对策.     

成都市城市效应对大气环境的影响

本文利用1979—1981年气象资料用统计方法分析了城市热岛效应对主要气象要素时空分布特征的影响(例如:温度、无霜期、风速、日照、云量、降水量、雷暴、雨日、雾日和土壤温度),结果表明:城市效应对市区大气环境的影响是明显的。     

关于安全经济学的探讨

本文主要论述了如下基本概念问题: 1、安全的主要经济功能是保障社会经济的增值和有效地减少事故的经济损失。本文试图构造增值函数I(S)和损失函数L(S)来描述其功能。 2、安全经济学的基本任务是研究安全的经济效益和安全的经济利益规律,使其有效地调整和协调安全与经济的关系,指导安全经济决策。 3、本文试提出发展安全经济学应遵循的三个基本原理。 4、为综合揭示安全经济规律,本文还探讨了安全经济的功能函数F(S)、成本函数C(S)、负担函数B(S)和效益函数E(S)。 5、针对实际应用,本文还提出了一种安全投资的评价方法及其优化理论。     

安全科学技术也是第一生产力(第一部份)

本文提出安全科学技术也是第一生产力的观点。文中简析了科学、技术和科学技术的内涵及其相互关系;研究了科学技术与生产力的关系;阐述安全科学技术也是第一生产力:探讨了发展高科技与安全科学技术的关系;安全科学技术发展中应注意的问题。