OASIS(R) WAX固相提取吸附剂用于水及组织中PFOS和相关化合物的UPLC(R)/MS定量分析

近年来,全氟化合物(PFCs)如全氟辛烷磺酸(PFOS)和全氟辛酸(PFOA,其分子结构如图1所示)已经被明确为持久性有机污染物(POPs),并在环境中普遍存在[1].由于PFCs可能具有毒性和生物积聚性,因此,对食品、饮用水、组织、血浆和全血中PFCs分析方法的建立受到越来越多的关注.     

Chemical contamination of the East River (Dongjiang) and its implication on sustainable development in the Pearl River Delta

A recent survey reveals that water quality and river sediments of Dongjiang (the East River) have been mildly contaminated by heavy metals and organic chemicals, such as copper, lead, PCBs, PAHs and HCHs. According to photogrammertic surveys, the sources of contamination are closely related to human activities, such as domestic and industrial discharges, agricultural chemical applications and soil erosion due to deforestation. The level of water and sediment contamination is most serious at the mid-river section near the urban of Weizhou. Due to natural dilution and diffusion, the levels of contamination are slightly decreased at the medium low section of the River near Qiaotou and Matan. Nevertheless, the levels of contamination increase again in the lower river section near Shenzhen, which is a highly developed economic zone. Since Dongjiang is the major source of potable water supply for Hong Kong (nearly 80% of potable water of Hong Kong is abstracted from Dongjiang) and the other parts of the Pearl River Delta (PRD), such organic and inorganic pollution merit concern. Ironically, most of the industrial and commercial activities in the watershed of Dongjiang are business investments of Hong Kong citizens. Cross-border environmental efforts should be enhanced with collaboration of different jurisdictions to achieve targets of regional sustainability.     

Increased risk of preterm delivery among people living near the three oil refineries in Taiwan

The petrochemical and petroleum industries are two of the main sources of industrial air pollution in Taiwan. Data used in this study concern outdoor air pollution and the health of individuals living in communities in close proximity to oil refinery plants. The prevalence of delivery of preterm birth infants was significantly higher in mothers living near the oil refinery plants than in control mothers in Taiwan. After controlling for several possible confounders (including maternal age, season, marital status, maternal education, and infant sex), the adjusted odds ratio was 1.14 (95% CI=1.01-1.28) for delivery of preterm infants for mothers living near oil refinery plants. These data provide further support for the hypothesis that air pollution can affect the outcome of pregnancies.     

Comparison of preservation values between Internet and interview survey modes: the case of Dokdo,South Korea

With the increase in employment of Internet surveys, there is a need to address how this survey mode affects inferences. Internet and interview modes are compared in estimating the preservation value of Dokdo, South Korea. Estimates of willingness to pay in the Internet survey are smaller than those in the interview survey. This may be attributable to the interview respondents being conscious of the presence of the interviewers, given the social importance of Dokdo to Koreans. Internet surveys may be effective in reducing overestimation of the willingness to pay in situations where potential social desirability is present.     

Income and distance-decay effects on willingness to pay estimated by the contingent valuation method

This study suggests a methodology for enhancing accuracy in evaluating amenity by the contingent valuation method when household's willingness to pay (WTP) is dependent to its income and the distance between a respondent's residence and the location of a target facility. Using a linear city model, this study demonstrates the influences of income and distance-decay effects on WTP. Simulations are performed to check the validity of the model, as well as to predict consequences when income and distance-decay effects are not properly treated. Finally, the suggested methodology is applied to two real cases. The estimation results from a structural model show that the calculated total benefit varies largely when income and distance-decay effects exist and are ignored. Also, an ad hoc model generates significantly different estimates from the utility difference model this study adopted. The difference in estimates suggests that the total benefit has to be estimated by a structural model.     

Supporting Diverse Data Providers in the Open Water Data Initiative: Communicating Water Data Quality and Fitness of Use

Shared, trusted, timely data are essential elements for the cooperation needed to optimize economic, ecologic, and public safety concerns related to water. The Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) will provide a fully scalable platform that can support a wide variety of data from many diverse providers. Many of these will be larger, well‐established, and trusted agencies with a history of providing well‐documented, standardized, and archive‐ready products. However, some potential partners may be smaller, distributed, and relatively unknown or untested as data providers. The data these partners will provide are valuable and can be used to fill in many data gaps, but can also be variable in quality or supplied in nonstandardized formats. They may also reflect the smaller partners' variable budgets and missions, be intermittent, or of unknown provenance. A challenge for the OWDI will be to convey the quality and the contextual “fitness” of data from providers other than the most trusted brands. This article reviews past and current methods for documenting data quality. Three case studies are provided that describe processes and pathways for effective data‐sharing and publication initiatives. They also illustrate how partners may work together to find a metadata reporting threshold that encourages participation while maintaining high data integrity. And lastly, potential governance is proposed that may assist smaller partners with short‐ and long‐term participation in the OWDI.     

Emerging Tools for Continuous Nutrient Monitoring Networks: Sensors Advancing Science and Water Resources Protection

Sensors and enabling technologies are becoming increasingly important tools for water quality monitoring and associated water resource management decisions. In particular, nutrient sensors are of interest because of the well‐known adverse effects of nutrient enrichment on coastal hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and impacts to human health. Accurate and timely information on nutrient concentrations and loads is integral to strategies designed to minimize risk to humans and manage the underlying drivers of water quality impairment. Using nitrate sensors as the primary example, we highlight the types of applications in freshwater and coastal environments that are likely to benefit from continuous, real‐time nutrient data. The concurrent emergence of new tools to integrate, manage, and share large datasets is critical to the successful use of nutrient sensors and has made it possible for the field of continuous monitoring to rapidly move forward. We highlight several near‐term opportunities for federal agencies, as well as the broader scientific and management community, that will help accelerate sensor development, build and leverage sites within a national network, and develop open data standards and data management protocols that are key to realizing the benefits of a large‐scale, integrated monitoring network. Investing in these opportunities will provide new information to guide management and policies designed to protect and restore our nation's water resources.     

An isolated AC module for photovoltaic energy conversion

In this paper, an isolated ac module with pseudo dc-link and galvanic isolation is proposed for photovoltaic energy conversion. The studied grid-tie ac module can individually extract the maximum solar power from each photovoltaic panel and transfer to ac utility system. It consists of an interleaved active-clamping single-ended primary-inductive circuit (SEPIC) with a secondary voltage doubler, a full-bridge polarity selector operating under line frequency to achieve high efficiency. For the studied topology, key features such as reduced input current ripple, zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of primary switches, low reverse-recovery current of the output diodes, and lower switch voltage stress are obtained. Also, to reduce input current ripple, an interleaved control strategy is adopted. A simple control strategy is proposed to generate a rectified sinusoidal waveform voltage at the pseudo dc-link capacitors and achieve the high maximum power point tracking (MPPT) accuracy. The operation principles and design considerations of the studied ac module are analyzed and discussed. A prototype with 25–60 V dc input, 110 V/60 Hz ac output and 150 W power rating has been constructed for verifying the feasibility of the proposed ac module.     

Experimental investigation of a 250-kW turbine organic Rankine cycle system for low-grade waste heat recovery

An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is generally used for converting low-grade heat into electricity. In this study, an extensive literature survey was conducted to identify current research gaps on experimental ORC systems. Specifically, there is limited experimental data and limited details on thermal and expander efficiencies of ORC systems. In order to address these gaps, the objective of this study included developing a turbine ORC with a power output exceeding 50 kW and thermal efficiency exceeding 8% for a heat source temperature < 120°C. The experimental results indicated that the system achieved a net power output of 242.5 kW and a thermal efficiency of 8.3% (the highest value for a turbine ORC system for the heat source temperature below 120°C). Thus, the study addressed the gaps identified in the research area of ORCs.