Flowering pattern of biodiesel plant Jatropha in frost- and drought-prone regions of Botswana

Jatropha has gained interest as a potential biodiesel feedstock. Nevertheless, its oil production decreases significantly in frost- and drought-prone regions. In this study, we characterized the flowering pattern of Jatropha in Botswana in the 2014/2015 season. Extensive springtime pruning synchronized Jatropha regrowth in summer and effectively stimulated growth after frost damage. Flowering started in February 2015 and peaked in April and May. Wide variations in flowering frequency were observed among different Jatropha accessions. Trees flowering in February and March produced fruit in May, but most trees only flowered in April and May and did not yield fruit because of cold snaps. These observations suggested that harvesting seed before wintertime is the key to improve Jatropha production in the Botswana climate. This study highlighted the importance of inducing early flowering by developing new agricultural managements. These may include frost cover and sun shades to prevent stress-induced damage, canopy control by pruning, optimization of fertilization practice, and/or introduction of superior Jatropha varieties.     

基于GIS的太湖流域主要生态风险源危险度综合评价研究

以太湖流域主要生态风险源为评价对象,充分考虑多类型多等级风险源作用强度的差异性,构建了风险源危险度评价模型,并在此基础上依据风险源发生机率、强度及作用范围等建立了太湖流域洪涝、干旱、极端气象、土壤侵蚀及污染排放等主要生态风险源的危险度评价指标体系。在ArcGIS技术支持下,创建了太湖流域1 606个网格和24个县市的风险源危险度统计数据库,采用AHP权重法确定指标权重,运用叠加分析、空间分析等技术方法最终实现太湖流域单要素及综合生态风险源危险度的定量评价。结果表明流域内生态风险源的分布存在明显的空间分异规律。其中,高生态风险源危险区集中分布在环太湖北部一带,面积约占流域面积的1172%;较高危险区主要呈“西北 北 东北 东”半环状分布格局,所占面积约2452%,危险度较低的区域集中在流域西南部的苕溪流域一带,面积占1566%。此外,不同区域主导生态风险源组成亦不同,约599%的区域是以污染排放为主导生态风险源,主要分布在镇江 宜兴 长兴 安吉一线以东的地区;2545%的区域主导生态风险源为干旱,主要集中在镇江 宜兴 长兴 安吉一线以西;1244%的区域是以洪涝灾害为主导风险源,集中分布在湖州、宜兴等地;而以水土流失、极端气象灾害作为主导风险源地区相对较为分散,所占比例较小     

粉煤灰的改性及对刚果红的吸附

分别采用沸水浸泡、酸浸、碱浸和加热的方法对粉煤灰进行改性处理,利用FTIR仪和XRD仪对改性粉煤灰的成分和官能团进行了分析,并利用改性粉煤灰对模拟刚果红废水进行脱色。实验结果表明：碱改性粉煤灰中含有大量官能团,以及NaPl型沸石类物质,能够明显提高粉煤灰对刚果红的吸附性能;与活性炭相比,碱改性粉煤灰具有更高的性价比;在初始刚果红质量浓度为20mg/L、碱改性粉煤灰加入量为50g/L的条件下,废水的脱色率可达87.52%;碱改性粉煤灰对刚果红的吸附过程遵循二级反应动力学,较好地符合Langmuir等温式和Freundlich等温式。     

Structure and Properties of Cocoons and Silk Fibers Produced by Attacus atlas

Silk fibers in the three layers of Attacus atlas (A. atlas) cocoons have morphological structure and tensile properties similar to that of Bombyx mori silk. Attempts are being made to produce silk for commercial applications from cocoons of relatively unknown wild insects due to the unique properties of the fibers and as a source of income and employment. In this research, A. atlas cocoons were used to study the chemical composition, morphology, physical structure and tensile properties of the silk fibers in the cocoons and ability of the fibers to support the attachment and proliferation of mouse fibroblast cells. It was found that A. atlas cocoons consists of outer, intermediate and inner layer with average breaking tenacity of 4.1, 4.3 and 3.6 g/den, respectively similar to that of B. mori silk (4.3–5.2 g/den). The heavier cocoons, less restrictive rearing conditions and good properties of the fibers compared to B. mori silk makes A. atlas a potential alternative to common silks for commercial scale silk production. A. atlas fibers had about 80 % higher optical densities of cells and extensive growth of F-actin compared to B. mori silk fibers.     

Catalytic hydrolysis of urea from wastewater using different aluminas by a fixed bed reactor

In order to find an effective method for treating urea wastewater, the experiments on the hydrolysis of urea in wastewater were conducted in a fixed bed reactor with different aluminas (α-Al₂O₃, γ-Al₂O₃, and η-Al₂O₃) as catalysts respectively in contrast with inert ceramic particle. The results indicate that the three alumina catalysts show obvious catalytic activity for urea hydrolysis at 125 °C. The order of activity is η-Al₂O₃?>?γ-Al₂O₃?>?α-Al₂O₃, and the activity difference increases with increasing temperature. According to the characterization results, surface acidity has little impact on the activity of catalyst. However, it was found that surface basicity of alumina catalyst plays an important role in catalytic hydrolysis of urea, and the activity of catalyst may be also influenced by the basic strength. With η-Al₂O₃ as catalyst, the urea concentration in wastewater is reduced to 4.96 mg/L at a temperature of 165 °C. Moreover, the η-Al₂O₃ shows a good stability for urea hydrolysis. The hydrolysis of urea over η-Al₂O₃ catalyst can evidently reduce the reaction temperature and is promising to replace industrial thermal hydrolysis process.     

Potential toxicity of amphenicol antibiotic: binding of chloramphenicol to human serum albumin

Antibiotics are widely used in daily life but their abuse has posed a potential threat to human health. To evaluate the toxicity of chloramphenicol (CAP) at the protein level, the interaction between CAP and human serum albumin (HSA) was investigated by fluorescence, Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and molecular docking methods. Fluorescence data revealed that the fluorescence quenching of HSA by CAP was the result of the formation of CAP–HSA complex, and the binding constant was determined to be 3.196?×?10⁴ L mol^?1 at 310 K. The thermodynamic determination indicated that the interaction was driven by enthalpy change and entropy change together, where the multiple hydrogen bonds (CAP and the residues Arg 222 and His 242 of HSA) and van der Waals forces were the dominant binding force. The site marker competition revealed that CAP bound into sub-domain IIA of HSA. The binding of CAP induced the drastic reduction in α-helix conformation and the significant enhancement in β-sheet conformation of HSA. Molecular docking study further confirmed the binding mode obtained by experimental study. This work provides a new quantitative evaluation method for antibiotics to cause the protein damage.     

地下停车库空气污染物排放实测研究

通过对上海市某商业地下停车库库内及排风管道的连续监测,获得了CO、NO、非甲烷总烃(NMHC)、PM10等空气污染物浓度数据。结果表明:(1)地下停车库的休息日车流量明显大于工作日,且工作日小时车流与车位比为20%~50%、休息日小时车流与车位比为20%~80%。(2)总体上,地下停车库内CO、NO、NMHC浓度呈明显变化规律,营业时间现峰值,非营业时间现谷值;地下停车库内CO、NO、NMHC变化规律和车库排风中具有较好的一致性。(3)车库排风中污染物浓度水平均低于地下停车库内。(4)营业时间的CO、NO、NMHC小时浓度平均值明显增大,约为非营业时间的2.42~3.67倍。(5)单车次CO、NOX、NMHC排放量最大值分别为0.855、0.070、0.214g/(辆·次)。(6)营业时间,除地下停车库内CO外,NO、PM10的8h时间加权平均值符合《工作场所有害因素职业接触限值化学有害因素》(GBZ 2.1—2007,其中未规定NMHC)中时间加权平均容许浓度(PC-TWA);地下停车库内CO出现33.3%的超标频率,最大占标率104%。     

高效脱硫菌的筛选及其性能研究

从高硫污染的活性污泥中富集培养,分离纯化得到一株可以降解噻吩的菌株s_4,并对该菌株的形态特征进行观察。应用Design—Expert8．0．5b软件进行响应面优化实验,研究了反应时间、噻吩浓度、微生物浓度3个因素的组合对菌株s_4脱硫效果的影响,并拟合得到多元二次回归方程,得出最佳实验条件。拟合结果表明,当反应时间27．46h,噻吩浓度为1．04％,微生物浓度4．04％时,预测噻吩降解率为14．8％,通过验证得最佳条件下的降解率为14．3％,与预测值相符。     

Twentieth century droughts and agriculture: Examples from impacts on soybean production in Kentucky,USA

Drought is a significant natural hazard that slowly evolves over time. Because of its character, drought is difficult to monitor and impacts are often poorly documented. Agriculture is one of the most sensitive sectors that are prone to drought. The objective of this research is to assess the impacts of drought on soybean production and revenue in Kentucky. Soybeans are one of Kentucky’s most important commodities. In this study, impacts of 1930–1931, 1940–1942, 1952–1955, 1987–1988, 1999–2000, and 2007 droughts were considered. It was found that over the recent years, up to 56 % of the revenue from soybeans was lost due to drought. During the first half of the twentieth century, revenue loss reached up to 77 %. This research is valuable to the general public as well as planners and policy makers. Proper documentation of impacts of past droughts will help identify drought vulnerabilities and results in better risk management and mitigation.