Konzentration und Verteilung von Platingruppenelementen (PGE) in Böden

In Germany automobile exhaust control by platinum-group element (PGE) loaded catalysts is now well established. By mechanical or chemical attrition, these catalysts could act as a potential source for a significant increase of PGE abundances in the environment. During a recent research program concentrations and distributions of PGE in different soils were measured along the highway A66 Frankfurt-Wiesbaden. 71 nearsurface soil samples were analysed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). The results revealed average abundances of 10 ppb platinum and 3 ppb ruthenium. Palladium as well as rhodium were below the analytical detection limit of 2 ppb. With increasing distance from the highway edge PGE values gradually decreased. Only the upmost soil layer, down to 20 cm depth, contains measurable PGE concentrations. Results: There are irregular PGE concentrations of anthropogenic origin in different soils along the highway A66 Frankfurt-Wiesbaden possibly arising from automobile exhaust catalysts. Further monitoring could help to avoid potential environmental hazards. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A00HP020 00002     

Decision on oil and gas exploration in an Arctic area: Case study from the Norwegian Barents Sea

This paper addresses how risks to the environment in the Arctic are handled in decisions regarding the exploration for petroleum resources. An exploration well in the Norwegian Barents Sea is used as a case to demonstrate how environmental risks are assessed together with technical and economic considerations in the Oil Company’s decisions to enter into a new area and drill a well. The paper outlines environmental challenges in petroleum activities in the Arctic, the different roles of the Authorities and Oil Companies in decisions about petroleum activities, and the Oil Company’s tools and decision criteria used in addressing risks in the decision making.It is concluded that environmental and associated reputation risks are not a major issue at the strategic level in the Oil Company, since the most controversial areas in the Norwegian Arctic offshore have already been kept out of the exploration acreage by the authorities. Risks and uncertainties penetrate every aspect of the exploration of petroleum resources, and environmental risks are not unique in this sense. The Oil Company has established technical and economic tools and decision criteria to address them, and the mitigation of environmental risks becomes an element in the technical and economic analyses that affect detailed design and operational procedures. Mitigation measures such as the minimization of discharges to the sea (the so-called “zero-discharge” policy) and oil spill contingency planning are dimensioned to meet authority requirements and expectations rather than on strict risk acceptance considerations. A significant concern is to avoid delays in the permit granting process.     

Climate capacity:the measurement for adaptation to climate change

This article proposed the concept of"climate capacity"as a way of measuring human’s adaptiveness to climate change.This article also focused on the related concepts like ecological carrying capacity,water resources carrying capacity,land carrying capacity as well as population carrying capacity.The concept of climate capacity was articulated against a background of global climate and environmental change.Essentially,China’s efforts to adapt to climate change was a matter of improving climate capacity,which is the ecosystem as well as the frequency,the intensity and the scale of human’s social activities that the climatic resources of a particular geographic area were supposed to support.The climate capacity has two components.One is the natural climate capacity,which includes temperature,sunlight,precipitation,extreme climatic events,etc.The other is the derived climate capacity,which includes water resources,land resources,ecological systems,climatic risks,etc.The climate capacity can be developed or be transferred between regions by taking engineering,technology or regime-based adaptive measures.However,these adaptive measures must be implemented under the principle of economic rationalism,ecological integrity,climate protection,and social justice.It is expected that by combining the climate capacity and its threshold value with the assessment of climate change risks,we are able to predict the optimal population carrying capacity and the scale of socioeconomic development,and furthermore,provide policy support for the socioeconomic development strategy and adaptive planning.In the regions with high climate capacity,there is a symbiotic relationship between adaptation and socioeconomic development.But,in the regions with limited climate capacity,irrational development may further damage the environment.Taking the Yangtze River delta,a region with high climate capacity,and a region of Ningxia,a region with limited climate capacity,as illustrative examples,the authors of this article analyzed the policy implications of climate capacity and further made suggestions on the problems of capacitylimited adaptation and development-driven adaptation.This article argued that the concept of climate capacity can not only be used as an analytical instrument of climate change economics,but also it can provide research support for planning regional adaptation and development with climate change impact and risk assessments.     

Promiscuous behaviour disrupts pregnancy block in domestic horse mares

Based on questionnaires from horse breeders, we found that bringing a pregnant mare which had been mated away from home into a vicinity of a familiar male who was not the father of her foetus increased probability of pregnancy disruption. These mares aborted in 31% of cases, while none of those mated within the home stable aborted. Repeated sexual activity either by a stallion or dominant gelding from the normal home group was observed shortly after the mare came from away-mating. Pregnant mares isolated from home males by a fence were even seen soliciting them over the fence. We speculate that, once returned to the home “herd”, and introduced to familiar males, mares were more likely to terminate their pregnancy to save energy and avoid likely future infanticidal loss of their progeny by dominant male(s) of the home social group. This is a newly discovered phenomenon where a mare manipulates the male’s paternity assessment by promiscuous mating. It may explain a common increased incidence of foetal loss in domestic horses occurring in nearly 40% of pregnancies. We conclude that the common practice of transporting the mare for mating and then bringing her back to an environment with males, stallions or geldings, which did not sire the foetus, is the main cause of high percentages of pregnancy disruption in domestic horses.     

Aerosol concentration and particle size distributions in underground excavations of a hard coal mine

Deposition of aerosols in the respiratory system depends inter alia on their size and the respiratory tract deposition is appreciable for nanometer-sized particles. This article presents the results of measurements of size distributions of aerosols in the range of several nanometers up to about 20?μm in the underground mine excavations of an active hard coal mine. The study included practically all particles of a respirable fraction. The results showed that a high concentration of fine and ultrafine aerosols occurs in key underground workplaces especially during mining machine operations, although their contribution to total mass concentration is usually negligible.     

臭氧/钛酸铋系化合物催化氧化降解橙黄Ⅳ的初步研究

采用化学溶液分解法制备了钛酸铋系化合物,并研究了其催化臭氧化降解橙IV(C18H14KN3O35)溶液的性能.结果表明,在Bi/Ti摩尔比12∶1、热处理温度550℃条件下制备的催化剂性能最优,其COD去除率达40.3%,比单独臭氧作用(20.3%)提高了1倍,并明显优于TiO2和Bi2O3的催化效果(分别为28.9%和21.4%).同时,考察了催化剂投量、橙Ⅳ初始浓度、臭氧投量、pH值、重复使用等反应条件对催化剂性能的影响.初步推断,此催化臭氧化反应为非羟基自由基的含氧自由基作用机理.     

Sediment radioisotope dating across a stratigraphic discontinuity in a mining-impacted lake

Application of radioisotope sediment dating models to lakes subjected to large anthropogenic sediment inputs can be problematic. As a result of copper mining activities, Torch Lake received large volumes of sediment, the characteristics of which were dramatically different from those of the native sediment. Commonly used dating models (CIC-CSR, CRS) were applied to Torch Lake, but assumptions of these methods are violated, rendering sediment geochronologies inaccurate. A modification was made to the CRS model, utilizing a distinct horizon separating mining from post-mining sediment to differentiate between two focusing regimes. (210)Pb inventories in post-mining sediment were adjusted to correspond to those in mining-era sediment, and a sediment geochronology was established and verified using independent markers in (137)Cs accumulation profiles and core X-rays.     

Ambient air quality trends and driving factor analysis in Beijing, 1983–2007

The rapid development in Beijing, the capital of China, has resulted in serious air pollution problems. Meanwhile great efforts have been made to improve the air quality, especially since 1998. The variation in air quality under the interaction of pollution and control in this mega city has attracted much attention. We analyzed the changes in ambient air quality in Beijing since the 1980’s using the Daniel trend test based on data from long-term monitoring stations. The results showed that different polluta...     

Algorithms and biplots for double constrained correspondence analysis

Correspondence analysis with linear external constraints on both the rows and the columns has been mentioned in the ecological literature, but lacks full mathematical treatment and easily available algorithms and software. This paper fills this gap by defining the method as maximizing the fourth-corner correlation between linear combinations, by providing novel algorithms, which demonstrate relationships with related methods, and by making a detailed study of possible biplots and associated approximations. The method is illustrated using ecological data on the abundances of species in sites and where the species are characterized by traits and sites by environmental variables. The trait data and environment data form the external constraints and the question is which traits and environmental variables are associated, how these associations drive species abundances and how they can be displayed in biplots. With microbiome data becoming widely available, these and related multivariate methods deserve more study as they might be routinely used in the future.