Rice farming sustainability assessment in Bangladesh

Farming sustainability is primordial to long-term socioeconomic development. This study assesses rice farming sustainability in Bangladesh by developing a composite indicator (CI) under the four pillars of sustainability and examines the main determining factors. The assemblage of top-down and bottom-up approaches were applied to generate an essential set of indicators and data were collected through a household survey from 15 villages of three major rice growing ecosystems. The results revealed that less than half of the rice growers were sustainable in terms of economical viability, ecological benefits, and quality of life. By category, Boro rice farming was found to be the most sustainable, followed by Aman and Aus rice farming. Human capital development, increasing land productivity, use of resource conserving practices and technologies, and information availability and accessibility were the main factors promoting rice farming sustainability. The findings indicated that the construction of CI by employing several methodologies such as normalisation provide straightforward and clear-cut policy inputs. The major policy implications that emerged from the findings of the study are outlined to actualise rice farming sustainability, which contributes to sustainable development in Bangladesh.     

Analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans in various aqueous samples in Taiwan

Twenty-one fresh water samples were taken from reservoirs, wells and drinking water treatment plants in Taiwan for measurement of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) concentrations. Due to low concentration of PCDD/Fs, water samples (400-1000 L) were collected by using the on-site large volume pre-concentration system and analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography (HRGC)/high resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS). Different characteristics of dioxin profiles in surface water and groundwater are observed. The PCDD/F concentrations in fresh water samples varied from 0.001 to 0.265 pg WHO₉₈-TEQ/L which are lower than the standard (12 pg WHO₉₈-TEQ/L) set by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA) for drinking water. Only a small fraction (<5%) of the total PCDD/F concentration in fresh water samples was water-soluble. As a result of their hydrophobicity, PCDD/Fs are effectively removed along with suspended solid via the water treatment process (average 98% removal efficiency).     

Examining the effectiveness of municipal solid waste management systems: an integrated cost-benefit analysis perspective with a financial cost modeling in Taiwan

In order to develop a sound material-cycle society, cost-effective municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems are required for the municipalities in the context of the integrated accounting system for MSW management. Firstly, this paper attempts to establish an integrated cost-benefit analysis (CBA) framework for evaluating the effectiveness of MSW management systems. In this paper, detailed cost/benefit items due to waste problems are particularly clarified. The stakeholders of MSW management systems, including the decision-makers of the municipalities and the citizens, are expected to reconsider the waste problems in depth and thus take wise actions with the aid of the proposed CBA framework. Secondly, focusing on the financial cost, this study develops a generalized methodology to evaluate the financial cost-effectiveness of MSW management systems, simultaneously considering the treatment technological levels and policy effects. The impacts of the influencing factors on the annual total and average financial MSW operation and maintenance (O&M) costs are analyzed in the Taiwanese case study with a demonstrative short-term future projection of the financial costs under scenario analysis. The established methodology would contribute to the evaluation of the current policy measures and to the modification of the policy design for the municipalities.     

Occurrence of human pathogenic bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes revealed by metagenomic approach: A case study from an aquatic environment

Antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs), human pathogenic bacteria(HPB), and HPB carrying ARGs are public issues that pose a high risk to aquatic environments and public health. Their diversity and abundance in water, intestine, and sediments of shrimp culture pond were investigated using metagenomic approach. A total of 19 classes of ARGs, 52 HPB species, and 7 species of HPB carrying ARGs were found. Additionally, 157, 104, and 86 subtypes of ARGs were detected in shrimp intestine, pond water, and sediment samples, respectively. In all the samples, multidrug resistance genes were the highest abundant class of ARGs. The dominant HPB was Enterococcus faecalis in shrimp intestine, Vibrio parahaemolyticus in sediments, and Mycobacterium yongonense in water, respectively. Moreover, E. faecalis(contig Intestine_364647)and Enterococcus faecium(contig Intestine_80272) carrying efr A, efr B and ANT(6)-Ia were found in shrimp intestine, Desulfosaricina cetonica(contig Sediment_825143) and Escherichia coli(contig Sediment_188430) carrying mex B and APH(3′)-IIa were found in sediments, and Laribacter hongkongensis(contig Water_478168 and Water_369477), Shigella sonnei(contig Water_880246),and Acinetobacter baumannii(contig Water_525520) carrying sul1, sul2, ere A, qac H, OXA-21, and mph D were found in pond water. Mobile genetic elements(MGEs) analysis indicated that horizontal gene transfer(HGT) of integrons, insertion sequences, and plasmids existed in shrimp intestine, sediment, and water samples, and the abundance of integrons was higher than that of other two MGEs. The results suggested that HPB carrying ARGs potentially existed in aquatic environments, and that these contributed to the environment and public health risk evaluation.     

水产养殖的完全成本模型

本文在分析两种常见的水产养殖的成本效益分析方法优缺点的基础上，结合水产养殖污染特征，水体净化能力的变化特点，提出水产养殖的完全成本概念，同时以水体自净能力的时间累积效应，水质对水资源价值影响的估算模型为依据，运用环境经济系统分析的思想建立水产养殖的完全成本模型。该模型由五大模块耦合而成，能综合分析评价水产养殖的完全成本，具有很强的动态性。     

新一代分子标记技术——AFLP

ＡＦＬＰ（Ａｍｐｌｉｆｉｅｄｆｒａｇｍｅｎｔｌｅｎｇｔｈｐｏｌｙｍｏｒｐｈｉｓｍ）是近年来发展起来的最有效的新一代分子标记技术．本文对ＡＦＬＰ的发生发展、基本原理、反应程序，在植物分子生物学研究中的应用以及方法本身的优缺点进行了介绍和评述．     

Migration and habitat of white sharks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Carcharodon carcharias</Emphasis>) in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Satellite telemetry studies of 20 adult and sub-adult white sharks (360–530 cm estimated total length (TL)) in the eastern North Pacific during 1999–2005 revealed long distance seasonal migrations from the coast of California to an offshore focal area 2,500 km west of the Baja Peninsula, as well as the Hawaii Islands. Three tags were recovered allowing detailed behavioral analyses, including one shark’s migration cycle from the coast to the offshore focal area and back. While near pinniped rookeries in autumn and winter, sharks avoided the surface and used water to 50 m depth, consistent with a silhouette-based hunting strategy. Offshore migrations were initiated during November–March and followed periods of decreasing pinniped abundance. Migrations were highly directed, taking 23 ± 5 days to reach the offshore focal area along similar paths among sharks and years, defining a migration corridor. Sharks exhibited a broad depth distribution (0–644 m) in the offshore focal area, and remained there for up to 167 days during spring and summer, though primary productivity and fishery data suggest that forage resources are scarcer there than in other regions of the eastern North Pacific. Archival data from one shark revealed intensive oscillatory movements while in the offshore focal area, a behavior that may be related to foraging or mating. Sharks traveling to Hawaii remained near the islands up to 122 days, potentially feeding on pelagic fishes and marine mammals that concentrate around the islands. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

单甲脒在土壤中的降解及持久性研究

本文对四种不同类型土壤中单甲脒及其盐酸盐在厌氧与好氧条件下的降解动态及其残留进行了研究。结果表明单甲脒及其盐酸盐均属不稳定的化合物，单甲脒在土壤中的半衰期为４．６－９．１ｄ，其盐酸盐的半衰期为２．０－６．２ｄ。结果还表明单甲脒盐酸盐在厌氧条件下较在好氧条件下降解缓慢；在厌氧条件时，土壤的ｐＨ值对其降解影响较大。在相同条件下，单甲脒比它的盐酸盐酸盐降解慢，其降解速率与土壤ｐＨ值无关。     

Geochemical migration of arsenic and its environmental effect

ＧｅｏｃｈｅｍｉｃａｌｍｉｇｒａｔｉｏｎｏｆａｒｓｅｎｉｃａｎｄｉｔｓｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｅｆｅｃｔＷｅｎｇＨｕａｎｘｉｎ，ＬａｎＸｉａｎｇＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＥａｒｔｈＳｃｉｅｎｃｅｓ，ＺｈｅｊｉａｎｇＵｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｙ，Ｈａｎｇｚｈｏ...     

PVC废物及其处理技术

PVC广泛应用于工业和日常生活中 ,PVC废物的产生量将会在将来一段时间内持续增长 ,对PVC废物处理处置问题研究成为固体废物处理处置的一个方向。目前 ,PVC废物还缺乏系统、完善的管理手段和处理技术。本文在分析PVC废物特点其环境潜在危害特性的基础上 ,比较分析各种PVC废物处理技术的优势和存在的问题 ,及国内外在PVC废物处理处置方面的具体实践 ,以期探讨PVC废物的处理对策并提出今后PVC废物处理的发展趋势和研究方向