Potential source of asbestos in non-asbestos textile manufacturing company

Recently, a worker with lung carcinoma and a metastatic brain tumor was diagnosed as having a work-related disease. He had been employed in a non-asbestos textile company for 25 years. Consequently, to identify and explore possible causative agents for lung cancer in a non-asbestos textile manufacturing company and establish a causal relationship between exposure and lung cancer, an epidemiological investigative study was conducted and the work processes the worker was engaged in were examined. Air samples were taken from the workplace and during the drilling processes, and a suspected causative material was analyzed. The study revealed that the subject had been employed in the non-asbestos textile manufacturing company for 25 years from 1973 and his responsibilities included repairing spinning machines. In particular, the subject was involved in drilling B-bushings that were used to protect against gear abrasion in the spinning machines. An analysis of the B-bushings using a transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer indicated that they contained crocidolite asbestos fibers. Air samples obtained when drilling the B-bushings clearly indicated that the subject had most likely been exposed to crocidolite fibers when installing the B-bushings in the spinning machines. The frequency and duration of the work suggested that there would be a sufficient degree of exposure to crocidolite fibers to cause lung cancer. Except for smoking and asbestos exposure, no other chemical exposure was suspected for developing lung cancer in the workplace. Smoking appeared to be more of a potentiating risk factor in conjunction with the asbestos exposure. Accordingly, this case may provide significant evidence in identifying the cause of the mesothelioma or lung carcinoma found among workers in non-asbestos textile manufacturing companies elsewhere.     

The trends of composite environmental indices in Korea

In this paper we construct for the first time an annual Composite Environmental Index from 1986 to 1995 in Korea, which is useful for evaluating the efficiency of environmental policies. Nine types of environmental problems are examined. On average, the composite index has increased annually by 5.3% over the 1986-1995 period, which implies that overall environmental quality has deteriorated gradually during this period. Problems such as the greenhouse effect, loss of biodiversity, natural resource depletion, and ecotoxication led to deterioration of environmental quality in the 1990s.     

我国节水型农业技术体系的发展方向

本文阐述了国内外节水农业的发展概况,总结了节水农业技术体系特别是高新技术的发展和应用现状,辩证地分析了我国节水农业出现的问题及发展前景。     

冶金工厂呼吸性粉尘危害分布的研究

对 7个钢铁公司 2 5个工厂 1390个测点呼吸性粉尘最高容许浓度测定和游离二氧化硅含量进行分析 ,将呼吸性粉尘浓度分布分为三类 ,得出各类浓度分布柱状图和累积分布曲线 ,一、二、三类的呼吸性粉尘平均浓度分别为 2 .49mg/ m3、7.14m g/ m3 和 2 2 .1m g/ m3。 Si O2 [F]含量的分布规律是 <10 %占 73% ,10 %～ 5 0 %占 2 5 .5 % ,>5 0 %占 1.5 %。     

喜马拉雅山中段北坡对流层中上部大气降水化学的高程分布特征

1997年夏季在希夏邦马峰北坡达索普冰川区(28°33′N,85°44′E)海拔5800m～7000m区间对4次降雪过程进行了系统的采样工作,目的是认识全球偏远地区对流层中上部大气成分的高程分布特征.达索普冰川区夏季4次降水中,局地大陆性气团降水SO₄^2-、NO₃^-、Ca²⁺和Mg²⁺之间存在显著的正相关性,而海洋性气团降水4种离子之间的相关性变化较大,说明在夏季低尘埃阶段大气中各种离子的主导来源处在短期的(如数天)变化中.这种离子主导来源的变化同时也影响了降水中离子的高程分布特征.总体上达索普冰川区夏季降水中NO₃^-、Ca²⁺、Mg²⁺浓度随海拔的升高呈减小趋势,SO₄^2-浓度则为增大趋势.     

中国降水量高度效应及全球升温对它的影响

利用中国气象中心160站点的实际观察资料,对中国半个世纪的降水变化进行了系统分析,发现中国的夏季降水量与海拔高度存在着很好的反相关关系;同时,全球升温使得降水量的高度效应增强,主要表现为高海拔降水量海拔效应明显增强,这主要是由全球升温引起环流系统增强所引起的.     

Assessment of Flood Vulnerability Based on CMIP5 Climate Projections in South Korea

The objective of this article was to assess flood vulnerability based on the representative concentration pathways (RCP) scenarios at city and county levels. A quantile mapping method was adopted to correct bias that is inherent in climate change scenarios. A series of proxy variables related to climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity were chosen to assess flood vulnerability. Proxy variables were standardized using the Z‐score method. Principal component analysis was carried out to calculate the weighting of proxy variables. The study area was the Korean peninsula. The spatial resolution was on a city and county basis and the temporal resolution was 1990s, 2025s, 2055s, and 2085s (divided into 1976‐2005, 2011‐2040, 2041‐2070, and 2071‐2100). In the spatial comparison, we found that the areas with high‐level flood vulnerability increased over time in the central region, including metropolitan areas, and near the southern coast. In the temporal comparison, we found that the RCP4.5 scenario showed a tendency to increase steadily and the RCP8.5 scenario showed a tendency to decrease in the 2055s slightly and increase again in the 2085s. The study findings may provide useful data for the determination of priority for countermeasure development, though robustness of these findings with additional future projections should be established.     

Enhancement of As(V) adsorption onto activated sludge by methylation treatment

Biosorption properties of arsenate [As(V)] onto activated sludge were investigated in batch systems. The adsorption of As(V) onto sludge increased from 23 to 266 μg/g dry weight through the methylation of the activated sludge. This increase resulted from neutralization of carboxylic groups via the methylation process. The pH effect of As(V) uptake was also investigated and As(V) adsorption by methylated sludge decreased significantly at high pH (pH > 11) due to competition between As(V) and OH⁻ ions for binding sites distributed on sludge surfaces. In contrast, low pH favored As(V) adsorption by methylated sludge because of the elevated quantities of positively charged functional groups. The results suggest that methylated activated sludge may provide promising applications for the simultaneous removal and separation of As(V) from aqueous effluents.     

Thermodynamic analysis of fatty acid harvesting by novel carbon-based adsorbent

In this study, separation and concentration of fatty acids (FA) from the synthetic food processing wastewater containing low concentration of FA (250 mg/L) were investigated using expanded graphite (EG) as a novel adsorbent at different temperatures (298~318 K). The adsorption results were further analyzed to verify adsorption mechanisms and thermodynamics of FA onto EG. Results show that the adsorption of FA onto EG was explained well by the Langmuir model with the maximum adsorption capacity up to 8.01 g FA/g EG at 298 K, and considerably affected by temperature. The adsorption kinetics fitted with pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the adsorption mechanism analysis showed that the intraparticle diffusion was not the rate-limiting step, but the coalescence of FA droplets played the significant role for novel adsorption of FA onto EG. The calculated activation energy and thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy change (ΔG⁰), enthalpy change (ΔH⁰), and entropy change (ΔS⁰) indicated that the adsorption of FA onto EG was very feasible, was highly spontaneous, occurred physically, was exothermic in nature, and was stable in aquatic environmental changes. Overall, FA can be effectively harvested and concentrated from the food processing wastewater by EG even at low concentration.