Factors influencing adsorption and desorption of trimethoprim on marine sediments: mechanisms and kinetics

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Adsorption-desorption behavior of ionic antibiotics in natural aquatic environment is complex, especially in coastal or estuary area where influencing...     

Spatial variation and toxicity assessment for heavy metals in sediments of intertidal zone in a typical subtropical estuary (Min River) of China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Sediment samples were collected in five marshes (C1, Phragmites australis marsh; C2, P. australis and Cyperus malaccensis marsh; C3, C. malaccensis...     

Distribution and controls of heavy metals and organic matter in the surface sediments of the Southern Yellow Sea,China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Accurate and effective determination of the source of heavy metals is essential for the treatment of marine ecological environments. This article...     

Optimum ridge-to-furrow ratio in ridge-furrow mulching systems for improving water conservation in maize (Zea may L.) production

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Water-saving cultivation techniques have been attracting increased attention worldwide. Ridge-furrow mulching system (RFMS), as a prospective...     

Microbial community composition and electricity generation in cattle manure slurry treatment using microbial fuel cells: effects of inoculum addition

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a sustainable technology to treat cattle manure slurry (CMS) for converting chemical energy to bioelectricity. In this...     

Toxicity of sediment cores from Yangtze River estuary to zebrafish (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Danio rerio</Emphasis>) embryos

Toxicity evaluation is an important segment in sediment quality monitoring in order to protect aquatic organisms and human health. The purpose of this study is to assess the toxicity of sediments from three sediment cores in Yangtze River Estuary, China, using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo tests. Fertilized zebrafish eggs were exposed to both whole sediments and sediment organic extracts prepared from collected sediments, in order to provide a comprehensive and realistic insight into the bioavailable toxicity potential of the sediments. As end points, development parameters (mortality, hatching rate, and abnormality) in the developing embryos were recorded during the 96-h exposure. The results showed that some samples increased mortality, inhibited the hatching of embryos, and induced morphological abnormalities. The embryonic toxicities presented serrated changes and irregular distribution with depth, which may be related to hydrodynamic effect and unstable environmental input. However, lethal and sub-lethal effects were more significant at the sub-surface sediments (10～40 cm), which indicated that the pollution is more serious in recent decades.     

Levels and distribution of Dechloranes in sediments of Lake Taihu,China

The occurrence and spatial distribution of dechloranes including mirex, dechlorane plus (DP), dechlorane (Dec) 602, Dec 603, and Dec 604 in surficial sediments of Lake Taihu were investigated in this study. The concentrations of mirex and DP ranged from below detection limit (BDL) to 1.29 ng g^?1 dw and 0.051 to 2.10 ng g^?1 dw, respectively. Dec 602, Dec 603, and Dec 604 on the other hand, were BDL in any of the samples. The contamination levels of DP were higher than that of Mirex at 21 of all 22 sampling sites. Levels of mirex and DP in the lake sediments were correlated when an extremely high mirex value was removed. Both mirex and DP levels were correlated with the amount of organic matters in the sediment samples. Spatial distribution of mirex and DP suggested that these two chemicals in the lake had similar input sources except for one site. Comparison to previously reported flame retardants’ levels in the sediments shows that DP levels were similar with the levels of tetrabromobisphenol A, hexabromocyclododecane but lower than PBDEs and organophosphates levels in Lake Taihu. The higher levels in the north-east part of Lake Taihu adjacent to two major cities: Wuxi and Suzhou, indicated that city effluent might be a major source for DP contamination in the lake.     

Machine learning for radioxenon event classification for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

A method of weapon detection for the Comprehensive nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) consists of monitoring the amount of radioxenon in the atmosphere by measuring and sampling the activity concentration of ^131mXe, ¹³³Xe, ^133mXe, and ¹³⁵Xe by radionuclide monitoring. Several explosion samples were simulated based on real data since the measured data of this type is quite rare. These data sets consisted of different circumstances of a nuclear explosion, and are used as training data sets to establish an effective classification model employing state-of-the-art technologies in machine learning. A study was conducted involving classic induction algorithms in machine learning including Naïve Bayes, Neural Networks, Decision Trees, k-Nearest Neighbors, and Support Vector Machines, that revealed that they can successfully be used in this practical application. In particular, our studies show that many induction algorithms in machine learning outperform a simple linear discriminator when a signal is found in a high radioxenon background environment.     

Effects of landforms on the erosion rate in a small watershed by the Cs tracing method

It's very important to analyze and evaluate quantitatively the effects of landforms on soil erosion for the prevention and treatment of soil loss in a small watershed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of landform factors on erosion rate by the ¹³⁷Cs tracing method in a small watershed in the Purple Hilly Area of China. The erosion rates under different slope lengths, slope gradients and slope aspects were estimated in Xiangshuitan watershed in the Purple Hilly Area in Sichuan Basin by the ¹³⁷Cs tracing method. The results showed that the erosion rate decreased exponentially with downslope distance, and it increased with increasing slope gradient during the scope of 5°-16°. The slope aspect had great impact on the erosion rate, and the hillside on the sunny slope had larger erosion rate than that on the shady slope, particularly for the farmland.