Biosorption properties of Cd(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extracted from Aspergillus fumigatus and determined by polarographic method

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were extracted from Aspergillus fumigatus using cationic exchange resin technique. The EPS were mainly composed of polysaccharide and low quantities of protein and nucleic acid. Biosorption of Cd(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) of EPS was investigated as a function of pH using differential pulse polarography and the Ruzic model. Results showed that the EPS biosorption capacity determined using either the direct titration curves i?=?f(C _M) or the method proposed by Ruzic (Analytica Chimica Acta 140:99–113, 1982) were coincident. Cu(II) had the highest affinity with EPS followed by Pb(II) and Cd(II). The total number of binding sites for Cu(II) and Cd(II) increased with pH in the range of 4.0–7.0. Similar trend was observed for Pb(II) at pH?4.0–5.0, while precipitates were observed at pH?6.0 and 7.0. The conditional binding constants of these three metals displayed low levels of fluctuation with pH and ranged from 4.02?±?0.02 to 5.54?±?0.05.     

Robust Regression with Data-Dependent Regularization Parameters and Autoregressive Temporal Correlations

We introduce robust procedures for analyzing water quality data collected over time. One challenging task in analyzing such data is how to achieve robustness in presence of outliers while maintaining high estimation efficiency so that we can draw valid conclusions and provide useful advices in water management. The robust approach requires specification of a loss function such as the Huber, Tukey’s bisquare and the exponential loss function, and an associated tuning parameter determining the extent of robustness needed. High robustness is at the cost of efficiency loss in parameter loss. To this end, we propose a data-driven method which leads to more efficient parameter estimation. This data-dependent approach allows us to choose a regularization (tuning) parameter that depends on the proportion of “outliers” in the data so that estimation efficiency is maximized. We illustrate the proposed methods using a study on ammonium nitrogen concentrations from two sites in the Huaihe River in China, where the interest is in quantifying the trend in the most recent years while accounting for possible temporal correlations and “irregular” observations in earlier years.     

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...     

纳米TiO2-石墨烯光催化剂的水热合成及其光催化性能

以钛酸四正丁酯和石墨为原料,通过水热法制备了锐钛矿型为主的纳米TiO2复合光催化剂（纳米TiO2-石墨烯）,并采用XRD,FTIR,FESEM,TEM技术对其进行了表征。通过紫外光照射降解溶液中的罗丹明B（RhB）研究了TiO2-石墨烯的光催化活性,分析了初始罗丹明B质量浓度、催化剂加入量、溶液pH和催化剂使用次数等影响降解效果的因素。实验结果表明：在初始RhB质量浓度为20 mg/L、溶液pH为7.10、催化剂加入量为1.000 g/L的条件下,紫外光照射30 min时,纳米TiO2-石墨烯对RhB的降解率高达98.69%,明显高于纳米TiO2的44.69%;纳米TiO2-石墨烯稳定性较强,可多次重复使用。     

纳米二氧化钛复合石墨烯催化剂的制备及处理染料废水

以硫酸钛为原料,采用共沉淀法,制备了一系列纳米二氧化钛复合石墨烯催化剂,采用XRD和FTIR对样品进行表征。通过紫外光照射亚甲基蓝溶液光催化降解实验,研究石墨烯的加入量对TiO2光催化性能的影响,结果表明,TiO2-GO-5具有最佳的光催化性能。在pH=6.00、TiO2-GO-5的投加量为0.070 g/50 mL、光照3 h条件下,100 mg/L亚甲基蓝溶液的脱色率达到最大值为90.52%。     

Health Effects of Waste Incineration: A Review of Epidemiologic Studies

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing trend toward using incineration to solve the problem of waste management; thus, there are concerns about the potential health impact of waste incineration. A critical review of epidemiologic studies will enhance understanding of the potential health effects of waste incineration and will provide important information regarding what needs to be investigated further. This study reviews the epidemiologic research on the potential health impact of waste incineration. Previous studies are discussed and presented according to their study population, incinerator workers or community residents, and health end points. Several studies showed significant associations between waste incineration and lower male-to-female ratio, twinning, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, ischemic heart disease, urinary mutagens and pro-mutagens, or blood levels of certain organic compounds and heavy metals. Other studies found no significant effects on respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function,twinning, cleft lip and palate, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer,or esophageal cancer. In conclusion, these epidemiologic studies consistently observed higher body levels of some organic chemicals and heavy metals, and no effects on respiratory symptoms or pulmonary function. The findings for cancer and reproductive outcomes were inconsistent. More hypothesis-testing epidemiologic studies are needed to investigate the potential health effects of waste incineration on incinerator workers and community residents.     

The Wind-Frequency Allocation Method on Discharge Loading of Function Zones

Abstract

This paper introduces a new allocation method on discharge loading of each function zone in a total emission control region. The wind frequency, the position of each district, and the pollutant’s influence area were taken into account in this new method. The concept of “average downwind distance” was brought forward in this paper. The method here is more reasonable than the original method of area distribution, which was proposed by the “A-value” method in regulation of total emissions in China, by means of the simulation of annual average concentration in the total emission control region.     

Molecular and physiological characterization of fluoroquinolone resistance in relation to uropathogenicity among Escherichia coli isolates isolated from Wenyu River, China

Increasing antibacterial resistance and pathogenicity in the environment is of growing concern due to its potential human risk. In the present study, 236 Escherichia coli isolates were collected from Wenyu River in China on drugless (48 isolates) and quinolone-containing plates (189 isolates). Their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined ranging from 0.125 μg mL⁻¹ to 128 μg mL⁻¹. Mutation points related to fluoroquinolone resistance were observed at S83 to L and D87 to N or Y in the GyrA subunit and S80 to R or I and E84 to G in the ParC subunit. Generally, MICs of LEV and GAT are dependent on the patterns of these mutation points. The profile with three mutation points was related to LEV-resistant E. coli isolates, and the (S83L, D87N + S80I) mutation profile was most prevalent (65.7%) in LEV-resistant isolates, while a large proportion of isolates, even those with three mutation points, were susceptive to GAT. The incidence of virulence factors in LEV-resistant isolates (44.7%, 59/132) was much higher than in nonresistant isolates (23.1%, 24/104) (χ² = 11.925, 1° of freedom, p < 0.001) indicating that fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli would pose a potential risk. A similar distribution was also found in isolates resistant to GAT (χ² = 7.843, 1° of freedom, p = 0.0079).     

Desorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from field-contaminated soil to a two-dimensional hydrophobic surface before and after bioremediation

This study investigated environmental distributions and production mechanisms of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Cl-PAHs) in the sediments from some tidal flats located in Asia. Cl-PAHs were found in sediments taken from Arao tidal flat, Kikuchigawa River and Shirakawa River. The range of ∑Cl-PAHs was from 25.5 to 483 pg g⁻¹ for Kikuchigawa River and Arao tidal flat, respectively.Concentrations of PAHs and Cl-PAHs showed no significant correlations (r = 0.134). This result suggests that the origins of these compounds differ. In the identified Cl-PAH isomers, the most abundant Cl-PAH isomer was 9,10-dichloroanthracene (9,10-di-Cl-ANT) in the three sites. In general, concentrations of Cl-ANTs in the coastal environment are about 3-5 orders of magnitude lower than those of anthracene (ANT). However, concentration ratios between Cl-ANTs and ANT (Cl-ANTs/ANT) in the sediments ranged from 4.1% to 24.6%. This result indicated that Cl-PAHs were not generated under industrial processes but the high concentration ratios have resulted from the contribution of photochemical production of Cl-ANTs in the sediments because ANT is known to have high photochemical reactivity.For examining this phenomenon, ANT adsorbed onto glass beads was irradiated with UV under the mimicked field conditions of tidal flats. As a result, it was noticed that, while chlorinated derivatives were negligible in a light-controlled group, production of 2-Cl-ANT, 9-Cl-ANT and 9,10-diCl-ANT on the irradiated surface were found in this study. These results suggest that photochemical reaction of PAHs can be a potential source of the occurrence of Cl-PAHs in the coastal environment.