全球沙尘气溶胶源汇分布及其变化特征的模拟分析

根据全球沙尘气溶胶气候模式GEM-AQ/EC模拟的1995~2004年的沙尘起沙量和干湿沉降量,分析了沙尘气溶胶源汇的全球时空变化特征.全球沙尘起沙量集中在各个主要沙漠地区,北非对全球沙尘气溶胶贡献最大为66.6%.沙尘气溶胶沉降的高值区分布在沙漠源区及其紧临的下风地区.最大净沙尘气溶胶接收主要分布在沙漠周围地区并形成净接收量大于10t/(km2×a)的位于0°N~60°N之间的北非、欧亚大陆、西太平洋、北印度洋、北美和大西洋的带状分布.在北非、阿拉伯半岛、中亚、东亚和澳大利亚5个主要沙漠地区中,起沙量和沉降量都存在明显的季节变化,除中亚其他4个区域干湿沉降量和起沙的季节变化基本一致;东亚地区沙尘气溶胶起沙量和总沉降量的季节变化最为明显,而北非沙漠起沙量和总沉降量的季节变化最小,其他3个区域的季节变化幅度基本相同.中亚起沙峰值和阿拉伯半岛起沙次峰值出现在夏季,其他区域的峰值均出现在春季.10年间全球陆地年平均起沙量为(1500±94)Mt,保持略微上升趋势.以北非沙漠起沙量年际变化率最低(6.3%), 而以东亚(28.3%)和澳大利亚(45.0%)起沙量年际变化最为明显;全球陆地的沙尘气溶胶沉降量以约9.9Mt/a的速率递减,全球海洋的沙尘气溶胶沉降递增.     

Fuzzy AHP-based study of cleaner production implementation in Taiwan PWB manufacturer

In recent years, many electronic manufacturing firms have looked upon Cleaner Production (CP) as the means by which they could maintain environmental practice and competitive advantages. CP has been adopted by companies as an important factor in enhancing industrial productivity. Sustainable projects that deal appropriately with environmental and social factors are also more likely to be the most profitable.This paper investigated the criteria and attributes that determine a successful adoption and implementation of CP in reference to PWB manufacture in Taiwan. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) methodology is used to discuss the different decision criteria that include Organizing, Systems and Technologies, Measurement and Feedback, Working environment and Worker's Culture which are all vital factors in an effective CP implementation. AHP is an efficient tool in controlling the fuzziness of the data involved in choosing the most preferred decision variables. The linguistic level of comparisons produced by the manufacturers and experts are tapped and constructed in a form of triangular fuzzy numbers in order to construct fuzzy pairwise comparison matrices. The implementation of the system is demonstrated by a problem involving three stages of hierarchy which contains different criteria and attributes at a wider perspective within an environmental uncertainty. The findings advocate that these enterprises would need to setup the priorities of the CP implementation. The results suggest a generic hierarchical model of organizations of which the highest level is to be prioritized among the CP implementation factors.     

At a tipping point? How the debate on biofuel standards sparks innovative ideas for the general future of standardisation and certification schemes

Consumer demand for environmentally and socially responsible products is the driving force behind the expansion of competing certification systems. Paradoxically, this has led to an increasingly crowded marketplace for labels and confusion among stakeholders such as producers, retailers and buyers, rather than providing clear and reliable product information as intended. The situation has sparked a debate about the future of certification schemes and the need for a more streamlined system. This article explores some of the innovative ideas coming from the current discussion regarding biofuel certification and standardisation and outlines how those ideas can be applied to create a global generic standard-setting scheme for natural resources.     

Operational decisions in response to a performance-based regulation to reduce organic waste impacts near Atlantic salmon farms in British Columbia,Canada

Nutrient enrichment of the seafloor (benthos) has been a primary subject of investigation since the beginning of commercial salmon farming. Waste feed and feces passing through the containment nets can create zones of organic enrichment to the benthos in the vicinity of the pen cages. Early studies of salmon farming in British Columbia Canada (500–1200 metric ton production farms) showed that these effects varied greatly and were reduced where conditions of adequate water depth and strong tidal currents were present. More recent studies of farms producing in excess of 2000 tons of fish have documented measurable organic benthic impacts.The implementation of a performance-based waste regulation in British Columbia in 2002 has caused operational changes to achieve and maintain compliance. This paper describes field monitoring data for four representative farm operations including the waste impact levels prior to the implementation of regulatory standards and the effect of adaptive management actions taken to reduce organic enrichment such as modified feed delivery, relatively small position changes to the cages or reducing site production to achieve continuing compliance.Monitoring over several full production cycles at selected farms indicated that sediment impacts at maximum production levels have decreased while maintaining, and in some cases increasing overall production of salmon.     

A 50 MW concentrating solar power plant for Jordan

The potential of concentrating solar power plant (CSPP) technology in Jordan is assessed and the next steps for development of the first CSPP in the country are presented. For this purpose, a prototype of a 50 MW CSPP for electricity generation in Jordan is proposed and analysis of its economic feasibility has been performed. Moreover, a calculation model – using the concept design of the proposed CSPP, and the solar irradiation data – was developed to estimate the energy yield of the plant. Based on the analyzed solar irradiation data, it was found that Jordan has an outstanding potential for CSPP, especially in the southern locations of the country such as Quweira. At the same time Jordan's energy master plan is seeking for independent energy supply and for an increasing share of renewable energies. Furthermore, Jordan's demand curve over a day closely matches the electricity production of the proposed plant. Combination of these factors creates a very favorable situation. Therefore, establishment of the proposed 50 MW CSPP is highly recommended not only in Jordan, but also in many other countries, which have similar political and economical conditions such as those countries located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.     

Cleaner tanning practices for tannery pollution abatement: Role of enzymes in eco-friendly vegetable tanning

Concern about pollution related problems in the global scenario are persuading all the processing industries to adopt cleaner manufacturing practices. Thus, the leather industry is also under pressure to look for effective alternative tanning materials for chromium. Natural products like vegetable tannins are regaining importance. However, there are limitations in the use of vegetable tanning materials because of its high organic load in the effluent, which are difficult to degrade leading to high chemical oxygen demand (COD). Moreover, conventional vegetable tanning process requires partial pickling that involves the use of sodium chloride, to suppress osmotic swelling. This results in very high amount of total dissolved solid (TDS) content in wastewaters. In this investigation, an attempt has been made to design an eco-friendly vegetable tanning process combining pickle-free tanning and application of proteolytic enzymes to improve the exhaustion of vegetable tannins. Such an approach has resulted in more than 95% tannin exhaustion in the case of the experimental process, an increase of 10% compared with the conventional vegetable tanning process. The tanned leathers showed slight improvement in hydrothermal stability. Physical and tactile evaluation of experimental leathers has been better than conventionally tanned leathers. Surface colour values illustrated negligible variation in colour and shade between control and experimental leathers. The resultant leather showed opened up, split compact fibre structure that has been well coated, indicating that the enzyme assisted tanning process did not bring about any major change or destruction on the fibre structure of the leathers. The optimized system has been field tested in a commercial tannery. The results showed that the enzyme assisted tanning process is efficient in terms of improved quality of leather and also led to reduction in total solids (TS), chlorides and COD loads. The enzyme assisted tanning system presented appears to be a viable option for combating pollution arising from the conventional vegetable tanning system.     

Bioaccumulation and depuration of chromium in the selected organs andwhole body tissues of freshwater fish Cirrhinus mrigala individuallyand in binary solutions with nickel

Contamination of aquatic ecosystems with heavy metals has been receiving increased worldwide attention due to their harmful e ectson human health and other organisms in the environment. Most of the studies dealing with toxic e ects of metals deal with singlemetal species, while the aquatic organisms are typically exposed to mixtures of metals. Hence, in order to provide data supportingthe usefulness of freshwater fish as indicators of heavy metal pollution, it has been proposed in the present study to investigate thebioaccumulation and depuration of chromium in the selected organs of freshwater fingerlings Cirrhinus mrigala, individually and inbinary solutions with nickel. The results show that the kidney is a target organ for chromium accumulation, which implies that it is alsothe “critical” organ for toxic symptoms. The results further show that accumulation of nickel in all the tissues of C. mrigala is higherthan that of chromium. In addition, the metal accumulations of the binary mixtures of chromium and nickel are substantially higherthan those of the individual metals, indicating synergistic interactions between the two metals. Theoretically the simplest explanationfor an additive joint action of toxicants in a mixture is that they act in a qualitatively similar way. The observed data suggest that C.mrigala could be suitable monitoring organisms to study the bioavailability of water-bound metals in freshwater habitats.     

Yield response of potato to spatially patterned nitrogen application

Although crop response to nitrogen fertilization has long been studied, classical experimental designs have led to inadequate accounting of spatial variability in field properties and yield response. Analytical methods to explicitly account for spatial variability now exist but the complementary modification of experimental design is still developing. There is a need to combine these analytical methods with non-traditional experimental design. A 2-year study was implemented to assess the response of potato (Solanum tuberosum cv. Kennebec) yield to nitrogen fertilizer rate. We used a transect-type plot design where four nitrogen treatments (0, 56, 112, and 280 kg N ha^?1) were applied systematically in a continuous sinusoidal pattern along longitudinal transects. Measured field properties included topography, soil texture, pre-application soil nitrate levels, and plant available soil water content. A random field linear model was used to simultaneously account for treatment effects and soil properties. The results showed that treatment effects were significantly different from each other; however, if spatially correlated errors were accounted for, these differences were smaller and significance levels lower. Nitrogen response functions varied widely throughout the field. Of the covariates, only clay content proved important in explaining spatial differences in response to N. The sinusoidal response pattern of N was similar over the 2 years but the amplitudes varied due to differences in weather. Interactions between uncharacteristically high rainfall and a sandy field soil may have minimized discernable effects of the other covariates. The results demonstrated how the statistical analysis of potato response to a patterned application of nitrogen fertilizer can take advantage of spatial correlations to understand the response of potato to nitrogen application over larger areas.     

海水中痕量元素测定及其在重金属污染源判别方面的应用

利用电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)研究了胶州湾及莱州湾这两个海域中痕量元素污染水平,发展了ICP-MS海水环境中痕量元素的测定方法,同时找出海水环境中具有保守性的数种元素作为污染示踪元素.达到对于海水环境中痕量污染物被动示踪的目的.对18个真实样品进行了识别率试验,识别率可达90%以上,在选取3个海水样品及1个河水样品混合后的模拟分担率实验,也取得了满意的结果,其误差平均值仅有1.17%.     

Catchment-wide assessment of the cost-effectiveness of stormwater remediation measures in urban areas

The cost effectiveness of catchment-wide funding for the environmental remediation of urban waterways on the scale of a major metropolitan catchment is examined considering the typical land-use and pollutant-export characteristics of urban catchments. The evaluation is performed by comparing the effectiveness of the major stormwater treatment modes for the pollutants of concern with the proportion of pollutant export to which the measure applies. The heavy metals copper, lead, and zinc in the aqueous phase or bound to fine particulates are identified as representative of the pollutants of concern in drainage from urban catchments. The analysis suggests that these priority pollutants are predominantly (79–87%) derived from runoff from residential property and roads as disseminated urban surfaces. Analysis of a specific case of catchment-wide funding of stormwater remediation in the Sydney Harbour catchment, Australia reveals that the funding allocation cannot be expected to have achieved reductions in the loads of priority pollutants due to the types of treatment measures implemented and the sources addressed. The apportionment of funding in better accordance with the maximum potential effectiveness of stormwater treatment modes and the pollutant-export characteristics of urban catchments could thus be expected to achieve a more cost-effective result from such funding initiatives.