Development of vermicast from sludge and powdered oyster shell

Soil acidification is one of the rising land degradation issues facing world agriculture. The risk of acidification is currently being assessed as part of agriculture productivity and sustainable theme. This study was conducted to produce a new vermicomposting cast as a recycling resource derived from municipal sewage sludge and waste oyster shell. The earthworm, Eisenia Andrei, was fed under different conditions. The most suitable mixture was 77:23 w/w% of sewage sludge and waste oyster shell. Powdered oyster shell (POS) sludge blend provided a stable pH, due to its buffering capacity during vermiculture because of the Ca²⁺ and OH^? release effect. The vermicast products fulfilled the cast standards of Korea Ministry of Environment for all the parameters such as moisture content, pH, salinity, organic carbon, TKN, Phosphate, and heavy metals. Slowly released organic matter when added to soil improves the capacity of the soil to hold nutrients for plants, improve soil aeration for roots, and improves soil drainage. This product will be an addition to already-commercialized sludge vermicast as a higher value product.     

新型饮用水除氟材料Bio-F的除氟特性和比较研究

对3种传统除氟剂活性氧化铝、骨炭和改性沸石与自制的新型生物除氟剂Bio-F的除氟性能及影响因素（材料粒径、pH值、吸附时间、水样含氟浓度、其它离子、再生能力等）进行了比较,并模拟动态实验评估了这4种除氟材料对实际高氟地下水处理的效果.结果表明,Bio-F生物除氟剂对F^-的吸附过程符合Lagergren一级吸附动力学特征（R²=0.958 0）,吸附速率较快,且该过程属于吸热反应; Bio-F吸附F^-符合Langmuir吸附等温模型（R²=0.999 2）,吸附容量高,静态吸附容量可达4.088 3 mg·g^-1,分别约是活性氧化铝和改性沸石的1.8和 5.8倍.4种除氟材料吸附容量与氟浓度正相关,与吸附剂粒径负相关.高浓度的CO^2-₃、HCO^-₃明显抑制Bio-F的除氟（p<0.05）,但高浓度的Ca²⁺、NO^-₃、HPO^2-₄有利于Bio-F的除氟（p<0.001）.Bio-F除氟最佳停留时间3～4 min,远远低于沸石20 min和活性氧化铝11 min.在pH 4.0～9.0范围内Bio-F可保持90％以上吸附F^-的能力.再生性能稳定,10次再生后吸附容量变化不超过15%.Bio-F综合性能优于其它3种传统除氟剂,在我国广大农村地区推广有显著优越性.     

苯噻草胺在土壤中的吸附与解吸行为研究

采用批量平衡实验方法,研究了除草剂苯噻草胺在5种不同性质土壤中的吸附与解吸行为,并探讨了土壤有机质及溶液pH值对吸附的影响.结果表明,线性方程与Freundlich方程均能较好地拟合苯噻草胺在土壤中的吸附等温线.计算得到苯噻草胺在5种土壤中的碳标化分配系数K_oc在849.5～1?818.8 L·kg^-1之间,说明土壤对苯噻草胺有较强的吸附能力.苯噻草胺在土壤中的分配系数K_d、Freundlich常数K_f以及K_f(1/n)与土壤有机质含量均呈显著正相关.通过过氧化氢去除有机质后,土壤对苯噻草胺的吸附大大降低,说明土壤有机质是影响苯噻草胺在土壤中吸附的主要因素.对于同种土壤而言,苯噻草胺的吸附量随pH值的增大而减小.解吸实验表明,苯噻草胺在土壤中的解吸过程具有一定的滞后性,推测其在土壤中的迁移能力较差.     

丝素/SiO2杂化膜固定化多酚氧化酶处理模拟含酚废水

粗马铃薯多酚氧化酶固定于丝素/SiO2杂化膜上,从而得到丝素/SiO2杂化膜固定化多酚氧化酶.并用于处理模拟含酚废水.丝素/SiO2杂化膜在水中的溶失率小于丝素膜在水中的溶失率.所得丝素/SiO2杂化膜固定化多酚氧化酶的最适宜pH为7.4.相对于游离多酚氧化酶.该酶具有较好的热稳定性、贮存稳定性及重复使用性.研究表明,丝素/SiO2杂化膜固定化多酚氧化酶有实际处理含酚废水的可能.     

Atmospheric composition change research: Time to go post-normal?

For more than two decades a number of frameworks for scientific knowledge production are being proposed by science and technology researchers. They all advocate an extended involvement of non-specialists, in particular when it comes to knowledge production applicable to practical societal problems. We look to what extent these new frameworks have taken ground within a particular research community: the ACCENT Network of Excellence which coordinates European atmospheric chemistry and physics research applicable to air pollution and climate change. We did so by stimulating a debate through a “blog”, a survey and in-depth interviews with ACCENT scientists about the interaction between science, policy making and civil society, to which a great deal of ACCENT member contributed in writing or verbally. Most of them had interactions with policy makers and/or the general public, and they generally believe that interactions with spheres other than the scientific are needed. While such interactions give personal insight and satisfaction, they seem to have little impact on the goals and the practice of the scientific work itself. Extended frameworks of science production that go beyond the disciplinary mode seem to emerge at the level of individual scientists, yet they still need to find their way to the level of scientific project management. In this paper we discuss the justifications and barriers to implement a higher degree of extended knowledge integration in applied science projects such as ACCENT. It is felt that the community of atmospheric chemists and physicists is mature for such an implementation and recommendations are given to help and make this happen.     

Environmental conditions enhance toxicant effects in larvae of the ground beetle Pterostichus oblongopunctatus (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

The wide geographical distribution of ground beetles Pterostichus oblongopunctatus makes them very likely to be exposed to several environmental stressors at the same time. These could include both climatic stress and exposure to chemicals. Our previous studies demonstrated that the combined effect of nickel (Ni) and chlorpyrifos (CHP) was temperature (T)-dependent in adult P. oblongopunctatus. Frequently the different developmental stages of an organism are differently sensitive to single stressors, and for a number of reasons, such as differences in exposure routes, their interactions may also take different forms. Because of this, we studied the effects of the same factors on the beetle larvae. The results showed that all factors, as well as their interactions, influenced larvae survival. The synergistic effect of Ni and CPF was temperature-dependent and the effect of Ni × T interaction on the proportion of emerged imagines indicated stronger toxicity of Ni at 25 °C than at 10 °C.     

Validation studies of turbulence closure schemes for high resolutions in mesoscale meteorological models – A case of gas dispersion at the local scale

This work is a contribution to a large project, aimed at the development of an advanced environmental assessment modelling system to be used in Japan. The modelling system here considered consisted of the RAMS and HYPACT coupled models. The RAMS code was modified to properly simulate local scale phenomena using a fine mesh size of 250 m. In this direction, the main aim here was to investigate the effect of the choice of the turbulence closure scheme on the dispersion of pollutants. Our modified version of the RAMS/HYPACT model chain was validated using field experiments which were carried out by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) in the area of Mt. Tsukuba (Japan). The mean flow, turbulence and concentration fields obtained using two alternative turbulence closure schemes are compared. A discussion on the different performances of the turbulence closures is presented and the influence of the closure schemes over the plume dispersion is investigated.