Formation of submicron sulfate and organic aerosols in the outflow from the urban region of the Pearl River Delta in China

Size-resolved chemical compositions of non-refractory submicron aerosols were measured using a quadrupole Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer at a rural site near Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) of China in the summer of 2006. Two cases characterized as the outflows from the PRD urban region with plumes of high SO₂ concentration were investigated. The evolution of sulfate size distributions was observed on a timescale of several hours. Namely mass concentrations of sulfate in the condensation mode (with vacuum aerodynamic diameters (D_va) < 300 nm) increased at a rate of about 0.17–0.37 ppbv h^?1 during the daytime. This finding was consistent with the sulfuric acid production rates of about 0.17–0.3 ppbv h^?1, as calculated from the observed gas-phase concentrations of OH (～3.3 × 10⁶–1.7 × 10⁷ cm^?3) and SO₂ (～3–21.2 ppbv). This implies that the growth of sulfate in the condensation mode was mainly due to gas-phase oxidation of SO₂. The observed rapid increase was caused mainly by the concurrent high concentrations of OH and SO₂ in the air mass. The evolution of the mass size distributions of m/z 44, a tracer for oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), was very similar to that of sulfate. The mass loadings of m/z 44 were strongly correlated with those of sulfate (r² = 0.99) in the condensation mode, indicating that OOA might also be formed by the gas-phase oxidation of volatile organic compound (VOC) precursors. It is likely that sulfate and OOA were internally mixed throughout the whole size range in the air mass.     

Species identification and mutation breeding of silicon-activating bacteria isolated from electrolytic manganese residue

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A strain of silicon-activating bacteria was isolated from electrolytic manganese residue (EMR); identified as a species of Ochrobactrum by integrated...     

Manganese-catalyzed cross-coupling of primary alcohols with biomass-derived ethanol for upgrading to linear alcohols under solvent-free conditions

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Bioethanol is a major raw chemical produced in large quantities by the fermentation of sugar-containing crops and lignocellulosic materials. As a consequence,...     

Ammonia volatilization,N2O and CO2 emissions from landfill leachate-irrigated soils

Effects of leachate addition on ammonia volatilization and N₂O and CO₂ emissions from two different soils were investigated using the 10-day laboratory incubation method at two levels of moisture content. Ammonia volatilization was dominated by soil pH and only occurred in alkaline clay soil, where 0.26–0.32% of soil ammonia could be lost. The N₂O emission from the alkaline clay soil was one order of magnitude greater than that from the acidic sandy soil, when either water or leachate was irrigated. Increasing the moisture content from 46% water-filled pore space (WFPS) to 70% WFPS in the alkaline clay soil or the acidic sandy soil by either water or leachate irrigation increased the N₂O emission by over twofold. The CO₂ emission from each soil sample at the two WFPSs was almost the same. The CO₂ emission from the alkaline clay soil with leachate addition was 72% lower than that from the acidic sandy soil with leachate addition, and 6.7 times higher than that from the alkaline clay soil with distilled water addition. Ammonia volatilization and N₂O emission under leachate irrigation could be minimized by avoiding the excessively wet condition and by selecting the acidic sandy soil with low organic carbon and total nitrogen content.     

Governmental policies drive the LUCC trajectories in the Jianghan Plain

The prosperity of farmers is closely tied to governmental policies. The Jianghan Plain is an important region for commodity grains, cotton and edible oil for China. The trajectories of land use and land cover change (LUCC) of the study area from 1995 to 2010 were studied based on the LUCC database of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The LUCC was characterised by a continuous decrease of arable land and continuous increase of waters and construction land. The LUCC was obviously concurrent with the implementation of related national policies. The transition to construction land was ever well controlled by ‘Notice regarding the further strengthening of land management and arable land protection’ promulgated in 1997. However, it flourished again with the ‘Rise of Central China Strategy’ taking effect since 2006. The transition of construction land to others reflects an uncommon trend, which must be strengthened with the strict implementation of the overall plan, which imposes a limited acreage quota of construction land to each district. The policies were quite contradictory to the transition of waters. LUCC related to waters is most active, which was driven by both natural forces and national policies. Just after the devastating flood of 1998, the state council of China put forward the Green Policy to govern the major rivers. As to the study area, it is mainly to ‘push over dykes to let flood through and return farmland to lakes’. In 2004, the Grain Direct Subsidy Policy was implemented, which, along with the surge in the price of rice, resulted in a strengthening trend of conversion of ponds to paddy fields.     

A novel auditory working-memory vigilance task for mental fatigue assessment

An auditory working-memory vigilance task (AWVT), which involves higher mental abilities of a person, like working-memory and decision-making, in addition to vigilance, is presented for measuring human mental fatigue in this paper. A 25-h sleep deprivation study, with hourly testing by AWVT (3 min), PalmPVT (5 min) and self-report of sleepiness, is conducted on eight healthy subjects. The trend of mental fatigue level as measured by a specially proposed score, AWVT Fatigue Index (AFI), during the 25-h study shows very similar pattern to those of PalmPVT lapses and self-report sleepiness. AFI even shows closer correspondence to self-report sleepiness than PalmPVT lapses. This suggests that AWVT is able to measure performance decrement due to sleep deprivation, and it can even provide better measurement of mental fatigue than PalmPVT. AWVT shows a learning curve of less than 3 trials indicating that no skill is required in performing AWVT. Furthermore, repeat studies are done on five of the eight subjects. Pearson’s correlation analysis and other statistical exhibits suggest that AWVT has good test–retest reliability and within subject consistency, which are even better than those of PalmPVT. These results suggest that the AWVT can be used as a reliable objective measure of mental fatigue, and it can even track mental fatigue more accurately than PalmPVT in the real world where most tasks require not just a reaction time type response, but also higher mental abilities.     

Influences of sediment properties and macrophytes on phosphorous speciation in the intertidal marsh

Phosphorus (P) in wetlands is mainly bound to sediment in various species, which is essential to predict water column P levels. The purpose of this work is to understand the influences of sediment properties and vegetation types on P speciation. Sediments under four vegetation types in the tidal flat and offshore sandbar in Hangzhou Bay of China were collected seasonally. The rank order of P species in sediment based on concentration was exchangeable P (Exch-P)?相似文献   

北京平原区夏垫断裂的多源遥感影像特征

1679年9月2日三河—平谷8.0级地震在地表形成总体走向N40°~45°E,倾角60°~70°,长达10 km的破裂带。该文采用Landsat-8、SPOT-5、SAR、GDEM、Google Earth多源遥感影像研究夏垫断裂的遥感影像特征。利用ERDAS软件,对Landsat-8影像按7∶4∶2依次为R、G、B分量作彩色合成增强处理,突出影像的线性构造特征;对Landsat-8和SPOT-5影像、Landsat-8和SAR影像分别进行融合处理,丰富影像的光谱信息;对GDEM与SPOT影像进行三维叠加,突出影像的三维特征;对SAR影像进行斑点压缩、方向滤波处理,突出影像平行断裂方向的线性特征。文中分析、对比了Google Earth和SPOT-5影像上地震陡坎的特征,陡坎在SPOT-5影像上表现较明显,但在影像上表现不出较低陡坎,同时,在两种影像上容易将绿色植被、狭窄道路或其它地物误认为陡坎;SAR滤波后的影像表现出暗色的线性条带;Landsat-8和SAR融合后的影像表现出较宽的异常条带,该条带指示断裂带所在位置。     

北京平原区夏垫活动断裂滑动速率及古地震复发间隔

搜集了有关夏垫断裂钻孔测年数据,采用最小二乘法对数据进行拟合分析,拟合结果显示夏垫断裂滑动速率在地段和时段上均存在差异,且在时段上的差异更加明显。前20 ka以来滑动速率相对较小(0.13~0.30 mm/a);前26 ka~20 ka,滑动速率较大(1.38~2.56mm/a),约为前20 ka以来滑动速率的9~11倍。利用潘各庄探槽、东柳河屯探槽、齐心庄探槽、大胡庄探槽、地震联合钻孔剖面及钻孔资料判定除1679年三河-平谷8级地震外,前20 ka以来夏垫断裂还存在6次古地震事件,古地震平均复发间隔约为3 000 a。     

Detection and Characterization of Avastrovirus Associated with Diarrhea Isolated from Minks in China

Astroviruses are becoming a growing concern in veterinary and public health. Many astrovirus species are associated with enteric diseases have been described in both mammalian and avian hosts. In the present study, 23 fecal samples from diarrheic minks were collected in Liaoning and Shandong Province, and an investigation of astrovirus was performed using biochemical methods and RT-PCR assay with specific primers. A total of four mink astroviral isolates were detected from sick minks with diarrhea problems. Further sequencing and characterization of the partial ORF1b gene and ORF2 gene segments revealed low sequence identities (20.0–85.3 and 31.8–87.2 %) with known astroviral strains, indicating the emergence of a novel clade of astroviruses. Some new features of the astroviral genome have also been discovered. The phylogenetic tree revealed that all samples were distantly related to mink astrovirus and were closely related to chicken astroviruses and turkey astroviruses. MK/DL-1, MK/DL-2, MK/SD-1, and MK/SD-2 formed a new clade and were found to be more closely related to astroviruses from birds than to other mink strains, indicating past cross-species transmission and considerable zoonotic potential.