The Onset of Electrical Breakdown in Dust Layers: II. Effective Dielectric Constant and Local Field Enhancement

Part I of this work has shown that electrical breakdown in dust layers obeys Paschen's Law, but occurs at applied field values which appear too small to initiate the breakdown. In this paper we will show how an effective dielectric constant characterizing the dust layer can be determined from ac dielectric measurements and the theory of Debye. When combined with an expression for the enhanced local electric field in the void spaces between particles in the layer, field strengths which are large enough to initiate electrical breakdown in the layer are predicted at relatively low values of applied field. The effect of temperature and dust layer thickness on the onset of electrical breakdown within the dust layer can also be explained by the dependence of the effective dielectric constant on these parameters.     

Air Pollution Effects of Incinerator Firing Practices and Combustion Air Distribution

A survey of academic programs in air pollution control was made. Results from the 127 schools reporting are tabulated by state. Faculty involved in air pollution instruction are identified. Some conclusions and recommendations are presented.     

Effects of Design and Fuel Moisture on Incinerator Effluents

The particle and gas properties that profoundly affect design and performance of fly ash precipitators are discussed and evaluated in this section. Relation of the coal burned to these properties and to the precipitator gas cleaning problem is broadly examined. The need for a high order of technology consistently applied to cope successfully with the wide and often uncertain variations in coal and ash properties encountered in precipitation practices is emphasized.     

Comparative tolerance of Pinus radiata and microbial activity to copper and zinc in a soil treated with metal-amended biosolids

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of elevated concentrations of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in a soil treated with biosolids previously spiked with these metals on Pinus radiata during a 312-day glasshouse pot trial. The total soil metal concentrations in the treatments were 16, 48, 146 and 232 mg Cu/kg or 36, 141, 430 and 668 mg Zn/kg. Increased total soil Cu concentration increased the soil solution Cu concentration (0.03–0.54 mg/L) but had no effect on leaf and root dry matter production. Increased total soil Zn concentration also increased the soil solution Zn concentration (0.9–362 mg/L). Decreased leaf and root dry matter were recorded above the total soil Zn concentration of 141 mg/kg (soil solution Zn concentration, >4.4 mg/L). A lower percentage of Cu in the soil soluble?+?exchangeable fraction (5–12 %) and lower Cu²⁺ concentration in soil solution (0.001–0.06 μM) relative to Zn (soil soluble?+?exchangeable fraction, 12–66 %; soil solution Zn²⁺ concentration, 4.5–4,419 μM) indicated lower bioavailability of Cu. Soil dehydrogenase activity decreased with every successive level of Cu and Zn applied, but the reduction was higher for Zn than for Cu addition. Dehydrogenase activity was reduced by 40 % (EC₄₀) at the total solution-phase and solid-phase soluble?+?exchangeable Cu concentrations of 0.5 mg/L and 14.5 mg/kg, respectively. For Zn the corresponding EC₅₀ were 9 mg/L and 55 mg/kg, respectively. Based on our findings, we propose that current New Zealand soil guidelines values for Cu and Zn (100 mg/kg for Cu; 300 mg/kg for Zn) should be revised downwards based on apparent toxicity to soil biological activity (Cu and Zn) and radiata pine (Zn only) at the threshold concentration.     

Algae Biomass Based Media for Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) Production by Escherichia coli

In addition to biodiesel production from algae, the production of other valuable bioproducts facilitates the development of an algae-based biorefinery platform. The goal of this study was to utilize the aqueous fraction from a novel algal wet lipid extraction procedure as the medium for the production of a bio product, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), via the growth of recombinant Escherichia coli. PHB yield was measured at 34 % of the E. coli dry cell mass, and was increased to 51 % when the algae aqueous medium was supplemented with glucose. While the addition of inorganic nutrients to the aqueous phase did not increase PHB production or growth of E. coli, growth of E. coli was observed to increase with the supplementation of carbon substrate (glucose). The addition of carbon rich waste to the aqueous fraction of wastewater-derived algae may in the future provide a sustainable alternative. Future research will be directed at evaluating this concept to develop a sustainable process for the production of bioplastics through an algae-based biorefinery platform.     

不同种类有机肥施用对稻田CH4和N2O排放的综合影响

以麦茬稻田为对象,研究基肥施用不同有机肥对稻田CH₄和N₂O排放的综合影响.结果表明:有机肥施用对稻田CH₄和N₂O排放的季节变化模式无明显影响,但影响其排放量.与施用化肥(化肥处理)相比,施用菜饼+化肥(菜饼处理)促进CH₄和N₂O的排放,其季节排放总量分别增加了252%和22%;施用小麦秸秆+化肥(秸秆处理)和牛厩肥+化肥(牛厩肥处理)明显增加CH₄排放,增加量分别为250%和45%,同时却减少N₂O排放,分别减少18%和21%;施用猪厩肥+化肥(猪厩肥处理)降低CH₄和N₂O的排放,分别降低4%和18%.对CH4和N₂O排放的综合温室效应分析表明,菜饼和秸秆处理的全球增温潜势(GWP)约为化肥处理的2.5倍,牛厩肥和化肥处理基本持平,但施用猪厩肥可减少10%～15%.各处理的GWP从高到低依次为菜饼、秸秆、牛厩肥、化肥和猪厩肥.单位产量的GWP以秸秆处理最高,菜饼次之,牛厩肥比化肥处理略高,猪厩肥处理最低.从本生长季来看,猪厩肥的施用对于实现环境效益与生产效益的协调发展具有一定作用.     

Aluminium and heavy metals in potable waters of the north Ceredigion area,mid-Wales

Routine monitoring of the public water supply in Aberystwyth revealed high levels of aluminium during November 1989. These levels were twelve times the EEC recommended level and three times the maximum permitted level. While the reservoirs supplying the region and the streams draining their upland peaty catchment areas generally contain moderate levels of Al, Al salts added as coagulating agents are a major source. There is also considerable variation of the Al in potable waters through the month of November 1989 for an Aberystwyth supply. Private supplies, from groundwaters, in the region generally contain low Al.While most drinking waters in the region contain low Pb, values close to the EEC limit have been recorded for some samples from older houses with Pb pipes, while a sample from a well supply in an old lead mining area contained three times the EEC limit. Despite the wide use of Cu piping for water supplies in the area, most values for this element in mains-water are low, with occasional higher values. However, many private supplies from spring sources are extremely Cu-rich and again levels of this element in a private supply showed a marked temporal variation during November 1989. Zinc levels in potable waters of the area are very variable. That most of the Zn in potable waters is derived from the dissolution of Cu pipes is evidenced by a strong correlation between Cu and Zn in these waters. A few Cd values of over 2 g L^–1 have also been recorded.     

CAUSES OF UGHT AVI'ENUATION IN TAMPA BAY AND CHARLOTTE HARBOR,SOUTHWESTERN FLORIDA1

ABSTRACT: Vertical attenuation of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in clear waters of central Florida theoretically can vary almost 50 percent during a sunny summer day as a result of changing solar elevation. We used a simple formula to partially adjust the attenuation coefficient in Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor for changing solar elevation of the direct beam and then used multiple regression analysis to estimate the relative contribution of different water properties or constituents to the adjusted attenuation coefficient, k_adj. Color, on an average, was responsible for 18 percent of k_adj, chlorophyll a for 21 percent, nonchiorophyll suspended matter for 55 percent, and seawater for the remaining 6 percent. In both estuaries, k_adj increased with decreasing salinity as a result of freshwater runoff adding color, suspended matter, and nutrients. Nutrients affected attenuation by stimulating phytoplankton growth and increasing concentrations of chlorophyll a. Reduced nutrient loading to upper Tampa Bay (Hilisborough Bay) in the early to mid-1980's appears to have decreased concentrations of chlorophyll a, increased water clarity, and increased seagrass recolonization. Assuming other attenuating substances remained unchanged, the decrease in the average concentration of chlorophyll a from 30 to 15 μg L_?1 would correspond to an increase in the depth of light penetration necessary for seagrass survival (>10 percent incident light) from 1.0 to 1.5 m, which, on a relatively flat sea bed (slope of 2 m/km), would increase the area potentially available for seagram recolonization by 0.25 km²/km of shoreline.     

Flexibility in water management planning as an intra-organisational issue

This paper is a case study of a team of Dutch water managers who saw that to achieve flexibility in planning they needed to engage with organisational control requirements. Rather than approaching flexibility normatively, as much planning literature does, this paper presents a case of flexibility empirically – as something actors negotiate through their strategising within planning practice, within their organisational context. The analysis shows the importance of approaching flexibility in planning as an intra-organisational issue, presents insights on the strategies actors employ in negotiating flexibility and control intra-organisationally, and points to the political nature of dynamics between flexibility and control.     

Losses from effluent taxes and quotas under uncertainty

Recent theoretical papers by Adar and Griffin (J. Environ. Econ. Manag.3, 178–188 (1976)), Fishelson (J. Environ. Econ. Manag.3, 189–197 (1976)), and Weitzman (Rev. Econ. Studies41, 477–491 (1974)) show that,different expected social losses arise from using effluent taxes and quotas as alternative control instruments when marginal control costs are uncertain. Key assumptions in these analyses are linear marginal cost and benefit functions and an additive error for the marginal cost function (to reflect uncertainty). In this paper, empirically derived nonlinear functions and more realistic multiplicative error terms are used to estimate expected control and damage costs and to identify (empirically) the mix of control instruments that minimizes expected losses.