Context dependency and generality of fever in insects

Fever can reduce mortality in infected animals. Yet, despite its fitness-enhancing qualities, fever often varies among animals. We used several approaches to examine this variation in insects. Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis) exhibited a modest fever (1 °C increase in preferred body temperature, T _pref) after injection of prostaglandin, which putatively mediates fever in both vertebrates and invertebrates, but they did not exhibit fever during chronic exposure to heat-killed bacteria. Further, chronic food limitation and mating status did not affect T _pref or the expression of behavioural fever, suggesting limited context dependency of fever in G. texensis. Our meta-analysis of behavioural fever studies indicated that behavioural fever occurs in many insects, but it is not ubiquitous. Thus, both empirical and meta-analytical results suggest that the fever response in insects ‘is widespread, although certainly not inevitable’ (Moore 2002). We highlight the need for future work focusing on standardizing an experimental protocol to measure behavioural fever, understanding the specific mechanism(s) underlying fever in insects, and examining whether ecological or physiological costs often outweigh the benefits of fever and can explain the sporadic nature of fever in insects.     

Utilizing surfactants to control the sorption, desorption, and biodegradation of phenanthrene in soil-water system

An integrative technology including the surfactant enhanced sorption and subsequentdesorption and biodegradation of phenanthrene in the soil-water system was introduced and tested. For slightly contaminated agricultural soils, cationic-nonionic mixed surfactant- enhanced sorption of organic contaminants onto soils could reduce their transfer to plants, therefore safe-guarding agricultural production. After planting, residual surfactants combined with added nonionic surfactant could also promote thedesorption and biodegradation of residual phenanthrene, thus providing a cost-effective pollution remediation technology.0ur results showed that the cationic-nonionic mixed surfactantsdodecylpyridinium bromide (DDPB) and Triton X-100 (TX100) significantly enhanced soil retention of phenanthrene. The maximum sorption coefficient Kd* of phenanthrene for contaminated soils treated by mixed surfactants was about24.5 times that of soils without surfactant (Kd ) and higher than the combined effects of DDPB and TX100 individually, which was about 16.7 and 1.5 times Kd , respectively.0n the other hand, TX100 could effectively remove phenanthrene from contaminated soils treated by mixed surfactants, improving the bioavailability of organic pollutants. Thedesorption rates of phenanthrene from these treated soils were greater than 85% with TX100 concentration above2000 mg/L and approached 100% with increasing TX100 concentration. The biodegradation rates of phenanthrene in the presence of surfactants reached over 95% in30days. The mixed surfactants promoted the biodegradation of phenanthrene to some extent in 10-22days, and had no obvious impact on phenanthrene biodegradation at the end of the experiment. Results obtained from this study provide some insight for the production of safe agricultural products and a remediation scheme for soils slightly contaminated with organic pollutants.     

飞灰对废弃物焚烧过程中二恶英的抑制和捕获作用研究

通过工程试验和分析测试,分别对城市生活垃圾和医疗废弃物焚烧过程中高温烟气段和低温烟气段飞灰对二恶英的抑制和捕获作用进行了初步的研究。研究表明:适当增加锅炉灰循环量对于二恶英的再合成能起到抑制作用,飞灰中金属氧化物介质可能存在着催化和阻止的双重竞争机制;添加飞灰对于吸附医疗废物焚烧尾气中的二恶英所起作用不明显,但飞灰对燃烧残炭的吸附作用非常明显。     

Differences in rheological and fractal properties of conditioned and raw sewage sludge

Rheological tests for raw and conditioned activated sludge(AS) or anaerobic digested sludge(ADS) show that power-law relationships can be used to describe the evolution of several rheological parameters,i.e.,limiting viscosity(η∞),yield stress(τy),cohesion energy of the sludge network(Ec),and storage modulus(G’),with total suspended solid(TSS) content in raw and conditioned sludge.A gel-like structure that behaves similar to weak-link flocs/aggregates was observed in AS and ADS.As derived from the double-logarithmic plots of G’-TSS content,the mass fractal dimensions of the raw and conditioned AS or ADS flocs/aggregates were 2.70 and 2.53 or 2.85 and 2.79,respectively.The rheological tests also indicate that both polymer conditioning and increased TSS content led to improved elastic behavior,cohesion energy,and yield stress of the sludge network,as well as expanded the corresponding linear viscoelastic range.The porosity of AS or ADS flocs/aggregates will be improved by polymer conditioning.     

滇池沿湖地区农田污染生态控制关键技术研究

针对滇池沿湖地区农田面源污染的特点,结合种植生产实际情况,在分析已有研究成果的基础上,按照源-流-汇系统控制的思路,在滇池沿湖地区开展了大颗粒肥料加工施用技术;生物覆盖保护性栽培技术;沟-基-塘系统三项试验研究。实验表明生态控制技术对农田地表径流污染综合负荷TN、TN、CODCr和SS的平均去除率分别达到54.14%～59.78%、66.86%～69.45%、42.20%～62.74%和48.83%～76.41%。生态控制技术的集成研究应用对于滇池沿湖地区生态农业发展和农田面源污染防控具有良好的作用。     

某铀尾矿库下游水体及表层沉积物中铀污染特征

沿粤北某铀尾矿库下游水体采集14个水样和11个表层水系沉积物样品,利用电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法(ICP-OES)和低本底HPGe-γ能谱仪分别测量了水样和沉积物中铀含量。结果表明,沿着水流方向,水体中铀浓度由2.091 mg/L降到当地环境本底水平0.002 mg/L。流入水库前,水体中铀含量均超过0.05 mg/L。排水口附近以及下游水库中表层沉积物样品的铀含量比溪流中段的高,特别是水库沉积物中含铀703.1 mg/kg,可能会对水质造成长期影响。     

压缩天然气加气站日常运营环境影响分析——以洛阳市某加气站为例

鉴于压缩天然气(CNG)加气站日常运行对周边环境影响的高风险状态,文章依据洛阳市某CNG加气站生产运营状况,对其运营过程中可能造成的环境影响进行预测、评析,并提出了合理的防范措施。     

区域大气环境容量资源优化利用的博弈分析

大气环境容量是一种公共资源,合理利用和保护大气环境容量资源是大气环境改善的有效途径.从区域内各城市间的博弈行为出发,利用个人决策模型、整体决策模型、关系模型对区域内大气容量资源进行分析,揭示大气容量资源被过度使用的现象,针对城市监管不力、企业排污严重引起大气污染问题而提出帕累托改进模型,指出大气环境保护需要合作机制,联防联控.     

铊在矿物胶体和天然有机质界面上迁移转化行为的研究进展

铊(Tl)是典型的毒害重金属元素之一,对生物体的毒性高于Hg、Cd和Pb等元素。铊在天然水环境相关介质中的背景含量较低,但可通过各种工业活动大量进入水体环境,借由水体迅速迁移扩散,对生态系统造成巨大的环境隐患。本文总结了铊在水体中的分布特征,并重点阐述了铊在矿物胶体和天然有机质(腐殖酸)等界面上迁移转化行为的研究进展。研究表明,铁(氢)氧化物、锰(氢)氧化物均能在一定程度上吸附水体中的Tl(I),铊在一些锰(氢)氧化物表面的吸附行为可能会涉及Tl(I)在矿物表面的氧化还原机制。矿物表面对铊离子的吸附作用不仅与矿物的组成成分有关,还可能与矿物组成成分的晶型结构密切相关。天然有机质对铊迁移转化影响作用的研究目前主要偏重天然腐殖酸对铊的络合作用。因此,要加强的研究铊分别在不同种类、不同晶型的矿物和不同类型的天然有机质界面上的迁移转化行为,并借助高精度的价态和结构分析手段从分子水平上探讨其迁移转化机理。了解铊在水体中的迁移转化有助于深入认识铊的环境地球化学行为,并为研究铊的污染治理提供理论基础。     

用AGMP-1M阴离子交换树脂直接分离Zn的实验方法改进

针对原有用于铜、铁、锌同位素分析的提纯步骤方法,我们专门对锌的提纯进行了改进,即在1mol/LHCl的介质条件下,采用200~400目AGMP-1M树脂提纯锌,大大简化了锌的提纯方法。在改进的实验条件下,地质样品的回收率接近100%;标准溶液在离子交换分离前后同位素组成一致,表明分离前后无Zn同位素分馏;全流程Zn的空白小于0.7ng/mL。此法可作为用于高精度Zn同位素分析的前处理方法。