Sustainability Capacity Building Based on Educational Method： A Case Study on China and Sweden Joint Program

Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development （EE＆ESD） have been widely accepted as an effective educational method to contribute to capacity development and processes of change in developing countries. This paper takes SIDA supported EE＆ESD in formal educationadvanced international training program, China as an example. By analyzing and reflecting its orientation, implementation, outcomes and evaluation, experiences and lessons learned are expected to help improve the sorts of international cooperation capacity building programs both from international and also Chinese perspectives.     

Modelling the N cascade in regional watersheds: The case study of the Seine, Somme and Scheldt rivers

The watersheds of the Seine, Somme and Scheldt rivers (France, Belgium, the Netherlands), flowing into the continental coastal zone of the English Channel and Southern North Sea, are among the regions of the world with the highest anthropogenic inputs of reactive nitrogen through fertilizer use, legume fixation and deposition of atmospheric nitrogen. They also represent examples of widely open systems, either exporting a large fraction of their N inputs under the form of agricultural products (case of the Seine basin) or importing high amounts of nitrogen as feed for livestock nutrition (case of the Scheldt basin), and delivering up to 2000 kg N km⁻² yr⁻¹ at river outlet into the sea. Taking these three watersheds as a case study, we review the different approaches developed so far for describing and predicting the fate of reactive nitrogen inputs to regional systems and its cascade from soils to sea. These approaches range from simple lumped input–output budget, to detailed process-based, spatially distributed models of nutrient transfers. The merits and the limits of these approaches are discussed. Their combination allows to establish a reasonably consistent budget for the three basins, emphasizing the various ‘retention’ terms linked to both landscape and in-stream processes, including storage in long residence time compartments (soil organic matter, vadose zone, aquifers, etc.), denitrification (in soil, riparian zones or river benthos) or sediment burial. Root-zone and riparian denitrification processes appear as major terms of landscape retention in all three investigated watersheds. Retention of nitrogen associated with collection and treatment of urban wastewater is also a major term in the two most populated watersheds.     

Maintaining a neutral water balance in a 450 MWe NGCC-CCS power system with post-combustion carbon dioxide capture aimed at offshore operation

A post-combustion CO₂ capture process intended for offshore operations has been designed and optimised for integration with a natural gas-fired power plant on board a floating structure developed by the Norway-based company Sevan Marine ASA—designated Sevan GTW (gas-to-wire). The concept is constrained by the structure of the floater carrying a SIEMENS modular power system rated at 450 MW_e, with a capture rate of 90% and CO₂ compression (1.47 Mtpa) for pipeline pressure at 12 MPa. A net efficiency of 45% (based on a lower heating value) is estimated for the system with CO₂ capture, thus suggesting that the post-combustion CO₂ capture system is accountable for a fuel penalty of nine percentage points.The rationale behind the technology selection is the urgency of replacing the dispersed aero-derivative gas turbines which power the offshore oil and gas production units in Norwegian waters with near-zero emission power.As (inherently) fresh water usually constitutes a limiting factor in sea operations, efforts are made to obtain a neutral water balance to obtain an optimal design. This is primarily achieved by controlling the cleaned flue gas temperature at the top of the absorber column.     

Anaerobic biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether under iron-reducing conditions in batch and continuous-flow cultures.

The feasibility of biodegradation of the fuel oxygenate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) under iron-reducing conditions was explored in batch and continuous-flow systems. A porous pot completely-mixed reactor was seeded with diverse cultures and operated under iron-reducing conditions. For batch studies, culture from the reactor was transferred anaerobically to serum bottles containing either MTBE alone or MTBE with ethanol (EtOH) and excess electron acceptor. In the continuous-flow reactor, MTBE conversion to tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) was observed after 181 days of operation, and stable removal was achieved throughout the remainder of the study. Simultaneously, both the MTBE only and the MTBE and EtOH iron-reducing batch serum bottles also began to degrade MTBE. Bottles were respiked and the degradation rate was determined to be 2.36 +/- 0.10 x 10(-4) mmol MTBE/min-kgVSS. The EtOH present with MTBE degraded faster (7.76 +/- 0.08 x 10(-3) mmol EtOH/min-kg VSS) but did not have a noticeable effect on the rate of MTBE degradation. No evidence of TBA degradation was observed by the iron-reducing cultures. Stoichiometry of iron utilization was determined from the iron balance of the continuous-flow reactor, and it was found that the bulk of the electron acceptor was required for energy and maintenance with little remaining for cell synthesis. This is consistent with a yield coefficient of less than 0.1. Molecular analysis of the iron-reducing culture by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis indicated that uncultured strains of delta-Proteobacteria were dominant in the reactor.     

Prenatal diagnosis of Pierre–Robin sequence as part of Stickler syndrome

Stickler syndrome or hereditary progressive arthro-ophthalmopathy, is an autosomal dominant condition characterized by ocular manifestations, arthritic changes, orofacial features and deafness, in variable degrees. We report the first case of prenatal diagnosis of Stickler syndrome in a child with a Pierre–Robin sequence (PRS) causing a polyhydramnios. When isolated polyhydramnios is not explained by immunological, metabolic or infectious causes, swallowing difficulty due to PRS must be considered. As PRS is aetiologically heterogenous, the prognosis depends on the cause. Genetic investigations and familial history must be taken into account. Here, in a context of familial Stickler syndrome, making the prenatal diagnosis of PRS as part of Stickler syndrome allowed us to reassure the parents and to anticipate airway trouble at the child's birth. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.