The influence of collection facility attributes on household collection rates of electronic waste: The case of televisions and computer monitors

In the US, household electronic waste collected for recycling is primarily by voluntary drop-off at designated collection facilities. This study examines the influence of specific collection facility attributes (recycling fees charged, number of days open, and driving distance) on the household collection rate of e-waste in the US state of Maine. Data were collected for household computer monitor and television collection for 92 municipal waste transfer facilities representing 30% of the state's population for one year. Results suggest that recycling fees are negatively correlated with the number of televisions and computer monitors collected; furthermore, the more frequently facilities were open, the more televisions and computer monitors were collected per capita. The distance from the facility had no correlation, which prompted an analysis of whether the existence of a curbside collection system in the municipality was influential. Results show a negative correlation between computer monitor and television collection and a municipality having recycling (but not e-waste) curbside collection. Based on the results of this study, policymakers may be able to increase the collection rate of household e-waste by eliminating or lowering recycling fees, expanding collection days and hours to increase convenience, and/or considering curbside collection of e-waste.     

An innovative computer design for modeling forest landscape change in very large spatial extents with fine resolutions

Although forest landscape models (FLMs) have benefited greatly from ongoing advances of computer technology and software engineering, computing capacity remains a bottleneck in the design and development of FLMs. Computer memory overhead and run time efficiency are primary limiting factors when applying forest landscape models to simulate large landscapes with fine spatial resolutions and great vegetation detail. We introduce LANDIS PRO 6.0, a landscape model that simulates forest succession and disturbances on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. LANDIS PRO 6.0 improves on existing forest landscape models with two new data structures and algorithms (hash table and run-length compression). The innovative computer design enables LANDIS PRO 6.0 to simulate very large (>10⁸ ha) landscapes with a 30-m spatial resolution, which to our knowledge no other raster forest landscape models can do. We demonstrate model behavior and performance through application to five nested forest landscapes with varying sizes (from 1 million to 100 million 0.09-ha cells) in the southern Missouri Ozarks. The simulation results showed significant and variable effects of changing spatial extent on simulated forest succession patterns. Results highlighted the utility of a model like LANDIS PRO 6.0 that is capable of efficiently simulating large landscapes and scaling up forest landscape processes to a common regional scale of analysis. The programming methodology presented here may significantly advance the development of next generation of forest landscape models.     

Techno-economic characteristics of wastewater treatment plants retrofitted from the conventional activated sludge process to the membrane bioreactor process

• Retrofitting from CAS to MBR increased effluent quality and environmental benefits. • Retrofitting from CAS to MBR increased energy consumption but not operating cost. • Retrofitting from CAS to MBR increased the net profit and cost efficiency. • The advantage of MBR is related to the adopted effluent standard. • The techno-economy of MBR improves with stricter effluent standards. While a growing number of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are being retrofitted from the conventional activated sludge (CAS) process to the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process, the debate on the techno-economy of MBR vs. CAS has continued and calls for a thorough assessment based on techno-economic valuation. In this study, we analyzed the operating data of 20 large-scale WWTPs (capacity≥10000 m³/d) and compared their techno-economy before and after the retrofitting from CAS to MBR. Through cost-benefit analysis, we evaluated the net profit by subtracting the operating cost from the environmental benefit (estimated by the shadow price of pollutant removal and water reclamation). After the retrofitting, the removal rate of pollutants increased (e.g., from 89.0% to 93.3% on average for NH₃-N), the average energy consumption increased from 0.40 to 0.57 kWh/m³, but the operating cost did not increase significantly. The average marginal environmental benefit increased remarkably (from 0.47 to 0.66 CNY/g for NH₃-N removal), leading to an increase in the average net profit from 19.4 to 24.4 CNY/m³. We further scored the technical efficiencies via data envelopment analysis based on non-radial directional distance functions. After the retrofitting, the relative cost efficiency increased from 0.70 to 0.73 (the theoretical maximum is 1), while the relative energy efficiency did not change significantly. The techno-economy is closely related to the effluent standard adopted, particularly when truncating the extra benefit of pollutant removal beyond the standard in economic modeling. The modeling results suggested that MBR is more profitable than CAS given stricter effluent standards.     

贵溪冶炼厂烟尘布袋收集系统改造

介绍了贵溪冶炼厂烟尘布袋收集系统改造及运行状况。     

Effects of Detectability on Estimates of Geographic Range Size in Bignonieae

Abstract: Extinction risk has not been evaluated for 96% of all described plant species. Given that the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation proposes preliminary conservation assessments of all described plant species by 2010, herbarium specimens (i.e., primary occurrence data) are increasingly being used to infer threat components from estimates of geographic range size. Nevertheless, estimates of range size based on herbarium data may be inaccurate due to collection bias associated with interspecific variation in detectability. We used data on 377 species of Bignonieae to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between detectability and estimates of geographic range size derived from herbarium specimens. This relationship is expected if the proportion of the true geographic range size of a species that is documented by herbarium specimens is given by the product of the true geographic range size and the detectability of the species, assuming no relationship between true geographic range size and detectability. We developed 4 measures of detectability that can be estimated from herbarium data and examined the relationship between detectability and 2 types of estimates of geographic range size: area of occupancy and extent of occurrence. Our results from regressing estimates of extent of occurrence and area of occupancy on detectability across genera provided no support for this hypothesis. The same was true for regressions of estimated extent of occurrence on detectability across species within genera. Nevertheless, regressions of estimated area of occupancy on detectability across species within genera provided partial support for our hypothesis. We considered 3 possible explanations for this mixed outcome: violation of the assumption of no relationship between true geographic range size and detectability; the relationships between estimated geographic range size and detectability may be an artifact of a negative relationship between estimated area of occupancy and the sampling variance of detectability; detectability may have had 2 opposite effects on estimated species range sizes: one determines the proportion of the true range of a species documented by herbarium specimens and the other determines the distribution of true range size for the species actually observed with herbarium data. Our findings should help improve understanding of the potential biases incurred with the use of herbarium data.     

云南粳稻核心种质杂种后代孕穗期耐冷性研究

以236份云南地方粳稻核心种质和云南主栽梗稻Oryza satica品种合系35配制的杂种F5、BC1F4、BC2F3和BC3F2为材料,在昆明自然低温平均17.8℃(冷害)条件下,对亲本及其后代进行孕穗期耐冷性研究.结果表明:①亲本耐冷性状间的相关性明显高于其杂种后代,不同世代间总体趋势为随着回交世代增加其性状间相关性减弱.在亲本及其杂种后代间耐冷指标性状穗颈长、穗下节长、每穗实粒数、每穗秕粒数与结实率均呈较高的(≥0.370)极显著(n=236,R0.01=0.181)相关.②株高、穗颈长、穗下节长等耐冷性状在亲本强弱耐冷系统群间的差异明显,表现为亲本耐冷性强的材料秆和穗较长、穗粒数较多,同一性状变异程度减小.但随着回交代数的增加,这些性状的平均值逐渐趋同于轮回亲本,差异减小.③穗颈长、穗下节长、每穗实粒数、每穗秕粒数与结实率在5个稻作区间的变化规律呈现一致性,亲本和F5的差异较大,而BC2F4、BC2F3和BC3F2的差异较小,且趋同于轮回亲本.通过连续回交,在BC3F1即可获得耐冷性状表现良好的材料.     

燃煤手烧锅炉除尘器的研究与开发

介绍了一种集多种湿法除尘技术之长于一体的新型组合式除尘装置,该装置不仅能有效地消除手烧锅炉燃烧时产生的烟尘,而且实现了除尘水的内循环,消除了其他湿式除尘器所带来的水的二次污染问题。     

Variation of soil fertility and carbon sequestration by planting Hevea brasiliensis in Hainan Island, China

The development of rubber industry depends on the sustainable management of rubber plantation. To evaluate the environmental effects of planting Hevea brasiliensis on a subsystem of tropical forest ecosystem, the variation of soil fertility and carbon sequestration under rubber plantation within 30-year life period were investigated in Hainan Island. Results showed that （1） with the increase of stand age of rubber plantation, soil fertility decreased all along. From 1954 to 1995, soil organic matter, total N, available K and available P decreased by 48.2%, 54.1%, 56.7% and 64.1%, respectively. （2） If the complete return of litters was considered without additional fertilizer application to the soil of the rubber plantations, the consumption periods for P, N, K, Mg were only 825 years, 329 years, 94 years and 65 years, respectively~ To improve soil fertility is essential for rubber plantation development. （3） The C sequestration of rubber trees per hectare accounts for 272.08 t within 30-year life period and 57.91% of them was fixed in litters. In comparison with C sequestration by rain forest （234.305 t/hm^2） and by secondary rain forest （150.203 t/hm^2）, rubber forest has more potentials for C fixation. On the base of above results, the following measures would benefit the maintenance of soil fertility and the development of rubber industry, including applying fertilizer to maintain the balance of soil nutrients, intercropping leguminous plant to improve soil fertility, reducing the collection of litters, optimizing soil properties to improve element P availability such as applying CaCO3. The information gathered from the study can be used as baseline data for the sustainable management of rubber plantation elsewhere.     

迁安市污水收集与处理效能定量评估

污水收集与处理效能直接影响合流制排水体制下的水安全和水环境,是海绵城市建设中需要解析评估的重要内容.以迁安市为例,建立覆盖"污染源—管网关键节点—污水处理厂"的监测网络,基于同步水量、水质监测结果,定量解析生活污水污染物排放系数和污水处理系统收集与处理效能,并定位问题管段具体位置和主要问题.结果表明:①合流制小区CODCr、NH3-N排放系数分别为43. 4、13. 3 g(人·d),分流制小区CODCr、NH3-N排放系数略高,分别为53. 1、14. 5 g(人·d).②受地下水、河水入渗的双重影响,生活污水从进入市政管网后污染物质量浓度大幅下降,保守估计下入渗率约为32. 5%,合流制管网截污干管至污水处理厂地下水、河水入渗量达到了14 471 m3d,分流制干管至污水处理厂地下水入渗量约为19 777 m3d.③污水处理厂进水水质指标均远小于设计进水水质,还存在C源不足、一部分比例的污水可生化性较差的特征,进水BOD5TN〔ρ(BOD5)ρ(TN)〕变化范围为0. 47～4. 32,平均值仅为1. 68.研究显示,地下水河水入渗严重降低污水收集处理效能,建议海绵城市建设中重视对于污水收集处理效能的摸底评估,并从污水处理系统设计和管网缺陷修复上大力整改.     

基于GIS技术开发的DSS系统数据结构设计

“省级环境决策支持系统”是以GIS为基础,以模型方法为驱动的环境信息系统,其中涉及的环境信息具有数量巨大和门类繁多的特点。该文探讨了设计此系统空间数据和属性数据结构所遵循的基本原则和基本方法。