Structure and Content of the Discourse on Climate Change in the Blogosphere: The Big Picture

Based on the texts of 1.3 million blog posts and the structure of the links between the blogs in which these posts appeared, this study presents an analysis of the discourse on climate change in the English-language blogosphere. Our approach combines community detection with probabilistic topic modeling to show how topics related to climate change are discussed across various parts of the blogosphere. We find that there is one community of predominantly climate skeptical blogs but several accepter communities. The topic analysis reveals a series of issues that are characteristic of the climate change discourse in the blogosphere. Two topics, one related to climate change science and one related to climate change politics, are particularly important for characterizing the discourse. We also find that the distribution of topics over the communities cuts across the divide between skeptics and non-skeptics (accepters) and that there are differences in the patterns of interactions between the skeptics and different groups of accepters.     

Review of the application of quantum dots in the heavy-metal detection

Heavy-metal contamination is a major concern, as excessive heavy metals produce environmental pollution, and the cumulative effects of heavy metals in vivo pose a major threat to human health. There is an urgent need for a rapid, sensitive, and efficient method for detecting heavy metals. Quantum dots (QDs) are in the category of semiconductor nanocrystals whose radii are less than or close to the exciton Bohr radius. QDs possess a potential in the biological and medical fields to function as a new type of fluorescent marker, because of their unique and tunable photophysical properties, which include broad excitation spectrum, narrow emission spectrum, tunable emission wavelengths, and negligible photobleaching. In recent years, QDs made significant progress in quantitative analysis by providing a new approach for determination of chemical content analysis. The aim of this study was to review the research progress of QD detection of heavy metals in water and consider the challenges and future outlook for QD-based sensors for heavy-metal ions.     

基于光纤分布式测温的污水管道入流识别方法研究

针对排水管网物探检测需断水操作和无法对管道内部实时探查的问题,建立了一种基于光纤分布式测温的污水管道入流诊断方法,实现了无干扰条件下污水管道污水和雨水入流实时监控.采用感温光缆对选择的试验管段开展了时空高精度观测(空间精度1m、时间精度1min),获得了超过118万个管道水温数据.基于解析出的管道水温时空图像,提出了基于水温温差背景噪声值的入流定位方法;确定出无外部入流影响时管道水温空间和时间温差的背景噪声值分别约为±0.2℃和±0.5℃.采用水温图像降噪处理方法,自动识别出污水管道的旱天污水接入和雨天雨水接入事件,与现场调查结果一致.因此,该方法对污水管道入流的动态识别定位具有可靠性.     

Residual risk for cytogenetic abnormalities after prenatal diagnosis by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)

Results from conventional cytogenetic studies on 21 609 amniotic fluid specimens were analyzed retrospectively to determine the residual risk for a cytogenetic abnormality if interphase FISH, capable of only detecting aneuploidy for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y, was performed and did not reveal an abnormality. Detection rates (the probability of detecting a cytogenetic abnormality when an abnormality is present) and residual risks (the likelihood of a cytogenetic abnormality, in view of normal interphase FISH results) were calculated for the four major clinical indications for prenatal diagnosis (advanced maternal age, abnormal maternal serum screen indicating increased risk for trisomy 18 or trisomy 21, abnormal maternal serum screen indicating increased risk for neural tube defects and ultrasound abnormality). Differences in detection rates were observed to depend on clinical indication and presence or absence of ultrasound abnormalities. The detection rate ranged from 18.2 to 82.6% depending on the clinical indication. The detection rates of abnormalities significant to the pregnancy being evaluated (i.e. abnormalities excluding familial balanced rearrangements and familial markers) were between 28.6 and 86.4%. The presence of ultrasound abnormalities increased the detection rate from 72.2 to 92.5% for advanced maternal age and from 78.6 to 91.3% for abnormal maternal serum screen, indicating increased risk for trisomy 18 or trisomy 21. With regard to residual risk, the risk for a clinically significant abnormality decreased from 0.9–10.1%, prior to the interphase FISH assay, to a residual risk of 0.6–1.5% following a normal interphase FISH result in the 4 groups studied. Providing patients with detection rates and residual risks, most relevant to their situation (clinical indication and presence or absence of ultrasound abnormality) during counseling, could help them better understand the advantages and limitations of interphase FISH in their prenatal diagnostic evaluation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hunting in unfamiliar space: echolocation in the Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra, when gleaning prey

The literature suggests that in familiar laboratory settings, Indian false vampire bats (Megaderma lyra, family Megadermatidae) locate terrestrial prey with and without emitting echolocation calls in the dark and cease echolocating when simulated moonlit conditions presumably allow the use of vision. More recent laboratory-based research suggests that M. lyra uses echolocation throughout attacks but at emission rates much lower than those of other gleaning bats. We present data from wild-caught bats hunting for and capturing prey in unfamiliar conditions mimicking natural situations. By varying light level and substrate complexity we demonstrated that hunting M. lyra always emit echolocation calls and that emission patterns are the same regardless of light/substrate condition and similar to those of other wild-caught gleaning bats. Therefore, echoic information appears necessary for this species when hunting in unfamiliar situations, while, in the context of past research, echolocation may be supplanted by vision, spatial memory or both in familiar spaces.Communicated by T. Czeschlik     

水环境中重金属检测方法研究进展

重金属污染是水污染的主要问题之一,严重威胁水生生物的生存和人类健康。文章对近年来水环境中重金属的检测方法进行了综述,主要介绍了原子吸收光谱法、电感藕合等离子体法、原子荧光光谱法、溶出伏安法、生物酶抑制法、免疫分析法和生物化学传感器法等。列举了不同方法的灵敏度、准确性和适用范围等,并对各自优点进行了比较。     

一种新型"Turn-on"荧光探针用于硫化氢可视化检测

硫化氢(H2S)是表征水体污染的重要参数之一,对其进行快速、有效地检测十分重要.荧光检测法由于具有不可比拟的优势得到了广泛的关注.以2-(2'-羟基苯基)苯并咪唑为荧光团,基于H2S的亲核性,设计合成了一种新型检测H2S的荧光探针.该探针与H2S作用后,荧光强度随H2S浓度的增加逐渐增强,颜色由淡黄色变成紫色,因此能够进行可视化检测,可视化检测限为3μmol·L-1.探针的最佳激发/发射波长为320/460 nm,对H2S表现出了良好的选择性和很快的响应速度(5 min),在较宽的p H(6~9)范围内,仍然表现出较好的荧光性能,荧光检测限为6μmol·L-1.该探针为H2S的检测提供了新方法.     

石油化工企业有限空间中的气体检测

介绍了便携式气体检测报警仪用于石油化工企业中有限空间的气体检测时的采样方法、检测点选择、检测工作程序以及检测结果的处理.