Proactive limit values for responsible management of chemicals

Limit values (LVs) are legal concentration limits for constituents, residues and contaminants in consumer products or for emissions from production processes into environmental compartments. They are a traditional regulatory aid to manage chemicals in human environments. To make them proactive, LVs should become enforced by means of a transparent and informed decision process whose starting point is the Basic Rule of Environmental Hygiene, BREH:Avoid useless exposure as far as possible, minimize useful exposure in a reasonable manner, and prevent that exposure which is dangerous. The BREH calls upon minimizing exposure not only according toon site risk potentials and acceptance, but also tooff site avoidability and acceptability.     

Experiment-based investigations on the effect of ignition energy on dust explosion behaviors

Explosion behaviors of typical light metal and carbonaceous dusts induced by different ignition energies were investigated based on systematic experiments in a Siwek 20 L vessel. Comparative analysis reveals that the explosion mechanism of carbonaceous dust is the volatile combustion, whereas the mechanism for light metal dust mainly features the surface heterogeneous oxidation. Influences of ignition energy on severity and flammability limit are much more significant for carbonaceous dust than light metal, especially for the powder with less volatile. An innovative approach was introduced to derive flame thickness from the pressure–time trace. The relation between explosion induction time and combustion duration of ignitor was also analyzed. Results show inappropriate ignition energy will cause under-/over-driving in the thermodynamic/kinetic characteristic measurements. In this way, a dimensionless parameter pressure ratio was introduced to evaluate the under-driving, while two methods by using flame thickness and induction time respectively, were proposed to evaluate over-driving. To improve the accuracy of dust explosion tests, authors advocate that explosion severity determination should be conducted at the critical ignition energy. Moreover, a comparison between the European and Chinese flammability limit determination procedures was also conducted, indicating that EN 14034-3 is suitable for light metal but not for carbonaceous, while GB/T 16425 appears to be slightly conservative for both carbonaceous and light metal dusts.     

协定水污染物间接排放标准的法律问题探究

以协商的方式确定水污染物间接排放标准的规定打破了人们对标准确定性、强制性的传统认识。协定标准的优势在于充分利用污水处理厂的污水处理能力,减轻企业的污水处理负担,使企业可以集中力量搞生产。协定标准具有灵活性和优越性,应充分利用。通过对协定标准概念和重要性的分析,指出协定标准存在效力不确定、缺少对协定范围的限制等问题,造成协定标准在实践中通常被忽视或者滥用。并从明确协定标准的范围、加强排污企业的管理和协定标准的监督等方面,进一步提出了限制和完善水污染物间接排放标准的建议。     

横向风作用下喷口间距对射流扩散火焰特征的影响研究*

为研究横向风作用下喷口间距对射流扩散火焰特征的影响,以双喷口火焰为研究对象,利用CCD摄像机拍摄火焰几何形态,研究横向风条件下喷口间距对火焰形态演化、火焰长度和火焰吹熄极限的影响。研究结果表明:喷口间距较小时,2束火焰因空气夹带竞争和压差作用,彼此相互倾斜融合,火焰融合概率随喷口间距增加而逐渐降低,火焰临界融合间距随横向风的增加先增大后减小;由于火焰的空气夹带和热反馈处于较高水平,2束火焰被少量拉伸,火焰长度先增加后减小;喷口间距较小时,火焰吹熄极限显著增加。     

The effectiveness of reducing illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits for driving: evidence for lowering the limit to .05 BAC

PURPOSE: This scientific review provides a summary of the evidence regarding the benefits of reducing the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving and providing a case for enacting a .05 BAC limit. RESULTS: Fourteen independent studies in the United States indicate that lowering the illegal BAC limit from .10 to .08 has resulted in 5-16% reductions in alcohol-related crashes, fatalities, or injuries. However, the illegal limit is .05 BAC in numerous countries around the world. Several studies indicate that lowering the illegal per se limit from .08 to .05 BAC also reduces alcohol-related fatalities. Laboratory studies indicate that impairment in critical driving functions begins at low BACs and that most subjects are significantly impaired at .05 BAC. The relative risk of being involved in a fatal crash as a driver is 4 to 10 times greater for drivers with BACs between .05 and .07 compared to drivers with .00 BACs. SUMMARY: There is strong evidence in the literature that lowering the BAC limit from .10 to .08 is effective, that lowering the BAC limit from .08 to .05 is effective, and that lowering the BAC limit for youth to .02 or lower is effective. These law changes serve as a general deterrent to drinking and driving and ultimately save lives. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This critical review supports the adoption of lower illegal BAC limits for driving.     

Fabricating data: how substituting values for nondetects can ruin results, and what can be done about it

The most commonly used method in environmental chemistry to deal with values below detection limits is to substitute a fraction of the detection limit for each nondetect. Two decades of research has shown that this fabrication of values produces poor estimates of statistics, and commonly obscures patterns and trends in the data. Papers using substitution may conclude that significant differences, correlations, and regression relationships do not exist, when in fact they do. The reverse may also be true. Fortunately, good alternative methods for dealing with nondetects already exist, and are summarized here with references to original sources. Substituting values for nondetects should be used rarely, and should generally be considered unacceptable in scientific research. There are better ways.     

最佳单位上限解的研究

利用变分法和 Lagrange乘子法相结合 ,研究了塑性平面变形问题获得最佳单位上限解的分块模式对数螺线模式。     

奎河水资源化工程采用水质指标的再讨论

分析了奎河水质变清含义、不同含义对奎河水质的要求，讨论了实现不同含义奎河水变清方案及其可行性和可靠性。作者认为，奎河水变清和全河道水质达标是一个很高的污染治理目标，需要通过对奎河污染控制系统的不断研究改进，水质指标的逐步提高才能逐渐逼近这一目标。     

川西北高原畜牧业界限温度日期及资源的变化特征

利用川西高原31个气象观测站1961~2012年的观测资料,采用线性趋势法、Mann-Kendall突变检测法和Morlet小波分析方法,详细分析了川西北高原畜牧业界限温度0℃初日、5℃终日及0℃初日至5℃终日之间畜牧气候资源的变化特征。结果表明:(1)川西北高原稳定通过0℃初日及5℃终日在区域上有很大差异,主要受海拔高度、纬度的影响。(2)畜牧气候资源的年际变化总体呈增加趋势,但区域变化不均;(3)各要素年代际变化不同,积温在各个年代都比前一年代增加,而日照时数则呈现出一增两减一增的趋势,降水量的年代际变化型式与日照相反,呈现一减两增一减的趋势;(4)各因素突变特征明显,突变的时间主要出现在20世纪80年代,不同因素的突变类型不同;(5)畜牧业气候资源存在明显的周期性变化,各要素变化周期长短不一致,尤其是降水量以4a左右的短周期振荡为主。     

土壤重金属镉标准值差异比较研究与建议

伴随我国工农业生产的快速发展,土壤污染物超标等问题逐年加剧,由土壤镉污染导致水稻出现"镉米"等食品安全事件频发,引起社会对土壤镉环境标准的广泛关注.建立土壤环境标准是开展土壤环境质量现状评价的基础,世界各国虽皆以镉对动植物和人体健康影响的最大允许值作为定值的基础依据,但定值方法、标准应用目标各有侧重,因而标准限值差异较大.通过对国内外土壤重金属镉标准限值和我国土壤镉背景值的研究,给出了全国各省级行政区域土壤表层镉背景含量范围值和部分土壤类型镉背景含量范围值;报告了我国现行土壤镉环境质量标准存在的突出问题,提出土壤环境质量标准中应设置土壤镉梯度标准限值、有效态与总量标准限值并存以及严格区分人为污染与高背景等建议.