Predicting the contents of BTEX and MTBE for the three types of tollbooth at a highway toll station via the direct and indirect approaches

This study was set out to assess the contents of five volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including BTEX (the acronym for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), in three types of tollbooth (including the car lane/ticket-collecting, car lane/cash-collecting, and bus/truck lane tollbooths) at a highway toll station via the direct and indirect approaches. For the direct approach, VOC samples were collected from the breathing zone of booth attendants at all selected tollbooths during the three workshifts. For samples collected during the dayshift, we found VOC contents of BTEX and MTBE in both the car lane/ticket-collecting (=6.23, 21.93, 3.24, 8.56, and 5.63 ppb, respectively) and car lane/cash-collecting tollbooths (=5.98, 21.71, 3.25, 8.59, and 6.04 ppb, respectively) were quite comparable, but both were significantly higher than that in the bus/truck lane tollbooth (=3.13, 13.91, 2.05, 4.52, and 2.70 ppb, respectively). The same pattern can also be found for the other two workshifts. For the indirect approach, we conducted multivariate regression analyses to predict VOC contents for any given type of tollbooth by using the four independent variables of the vehicle flowrate, wind speed, relative humidity, and air temperature. We found that, except the vehicle flowrate, the other three factors did not have a significant effect on VOC contents in the three types of tollbooth. In addition, the magnitudes of the effect of the vehicle flowrate on VOC contents for the three types of tollbooth were: car lane/cash-collecting>bus/truck lane>car lane/ticket-collecting. All regression results yielded R²-values in the range of 0.41−0.74 indicating that the developed indirect approach was able to predict VOC contents for three types of tollbooth.     

地球系统工程与区域环境问题调控的原则

论述了地球系统科学和工程研究的发展历史、研究对象和方法,及其在解决全球性环境危机中的作用;阐述了提高共识、言行一致、保护全球公共资源、实现可持续性目标等地球系统工程的基本原则. 论述了区域性与地球系统环境问题间的关系,提出区域环境问题调控的4条基本原则:系统性调控、区际公平、多方合作、综合手段和共同约束. 指出应注重应用地球系统科学与工程的理论与方法解决区域环境与生态问题;应深入探讨地球系统及区域环境与生态压力在中国现阶段的特征,统筹全局与长远调控区域环境问题;应开展长期连续观测和信息共享,创新调控全球与区域环境与生态的技术、方法.      

Environmental Initiative Prioritization with a Delphi Approach: A Case Study

India is fast finding its place in the industrialized world and that is beginning to raise its environmental consciousness. The Delphi technique was used to prioritize specific needs and articulate a sustainable urban improvement strategy for the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The Delphi technique is a means of achieving consensual validity among raters by providing them feedback regarding other raters' responses. Mumbai has several indigenous environmental groups that were tapped for activists and leaders; the study was conducted using ten environmentalists. In the initial phases the responses resulted in a range of possible program alternatives. The last two stages helped to seek out information that generated a consensus on the part of the respondent group. Statistical analysis methods included a hierarchical cluster analysis, mean, median, mode, and percent of agreement calculations using SPSS software. The face-to-face discussion in phase 4 clarified some issues and helped the group as a whole to outline the strategy for putting in place the essential elements of a framework to improve the quality of life in an urban environment.     

低空分层降水和云水同步釆集系统的开发和应用

笔者自行开发并研制了低空(＜1 km)分层降水和云水采集系统,该系统成功地应用于福建省厦门市和贵州省贵阳市酸性降水来源和成因的研究中,取得了显著的成果,为探讨酸性降水来源和成因提供了有效的技术手段和支持。该系统可以在一定程度上代替航空测量,目前国内外的类似研究中没有使用该系统进行样品采集的先例,因此该系统的开发填补了国内外相关研究领域的空白。      

辽宁云水资源分布特征及开发潜力分析

我国淡水资源短缺,人口增长、经济发展与水资源短缺的矛盾日益加剧,已严重影响着我国部分地区经济和社会持续健康发展。人工增雨、开发空中云水资源是缓解水资源短缺的一个重要途径。文章利用辽宁省气象台站网的常规探空、云和降水的观测资料,计算、分析了辽宁云水资源的分布状况及开发潜力,结果显示全省云水资源总量年均为4.83×10¹¹m³,具有较多的作业机会和较大的人工增雨潜力,开发云水资源大有可为。     

Interactions between water and land in The Netherlands

The Netherlands are one of the most densely populated coastal countries in the world and there is only limited space for living, working, transport and recreation, while there is also the need to preserve and expand valuable natural habitats. In order to solve many existing and future conflicts of interest, and in order to create ‘added value’, strategies are developed to optimize the use of water-land systems. The principle of ‘building with nature’ is applied in order to integrate land in sea and water in land in such a way that future generations will be able to use coastal resources in a sustainable way, including a minimal effort to maintain the coastline and the promotion of a multiple-use system. The concept of Integrated multifunctional sustainable coastal zone development is introduced. This concept deals with a balanced approach to the lack of space for present and future coastal uses in relation to each other, to the hinterland, and to the sea. Flexible master plans are developed, taking into account many functions of the coastal zone, and facilitating adaptation to future developments—e.g. impacts of climate change and relative sea level rise. In this regard increasing the flexibility of the coastal zone is of vital importance. Large-scale coastal land reclamations in The Netherlands are dealt with, based on two different principles: (1) polder systems (low lying land reclamations surrounded and protected by dikes), (2) systems of ‘building with nature’—land reclamation protected by man-made foreshores, beaches and dunes. In the latter type new flexible dynamic-equilibrium coasts are created for many functions, while coastal vulnerability is reduced and a flexible coast is developed.     

Combining mapped and statistical data in forest ecological inventory and monitoring – supplementing an existing system

A forest ecological inventory and monitoring system combining information derived from maps and samples is proposed based on ecosystem regions (Bailey, 1994). The system extends the design of the USDA Forest Service Region 6 Inventory and Monitoring System (R6IMS) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The key uses of the information are briefly discussed and expected results are illustrated with examples. The system is flexible, allowing regions based on ecological considerations to be modified. Sampling intensities that are affordable are likely to be insufficient to provide meaningful estimates for key parameters relating to rare and endangered species, watersheds, and other ecological units. Methods are proposed for collecting additional information in follow-up surveys and combining it with relevant information obtained in R6IMS. Near-continuous information on weather and possible pollution variables recorded by instruments at sampling sites is needed to develop meaningful models to understand what is happening in the ecoregions. R6IMS and the proposed additions constitute a dynamic system which will be modified further as data are analyzed.     

Discovery of emerging organic pollutants in the atmosphere through an omics approach

● We review the framework of discovering emerging pollutants through an omics approach. ● High-resolution MS can digitalize atmospheric samples to full-component data. ● Chemical features and databases can help to translate untargeted data to compounds. ● Biological effect-directed untargeted analyses consider both existence and toxicity. Ambient air pollution, containing numerous known and hitherto unknown compounds, is a major risk factor for public health. The discovery of harmful components is the prerequisite for pollution control; however, this raises a great challenge on recognizing previously unknown species. Here we systematically review the analytical techniques on air pollution in the framework of an omics approach, with a brief introduction on sample preparation and analysis, and in more detail, compounds prioritization and identification. Through high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS, typically coupled with chromatography), the complicated environmental matrix can be digitalized into “full-component” data. A key step to discover emerging compounds is the prioritization of compounds from massive data. Chemical fingerprints, suspect lists and biological effects are the most vital untargeted strategies for comprehensively screening critical and hazardous substances. Afterward, compressed data of compounds can be identified at various confidence levels according to exact mass and the derived molecular formula, MS libraries, and authentic standards. Such an omics approach on full-component data provides a paradigm for discovering emerging air pollutants; nonetheless, new technological advancements of instruments and databases are warranted for further tracking the environmental behaviors, hence to evaluate the health risk of key pollutants.     

应用隶属函数的条件概率法综合判别雹云

本文提出应用隶属函数的条件概率法综合判别雹云。该方法把雹云和非雹云视作参数的模糊集合,因而在综合判别式中,每个参数对雹云和非雹云都有一个隶属度。利用成都市1982～1987年天气雷达回波历史资料,分别建立了全年、4～6月和7～8月的雹云等强对流天气的综合判别式,并用建立的模式对成都市1990年4～6月的7个强对流天气个例作试报检验。结果表明用该方法建立不同地区和不同季节的雹云等强对流天气综合判别式是可行的。     

基于云模型的富水岩溶隧道涌水风险评价

为适应风险因素不确定性、随机性及动态反馈性等特点,建立新型富水岩溶隧道涌水风险评价体系,提出1种基于云模型的模糊综合评价方法.选取5个1级指标、29个2级指标构建评价指标体系;综合层次分析、熵权与加权平均计算法合理分配各指标权重;利用云生成算法计算出云数字特征参数并生成足够数量的云滴;将方法应用于贵州省某隧道涌水风险评...