淮河流域及洪泽湖水质的演变趋势分析

利用洪泽湖及其淮河入湖河段的水质监测数据，分析了近30年来洪泽湖水质的变化趋势，重点研究了“八五”、“九五”期间洪泽湖水质的季节与年际变化规律；通过对淮河干流、省界河流代表站及全流域国家基本站水质监测数据的综合分析，论述了淮河流域水质变化的总体趋势；研究表明，全流域水质恶化的趋势已经基本得到遏止，水质有所改善，但波动性大，部分河段特别是省界河流污染仍然较严重，集中排污所引起的污染事故仍时有发生。近几年“达标排放”等污染治理工作取得了显著的成就，但“淮河、洪泽湖水变清”，依然“任重道远”；淮河流域位于温度变化的南北过渡带，当属于我国最大的Ecotone(生态交错带）类型之一，建议基于其Ecotone的生态实质，进行流域污染的治理和生态的重建工作。     

Microwave-assisted stripping of oil contaminated drill cuttings

The application of microwave heating technology to conventional gas stripping processes has been investigated in the remediation of contaminated drill cuttings. The technical feasibility and limitations of nitrogen and steam stripping processes are demonstrated, and it is shown that the combination of microwave heating with the stripping process offers a step change in performance. Order of magnitude improvements in processing time are shown for the microwave-assisted processes, as well as greatly improved levels of remediation. The mechanisms of contaminant removal are discussed, along with the phenomena which occur with microwave heating processes. The energy requirements of each of pure gas and microwave-assisted processes are also discussed, and the potential applications of each technology are highlighted relative to the overall remediation requirements.     

Crosslinking and stabilization of high fractional free volume polymers for gas separation

Crosslinkable poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) (PMP) membranes were cast from carbon tetrachloride solutions containing PMP and either 4,4′-diazidobenzophenone or 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphenyl azide. The composite membranes were transparent and homogeneous and were crosslinked by UV irradiation at room temperature or thermal treatment at 180 °C. Low levels of the bis(aryl azide) (1–4.5 wt%) were effective in rendering the membranes insoluble in cyclohexane and carbon tetrachloride, both are good solvents for PMP, thus PMP can easily be converted to mechanically stable membranes with permeabilities and selectivities comparable or higher than those of the well-known poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The permeabilities of O₂, N₂, H₂, CH₄ and CO₂ were measured. Compared to pure PMP, the crosslinked membranes containing bis(aryl azide) had lower permeabilities and higher selectivities, consistent with a reduction in free volume.     

Analysis of a gas-phase partitioning tracer test conducted in an unsaturated fractured-clay formation

The gas-phase partitioning tracer method was used to estimate non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL), water, and air saturations in the vadose zone at a chlorinated-solvent contaminated field site in Tucson, AZ. The tracer test was conducted in a fractured-clay system that is the confining layer for the underlying regional aquifer. Three suites of three tracers were injected into wells located 14, 24, and 24 m from a single, central extraction well. The tracers comprised noble gases (traditionally thought to be nonsorbing), alkanes (primarily water partitioning), perfluorides (primarily NAPL partitioning), and halons (both NAPL and water partitioning). Observations of vacuum response were consistent with flow in a fractured system. The halon tracers exhibited the greatest amount of retardation, and helium and the perfluoride tracers the least. The alkane tracers were unexpectedly more retarded than the perfluoride tracers, indicating low NAPL saturations and high water saturations. An NAPL saturation of 0.01, water saturation of 0.215, and gas saturation of 0.775 was estimated based on analysis of the suite of tracers comprising helium, perfluoromethylcyclohexane and dibromodifluoromethane, which was considered to be the most robust set. The estimated saturations compare reasonably well to independently determined values.     

Metals in biomass

Background, Aim and Scope

Metal ions generally share the ability/tendency of interacting with biological material by forming complexes, except possibly for the heavy alkali metals K, Rb and Cs. This is unrelated to the metals being either essential for sustaining life and its reproduction, apparently insignificant for biology, although perhaps undergoing bioconcentration or even being outright toxic, even at low admission levels. Yet, those different kinds of metal-biomass interactions should in some way depend on properties describing coordination chemistries of these very metals. Nevertheless, both ubiquitously essential metals and others sometimes used in biology should share these properties in numeric terms, since it can be anticipated that they will be distinguished from nonessential and/or toxic ones. These features noted above include bioconcentration, the involvement of metal ions such as Zn, Mg, Cu, Fe, etc. in biocatalysis as crucial components of metalloenzymes and the introduction of a certain set of essential metals common to (almost) all living beings (K, Mg, Mo, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn), which occurred probably very early in biological evolution by ‘natural selection of the chemical elements’ (more exactly speaking, of the metallomes).

Materials and Methods

The approach is semiempirical and consists of three consecutive steps: 1) derivation of a regression equation which links complex stability data of different complexes containing the same metal ion to electrochemical data pertinent to the (replaced) ligands, thus describing properties of metal ions in complexes, 2) a graphical representation of the properties-two typical numbers c and x for each metal ion-in some map across the c/x-space, which additionally contains information about biological functions of these metal ions, i.e. whether they are essential in general (e.g. Mg, Mn, Zn) or, for a few organisms of various kinds (e.g. Cd, V), not essential (e.g. rare earth element ions) or even generally highly toxic (Hg, U). It is hypothesized that, if coordination properties of metals control their biological ‘feasibility’ in some way, this should show up in the mappings (one each for mono and bidentate-bonding ligands). 3) eventually, the regression equation produced in step 1) is inverted to calculate complex stabilities pertinent to biological systems: 3a) complex stabilities are mapped for ligands delivered to soil (-water) by green plants (e.g. citrate, malate) and fungi and, compared to their unlike selectivities and demands of metal use (photosynthesis taking place or not), 3b) the evolution of the metallome during late chemical evolution is reconstructed.

Results

These maps show some ‘window of essentiality’, a small, contrived range/area of c and x parameters in which essential metal ions gather almost exclusively. c and x thus control the possibility of a metal ion becoming essential by their influencing details of metal-substrate or (in cases of catalytic activities) metal-product interactions. Exceptions are not known to be involved in biocatalysis anyhow.

Discussion

Effects of ligands secreted, e.g. from tree roots or agaric mycelia to the soil on the respective modes (selectivities) of metal bioconcentration can be calculated by the equation giving complex stability constants, with obvious ramifications for a thorough, systematic interpretation of biomonitoring data. Eventually, alterations of C, N and P-compounds during chemical evolution are investigated — which converted CH₄ or CO₂, N₂ and other non-ligands to amino acids, etc., for example, with the latter behaving as efficient chelating ligands: Did they cause metal ions to accumulate in what was going to become biological matter and was there a selectivity, a positive bias in favour of nowessential metals (see above) in this process? Though there was no complete selectivity of this kind, neither a RNA world in which early ribozymes effected most of biocatalysis, nor a paleoatmosphere containing substantial amounts of CO could have paved the way to the present biochemistry and metallomes.

Conclusions

This way of reasoning provides a causal account for abundance distributions described earlier in the Biological System of Elements (BSE; Markert 1994, Fränzle &; Markert 2000, 2002). There is a pronounced change from chemical evolution, where but few transformations depended on metal ion catalysis to biology.

Recommendations and Perspectives

The application of this numerical approach can be used for modified, weighted evaluation of biomonitoring analytical data, likewise for the prediction of bioconcentration hazards due to a manifold of metal ions, including organometallic ones. This is relevant in ecotoxicology and biomonitoring. In combining apoproteins or peptides synthesized from scratch for purposes of catalysing certain transformations, the map and numerical approaches might prove useful for the selection of central ions which are even more efficient than the ‘natural’ ones, like for Co²⁺ in many Zn enzymes.

     

Environmental sustainability and the integration of different methods for its assessment

The aim of this paper is to propose a research framework, based on the joint use of three widely used methods: EMergy Evaluation (EME), Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI), that are applied to assess the environmental sustainability of a region. The results of application of these methods to several Italian Provinces enabled us to compare their sustainability, and to test the methods with respect to sustainability requirements at local and global level. The outcomes suggest that the proposed framework provides an organic evaluation of regional systems based on key aspects, such as resources depletion, consumption patterns, waste production and absorption.     

Determination of dithiocarbamate fungicide propineb and its main metabolite propylenethiourea in airborne samples

A simple, rapid and sensitive GC–MS method for the determination of dithiocarbamate fungicide propineb [polymeric zinc propylenebis (dithiocarbamate)] and an improved HPLC procedure for the simultaneous determination of its main metabolite, propylenethiourea, and ethylenethiourea, the main metabolite of all ethylenedithiocarbamates, in airborne samples are described. The method for the analysis of propineb involves the evolution of carbon disulfide (CS₂), under acidic conditions in the presence of stannous chloride, extraction of the generated CS₂ into a layer of isooctane which is then analyzed for CS₂ content by GC–MS in SIM mode. Under the optimum conditions, the retention time of CS₂ was 1.89 min and the total time of chromatographic analysis was 5 min. Recoveries from spiking glass microfibre filters (GF/A) and silica gel filters were 86 ± 7 (n = 9) and 89 ± 4 (n = 9), respectively. The limit of detection is 0.7 ng per filter, which is equivalent to about 0.8–1.0 ng m⁻³ in air. In parallel, an HPLC method with ultraviolet detection is presented for the simultaneous analysis of the metabolites. Separation of the two metabolites was attained in less than 5 min. Recoveries from spiking GF/A and silica gel filters for ethylenethiourea were 100 ± 1 (n = 3) and 98 ± 2 (n = 3), respectively, while for propylenethiourea were 102 ± 1 (n = 3) and 98 ± 1 (n = 3), respectively. The detection limits are about 36–43 and 40–49 ng m⁻³ in air for ethylenethiourea and propylenethiourea, respectively. All the analytes spiked in the filters are proven to be stable for more than one month, at −4 °C.     

藜麦Hsf家族的进化与多胁迫条件下的转录应答

Hsf转录因子参与调控植物在生物和非生物胁迫下的防御应答机制.基于系统的生物信息学分析方法,对藜麦Hsf家族成员进行序列特征、进化和多种生物和非生物逆境胁迫下的基因表达水平分析.在藜麦基因组中共鉴定得到31个Hsf转录因子,主要分布在7号染色体.系统进化树将藜麦31个Hsf成员划分到A1-A9、B1-B5和C组中;但藜...     

气相色谱-质谱法测定土壤中的汽油及其组分含量

对土壤中的汽油,采用外标法,经吹扫捕吸仪浓缩后,用气相色谱-质谱法分析定量。同时,用峰面积归一化法,可以测定土壤中汽油的组分含量。     

固相微萃取-气相色谱法测定水中痕量有机氯农药

建立了固相微萃取-气相色谱联用快速测定水中14种痕量有机氯农药的方法,对比研究了浸入式直接固相微萃取与顶空固相微萃取两种方式对不同有机氯农药的富集效率,优化了试验条件.方法线性关系良好,检出限为0.1 ng/L～10 ng/L,定量下限为0.2 ng/L～40 ng/L,RSD＜8%,实际水样的加标回收率为67.0%～133%.