Highly active mixed-phase TiO2 photocatalysts fabricated at low temperature and the correlation between phase composition and photocatalytic activity

The idea of varying volume ratio of water to ethanol in solvent was firstly employed to yield phase composition controllable mixedphase titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts via a low temperature solvothermal route at 353 K. It was found that anatase contents increase from 0 to 100% with increase of ethanol contents in solvent. The mixed-phase TiO2 with 60% anatase content exhibited the best photocatalytic activity in photodecomposing formaldehyde (FAD) under UV light irradiation, which increases by about ...     

Social environment versus cycling competency predicting risk-taking in 11- to 13-year-old cyclists in The Netherlands

Abstract

Objectives: From age 12 onwards, cycling injuries begin rising in The Netherlands. A known contributing factor is younger children’s underdeveloped competency to deal with complex and hazardous traffic situations, and their exposure to such situations strongly increases after transitioning to secondary school. Little is known about intentional risk-taking as a contributing factor. In this developmental stage, children become increasingly vulnerable because of intentional risk-taking, affecting their safety and health. The incidence, predictors in the child’s social environment, and trends of such risks are systematically monitored; for instance, for alcohol use, smoking, and cyber bullying. Such monitors do not include risky road behavior. This exploratory field study examined the frequency of intentional risky cycling, its relationship with the perceived social environment, and relative to cycling competency measured as the ability to detect emerging hazards quickly.

Methods: Three hundred thirty-five students between 11 and 13 years of age (51% male) completed computerized tests of hazard perception skill and surveys on crashes, risk-taking, peer pressure, perceived risk-taking by parents or friends, and exposure to risky driving as passenger.

Results: Frequent risk-taking was associated with higher crash frequency. Stepwise regression confirmed that children who more often took risks on the road were also more sensitive to peer pressure, had more often been passengers of risky drivers, had parents and friends who exhibited risky behaviors in traffic more often, and perceived hazards as less dangerous but, in contrast to expectations, did not do worse on the detection of hazards. The predictors explained 28% of the variance in total risk-taking but varied from 6 to 20% depending on the specific risk-taking behavior concerned.

Conclusions: At least 20% of children sometimes or more often take risks in traffic. Children who feel peer pressure to behave in a risky manner, observe parents and friends behaving in a risky manner in traffic, and have been exposed as passengers to risky driving more often take risks in traffic themselves. These results provide support for including items on risky road behavior in health monitors and to design interventions that address the risk factors in the child’s perceived social environment.     

Performance of a large-scale greenhouse solar dryer integrated with phase change material thermal storage system for drying of chili

ABSTRACT

Large-scale greenhouse solar dryers have been used for drying various products and this type of dryer is usually equipped with LPG burner as auxiliary heater, which creates more operating cost. To overcome this problem, phase change material (PCM) thermal storage was proposed to substitute for the LPG burner. In this work, the performance of a large-scale greenhouse solar dryer integrated with a PCM as a latent heat storage for drying of chili was investigated. Experimental studies were conducted to compare the performance of this dryer with that of another large-scale greenhouse solar dryer without the PCM thermal storage and open sun drying. Chili with an initial moisture content of 74.7% (w.b.) was dried to a final moisture content of 10.0% (w.b.) in 2.5 days, 3.5 days, and 11 days using the solar dryer integrated with the PCM thermal storage, the solar dryer without the PCM thermal storage and the open sun drying, respectively. The performance of the solar dryer integrated with the PCM thermal storage was also evaluated using exergy analysis. The exergy efficiency of the drying room of the solar dryer integrated with the PCM thermal storage and the solar dryer without the PCM thermal storage for drying of chili was found to be 13.1% and 11.4%, respectively and the thermal storage helps to dry chili during adverse weather conditions. The results of exergy analysis implied that the exergy losses from the dryer with the PCM should be reduced.     

Effects of spatial autocorrelation and sampling design on estimates of protected area effectiveness

Estimating the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in reducing deforestation is useful to support decisions on whether to invest in better management of areas already protected or to create new ones. Statistical matching is commonly used to assess this effectiveness, but spatial autocorrelation and regional differences in protection effectiveness are frequently overlooked. Using Colombia as a case study, we employed statistical matching to account for confounding factors in park location and accounted for for spatial autocorrelation to determine statistical significance. We compared the performance of different matching procedures—ways of generating matching pairs at different scales—in estimating PA effectiveness. Differences in matching procedures affected covariate similarity between matched pairs (balance) and estimates of PA effectiveness in reducing deforestation. Independent matching yielded the greatest balance. On average 95% of variables in each region were balanced with independent matching, whereas 33% of variables were balanced when using the method that performed worst. The best estimates suggested that average deforestation inside protected areas in Colombia was 40% lower than in matched sites. Protection significantly reduced deforestation, but PA effectiveness differed among regions. Protected areas in Caribe were the most effective, whereas those in Orinoco and Pacific were least effective. Our results demonstrate that accounting for spatial autocorrelation and using independent matching for each subset of data is needed to infer the effectiveness of protection in reducing deforestation. Not accounting for spatial autocorrelation can distort the assessment of protection effectiveness, increasing type I and II errors and inflating effect size. Our method allowed improved estimates of protection effectiveness across scales and under different conditions and can be applied to other regions to effectively assess PA performance.     

不同冲击速度下硬煤的力学特性试验研究

为了研究硬煤破坏过程中的动态力学特性，采用Φ50 mm变截面分离式霍普金森压杆（SHPB）试验系统，对45#钢制薄壁套筒施加环向约束的硬煤试件进行不同加载速率的冲击压缩试验，得到被动围压下轴向应力-应变曲线、径向应力-应变曲线及最大被动围压和冲击速度的关系。研究结果表明:峰值应力、峰值应变随着冲击速度的增大而增大，最大被动围压值与冲击速度呈幂次增长的关系；被动围压下的硬煤试件变形受到限制，试件延性、抗压能力显著提高；随着冲击速度的增大，薄壁套筒对试件的约束也逐渐增大，达到峰值后，冲击速度对被动围压的影响减小，筒壁厚度影响着被动围压效果。     

An ecological economics approach to the management of a multi-purpose coastal wetland

Three interrelated management problems—eutrophication of multiple use shallow lakes, sea level rise and flood risk mitigation and tourism pressures—are analysed in the context of an internationally important wetland area, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads in the UK. The ecological-economic research findings presented should provide essential information to underpin the regulatory and management process in this internationally important conservation area. The relevant authority somehow has to integrate the maintenance of public navigation rights, nature conservation, and tourism promotion in a highly dynamic ecosystems setting. Because of the stakeholder conflicts, potential and actual, a more inclusionary decision-making procedure is required, and is currently being implemented.     

传递系数法在滑坡稳定性评价中的几个问题探讨

本文运用LASA软件,分析了采用传递系数法计算滑坡稳定系数时,传递系数计算式、条块划分、渗透压力计算对稳定系数的影响。传递系数计算式的分析得出采用迭代法求解是比较合理的方法;通过实例对条块划分导致的影响分析,可知条块划分应当尽量与滑体的实际情况相符合才可以减小计算误差;渗透压力计算分析指出稳定性计算考虑动水压力时,应当根据不同情况选择不同水力坡降计算式。     

Determination of particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after molecularly imprinted polymer extraction

A solid phase extraction procedure (SPE) is described for the quantitative analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in atmospheric particulate matter (PM), as ubiquitous environmental pollutants routinely measured in air quality monitoring. A SPE cartridge was used based on a molecular imprinted polymer (MIP-SPE) properly tailored for selective retention of PAHs with 4 and more benzene fused rings. The performance of the clean-up procedure was evaluated with the specific concern of selective purification towards saturated hydrocarbons, which are the PM components mostly interfering GC analysis of target PAHs. Under optimized operative conditions, the MIP-SPE provided analyte recovery close to 95% for heavier PAHs, from benzo(α)pyrene to benzo(ghi)perylene, and close to 90% for four benzene rings PAHs, with good reproducibility (RSDs: 2.5%-5.9%). Otherwise, C₁₇-C₃₂ n-alkanes were nearly completely removed. The proposed method was critically compared with Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) using a polyacrylate fiber. Both methods were successfully applied to the analysis of ambient PM_2.5 samples collected at an urban polluted site. Between the two procedures, the MIP-SPE provided the highest recovery (R% ≥ 93%) for PAHs with 5 and more benzene rings, but lower for lighter PAHs. In contrast, SPME showed a mean acceptable R% value (∼ 80%) for all the investigated PAHs, except for the heaviest PAHs in the most polluted samples (R%: 110%-138%), suggesting an incomplete purification from the interfering n-hydrocarbons.     

洱海沉积物重金属地球化学相及其污染历史研究

高原封闭、半封闭型湖泊是气候和环境演化的敏感指示器，其沉积物记录具有连续性、敏感性和高分辨率的特点。高原湖泊沉积记录在恢复和重塑各种短时间尺度（千年、百年、十年）的气候和环境演化序列上，具有其它自然历史记录无法替代的优势，尤其在揭示近代环境污染历史方面更有其独到之处。本文通过对洱海沉积物重金属地球化学相的研究，利用因子分析方法，识别了沉积物重金属的主要来源和影响其分布的主要因素，即：流域侵蚀作用、大气沉降作用、工业废水与生活污水的排放，以及早期成岩作用。同时，结合沉积物柱芯210PBex计年结果，本文初步评价了洱海150多年来的重金属污染历史：1958年以来．因为化石燃料使用量的增加．洱海湖区大气污染日趋严重；1982年后，由于西洱河水电站的建成运行和湖区植被的破坏，流域侵蚀作用显著加强，应当引起重视。     

基于统一强度理论的松散岩体的围岩压力计算

对于软弱破碎岩体,在埋深较浅的情况下,可以采用太沙基理论计算围岩压力。破裂面两侧作用着摩擦力,采用统一强度理论考虑破裂面两侧的摩擦力,从应力传递概念出发,推得了作用于衬砌上的垂直围岩压力公式。计算结果表明强度理论的效应是明显的。本文给出了围岩压力的范围值。