Predicting bioremediation of hydrocarbons: Laboratory to field scale

There are strong drivers to increasingly adopt bioremediation as an effective technique for risk reduction of hydrocarbon impacted soils. Researchers often rely solely on chemical data to assess bioremediation efficiently, without making use of the numerous biological techniques for assessing microbial performance. Where used, laboratory experiments must be effectively extrapolated to the field scale. The aim of this research was to test laboratory derived data and move to the field scale. In this research, the remediation of over thirty hydrocarbon sites was studied in the laboratory using a range of analytical techniques. At elevated concentrations, the rate of degradation was best described by respiration and the total hydrocarbon concentration in soil. The number of bacterial degraders and heterotrophs as well as quantification of the bioavailable fraction allowed an estimation of how bioremediation would progress. The response of microbial biosensors proved a useful predictor of bioremediation in the absence of other microbial data. Field-scale trials on average took three times as long to reach the same endpoint as the laboratory trial. It is essential that practitioners justify the nature and frequency of sampling when managing remediation projects and estimations can be made using laboratory derived data. The value of bioremediation will be realised when those that practice the technology can offer transparent lines of evidence to explain their decisions.     

厌氧序批式反应器内挥发性脂肪酸积累特性研究

小试规模的厌氧序批式反应器（ASBR）,通过人工配水,研究了启动3个月时间以及一个运行周期内反应器内挥发性脂肪酸（VFA）的积累情况,并通过分析期间产甲烷活性的变化说明了控制VFA积累的重要性。经过近120 d的运行,乙酸和丙酸的最大比产甲烷活性分别提高了1.8和2.2倍,说明反应器的启动过程即是微生物群落的优化和选择的过程,ASBR的抗冲击的能力较强说明随启动的进行和种群的优化,活性污泥凝聚性能增强,对VFA的降解能力增强。     

Comparing the impacts of hiking, skiing and horse riding on trail and vegetation in different types of forest

Nature-based tourism in protected areas has increased and diversified dramatically during the last decades. Different recreational activities have a range of impacts on natural environments. This paper reports results from a comparison of the impacts of hiking, cross-country skiing and horse riding on trail characteristics and vegetation in northern Finland. Widths and depths of existing trails, and vegetation on trails and in the neighbouring forests were monitored in two research sites during 2001 and 2002. Trail characteristics and vegetation were clearly related to the recreational activity, research site and forest type. Horse trails were as deep as hiking trails, even though the annual number of users was 150-fold higher on the hiking trails. Simultaneously, cross-country skiing had the least effect on trails due to the protective snow cover during winter. Hiking trail plots had little or no vegetation cover, horse riding trail plots had lower vegetation cover than forest plots, while skiing had no impact on total vegetation cover. On the other hand, on horse riding trails there were more forbs and grasses, many of which did not grow naturally in the forest. These species that were limited to riding trails may change the structure of adjacent plant communities in the long run. Therefore, the type of activities undertaken and the sensitivity of habitats to these activities should be a major consideration in the planning and management of nature-based tourism. Establishment of artificial structures, such as stairs, duckboards and trail cover, or complete closure of the site, may be the only way to protect the most sensitive or deteriorated sites.     

N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂的制备及其H_2O_2改性的研究

以钛酸四丁酯为前驱物,采用水解沉淀法制备了N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂和H_2O_2改性的N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂.实验表明,H_2O_2改性的N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂的最佳制备条件为:氨水(质量分数28%)加入量20 mL,焙烧温度500 ℃,H_2O_2(质量分数30%)加入量2.0 mL.日光下,N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂及H_2O_2改性的N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂在反应90 min时的活性红紫去除率达99%,它们对活性红紫的去除率远高于P_(25)TiO_2光催化剂.H_2O_2改性的N掺杂TiO_2光催化剂中N质量分数比改性前明显提高,制备的两种催化剂中不仅含有N元素,同时还含有C和H元素.     

大型活动生物恐怖应急处置研究与系统开发

针对非传统安全威胁的现状及其应急处置中的主要问题,以典型的非传统安全事件-大型活动举办过程中生物恐怖事件为背景,通过比较分析,给出了生物恐怖的定义;从大型活动生物恐怖应急指挥与处置的角度,通过应急处置业务流程分析,提出了大型活动生物恐怖事件应急处置的系统框架;根据系统框架和处置功能分析,基于三维GIS和AJAX技术开发了大型活动生物恐怖应急处置原型系统,对复杂的应急处置体系进行了分层模块化和可视化,可为应急救援部门制定更为详细的救援方案和应急决策提供技术参考。     

Fecal source tracking by antibiotic resistance analysis on a watershed exhibiting low resistance

The ongoing development of microbial source tracking has made it possible to identify contamination sources with varying accuracy, depending on the method used. The purpose of this study was to test the efficiency of the antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA) method under low resistance by tracking the fecal sources at Turkey Creek, Oklahoma exhibiting this condition. The resistance patterns of 772 water-isolates, tested with nine antibiotics, were analyzed by discriminant analysis (DA) utilizing a five-source library containing 2250 isolates. The library passed various representativeness tests; however, two of the pulled-sample tests suggested insufficient sampling. The resubstitution test of the library individual sources showed significant isolate misclassification with an average rate of correct classification (ARCC) of 58%. These misclassifications were explained by low antibiotic resistance (Wilcoxon test P < 0.0001). Seasonal DA of stream E. coli isolates for the pooled sources human/livestock/deer indicated that in fall, the human source dominated (P < 0.0001) at a rate of 56%, and that human and livestock respective contributions in winter (35 and 39%), spring (43 and 40%), and summer (37 and 35%) were similar. Deer scored lower (17–28%) than human and livestock at every season. The DA was revised using results from a misclassification analysis to provide a perspective of the effect caused by low antibiotic resistance and a more realistic determination of the fecal source rates at Turkey Creek. The revision increased livestock rates by 13–14% (0.04 ≤ P ≤ 0.06), and decreased human and deer by 6–7%. Negative misclassification into livestock was significant (0.04 ≤ P ≤ 0.06). Low antibiotic resistance showed the greatest effect in this category.     

成都市土壤天然放射性核素的外照射水平估算研究

利用IED22000A便携式微机多道能谱仪对成都市区土壤的天然放射性核素进行了直接就地测量,估算出天然环境放射性核素^238U、^232Th、^40K的比活度范围分别为10.37～77．19Bq／kg、17,85～225．74Bq／kg、284．83～892．67Bq／kg;外照射指数范围为0．16—0．8;离地面1m高的空气吸收剂量率均值为83．23nGy／h;1外照射年有效剂量当量为0．34～0．70mSv;等效镭浓度的变化范围是59．06-386．45Bq／kg,均值为164．15Bq／kg。各项指标均在容许范围之内,因而成都市属于外照射水平的安全区域,人居环境不受影响。     

Development of a risk-based index for source water protection planning, which supports the reduction of pathogens from agricultural activity entering water resources

Source water protection planning (SWPP) is an approach to prevent contamination of ground and surface water in watersheds where these resources may be abstracted for drinking or used for recreation. For SWPP the hazards within a watershed that could contribute to water contamination are identified together with the pathways that link them to the water resource. In rural areas, farms are significant potential sources of pathogens. A risk-based index can be used to support the assessment of the potential for contamination following guidelines on safety and operational efficacy of processes and practices developed as beneficial approaches to agricultural land management. Evaluation of the health risk for a target population requires knowledge of the strength of the hazard with respect to the pathogen load (massxconcentration). Manure handling and on-site wastewater treatment systems form the most important hazards, and both can comprise confined and unconfined source elements. There is also a need to understand the modification of pathogen numbers (attenuation) together with characteristics of the established pathways (surface or subsurface), which allow the movement of the contaminant species from a source to a receptor (water source). Many practices for manure management have not been fully evaluated for their impact on pathogen survival and transport in the environment. A key component is the identification of potential pathways of contaminant transport. This requires the development of a suitable digital elevation model of the watershed for surface movement and information on local groundwater aquifer systems for subsurface flows. Both require detailed soils and geological information. The pathways to surface and groundwater resources can then be identified. Details of land management, farm management practices (including animal and manure management) and agronomic practices have to be obtained, possibly from questionnaires completed by each producer within the watershed. To confirm that potential pathways are active requires some microbial source tracking. One possibility is to identify the molecular types of Escherichia coli present in each hazard on a farm. An essential part of any such index is the identification of mitigation strategies and practices that can reduce the magnitude of the hazard or block open pathways.     

云南近期3次中强震的天文背景

分析了澄江地震至丘北地震间云南发生的3次中强震时的天体位置、地球自转与太阳活动等天文背景,分析结果表明,尽管这3次地震的震级都较小,但都发生在震中所受引潮力变化较大时刻和太阳活动局部下降时段。