Ink and dirt behavior in pulping after artificial aging of cold-set offset printed newspapers in different humidity conditions

Although moisture has a decisive role in the permanence of cellulose and unprinted paper, its role in ink release from the surface of printed recovered papers remains unclear. This work aimed to determine whether various relative humidity levels in the artificial aging test affect ink release from the surface of the paper and its fibers when pulping cold-set offset printed newspapers in alkaline pulping conditions. The results showed that relative humidity variations from 30% to 70% negligibly affected ink release at 60 °C. However, compared with these lower humidity levels, exposure to 90% relative humidity for at least 25 h resulted in a higher ink content bound to fibers, a greater formation of visible dirt specks after pulping and a smaller formation of microscopic ink particles. In practical applications, the accurate estimation of climate effects during the storage and the transportation of recycled papers requires that humidity conditions are taken into account while performing artificial aging tests with paper products.     

Long-term dynamics of biomass production, soil chemical properties and plant species composition of alluvial grassland after the cessation of fertilizer application in the Czech Republic

The resilience, the ability of an ecosystem to recover after termination of perturbation, of highly productive Alopecurus grassland was investigated after the cessation of the following long-term fertilizer treatments applied under a two- or three-cut management regime: unfertilized control, PK, N₁₀₀PK, N₂₀₀PK, N₃₀₀PK and N₄₀₀PK. Annual application rates of pure nutrients per hectare were 0–400 kg for N, 40 kg for P and 100 kg for K. The dynamics of biomass production were measured for 16 years and the effect of former fertilizer treatments on soil chemical properties, biomass chemical properties, plant species composition and species richness were investigated 16 years after the last application of fertilizers. It was concluded that 16 years was not long enough to achieve resilience in plant-available soil P and K concentrations, N/P ratios in the plant biomass or plant species composition, but that it was long enough to achieve resilience in species richness. In the case of biomass production the effect of former fertilizer treatments was apparent in 10 of the 16 seasons investigated, indicating that resilience in biomass production must be evaluated using data from more than 1 vegetation season. The results of the study stress the necessity for long-term research because of high year-to-year variability in biomass production as well as long-term after-effects of fertilizer treatments in alluvial grassland.     

青海三江源地区退化草地土壤全氮的时空分异特征

在第二次土壤普查和2009、2010年实地采样的基础上,运用地统计学和GIS技术研究了青海三江源地区1980～2010年退化草地0～10 cm、10～30 cm、30～50 cm全氮的时空分异特征.结果表明,进行特异值处理后,两期的土壤全氮的均值都表现出从表层到底层下降的趋势.从同一土层对比来看:2010年的土壤全氮的含量平均值及变异系数比1980年低.经对数转换后两期数据符合正态分布,经过半方差函数模型的拟合得出,两期同一层次上的块金效应2010年都比1980年小,表示三江源地区各分层上全氮的空间分布的自相关性在加强,结构性因素对土壤全氮的空间分布起着越来越重要的作用.普通克里格插值结果表明,30年来三江源地区土壤全氮的含量变化存在地区差异,南部、中部、东部以递减为主,西部的部分地区以增加为主.     

饮用水消毒的若干技术问题探讨

对饮用水中余氯测定存在的问题、余氯与加氯量的关系、水中消毒剂残余量的控制等饮用水消毒所涉及的若干技术问题进行了试验研究和探讨。通过试验摸索出1种测定余氯的分光光度法,作为对目视比色法的修正。     

Breeding birds in short-rotation coppices on farmland in central Sweden—the importance of Salix height and adjacent habitats

Plantations of short-rotation coppice (SRC) have a potential for being a useful measure to stop the ongoing impoverishment of farmland biodiversity by increasing structural diversity, and decreasing cultivation intensity and use of pesticides in intensively managed farmland landscapes. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative importance of the structure of the plantation and composition of adjacent habitats for breeding birds in 41 SRCs (meansize±S.E.=9.4±1.6 ha). Mean number of species per ha in the SRCs was 2.8±0.3 species and there were more farmland birds (32 species, 808 territories) than forest birds (22 species, 400 territories). A major result of the present study was the strong influence of adjacent habitats on bird community composition (18 of 22 analysed species affected). There were large differences in bird communities between forest-bordered and open-bordered sites, but occurrence of residual habitats (i.e. other habitats than forest, pastures, shrub areas and arable fields) was also associated with occurrence of several species. The second factor of major importance for the bird fauna was the height of the plantations. Most species (14) were associated with tall plantations (>2 m), seven species were associated with plantations of intermediate (1–2 m) height, and six species were associated with plantations of low height (<1 m). A comparison of ecological traits between species classified as preferring SRC and species classified as avoiding SRC suggests that nest height was the only ecological character associated with a preference for Salix habitats, i.e. species with nests on the ground or in shrubs were more abundant in Salix habitats than in farmland landscapes in general. However, a broad spectrum of species was found in the SRCs and many of these seemed to be dependent on habitat features outside the plantations. Planting of Salix in intensively managed farmland plains will have positive effects on bird diversity by increasing the structural diversity of the landscape. In contrast, plantations on infields in forest-dominated landscapes will have negative effects, since the mosaic structure (i.e. mixture of open and forested habitats) positive for most farmland birds will disappear, and Salix plantations favour relatively few forest species. Additionally, Salix could be planted along sharp edges between coniferous plantations and open farmland in order to increase the complexity of the ecotone in intensively managed forest-farmland landscapes.     

Residual gasoline saturation in unsaturated soil with and without organic matter

The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of one variable, natural organic matter, on residual gasoline saturation in sandy soils. Capillary pressure-saturation (P_c−S) relationships (air-gasoline) were determined for three physically-similar sandy soils, with different organic carbon contents (0.086%, 0.89% and 1.65%) and residual gasoline saturations were compared. Two initial moisture conditions, residual water saturation and air-dry, were evaluated. One soil type was packed to two different bulk densities. Visualization of the soils using cryo-scanning electron microscopy was performed to aid in better understanding the role of the organic matter in the soil. The results showed that soils with higher organic contents had higher residual gasoline saturations when starting with an initially air-dry soil. Increasing the bulk density of the same air-dried soil resulted in an increase in residual gasoline saturation. In the presence of a residual water saturation, however, residual gasoline saturations were virtually identical for the three soils and independent of bulk density; approximately 5–10 times lower than in soil that was initially air-dry. The presence of the residual water effectively coated the surface of the soil thereby reducing or eliminating gasoline/soil interactions. Some residual water may also be occupying very small pore spaces, making these locations inaccessible to the gasoline.     

非均匀火灾作用下方形钢管混凝土短柱剩余承载力研究

为研究非均匀火灾作用下方形钢管混凝土短柱剩余承载力,在合理采用钢材和混凝土本构关系的前提下,基于ABAQUS建立了火灾后钢管混凝土柱相继热力耦合分析模型,并依据试验数据验证模型有效性。在此基础上进行了单面、相对两面受火状态下方形钢管混凝土短柱的轴压工作机理分析和参数分析,结果表明:受火方式对构件温度场及受力机理影响较大;受火时间、截面边长、防火保护层厚度是构件非均匀受火后剩余承载力的主要影响参数。在工程常用范围内,回归了两种受火方式下方钢管轴压短柱剩余承载力影响系数计算公式,可为该类构件在火灾后的修复提供参考。     

Influence of iron, nickel and cobalt on biogas production during the anaerobic fermentation of fresh residual biomass

We have investigated the dependence of the rate of the production of biogas upon the concentration of nickel, cobalt and iron at sub-toxic concentration and monitored its composition as amount of hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide. The distribution of the added metals between the liquid and solid phase has also been monitored.

The results of our investigations show that the addition of any of the listed metals to the sludge may cause the production of a higher amount of biogas and influence the methane or carbon dioxide percentage. Conversely, the effect on the hydrogen production depends upon the metal added, the age of the active sludge used, and its adaptation to the susbtrate. As a general feature, during the acidogenesis phase, nickel reduces, while iron increases, the percentage of dihydrogen in the biogas, while cobalt has no influence.     

Multivariate imputation in cross-sectional analysis of health effects associated with air pollution

We demonstrate a recently developed spatial interpolation methodology in a study of the chronic effects of air pollution on respiratory morbidity. Our study uses data from the Ontario Health Study, a large survey of households in Ontario conducted for the province by Statistics Canada. The interpolation procedure imputes unobserved vectors of air pollution concentrations for individual Public Health Units, from those observed at a few fixed air pollution monitoring sites. We use logistic regression methods to assess the significance of air pollution levels based on the imputed values after modelling the relationship between binary health responses and assorted covariates such as measures of life style. Our findings prove negative; no significant relationship between chronic respiratory morbidity and air pollution is found. The imputation methodology is seen to be promising and might well be used in other such analyses.