Surrounded by Chemical Valley and ‘living in a bubble’: the case of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation,Ontario

This study examines the perceptions and coping strategies of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, which is surrounded by ‘Chemical Valley’, the largest complex of petrochemical plants in Canada. Analysis of in-depth interviews showed that residents perceive ‘Mother Earth to be sick’; however, a strong level of community cohesion prevails, with ‘place’ as a significant anchor to the culture and history of the community. Residents articulated a collective sense of responsibility for the well-being of members both within and surrounding the community, whereby some residents would never leave, regardless of the toxic environment and concern for high rates of cancer and respiratory diseases among both adults and children. Residents employed action-focused coping strategies such as ‘indoor evacuation’ and the ‘Cop-sniff test’, and emotional coping strategies including blocking out the effects of ‘Chemical Valley’ by frequently ignoring warning sirens from industry. The results call on the need for a collaborative environmental planning intervention involving clear community participation. Findings suggest the need for an indoor recreational facility for both children and adults, and a graded warning system.     

Vertical distributions of soil carbon and nitrogen fractions as affected by land-uses in the Ili River Valley

In this study, soil samples were collected to a depth of 100?cm from different land-uses, including maize field (MZ), wheat field (WT), paddy field (PD), apple orchard (OC), grassland (GL) and wetland (WL) in the Ili River Valley in northwest China, to investigate the effects of land-use on vertical distributions of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fractions, and examine whether such effects were different between topsoil (0–40?cm) and subsoil (40–100?cm). The results showed that soil organic C, water-extractable organic C, microbial biomass C, total N and microbial biomass N of croplands (MZ, WT, PD and OC) were significantly lower than those of natural lands (GL and WL) in both topsoil and subsoil, indicating that contents of soil C and N fractions can be reduced by agricultural land-uses, and the reductions are not limited to topsoil. However, the contents of soil ammonium N and nitrate N showed complex trends under different land-uses, possibly due to that the plant species and agricultural practices (e.g. application rate of fertiliser and irrigation) are considerably different among land-uses. Therefore, we suggest that more nutrient inputs should be applied to croplands to improve soil fertility in the Ili River Valley.     

Solid phase extraction with silicon dioxide microsphere adsorbents in combination with gas chromatography-electron capture detection for the determination of DDT and its metabolites in water samples

The goal of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of silicon dioxide (SiO₂) microspheres without special modification to enrich dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its main metabolites, p,p′-dichlorodiphenyl-2,2-dichloroethylene (p,p′-DDD) and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) in combination with gas chromatography-electron-capture detection. The experimental results indicated that an excellent linear relationship between the recoveries and the concentrations of DDT and its main metabolites was obtained in the range of 0.2–30 ng mL^?1 and the correlation coefficients were in the range of 99.96–99.99%. The detection limits based on the ratio of signal to the baseline noise (S/N = 3) were 2.2, 2.9, 3.8 and 4.1 ng L^?1 for p,p′-DDD, p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDT, and p,p′-DDE, respectively. The precisions of the proposed method were all below 10% (n = 6). Four real water samples were utilized for validation of the proposed method, and satisfactory spiked recoveries in the range of 72.4–112.9% were achieved. These results demonstrated that the developed method was a simple, sensitive, and robust analytical method for the monitoring of pollutants in the environment.     

挠力河流域农垦开发中居民地景观生态特征的变化

运用G IS、景观格局分析与聚落分析方法定量分析了挠力河流域在快速农垦开发中居民地分布格局的时空变化,探讨了景观格局形成的机制。景观指数分析表明近50 a来居民地面积和数目激增,居民地斑块面积、聚集度增大,表明人类对挠力河流域景观扰动持续增强。在所有背景地类中,居民地与耕地的邻接比例最高。伴随居民地和耕地迅速扩张,两者邻接比例呈上升趋势,两者相互影响越来越大。不同时期居民地扩张强度高值区分布有所不同,主要分布在早期的耕地新增区,1954—2000年挠力河流域居民地扩张高值区最终主要分布于该流域的西部与中部。虽然居民地数目和面积均激增,各居民地之间的距离亦呈缩短趋势,但居民地最近邻点指数表明,近50 a来挠力河流域居民地分布类型一直为随机分布,农垦经济仍占主导地位,人为规划比城镇发达地区薄弱。     

西藏四江流域自然保护区规划设计研究

针对西藏四江流域自然保护区生态保护与经济的和谐发展,研究了相关影响因子模型,通过调整相关影响因子,就可以在土地利用图的基础上对四江流域自然保护区内核心区、缓冲区、发展区作一个合理的规划。     

PC/硅氧烷复合材料的阻燃抑烟机理研究

聚碳酸酯(PC)作为性能优异的工程塑料被广泛用于高铁、飞机等特殊领域,但其燃烧时热释放及产烟量较大,故对其进行抑烟阻燃改性便尤为重要.通过将商用有机硅阻燃剂与抗滴落剂复配制备PC复合材料,证明在添加3 wt％ 的有机硅阻燃剂后即可使PC达到V0级,LOI上升至34.5％,热释放速率峰值下降58.86％,烟及CO2释放速...     

The Effects of Site Conditions and Mitigation Practices on Success of Establishing the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle and Its Host Plant,Blue Elderberry

This study performed the first systematic evaluation of the success of habitat mitigation at establishing the threatened Valley elderberry longhorn beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus) and its host plant, blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana). Habitat mitigation performed through enforcement of the U.S. Endangered Species Act represents a tightly controlled form of habitat restoration, facilitating the evaluation of restoration practice. Restoration plantings of blue elderberry have been substantial in our study area, the Central Valley of California. Surveys of 30 mitigation sites and 16 nearby natural sites showed that mitigation sites were a fraction of the size of natural habitat areas (mean = 24%) and contained smaller shrubs. The beetle colonized 53% of mitigation sites and its populations were denser in sites with moderate levels of dead stems on elderberry shrubs, and moderate damage to elderberry stems and bark. This likely indicates that the beetle responds to stressed shrubs, which are likely to contain elevated levels of nitrogen. Beetle density also increased with the size and age of mitigation sites. This indicates a need to make restoration sites as large as possible and to monitor these sites for longer than current guidelines suggest, thereby allowing more time for convergence of natural and mitigation sites. Few factors examined here directly influenced the growth of elderberry shrubs, but elderberry grew more rapidly in sites closer to riparian areas, indicating that such sites should be favored for mitigation sites.     

WATER SUPPLY EVALUATION OF TAIWAN'S SILICON VALLEY1

ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to examine a deficit in water for the Hsinchu area, the location of Taiwan's “Silicon Valley.” The methods suggested in this paper to diagnose water shortage problems are simple and practical. The results show that Hsinchu is in an area without sufficient water to meet demand for domestic and industrial uses. Until the completion of the Baoshan II Reservoir in 2006, the most feasible options for the Taiwan Water Supply Corporation to offset the water deficiency in Hsinchu City over the next five years are: (a) to obtain water gratuitously from the southern Yungheshan Reservoir; (b) to import additional water at an extra charge from other sources such as the northern Shihmen Reservoir and the agricultural sector; and (c) to conduct a comprehensive water conservation program at the Hsinchu Science‐based Industrial Park.     

长江流域区域可持续发展态势与对策

提出了一套包括基础系统、协调系统与潜力系统在内的区域可持续发展评价体系。旨在以基础-过程-潜能为主线。资源、经济、社会、生态环境为基本要素单元，并结合外部介入因素对一个地区的可持续发展进行评价。利用这一指标体系．分析了世纪之交长江流域可持续发展的态势．并与沿海经济带及全国其它省区进行了比较。主要结论有：长江流域区域可持续发展总体水平不高。不符合其在国家经济开发中所处的地位；长江流域区域可持续发展状态的内部差异为流域开发带来困难与挑战，但优势互补的潜力也为实现流域资源综合开发与生态环境综合治理带来机遇。最后，针对以上存在的问题提出了建议与对策。     

AN ENGINEERING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A PROGRAM FOR ARTIFICIAL GROUNDWATER RECHARGE1

This study describes and demonstrates two alternate methods for evaluating the relative costs and benefits of artificial groundwater recharge using percolation ponds. The first analysis considers the benefits to be the reduction of pumping lifts and land subsidence; the second considers benefits as the alternative costs of a comparable surface delivery system. Example computations are carried out for an existing artificial recharge program in Santa Clara Valley in California. A computer groundwater model is used to estimate both the average long term and the drought period effects of artificial recharge in the study area. For the example problem, the benefits of reduced average annual pumping lifts and reduced incremental subsidence are greater than the total costs of continuing the existing artificial recharge program. Benefits for reduced subsidence are strongly dependent on initial aquifer conditions. The second analysis compares the costs of continuing the artificial recharge program with the costs of a surface system which would achieve the same hydraulic effects. Results indicate that the costs of artificial recharge are considerably smaller than the alternative costs of an equivalent surface system. In evaluating a particular program, consideration should also be given to uncertainties in future supplies and demands for water as well as to the probability of extreme events such as droughts.