一种厌氧微观定量研究新方法

厌氧消化由于低成本和能源回收等优点越来越引起广泛关注.为克服现有方法研究动态厌氧过程的不足,基于微反应器和定量图像分析技术开发出一种新型的污泥层面的微观定量方法.试验首次展示了静态下颗粒污泥产气的动态过程和特点.试验结果重复性好.静态产气可分为3个阶段,分别是高速线性增加阶段、减速增加阶段和低速线性增加阶段.初始有机负荷较高时,高速线性增加阶段比较长,产气速率也比较高.结果表明,微反应器中进行厌氧产甲烷过程是可行的,该方法可靠,能够在微观层面直观地展示厌氧反应的动态过程,研究结果有利于增进对厌氧过程理解.     

修复达标土壤回填对地下水环境影响的层次化评估方法应用研究

以含1,2-二氯乙烷等10种有机物污染土壤异位修复后回填为例,采用层次化方法评估将按原厂址健康风险评价确定的修复目标进行达标修复后的土壤回填对回填区地下水下游700 m处饮用水井水质的影响.第一层次预测结果显示8种污染物在回填土层淋溶液中的浓度将超过评价标准,可能对目标水井水质造成污染.考虑回填区非饱和带土壤的吸附截留进行第二层次评价的结果显示,到达回填区地下水水面处浓度依然超过评价标准的污染物降低至6种,不能排除对目标水井的水质影响.进一步考虑地下水混合稀释进行第三层次评估的结果显示,经地下水混合稀释后,超过评价标准的污染物降低至4种.最后,考虑饱和带吸附截留作用进行第四层次评估的结果显示,目标水井中超过评估标准的污染物仅1种.由此可见,随着评估层次的不断深入,虽然所需开展的工作及获取的场地参数增加,但是污染物预测浓度更接近目标预测点的浓度,需调整修复目标的污染物数量逐渐减少,污染防治成本将逐渐降低.     

Competitive sorption between 17α-ethinyl estradiol and bisphenol A/4-n-nonylphenol by soils

The sorption of 17α-ethinyl estradiol(EE2),bisphenol A(BPA),and 4-n-nonylphenol(NP) in single systems and the sorption of EE2 with different initial aqueous concentrations of BPA or NP were examined using three soils.Results showed that all sorption isotherms were nonlinear and fit the Freundlich model.The degree of nonlinearity was in the order BPA(0.537-0.686) > EE2(0.705-0.858) > NP(0.875-0.0.951) in single systems.The isotherm linearity index of EE2 sorption calculated by the Freundlich model for Loam,Silt Loam and Silt increased from 0.758,0.705 and 0.858,to 0.889,0.910 and 0.969,respectively,when BPA concentration increased from 0 to 1000 μg/L,but the effect of NP was comparably minimal.Additionally,EE2 significantly suppressed the sorption of BPA,but insignificantly suppressed that of NP.These findings can be attributed to the difference of sorption affinity of EE2,NP and BPA on the hard carbon(e.g.,black carbon) of soil organic matter that dominated the sorption in the low equilibrium aqueous concentration range of endocrine-disrupting chemicals(EDCs).Competitive sorption among EDCs presents new challenges for predicting the transport and fate of EDCs under the influence of co-solutes.     

Towards a capability approach of sustainability

Despite having a strong influence on development policies, theories of sustainability have not paid much attention to the capability approach (CA) thus far. Against this backdrop, the present paper argues for the CA’s usefulness of sustainability. In order to avoid just an additional contribution to the already confusing theoretical situation as well as to rely our exploration of the CA’s aptness for a conception of sustainability on a transparent and comparable basis, we will first identify six adequacy conditions for concepts of sustainability. We will then work out a categorial framework for conceptions of sustainability. Finally we will demonstrate how the CA is a promising candidate for filling in the demands of this framework and what further research will be needed.     

Carbon footprint of food - approaches from national input-output statistics and a LCA of a food portion

The aim of the study, on which this paper is based, was to provide guidance to consumers to make environmentally responsible choices in their food consumption, to assist food supply chain stakeholders to identify the key areas for environmental improvements, and to provide policy makers with a tool for monitoring the potential impacts on climate change resulting from developments within the food sector. At the macro level, the EIO-LCA model was developed specifically for the Finnish food chain; at the micro level, LCAs were performed on 30 lunch portions. The contribution of the Finnish food chain to climate change was 14%, which comprised 40% CO₂ emissions, 25% CH₄ emissions, and 34% N₂O emissions. The share of impacts from domestic agricultural processes was the highest, at 69%. The impact of a single lunch portion ranged between 0.65 and 3.80 kg of equivalent CO₂. According to the EIO-LCA model, the average impact was 7.7 kg CO₂ eq/person daily. The consumer phase accounted for between 8 and 47% of the climate change impacts for homemade portions. In ready-to-eat portions industry and retail phases were emphasized, representing 25-38% of climate change impacts. We present an approach to steer the Finnish food sector onto an environmentally sustainable path; practical tools for consumers and farmers will especially need to be developed further.     

基于ARDL方法分析福建省资源利用与经济增长关系

运用物质流分析方法以及最新发展的自回归分布滞后模型(ARDL),对福建省1990~2008年资源利用和实际GDP二者关系进行检验和分析.采用了物质流分析指标中直接物质投入来表征区域资源利用量.ARDL边界检验结果表明,资源利用和经济增长间存在稳定的长期均衡关系.进一步通过ARDL模型揭示了区域经济增长对资源利用长期弹性系数,其值约为0.73,通过误差修正模型揭示了短期弹性系数,表明了经济增长到资源利用的长期格兰杰因果关系.对福建省经济增长和资源保护战略提出了政策建议.这一研究思路和方法具有普适性,可以适用于其他地区关于资源利用和经济增长的问题的讨论和研究.     

Deliberative democracy meets democratised science: a deliberative systems approach to global environmental governance

The main achievements of the debates on deliberative democracy and democratised science are investigated in order to analyse the reasons, meanings and prospects for a democratisation of global environmental policy. A deliberative systems approach, which emphasises the need to explore how processes in societal spheres interact to shape the deliberative qualities of the system as a whole, is adopted. Although science plays a key role in this, its potential to enhance deliberative capacity has hardly been addressed in deliberative theories. The democratisation of science has potential to contribute to the democratisation of global environmental policy, in that it also shapes the potential of deliberative arrangements in the policy sphere. Deliberative arrangements within the policy sphere may stimulate the democratisation of science to different degrees.     

Environment contamination by mycotoxins and their occurrence in food and feed: Physiological aspects and economical approach

The contamination of food and feed by mycotoxins as toxic metabolites of fungi is a risk not only for consumers resulting in various embarrassment regarding health status and well-being, but also for producers, companies and export market on the ground of economic losses and ruined stability of economic trade. As it is given in historical evidence, the contamination of food by mycotoxins is a topic as old as a history of mankind, finding some evidence even in the ancient books and records. Nowadays, the mycotoxins are used in modern biotechnological laboratories and are considered an agent for targeting the specific cells (e.g., defected cells to eliminate them). However, this promising procedure is only the beginning. More concern is focused on mycotoxins as abiotic hazard agents. The dealing with them, systematic monitoring, and development of techniques for their elimination from agricultural commodities are worldwide issues concerning all countries. They can be found alone or in co-occurrence with other mycotoxins. Thus, this review aims to provide widened information regarding mycotoxins contamination in environment with the consequences on health of animals and humans. The inevitability for more data that correctly determine the risk points linked to mycotoxins occurrence and their specific reactions in the environment is demonstrated. This review includes various symptoms in animals and humans that result from mycotoxin exposure. For better understanding of mycotoxin's impact on animals, the sensitivities of various animal species to various mycotoxins are listed. Strategies for elimination and preventing the risks of mycotoxins contamination as well as economical approach are discussed. To complete the topic, some data from past as historical evidences are presented.     

Benchmarking Optical/Thermal Satellite Imagery for Estimating Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture in Decision Support Tools

Generally, one expects evapotranspiration (ET) maps derived from optical/thermal Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to improve decision support tools and lead to superior decisions regarding water resources management. However, there is lack of supportive evidence to accept or reject this expectation. We “benchmark” three existing hydrologic decision support tools with the following benchmarks: annual ET for the ET Toolbox developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, predicted rainfall‐runoff hydrographs for the Gridded Surface/Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the average annual groundwater recharge for the Distributed Parameter Watershed Model used by Daniel B. Stephens & Associates. The conclusion of this benchmark study is that the use of NASA/USGS optical/thermal satellite imagery can considerably improve hydrologic decision support tools compared to their traditional implementations. The benefits of improved decision making, resulting from more accurate results of hydrologic support systems using optical/thermal satellite imagery, should substantially exceed the costs for acquiring such imagery and implementing the remote sensing algorithms. In fact, the value of reduced error in estimating average annual groundwater recharge in the San Gabriel Mountains, California alone, in terms of value of water, may be as large as $1 billion, more than sufficient to pay for one new Landsat satellite.     

TUGAI: An Integrated Simulation Tool for Ecological Assessment of Alternative Water Management Strategies in a Degraded River Delta

The development of ecologically sound water allocation strategies that account for the needs of riverine ecosystems is a pressing issue, especially in semiarid river basins. In the Aral Sea Basin, a search for strategies to mitigate ecological and socioeconomic deterioration has been in process since the early 1990s. The Geographic Information System–based simulation tool TUGAI has been developed to support the policy determination process by providing a simple, problem-oriented method to assess ecological effects of alternative water management strategies for the Amudarya River. It combines a multiobjective water allocation model with simple, spatially explicit statistical and rule-based models of landscape dynamics. Changes in environmental conditions are evaluated by a fuzzy habitat suitability index for Populus euphratica, which is the dominant species of the characteristic riverine Tugai forests. Water management scenarios can be developed by altering spatiotemporal water distribution in the delta area or the amount of water inflow into the delta. Outcomes of scenario analysis are qualitative comparisons of the ecological effects of different options for a time period of up to 28 years. The given approach utilizes different types of knowledge, from quantitative hydrological data to qualitative local expert knowledge. The main purpose of the tool is to integrate the knowledge in a comprehensive way to make it available for discussions on alternative policies in moderated workshops with stakeholders. In this article, the modules of the tool, their integration, and three hypothetical scenarios are presented. Based on the experience gained when developing the TUGAI tool, we propose that the general framework can be transferred to other areas where tradeoffs in water allocation between the environment and other water users are of major concern. The potential for a simulation tool to structure and inform a complex resource management situation by involving local experts and stakeholders in the development of possible future scenarios will become increasingly valuable for transparent and participatory resource management.