热等离子体熔融固化模拟医疗废物的研究

利用直流双阳极等离子体实验装置熔融固化处理不同组成的模拟医疗废物.研究了医疗废物熔融过程中重金属的迁移特性、熔渣的重金属浸出特性以及实验系统对医疗废物的处理效果.结果表明,经熔融处理得到的熔渣均呈典型的玻璃质结构,微观结构紧密、光滑且无空隙;所采用的等离子体对医疗废物中重金属有很好的固化效果,固化率在68.5%～89.4%之间;重金属Cd的浸出浓度低于仪器最低检测限,无法检出,Ni、Cr、Zn、Cu和Pb在熔渣中浸出浓度均远低于国家规定的毒性浸出标准.说明热等离子体技术是一种处理医疗废物的有效手段.     

医疗垃圾的现状及处理对策

对医疗垃圾的危害及现有处理方法进行分析论述,指出医疗垃圾管理中存在的问题,在此基础上提出应重视医疗废物与生活垃圾的区分和对医疗废物的分类管理,医疗垃圾的最佳处置方法是热解气化技术,医疗废水的处理方法应建立在科学论证的基础上,医疗废物应该被合理处置、规范地科学地管理。     

医疗垃圾焚烧飞灰的重金属浸出特性及其稳定化处理研究

通过对医疗垃圾飞灰的浸出特性和高温熔融处理实验,研究了浸出时间、液固比、pH值和颗粒尺寸对重金属浸出特性的影响以及飞灰熔融对重金属稳定化处理效果.结果表明,随着浸出时间的增加,飞灰绝大部分重金属的浸出浓度增高,浸出毒性增强;液固比(L/S)增加,大部分重金属的浸出率大大提高,其中重金属Cd的浸出率最大,在液固比为90时,飞灰中的Cd的浸出率达到70%以上;pH为中性左右的时候,医疗垃圾飞灰中的大部分重金属的浸出液浓度最低;颗粒尺寸在较大或者较小时,医疗垃圾飞灰中的大部分重金属浸出浓度较小,大部分重金属在颗粒尺寸250～900μm时,重金属的浸出浓度较高;飞灰高温熔融后,重金属的浸出毒性大大降低,说明熔融对重金属有很好的固化效果.     

具有开发前景的药用植物活性成分──紫杉醇、β－胡萝卜素、三七皂甙、小蘖碱、齐墩果酸

本文对紫杉醇、β－胡萝卜素、三七皂甙、小蘖碱、齐墩果酸的来源、分布、含量、应用、市场及提取分离等方面作了简要概述，指出了开发利用途径．     

Colonial recognition of fungus in the fungus-growing ant Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Summary. Leaf cutting ants live in symbiosis with a basidiomycete fungus that is exploited as a source of nutrients for the ant larvae. Tests of fungus transport demonstrated that Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus workers discriminate concolonial fungus from alien fungus, and rejected the latter. Larvae and pupae of the ant were used as controls. Chemical analysis of the fungus revealed a great similarity between its hydrocarbon profile and that found on the ant brood. Experiments with lures showed that chemical extracts from the fungus are responsible for this discrimination process. Moreover, the presence of brood inside the fungus seemed to be important for discrimination of the fungus by workers. Resident workers accepted concolonial broodless fungus less than concolonial fungus inoculated with brood odor. Fungus seems to acquire colonial odor passively, simply by contact with the brood. The impact of fungus volume present in the nest on closure of the colony is discussed. We show here for the first time the importance of a symbiotic vegetal organism in colonial recognition in social insects. Received 14 April 2000; accepted 29 September 2000     

The origin of the chemical profiles of fungal symbionts and their significance for nestmate recognition in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Acromyrmex</Emphasis> leaf-cutting ants

Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles are essential for nestmate recognition in insect societies, and quantitative variation in these recognition cues is both environmentally and genetically determined. Environmental cues are normally derived from food or nest material, but an exceptional situation may exist in the fungus-growing ants where the symbiotic fungus garden may be an independent source of recognition compounds. To investigate this hypothesis, we quantified the chemical profiles of the fungal symbionts of 18 sympatric colonies of Acromyrmex echinatior and Acromyrmex octospinosus and evaluated the quantitative variation of the 47 compounds in a multivariate analysis. Colony-specific chemical profiles of fungal symbionts were highly distinct and significantly different between the two ant species. We also estimated the relative genetic distances between the fungal symbionts using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and correlated these with the overall (Mahalanobis) chemical distances between the colony-specific profiles. Despite the standardized laboratory conditions, the correlations were generally weak, but a statistically significant portion of the total variation in chemical profiles could be explained by genetic differences between the fungal symbionts. However, there was no significant effect of ant species in partial analyses because genetic differences between symbionts tend to coincide with being reared by different ant species. However, compound groups differed significantly with amides, aldehydes, and methyl esters contributing to the correlations, but acetates, alkanes, and formates being unrelated to genetic variation among symbionts. We show experimentally that workers that are previously exposed to and fed with the fungal symbiont of another colony are met with less aggression when they are later introduced into that colony. It appears, therefore, that fungus gardens are an independent and significant source of chemical compounds, potentially contributing a richer and more abundant blend of recognition cues to the colony “gestalt” than the innate chemical profile of the ants alone. Freddie-Jeanne Richard and Michael Poulsen contributed equally to this work.     

How many gamergates is an ant queen worth?

Ant reproductives exhibit different morphological adaptations linked to dispersal and fertility. By reviewing the literature on taxa where workers can reproduce sexually (i.e. become gamergates) we show that (1) species with a single gamergate generally have lost the winged queen caste, whereas only half of the species with several gamergates have, and (2) single-gamergate species have smaller colonies than multiple-gamergate species. Comparison with "classical" ants without gamergates, where having one vs having several winged queens are two distinct syndromes, suggests that having one vs having several gamergates are not. Gamergate number does not affect the success of colony fission, but retention of the queen caste permits the option of independent foundation.     

Learning,retention and coding of nest-associated visual cues by the Australian desert ant, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Melophorus bagoti</Emphasis>

A variety of social insects use visual cues for homing. In this study, we examine the possible factors affecting the learning and retention of nest-associated visual cues by the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti and the manner in which such cues are encoded by foraging ants. We placed four prominent cylindrical landmarks around a nest and trained foragers from that nest to a food source. Ants were tested with the landmark array in a distant testing field after (1) a known number of exposures to the landmarks (1, 3, 7 or 15 trials, spread over a period of 1 day, 2 days or ≥3 days) and (2) after a known period of delay (0, 24, 48, 96 or 192 h). The results show that a combination of an increase in training trials and an increase in number of training days affected the acquisition of landmark memory. Moreover, once the landmarks were learnt, they became a part of long-term memory and lasted throughout the ants’ foraging lifetime. To examine visual cue encoding behaviour, ants trained under similar conditions for 4 days were tested with (1) an identical landmark array, (2) landmarks of the same size used in training, but placed at twice the distance from each other, and (3) landmarks whose dimensions were doubled and placed at twice the distance from each other. In conditions (1) and (3), the ants searched extensively at the centre of the four landmarks, suggesting that, similar to the Saharan ant (genus Cataglyphis) and the honeybee, M. bagoti too uses a snapshot to match the view of the landmarks around the nest. But contrary to the snapshot model, in condition (2), the ants did not search extensively at the centre of the landmarks, but searched primarily 0.5 m from the landmark, the distance from each landmark to the nest during training. We discuss how various search models fare in accounting for these findings.     

Behavioral ecology of the neotropical termite-hunting ant Pachycondyla (= Termitopone) marginata: colony founding,group-raiding and migratory patterns

This study provides the first detailed field account of colony founding, group-raiding and migratory habits in the neotropical termite-hunting ant rPachycondyla marginata, in a semi-deciduous forest in south-east Brazil. New colonies can originate by haplometrosis, pleometrosis, or colony fission. Incipient colonies with multiple foundresses persisted longer in the field, and most excavated nests contained more than one dealated female. A total of 202 group raids by P. marginata were registered, and in all cases the raided termite species was Neocapritermes opacus. Nearly 20% of the workers within a colony engage with raiding activity. Colonies of P. marginata hunt for termites approximately every 2–3 weeks, and group-raids may last for more than 24 h. Target termite nests are up to 38 m from the ant colony, and occasionally two nests are simultaneously raided by one ant colony. Raiding ants carry 1 or 2 paralysed prey, and nearly 1600 termites can be captured during a 9-h raid. Migration by P. marginata colonies lasted over 2 days and covered distances of 2-97 m (n = 48). Average residence time at a given location was 150 days. Three basic migratory patterns were noted: colony fission (only part of the colony moves), long-distance migrations, and short-distance migrations. Both raiding and migratory activities appeared to be strongly affected by seasonal factors. The group raiding and migratory patterns of P. marginata are compared with other ant taxa with similar habits. It is concluded that P. marginata presents a rudimentary form of the so-called army ant behavior, which is highly developed in the subfamilies Dorylinae and Ecitoninae. The extremely specialized diet of P. marginata and the associated high costs of migration are features likely to prevent it from evolving a full army ant life pattern.