Reconsideration on the effect of nitrogen on mixed culture polyhydroxyalkanoate production toward high organic loading enrichment history

Effect of nitrogen on mixed culture PHA production was reconsidered. Enrichment history of PHA accumulating culture was discussed. Higher PHA content and biomass growth were achieved in presence of nitrogen. Enrichment strategy toward higher PHA accumulation was investigated. Microbial community succession in PHA accumulation phase was investigated. In most of the operating strategies for mixed microbial cultures polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production, moderate organic loads and low nitrogen concentrations are used, however, the real waste streams contain variable concentrations of carbon and nitrogen. To evaluate the effect of enrichment history on PHA producer and production the various carbon and nitrogen levels were utilized during the accumulation phase. Different operating strategies were applied in three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) subjected to aerobic dynamic feeding. The maximum PHA production of the enriched cultures under nutrient excess, limitation and starvation (Cmol/Nmol ratio of 8, 40 and ∞, respectively) was evaluated in batch assays. A higher PHA content and biomass growth were achieved in the nutrients presence in comparison to the nutrient starvation condition. The cultures from the SBR treated under short sludge retention time, high organic loading rate, short cycle length (SBR#3) and nutrient excess reached the maximum PHA content (54.9%) and biomass increase (38.9%). Under nutrient limitation, the negative biomass growth was observed under nutrient starvation because of the sampling loss. The succession of microbial communities in SBRs and batch assays was analyzed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism. The SBR#3 had the best overall PHA production performance considering its high PHA content and productivity in all nutrient content, it indicates that nitrogen has a substantial impact on PHA yield especially when high organic loading rate enrichment history is involved.     

An experimental study on the burning rate of a continuously released n-heptane spill fire on an open water surface

Spill fires are common during oil product storage and transportation after a loss of containment. Since the burning fuel is moving and the fuel depth is quite shallow, the burning rate in a spill fire is different from that of a pool fire with a static burning zone. Unlike pool fires, which have been studied for decades and have well-established correlations for burning rate, research on spill fires is inadequate. In this paper, continuously released n-heptane spill fire experiments were conducted on open water surfaces with varying fuel discharge rates. The pool diameters were measured, and the spill fire burning rates were estimated based on a dynamic balance between fuel supply and combustion. The burning rates in n-heptane pool fires from the literature were reviewed and compared with the estimated burning rates in spill fires of the same dimension. The spill fire burning rate was found to be close to that in a pool fire during the initial burning phase but lower than that in a bulk burning pool fire and that in a “fuel-level-controlled” pool fire. The distinction between the burning rates of spill fires and pool fires is explained by the heat balance analysis of the fuel layer. A model for the spill fire burning rate was proposed accordingly. The results calculated with the presented model are closer to the measured data than those calculated with pool fire models.     

Vallisneria natans decomposition rates and associated macroinvertebrates,microbes and microalgae along a vertical depth gradient in an urban lake (Nanhu Lake,China)

Knowledge on aquatic macrophyte decomposition has well developed, yet the decomposition and associated biotic factors along a vertical gradient in waters remain less examined. Here, we used Vallianeria natans leaves to investigate the decomposition rate and associated decomposers and microalgae at different vertical depths, by placing V. natans leaves into litterbags (0.5 and 5?mm meshes) and incubating them at the air–water interface (AW), sediment-water (SW) interface, and 10?cm (B10) or 20?cm (B20) burial in sediment over 60 days in a littoral zone of lake. Decomposition rates decreased with increased depths in each mesh size, with significant differences among and between AW (0.028?d^?1), SW (0.022?d^?1), B10 (0.014?d^?1) and B20 (0.011?d^?1) treatments in 0.5?mm litterbags and no significant difference between B10 (0.027?d^?1) and B20 (0.025?d^?1) in 5?mm litterbags. The average contribution of macroinvertebrates to biomass loss was highest in B20 (44.66%), lowest in AW (22.66%) and midst in both SW (25.35%) and B10 (38.78%), and was much less than that of both microbes and microalgae at each location. We show the importance of macroinvertebrates, microbes and microalgae in mediating macrophyte decomposition rate in response to different vertical locations in freshwaters.     

Estimating the normal background rate of species extinction

A key measure of humanity's global impact is by how much it has increased species extinction rates. Familiar statements are that these are 100–1000 times pre‐human or background extinction levels. Estimating recent rates is straightforward, but establishing a background rate for comparison is not. Previous researchers chose an approximate benchmark of 1 extinction per million species per year (E/MSY). We explored disparate lines of evidence that suggest a substantially lower estimate. Fossil data yield direct estimates of extinction rates, but they are temporally coarse, mostly limited to marine hard‐bodied taxa, and generally involve genera not species. Based on these data, typical background loss is 0.01 genera per million genera per year. Molecular phylogenies are available for more taxa and ecosystems, but it is debated whether they can be used to estimate separately speciation and extinction rates. We selected data to address known concerns and used them to determine median extinction estimates from statistical distributions of probable values for terrestrial plants and animals. We then created simulations to explore effects of violating model assumptions. Finally, we compiled estimates of diversification—the difference between speciation and extinction rates for different taxa. Median estimates of extinction rates ranged from 0.023 to 0.135 E/MSY. Simulation results suggested over‐ and under‐estimation of extinction from individual phylogenies partially canceled each other out when large sets of phylogenies were analyzed. There was no evidence for recent and widespread pre‐human overall declines in diversity. This implies that average extinction rates are less than average diversification rates. Median diversification rates were 0.05–0.2 new species per million species per year. On the basis of these results, we concluded that typical rates of background extinction may be closer to 0.1 E/MSY. Thus, current extinction rates are 1,000 times higher than natural background rates of extinction and future rates are likely to be 10,000 times higher. Estimación de la Tasa Normal de Extinción de Especies     

煤矿照度对人反应时间和可靠度的影响研究

煤矿综采工作面狭窄,工作环境昏暗,照明环境普遍不好,是近年来井下事故多发的重要因素之一。针对目前煤矿综采工作面存在的照度问题,通过控制光照时间和操作难度,利用舒尔特表测算反应时间和操作可靠度,使用SPSS20. 0和Excel进行数据处理,设计试验组和对照组来进行对比试验。结果表明,1)从反应时间来看,0～25 min,试验组平均反应时间的变化趋势与对照组相反,被试者的注意力先下降后上升; 25～55 min,被试者逐渐适应低照度环境,反应时间也在逐渐缩短;被试者在低照度条件下操作55 min后,反应时间随光照时间增加而大幅度增加,超过劳动时间临界值后,视觉疲劳度迅速增加,反应急速减慢,从而可能导致安全事故的发生,影响生产效率,此时应合理安排工人休息。2)从操作难度来看,在简单及正常操作难度时,试验组和对照组操作可靠度变化比较接近,表明低照度条件对一般操作的可靠度影响不明显;在极难操作难度时,低照度条件对可靠度影响明显,在井下生产过程中,低照度环境下应尽量避免安排复杂的机械化操作。3)反应时间与光照时间呈二次函数关系,通过建立回归方程量化了两者的关系,为以后合理安排煤矿工人劳动休息时间提供了理论依据。     

Deriving heart rate variability indices from cardiac monitoring—An indicator of driver sleepiness

Objective: Driver fatigue is considered to be a major contributor to road traffic crashes. Cardiac monitoring and heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a candidate method for early and accurate detection of driver sleepiness. This study has 2 objectives: to evaluate the (1) suitability of different preprocessing strategies for detecting and removing outlier heartbeats and spectral transformation of HRV signals and their impact of driver sleepiness assessment and (2) relation between common HRV indices and subjective sleepiness reported by a large number of drivers in real driving situations, for the first time.

Methods: The study analyzed >3,500 5-min driving epochs from 76 drivers on a public motorway in Sweden. The electrocardiograph (ECG) data were recorded in 3 studies designed to evaluate the physiological differences between awake and sleepy drivers. The drivers reported their perceived level of sleepiness according to the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) every 5?min. Two standard methods were used for identifying outlier heartbeats: (1) percentage change (PC), where outliers were defined as interbeat intervals deviating >30% from the mean of the four previous intervals and (2) standard deviation (SD), where outliers were defined as interbeat interval deviating >4 SD from the mean interval duration in the current epoch. Three standard methods were used for spectral transformation, which is needed for deriving HRV indices in the frequency domain: (1) Fourier transform; (2) autoregressive model; and (3) Lomb-Scargle periodogram. Different preprocessing strategies were compared regarding their impact on derivation of common HRV indices and their relation to KSS data distribution, using box plots and statistical tests such as analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student’s t test.

Results: The ability of HRV indices to discriminate between alert and sleepy drivers does not differ significantly depending on which outlier detection and spectral transformation methods are used. As expected, with increasing sleepiness, the heart rate decreased, whereas heart rate variability overall increased. Furthermore, HRV parameters representing the parasympathetic branch of the autonomous nervous system increased. An unexpected finding was that parameters representing the sympathetic branch of the autonomous nervous system also increased with increasing KSS level. We hypothesize that this increment was due to stress induced by trying to avoid an incident, because the drivers were in real driving situations.

Conclusions: The association of HRV indices to KSS did not depend on the preprocessing strategy. No preprocessing method showed superiority for HRV association to driver sleepiness. This was also true for combinations of methods for frequency domain HRV indices. The results prove clear relationships between HRV indices and perceived sleepiness. Thus, HRV analysis shows promise for driver sleepiness detection.     

基于不同强度等级混凝土的动力学特性研究

基于TAW-2000D电液伺服岩石三轴仪和直径75 mm的霍普金森压杆试验装置,得到了C25,C35和C45混凝土在静、动载荷作用下的应力-应变曲线,探讨了混凝土强度等级、动态峰值强度、峰值应变和应变率之间的变化规律。结果表明:混凝土准静态应力-应变曲线和动态应力-应变曲线在形态上存在明显差异,动态应力-应变曲线的峰值点随应变率的增大向右上方移动,线弹性阶段各曲线斜率变化不明显;动态峰值应力、动态弹性模量和峰值应变均存在不同程度的率相关性,并且混凝土材料的应变率敏感性随其强度等级的提高而增强;混凝土C45的各力学指标对应变率的敏感性最强,C35次之,C25的应变率敏感性最弱;推导了应变率与强度等级和冲击速率之间的经验公式,三者之间存在非线性变化规律。     

我国特种劳动防护用品产业分布特点分析

为了解我国特种劳动防护用品产业分布特点和产业市场集中程度,基于生产企业统计数据,估算我国特种劳动防护用品产业市场集中度;对比2017年和2010年数据,统计分析我国特种劳动防护用品产业的区域、产品种类、企业注册资金规模和企业从业人员数量的分布和变化,分析总结了产业发展呈现的特点,提出了加快我国特种劳动防护用品产业发展的相应建议。结果表明:当前我国特种劳动防护用品产业市场结构尚属于低集中竞争型;各区域生产企业数量按照东部、中部、西部和东北的顺序依次递减,东部生产企业占据全国企业总数的65%以上;一半以上企业的注册资金均大于1 000万元;以从业人员数量看,80%以上企业属于小型企业规模;与2010年相比,2017年我国特种劳动防护用品生产企业从业人员数量增加了6.67%,企业从业人员规模分布变化不明显,企业注册资金规模已由约7成企业在500万元以下转变为近7成超过500万元,产品种类增加了40%。研究结果可为我国劳动防护用品产业和安全产业的发展提供科学参考。     

微量Fe3+对过氧化氢异丙苯热稳定性影响研究

为研究微量铁离子（Fe³⁺）对过氧化氢异丙苯（CHP）热稳定性的影响,采用绝热加速量热仪（ARC）对CHP及含4种不同浓度Fe3+的CHP进行了绝热分解测试,测试分析了5个样品在绝热条件下的起始分解温度（To,s）、绝热温升（ΔTad,s）、最大温升速率（mm,s）和最大温升速率到达时间（θm,s）等参数,并利用热惰性因子Φ对实验数据进行了修正。研究结果表明:在绝热条件下,微量Fe3+的存在对CHP分解的To,s,ΔTad,s,mm,s和θm,s均有较大影响,且浓度不同对各参数的影响不一样;Fe³⁺的存在增加了CHP分解的剧烈程度,且浓度越大,CHP分解越剧烈,其热分解失控可能性越大,危险性越高;储存运输CHP时要避免与高浓度的Fe³⁺接触。研究结果可为CHP的热稳定性安全提供一定参考。     

阿特拉津对弹琴蛙(Rana adenopleura)蝌蚪微核和核异常的影响

分别在d1、d3、d7、d14,观察空白对照(CK-)、水溶助剂0.1mL/L二甲基亚砜对照(CK )、阿特拉津0.01mg/L(ρ1)、0.1mg/L(ρ2)、1mg/L(ρ3)和10mg/L(ρ4)溶液中弹琴蛙(Ranaadenopleura)蝌蚪血红细胞微核和核异常细胞数.结果表明,d14时,ρ1、ρ2、ρ3和ρ4组蝌蚪的微核率分别是CK-的2.25、2.50、4.25、5.11倍(P<0.05),说明阿特拉津可引起蝌蚪血红细胞微核率升高;且与d1、d3、d7相比较,微核率随着时间的延长有升高的趋势.d14时,ρ2、ρ3和ρ4组蝌蚪的总核异常率(含微核率)分别是CK-的2.59、2.17、1.96倍(P<0.05),说明阿特拉津也可引起蝌蚪血红细胞总核异常率升高.图2表1参17