Carbon sequestration and soil microbes in purple paddy soil as affected by long-term fertilization

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration impacts on food security and climate change and may be affected by soil microbes in fertilized croplands. A 12-year field experiment under the rice–wheat system was used to evaluate the effect of the long-term fertilization on the SOC accumulation, culturable soil microbes, and their interaction in purple paddy soil. Results showed that varied fertilizations resulted in a significant increase of the SOC content and stock in the plow layer, as well as rise in populations of major soil microbes, including bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi compared with no fertilization. Soil with combined application of chemical NPK fertilizer and organic amendment (pig manure or rice straw return) on average had the highest organic carbon content and stock, amounts of bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi, which were 7.8%, 5.8%, 75.8%, 130.5%, and 16.2% higher than the NPK fertilization alone. Fertilization differentially altered populations of the functional anaerobic bacteria in paddy soil. With the combined application of chemical NPK fertilizer and organic amendment, soil displayed higher amounts of anaerobic cellulolytic bacteria, anaerobic fermentative bacteria, hydrogen-producing acetogen, methanogenic bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, and sulphate-reducing bacteria than that with the NPK fertilization alone or no fertilization. Populations of all three major soil microbes showed significantly positive correlations with the SOC content, indicating their interaction was of mutual promotion. Data suggest that the combined application of the NPK fertilizer with organic amendment especially by the rice straw return is recommended to sustain the soil biological fertility and mitigate the emission of the greenhouse gas by the SOC sequestration in purple paddy soil.     

Gathering “wild” food in the city: rethinking the role of foraging in urban ecosystem planning and management

Recent “green” planning initiatives envision food production, including urban agriculture and livestock production, as desirable elements of sustainable cities. We use an integrated urban political ecology and human–plant geographies framework to explore how foraging for “wild” foods in cities, a subversive practice that challenges prevailing views about the roles of humans in urban green spaces, has potential to also support sustainability goals. Drawing on research from Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle, we show that foraging is a vibrant and ongoing practice among diverse urban residents in the USA. At the same time, as reflected in regulations, planning practices, and attitudes of conservation practitioners, it is conceptualised as out of place in urban landscapes and an activity to be discouraged. We discuss how paying attention to urban foraging spaces and practices can strengthen green space planning and summarise opportunities for and challenges associated with including foragers and their concerns.     

Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on livelihoods

The water–energy–food nexus is being promoted as a conceptual tool for achieving sustainable development. Frameworks for implementing nexus thinking, however, have failed to explicitly or adequately incorporate sustainable livelihoods perspectives. This is counterintuitive given that livelihoods are key to achieving sustainable development. In this paper we present a critical review of nexus approaches and identify potential linkages with sustainable livelihoods theory and practice, to deepen our understanding of the interrelated dynamics between human populations and the natural environment. Building upon this review, we explore the concept of ‘environmental livelihood security’ – which encompasses a balance between natural resource supply and human demand on the environment to promote sustainability – and develop an integrated nexus-livelihoods framework for examining the environmental livelihood security of a system. The outcome is an integrated framework with the capacity to measure and monitor environmental livelihood security of whole systems by accounting for the water, energy and food requisites for livelihoods at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels. We anticipate this holistic approach will not only provide a significant contribution to achieving national and regional sustainable development targets, but will also be effective for promoting equity amongst individuals and communities in local and global development agendas.     

Early ultrasound diagnosis of Neu–Laxova syndrome

We report the mid-trimester prenatal diagnosis of Neu–Laxova syndrome (NLS) in two at risk families utilizing serial sonographic examinations. Ultrasound and pathologic findings from seven affected pregnancies, the largest case series of NLS to date, are presented. One fetus had anencephaly and incomplete rachischisis, an anomaly that has not been previously reported in association with NLS. Ultrasonographic detection of severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), abnormally postured limbs, microcephaly, and edema allowed prenatal diagnosis of NLS in five of these at risk pregnancies during the mid-trimester. Growth curves derived from serial sonograms reveal abnormalities of all standard biometric measurements. The growth discrepancy was most pronounced in the measurements of the biparietal diameter, which were consistently less than two standard deviations below the mean across all gestational ages. This case series confirms that aberrant growth and anomalies may be detected sufficiently early in gestation to permit prenatal diagnosis of NLS. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prenatal diagnosis of primary anophthalmia with a 3q27 interstitial deletion involving SOX2

We report an interstitial deletion of chromosome 3q26-q28 in a fetus in which anophthalmia had been detected prenatally. FISH analysis, using BAC clones encompassing the SOX2 locus, showed that SOX2 gene was involved in the chromosomal breakpoint of the deletion. This case confirms that haploinsufficiency for SOX2 plays a crucial role in human eye development and emphasizes the necessity of careful chromosomal analysis, including FISH analysis of the 3q region, in case of prenatal discovery of anophthalmia. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

UV和UV/H2O2工艺对水中二嗪磷的降解

在低压汞灯（LPUV,253.7nm）光照条件下,研究了过氧化氢（H₂O₂）加入量对二嗪磷降解动力学、产物生成和降解途径的影响规律与作用机理.结果表明,二嗪磷水溶液在单独UV和UV/H₂O₂工艺中的降解反应均符合准一级反应动力学,且反应速率常数（k）随H₂O₂加入量的增加而增大,H₂O₂加入量为0,5,10mg/L时的k分别为0.0234,0.0301,0.0341min-1.在UV光照处理条件下,二嗪磷水溶液中的溶解性有机碳（DOC）随H₂O₂加入量的增加而降低,但其矿化度均相对较低（光照120min时的DOC去除率均低于20%）.此外,UV光照处理时,H₂O₂的加入对二嗪磷光氧化降解产物的种类及生成量均存在显著影响.二嗪磷水溶液单独UV光照处理60min时检出了8种中间/降解产物,但经UV/H₂O₂工艺处理60min时仅检出了6种中间/降解产物,且不同H₂O₂加入量时的光氧化降解产物生成量或浓度及随UV光照处理时间的变化幅度与趋势均存在较大程度的差别.基于二嗪磷及其降解产物的定性、（半）定量分析结果,提出了二嗪磷水溶液在单独UV和UV/H₂O₂工艺中的降解途径与机理.     

A new report of mesomelic camptomelia,polydactyly and Dandy–Walker complex in siblings

Two male siblings with several malformations are reported. The anomalies detected in both fetuses were mesomelic camptomelia, postaxial hexadactyly and Dandy–Walker complex. There was only one similar previous report in the literature. This combination could represent a specific pattern of malformation or a new syndrome, with different variants. The parents' consanguinity and the recurrence in a subsequent pregnancy suggest an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

氢气添加对乙醇/空气预混火焰燃烧特性影响的数值模拟研究

通过对不同混合比率的乙醇/氢气/空气燃烧特性进行数值模拟,研究氢气添加量对点火延迟时间、层流燃烧速度、火焰厚度、化学反应滞留时间及组分分布情况的影响。研究发现一定程度上氢气添加量的增加能够缩短混合气体的点火延迟时间,并且氢气对点火延迟时间的影响随着温度的升高而逐渐减小。随着混合比率的增大,层流燃烧速度增大,并且在混合比率大于0.4时显著增大。火焰厚度及化学反应滞留时间随氢气增加而逐渐减小。此外,进一步分析组分分布情况得知氢气添加使火焰中H*、O*、OH*自由基摩尔分数峰值增大,并且H+O+OH摩尔分数峰值与层流燃烧速度存在线性关系。     

Emission reduction and profit-neutral permit allocations

The present paper addresses two policy objectives: to implement a market for pollution permits and to make regulation acceptable for businesses. Profit-neutral permit allocations are defined as the number of permits that the regulator should give for free so that post-regulation profits (i.e. a firm's profits in the products market plus the value of the allowances granted for free) are equal to pre-regulation profits. The proposed model is developed by assuming that firms use polluting technologies and compete “à la Cournot”. The paper demonstrates that a low number of free allowances is sufficient to meet these two goals. Moreover, the regulator can fully offset losses, even when the reduction in emissions is high, provided that the sectors concerned are not monopolies, both for isoelastic and linear demand functions.