Geographic sampling of urban soils for contaminant mapping: how many samples and from where

Properly sampling soils and mapping soil contamination in urban environments requires that impacts of spatial autocorrelation be taken into account. As spatial autocorrelation increases in an urban landscape, the amount of duplicate information contained in georeferenced data also increases, whether an entire population or some type of random sample drawn from that population is being analyzed, resulting in conventional power and sample size calculation formulae yielding incorrect sample size numbers vis-à-vis model-based inference. Griffith (in Annals, Association of American Geographers, 95, 740–760, 2005) exploits spatial statistical model specifications to formulate equations for estimating the necessary sample size needed to obtain some predetermined level of precision for an analysis of georeferenced data when implementing a tessellation stratified random sampling design, labeling this approach model-informed, since a model of latent spatial autocorrelation is required. This paper addresses issues of efficiency associated with these model-based results. It summarizes findings from a data collection exercise (soil samples collected from across Syracuse, NY), as well as from a set of resampling and from a set of simulation experiments following experimental design principles spelled out by Overton and Stehman (in Communications in Statistics: Theory and Methods, 22, 2641–2660). Guidelines are suggested concerning appropriate sample size (i.e., how many) and sampling network (i.e., where).

浙江省建筑材料放射性水平及居民受照剂量估算

报道了１９８８年－１９９５年浙江省建筑材料中放射性水平和所致居民剂量的计算结果。采用高纯锗γ能谱法测定了该地区的６种,１３９个建筑材料样品中放射性核素含量,并收集了１９８４年以前该地区另外５种,７７个建筑材料样品中的放射性水平数据。     

New parameterization scheme for effective indices for emissions from road transport

The local to regional processes of chemical transformations, washout and dry deposition cannot be directly resolved in global scale models, they rather need to be parameterized. A suitable way to account for the non-linearity, e.g., in chemical transformation processes, is the use of effective emission indices (EEIs). EEI translate the actual (small scale) emissions into input for global scale models, partially accounting for unresolved processes occurring shortly after the release of the emissions.The emissions from the road traffic have some specifics, because of which the concept of deriving EEI from the interaction of an instantaneous plume with the ambient air is perhaps not so convenient. A new parameterization scheme for the EEI from the road transport is suggested in the present paper, based on few simplifying assumptions and introducing the adjoin equations approach, which makes it possible to achieve unified, not depending on the specific emission pattern, procedure for calculating the EEI from road traffic.     

Doses of external exposure in Jordan house due to gamma-emitting natural radionuclides in building materials

The use of building materials containing naturally occurring radionuclides as ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U and their progeny results in external exposures of the residents of such buildings. In the present study, indoor dose rates for a typical Jordan concrete room are calculated using Monte Carlo method. Uniform chemical composition of the walls, floor and ceiling as well as uniform mass concentrations of the radionuclides in walls, floor and ceiling are assumed.Using activity concentrations of natural radionuclides typical for the Jordan houses and assuming them to be in secular equilibrium with their progeny, the maximum annual effective doses are estimated to be 0.16, 0.12 and 0.22 mSv a⁻¹ for ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th- and ²³⁸U-series, respectively. In a total, the maximum annual effective indoor dose due to external γ-radiation is 0.50 mSv a⁻¹. Additionally, organ dose coefficients are calculated for all organs considered in ICRP Publication 74. Breast, skin and eye lenses have the maximum equivalent dose rate values due to indoor exposures caused by the natural radionuclides, while equivalent dose rates for uterus, colon (LLI) and small intestine are found to be the smallest. More specifically, organ dose rates (nSv a⁻¹ per Bq kg⁻¹) vary from 0.044 to 0.060 for ⁴⁰K, from 0.44 to 0.60 for radionuclides from ²³⁸U-series and from 0.60 to 0.81 for radionuclides from ²³²Th-series.The obtained organ and effective dose conversion coefficients can be conveniently used in practical dose assessment tasks for the rooms of similar geometry and varying activity concentrations and local-specific occupancy factors.     

Indoor radon distribution of subway stations in a Korean major city

The overall survey on indoor radon concentration was conducted at all subway stations in a major city, Daejeon in the central part of Korea. It was quarterly performed from September 2007 to August 2008. The annual arithmetic mean of indoor radon concentration of all the stations was 34.1 ± 14.7 Bq m⁻³, and the range of values was from 9.4 to 98.2 Bq m⁻³. The radon concentrations in groundwater (average 31.0 ± 0.8 Bq m⁻³) were not significantly high in most stations, but the concentration (177.9 ± 2.3 Bq L⁻¹) of one station was over the level of 148 Bq L⁻¹ in drinking water proposed by U.S. EPA. Based on indoor survey results, the approximate average of the annual effective dose by radon inhalation to the employees and passengers were 0.24 mSv y⁻¹, and 0.02 mSv y⁻¹, respectively. Although the effective dose based on the UNSCEAR report was potentially estimated, for more accurate assessment, the additional survey on the influence by indoor radon will be necessary.     

The challenge of making ozone risk assessment for forest trees more mechanistic

Upcoming decades will experience increasing atmospheric CO₂ and likely enhanced O₃ exposure which represents a risk for the carbon sink strength of forests, so that the need for cause-effect related O₃ risk assessment increases. Although assessment will gain in reliability on an O₃ uptake basis, risk is co-determined by the effective dose, i.e. the plant's sensitivity per O₃ uptake. Recent progress in research on the molecular and metabolic control of the effective O₃ dose is reported along with advances in empirically assessing O₃ uptake at the whole-tree and stand level. Knowledge on both O₃ uptake and effective dose (measures of stress avoidance and tolerance, respectively) needs to be understood mechanistically and linked as a pre-requisite before practical use of process-based O₃ risk assessment can be implemented. To this end, perspectives are derived for validating and promoting new O₃ flux-based modelling tools.     

Size-resolved effective density of submicron particles during summertime in the rural atmosphere of Beijing, China

Particle density is an important physical property of atmospheric particles.The information on high time-resolution size-resolved particle density is essential for understanding the atmospheric physical and chemical aging processes of aerosols particles.In the present study,a centrifugal particle mass analyzer(CPMA) combined with a differential mobility analyzer(DMA) was deployed to determine the size-resolved effective density of 50 to 350 nm particles at a rural site of Beijing during summer 2016.The measured particle effective densities decreased with increasing particle sizes and ranged from 1.43 to 1.55 g/cm~3,on average.The effective particle density distributions were dominated by a mode peaked at around 1.5 g/cm~3 for 50 to350 nm particles.Extra modes with peaks at 1.0,0.8,and 0.6 g/cm3 for 150,240,and 350 nm particles,which might be freshly emitted soot particles,were observed during intensive primary emissions episodes.The particle effective densities showed a diurnal variation pattern,with higher values during daytime.A case study showed that the effective density of Aitken mode particles during the new particle formation(NPF) event decreased considerably,indicating the significant contribution of organics to new particle growth.     

湿地基质有效高度对农村生活污水净化影响的试验研究

研究从生态学理论出发．以控制湿地基质有效高度,促进植物根系发达为突破点,以增进生物协同净化效应为核心,得出当试验装置的煤渣基质深度不同时,深度为30cm和40cm的装置对污水的净化能力较优,同时侧须根也较为发达．其总根系生物量和根系比表面积分别达101．7g和612．6m^2/m^3。     

应用有效微生物群(EM)处理富营养化源水试验研究

初试条件下系统地考察了有效微生物群(EM)处理南水塘藻型富营养化源水效果。结果表明:在容器中按V(EM)∶V(源水)为1∶10000的比例投加EM菌液并辅以低速间歇式曝气处理8～9d,藻类生物量得到明显控制,水样叶绿素a,TN,TP及CODCr去除率分别达90 49%,45 25%,55 48%及82 37%,出水水质接近国家地表Ⅳ类水质标准。处理过程中,水样pH与电导率有明显的变化规律,应属2个独立的因子体系;EM微生物可改变源水氮磷营养盐水平及藻类生物量与氮 磷质量分数的相关性,成为影响或抑制藻类生长的主导因子。      

空气质量自动监测二氧化硫不确定度分析

不确定度是反映某一测量方法,在一定置信概率条件下测量所产生的不确定量。根据测量原理建立数学模型,分析各种不确定度分量的来源,评定标准不确定度,确定合成不确定度和扩展不确定度,通过不确定影响分量的分析,找出影响测量结果的最大不确定度分量,重点控制其分量,保证测量的准确性和精度,同时也可通过重新评估显著性不确定分量,找出方法存在的不足和问题,提出逐步控制不确定分量的步骤和方法,改善测量方法和手段提高测量准确性和精度,不断减少测量的不确定量。