The obstetrician's view: ethical and societal implications of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis

We believe non-invasive prenatal diagnosis is about to have a massive impact on the way fetal medicine is practised. There will be many great advantages and improvements, but the technology also has the potential to be used for non-medical reasons such as sex selection and paternity testing. We discuss some of the issues that may face obstetricians in the future as a result of this emerging technology. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高压电晕放电对五氯酚的降解研究

研究了放电电压、溶液pH等因素对高压电晕放电降解PCP效果的影响,并对高压电晕放电处理PCP的动力学进行了初步探讨,同时对高压电晕放电降解PCP的COD和TOC的变化进行了分析。结果表明:放电电压和溶液pH值对PCP降解性能影响很大,放电电压和溶液pH值越高,PCP的降解速度越快。当溶液pH值为11.2、PCP初始质量浓度40 mg/L、电晕放电电压为25 kV时,经30 min电晕放电,PCP的降解率达90%以上,电晕放电降解PCP的反应符合一级反应动力学。在氧化过程中PCP可能转化为苯醌等中间产物,TOC几乎无变化,PCP分解成的小分子有机物使COD升高,可生化性提高。     

International commodity agreements: The role of consuming nations

Consuming nations and industry segments within them play a crucial role in the success of commodity agreements. For individual firms the desirability of the agreements is seen to depend on the form of the agency agreement and the competitive position of the firm in both the domestic and world market. Both the benefits and costs to producing and consuming nations are analysed. The mechanism of the agreements is analysed as well as the problems that lead to their limitation or termination.     

Resources policy and mine closure in South Africa: The case of the Free State Goldfields

There is increasing international pressure to ensure that mining development is aligned with local and national development objectives. In South Africa, legislation requires mining companies to produce Social and Labour Plans, which are aimed at addressing local developmental concerns. Against the background of the new mining legislation in South Africa, this paper evaluates attempts to address mine downscaling in the Free State Goldfields over the past two decades. The analysis shows that despite an improved legislative environment, the outcomes in respect of integrated planning are disappointing, owing mainly to a lack of trust and government incapacity to enact the new legislation. It is argued that legislative changes and a national response in respect of mine downscaling are required.     

地面灌溉节水技术研究——沟灌水流运动的数值模拟及其应用

本文利用运动波方法建立了自由排水沟尾边界的沟灌水力学数值计算模型,并与田间灌水试验结果进行了比较,一致性良好。所建模型具有计算稳定性好、速度快和内存小的特点,可以在微机上使用。文中提出了以灌水定额控制灌水量和以均匀系数评价灌水效果的概念。同时,本文提出一种试算方法来研究自由排水沟尾边界和挡水沟尾边界条件下确定灌水技术参数合理组合的途径。     

羟基自由基氧化法在饮用水后处理中的应用

该文分析了饮用水消毒的现状，提出保持氯消毒不变，用羟基自由基氧化法对饮用水进行后处理，去除氯消毒产生的卤代烃，以提高饮用水的质量。     

Nitrifiers activity and community characteristics under stress conditions in partial nitrification systems treating ammonium-rich wastewater

Long-term exposure of nitrifiers to high concentrations of free ammonia(FA) and free nitrous acid(FNA) may affect nitrifiers activity and nitrous oxide(N_2O) emission.Two sequencing batch reactors(SBRs) were operated at influent ammonium nitrogen(NH_4-N) concentrations of 800 mg/L(SBRH) and 335 mg/L(SBRL),respectively.The NH_4-N removal rates in SBRHand SBRLwere around 2.4 and 1.0 g/L/day with the nitritation efficiencies of 99.3% and 95.7%,respectively.In the simulated SBR cycle,the N_2O emission factors were 1.61% in SBRH and 2.30% in SBRL.N_2O emission was affected slightly by FA with the emission factor of0.22%–0.65%,while N_2O emission increased with increasing FNA concentrations with the emission factor of 0.22%–0.96%.The dominant ammonia oxidizing bacteria(AOB) were Nitrosomonas spp.in both reactors,and their relative proportions were 38.89% in SBRHand13.36% in SBRL.Within the AOB genus,a species(i.e.,operational taxonomic unit [OTU] 76) that was phylogenetically identical to Nitrosomonas europaea accounted for 99.07% and 82.04% in SBRHand SBRL,respectively.Additionally,OTU 215,which was related to Nitrosomonas stercoris,accounted for 16.77% of the AOB in SBRL.     

Potential ammonia emission from flag leaves of paddy rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Koshihikari)

The present study aimed to investigate the potential ammonia (NH₃) emission from flag leaves of paddy rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Koshihikari). The study was conducted at a paddy field in central Japan that was designed as a free-air CO₂ enrichment (FACE) facility for paddy rice. A dynamic chamber method was used to measure the potential NH₃ emissions. The air concentrations of NH₃ at two heights (2 and 6 m from the ground surface) were measured using a filter-pack method, and the exchange fluxes of NH₃ of the whole paddy field were calculated using a gradient method. The flag leaves showed potential NH₃ emissions of 25-38 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ in the daytime from the heading to the maturity stages, and they showed potentials of approximately 22 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹, even in the nighttime, at the heading and mid-ripening stages. The exchange fluxes of NH₃ of the whole paddy field in the daytime were net emissions of 0.9-3.9 g N ha⁻¹ h⁻¹ whereas the exchange fluxes of NH₃ in the nighttime were approximately zero.     

Turbulent velocity profile in fully-developed open channel flows

The determination of velocity profile in turbulent narrow open channels is a difficult task due to the significant effects of the anisotropic turbulence that involve the Prandtl’s second type of secondary flow occurring in the cross section. With these currents the maximum velocity appears below the free surface that is called dip phenomenon. The well-known logarithmic law describes the velocity distribution in the inner region of the turbulent boundary layer but it is not adapted to define the velocity profile in the outer region of narrow channels. This paper relies on an analysis of the Navier–Stokes equations and yields a new formulation of the vertical velocity profile in the center region of steady, fully developed turbulent flows in open channels. This formulation is able to predict time averaged primary velocity in the outer region of the turbulent boundary layer for both narrow and wide open channels. The proposed law is based on the knowledge of the aspect ratio and involves a parameter C_Ar depending on the position of the maximum velocity (ξ_dip). ξ_dip may be derived, either from measurements or from an empirical equation given in this paper. A wide range of longitudinal velocity profile data for narrow open channels has been used for validating the model. The agreement between the measured and the computed velocities is rather good, despite the simplification used.     

Partitioning of organochlorine pesticides from water to polyethylene passive samplers

The mass transfer rates and equilibrium partitioning behaviour of 14 diverse organochlorine pesticides (OCP) between water and polyethylene (PE) passive samplers, cut from custom made PE sheets and commercial polyethylene plastic bags, were quantified. Overall mass transfer coefficients, k_O, estimated PE membrane diffusion coefficients, D_PE, and PE-water partitioning coefficients, K_PE-water, are reported. In addition, the partitioning of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from water to PE is quantified and compared with literature values. K_PE-water values agreed mostly within a factor of two for both passive samplers and also with literature values for the reference PAHs. As PE is expected to exhibit similar sorption behaviour to long-chain alkanes, PE-water partitioning coefficients were compared to hexadecane-water partitioning coefficients estimated with the SPARC online calculator, COSMOtherm and a polyparameter linear free energy relationship based on the Abraham approach. The best correlation for all compounds tested was with COSMOtherm estimated hexadecane-water partitioning coefficients.