Assessment of community noise problem in Greater Beirut Area,Lebanon

Over the last two decades, urban noise has been increasingrapidly, primarily in urban areas, due to population growthand the increase of certain noise sources. The main objectiveof this paper is to assess the sources and possible impactsof the community noise problems in Lebanese urban areas,particularly the Greater Beirut Area. The causes and effectsof community noise pollution are briefly presented. Soundpressure levels that were measured to define existing noiseexposure levels in various locations in the Greater BeirutArea are also presented. The attitudes toward noise pollutionand perceived annoyance impact on a sample of 1,038 exposedresidents are described. The association between measurednoise levels and sources, as well as annoyance, is examinedusing correlation analysis and linear and multiple linearregressions. A set of recommendations is presented to reducecommunity noise problem in Greater Beirut Area.     

人类活动对查干湖PAHs沉积历史及来源的影响

对查干湖湖心沉积岩芯中16种美国环保署（US EPA）优控多环芳烃（PAHs）含量进行分析,辅以²¹⁰Pb和¹³⁷Cs年代测定,重建查干湖1877—2017年PAHs沉积历史,通过正定矩阵因子分解模型（PMF）定量判别污染源,通过随机影响模型（STIRPAT）和通径分析方法定量分析人类社会经济参数与PAHs沉积历史的影响机理.研究表明：PAHs含量为305.90~1214.42 ng·g^-1,3~4环为优势组分.140年来,PAHs含量变化总体表现为缓慢波动、剧烈波动、快速增加的趋势,20世纪60年代,沉积物中PAHs总量及各组分开始呈较频繁的波动性增大,于2011年达高峰值.查干湖沉积物中PAHs的来源为生物质及煤燃烧、化石燃料燃烧、交通源和石油泄漏,其中燃烧源为主要来源.松原市人口总量和第二产业占GDP比值每提高1%,沉积物中PAHs沉积通量将分别增加8.11%和2.98%,其中能源消费总量通过第二产业占GDP比值对PAHs沉积通量的影响最大.     

Urban and rural transport of semivolatile organic compounds at regional scale: A multimedia model approach

Urban areas are generally regarded as major sources of some semivolatile organic compounds and other persistent organic pollutants(POPs) to the surrounding regions. Huge differences in contaminant emissions between urban and rural areas directly affect their fate in environmental media. Little is known about POPs behavior between urban and rural areas at a regional scale. A spatially resolved Berkeley-Trent-Urban-Rural Fate Model(BETR-UR) was designed by coupling land cover information to simulate the transport of POPs between urban and rural areas, and the Bohai Rim was used as a case study to estimate Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon(PAH) fate. The processes of contaminant fate including emission, inter-compartmental transfer, advection and degradation in urban and rural areas were simulated in the model. Simulated PAH concentrations in environmental media of urban and rural areas were very close to measured values. The model accuracy was highly improved, with the average absolute relative error for PAH concentrations reduced from 37% to 3% compared with unimproved model results. PAH concentrations in urban soil and air were considerably higher than those in rural areas. Sensitivity analysis showed temperature was the most influential parameter for Phen rather than for Bap, whose fate was more influenced by emission rate, compartment dimension, transport velocity and chemical persistence. Uncertainty analysis indicated modeled results in urban media had higher uncertainty than those in rural areas due to larger variations of emissions in urban areas. The differences in urban and rural areas provided us with valuable guidance on policy setting for urban–rural POP control.     

Refining mercury emission estimations to the atmosphere from iron and steel production

正Due to its long-range transport in the atmosphere,mercury is a pollutant of global concern with health risks to humans and ecosystems worldwide(Li et al.,2012;Lindqvist et al.,1991;Liu et al.,2012a;Tang et al.,2016;Wang et al.,2015;Shao et al.,2016).Atmospheric mercury,mainly from emission from various natural and anthropogenic sources and     

基于大气环境的固定源细颗粒物测试方法研究进展

国内对固定源细颗粒物研究还较为薄弱,主要是缺乏合适的测试方法.由于基于大气环境的稀释测试法可在一定程度上模拟烟气排放至大气环境的物理化学过程,所以该法正成为研究固定源细颗粒物排放特征的重要手段.本文对国内外基于大气环境的固定源细颗粒物测试方法进行了系统介绍与分析,指出该测试系统应向小型化、便携式方向发展,以满足不同浓度、不同湿度、不同温度固定源细颗粒物的测试需要.     

工业源挥发性有机物动态更新平台的建立与研究

挥发性有机物(VOCs)是一类重要的大气污染物质,通过工业源VOCs动态更新平台对其进行管控是十分必要的.对比分析国内外VOCs动态更新机制的发展状况,结合天津市建立的工业源VOCs排放申报平台,提出了包括建立涵盖全行业的统一申报系统、建立规范的申报和审核流程、确定统一的总量核算办法、形成工业源VOCs排放清单、建立VOCs动态更新机制在内的动态更新平台建立思路,用于指导工业源VOCs的污染防治工作.     

Understanding behaviour to inform water supply management in developed nations – A review of literature, conceptual model and research agenda

Water is a scarce resource in many parts of the developed world. Two solutions are possible to address water scarcity: conservation of existing resources, or the further production of water from new sources e.g. through recycling of wastewater or desalination of seawater. However, the main hurdle to implementation of many of these solutions is often viewed as a lack of public willingness to adopt these alternative water behaviours. Research in this area is therefore crucial. Yet, and possibly due to the interdisciplinary nature of such research, there is currently no comprehensive overview of what has been done before. This study fills this gap by (1) choosing a general consumer behaviour perspective as a starting point, (2) developing a conceptual model of research required in the area of water-related public acceptance studies, (3) identifying eight key water-related behaviours which require future research attention, and (4) reviewing which areas of the conceptual model have been investigated in the past by conducting an extensive literature review of water-related social science research.The review established that the majority of work which has been conducted is located at the cross-roads of personal characteristics and behavioural intentions. Significant gaps exist in relation to researching the adoption of a wide range of demand-side water behaviours. This indicates a dominance of supply-side solutions in social-research exploration. The review identifies a number of research needs including: the exploration of actual adoption of water-related behaviours (rather than behavioural intentions); and to widen the scope of water behaviour enquiry to include more demand-side solutions. Given the increasing scarcity of water in many areas of the world, addressing these identified gaps will be of significant importance. Thus our model informs the social-research agenda for water policy.     

Simulation of transport and composition changes during a blocking episode over the East Atlantic and North Europe

Transport of atmospheric trace gases during a blocking event in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) in August 1997 is studied. Considering the frequency of such events it is obvious that they play a significant role for climate and air chemistry and thus the atmospheric environment. The event has been selected because a unique set of composition observations carried out by the CRISTA (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere) instrument in the UTLS was available for the period of blocking. The regional European Atmospheric Dispersion (EURAD) model system was used for a detailed analysis focusing on ozone and CFC 11 (CFCl₃, Freon) distributions and their temporal and spatial variability. The combination of the CRISTA data and a regional transport chemistry model enabled a unique analysis of transport behaviour of a blocking. This developed an Ω-structure with a deep cut-off low at the western flank of the blocking high and a trough with highly perturbed trace gas fields on the eastern side. Tropopause heights varied intensively and were bended down to rather low levels in the cut-off low and folds appearing in the eastern trough. Results of artificial tracer experiments are presented which show that polluted air from lower tropospheric levels and – in this case – lower latitudes as well as the North American continent may be lifted up to the UTLS in the anticyclonic part of the Ω-block and transported from there over large distances in streamers. Quasi-periodic variations of CFC 11 flux divergence indicate dynamical coupling of the different domains of the block.     

A methodology for optimal MSW management,with an application in the waste transportation of Attica Region,Greece

The paper describes a software system capable of formulating alternative optimal Municipal Solid Wastes (MSWs) management plans, each of which meets a set of constraints that may reflect selected objections and/or wishes of local communities. The objective function to be minimized in each plan is the sum of the annualized capital investment and annual operating cost of all transportation, treatment and final disposal operations involved, taking into consideration the possible income from the sale of products and any other financial incentives or disincentives that may exist. For each plan formulated, the system generates several reports that define the plan, analyze its cost elements and yield an indicative profile of selected types of installations, as well as data files that facilitate the geographic representation of the optimal solution in maps through the use of GIS. A number of these reports compare the technical and economic data from all scenarios considered at the study area, municipality and installation level constituting in effect sensitivity analysis. The generation of alternative plans offers local authorities the opportunity of choice and the results of the sensitivity analysis allow them to choose wisely and with consensus.The paper presents also an application of this software system in the capital Region of Attica in Greece, for the purpose of developing an optimal waste transportation system in line with its approved waste management plan. The formulated plan was able to: (a) serve 113 Municipalities and Communities that generate nearly 2 million t/y of comingled MSW with distinctly different waste collection patterns, (b) take into consideration several existing waste transfer stations (WTS) and optimize their use within the overall plan, (c) select the most appropriate sites among the potentially suitable (new and in use) ones, (d) generate the optimal profile of each WTS proposed, and (e) perform sensitivity analysis so as to define the impact of selected sets of constraints (limitations in the availability of sites and in the capacity of their installations) on the design and cost of the ensuing optimal waste transfer system. The results show that optimal planning offers significant economic savings to municipalities, while reducing at the same time the present levels of traffic, fuel consumptions and air emissions in the congested Athens basin.     

苏南农村地区大气PM2.5元素组成特征及其来源分析

为了解苏南农村地区大气细颗粒物的污染水平及其可能的来源,在2002年7月-2003年1月的夏、秋、冬3个季节对雪堰镇和太湖站PM_2.5进行采样和分析,得到了PM_2.5和14种组成元素的质量浓度.研究表明,苏南农村地区PM_2.5的污染水平较高,S,Zn,Pb和As 4种污染元素的质量浓度水平与城市接近;组成元素的季节分布规律存在区域差异,这可能与局地源的贡献,大气细颗粒物中、长距离传输以及复杂的气象条件有关.因子分析结果表明,土壤源、燃煤源、冶金或垃圾焚烧和汽车尾气4类源对PM_2.5有明显贡献,说明人类活动对苏南农村地区PM_2.5具有重要影响.