Nutritional evaluation,bioaccumulation and toxicological assessment of heavy metals in edible fruits of FicussurForssk (Moraceae)

Ficussur (Moraceae) is an indigenous medicinal plant with a wide distribution in Africa. In this study, the nutritional potential fruit of this indigenous plant to meet domestic food demands and reduce food insecurity in KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa, was investigated. The proximate composition and concentrations of metals in the edible fruits collected from eight different sites in KwaZulu-Natal were determined to assess for nutritional value and the concentrations of metals in the growth soil was determined to evaluate the impact of soil quality on elemental uptake. The fruits contained high levels of moisture (88.8%) and carbohydrates (65.6%). The concentrations of elements in the fruits were found to be in decreasing order of Ca>Mg >Fe >Zn>Cu >Mn> Se with low levels of toxic metals (As, Cd, Co and Pb). This study shows that the consumption of the fruits of F. sur can contribute positively to the nutritional needs of rural communities in South Africa for most essential nutrients without posing the risk of adverse health effects.     

Estimating willingness to pay for a threatened species within a threatened ecosystem

This study conducts a choice experiment to determine the willingness to pay for Palouse Prairie conservation. The giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanus), a rare species endemic to the Palouse region, is included as an attribute of conservation and serves as a method for determining the willingness to pay for protecting the species. This method evaluates the value of the earthworm as an attribute of an overall willingness to pay for threatened ecosystem preservation rather than a direct willingness to pay for protecting the species. This method is expected to yield a more accurate measure of willingness to pay for rare species. The annual willingness to pay per household for the giant Palouse earthworm is $20.45 based on the conditional logit model and $19.30 based on the mixed logit model. Ranking and relative importance are included as methods for representing a non-monetary value and importance of the giant Palouse earthworm.     

Assessment of environmental quality of water bodies next to agricultural areas of Buenos Aires province (Argentina) by means of ecotoxicological studies with Rhinella arenarum

Over the last decade, oysters in the Bay of Veys (Northwest France) have sporadically experienced significant summer mortality events which appear to be due to a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In the present work, the involvement of pesticides (as additional stressors) was investigated using both artificial exposure and field studies (at two sites). Six herbicides were detected in seawater following tests for a total of 15 herbicides. The most estuarine site was the most contaminated, showing relatively high values compared with those recorded in a neighboring river. No pesticides were detected in the flesh of oysters in the field but exposure experiments led to an accumulation of two substituted ureas (diuron and isoproturon, from 0.5 μ g/L and 1 μ gL^{? 1} respectively). Some physiological effects were observed in terms of reproduction (partial spawning) and histopathology (atrophy of the digestive tubule epithelium) but results related to other tissue alterations and to neutral red retention (NRR) assays were not conclusive and require further investigation.     

Nickel induced alteration of hen body weight,egg production and egg quality after an experimental peroral administration

In this study the effects of nickel (NiCl₂) administered in drinking water (0.02; 0.2 and 2.0 mg NiCl₂/L for 28 days) on laying hen body weight, egg production and egg quality is reported. Growth parameters during the experiment were significantly decreased mainly in the group with the highest nickel concentration. In total egg production dose–dependent decrease in all experimental groups was found. Egg weight was mainly affected in the group with the highest nickel concentration. Specific egg weight was not altered. Albumen weight and albumen content was significantly decreased in groups with the highest nickel concentration in comparison with the control group.

Egg yolk analysis detected significantly decreased yolk weight in the group with the highest nickel experimental level. In yolk color a significant difference was detected between the group receiving 0.02 and 0.2 mg NiCl₂/mL. Eggshell compactness was increased in all experimental groups what could be induced by altered mineralization of eggshell. Results of this study clearly report a negative effect of nickel as an environmental pollutant on laying hen body weight, egg production as well as egg quality.     

Manure placement depth impacts on crop yields and N retained in soil

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of manure placement depth on crop yield and N retention in soil. Experimental treatments were deep manure injection (45 cm), shallow manure injection (15 cm), and conventional fertilizer-based management with at least three replications per site. Water infiltration, and changes in soil N and P amounts were measured for up to 30 months and crop yield monitored for three seasons following initial treatment. Deep and shallow manure injections differed in soil inorganic N distributions. For example, in the manure slot the spring following application, NO₃-N in the surface 60 cm was higher (p < .01) when injected 15 cm (21.4 μ g/g) into the soil than 45 cm (11.7 μ g/g), whereas NH₄-N had opposite results with shallow injection having less (p = 0.045) NH₄-N (102 μ g/g) than deep (133 μ g/g) injection. In the fall one year after the manure was applied, NO₃-N and NH₄-N were lower (p = 0.001) in the shallow injection than the deep injection. The net impact of manure placement on total N was that deep injection had 31, 59, and 44 more kg N ha^{? 1} than the shallow injection treatment 12, 18, and 30 months after application, respectively. Deep manure injection did not impact soybean (Glycine max L.) yield, however corn (Zea mays L.) yield increased if N was limiting. The higher corn yield in the deep injected treatment was attributed to increased N use efficiency. Higher inorganic N amounts in the deep injection treatment were attributed to reduced N losses through ammonia volatilization, leaching, or denitrification. Results suggest that deep manure placement in glacial till soil may be considered a technique to increase energy, N use efficiency, and maintain surface and ground water quality. However, this technique may not work in glacial outwash soils due to the inability to inject into a rocky subsurface.     

胶合竹材GluBam甲醛释放影响因素的气候箱实验与分析

胶合竹材GluBam的甲醛释放情况是现代竹结构住宅环保性的一个重要方面,也是竹结构住宅推广中最受关注的指标之一。采用1 m3气候箱对温度、相对湿度和封边情况与GluBam的甲醛释放量和释放速率的相关关系进行了测试,并以一阶单衰减模型为基础提出了GluBam的甲醛释放分析模型。测试和分析结果表明:GluBam板材在各模拟条件下甲醛浓度峰值均小于规范要求;初始甲醛释放量E0和衰减率常数k可以用来评价GluBam的甲醛释放特征;GluBam的醛释放量和释放速率随环境温度和湿度增加而显著增大,且温度因素的影响更大;封边处理可以有效降低GluBam板材的甲醛释放量。     

添加氮损失抑制剂对蓝藻泥堆肥质量的影响

对脱水蓝藻进行大型生产性堆肥实验。研究堆肥过程中,氮损失抑制剂过磷酸钙的添加对堆肥物料各类理化性质的影响。研究结果表明,过磷酸钙加入的处理组与未加过磷酸钙的对照组堆制37 d后堆肥物料均可腐熟,且堆肥肥效均符合NY525-2002的相关要求。添加过磷酸钙处理组有机质含量为490 g/kg,全N、全P和全K含量分别为20.75、10.02和11.32 g/kg,总养分含量达到9.77%,堆肥品质明显优于对照处理。同时,在微生物的作用下,对照组中微囊藻毒素MC-RR与微囊藻毒素MC-LR去除率分别达到89.8%与78.3%。值得一提的是,添加过磷酸钙后,MC-RR和MC-LR的去除率得到进一步提高,分别达到了92.96%和100%,较好地保证了蓝藻堆肥农用的安全性,为脱水蓝藻好氧堆肥化提供了可行性依据。     

遗传投影寻踪回归在城市环境质量评价中的应用

引入投影降维的思想,将遗传投影寻踪与回归分析技术运用到城市环境质量评价中。将此技术与神经网络方法进行实例比较,投影寻踪回归方法不但可以合理地作出环境质量的综合评价,而且消除了神经网络方法中类别判断不够精确的影响。     

基于RS和GIS的山东省17城市生态环境质量动态变化研究

运用遥感动态监测与地理信息系统技术相结合的方法,以2005年和2009年遥感解译数据、土地侵蚀数据及环境统计数据为数据源,依据《生态环境状况评价技术规范(试行)》(HJ/T192-2006),对山东省17个城市生态环境质量现状及动态变化趋势进行了评价。结果表明:2009年17个城市生态环境状况指数在59.81～78.08之间,生态环境质量状况总体良好;2005-2009年17城市生态环境状况指数变化值在0.06～3.5之间,生态环境质量状况基本稳定。     

Comparison of the Performance of Statistical Models in Forecasting Monthly Total Dissolved Solids in the Rio Grande1

Abudu, S., J.P. King, Z. Sheng, 2011. Comparison of the Performance of Statistical Models in Forecasting Monthly Total Dissolved Solids in the Rio Grande. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(1): 10‐23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00587.x Abstract: This paper presents the application of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), transfer function‐noise (TFN), and artificial neural networks (ANNs) modeling approaches in forecasting monthly total dissolved solids (TDS) of water in the Rio Grande at El Paso, Texas. Predictability analysis was performed between the precipitation, temperature, streamflow rates at the site, releases from upstream reservoirs, and monthly TDS using cross‐correlation statistical tests. The chi‐square test results indicated that the average monthly temperature and precipitation did not show significant predictability on monthly TDS series. The performances of one‐ to three‐month‐ahead model forecasts for the testing period of 1984‐1994 showed that the TFN model that incorporated the streamflow rates at the site and Caballo Reservoir release improved monthly TDS forecasts slightly better than the ARIMA models. Except for one‐month‐ahead forecasts, the ANN models using the streamflow rates at the site as inputs resulted in no significant improvements over the TFN models at two‐month‐ahead and three‐month‐ahead forecasts. For three‐month‐ahead forecasts, the simple ARIMA showed similar performance compared to all other models. The results of this study suggested that simple deseasonalized ARIMA models could be used in one‐ to three‐month‐ahead TDS forecasting at the study site with a simple, explicit model structure and similar model performance as the TFN and ANN models for better water management in the Basin.