Degradation of greenhouse twines derived from natural fibers and biodegradable polymer during composting

Commercial composting operations generally do not accept organic wastes with plastic twines from the greenhouse vegetable industry and the bulk of the waste materials ends up in landfills. The objectives of this paper are to identify environmentally compatible substitutes that could replace the current use of petrochemically derived plastic twines in greenhouse vegetable production, thus diverting them from landfills, and to assess the extent of their degradation via composting. Physical properties of the twines, including linear density, percent weight loss and tensile strength were monitored for the biodegradation tests. A pilot-scale composting trial was conducted in an in-vessel composting system. Results showed that the three biodegradable twine materials (cotton, jute and EcoPLA) could degrade readily in a composting environment within a reasonable time frame. Specifically, at the end of 105 days of composting, 85.3%, 84.8% and 81.1% of weight loss was observed for cotton, jute and EcoPLA, respectively. Furthermore, EcoPLA exhibited a slower decline in tensile strength with time, when compared to jute and cotton.     

The Relative Importance of Road Density and Physical Watershed Features in Determining Coastal Marsh Water Quality in Georgian Bay

We used a GIS-based approach to examine the influence of road density and physical watershed features (watershed size, wetland cover, and bedrock type) on water quality in coastal marshes of Georgian Bay, Ontario. We created a GIS that included landscape information and water-quality data from a 9-year synoptic survey of 105 coastal marshes covering 28 quaternary watersheds. Multiple regressions and partial correlations were used to discern confounding effects of human-induced (road density) versus natural physical watershed determinants of water quality. Road density was the dominant factor influencing many water quality variables, showing positive correlations with specific conductivity (COND), total suspended solids (TSS), and inorganic suspended solids (ISS) and a negative correlation with overall Water Quality Index scores. Road density also showed positive correlations with total nitrate nitrogen (TNN) and total phosphorus (TP). By comparison, larger watershed area was the main factor leading to elevated TP concentrations. The proportion of the watershed occupied by wetlands explained the largest amount of variation in TNN concentrations (negative correlation) and was also negatively correlated with COND and positively correlated with TSS and ISS when we controlled for road density. Bedrock type did not have a significant effect in any of the models. Our findings suggest that road density is currently the overriding factor governing water quality of coastal marshes in Georgian Bay during the summer low-flow period. We recommend that natural variation in physical watershed characteristics be considered when developing water quality standards and management practices for freshwater coastal areas.     

Low toxicant concentrations decrease the frequency of fast-growing seedlings at high densities of annual baby's breath (Gypsophila elegans)

Very low toxicant concentrations reduce the frequency of most vital seedlings in dense stands in vitro.     

长江三角洲地区土壤无机碳库研究

土壤碳库变化对于全球温室效应、全球碳循环有重大的影响。研究基于最新完成的1〖DK〗∶250 000多目标地球化学调查及相关研究成果,运用地理信息系统软件ARCGIS 92、统计分析软件SPSS130,对长江三角洲地区0~20、0~100、0~180 cm深度土壤无机碳密度及储量做出实测统计。长江三角洲地区0~20、0~100、0~180 cm深度土壤无机碳库储量分别为5099、35647、67726Tg,无机碳密度分别为070、490、930 kg/m2。研究区主要分布土壤为水稻土、潮土,水稻土0~20、0~100、0~180 cm深度土壤无机碳密度分别为057、385、886 kg/m2;潮土无机碳密度分别为117、854 、1537 kg/m2。研究提供最新的土壤无机碳库实测统计信息,弥补中国区域土壤无机碳库清单的空白,完善了中国区域土壤碳库清单,为研究中国区域土壤碳固定潜力、深入全面理解区域碳循环提供了基准数据.     

Exposure of acid aerosol for schoolchildren in metropolitan Taipei

Metropolitan Taipei, which is located in the subtropical area, is characterized by high population and automobile densities. For convenience, most primary schools are located near major roads. This study explores the exposure of acid aerosols for schoolchildren in areas in Taipei with different traffic densities. Acid aerosols were collected by using a honeycomb denuder filter pack sampling system (HDS). Experimental results indicated that the air pollutants were significantly correlated with traffic densities. The ambient air NO₂, SO₂, HNO₃, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, and aerosol acidity concentrations were 31.3 ppb, 4.7 ppb, 1.3 ppb, 1.9 μg m⁻³, 18.5 μg m⁻³, and 49.5 nmol m⁻³ in high traffic density areas, and 6.1 ppb, 1.8 ppb, 0.9 ppb, 0.7 μg m⁻³, 8.8 μg m⁻³ and 14.7 nmol m⁻³ in low traffic density areas. The exposure levels of acid aerosols for schoolchildren would be higher than the measurements because the sampling height was 5 m above the ground. The SO₂ levels were low (0.13–8.03 ppb) in the metropolitan Taipei. However, the SO₄²⁻ concentrations were relatively high, and might be attributed to natural emissions of sulfur-rich geothermal sources. The seasonal variations of acid aerosol concentrations were also observed. The high levels of acidic particles in spring time may be attributed to the Asian dust storm and low height of the mixture layer. We conclude that automobile contributed not only the primary pollutants but also the secondary acid aerosols through the photochemical reaction. Schoolchildren were exposed to twice the acid aerosol concentrations in high traffic density areas compared to those in low traffic density areas. The incidence of allergic rhinitis of schoolchildren in the high traffic density areas was the highest in spring time. Accompanied by high temperature variation and high levels of air pollution in spring, the health risk of schoolchildren had been observed.     

高喷插芯组合桩极限承载力的灰色预测

高喷插芯组合桩(JPP)是一种新的桩型,具有承载力高、造价低等优点。许多工程单桩的静载荷试验只能加到两倍设计荷载,无法达到试桩的极限或破坏荷载,因此利用有限的实测数据比较准确地预测高喷插芯组合桩的极限承载力具有一定的现实意义。根据灰色理论,介绍了预测单桩竖向极限承载力的自调整非等步长GM(1,1)模型,讨论了三种不同的灰色模型在有限的实测数据条件下预测单桩极限承载力以及荷载—沉降关系的方法。通过对达到破坏和未达到破坏的工程实例的分析计算,证明三种模型的预测精度是令人满意的,其中等维新息模型预测精度最高。     

Heavy metal sources identification and sampling uncertainty analysis in a field-scale vegetable soil of Hangzhou, China

At a field-scale (6.7 ha), 100 surface soil samples were collected from a vegetable field to determine total concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni and Zn. To identify possible sources of these metals and characterize their spatial variation, classic statistic and geostatistic techniques were applied. Through correlation and geostatistical analysis, it was found that the primary inputs of Co, Mn and Ni were due to pedogenic sources, whereas the sources of Hg and Cd were mainly due to human activities. Because of their different sources, their variations followed: Hg > Cd ≈ Cu > Zn ≈ Co ≈ Mn ≈ Ni. Based on their relationships with other soil properties, co-kriging was used to minimize sampling density. Sampling numbers for Cd, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co and Ni can be reduced from 100 to 90, 80, 70, 60, 60 and 60, respectively, without losing accuracy relative to ordinary kriging.     

脉冲电流对电化学除氯的影响

目的 探究不同电流密度下,直流和脉冲2种电流模式对钢筋混凝土电化学除氯的影响,降低钢筋渗氢量,减小通电后阴极产生的氢气使钢筋发生氢脆的风险,提高除氯效率,改善电化学除氯效率的均匀性。方法 通过在电流密度为2、3、4 A/m²的条件下,对混凝土进行直流和脉冲电流电化学修复,测定处理后的钢筋的释氢电流,计算释氢总电量,来表示钢筋渗氢量,对比处理后强电流区和弱电流区混凝土的氯离子含量,分析2种方式除氯效率的均匀性,同时用扫描电子显微镜观察电化学除氯前后混凝土的微观结构。结果 计算得到不同通电电流密度下钢筋的释氢总电量和除氯效率,脉冲电流的释氢总电量比直流电流低约20%,而除氯效率提高了约10%。结论 增加电流密度可以提高除氯效率,但是会增加钢筋发生氢脆的风险。相较于直流电流,脉冲电流电化学修复可以降低钢筋渗氢量,显著提高弱电流区的除氯效率,从而改善除氯效率的均匀性。     

重庆缙云山4种典型林分土壤氮素动态变化

于2012年4—10月逐月月末采集重庆缙云山4种典型林分(常绿阔叶林、毛竹林、针阔混交林和针叶林)样地中不同深度(0~15、>15~30、>30~60 cm)的土壤样品,测定土壤中w(TN)、w(NH₄+-N)和w(NO₃--N),分析土壤氮素含量的分布特征,并探讨土壤理化性质对土壤氮素含量的影响. 结果表明:①不同林分土壤中氮素含量的垂直分布规律相一致,均表现为随土壤深度的增加而不断降低,并且w(NH₄+-N)>w(NO₃--N);②不同林分0~60 cm土壤平均氮密度表现为毛竹林(1.037 kg/m2)>针阔混交林(0.783 kg/m2)≈常绿阔叶林(0.778 kg/m2)>针叶林(0.747 kg/m2);③不同林分土壤中w(TN)的季节性变化规律不明显,而w(NH₄+-N)和w(NO₃--N)的季节性变化规律相似,均表现为春季<夏季<秋季;④不同林分土壤中w(TN)、w(NH₄+-N)和w(NO₃--N)与容重、w(SOC)均呈显著线性相关(P<0.05),而且与土壤其他养分含量之间也存在一定的相关性.