Corporate occupational exposure limits: An example of a strategy

Occupational exposure limits (OELs) developed by authorities play a key role in the implementation of programs to protect workers against hazardous chemicals. Unfortunately, many hazardous substances do not have OELs or the OEL could be outdated. To assure the health of the workers, it is therefore useful for companies to develop corporate OELs. An inhouse strategy will be presented hereafter. Expertise in toxicology, industrial hygiene, and occupational health should be available within the company and clear selection criteria for substances are needed. A corporate OEL is only developed for hazardous substances (e.g., carcinogenic or reprotoxic) with a high potential for worker exposure when an appropriate national OEL or threshold limit value is not available. The methodology to calculate corporate OELs is based on the existing methods for national or community OELs and also on the guidance from the European Union's (EU) regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). For carcinogenic substances with a nonthreshold mode of action, there is always a residual chance that a cancer develops even when the exposure of workers is low. To establish an OEL for these substances, the “German traffic light model” is recommended. It is pragmatic, defines an unacceptable, tolerable, and acceptable risk level when workers are exposed to these substances, and determines risk management for exposure reduction. Overall, the professional practice to develop OELs is a good example of corporate leadership to proactively protect the health of workers.     

Evaluation of SWAT Impoundment Modeling Methods in Water and Sediment Simulations

Worldwide studies show 80%–90% of all sediments eroded from watersheds is trapped within river networks such as reservoirs, ponds, and wetlands. To represent the impact of impoundments on sediment routing in watershed modeling, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) developers recommend to model reservoirs, ponds, and wetlands using impoundment tools (ITs). This study evaluates performance of SWAT ITs in the modeling of a small, agricultural watershed dominated by lakes and wetlands. The study demonstrates how to incorporate impoundments into the SWAT model, and discusses and evaluates involved parameters. The study then recommends an appropriate calibration sequence, i.e., landscape parameters calibration, followed by pond/wetlands calibration, then channel parameter calibrations, and lastly, reservoir parameter calibration. Results of this study demonstrate not following SWAT recommendation regarding modeling water land use as an impoundment depreciates SWAT performance, and may lead to misplaced calibration efforts and model over‐calibration. Further, the chosen method to model impoundments’ outflow significantly impacts sediment loads in the watershed, while streamflow simulation is not very sensitive. This study also allowed calculation of mass accumulation rates in modeled impoundments where the annual mass accumulation rate in wetlands (2.3 T/ha/yr) was 39% higher than mass accumulation rate in reservoirs (1.4 T/ha/yr).     

草海沉积物营养元素分布特征与控制因素

选取贵州草海这一典型高原湖泊湿地作为研究对象,在代表性湖区共布设17个采样点,采集了表层沉积物和沉积物柱芯,对沉积物总有机碳(TOC)、总氮(TN)和总磷(TP)分布特征及控制因素开展了对比研究。研究结果表明,草海表层沉积物营养盐分布主要受外源输入和湖泊初级生产控制:表层沉积物TOC、TN含量平均值分别为232.98mg/g和25.21mg/g,远高于国内其他湖泊,且呈现湖心高、近岸区低的分布特征,由于氮较高的迁移性和生物可利用性,草海沉积物TN明显受湖泊水生植物生长控制,主要以有机质形式赋存于沉积物中;表层沉积物TP含量平均值为1.03mg/g,其空间分布特征显著不同于TOC、TN,在湖心、东南湖区和出水口其含量较低,主要受外源输入控制,且主要以沉淀、吸附等无机形态赋存于沉积物中。草海沉积物柱芯中TOC、TN、TP含量总体上呈现随深度增加先迅速降低而后趋于稳定的变化趋势,但不同湖区其含量差异较大,反映了人为干扰强度和沉积环境的差异。草海流域外源污染物输入和沉积物较高的营养盐内负荷是其水体富营养化面临的主要威胁,一方面应采取有效手段消减外源污染物输入,另一方面应通过合理的生态修复措施控制内源营养盐释放。草海繁茂的沉水植物增强了水体自净功能,优化草海水生植物种群结构、恢复草型健康湖泊生态系统对保护草海生态环境具有重要意义。     

鄱阳湖沉积物有机磷形态及对水位变化响应

选取鄱阳湖枯水期不同高程出露表层沉积物,通过研究有机磷含量及形态差异,试图揭示江湖关系变化引起的水位下降对鄱阳湖沉积物有机磷潜在释放风险的影响.结果表明:1鄱阳湖枯水期表层沉积物有机磷含量(115.2~448.3 mg·kg-1)占总磷的19.3%~45.1%,有机磷含量空间分布呈"五河"入湖尾闾区高于湖心区和北部湖区.2鄱阳湖表层沉积物各形态有机磷含量大小顺序为:残渣态有机磷盐酸提取有机磷胡敏酸有机磷碳酸氢钠提取有机磷富里酸有机磷.3水位下降引起的沉积物出露时间延长是引起鄱阳湖不同高程沉积物有机磷形态变化的重要原因.沉积物出露时间越长,碳酸氢钠提取有机磷、盐酸提取有机磷与富里酸有机磷的含量越低,而胡敏酸有机磷和残渣态有机磷含量越高.同时,水位下降引起的沉积物出露时间延长致使活性有机磷和中活性有机磷占总有机磷比例下降,而非活性有机磷占总有机磷比例增加,反映了沉积物出露时间延长可能会促进有机磷形态由活性向非活性转化,在一定程度上能够降低沉积物有机磷的潜在性风险.     

Hydro-abrasive erosion in hydro turbines: a review

The flow of sediment particles in rivers is a big challenge to develop hydropower plants across the sediment-laden rivers. Hard particles such as quartz and feldspar are available in high amount in the Asian mountain range. The abrasive action of these particles causes the hydro turbines to suffer from erosion in particular at high- and medium-head hydroelectric power plants. This has become a serious economic issue due to maintenance costs and production losses. The treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable. Facilities for sediment exclusion, typically sand traps as well as turbine design, and materials have been improved considerably. In the present paper, studies have been discussed extensively undertaken by several investigators in this field. Based on literature survey several aspects related to reducing the sediment load on turbines, useful ways to improve the turbine surface performance and various erosion models to characterize the effect of erosion on the performance of turbines have been discussed. To calibrate and validate the developed erosion models, more measurements from both physical model tests in laboratories and continuous monitoring of sediment parameters and their impact on the operational hydro turbines are required. As well as the state-of-art in the modeling and simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has made it possible to optimize the hydraulic design of hydro turbines in order to minimize the erosion level without much sacrifice in the efficiency. To mitigate the hydro-abrasive erosion effects on the performance of turbines, significant improvements have been achieved so far and development is ongoing.     

沉积物中有机磷在pH和温度影响下的矿化机制

通过实验室模拟,采用Bowman-Cole有机磷分级修正体系研究了pH和温度对沉积物中有机磷矿化的影响机制.结果表明,pH为6.5、 7.5、 8.5时有机磷（TOP）占总磷（TP）比例分别介于31.71%～41.73%、30.85%～43.29%和27.25%～56.31%之间,碱性条件促进有机磷矿化,中性条件下矿化速率减缓.15℃、25℃和35℃的TOP/TP分别介于29.07%～46.62%、27.81%～46.62%和34.56%～46.62%,在30 d模拟期内,前10 d有机磷矿化随着温度上升而增加,后20 d呈相反趋势.在偏酸性和高温条件下,稳性有机磷（NOP）向中活性有机磷（MLOP）的转化,中活性有机磷（MLOP）向活性有机磷（LOP）的转化呈现同步性,LOP矿化分解很快,使其可能成为上覆水中藻类生长的磷源,潜在影响了富营养化进程.     

乌梁素海和岱海沉积物有机碳的形态特征

以富营养化类型不同的乌梁素海和岱海为对象,开展湖泊沉积物中有机碳的形态特征研究,对比分析了2个湖泊沉积物有机碳的形态特征及其差异性.结果表明,乌梁素海沉积物中总有机碳(TOC)含量范围为4.50～22.83 g·kg-1,平均11.80g·kg-1;重组碳(HFOC)含量范围为3.38～21.67 g·kg-1,平均1...     

二甲基甲酰胺中毒研究进展

介绍了二甲基甲酰胺(DMF)在人体的代谢、毒性作用和临床表现,以及DMF职业接触标志物的研究进展。     

实验室加速试验与自然暴露试验差异性研究

对同一批次涂层体系试验样品分别进行实验室加速试验和自然环境暴露试验,对不同试验状态考核检测结果进行分析,重点从试验时间、试验腐蚀环境严酷度对2种试验方法与检测结果的差异性进行了分析,对实验室加速试验检测考核涂层体系存在的主要问题和改进思路进行了分析探讨.     

漓江桂林市区段沉积物重金属环境地球化学特征

以漓江桂袜市区段表层沉积物为研究对象,测定了表层沉积物中CA、As、Cu、Zn、Pb、Cr、Ni、Fe、Mn等14种元素的含量,采用潜在生态风险指数（RI）、相关分析和聚类分析等方法,研究了沉积物中重金属的污染水平、富集规律和可能来源。结果表明Cd污染最为严重,其它元素为轻微生态污染,污染程度为：Cd〉As〉Cu〉Pb...