Sorption of cadmium(II) and copper(II) by soil humic acids: temperature effects and sorption heterogeneity

Sorption by humic acids is known to modify the bioavailability and toxicity of metals in soils and aquatic systems. The sorption of cadmium(II) and copper(II) to two soil humic acids was measured at pH 6.0 using ion-selective electrode potentiometric titration at different temperatures. Sorption reactions were studied with all components in aqueous solution, or with the humates in suspension. Adsorption reactions were described using a multiple site-binding model, and a model assuming a continuous log-normal distribution of adsorption constants. Adsorption of Cu²⁺ was more favourable than adsorption of Cd²⁺. The log-normal distribution model provided the closest fit to observations and allowed parameterisation of adsorption data using a mean adsorption constant (log K _μ). Sorption of Cd²⁺ to dissolved humic acids increased slightly in extent and sorption affinity with increasing temperature, but the effect was small (log K _μ 2.96–3.15). A slightly greater temperature effect occurred for sorption of Cd²⁺ to solid-phase humic acids (log K _μ 1.30–2.08). Sorption of copper(II) to both aqueous- and colloidal-phase humates showed more pronounced temperature dependence, with extent of sorption, and sorption affinity, increasing with increasing temperature (log K _μ 3.4–4.9 in solution and 1.4–4.5 in suspension). The weaker adsorption of Cd²⁺ than Cu²⁺, and smaller temperature effects for dissolved humates than suspended humates, suggested that the observed temperature effects had a kinetic, rather than thermodynamic, origin. For any metal-to-ligand ratio, free metal ion concentration, and by inference metal bioavailability, decreased with increasing temperature. The consistency of the data with kinetic rather than thermodynamic control of metal bioavailability suggests that equilibrium modelling approaches to estimating bioavailability may be insufficient.     

氯胺消毒管网“三氮”与总氯变化的预测模型

为探讨氯胺消毒供水管网的水质问题,建立了一种试验规模的氯胺消毒供水管网水质模拟系统。基于质量守恒原理和双Monod方程建立了该系统的硝化与氯胺衰减动力学耦合模型,并通过试验对该模型进行了验证。模型中的部分参数采用非线性多项式回归方法进行估计。应用该模型确定了活性氨氧化菌(AOB)和亚硝酸盐氧化菌(NOB)的数量。该模型对管网模拟系统内氨氮、硝酸盐氮与总氯的预测值与实测值基本一致,但对亚硝酸盐氮的预测值与实测值存在较大偏差。     

驾驶行为模型的研究进展

驾驶员行为模型的研究对于预测和干预驾驶员的风险行为、设计相关的道路安全设施与车内设备,以及制定交通法律法规等具有重要的意义。为了解和掌握学术界关于驾驶行为模型的研究进展,搜集、筛选和归纳了1960—2010年被SCI数据库索引的相关文章,将驾驶行为模型分类为描述性模型、信息处理模型、动机模型、计划行为理论(TPB)和躯体标识假设,并对每种模型进行评述和总结,理清这些模型间的内在联系。研究发现,现有各模型只是从某个角度研究驾驶员行为的部分特征,而不能解释驾驶员的全部行为。今后应不断完善和整合各类模型,并借鉴心理学、生理学和行为科学等相关领域的理论、知识,使驾驶行为模型变得更为实用、有效。     

局部扰动对主坑道爆炸波发展的数值模拟与实验研究

在地下建筑物,如隧道、地下储油库、人防工程、地下物资仓库等里面,由主通道旁结分支通道是最常见的一种布置形式,是一种典型的复杂受限空间结构.一旦有可燃气体发生爆炸燃烧,爆炸压力波和火焰的传播将受众多因素的影响,其中局部扰动的影响是主要因素之一.本文通过实验和数值模拟的方法研究了油气混合物在该复杂受限空间中由弱点火引起爆炸燃烧的发展过程,湍流强度经旁接分支坑道后在主通道中的变化,以及爆炸压力波和火焰经局部扰动后的变化过程;并将数值模拟结果与实验结果进行了对比和综合分析,得到了与地下受限空间安全相关的重要结论.湍流强度是复杂受限空间中可燃气体爆炸燃烧发展过程的主要影响因素之一,局部扰动将增强爆炸流场的湍流强度,加速燃烧化学反应,能量的释放量和速率大大提高.这些能量的快速加入促进了高峰值压力波的形成,火焰也被加速,爆炸从此由弱转强,出现跃升.研究结果对地下受限空间爆炸过程的进一步研究以及爆炸灾害的预防都有参考价值.     

火灾烟气毒性的定量评价方法评述

火灾烟气毒性定量评价是毒理学研究的一个新兴领域.烟气毒性与建筑材料、燃烧条件、烟气毒物在建筑物内的传播规律及暴露时间有关,这些都是传统毒理学评价方法难以解决的问题.烟气毒性定量评价的目的是通过建立数学模型,以最少的动物试验,从宏观上更加定量化、系统化地评价和预测火灾烟气毒性.本文介绍了国外火灾烟气毒性定量评价的标准、烟气定量评价的数学模型,评述了这些模型的适用范围和优缺点,分析了火灾烟气毒性定量评价的发展方向.     

Numerical and field investigation of enhanced in situ denitrification in a shallow-zone well-to-well recirculation system

This study investigated efficiency of in situ enhanced biological denitrification of nitrate-contaminated groundwater which employs a well-to-well circulation in a shallow zone where oxygen might give an adverse affect on the denitrification processes. The numerical model developed for the efficiency test included sequential aerobic and nitrate-based respiration, multi-Monod kinetics of reactive components, growth and decay of biomass, and denitrification inhibition associated with the presence of oxygen. Moreover, reaction kinetics for production of toxic intermediates such as nitrite and nitrous oxide were also included in the model. The developed model was applied to the analysis of enhanced in situ denitrification using an injection/extraction well pair. To evaluate the relative remediation effectiveness, comparisons were made between a continuous fumarate injection test (CFIT) system and a pulsed fumarate injection test (PFIT) system, where both systems had the same total fumarate mass injected into the aquifer. The PFIT system was preferable to the CFIT system because of the high possibility of occurrence of clogging in the latter case at the injection well, with no other significant advantages found in either the CFIT or the PFIT system. Accordingly, this developed numerical model is useful to predict and evaluate an in situ bioremediation by denitrification in aquifers.     

Instream and offstream environmental conditions and stream biotic integrity: Importance of scale and site similarities for learning and prediction

Two different methods to predict biotic integrity were tested and compared in the present paper. The first one tries to predict the fish indices of biotic integrity (IBI) at the state or regional scale based on the most similar observations to a specific target site of interest using the simple to implement k-nearest neighbors (or kNN) method. Two different distance functions were considered to find the k-nearest neighbors: the Euclidean and the Mahalanobis. The second method was applied on the same datasets and consisted of a step-wise multiple regression. The two modeling approaches yielded similar results but kNN proved to be more time-efficient and very fast computationally for the given dataset sizes, which allowed applying a leave-one-out cross validation.In an attempt to reveal the importance of scale in the prediction of IBI, regression models were constructed at the state (or regional) scale and at the more refined cluster of sampling sites scale. Clusters of sites were extracted using Kohonen's self-organizing maps (SOM) followed by k-means clustering of the SOM neurons. Cluster-level regression models, constructed after site patterning, performed better in IBI prediction than global regression models constructed without any previous site patterning. The importance of identifying groups of sites with similar environmental characteristics affecting the IBI was revealed. The combined use of site patterning and regression modeling for IBI prediction also helped identifying important variables acting at the local scale which remain latent at the global scale.     

Modeling changes in the coastal ecosystem of the Pearl River Estuary from 1981 to 1998

The coastal ecosystem of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) has been overfished and received a high level of combined pollution since the 1980s. Ecopath with Ecosim was used to construct two ecosystem models (for 1981 and 1998) to characterize the food web structure and functioning of the ecosystem. Pedigree work and simple sensitivity analysis were carried out to evaluate the quality of data and the uncertainty of the models. The two models seem reliable with regards to input data of good quality. Comparing the variations of outputs of these two models aimed to facilitate assessment of changes of the ecosystem during the past two decades.The trophic structure of the ecosystem has changed with an increase in the biomass proportion of lower trophic level (TL) organisms and a decrease in top predator biomass proportion. All the indices of ecosystem maturity examined show that the system was in a more mature condition in 1981 than in 1998, although the system has been in a condition of stress due to anthropogenic disturbances, such as environmental pollution and habitat destruction since 1981. The ecosystem was aggregated into six and seven integral TLs in 1981 and 1998, respectively, using the trophic aggregation routine of Ecopath. Most of the total system biomass and catch took place at TL II and III in both years. But the distribution of the total system biomass and catch at different TLs changed with decreasing proportions in higher TLs in 1998. The mean transfer efficiency was 9.1% and 10.2% in 1981 and 1998, respectively.Comparative network analysis allowed quantification of the importance of direct and indirect trophic interactions among functional groups. Moreover, a method derived from the mixed trophic impact (MTI) analysis allowed estimating importance of groups in terms of “keystoneness” and identifying the keystone species in the two models over the past two decades. The results indicate that there were no clear keystone species in 1998 but two keystone species at medium trophic levels were identified in 1981. Moreover, organisms located at low trophic levels such as phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthic invertebrates were identified to have relatively high keystoneness in the ecosystem.     

Are closure terms appropriate or necessary descriptors of zooplankton loss in nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton type models?

Our current knowledge of plankton ecology ascribes a large proportion of zooplankton losses to zooplankton cannibalism and carnivory, rather than via the activity of higher trophic levels beyond the plankton. However, planktonic ecosystem models, such as the widely used nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton (NPZ) type models, typically represent all zooplankton losses by mathematically (rather than biologically) justified closure functions. Even where it is assumed that these closure functions include zooplanktonic cannibalism and carnivory, these processes are not explicitly implemented within the grazing function of the zooplankton. Here it is argued that this representation of zooplankton losses through “closure” terms within planktonic food web models is neither appropriate nor necessary. The general consequences of implementing a simple function incorporating zooplankton cannibalism and carnivory (intra-guild predation) within a planktonic food web model are compared against models implementing different types of traditional closure functions. While the modelled biomass outputs may appear similar, the fate of annual primary production and f-ratios vary widely. There appears no justification for the continued use of traditional closure term to depict zooplankton loss processes on biological or modelling arguments. To do so can seriously misrepresent the fate of primary production and thence trophic dynamics.