The application of geographic information systems and global positioning systems in humanitarian emergencies: lessons learned,programme implications and future research

Geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems and remote sensing have been increasingly used in public health settings since the 1990s, but application of these methods in humanitarian emergencies has been less documented. Recent areas of application of GIS methods in humanitarian emergencies include hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessments; rapid assessment and survey methods; disease distribution and outbreak investigations; planning and implementation of health information systems; data and programme integration; and programme monitoring and evaluation. The main use of GIS in these areas is to provide maps for decision-making and advocacy, which allow overlaying types of information that may not normally be linked. GIS is also used to improve data collection in the field (for example, for rapid health assessments or mortality surveys). Development of GIS methods requires further research. Although GIS methods may save resources and reduce error, initial investment in equipment and capacity building may be substantial. Especially in humanitarian emergencies, equipment and methodologies must be practical and appropriate for field use. Add-on software to process GIS data needs to be developed and modified. As equipment becomes more user-friendly and costs decrease, GIS will become more of a routine tool for humanitarian aid organisations in humanitarian emergencies, and new and innovative uses will evolve.     

Spectrally Driven Classification of High Spatial Resolution,Hyperspectral Imagery: A Tool for Mapping In-Stream Habitat

Streams represent an essential component of functional ecosystems and serve as sensitive indicators of disturbance. Accurate mapping and monitoring of these features is therefore critical, and this study explored the potential to characterize aquatic habitat with remotely sensed data. High spatial resolution, hyperspectral imagery of the Lamar River, Wyoming, USA, was used to examine the relationship between spectrally defined classes and field-mapped habitats. Advantages of this approach included enhanced depiction of fine-scale heterogeneity and improved portrayal of gradational zones between adjacent features. Certain habitat types delineated in the field were strongly associated with specific image classes, but most included areas of diverse spectral character; spatially buffering the field map polygons strengthened this association. Canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) indicated that the ratio of the variability among groups to that within a group was an order of magnitude greater for spectrally defined image classes (20.84) than for field-mapped habitat types (1.82), suggesting that unsupervised image classification might more effectively categorize the fluvial environment. CDA results also suggested that shortwave-infrared wavelengths were valuable for distinguishing various in-stream habitats. Although hyperspectral stream classification seemed capable of identifying more features than previously recognized, the technique also suggested that the intrinsic complexity of the Lamar River would preclude its subdivision into a discrete number of classes. Establishing physically based linkages between observed spectral patterns and ecologically relevant channel characteristics will require additional research, but hyperspectral stream classification could provide novel insight into fluvial systems while emerging as a potentially powerful tool for resource management.     

Evaluation of a fire behavior information integration system for southern California chaparral wildlands

Close contact between arid, fire-vulnerable chaparral wildlands and urban development in southern California results in conflagrations that have burned 200,000 ha, destroyed 700 structures, and claimed 16 lives in a single year. In 1972, the U.S. Congress established FIRESCOPE to assist southern California fire and emergency agencies and to develop computer methods for the simulation of wildland fire behavior.     

环氧云铁/丙烯酸涂层户外暴露试验与实验室综合加速试验的相关性研究

目的 研究有机涂层在拉萨试验站户外暴露试验与多因素综合高原高寒气候环境模拟加速试验条件下的相关性。方法 以环氧云铁/丙烯酸有机涂层为研究对象,通过开展户外暴露试验和实验室综合模拟加速试验,利用光泽计和色差仪等分析设备,获得用于表征涂层老化性能的色差和失光率变化规律,比较涂层体系在2种试验条件下老化程度。采用ATR-FTIR、EIS等方法研究涂层分子结构变化和不同环境条件对涂层防腐性能的影响,并分析涂层的降解机理。采用Spearman秩相关系数(rhos)法计算涂层体系在2种环境下的相关性。结果 与户外暴露试验12个月相比,综合模拟加速试验60 d,环氧云铁/丙烯酸有机涂层的色差和失光率基本一致,其色差的相关性为0.771 4,失光率的相关性为0.828 6。结论 与拉萨试验站户外暴露试验相比较,环氧云铁/丙烯酸涂层体系在综合加速试验后的色差、失光率、红外光谱、电化学阻抗等关键性能参数变化趋势基本一致,老化机理基本相同。多因素综合高原高寒气候环境模拟加速试验装置能够综合模拟高原高寒气候环境下阳辐射、气压、温度和湿度等环境因素,具有较好的模拟性和相关性。     

沼液中悬浮物对乙醇发酵的影响及其絮凝处理的研究

乙醇-沼气双发酵耦联工艺的应用有望实现乙醇工业工艺废水"零排放"的目标.本研究对该耦联工艺的回用配料水——中温沼液中的悬浮物对乙醇发酵的影响进行了考察,并对其去除方法进行了确定.结果表明,沼液中悬浮物的存在会促进酵母细胞的繁殖,提高发酵速率,但副产物甘油及小分子有机酸的量大幅上升,而主产物乙醇的生成量减少,悬浮物对乙醇合成的临界抑制浓度为0.35 g·L-1(干重).采用不同的絮凝剂及絮凝方式对沼液中的悬浮物进行去除,发现絮凝剂聚合氯化铝(PAC,300 mg·L-1)与阳离子聚丙烯酰胺(CPAM,2 mg·L-1)协同处理时效果最佳,对沼液浊度、色度的去除率分别为92.4%、23.7%,所得上清液的悬浮物粒径小于2μm,PAC、CPAM的残留量分别为0.82、0.03mg·L-1.絮凝处理后消除了悬浮物对乙醇合成的抑制作用,且絮凝处理后沼液回用的发酵性能略优于离心所得沼液回用的发酵水平,达到了预期的目的.     

Exploring relationships between microscopic kinetic parameters of tires under normal driving conditions,road characteristics and accident types

IntroductionFreeway accidents are a leading cause of death in China, which also triggers substantial economic loss and an emotional burden to society. However, the internal mechanism of how microscopic kinetic parameters of vehicles influenced by road characteristics determine the occurrence of different types of accidents has not been explicitly studied. This research aimed to explore the “link role” of tire microscopic kinetic parameters in road characteristic variables and traffic accidents to aid in facilitating the traffic design and management, and thus to prevent traffic accident. Method: A mountain freeway in Zhejiang Province, China was used as the research object and the data used in this paper were obtained through a real-time vehicle experiment. Multiple estimation models, including the standard ordered logit (SOL) model, fixed parameters logit (FPL) model, and random parameters logit (RPL) model were established. Results: The findings show that road characteristics will affect the longitudinal kinetic characteristics of the vehicle and, consequently, map the level of risk of rear-end accidents. Driving compensation effects were also identified in this paper (i.e., the drivers tend to be more cautious in complicated driving circumstances). Another finding relating to the mountain freeway is that different tunnel characteristics (e.g., tunnel entrance and tunnel exit) have different effects on different types of traffic accidents. Practical Applications: The framework proposed in this article can provide new insight for researchers to enlarge the research subjects of both explanatory and outcome variables in accident analysis. Future research could be implemented to consider more driving conditions.     

Assessing the impact of urbanization on regional net primary productivity in Jiangyin County, China

Urbanization is one of the most important aspects of global change. The process of urbanization has a significant impact on the terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle. The Yangtze Delta region has one of the highest rates of urbanization in China. In this study, carried out in Jiangyin County as a representative region within the Yangtze Delta, land use and land cover changes were estimated using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery. With these satellite data and the BEPS process model (Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator), the impacts of urbanization on regional net primary productivity (NPP) and annual net primary production were assessed for 1991 and 2002. Landsat-based land cover maps in 1991 and 2002 showed that urban development encroached large areas of cropland and forest. Expansion of residential areas and reduction of vegetated areas were the major forms of land transformation in Jiangyin County during this period. Mean NPP of the total area decreased from 818 to 699 gCm(-2)yr(-1) during the period of 1991 to 2002. NPP of cropland was only reduced by 2.7% while forest NPP was reduced by 9.3%. Regional annual primary production decreased from 808 GgC in 1991 to 691 GgC in 2002, a reduction of 14.5%. Land cover changes reduced regional NPP directly, and the increasing intensity and frequency of human-induced disturbance in the urbanized areas could be the main reason for the decrease in forest NPP.     

关于DPD光度法测游离氯操作步骤的几点分析

对N,N-二乙基-1,4-苯二胺(DPD)分光光度法测游离氯的3个较权威的版本的操作步骤在显色效果、显色物稳定性、标准曲线和实测样品结果方面进行了对比,对<水质游离氯和总氯的测定N,N-二乙基-1,4-苯二胺分光光度法>(GB 11898-1989)操作步骤提出了一点改进建议.     

催化动力学光度法测定工业废水中的Cr（Ⅵ）

采用β-环糊精作为H₂O₂氧化茜素红褪色反应的增敏剂,建立了催化动力学光度法测定工业废水中Cr（Ⅵ）的新方法。该方法最佳反应条件为：反应体系总体积25 mL,0.1 mol/L的H₂SO₄溶液加入量2.0 mL,1.0×10^-3 mol/L茜素红溶液加入量1.5 mL,30%的H₂O₂溶液加入量4.0 mL,100 g/L的β-环糊精溶液加入量3.0 mL。在最大吸收波长554 nm处测定反应前后溶液的吸光度,Cr（Ⅵ）的质量浓度与吸光度差值（ΔA）在4.0×10^-4~5.4×10^-2 mg/L范围内符合比尔定律,线性回归方程为：ΔA=18.52ρ+ 0.018,相关系数为0.996 6,检出限为3.5×10^-4 mg/L,加标回收率为99.46%~101.3%,6次测定的相对标准偏差小于等于2.4%。该法的测定结果与GB/T 7467-1987中的二苯碳酰二肼分光光度法相近。     

Chemical oxygen demand reduction in coffee wastewater through chemical flocculation and advanced oxidation processes

The removal of the natural organic matter present in coffee processing wastewater through chemical coagulation-flocculation and advanced oxidation processes （AOP） had been studied. The effectiveness of the removal of natural organic matter using commercial flocculants and UV/H202, UV/O3 and UV/H2O2/O3 processes was determined under acidic conditions. For each of these processes, different operational conditions were explored to optimize the treatment efficiency of the coffee wastewater. Coffee wastewater is characterized by a high chemical oxygen demand （COD） and low total suspended solids. The outcomes of coffee wastewater treatment using coagulation-flocculation and photodegradation processes were assessed in terms of reduction of COD, color, and turbidity. It was found that a reduction in COD of 67% could be realized when the coffee wastewater was treated by chemical coagulation-flocculation with lime and coagulant T-1. When coffee wastewater was treated by coagulation-flocculation in combination with UV/H2O2, a COD reduction of 86% was achieved, although only after prolonged UV irradiation. Of the three advanced oxidation processes considered, UV/H2O2, UV/O3 and UV/H2O2/O3, we found that the treatment with UV/H2O2/O3 was the most effective, with an efficiency of color, turbidity and further COD removal of 87%, when applied to the flocculated coffee wastewater.