Effects of repeated pesticide exposure on the peripheral and central nervous systems

This study was designed to compare organic farmers (comparison group) and pesticide-using farmers (pesticide group) in terms of neurobehavioral performance and sensorimotor function. The subjects were recruited in October 2004 from Chungnam Province and the neighboring Jeolla Province in western South Korea. Psychological assessment was carried out using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Bender Gestalt test. Neuroselective sensory nerve conduction threshold was measured at both left and right middle fingers by using an electrodiagnostic device to determine current perception thresholds (CPTs). Three independent CPT measurements were obtained from each test site by using sinusoidal stimuli at three frequencies. CPT testing showed no difference between the two groups. No significant differences were found in the large myelinated (2000?Hz stimulation; cutaneous touch, pressure), small myelinated (250?Hz stimulation; mechanoreceptive, pressure, temperature, fast pain) and small unmyelinated (5?Hz stimulation; polymodal nociceptive, temperature, slow pain, postganglionic sympathetic) C-fibers. Furthermore, there was no difference found between the pesticide and comparison groups in psychological variables, including intelligence quotient, orientation, memory, calculation, similarities, visual sensitivity, and psychomotor speed. In conclusion, chronic pesticide exposure has no apparent effect on either the peripheral or central nervous system in Korean farmers.     

The use of the embryo‐culture techniques in the research on the Teratogenic and Mutagenic properties of metals†

Actually, embryos can be cultured from the one‐cell stage up to the blastocyst stage, and their development can be easily monitored at any time: severe effects caused by toxic compounds are traduced by rapid embryonic death, less pronounced effects can be expressed by a lowered cleavage activity or by an arrest of the development from a particular stage. The system can be improved by transferring the embryos at the blastocyst stage in another more complete medium where they can “implant”; and form an inner cell mass with differentiated ectoderm and endoderm. Since last years, it has also become possible to culture postimplantation rodent embryos for short periods involving a number of particularly critical stages of organogenesis, such as the formation and closure of the anterior neuropore. Embryo‐culture also represents a useful system to study cytogenetic effects of chemicals which are often linked to lethal or teratogenic effects. These different possibilities are illustrated by examples of studies already performed with metals, and dealing with their teratogenic and/or cytogenetic effects on pre‐ and postimplantation rodents.     

Removal of Remazol Brilliant Violet-5R dye using periwinkle shells

The purpose of this research is to obtain optimal processing conditions for the adsorption of Remazol Brilliant Violet-5R (RBV-5R) dye onto activated carbon prepared from periwinkle shells (PSAC) by chemical activation with KOH using response surface methodology. Central composite design (CCD) was used to determine the effects of three preparation variables; CO₂ activation temperature, CO₂ activation time and KOH:char impregnation ratio (IR) on two responses; percentage RBV-5R dye removal and PSAC yield. Based on the CCD, two quadratic models were developed for percentage RBV-5R dye removal and PSAC yield, respectively. The most influential factor on each experimental design response was identified from the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum conditions for the adsorption of RBV-5R dye onto PSAC were CO₂ activation temperature of 811 °C, CO₂ activation time of 1.70 h and IR of 3.0, resulting in 81.28% RBV-5R dye removal and 28.18% PSAC yield. PSAC prepared under optimum conditions was mesoporous with a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 1894 m²·g^?1, total pore volume of 1.107 cm³·g^?1 and average pore diameter of 2.32 nm. The surface morphology and functional groups of the activated carbon were respectively determined from the scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared analysis.     

中部6省生态足迹的测算与比较分析

生态足迹方法是区域可持续发展研究的一种重要方法,在中部6省大区域框架下,运用生态足迹模型对中部6省1989—2011年的生态足迹进行了测算和对比研究。研究结果表明:中部6省1989—2011年的生态承载力较为平稳,其中江西、河南、湖北和湖南4省的生态承载力略有上升,而山西、安徽两省的生态承载力有下降趋势。中部6省的社会经济活动对生态系统的消耗远大于生态系统本身的承载能力,并且这种差距正在不断增大,导致生态赤字不断增大。考察期间,山西省生态赤字的绝对值最小,平均生态赤字为0.49 hm2 cap-1,湖北省生态赤字最大,平均值为1.15 hm2 cap-1,其次为河南和湖南,生态赤字增长最快的是山西省和河南省,增长倍数分别达到了7.38和4.27倍。中部6省6种生态生产性土地的生态足迹均呈现出上升趋势,平均来看,6类生态生产性土地在中部6省总的生态足迹中所占比重由高到低依次为耕地、化石能源地、草地、建筑用地、水域、林地。耕地生态足迹是生态足迹中最重要的组成部分,在总的生态足迹中所占比重最大,中部6省耕地的生态足迹时间序列数据比较平稳,在考察时间内从1989年的0.4241上涨到2011年的0.5851,上升趋势较平稳,但由于耕地生态足迹所占比重大,尽管增长速度缓慢,但对中部6省生态足迹总的影响较大。建筑用地和林地生态足迹虽然增长幅度较大,但由于基数小,因此建筑生态足迹和林地生态足迹对中部6省生态足迹总的影响较小。草地、水域和化石能源用地生态足迹基数大,增长幅度也大,加上耕地生态足迹,共同决定了中部6省人均生态足迹的逐年上升趋势。     

美国饮用水水源地保护经验及其对我国的启示

新冠肺炎疫情对公众健康造成了极大威胁。针对疫情可能造成的水污染问题,各地生态环境部门均全力加强城市和农村饮用水水源地水质监测预警工作,突出了当前形势下饮用水水源保护工作的重要性。为实现安全饮用水目标,美国在法制体系、组织结构、饮用水水源地风险评估和保护计划等方面积累了丰富的经验,为我国应对疫情、实现饮用水安全保障提供了诸多启示。美国实践经验表明,饮用水水源地保护应建立从废水排放控制到水源地风险防范的全方位、一体化管理体系;完善"从水源地到水龙头"的监测与应急体系;构建分工明确、权责清晰的制度体系;完善公众参与和信息公开,形成多方共治的良好局面。基于美国水源地保护经验,本文研究提出如下建议:加强全国饮用水水源地风险评估,严防医疗污水和城镇生活污水向水源地排放;加强水源地水质监测和预警,提升监测预警水平并制定备用水源等应急响应计划;强化地方政府对水源地的统一监管职能,明确水源地管理部门和水源地水厂的职责分工,加强组织协调和联防联控;完善公众参与和信息公开,增强公众环保意识和"主人翁"意识。     

中国与欧美寒冷地带采暖耗能的比较

论文分别采用我国目前采暖标准和欧美国家的较高采暖标准,对我国严寒和寒冷地区8个城市的采暖耗能及相应的温室气体排放强度与欧美国家同纬度地区进行了对比。结果表明,中国季风气候的特点使严寒和寒冷地区冬季较世界同纬度地区更为寒冷而漫长,居民基本的生存采暖耗能需求高于世界同纬度地区。无论采用中国、德国、美国哪一种采暖标准,中国严寒和寒冷地区采暖强度远高于同纬度的欧美城市,有的城市要高于同纬度欧美城市1倍以上;目前中国严寒和寒冷地区的采暖标准属于维持基本生存必需的较低标准,中国要达到与欧美相同的热舒适水平必然比其他国家增加更多的采暖消耗;即使像目前这样,中国采取较低的采暖标准,而欧美国家采用较舒适的德国或美国标准,中国8个城市中有5~6个城市的采暖强度仍明显高于同纬度欧美城市。     

Quantitative assessment in safety reports of the consequences from the detonation of solid explosives

Safety reports are mandatory documents in member states of European Union whenever any threshold limits of amounts of either stored or processed hazardous substances are exceeded. After a short introduction to EU Seveso Directives on major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances and to the transposition and implementation by member states, with a brief comment on last 2012/18/EU Directive (also known as Seveso III directive), the paper focuses on drafting of safety reports for industrial activities involving solid explosives. Specifically, the quantitative assessment of consequences from detonation is tackled respect to the side-on overpressure and the debris production. Both direct and inverse problems are illustrated to determine respectively the overpressure value at a given distance, and the explosive amount that allows respecting the regulations. Their solution is based on either analytic or numerical techniques and being based on recent scientific publications on the matter either evaluates or zeroes nonlinear algebraic equations. The availability of these equations avoids grounding the consequences assessment on diagrams and nomograms that otherwise would lead to interpretation and usage errors besides avoiding the automatic solution of the inverse problem. The paper focuses also on details such as embankment, crater, munitions, rocket propellant, building structure, and wall material that, at different levels, play a role in the assessment of detonation consequences. A discussion on debris formation, the available literature, and the evaluation of the impact probability of fragments on both fixed and moving targets closes the paper.     

Reflecting ecological criteria in laws supporting the Baja to Bering Sea marine protected areas network case study

Canadian and US marine conservation law, and other related law, was analyzed to determine if it reflected ecological criteria needed to implement connectivity among marine protected areas of the northeast Pacific in the proposed trilateral Baja to Bering Sea (B2B) initiative. The analysis included both nations’ federal laws and those of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia. While legal provisions exist already to implement marine protected areas for varying reasons, there is little capacity in most laws to create connectivity among them for conservation purposes. Only California's legislation contained explicit provisions for all the criteria. Other federal, state, and provincial laws, while containing provisions for species at risk and vulnerable habitats, generally lacked explicit provisions for the vital criteria, size of area, migratory patterns, and recruitment patterns. Implementation, future management, and protection of the proposed B2B marine network would be facilitated by amendment of both Canadian and US laws. Some of the ecological criteria are already implied implicitly or vaguely, but they need to be made explicit in the amended law. The legislative model of California could serve as a template for amending the laws of other jurisdictions in the B2B venture.     

中部六省区制造业地理集中度分析

中部六省区在我国经济社会发展格局中占据重要地位.采用Eillison和Glaser设计的公式计算了中部六省区制造业17个行业从2007-2010年间的地理集中指数.通过对地理集中指数的分析发现,中部六省区制造业存在“小范围小幅度集中,大范围大幅度扩散”现象,且集中主要存在于化学纤维制造业、化学原料及化学制品制造业和专用设备制造业这些技术和资本密集型行业.从制造业17个行业扩散大于集中的现象可见,中部六省区目前还处于聚集效应的下降阶段.     

集中空调系统积尘理化特征

利用现场采样与实验分析的方法,对集中空调系统内的积尘进行了粒径分布、水溶性碳物质及离子含量的分析,以评估集中空调系统内积尘对微生物滋生的影响.结果表明,集中空调系统除新风段外的6个采样段,积尘平均粒径介于6—20μm之间,新风段积尘平均粒径为41.30μm;沿送风方向,微粒的平均粒径减小,单位积尘量所含的水溶性离子和有...