Screening of antibiotic residues in fresh milk of Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

The prevalence of two groups of antibiotics; namely penicillin and sulfonamides was studied in fresh milk available in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. The milk samples (n = 140) were collected from three different sources; individual farmers, cottage dairies and organized dairies of Kathmandu valley. Qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis with rapid screening kits revealed that 23% samples were positive for antibiotic residues in the fresh milk for penicillin and sulfonamide groups (1–256 µg/kg). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses detected 81% samples positive for amoxicillin (68–802 µg/kg), 41% for sulfadimethoxine (31–69 µg/kg), 27% for penicillin G (13–353 µg/kg), and 12% for ampicillin (0.5–92 µg/kg). Due to the precision and accuracy of liquid chromatography method, it detected more positive samples and consequently presented higher prevalence than the rapid screening kits. The antibiotic residues were found above the maximum residue limits that presented serious threat to consumer health and raised a serious concern regarding the implementation and monitoring of international regulations in developing countries.     

Research on distribution performance of desert sand for heat storage in downcomer

In this research, desert sand is used as the sensible heat storage medium, which exchanges heat with air in the downcomer to realize heat storage and heat release. The desert sand distribution uniformity has a significant impact on the heat exchange performance and efficiency between desert sand and air for the process of convection in the downcomer. Given the superiority of sensible heat storage in convective heat transfer between desert sand and air, distributors with cylinder or conical bore solid particles and homogeneity performance testing device are designed and manufactured on the basis of convection system equipped with solid particle–air downcomer. Then, the convection experiment between solid sand and air is researched. The greater the desert sand flow rate and higher the volume density, the larger the variance of regional mass flow rate and the worse the homogeneity performance. For the cylinder bore distributor, the smaller the sand particle size is, the greater affected the sand groups can be. The sand homogeneity performance is preferable with the two particle size ranges: 0.18-0.25 mm and 0.15-0.18 mm. The total sand flow rate decreases, but the uniformity improves with the increase of the air flow velocity, and the best distribution performance is achieved at an air velocity of 0.6 m/s. However, the distribution performance declines with the air flow velocity persistently increasing because the sand groups are pushed to one pipe side close to the wall. The sand groups deflect seriously with the air flow velocity increasing.     

Quantitative assessments of municipal waste management systems: Using different indicators to compare and rank programs in New York State

The primary objective of waste management technologies and policies in the United States is to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of waste, particularly those relating to energy consumption and climate change. Performance indicators are frequently used to evaluate the environmental quality of municipal waste systems, as well as to compare and rank programs relative to each other in terms of environmental performance. However, there currently is no consensus on the best indicator for performing these environmental evaluations. The purpose of this study is to examine the common performance indicators used to assess the environmental benefits of municipal waste systems to determine if there is agreement between them regarding which system performs best environmentally. Focus is placed on how indicator selection influences comparisons between municipal waste management programs and subsequent system rankings. The waste systems of ten municipalities in the state of New York, USA, were evaluated using each common performance indicator and Spearman correlations were calculated to see if there was a significant association between system rank orderings. Analyses showed that rank orders of waste systems differ substantially when different indicators are used. Therefore, comparative system assessments based on indicators should be considered carefully, especially those intended to gauge environmental quality. Insight was also gained into specific factors which may lead to one system achieving higher rankings than another. However, despite the insufficiencies of indicators for comparative quality assessments, they do provide important information for waste managers and they can assist in evaluating internal programmatic performance and progress. To enhance these types of assessments, a framework for scoring indicators based on criteria that evaluate their utility and value for system evaluations was developed. This framework was used to construct an improved model for waste system performance assessments.     

PVA/ZnONPs活细胞固定化载体的构建及喹啉生物降解特性试验研究

利用ZnO纳米颗粒(ZnONPs)修饰聚乙烯醇(PVA)制备活细胞固定化载体,并将喹啉降解菌Ochrobactrum sp.LC-1固定。X射线衍射(XRD)和扫描电镜(SEM)分析结果表明,ZnONPs均匀地分布在PVA内部孔隙表面,强化了对细菌及喹啉的吸附效果,且载体内部有大量孔隙支持细菌生长。喹啉生物降解结果表明,固定化细胞喹啉氧化还原酶(Qor)活性是游离细胞的1.7倍,喹啉降解能力大大增强。固定化细胞经驯化后,在喹啉起始质量浓度500 mg/L的条件下,10 h后,固定化细胞喹啉降解率为99.8%,远高于游离细胞的43.2%。当喹啉质量浓度为600~800 mg/L时,固定化细胞对喹啉的降解率可稳定在95%以上,固定化细胞重复利用30次后,喹啉降解率仍维持在94.9%以上,表现出良好的机械耐受强度,可应用于实际生产。     

Community dynamics of ammonia oxidizing bacteria in a full-scale wastewater treatment system with nitrification stability

To determine whether the functional stability of nitrification was correlated to a stable community structure of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant, the AOB community dynamics in a wastewater treatment system was monitored over one year. The community dynamics were investigated using specific PCR followed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the amoA gene. The T-RFLP results indicated that during the period of nitrification stability, the AOB community structure in the full-scale wastewater treatment system was relatively stable, and the average change rate every 15 d of the system was 6.6%±5.8%. The phylogenetic analysis of the cloned amoA gene showed clearly that the dominant AOB in the system was Nitrosomonas spp. The results of this study indicated that throughout the study period, the AOB community structure was relatively stable in the full-scale wastewater treatment system with functional stability of nitrification.     

Effects of a dynamic membrane formed with polyethylene glycol on the ultrafiltration of natural organic matter

The formation of a dynamic membrane (DM) was investigated using polyethylene glycol (PEG) (molecular weight of 35000 g/mol, concentration of 1 g/L). Two natural organic matters (NOM), Dongbok Lake NOM (DLNOM) and Suwannee River NOM (SRNOM) were used in the ultrafiltration experiments along with PEG. To evaluate the effects of the DM with PEG on ultrafiltration, various transport experiments were conducted, and the analyses of the NOM in the membrane feed and permeate were performed using high performance size exclusion chromatography, and the effective pore size distribution (effective PSD) and effective molecular weight cut off (effective MWCO) were determined. The advantages of DM formed with PEG can be summarized as follows: (1) PEG interferes with NOM transmission through the ultrafiltration membrane pores by increasing the retention coefficient of NOM in UF membranes, and (2) low removal of NOM by the DM is affected by external factors, such as pressure increases during UF membrane filtration, which decreases the effective PSD and effective MWCO of UF membranes. However, a disadvantage of the DM with PEG was severe flux decline; thus, one must be mindful of both the positive and negative influences of the DM when optimizing the UF performance of the membrane.     

受火后方钢管约束钢筋再生混凝土轴压短柱力学分析

利用ABAQUS软件建立了火灾后方钢管约束钢筋再生混凝土轴压短柱非线性有限元模型,在确定混凝土和钢材的本构基础上,对其火灾后轴压性能进行了数值计算,并与已有相关试验数据进行了对比验证。分析了升温时间、基体混凝土强度、再生粗集料取代率、截面尺寸、含钢率等参数对火灾后轴压性能的影响规律。结果表明:随着升温时间的增加,试件截面角部对中心区域的约束效果逐渐减弱,截面应力逐渐降低且分布趋向均匀;基体混凝土强度和截面直径是影响试件剩余承载力和初始损伤的主要因素,集料取代率和含钢率影响较小,所有试件的损伤发展过程较为相似;各试件的耗能能力随升温时间的增加呈现先提高后降低的趋势;提出了此类试件火灾后相关评价指标的简化计算公式,可为工程实际应用提供参考。     

转型期城市旅游业绩效评价及空间格局演化机理——以泛长江三角洲地区为例

论文从经济、市场、效率、公平四个方面构建了旅游业绩效的评价体系,运用熵值法综合测度1998、2003、2008年泛长江三角洲城市旅游业绩效,并结合GIS的空间分析模块,系统分析了泛长江三角洲城市旅游业绩效空间格局的演化过程。结果表明:泛长江三角洲城市旅游业绩效空间分异明显,总体上呈现提高态势,3个时间断面均呈现东西方向递增,南北方向倒"U"型分布格局;相邻地域单元表现较弱的空间集聚特征,绩效系统内部整体协调度不强,部分城市旅游业绩效水平与协调度高度耦合;针对旅游业绩效区域差异格局演化的形成机理剖析表明,经济驱动、市场驱动、产业链驱动、政府驱动及其相互间的综合驱动共同作用促使了城市旅游业绩效空间格局的演化。     

2种电阻率法污染探测装置的抗噪声性能比较

为比较2种电阻率法污染场地探测装置——温纳和偶极装置的抗噪声性能,基于点电流源电场分布原理进行理论推导,研究了理想均匀半空间的理论电位取值,并在重庆一废弃化工厂进行实际场地探测比较. 结果表明,采用相同极距的2种探测装置,温纳装置采集的信号强度为偶极装置的3倍以上,具有更强的在抗噪声性能. 在实际探测中,温纳装置仅有0.28%的数据由于数据质量较差被移除,而偶极装置的这一数据占12.10%,可见温纳装置比偶极装置具有更好的抗噪声性能. 因此,在实际污染场地探测中,如果场地的噪声干扰严重,应优先选择采用温纳装置进行探测.      

电石渣中杂质对亚硫酸钙氧化及石膏浆液脱水性能影响

为了考察电石渣中杂质(Na2S、SiO2及铁、镁、铝的氧化物等)在湿法烟气脱硫过程中对亚硫酸钙氧化及石膏浆液脱水性能的影响,通过建立亚硫酸钙氧化反应装置,对亚硫酸钙氧化及石膏浆液脱水过程进行了研究。研究表明:浆液中Na2S浓度越高,亚硫酸钙氧化受到的抑制作用越明显,Na2S浓度高于10.0 mmol/L时,浆液中亚硫酸根几乎不发生氧化反应,石膏平均粒径随Na2S浓度增加呈先降低后增大趋势。浆液中SiO2不影响亚硫酸钙氧化,但是浓度低于0.5 g/L时,石膏粒径分布更加集中,更有利于提高石膏浆液脱水性能。浆液中Fe2O3的存在有利于亚硫酸钙氧化,浓度在0.5～1.0 g/L时,对石膏浆液脱水性能有明显的改善作用。浆液中MgO、Al2O3的存在,对亚硫酸钙氧化影响不大,但降低了石膏浆液脱水性能。