Insights into multisource sludge distributed in the Yangtze River basin, China: Characteristics, correlation, treatment and disposal

Sludge is the by-product of wastewater treatment process. Multisource sludge can be defined as sludge from different sources. Based on the sludge properties of five typical cities in the Yangtze River basin, including Jiujiang, Wuhu, Lu'an, Zhenjiang and Wuhan, this study investigated and summarized the characteristic variations and distribution differences of multiple indicators and substances from municipal sludge, dredged sludge, and river and lake sediments. The results demonstrated pH of multisource sludge was relatively stable in the neutral range. Organic matter and water content among municipal sludge were high and varied considerably between different wastewater treatment plants. Dredged sludge had an obviously higher sand content and wider particle distribution, which could be considered for graded utilization depending on its size. The nutrients composition of river and lake sediments was usually stable and special, with lower nitrogen and phosphorus content but higher potassium levels. The sources of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in multisource sludge were correlated, generally much higher among municipal sludge than dredged sludge and river and lake sediments, which were the most important limitation for final land utilization. Despite various properties of multisource sludge, the final fate and destination have some overall similarities, which need to be supplemented and improved by standards and laws. The study provided a preliminary analysis of suitable technical routes for municipal sludge, dredged sludge, river and lake sediments based on their different characteristics respectively, which was of great significance for multisource sludge co-treatment and disposal in the future of China.     

Ecosystem mapping for the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy at the national level: The case of Italy

Several international initiatives, including the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, promote the identification and mapping of ecosystems as basic tools for the conservation of biodiversity and related services. On coarse scales, the spatial representation of ecosystems is usually based on broad land cover categories that largely overlook important ecological and biogeographic features of the biotic communities they are meant to exemplify. This paper presents a nationwide ecosystem mapping approach that promotes a degree of thematic detail, which is more suited than that found in the continental maps to meeting biodiversity conservation targets in Italy. The approach is based on the rationale that current and potential vegetation cover are valuable proxies for outlining ecosystems. The resulting Ecosystem Map of Italy includes 43 types of forest ecosystems instead of the 5 woodland, forest and other wooded land types recognized at the European level. We outline the expected advantages of this enhanced thematic detail for a number of conservation purposes and highlight how the resulting maps may help to meet biodiversity conservation targets at the national level. In particular, we refer to the assessment of conservation status, the definition of restoration priorities, the planning of green infrastructure and the identification of collapse risks for the ecosystems identified. Comprehensively, the definition, characterization and assessment of ecosystem types represent the carrying structure of the recently launched national system of natural capital accounting.     

Stochastic Transfer Function Model and Neural Networks to Estimate Soil Moisture1

Abstract: A practical methodology is proposed to estimate the three‐dimensional variability of soil moisture based on a stochastic transfer function model, which is an approximation of the Richard’s equation. Satellite, radar and in situ observations are the major sources of information to develop a model that represents the dynamic water content in the soil. The soil‐moisture observations were collected from 17 stations located in Puerto Rico (PR), and a sequential quadratic programming algorithm was used to estimate the parameters of the transfer function (TF) at each station. Soil texture information, terrain elevation, vegetation index, surface temperature, and accumulated rainfall for every grid cell were input into a self‐organized artificial neural network to identify similarities on terrain spatial variability and to determine the TF that best resembles the properties of a particular grid point. Soil moisture observed at 20 cm depth, soil texture, and cumulative rainfall were also used to train a feedforward artificial neural network to estimate soil moisture at 5, 10, 50, and 100 cm depth. A validation procedure was implemented to measure the horizontal and vertical estimation accuracy of soil moisture. Validation results from spatial and temporal variation of volumetric water content (vwc) showed that the proposed algorithm estimated soil moisture with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 2.31% vwc, and the vertical profile shows a RMSE of 2.50% vwc. The algorithm estimates soil moisture in an hourly basis at 1 km spatial resolution, and up to 1 m depth, and was successfully applied under PR climate conditions.     

聚丙烯基高分子功能材料吸附卷烟烟气中多种有害成分的应用

为了寻找能同时降低卷烟烟气中甲醛、乙醛、巴豆醛和颗粒物有害成分含量的离子交换树脂吸附材料,采用电镜扫描方法观察聚丙烯基阳离子树脂高分子功能材料的表面特征,应用压汞法分析其平均孔径、中值孔径、比孔容和比表面积,并测试了该材料的交换容量,采用环境试验舱检测法对比测试了该材料和活性炭降低卷烟烟气中甲醛、乙醛、巴豆醛和颗粒物有害成分含量的效果.结果表明,聚丙烯基高分子功能材料表面多斑点状突起,凹凸状明显,微孔和缝隙多,平均孔径为0.26 μm,中值孔径为149.3 μm,比孔容为19.23 cm3/g,比表面积为293.42 m2/g,交换容量为5.16 mmol/g,对烟气中甲醛、乙醛、巴豆醛和颗粒物的净化率分别达到79.6％、79.8％、82.8％和64.7％,而活性炭的净化率分别为20.3％、0、6.4％和54.2％.研究表明,该聚丙烯基高分子功能材料具有物理吸附和化学吸附性能,净化卷烟烟气中多种有害成分的效果明显优于活性炭.     

围岩稳定性评价的改进物元可拓模型与应用

为弥补现有地下工程围岩稳定性评价方法的不足,建立了改进的物元可拓模型。通过构造一种新的关联函数,解决了因传统的物元可拓模型的关联函数是一个分段函数而存在的不便于计算的缺陷,以及评价指标间的互不相容性问题,拓宽了物元可拓法的应用范围。将改进的物元可拓模型应用于某地下工程围岩的稳定性评价,结果表明,样本1、2、5属于Ⅱ级(较稳定),样本3、4属于Ⅰ级(稳定)。通过将其评价结果与传统可拓法及模糊数学综合评判结果进行比较分析,证明该评价方法的正确性。研究表明,改进的物元可拓模型的评价结果与实际工程地质情况更为吻合,准确度更高,能够反映各因素对围岩稳定性的影响,其合理性和可行性得到了验证。     

基于LCA的北京市公交车节能及温室气体减排潜力分析

新能源公交车是未来城市公交行业节能及温室气体减排的重点发展方向.新能源公交车在行驶阶段具有良好的节能及温室气体减排效果,而汽车制造、能源生产等相关生命周期阶段的能耗及温室气体排放常被忽视,且目前新能源公交车的乘客运载功能相对较弱,可能对节能及温室气体减排的潜力造成较为显著的影响.因此,本文基于北京市公交车的运营特征,采用生命周期评价(LCA)方法,选择客运周转量作为功能单位,核算了天然气公交车、混合动力公交车和纯电动公交车等新能源公交车相对于柴油公交车的节能及温室气体减排效益.结果表明:发展新能源公交车对促进北京市公交行业及城市节能低碳发展具有积极的作用,但相对于基于运营里程的核算结果,本研究新能源公交车节能及温室气体减排潜力均较低,主要原因是新能源公交车的实际载客量相对较低;混合动力公交车和纯电动公交车在空调开启时的节能潜力与温室气体减排潜力均远低于天然气公交车;通过发展情景分析,建议北京市现阶段应优先发展天然气公交车,适当发展纯电动公交车和混合动力公交车,以减少北京市公交车的总体能耗,同时降低温室气体排放强度.     

Assessment of potential dermal and inhalation exposure of workers to the insecticide imidacloprid using whole-body dosimetry in China

In China, although improvements to the pesticide registration process have beenmade in last thirty years, no occupational exposure data are required to obtain a commercial license for a pesticide product. Consequently, notably little research has been conducted to establish an exposure assessment procedure in China. The present study monitored the potential dermal operator exposure from knapsack electric sprayer wheat field application of imidacloprid in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province and in Xinxiang City, Henan Province, China, using whole-body dosimetry. The potential inhalation exposure was determined using a personal air pump and XAD-2 sample tubes. The analytical method was developed and validated, including such performance parameters as limits of detection and quantification, linear range, recovery and precision. The total potential dermal and inhalation exposures were 14.20, 16.80, 15.39 and 20.78 mL/hr, respectively, for the four operators in Liaocheng and Xinxiang, corresponding to 0.02% to 0.03% of the applied volume of spray solution. In all trials, the lower part (thigh, lower leg) of the body was the most contaminated, accounting for approximately 76% to 88% of the total exposure. The inhalation exposure was less than 1% of the total exposure. Such factors as the application pattern, crop type, spray equipment, operator experience and climatic conditions have been used to explain the exposure distribution over the different parts of the body. As indicated by the calculated Margin of Exposure, the typical wheat treatment scenarios when a backpack sprayer was used are considered to be safe in terms of imidacloprid exposure.     

Responses of soil ammonia oxidizers to a short-term severe mercury stress

The responses of soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea(AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria(AOB) to mercury(Hg) stress were investigated through a short-term incubation experiment.Treated with four different concentrations of Hg(CK,Hg25,Hg50,and Hg100,denoting 0,25,50,and 100 mg Hg/kg dry soil,respectively),samples were harvested after 3,7,and 28 day incubation.Results showed that the soil potential nitrification rate(PNR) was significantly inhibited by Hg stress during the incubation.However,lower abundances of AOA(the highest in CK: 9.20 × 10~7 copies/g dry soil; the lowest in Hg50: 2.68 × 10~7 copies/g dry soil) and AOB(the highest in CK: 2.68 × 10~7 copies/g dry soil; the lowest in Hg50:7.49 × 10~6 copies/g dry soil) were observed only at day 28 of incubation(P 0.05).Moreover,only the community structure of soil AOB obviously shifted under Hg stress as seen through DGGE profiles,which revealed that 2–3 distinct AOB bands emerged in the Hg treatments at day 28.In summary,soil PNR might be a very useful parameter to assess acute Hg stress on soil ecosystems,and the community structure of soil AOB might be a realistic biological indicator for the assessment of heavy metal stress on soil ecosystems in the future.     

运用正弦扫频实现电动振动台模型的频域辨识

目的研究以电动振动台为典型设备的相关振动试验装置的频域辨识技术。方法通过分析电动振动台数学模型,采用正弦扫频试验方法,进行全频带振动台空台面正弦扫频,并对所获得的时域正弦扫频数据进行频谱分析,进而获得系统的频率数据,再运用复数域上的最小二乘拟合算法,完成振动台模型传递函数的辨识。结果通过某型电动台空台面试验,对一组实测数据进行辨识,辨识出的电动振动台模拟与真实模拟一致。结论通过该方法并合理选取模型结构,能够很好地辨识出振动试验装置的模型。     

基于分形维数的斜坡非饱和带土体大孔隙分布研究

对取自于云南省昭通市头寨滑坡滑源区附近的两个大尺度(25cm×25cm×50cm)土柱样品进行CT扫描,选取典型剖面切片,通过CT值范围将大孔隙分离从而研究土体中的大孔隙分布;计算大孔隙分布分维数(盒维数),研究其大孔隙的不规则特征,结果表明:土体中大孔隙的盒维数随深度增加呈单调递减规律,且与大孔隙度具有显著正相关关系;但大孔隙度只能表征在某一深度上大孔隙的分布多少,而大孔隙的不规则特征则需盒维数表征;最后得到大孔隙的累积大孔隙度与大孔隙孔径(在盒维数为常数时)符合幂函数规律,研究结果有利于利用分形理论建立大孔隙模型,从而研究水分在大孔隙中运动过程。