Design and validation of a practical index for trauma assessment

In the past 20 years a variety of indices have been suggested for measuring the severity of trauma, however none of them meets the requirement of being a simple and objective instrument that can be utilized efficiently by lay persons and providers of health services without previous experience in triaging. A new system has been proposed which meets this requirement and which has been validated with 197 injured persons at the emergency ward of the Valle University Hospital in Call, Colombia. The instrument showed a high level of concordance with the conventional triaging method and classifies victims into four categories: critical with recovery unlikely, critical but recoverable, moderately serious, and ambulatory. There is discussion on the reliability of this instrument and it is recommended that it be validated with victims from larger disasters. Regardless, it has the advantage of being specific and free of the subjectivity that characterizes other indices.     

Indoor and outdoor BTX levels in Barcelona City metropolitan area and Catalan rural areas

Five aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, and three isomeric xylenes) were monitored in indoor and outdoor air of 7 public buildings and 54 private homes, located in Barcelona City metropolitan area and in several rural areas of Catalonia. The sampling was carried out over four periods: spring-summer and winter of 2000, and summer and winter of 2001. Passive ORSA 5 Dra¨ger samplers were used for benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) adsorption. BTX were extracted with carbon disulphide and analysed using ...     

长江三角洲地区人为源氨排放清单及分布特征

根据各类氨排放源的活动水平和排放因子,估算了2004年长江三角洲地区16个城市的氨排放量.结果表明,2004年长三角地区氨排放量为460.68kt,其中,氮肥使用和畜牧源是两个最大排放源,氨排放量分别为227.33kt和203.28kt,分别占长江三角洲地区氨排放总量的49.3%和44.1%,氨排放在长三角地区各城市间有较大差异,排放量超过40kt·a-1的城市为南通市、上海市、嘉兴市和泰州市,这4个城市的氨排放总量约占长三角地区氨排放量的42.5%.长江三角洲地区氨平均排放强度为4.20t·km-2·a-1,排放强度超过6t·km-2·a-1的城市为嘉兴市、南通市、泰州市和上海市,其中,嘉兴市的排放强度最大,为10.83 t·km-2·a-1.     

炼焦过程挥发性有机物排放特征及其大气化学反应活性

利用不锈钢采样罐和全自动预浓缩/GC/MS系统,在58-Ⅱ型和JN43-80型焦炉顶测试了炼焦过程中挥发性有机物(VOCs)中各组分的浓度,研究了VOCs排放特征,结合OH自由基消耗速率分析了这些物质的反应活性.研究发现,在装煤时刻和炼焦过程中,58-Ⅱ型焦炉产生的总挥发性有机物(TVOCs)浓度分别为7022 μg·m-3和6266μg·m-3;JN43-80型焦炉产生的TVOCs浓度分别为4185 μg·m-3和3298μg·m-3.装煤时刻产生的TVOCs浓度明显高于炼焦过程产生的.炼焦过程(包括装煤时刻)无组织排放的VOCs,包含烯烃、烷烃、芳香烃、卤代烃以及少量的醛和酮,其中乙烯、乙烷、丙烯、苯以及甲苯等为主要成分.这些产生的VOCs反应活性各不相同,活性最大的是烯烃类物质.其活性占TVOCs反应活性比重为86.2%±2.1%;其次是芳香烃类物质,其活性比重为9.2%±3.1%;反应活性最大的5个物种分别是丙烯、乙烯、1,3-丁二烯、1-丁烯以及苯乙烯.     

Cadmium contamination in orchard soils and fruit trees and its potential health risk in Guangzhou, China

This study examines cadmium (Cd) contamination in orchard soils and fruit trees in Guangzhou, China, and assesses its potential health risk. Soils and tissues samples of three species of fruit trees were collected from three orchards. The average soil Cd concentration was 1.27, 1.84 and 0.68 mg/kg in orchards I, II, and III, respectively. The carambola (Averrhoa carambola) accumulated exceptionally high concentrations of Cd (7.57, 10.84, 9.01 and 2.15 mg/kg dw in root, twig, leaf and fruit, respectively), being 6.0-24 times and 4.0-10 times the corresponding tissue Cd in the longan (Dimocarpus longan) and wampee (Clausena lansium), respectively. Furthermore, all Cd concentrations (0.04-0.25 mg Cd/kg fw) of the fruits exceeded the tolerance limit of cadmium in foods of PR China (0.03 mg/kg fw). Our results indicate that the carambola tree has high Cd accumulation capacity and might be a Cd accumulator; and its fruit, among the three species of fruits studied, also poses the highest potential health risk to local residents.     

Heavy metal and Pb isotopic compositions of aquatic organisms in the Pearl River Estuary, South China

The accumulation of trace metals in aquatic organisms may lead to serious health problems through the food chain. The present research project aims to study the accumulation and potential sources of trace metals in aquatic organisms of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE). Four groups of aquatic organisms, including fish, crab, shrimp, and shellfish, were collected in the PRE for trace metal and Pb isotopic analyses. The trace metal concentrations in the aquatic organism samples ranged from 0.01 to 2.10 mg/kg Cd, 0.02 to 4.33 mg/kg Co, 0.08 to 4.27 mg/kg Cr, 0.15 to 77.8 mg/kg Cu, 0.17 to 31.0 mg/kg Ni, 0.04 to 30.7 mg/kg Pb, and 8.78 to 86.3 mg/kg Zn (wet weight). High concentrations of Cd were found in crab, shrimp and shellfish samples, while high concentration of Pb was found in fish. In comparison with the baseline reference values in other parts of the world, fish in the PRE had the highest elevated trace metals. The results of Pb isotopic compositions indicated that the bioaccumulation of Pb in fish come from a wide variety of food sources and/or exposure pathways, particularly the anthropogenic inputs.     

Environmentally Friendly Polyurethane Composites: Preparation, Characterization and Mechanical Properties

The waterborne polyurethane (PU) prepolymer was prepared based on isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), polyester polyol (N220), dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA) and hydroxyethyl methyl acrylate (HEMA). The modified waterborne polyurethane–acrylate (PUA) emulsions were obtained with different proportions of acrylate (butyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate) and initiating agent by in situ dispersion technique. The structures and thermal properties of prepared PU and PUA were analyzed and characterized with FT-IR, UV–Vis spectroscopy and DSC. The PUA hybrid samples had lower glass transition temperature of hard segment and higher decomposition temperatures than PU sample. Performances of the emulsion and film were studied by means of apparent viscidity, particle size and polydispersity, surface tension and mechanical properties. The results indicated that the particle sizes of the PUA dispersions were larger than those of the pure PU and the solvent resistance, mechanical properties of PUA films was improved compare with the unmodified polyurethane film. The film had the biggest hardness and the least water absorption when the BA/MMA mass ratio 5:5 modified PU. The obtained PUA have great potential application such as coatings, leather finishing, adhesives, sealants, plastic coatings and wood finishes.     

Inexact fuzzy-stochastic constraint-softened programming – A case study for waste management

In this study, an inexact fuzzy-stochastic constraint-softened programming method is developed for municipal solid waste (MSW) management under uncertainty. The developed method can deal with multiple uncertainties presented in terms of fuzzy sets, interval values and random variables. Moreover, a number of violation levels for the system constraints are allowed. This is realized through introduction of violation variables to soften system constraints, such that the model’s decision space can be expanded under demanding conditions. This can help generate a range of decision alternatives under various conditions, allowing in-depth analyses of tradeoffs among economic objective, satisfaction degree, and constraint-violation risk. The developed method is applied to a case study of planning a MSW management system. The uncertain and dynamic information can be incorporated within a multi-layer scenario tree; revised decisions are permitted in each time period based on the realized values of uncertain events. Solutions associated with different satisfaction degree levels have been generated, corresponding to different constraint-violation risks. They are useful for supporting decisions of waste flow allocation and system-capacity expansion within a multistage context.     

Occurrence of 222Rn, 226Ra, 228Ra and U in groundwater in Fujian Province, China

222Rn, 226Ra, 228Ra and U were determined in a total of 552 groundwater samples collected throughout Fujian Province of China. The geometric mean concentrations of 222Rn, 226Ra, 228Ra and total U in the groundwater were 147.8 kBq m-3, 12.7 Bq m-3, 30.2 Bq m-3 and 0.54 microgram kg-1, respectively. High groundwater 222Rn was explained by the predominantly granitic rock aquifers in Fujian. A lifetime risk of 1.7 x 10(-3) was estimated for the ingestion of groundwater 222Rn. High ratios of 228Ra to 226Ra contents (geometric mean of 2.4) and their disproportion suggest that 228Ra should also be measured in the assessment of population doses from drinking water in the regions of high rock or soil 232Th. No significant correlation between the 222Rn concentrations in groundwater and air was found.