Cumulative impact assessment in environmental planning: A coastal wetland watershed example

Several theoretical, analytical, and institutional difficulties have impeded the development and application of the assessment of cumulative environmental impacts. Watershed development on coastal wetlands offers an ideal context for evaluating the land disturbance target approach to cumulative impact assessment. A model land use planning system involving a time series approach was developed for Elkhorn Slough in California. The approach included four major components: evaluation of erosion susceptibility, measurement of land disturbance, establishment of a land disturbance target, and a comparison of existing and target land disturbance values. Further research is needed to test the transferability of the approach in a wide range of coastal watersheds and to verify the applicability of the methods to other cumulative impact problems.     

Maternal Serum CA 125 for aneuploidy detection in early pregnancy

Maternal serum CA 125 levels were determined at 9–11 menstrual weeks for 26 cases of trisomy 13 (n = 4), trisomy 18 (n = 7), trisomy 21 (n = 15), and appropriate controls. There were no statistically significant differences between groups.     

Second-trimester cancer antigen 125 and Down's syndrome

This study explores if assay of cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) in maternal serum might aid the detection of Down's syndrome in the second trimester of pregnancy. CA 125 levels were determined retrospectively in stored maternal serum samples from ten Down's syndrome pregnancies and 78 controls matched for gestational and maternal age. In addition, second-trimester amniotic fluid samples from nine Down's syndrome and 109 unaffected pregnancies were analysed for CA 125. Maternal serum CA 125 values for Down's syndrome pregnancies were lower, with the median being 0.72 multiples of the unaffected population median. The medians for affected and unaffected pregnancies did not differ significantly and there was a considerable overlap in the range of values of cases and controls. The distribution of amniotic fluid CA 125 levels for Down's syndrome pregnancies resembled that for controls. From our present results, we could not find an association between Down's syndrome and second-trimester maternal serum or amniotic fluid CA 125 levels.     

β-环糊精/醋酸纤维素纳米纤维的制备及对染料废水的处理

制备了不同β-环糊精(β-CD)含量的醋酸纤维素(CA)纳米纤维膜,并对纤维膜的结构形貌、尺寸分布、孔隙率、比表面积以及纤维膜的力学性能进行表征分析。随后研究了不同β-CD含量、初始浓度、吸附时间下,纳米纤维膜对甲基红染料的截留性能和吸附性能。结果表明:过量(≥30%)的β-环糊精会使纳米纤维产生珠节,纤维的形貌和力学性能变差;吸附试验表明,β-CD的加入提高了CA纳米纤维膜对染料的吸附,MR吸附率可达93.48%,最大平衡吸附量可达181.74 mg/g,比纯CA纳米纤维膜提高了将近40%;此外,染料的截留实验表明,纳米纤维膜对染料的截留效果较差,最大截留率为50.35%。     

温度对细菌碳酸酐酶催化碳酸钙沉积的影响

碳酸钙(CaCO3)沉积不仅在许多地质过程中起重要作用,而且在石刻文物和石质建筑物的修复以及环境治理等方面也有应用。CaCO3沉积过程在自然条件下极为缓慢,在CaCO3-H2O-CO2反应体系中CO2+H2OHCO3-+H+为限速步骤,可以利用生物催化剂来加速这一反应的进行。碳酸酐酶(Carbonic anhydrase,CA)是一种以锌为活性中心的金属酶,可以高效催化上述反应的进行,并在CaCO3沉积中具有显著促进作用。本文采用气体扩散体系,研究温度对典型细菌CA催化CaCO3沉积的速率及晶型晶貌的影响。结果表明,在实验温度(5～55℃)条件下,30℃时细菌CA催化沉积CaCO3的速率最快,而5℃时的沉积速率最慢,而且,温度会影响细菌CA催化形成的CaCO3晶体的大小和形貌。     

Review of the remediation strategies for soil water repellency

Many regions of the world are predicted to experience water scarcity due to more frequent and more severe droughts and increased water demands. Water use efficiency by plants can be negatively affected by soil water repellency (SWR). It is timely to review existing techniques to remedy SWR. Ideally remediation addresses the origins of a problem. However, the fundamental mechanisms of how and why SWR develops are still poorly understood. In this review it was hypothesized that SWR occurs where the balance of input-decomposition of organic matter is impaired, due to either increased input or decreased decomposition rates of hydrophobic substances. Direct and indirect strategies to remedy SWR were distinguished. While direct remediation aims at abolishing the causes of SWR, indirect strategies seek to manage sites with SWR by treating its symptoms. The 12 reviewed strategies include applying surfactants, clay, slow-release fertilizers, lime, and fungicides, bioremediation of SWR through stimulating earthworms, choosing adapted vegetation, irrigation, cultivation, soil aeration and compaction. Some of the techniques have been applied successfully only in laboratory experiments. Our review highlights that it is not straightforward to cure SWR based on easily measurable and site-specific soil and vegetation properties, and that long-term, large-scale field experiments are required to improve the understanding of the evolution of SWR as cornerstone to develop cost-effective and efficient remediation strategies. We also identified current research gaps around the diagnosis and prevention of SWR.     

Comparative Metal Distribution in Hair of Pakistani and Libyan Population and Source Identification by Multivariate Analysis

Using nitric acid-perchloric acid wet digestion based FAAS method ten selected metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Fe, K, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb and Zn) were determined in the scalp hair of male Pakistani and Libyan donors (n = 62), between 3–54 years age and residing in typical urban areas. The study was taken up to identify sources of metal distribution in two diverse population segments exposed to different environments. Sodium emerged with the highest mean hair concentration of 511.0 μg/g and 496.9 μg/g for Libyan and Pakistani donors respectively, followed by K, at 266.2 μg/g and 242.4 μg/g for the two donor categories. Cadmium showed the lowest mean hair concentration for both Pakistani (0.380 μg/g) and Libyan (0.530 μg/g) donors. Levels of Na, K, Pb, Cr and Cd were higher in hair of Libyan donors compared with Pakistani counterparts which showed higher comparative levels of Zn, Fe, Co, Ni and Mn. Strong metal-to-metal correlations were found between Na–K (r = 0.638) and Cd–Co (r = 0.574) for Pakistani donors, while for Libyan donors, Na–K (r = 0.680) and Fe–Mn (r = 0.624) correlations emerged as strongly significant. Only K was found to have a strong positive correlation (r = 0.611) with age for Pakistani donors while this correlation was significantly negative (r = −0.500) for Libyan donors, probably arising from individual food habits. Other metals showed no viable relationship with age. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) of the data evidenced food, industrial emissions and automobile emissions as possible sources of metal distribution. The results of the present study are compared with those reported for subjects from other regions of the world.     

柠檬酸对褐土中DTPA提取态铜、镉含量及对紫花苜蓿吸收铜、镉的影响

为了阐述有机酸对土壤中重金属生物有效性的影响,通过盆栽实验,研究了Cu、Cd复合污染下柠檬酸对褐土中二乙基三胺五乙酸(DTPA)提取态铜和镉含量的影响,并探讨了柠檬酸对植物吸收铜、镉的影响。结果表明,土壤中DT-PA-Cu含量随柠檬酸添加量的增加而减小,添加高浓度铜(Cu 1 000)处理中,DTPA-Cu含量减小更明显。在添加低铜浓度(Cu600)处理下,柠檬酸添加量为2和12 mmol/kg时,土壤DTPA-Cu含量随土壤镉含量的增加而增加,而柠檬酸含量为5mmol/kg时,DTPA-Cu含量在低镉处理(Cd 1)时含量最低。紫花苜蓿中铜含量随柠檬酸添加量的增加明显降低。土壤中DTPA-Cd含量随柠檬酸添加量的增加而减小,且随铜添加量的增加而降低。紫花苜蓿中的镉含量随柠檬酸添加量的增加先增加后减小;在相同柠檬酸添加量处理时,紫花苜蓿中镉的含量随镉含量的增加而增加;在低镉处理下,铜的加入对较低柠檬酸浓度时紫花苜蓿镉含量影响不明显,但柠檬酸浓度为12 mmol/kg时,紫花苜蓿中镉含量随铜添加量的增加而明显增加。     

基于证书权威(CA)中心的时间戳服务系统的实现

介绍了数字签名不具有抗抵赖的问题 ,以及数据抗抵赖在信息安全中的重要性。在对原有的时间戳协议缺乏可靠的身份认证和可信性分析后 ,提出了一种新的基于证书权威 (CA)中心的时间戳服务协议。利用CA中心的信任原理和数字证书的身份认证作用 ,使提供时间戳服务的服务方具备了可靠的身份鉴别和可信性。并利用XML标记对时间戳的数据内容进行描述 ,形成简单、直观的时间戳 ,且无需复杂的编解码过程。通过正确和可信的时间戳可以判定用户数据产生的时间 ,防止用户事后的抵赖行为 ,为网络应用提供更为安全的数据。     

包埋类脂的吸附剂制备及吸附POPs性能

用丙酮作溶剂将三油酸甘油酯分散到醋酸纤维(CA)基体中,采用悬浮聚合的方法制备出了一种兼具亲水性,又能高倍富集持久性有机污染物的球形复合吸附剂。通过对分散剂的种类及其用量、悬浮介质的种类及其用量的研究,获得了球形复合吸附剂的最佳合成路线与工艺.球形吸附剂粒径为1～2mm。通过荧光分析和电镜扫描分析,表明三油酸甘油酯已被包埋到醋酸纤维基体中,并得到了均匀分散。采用七氯、狄氏剂、异狄氏剂、灭蚁灵为代表性的持久性有机污染物(POPs)。动力学吸附实验表明,当初始浓度为1μg/L时,在快速吸附阶段,溶液中80%的氯、狄氏剂、异狄氏剂可得到有效去除,但并没有达到吸附平衡。快速吸附完后,还在持续地进行慢速吸附。而对于灭蚁灵,吸附速度远远低于其他几种POPs。实验证明了吸附速度不仅与辛醇/水系数有关,而且还与有机污染物的分子结构有关。