Pseudomonas sp. ZXY-1, a newly isolated and highly efficient atrazine-degrading bacterium, and optimization of biodegradation using response surface methodology

Atrazine, a widely used herbicide, is increasing the agricultural production effectively, while also causing great environmental concern. Efficient atrazine-degrading bacterium is necessary to removal atrazine rapidly to keep a safe environment. In the present study, a new atrazine-degrading strain ZXY-1, identified as Pseudomonas, was isolated. This new isolated strain has a strong ability to biodegrade atrazine with a high efficiency of 9.09 mg/L/hr.Temperature, p H, inoculum size and initial atrazine concentration were examined to further optimize the degradation of atrazine, and the synthetic effect of these factors were investigated by the response surface methodology. With a high quadratic polynomial mathematical model(R~2= 0.9821) being obtained, the highest biodegradation efficiency of 19.03 mg/L/hr was reached compared to previous reports under the optimal conditions(30.71°C, pH 7.14, 4.23%(V/V) inoculum size and 157.1 mg/L initial atrazine concentration).Overall, this study provided an efficient bacterium and approach that could be potentially useful for the bioremediation of wastewater containing atrazine.     

响应面法优化复合微生物吸附剂对低浓度Cr3+的吸附

根据已有4种微生物吸附剂的吸附基团存在的差异特征,将其复配成复合吸附剂,借助统计学方法研究其对低ρ(Cr3+)废水的吸附性能.在单因素试验基础上,利用P-B(Plackett-Burman)法筛选出吸附过程4个主要影响因素分别为pH,初始ρ(Cr3+)及微生物吸附剂XB和TQ的投加量,应用最陡爬坡试验接近主要因素最优水平,采用Box-Behnken试验设计和响应面分析得到对低浓度Cr3+吸附过程的二阶模型.结果表明,最优吸附条件为pH 4.0,初始ρ(Cr3+)为4.86mg/L,XB和TQ的投加量分别为0.20和0.13 g/L,实际吸附率达到87.54%,与理论预测值(87.68%)接近,且高出单一吸附剂吸附率7.79%～17.35%.FT-IR扫描显示,复合微生物吸附剂性能提高与表面基团增多有关.通过响应面分析法优化复合微生物吸附,吸附性能明显提高.     

基于正交试验响应面法的烟气层概率分布计算

为计算随机参数下火灾烟气层温度和厚度的概率分布,该文提出了基于正交试验响应面的可靠度计算方法。通过正交试验表确定分析计算参数组,并借助火灾动力学分析软件计算不同参数组下烟气层的温度和厚度响应,进一步拟合出输入参数和输出参数的响应面函数,在此基础上结合验算点法计算烟气层温度和厚度的概率分布,算例分析表明该方法具有计算精度高、计算量小的特点。     

Climatic hazards warning process in Bangladesh: Experience of,and lessons from,the 1991 April cyclone

Science and technology cannot control entirely the causes of natural hazards. However, by using multifaceted programs to modify the physical and human use systems, the potential losses from disasters can effectively be minized. Predicting, identifying, monitoring, and forecasting extreme meteorological events are the preliminary actions towards mitigating the cyclone-loss potential of coastal inhabitants, but without the successful dissemination of forecasts and relevant information, and without appropriate responses by the potential victims, the loss potential would probably remain the same. This study examines the process through which warning of the impending disastrous cyclone of April 1991 was received by the local communities and disseminated throughout the coastal regions of Bangladesh. It is found that identification of the threatening condition due to atmospheric disturbance, monitoring of the hazard event, and dissemination of the cyclone warning were each very successful. However, due to a number of socioeconomic and cognitive factors, the reactions and responses of coastal inhabitants to the warning were in general passive, resulting in a colossal loss, both at the individual and national level. The study recommends that the hazard mitigation policies should be integrated with national economic development plans and programs. Specifically, it is suggested that, in order to attain its goals, the cyclone warning system should regard the aspects of human response to warnings as a constituent part and accommodate human dimensions in its operational design.     

Scientist and policy-maker response types and times in suburban watersheds

Differences between scientist and policy-maker response types and times, or the “how” and “when” of action, constrain effective water resource management in suburbanizing watersheds. Policy-makers are often rushed to find a single policy that can be applied across an entire, homogeneous, geopolitical region, whereas scientists undertake multiyear research projects to appreciate the complex interactions occurring within heterogeneous catchments. As a result, watershed management is often practiced with science and policy out of synch. Meanwhile, development pressures in suburban watersheds create changes in the social and physical fabric and pose a moving target for science and policy. Recent and anticipated advances in the scientific understanding of urbanized catchment hydrology and pollutant transport suggest that management should become increasingly sensitive to spatial heterogeneities in watershed features, such as soil types, terrain slopes, and seasonal watertable profiles. Toward this end, policy-makers should encourage funding scientific research that characterizes the impacts of these watershed heterogeneities within a geopolitical zoning and development framework.     

Analysis of underlying causes of investigated loss of containment incidents in Dutch Seveso plants using the Storybuilder method

In the Netherlands there are around 400 “Seveso” sites that fall under the Dutch Major Hazards Decree (BRZO) 1999. Between 2006 and 2010 the Dutch Labour Inspectorate's Directorate for Major Hazard Control completed investigations of 118 loss of containment incidents involving hazardous substances from this group. On the basis of investigation reports the incidents were entered in a tailor-made tool called Storybuilder developed for the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment for identifying the dominant patterns of technical safety barrier failures, barrier task failures and underlying management causes associated with the resulting loss of control events. The model is a bow-tie structure with six lines of defence, three on either side of the central loss of containment event. In the first line of defence, failures in the safety barriers leading to loss of control events were primarily equipment condition failures, pre start-up and safeguarding failures and process deviations such as pressure and flow failures. These deviations, which should have been recovered while still within the safe envelope of operation, were missed primarily because of inadequate indication signals that the deviations have occurred. Through failures of subsequent lines of defence they are developing into serious incidents. Overall, task failures are principally failures to provide adequate technical safety barriers and failures to operate provided barriers appropriately. Underlying management delivery failures were mainly found in equipment specifications and provisions, procedures and competence. The competence delivery system is especially important for identifying equipment condition, equipment isolation for maintenance, pre-start-up status and process deviations. Human errors associated with operating barriers were identified in fifty per cent of cases, were mostly mistakes and feature primarily in failure to prevent deviations and subsequently recover them. Loss of control associated with loss of containment was primarily due to the containment being bypassed (72% of incidents) and less to material strength failures (28%). Transfer pipework, connections in process plant and relief valves are the most frequent release points and the dominant release material is extremely flammable. It is concluded that the analysis of a large number of incidents in Storybuilder can support the quantification of underlying causes and provide evidence of where the weak points exist in major hazard control in the prevention of major accidents.     

Multi-response optimization of Fenton process for applicability assessment in landfill leachate treatment

Fenton process, as a pretreatment method, was found to be effective in the primary treatment of mature/medium landfill leachate. However, the main problem of the process is the large amount of produced sludge that requires an accurate feasibility evaluation for operational applications. In this study, the response surface methodology was applied for the modeling and optimization of Fenton process in three target responses, (1) overall COD removal, (2) sludge to iron ratio (SIR) and (3) organics removal to sludge ratio (ORSR), where the latter two were new self-defined responses for prediction of sludge generation and applicability assessment of the process, respectively. The effective variables included the initial pH, [H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] ratio and Fe²⁺ dosage. According to the statistical analysis, all the proposed models were adequate (with adjusted R² of 0.9116–0.9512) and had considerable predictive capability (with prediction R² up to 0.9092 and appropriate adequate precision). It was found that all the variables had significant effects on the responses, specifically by their observed role in dominant oxidation mechanism. The optimum operational conditions obtained by overlay plot, were found to be initial pH of 5.7, [H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] ratio of 17.72 and [Fe²⁺] of 195 mM, which led to 69% COD removal, 2.4 (l sludge/consumed mole Fe²⁺) of SIR and 16.5 (gCOD removed/l produced sludge) for ORSR in verification test, in accordance with models-predicted values. Finally, it was observed that [H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] ratio and Fe²⁺ dosage had significant influence on COD removal, while Fe²⁺ dosage and [H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] ratio had remarkable effects on SIR and ORSR responses, respectively.     

自动变光焊接护目镜响应特性测试仪研究

为制定变光焊接护目镜新产品专业标准提供支撑，进行了焊接弧光特性和变光焊接护目镜响应特性研究，解决了焊接弧光模拟、弧光信号检测、时间小信号检测等技术关键，研制了响应特性测试系统，并进行实测分析。便携式测试仪采用暗箱全封闭结构，能产生模拟的交直流弧焊信号，能检测10^-1～10^4lx照度的光信号并保持线性，能检测弧光作用下护目镜可见光透射比的整个变化过程，最大采样频率达30kHz，确保测试精度，能按响应时间定义进行记录和运算，测试接口具有通用性。     

响应面法优化养殖水体中炔雌醇的固相萃取条件

在单因素试验、Plackett-Burman设计试验基础上,采用Box-Behnken响应面法对养殖水体中炔雌醇(EE2)的固相萃取条件进行优化。结果表明,洗脱液体积、洗脱液组成和淋洗液体积是影响EE2固相萃取回收率的3个主要因素;EE2的最佳固相萃取条件为:水样pH值为3,进样流量为3.0 mL/min,淋洗液为体积分数为10%的甲醇水溶液,淋洗液体积7.0 mL,洗脱液为乙酸乙酯-正己烷混合溶液(体积比为9∶1),洗脱液体积12.0 mL。该条件下养殖水样中EE2固相萃取回收率为81.6%～86.7%。