Fate of secondary effluent dissolved organic matter during soil-aquifer treatment

The reduction of mass and trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and its fractions from secondary effluent during laboratory-scale soil-aquifer treatment (SAT) soil columns were studied. Reduction in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), absorbance of ultraviolet light at 254 nm (UV-254), biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) and nonbiodegradable dis- solved organic carbon (NBDOC) for the bulk DOM averaged 72.35%, 53.98%, 97.49% and 35.33% across the soil columns, respectively. Using XAD-8 and XAD-4 resins, DOM was fractionated into 3 fractions: hydrophobic acid (HPO-A), transphilic acid (TPI-A) and hydrophilic fraction (HPI). HPO-A was removed by 61.06%, TPI-A by 54.86% and HPI by 74.95% as DOC as a consequence of the laboratory-scale SAT, respectively. The reduction of THMFP from HPO-A, TPI-A and HPI was 27.24%, 26.24% and 36.08%, respectively. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectra revealed that the HPO-A isolated from the secondary effluent contained more aromatic functional groups than the corresponding TPI-A. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum analysis illustrated that TPI-A had decreased hydrocarbon and increased aromatics content in the SAT columns. Specific ultraviolet light absorbance (SUVA) and specific THMFP for each DOM fraction increased across the soil columns and HPI exhibited greater increase in both than HPO-A and TPI-A. The most problematic THM precursor was found to be HPO-A with its high quantity present in recharged water and high chlorine reactivity.     

A new method to calculate monthly CO emissions using MOPITT satellite data

A new method is developed to calculate monthly CO emission data using MOZART modeled and MOPITT observed CO data in 2004. New CO emission data were obtained with budget analysis of the processes controlling CO concentration such as surface emission, transport, chemical transform and dry deposition. MOPITT data were used to constrain the model simulation. New CO emission data agree well with Horowitz’s emissions in the spatial distributions. Horowitz’s emissions are found to underes- timate CO emissions significantly in the industrial areas of Asia and North America, where high CO emissions are mainly due to the anthropogenic activities. New CO emissions can better reflect the more recent CO actual emissions than Horowitz’s.     

Effects of historical land cover changes on climate

In order to explore the influence of anthropogenic land use on the climate system during the last mil- lennium, a set of experiments is performed with an Earth system model of intermediate complexity—— the McGill Paleoclimate Model (MPM-2). The present paper mainly focuses on biogeophysical effects of historical land cover changes. A dynamic scenario of deforestation is described based on changes in cropland fraction (RF99). The model simulates a decrease in global mean annual temperature in the range of 0.09-0.16℃, especially 0.14-0.22℃ in Northern Hemisphere during the last 300 years. The responses of climate system to GHGs concentration changes are also calculated for comparisons. Now, afforestation is becoming an important choice for the enhancement of terrestrial carbon sequestration and adjustment of regional climate. The results indicate that biogeophysical effects of land cover changes cannot be neglected in the assessments of climate change.     

Studies on molecular interactions between puerarin and PC liposomes

Fluorescence emission spectra, FTIR spectra, zeta potential measurements, and ab initio quantum calculation are used to study the interaction between puerarin and membranes composed of egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposome. The hydrophobic interactions cause the puerarin molecule to partition into lipid bilayers with its B-ring, and favor the displacement of acid-base equilibrium of puerarin towards the base form. Due to the hydrogen bond formation between the puerarin hydroxyl groups and polar groups of PC molecules on the water/membrane interface, puerarin can easily intercalate into the organized structure of phospholipids and modulate the membrane function. Our results reveal that the liposome membrane integrity is significantly higher compared with that of empty liposome.     

Formation of ζ phase in Cu-Ge peritectic alloys

Rapid growth behavior of ζ phase has been investigated in the undercooling experiments of Cu-14%Ge, Cu-15%Ge, Cu-18.5%Ge and Cu-22%Ge alloys. Alloys of the four compositions obtain the maximum undercoolings of 202 K（0.17TL）, 245 K（0.20TL）, 223 K（0.20TL） and 176 K（0.17TL）, respectively. As the content of Ge increases, the microstructural transition of ＂a（Cu） dendrite ＋ ζ＂ peritectic phase → ζ＂ peritectic phase →, ζ dendrite ＋ （ε＋ζ） eutectic＂ takes place in the alloy at small undercooling, while the microstructural transition of ＂fragmented α （Cu）dendrite ＋ ζ peritectic phase →, ζ peritectic phase →ζ dendrite ＋ ε phase＂ happens in the alloy at large undercooling. EDS analysis of the Ge content in peritectic phase indicates that undercooling enlarges the solid solubility of ζ rdendrite, which leads to a decrease in the Ge content in ζ phase as undercooling increases. In the Cu-18.5%Ge alloy composed of ζ peritectic phase, the Ge content in ζ phase increases when undercooling increases, which is due to the restraint of the Ge enrichment on the grain boundaries by high undercooling effect.     

Impact of dissolved humic acid on the bioavailability of acenaphthene and chrysene assessed by membrane-based passive samplers

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is known to reduce the bioavailability of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in aqueous environments. This reduction occurs as a result of adsorption to DOC, apparently reducing the freely dissolved concentration of HOCs. In the present study, triolein-embedded cellulose acetate membrane (TECAM) and Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were used to measure the uptake of acenaphthene and chrysene in the presence of commercial humic acid (HA) at different concentrations (0―15 mg C·L-1) under controlled laboratory conditions. Apparent uptake rate constants for PAHs in TECAM and medaka were compared and DOC-water partition coefficients (KDOCs) of two PAHs were calculated with different sampling methods by model fit. Results showed that HA present in water significantly reduced the uptake of PAHs in TECAM and medaka. The obtained values of log KDOC of acenaphthene and chrysene measured by TECAM were 4.63 and 5.83, respectively, whereas biologically determined values were 4.52 and 5.76, respectively. These log KDOC values were comparable to earlier published KDOCs toward commercial HA, thereby indicating that TECAM accumulated only the freely dissolved fraction of chemicals and uptake PAHs in a manner similar to that of fish. All these results suggested that the TECAM method can provide a good means for assessing the impact of DOC on bioavailability of PAHs in the aqueous environment.     

Scanning for sisnatures of geosraphically restricted selection based on population genomics analysis

Natural selection, as the driving force of human evolution, has direct impact on population differentiation. However, it is still unclear to what extent the genetic differentiation has been caused by natural selection. To explore this question, we performed a genome-wide scan with single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） data from the International HapMap Project. Single locus FsTanalysis was applied to assess the frequency difference among populations in autosomes. Based on the empirical distribution of FsT, we identified 12669 SNPs correlating to population differentiation and 1853 candidate genes subjected to geographic restricted natural selection. Further interpretation of gene ontogeny revealed 121 categories of biological process with the enrichments of candidate genes. Our results suggest that natural selection may play an important role in human population differentiation. In addition, our analysis provides new clues as well as research methods for our understanding of population differentiation and natural selection.     

Impacts of climate warming on heating energy consumption and southern boundaries of severe cold and cold regions in China

Impacts of climate warming on heating energy consumption and southern boundaries of severe cold and cold regions of China in the past 20 years are analyzed by using daily and monthly average tem- perature data from 590 weather stations in China and based on regulations of Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning Design Rules (GB50019-2003) and Thermal Design Rules for Civil Building (GB50175-93) (China National Standard). The contribution of climate warming to coal saving for heating during cold seasons in major cities is calculated according to indices of coal consumption for heating in major cities during cold seasons defined in Energy Conservation Design Standard for New Heating Residential Buildings (JCJ26-95). Comparing with the period before 1980, southern boundaries of se- vere cold and cold regions shift toward north up to 2 degrees in latitude since the mid-1980s. Theo- retically, climate warming could contribute to 5%―10% coal savings for heating since the mid-1980s in major cities, and even more since the mid-1990s.     

Dialdehyde starch nanoparticles： Preparation and application in drub carrier

Dialdehyde starch nanoparticles (DASNP) were prepared by the redox reaction of NaIO4 and starch in water-in-oil microemulsion. IR spectrum showed that DASNP had aldehyde groups, and quantitative alkali consumption showed that its dialdehyde content was about (50±5)%. The average diameter of DASNP determined by SEM was about 100 nm. TGA-DTA showed that its thermal stability was better than starch nanoparticle (StNP) and dialdehyde starch (DAS). Its low biological toxicity was detected by cell experiment. Also the best mass ratio of doxorubicin (DOX) to combined DASNP detected by UV-VIS was 15 : 1, and the product was effective for controlled release of DOX. The cell experiment showed that the drug-carrier particle (DOX-DASNP) can release DOX for a long time and strengthened the effect of the anticancer drug. This work demonstrates that the DASNP, which has good thermal stability, small particle size, low biological toxicity, and slowly anticancer drug-releasing to strengthen drug effect, is a potentially useful carrier for anticancer drug.     

Comparing the biological coherence of network clusters identified by different detection algorithms

Protein-protein interaction networks serve to carry out basic molecular activity in the cell. Detecting the modular structures from the protein-protein interaction network is important for understanding the organization, function and dynamics of a biological system. In order to identify functional neighbor- hoods based on network topology, many network cluster identification algorithms have been devel- oped. However, each algorithm might dissect a network from a different aspect and may provide dif- ferent insight on the network partition. In order to objectively evaluate the performance of four com- monly used cluster detection algorithms: molecular complex detection (MCODE), NetworkBlast, shortest-distance clustering (SDC) and Girvan-Newman (G-N) algorithm, we compared the biological coherence of the network clusters found by these algorithms through a uniform evaluation framework. Each algorithm was utilized to find network clusters in two different protein-protein interaction net- works with various parameters. Comparison of the resulting network clusters indicates that clusters found by MCODE and SDC are of higher biological coherence than those by NetworkBlast and G-N algorithm.