Sep 2009, Volume 3 Issue 3
    

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  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Peng TIAN, Yingxia LI, Zhifeng YANG

    Concentration and mass loadings of heavy metals adsorbed on sediment from an urban road surface in Beijing were investigated. The buildup and washoff processes are discussed. Results showed that masses of sediments smaller than 500 μm in diameter varied from 11.2 to 25.5 g/m2. On average, sediments smaller than 125?μm accounted for 42.9% of sediments smaller than 500 μm in mass. Cd, Cr, Cu, and Ni were more likely to attach to smaller sediments than bigger ones, compared to Pb and Zn. Mass loading of the sediments generally increased with antecedent dry periods, but the linear relationship was better for smaller sediments than for bigger ones. Heavy metal concentrations adsorbed on sediments with diameter less than 40?μm generally decreased more obviously than those adsorbed on bigger ones after rainfall events.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Gang YAN, Li LI, Bin CHEN

    With rapid urbanization and heavy industrialization as well as the rapid increase of cars in China, the effect of energy consumption on urban air environment is increasingly becoming serious, and has become a hot topic for both scholars and decision-makers. This paper explores the effect mechanism and regulation of urban energy consumption on the air environment, and summarizes the framework of the stress effect relationship and the evolutionary process. In accordance with the effect relationship of the internal factors between the two, analytic approaches studying the stress effect of urban energy consumption on air environment are proposed, including the analysis of air environment effects caused by urban energy consumption structure change, and the analysis of air environment effects caused by urban energy economic efficiency change, as well as a decomposition analysis of air pollutant emission caused by urban energy consumption. Applying the above-mentioned approaches into a case study on Beijing City, this paper analyzes the effect relationship among urban energy consumption structure improvement, energy economic efficiency increase and air quality change since the period when Beijing City officially proposed to bid for the 2008 Olympic Games in 1998. In addition, it further analyzes the effect and contribution of urban industrial activity level, industrial economic structure, industrial energy intensity, and industrial energy structure as well as emission coefficients on the change in industrial SO2 emission, which can provide valuable information to the government for making comprehensive environmental policies, with the use of the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. It is shown that under the precondition that the industrial economy maintain a continuous and rapid increase, improvements in energy intensity and a decline in emission coefficients are the main means for reducing Beijing’s industrial SO2 emissions.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Jianguo BAO, Hui LIU, Yanxin WANG, Lijun ZHANG

    An enhanced start-up of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor for diosgenin wastewater treatment was designed and experimentally tested. Granular sludge was formed on day 35 in the reactor with high concentrations of chloride (4000-7000 mg/L) and COD (5000-13000 mg/L) as substrate. A new model for the granulation was proposed which divides the formation of anaerobic granules into six consecutive stages; they include semi-embryonic granule formation, embryonic granule formation, single-nucleus granule formation, multi-nuclei granule formation, granule growth and granule maturation. A model of the granule structure was also proposed based on scanning electron microscope observation. The microspores occurring on the surface and further leading into the interior of the granules were considered as the channels and the passage of the materials and the products of the microorganisms’ metabolism inside the granules.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Peng ZHANG, Jun YANG, Chaohua DONG, Naimeng LU, Zhongdong YANG, Jinmin SHI

    Fengyun 3 series are the second-generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellites of China. The first satellite of Fengyun 3 series, FY-3A, is a research and development satellite with 11 payloads onboard. FY-3A was launched successfully at 11 a.m. on May 27, 2008. Since the launch, FY-3A data have been applied to the services on the flood season and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In this paper, the platform, payloads, and ground segment designs are introduced. Some typical images during the on-orbit commission test are rendered. Improvements of FY-3A on Earth observations are summarized at the end by comparing them with FY-1D, the last satellite of Fengyun 1 series.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Changqing YAO, Zhifeng YANG

    Due to the multiplicity of factors including weather, the underlying surface and human activities, the complexity of parameter optimization for a distributed hydrological model of a watershed land surface goes far beyond the capability of traditional optimization methods. The genetic algorithm is a new attempt to find a solution to this problem. A genetic algorithm design on the Distributed-Hydrology-Soil-Vegetation model (DHSVM) parameter optimization is illustrated in this paper by defining the encoding method, designing the fitness value function, devising the genetic operators, selecting the arithmetic parameters and identifying the arithmetic termination conditions. Finally, a case study of the optimization method is implemented on the Lushi Watershed of the Yellow River Basin and achieves satisfactory results of parameter estimation. The result shows that the genetic algorithm is feasible in optimizing parameters of the DHSVM model.