Impact of urban stormwater runoff on estuarine environmental quality

Urban stormwater runoff could contribute to the deterioration of water quality of a receiving water body. In this research, field studies and laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the microbial contamination resulting from urban stormwater runoff into the Lake Pontchartrain estuary. Fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and enterococci were used as indicator organisms. The specific objectives of the research were to examine the distribution of the indicator organisms in different environmental elements (water column, suspended particles and sediment) and to further investigate the mechanisms related to their fate. Results of the research indicated satisfactory water quality at the study sites during dry weather periods. However, a significant increase was observed in the concentrations of the indicator organisms in the water columns and sediment at specific study sites following a given stormwater event. Three to seven days were needed for the elevated indicator organisms to return back to their background levels in the water column and sediment, respectively. The mechanism of sedimentation contributed to a reduction in the microbial concentration in the water column, as the indicator organisms were found to attach to the suspended particles in the stormwater. The percentage of fecal coliform, E. coli and enterococci attached to the suspended particles was found to be within the range of 9.8–27.5%, 21.8–30.4%, and 8.4–11.5% of the total indicator organisms in the stormwater loaded into the estuary, respectively. About 75–80% of the total indicator organisms remained free-floating for some distance in the water column before dying off.     

粉细砂地层防渗帷幕综合施工方法

四川省武都水库右岸EL574 m灌浆平洞揭露出厚度2.3～9.8 m的粉细砂层,普通水泥高压灌浆无法形成可靠的防渗帷幕。采用高压旋喷、湿磨细水泥、化学灌浆的组合处理方式,取得了较好的施工效果。通过钻孔压水、大功率声波CT、单孔声波、钻孔全景数字成像等方法检测,表明达到了设计防渗要求。     

Non-linear amplification of a magnetic field driven by cosmic ray streaming

One-, two- and three-dimensional numerical results of the non-linear interaction between cosmic rays and a magnetic field are presented. These show that cosmic ray streaming drives large-amplitude Alfvénic waves. The cosmic ray streaming energy is very efficiently transferred to the perturbed magnetic field of the Alfvén waves, and the non-linear time-scale of the growth of the waves is found to be very rapid, of the order of the gyro-period of the cosmic ray. Thus, a magnetic field of interstellar values, assumed in models of supernova remnant blast wave acceleration, would not be appropriate in the region of the shock. The increased magnetic field reduces the cosmic ray acceleration time and so increases the maximum cosmic ray energy, which may provide a simple and elegant resolution to the highest energy Galactic cosmic ray problem, where the cosmic rays themselves provide the fields necessary for their acceleration.     

Sediment and particulate phosphorus characteristics in grassed waterways from row crop corn and alfalfa fields collected by manual University of Exeter samplers and automatic sampling

Phosphorus (P) export from agricultural lands above known threshold levels can result in adverse impacts to receiving water quality. Phosphorus loss occurs in dissolved and sediment‐bound, or particulate phosphorous (PP), forms, with the latter often dominating losses from row‐cropped systems. To target practices, land managers need good computer models and model developers need good monitoring data. Sediment monitoring data (e.g. radiometric finger printing and sediment P sorption capacity) can help identify sediment source areas and improve models, but require more sediment mass than is typically obtained by automatic sampling. This study compares a simple suspended sediment sampler developed at the University of Exeter (UE) with automatic sampling in intermittent channels draining corn and alfalfa fields. The corn field had a greater runoff coefficient (27%) than alfalfa (11%). No differences were found in enrichment ratios (sediment constituent/soil constituent) in PP (PP_ER) or percent loss on ignition (LOI_ER) between paired UE samplers on corn. The median LOI_ER for the UE samplers (1·9%) did not differ significantly (p > 0·13) from the automatic sampler (2·0%). The PP_ER from the UE samplers was on average 20% lower than the automatic samplers. A correlation (r² = 0·75) was found between sediment PP and % LOI from automatic samplers and UE samplers for particles < 50 µm, while for > 50 µm PP concentration did not change with changes in % LOI. Sediment ammonium‐oxalate extractable metals were similarly related to LOI, with the strongest correlation for iron (r² = 0·71) and magnesium (r² = 0·70). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

11颗行星际尘粒中的锂,硼同位素丰度分析

我们首次测量了4颗行星际尘粒(IDPs)中的~6Li/~7Li,~(10)B/~(11)B。它们的平均值分别是(8.40±0.37)×10~(-2)和(2.40±0.18)×10~(-2),随后又精确测量了7颗IDPs~6Li/Li的同位素丰度。     

The Photon Mean Free Path Sphere, The Minimum Energy, and the Masses of the Main Elementary Particles

The photon mean free path sphere has several properties that strongly correlate with characteristics of the observable universe. This apparent connection led to a set of equations that were recently used to derive the values of the main cosmological parameters. It also leads, via an expression for the minimum energy, to an equation relating the mass of the proton to the mass of the electron.     

Pair emission from bare magnetized strange stars

The dominant emission from bare strange stars is thought to be electron–positron pairs, produced through spontaneous pair creation (SPC) in a surface layer of electrons tied to the star by a superstrong electric field. The positrons escape freely, but the electrons are directed towards the star and quickly fill all available states, such that their degeneracy suppresses further SPC. An electron must be reflected and gain energy in order to escape, along with the positron. Each escaping electron leaves a hole that is immediately filled by another electron through SPC. We discuss the collisional processes that produce escaping electrons. When the Landau quantization of the motion perpendicular to the magnetic field is taken into account, electron–electron collisions can lead to an escaping electron only through a multistage process involving higher Landau levels. Although the available estimates of the collision rate are deficient in several ways, it appears that the rate is too low for electron–electron collisions to be effective. A simple kinetic model for electron–quark collisions leads to an estimate of the rate of pair production that is analogous to thermionic emission, but the work function is poorly determined.     

The Influence of Ion-Acoustic Turbulence on the Electron Acceleration in the Reconnecting Current Sheet

Through solving the single electron equation of motion and the Fokker-Planck equation including the terms of electric field strength and ion-acoustic turbulence, we study the influence of the ion-acoustic wave on the electron acceleration in turbulent reconnecting current sheets. It is shown that the ion-acoustic turbulence which causes plasma heating rather than particle acceleration should be considered. With typical parameter values, the acceleration time scale is around the order of 10^-6 s, the accelerated electrons may have approximately a power-law distribution in the energy range 20 ～100 keV and the spectral index is about 3～10, which is basically consistent with the observed hard X-ray spectra in solar flares.     

Shock surfing acceleration

Analytical and numerical analysis identify shock surfing acceleration as an ideal pre-energization mechanism for the slow pick-up ions at quasiperpendicular shocks. After gaining sufficient energy by shock surfing, pick-up ions undergo diffusive acceleration to reach their observed energies. Energetic ions upstream of the cometary bow shock, acceleration of solar energetic particles by magnetosonic waves in corona, ion enhancement in interplanetary shocks, generation of anomalous cosmic rays from interstellar pick-up ions at the termination shock are some of the cases where shock surfing acceleration apply. Inclusion of the lower-hybrid wave turbulence into the laminar model of shock surfing can explain the preferential acceleration of heavier particles as observed by Voyager at the termination shock. At relativistic energies, unlimited acceleration of ions is theoretically possible; because for sufficiently strong shocks main limitation of the mechanism, caused by the escape of accelerated particles downstream of the shock during acceleration no longer exists.