Characteristics, threats and opportunities of landfill scavenging: The case of Gaborone-Botswana

In Gaborone, as in other large cities in the developing world, individuals try to make a living by engaging in novel occupations such as landfill scavenging. This paper reports on a research conducted in the Gaborone landfill, the largest in Botswana. The study content-analyzed available literature from other countries. It also relied mainly on direct field observations. The discussions on and answers to closed and interview schedules by stakeholders, affected- and- interested – persons, provided the information on the threats and opportunities related to the landfill site and its informal management activities. This on-going case study lends credence to the potential of scavenging in sustaining livelihoods among those who cannot secure employment in the formal urban market. Scavenging tends to be useful although it may hazardous to the informal entrepreneurs. Taking all the threats into consideration, the decommissioning and closure of the landfill seems inevitable, in spite of the apparent short-term livelihood opportunities it provides to the informal sector.     

Study on the Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Sea Cucumber(Paracaudina chinens var.) Gelatin Hydrolysate

Gelatin from the sea cucumber(Paracaudina chinens var.) was hydrolyzed by bromelain and the hydrolysate was found to have a high free radical scavenging activity. The hydrolysate was fractionated through an ultrafiltration membrane with 5 kDa molecular weight cutoff(MWCO). The portion(less than 5 kDa) was further separated by Sephadex G-25. The active peak was col-lected and assayed for free radical scavenging activity. The scavenging rates for superoxide anion radicals(O2·-) and hydroxyl radi-cals(·OH) of the fraction with the highest activity were 29.02% and 75.41%,respectively. A rabbit liver mitochondrial free radical damage model was adopted to study the free radical scavenging activity of the fraction. The results showed that the sea cucumber gelatin hydrolysate can prevent the damage of rabbit liver and mitochondria.     

A numerical model of the partitioning of trace chemical solutes during drop freezing

Partitioning of volatile chemicals among the gas, liquid, and solid phases during freezing of liquid water in clouds can impact trace chemical distributions in the troposphere and in precipitation. We describe here a numerical model of this partitioning during the freezing of a supercooled liquid drop. Our model includes the time-dependent calculation of the coupled processes of crystallization kinetics, heat transport, and solute mass transport, for a freezing hydrometeor particle. We demonstrate the model for tracer partitioning during the freezing of a 1000 μm radius drop on a 100 μm ice substrate, under a few ambient condition scenarios. The model effectively simulates particle freezing and solute transport, yielding results that are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with previous experimental and theoretical work. Results suggest that the ice shell formation time is governed by heat loss to air and not by dendrite propagation, and that the location of ice nucleation is not important to freezing times or the effective partitioning of chemical solutes. Even for the case of nucleation at the center of the drop, we found that dendrites propagated rapidly to form surface ice. Freezing then proceeded from the outside in. Results also indicate that the solid-liquid interfacial surface area is not important to freezing times or the effective partitioning of chemical solutes, and that the rate aspects of trapping are more important than equilibrium solid-liquid partitioning to the effective partitioning resulting from freezing.     

Determination of the Tropospheric Hydroxyl Radical by Liquidphase Scrubbing and HPLC: Preliminary Results

A preliminary study was carried out toexamine the feasibility of measuring tropospherichydroxyl radicals (OH) by liquidphase scrubbing andhigh performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Thepotential advantages of this approach are itssimplicity, portability, and low expense. Thesampling system employs glass bubblers to trapatmospheric OH into a buffered solution of salicylicacid (o-hydroxybenzoic acid, OHBA). Rapidreaction of OH with OHBA produces a stable fluorescentproduct, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,5-DHBA), whichis determined by reverse-phase HPLC and fluorescencedetection. Our preliminary field results indicatethat this method is most suitable for OH measurementsin clean tropospheric air, where interferences fromother atmospheric species appear to be negligible orminor relative to polluted air. In clean air, thesampling period is about 45–90 minutes, which yieldsa detection limit of approximately 3–6 ×10⁵ radicalscm^-3. During an OHintercomparison experiment at the Caribou samplingsite in Colorado, our liquidphase scrubber method wascompared with the ion-assisted mass spectrometry (MS)method. Our results were within the same range asthose of the ion-assisted MS method (1–5 ×10⁶ radicals cm^-3) within our precision atthat time (about ±30–50%). Preliminary testsin Pullman, WA indicated that the method might alsofunction in moderately polluted air by acidifying thescrubbing solution or by adding a scavenger tosuppress interferences. In Pullman, mid-day OHconcentrations were usually in the range of 2–20 ×10⁶ radicals cm^-3. Nighttime OHconcentrations were always low, either at or slightlyabove the detection limit.     

区域酸性沉降的数值研究 I. 模式

建立了一个三维时变的欧拉型区域酸性污染物沉降模式，模式包括源排放、平流输送、湍流扩散、干沉积、气相化学、液相化学及湿清除等六大部分。考虑到计算条件的承受能力和应用性的要求，在把握酸沉降形成的关键过程的前提下，合理地简化设计模式。相对于国内已有的工作，本模式在干沉积、气相化学、液相化学和湿清除等方面均有所改进。     

The influence of aerosol particle composition on cloud droplet formation

A difference in partitioning between cloud droplets and interstitial air for two chemical species (elemental carbon and sulphur) with different expected behaviour in nucleation scavenging was observed in clouds at Mt. Kleiner Feldberg (825 m asl), near Frankfurt, Germany. The fraction of sulphur incorporated in cloud droplets was always higher than the fraction of elemental carbon. This difference in partitioning has also been observed in fog but under different pollution conditions in the Po Valley, Italy. Both these studies were based on bulk samples. In the present study at Kleiner Feldberg, impactor samples of the particles in the interstitial air and the cloud droplet residuals were taken and a single particle analysis was done on the samples. It was found that, for a given particle size, the majority of particles forming cloud droplets were soluble and that insoluble particles preferentially remained in the interstitial air.     

The “Zero-order Model” revisited: Paul Schindler's influence on the development of trace metal scavenging models

In 1975 Paul Schindler produced the first oceanic trace metal scavenging model to explicitly include the role of surface chemistry as a control on trace metal water column residence times. The eighteen years that have elapsed since the publication of Schindler's seminal paper have seen the development of a variety of oceanic scavenging models; yet, the fundamental insight of his Zero-order Model remains the benchmark. This paper describes the role of Paul Schindler's work on surface chemistry in providing a framework for the current generation of trace element scavenging models.     

Absorption and desorption of dichloromethane vapor by water drops in air. An experimental test of scavenging theory

An experimental study of the scavenging of dichloromethane vapor by water drops falling at terminal velocity, has been carried out in the UCLA precipitation shaft, in order to test the predictions of theoretical washout models. Whereas good agreement between theory and experiment was found for drops of radius 0.332 mm, computed gas uptake rates for 1.253 and 2.21 mm radius drops were much slower than those measured, just as reported previously for the washout of both sulfur dioxide and acetaldehyde. An analysis shows that theory can be reconciled with all of the experimental data by replacing the compound specific aqueous phase Fickian molecular diffusion coefficient used in the theory, by an effective diffusivity, having a constant value, (3×10^-4 cm² s^-1), independent of the physical and chemical nature of the absorbed species, for all drops of equivalent radii greater than 0.9 mm.     

NUMERICAL MODELING OF CUMULUS CLOUD CHEMISTRY—PART Ⅰ.MODEL DEVELOPMENT

A one-dimensional cumulus cloud chemistry model(1CCCM)is developed to simulate cloudphysical processes and chemical processes during the evolution of a convective cloud.The cloudphysical submodel includes a detailed microphysical parameterized scheme of 20 processes.Thechemistry submodel is composed of three parts:gas phase chemistry,aqueous phase chemistry andscavenging of soluble gases.The gas phase reaction mechanism contains 85 reactions among 45species including 13 organics.The aqueous phase reaction mechanism contains 54 reactions among40 species and 12 ion equilibria.Mass of 19 gases is transported between the gas phase and theaqueous phase.With this model,studies may be made to analyze the interactions among processesduring lifetime of a cumulus cloud.     

降水对江浙沪PM_(2.5)的清除效率研究

为了解不同程度的降水对江浙沪地区大气PM_(2.5)的清除作用,搜集了2014—2016年该地区41个城市的降水和PM_(2.5)观测数据,通过对比2 a非降水和全时段PM_(2.5)平均浓度的差异,发现前者显著高于后者,说明降水对该地区PM_(2.5)具有清除作用。利用降水前与降水期间PM_(2.5)的浓度差异作为降水对PM_(2.5)的清除率,降水后与降水期间的浓度差异作为雨后浓度回升的增加率,分别研究了目标区域不同时期、不同降雨量以及不同降雨时长对PM_(2.5)的清除效果。结果显示:(1)与江浙沪南部地区不同的是,北部地区降水清除率与降水前浓度存在正相关,降水后浓度的增加与当地的排放量呈正相关。(2)当降水量为30 mm或者降水时长为36 h时,清除率增幅减缓,说明降水对PM_(2.5)的清除效率存在着阈值。