How Non-native Species in Lake Erie Influence Trophic Transfer of Mercury and Lead to Top Predators

Lake Erie's food web has been dramatically modified by exotic species. Both exotic dreissenid mussels and the round goby Neogobius melanastomus have shifted the food web from a pelagicbased to a benthic-based one, potentially creating a new pathway for contaminant transfer to top predators. Before the invasion of round gobies, few predators of dreissenids occurred in Lake Erie, allowing contaminants to be confined to these benthic organisms. The invasion of the round goby has produced a new pathway through which these contaminants can enter the food web. To characterize heavy-metal transfer through this new food web and to assess risk to humans, water, surficial sediment, dreissenid, round goby, and smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieui samples were collected at three sites during summers, 2002 and 2003, and analyzed for total lead (Pb), total mercury (Hg), and methyl mercury (MeHg). In addition, we compared smallmouth bass Pb and Hg concentrations to those measured in 1993/1994, before round gobies were prevalent. Pb biodiminished and MeHg biomagnified through the food web to smallmouth bass; patterns were similar among our three sites. Total Pb concentrations in smallmouth bass were higher before the incorporation of round gobies into their diet. We attributed this decline to changes in food web structure, changes in contaminant burdens in prey, or declines in sediment Pb concentrations in Lake Erie. By comparison, Hg concentrations in smallmouth bass changed little, before and after the round goby invasion, possibly due to a shift in diet that increased growth. Despite a decline in sediment Hg concentrations in Lake Erie, smallmouth bass continued to accumulate Hg at historical rates possibly because of their high consumption rates of benthivorous round gobies. As smallmouth bass continue to consume round gobies during their lives, their Hg concentrations may well continue to increase, potentially increasing the risk of Hg contamination to humans.     

Simultaneous mass and heat transfer under mixed convection along a vertical cone

Steady laminar binary mixed convection flow along a vertical circular cone under the combined buoyancy effects of thermal and species diffusion is studied analytically. The analysis is confined to mass diffusion processes with low concentration levels. In the analysis the surface of the cone is assumed to be at a uniform temperature and uniform concentration. Numerical results for the local Sherwood number, local Nusselt number and local friction factor are presented. Representative temperature, concentration and velocity profiles are also shown. The analysis covers the diffusion of common gases and vapours into air. Considerations are given to the situations where the buoyancy forces assist and oppose the forced convection flow for various possible combinations of the thermal and species diffusion processes.     

Dynamic analysis of the NPP pressure sensor system

The aim of the work was to develop on-line methods of control and diagnostics of pressure sensors at a NPP. The analysis was carried out along two lines:

1. i) The detection system including the sensor itself was modeled theoretically to obtain and study its transfer function, and to establish correspondence between the spectral characteristics of the pressure signal.

2. ii) The numerical processing of the signal using the AR technique to reconstruct the transfer function and evaluate the system's response, to a step impulse, as well as the spectral analysis. The hydraulic model presented indicate that the spectral lines observed at 10 Hz are due to longitu-dinal oscillations of water in the system branches, while the response time of the detection system is effectively the time of signal retardation in the porous ceramic diaphragms of the δ-cell of the sensor itself.

     

辐射化学基础理论研究现状 Ⅰ.初级辐解产物

本文着重于辐射作用于物质最初生成的产物,包括激发态的离子与分子,能量超过热能的次级电子等的反应以及电荷和激发能的转移,并试图论述它们的最新发展。     

Commercial objectives,technology transfer,and systems analysis for fusion power development

Fusion is an essentially inexhaustible source of energy that has the potential for economically attractive commercial applications with excellent safety and environmental characteristics. The primary focus for the fusion-energy development program is the generation of centralstation electricity. Fusion has the potential, however, for many other applications. The fact that a large fraction of the energy released in a DT fusion reaction is carried by high-energy neutrons suggests potentially unique applications. These include breeding of fissile fuels, production of hydrogen and other chemical products, transmutation or burning of various nuclear or chemical wastes, radiation processing of materials, production of radioisotopes, food preservation, medical diagnosis and medical treatment, and space power and space propulsion. In addition, fusion R&D will lead to new products and new markets.Each fusion application must meet certain standards of economic and safety and environmental attractiveness. For this reason, economics on the one hand, and safety and environment and licensing on the other hand, are the two primary criteria for setting long-range commercial fusion objectives. A major function of systems analysis is to evaluate the potential of fusion against these objectives and to help guide the fusion R&D program toward practical applications. The transfer of fusion technology and skills from the national laboratories and universities to industry is the key to achieving the long-range objective of commercial fusion applications.     

Properties of poly(n‐butyl methacrylate) prepared by reverse atom transfer radical polymerization in an aqueous dispersed system

Reverse atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of n‐butyl methacrylate (BMA) in waterborne media using Cu(II) complexes with azo initiators (i.e., reverse ATRP) was conducted. The influence of several factors, such as surfactant, catalyst, and reaction time, on the stability of the emulsion, the particle size, the morphology of the emulsion particles, and the control of the polymerization was investigated. The results showed great differences between ATRP and conventional emulsion polymerization, especially the nucleation mechanism and the kinetics. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 1542–1547, 2003     

Aplysia sea hare assimilation of secondary metabolites from brown seaweed,Stypopodium zonale

JuvenileAplysia dactylomela were found feeding in abundance on the tropical brown algaStypopodium zonale, a seaweed previously shown to contain numerous unique terpene-quinone natural products. Lipid extracts of these herbivorous mollusks were shown by TLC and HPLC-NMR analyses to contain appreciable quantities of twoS. zonale metabolites as well as one new but closely related compound. Spectroscopic analyses of the new compound in concert with functional group modifications identified this new compound as 3-keto epitaondiol. A careful analysis of the seaweed extract failed to locate this ketone, and thus, it most likely represents anAplysia-biotransformed compound. This is the first clear reported observation of metabolite transfer between an alga of the phylum Phaeophyta and a sea hare.     

Packed-microtubes model for flowthrough chromatography of protein

A mathematical model for flowthrough (perfusion) chromatography, namely packed-microtubes (PMT) model, has been proposed for a column packed with biporous (BiP) anion exchanger in which the mesopores and flowthrough pores are created with liquid and solid porogens, respectively. The model is established based on the assumption that the BiP particle is made up of packed microtubes. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is used as a model protein and three kinds of anion exchangers (i.e., mesoporous, macroporous and BiP resins) are used as adsorbents to determine the model parameters and to evaluate the model. Adsorption equilibrium and finite bath experiments are performed to determine the adsorption isotherms and kinetics parameters. Both the bound amounts of the protein on the surface of the mesopores and macropores are experimentally determined and taken into account in the mathematical model. With all the model parameters determined by independent experiments or calculated from available correlations, model simulations are performed and compared with the experimentally determined breakthrough profiles of the BiP column. It is found that the model predictions agree reasonably well with the experimental data obtained under various conditions and the PMT model fit experimental data better than the modified double linear driving force (LLDF) model proposed by Leitão and Rodriogues (1999. Biochemical Engineering Journal 3, 131) in which the adsorbent particle is considered to be made up of packed microparticles. The results indicate that the PMT model is more reasonable for this kind of BiP adsorbent.     

相转移催化法合成多聚乙二醇二环氧甘油醚

以多聚乙二醇和环氧氯丙烷为原料合成了多聚乙二醇二环氧甘油醚。NaOH为催化剂,季铵盐为相转移催化剂。结论为:作为催化剂NaOH固体效果优于NaOH溶液;四正丁基硫酸氢铵(TBAS)催化醚化反应效果最佳,GC监测表明,二醚的选择性达98％以上;n(多聚乙二醇):n(环氧氯丙烷):n(NaOH):n(TBAS)= 1:10:7:0．08;反应温度55-60℃;反应时间1．5 h;产率83％。     

THE ROLE OF INTERFACIAL PHENOMENA IN A LIQUID-LIQUID REACTION SYSTEM: EXTRACTION OF PROPANOIC ACID BY TRIOCTYLAMINE

The kinetics of extraction of propanoic acid from water to isobulanol by reaction with trioctylamine have been investigated. Mass transfer was modelled by extending the approach used in absorption with chemical reaction, as it is usually done for liquid-liquid reactions. The presence of the amine, however, gave rise to phenomena that cause this method to fail, producing inconsistent results. In order to explain these data, the presence of relevant interfacial phenomena must be supposed.