Fluoride removal and its impact on oral health in Sri Lanka's dry zone: Discussion and recommendation

Fifty percent of the dry zone areas in Sri Lanka have fluoride levels above 1 ppm. This paper discusses the ground conditions and recommends an appropriate range of fluoride in drinking water which can support preventive practices for improving the oral health of children 8-years old and younger. In efforts to address the Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown etiology (CKDU), water treatment to reduce contaminant level in potable water has been implemented. Such treatment would also remove fluoride and has resulted in potable water with various fluoride levels, depending on concentrations in the raw water. While it is important to reduce fluoride levels, it is important to have appropriate residual levels for prevention of dental caries. It needs, however, to be noted fluoride in excess can cause dental fluorosis. In Sri Lanka's dry zone areas increasing prevalence of dental fluorosis with decreasing prevalence of dental caries has been noted. Consumption of tea and powdered milk could increase total intake of fluoride. Fluoridated toothpaste, when used properly, may, however, result in negligible intake of fluoride. Sri Lanka's hot tropical climate which results in substantial intake of fluids reinforces the need to consider reduction in water fluoride. Consideration of local studies and international standards indicate fluoride levels should be in the range of 0.225–0.500 ppm. In the range of 0.225–0.500 ppm, the prevalence of dental fluorosis and caries was only 14% and 8%, respectively, in an endemic district. When fluoride levels are above 0.500 ppm, the issue of dental fluorosis shall need to be addressed. When levels are below 0.225 ppm, oral health care services shall need to be directed at preventing dental caries.     

Emerging applications of green coconut: A promising lignocellulosic biomass

Waste accumulation is a grave concern and becoming a transboundary challenge for environment. During Covid-19 pandemic, diverse type of waste were collected due to different practices employed in order to fight back the transmission rate of the virus. Covid-19 was proved to be capricious catastrophe of this 20th century and even not completely eradicated from the world. The havoc created by this imperceptible quick witted, pleomorphic deadly virus can't be ignored. Though a number of vaccines have been developed by the scientists but there is a fear of getting this virus again in our life. Medical studies prove that immunity drinks will help to reduce its reoccurrences. Coconut water is widely used among all drinks available globally. Its massive consumption created an incalculable pile of green coconut shells around the different corners of the world. This practice generating enormous problem of space acquisition for the environment. Both the environment and public health will benefit from an evaluation of quantity of coconut waste that is being thrown and its potential to generate value added products. With this context, present article has been planned to study different aspects like, coconut waste generation, its biological properties and environmental hazards associated with its accumulation. Additionally, this review illustrates, green technologies for production of different value added products from coconut waste.     

The deflectors influence on flow complexity,bed morphology,sediment transport and water quality of urban lotic waters - A laboratory study

In this laboratory study different combinations of bed (sand, pebble gravel [gravel], and a mix of sand and gravel) and flow (typical and overtopping) were experimented with to investigate the impact of porous deflectors in flow diversity, water quality, and fish performance in prismatic open channels. Deflectors changed the gradually varied flow to a rapidly varied flow, as a sudden change in the water depth was observed at the deflectors, and this change was large for smooth beds. With the presence of gravel, the scouring near the downstream deflector was almost twice that of the sand bed, and with the scouring at its own upstream deflector, irrespective of whether the flow was typical or overtopping. This behavior was a result of sand mobilization due to shear stress and sand mobilization aided gravel transport. The mixed bed showed less gravel movement compared to the gravel-only bed. The percentage of sediment washed out was minor for all bed scenarios, indicating that sediment transport was local. Relative to the sand bed without deflectors (representing a typical urban canal), deflectors resulted in reduced and improved water quality (in terms of sediment load) for sand, and mixed bed, respectively. The fishes found refuge and were comfortable in the pool areas created by deflectors unlike in channels without deflectors where they showed exhaustion.     

Temporal trends in agricultural water use and the relationships to hydroclimatic factors in the High Plains aquifer region

The High Plains aquifer (HPA) is the primary water source for agricultural irrigation in the US Great Plains. The water levels in many locations of the aquifer have declined steadily over the past several decades because the rate of water withdrawals exceeds recharge, which has been a serious concern to the water resources management in the region. We evaluated temporal trends and variations in agricultural water use and hydroclimatic variables including precipitation, air temperature, reference evapotranspiration, runoff, groundwater level, and terrestrial water storage across the HPA region for different periods from 1985 to 2020 at the grid, county, or region scale. The results showed that water withdrawals decreased from 21.3 km³/year in 1985 to 18.2 km³/year in 2015, while irrigated croplands increased from 71,928 km² in 1985 to 78,464 km² in 2015 in the entire HPA. The hydroclimatic time-series showed wetting trends in most of the northern HPA, but drying and warming trends in the southern region from 1985 to 2020. The groundwater level time-series indicated flat trends in the north, but significant declining in the central and southern HPA. Trends in irrigation water withdrawals and irrigation area across the HPA were controlled by the advancement of irrigation systems and technologies and the management of sustainable water use, but also were affected by dynamical changes in the hydroclimatic conditions.     

基于微型无人机遥感数据的城市水环境信息提取初探

近年来,黑臭水体整治已经成为各级政府的重要工作内容。为更好地开展黑臭水体筛查和监管工作,提出基于多旋翼无人机搭载多光谱相机的遥感监测方案,尝试采用影像特征变换结合面向对象分类方法提取黑臭水体的遥感信息。结果表明:(1)无人机影像上地物具有更加丰富的色彩和纹理;(2)与主成分变换和纹理分析方法相比,光谱指数对典型地物具有较好的判别能力;(3)采用标准最邻近分类法提取城市水环境信息,能够获得较高分类精度。     

基于变权灰色云模型的江苏省水环境系统脆弱性评价

水环境系统脆弱性是水资源利用与生态环境研究的热点问题，通过研究水环境系统的内在机理，综合考虑影响水环境系统脆弱性的资源、环境、经济、社会等因素，借助驱动力-压力-状态-影响-响应-管理（DPSIRM）框架构建水环境系统脆弱性评价指标体系。在此基础上，构建基于变权灰色云模型的评价方法，对2004~2014年江苏省水环境系统脆弱性进行评价。结果表明：2004~2014年水环境系统脆弱性指数由47.056提高到63.210，脆弱性等级由“重度脆弱”演化为“中度脆弱”，并长期维持在“中度脆弱的”等级，2014年出现了向“轻度脆弱”状态转变的趋势。分析各个子系统对水环境系统脆弱性影响程度可知，影响子系统和响应子系统对江苏省水环境脆弱性系统的影响程度逐年增加；而压力子系统和管理子系统对水环境系统脆弱性的影响程度逐年下降；其它子系统对水环境系统脆弱性的影响维持在一定水平小幅度波动。     

Estimating Potential Climate Change Effects on the Upper Neuse Watershed Water Balance Using the SWAT Model

Climate change poses water resource challenges for many already water stressed watersheds throughout the world. One such watershed is the Upper Neuse Watershed in North Carolina, which serves as a water source for the large and growing Research Triangle Park region. The aim of this study was to quantify possible changes in the watershed’s water balance due to climate change. To do this, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model forced with different climate scenarios for baseline, mid‐century, and end‐century time periods using five different downscaled General Circulation Models. Before running these scenarios, the SWAT model was calibrated and validated using daily streamflow records within the watershed. The study results suggest that, even under a mitigation scenario, precipitation will increase by 7.7% from the baseline to mid‐century time period and by 9.8% between the baseline and end‐century time period. Over the same periods, evapotranspiration (ET) would decrease by 5.5 and 7.6%, water yield would increase by 25.1% and 33.2%, and soil water would increase by 1.4% and 1.9%. Perhaps most importantly, the model results show, under a high emission scenario, large seasonal differences with ET estimated to decrease by up to 42% and water yield to increase by up to 157% in late summer and fall. Planning for the wetter predicted future and corresponding seasonal changes will be critical for mitigating the impacts of climate change on water resources.     

固相萃取-超高效液相色谱/三重四极杆质谱法同时测定地表水中8种亚硝胺类化合物

建立了固相萃取（SPE）-超高效液相色谱/三重四极杆串联质谱（UPLC-MS/MS）同时测定地表水中8种亚硝胺类化合物的方法。水样中目标物经椰壳活性炭固相萃取小柱吸附富集，小柱经氮气吹干后采用二氯甲烷洗脱。待测样品采用Atlantis T₃柱，以水-甲醇作为流动相进行梯度洗脱，大气压力化学电离源（APCI）正离子模式多反应监测方式（MRM）进行检测，内标法定量分析。8种目标物在相关线性范围内线性良好(r≥0.9950)，地表水加标回收率为55.4%~90.4%，相对标准偏差为3.1%~14.3%，方法检出限为1.1 ~1.8 ng/L。本方法准确度和灵敏度高，适用于快速测定地表水中8种亚硝胺类化合物含量。     

基于响应曲面法的遗煤自燃分析与研究*

为研究高瓦斯易自燃煤层不同供风量、高抽巷抽采流量、低抽巷抽采流量3因素对采空区自燃“三带”分布影响规律，选取阳煤五矿8406工作面为研究对象，在数值模拟研究基础上，采用Design Expert软件进行Box Behnken试验设计，构建采空区氧化升温带宽度在3因素、3水平条件下的二次回归响应曲面模型，并对不同条件下采空区氧化升温带宽度进行预测与分析。结果表明:二次回归方程P值为0.001 6，预测模型显著，模型的失拟项为0.606 3，不显著，回归方程具有统计学意义；当供风量为1 500~2 000 m3/min，低抽流量为450~650 m3/min，高抽流量为100~200 m3/min时，对氧化升温带宽度一次项重要度排序为C（高抽巷抽采流量）>A（供风量）>B（低抽巷抽采流量），二次项重要度排序为AC（供风量和高抽巷抽采流量）>AB（供风量和低抽巷抽采流量）>BC（低抽巷抽采流量和高抽巷抽采流量），且AB,AC,BC之间均无交互作用。     

环境检测中地表水检测现状及进展

地表水作为维持人类正常生产生活的重要资源,应作为环境监测的首要任务常抓不懈。现今对地表水的检测工作中仍存在较多不完善之处,应从环境保护的大局出发,应用合理的检测技术,将地表水检测工作提升到新的高度。本文分析了环境检测中地表水的检测现状,并提出了相应的解决措施。