Methods for the characterisation of dermal uptake: Progress and perspectives for organophosphate esters

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are a group of pollutants that are widely detected in the environment at high concentrations. They can adversely affect human health through multiple routes of exposure, including dermal uptake. Although attention has been paid to achieving an accurate and complete quantification of the dermal uptake of OPEs, existing evaluation methods and parameters have obvious weaknesses. This study reviewed two main categories of methodologies, namely the relative absorption (RA) model and the permeability coefficient (PC) model, which are widely used to assess the dermal uptake of OPEs. Although the PC model is more accurate and is increasingly used, the most important parameter in this model, the permeability coefficient (Kp), has been poorly characterised for OPEs, resulting in considerable errors in the estimation of the dermal uptake of OPEs. Thus, the detailed in vitro methods for the determination of Kp are summarised and sorted. Furthermore, the commonly used skin membranes are identified and the factors affecting Kp and corresponding mechanisms are discussed. In addition, the experimental conditions, conclusions, and available data on Kp values of the OPEs are thoroughly summarised. Finally, the corresponding knowledge gaps are proposed, and a more accurate and sophisticated experimental system and unknown Kp values for OPEs are suggested

Accuracy Assessment of the Planar Morphology of Valley Bank Gullies Extracted with High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery on the Loess Plateau, China

Gully erosion is a serious environmental problem worldwide, causing soil loss, land degradation, silting up of reservoirs and even catastrophic flooding. Mapping gully features from remote sensing imagery is crucial for assisting in understanding gully erosion mechanisms, predicting its development processes and assessing its environmental and socio-economic effects over large areas, especially under the increasing global climate extremes and intensive human activities. However, the potential of using increasingly available high-resolution remote sensing imagery to detect and delineate gullies has been less evaluated. Hence, 130 gullies occurred along a transect were selected from a typical watershed in the hilly and gully region of the Chinese Loess Plateau, and visually interpreted from a Pleiades-1B satellite image (panchromatic-sharpened image at 0.5 m resolution fused with 2.0 m multi-spectral bands). The interpreted gullies were compared with their measured data obtained in the field using a differential global positioning system (GPS). Results showed that gullies could generally be accurately interpreted from the image, with an average relative error of gully area and gully perimeter being 11.1% and 8.9%, respectively, and 74.2% and 82.3% of the relative errors for gully area and gully perimeter were within 15%. But involving field measurements of gullies in present imagery-based gully studies is still recommended. To judge whether gullies were mapped accurately further, a standard adopting one-pixel tolerance along the mapped gully edges was proposed and proved to be practical. Correlation analysis indicated that larger gullies could be interpreted more accurately but increasing gully shape complexity would decrease interpreting accuracy. Overall lower vegetation coverage in winter due to the withering and falling of vegetation rarely affected gully interpreting. Furthermore, gully detectability on remote sensing imagery in this region was lower than the other places of the world, due to the overall broken topography in the Loess Plateau, thus images with higher resolution than normally perceived are needed when mapping erosion features here. Taking these influencing factors (gully dimension and shape complexity, vegetation coverage, topography) into account will be favorable to select appropriate imagery and gullies (as study objects) in future imagery-based gully studies. Finally, two linear regression models were built to correct gully area (Aip, m2) and gully perimeter (Pip, m) visually extracted, by connecting them with the measured area (Ams, m2) and perimeter (Pms, m). The correction models were A m s = 1.021 A i p + 0.139 and P m s = 0.949 P i p +   0.722 , respectively. These models could be helpful for improving the accuracy of interpreting results, and further accurately estimating gully development and developing more effective automated gully extraction methods on the Loess Plateau of China

Variation in the sediment deposition behind check-dams under different soil erosion conditions on the Loess Plateau, China

To maintain a reasonable sediment regulation system in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, it is critical to determine the variation in sediment deposition behind check-dams for different soil erosion conditions. Sediment samples were collected by using a drilling machine in the Fangta watershed of the loess hilly-gully region and the Manhonggou watershed of the weathered sandstone hilly-gully (pisha) region. On the basis of the check-dam capacity curves, the soil bulk densities and the couplet thickness in these two small watersheds, the sediment yields were deduced at the watershed scale. The annual average sediment deposition rate in the Manhonggou watershed (702.0mm/(km(2)a)) from 1976 to 2009 was much higher than that in the Fangta watershed (171.6mm/(km(2)a)) from 1975 to 2013. The soil particle size distributions in these two small watersheds were generally centred on the silt and sand fractions, which were 42.4% and 50.7% in the Fangta watershed and 60.6% and 32.9% in the Manhonggou watershed, respectively. The annual sediment deposition yield exhibited a decreasing trend; the transition years were 1991 in the Fangta watershed and 1996 in the Manhonggou watershed (P a)) than in the Fangta watershed (3149.6t/(km(2)a)). In addition, the rainfalls that induced sediment deposition at the check-dams were greater than 30mm in the Fangta watershed and 20mm in the Manhonggou watershed. The rainfall was not the main reason for the difference in the sediment yield between the two small watersheds. The conversion of farmland to forestland or grassland was the main reason for the decrease in the soil erosion in the Fangta watershed, while the weathered sandstone and bare land were the main factors driving the high sediment yield in the Manhonggou watershed. Knowledge of the sediment deposition process of check-dams and the variation in the catchment sediment yield under different soil erosion conditions can serve as a basis for the implementation of improved soil erosion and sediment control strategies, particularly in semi-arid hilly-gully regions. Copyright (c) 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd