Engineering survey of the Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Forecasting Small Satellite Constellation

The Environment and Disaster Reduction Satellite Constellation is a small satellite constellation developed by China for disaster monitoring.The two primary optical satellites,HJ-A and HJ-B,were successfully launched in September 2008.The satellites carry a charge-coupled device,hyperspectral imager,and infrared scanner,and have the capability for wide coverage and rapid revisits in disaster reduction applications.Also scheduled to be launched is the HJ-C,which will carry synthetic aperture radar and have the ability to provide allweather observations at any time.A follow-up‘4
4’satellite constellation including four optical satellites and four radar satellites is in the works,to achieve the capability of quantitative,all-weather,all-time disaster forecasting,monitoring and assessment.The corresponding disaster reduction application system has a series of functions including remote sensing data processing,disaster monitoring and assessment,decision support,and user service and information distribution,which serves the whole process of disaster management.Since its construction has been carried out,the system has successfully dealt with several huge domestic and international natural disasters,and effectively improved scientific decision support.The follow-up system’s construction will integrate,update,and extend the original system to fulfill large-scale,quantitative,allweather disaster operation application needs.

Nanomaterials for environmental burden reduction,waste treatment,and nonpoint source pollution control:a review

Nanomaterials are applicable in the areas of reduction of environmental burden,reduction/treatment of industrial and agricultural wastes,and nonpoint source(NPS)pollution control.First,environmental burden reduction involves green process and engineering,emissions control,desulfurization/denitrification of nonrenewable energy sources,and improvement of agriculture and food systems.Second,reduction/treatment of industrial and agricultural wastes involves converting wastes into products,groundwater remediation,adsorption,delaying photocatalysis,and nanomembranes.Third,NPS pollution control involves controlling water pollution.Nanomaterials alter physical properties on a nanoscale due to their high specific surface area to volume ratio.They are used as catalysts,adsorbents,membranes,and additives to increase activity and capability due to their high specific surface areas and nano-sized effects.Thus,nanomaterials are more effective at treating environmental wastes because they reduce the amount of material needed.

Preparation of Monodispersed Copper Nanoparticles by an Environmentally Friendly Chemical Reduction

In this paper, highly dispersive nanosized copper particles with a mean particle size of less than 6 nm are prepared by an environmentally friendly chemical reduction method. Non-toxic L-ascorbic acid acts as both reducing agent and antioxidant in ethylene glycol in the absence of any other capping agent. Transmission electron microscopy （TEM） is used to characterize the size and morphology of Cu nanoparticles. The results of UV-Vis spectroscopy （UV-Vis）, energy dispersive spectroscopy （EDS） and high resolution TEM （HRTEM） illustrate that the resultant product is pure Cu nanocrystals. The size of Cu nanoparticles is remarkably impacted by the order of reagent addition, and the investigation reveals the reaction procedure of Cu^2＋ ions and L-ascorbic acid.