Potential energy production from organic waste and its environmental and economic impacts at a tertiary institution in Palestine

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most well-known biomass resources that can be utilized to produce renewable energy. Numerous countries are plagued by the proliferation of waste, particularly organic waste that can be utilized for energy recovery. Palestine suffers from inefficient solid waste management, and only recently have a few projects focused on bioenergy production been implemented. Throughout the years, the city of Tulkarm experiences power outages which cause a challenge to the Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie campus in Tulkarm. Thus, the possibility of energy recovery from the organic portion in Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie was evaluated. The analysis of an economic impact included discussions of a number of economic aspects, including Levelized cost of energy, internal rate of return, present worth, annual worth, and payback period. On the other hand, a carbon dioxide savings analysis and gas emission were evaluated. The outcomes of the energy optimization demonstrated that the suggested system could supply the institution with an average of roughly 7 MWh of electrical energy. According to the economic study, this project offers 0.25 million dollars in present value, 0.144 million dollars in annual value, a 13 percent internal rate of return, a payback period of 6 years, and a levelized cost of energy of 0.11 dollars for each kWh generated. Additionally, the environmental assessment revealed that this system might reduce CO₂ emissions by around 8,343,778 tons. For effective waste management, energy recovery, and emission reduction, it is advised to implement anaerobic digestion technology.     

Toward sustainable use of natural resources: Nexus between resource rents,affluence, energy intensity and carbon emissions in developing and transition economies

Sustainable use of natural resources would entail ensuring that derived economic benefits today do not undermine the welfare of generations to come. On this basis, this study examines the nexus between natural resource rents and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions disaggregated into production and consumption-based (i.e., trade-adjusted) CO₂ emissions for a selected panel of 45 developing and transition economies over the period 1995–2017. The empirical model also incorporates the impacts of population, affluence, and energy intensity. The results show that affluence increases production-based CO₂ emissions by 1.407%, with the EKC's predicted inverted U-shaped curve only explaining consumption-based CO₂ emissions. Economic reliance on natural resource rents and energy intensification contribute 0.022% and 0.766%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in territorial production inventories and 0.035% and 0.583%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in consumption inventories. The bootstrap non-causality test shows that historical data on each variable has significant predictive power for future CO₂ emissions from both sources. The historical information about natural resource rents has significant predictive power over the future levels of affluence and energy intensity. Clearly, the results show that the environmental impact of natural resource rents is stronger when CO₂ emissions are adjusted for trade and varies among the countries, with Bangladesh, Guinea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe among the most affected countries. Overall, this study provides motivation for policies to keep the use of natural resources within sustainable limits.     

Spatial analysis of resources and environmental carrying capacity in Iran

Urbanization and mass movement of the population from rural areas and small cities to megacities have led to environmental, economic, and social problems in Iran. In dealing with these challenges, assessing resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) is considered an effective method to leverage space and capital to achieve sustainable development. This study aimed to rank the provincial RECC in Iran. Toward this purpose, environmental indices were generated from remotely sensed and statistical census data. Then, the provinces were scored in terms of environmental, economic, and infrastructural carrying capacities, and RECC using the mean variance analysis method. Results demonstrated that in most areas, there is no relationship between economic and infrastructural capacities and development. Statistically, a correlation coefficient of −0.53 between economic and environmental carrying capacities indicated excessive use of environmental capacities. Moreover, the spatial distribution pattern of environmental, economic, and infrastructural carrying capacity was entirely heterogeneous between the provinces; there was a northeast–southwest pattern in terms of infrastructural capacity and an economic pattern from north to south. The distribution pattern of RECC is most consistent with the environmental capacity, pointing at the high weight of the indicators of the RECC model. In conclusion, this research offers a new vision for policymakers and provides a theoretical and applicable framework for implementing sustainable strategies in land-use planning. It is recommended that the RECC concept and tools can be used not only for planning but also for measuring the efficiency of spatial development programs and establishing land balances in the region.     

Efficient removal of Cr(VI) by a 3D Z-scheme TiO2-ZnxCd1-xS graphene aerogel via synergy of adsorption and photocatalysis under visible light

Efficient and robust photocatalysts for environmental pollutants removal with outstanding stability have great significance. Herein, we report a kind of three dimensional (3D) photocatalyst presented as Z-scheme heterojunction, which combining TiO 2 and Zn x Cd 1- x S with graphene aerogel to contrast TiO 2 -Zn x Cd 1- x S graphene aerogel (TSGA, x = 0.5) through a moderate hydrothermal process. The as-prepared Z-scheme TSGA was used to remove aqueous Cr(VI) via a synergistic effect of adsorption and visible light photocatalysis. The adsorption equilibrium can be reached about 40 min, then after about 30 min irradiation under visible light (wavelength ( λ) > 420 nm) the removal rate of Cr(VI) almost reached 100%, which is much better than the performance of pristine TiO 2 and Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S, as well as TiO 2 graphene aerogel (TGA) and Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S graphene aerogel (SGA). The virulent Cr(VI) was reduced to Cr(III) with hypotoxicity after photocatalysis on TSGA, meanwhile the as-synthesized TSGA presented a good stability and reusability. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets between TiO 2 and Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S played a role as charge transfer mediator, promoting the photoinduced electrons transfer and photocatalysis ability of TSGA was enhanced significantly. Hence,such photocatalyst exhibits a potential application on removing heavy metals with high efficiency and stability from polluted aqueous environment.     

Hydrochemistry of drinking water sources and water purifiers in relation to epidemiological study in Hisar,North-West India

The concern related to the drinking of reverse osmosis (RO) water containing low levels of minerals is growing day by day. This study involves the analysis of water samples from various drinking water sources in a rural site, Mirchpur village, an Indus Valley civilization site (grid location: 29° 18′ 42.3″ N, 76° 10′ 33.0″ E) of Hisar, India, along with the health survey of human subjects. The hydrochemistry of water collected from hand pumps, river canals, tube wells, submersibles, and the RO systems installed in various homes was explored for pH, EC, TH, TDS, turbidity, cations (Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), anions (CO₃²⁻, HCO₃⁻, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, NO₃⁻, F⁻), and elements (Fe, Pb, Se) employing the ion chromatography, flame photometry, and ICP-AES techniques. Lead (Pb) and Selenium (Se) were detected in trace amounts (0.30–2.6 μg L⁻¹; 0.10–4.1 μg L⁻¹, respectively) in all the samples, including the samples collected from RO purifiers, but Iron (Fe) was not detected in RO samples even in trace amounts. The F-levels in hand pump water (HPW) and submersible water (SW) (1.9  and 1.7 mg L⁻¹, respectively) and TDS levels in SW (3048 mg L⁻¹) were found to be above WHO and BIS safe limits. TDS levels in the river canal (900 mg L⁻¹), tube well (1104 mg L⁻¹), hand pump (1170 mg L⁻¹), and submersible samples (3048 mg L⁻¹) were found significantly higher as compared to the RO personal water (ROPW; 216 mg L⁻¹) and RO supply water (ROSW; 90 mg L⁻¹). The collected epidemiological data reveals that 21%, 19%, 13%, and 12% of natives reported skin, kidney, hair fall, liver, and stomach issues, respectively, suspecting the crucial role of high TDS and fluoride levels in the area. This study also provides a comparison between the quality of RO and the direct supply water, along with correlation matrices for different parameters, which gives a rationale for the limitations of drinking direct supply water without any purification and RO water containing low mineral content.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Winter Cover Crops for Controlling Agricultural Nutrient Losses

A nutrient loss reduction strategy is necessary to guide the efforts of improving water quality downstream of an agricultural watershed. In this study, the effectiveness of two winter cover crops, namely cereal rye and annual ryegrass, is explored as a loss reduction strategy in a watershed that ultimately drains into a water supply reservoir. Using a coupled optimization-watershed model, optimal placements of the cover crops were identified that would result in the tradeoffs between nitrate-N losses reduction and adoption levels. Analysis of the 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% adoption levels extracted from the optimal tradeoffs showed that the cover crop placements would provide annual nitrate-N loss reductions of 3.0%–3.7%, 7.8%–8.8%, 15%–17.5%, and 20.9%–24.3%, respectively. In addition, for the same adoption levels (i.e., 10%–75%), sediment (1.8%–17.7%), and total phosphorus losses (0.8%–8.6%) could be achieved. Results also indicate that implementing each cover crop on all croplands of the watershed could cause annual water yield reduction of at least 4.8%, with greater than 28% in the months of October and November. This could potentially be detrimental to the storage volume of the downstream reservoir, especially in drought years, if cover crops are adopted in most of the reservoir's drainage area. Evaluating water yield impacts, particularly in periods of low flows, is thus critical if cover crops are to be considered as best management practices in water supply watersheds.     

Systematic review of conservation interventions to promote voluntary behavior change

Understanding human behavior is vital to developing interventions that effectively lead to proenvironmental behavior change, whether the focus is at the individual or societal level. However, interventions in many fields have historically lacked robust forms of evaluation, which makes it hard to be confident that these conservation interventions have successfully helped protect the environment. We conducted a systematic review to assess how effective nonpecuniary and nonregulatory interventions have been in changing environmental behavior. We applied the Office of Health Assessment and Translation systematic review methodology. We started with more than 300,000 papers and reports returned by our search terms and after critical appraisal of quality identified 128 individual studies that merited inclusion in the review. We classified interventions by thematic area, type of intervention, the number of times audiences were exposed to interventions, and the length of time interventions ran. Most studies reported a positive effect (n = 96). The next most common outcome was no effect (n = 28). Few studies reported negative (n = 1) or mixed (n = 3) effects. Education, prompts, and feedback interventions resulted in positive behavior change. Combining multiple interventions was the most effective. Neither exposure duration nor frequency affected the likelihood of desired behavioral change. Comparatively few studies tested the effects of voluntary interventions on non-Western populations (n = 17) or measured actual ecological outcome behavior (n = 1). Similarly, few studies examined conservation devices (e.g., energy-efficient stoves) (n = 9) and demonstrations (e.g., modeling the desired behavior) (n = 5). There is a clear need to both improve the quality of the impact evaluation conducted and the reporting standards for intervention results.     

膨润土吸附水中有机污染物的应用进展

论述了膨润土的吸附机理,介绍了膨润土的物理及化学改性方法及其对有机染料废水,焦化废水,烟草废水,煤泥水,含酚类、石油烃类、抗生素废水及微污染水等的处理效果。针对膨润土作为环保吸附剂存在的问题指出了今后的研究方向:1)将研究成果应用于实际废水;2)研究环境友好且效果好的改性工艺及材料;3)研究新的吸附剂制备形式;4)加大膨润土在废气处理上的研究力度;5)研制吸附效果更佳且能处理复杂成分污水的新型复合吸附剂。     

Are older drivers’ driving patterns during an on-road driving task representative of their real-world driving patterns?

Abstract

Objective: The current study investigated whether older drivers’ driving patterns during a customized on-road driving task were representative of their real-world driving patterns.

Methods: Two hundred and eight participants (male: 68.80%; mean age?=?81.52 years, SD?=?3.37 years, range?=?76.00–96.00 years) completed a customized on-road driving task that commenced from their home and was conducted in their own vehicle. Participants’ real-world driving patterns for the preceding 4-month period were also collected via an in-car recording device (ICRD) that was installed in each participant’s vehicle.

Results: During the 4-month period prior to completing the on-road driving task, participants’ median real-world driving trip distance was 2.66?km (interquartile range [IQR]?=?1.14–5.79?km) and their median on-road driving task trip distance was 4.41?km (IQR?=?2.83–6.35?km). Most participants’ on-road driving task trip distances were classified as representative of their real-world driving trip distances (95.2%, n?=?198).

Conclusions: These findings suggest that most older drivers were able to devise a driving route that was representative of their real-world driving trip distance. Future research will examine whether additional aspects of the on-road driving task (e.g., average speed, proportion of trips in different speed zones) are representative of participants’ real-world driving patterns.     

From conference abstract to publication in the conservation science literature

Every 2 years, the conservation community comes together at The Society for Conservation Biology's International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) to share new developments in conservation science and practice. Publication of findings presented at conferences in scientific journals adds to the permanent record and helps increase the potential impact of the work presented. However, quantitative research on publication rates for meetings relevant to conservation is lacking. For the 25th ICCB, (Auckland, New Zealand in 2011), we examined study publication rates and presenter demographics, recorded titles, number of authors, presenter affiliations, gender, country of the study region, publication status, and elapsed time between presentation and publication. Of the 980 contributions (782 talks and 198 posters), 587 (60%) were published as peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters. Mean time to publication was 13.7 months for all presentation abstracts and 21.3 months excluding abstracts with corresponding articles that were published before the meeting. The gender breakdown of presenters was almost even (53% male, 47% female), but representation of the countries where the presenting authors were based was skewed. The political units with the most contributions were by far the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Presenters based in 16 different English-speaking countries made up 74% of the total sample, but this did not influence the likelihood of their abstract leading to a publication. Examination of conference presenters and publication of their presentations is useful to identify biases and potential challenges that need to be addressed to make conference communications permanent and increase their reach beyond conference attendees.