2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) photodegradation on WO3-TiO2-SBA-15 nanostructured composite

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A current environmental problem is the uncontrolled use of various pesticides that are harmful to the environment and public health. The herbicide...     

湖北省耕地利用转型对农民增收的空间溢出效应研究

基于2005～2017年湖北省74个县域面板数据,构建基于交通权重的空间权重矩阵,利用空间杜宾模型,实证研究耕地利用转型影响农民增收的空间溢出效应,并进一步揭示该溢出效应呈现的具体规律与特征.研究表明:(1)耕地利用转型各形态和农民收入水平都具有显著的正向空间自相关性;(2)农民收入水平的空间自回归系数ρ为0.65,表明相邻县域农民增收存在正向空间溢出效应,即本县域农民收入增长1％,相邻县域农民收入将会增长0.65％;(3)相邻县域间的空间溢出效应主要靠耕地数量、农业劳动力和基础设施投入形态变化驱动,其中,农业劳动力形态变化产生的空间溢出效应占总效应的69％,耕地数量形态占15％,基础设施投入形态占12％.因此,应注意提升县域间耕地利用系统协同性,利用其空间溢出效应促进湖北省各县域共同发展、农民收入协同提高.     

Dynamics of Tree and Shrub Vegetation in the Eastern Sayan Mountain Tundra

Russian Journal of Ecology - Climate change entails shifts in the ranges of woody plants along both latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in the boreal forest biome. In this study,...     

Institutional quality,financial development and sustainable economic growth among lower income countries

This article postulates strong endogenous relationships in lower income countries between institutional quality, financial development and sustained economic growth. These associations were investigated using the vector-error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality method for a sample of 79 countries from 2005 to 2022. The findings show that (1) these variables reinforce each other in the short run. (2) In the long run, both institutional quality and financial development can fuel economic growth. (3) The positive effect of institutional quality on economic growth is greater than that of financial development. Policy implications of these findings are that careful attention should be paid to co-development policies to enhance the institutional quality and the financial system in these economies. Policies should also consider economic growth strategies to enable sustainable economic growth rates.     

Can nuclear aquatic environmental DNA be a genetic marker for the accurate estimation of species abundance?

The Science of Nature - We present the first study that compares phenological variation in parasite load and inflammatory response in a lizard with asynchronous male and female gonadal cycles....     

人工园林大面积种植区植被净初级生产力时空变化研究

云南西南地区自然资源丰富，近年来，随着社会经济的快速发展，橡胶、茶园和桉树等人工园林大规模种植主要占用了天然林和耕地，土地利用结构和空间布局发生了很大变化。为了探讨土地利用/覆被变化对植被净初级生产力（NPP）的影响，以人工园林大面积种植区西盟县为研究区，运用综合模型、CASA模型和MODIS产品（BIOME-BGC模型），对西盟县2000年、2005年、2010年和2015年各地类NPP的时间变化和空间分布特征进行分析。结果表明：（1）2000~2015年，CASA模型模拟的西盟县NPP呈先减少后增加的趋势，MODIS模型模拟的NPP值变化趋势与CASA模型一致，综合模型则呈现逐年增加的趋势；（2）西盟县NPP的空间分布形态从西至东均呈“低值-高值-低值-高值-低值”（“M”）变化，与西盟县水热资源的分布特征和土地利用/覆被变化有关，西盟县NPP空间变化主要集中于人工园林种植区；（3）3种模型中，CASA模型和MODIS产品（BIOME-BGC模型）比综合模型更适用于地形气候复杂多样的山区NPP的模拟计算，其中CASA模型空间精度更高。     

Spatial and Seasonal Response of Municipal Water Use to Weather across the Contiguous U.S.

Weather variability has the potential to influence municipal water use, particularly in dry regions such as the western United States (U.S.). Outdoor water use can account for more than half of annual household water use and may be particularly responsive to weather, but little is known about how the expected magnitude of these responses varies across the U.S. This nationwide study identified the response of municipal water use to monthly weather (i.e., temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration [ET]) using monthly water deliveries for 229 cities in the contiguous U.S. Using city‐specific multiple regression and region‐specific models with city fixed effects, we investigated what portion of the variability in municipal water use was explained by weather across cities, and also estimated responses to weather across seasons and climate regions. Our findings indicated municipal water use was generally well‐explained by weather, with median adjusted R² ranging from 63% to 95% across climate regions. Weather was more predictive of water use in dry climates compared to wet, and temperature had more explanatory power than precipitation or ET. In response to a 1°C increase in monthly maximum temperature, municipal water use was shown to increase by 3.2% and 3.9% in dry cities in winter and summer, respectively, with smaller changes in wet cities. Quantifying these responses allows urban water managers to plan for weather‐driven variability in water use.     

Deployment of parabolic trough concentrated solar power plants in North Africa – a case study for Libya

The study addresses the potential of using concentrated solar power plants (CSPs) as a sustainable alternative of clean energy generation in the Mediterranean region and, in particular, in its North Africa shore. This location presents attractive conditions for the installation of CSPs, in particular high solar irradiation, good manpower concentration, and proximity and availability of water resources for condenser cooling. Energetic, exergetic, and economic analyses were conducted taking into consideration a particular type of CSPs - the parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant, which incorporates the most proven technology and it is already used in Southern Europe (Spain). In addition, the study considered the impact of project financing and incentives on the cost of energy. The combination of higher values for performance and potentially lower levelized cost of electricity (LCE) for the North Africa Mediterranean Rim than the South of Spain region can yield a very favorable return for the invested capital. Tripoli compared to Almeria presented superior performance and potentially lower LCE values ($0.18/kWh versus $0.22/kWh). This is significant, even when it is taken into consideration the fact that the plant in Tripoli, despite a relatively modest capacity factor of 34%, has a large gross power output of 173,886 MWhe. In addition, the implementation at the Tripoli location of a plant similar to the Anadsol plant has a slight advantage (2–3%) in terms of overall efficiency.