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...     

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.     

长三角地区跨区域合作创新对区域多样化的影响研究

区域多样化发展在提高生产力、促进就业以及稳定经济等方面发挥着重要作用.一直以来演化经济地理学框架下区域多样化发展中外部资源的作用被忽略,而跨区域合作创新是区域获取外部知识的重要途径之一.研究使用2000～2017年长三角地区41个城市的发明专利数据,对区域经济一体化特征显著的长三角地区多样化水平与合作创新进行测度,并实证检验区域内部与跨区域的合作创新在区域多样化进程中所发挥的作用.结果表明:(1)长三角地区各城市的相关与不相关多样化水平总体呈现逐渐上升并趋于稳定的趋势;(2)合作创新作为知识流动的重要载体,合作参与者大多位于长三角内,合作创新所产生的知识溢出往往发生在具有技术关联性的产业间,从而有助于促进长三角地区发展相关多样化,但对不相关多样化没有表现出显著影响;(3)合作创新中参与团队数量与区域相关与不相关多样性没有显著关系;(4)合作创新中跨区域合作比例越高,越能够促进区域相关与不相关多样化的发展.因此,在推动区域产业多样化的过程中应注重强化区域间的合作,借助外部力量引导区域产业发展.     

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....     

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.     

Special issue on contamination,remediation and health for pollutants in natural aquatic,soil, sediments and atmospheric environments

Environmental Geochemistry and Health -