A combined radical and non-radical oxidation processes for efficient degradation of Acid Orange 7 in the homogeneous Cu(II)/PMS system: important role of chloride

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Trace copper ion (Cu(II)) in water and wastewater can trigger peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation to oxidize organic compounds, but it only works under...     

基于"成本-能力-能效"的长江经济带城市韧性评估

通过构建城市韧性"成本-能力-能效"的评估模型,综合运用熵值法、主成分分析法、SBM模型、探索性空间数据分析和K-means聚类方法,对长江经济带126个城市的韧性进行综合定量评估,归纳总结城市韧性模式和聚类特征,并运用GWR模型分析影响韧性能力的成本因素,探究韧性效率的驱动机制.研究表明:(1)分维度来看,核心城市呈现韧性成本和韧性能力的"双高",韧性效率则由非核心城市引领.从均衡的角度来看,韧性成本、韧性能效具有明显的水平层级性,而韧性能力在城市间的分野相对不大.(2)综合来看,韧性成本和韧性能力随城市规模的扩张而逐渐增加,而韧性效率逐渐衰减;韧性模式具有明显的上中下游区际差异性:上游地区表现为"低耗低能高效",中游地区"低耗低能中效",下游地区为"高耗高能低效";韧性的空间联系兼有核心城市垂直极化和一般城市扁平抱团.(3)从机制看,全社会用电量、建成区面积和科技支出是影响城市韧性能力的主要成本因素,不同韧性模式的城市具有差异化的主控因素.研究对于完善城市韧性评价体系、丰富城市韧性评估视角和推动城市韧性建设具有重要的现实意义.     

虚拟耕地资源与农业经济增长：作用机理及贡献份额研

虚拟耕地资源被广泛认为是缓解国内耕地资源压力和促进农业经济增长的重要举措之一。在论证虚拟耕地资源贸易对农业经济增长作用机理分析的基础上，计算1996~2018年中国主要农产品虚拟耕地资源贸易量，并对虚拟耕地资源对农业经济增长中的贡献份额进行实证分析，为调整对外贸易战略及优化耕地资源策略提供参考。结果表明：虚拟耕地资源可以在更大范围内实现耕地资源的优化配置；主要农产品贸易的巨大逆差决定了中国是虚拟耕地资源净进口大国，其中，油料是虚拟耕地资源净进口量最大的品种；虚拟耕地资源对农业经济增长的贡献率为0.26%，观点得到了佐证。同时，还提出了要试点实施虚拟耕地资源，全力以赴做好贸易政策调整战略；充分利用国内外“两种资源、两个市场”，倒逼主要农产品进行结构调整；努力构建虚拟耕地资源管理新模式，推动农业“走出去”与市场多元化结合等政策建议。     

Simultaneous removal of cyanobacterial blooms and production of clean water by coupling flocculation with a rotary drum filter

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A mechanical harvesting technology based on coupling flocculation with a rotary drum filter (RDF, 35-μm) was applied to remove cyanobacterial...     

Effects of T-2 toxin on histopathology,fatty acid and water distribution of shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) muscle

T-2 toxin (T-2), one of the naturally occurring mycotoxins, often accumulates in aquatic animals from contaminated feed. Shrimp (n?=?30 per group) were fed with different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.5, 4.5 and 13.5?mg kg^?1) of T-2 for 20?days. Changes in histopathology, fatty acid and water distribution of shrimp muscle were analyzed. Histopathology of shrimp muscle showed dose-dependent marked degenerative and necrotic changes on exposure to dietary T-2. The T-2 significantly (P?<?0.05) affected the muscle fatty acid composition. ∑SFA, ∑MUFA and ∑PUFA initially decreased and then increased slowly in the high-dosed groups. C16:0, C18:1n-9 and C18:2n-6 were the main saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), respectively. Also, T-2 significantly affected water distribution in shrimp muscle. High doses of T-2 reduced free water content, resulting in a reduction in the water holding capacity and hence changes to the shrimp muscle quality. Collectively, these results illustrated that T-2 significantly affects the fatty acid and water distribution, and also muscle histopathology, all of which would result in a reduction in the quality and nutritional value of shrimp.     

Physiological responses involved in cadmium tolerance in a high-cadmium-accumulating rice (Oryza sativa L.) line

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The disparity of tolerance in plants in response to Cd stress is associated with multiple physiological processes. A pot experiment was conducted to...     

Towards saving freshwater: halophytes as unconventional feedstuffs in livestock feed: a review

Water represents 71% of all earth area and about 97% of this water is salty water. So, only 3% of the overall world water quantity is freshwater. Human can benefit only from 1% of this water and the remaining 2% freeze at both poles of earth. Therefore, it is important to preserve the freshwater through increasing the plants consuming salty water. The future prosperity of feed resources in arid and semi-arid countries depends on economic use of alternative resources that have been marginalized for long periods of time, such as halophytic plants, which are one such potential future resource. Halophyte plants can grow in high salinity water and soil and to some extent during drought. The growth of these plants depends on the contact of the salted water with plant roots as in semi-desert saline water, mangrove swamps, marshes, and seashores. Halophyte plants need high levels of sodium chloride in the soil water for growth, and the soil water must also contain high levels of salts, as sodium hydroxide or magnesium sulfate. There are many uses for halophyte plants, including feed for animals, vegetables, drugs, sand dune stabilizers, wind shelter, soil cover, wetland cultivation, laundry detergents, and paper production. This paper will focus on the use of halophytes as a feed additive for animals. In spite of the good nutritional value of halophytes, some anti-nutritional factors as nitrates, nitrite complexes, tannins, glycosides, phenolic compounds, saponins, oxalates, and alkaloids may be present in some of them. The presence of such anti-nutritional agents makes halophytes unpalatable to animals, which tends to reduce feed intake and nutrient use. Therefore, the negative effects of these plants on animal performance are the only objection against using halophytes in animal feed diets. This review article highlights the beneficial impact of considering halophytes in animal feeding on saving freshwater and illustrates its nutritive value for livestock from different aspects.     

Natural Resource Use with Vague-Transferability in Property Right

The purpose of this paper is to study the impacts of the vagueness about the transfer of the harvest right on the use of a natural resource. We develop one-period non-cooperative game frameworks to examine whether the choice of the resource owner to be hazy about the transmission of the harvest contract is optimal. In the perfect information situation, we show that it is optimal for the resource owner to forbid the transfer of the harvest right instead of being hazy about it when the transfer fees are lesser than the collected net punishment fines of the monitoring costs even though the resource would be inefficiently used. In particular, we find in this case that the government’s announcement to forbid the transfer of the right should be public. We further show that there are subgame Nash equilibria in the perfect information context and a unique Nash equilibrium in the imperfect information setting. Specifically, we show that, when the transfer fees are greater or equal to the (net) punishment fines, there is a Nash equilibrium both in perfect and imperfect information situations, precisely when the owner chooses to allow the transfer of harvest title and the resource harvester transfers it.     

Groundwater Modeling in Agricultural Watershed under Different Recharge and Discharge Scenarios for Quaternary Aquifer Eastern Nile Delta,Egypt

Different scenarios of recharge and discharge were assessed for sustainable management of groundwater in Quaternary aquifer east of Nile Delta. MODFLOW was utilized to investigate the effect of land use change and damming construction in the upstream of the Nile River on the current and short-term groundwater management strategies. The interpretive transient simulation was performed between 2004 and 2016 after steady-state calibration in 2004, and transient state from 2004 to 2013 with different irrigation recharges associated with land use change in this period. Sensitivity analysis was performed for hydraulic conductivities, recharge, and conductance parameters. The predictive transient simulation was run till 2023 under three scenarios of increasing pumping rates by 15, 30, and 50% for agriculture expansion and specified head reduction of Port Said Canal by 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 m associated with the reduction of Nile water levels after Grand Ethiopian Residence Dam, GERD operation in 2017. Results from the in- and out-flow budgets showed that groundwater aquifer is stable at the current rate of pumping till 2023. Groundwater heads decreased by 0.2 and 0.42 m in the southern section, and a slight increase in the northern part was noticed for the first and second scenarios, respectively. When additional pumping stress is applied (50% increase), groundwater head dropped by 0.66 m, and the storage is no longer able to maintain the aquifer capacity after 2020 (worst-case scenario).     

Behavioral intentions toward genetically modified crops in Southwest Iran: a multi-stakeholder analysis

This study examined the influencing factors of the self-reported behavioral intentions toward genetically modified (GM) crops using a multi-stakeholder approach in the Khuzestan Province in Southwest Iran. The study focused on three different groups, including: “agricultural students,” “agricultural private firms’ managers” and “rich-resource farmers.” Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire and was analyzed by SPSS (V20) and AMOS (V20). Results indicated that the respondents perceive more benefits than risks for GM crops and that the perception of benefits and risks, respectively, had positive and negative impacts on the self-reported behavioral intention of the respondents. The knowledge of the respondents regarding these crops had positive impacts on perception of benefits. The results showed that both managers and students worried about the food safety and impact of GM crops on human health while farmers worried about the environmental risks of GM crops. The results also revealed that those who are the most conscious about GM crops are more trusted. The findings also showed that the majority of the respondents hold a positive view of the potential of GM crops.