A comprehensive review on green buildings research: bibliometric analysis during 1998–2018

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Buildings account for nearly 2/5ths of global energy expenditure. Due to this figure, the 90s witnessed the rise of green buildings (GBs) that were...     

Contamination characteristics of trace metals in dust from different levels of roads of a heavily air-polluted city in north China

Concentrations of eight trace metals (TMs) in road dust (RD) (particles?<?25 μm) from urban areas of Xinxiang, China, were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The geometric mean concentrations of Zn, Mn, Pb, As, Cu, Cr, Ni and Cd were 489, 350, 114, 101, 60.0, 39.7, 31.6, and 5.1 mg kg^?1, respectively. When compared with TM levels in background soil, the samples generally display elevated TM concentrations, except for Cr and Mn, and for Cd the enrichment value was 69.6. Spatial variations indicated TMs in RD from park path would have similar sources with main roads, collector streets and bypasses. Average daily exposure doses of the studied TMs were about three orders of magnitude higher for hand-to-mouth ingestion than dermal contact, and the exposure doses for children were 9.33 times higher than that for adults. The decreasing trend of calculated hazard indexes (HI) for the eight elements was As?>?Pb?>?Cr?>?Mn?>?Cd?>?Zn?>?Ni?>?Cu for both children and adults.     

Difference in the net value of ecological services between natural and artificial forests in China

Land degradation is a global problem that seriously threatens human society. However, in China and elsewhere, ecological restoration still largely relies on a traditional approach that focuses only on ecological factors and ignores socioeconomic factors. To improve the effectiveness of ecological restoration and maximize its economic and ecological benefits, a more efficient approach is needed that provides support for policy development and land management and thereby promotes environmental conservation. We devised a framework for assessing the value of ecosystem services that remain after subtracting costs, such as the opportunity costs, costs of forest protection, and costs for the people who are affected by the program; that is, the net value of ecosystem services (NVES). To understand the difference between the value of a resource and the net value of the ecosystem service it provides, we used data on VES, timber sales, and afforestation costs from China's massive national afforestation programs to calculate the net value of forest ecosystem services in China. Accounting for the abovementioned costs revealed an NVES of ¥6.1 × 10¹² for forests in 2014, which was 35.9% less than the value calculated without accounting for costs. As a result, the NVES associated with afforestation was 55.9% less than the NVES of natural forests. In some regions, NVES was negative because of the huge costs of human-made plantations, high evapotranspiration rates (thus, high water opportunity costs), and low forest survival rates. To maximize the ecological benefits of conservation, it is necessary to account for as many costs as possible so that management decisions can be based on NVES, thereby helping managers choose projects that maximize both economic and ecological benefits.     

预氧化聚丙烯腈/g-C3N4光催化降解罗丹明B

以聚丙烯腈(PAN)和g-C_3N_4为原料,采用超声波辅助分散的溶液浸渍法及煅烧法制备了具有共轭结构的预氧化聚丙烯腈/g-C_3N_4复合光催化剂(CPAN/g-C_3N_4),采用XRD、SEM、FTIR、UV-Vis DRS、EIS等技术对光催化剂进行了表征,考察了CPAN/g-C_3N_4对罗丹明B(Rh B)的可见光催化降解性能。结果表明:CPAN与g-C_3N_4具有良好的协同作用,使g-C_3N_4片状结构堆叠体颗粒显著减小,明显增强了光催化剂在全部光谱范围内的光吸收,有效提高了光生电子-空穴分离效率;在PAN与g-C_3N_4质量比为1∶200、煅烧温度250 ℃、煅烧时间1 h条件下所制备的CPAN/g-C_3N_4光催化活性最高,且具有良好的光催化活性稳定性。超氧自由基和光生空穴为CPAN/g-C_3N_4复合光催化剂光降解罗丹明B的主要活性物种。     

Characteristics analysis of near-field and far-field aerodynamic noise around high-speed railway bridge

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The aerodynamic noise around the high-speed railway bridge is studied by the train-bridge-flow field numerical model and theory analysis. With the...     

Phosphorus adsorption by functionalized biochar: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Phosphorus is essential element for agricultural production, yet phosphorus ore resources are non-renewable and become depleted. Moreover, phosphate release from...     

Effects of law enforcement and community outreach on mammal diversity in a biodiversity hotspot

Management activities such as law enforcement and community outreach are thought to affect conservation outcomes in protected areas, but their importance relative to intrinsic environmental characteristics of the parks and extrinsic human pressures surrounding the parks have not been explored. Furthermore, it is not clear which is more related to conservation outcomes—the management itself or local people's perceptions of the management. We measured objective (reports by park staff) and subjective (reports by local people) levels of community outreach and law enforcement based on responses to 374 questionnaires. We estimated mammal abundance and diversity of 6 protected areas based on data from 115 camera traps in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, a biodiversity hotspot with high hunting and land-conversion pressures. We then examined correlations among them and found that local people's perception of law enforcement was positively related to the local abundance of 2 large, hunted species, wild boar (Sus scrofa) (β = 15.22) and muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) (β = 14.82), but not related to the abundance of smaller mammals or to objective levels of enforcement. The subjective frequency of outreach by park staff to local communities (β = 3.42) and park size (β = 3.28) were significantly and positively related to mammal species richness, whereas elevation, human population density, and subjective frequency of law enforcement were not. We could not conclude that community outreach and law enforcement were directly causing increased mammal abundance and diversity. Nevertheless, the patterns we detected are some of the first empirical evidence consistent with the idea that biodiversity in protected areas may be more positively and strongly related to local perceptions of the intensity of park management than to either intrinsic (e.g., elevation, park size) or extrinsic (e.g., human population density) environmental factors.     

The associations of air pollution exposure during pregnancy with fetal growth and anthropometric measurements at birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fetal growth has been demonstrated to be an important predictor of perinatal and postnatal health. Although the effects of maternal exposure to air...     

2000～2015年山地城市土地利用景观格局动态演变研究——以重庆市渝北区为例

以重庆市渝北区为例，借助地理信息系统和遥感手段，利用Landsat TM 遥感数据和DEM数据，采用景观指数分析、地形位指数和分布指数等计算方法，对渝北区 2000、2005、2010 和 2015 年土地利用景观格局变化特征进行了分析，着重探讨了不同地形、坡度下各种景观类型变化情况，以及它们之间的相互关系，以期为在相似条件下的城市最佳土地利用模式选择提供一定的借鉴和参考。结果表明：（1）渝北区土地资源以中、高级地形位为主，海拔 200 m 以下，坡度6°以下的土地资源比较匮乏；（2）渝北区主要的景观类型是耕地和林地，但耕地景观总的趋势是不断减少，林地不断增加，建设用地增长较快，总体上景观破碎化程度在增加，景观多样性呈上升趋势；（3）研究期内，中低级地形位区间内大量耕地转变为建设用地，林地、草地景观面积的分布趋势随着地形位指数成正相关关系，其优势地形位主要集中于高级别地形位区间。     

High photocatalytic removal of NO gas over SnO2 nanoparticles under solar light

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Tin oxide nanoparticles (SnO2 NPs) with a diameter less than 10&nbsp;nm are usually used in waste water treatment via the photocatalytic reaction. However,...