Indirect effect of nutrient accumulation intensified toxicity risk of metals in sediments from urban river network

The levels of metals in sediments of urban river ecosystems are crucial for aquatic environmental health and pollution assessment. Yet little is known about the interaction of nutrients with metals for environmental risks under contamination accumulation. Here, we combined hierarchical cluster, correlation, and principal component analysis with structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the pollution level, source, toxicity risk, and interaction associated with metals and nutrients in the sediments of a river network in a city area of East China. The results showed that the pollution associated with metals in sediments was rated as moderate degree of contamination load and medium-high toxicity risk in the middle and downstream of urban rivers based on contamination factor, pollution load index, and environmental toxicity quotient. The concentration of mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn) showed a significant correlation with toxic risks, which had more contribution to toxicity than other metals in the study area. Organic nitrogen and organic pollution index showed heavily polluted sediments in south of the study area. Though correlation analysis indicated that nutrients and metals had different input zones from anthropogenic sources in the urban river network, SEM suggested that nutrient accumulation indirectly intensified toxicity risk of metals by 13.6% in sediments. Therefore, we suggested the combined consideration of metal toxicity risk with nutrient accumulation, which may provide a comprehensive understanding to identify sediment pollution.

Toxicity rate of metals in sediments from urban river network indirectly intensified by nutrients accumulation

     

Does regional energy consumption disparities assist to control environmental degradation in OBOR: an entropy approach

China launched the One Belt & One Road (OBOR) initiative to minimize the energy resource shortage. The China’s nearby countries are rich in energy resources especially Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asian countries which make them ideal locations to cooperate with China in terms of energy resources, as 42.8% of world energy consumption belongs to OBOR countries. The present study elaborates the spatial distribution pattern of energy consumption disparities and its impact on environment. To do this, an entropy approach is utilized to compute the energy consumption inequalities in OBOR and its regions. The spatial and Pareto analysis show that MENA, East, and Southeast Asian economies have the highest degree of energy consumption inequalities, while European and Central Asian economies show the lowest energy consumption inequalities in OBOR region. The long-run estimates indicate that energy consumption inequalities enhance the CO₂ emission in OBOR and its region except South and Southeast Asia. Financial development also has a significantly positive impact on CO₂ emission in all models for OBOR and its regions except East Asia. Based on findings, the spatial distribution analysis is applicable to maintain balance in regional energy consumption inequality within OBOR and its regions.

     

How changing grain size affects the land surface temperature pattern in rapidly urbanizing area: a case study of the central urban districts of Hangzhou City,China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Urbanization has led to the rapid and large-scale changes in land use and land cover and has affected the spatial distribution of land surface...     

Facile in situ synthesis of silver nanocomposites based on cellulosic paper for photocatalytic applications

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this work, various photocatalysts were synthesized with an impregnation-precipitation process to in situ decorate Ag-based nanoparticles (NPs,...     

Insight into the dynamic microbial community and core bacteria in composting from different sources by advanced bioinformatics methods

Microbial communities are important for high composting efficiency and good quality composts. This study was conducted to compare the changes of physicochemical and bacterial characteristics in composting from different raw materials, including chicken manure (CM), duck manure (DM), sheep manure (SM), food waste (FW), and vegetable waste (VW). The role and interactions of core bacteria and their contribution to maturity in diverse composts were analyzed by advanced bioinformatics methods combined sequencing with co-occurrence network and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results indicated that there were obviously different bacterial composition and diversity in composting from diverse sources. FW had a low pH and different physiochemical characteristics compared to other composts but they all achieved similar maturity products. Redundancy analysis suggested total organic carbon, phosphorus, and temperature governed the composition of microbial species but key factors were different in diverse composts. Network analysis showed completely different interactions of core bacterial community from diverse composts but Thermobifida was the ubiquitous core bacteria in composting bacterial network. Sphaerobacter and Lactobacillus as core genus were presented in the starting mesophilic and thermophilic phases of composting from manure (CM, DM, SM) and municipal solid waste (FW, VW), respectively. SEM indicated core bacteria had the positive, direct, and the biggest (>?80%) effects on composting maturity. Therefore, this study presents theoretical basis to identify and enhance the core bacteria for improving full-scale composting efficiency facing more and more organic wastes.

     

Association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and number of outpatient Helicobacter pylori infection visits

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Helicobacter pylori infection (HPI) is an important risk factor of gastrointestinal diseases, but factors leading to it are still not fully...     

采用Design-Expert分析多因素对电路板湿法拆解的影响与优化设计

废旧印刷电路板元器件拆解技术的研究是电子废弃物有效利用的重点环节。通过采用Design-Expert 8.0.6软件,对拆解过程中氟硼酸浓度,双氧水浓度和时间对铅、锡焊料的溶出率的影响趋势进行研究,得出最终优化实验方案为在双氧水浓度为0.5 mol·L-1、氟硼酸浓度为2.5 mol·L-1、反应时间为35 min的条件下铅、锡的溶出率分别为90.66%和99.91%,可视为铅、锡完全溶解并实现脱焊。该方法实现了电子元器件与印刷电路板的快速分离,将为电子废弃物的资源化提供理论支持和应用支撑。     

小槽式集热系统热性能测试和理论研究

为拓宽太阳能应用领域,基于新研发的小型槽式太阳能聚光集热器,定义当量采光面积参数概念,建立吸热和散热数学模型。以广州地区为例,给出东西向放置的槽式聚光集热器在典型日期跟踪状态下太阳光入射角和直射光利用率的变化规律。通过散热数学模型计算,分析系统各项热损失的变化规律,提出改善系统热性能的有效解决方案并通过测试进行验证。实验测试表明,所开发小槽式聚光集热器在中温段有高热效率,在工质150℃时系统热效率在50%左右。