Organophosphate pesticide exposure and child health in China

Currently, organophosphate pesticides (OPs) are widely used for agriculture in China and around the world. A few epidemiological studies have examined the association between exposure to OPs and children’s health, but these studies reported inconsistent results. In view of the limitations of testing techniques and the intrinsic incompleteness of scientific evidence from current studies, we have considered some issues which may be interpreted and handled with caution.     

Pollutant emission reduction effect through effluent tax,concentration-based effluent standard,or both

There are numerous studies comparing different kinds of environmental taxes and standards. However, forms of environmental standards focused by former researchers are usually quantity-based limits/standards (e.g. pounds per day or pounds per unit of output). Concentration-based emission standard (e.g. milligrams per liter of wastewater) as one important form of environmental standard has not been given much attention. In this article, comparable estimates of their probable effect on enterprise pollution reduction will be developed for concentration-based effluent standards, effluent taxes, and a combination of both. A linear simulation model is used to clearly and obviously compare the effects of effluent taxes and concentration-based standards within the same figure. With one detailed application to the paper industry, some enlightenment and conclusions – as well as the general applicability of these principles – are then provided: Under the same effluent tax rate, enterprises, groups, and industries that are cleaner will reduce more pollutants than those that have higher pollutant abatement costs. It is recommended that effluent taxes are set by avoiding cutting it even at one stroke and considering the feasibility of pollution-reducing technology in various industries. It is necessary to reduce MAC of enterprises to better stimulate enterprises’ or industries’ emission reduction by preferential measures, such as high tax rate coordinated by speeding up the depreciation of environmental protection equipment.     

Sustainable design for automotive products: Dismantling and recycling of end-of-life vehicles

The growth in automotive production has increased the number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) annually. The traditional approach ELV processing involves dismantling, shredding, and landfill disposal. The “3R” (i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle) principle has been increasingly employed in processing ELVs, particularly ELV parts, to promote sustainable development. The first step in processing ELVs is dismantling. However, certain parts of the vehicle are difficult to disassemble and use in practice. The extended producer responsibility policy requires carmakers to contribute in the processing of scrap cars either for their own developmental needs or for social responsibility. The design for dismantling approach can be an effective solution to the existing difficulties in dismantling ELVs. This approach can also provide guidelines in the design of automotive products. This paper illustrates the difficulty of handling polymers in dashboards. The physical properties of polymers prevent easy separation and recycling by using mechanical methods. Thus, dealers have to rely on chemical methods such as pyrolysis. Therefore, car designers should use a single material to benefit dealers. The use of materials for effective end-of-life processing without sacrificing the original performance requirements of the vehicle should be explored.     

Sustainable Tourism Development Management of Local Cultural Landscapes

Nowa days, ecological and cultural tourism, especially those ancient villages and towns in China, have attracted an increasing number of tourists because of their unique cultural features. However, rapid development of tourism brings economic benefits, but results in a series of problems that threaten further tourism development and protection of ancient towns, such as over-commercialization and tourism urbanization. Taking Longmen ancient town as an example, this paper presented a sustainable way of preserving and developing resources of ancient villages and towns. First, identify cultural features and the extent of ancient villages and towns, and find the approach through which a cultural landscape zoning can be applied. Second, define a cooperative function area to release the pressure on core areas and protect their authentic cultures by extending tourism space. Third, balance tourism development with traditional industries to enhance the sustainability of community economies.     

Product modular design incorporating life cycle issues - Group Genetic Algorithm (GGA) based method

Traditional design methods lead to serious environmental problems because of the oversight of life cycle issues such as recycling. For solving these problems, a new modular design method is proposed with the considerations of not only the traditional function related attributes, but also the life cycle related ones. These attributes form what we call Modular Driving Forces (MDFs). The proposed method first determines what MDFs should be included and what their weights should be. Then the component to component relations with each specific MDF are generated and expressed in a matrix. After that, the comprehensive relations between components with different MDFs are established with the introduction of a comprehensive relation matrix for further modular optimization. Each element in the comprehensive matrix denotes the relation of every two components affected by all the MDFs. Finally, Group Genetic Algorithm (GGA) is employed to conduct modular optimization. The modular object adaptive function constructed for GGA optimization is to maximize the interactions between components within modules. The proposed method is explained by a case study of a refrigerator. Sensitivity analysis shows that the proposed method is robust.     

The CO2 emission changes in China’s transportation sector during 1992–2015: a structural decomposition analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Based on a structural decomposition approach, the present paper simultaneously analyzes seven driving factors and forty sectors, which contribute to...     

Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in desert steppe soil related to transportation and industrial activities

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A study area was selected from the industrial region of Gaoshawo Town, Yanchi County, Ningxia, to explore the level of heavy metal pollution in desert...     

耐盐菌群对高含盐染料模拟废水的脱色实验研究

目前生物法处理高含盐染料废水的研究鲜有报道,实验对3种不同来源的活性污泥进行耐盐驯化,耐盐程度达到25%NaC l(w/w),用驯化得到的耐盐菌对高含盐染料K-2BP模拟废水进行厌氧脱色研究,脱色率达100%,并对其脱色机理进行了初步探讨,同时,进行了耐盐菌的脱色广谱性实验,结果表明驯化耐盐菌对所选取的13种不同结构的染料均有很高的脱色效果。研究为常规生物法应用于高含盐废水的处理提供了实验基础和理论依据。