The spatial impact of digital economy on energy intensity in China in the context of double carbon to achieve the sustainable development goals

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Using the provincial panel data of China during 2012–2019, the present study employed spatial Durbin error model to explore the spatial effect...     

Correction to: Heterogeneous effects of remittances and institutional quality in reducing environmental deficit in the presence of EKC hypothesis: a global study with the application of panel quantile regression

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13791-z     

Lignin and its effects on litter decomposition in forest ecosystems

Lignin is a major component of plant litter. In this review, we found lignin comprises a complex class of organic compounds whose concentration differs greatly both between and within plant species. There are many analytical methods for detecting the composition and structure of lignins. As lignins are enormously complex compounds, chemical assay is difficult and different methods vary with the results. Lignin plays a significant role in the carbon cycle, sequestering atmospheric carbon into the living tissues of woody perennial vegetation. It has also great effects on nitrogen dynamics of forest ecosystems as well as other ecological processes. Lignin is one of the most slowly decomposing components of dead vegetation, contributing a major fraction of the material that becomes humus as it decomposes. Lignin is highly correlated with decomposition of litter. Thus, there is evidence that the lignin concentration is a more influential factor than the other chemical concentrations, in determining the rate of leaf litter decomposition of different forest ecosystems. Although a great number of researchers have addressed lignin's role in litter decomposition, still there are many aspects of lignin biogeochemistry that are not known. This lack of information hinders complete amalgam of lignin effects on litter decomposition processes and dynamics of nutrient cycling.     

The role of weekly high‐activated positive mood,context, and personality in innovative work behavior: A multilevel and interactional model

This article proposed and tested a multilevel and interactional model of individual innovation in which weekly moods represent a core construct between context, personality, and innovative work behavior. Adopting the circumplex model of affect, innovative work behavior is proposed as resulting from weekly positive and high‐activated mood. Furthermore, drawing on the Big Five model of personality and cognitive appraisal theory, openness to experience and support for innovation are proposed as individual and contextual variables, respectively, which interplay in this process. Openness to experience interacts with support for innovation leading to high‐activated positive mood. Furthermore, openness interacts with these feelings leading to greater levels of innovative work behavior. Overall, the model entails a moderated mediation process where weekly high‐activated positive mood represents a crucial variable for transforming contextual and individual resources into innovative outcomes. These propositions were tested and supported using a diary methodology and multilevel structural equation modeling, on the basis of 893 observations of innovative work behavior and moods nested in 10 weekly waves of data. This information was collected from 92 individuals of diverse occupations employed in 73 distinct companies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phytoaccumulation of heavy metals by aquatic plants

Three aquatic plants were examined for their ability to remove heavy metals from contaminated water: parrot feather (Myriophylhum aquaticum), creeping primrose (Ludwigina palustris), and water mint (Mentha aquatic). The plants were obtained from a Solar Aquatic System treating municipal wastewater. All the three plants were able to remove Fe, Zn, Cu, and Hg from the contaminated water. The average removal efficiency for the three plant species was 99.8%, 76.7%, 41.62%, and 33.9% of Hg, Fe, Cu, and Zn, respectively. The removal rates of zinc and copper were constant (0.48 mg/l/day for Zn and 0.11 mg/l/day for Cu), whereas those of iron and mercury were dependent on the concentration of these elements in the contaminated water and ranged from 7.00 to 0.41 mg/l/day for Fe and 0.0787 to 0.0002 mg/l/day for Hg. Parrot feather showed greater tolerance to toxicity followed by water mint and creeping primrose. The growth of creeping primrose was significantly affected by heavy metal toxicity. The selectivity of heavy metals for the three plant species was the same (Hg>Fe>Cu>Zn). The mass balance preformed on the system showed that about 60.45-82.61% of the zinc and 38.96-60.75% of the copper were removed by precipitation as zinc phosphate and copper phosphate, respectively.     

Shades of blue: what do competing interpretations of the Blue Economy mean for oceans governance?

The ‘Blue Economy’ is an increasingly popular term in modern marine and ocean governance. The concept seeks to marry ocean-based development opportunities with environmental stewardship and protection. Yet different actors are co-opting this term in competing, and often conflicting ways. Four conceptual interpretations of the Blue Economy are identified, through examination of dominant discourses within international Blue Economy policy documents and key ‘grey’ literature. The way the Blue Economy is enacted is also examined, through an analysis of the Blue Economy ‘in practice’, and the actors involved. Finally, the scope of the Blue Economy is explored, with a particular focus on which particular marine industries are included or excluded from different conceptualizations. This analysis reveals areas of both consensus and conflict. Areas of consensus reflect the growing trend towards commodification and valuation of nature, the designation and delimitation of spatial boundaries in the oceans and increasing securitization of the world's oceans. Areas of conflict exist most notably around a divergence in opinions over the legitimacy of individual sectors as components of the ‘Blue Economy’, in particular, carbon-intensive industries like oil and gas, and the emerging industry of deep seabed mining.     

Evidential role of municipal solid waste and liquid effluent on environment and public health

Cities in Bangladesh produce large amounts of solid waste (SW) through various human activities which severely pollutes our native environment. As a result, SW pollutes the three basic environmental elements (air, water, and soil) by increasing pathogenic microbial load, which might be hazardous to public health directly or indirectly. In this study, we conducted 30 samples (i.e., soil, water, and air) collected from areas where municipal solid wastes are dumped (Tangail Sadar Upazila, Bangladesh). All the samples were analyzed to assess bacteriological quality for presumptive viable and coliform count using different agar media. We performed serial dilution 10⁻³–10⁻¹⁰ times for soil and water samples, and the diluted samples were spread on Mac-Conkey agar and nutrient agar plates. For the air sample, the sterile media containing petri-dish was placed adjacent to the dumpsite of the municipal waste and kept for an hour. Then all the samples were incubated at 37°C overnight for total viable count (TVC) and total coliform count (TCC). Biochemical tests and PCR were performed for the identification of these microorganisms. The antibiogram study was performed to reveal their (identified bacteria) susceptibility against clinically used antibiotics according to the standard disk diffusion technique. The highest bacterial loads were found in the air: TVC 3.273 × 10³ and TCC 1.059 × 10³ CFU/plate; tube-well water: TVC 8.609 × 10³, and TCC 8.317 × 10³ CFU/mL; in surface water: TVC 6.24 × 10¹³ CFU/mL and TCC 2.2 × 10¹² CFU/mL; in soil: TVC 2.88 × 10¹¹ and TCC 1.02 × 10¹¹ CFU/g, respectively. Microbes from SW can be transmitted through air, dust particles, or flies, and here we found an average of 1120 microbes spread over 63.61 cm² area per hour. Eight bacterial isolates (Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella spp., E. coli, Proteus spp., V. cholera, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp.) were identified by the biochemical test. Among them, E. coli and Shigella spp. were further ensured by PCR targeting bfpA and ipaH genes. Antibiotic susceptibility test results showed that E. coli isolates were highly resistant to erythromycin (80%); Shigella spp. were resistant to nalidixic acid (90%), whereas Salmonella spp. was found resistant to kanamycin (90%). Vibrio spp. were also resistant to azithromycin (80%) and erythromycin (80%), which should be a great concern for us. A semi-structured survey revealed that 63% of respondents suffered from different clinical conditions (intestinal diseases) due to SW pollution. So, steps should be taken to improve the proper management and disposal of solid waste and liquid effluent to save our environment and public health.     

One-dimensional numerical modelling of dam-break waves over movable beds: application to experimental and field cases

This paper reports a numerical study on dam-break waves over movable beds. A one-dimensional (1-D) model is built upon the Saint-Venant equations for shallow water waves, the Exner equation of sediment mass conservation and a spatial lag equation for non-equilibrium sediment transport. The set of governing equations is solved using an explicit finite difference scheme. The model is tested in various idealized experimental cases, with fairly good agreement between the numerical predictions and measurements. Discrepancies are observed at the earlier stage of the dam-break wave and around the dam location due to no vertical velocity component being taken into account. Sensitivity tests confirm that the friction coefficient is an important parameter for the evaluation of sediment transport processes operating during a dam-break wave. The influence of the non-equilibrium adaptation length (or the lag distance) is negligible on the wavefront celerity and weak on the free surface and bed profiles, which indicates that one may ignore the spatial lag effect in dam-break wave studies. Finally, the simulation of the Lake Ha!Ha! dyke-break flood event shows that the model can provide relevant results if a convenient formula for computing the sediment transport capacity and an appropriate median grain diameter of riverbed material are selected.     

Research trends in biodiversity loss: a bibliometric analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Although increased attempts to preserve biodiversity ecosystems have been widely publicized, bibliometric research of biodiversity loss remains...