Using internet search behavior to assess public awareness of protected wetlands

Improving public awareness of protected wetlands facilitates sustainable wetland management, which depends on public participation. One way of gauging public interest is by tracking Internet search behavior (ISB). We assessed public awareness of issues related to protected wetland areas (PWAs) in South Korea by examining the frequencies of specific queries (PWAs, Ramsar, Upo wetland, Sunchon Bay, etc.) using relative search volumes (RSVs) obtained from an Internet search engine. RSV shows how many times a search term is used relative to a second search term during a specific period. Public awareness of PWAs changed from 2007 to 2013. Initially the majority of Internet searches were related to the most well‐known tidal and inland wetlands Sunchon Bay and Upo wetlands, which are the largest existing wetlands in Korea with the greatest historical exposure. Public awareness, as reflected in RSVs, of wetlands increased significantly following PWA designation for the wetlands in 2008, which followed the Ramsar 10th Conference of Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (COP10) meeting. Public interest was strongly correlated to the number of news articles in the popular media, as evidenced by the increase in Internet searches for specific wetlands and words associated with specific wetlands. Correspondingly, the number of visitors to specific wetlands increased. To increase public interest in wetlands, wetland aspects that enhance wetland conservation should be promoted by the government and enhanced via public education. Our approach can be used to gauge public awareness and participation in a wide range of conservation efforts.     

Development of Spatial and Temporal Emission Inventory for Crop Residue Field Burning

Accurate emission inventory (EI) is the foremost requirement for air quality management. Specifically, air quality modeling requires EI with adequate spatial and temporal distributions. The development of such EI is always challenging, especially for sporadic emission sources such as biomass open burning. The country of Thailand produces a large amount of various crops annually, of which rough (unmilled) rice alone accounted for over 30 million tonnes in 2007. The crop residues are normally burned in the field that generates large emissions of air pollutants and climate forcers. We present here an attempt at a multipollutant EI for crop residue field burning in Thailand. Available country-specific and regional primary data were thoroughly scrutinized to select the most realistic values for the best, low and high emission estimates. In the base year of 2007, the best emission estimates in Gigagrams were as follows: particulate matter as PM_2.5, 128; particulate matter as PM₁₀, 143; sulfur dioxide (SO₂), 4; carbon dioxide (CO₂), 21,400; carbon monoxide (CO), 1,453; oxides of nitrogen (NO_x), 42; ammonia (NH₃), 59; methane (CH₄), 132; non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), 108; elemental carbon (EC), 10; and organic carbon (OC), 54. Rice straw burning was by far the largest contributor to the total emissions, especially during the dry season and in the central part of the country. Only a limited number of EIs for crop residue open burning were reported for Thailand but with significant discrepancies. Our best estimates were comparable but generally higher than other studies. Analysis for emission uncertainty, taking into account possible variations in activity data and emission factors, shows considerable gaps between low and high estimates. The difference between the low and high EI estimates for particulate matter and for particulate EC and OC varied between −80% and +80% while those for CO₂ and CO varied between −60% and +230%. Further, the crop production data of Thailand were used as a proxy to disaggregate the emissions to obtain spatial (76 provinces) and temporal (monthly) distribution. The provincial emissions were also disaggregated on a 0.1° × 0.1° grid net and to hourly profiles that can be directly used for dispersion modeling.     

基于多元统计的淮河中上游农业区地下水水质控制因素分析

以项城市地下水为主要研究对象,采用主成分分析方法和Q型层次聚类分析方法,辨别地下水化学变化不同来源,以判断地下水化学组成的主要控制因素.采用主成分分析方法,对102个地下水化学组成提取特征值大于1的5个主成分,累计贡献率达到73.10％.主成分1显示,TDS、总硬度、Cl-、Cd和Pb具有良好的正相关关系,表明地下水水质可能受到来方于工业废水的影响:主成分2显示,F-、I-和pH值具有良好的正相关关系,表明地下水水质受到水-岩作用的影响:生成分3显示,K+和P具有很好的相关性,与Cr也具有较好的相关性,表明地下水受化学肥料的影响:主成分4显示,COD、氨氰和Cu具有较好的相关性,表明地下承受到生活污水的影响;主成分5显示,NO3-和NO2-具有正相关性,表明地下水受化学肥料的影响,者与Mn具有负相关性,表明地下水存在部分还原环境.Q型层次聚类分析将项城市102个地下水水样分为4组:1)受工业废水入渗潜在影响的地下水,其TDS、总硬度、NO3-、Cl-、Pb、Cr、Cd和Ba质量浓度较高,pH值较低,主要分布在研究区的北部、中部和东南部,占研究区比例为28 4％;2)受生活污水入渗和农业面源污染潜在影响的地下水,其K+、Cu、P、COD、NH4+和NO2-质量浓度较高,主要分布在研究区的中北部和中南部,占研究区比例为17.6％;3)受水-岩相互作用潜在影响的地下水,其I-、F-和pH值质量浓度较高,地下水埋深最深,分布较分散,占研究区比例为12.7％;4)混合水,其上述离了质量浓度中等,主要分布在研究区的中西部和南部,占研究区比例为41.39％.结果表明,研究区地下水污染与工业废水、生活污水和农业面源污染等有密切关系,且地下水埋深越浅,地下水污染程度越高.     

Utilization of high-volume mine tailing and by-products in composite binder production: hardened properties and sustainable development

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This study was designed to investigate the hardened performance of the paste specimens produced using a composite binder with high volumes of mine...     

Green synthesis of ZrO2 nanoparticles and nanocomposites for biomedical and environmental applications: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Pollution and diseases such as the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) are major issues that may be solved partly by nanotechnology. Here we review the synthesis of...     

Main and added effects of heatwaves on hospitalizations for mental and behavioral disorders in a tropical megacity of Vietnam

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Vietnam is highly vulnerable to climate change-related extreme weather events such as heatwaves. This study assesses the association between heatwaves...     

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in workplace and house dust from Vietnam: concentrations,profiles, emission sources,and exposure risk

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The occurrence of nine phthalic acid esters (PAEs) were determined in indoor dust samples collected from vehicle repair shops, waste processing...     

CHARACTERIZATION OF PARTICULATE MATTER EMISSION FROM OPEN BURNING OF RICE STRAW

Emission from field burning of crop residue, a common practice in many parts of the world today, has potential effects on air quality, atmosphere and climate. This study provides a comprehensive size and compositional characterization of particulate matter (PM) emission from rice straw (RS) burning using both in situ experiments (11 spread field burning) and laboratory hood experiments (3 pile and 6 spread burning) that were conducted during 2003-2006 in Thailand. The carbon balance and emission ratio method was used to determine PM emission factors (EF) in the field experiments. The obtained EFs varied from field to hood experiments reflecting multiple factors affecting combustion and emission. In the hood experiments, EFs were found to be depending on the burning types (spread or pile), moisture content and the combustion efficiency. In addition, in the field experiments, burning rate and EF were also influenced by weather conditions, i.e. wind. Hood pile burning produced significantly higher EF (20±8 g kg(-1) RS) than hood spread burning (4.7±2.2 g kg(-1) RS). The majority of PM emitted from the field burning was PM(2.5) with EF of 5.1±0.7 g m(-2) or 8.3±2.7 g kg(-1) RS burned. The coarse PM fraction (PM(10-2.5)) was mainly generated by fire attention activities and was relatively small, hence the resulting EF of PM(10) (9.4±3.5 g kg(-1) RS) was not significantly higher than PM(2.5). PM size distribution was measured across 8 size ranges (from <0.4 μm to >9.0 μm). The largest fractions of PM, EC and OC were associated with PM(1.1). The most significant components in PM(2.5) and PM(10) include OC, water soluble ions and levoglucosan. Relative abundance of some methoxyphenols (e.g., acetylsyringone), PAHs (e.g., fluoranthene and pyrene), organochlorine pesticides and PCBs may also serve as additional signatures for the PM emission. Presence of these toxic compounds in PM of burning smoke increases the potential toxic effects of the emission. For illustration, an estimation of the annual RS field burning in Thailand was made using the obtained in situ field burning EFs and preliminary burning activity data.     

Synthesis and application of insect attractants in Vietnam

Detrimental effects of synthetic pesticides on health, environment and organisms have necessitated the exploration of alternative strategies for insect control. The insect attractants represent an important link within these systems. In Vietnam, since 1970, methyleugenol and its analogues have been synthesized for mass trapping of the fruitfly Daccus dorsalis Hendel. This chemical reduced the damage on the oranges of many plantations in our country. In the period 1978–1980, for the first time some selected types of pheromones were tested. The trials verified and provided evidence of the occurrence of six species of moth in southeast Vietnam: Archips micaceanus, Archips seminubilus, Cadra caustella, Spodoptera exigua, Chysodeixis eriosoma and Parapoynx sp. The last decade has seen intense activity in the elaboration and application of some complex systems of fighting plant pests. Pheromones of moth and weevils have been prepared in the Institute of Agrochemistry and the Institute of Tropical Biology NCST: Ostrinia nubilalis Hbn, Heliothis armigera Hbn, Plutella xylostella Curt, Adoxophyes sp, Lyonetia clerckella, Trogoderma granarium, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, Diabrotica undecimpunctata, Blattela germanica, Diprion, Neodiprion, Scolytus multistriatus, Scolytus scolytus, Lasioderma sericorne, Tribolium cofusum. Some synthetic aspects of these pheromones are described. The use of pheromone traps for monitoring and mass trapping the Scolytus multistriatus, Tribolium confusum, Plutella xylostella Curt, Heliothis armigera Hbn, Cylas formicarius elegantulus will be discussed.     

Alterations of endogenous metabolites in urine of rats exposed to decabromodiphenyl ether using metabonomic approaches

There is large usage of polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs） especially for decabromodiphenyl ether （BDE-209, Deca-BDE） in controlling the risks of fire. The toxicological effects of PBDEs are worth being concerned about. Female SD rats were daily gavaged with BDE-209 ether at the dose of 100 mg/kg for 20 days. Histological observation was performed for the screening of the target organs for BDE-209 exposure. The distribution and metabolism of PBDEs in the exposed main organs were evidenced by HRGC-HRMS. Alterations of the endogenous metabolite concentrations in urine were investigated using metabonomic approaches based on IH NMR spectrum. Histopathological changes including serious edema in kidney, hepatocellular spotty necrosis and perivasculitis in liver indicated that BDE-209 caused potential influences on endogenous metabolism in the exposed liver and the kidney. BDE-209 was found to be highly accumulated in lipid, ovary, kidney and liver after 20 days＇ exposure. Occurrence of other lower brominated PBDEs in the rats demonstrated that reductive debromination process happened in vivo. Hydroxylated and methoxylated-BDEs, as metabolism products, were also detected in the rat tissues. A total of 12 different endogenous metabolites showed obvious alterations in urine from the exposed rats, indicating the disturbance of the corresponding internal biochemical processes induced by BDE-209 exposure. These findings in vivo suggested the potential health risk might be of concern due to the toxicological effects of BDE-209 as a ubiquitous compound in the environment.