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The green growth of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration plays a leading and exemplary role in overcoming internal resource restrictions, addressing climate change, and supporting China's high-quality growth. From the standpoint of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, this paper first conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact based on combined weighting technique. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model is used to decompose the environmental impact drivers in distinct areas. A decoupling effort index is further constructed to measure the effect of various efforts on the decoupling of economic growth and environmental impact, the improved grey Markov model is applied to predict the future trend of regional decoupling efforts. The results of empirical analysis based on data of the BTH region during 2011–2018 show that: 1) the environmental impact index of Beijing is the lowest followed by Tianjin and Hebei; 2) environmental regulation exerts the most significant impact on reducing environmental pressure in Beijing while technology progress and energy intensity have the most significant effect on easing environmental pressure in Tianjin; 3) strong decoupling efforts have been found in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, however, such effect is more significant in Beijing; 4) Beijing's decoupling state is mostly driven by regulatory effect, intensity effect, and scale effect, while Tianjin and Hebei's decoupling states are primarily driven by improvements in environmental regulation and energy intensity; 5) according to the forecast outcome of the improved grey Markov technique, a state of strong decoupling effort will be maintained in the BTH area by 2025, and the decoupling effort index in Beijing will remain the highest while the index in Hebei will remain the lowest. • A comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact of BTH based on combined weighting method is estimated. • Determinants of environmental impact is decomposed as regulatory, technological, intensity, growth and scale effects. • LMDI model is constructed to estimate the five determinants of regional environmental impact. • Decoupling effort approach and improved grey Markov model are used to analyze and predict the status of various decoupling efforts. • Various suggestions are proposed from the perspective of regional heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A hybrid technique is presented to predict underground train induced vibration. • This prediction is based on transfer function experiments in a borehole or tunnel. • A vehicle-track model is used to obtain excitation forces acting on tunnel invert. • More accurate prediction can be expected compared to other approaches. The accurate prediction of ground-borne vibration induced by underground trains is needed to assess the effects of vibration. However, there are inaccuracy and uncertainty for current empirical and numerical approaches due to theoretical assumptions, simplifying modeling and uncertainty of parameters. To reduce the inaccuracy and uncertainty, this paper presents a prediction strategy based on the transfer function experiment in a borehole or tunnel. The frequency-domain dynamic response in the ground can be determined from the excitation forces applied on the tunnel invert and the transfer functions in the experiment. A vehicle-track model is established to obtain the excitation forces, and the transfer functions are measured in the hammer impact experiments in a borehole or tunnel. Validation of this approach is provided by comparison to the measured response on a metro line in Beijing. It is shown that more accurate prediction can be expected by this approach as the actual transfer characteristics of vibration in the ground are measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]