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The potential health and environmental impacts associated with the improper management of chemically treated wood waste demands the adoption of recycling, and disposal practices. Chemically treated wood waste has several physical and chemical properties which makes it usable for the manufacture of another product to multiple use, among which the production of paper and fuel. This paper presents the initial life cycle assessment (LCA) study on wood waste used for paper production. The study boundary is limited with raw materials (raw wood or waste wood) processing and paper production itself, thus corresponds to “gate-to-gate” life cycle with a special focus on life cycle inventory data on waste wood treatment via hydrolysis process. The results of the analysis demonstrate competitiveness of the waste wood use for paper production vs. raw wood in such environmental categories as human health and ecosystem quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • GQD-DDT and GQD-MPA was synthesized using novel hydrothermal protocol. • GQD-DDT and GQD-MPA was used for the identification of cations using colorimetric and spectrophotometric assay. • GQD-DDT and GQD-MPA have well activity for ion sensing in aqueous solution. This study describes the synthesis of various types of thiolated-graphene quantum dots (GQDs) for the simultaneous multi-sensing of heavy metal ions using one-droplet microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (OD- µ PADs). For the first time, functionalized GQDs were synthesized and stabilized on the surface of hydrophobic fiber-glass with simple manufacturing and assembly strategy towards colorimetric chemosensing of ions including iron, copper, cobalt, mercury, chrome, manganese, and nickel. For this purpose, GQDs are functionalized by various organic species including cysteamine, decanethiol, and mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) towards specific electrostatic interaction with metal ions of Fe (II), Cu (II), Co(II), Hg (II), Mn (II), and Ni (II). Therefore, an innovative GQDs-based miniaturized chemo-system was proposed for the environmental analysis. Additionally, the results were confirmed using fluorescence spectrometry as an optical detection method. Finally, this simple and efficient colorimetric platform was used for facile metal ions detection in human urine models, and environmental fluids, which can provide a commercial device for sensing contaminants by non-professional users in biomedical/environmental mixture. As an economical technique, this platform presents a "mix-and-sense" system without dye (as a side substance) or chemical treatments. The low instrumental requirements, the color uniformity, and the disposability of OD- μ PADs approve the commercial application of the engineered ion-chemosensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Environmental problems caused by recycling wasted paper at a board paper mill provide the material of this study. Two scenarios have been investigated: The first being the treatment of the end-of-pipe, and the second being the control and management of pollution problems through the application of in-plant control and pollution prevention measures. Comparison between the two alternatives, based on a cost-benefit analysis and compliance with National Environmental Laws was done. From this study it was apparent that the implementation of the pollution prevention measures such as the recovery of fiber, reduction of fresh water consumption, and optimization of white water usage proved to be very cost effective. All the implemented solutions have short payback periods and resulted in great savings compared with the treatment of the end-of-pipe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An innovative thermal-sensitive ink has been developed and thoroughly tested on polyester fabric. Unlike conventional methods, this new ink eliminates the need for chemical pretreatment and post-printing washing of the fabric before or after printing. It utilizes high-temperature disperse dyes and a biodegradable carrier molecule called a triblock copolymer, specifically Poly(ε-caprolactone-lactic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone-lactic acid) (PCLA-PEG-PCLA). This remarkable copolymer comprises dihydroxy polyethylene glycol (PEG), ε-caprolactone (CL), and L‐lactide (LA). Upon contact with a heated surface, such as a fiber or textile, the ink droplets swiftly transition rapidly, transforming into a gel-like state. This transition enhances the ink's viscosity, effectively preventing undesired spreading and resulting in precise edge definition on the fabric. To comprehensively evaluate the performance of polyester fabric printed with this innovative ink, a series of meticulous evaluations have been conducted. These evaluations encompass pH levels, particle size, surface tension, viscosity, ink droplet formation, as well as real-time photo-rheological and LF‐NMR analyses conducted on the surface of the polyester fabric. The newly developed inks demonstrate exceptional effectiveness and are highly suitable for digital printing applications across various materials. Furthermore, the implementation of this new ink can significantly reduce the reliance on chemicals and minimize wastewater production during the manufacturing process. [Display omitted] • A novel thermosensitive ink has been prepared by combining a triblock compolymers (PCLA- PEG- PCLA) with high-temperature disperse dyes. • This new printing technology significantly reduces the use of chemicals by eliminating the need for pretreatment. • Fabrics printed with thermosensitive ink demonstrate excellent printing accuracy and color fastness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • CysA@AuNPs supported amino acids was synthesized using hydrothermal protocol. • CysA@AuNPs supported was used for the identification of Hg(II) and Cu(II). • CysA@AuNPs have well activity for ion sensing in aqueous solution. In this study, an innovative methods was proposed for the synthesis of cysteamine@gold nanoparticle (CysA@AuNPs) using one step protocol. Also, application of CysA@AuNPs for the sensitive recognition of Hg (II) and Cu (II) in aqueous media was investigated using optical techniques. This research work explains the development of a lightweight stamp for manufacturing of a novel microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μ PADs), as a simple colorimetric sensor for selective recognition of Hg2+ and Cu2+ within the other metal ions (Fe(III), Mn(II), Zr(IV), Ba(II), Mg(II), Sr(II), As(III), B(III), Al(III), V(III), K(I), Na(I), Mo(II), Co(II), Zn(II), Sn(II), Se(IV), Cr(III), Bi(III)) in aqueous, and human biofluids. CysA@AuNPs supported amino acids were used as the ion detection probs. The specific colorimetric response of Hg2+ and Cu2+ amongst the other ions through the innovative sensor allows naked-eye discrimination of the mercury and copper metal ions in this work with excellent selectivity in the presence of cysteine, and methionine. The results revealed our new strategy (μ PADs) for the colorimetric recognition of mercury and copper ions, in both urine and aqueous samples, is selective, simple, fast, sensitive, quantitative, cost-effective, and eco-friendly, which can be detected by naked eye through color alternation with LLOQ of 0.001 ppm for Hg2+, and 0.02 ppm for Cu2+ with admirable stability. The low instrumental needs of the stamp, and disposability of μ PADs enable the application of the suggested paper-based device for the commercial diagnostics biosensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: From the utilization point of view, it is notable that the total element concentrations in the precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) waste were significantly lower than the maximal allowable heavy metal concentrations for fertilizers used in agriculture and in forestry, set on the basis of the EU and Finnish legislation. The easily soluble Ca concentration of 168.5gkg−1 (d.w.) in PCC waste was 105 times higher than the typical value of 1.6gkg−1 (d.w.) in the coarse mineral soil in Finland indicates that the PCC waste is a potential agent for soil remediation and for improving soil fertility if it is used as fertilizer. According to a five-stage sequential extraction procedure, the highest concentrations of most of the elements occurred either in HF+HNO3 +HCl or H2O2 +CH3COONH4 fraction. This means that the major part of the elements retained in the PCC waste are not easy to extract (leach) under conditions normally found in nature. This is beneficial since, if inorganic materials and by-products are utilized in earth construction, the content of harmful compounds must be low and the harmful components must be tightly bound to the matrix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With the increasing concerns of food safety and environmental protection, it is desirable to develop reliable, effective, and portable sensors for detection of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs). Here, a cascade reaction system integrated with threaded 3D microfluidic paper analytical device (3D μPAD) was firstly developed for background-free and visual detection of OPs in agricultural samples. Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) hydrolyzed acetylcholine into thiocholine (TCh), which reduced MnO 2 nanosheets into Mn2+. With addition of OPs, BChE activity was irreversibly inhibited, and the generation of TCh and the reduction of MnO 2 nanosheets were prevented. Then the remaining MnO 2 nanosheets oxidized o -phenylenediamine into 2,3-diaminophenazine with yellow-emission fluorescence, which quenched the fluorescence intensity of red-emission carbon dots (RCDs) via inner-filter effect. Based on above mechanism, a ratiometric fluorescent system was established for OPs detection. Threaded 3D μPAD consisted of 4 layers, which allowed to load and/or add reagents to trigger the cascade reaction system for OPs detection. The fluorescent images presented distinguishable color variations from red to yellow with dichlorvos concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 120 μg L−1, and the limit of detection was 1.0 μg L−1. In the practical samples testing, threaded 3D μPAD can eliminate background influence on fluorescent signal for OPs detection. Threaded 3D μPAD integrated with ratiometric sensing platform has merits of accuracy response, facile operation, and background-free detection, which supplies a new alternative approach for on-site pesticide detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent Comment on our paper ‘Life cycle environmental impacts of UK shale gas’ ( Applied Energy 134 (2014) 506–518), Westaway et al. ( Applied Energy , available online 20th March 2015) allege that we exaggerated the potential impacts of shale gas extraction in the UK. They first take an issue with our inclusion of worst case scenarios despite our clear declaration in several places in the paper that this is indicative of what could happen within the confines of a very ill-defined and highly variable future reality. Secondly, Westaway et al. claim that key assumptions in the modelling reflect illegal practices that would not occur, when in fact this is an exaggeration of the legal situation and these practices are still viable. This rebuttal addresses some of the claims made by Westaway et al. while welcoming further open and impartial discourse in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper industry, adding fillers can replace plant fibers in pulp, which is beneficial to environmental protection and cost reduction. However, the large-scale use of inorganic fillers can interfere with interfiber bonding, thereby affecting the physical properties of paper. Due to the loss of fillers and paper fibers, the pollution of paper machine white water is aggravated. In order to improve the above situation, diatomite was used as the matrix and modified by Al(OH) 3 in-situ precipitation. In this study, modified diatomite was used as a papermaking filler. Paper properties, retention and the chemical oxygen demand in papermaking wastewater were also evaluated. The results show that, compared with the blank control, the modified diatomite filler could effectively improve the retention rate and reduce the pollution of paper machine white water while maintaining the physical strength of the paper. Among them, the fiber retention rate of pulp raw material could reach 98.05% and the chemical oxygen demand content of paper machine white water was 30.10 mg L−1. [Display omitted] • Modified diatomite filler for paper making was prepared by in-situ precipitation of Al(OH) 3 on the surface of diatomite. • The modified diatomite changed the electronegativity of the surface and could link with pulp fibers better. • Wastewater quality and paper properties added by the modified diatomite and CPAM were significantly increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's era, science and technology have undergone tremendous development, and the research on big data technology has become more and more mature. Many areas of human life have begun to apply big data technology, and big data technology has indeed brought more convenience to human life. With innovation, human life has also become better because of the development of big data. With the increase of people's awareness of environmental protection and sustainable development, more and more scholars have begun to pay attention to the research of multi-channel closed-loop supply chain. The return products caused by reverse logistics greatly affect the supply chain inventory system and the butterfly effect of the supply chain. This paper uses the Agent technology in big data to construct a multi-channel closed-loop supply chain decision model, and applies the Agent technology to the research of multi-channel closed-loop supply chain inventory and butterfly effect. This paper analyzes the functional agents included in each structural agent in the closed-loop supply chain, designs the simulation process, and designs the final data collection and analysis. Through the analysis of the simulation results, find out the influence of the reverse logistics recycling and return links and the changes in inventory control parameters on the butterfly effect of the members of the closed-loop supply chain at all levels, and provide guidance for the members of the closed-loop supply chain to formulate reasonable and effective inventory control strategies Sexual opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's world, as ecological challenges continue to rise, the importance of environmental monitoring and conservation cannot be overstated. These efforts play a vital role in countering the adverse impacts of human activities on our planet. The development of predictive models that can accurately predict the results of different conservation measures is essential for the success of these conservation efforts. This paper's objective is to create a Machine Learning (ML) model that predicts how environmental changes can unfold. This prediction helps in proactive monitoring and conservation planning, considering factors like deforestation, air pollution, sea level rise, temperature shifts, and forest preservation. The model relies on machine learning techniques, including AdaBoost, ETS, Prophet, SARIMA, LightGBM, and TL-BLSTM models, to analyze data, uncover trends, and inform decision-making. By offering a thorough assessment of the effects of conservation approaches, this model aids in shaping well-informed decisions regarding the distribution of resources. As a result, this process strengthens initiatives designed to protect biodiversity and the Earth's natural resources. Predicting changes in environmental variables is the main goal of this research, which will improve effective environmental management. In order to draw conclusions that are meaningful, this study compares several models for each of the four crucial factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, internet public participation has become a powerful tool to supervise the pollution activities of the enterprises. However, fewer studies have focused on the effect of internet public participation on environmental protection. Thus, this paper use network platform data (Sina Weibo and Baidu) from 2013 to 2018 to test whether internet public participation can help control environmental pollution emissions. Firstly, this paper selects the number of micro-blogs with the Chinese keywords "environmental protection", "haze", "water pollution", "air pollution" and their Baidu index to describe the level of internet public participation. Secondly, the effect of the internet public participation on four environmental pollutants including industrial sulfur dioxide, industrial soot, industrial wastewater and industrial solid waste are explored using the mediating effect model. In addition, we have examined the government's intermediary effect on environmental pollutants emission. The study found that the internet public participation can significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduce the discharge of the industrial waste water. In addition, the mediating effect of government is significant (p ≤ 0.05) on pollutant emissions. From the view of regional difference, internet public participation has significantly reduced the discharge of the industrial sulfur dioxide (p ≤ 0.1), industrial waste water (p ≤ 0.05) and industrial solid waste (p ≤ 0.05) in the east. • The effect of internet public participation on environmental protection is explored. • Network platform data (Sina Weibo and Baidu) is explored. • The government's intermediary effect on environmental pollutants is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative environmental management across regions is becoming an increasingly significant development trend. Spatial spillover effects of pollution and competitive interactions of local governments under fiscal decentralisation may result in direct or indirect spatial association of environmental protection expenditure (EPE). To explore the spatial association, this paper examines the spatial spillovers of environmental protection expenditure within neighbouring Chinese provinces from 1998 to 2020. In addition, to take a broader regional perspective, we employ a modified gravity model to construct a spatial association network covering all 30 provinces. The research finds that: (1) There are significant positive spatial spillover effects of EPE. (2) The sub-regional estimation of SAR models suggests that the spillover effects are still positive in the relative economic backward provinces, whereas the governments in the high-quality economic regions tend to "free-rider". (3) The spatial association of EPE in each province shows a relatively stable network structure pattern. (4) The high-quality economic provinces of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Beijing and Zhejiang are at the centre of the network with strong spatial association. Based on the clarification of spillover effects, this paper reveals the roles of provinces in the spatial association network, which can inform governments to develop differentiated environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph theory (GT) has become an indispensable tool for exploring environmental interconnections and elucidating ecological relationships. The integration of GT with Ecological network analysis (ENA) has been increasingly recognised for its potential to enhance our understanding of ecological systems. However, the application of GT in ENA faces several limitations that warrant closer examination. This paper aims to investigate these challenges through a systematic review, adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The review encompasses 329 selected articles published from January 2014 to December 2021, highlighting GT's uptake in ENA but also pinpointing significant challenges. The review reveals that while GT offers flexibility in analysing different ecological networks (ENs), challenges exist related to understanding landscape dynamics, the accuracy of measurement scale, species-specific data, and reliability. Specially, the use of nodes and links presents definitional and measurement complexities, compounded by an overwhelming variety of indicators that may dilute analytical precision. The paper advocates for the development of frameworks to conceptualise ideal and sustainable ENs and to establish indicators for assessing network efficacy. Future research must tackle these methodological hurdles, with a special focus on refining measurement scale, species-specific data, spatio-temporal considerations, and node and link assessment for different species, while ensuring reliability. Additionally, the potential of GT to mitigate the impact of ecological threats is underscored as a critical area for future applications. Addressing these challenges is imperative for advancing GT's contribution to ENA and fostering more effective environmental conservation strategies. • Graph theory is adaptable for analysing structural and functional ecological networks. • Accuracy of graph theory usage in ecological network analysis depends on key factors. • Integrating diverse data sources enhances ecological network study robustness. • Proper spatio-temporal resolution boosts connectivity assessment credibility. • Reliability directly impacts the validity of ecological network research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has paid little attention to the multiple meanings of the concept of forest restoration. To gain a more comprehensive view of forest restoration, this paper compares the US forest restoration debate of the 1940s and 1990s, in the disciplines of ecology and forestry. The paper focuses on historical approaches to pasts and futures, and on "sociotechnical imaginaries" providing societal legitimacy to restoration ventures. Historical scientific papers constitute the paper's empirical sources. The analysis shows that, among ecologists and foresters, forest restoration of the 1940s was oriented towards efficiency and challenges such as wood demands during World War II, whereas restoration of the 1990s was oriented towards conservation and environmental challenges. The approaches of the 1940s′ ecologists and foresters seem motivated by a sociotechnical imaginary connecting forest restoration to societal progress , whereas the approaches of their 1990s′ counterparts seem motivated by a sociotechnical imaginary connecting forest restoration to the task of mitigating society's impacts. Based on the conclusions, it is argued that future research on forest restoration would benefit from comparing the idealized pasts of both yield- and conservation-oriented conceptions of forest restoration. • Historically, US ecologists' and foresters' approach forest restoration similarly. • Historically, US aims of forest restoration have changed from yields to conservation. • Research on forest restoration benefits from comparing restorers' view on the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research applies design thinking to craft a prototype for a digital participation strategy that boosts the ability of Colombian communities to protect natural ecosystems. It delves into modern digital involvement trends related to environmental sustainability and examines the roles of AI and blockchain in ensuring transparency and accountability. The paper also touches on community-driven methods for sustainable management, highlighting approaches like adaptive and landscape-based co-management that incorporate citizen science and collaborative engagement. The research is rooted in participatory methods, co-creating the empathy map and prototype with the community of Villavicencio, Colombia, and the research team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to explore how environmental protection expenditures (EPE) affect innovation and investigate the potential causal relationship between the two variables. The novelty and main contribution of our paper to the literature stems from the fact that we look at total environmental protection expenditures from both the public and private sectors, and distinguishing between corporations and households in the private sectors. We also consider both inputs and outputs of innovation and address potential endogeneity issues in this relationship, which are both lacking in the current literature. Using a panel of EU countries over the period 2006–2020, this study generally finds a positive impact of EPE on innovation after controlling for the effects of trade, credit, education and inflation on innovation, and using the System GMM estimator to treat endogeneity. Moreover, EPE from the government sector drives the bulk of this positive impact. The core results are robust to alternative measures of innovation, alternative estimation techniques that address endogeneity (i.e., the Lewbel 2SLS, Mundlak, and Hausman-Taylor estimators) and the moderation effects of Climate Change Performance (CCPI). This study also provides a useful guide to policy makers engaged in environmental planning. • We evaluate the impact of environmental protection expenditures (EPE) on innovation in mainly EU countries. • We use longitudinal dataset for the group of EU countries over the period 2006–2020. • We find a positive impact of EPE on innovation. • The results are robust for observable heterogeneity, alternative measures of innovation and estimation techniques. • This study provides a useful guide to policy makers engaged in environmental planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies examines how a firm's position in the global value chain affects its pollutant emissions. This paper integrates China's firm-level trade data into China's multi-regional input-output tables to provide an index to measure a firm's position in global value chains. Based on a firm-level pollution dataset (2000–2014) in China, this paper conducts an empirical analysis and find that the most-downstream firms on the global value chain have lower pollutant emission intensity. Our results also suggest that the production factor structure effect, the knowledge absorption effect and the abatement investment effect together contribute to the emission intensity gap between the most-upstream firms and the most-downstream firms. These novel results are significant in guiding firms towards reducing their emissions and promoting a green global value chain, with the ultimate goal of achieving multinational environmental protection. [Display omitted] • The most-downstream firms have lower pollutant emission intensity. • A supply chain disruption shock is used as an instrumental variable. • Factor structure, knowledge absorption and abatement investment are channels. • Effects on firms with diverse ownership and trade patterns are heterogeneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing global energy demand and limited production of conventional crude oil, the extraction of unconventional heavy and extra-heavy oil is receiving unprecedented attention. China is the fourth largest producer of heavy oil. High viscosity and complex formation environments increase the difficulty of exploiting heavy oil. To alleviate the economic cost and environmental pollution pressure brought by heavy oil production, China has achieved significant advancement in the innovation of heavy oil recovery, including accelerating the transformation of thermal technology to non-thermal technology and the use of new energy technology to achieve the goal of low-carbon economy and green environmental protection. Based on the background of heavy oil in China, this paper recharacterizes the high-viscosity mechanism of heavy oil. From different aspects, including basic principles, main characteristics, applicability, limitations, and challenges, this paper comprehensively reviews existing heavy oil recovery technologies, including thermal recovery, in-situ upgrading, cold recovery, and new energy technologies. Currently, in China, the main target of heavy oil recovery is achieving the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" goals, which can be described as low energy consumption, low emission, and low pollution. To facilitate the low-carbon transition in the extraction of heavy/extra-heavy oil and attain environmental sustainability goals, it is essential to increase the proportion of non-thermal factors in thermal recovery technologies, develop efficient in-situ catalysts, adopt clean cold extraction techniques, and advance the development of new energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Integrated dataset of major ions and trace elements for Nepal Himalayan rivers basin. • Rock weathering is the primary factor controlling ion concentrations. • Anthropogenic impacts become significant in densely populated lowland basins. • Water in most rivers is safe for drinking, except for densely polluted urban Bagmati. • A uniform and comparable Himalayan Water Quality Index is proposed. Rivers originating from the Himalayas play a crucial role as primary water sources for a significant proportion of the population in Asia downstream. This paper presents a comprehensive synthesis of hydrogeochemical data, incorporating major ions and trace elements from 153 papers spanning 2000 to 2023, with a detailed analysis of 20 papers specific to Nepal Himalayan rivers. To bridge the research gap due to sparse data, we aimed to enhance inclusivity by amalgamating both seasonal and one-time datasets, computing mean values for singular instances, and employing grand means for multiple seasonal data points. Our findings highlight varied research attention across different river basins, with the eastern Koshi Basin receiving extensive attention, while the middle Gandaki and Bagmati Basins garner moderate attention, and data scarcity observed in the western Karnali Basin. Predominant ionic composition, notably Ca2+ and HCO 3 –, reflect lithological influences, primarily driven by rock weathering. Although anthropogenic impacts remain minimal in most basins, certain lowland areas with higher population densities exhibit increasing significance. Trace element contamination, notably Cd, Cu, Sr, and Zn, poses ongoing threats, both from natural and anthropogenic sources. Water quality assessments conducted for agricultural and drinking suitability indicated good status, except in the densely polluted urban Bagmati stem. Health and ecological risks are low, as determined by pollution indices such as Pi, NPI, HI, and CI. The Bagmati River's middle segment, with high population density and moderate agricultural activity, shows pronounced anthropogenic footprints, while downstream areas exhibited greater impacts. Additionally, this article proposes the potential use of a Water Quality Index tool to comprehensively assess water quality across all parameters in Himalayan water bodies, providing a roadmap for future environmental conservation in the Himalayas. This pioneering review represents a significant effort to understand Himalayan rivers geochemistry on a large geographical scale and emphasizes the need for integrated observation and consideration of river water quality across the entire Himalayan region, from high mountains to lowlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing demand for environmental protection, the recovery and reuse of fly ash has attracted more and more attention. In this paper, the fly ash based porous ceramic membrane is modified from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic successfully. Average contact angle and roll-off angle of the modified superhydrophobic fly ash based ceramic membrane are 151.3° and 11.3°, respectively. Additionally, a variety of performances of the prepared superhydrophobic fly ash based ceramic membrane are characterized. Dynamic process of droplets with different initial velocities impacting on the surface of superhydrophobic fly ash based ceramic membrane is photographed by high-speed camera. It is proved that dynamic process of droplet impacting on superhydrophobic surface includes spreading, retraction and partial rebound. Spreading, retraction and solid-liquid contact time of droplets are about 2.9 ms, 11.5 ms and 14.4 ms, respectively. The above data is almost unaffected by impact velocity of droplets. In addition, experiments show that the prepared superhydrophobic fly ash based ceramic membrane has good acid and alkali corrosion resistance, and self-cleaning performance. In this paper, superhydrophobic ceramic membrane prepared by fly ash shows excellent performance and it can provide guidance for the reuse of fly ash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Criteria are needed to be able to judge the level of risk associated with dose rates estimated for non-human biota. In this paper, European guidance on the derivation of predicted no-effect chemical concentrations has been applied to appropriate radiation sensitivity data. A species sensitivity distribution fitted to the data for all species resulted in a generic predicted no-effect dose rate of 10μGyh−1. Currently, data are inadequate to derive screening values for separate organism groups. A second, higher, benchmark could aid in decision making by putting results into context on the scale of no effect to a risk of ‘serious’ effect. The need for, meaning and use of such a value needs to be debated by the wider community. This paper explores potential approaches of deriving scientific input to this debate. The concepts proposed in this paper are broadly consistent with the framework for human protection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Environmental protection and sustainable development are now profoundly ingrained in the public consciousness in the modern era of the global green revolution. First, this paper uses an evolutionary game model to theoretically analyse the impact of environmental regulation and green finance on enterprises by dissecting the game behaviour between local governments, banks and enterprises. Then, we incorporate entrepreneurial spirit into the model to determine whether entrepreneurial spirit accelerates the achievement of green sustainability objectives. Environmental regulation and green finance are found to contribute substantially to the innovation of green technologies by local enterprises, while entrepreneurial spirit accelerates this process. Finally, we empirically test the findings based on a prefecture-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2020. We find that green finance has a positive impact in Central and Western cities of China, while Eastern cities are in greater need for government environmental regulation controls. For entrepreneurial spirit, the incentive effect of entrepreneurial spirit on the level of green technology innovation is more significant in Central and Western regions of China. This paper enriches the field of research on entrepreneurial spirit and regional green sustainable development by providing empirical evidence for the evaluation of environmental regulatory and green financing policy impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the growing emphasis on green packing, e-commerce businesses actively pursue sustainable solutions that balance cost reduction with environmental conservation. Traditional research on three-dimensional bin packing has concentrated on maximizing spatial utilization under fixed box dimensions. However, in the practical context of e-commerce, packing boxes exhibit a wide range of sizes within a single warehouse. Customizing packing to prevent material and space wastage has become crucial for sustainable development. This paper innovates traditional three-dimensional packing research by introducing open dimensions instead of fixed ones. It addresses challenges in e-commerce packing, such as multiple orders and diverse bin shapes, to formulate a mixed-integer programming model. Focused on the carbon emission lifecycle's usage phase for packing boxes, the model aims to minimize associated costs while ensuring that items' weight, the center of gravity, sufficient support, and non-overlapping placement are maintained during the packing process. It also incorporates one-dimensional and two-dimensional fixed bin sizes. To solve this model, the paper proposes an improved hybrid genetic algorithm for stack sequence optimization. This algorithm systematically optimizes the dimensions for each box type. Building upon this, the study introduces an algorithm capable of estimating packing material consumption and the percentage reduction in carbon emissions during the packing process, given the known variability in packing box utilization. These two algorithms are integrated into an open-dimension packing box warehouse management ecological closed loop system designed for the B2B e-commerce context. In experiments with the proposed model and algorithms, the results demonstrate an average packing rate improvement of 10%–12% compared to alternative methods. Additionally, packing material consumption and carbon emissions are reduced by approximately 16.56%–19.85%, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed approach. • Open dimension model boosts green e-commerce packing efficiency. • Stacking algorithm lifts space use up to 12%. • Material and emissions cut 16%–20% on space gains. • Eco warehouse system enables box reuse and material recycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skyrocketing number and diversity of space activities utilizing cyber technologies have both improved our lives while simultaneously creating new threats to international peace and security. Multiple occurrences of malicious cyber activities against space activities (MCASAs) have compelled policymaker attention at international and national levels. The widening range of MCASAs scenarios is challenging jurisdictional assumptions regarding traditionally separate branches of international law. Due to ambiguous terminology and lacunae of current regulatory regimes, MCASAs pose far-reaching legal and policy questions. This paper identifies the salient legal issues created by MCASAs, focusing on specific weaknesses of the current legal regime while also providing regulatory and policy options addressing the growing legal and regulatory dilemmas posed by MCASAs. • Analysis of different legal challenges caused by space cyberattacks • Several branches of international law and general international law are relevant. • Inability of current legal regime due to obscure terminology of key rules. • Coordination of international rules and international cooperation are indispensable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manuscript presents the management of waste from marine vessels and cargo handling companies in a selected European Union port. The main objective of the paper is to analyse and evaluate the existing waste management model in the port of Szczecin in the context of circular economy. The expert research carried out is aimed, inter alia , at identifying which of the solutions currently in use need to be improved from an environmental perspective. These measures could serve as a basis for the development of green logistics chains for waste generated in connection with the organisation of shipping. What is of particular importance in this regard is the information flow, which preferably should be an integral part of an international IT system enabling tracking of waste streams from their place origin to final disposal. In light of the above, it is particularly important to look for solutions which will support the creation and adoption of models providing sufficient control over the entirety of green waste management activities, in line with the circular economy concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Women's ASM livelihoods are demonstrably important yet including 'women' and gender equality in transnational policy is uneven. • Power relations in policy and mining communities shape gendered meanings and practices of ASM and environmental protection. • Environmental initiatives in gold ASM in Mozambique and Ghana increased women's exclusion and vulnerability. • The Minamata Convention and implementing documents include women primarily as maternal, risky bodies. • Women's empowerment and environmental initiatives require situated analyses of gendered political economies. This paper considers the apparent confluence of three policy developments: the Sustainable Development Goals, as the latest international commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment; the growing push to formalize the artisanal and small-scale mining sector; and the call to address environmental concerns of ASM through increased regulation, including formalization. Informed by feminist political economy and political ecology scholarship, we consider the kinds of gendered meanings about gold ASM (ASGM) and the environment made possible through the points where formal policy commitments to ASGM, environmental protection and women's inclusion intersect, or fail to intersect. We explore three contexts in which environment narratives have been framed and/or mobilized: the 2014 Minamata Convention on Mercury, followed by two brief case studies examining the consequences of the enforcement of gender-blind environmental initiatives on the livelihoods of women artisanal gold miners in central Mozambique and eastern Ghana. The paper concludes with three recommendations for future work on the intersection of environmental protection programs and women's empowerment agendas for the ASGM sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' goal of generating sustainable industry, innovation, and infrastructure is the point of departure for our reflective paper. The paper elaborates on the concepts of digital infrastructure, service-oriented architecture, and microservices. It emphasizes the benefits and challenges of creating a sustainable infrastructure based on a service-oriented environment, in which cloud services constitute an important part. We outline the prerequisites for obtaining a sustainable digital infrastructure based on services. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) and recently, microservice architecture, and cloud services, can provide organizations with the improved agility and flexibility essential for generating sustainability in a market focusing on digitalization. The reuse capability of SOA provides a common pool of information technology (IT) resources and qualifies as a green IT approach that impacts environmental protection. Previous research has identified IT and business alignment together with SOA governance as the most critical criteria when implementing SOA. This paper discusses these issues in-depth to explain sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than a century, wildlife conservation in the United States has been built on the notion that nonhuman animal populations are resources to be regulated by law and managed efficiently, according to the best available science and in the public trust. This approach, known as the North American Model of Wildlife Management, has come under increasing criticism for excluding diverse viewpoints that have the potential to advance both conservation and environmental justice goals. How might the greater inclusion of Indigenous worldviews and Indigenous Studies concepts, such as radical relationality and kincentricity , improve western wildlife management? In this paper, we review three case studies of tribal wildlife stewardship programs in the land currently known as California—the Maidu Summit Consortium's beaver restoration project, the Karuk Tribe's elk management program, and the Yurok Tribe's condor recovery effort—that illuminate generative connections among ecological restoration, Indigenous cultural practices, community wellbeing, and environmental justice. Radical relationality and kincentricity offer enormous potential for informing stewardship and recovery efforts that produce more just outcomes for both people and wildlife. • Supporting Indigenous worldviews and practices improves outcomes for both people and wildlife. • Indigenous communities create innovative partnerships that hold culture and environmental justice at the center. • The NAM's tenets are flawed and complicit in settler colonialism. • Case studies in beaver, elk, and condor stewardship demonstrate Indigenous leadership in the application of relationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Integrates Support Vector Machine with satellite remote sensing to detect dust. • Combines new and existing algorithm to improve the accuracy of dust detection. • The developed DSD_SVMS is more reliable and efficient than threshold-based method. • B7-B3, B20-B31 and B31/B32 are the optimum feature vectors in dust identification. Enhancing the dust storm detection is a key part for the environmental protection, human healthy and economic development. The goal of this paper is to propose a new Support Vector Machine (SVM)-based method to automatically detect dust storms using remote sensing data. Existing methods dealing with this problem are usually threshold-based that are of great complexity and uncertainty. In this paper we propose a simple and reliable method combining SVM with MODIS L1 data and explore the optimal band combinations used as the feature vectors of SVM. The developed method was evaluated by MODIS and OMI data qualitatively and quantitatively on three study sites located in the Arabian Desert, Gobi Desert and Taklimakan Desert, and it was also compared to three other traditional methods based on their accuracy, complexity, reliability and sensitivity to thresholds. The detection results demonstrated that the combination of (Band7 − Band3)/(Band7 + Band3) ((B7 − B3)/(B7 + B3)), Band20 − Band31 (B20 − B31), and Band31/Band32 (B31/B32) can detect the dust storms more precisely than other individual bands or their combination. The comparison among those cases indicated that the proposed automatic method exhibited an advantage of minimizing the uncertainty and complexity, which were the limits of defining thresholds based on the threshold-based methods. The conclusions can provide references for studies that focus on statistical-based dust storm detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues are closely related to the economic development of human society, and reducing environmental pollution during production is of great significance for environmental protection. This paper utilizes data from Chinese industrial enterprises (2001–2010), and establishes a fixed effects model to examine whether minimum wage standards are important in reducing non-clean energy consumption by enterprises. The results indicate that an increase in the monthly minimum wage leads to a significant reduction in coal consumption by firms, while the change in the hourly minimum wage do not exert a statistically significant influence on coal consumption by firms. The above empirical results remain robust after conducting a series of endogeneity tests. The mechanism test shows that innovation and exports serve as mediating variables between the minimum wage and coal consumption. Specifically, raising the minimum wage can incentivize enterprises to innovate in production and expand their exports, resulting in a decrease in the consumption of non-clean energy. Finally, through the heterogeneity test, we observe that increases in the minimum wage have varying effects on coal consumption among firms with different numbers of employees and different ages. Based on the research findings of this paper, we propose that the government should comprehensively consider and improve relevant systems, formulate scientifically-based minimum wage standards, take into account both workers' rights and interests as well as enterprises' profits, actively promote energy transformation in enterprises, and ultimately achieve long-term development of the social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data of 11 provinces in the western region of China, the paper empirically analyzes the influence of public environmental participation on the effectiveness of pollution governance. Based on documents from provincial governments in Western China, the paper uses Nvivo software to extract keywords about local governments' attention to the environment and examines its mediating effect between public environmental participation and pollution governance. Furthermore, a classifiable analysis of government environmental attention is carried out, and the effect of local governments' attention to the environment on pollution governance is studied. The results show that public environmental participation promotes pollution governance by increasing the governments' attention to the environment. Additionally, local governments' environmental attention also has a promotive effect on pollution governance, and the increase in environmental decision-makers' attention to environmental pollution and energy consumption is conducive to the improvement of environmental quality, but the effect of environmental protection and collaborative attention on environmental quality improvement still needs to be explored further. • Local governments' attention to the environment is estimated. • Public environmental participation promotes pollution governance. • Local Governments' Environmental Attention plays mediating role. • Local Governments' Environmental Attention has a promotive effect on environmental quality. • The effect of collaborative attention on environmental quality improvement still needs to be explored further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PC-CREAM is a tool for assessing the radiological impact of routine discharges of radionuclides to the environment. It can be used for prospective assessments, to calculate doses to members of the public for authorisation of proposed discharges, or for retrospective assessments of previous discharges where doses are compared with dose limits. These types of assessment are a fundamental requirement of regulations governing the control of radioactive discharges. However, the latest publications of the basic safety standards for radiation protection, EU (Council of the European Union, 2014) and the IAEA (IAEA, 2014), now include the requirement to demonstrate protection of the environment as well as members of the public. To this end, a module has been added to PC-CREAM for calculating dose rates to non-human biota (Anderson et al., 2022). The methodology used for this calculation is based on the recommendations contained in ICRP Publication 108 (ICRP, 2008), which provides a general framework for protection of the environment. The additional module means that PC-CREAM can be used to assess doses to humans and dose rates to biota in an integrated way, for the same set of discharges and using the same dispersion models. This paper describes an assessment of dose rates to biota living in the vicinity of the Sellafield nuclear site, carried out using the new biota module of PC-CREAM. Historical discharges from Sellafield to the sea and atmosphere were considered for the period 1951 to 2017, excluding those from the Windscale fire in 1957. Dose rates calculated for marine biota (flatfish, crabs and brown seaweed) are less than 1 mGy d−1 and are below the lower derived consideration reference level (DCRL) for the ICRP marine reference animals and plants (RAPs). Dose rates for terrestrial biota (bees, deer, earthworms, frogs, wild grass, pine trees and rats) are less than the relevant lower DCRL for terrestrial RAPs, ie 0.1 mGy d−1. Dose rates were also calculated for a user defined organism 'seabird' to represent birds which inhabit both marine and terrestrial environments near Sellafield. For seabird, the lower DCRL of 0.1 mGy d−1 is exceeded throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, when the discharges were at their highest, due to exposures from the marine environment. Since the mid-1980s, no dose rates were calculated that exceeded the lower DCRLs. • This paper describes an assessment of dose rates to biota living in the vicinity of the Sellafield nuclear site, carried out using the new biota module of PC-CREAM. Historical routine discharges from Sellafield to the sea and atmosphere were considered for the period 1951 to 2017. • Dose rates calculated for the ICRP terrestrial and marine reference animals and plants (RAPs) are less than the relevant derived consideration reference level (DCRL). • However, dose rates calculated for a user defined organism 'seabird' exceeded the lower DCRL of 0.1 mGy d−1 for this organism throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, when the discharges were at their highest. Since the mid-1980s, no dose rates were calculated that exceeded the lower DCRLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest carbon sink project (FCSP) has received growing attention for its outstanding advantages in carbon emission reduction, environment protection, and achieving the carbon neutrality objective. Using a government-social capital cooperation model, FCSP helps to revitalize the ecological and economic benefits of the forest with standard and efficient management. However, the management and operation barriers of FCSP implementation are complex, multiple and indefinite in the long run, which requires a comprehensive barrier evaluation framework. Hence, this paper is devoted to constructing a barrier evaluation framework for FCSP implementation in China with an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method. To this end, critical barriers are identified and the criteria system is constructed with a two-stage systematic literature review and interaction with the experts. Later, an applicable and comprehensive barrier evaluation framework is built, wherein the interval type-2 fuzzy set (IT2FS) is used to process fuzziness and uncertain information, the best-worst method (BWM) is adopted to determine the criteria weight, and the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations II (PROMETHEE II) is introduced for comprehensive barrier evaluation. The criteria weighting results indicate that FCSP implementation encounters challenges taking into account institutional and governance barriers (criteria weight: 0.3592), management barriers (0.2384), economic and market barriers (0.1637), knowledge barriers (0.0747), technical and infrastructure barriers (0.1639), C1 "Lack of clear leadership and policies" and C5 "Forest management performance" were determined the most significant criteria, A5 and A4 respectively performed the lowest and the highest barrier level. In sensitivity analysis, the ranking results were stable when the criteria changed, and Spearman's rank correlations of B2, B4, and B5 are significant. The results were validated by a comparative analysis with other methods with the help of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, which reflects accepted high correlations (Spearman's pro values of BWM-IT2F-PROMETHEE II (Gaussian rule), BWM-IT2F-TOPSIS, and BWM-TFN-VIKOR are 1.00, 1.00, 1.00). The findings of the paper help the decision makers to develop more rational strategies and successfully implement the FCSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy conservation is a fundamental requirement in achieving sustainable development, enhancing environmental protection and improving economic and social wellbeing by reducing energy consumption. Carbon emissions are a significant manifestation of energy consumption. Real-time monitoring and forecasting of air quality plays a crucial role in effectively controlling carbon emissions and improving energy conservation measures. Complex Event Processing (CEP) is a technical framework for streaming data processing based on predefined rules and is widely used for real-time detection. Yet as the diversity of data increases, it becomes exceptionally difficult for experts to formulate the CEP rules. Rule-based algorithms can address this issue to a certain extent. However, the CEP rules extracted through these methods are obtained from static data and are often simple and independent of each other. Here, we regard such rules as direct rules, which ignore possible connections between events that usually imply deeper rules. In contrast, we refer to rules that reflect interconnections between events and reveal higher-level principles as indirect rules. In this paper, we propose a methodology fusing interpretable machine learning and decision mining to extract direct and indirect multi-level CEP rules from air pollution datasets for real-time detection, prediction, and early warning. First, we utilize the decision tree algorithm to extract direct rules to detect air quality in real-time. Next, we utilize the process mining algorithm to model the changes in air states and extract the Petri net model from it that reflects the changes in air quality. Then, we utilize our proposed decision mining algorithm to extract indirect CEP rules. Indirect rules can help to understand how pollutants in the air change over time. In addition, they can reveal underlying trends and patterns of air quality change for prediction and early warning. Finally, we validate the accuracy and effectiveness of our approach using a real air pollution dataset. This work contributes to the field of air pollution detection and can help promote the optimization of energy conservation, while it can also support the development of regulatory strategies. • A multi-level CEP rules extraction method is proposed for air quality detection. • A novel method combining machine learning and process mining to extract CEP rules. • A novel way to analyze decision points in Petri nets to monitor air states changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Developing a multi-physics computational framework for fomite disinfection. • It includes atomization, spray-air interaction, impingement, and disinfection. • Detailed validation studies against two sets of experimental data are performed. • The framework demonstrates mere 2.73% and 2.38% deviations from measured data. Disinfecting inanimate objects or materials carrying infectious agents, i.e., fomites, using spray systems reduces healthcare-associated infections in medical settings and community-acquired infections in non-medical environments. However, an accurate prediction of such systems is challenging as these systems embrace multi-physics phenomena depending on several parameters. Therefore, this paper presents a computational modeling-based multi-physics framework to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of spray systems employed in disinfecting fomites with non-porous hydrophilic surfaces. The framework includes four key phases: (i) atomizing the liquid disinfectant jet into the disinfectant droplets; (ii) interactions between disinfectant droplets and the surrounding air; (iii) impingements created by the disinfectant droplets on the fomite surface; (iv) interactions between the disinfectant depositions and pathogens causing fomite disinfection. The accuracy of the framework is evaluated using two sets of experimental data on the reduction of viable Bacillus atrophaeus spores over an 1800-second period. The results show that the framework can predict fomite disinfection via spray systems, with the deviations from the measured data being 2.73% and 2.38%. By presenting a detailed perception of the dynamics involved in fomite disinfection, this framework has the potential to improve public health practices and lead to the development of more effective and targeted disinfection strategies in diverse settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food systems are dominated by multiple risks inflicted by their surrounding environments that pose pressures on the continuous and efficient supply of food products. Market dynamics represented by competitive and cooperative behaviors of the system's main players is one of the uncertainties that influence the availability and affordability of food products. Efficient modeling of these risks can assist decision-makers in simulating and predicting future actions that mitigate the impact that market dynamics have on the provision of food products. This paper suggests an Agent-based model-based framework that simulates the behavior and tracks the economic and environmental performances of the tomato supply system in the State of Qatar. It considers three different scenarios representing the current situation of the market in addition to a competitive and a cooperative trade network. Interactions between trade partners are modeled using two game theoretic approaches counting Cournot competition and Cartel collusion. Based on the research findings, a competitive global market can bring economic benefits to Qatar as an importing nation, but this approach also entails substantial water consumption and results in significant environmental emissions. Conversely, collaboration among exporting countries demonstrates a potential 20% reduction in water usage and a 15% decrease in environmental emissions compared to the competitive scenario, offering enhanced environmental performance albeit at higher economic costs. This study provides a prescriptive analysis that enables policymakers to quantify the trade-offs between economic efficiency and environmental sustainability. These insights are crucial for guiding strategic planning for food supply security and environmental conservation. By understanding the implications of market structure changes, policymakers can navigate potential challenges more effectively and develop targeted policy interventions that enhance the resilience of the food supply system against market volatility and environmental impacts. This analysis supports proactive policy-shaping that aligns with their desired outcomes, ensuring a balanced approach to managing economic benefits and environmental considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A flexible orthoimage mosaicking method is developed considering the cloud coverage. • Dynamic variable patch is defined as the processing unit for orthoimage mosaicking. • This method can remove clouds and also relieve the impact of misalignments on the mosaic. • An area-weighted image blending method is presented to achieve smooth transition. Orthoimage mosaicking plays an important role in remote sensing applications, such as environment monitoring and protection. However, the cloud coverage in remote sensing images often results in substantial loss of information and degradation of data quality, bringing lots of challenges to orthoimage mosaicking. Therefore, this paper proposes a flexible multi-temporal orthoimage mosaicking method based on dynamic variable patches. Different from most existing pixel-based mosaicking methods, the proposed method defines patch as the minimal processing unit for orthoimage mosaicking, and the size and position of each patch are dynamic variable. Patches from different images are rearranged under the image texture consistency constraint to generate the mosaic image. In the proposed method, the initial positions of available patches of all images are determined first, then the initial size of each patch is determined by the cloud coverage and the effective area of image. Subsequently, considering the inevitable misalignments between different orthoimages, the texture similarity between patches is utilized to select the most suitable patch, and the size of the patch is also dynamically adjusted to make the misalignments within each patch controllable. Finally, considering the color inconsistency in the overlapping areas of neighboring images, an area-weighted image blending algorithm is also presented to achieve invisible seams and smooth transitions in the final mosaic. Not only does the proposed method produce mosaic images with minimal cloud coverage areas by excluding cloud pixels as much as possible, but it is also flexible for the mosaicking of images with varying degrees of misalignments, which is achieved by dynamically adjusting the size and position of each patch while maintaining texture consistency constraint. Both simulated experiments and real data experiments are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can generate the mosaic image with higher spatial continuity and radiometric consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the topic of project orientation of organizations and their relationship with pro-environment behavior. It studies the relation between project orientation and pro-environmental behavior using a questionnaire method to collect the data from small, medium and large-sized Slovak companies. In the context of climate change, this research advocates how project orientation can be beneficial to pro-environmental behavior while being also advantageous for companies. The paper provides positive evidence of project orientation to management. Project orientation is researched by a later specified model that takes into account many aspects influencing the level of project orientation of a particular organization. The model studies the level of project orientation in five areas, namely: Communication, Knowledge Development, Development of Project Management, Employee Training and Development, and Organizational Standards & Norms. Using the questionnaire the relationship between those areas and the approach of the companies towards the protection of the environment was studied which is reflected in the following indicators: environmental policy of the organization, decreasing energy consumption, waste minimization, prevention of air pollution (emissions), prevention of water pollution (wastewater), reduction and prevention of noise, natural environment conservation, utilization of sustainable resources, utilization of "green" technologies. The relationships mentioned above were analyzed by statistical methods, and subsequently, the KDD method was applied. The results suggest that the pro-environmental behavior of companies can be influenced and so is related to the project orientation, in other words, the higher the level of project orientation (according to the Integrated model of transformation process leading to the project-oriented organization) the greater is the positive effect on pro-environmental behavior. The results also suggest that companies with limited resources should focus on organizational norms and standards and employee training and development to achieve the greatest positive effect on pro-environmental behavior. Using the KDD method groups of enterprises with the best and the worst results in the approach towards protection of the natural environment were identified. Also studied was the direct correlation between the level of project orientation and pro-environmental behavior. Image 1 • Sustainable development is a significant aspect of economic success. • Project orientation enables managing of the changes in the competitive environment. • The integrated model defines the level of project orientation. • Interdependency of project orientation and pro-environmental behavior was identified. • Project orientation is associated with business success as well as pro-environmental behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil is a main driving force when it comes to the economic development of a country. But nations around the world have uneven oil distribution, which pushes them toward rapid development of petroleum trade and maritime transportation. With the rising maritime transportation volume of oil, countries around the globe are paying increasing attention to the safe transportation of oil, oil spills from tankers are thus decreasing. However, the oil spill problem still deserves attention and laws and procedures should be strengthened to prevent future accidents and spills. This paper reviews the history of world oil trade and oil spill pollution and puts forward oil spill prevention strategies. The paper looks at the data related to oil spills created by tankers in the past 50 years from 1970 to 2017 and studies the trends in oil trade and oil spill pollution, in a bid to analyze the pollution status of major oil spill accidents and the development of treatment regulations. The paper also explores key factors behind oil spills from tankers and summarizes strategies and directions for the global marine shipping industry to prevent oil tanker pollution in the future based on the aforementioned research. This study offers systematic and scientific information reference for green operation and management of the oil tanker industry and helps government departments and policymakers to adopt reasonable and effective strategies to prevent and handle oil spill accidents from tankers across the world. • Prevention of oil spill of tankers is crucial to marine environment protection. • History of tanker oil spill pollution is reviewed. • Regulations and influencing factors of tanker oil spills are summarized. • Future governance and specific recommendations for tanker oil spill are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of synthesizing Pd-TiO 2 /CNFs and the Suzuki reaction catalyzed by Pd-TiO 2 /CNFs catalyst. This paper reported a method for loading TiO 2 and Pd atoms onto carbon nanofibers (CNFs) under a simple mild conditions. The catalyst prepared by the method greatly improved the reaction efficiency of Suzuki under the illumination of xenon lamp and reduced the difficulty of the reaction conditions. Compared with the previous catalysts, the catalysts developed in this paper have the characteristics of simple preparation method, easy recovery, good reaction performance, etc. The use of light energy reflected the importance of the catalyst in terms of resource utilization and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection is of great significance to environmental governance by the Chinese government. However, the impact of internet use on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection is complex, and the relevant empirical evidence is far from sufficient. Based on data from the Chinese Social Survey for 2013 and using OLS and ordered probit regressions, this study finds a significant negative relationship between internet use and resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection. Further study suggests that an increase in different online content frequencies could reduce resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection. Nevertheless, residents who are conservative or skeptical about internet information are more satisfied with the government's environmental protection. The conclusions of this study are consistent with the "negativity bias" theory, indicating that netizens focus greater attention on negative news related to environmental protection. Finally, this paper performs two analyses to ensure the robustness of the research results. First, considering the possible "self-selection" problem, this paper conducts a robustness test using the method of propensity score matching (PSM) and finds that the results are still consistent. Second, the sample is subdivided to analyse the regional differences in the impacts of internet use on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection. The results show that internet use has a significant negative influence on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection in eastern China, central China but has no significant effect in western China. In addition, the impact of internet use on urban resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection is significantly greater than that of rural resident. Highlights • The effect of internet use on resident satisfaction with the governmental environmental protection is studied for China. • Internet use has significant negative impact on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection in China. • Residents who are skeptical about internet information are more satisfied with the governmental environmental protection. • Conclusions are consistent with "negativity bias theory", indicating that netizens pay more attention to negative news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Carbon dioxide (CO 2) miscible flooding has become an important method in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) for recovering residual oil. In addition it may help in protection of the environment as (CO 2) is widely viewed as an important agent in global warming. Knowledge of the interactions between (CO 2) and reservoir crude oil is very critical for any (CO 2)-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. This paper shows the effect of (CO 2) miscible flooding application for Egyptian oil fields by swelling studies. The swelling test is a laboratory simulation of the process of injecting gradually different percentage of (CO 2) gas into a reservoir containing under-saturated oil. The gas (injection solvent) can dissolve, causing the reservoir fluid to swell. This paper presents a summary of a wide range of laboratory tests conducted on ten different crude oils varying from 26.4 to 40.5 API. These were used to invested the use of (CO 2) and its effect on parameters such as viscosity, density, gas solubility and swelling factor as a function of pressure at temperature from 620.3 to 706.0 °R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Transdisciplinary research has been introduced as an approach to integrate different bodies of knowledge to learn and to develop solutions towards socio-ecological transformations. In these concepts, broad stakeholder involvement is intended to promote knowledge integration, consensus formation and activation of local actors to initiate and advance learning and change processes. In doing so, however, transdisciplinary processes enter societal battlegrounds and meet conflicting interest and knowledge claims. Thus, building on the discussion on transdisciplinarity in the context of sustainability-related research, the paper seeks to understand when and why which types of conflicts emerge in sustainability-related transdisciplinary research, how they affect knowledge integration, and how they can be resolved. It develops a categorization of conflicts including differing values, conflicting interests, dissimilar claims of legitimacy, and diverse knowledge claims. They are applied empirically in the analysis of a project on regional adaptation to climate change in Northwestern Germany. It studies processes and outcomes with regard to the societal impact of the project and discusses experiences of conflicts and relevant solutions. The paper finds that societally relevant transdisciplinary research processes need to be prepared for conflict resolution and overcoming resistance and blockages in cases when consensus formation and mutual agreement is not attainable. Highlights • Analyses types of conflicts in sustainability-related transdisciplinary research • Finds that conflicts are rarely addressed in this literature • Identifies conflicts from differing values, interests, claims of legitimacy, and knowledge claims • Studies conflicts in an adaptation case in Northwestern Germany • Finds conflicts between values and legitimacy claims in the case study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: • We consider the driving effect of green low-carbon behavior in our model. • We propose three green low-carbon behavior systems: GG, PG, PMG. • We get the growth welfare effect and the knowledge diffusion effect. Abstract This paper establishes a new endogenous growth model driven by green low-carbon behavior, optimizes the model and three systems with green low-carbon behavior in order to obtain the comprehensive effects of the empirical and policy of the three policies that have been set. This paper consists of three parts: green low-carbon behavior endogenous growth model, three green low-carbon behavior systems, empirical and policy effects. In the green low-carbon behavior endogenous growth model, we have built a new endogenous growth model, which is based on the existing endogenous growth model, considering the effects and influences of green low-carbon behavior. The model divides the economic system in green low-carbon behavior pattern into three modules: the production module, the household module and the R&D module. In the production module, we consider the number of knowledge diffusion in the intermediate goods and use the number of knowledge diffusion to explain the transmission of green low-carbon behavior. We consider environmental quality, capital, labor and emission input in the production function of the intermediate goods in a specific sector. Then we get the first-order conditions of intermediate producers based on the profit function of intermediate producers. In the household module, we consider consumption, environmental quality and carbon emissions in the representative household utility, and use Hamilton function in order to obtain the optimum conditions for the representative household with respect to consumption and physical capital. In the R&D module, we obtain the characteristics of the balanced growth path in a stable state. In the second part, we propose three green low-carbon behavior systems. Through the optimization of government budget, welfare function and the nine optimization solutions of the new model in green low-carbon behavior pattern, we compare the government's green low-carbon behavior (GG), private green low-carbon behavior motivated by the government (PMG) and private green low-carbon behavior motivated by anarchy (PG). Finally, we draw the conclusion that PMG is an optimal system to achieve the highest growth rate and welfare level. In the part of empirical and policy effects, we propose three green low-carbon parameters that policymakers need to consider and then the numerical simulations are conducted based on data from the United States and China. Then we compare the results obtained from the two countries' numerical simulation, and get the comprehensive effects of green low-carbon behavior: growth welfare effect and knowledge diffusion effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the context of built environment, buildings are amongst the principal generators of environmental externalities. Life Cycle Assessment (LCAs) of energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings are deemed critical to address sustainable development issues. This paper aims to investigate LCA as a tool to support the design of buildings with two objectives in mind. Firstly, it determines the role of LCA in the evaluation of energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings. Secondly, it elaborates LCA of these constructions through the lens of international standards. The methodological approach of the study leads to development of a whole building life cycle formula that sums up the contributions from a set of LCAs. By doing so, the paper highlights the necessity of LCA applications in buildings, and the need for minimisation of resource and energy consumption, and environmental impact. The study helps in better understanding the way LCA supports the search for and identification of innovation pathways in buildings. This paper contributes to the efforts in providing theoretical expansions in LCA of buildings and stimulates the creation of technical standards for the residential building construction sector. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • The study overviewed Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in residential buildings. • The study discussed stages and methodological aspects related to LCA elaborations. • LCA can have huge applications for quality and sustainability of buildings. • The whole building LCA was formulated as the sum of a set of partial LCAs. • LCA in buildings minimises resource and energy use and related environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An innovative framework for ecological conservation in coastal urban areas. • Apply the circuit theory to extract ecological corridors. • Constructing the ESP from the perspective of "surfaces-lines-points". The accelerated urbanization process has led to the deterioration of the originally fragile coastal ecosystem, whose slight changes in ecological environment may destroy the original coastal urban ecosystem. The construction of the ecological security pattern can effectively balance the development of coastal urban areas and the protection of ecological environment. This study proposes a new framework for constructing ESP in coastal urban areas: surfaces (ecological sources) - lines (ecological networks) - points (pinch points, barrier points). The ecological sources were identified by morphospatial pattern analysis and landscape connectivity. Then, the ecological network and ESP were constructed by the circuit theory. Take Qingdao, a typical coastal urban area with a very fragile ecological environment, as the subject of the study. The results indicate that: (1) the landscape connectivity of ecological source sites identified in 2017 and 2021 has decreased significantly; (2) the total length of extracted ecological corridors has decreased dramatically; (3) the ESP of Qingdao was constructed from the perspective of surfaces - lines - points. The results of this paper can provide scientific planning guidance for the conservation and protection of ecological security in Qingdao. The research framework proposed in this paper provides some reference for the conservation of the ecological environment in coastal urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper examines the impact of government subsidies on the firm performance. • Oil & petroleum corporations obtain substantial government subsidies. • Environment-friendly subsidies enhance the investments in environmental protection. • Preventive investments in environmental protection significantly mediate the above effect. • We provide policy implications for balancing the profits and environmental protection. This paper examines the impact of different types of government subsidies on the financial performance of oil & petroleum corporations. We find that environment-friendly government subsidies enhance the investments in environmental protection of oil & petroleum corporations, comparing with non-environment-friendly subsidies. Furthermore, preventive investments in environmental protection significantly mediate the effect of corporate subsidies on financial performance, whereas government investments in environmental protection have a masking effect. Overall, we provide policy implications for government support to balance the development of firms and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Buildings Labels (GBL) are indicated as one of the means with the potential to contribute to sustainable development. Worldwide, more than 850,000 green buildings have already had their project and development helped by just three of the GBLs (LEED, BREEAM, and BASIX). Brazil, however, has only 874 LEED-certified projects. Aiming to propose strategies to foster the adoption of GBL in the country, this paper developed an interpretative model involving barriers to them in Brazil. For this, the technique of Validated Interpretative Structural Modeling (VISM) was developed aiming to add statistical validity to interpretative models even in situations of research with small sample sizes. VISM is a modeling technique that incorporates the simplicity of Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) with the significance testing procedures of Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Adopting the VISM, the barriers model was then developed in five steps: (1) identification of indicators; (2) definition of constructs; (3) identification of relations between constructs; (4) validation of relations between constructs; and (5) creation of the conceptual model. As a result, VISM proved to be an effective innovative modeling technique in the development of models for exploratory research and presents results consistent with the reality studied. Regarding the model developed, the main barriers identified by the study to the adoption of GBL in Brazil are: "environmental protection mechanisms"; "costs and return on investment"; "mistrust of the benefits from GBL"; "corporate and public awareness"; "maturity and market economics"; and the "project, construction, and operation of green buildings". • The paper develop a model of barriers to adoption of green buildings labels in Brazil. • The paper present the technique of Validated Interpretative Structural Modeling. • The technique can help exploratory research with small sample sizes. • ISM models with circular and cross relationships can be validated. • Environmental protection mechanisms and costs hinder green buildings labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]