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In freshwater aquaculture ecosystems with high-frequency occurrences of cyanobacteria blooms, a chronic neurotoxic cyanobacteria toxin, β- N -methylamino- l -alanine (BMAA), is a new pollutant that affects the normal growth, development, and reproduction of aquaculture organisms. BMAA poses a great threat to the food quality and food safety of aquatic products. In this paper, high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was used to detect the contents of BMAA in the edible portions of six representative freshwater aquaculture products (Corbicula fluminea, Anodonta arcaeformis, Macrobrachium nipponense, Eriocheir sinensis, Ctenopharyngodon idella, and Mylopharyngodon piceus) from Taihu Lake Basin in China. Noncarcinogenic health risks were assessed with reference to the model recommended by the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society and based on the biomagnification characteristics of BMAA in the various aquaculture products investigated by the stable nitrogen isotope technique. The average BMAA concentrations in the edible portions of the six freshwater culture products were from 2.05 ± 1.40 to 4.21 ± 1.26 μg g−1 dry weight (DW), and the difference was significant (p < 0.05), such a difference increased with the increase in the trophic level in the aquaculture products. Although a biomagnification indication was observed, the trophic magnification factor (TMF) was only 1.20 which exhibited a relatively low biomagnification efficiency. The annual health risk values of BMAA in all the measured aquatic products were within the maximum tolerable range (<1 × 10−6 a−1), and the health risk increased with the increase in the trophic level. The risk values of BMAA in the six freshwater aquaculture products for children was slightly higher than the negligible level (<1 × 10−7 a−1), thus there might have potential health risks for children's long-term consumption. Considering China's national conditions, the guidance values of BMAA based on the quality and safety of freshwater aquaculture products were proposed to be 7.2 μg g−1 DW for adults and 1.8 μg g−1 DW for children. Image 1 • BMAA in freshwater aquaculture products (FAPs) were investigated. • Biomagnification characteristics of BMAA in FAPs were revealed. • Noncarcinogenic health risks of BMAA in FAPs were assessed. • Guidance values of BMAA were proposed to ensure the quality and safety of FAPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the country with the most population in the world, and its climate is extremely diverse due to tremendous differences in latitude, longitude, and altitude, ranging from tropical in the far south to subarctic in the far north and alpine in the higher elevations of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Accurate assessment of its modern climate change is conductive to addressing global warming threat. Along with the development of Past Global Changes (PAGES) research, the focus has changed from paleo-climate reconstructions to using paleo-data for assessing the present and predicting the future. Previous studies have been devoted to climate change assessment using modern climate observations and simulations. This paper presents a new assessment approach based on the mid-Holocene, which provides a naturally oriented warming that can be compared to modern human-made global warming. A variety of climatic data, including modern observations, paleo-climate records, CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) and PMIP3 (Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project 3) simulations, as well as lake level models, were applied in this synthesis. Numerical climate classification was introduced to evaluate climate change impacts to Chinese climate zones on various time scales. The results show that winter and summer seasons have different response to the naturally oriented mid-Holocene warming but human-made global warming makes the warming trend appear in all seasons. Temperate and continental dry winter climates expand dramatically during the mid-Holocene warm period; however, the future global warming could have few impacts to Chinese climate zones. Furthermore, the East Asian summer monsoon was strengthened obviously by the mid-Holocene warm climate and strong low-latitude insolation. There is no consistent trend both for the winter and summer monsoon on the background of human-made global warming. In this study, a new benchmark was established based on paleo-climate to evaluate the impacts of human-made global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction industries have significant impacts on the economy, society and environment. To transform construction industry towards sustainability, construction enterprises' perceptions and performance on sustainability needs to be understood and evaluated, which has not be fully explored by existing studies. This paper holistically examines the Chinese construction enterprises’ attitude towards and performance on various aspects of sustainability (e.g. the economic, social and environmental aspects) in order to identify those aspects the firms perceive to be the most and least important and those aspects the firms perform best and worst on. The associations among the sustainability attitude, sustainability performance, and firm size are also explored. The findings show that quality management and customer service are perceived as the most important as well as the best-performed aspects by the firms while supporting community development is the least important and worst-performed aspect. Sustainability attitude is positively correlated with performance, and larger firms tend to have better sustainability performance than that of small ones. However, larger construction firms do not necessarily perceive sustainability more important. This study provides a useful reference for policy makers and researchers to understand how sustainability is perceived and implemented by the Chinese construction firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of human health impact caused by air pollution is crucial for evaluating environmental hazards. In this paper, concentrations of six air pollutants (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , NO 2 , SO 2 , O 3 , and CO) were first derived from satellite observations, and then the overall human health risks in China caused by multiple air pollutants were assessed using an aggregated health risks index. Unlike traditional approach for human health risks assessment, which relied on the in-situ air pollution measurements, the spatial distribution of aggregated human health risks in China were obtained using satellite observations in this research. It was indicated that the remote sensing data have advantages over in-situ data in accessing human health impact caused by air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the theoretical foundations and development of a multidimensional, water-focused, thematic indicator of rural poverty: The Water, Economy, Investment and Learning Assessment Indicator (WEILAI). The WEILAI approach was specifically designed for application in rural China, to support poverty alleviation project planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as targeting and prioritization. WEILAI builds primarily on the basic needs framework of poverty alleviation, and on the methodological structure of the Water Poverty Index, to provide a proxy measure of an area's poverty by assessing eight key poverty sectors, with a strong focus on the components of water-poverty. The WEILAI approach was piloted and implemented in 534 households in China's mountainous southwest. This paper describes the indicator construction, weighting schemes, methodology, field sites, and statistical validation of the results. In addition, we discuss the results, feedback from in-country project staff, and the likely utility of the tool for project planning, monitoring and evaluation support. The paper concludes with a discussion of WEILAI's overall utility and ongoing development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

China is facing a number of energy related challenges including a shortage of electricity supply, depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution. These challenges make it important to develop renewable energy resources. As per other renewable energy industries, the biomass power industry is facing a series of opportunities and challenges. Utilizing Michael Porter's Five Forces Model theory for analyzing the competitive environment and the competitive situation of an industry, this paper establishes a Five Forces Model for assessing the competitiveness of China's biomass power industry. Inputs for this model include semi-structured interviews with biomass power generation enterprises and a critical analysis of the national policy framework along with relevant literature and official statistics. Five major stakeholders of China's biomass power industry, namely competitors, suppliers, buyers, potential competitors, and substitutes are assessed to determine their influence on the biomass power generation industry. This assessment highlighted the current status, existing issues and future prospects of the biomass power industry. Similarly, it provides assistance to develop procurement strategies for the sustainable development of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global climate change and the rapid progress of urbanization, the frequent occurrence of flooding disasters and non-point source pollution seriously threaten the sustainable development of modern cities. To alleviate these problems, China started to pilot construction of the "Sponge City" (SPC). Over a decade, it has attracted public attention, supports, and participations. The paper presents a literature review of sponge city construction (SPCC) process (planning, design and construction) as well as the assessment of SPC, including: operation, maintenance, and effectiveness. Research gap and future works are also proposed. The paper offers some tactics for SPCC, including: 1) in the planning and construction stage of SPC, the goals and systematic plans should be formulated according to local water-environmental conditions. The drainage plan should cover the strategy to dispose runoff volumes at sources and the ultimately goal for flood mitigation. The drainage design involves the combination of various green and grey infrastructures; 2) It is important to identify monitoring methods and hydrological models which can be used to assess the performance of a SPC. With adequate field data, all models and methods should be calibrated for not only runoff quantity and quality control but also the alleviation of urban heat island effects, including the base flows and local groundwater table; 3) Based on the regional field data, it is necessary to standardize regional design parameters, construction material specifics, and maintenance scheme and schedule that would significantly affect the facility's infiltrating and filtering processes, therefore, a regular maintenance program should be initiated to monitor the operations of the as-built facilities according to local climate conditions. The paper evaluated several maintenance methods for ten typical facilities to provide a reference for the operation and maintenance of facilities in SPCC. • The sponge city construction (SPCC) and design methods were introduced in detail. • Scientific and reasonable assessment can better guide the SPCCs. • The sponge city (SPC) facilities can be a better way to control stormwater runoff. • Monitoring and simulation method are equally important for assessing SPC effect. • A maintenance program should be initiated to monitor the operations of SPC facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There has been a significant transformation in the urbanization and economic growth in post-reform China. The nature and degree of urbanization is a subject of some controversy. This paper examines empirical data for 110 counties and employs a quadrant plots method involving estimation of several parameters to analyze empirically the evolvement of urbanization in China during 1960–2010. There are three periods of China''s urbanization in the pattern of world, which is the rapid decline stage (1960–1978), the stable stage of ascension (1979–1995) and rapid promotion stage (1996–2010). Over the entire period, compared to the rest of the world, urbanization and economic growth in China appears to be coordinated and at moderate levels. However, China''s urbanization process has progressed faster than economic growth since 2004, and it is right time that China should rethink under-urbanization and it''s countermeasure in development strategy. And the core of new stage of urbanization is to improve the quality of urbanization and to take little count of urbanization quantity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Construction is undoubtedly the most dangerous industry in Hong Kong, being responsible for 76% of all fatal accidents in the region—around twenty times more than any other industry—and involving a loss of an estimated 145,000 man-days each year through accidents on site. In this paper, a new safety assessment method, termed the 4D Interactive Safety Assessment, is described which offers an improvement. This involves individual construction workers being presented with 4D virtual risky scenarios concerning their project and a range of possible actions for selection. The method provides an analysis of results which include the assessment of the correctness or otherwise of the user''s selections to contribute to an iterative process of retraining and testing until a satisfactory level of knowledge and skill is achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: China is facing a number of energy-related challenges such as the shortage of electricity supply and environmental pollution. Renewable energy is encouraged and will play more important role in the power generation components of China. As a renewable energy, biomass power has a rapid growth in the past decade in China. In line with this development, the biomass power industry faces opportunities for development as well as challenges. Using SWOT analysis method, this paper reviews and assesses the factors of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of biomass power generation industry of China. Data used in the analysis stem from multiple sources including statistical reports, literature, regulations, policies, and case studies. These findings not only help to understand the status quo of the industry, but also provide valuable information to master the future development and potential risks of the industry in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper highlights the findings of a study from selected ecosystems in Indonesia, China and Japan. The study sought to trace changes to productive resources of ecosystems over a period of 50years; and trace the dependence of well-being of local populations on the ecosystems for the same time period. Data was collected from land-use maps, records and participatory rapid/rural appraisal (PRA) surveys in multistakeholder forums. To illustrate the changes, an indicator-based assessment framework was developed that integrates data from biophysical and socio-economic parameters. We observed that the approach (1) provides a better representation of the preferences of different stakeholders of ecosystem services, (2) fosters validation of data between the different stakeholders and (3) enables a communication and planning process among the stakeholders to sustainably utilize and manage their ecosystems. The use of spatial maps validates the relevance and utility of diachronic observations of communities and other stakeholders directly dependent on ecosystems. At the same time, they can be used to strengthen local planning processes for the development of services in the ecosystem. Such research thereby also acts as a catalyst to a social process of coordinated action to address local issues of global relevance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In recent decades, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region located in south China has been experiencing severe air pollution, arising from the rapid increase in industry and motor vehicles. As a major contributing source to VOCs and NOx emissions, control of vehicular emissions plays a very important role in improving regional air quality. By taking 2015 as a target year, this paper assessed the impacts of five possible motor vehicle emission control measures and a combined policy scenario on ambient air quality in the PRD region, with the use of the Model-3/CMAQ (Community Multi-scale Air Quality) model. The results show: (1) an overall decreasing pattern in SO2, NO2 and PM10 concentrations was found in central-south metropolitan areas of the PRD region for all measures, but increased O3 concentrations may occur in these areas as well. The exception to this is that a slight decrease was observed for the cases of motorcycle restriction and introduction of HEV; (2) upgrading to National IV emission standards is the most effective individual measure and can reduce daily averaged NO2 and PM10 concentrations by 11.7ppbV and 21.3μgm−3, respectively; but involves an increase (at maximum) of 10.3ppbV in O3 concentration. Evaluation of the combined scenario indicates that solely controlling motor vehicle emissions is not sufficient to improve PRD regional air quality significantly. O3 and PM10 concentrations under the same VOC/NOx reduction ratios exhibit differently at different locations, suggesting that integrated and location-specific pollution control strategies, considering co-control of multi-pollutants, are needed in this region in order to decrease primary and secondary pollutant concentrations simultaneously. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Teaching for a balanced use of thinking styles involves instructing and assessing students using a variety of teaching styles, rather than just a single style. This article describes two experimental studies that test if teaching for a balanced use of thinking styles enhances students’ achievement. Participants were students and teachers from a comprehensive university of Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China. The first study involved 95 students majoring in computer sciences and two teachers, and the second, 85 students majoring in economics and business administration and two teachers. In each of the studies, students were taught a special topic in a 45-min session and took an achievement test. Each test paper was evaluated by two teachers. Students also responded to a self-report test of thinking styles and to two ability inventories. Support for the superiority of teaching for a balanced use of thinking styles was found in Study One, but not in Study Two. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

PM 2.5 pollution poses a serious health risk to residents. In recent years, individual exposure to PM 2.5 in daily activities has received much attention, but the impact of different activities at different times and spaces on PM 2.5 -triggered individual health risks has been ignored. In this paper, the residents' activity diaries and the data on the spatial-temporal changes in urban PM 2.5 concentration obtained through the land-use regression model (LUR) were coupled to dynamically evaluate and analyze the characteristics of Guangzhou residents' PM 2.5 inhaled dose in 24 h during workdays. The study showed that the residents' PM 2.5 inhaled dose in daily activities is about 940.2 ± 94.5 μg (95% CI). This can better reflect the individual differences than the exposure to PM 2.5 in daily activities. For every increase of 1 μg/day in the exposure to PM 2.5 , the inhaled dose will increase by 1.5 μg/day. The obvious spatial-temporal characteristics of PM 2.5 inhaled dose are closely related to people's daily activities. The inhaled dose is high during the day and low at night, and the individual differences in inhaled dose in the commuting and leisure period is significant but is small during the working and sleeping period; if the individual inhaled dose exceeds the population's average for accumulated 7 h in a day, the probability of a high risk of the all-day inhaled dose increases significantly. The inhaled dose at the workplace and residence as well as in light physical activities accounts for a large proportion of the total. However, although the inhaled dose on roads and in other places, and moderate physical activities account for only a small proportion, it has a great impact on the risk level of the individual total inhaled dose. Therefore, the characteristics of PM 2.5 inhaled dose and the individual activity should be considered, to propose targeted policies and suggestions from the perspective of both the government and individuals to reduce the health risk caused by PM 2.5 pollution. • PM 2.5 inhaled dose can better reflect individual differences than PM 2.5 exposure. • Spatiotemporal characteristics of PM 2.5 inhaled dose related to activities rhythm. • More attention should be paid to the risk of PM 2.5 in the workplace. • Policies formulation should consider PM 2.5 inhaled dose and individual activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate warming and subsequent climate extremes have a wide impact on ecosystems and economic society. Scientifically quantitative assessment on climate change risks is an urgent issue attracted the attention of academics and decision-makers. In this paper, the theory of climate change risks was sorted out based on the three component elements of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. Moreover, the idiomatic assessment methods and their applicability were systematically summarized. Comprehensive analysis found that the impacts of climate change generally showed a negative trend that was more harm than benefit, and further warming would aggravate the risk over China which was manifested to be more prominent in some sensitive sectors and key regions to climate change. Accessible management of the climate change risk should be engaged in effectively improving the methods of comprehensive identification, strengthening the mechanism and quantitative assessment, recognizing the temporal and spatial variation of components related to climate change risk, and reducing the uncertainty of climate change projection. • Theoretical framework of climate change risk was formed based on hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. • Assessment methods of climate change risk and their applicability were systematically summarized. • Climate change risk levels were analyzed in sensitive sectors and key regions over China. • In China, impacts of climate change were more harm than benefit while more warming was very likely to aggravate the risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Regulated rivers affect both hydrology and water ecology, but to various extent. • Proposed river health assessment framework guides the regular monitoring activities. • The river health assessment study can update water resources management strategy. • Entropy weight based Harmony Degree Evaluation method assesses river state suitably. For social and economic development in China, the rivers are regulated, but its impact on river ecosystem has not evaluated yet. Maintaining a trade-off between social protection and ecological protection of the rivers is very crucial for a country where competition for water is severe. Thus, the main focus of this study is to carry out a comprehensive assessment of river health in relation to water resources management. In this paper, Guijiang, Nenjiang, and lower Yellow- three regulated river's health statuses were drawn on the river-section scale using Fuzzy Matter Element (FME), Harmony Degree Evaluation (HDE), and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) methods. The results indicated that the alteration of flow dynamics affected the 'hydrology' and 'water ecology' attributes of the rivers for which the River Health Index (RHI) of upstream sections of Nenjiang River was poor and downstream sections of lower Yellow River was critical respectively and the overall health statuses of the three rivers in that order, were good, fair to good, and fair. Particularly, Xiaolandi reservoir regulation at lower Yellow River impaired the habitat of benthic macroinvertebrate population that made the ecosystem health critical. We compared the evaluation methods and the results of FME and HDE were found consistent while GRA produced some discrepancies in the outcome. Finally, we proposed a framework for river health assessment for interpretation and communication of results to the managerial level. Our findings suggest that the water resources management of these regulated rivers should be rationalized and special care should be taken for 'water ecology' health restoration of the lower Yellow River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Introducing a hierarchical structure of Resource-based Cities' Carrying Capacity Index. • Proposing an integrated method to compare the carrying capacity among cities. • Revealing the cause of the carrying capacity difference among resource-based cities. • Providing a new perspective and guideline to formulate sustainable development policies. Comprehensive carrying capacity is an important indicator for measuring the sustainable development of mineral resource-based cities and an important tool for the government to formulate relevant policies. Further investigation of the carrying capacities of mineral resource-based cities would contribute towards the cities' sustainable development. In this paper, we propose a novel R-type clustering analysis-technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution-rank sum ratio (RCA-TOPSIS-RSR) methodology and construct a composite mineral resource-based cities' carrying capacity index (MRCCCI) to evaluate the carrying capacities of 41 mineral resource-based cities. First, for better benchmarking and sustainable development policy formulation, the comprehensive evaluation of urban carrying capacity needs to fully consider the synergy between the economic, social, resource, and environmental sub-dimensions. Therefore, through indicator reduction, we obtained a final carrying capacity indicator system with 25 indicators in 5 dimensions (such as green coverage ratio of built-up areas, wastewater treatment rate, etc.). Second, we evaluated the comprehensive carrying capacity level and analyzed its influencing factors for each mineral resource-based city from 2010 to 2016. The results showed that the limiting factor of the comprehensive carrying capacity of each mineral resource-based city is different from the others. Further, cities with the same level of carrying capacity may be significantly different in the limiting factor. Finally, based on the level of comprehensive carrying capacity and sub-dimension equilibrium, we divided 41 mineral resource-based cities into four categories. The results showed that there is only one city with high carrying capacity and high equilibrium, and most of the cities are low carrying capacity and low equilibrium; this indicates that the sustainable development of most of China's mineral resource-based cities is facing severe challenges. Based on these findings, we put forward countermeasures and suggestions to improve the carrying capacities of mineral resource-based cities and to promote the sustainable development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]