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The earth’s average temperature has risen by approximately 1.2 °C since the 1900s. The COP26 resolution aimed to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, while China has committed a more aggressive timetable to actually achieve the goal. It requires either that activities must not release any greenhouse gases or the emitted greenhouse gases must be offset. The logistics and transport activities contribute a lot to global greenhouse gas emissions on Earth. There are a no. of challenges of the logistics industry that are discussed, then the paradigmatic solutions such as green procurement, green packaging, green transport, and green warehousing, are respectively discussed. The three contemporary concepts of green solutions (circular economy, carbon neutrality and green cocreation) for logistics and transportation are explored. Subsequently, a detailed case study of CN Logistics’ contemporary green solutions is used to illustrate how to tackle the problems and exemplify the best practices to the other 3PL players. There are expected changes on green directives from the HKSAR Government on logistics green compliances. Finally, this paper concludes with an appeal to the industry to start the green journey immediately.

The choriogenin H – EGFP transgenic medaka (Oryzias melastigma) has been used to test estrogenic substances and quantify estrogenic activity into 17β-estradiol (E2) equivalency (EEQ). The method uses 8 eleutheroembryos in 2 ml solution per well and 3 wells per treatment in 24-well plates at 26 ± 1 °C for 24 ± 2 h, with subsequent measurements of induced GFP signal intensity. EEQ measurements are calculated using a E2 probit regression model with a coefficient of determination (R2) > 0.90. The selectivity was confirmed evaluating 27 known estrogenic and 5 known non-estrogenic compounds. Limit of quantitation (LOQ), recovery rate and bias were calculated to be 1 ng/ml EEQ, 104% and 4% respectively. Robustness analysis revealed exposure temperature is a sensitive parameter that should be kept at 26 ± 1 °C. The repeatability of intra- and inter-laboratories achieved CV

Marpol oil waste composed of wasted oil with seawater which is challenging for waste treatment. Therefore, emulsified seawater has to be broken down for recovering the oil content involving chemical destabilizer to disperse water droplets or destroy emulsifiers. This study aims to evaluate 37 products of demulsifiers (cationic, non-ionic and anionic) based on ability of water removal from Marpol oil waste. The results show that anionic and nonionic surfactants were found to be effective demulsifiers exhibiting good property for oil and water separation. The efficiency of the nonionic demulsifiers increases with the dosage up to a certain extent after which the efficiency falls. However, anionic demulsifiers do not show any decrease in efficiency at higher doses. Among all the tested anionic demulsifiers, sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (ALCOPOL O70 PG), sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (ALCOPOL O CONC 60%) and Oligoguluronate (DP9-6661) were with most outstanding performance. Additionally there is a general improvement in the performance of screened demulsifiers with increased temperature (70 °C). Sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (ALCOPOL O70 PG), sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (ALCOPOL O CONC 60%) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (DP9-6661) reached water removal performance percentage as 75%, 66.3% and 56.7% respectively after 30 h. When the water content of recovered oil was reduced to a certain level (below 10%), the heat valve was about 40 MJ/kg. The recovered Marpol oil waste was suggested to apply for low-quality fuel usage such as cement kilns and waste incinerators with its property of high energy value, low sulphur content and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).

Streams in urban areas are prone to degradation. While urbanization-induced poor water quality is a widely observed and well documented phenomenon, the mechanism to pinpoint local drivers of urban stream degradation, and their relative influence on water quality, is still lacking. Utilizing data from the citizen science project FreshWater Watch, we use a machine learning approach to identify key indicators, potential drivers, and potential controls to water quality across the metropolitan areas of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Partial dependencies were examined to establish the direction of relationships between predictors and water quality. A random forest classification model indicated that predictors of stream water colour (drivers related to artificial land coverage and agricultural land use coverage) and potential controls related to the presence of bankside vegetation were found to be important in identifying basins with degraded water quality conditions, based on individual measurements of turbidity and nutrient (N-NO3 and P-PO4) concentrations.

Foodwaste leachate (FWL) is often generated during foodwaste treatment processes. Owing to its high nutrient content, FWL has high potential for phycoremediation, a microalgal technology application for water treatment while acting as CO

It is essential to evaluate the ecological risk for the estuary cities area for the environmental restoration of the estuary. The ecological risk of six city areas from the Pearl River Estuary were evaluated by using the relative risk model. The relative risk assessment method was developed by considering the river network density in the sub-region. The results indicated that Dongguan had the largest ecological risk pressure with total risk scores as high as 10,846.3, and Hong Kong had the lowest ecological risk pressure with total risk scores up to 4,104.6. The greatest source was domestic sewage with total risk scores as high as 1,798.6, followed by urbanization and industry. Oxygen-consuming organic pollutants, organic toxic pollutants and nutrients were the major stressors of the water environment. In terms of habitats, the water environment was enduring the greatest pressure. For the endpoints, water deterioration faced the largest risk pressure.

Phthalates, widely used in flexible plastics and consumer products, have become ubiquitous contaminants worldwide. This study evaluated the acute toxicity and estrogenic endocrine disrupting activity of butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), di(n-butyl) phthalate (DBP), bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) and their mixtures. Using a 72 h zebrafish embryo toxicity test, the LC50 values of BBP, DBP and a mixture of the six phthalates were found to be 0.72, 0.63 and 0.50 ppm, respectively. The other four phthalates did not cause more than 50% exposed embryo mortality even at their highest soluble concentrations. The typical toxicity symptoms caused by phthalates were death, tail curvature, necrosis, cardio edema and no touch response. Using an estrogen-responsive ChgH-EGFP transgenic medaka (Oryzias melastigma) eleutheroembryos based 24 h test, BBP demonstrated estrogenic activity, DBP, DEHP, DINP and the mixture of the six phthalates exhibited enhanced-estrogenic activity and DIDP and DNOP showed no enhanced- or anti-estrogenic activity. These findings highlighted the developmental toxicity of BBP and DBP, and the estrogenic endocrine disrupting activity of BBP, DBP, DEHP and DINP on intact organisms, indicating that the widespread use of these phthalates may cause potential health risks to human beings.

This paper discusses the major environmental challenges caused by the post-handover development in Macao, a gaming-dominant city in southern China. Based on data collected in an Environmental Awareness Survey in 2011, the paper examines the city’s emerging challenges in environmental issues. The survey reveals that most Macao citizens are aware of, and concerned about, the environmental problems of the city and the neighbouring region. They are pessimistic about the environmental quality of the city. Citizens hold firm materialist values, and demonstrate differential environmental awareness for different development projects. They hold conflicting views, however, about who should be responsible for protecting the environment. For instance, although most citizens claim that they are willing to pay, or even to change their lifestyle to protect the environment, they blame the government for many of the environmental flaws. Results show that Macao has to determine how to transform itself from a materialist po...

Several studies have been conducted worldwide in order to develop a more economical method for mass algal cultivation so that more cost-effective biomass production can be accessed. One of the directions is to reduce production costs by using wastewater as a nutrient source in algal cell cultivation. The growth ability of a red-tide causative dinoflagellate species, Prorocentrum minimum, in various concentrations of local urban wastewater was examined in this study. The highest exponential growth rate and maximum cell density (MCD) were achieved when autoclaved 10% wastewater was used for cell cultivation, although the cells could survive in 0.01–100% wastewater. Both growth rate and MCD of the cells in wastewater were found to be substantially higher than that in optimized L1 culture medium. This research highlights the potential of using wastewater as a cost-effective approach for mass cultivation of dinoflagellate cells with consequent production of valuable microalgal biomass.

This article explores the potential of using an electro-coagulation-flotation (ECF) harvester to allow flotation of microalgae cells for surface harvesting. A response surface methodology (RSM) model was used to optimize ECF harvesting by adjusting electrode plate material, electrode plate number, charge of the electrodes, electrolyte concentration, and pH value of the culture solution. The result revealed that three aluminum electrode plates (one anode and two cathodes), brine solution (8 g/L), and acidity (pH = 4) of culture solution (optimized ECF harvester) The highest flocculant concentration was measured at 2966 mg/L after 60 min and showed a 79.8 % increase of flocculation concentration. Such results can provide a basis for designing a large-scale microalgae harvester for commercial use in the future.

Nitrate (N) and phosphate (P) are believed to be two of the most important nutrients for the growth and toxin production for Alexandrium species. The study of the growth and toxicity characteristics of the Alexandrium spp. under the change of N and P can help us to understand the dynamics of algal bloom and toxification events in natural environments. A strain of Alexandrium tamarense (designated as Kci) was successfully isolated from the Drake Passage in 2001 and the clonal culture has been kept in our laboratory ( Ho et al., 2003 , 2012 ). In order to extend our understanding on the growth physiology and toxicity of this A. tamarense strain, growth and cellular toxin content were examined in unialgal batch cultures under different concentrations of N and P. The effects of variable N, P concentrations on growth, cellular toxicity (fg STXeq. cell−1), and toxin composition (% molar) were determined in both exponential and stationary growth phases. The toxin profile, determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD), was found to be remained relatively stable and was consistently dominated by the N-sulfocarbamoyl C-toxins (>90%) under different conditions and growth phases. There were also trace amounts of other carbamate gonyautoxins consistently expressed. The cellular toxicity varied under different N and P concentrations, as well as different growth stages. A positive correlation was observed between cellular toxicity and N concentrations, but the toxicity was enhanced when P was depleted. Both cell densities and growth rate of the cells were severely suppressed under N- or P-depletion. However, the biovolume of the cells tended to be larger at N- or P-depleted cultures. Results from the present study provide valuable insight for the ecophysiology of Alexandrium species in the coastal ecosystem of Drake Passage.

A PST-toxin producing Alexandrium species was found and successfully isolated from the Antarctic Ocean (Southern Ocean) in 2001 ( Ho et al., 2003 ). The species was identified as Alexandrium tamarense based on their morphological features and thecal plate analysis previously. Mono-culture of this Antarctic Alexandrium strain, designated as Kci, has been successfully kept in our laboratory. In order to gain more insight into the origin of this strain, phylogenetic relationship of this Alexandrium strain to other Alexandrium spp. within the A. tamarense complex was carried out using 28S and ITS rDNA sequences. These are the first such sequences reported for an Alexandrium spp. found in Antarctic Ocean. Based on the ribosomal DNA sequences and phylogenetic analysis, the Antarctic Alexandrium strain was fell within the ribotypes in Group IV of the group-numbering scheme as suggested by Lilly et al. (2007) . Interestingly, the Antarctic Alexandrium strain Kci was closely affiliated to Alexandrium isolates from the China Sea.

Identification of harmful algal bloom (HAB) causative agents makes use either of morphology-based techniques or genetic tools. These techniques are often time-consuming, labor intensive, and/or based on subjective judgment. Recently, matching with protein/peptide expression profiles (PEPs) obtained with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI–TOF–MS) has emerged as a new technique for species identification of various microorganisms. We were the first group to adopt this rapid and simple methodology for the identification of dinoflagellates ( Lee et al., 2008 ). In the present study, we evaluated the use of PEPs from MALDI–TOF–MS for species identification of field samples obtained from a local red-tide caused by Karenia digitata . PEPs obtained from direct MALDI–TOF–MS analysis of field samples were compared to that of established monospecific reference culture. Several species-specific peaks of K. digitata were found in the reference monoculture and most of these observed peaks could be matched to the PEPs of the field samples. Matched species-specific peaks observed from the PEPs of field samples would allow rapid identification of the causative agents in corresponding and future HABs. Furthermore, as K. digitata is the most damaging dinoflagellate in Hong Kong's history, we were interested in obtaining its SSU, partial LSU rDNA and ITS sequences for future studies. In the present study, besides reporting on the ITS and rDNA sequences of K. digitata , phylogenetic tree analysis was also performed. The results showed that K. digitata fell within the Karlodinium clade and had a closer relationship with the Karlodinium species than the Karenia species.

The occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) or red tides is an important and expanding threat to human health, fishery resources, and the tourism industries. Toxic species post an additional treat of intoxication when consumed either in seafood or directly swallowed. Rapid and accurate identification of the HAB species is critical for minimizing or controlling the damage. We report the use of protein/peptide mass fingerprint profiles obtained with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) for the identification of dinoflagellates, common causative agents of HABs. The method is simple, fast and reproducible. The peptide mass fingerprint spectral patterns are unique for different dinoflagellate species and are easily distinguishable by visual inspection. In addition to the whole mass spectra, several specific biomarkers were identified from the mass spectra of different species. These biomarker ions and the mass spectral patterns form an unambiguous basis for species discrimination.

Chlorella vulgaris was cultivated under limitation and starvation and under controlled conditions using different concentrations of nitrate (NaNO3) and phosphate (K2HPO4 and KH2PO4) chemicals in modified Bold basal medium (BBM). The biomass and lipid production responses to different media were examined in terms of optical density, cell density, dry biomass, and lipid productivity. In the 12-day batch culture period, the highest biomass productivity obtained was 72.083 mg L−1 day−1 under BBM - NcontrolPlimited condition. The highest lipid content, lipid concentration, and lipid productivity obtained were 53.202 %, 287.291 mg/L, and 23.449 mg L−1 day−1 under BBM - NControlPDeprivation condition, respectively. Nitrogen had a major effect in the biomass concentration of C. vulgaris, while no significant effect was found for phosphorus. Nitrogen and phosphorus starvation was found to be the strategy affecting the lipid accumulation and affected the lipid composition of C. vulgaris cultures.

Freshwater ecosystems are severely threatened by urban development and agricultural intensification. Increased occurrence of algal blooms is a main issue, and the identification of local dynamics and drivers is hampered by a lack of field data. In this study, data from 13 cities (250 water bodies) were used to examine the capacity of trained community members to assess elevated phytoplankton densities in urban and peri-urban freshwater ecosystems. Coincident nutrient concentrations and land use observations were used to examine possible drivers of algal blooms. Measurements made by participants showed a good relationship to standard laboratory measurements of phytoplankton density, in particular in pond and lake ecosystems. Links between high phytoplankton density and nutrients (mainly phosphate) were observed. Microscale observations of pollution sources and catchment scale estimates of land cover both influenced the occurrence of algal blooms. The acquisition of environmental data by committed and trained community members represents a major opportunity to support agency monitoring programmes and to complement field campaigns in the study of catchment dynamics. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10661-015-4912-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Ecological models are a cost-effective tool to estimate and manage the environmental fate and ecological risk of chemicals. Therefore, the AQUATOX model not only considers the direct toxic effects of chemicals, but also contains the indirect effects of pollutants through food webs. As an example, the AQUATOX model was applied to evaluating the ecological risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a highly anthropogenic disturbance lake—Baiyangdian Lake. PAHs risk-estimate results demonstrate that estimated risk for natural ecosystems cannot be fully explained by single-species toxicity data alone. The AQUATOX model could provide a good basis for ascertaining ecological protection levels of “chemicals of concern” for aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, AQUATOX can potentially be used to provide necessary information corresponding to early warning and rapid forecasting of pollutant transport and fate in the management of chemicals.

Seawater flushing was introduced in Hong Kong since 1950's. High salinity has an inhibitory effect on nitrification and biological phosphorus uptake of microorganisms. Therefore, saline sewage has impact on traditional biological wastewater treatment. Saline conditions of domestic wastewater then pose opportunity to use algal technology in wastewater treatment. During the treatment (phycoremediation), biodiesel can be produced. This study aims to give an in-depth investigation and development on application of local microalgal strains on biodiesel production. Dunaliella tertiolecta was selected the appropriate algal species with high potential for phycoremediation then biodiesel production. D.tertiolecta was further investigated by optimizing its growth in different process condition in preliminary effluent as based medium. The optimized process condition were acclimated culture with medium initial cell number (5.0 ×105 cells mL-1), under 5% CO2 aerations in preliminary effluent adjust to 15 psu (denoting practical salinity unit). Results showed that lipid content increased from 30.2% to 42%, and biomass productivity reached 463.3 mg L-1day-1 by Fatty acid Methyl Ester (FAME) profile was found for biodiesel production in optimized stage. The treatment period of preliminary effluent was shortened from 15d in original design (unacclimated culture, low initial cell number (5.0 ×105 cells mL-1), without CO2 aeration) to 4d.

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are recognized as an expanding and serious global problem that threatens human health. Timely and accurate identification of cyanobacteria is of vital importance for public health. Morphologic characteristics of cyanobacteria have been used for classical taxonomic studies and identification purposes. However, misidentification may occur either due to subjective judgment by the operators or inability to recognize natural variations of morphotypes. To circumvent problems of morphology-based identification methods, we reported previously a rapid and simple method for the identification of dinoflagellates using protein/peptide expression profiles (PEPs) of whole cell protein extracts generated by MALDI-TOF-MS (Lee FWF et. al ., 2008). In the present study, we applied this method in the identification of harmful cyanobacteria. Our results showed that various species of the cyanobacteria can be easily distinguished from each other using their PEPs.

Ecological risk assessment for water environment is significant to water resource management of basin. Effective environmental management and systems restoration such as the Haihe River Basin require holistic understanding of the relative importance of various stressor-related impacts throughout the basin. As an effective technical tool for evaluating the ecological risk, relative risk model (RRM) was applied in regional scale successfully. In this study, the risk transfer from upstream of basin was considered and the RRM was developed through introducing the source–stressor–habitat exposure filter (SSH), the endpoint–habitat exposure filter (EH) and the stressor–endpoint effect filter (SE) to reflect the meaning of exposure and effect more explicit. Water environment which includes water quality, water quantity and aquatic ecosystems was selected as the assessment endpoints. We created a conceptual model which depicting potential and effect pathways from source to stressor to habitat to endpoint. The Haihe River Basin estuary (HRBE) was selected as the model case. The results showed that there were two low risk regions, one medium risk region and two high risk regions in the HRBE. The results also indicated that urbanization was the biggest source, the second was shipping and the third was industry, their risk scores are 5.65, 4.71 and 3.68 respectively. Furthermore, habitat destruction was the largest stressor with the risk scores (2.66), the second was oxygen consuming organic pollutants (1.75) and the third was pathogens (1.75). So these three stressors were the main influencing factors of the ecological pressure in the study area. For habitats, open waters (9.59) and intertidal mudflat were enduring the bigger pressure and should be taken considerable attention. Ecological service values damaged (30.54) and biodiversity decreased were facing the biggest risk pressure.

Enfant-Dieu, aux pouvoirs fabuleux et adepte des faceties, il occupe une grande place dans la mythologie chinoise et l'imaginaire populaire. Examen des differentes apparitions de ce personnage : dans la litterature, les bandes dessinees, les films

Untreated domestic and industrial wastes are discharged into Tolo Harbour via several major streams entering the harbour. These untreated wastes will cause a harmful effect because Tolo Harbour is a land-locked sea with only a narrow outlet and an ever-decreasing volume caused by the construction of Plover Cove Reservoir and the reclamation of Shatin New Town. In order to study the effect of polluted water discharged into the harbour, water samples and sediments near the mouths of the major rivers were collected. The analysis of the total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and water soluble phosphate contents of the samples showed that Lam Tsuen River, Tai Po Kau River, and Shing Mon River were grossly polluted by organic and inorganic wastes. Blue Snake River which passes through the iron ore tailings accumulated high contents of metal contaminants.