Relationship between urbanisation and pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins under the strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Urbanisation has increased the discharge of pollutants, altered water flow regimes, and modified the morphology of transboundary river basins. All these actions have resulted in multiple pressures on aquatic ecosystems of transboundary river basins, undermining the healthy development of their aquatic ecosystems as well as impairing the sustainable economic and social development associated therewith. Quantifying the relationship between socio-economic factors, and water environment systems, and understanding the multiple pressures in their combined impact on environmental fairness of transboundary river basins is challenging, and it is crucial to the strategic planning of the Belt and Road strategy.

Optimal groundwater security management policies by control of inexact health risks under dual uncertainty in slope factors.

Groundwater remediation is a complicated system with time-consuming and costly challenges, which should be carefully controlled by appropriate groundwater management. This study develops an integrated optimization method for groundwater remediation management regarding cost, contamination distribution and health risk under multiple uncertainties. The integration of health risk into groundwater remediation optimization management is capable of not only adequately considering the influence of health risk on optimal remediation strategies, but also simultaneously completing remediation optimization design and risk assessment.

Impact assessment of projected climate change on diffuse phosphorous loss in Xin'anjiang catchment, China.

Diffuse nutrient loss is a serious threat to water security and has severely deteriorated water quality throughout the world. Xin'anjiang catchment, as a main drinking water source for Hangzhou City, has been a national concern for water environment protection with payment for watershed services construction. Detection of diffuse phosphorous (DP) pollution dynamics under climate change is significant for sustainable water quality management.

Monitoring hand, foot and mouth disease by combining search engine query data and meteorological factors.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has been recognized as a significant public health threat and poses a tremendous challenge to disease control departments. To date, the relationship between meteorological factors and HFMD has been documented, and public interest of disease has been proven to be trackable from the Internet. However, no study has explored the combination of these two factors in the monitoring of HFMD.

Human health risk constrained naphthalene-contaminated groundwater remediation management through an improved credibility method.

In this study, a human health risk constrained groundwater remediation management program based on the improved credibility is developed for naphthalene contamination. The program integrates simulation, multivariate regression analysis, health risk assessment, uncertainty analysis, and nonlinear optimization into a general framework. The improved credibility-based optimization model for groundwater remediation management with consideration of human health risk (ICOM-HHR) is capable of not only effectively addressing parameter uncertainties and risk-exceeding possibility in human health risk but also providing a credibility level that indicates the satisfaction of the optimal groundwater remediation strategies with multiple contributions of possibility and necessity.

Integrated approach of hydrological and water quality dynamic simulation for anthropogenic disturbance assessment in the Huai River Basin, China.

Detailed depiction of hydrological process and its associated pollution processes plays a critical role in environment improvement and management at basin scale. It also provides a useful tool to assess impact of potential factors on hydrological and water quality conditions. However, it was still difficult to well capture some typical characteristics of these complicated processes including built-in nonlinearity and time-variation, water infrastructure regulations, particularly for highly regulated basins.

Does arsenic play an important role in the soil microbial community around a typical arsenic mining area?

Arsenic (As) can cause serious hazards to human health, especially in mining areas. Soil bacterial communities, which are critical parts of the soil ecosystem, were analyzed directly for soil environmental factors. As a consequence, it is of great significance to understand the ecological risk of arsenic contamination on bacteria, especially at the local scale.

A series RCL circuit theory for analyzing non-steady-state water uptake of maize plants.

Understanding water uptake and transport through the soil-plant continuum is vital for ecosystem management and agricultural water use. Plant water uptake under natural conditions is a non-steady transient flow controlled by root distribution, plant configuration, soil hydraulics, and climatic conditions. Despite significant progress in model development, a mechanistic description of transient water uptake has not been developed or remains incomplete.

Influence of microsprinkler irrigation amount on water, soil, and pH profiles in a coastal saline soil.

Microsprinkler irrigation is a potential method to alleviate soil salinization. After conducting a homogeneous, highly saline, clayey, and coastal soil from the Bohai Gulf in northern China in a column experiment, the results show that the depth of the wetting front increased as the water amount applied increased, low-salinity and low-SAR enlarged after irrigation and water redistribution, and the soil pH increased with an increase in irrigation amount. We concluded that a water amount of 207 mm could be used to reclaim the coastal saline soil in northern China.

Water quality variation in the highly disturbed Huai River Basin, China from 1994 to 2005 by multi-statistical analyses.

Water quality deterioration is a prominent issue threatening water security throughout the world. Huai River Basin, as the sixth largest basin in China, is facing the most severe water pollution and high disturbance. Statistical detection of water quality trends and identification of human interferences are significant for sustainable water quality management.

Biophysical controls on light response of net CO2 exchange in a winter wheat field in the North China Plain.

To investigate the impacts of biophysical factors on light response of net ecosystem exchange (NEE), CO2 flux was measured using the eddy covariance technique in a winter wheat field in the North China Plain from 2003 to 2006. A rectangular hyperbolic function was used to describe NEE light response. Maximum photosynthetic capacity (P max) was 46.

Impacts of dung combustion on the carbon cycle of alpine grassland of the north Tibetan plateau.

Alpine grassland of Tibet is a frangible ecosystem in terms of carbon (C) emission. Yak dung is an important resident energy with about 80 % of yak dung combusted for energy in the north Tibetan plateau. This paper investigated the impact of dung combustion on the C cycle of the alpine grassland ecosystem in north Tibet, China.

Distribution pattern of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in particle-size fractions of coking plant soils from different depth.

The concentrations of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in four size fractions (<2, 2-20, 20-200, >200 μm) in soils at different depth from a heavily contaminated crude benzol production facility of a coking plant were determined using GC-MS. Vertically, elevated total PAHs concentrations were observed in the soils at 3.0-4.

[Foliar water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency of dominant plant species in main forests along the North-South Transect of East China].

Based on the measurements of the foliar carbon content (Cmass, nitrogen content (Nmass), isotope abundance (delta13C and delta15N), and light response curve of 10 dominant plant species (Larix gmelinii, Quercus mongolica, Fraxinus mandshurica, Tilia amurensis, Acer mono, Pinus koraiensis, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Schima superba, Pinus massoniana, and Castanea henryi) in the main forests along the North-South Transect of Eastern China (NSTEC), this paper analyzed the differences and the relationships between the foliar water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency of the plant species. There existed significant differences in the foliar Nmass and delta15N among the plant species, manifesting as broadleaved species > coniferous species, and deciduous species > evergreen species. The maximum photosynthetic rate (Pn max) was coniferous species > broadleaved species, and deciduous species > evergreen species.

[Relationships between Sabina przewalskii radial growth and climatic factors at upper timberlines in eastern mountainous region of Qaidam Basin].

Based on the investigation data of Sabina przewalskii tree-ring width at six sites at upper timberlines in eastern mountainous region of Qaidam Basin, the standard tree-ring chronologies of S. przewalskii were established. Cluster analysis indicated that there existed geographical differences in the radial growth of S.

Fluoride in drinking water, brick tea infusion and human urine in two counties in Inner Mongolia, China.

The objective of this study was to detect the fluoride level in the drinking water and the urine of habitants aged 16-55 years living in Inner Mongolia China. Furthermore, fluoride concentration of the brick tea infusion samples which were drunk by Mongolia herdsmen in everyday life living in SumuErga village of Ejin Horo Banner, Inner Mongolia China was also determined. A total of 117 participants (61 female and 56 male) were recruited from two counties for a cross-sectional study on health effects of chronic fluoride exposure from drinking water and drinking brick tea infusion.

[Stratification of free air space and its dynamics in the process of co-composting].

Co-composting of sewage sludge and pig manure was studied. Free air space (FAS) in the whole composting pile was 26.2% at the temperature rising stage and 42.

[Stratification of bulk density and its dynamics in the process of co-composting].

Co-composting of sewage sludge and pig manure was studied. At the stages of temperature starting and high temperature, the bulk density were 0.82 g x cm(-3) and 0.

[Stratification of volatile solid content and its dynamics in the process of co-composting].

Co-composting of sewage sludge and pig manure was conducted and it was indicated that, at the stages of temperature starting and high temperature composting, the difference of organic decomposition in the upper portion was largest among three portions of composting pile. The difference was largest in the lower part of the pile and the stratification effect of volatile solid (VS) content was formed at the stage of cooling, while it was largest in the middle and the stratification effect was still remarkable at the stage of maturity. At different stages of composting, the difference of VS content in the pile was of the order: the cooling > or = the maturity > the high temperature > the temperature starting.

[The stratification of moisture content and its dynamics in co-composting of sewage sludge and pig manure].

The experiment of co-composting of sewage sludge and pig manure was studied. The moisture contents were 50.82%-60.

Operational indicators for measuring agricultural sustainability in developing countries.

This paper reviews relevant literature on the sustainability indicators theoretically proposed and practically applied by scholars over the past 15 years. Although progress is being made in the development and critical analysis of sustainability indicators, in many cases existing or proposed indicators are not the most sensitive or useful measures in developing countries. Indicator selection needs to meet the following criteria: relative availability of data representing the indicators, sensitivity to stresses on the system, existence of threshold values and guidelines, predictivity, integratability and known response to disturbances, anthropogenic stresses, and changes over time.

Phosphorus export by runoff from agricultural field plots with different crop cover in Lake Taihu watershed.

Runoff and soil losses from agricultural fields are investigated as major nonpoint sources of phosphorus (P) entering lakes of Eastern China. There is relatively little information on P transport from ricefield and cropland of Lake Taihu watershed in Eastern China. Soil and P in surface runoff from a series of plots in the watershed were evaluated under simulated rainfall conditions.