Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land (65083)

To meet the global need for carbon neutrality, we must first understand the role of urban carbon metabolism. In this study, we developed a land–energy–carbon framework to model the spatial and temporal variation of carbon flows in Beijing from 1990 to 2018. Based on the changes in carbon sequestration and energy consumption, we used ecological network analysis to identify the critical paths for achieving carbon neutrality during land-use changes, thereby revealing possible decarbonization pathways to achieve carbon neutrality. By using GIS software, changes in the center of gravity for carbon flows were visualized in each period, and future urban construction scenarios were explored based on land-use policy. We found that the direct carbon emission peaked in 2010, mostly due to a growing area of transportation and industrial land. Total integrated flows through the network decreased at an average annual rate of 3.8%, and the change from cultivated land to the socioeconomic sectors and the paths between each socioeconomic component accounted for 29.5 and 31.7% of the integrated flows during the study period. The socioeconomic sectors as key nodes in the network should focus both on their scale expansion and on using cleaner energy to reduce carbon emissions. The center of gravity gradually moved southward, indicating that the new emission centers should seek a greener mixture of land use. Reducing carbon emission will strongly relied on transforming Beijing’s energy consumption structure and increasing green areas to improve carbon sinks. Our results provide insights into carbon flow paths that must be modified by implementing land-use policies to reduce carbon emission and produce a more sustainable urban metabolism. Full article

The grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV), responsible for fanleaf degeneration, is spread in vineyards by the soil nematode Xiphinema index. Nematicide molecules were used to limit the spread of the disease until they were banned due to negative environmental impacts. Therefore, there is a growing interest in alternative methods, including plant-derived products with antagonistic effects to X. index. In this work, we evaluated the nematicidal potential of the aerial parts and roots of four Fabaceae: sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), sweet clover (Melilotus albus), and red clover (Trifolium pratense), as well as that of sainfoin-based commercial pellets. For all tested plants, either aerial or root parts, or both of them, exhibited a nematicidal effect on X. index in vitro, pellets being as effective as freshly harvested plants. Comparative metabolomic analyses did not reveal molecules or molecule families specifically associated with antagonistic properties toward X. index, suggesting that the nematicidal effect is the result of a combination of different molecules rather than associated with a single compound. Finally, scanning electron microscope observations did not reveal the visible impact of O. viciifolia extract on X. index cuticle, suggesting that alteration of the cuticle may not be the primary cause of their nematicidal effect. Full article

Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are undervalued and poorly understood compared to other types of ecosystem services. The sociocultural preferences of the different actors who enjoy a landscape are intangible aspects of a complex evaluation. Landscape photographs available on social media have opened up the possibility of quantifying landscape values and ecosystem services that were previously difficult to measure. Thus, a new research methodology has been developed based on the spatial distribution of geotagged photographs that, based on probabilistic models, allows us to estimate the potential of the landscape to provide CES. This study tests the effectiveness of predictive models from MaxEnt, a software based on a machine learning technique called the maximum entropy approach, as tools for land management and for detecting CES hot spots. From a sample of photographs obtained from the Panoramio network, taken between 2007 and 2008 in the Lozoya Valley in Madrid (Central Spain), we have developed a predictive model of the future and compared it with the photographs available on the social network between 2009 and 2015. The results highlight a low correspondence between the prediction of the supply of CES and its real demand, which indicates that MaxEnt is not a sufficiently useful predictive tool in complex and changing landscapes such as the one studied here. Full article

Energy is a fundamental need of modern society and a basis for economic and social development, and one of the major Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG7. However, the UN’s SDG Report 2021 betrays millions of people living without electricity and one-third of the world’s population deprived of using modern energy cooking services (MECS) through access to electricity. Achieving the SDG7 requires standard approaches and tools that effectively address the geographical, infrastructural, and socioeconomic characteristics of a (rural) municipality of Nepal. Furthermore, Nepal’s Constitution 2015 incorporated a federal system under the purview of a municipality as the local government that has been given the mandate to ensure electricity access and clean energy. To address this, a methodology is developed for local government planning in Nepal in order to identify the optimal mix of electrification options by conducting a detailed geospatial analysis of renewable energy (RE) technologies by exploring accessibility and availability ranging from grid extensions to mini-grid and off-grid solutions, based on (a) life cycle cost and (b) levelized cost of energy. During energy assessment, geospatial and socio-economic data are coupled with household and community level data collected from a mobile survey app, and are exploited to garner energy status-quo and enable local governments to assess the existing situation of energy access/availability and planning. In summary, this paper presents a geo-enabled municipal energy planning method and a comprehensive toolkit to facilitate sustainable energy access to local people. Full article

Legislation and consumer preference for more sustainability in the food system require farmers to adopt more stringent sustainably measures without sacrificing business profitability. Scientific and technological innovations, such as beneficial soil microbes for in-field application, may help to achieve this goal, but adoption rates have remained slow thus far. The adopter’s perspective is essential to understanding why. This research investigates factors that drive the perceptions of soil microbe solutions across three groups of (potential) adopters as an input to the design of effective communication strategies to accelerate technology diffusion. Factors included in the analyses are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability and image of applying soil microbes at the farm level. The analysis is based on 28 in-depth qualitative interviews in Germany and the UK, and a focus group discussion in the UK. Data were analysed via content analysis using deductive and inductive processes. Deductive codes were derived from the diffusion of innovations theory. Our results show that soil microbes are still perceived as a challenging product in all three adopter groups, despite the acknowledgement of several advantages and benefits. Predominantly, farmers evaluate the innovation as complex. Furthermore, the observability of the soil microbes was perceived as challenging, which also transfers to the trialability of the innovation. Despite this, in all adopter groups the need for the innovation was recognized. Full article

The Czech landscape has undergone various changes over the last 100 years and has been mainly adapted agriculturally for economic purposes. This has resulted, among other things, in reservoirs being clogged with sediment. The Vrchlice Reservoir was built in 1970 to supply drinking water for around 50,000 inhabitants, and increased sedimentation has been detected in the reservoir in recent years. Water erosion and sediment transport were modeled with WaTEM/SEDEM. Sediment volumes were measured in eight ponds across the watershed for calibration purposes. Modeled results from ponds in watersheds covered mostly with arable lands generally corresponded with the measured values. Although in forested watersheds, the measured sediment volumes greatly exceeded modeled sediment yields, indicating high uncertainty in using USLE-based models in non-agricultural watersheds. The modeled scenarios represented pre-Communist, Communist, and post-Communist eras. For these periods WaTEM/SEDEM was used to evaluate three isolated effects: the effects of various crops on arable lands, the effects of farmland fragmentation, and finally the effects of changes in land use. The change in crops proved to be an important factor causing high siltation rate (potential 23% reduction in sediment yield for historical periods), and land fragmentation played the second important role (potential 15% reduction in sediment yield can be reached by land fragmentation). Across all scenarios, the lowest sediment yield and reservoirs siltation rates were obtained from the pre-Communist and Communist crop share under current land use conditions, and current land use with farmland fragmentation implemented, as it was re-constructed for the pre-Communist era. This supports the idea that the introduction of green areas within arable lands are beneficial to the landscape and can help reduce soil erosion and reservoir siltation. Full article

Freeze–thaw cycles cause serious soil erosion, which makes the prevention, control and management of solonetzic lands in the Songnen Plain challenging. The use of soil-aggregate-promoter (SAP) is highly favoured because of its energy-saving and efficient characteristics; however, SAP is rarely used in the improvement of solonetzic soil in cold regions. To fill this gap, we studied the effects of different experimental conditions on the physicochemical properties of solonetzes; the investigated conditions included the number of laboratory-based freeze–thaw cycles (with 0, 1, 3, and 5 cycles), initial moisture content (0%, 18%, 24%, and 30%) and SAP application amount (0 g/m², 0.75 g/m², 1.125 g/m², and 1.5 g/m²). The results showed the following: (1) The soil pH value decreased significantly as the SAP application rate increased, and the effect of the initial moisture content and number of freeze–thaw cycles on soil pH was not significant. (2) SAP effectively reduced the soil electrical conductivity (EC), but a certain threshold was apparent, and the factors studied had significant effects on EC. (3) SAP effectively optimised the soil macroaggregates content and inhibited the damage posed by freeze–thaw cycles to the soil structure. These results provide an important theoretical basis for the effective prevention and control of solonetzes in the Songnen Plain of Northeast China. Full article

In recent years, regulatory agencies in the USA and Europe have begun to require documentation that land used to produce crops and biofuels has not been converted from carbon-capturing grasslands or forests. Precise measurement of these land cover changes, however, has proven difficult. Analysis to date has focused primarily on moderate resolution (30 m) satellite imagery, which has not provided the land cover granularity or accuracy needed. These studies have estimated large-scale land conversion to crops in the USA. This study analyzed the satellite datasets but included tabular datasets and aerial imagery of the USA to determine whether the combination of datasets, focusing on more detailed analysis in these locations, could more accurately identify potential locations of land use change. Analyses of satellite imagery data from 1985 to 2020 found that much of the land that 2008 to 2020 satellite datasets classified as natural-to-crop land change was idle cropland. The results indicate a dynamic landscape of marginal land moving in and out of cropland. Approximately as much land was allowed to go fallow (6145 hectares) as land going into crop (7901 hectares) from 1985 to 2020. The results from this study indicate regulatory agencies could more accurately measure the impacts of conversion of natural lands to crop if long-term historical land cover/land use was also analyzed. Full article

Within the concept of sponge city in China, green stormwater measures have been widely used in urban mountain parks. This study provides an integrated assessment framework for hydrological cost-effectiveness in the Nanjing Guanyao Mountain Park under various precipitation scenarios. A grey drainage basic strategy and four multi-level control strategies with progressively increasing graded interception or storage facilities at mid-and terminal levels were designed and evaluated. Results show that the multi-level interception and storage strategy (S4) proved to be the most beneficial, followed by the multi-level interception strategy (S2) having slightly lower results than the multi-level storage strategy (S3), while the terminal strategy (S1) showed poor results. However, the hydrological cost-effectiveness exhibits the opposite trend under 2–5-year storms. A high multi-level strategy limited by life-cycle costs may not impart high hydrological cost-effectiveness in response to each return period of storms in this mountain stormwater practice. This study validates the hydrological performance and cost-effectiveness of multi-level distributed strategies in an urban mountain park, bridges the limitations of the previous studies on single scheme design and hydrological performance assessment for sloped sites, and provides a technical reference and design basis for similar studies and practices. Full article

Supplemental sugar additives for plant tissue culture cause mixotrophic growth, complicating carbohydrate metabolism and photosynthetic relationships. A unique platform to test and model the photosynthetic proficiency and biomass accumulation of micropropagated plantlets was introduced and applied to Cannabis sativa L. (cannabis), an emerging crop with high economic interest. Conventional in vitro systems can hinder the photoautotrophic ability of plantlets due to low light intensity, low vapor pressure deficit, and limited CO₂ availability. Though exogenous sucrose is routinely added to improve in vitro growth despite reduced photosynthetic capacity, reliance on sugar as a carbon source can also trigger negative responses that are species-dependent. By increasing photosynthetic activity in vitro, these negative consequences can likely be mitigated, facilitating the production of superior specimens with enhanced survivability. The presented methods use an open-flow/force-ventilated gas exchange system and infrared gas analysis to measure the impact of [CO₂], light, and additional factors on in vitro photosynthesis. This system can be used to answer previously overlooked questions regarding the nature of in vitro plant physiology to enhance plant tissue culture and the overall understanding of in vitro processes, facilitating new research methods and idealized protocols for commercial tissue culture. Full article

Hydrological drought is critical from both water management and ecological perspectives. Depending on its hydrological and physical features, the resilience level of a catchment to groundwater drought can differ from that of meteorological drought. This study presents a comparison of hydrological and meteorological drought indices based on groundwater levels from 1987 to 2018. A small catchment area in Croatia, consisting of two sub-catchments with a continental climate and minimum land-use changes during the observed period, was studied. The first analysis was made on a comparison of standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI). The results showed their very high correlation. The correlation between the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized groundwater index (SGI) of different time scales (1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 months) showed different values, but had the highest value in the longest time scale, 48 months, for all observation wells. Nevertheless, the behavior of the SPI and groundwater levels (GW) correlation showed results more related to physical catchment characteristics. The results showed that groundwater drought indices, such as SGI, should be applied judiciously because of their sensitivity to geographical, geomorphological, and topographical catchment characteristics, even in small catchment areas. Full article

The accurate estimation of the impact of urban form on CO₂ emissions is essential for the proposal of effective low-carbon spatial planning strategies. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between urban form and CO₂ emissions in small and medium-sized cities, and it is especially unclear whether the relationship varies across cities with different socioeconomic characteristics. This study took 132 small and medium-sized cities in the Yangtze River Delta in China to explore how urban form affects CO₂ emissions, considering the socioeconomic factors of industrial structure, population density, and economic development level. First, nighttime light data (DMSP-OLS and NPP-VIIRS) and provincial energy data were used to calculate CO₂ emissions. Second, four landscape metrics were used to quantify the compactness and complexity of the urban form based on Chinese urban land-use data. Finally, panel data models were established to analyze whether and how different socioeconomic factors impacted the relationship between urban form and CO₂ emissions. The results showed that the three socioeconomic factors mentioned above all had obvious influences on the relationship between urban form and per capita CO₂ emissions in small and medium-sized cities. The effect of compactness on per-capita CO₂ emissions increased with a rise in the proportion of the tertiary industry, population density, and per-capita GDP. However, compactness shows no effects on per-capita CO₂ emissions in industrial cities and low-development-level cities. The effect of complexity on per-capita CO₂ emissions only increased with the rise in population density. The results may support decision-makers in small and medium-sized cities to propose accurate, comprehensive, and differentiated plans for CO₂ emission control and reduction. Full article

Microbial solidification of sand has obvious effects: energy-saving and environmental protection. It is a green and sustainable soil consolidation technology with low energy consumption, which meets the needs of high-quality development of modern economy and society. However, when clay is doped in sand, clay has an uncertain influence on the effectiveness of the microbial solidification of sand. Therefore, triaxial consolidation undrained tests before and after microbial solidification of sands with different clay content are carried out in this paper. The effects of clay content on the solidification effect of sands are compared and analyzed. The variation laws of shear strength, unconfined compressive strength, internal friction angle and the cohesion of sands with different clay content before and after microbial solidification are discussed. The failure modes of sand samples were studied and the influence mechanism of clay on the microbial solidification of sand was revealed from a micro perspective. The test results show that the failure strain and unconfined compressive strength of microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) treated samples increase first and then decrease with the increase in the clay content. The unconfined compressive strength is the highest when the clay content is 9%, and the samples with low clay content (3~9%) can still retain good integrity after being destroyed. As the content of clay in the sand–clay mixture increases, the internal friction angle of the sample decreases and the cohesion increases. After MICP treatment, the internal friction angle and cohesion of the sand increase first and then decrease with the increase in clay content. There are three main contact modes between sand-clay-CaCO₃. When clay content is low, clay plays a filling role. The contact mode between sand-clay and CaCO₃ is mainly between sand particles and calcium carbonate and between clay particles and calcium carbonate. When clay content is high, the contact mode between particles is mainly between clay particles and calcium carbonate. Higher clay content wraps sand particles, prevents contact between calcium carbonate and sand particles and reduces the strength of sand. Full article

Generating tree-specific crop maps within heterogeneous landscapes requires imagery of fine spatial and temporal resolutions to discriminate among the rapid transitions in tree phenological and spectral features. The availability of freely accessible satellite data of relatively high spatial and temporal resolutions offers an unprecedented opportunity for wide-area land use and land cover (LULC) mapping, including tree crop (e.g., mango; Mangifera indica L.) detection. We evaluated the utility of combining Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) derived variables (n = 81) for mapping mango orchard occurrence in Zimbabwe using machine learning classifiers, i.e., support vector machine and random forest. Field data were collected on mango orchards and other LULC classes. Fewer variables were selected from ‘All’ combined S1 and S2 variables using three commonly utilized variable selection methods, i.e., relief filter, guided regularized random forest, and variance inflation factor. Several classification experiments (n = 8) were conducted using 60% of field datasets and combinations of ‘All’ and fewer selected variables and were compared using the remaining 40% of the field dataset and the area underclass approach. The results showed that a combination of random forest and relief filter selected variables outperformed (F1 score > 70%) all other variable combination experiments. Notwithstanding, the differences among the mapping results were not significant (p ≤ 0.05). Specifically, the mapping accuracy of the mango orchards was more than 80% for each of the eight classification experiments. Results revealed that mango orchards occupied approximately 18% of the spatial extent of the study area. The S1 variables were constantly selected compared with the S2-derived variables across the three variable selection approaches used in this study. It is concluded that the use of multi-modal satellite imagery and robust machine learning classifiers can accurately detect mango orchards and other LULC classes in semi-arid environments. The results can be used for guiding and upscaling biological control options for managing mango insect pests such as the devastating invasive fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Full article

The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region in China is a rapid development area with a dense population and high-pollution, high-energy-consumption industries. Despite the general idea that the coking industry contributes greatly to the total emission of potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in BTH, quantitative analysis on the PHE pollution caused by coking is rare. This study collected the pollutant discharge data of coking enterprises and assessed the risks of coking plants in BTH using the soil accumulation model and ecological risk index. The average contribution rate of coking emissions to the total emissions of PHEs in BTH was ~7.73%. Cross table analysis indicated that there was a close relationship between PHEs discharged by coking plants and PHEs in soil. The accumulation of PHEs in soil and their associated risks were calculated, indicating that nearly 70% of the coking plants posed a significant ecological risk. Mercury, arsenic, and cadmium were the main PHEs leading to ecological risks. Scenario analysis indicated that the percentage of coking plants with high ecological risk might rise from 8.50% to 20.00% as time progresses. Therefore, the control of PHEs discharged from coking plants in BTH should be strengthened. Furthermore, regionalized strategies should be applied to different areas due to the spatial heterogeneity of risk levels. Full article

Marshlands in arid and semi-arid areas are considered constantly changing environments due to unsecured water supplies as a result of high evapotranspiration and limited and highly variable rainfall. Classification of marshlands in these regions and mapping of their land cover is not an easy task and maps need to be upgraded frequently. Satellites provide enormous amounts of information and data for the continuous monitoring of changes. The aim of this paper is to introduce an approach using multispectral satellite imagery that was adopted to classify and monitor the Al Hammar Marsh (Iraq) over several years and to suggest a relationship between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), using Landsat 8 data with a resolution of 30 m × 30 m, validated with Sentinel-2 datasets at 10 m × 10 m. Six land cover classes were used: (1) open water, (2) dry area, (3) dense vegetation, (4) medium-density vegetation, (5) sparse vegetation, and (6) wet soil. Three indices, NDWI, NDMI, and NDVI, were chosen for the automatic classification of each pixel and the creation of a time series of land cover maps. The proposed method can efficiently classify and monitor marshlands and can be used to study different marshlands by adjusting the thresholds for NDVI, NDMI, and NDWI. Overall, the correlation for all classes (R) between Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 is about 0.78. Thus, this approach will help to preserve marshes through improved water management. Full article

Introducing the European beaver to the catchment area, which adjusts the habitat to its own needs (by building dams), may have a positive impact on the ecology, geology, and hydromorphology of rivers and intensify the water self-purification process. In this study, a comparative assessment of the ecological status was made between the areas where the species Castor fiber L. occurs (habitat type A) and the areas unaffected by the influence (habitat type B). For this purpose, the Macrophyte River Index (MIR) and the Hydromorphological River Index (HIR) were calculated, along with the floristic indicators of biodiversity: species richness and Margalef, Shannon–Wiener, and Simpson indices. Only 35% of the sites met the standard of good ecological status. The presence of hypertrophic species and anthropogenic modifications of the river bed had a negative impact. The spread of beavers has a significant positive effect on changes in hydromorphological conditions and water levels in the river. The water levels in habitat types A and B were 0.504 and 0.253 m, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in the HIR values between habitat types A and B, which were 0.585 and 0.535, respectively. In habitats of type A, the heterogeneity of the current and bed material as well as the diversity of elements accompanying the tree stands increased. Research has shown greater species richness and greater biodiversity of macrophytes in the habitats of beaver dams. The research confirmed the significant influence of the European beaver on changes in the environment. The activity of beavers intensifies the processes of introducing wetland and rush species to forest areas. Full article

Waste lubricating oil is a widespread common soil pollutant. In this study, the waste lubricating oil degraders were isolated from the oil-contaminated soil. The bacterial strains OL6, OL15, and OL8, which tolerated a high concentration (10%) of waste lubricating oil, presented the degradation efficiency values (measured in culture broth) of 15.6 ± 0.6%, 15.5 ± 1%, and 14.8 ± 1%, respectively, and belonged to the genera Enterobacter, Paenibacillus, and Klebsiella, respectively. To maintain long survival, immobilization of a promising bioremediator, Paenibacillus sp. strain OL15, in agar exhibited the significantly highest number of surviving cells at the end of a 30-day incubation period, as compared to those in alginate and free cells. Remarkably, after being introduced into the soil contaminated with 10% waste lubricating oil, the strain OL15 immobilized in agar conferred the highest degradation percentage up to 45 ± 3%. Due to its merit as a promising soil pollutant degrader, we investigated the effect of an introduction of the strain OL15 on the alterations of a bacterial community in the oil-contaminated soil environments using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The result revealed that the Proteobacteria, Acidobacteriota, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteriota were predominant phyla. The introduction of the strain affected the soil bacterial community structures by increasing total bacterial diversity and richness. The proportions of the genera Pseudomonas, Vibrio, Herbaspirillum, Pseudoalteromonas, Massilia, Duganella, Bacillus, Gordonia, and Sulfurospirillum were altered in response to the strain establishment. Soil pH, EC, OM, total N, P, Mg, Fe, and Zn were the major factors influencing the bacterial community compositions in the oil-contaminated soils. Full article

Carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystems can be significantly increased by afforestation, which will slow global warming. However, it is still unclear how different plantations influence the carbon sink and how they respond to environmental factors, especially in drylands. In this study, eddy correlation method (EC) was used to measure carbon and water fluxes and environmental factors of two artificial forests (Larix principis-rupprechtii and Pinus tabulaeformis) in the dryland of Northwest China, and the responses of evapotranspiration (ET), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), gross primary productivity (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (RECO) to environmental factors were also assessed. Results showed that the L. principis-rupprechtii forest ecosystem had higher water use efficiency (WUE), light use efficiency (LUE), GPP, and RECO than the P. tabulaeformis forest ecosystem. However, the proportion of net ecosystem production (NEP) to GPP in the P. tabulaeformis forest ecosystem (62.89%) was higher than that in the L. principis-rupprechtii forest ecosystem (47.49%), indicating that the P. tabulaeformis forest ecosystem had the higher carbon sequestration efficiency. In addition, the CO₂ and H₂O fluxes in the L. principis-rupprechtii forest ecosystem were more sensitive to environmental factors, compared with the P. tabulaeformis forest ecosystem. Further, the RECO of the L. principis-rupprechtii forest ecosystem was more sensitive to temperature changes, which implies that the L. principis-rupprechtii forest ecosystem will release more CO₂ than the P. tabulaeformis forest ecosystem with a warming climate. Therefore, the P. tabulaeformis forest ecosystem may have better carbon sequestration potential. These results are important for understanding the effects of climate change on the CO₂ and H₂O cycles in coniferous plantation ecosystems in drylands. Full article

Field water use efficiency is an important parameter for evaluating the quality of field irrigation in irrigated areas, which directly affects the country’s food security and water resource allocation. However, most current studies use point-scale soil moisture (SM) or remote sensing water balance models to calculate the field water use coefficient, which cannot avoid errors caused by the spatial heterogeneity of SM and insufficient spatial resolution of remote sensing data. Therefore, in this study, the cosmic-ray neutron sensor (CRNS), Time-Domain Reflectometers (TDR) and Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) were used to monitor the meteorological and hydrological data such as SM, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation in the experimental area of Jinghuiqu Irrigation District for three consecutive years. The scale of the CRNS SM lies between the point and the remote sensing. Based on the CRNS SM, the calculation method for canal head and tail water was used to calculate the field water use efficiency to evaluate the level of agricultural irrigation water use in the experimental irrigation area. The results showed that CRNS could accurately detect the change in SM, and four irrigation events were monitored during the winter wheat growth period from October 2018 to June 2019; the calculation result of field water use efficiency in the experimental area was 0.77. According to the field water use efficiency of the same irrigation area from October 2013 to October 2015 in other studies, the field water use efficiency during the growing period of winter wheat in this area increased from 0.503 to 0.770 in 2013–2019, indicating a significant improvement in the field water use level. In general, this study not only solves the problem of low calculation accuracy of field water use efficiency caused by the mismatch of SM monitoring scales but also explores the application potential of CRNS in agricultural irrigation management and water resource allocation. Full article

An alternative strategy for saving limited water resources is using treated wastewater (TWW) originating from wastewater treatment plants. However, using TWW can influence soil properties owing to its characteristics compared to conventional water resources. Therefore, assessing the effect of TWW on soil properties and soil water infiltration is crucial to maintain sustainable use of TWW and to increase the water use efficiency of the precious irrigation water. Moreover, several studies were carried out to assess the performance of infiltration models. However, few studies evaluate infiltration models under the use of treated wastewater. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effect of TWW irrigation on soil properties after 2 and 5 years and to evaluate five classical infiltration models with field data collected from soil irrigated by treated wastewater for their capability in predicting soil water infiltration. This study revealed that using TWW for irrigation affects significantly on soil properties after 2 and 5 years. The soil irrigated with TWW had significantly higher electrical conductivity, organic matter, sodium adsorption ratio, cation exchange capacity, and lower soil bulk density compared to control. The basic infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration decreased significantly compared to control (60.84, 14.04, and 8.42 mm hr⁻¹ and 140 mm, 72 mm, and 62 mm for control, 2, and 5 years’ treatments, respectively). The performance of the infiltration models proposed by Philip, Horton, Kostiakov, Modified Kostiakov, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service was evaluated with consideration of mean error, root mean square error, model efficiency, and Willmott’s index. Horton model had the lowest mean error (0.0008) and Philip model had the lowest root mean square error (0.1700) while Natural Resources Conservation Service had the highest values (0.0433 and 0.5898) for both mean error and root mean square error, respectively. Moreover, Philip model had the highest values of model efficiency and Willmott’s index, 0.9994 and 0.9998, respectively, whereas Horton model had the lowest values for the same indices, 0.9869 and 0.9967, respectively. Philip model followed by Modified Kostiakov model were the most efficient models in predicting cumulative infiltration, while Natural Resources Conservation Service model was the least predictable model. Full article

This paper presents design considerations for the design and implementation of stand-alone photovoltaic-powered containerized cold storage solutions for rural off-grid applications. The work presented is based on a case study of an off-grid photovoltaic-powered cold storage unit located in rural South Africa. Although solar-powered solutions for off-grid rural applications are very attractive and offer many benefits, including increased food security, skills development, income generation, and productivity due to the presence of solar power, the application of cold storage requires careful consideration of the design aspects to ensure that the solution is feasible and sustainable. The challenge of maintaining low temperatures inside a cold storage system in an excessively warm environment, such as that frequently encountered in most African rural settings, has stimulated discussions of design considerations for optimal efficiency. Not only are the design aspects of the PV panel mounting and tilt associated with the geographic location of the application, but the heating implications are also derived from the physical orientation of the storage unit. Results from mathematical models are substantiated with field data collected from a case deployment. The design considerations for the sizing of the electrical components in the system are presented. The paper concludes by answering the research question as to what design aspects should be considered for an off-grid, PV-powered containerized cold storage system to reduce the size of the battery storage unit. Full article

Plants evolved an impressive arsenal of multifunctional specialized metabolites to cope with the novel environmental pressures imposed by the terrestrial habitat when moving from water. Here we examine the multifarious roles of flavonoids in plant terrestrialization. We reason on the environmental drivers, other than the increase in UV-B radiation, that were mostly responsible for the rise of flavonoid metabolism and how flavonoids helped plants in land conquest. We are reasonably based on a nutrient-deficiency hypothesis for the replacement of mycosporine-like amino acids, typical of streptophytic algae, with the flavonoid metabolism during the water-to-land transition. We suggest that flavonoids modulated auxin transport and signaling and promoted the symbiosis between plants and fungi (e.g., arbuscular mycorrhizal, AM), a central event for the conquest of land by plants. AM improved the ability of early plants to take up nutrients and water from highly impoverished soils. We offer evidence that flavonoids equipped early land plants with highly versatile “defense compounds”, essential for the new set of abiotic and biotic stressors imposed by the terrestrial environment. We conclude that flavonoids have been multifunctional since the appearance of plants on land, not only acting as UV filters but especially improving both nutrient acquisition and biotic stress defense. Full article

Many invasive plant species use interactions with their anthropic environment as a propagation factor and benefit from climate changes, which have become accentuated in the last decade. The way such species interact with climate changes, as well as their high specific ecological plasticity, gives them a consistent advantage over native plant species. This work aims to demonstrate through a simple calculation the quantification of the productive potential of a wet meadow on which populations of an invasive plant species grew. The loss of productive potential induced by Reynoutria japonica Houtt on a mountain meadow in Ciocănești village, Romania, was the main objective. In the case of the productive potential of the meadows, a method for the general calculation of such losses was shown. The degree of anthropization of the studied area was also evaluated, correlating the degree of anthropization with the invasive species’ potential for spreading and affecting the mountain area. Full article

Background: Considerable efforts have been carried out over the past 30 years to support patients with advanced cervical cancer. Throughout this time, Eastern European countries have been left aside from the decision-making groups on this matter, hence the absence of similar studies in this geographical area. In these countries, the quality of life (QoL) of patients with cervical cancer might be considered a “caprice”, and the discomforts they encounter following pelvic exenteration for cervical cancer are often perceived as a “normal phenomenon”. Methods: This study examined forty-seven patients submitted to pelvic exenteration followed up for nine years after the surgical intervention. The first objective of this study is to identify the prognostic factors that influence the overall survival (OS) of patients undergoing pelvic exenteration for FIGO stage IVA, recurrent or persistent cervical cancer after previous conclusive treatments. The second objective is to assess the QoL of the surviving patients using the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CX24 standardized questionnaires. Results: The mean age of the participants was 54 years (range 36–67). At the time of the study, there were 25 living patients (53.2%), the 3-year OS was 61%, and the 5-year OS was 48.7%. Cox regression analysis recognized parameter invasion, pelvic lymph node metastases, positive resection margins, early postoperative complications, and infralevatorian pelvic exenteration as negative prognostic factors influencing the OS (p < 0.05). Of the 25 survivors, 18 patients answered the QoL questionnaires. The cost of favorable survival has been translated into poor overall QoL, unsatisfactory functional, social, and symptom scores, a high prevalence of cervical cancer-specific symptoms such as lymphedema, peripheral neuropathy, severe menopausal symptoms, distorted body image, and lack of sexual desire. The lower scores are comparable to the only three studies available in the literature that assessed the QoL of patients undergoing pelvic exenteration precisely for cervical cancer. Conclusions: Despite its retrospective nature and some limitations, this paper, similar to other studies, shows a decent OS but with a marked adverse impact on QoL, suggesting the importance of adequate psycho-emotional and financial support for these patients following pelvic exenteration. This study also contributes to the current knowledge regarding advanced cervical cancer treatment, depicting survival, prognostic factors, and QoL of patients undergoing pelvic exenteration for cervical cancer in a reference center in Eastern Europe. Our study can provide a comparison for future prospective randomized trials needed to confirm these results. Full article

The contamination of coastal marine sediments with heavy metals (HMs) is a widespread phenomenon that requires effective remediation actions. Bioremediation based on the use of bacteria is an economically and environmentally sustainable effective strategy for reducing HM contamination and/or toxicity in marine sediments. However, information on the efficiency of marine-derived fungi for HM decontamination of marine sediments is still largely lacking, despite evidence of the performance of terrestrial fungal strains on other contaminated matrixes (e.g., soils, freshwater sediments, industrial wastes). Here, we carried out for the first time an array of parallel laboratory experiments by using different combinations of chemical and microbial amendments (including acidophilic autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria, as well as filamentous marine fungi) for the bioremediation of highly HM-contaminated sediments of the Portman Bay (NW Mediterranean Sea), an area largely affected by long-term historical discharges of mine tailings. Our results indicate that the bioleaching performance of metals from the sediment is based on the addition of fungi (Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma sp.), either alone or in combination with autotrophic bacteria, was higher when compared to other treatments. In particular, fungal addition allowed obtaining bioleaching yields for As eight times higher than those by chemical treatments and double compared with the addition of bacteria alone. Moreover, in our study, the fungal addition was the only treatment allowing effective bioleaching of otherwise not mobile fractions of Zn and Cd, thus overtaking bacterial treatments. We found that the lower the sediment pH reached by the experimental conditions, as in the case of fungal addition, the higher the solubilization yield of metals, suggesting that the specific metabolic features of A. niger and Trichoderma sp. enable lowering sediment pH and enhance HM bioleaching. Overall, our findings indicate that fungi can be more effective than acidophilic autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria in HM bioleaching, and as such, their use can represent a promising and efficient strategy for the bioremediation of marine sediments highly contaminated with heavy metals. Full article

Increasingly, demanding environmental standards reflect the need for improved energy efficiency and reduced externalities in the transportation sector. Reference driving cycles provide standard speed profiles against which future developments and innovations may be tested. In the paper, we develop such profiles for a class of electric L-category vehicles, which are anticipated to play an increasing future role in urban areas. While such driving cycles exist for regular L-category vehicles, these may not be suitable in the case of electric vehicles, due to their power output limitations. We present a methodology for deriving these new driving cycles, developed from empirically deduced power relationships, before demonstrating their application under different assumptions on the terrain and vehicle characteristics. The applications demonstrate the feasibility of the method in developing appropriate driving patterns for alternative real-world contexts. On flat terrain, the adjustments made to cope with the power limitations of L-EV do not introduce significant differences in energy consumption, suggesting that the certification does not require extensive modification. However, when considering road slope, differences of up to 5% in energy use and up to 10% in regenerated energy were observed, showing the importance of the developed method for assessing vehicle performance in real-world driving. Full article

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is increasingly used for detailed vegetation structure mapping; however, there are many local-scale applications where it is economically ineffective or unfeasible from the temporal perspective. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or airborne imagery (AImg) appear to be promising alternatives, but only a few studies have examined this assumption outside economically exploited areas (forests, orchards, etc.). The main aim of this study was to compare the usability of normalized digital surface models (nDSMs) photogrammetrically derived from UAV-borne and airborne imagery to those derived from low- (1–2 pts/m²) and high-density (ca. 20 pts/m²) ALS-scanning for the precise local-scale modelling of woody vegetation structures (the number and height of trees/shrubs) across six dynamically changing shrubland sites. The success of the detection of woody plant tops was initially almost 100% for UAV-based models; however, deeper analysis revealed that this was due to the fact that omission and commission errors were approximately equal and the real accuracy was approx. 70% for UAV-based models compared to 95.8% for the high-density ALS model. The percentage mean absolute errors (%MAE) of shrub/tree heights derived from UAV data ranged between 12.2 and 23.7%, and AImg height accuracy was relatively lower (%MAE: 21.4–47.4). Combining UAV-borne or AImg-based digital surface models (DSM) with ALS-based digital terrain models (DTMs) significantly improved the nDSM height accuracy (%MAE: 9.4–13.5 and 12.2–25.0, respectively) but failed to significantly improve the detection of the number of individual shrubs/trees. The height accuracy and detection success using low- or high-density ALS did not differ. Therefore, we conclude that UAV-borne imagery has the potential to replace custom ALS in specific local-scale applications, especially at dynamically changing sites where repeated ALS is costly, and the combination of such data with (albeit outdated and sparse) ALS-based digital terrain models can further improve the success of the use of such data. Full article

In order to improve land-use efficiency and solve traffic congestion, in recent years, many cities in China have focused on developing urban underground space resources and urban rail transit projects. However, there are various hidden risks for the sustainable development of the ecological environment and water resources. In this paper, a comprehensive investigation and analysis of spring water resources are carried out using the example of the karst area of Jinan, which is known as ‘spring city’. The engineering geological and hydrogeological conditions in Jinan are introduced in detail, and the geological causes of springs are analyzed. In addition, the causes of spring flow attenuation are revealed based on the investigation of the flow dynamics of spring water. Based on the current situation of traffic congestion in Jinan, the necessity and development statuses of rail transit construction are analyzed. Then, according to the different stratigraphic structure, limestone roof depth and karst water head depth, the Jinan spring area is divided into three research regions including the shallow limestone area, concentrated spring water area and deep limestone area. The spring protection problems faced by each region during the construction of urban railways are systematically described. In addition, the countermeasures and suggestions for spring protection are presented. This study aims to reduce the impact of urban rail transit construction on Jinan spring water so as to protect the Jinan spring. It also provides the water resources protection experience for urban rail transit construction in similar karst areas. Full article

This paper reviews the advantages and disadvantages of the use of fertilizers obtained from leather waste, to ameliorate the agricultural soil quality. The use of leather waste (hides and skins) as raw materials to obtain biopolymer-based fertilizers is an excellent example of a circular economy. This allows the recovery of a large quantity of the tanning agent in the case of tanned wastes, as well as the valorization of significant quantities of waste that would be otherwise disposed of by landfilling. The composition of organic biopolymers obtained from leather waste is a rich source of macronutrients (nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium), and micronutrients (boron, chloride, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and zinc), necessary to improve the composition of agricultural soils, and to remediate the degraded soils. This enhances plant growth ensuring better crops. The nutrient release tests have demonstrated that, by using the biofertilizers with collagen or with collagen cross-linked with synthetic polymers, the nutrient release can be controlled and slowed. In this case, the loss of nutrients by leaching into the inferior layers of the soil and ground water is minimized, avoiding groundwater contamination, especially with nitrate. Full article

The electro-osmosis-combined-preloading method is considered very promising in soft soil improvement, while the uncertainty in the function mechanism has hindered its practical application. To explore the mechanism of the combined method, experiments concerning the single electro-osmosis method and the combined method were carried out using reclaimed sludge. Macroscopic and microscopic properties of the soil were explored and compared. Drainage, soil settlement, soil water content and soil pore structure were detected during the experiments. The total drainage and average settlement of the combined method were, respectively, 20.8% and 34.5% greater than that of the single electro-osmosis method. The average void ratio of soils treated by the combined method was 13.8% lower than that by the electro-osmosis method. Moreover, reduction rates of the soil water content are found higher than that of the apparent void ratio for each method. It can be concluded that the combined method had better performances, both from the macroscopic and microscopic views. Furthermore, a theoretical analysis demonstrated that soil was desaturated and the soil shrinkage volume was lower than the drained water volume during electro-osmosis. This is derived from the essence of electro-osmosis, which determines that considerable pores formerly occupied by drained water cannot be effectively compressed. The combined method can fully use the advantages of the single methods by active drainage through electro-osmosis and further compression of the soil skeleton through preloading. Therefore, the electro-osmosis-combined-preloading method was strongly recommended for reclaimed sludge strengthening. Full article

Solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation is growing rapidly in China. Accurate estimation of solar energy resource potential (R_s) is crucial for siting, designing, evaluating and optimizing PV systems. Seven types of tree-based ensemble models, including classification and regression trees (CART), extremely randomized trees (ET), random forest (RF), gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), gradient boosting with categorical features support (CatBoost) and light gradient boosting method (LightGBM), as well as the multi-layer perceotron (MLP) and support vector machine (SVM), were applied to estimate R_s using a k-fold cross-validation method. The three newly developed models (CatBoost, LighGBM, XGBoost) and GBDT model generally outperformed the other five models with satisfactory accuracy (R² ranging from 0.893–0.916, RMSE ranging from 1.943–2.195 MJm⁻²d⁻¹, and MAE ranging from 1.457–1.646 MJm⁻²d⁻¹ on average) and provided acceptable model stability (increasing the percentage in testing RMSE over training RMSE from 8.3% to 31.9%) under seven input combinations. In addition, the CatBoost (12.3 s), LightGBM (13.9 s), XGBoost (20.5 s) and GBDT (16.8 s) exhibited satisfactory computational efficiency compared with the MLP (132.1 s) and SVM (256.8 s). Comprehensively considering the model accuracy, stability and computational time, the newly developed tree-based models (CatBoost, LighGBM, XGBoost) and commonly used GBDT model were recommended for modeling R_s in contrasting climates of China and possibly similar climatic zones elsewhere around the world. This study evaluated three newly developed tree-based ensemble models of estimating R_s in various climates of China, from model accuracy, model stability and computational efficiency, which provides a new look at indicators of evaluating machine learning methods. Full article

Factors such as seeking medical attention for respiratory symptoms and health professionals ordering spirometry come into play in the underdiagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The objective of this study was to analyze seeking medical attention and the use of spirometry in individuals with chronic respiratory symptoms and to compare these results with those obtained in the 2005 and 2011 surveys. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional, observational, epidemiological study was conducted via phone interview in December 2020 in Spain, with a representative sample from 17 autonomous communities. The study design was identical to that of the studies carried out in 2005 and 2011 to evaluate the changes that have occurred in seeking medical attention and performing spirometry in Spain, as well as the variability between autonomous communities. Results: From 89,601 phone contacts, a total of 6534 respondents were obtained. A total of 24.8% reported having some chronic respiratory symptom, and 17.9% reported a respiratory disease. Only 51.6% of those who had some chronic respiratory symptom had seen their doctor, which was less likely among current smokers (OR: 0.599, 95% CI: 0.467–0.769, p < 0.001) and those living in a rural setting (OR: 0.797, 95% CI: 0.651–0.975, p = 0.027). A total of 68.7% of the individuals who saw a doctor reported having undergone spirometry, most frequently males (OR: 1.535, 95% CI: 2.074–1.136, p < 0.005), former smokers (OR: 1.696, 95% CI: 2.407–1.195, p < 0.003), and those seen by a pulmonologist (OR: 6.151, 95% CI: 8.869–4.265, p < 0.001). With respect to the 2005 survey, more frequent use of spirometry has been observed (42.6 vs. 68.7%), without any change in seeking medical attention for respiratory symptoms. There is a clear variability according to the autonomous community (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Many individuals with chronic respiratory symptoms do not seek medical attention and although the use of spirometry has increased in the past 15 years, it is still an important area that needs improving in the primary care setting, especially among women. Both of these factors can be determinants in the underdiagnosis of COPD and its variability between autonomous communities. Full article

The effect of climate on tree growth has received increased interest in the context of climate change. However, most studies have been limited geographically and with respect to species. Here, sixteen tree species of western North America were used to investigate the response of trees to climate change. Forest inventory data from 36,944 stands established between 1600 and 1968 throughout western North America were summarized. The height growth (top height at a breast-height age of 50 years) of healthy dominant and co-dominant trees was related to annual and summer temperatures, the annual and summer Palmer Drought Severity Indexes (PDSIs), and the tree establishment date (ED). Climate-induced height growth patterns were then tested to determine links to the spatial environment (geographic locations and soil properties), the species’ range (coastal, interior, or both), and traits (shade tolerance and leaf form). Analysis was performed using a linear mixed model (total species) and a general linear model (species scale). Climate change was globally beneficial, except for Alaska yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach), and growth patterns were magnified for coastal-ranged, high-shade-tolerant, and broadleaf species, and mostly at the northernmost extents of these species’ ranges. Nevertheless, growth patterns were more complex with respect to soil properties. A growth decline for some species was observed at higher latitudes and elevations and was possibly related to increased cloudiness, precipitation, or drought (in interior areas). These results highlight the spatio-temporal complexity of the growth response to recent global climate change. Full article

This study aims at providing bee products and derivatives of medicinal plant consumers with a multifaceted perspective on mineral elements occurring in the soils of two forest zones in the vicinity of North Dobrogea (Romania) by (1) analyzing the pollution levels of the soils at three sites (denoted by DS, PH, and ST) in the study region, using different indicators; (2) providing the results of the transfer of metals from the soil to Sambucus nigra L. (SnL), Hypericum perforatum (Hp), and Tilia tomentosa (Tt). The statistical analysis of the series collected at these locations shows no difference between the elements’ concentrations (as a whole). Still, the values of the geo-accumulation index (I_geo) classify the soils as being soils that are moderately to highly contaminated with Cd (and not contaminated with Cu, Mn, or Zn) with respect to the European background values. The cumulative indices—the degree of contamination (DC), the pollution load index (PLI), the Nemerow integrated pollution index (NIPI), and the potential ecological risk index (PERI) indicated the highest contamination in DS (which is a tourist area). To assess the accumulation of different metals in plants, the enrichment factors (EF) were computed. In over 75% of cases, EF was above 1, indicating a high degree of enrichment with different metals. The highest values were those for Cu (41.10 in DS for SnL), and Cd (12.85 in DS for Tt). The results showed that there were different degrees of accumulation between microelements and trace elements in the plants. Tt acted as a bioaccumulator for almost all of the studied elements (K, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Cd). Full article

Introduction: The autonomic nervous system plays a vital role in the modulation of many vital bodily functions, one of which is sleep and wakefulness. Many studies have investigated the link between autonomic dysfunction and sleep cycles; however, few studies have investigated the links between short-term sleep health, as determined by the Pittsburgh Quality of Sleep Index (PSQI), such as subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction, and autonomic functioning in healthy individuals. Aim: In this cross-sectional study, the aim was to investigate the links between short-term sleep quality and duration, and heart rate variability in 60 healthy individuals, in order to provide useful information about the effects of stress and sleep on heart rate variability (HRV) indices, which in turn could be integrated into biological models for wearable devices. Methods: Sleep parameters were collected from participants on commencement of the study, and HRV was derived using an electrocardiogram (ECG) during a resting and stress task (Trier Stress Test). Result: Low-frequency to high-frequency (LF:HF) ratio was significantly higher during the stress task than during the baseline resting phase, and very-low-frequency and high-frequency HRV were inversely related to impaired sleep during stress tasks. Conclusion: Given the ubiquitous nature of wearable technologies for monitoring health states, in particular HRV, it is important to consider the impacts of sleep states when using these technologies to interpret data. Very-low-frequency HRV during the stress task was found to be inversely related to three negative sleep indices: sleep quality, daytime dysfunction, and global sleep score. Full article

The inflammatory response is a central aspect of the human immune system that acts as a defense mechanism to protect the body against infections and injuries. A dysregulated inflammatory response is a major health concern, as it can disrupt homeostasis and lead to a plethora of chronic inflammatory conditions. These chronic inflammatory diseases are one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and the need for them to be managed in the long term has become a crucial task to alleviate symptoms and improve patients’ overall quality of life. Although various synthetic anti-inflammatory agents have been developed to date, these medications are associated with several adverse effects that have led to poor therapeutic outcomes. The hunt for novel alternatives to modulate underlying chronic inflammatory processes has unveiled nature to be a plentiful source. One such example is agarwood, which is a valuable resinous wood from the trees of Aquilaria spp. Agarwood has been widely utilized for medicinal purposes since ancient times due to its ability to relieve pain, asthmatic symptoms, and arrest vomiting. In terms of inflammation, the major constituent of agarwood, agarwood oil, has been shown to possess multiple bioactive compounds that can regulate molecular mechanisms of chronic inflammation, thereby producing a multitude of pharmacological functions for treating various inflammatory disorders. As such, agarwood oil presents great potential to be developed as a novel anti-inflammatory therapeutic to overcome the drawbacks of existing therapies and improve treatment outcomes. In this review, we have summarized the current literature on agarwood and its bioactive components and have highlighted the potential roles of agarwood oil in treating various chronic inflammatory diseases. Full article

Pesticides are considered the most effective way to protect crops. However, irrational use has caused resources waste and environmental pollution. Dazomet (DZ) is a soil fumigant that has been used in many countries for decades, although it has caused occasional crop damage or insufficient control efficacy in some circumstances. In this study, the effects of DZ’s granule size and exposure to various environmental conditions on DZ degradation when used as a fumigant were demonstrated. The degradation rate of DZ was closely related to granule size. The half-life of larger DZ granules was longer than smaller granules with all studied environmental factors. The degradation rate decreased as the DZ usage (90–360 mg/kg) increased and different granule sizes showed the same variation trend. The half-life in each of the five granule size ranges tested decreased significantly as the temperature increased. DZ half-life decreased by 4.67–6.59 times as the temperature increased from 4 to 35 °C. Moreover, DZ usage and temperature affected the half-life of granules >400 and 300–400 μm in diameter significantly more than <100 μm granules. The half-life of all DZ granule sizes was reduced by 13.9–47.4% in alkaline compared to acidic conditions (pH from 9 to 5). Moreover, elevated temperatures could not only promote the production of methyl isothiocyanate (MITC) but accelerate its dissipation. The interactions between DZ granule size, dosage, temperature, and pH provide practical guidance on methods to improve DZ’s efficacy against pests and reduce the risk of phytotoxicity. Full article

There is an urgent and imminent need to develop new agents to fight against cancer. In addition to the antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities, many antimicrobial peptides can bind to and lyse cancer cells. P-113, a 12-amino acid clinically active histatin-rich peptide, was found to possess anti-Candida activities but showed poor anticancer activity. Herein, anticancer activities and induced immunogenic cancer cell death of phenylalanine-(Phe-P-113), β-naphthylalanine-(Nal-P-113), β-diphenylalanine-(Dip-P-113), and β-(4,4′-biphenyl)alanine-(Bip-P-113) substituted P-113 were studied. Among these peptides, Nal-P-113 demonstrated the best anticancer activity and caused cancer cells to release potent danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), cytochrome c, ATP, and high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). These results could help in developing antimicrobial peptides with better anticancer activity and induced immunogenic cell death in therapeutic applications. Full article

In view of the problems of the difficulties faced in horizontal planting; high labor intensity, poor operation quality and low economy in the existing sweet potato bare seedling transplanting technology and equipment, combined with the agronomic requirements of sweet potato planting and transplanting, a sweet potato bare seedling horizontal transplanter is designed, which can realize multiple processes such as rotary tillage and ridging, ditching and transplanting, covering soil and standing seedlings. The main parameters affecting the working performance and operation effect of the whole machine are analyzed, determining the relevant position and motion parameters, taking the forward speed of machines and tools, spacing of the ribbons and spiral speed as the influencing factors of the performance test, selecting the qualified rate of plant spacing as the evaluation index, and designing a three-factor and three-level orthogonal test. The test results show that the primary and secondary order of the significance of the qualified rate $Z$ of plant spacing is $B$, $A$ and $C$. The better horizontal combination of influencing factors is that the forward speed of machines and tools is 0.17 m·s⁻¹, the spacing of the ribbons is 110 mm, and the spiral speed is 170 rpm. The field test results showed that the average $Z$-value of plant spacing qualification rate under the optimal factor level combination was 91.87%, which met the relevant technical standards and agronomic requirements. Full article

Digital beam forming (DBF) and synthetic aperture interferometry (SAI) are signal processing techniques that mix the signals collected by an antenna array to obtain high-resolution images with the aid of a computer. This note aims at comparing these two approaches from an algebraic perspective with the illustrations of simulations conducted at microwaves frequencies within the frame of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission. Although the two techniques are using the same signals and sharing the same goal, there are several differences that deserve attention. From the algebraic point of view, it is the case for the singular values distributions of the respective modeling matrices which are both rank-deficient but do not have the same sensitivity to the diversity of the array’s elementary antennas radiation patterns. As a consequence of this difference, the level and the angular signature of the reconstruction floor error are significantly lower with the DBF paradigm than with the SAI one. Full article

The impact path of housing prices on the upgrading of the industrial structure is an important part of realizing the high-quality operation of the national economy in China. In order to discuss the mechanism of different influencing paths to upgrading industrial structure, this paper introduces three different intermediary variables from the levels of supply, demand, and government, and further subdivides and compares them to empirically test the specific impact path of housing prices on industrial structure upgrading by constructing multi-dimensional industrial structure upgrading indicators. It obtains some meaningful results. Firstly, there is a significant U-shaped relationship between housing prices and industrial structure upgrading; secondly, rising house prices will exacerbate the real estate industry’s occupation of bank credit funds, hindering the upgrading of the whole industrial structure; thirdly, the negative impact of the land’s financial dependence on the upgrading of the industrial structure was underestimated; and, finally, the rise in housing prices can improve the consumption level and promote the upgrading of regional industrial structures. By studying the impact path of house prices on the upgrading of different industrial structures, it will help local governments regulate house prices and give full play to the role of house prices in promoting the upgrading of industrial structure through multiple channels. Full article

Inspired by the behaviour of animal populations in nature, we propose a novel exploration algorithm based on Lévy flight (LF) and artificial potential field (APF). The agent is extended to the swarm level using the APF method through the LF search environment. Virtual leaders generate moving steps to explore the environment through the LF mechanism. To achieve collision-free movement in an unknown constrained environment, a swarm-following mechanism is established, which requires the agents to follow the virtual leader to carry out the LF. The proposed method, combining the advantages of LF and APF which achieve the effect of flocking in an exploration environment, does not rely on complex sensors for environment labelling, memorising, or huge computing power. Agents simply perform elegant and efficient search behaviours as natural creatures adapt to the environment and change formations. The method is especially suitable for the camouflaged flocking exploration environment of bionic robots such as flapping drones. Simulation experiments and real-world experiments on E-puck2 robots were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed LF-APF algorithm. Full article

The Human Critical Area (HCA) is an area that characterizes the surface landscape created by human beings in the Anthropocene. Based on the signatures left by major human activities over the Earth′s surface, this research demarcates an arid inland region of Northwest China, the “Three Water Lines”, into four HCA types: Agricultural Area, Built-up Area, Ecological Area, and Bare Area. This paper explores the HCA′s distribution and changes in the “Three Water Lines” region between 2000 and 2020 with land use/cover data, as well as the impact of socioeconomic factors on the HCA dynamics with statistics sourcing from authoritative yearbooks. To achieve this, the Land Use Transition Matrix is used to investigate the changes in area and distribution, while binary linear regression and stepwise multiple linear regression are applied to examine the single and joint effects of the socioeconomic factors. The main findings are as follows: (i) The four HCA types are distinguished quantitatively and by their distribution patterns. Ecological Area and Bare Area cover most (more than 90% in total) of the territory with extensive and continuous distribution. Agricultural Area is mainly found on the eastern and western parts of the region, with flat terrain, abundant water resources, and moderate temperatures. Built-up Area is the most concentrated but has an unbalanced distribution and the lowest quantity. (ii) Despite some discernible spatial and quantity changes at regional and county levels between 2000 and 2020, the general characteristics in HCA’s structure and distribution pattern have mainly remained consistent. (iii) Transitions between HCA types occur constantly, and the primary source type of the transitions differs from one another. Ecological Area and Bare Area form the sources of the most evident transitions. (iv) Agricultural Area and Built-up Area are more prone influence from some socioeconomic dynamics. By contrast, there is no evidence that socioeconomic factors directly affect Bare Area. As the first empirical study of the newly conceived concept, Human Critical Area, this paper sheds light on the renovation of geographic traditions of studying the evolution of the human-environment system through the lens of human activities-driven landscape changes. Full article

The assessment of past sea-level positions requires a multidisciplinary approach that involves both scientific and historical humanistic fields. The use of a multidisciplinary approach allows us to obtain reliable information on the relative sea-level position, the determination of which requires the evaluation of the eustatic and steric components as well as an assessment of the vertical ground displacements, such as the isostatic adjustments and tectonic movements. In this context, coastal geoarchaeological markers play a fundamental role since their architectural height (generally defined as functional height) was relative to the sea level at the time of their construction. Thus, a comparison between the current elevation of geoarchaeological structures (or depth in the case they are currently submerged) with their estimated functional height allows us to obtain the relative sea-level variation. In this study, we applied a methodological procedure for the evaluation of the functional height of architectural elements using modern technologies (Terrestrial Laser Scanner and GPS-Real Time Kinematic) and detailed sea-level analysis. The proposed methodology was applied to coastal quarries located along the coast of Bari (Apulia region, southern Italy). The results allowed us to confirm the functional height of the detachment surface reported in the literature and to assess the sea-level position in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. Full article

Remote sensing tasks play a very important role in the domain of sensing and measuring, and can be very specific. Advances in computer vision techniques allow for the extraction of various information from remote sensing satellite imagery. This information is crucial in making quantitative and qualitative assessments for monitoring of forest clearing in protected areas for power lines, as well as for environmental analysis, in particular for making assessments of carbon footprint, which is a highly relevant task. Solving these problems requires precise segmentation of the forest mask. Although forest mask extraction from satellite data has been considered previously, no open-access applications are able to provide the high-detailed forest mask. Detailed forest masks are usually obtained using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that set particular limitations such as cost and inapplicability for vast territories. In this study, we propose a novel neural network-based approach for high-detailed forest mask creation. We implement an object-based augmentation technique for a minimum amount of labeled high-detailed data. Using this augmented data we fine-tune the models, which are trained on a large forest dataset with less precise labeled masks. The provided algorithm is tested for multiple territories in Russia. The $F1$-$score$, for small details (such as individual trees) was improved to $0.929$ compared to the baseline score of $0.856$. The developed model is available in an SAAS platform. The developed model allows a detailed and precise forest mask to be easily created, which then be used for solving various applied problems. Full article

Marine debris and floating marine debris issues have recently become a matter of great concern. The present study selected Kenting National Park and Northeast Cape and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area as the survey areas, where most of the popular scuba diving spots in Taiwan are located, to identify the volume, types, and sources of marine litter. The findings could be regarded as the foundation for future study and the suggestions for managerial strategies. The visual and line transect methods were used to conduct fourteen investigations of marine litter in four scuba diving spots from June 2020 to November 2020. Descriptive analysis and the chi-square test were used to analyze the volume, types, and sources of marine litter, as well as the different distributions under diverse locations, terrains, season, and tides. The results indicate that 2841 pieces of marine litter are identified, including 1786 (63%) plastic containers, 312 (11%) plastic bags, 254 (9%) disposable tableware for take-out beverages, 285 (10%) other materials, 72 (2%) cigarette butts, and 30 (1%) fishery and recreational fishing pieces. Different seasons, locations, and tides cause a significantly different marine litter distribution among these areas. The findings are expected to promote source reduction, develop shore and underwater cleaning proposals, and enhance marine protection education. Full article

The massive amount of plastic waste in our natural environment is a global concern. In this study, recycling plastic waste to partially replace natural sand in concrete is investigated. The performance of Resin8, a unique combination of all types of plastics and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) in concrete, has also been investigated. Replacement contents of 5%, 10%, and 15% for sand by volume were performed. The concrete mixes incorporating recycled plastic waste were tested against a reference concrete mix without plastic. The workability, compressive strength, tensile strength, oxygen permeability index (OPI), and effect of temperature were assessed. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis was conducted on the plastics and plastic concretes, pre- and post-temperature exposure. PET at a replacement content of 10% slightly increased the compressive strength by 2.4%. Regarding the OPI test, all the mixes incorporating recycled plastic waste are classified as “good”. When exposed to a temperature of 250 °C, no significant change in compressive strength was observed for the concrete mixes incorporating Resin8 at a replacement content of 15%, and the mixes incorporating PET at a replacement content of 5%, 10%, and 15%. It was clear from the results that both Resin8 and PET are suitable as a partial replacement for sand in concrete. Full article

The choice of optimal plant species for phytoremediation and organic fertilization plays an important role in stabilizing the functions of soils contaminated with heavy metals. The influence of nickel, cobalt and cadmium on the biomass yield and calorific value of Festuca rubra, heavy metal concentrations in soil and plants and the microbiological, biochemical and physicochemical proprieties of soil were analyzed in a pot experiment. The tolerance index (TI) describing Festuca rubra’s ability to tolerate heavy metals, as well as the translocation (TF), accumulation (AF) and bioaccumulation (BF) factors of heavy metals in Festuca rubra were calculated. The experiment was conducted in two series: In soil fertilized and not fertilized with compost. Nickel and cobalt significantly inhibited the growth and development of Festuca rubra. The experiment demonstrated that this plant species can be grown on soil contaminated with heavy metals. Festuca rubra contained on average 46.05% C, 34.59% O, 5.91% H, 3.49% N, 0.19% S and 9.76% ash. Festuca rubra has a stable calorific value which is not affected by heavy metals; therefore, biomass harvested from heavy metal-polluted soil can be used for energy generation. The calorific value of Festuca rubra ranged from 15.924 to 16.790 MJ kg⁻¹ plant d.m., and the heat of combustion from 17.696 to 18.576 MJ kg⁻¹. It has a stable calorific value which is not affected by heavy metals, therefore biomass harvested from heavy metal-polluted soil can be used for energy generation. Festuca rubra is particularly useful for the phytostabilization of soil contaminated with cadmium and cobalt. Compost minimizes the adverse effects of heavy metal pollution on the microbiological, biochemical and physicochemical properties of soil. Full article