Search Results (7,713)

Light exposure in urban street environments significantly shapes pedestrians’ subjective perception. While previous studies based on street view imagery (SVI) have predominantly regarded sky regions as the sole source of such exposure, glazed facades also contribute significantly through reflected light. Taking the Tianhe District of Guangzhou, China, as the study area, this research utilized luminance extraction and deep learning techniques to process SVIs and constructed an interaction regression model to analyze the channels through which light exposure affects pedestrian perception, as well as the specific role of glazed facades in this process. Key findings include: (1) elevated light exposure negatively affects overall perception, serving as a critical constraint on environmental quality; (2) under equivalent exposure conditions, glazed facades, although their overall main effect on perception remains negative, can partially buffer the perceptual burden induced by sky-dominated exposure; (3) based on these empirical channels, we propose classification and targeted renewal strategies for streets. This study proposes an integrated framework comprising “Sky/Glazed Facades—Light Exposure—Perception”, successfully incorporating reflected light from glazed facades into SVI-based luminous environment research. It reveals the differentiated channels of light exposure effects, providing guidance for both building forms and facade materials across urban blocks. Full article

This study examined the microbial quality of air and surfaces in six elevators at a tertiary hospital in Greece in 2022. The results highlighted hospital elevators as potentially relevant environmental reservoirs of microbial contamination, with contact surfaces (buttons) exhibiting significantly higher microbial loads than the air. Strong seasonality was also documented; the elevated microbial burden observed during the October sampling period likely reflects seasonal fluctuations in occupant traffic and environmental factors, although direct traffic and microclimatic variables were not monitored. Presumptive Staphylococcus spp. strains dominated the air, while Gram-negative bacteria recovered on MacConkey agar prevailed on surfaces. Phenotypically resistant isolates were also detected, including isolates showing reduced susceptibility or resistance to clinically relevant antimicrobial agents, highlighting the potential value of incorporating AMR surveillance into environmental monitoring. The semi-quantitative environmental exposure assessment showed that, while air quality remained within acceptable limits, the surface-contact route via elevator buttons represented the largest estimated exposure component. Healthcare workers showed the highest estimated cumulative exposure because of the greater frequency of elevator use assumed in the exposure scenario. In conclusion, hospital elevators may act as environmental reservoirs of microbial contamination and potential exposure pathways within the hospital environment, highlighting the need for enhanced hygiene measures, systematic monitoring and the integration of antimicrobial resistance into exposure assessment. Full article

The rapid transition toward electrified mobility and climate neutrality has prioritized the structural and environmental optimization of battery electric vehicle (BEV) subsystems. While vehicle lightweighting enhances operational efficiency, the production phase of structural enclosures and battery cells frequently introduces severe environmental and economic impacts and supply chain vulnerabilities. This study presents a comprehensive cradle-to-gate environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and semi-quantitative social assessment of alternative battery housing materials and battery cell architectures. To achieve a functionally accurate comparison, alternative materials, including a novel recyclable thermoplastic acrylic sheet molding compound (SMC), commercial thermoset SMCs, aluminum (AlMg3), and stainless steel, are evaluated using an analytical stiffness- and strength-equivalent methodology across three real-world geometric demonstrators. Simultaneously, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) liquid electrolyte prismatic cells and solid-state polymer pouch cells are assessed. Material-level results indicate that, while aluminum minimizes the structural mass, primary aluminum manufacturing exhibits the highest global warming potential and processing costs. Conversely, Polytec SMC and Elium SMC achieve the lowest environmental impacts alongside competitive total production costs. At the cell level, prismatic LFP architectures display superior environmental performance compared to solid-state pouch cells, which suffer from energy-intensive processing and lower volumetric capacity normalization. Demonstrator-level aggregation reveals that the electrochemical cells heavily dominate the environmental and economic footprint of the complete assembly, with the housing accounting for less than 5% of the total global warming potential (GWP) and 1% of the total costs. The social assessment reveals moderate and comparable performance across all systems, with slight advantages for thermoplastic composite-based configurations in terms of circularity potential and innovation perception. Overall, the study highlights the critical importance of the cell architecture and manufacturing processes in determining battery system sustainability, while demonstrating the relevance of lightweight composite housings in reducing the structural mass with a minimal environmental penalty. Full article

Gut microbiota plays an important role in host metabolism, immunity, and environmental adaptation, yet its response to contrasting wintering habitats in migratory waterbirds remains poorly understood. We compared the gut microbiota of whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) wintering in a natural riverine habitat (Swan Bay, Hejing County) and an urban wetland habitat (Worker’s Park, Korla City) in Xinjiang, China. A total of 34 fresh fecal samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We identified 2207 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), of which 734 were shared between habitats, indicating the presence of a conserved core microbiota. The urban wetland group exhibited a significantly higher Simpson index, whereas beta diversity analysis revealed significant differences in community structure between habitats (p < 0.05). Both groups were dominated by Firmicutes, Fusobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Campylobacterota, and Bacteroidota, although their relative abundances differed markedly. LEfSe analysis identified distinct habitat-associated taxa, and PICRUSt2 prediction suggested greater enrichment of metabolism-related pathways in the natural riverine group. Overall, wintering habitat was associated with differences in gut microbial composition and predicted function, providing new insight into the ecological adaptation of migratory waterbirds under contrasting environmental conditions. Full article

Long-term displacement in ultra-high rockfill dams is spatially heterogeneous, yet point-based monitoring and single-track InSAR provide only a limited account of its three-dimensional evolution. To address this limitation, we develop a workflow combining multi-track three-dimensional InSAR reconstruction, temporal feature clustering and modified HST/HTT modeling. In the modified models, the conventional linear time term is replaced by a predominant displacement component, allowing nonlinear long-term behavior to be represented alongside hydraulic and thermal responses. Three Sentinel-1 tracks acquired between 2014 and 2023 were used to analyze the Pubugou Dam. Maximum vertical and eastward displacement rates reached 17.70 and 19.41 mm/yr, respectively, while cumulative vertical displacement reached approximately 178 mm. Three coherent displacement zones were resolved: the upper dam was dominated by long-term accumulation, the central section displayed the strongest periodic response, and the lower dam and abutments remained comparatively stable. The modified models reproduced the observed series more closely in sample than the conventional formulations, while the fitted coefficients indicated a stronger and more spatially variable response to reservoir level than to air temperature. This integrated analysis provides a spatially resolved account of long-term displacement and environmental response across an ultra-high rockfill dam. Full article

Urban freshwater ecosystems are exposed to multiple anthropogenic pressures, but their effects on macroinvertebrate communities may vary depending on waterbody type and surrounding land use structure. This study analysed macroinvertebrate communities in three waterbody types of the Belgrade functional urban area. Land use was classified into agricultural, artificial, and semi-natural areas, and evaluated using LUI and HHI indices. A total of 187 macroinvertebrate taxa were recorded, indicating high diversity despite the urban setting. Community composition differed among waterbody types, with non-wadeable rivers characterised by a high proportion of Oligochaeta, wadeable rivers by a greater contribution of insects, and canals by the dominance of crustaceans. Land use further influenced community structure: semi-natural areas were associated with a higher proportion of crustaceans, artificial areas with Chironomidae, and agricultural areas with Oligochaeta. Alpha diversity was highest in wadeable rivers, while beta diversity showed that compositional differences were driven by species turnover. SPEAR indices indicated stress-related differences among waterbody types. CCA showed that community variation was associated with conductivity, temperature, oxygen saturation, pH, BOD, TOC, AOX, and phosphate. Overall, macroinvertebrate communities in the Belgrade urban area are shaped by the combined effects of waterbody type, land use structure, and local environmental conditions. Full article

Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze, a critically endangered tree species, plays an irreplaceable ecological role in its native habitats. Under global climate change, identifying the drivers governing its geographic distribution and assessing climate-related threats can provide scientific guidance for the long-term conservation and habitat restoration of this species. In this study, a total of 287 valid occurrence records from 27 countries were compiled. Combined with 14 screened environmental variables, an optimized Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model was used to predict the potential suitable habitats of A. angustifolia under historical climate conditions (1970–2000), as well as under low-emission (SSP126) and high-emission (SSP585) scenarios for the future periods of 2050, 2070, and 2090. Under historical climatic conditions, the average training AUC value from 10 replicate model runs was 0.979, indicating excellent and reliable model performance. Globally, the species has 1.91 × 10⁶ km² of moderately suitable habitat and 0.95 × 10⁶ km² of highly suitable habitat, with a total suitable habitat area of 2.86 × 10⁶ km², accounting for only 1.92% of the global terrestrial area. Mean annual temperature (bio1), mean temperature of the coldest quarter (bio11), and annual temperature range (bio7) are the dominant environmental variables shaping the distribution of A. angustifolia, followed by annual precipitation (bio12). Under future climate scenarios, the overall suitable habitats of A. angustifolia exhibit a slight contracting trend, whereas their spatial distribution patterns remain relatively stable. Full article

Seed transfer guidelines are used in ecological restoration to reduce the maladaptation risk from non-local genotypes. Researchers often examine second-generation populations under uniform conditions to isolate adaptation from environmental responses. However, in outcrossing species, interpreting these traits may be challenging if uncontrolled gene flow and recombination among provenances influence offspring phenotypes. We compared seed germination and seedling traits of the wind-pollinated grass Festuca vaginata, a dominant species of open sand grasslands in Hungary, across seed transfer zones (STZs) and localities. We used a two-generation common garden experiment with uncontrolled gene flow. Our results reveal that under common garden cultivation, the transgenerational stability of population differentiation is traitspecific. While locality effects on germination disappeared in the second generation, phenotypic variation in biomass and leaf length persisted, suggesting that shared environments homogenize germination faster than vegetative traits. As wind-pollinated species often exhibit weak regional genetic structuring, STZs may not capture the primary axis of phenotypic variation in specific traits. While not invalidating the use of STZs, our findings suggest that seed sourcing strategies should, if feasible, consider locality-level variation when using wind-pollinated grasses for species reintroduction. Full article

Fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) from large-scale retail is an abundant, relatively homogeneous feedstock for black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae, an alternative to composting. This study assessed, by life cycle assessment (LCA), the environmental performance of a pilot plant producing 15-day-old larvae as animal protein and tested whether the additive conditioning of the FVW changes that performance. Three substrates were compared (FVW with 20% bakery waste, 20% bran, and 2% sawdust, respectively) using climate change (GWP100a, IPCC 2007), economic allocation, Monte Carlo simulation, and transport distance sensitivity. The scenario ranking depended on the functional unit: per Mg of waste, the sawdust substrate was lowest (39.75 kg CO₂eq), whereas, per kg of protein, the bran substrate was best (8.87 kg CO₂eq, ~66% below bakery waste). Electricity, additive, and starter diet dominated the footprint. The conditioning additive, not the waste itself, governed sustainability; the bran–bakery waste difference was statistically discernible. Full article

Long-term exploitation of ion-adsorption rare earth deposits has played a vital role in ensuring the supply of strategic mineral resources. However, intensive mining activities have also resulted in severe ecological degradation, including vegetation loss, land degradation, and soil erosion. Although the Remote Sensing Ecological Index has been widely used for ecological environment assessment, it inadequately characterizes land degradation in ion-adsorption rare earth mining areas, while its fixed-weight framework is unable to effectively capture the influence of localized ecological limiting factors. To address these limitations, this study selected a typical ion-adsorption rare earth mining area in southern Jiangxi, China, as the study area. A Desertification Difference Index was incorporated into the conventional RSEI framework to establish a five-dimensional evaluation system consisting of greenness, wetness, dryness, heat, and desertification. Furthermore, a Dynamic Variable-Weight Remote Sensing Ecological Index (DV-RSEI) was developed by integrating variable-weight theory, enabling adaptive adjustment of indicator weights according to local ecological conditions. Using Landsat imagery from 2000, 2005, 2010, 2016, 2020, and 2023, the spatiotemporal evolution and spatial heterogeneity of ecological environmental quality were systematically investigated. The results indicate that: (1) ecological environmental quality exhibited a characteristic evolution process of mining disturbance–ecological degradation–comprehensive restoration–ecological recovery during 2000–2023, with an overall trend dominated by stability and improvement; (2) ecological environmental quality showed significant spatial clustering, with High–High clusters mainly distributed in areas with favorable ecological conditions, whereas Low–Low clusters were concentrated in regions strongly affected by mining activities; and (3) compared with the conventional RSEI, the DV-RSEI better characterized mining-related ecological degradation patterns and the spatial heterogeneity of ecological environmental quality. The proposed approach provides a scientific basis for dynamic ecological monitoring, evaluation of ecological restoration effectiveness, and the construction of green mines in ion-adsorption rare earth mining areas. Full article

River regulation creates reservoir shorelines with hydrological regimes that differ from those of adjacent riparian wetlands, but it remains unclear whether wetland setting and geomorphic region are reflected similarly in aggregate community attributes and species composition. We examined plant community attributes, species composition, dominant-species patterns, and their associations with soil and topographic conditions across 20 wetlands in the Han River basin, China. No community attribute differed significantly between riparian and reservoir shoreline wetlands, whereas lowland wetlands had greater plant cover than mountain wetlands. Of the 28 species recorded on reservoir shorelines, 24 also occurred in riparian wetlands. Species composition showed modest differentiation between mountain and lowland wetlands but not between wetland settings, and the ordination showed considerable overlap among groups. Cynodon dactylon dominated all groups, while the frequency and cover of other common species varied spatially. Slope, fine substrate, and distance to water were significantly associated with species composition, but explained a limited proportion of the variation. Slope contributed most within the explained component. These findings indicate that spatial and seasonal variation may be expressed differently across aggregate community attributes and species patterns. Reservoir shoreline assessment may therefore benefit from considering species composition and dominant-species structure alongside vegetation cover and richness. Full article

Intertidal habitat heterogeneity can shape macrobenthic communities, but its links to assembly processes and network stability remain uncertain. Macrobenthos were surveyed at 22 sites across muddy sediment (MA), oyster farming (OF), eastern rocky reef (EA), and southern rocky reef (SA) habitats around Nan’ao Island. Habitat type explained 25.5% of compositional variation, whereas observed richness and evenness showed no consistent among habitat differences. Mean between-habitat Bray-Curtis dissimilarity (0.730) and turnover (0.623) exceeded their within-habitat values (0.634 and 0.555), indicating that species replacement, rather than nested species loss, dominated community differentiation. Functional richness differed among habitats, whereas most other functional indices remained comparatively stable. Neutral-model fits were stronger in EA and SA (R² = 0.501 and 0.475, respectively) than in MA and OF, and null-model partitioning indicated undominated processes in MA and OF but greater homogenizing dispersal in rocky habitats. SA contained the largest co-occurrence network (24 nodes, 81 edges), although robustness was highest in OF. Exploratory PLS-SEM showed positive associations between habitat heterogeneity and environmental filtering (β = 0.591, p = 0.004) and between turnover and potential network stability (β = 0.593, p = 0.022), whereas the assembly–stability association was nonsignificant (β = 0.044, p = 0.856). These cross-sectional associations support a conceptual pathway linking habitat-related environmental gradients, species turnover, assembly shifts, and network reorganization. Full article

Steel production contributes significantly to global resource consumption and accounts for nearly 8% of worldwide CO₂ emissions. As the construction industry moves toward decarbonization, the reuse of structural steel has emerged as a highly impactful strategy for reducing embodied carbon and extending material life cycles. However, most end-of-life structures are still demolished using conventional methods that prioritize recycling for scrap value rather than recovering reusable steel components, resulting in the loss of high-quality material and reduced environmental and economic benefits. Despite growing interest in circular construction, systematic analyses of real-world structural steel reuse projects remain limited. This restricts the understanding of the practical conditions required for scalable implementation. Moreover, there is a lack of structured approaches for identifying the factors influencing deconstruction and large-scale structural steel reuse across reverse supply chains. This study addresses these gaps by developing a framework of factors affecting efficient deconstruction and structural steel reuse, identified through a thematic analysis of the literature and structured around structure attributes, business attributes, value chain activities, project management, and regulations. Fifteen case studies were analyzed: two from North America, twelve from Europe, and one from Asia. A structural steel reuse classification model is introduced to support cross-case comparison of coordination demands, implementation barriers, and scalability potential within reverse supply chains. The results demonstrate that reuse pathways differ substantially in coordination requirements, implementation complexity, and scalability outcomes. They further indicate that the dominant challenges to structural steel reuse are no longer primarily technical, but instead stem from system-level coordination gaps, limited information availability, and insufficient integration across reverse supply chains. Based on these findings, targeted solutions are identified, including improved dismantling strategies, enhanced documentation systems, dedicated storage infrastructure, and stronger regulatory alignment. This study provides a structured analytical approach and practical recommendations to support decision-making, stakeholder coordination, and the scalable implementation of structural steel reuse. Full article

The interplay between water-saving irrigation and potassium (K) management in regulating paddy methane (CH₄) emissions remains poorly understood. It remains unclear whether carbon pool enhancement induced by K fertilization could counteract the oxidation effects under non-flooded irrigation. Here, we conducted a field-based trial over two years to explore how irrigation regimes (continuous flooding, I_F; intermittent irrigation, I_I) and K application rates (K₀, K₇₅, K₁₅₀ kg ha⁻¹) modify soil redox status, carbon pools, crop growth, CH₄ emissions and economic benefits. Intermittent irrigation markedly elevated soil redox potential (Eh), suppressed dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and substantially reduced two-year average CH₄ emissions by 75.1–76.9%, regardless of K supply. Under I_F, high-rate K fertilization (K₁₅₀) stimulated cumulative CH₄ emissions; nevertheless, such K-driven CH₄ stimulation was completely offset under intermittent irrigation. Soil Eh, DOC and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) dominated CH₄ variation, among which Eh exerted the primary control. Intermittent irrigation combined with K fertilization improved rice grain yield. A comprehensive TOPSIS-Entropy multi-criteria evaluation identified the I_IK₇₅ treatment as the optimal option balancing environmental benefits and economic returns. Collectively, intermittent irrigation can mitigate the methanogenic risk from high potassium input, providing a promising redox-regulated strategy for low-CH₄ emission and high rice production. Full article

Natural gas production from mature fields is progressively shifting toward low-rate wells operating near their economic limit, creating challenges for long-term asset management. This study proposes an integrated stochastic decision-support framework combining Arps decline curve analysis, a calibrated Schwartz Type-I mean-reverting jump-diffusion model, Monte Carlo simulation, and Bellman dynamic programming to optimize marginal dry gas well management. The framework evaluates pipeline commercialization and a hybrid strategy integrating on-site electricity generation, while incorporating monetized environmental externalities associated with CO₂ emissions from gas combustion and potential post-abandonment CH₄ emissions. Application to the Mareógrafo 100 well in Mexico shows that the environmentally adjusted Bellman policy yields a mean NPV of USD 34.84 thousand, exceeding the comparable pipeline-only and hybrid strategies. Internalizing environmental costs reduces the mean optimal NPV by 46.6% relative to the economic-only formulation, while the mean abandonment time is approximately 200 days. Sensitivity analysis identifies electricity price, natural gas price, and pipeline distance as the dominant profitability drivers. The proposed framework provides a transferable methodology for jointly evaluating commercialization, environmental externalities, and abandonment decisions in mature dry gas fields under uncertainty. Full article