Search Results (555)

The large-scale accumulation of steel slag from steelmaking and the over-exploitation of natural aggregates pose significant environmental and resource challenges. Focusing on the arid-cold region of Xinjiang, China, this study proposes the use of steel slag as a substitute for natural aggregates in pavement engineering. Through experimental performance evaluation and regionalized life cycle assessment (LCA), the technical feasibility and carbon reduction potential of this application were comprehensively evaluated. Results indicate that steel slag asphalt mixtures meet or exceed specification requirements in terms of high-temperature stability, water stability, and low-temperature crack resistance. However, volume stability decreases slightly with higher steel slag content and finer particle size, necessitating pretreatment for long-term durability. A local life cycle assessment model considering regional transportation factors was applied to the G30 Luhuo Expressway project. During the materialization stage, steel slag was used to replace 30% of the natural aggregates, reducing approximately 6718 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (31.4%). This, to some extent, reduced the extraction of natural resources, saved land resources, and alleviated the problems of resource shortage and price fluctuations. Sensitivity analysis reveals a positive correlation between carbon reduction and steel slag content, while transport distance strongly influences overall benefits, with a critical threshold of about 78 km defining the effective utilization range. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization model balancing service life, cost, and carbon reduction was developed to identify an optimal steel slag content scheme, maximizing comprehensive benefits under constrained conditions. This work confirms the technical viability of steel slag pavement in extreme climates and provides a systematic framework integrating environmental benefits and logistical constraints, supporting regional industrial synergy and promoting circular economy practices in low-carbon infrastructure. Full article

This paper examines the influence of the Nirvana Sutra 涅槃經 on the early formative stage of Pure Land Buddhist thought in China, focusing on three tropes common within the Nirvana Sutra and which also become central to the identity of the Pure Land path but are not found in the normative versions of the Sukhāvatīvyūha sūtra: buddha-nature as a universal, the importance of the category of people known as “ordinary beings”, and the transformation of Ajātaśatru from evil person to bodhisattva. Central to this development is the crucial role of a later Pure Land sutra known as the Guanjing 觀經 (Contemplation Sutra), which I argue is influenced by the Nirvana Sutra itself. The hermeneutic contexts for this discussion are the early commentaries on the Guanjing; although the Shandao commentary became the locus classicus for how these tropes function the Pure Land discourse, here I try to show how the two earliest commentaries on the Guanjing by Huiyuan and Jizang, both of whom are not considered patriarchs of the tradition like Shandao, were the first commentaries to feature these Nirvana Sutra themes. Full article

This study aims to evaluate the impact of agricultural land property rights system reform on Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity (AGTFP) and to uncover its underlying mechanisms. Treating the nationwide rollout of the Three Rights Separation Reform (TRSR) as a quasi-natural experiment, we employ provincial panel data from 2011 to 2023. The Super-SBM model is applied to measure AGTFP, followed by a multi-period Difference-in-Differences framework to identify the causal effects. The results indicate that the TRSR significantly enhances AGTFP, yielding an average improvement of 0.112 units. Mechanism analyses reveal that this gain is achieved through three distinct channels: promoting labor-saving technological progress, optimizing factor allocation efficiency, and facilitating agricultural green transformation. Heterogeneity analyses further demonstrate that the positive effects are more pronounced in plains regions, areas with lower rural per capita income, and jurisdictions with higher agricultural fiscal expenditure. These findings remain robust after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. This study provides novel institutional evidence on the drivers of AGTFP and offers policy-relevant insights for advancing sustainable agricultural transformation in developing economies. Full article

This experiment evaluated the productivity and economic viability of wheat under an integrated net house with a closed hydroponic irrigation system versus an open field. The objective was to assess this water-saving innovation under the Arabian Peninsula’s resource-constrained environments. The integrated system achieved markedly superior results, producing a grain yield of 13.0 t/ha—a 117% increase over the open-field yield of 6.0 t/ha. Biomass yield reached 40.0 t/ha versus 16.0 t/ha in open fields, a 150% improvement. These gains were attributed to controlled growing conditions and balanced nutrient delivery, which optimized plant performance and reduced environmental stress. The system also demonstrated significant savings in resources, offering enhanced resource-use efficiency per unit of production. The estimated total values of productivity and resource savings were substantial when adjusted to the land area conserved. For ROI, BCR, and IRR, hydroponic wheat production scored 3.13, 4.13, and 312.8% in season (1) vs. 1.97, 2.97, and 197.1% for open-field production. In season (2), hydroponics scored 1.62, 2.63, and 163.0% vs. 0.043, 1.04, and 4.32% for open fields. Higher yields in 2022/2023 resulted from 30 vs. 10 min/day of irrigation due to higher relative humidity reflecting higher rainfall in the first season. Full article

The ongoing climate crisis has highlighted the need for sustainability and resilience in the development and maintenance of urban areas regarding climate comfort. Weather simulation tools can aid researchers in understanding the effects that weather has on the microclimate in urban areas. While simulations are handled autonomously by computers once set up, the creation of the requisite input urban models is still a highly manual process. In this study, a novel method for the automated generation of urban models using land and cadastral remote sensing data is presented. By analyzing grass, trees, buildings, and roads algorithmically, data can be extracted and configured into spatial models compatible with microclimate simulation software such as ENVI-Met. Comparison to a baseline model shows that our method enables the creation of models fit for use for exploring microclimate scenarios in the urban environment, saving time by eliminating the need for manual processing. Full article

The international wheat trade serves as a vital pathway for balancing the global food supply and demand while facilitating the cross-regional allocation of cropland resources. Based on the telecoupling framework, this study constructed a global virtual-cropland-flow network using wheat trade data from eight time points between 1995 and 2023. Social network analysis and quadratic assignment procedure regression were applied to examine its structural evolution and driving factors. The findings reveal that (1) while growing in connectivity, the virtual cropland network exhibits structural vulnerability and evolutionary complexity. (2) The network demonstrated a clear telecoupled structure, with the sending system shifting from U.S.–Canada dominance towards multipolarity, and the receiving system centered in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with China at its core. The United States and France are major spillover systems. (3) Economic development and foreign demand significantly promote the establishment and intensification of trade relationships between countries. Geographical distance has a dual effect: it strongly negatively influences trade initiation but can be overcome by high complementarity between countries during trade deepening. (4) International wheat trade contributes to global cropland savings but also introduces systemic risks and environmental spillovers in some countries. The results provide theoretical support for building sustainable food trade and agricultural resource governance systems and offer important insights for advancing SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), sustainable land systems, and the optimization of global land governance. Full article

Urban underground space is increasingly being developed to alleviate surface land constraints and support low-carbon urban development. However, carbon emission reduction (CER) benefits remain inadequately quantified and are not comparable across underground infrastructure types, largely due to the absence of a unified assessment framework, inconsistent system boundaries, and the omission of multi-pathway mitigation mechanisms such as carbon capture and storage and biological sequestration. This study proposes a CER benefit assessment framework for urban underground space that integrates mitigation mechanism identification, pathway analysis, and benefit accounting, explicitly incorporating biological carbon sequestration, carbon substitution, and carbon capture and storage within a unified accounting structure. Accounting models are then established for three representative underground infrastructure systems: transportation, public and commercial services, and municipal utilities. Using Nanjing as a case city to operationalize and validate the proposed assessment framework, we estimate CER across multiple pathways and compare regional differences. The results indicate that underground transportation infrastructure provides the largest benefit (8.74 × 10⁵ tCO₂e per year), mainly driven by travel substitution and energy savings in station buildings. Underground public and commercial facilities achieve 6.64 × 10⁵ tCO₂e per year, dominated by green-building energy savings and geothermal integration. Municipal utilities contribute a smaller but strategically important reduction, as they provide a long-term carrier for carbon capture and storage and are structurally integrated within underground utility corridors, totaling 0.98 × 10⁵ tCO₂e per year citywide. Overall, the findings reveal differentiated mitigation mechanisms and spatial heterogeneity across underground infrastructure systems, providing a theoretical basis for optimizing urban spatial planning and informing low-carbon transition policies. Full article

This research studied the role of the fisheries sector, specifically pond-based grouper aquaculture, in coastal Lamongan, Indonesia, which is crucial for coastal food security and economy. Despite relatively high productivity, technical efficiency was not optimal because of its limited livelihood assets, which include human, natural, social, financial, and physical capital. The gap in ownership of these assets has resulted in technical efficiency variations across farmers and has affected both their livelihoods and environmental sustainability. Previous research has mostly focused on capture fisheries or non-grouper species, leaving a critical gap regarding the linkage between livelihood assets and technical efficiency in pond-based grouper aquaculture. This research measured livelihood asset levels, technical efficiency, and the effect of assets on efficiency, using quantitative data from 83 respondents representing the total 105 grouper farming households in coastal Lamongan. Livelihood assets were assessed through scoring and index analysis, technical efficiency was estimated using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), and the determinants of inefficiency were examined through Tobit regression with robust standard errors. The results found that the average livelihood asset index was 0.47 (moderate), with financial capital being the weakest component. Technical efficiency averaged 0.83, indicating efficient use of inputs while still allowing room for improvement. Natural capital (land area and water resources) and financial capital (income and savings) significantly affected technical inefficiency, whereas human, social, and physical capital did not. These findings emphasize the importance of strengthening the financial capital and the management of natural resources optimally to promote the efficiency and sustainability of grouper aquaculture in coastal Lamongan, Indonesia. Full article

While animal-derived ingredients continue to dominate pet food, mounting animal welfare and environmental pressures are starting to reshape the market—opening the door to plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives for dogs and cats. This study assessed the effective altruism case for more sustainable pet food options, using the scale, neglectedness, and tractability framework, and found strong alignment across all three dimensions. By 2018, at least 9% of farmed land animals were fed to companion dogs and cats globally, with more consumed by average dogs (13) than by average people (9) annually. A global transition to nutritionally sound vegan pet diets could spare seven billion farmed land animals and many billions of marine animals from slaughter and could feed 519 million additional people using food energy savings. Such a transition for dogs alone could eliminate 1.5 times the quantity of greenhouse gases produced annually by the UK and free up land larger than Mexico. Yet, sustainable pet food is a highly neglected issue in terms of funding, time, and talent. The issue appears tractable; 13–18% of dog and cat guardians would consider vegan pet diets if their concerns about them were addressed. Assuming only one dog or cat per guardian, at least 70 million dogs and 86 million cats worldwide could potentially be transitioned to vegan diets, with the true figures probably several times higher. Sustainable pet diets, therefore, represent a highly impactful yet overlooked opportunity to reduce farmed animal consumption, mitigate associated environmental impacts, and improve food security. Full article

Water resource monitoring can provide beneficial information supporting water management; however, present operational systems are small and provide only a subset of the information needed. Primary advancements consist of the clear explanation of water redistribution and water use from groundwater and river schemes, achieving better spatial detail and increased precision as evaluated against hydrometric observation. In such cases, Earth Observation (EO) satellite systems are persistently creating extensive data, which is now essential for applications in different fields. With readily available open-source satellite imagery, aerial remote sensing is progressively becoming a quick and efficient tool for monitoring land and water resource development actions, demonstrating time and cost savings. At present, the deep learning (DL) model will be beneficial for monitoring water resources and EO utilizing remote sensing. In this paper, a Deep Neural Network-Based Object Detection for Water Resource Monitoring and Earth Observation (DNNOD-WRMEO) model is introduced. The main intention is to develop an effective monitoring and analysis framework for water resources and Earth surface observations using aerial remote sensing images. Initially, the Wiener filter (WF) model was used for image pre-processing. For object detection, the Yolov12 method was used for identifying, locating, and classifying objects within an image, followed by the DNNOD-WRMEO methodology, which implements the ResNet-CapsNet model for the backbone feature extraction method. Finally, the temporal convolutional network (TCN) model was implemented for the classification of water resources. The comparison analysis of the DNNOD-WRMEO methodology exhibited a superior accuracy value of 98.61% compared with existing models under the AIWR dataset. Full article

Water-saving agricultural irrigation systems depend heavily on the hydraulic stability of pressure-compensating (PC) emitters, whose performance is fundamentally shaped by internal flow-path geometry. This study analyzes six commercial PC emitters (E1–E6) operated under pressures of 0.8–2.0 bar to quantify how key geometric descriptors influence hydraulic parameters critical for efficient water use, including actual discharge (q_act), discharge coefficient (k), pressure exponent (x), emission uniformity (EU), and flow variability. All emitters had discharge deviations within ±7% of nominal values. Longer and more tortuous labyrinths enhanced compensation stability, while emitters with wider cross-sections and shorter paths produced higher throughput but weaker regulation efficiency. Linear mixed-effects modeling showed that effective flow area increased k, whereas normalized path length and tortuosity reduced both k and x. Predictive equations derived from geometric indicators closely matched measured values, with deviations below ±0.05 L/h for k and ±0.05 for x. These results establish a geometry-based hydraulic framework that supports emitter selection and design in water-saving agricultural irrigation, aligning with broader Agricultural Water–Land–Plant System Engineering objectives and contributing to more efficient and sustainable water-resource utilization. Full article

With the cost-saving benefits of reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), South Korea is pursuing the application of reusability technologies to KSLV-III. While SpaceX currently reuses only the first stage of Falcon 9, the Starship program aims for full-stage recovery, motivating further examination of second-stage reuse. This study extends the scope of the analysis to medium-class launch vehicles and evaluates the feasibility of second-stage reuse for two vehicle scales. The performance losses associated with three recovery methods—vertical landing, parachute, and fly-back—are quantitatively assessed using conceptual-level recovery system design and simplified mass modeling. For KSLV-III, a conceptual expendable medium-class launch vehicle capable of delivering a 10-ton payload to a 200 km low Earth orbit (LEO) was designed using an algebraic modeling approach. Based on this reference design, the recovery methods were evaluated for both medium-class and super-heavy-class vehicles. Results of the present order-of-magnitude conceptual trade study show that, for medium-class vehicles, the parachute provides the highest performance, followed by fly-back, while vertical landing yields the lowest. For super-heavy vehicles, the parachute remains the most effective, but vertical landing becomes the second-best option, with fly-back exhibiting the lowest performance. As the vehicle scale increases, parachute effectiveness declines, fly-back performance improves, and vertical landing shows the greatest performance gains. However, parachute becomes impractical for super-heavy vehicles due to structural limitations, making vertical landing the most viable option. In contrast, medium-class vehicles do not necessarily require vertical landing, and the optimal recovery strategy should be chosen based on vehicle structural characteristics and mission objectives. This study provides insights that support the selection of efficient recovery strategies during the early design phase of RLVs. Full article

Amphibious light sport aircraft (LSA) combine the versatility of land and water operations but suffer aerodynamic penalties from their inherent design requirements, limiting cruise performance. This study investigates two drag reduction features for a proposed high-performance amphibious LSA developed by Altavia Aerospace. The concept targets a cruise speed of 140 KTAS, using retractable wingtip pontoons and a novel retractable hull step fairing. A 1/5-scale flying model was built and flight tested to assess the aerodynamic benefits of these features and evaluate sub-scale flight testing as a tool for drag measurement. Estimated propulsive power and GPS-based speed data corrected for wind were used to compute an estimated 17% reduction in drag coefficient by retracting the pontoons. The hull step fairing showed no measurable gains, likely due to inconsistent battery voltage, despite literature indicating potential 5% drag savings. Drag measurement precision of 7–9% was achieved using the power-based method, with potential precision better than 3% achievable if the designed thrust data system were fully validated and an autopilot integrated. A performance estimation for Altavia Aerospace’s concept predicts a cruise speed of 134 KTAS at 10,000 ft. Achieving the target of 140 KTAS may require further aerodynamic refinement, with investigation of a tandem seating configuration to reduce frontal area recommended. The study provides an initial drag assessment of retractable wingtip pontoons and demonstrates the potential of sub-scale flight testing for comparative drag analysis—two novel contributions to the field. Full article

No method to assess the risks of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants C6–C9 in soils on construction land in China has been established. At one decommissioned petroleum refinery site in northwestern China, we performed an innovative tier 3 risk assessment method using carbon fraction proportions. Using HJ 25.3 guidelines, the risk-screening value for soil contamination of land by petroleum hydrocarbons was 192 mg kg⁻¹ for industrial land use. However, based on site-specific parameters, this value was 226 mg kg⁻¹, with a corresponding contaminated soil volume of 381,904 m³. A tier 3 risk assessment incorporating carbon fraction proportions and site-specific parameters yielded a risk control value of 2370 mg kg⁻¹ and reduced the soil volume requiring decontamination to 87,047 m³, potentially saving CNY 324 million (~USD 45.5 million as of November 2025) in remediation costs. Therefore, implementing a tier 3 risk assessment for C6–C9 pollutants can optimize remediation strategies and enhance the precision and scientific rigor of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil remediation. Full article

The advent of digital transformation, social learning, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence is driving requisite changes in the development of data centres, which are buildings designed to process and store data. Green innovation is an integral component of the sustainable development of data centre units. Solutions utilising green and blue infrastructure in data centres are being currently introduced with the objective of optimising energy consumption and reducing energy demand. The primary aim of the research is to analyse the utilisation of biomass production and blue–green infrastructure in data centres. The article provides a consolidated set of key performance indicators (KPIs): energy efficiency, water use, waste heat utilisation, renewable energy integration, hourly carbon-free matching, embodied carbon, and land use impacts, that can be used to compare different data centre designs. Traditional PUE-centric evaluations are broadened by added metrics such as biodiversity/green area, intensity, and 24/7 CFE, reflecting the broader, multi-dimensional sustainability challenges highlighted in the current literature. Twelve international case studies described in the literature were compared and the feasibility of the Polish pilot project in Michalowo was assessed to illustrate specific cases related to energy-saving solutions and the use of renewable energy sources in data centres. Full article