International Journal of Environment and Pollution (12 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Research on immobilisation of heavy metals in karst soil in Guizhou Province under the effect of carbonate  
  by Shaoxia Lin, Mingyang Cui, Zhiqiang Xiao, Changhu Lin 
  Abstract: Yellow soil and limestone soil are two dominant types of agricultural cultivated soil in carbonatite outcropped regions in Guizhou Province. Heavy metals in these soils are characteristic of high background value and low activity. To explore the relationship between high carbonate content and heavy metal activity in soils, this study simulated immobilisation of heavy metals in yellow soil and limestone soil under the existence of different concentrations of carbonates through laboratory experiments. Results showed that CaCO3 can increase the pH of yellow soil up to 7.08 and the limestone soil up to 8.25. CaCO3 is conducive to immobilisation of heavy metals in yellow soils within a certain range. It can relieve bio-availability of heavy metals in soil. In limestone soils, CaCO3 controls activity of heavy metals by adjusting soil pH and thereby influences solubility product constant of metallic compound precipitation. The adsorption kinetics model revealed that adsorption of heavy metals by yellow soil and limestone soil is not a physical adsorption, but a chemical adsorption based on chemical bonds. The rate of adsorption is controlled by heavy metal diffusion in soil particles and liquid film diffusion. High-concentration carbonates in karst soils in Guizhou Province can inhibit activity of heavy metals. Although the background value of heavy metals in soils in Guizhou Province is high, it hasnt shown serious health risks to crops or human beings.
  Keywords: calcium carbonate; heavy metal; yellow soil; adsorption kinetics;.
  
  
• Geographic information system simulation and assessment for environmental impact of overall urban planning  
  by Chuhong Li, Bo Zhou 
  Abstract: In order to achieve the rationality of urban positioning and development direction and the suitability of ecological shadow environment, the environmental impact of overall urban planning based on Geographic Information System (GIS) evaluation method is evaluated. Firstly, a GIS evaluation index system for the environmental impact of urban planning is established, and the regional boundary layer model and the atmospheric motion equation are used to analyze the feasibility of the GIS model. Then, the construction of GIS evaluation model for the environmental impact of overall urban planning is introduced, and spatial division of the planning scheme is carried out. The atmospheric environment and noise environment models of urban planning are established using the land regression method, and the water environment use model is established using the continuous water tank method. Finally, taking X city as an example, the environmental impact of the overall urban planning is evaluated using the GIS evaluation model. The results show that the assessment of environmental impact of urban master planning based on GIS is feasible. In terms of the water quality environment, the GIS model can be used to find out the reasons affecting the water quality environment and provide good guidance for the site selection and planning of factories in cities. In the aspect of atmospheric environment, the congested routes can be found out to provide guidance for urban road planning. In terms of noise environment, the construction site can be selected away from the concentrated residential buildings. The GIS evaluation of urban master plan quantitatively evaluates the atmospheric environment, noise environment, and water environment, which can provide scientific basis for urban master plan. The study provides a good guiding ideology for the overall planning of the city.
  Keywords: environmental impact; overall urban planning; geographic information system; evaluation model.
  
  
• Effects of phosphorus fertiliser type and application rate on leaf traits of sickle lucerne (Medicago falcate L) in a semi-arid environment in Northern China  
  by Bo Xu, Huimin Jiang, Baoyin Taogetao 
  Abstract: By observing the micro-structure of sickle alfalfa (Medicago falcate L.) treated with different phosphorus fertilisers, the adaptive mechanism of sickle alfalfa to structures in different phosphorus application rates can be explained, and a theoretical basis for phosphorus environment adapted by alfalfa can be provided. Six micro-morphological structure indicators from 2012 to 2014, including leaf thickness, palisade tissue thickness, spongy tissue thickness, palisade/spongy ratio, CTR and SR, were measured for sickle alfalfa treated with different phosphorus fertilisers. The results show: (1) with increase of phosphorus application rate, leaf thickness firstly increased and then decreased: it was thickest under moderate phosphorous rate; (2) different phosphorus fertiliser types had less effect on leaf thickness.
  Keywords: phosphorus fertiliser; leaf micro-structural mechanism; allometry.
  
  
• Phyto-remediator effect of Phragmites australis specie (region of Algeria) to the total organic load of wastewater  
  by Abdelhakim Sellal, Rima Belattar 
  Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the pollution degree in total organic matter of Oued K'sob (region of Bordj Bou Arreridj Algeria) waters using the dosage of the organic matter and their auto-purifying capacity using chemical oxygen demand parameter for one year at five stations distance. Phragmites australis (Pa) proposed as a solution by studying their phyto-purifying capacities to reduce the organic load. The results obtained show an important organic load in the Oued, especially in hot periods where values that greatly exceed the Algerian standard for surface water intended for irrigation and the limit value for discharges of industrial liquid effluents and also exceed the Algerian limit value for organic matter in surface waters which leads us to classify these waters as bad quality. In parallel, the results also show that Pa has a strong COD reducing capacity of 89.97%.
  Keywords: organic pollution; commun reed; Phragmites australis; bioremediation; phytoremediation; Algeria.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2023.10059437
   
  
• Nucleic acids accumulation in environmental waste release; a scientific map of particulate nucleic acid yet unattended and a potential outbreak helix-spring  
  by Bright E. Igere, Hope Onohuean, Emmanuel E.O. Odjadjare 
  Abstract: Various wastes containing nucleic acids released into the environment have been associated with diverse natural phenomena and health-related concerns. This has made environmental health practitioners, and other associated environmental health sectors, to continuously stress the need for adroit application/implementation of environmental health-related policy (e g water reuse policy/act, especially in continents applying water reuse act) and environmental wellness act. Although some scientific progress exists to date, there is yet a non-negligible release of nucleic acid particulates in some localities, while in other continents, it has remained unattended. The current study determines nucleic acid accumulation in environment release: a scientific map of particulate nucleic acid yet unattended and a potential outbreak helix-spring to appraise studies on environmental wellness and nucleic acid in environmental waste release. The PRISMA procedure was applied to collate data from Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus from January 1975 to December 2023.Our analysis revealed environmental nucleic acid bloom.
  Keywords: wastewater; nucleic acids in environmental release; cell-free nucleic acid; extra-chromosomal DNA; environmental health risk.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10062258
   
  
• The current status, opportunities, and path selection of cultural industries facilitating China's economic transformation from the perspective of 'Dual Carbon'  
  by Jinbei Wen, Feng Yun, QiYuan Hu 
  Abstract: Accelerating carbon peak and carbon neutrality has become a long-term goal of high-quality economic development in China, thus leading to bring about new opportunities and challenges to the development of the cultural industry Based on the current status of the cultural industry development, this paper puts forward the opportunities and path selection, so as to promote China's economic transformation under the background of the "dual carbon" strategy Overall, our results find that the scale of cultural industry continued to expand since 2012, but there are still issues such as imbalanced regional development, inadequate competitiveness of cultural products, and insufficient international influence Thus, under the "dual carbon" background, looking at the development opportunities, our results reveal that the emerging cultural tourism model will inject new vitality into the development of the cultural industry, and the booming development of new infrastructure construction provides technical support for the digitalization of the cultural industry.
  Keywords: dual carbon; cultural industry; economic transformation; realisation path.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10063032
   
  
• Evaluation method of sustainable utilisation level of agricultural land resources based on double difference method  
  by Jie Tang 
  Abstract: The sustainable utilization level of agricultural land resources is closely related to people's lives. In this study, an evaluation method based on double difference method is proposed to analyse the factors affecting the sustainable utilization level of agricultural land resources. Taking Sichuan Province as the research area, the problems in the process of ecological resources information and land use were analyzed. A basic model including explanatory variables, core explanatory variables and control variables is constructed by using double difference method, and the sustainable utilisation level under different indicators is evaluated. The results show that the sustainable utilization level of agricultural land resources in the experimental group considering comprehensive evaluation index is improved by about 1.2% compared with the control group considering only a single evaluation index. At the same time, parallel trend test and PSM-DID grouping matching test show that this method has strong robustness.
  Keywords: double difference method; agricultural land resources; sustainable utilisation; evaluation model; explanatory variables; control variable.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10063040
   
  
• Multi index comprehensive evaluation of sustainable development level of agricultural economy under the economic new normal  
  by Liqun Li 
  Abstract: Aiming at the problems of low coupling degree of evaluation indicators and insufficient coordination degree of evaluation results in the existing evaluation methods of economic development level, this paper proposes a new evaluation method of sustainable development level of agricultural economy based on the research background of the new normal of economy. Firstly, construct an evaluation index system. Then, construct a judgment matrix for sustainable development of agricultural economy and calculate the weight of indicators; Finally, the Data envelopment analysis method is used to fuse the preset evaluation indicators and build a comprehensive evaluation model to achieve a multi indicator comprehensive evaluation of the sustainable development level of agricultural economy under the economic new normal. The experimental results show that the highest coupling degree of evaluation data for this method can reach 0.70,and the coordination degree of evaluation results is close to 1.0,indicating that this method effectively achieves the design expectations
  Keywords: economic new normal; sustainable development; agricultural economy; data envelopment analysis; analytic hierarchy process.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10063041
   
  
• Fine-Tuned Regression and Statistical Assessment of India's Air Quality during COVID-19 disease  
  by Kanu Goel, Harsh Bansal, Shivangi Sharma, Shefali Arora Chouhan 
  Abstract: Air pollution levels in India were impacted signi cantly by the COVID-19 lockdown implemented by the Government of India As most factories and commercial establishments shut down, so did the sources of air pollution The levels of pollutants like dust and carbon dioxide, which are major contributors to air pollution, fell signi cantly The decrease in air pollution had a positive impact on the country's environment, leading to cleaner air and better visibility This paper examines the e ect of the lockdown on pollution levels by analyzing data on AQI levels in various metropolitan cities across the past years, focusing on the months in which the lockdown was enforced The results of this analysis show a fall in AQI levels in 2020 compared to previous years
  Keywords: AQI ; COVID-19 ; Statistical modeling ; machine learning ; SARIMAX model ; ARIMA model.
  
  
• Coordinated scheduling of photovoltaic greenhouse energy based on PBFT consensus mechanism  
  by Hui Yan, Dejin Chu, Yunxin Long, Ping Yu, Duo Long 
  Abstract: Aiming at the demand of photovoltaic greenhouse energy management, this paper proposes a collaborative control method of photovoltaic greenhouse energy based on PBFT consensus mechanism. Firstly, the characteristics of photovoltaic output of photovoltaic greenhouse are analyzed, and the influence of weather and other factors on photovoltaic power generation system is considered. Secondly, a distributed energy system model composed of multiple photovoltaic greenhouses is constructed, and a distributed economic scheduling model is introduced to achieve the maximum utilization and economy of energy. Finally, combined with PBFT consensus mechanism, a distributed algorithm is designed, which enables each greenhouse to make power scheduling decisions together to ensure the consistency and stability of scheduling results. The simulation results show that the proposed method can effectively optimize the energy dispatching, reduce the cost and improve the reliability of the system
  Keywords: photovoltaic greenhouse; distributed energy scheduling; PBFT consensus mechanism; energy storage; cost-effectiveness.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10063371
   
  
• An environmental pollution assessment method for tourist attractions in nature reserves based on factor analysis  
  by Qiong Da, Fang Zhou, Nima Ciren 
  Abstract: In order to improve the accuracy of environmental pollution assessment and shorten the assessment time, a factor analysis based environmental pollution assessment method for tourist attractions in nature reserves is proposed. Firstly, establish an environmental pollution assessment index system for tourist attractions. Secondly, based on the evaluation index system, collect relevant data on environmental pollution in tourist attractions, including air pollution data, water pollution data, soil pollution data, noise pollution data, ecosystem data, and socio-economic data. Finally, a standardized matrix was constructed using factor analysis to extract common factor variables of environmental pollution risk in tourist attractions. Calculate the comprehensive factor score of environmental pollution risk and complete the environmental pollution assessment of tourist attractions. The experimental results show that the environmental pollution assessment results of this method are completely consistent with the actual results, and have a shorter assessment time.
  Keywords: factor analysis method; nature reserves; tourist attractions; environmental pollution assessment.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10063450
   
  
• An evaluation and analysis method of heavy metal pollution in soil of agricultural land around mining areas based on double index method  
  by Xiaojie Hou, Yanle Zhang, Xuan Liu, Chunsheng Zhou, Xingjie Dang, Jianing Hu 
  Abstract: To analyse the pollution degree of soil heavy metals more effectively, aiming at the agricultural land around the mining area, an evaluation and analysis method of heavy metal pollution in soil of agricultural land around mining areas based on double index method is proposed. Based on the correction characteristics of indicator factors, soil heavy metal pollution assessment indicators are selected. The polarization fluorescence spectroscopy method is used to extract the characteristic information of heavy metals in the soil. Using the single factor index method and the Nemerow pollution index method to form the "double index method", the evaluation results of soil heavy metal pollution level are obtained based on data normalization processing. Experiment shows that the highest fit between the evaluation results of this method and the actual pollution level can reach 97.26%, and the sensitivity ranges from 0.91 to 0.97, indicating the effectiveness of this method.
  Keywords: single factor index method; Nemerow pollution index method; mining area pollution; agricultural land soil; heavy metal pollution; evaluation and analysis method.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2024.10063517