Water quality evaluation is a critical component of water environmental quality management, and conducting water quality assessments for reservoirs is quite practical. The inaccuracy induced by information overlap of several water quality measures is rarely taken into account in current water quality assessment systems. To solve this problem, the Principal component analysis-Rank sum ratio (PCA-RSR) water quality evaluation model was used to quantitatively evaluate the water quality of the Daheiting reservoir based on the monitoring data of different water layers in 2019. The results show that the water quality of Daheiting reservoir in 2019 is slightly better than that of the end of the reservoir, due to the influence of human factors downstream of the Upper Panjiakou Dam and the topography of the Luan River System, and the water quality from the dam head to the reservoir tail shows a decreasing trend. The PCA-RSR model has a good correlation with the traditional water quality indexes (WQI) system, which can avoid errors caused by overlapping information among the indexes while also taking into account the weight of the environmental factors of the study area. It is feasible and has some practical value in reservoir water quality evaluation..

To expand the range of soluble carbon sources for enzyme production by the microbial system, we investigated the ability of different sugars in cellulase production. Carbon sources play a vital role in cell metabolism and the synthesis of cellulase. Although the insoluble cellulosic materials are considered the most effective natural inducers for cellulase production by microorganisms in terms of both enzyme yield and productivity, their insolubility causes many problems and presents a major drawback that is partly responsible for the high cost of cellulase production. Mostly, the insolubility of sugar polymer leads to difficult and complex fermentation operations, including sterilization, cell biomass measurement, mixing and aeration of the fermentation broth, continuous feeding/sampling, and subsequent enzyme purification. Second, cellulase gets absorbed into the solid cellulose surface, leading to enzyme loss. The present paper gives a comparative view on the utility of pure sugars (lactose, CMC, sucrose, maltose, cellobiose, xylose, trehalose, arabinose) and sugar alcohols (sorbitol, mannitol) on cellulase production by various fungal strains. It also describes the blending effect of sugars as well as sugar alcohols on cellulase production by fungal strains.

Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and soil hydraulic conductivity are important soil hydrodynamic parameters, which are of great significance in production practice. In 128 soil samples collected from 0-20, 20-40 cm layers at sampling scales of 32×32 m, the authors determined the effect of different periods of time on SWCC and soil hydraulic conductivity in fields mulched gravel. The water holding capacity of soil changes dramatically throughout time, with NEW having the maximum water holding capacity. As the planting time increases, the soil water holding capacity decreases. Both van Genuchten (VG) and Gardner models can fit SWCC in different time periods well, but the fitting accuracy of the VG model is higher. Geostatistics and Kriging interpolation are used to study the spatial variability of the VG model parameters of the SWCCs. The parameters θs, α, and n show a strong spatial correlation as a whole and are slightly affected by random factors. The changing trend of soil unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (K(θ)) in gravel-mulched fields is faster than the CHECK, and the NEW has the fastest change trend. The data suggest that fields mulched with gravel retain more water, with the NEW having the most noticeable water retention effect. The study’s findings can be used to investigate the regional variations in soil hydrodynamic characteristics in gravel mulched fields in arid locations.

Cities and Urban Local Bodies (CULB) are considered to be the engines of economic growth and any significant improvement in their operational efficiency will lead to a positive impact on the economy. The major portion of expenditure on Solid waste management (SWM) of CULBs is spent on waste collection and transportation activities. To enhance the efficiency of SWM, it is essential to collect and transport solid waste in a scientific manner. As a result, systematic solid waste collection and transportation will effectively resolve and improve SWM concerns. In this paper, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is adopted to appraise various alternatives of solid waste collection and transportation methods of municipal solid waste in Visakhapatnam city, India. The additive normalization method is applied for calculating the criteria weights. The fairness of judgment is checked by the consistency ratio. To calculate AHP accurately and fast, a decision support system was built. The findings of the study will be beneficial in evaluating existing solid waste collection and transportation processes to improve the operational efficiency of managing SWM.

Plastic is harmful to nature and this issue could be solved by its degradation. Biodegradation of plastic waste utilizing bacterial strain is an eco-friendly approach. In this study, top bacterial strains that degrade the polymeric ingredient of the polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were isolated and identified using a development culture procedure. For this investigation, soil from various contaminated areas was collected, which had abundant plastic waste. The biodegradation of polyvinylchloride films was studied using a liquid culture approach for six months. A couple of bacterial organism packs were then limited to emulsifying the commonly used PVC polymer in agar media. The PVC strain showed particular degradation and was chosen for further testing because the species Bacillus and Micrococcus were considered more credible. Bacillus and Micrococcus species have both proven the biodegradability of PVC based on the mean weight decrease, which was 0.873 for Bacillus species and 0.916 for Micrococcus species after a period of around six months. The FTIR study confirmed the breaking down by demonstrating the proximity of porosity and sensitivity of bacteria-infested polythene surfaces. Bacillus has a higher degradation potential than Micrococcus in our research.

To study the evolution of hydrochemical characteristics and the quality of irrigation water from a suburban river, a total of 54 water samples were collected from Xinbian River in Suzhou City (Anhui Province, China) from December 2019 to May 2020. Piper diagrams, Gibbs diagrams, and multivariate statistical analysis were used to analyze the hydrochemical characteristics and main ion sources. Research results showed that the content of main ions increased continuously from December 2019 to May 2020, among which SO42- and F- exceeded China’s surface water quality standards in April and May. The main hydrochemical type was Na-SO4, accounting for 77.77%, of water samples with the main ion components found to be related to rock weathering. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis showed that agricultural non-point source pollution was the main factor affecting the water quality of the Xinbian River. Overall, the evaluation index of irrigation water shows that Xinbian River was suitable for irrigation utilization, although the effects of magnesium damage should be prevented.

This study aims to test a consortium of indigenous Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) in shallot cultivation with Pb contaminated media. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used in this study with one treatment factor. The treatment was the customary consortium of indigenous AMF from 17 locations of shallot land contaminated by Pb. The application of AMF showed no significant effect on fresh bulb fresh weight, leaf fresh weight, plant fresh weight, the total length of leaves, and the number of shallots. The percentage of infection in all treatments, except controls, showed a high percentage of AMF infection. AMF treatment from Slatri Land II showed the highest percentage of infection, that is 93.33%. The consortium of indigenous AMF from Kupu Land II was able to reduce the highest Pb accumulation of tubers compared to the control by up to 83.660%.

Flood occurs when the water inundates normally dry ground, which could happen in a variety of ways like excessive rainfall, overflowing of embankments, dams, rivers, snowmelt, and other factors. Floods are one form of a natural hazard which are difficult to contain and control. A flood susceptibility mapping using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques were carried out at Sairang village in Aizawl, Mizoram in Northeast India. The study area Sairang is situated on the banks of the Tlawng river, the longest river in Mizoram. Floods have wreaked havoc in Sairang frequently resulting in huge losses and damage to property with numerous loss of life over the years. The total study area is 131.27 sq km and the resulting flood hazard potential zonation map shows that 1/3 of the watershed area falls in Vey High and High Potential Flood Hazard Zonation areas.

Based on the 30-province panel data in China during 2005-2018, this paper uses the DEA-SBM model and DEA-Malmquist model to measure rural financial efficiency and agricultural technological progress respectively and then uses the mediating effect model to analyze the linear influence. The results show that rural financial efficiency and agricultural technological progress both can inhibit agricultural carbon emissions, while agricultural technological progress plays a mediating role when rural financial efficiency influences agricultural carbon emissions. What’s more, this paper uses the threshold effect model to analyze the non-linear influence. The findings reveal that when rural financial efficiency improves, the effects of rural financial efficiency and agricultural technology advances on agricultural carbon emissions shift from promoter to inhibitor.

Aerosol behavior over the Himalayas plays an important role in the regional climate of South Asia. Previous studies at high-altitude observatories have provided evidence of the impact of long-range transport of pollutants from the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). However, little information exists for the valley areas in the high Himalayas where significant local anthropogenic emissions can act as additional sources of short-living climate forcers and pollutants. The valley areas host most economic activities based on agriculture, forestry, and pilgrimage during every summer season. We report here first measurements at a valley site at ~2600 m a.s.l. on the trek to the Gangotri glacier (Gaumukh), in the Western Himalayas, where local infrastructures for atmospheric measurements are absent. The study comprised short-term measurement of aerosols, chemical characterization, and estimation of aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) during the winter and summer periods (2015–2016). The particulate matter mass concentrations were observed to be higher than the permissible limit during the summer campaigns. We obtained clear evidence of the impact of local anthropogenic sources: particulate nitrate is associated with coarse aerosol particles, the black carbon (BC) mass fraction appears undiluted with respect to measurements performed in the lower Himalayas, and in winter, both BC and sulfate concentrations in the valley site are well above the background levels reported from literature studies for mountain peaks. Finally, high concentrations of trace metals such as copper point to anthropogenic activities, including combustion and agriculture. While most studies in the Himalayas have addressed pollution in the high Himalayas in terms of transport from IGP, our study provides clear evidence that local sources cannot be overlooked over the high-altitude Himalayas. The estimated direct clear-sky ARF was estimated to be in the range of −0.1 to +1.6 W m⁻², with significant heating in the atmosphere over the high-altitude Himalayan study site. These results indicate the need to establish systematic aerosol monitoring activities in the high Himalayan valleys.