n this study, cold plasma activated water (PAW) was used in the preparation of sodium alginate (SA) solution and the effect of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), low pH and high oxidation-reduction potential on the functional properties of SA films was evaluated. Citric acid (CA) was added to SA, and the combined effect of PAW and CA on the functional properties of SA films was assessed. With 0.5, 1 and 2 w/v% addition of CA, tensile strength (TS) of the SA films decreased by 32, 58 and 66 %, while the elongation at break (EB) increased by 150, 275 and 475 %. The, TS and EB of SA films increased by 43 and 66 % when PAW was used to prepare SA solutions. Addition of glycerol reduced the TS and tensile modulus, while the EB was increased. The linear viscoelastic region (LVE) of SA decreased with the addition of CA and glycerol. However, addition of PAW increased the LVE region. The 1 and 2 % CA and PAW containing samples showed higher storage modulus as compared to the control samples and no intersection was observed between storage and loss modulus. The CA and/or PAW containing solutions showed shear thinning properties. The water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) of SA decreased by 34 % with the addition of 1 % CA, while only 12 % reduction was observed for 0.5 and 2 % CA containing samples. A further reduction in WVTR to 44 % was observed as PAW was added to 1 % CA containing SA samples | publishedVersion

The Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus for urban sustainability needs to be analyzed via an integrative rather than a sectoral or silo approach, reflecting the ongoing transition from separate infrastructure systems to an integrated social-ecological-infrastructure system. As technology hubs can provide food, energy, water resources via decentralized and/or centralized facilities, there is an acute need to optimize FEW infrastructures by considering cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs with respect to multiple sustainability indicators. This paper identifies, categorizes, and analyzes global trends with respect to contemporary FEW technology metrics that highlights the possible optimal integration of a broad spectrum of technology hubs for possible cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs. The challenges related to multiscale and multiagent modeling processes for the simulation of urban FEW systems were discussed with respect to the aspects of scaling-up, optimization process, and risk assessment. Our review reveals that this field is growing at a rapid pace and the previous selection of analytical methodologies, nexus criteria, and sustainability indicators largely depended on individual FEW nexus conditions disparately, and full-scale cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs were very rare. Therefore, the potential full-scale technology integration in three ongoing cases of urban FEW systems in Miami (the United States), Marseille (France), and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) were demonstrated in due purpose finally.

Food, energy and water are important resources for national development and human life, the conflicts among three have become more acute especially in coastal regions, but most existing studies focused on land. To investigate the effects of marine resources on relieving the pressure of the food–energy–water (FEW) nexus in the coastal regions of China and its state changes, the concept and computing method of marine equivalent food, energy, and water resources was proposed to quantify the supply of marine resources, meanwhile, this study constructed a pressure index model of food, energy, and water resources from the perspective of average possession of resources. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first FEW nexus study based on a marine resource perspective. The results shown that, during the study period, (1) Fujian had the most marine equivalent food production accounts for 44% of the terrestrial food yield; the marine equivalent energy made Shandong and Hainan to be a major province of energy; and marine equivalent virtual water was equivalent to 6% of the annual water consumption. (2) the food pressure in the south of the Yangtze River was much higher than that in the north; the water pressure was the opposite, and the energy pressure was high in all coastal regions of China. Considering the supply of marine resources, the FEW nexus pressure was alleviated by more than 10% in nearly half of the coastal provinces and cities. Moreover, valuable suggestions were propounded to each area targeted, which provide references and suggestions for alleviating the pressure of the FEW nexus not only in China's coastal region, but also have implications for resource flows in other regions. Also, the findings of this study contribute to a more comprehensive understanding and protection of the ocean, and promote regional sustainable development.

Water, energy, and food resources are indispensable and irreplaceable resources for the survival and development of human society. This study systematically assessed the three resources system in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao based on constructed direct and nexus-oriented, multi-regional input-output, and ecological network analysis models. Various network analysis (e.g., control, utility, hierarchy, and robustness) was adopted to identify the critical factors of inter-regional resources trade from a perspective of supply-demand. The results indicated that Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao have complex control linkages in the three resources trade network, and Guangdong is the key to improving the three resources network structure. The three resources network existed highly competition and exploitation in the three regions. Industrial development is unbalanced and competitive for the three resources. The wholeness water-energy-food trade network of the three regions stayed in a positive environment, but the positive effect level was relatively weak. The three resources network robustness in the three regions is at a medium level. Hong Kong and Macao's water-energy-food network systems have a high vulnerability, and the lowest system robustness was food-related energy in Hong Kong. Finally, we provide some measures to help the sustainable development of the water-energy-food resource system in the three regions, such as cross-regional coordinated management, integration industries development, seawater toilets-flushing, sea rice, and renewable energy.

A method is proposed for the identification of surfactants by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with high-resolution mass spectrometry detection after screening water and food samples for the total concentration of cationic and anionic surfactants by microextraction–fluorimetry. The method is based on the use of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction with chloroform of surfactant ion pairs with organic reagents (eosin and acridine yellow), measuring the fluorescence of the obtained adducts using a smartphone, obtaining RGB colorimetric characteristics, and determining the total surfactant concentration. The main analytical characteristics of the identification of cationic surfactants (alkylpyrdinium, alkyltrimethylammonium, alkyldimethylbenzylammonium (benzalkonium), alkylmethylethylbenzylammonium, didecyldimethylammonium, benzyldimethyl[3-(myristoylamino)propyl]ammonium, N,N-bis(3-aminopropyl)dodecylamine chlorides) and anionic surfactants (alkyl benzene sulfonates (sulfonol), alkyl sulfates, laureth sulfates, alkyl sulfonates, and sodium alkyl carboxylates) by chromatography–mass spectrometry under the selected conditions of chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric detection are found. The features of the chromatographic behavior of the surfactant polymerhomologs under the conditions of UPLC and gradient elution are considered.

Although remarkable progress has been achieved in reducing hunger and poverty and improving people’s health in the past couple of decades, humanity still faces considerable socio-economic and sustainability challenges. Ensuring sustainable access to safe and sufficient water, improved sanitation facilities, clean energy sources and healthy food is a necessary requirement for ending hunger and poverty, advancing health and achieving all the goals of the sustainable development agenda. Socio-economic variables are determinant factors of water, energy and food accessibility. Ecological region, income and education are measures used in this study, which aims to examine a pairwise comparison of water and energy sources, sanitation facilities and food accessibilities in six sampling communities and tracking progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG) at a local scale using nine specific SDG indicators. A study involving questionnaire administration covering 1785 households across the three ecological regions of Katsina state was performed. Two communities representing urban and rural households from each of the ecological regions were selected. An analysis of variance was used to test the equality of resource accessibility across the investigated communities followed up by a post hoc analysis to identify significant mean groups. The results showed that the overall access level to safely manage water and sanitation facilities were 16.5% and 28.1%, respectively. Access indices of 1.83 and 1.24 for electricity and cooking fuel, respectively, were calculated in the study area. The study revealed that location, education and income are the key drivers of water, energy and food access and choice.

Although remarkable progress has been achieved in reducing hunger and poverty and improving people’s health in the past couple of decades, humanity still faces considerable socio-economic and sustainability challenges. Ensuring sustainable access to safe and sufficient water, improved sanitation facilities, clean energy sources and healthy food is a necessary requirement for ending hunger and poverty, advancing health and achieving all the goals of the sustainable development agenda. Socio-economic variables are determinant factors of water, energy and food accessibility. Ecological region, income and education are measures used in this study, which aims to examine a pairwise comparison of water and energy sources, sanitation facilities and food accessibilities in six sampling communities and tracking progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG) at a local scale using nine specific SDG indicators. A study involving questionnaire administration covering 1785 households across the three ecological regions of Katsina state was performed. Two communities representing urban and rural households from each of the ecological regions were selected. An analysis of variance was used to test the equality of resource accessibility across the investigated communities followed up by a post hoc analysis to identify significant mean groups. The results showed that the overall access level to safely manage water and sanitation facilities were 16.5% and 28.1%, respectively. Access indices of 1.83 and 1.24 for electricity and cooking fuel, respectively, were calculated in the study area. The study revealed that location, education and income are the key drivers of water, energy and food access and choice.

Climate change and human development may lead to a serious crisis in food security in China, especially in areas with both water shortages and large grain production. Thus, the quantitative evaluation of future food security risk considering water scarcity is increasingly important. Here, we combined water scarcity and crop production data under different scenarios of representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), incorporating demographic, food habit and water resource factors, to develop a new framework for measuring China's food security risk. The results show that the water scarcity and crop production-water crisis (CPWC) of China would both be aggravated during the 21st century. In particular, northern China might face more serious water scarcity than southern China and has a higher contribution rate to the national crop production-water crisis. Food scarcity in China might occur at some point in the 21st century under all SSP scenarios, except SSP1 (sustainability development pathway). The next 40 years could be the most critical period for ensuring China's food security. Moreover, by comparing the RCP2.6 and RCP6.0 scenarios, we also find that higher food production does not represent lower food security risk. The food security risk of the RCP26 scenario with higher food production was significantly higher than that of the RCP6.0 scenario at the same SSP because higher grain production comes from water shortage areas. From the perspective of societal development scenarios, SSP1 provided better results for both the risk of food security and water security in the 21st century. Our findings therefore provide useful information for a comprehensive understanding of long-term food security and water security of China.

Across the globe, lake ecosystems are exposed to a variety of human disturbances. A notable example is shallow lakes where human-induced eutrophication or water level fluctuation may result in a switch from a clear-water, macrophyte-dominated state to a turbid, phytoplankton-dominated state. Yet, few investigations have described synchronous changes in biotic assemblage composition and food web framework under such a shift between alternative states. We used stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to test the extent to which switching from macrophyte to phytoplankton dominance in Lake Gucheng, triggered by a water level increase, would alter ecosystem structure and change the basal resources supporting the food web. We found that invertebrates and fish compensated for a reduction of macrophyte and epiphyte resources by deriving more energy from the alternative pelagic energy channel, where benthic invertebrates act as crucial links between primary producers and higher consumers by transporting δ¹³C-depleted pelagic algae to the benthic zone. Although consumers can respond to large shifts in energy allocation and stabilize food web dynamics through their ability to feed across multiple energy pathways, our study suggest that energy subsidies may promote trophic cascades and enhance the stability of the turbid regime.