Salts used in road de-icing during winter season inhibit the growth and development of lawn grass species. The mechanism of plant tolerance/sensitivity to such treatments is still not clear. Moreover, there is a lack of fast and non-invasive tool to detect the effect of these salts on plants growth. This study was designed to understand the tolerance mechanism of Kentucky bluegrass plants on salinity, based on some biometric and physiological parameters. In this experiment, we simulated the urban conditions where salts are used intensively for roads de-icing. Germination capacity was evaluated at five salt solutions of NaCl (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM), and physiological parameters were measured during the tillering phase at salinity levels of 0, 150 and 300 mM of NaCl. Seeds of Kentucky bluegrass did not germinate under salinity. During tillering phase, salinity affected length, area and dry mass of roots as well as the relative water content of plants, negatively. Moreover, it influenced the maximum chlorophyll fluorescence yield, quantum yield of photosystem II and electron transport rate at early period of stress. This allows us to recommend these parameters for early detection of soil salinity effects on Kentucky bluegrass plants. It seems to be that the tolerance of this plant towards salinity is based on retaining water content in leaves that allow more efficient functioning of photosynthetic apparatus.

Extreme temperature is closely associated with human health, but limited evidence is available for the effects of extreme temperatures on respiratory diseases in China. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of extreme temperatures on hospital emergency room (ER) visits for respiratory diseases in Beijing, China. We used a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) coupled with a generalized additive model (GAM) to estimate the association between extreme temperatures and hospital ER visits for different age and gender subgroups in Beijing from 2009 to 2012. The results showed that the exposure-response curve between temperature and hospital ER visits was almost W-shaped, with increasing relative risks (RRs) at extremely low temperature. In the whole year period, strong acute hot effects were observed, especially for the elders (age > 65 years). The highest RR associated with the extremely high temperature was 1.36 (95% CI, 0.96–1.92) at lag 0–27. The longer-lasting cold effects were found the strongest at lag 0–27 for children (age ≤ 15 years) and the relative risk was 1.96 (95% CI, 1.70–2.26). We also found that females were more susceptible to extreme temperatures than males.

The developing world in general is facing so many crucial problems including global warming in recent years. Global warming has multiple consequences on each segment of the society and therefore, its root causes are important to identify. The present study examines the impact of per capita income, trade openness, urbanization, and energy consumption on CO₂ emissions. Countries located in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are considered in the study. The selection of the SAARC region is motivated by the diverse nature of its members and further lack of available empirical literature on the same relationship. Annual data from 1980 to 2016 are analyzed using appropriate panel data techniques. The results revealed the presence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the SAARC region. Further, the introduction of cubic function into the model indicated that the shape of the EKC is N shaped. Besides, trade openness has negative while urbanization and energy consumption have impacted CO₂ emissions positively. Moreover, the causality exercise explored a bidirectional causality between urbanization, energy consumption, per capita income, and CO₂ emissions. Similarly, energy consumption, per capita GDP, and urbanization are also bidirectionally related. Further, a unidirectional causality running from CO₂ emissions, urbanization, and energy consumption to trade openness is detected. Lastly, a unidirectional causality is witnessed from per capita income to energy consumption.

Sulfide precipitation method has been widely applied in heavy metal–polluted wastewater treatment, due to the low solubility of most metal sulfide precipitates. Nevertheless, the relevant hydrodynamics studies on the metal sulfide precipitation process are rarely found in the literature. In this study, three continuous-flow sulfide precipitation reactors (CFSPRs) were designed and evaluated by a computational method. To characterize the process efficiency of copper sulfide precipitation in different reactors, fluid velocity field, species concentration distribution, and reaction rate distribution maps were acquired as simulation results. A two-factor designed set of boundary conditions was used to determine their effects on processing efficiency. The model results indicate that the inflow rate and reactor layout have significant effects on the copper sulfide precipitation process. The layout of reactor no. 3 and the inflow rate of 0.75 m/s prove to have higher treatment efficiencies than those at other conditions. Possible explanations for the simulation results were proposed. The model data of effluent concentration were compared and statistically analyzed with the measured concentrations of copper ion and sulfur ion in the outlet stream, and the results demonstrate a strong correlation between them, which suggests the model is reasonably accurate.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether curcumin (CUR) can ameliorate cadmium-induced reproductive toxicity and its mechanism. A total of 48 male mice were equally divided into 4 groups: control, CdCl₂ (2 mg/kg, intraperitoneally inject) curcumin (50 mg/kg, intraperitoneally inject), co-treatment with curcumin (50 mg/kg), and CdCl₂ (2 mg/kg) for 10 days. The results demonstrated that CdCl₂ reduces sperm motility, decreases the sperm density and serum testosterone content, and significantly improves the rate of sperm deformity. CdCl₂ increased the level of testicular total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity, and glutathione (GSH), and CdCl₂ declined the level of malondialdehyde (MDA). However, the semen quality of the mice in the curcumin intervention group was improved. Moreover, the testosterone content and antioxidant capacity were increased. In the Cd group mice, the expression of testicular Nrf2, as well as the mRNA and protein expressions of the downstream target molecules, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS) of Nrf2 declined, while the above genetic expressions elevated significantly in the curcumin intervention group. Our results suggested that curcumin could protect against Cd-induced testicular injury via activating the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway.

Based on the idea of a “Community of Human Destiny,” the Chinese government proposed the “Belt and Road” initiative, and clearly proposed to promote green development and strengthen ecological environmental protection. However, a considerable number of countries are resource-rich economies with serious market misallocations. Using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) combined with the directional distance function (DDF) framework, this paper measures the green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its items (i.e., technical change and efficiency change) of 33 countries along the Belt and Road in 1995–2012, and then the impact of market misallocations on GTFP is analyzed. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) The main driving force for GTFP promotion in Asian countries came from technical change, while in European countries, it came from efficiency change. (2) Market misallocations had significantly hindered the GTFP of these economies. Countries with greater market misallocations have smaller GTFP. (3) Results based on counterfactual measures showed that GTFP could be increased by up to 4.04% and the average can be increased by 1.24% after eliminating market misallocations.

Although the viscosity behavior of bacteria and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in flocculent activated sludge (FAS) and aerobic granular sludge (AGS) has been investigated, no studies have explored the role of viscosity in microbial attachment in pure culture. This study investigated the viscosity behavior of bacteria and EPS. The results showed that bacteria and their EPS exhibited non-Newtonian fluid and shear-thinning behavior. The viscosity of bacteria and EPS was 1.55–3.80 cP and 1.10–2.40 cP, respectively, while the attachment of bacteria (optical density at 600 nm) was 0.1426–3.1015. Bacteria with high attachment secreted EPS with a higher viscosity (2.40 cP), whereas those with weak attachment expressed EPS with a lower viscosity (1.10 cP). Viscosity and microbial attachment or extracellular polysaccharide (PS) content were significantly positively correlated. PS content was the source of bacterial viscosity, and β-polysaccharide played a more important role in viscosity and microbial attachment than α-polysaccharide. Thus, viscosity plays a critical role in microbial attachment, and high viscosity and PS content result in high microbial attachment, which is beneficial to the granulation process of AGS.

Noise pollution is a major factor of environmental complaints in many cities, which has significant impacts on human health. As a dominating source of environmental noise, the impact of road traffic noise is increasing. Residents living in high-rise buildings along the main road are severely affected by traffic noise. In order to assess the noise level of urban area along the main road in Guangzhou, three buildings were selected to conduct traffic noise measurements, and the questionnaire about traffic noise impact on human being was completed. Through the questionnaire, around 70% of participants consider the traffic noise has negative effect, and about 60% of participants consider the noise has moderate or much higher impact on physical comfort. Around 65% of participants consider the noise had moderately or much higher impact on their psychological comfort. By analyzing the measured data, all of the measured noise levels in three buildings exceed the recommended limit of 55 dB (A) in the daytime and 45 dB (A) in the night for residence, and the exceeded value can be up to 16 dB (A). By comparing the fitting curve of noise level transfer function on each floor relative to the reference floor, the quadratic polynomial was selected to plot the transfer function rather than cubic polynomial.

The goal of this paper is to identify, for the first time, the role of solar production in driving silver prices. The empirical analysis makes use of the ARDL model and the combined cointegration. The results, spanning the period 1990–2016, document that stronger solar installed capacities, as well as higher gross electricity production from solar sources, lead to higher silver prices. The findings could be of great importance to silver suppliers and to energy policymakers and regulators, as well as to solar panel manufacturers.

The correct corresponding Author of this paper is Bin Dong.