Pollution Coverage Research Articles

An observed "sandwich" framework mediated via sulfate ions as electron shuttle for efficient electro-oxidation of organic pollutants.

"Electro-oxidation processes are effective in treating sulfate-rich organic wastewater. However, this technology development has been hindered by the poor understanding of the role of sulfate ions. This paper reports that high concentration of sulfate ions significantly enhanced the electro-oxidation of organic pollutants. High sulfate concentration did not affect radical activity or organic pollutant coverage on the electrode surface. We propose that the electrode interface forms a "sandwich" framework mediated by sulfate ions, consisting of the electrode surface, the sulfate ion layer, and the organic pollutant layer. High concentrations of sulfate ions selectively promote the protonated organic pollutant into the framework via electrostatic attraction when the solution pH is lower than the pKa of the organic pollutants. In this framework, the sulfate ion layer acts as an electron shuttle, creating a smooth electron transfer pathway between the electrode surface and the organic maters. In this way, the "sandwich" framework can efficiently electro-oxidize organic pollutants. This study offers new insights into the role of sulfate ions in electro-oxidation processes, redefining their role in pollutant degradation, and guiding the design of sulfate-rich wastewater treatment."

Automated evaluation of snow and ice conditions on airport pavement: A study based on image recognition and point cloud reconstruction

The snow and ice conditions of airport pavement were evaluated by comprehensively considering the classification, coverage, and thickness distribution of snow and ice. Corresponding detection and evaluation methods were proposed. Classification models such as YOLOv5, YOLOv8, and Mobilenetv3 were used to achieve classified identification of pavement conditions such as snow, ice, water, and dry and wet states. Among them, YOLOv8 had the highest classification accuracy, reaching 0.992. An improved grouped convolution features fusion strategy was proposed and added to the YOLO model. It was compared with modules such as SE and CBAM. Among them, the segmentation accuracy of E-YOLO was the highest, reaching 0.894. The three-dimensional point cloud of indoor and airport pavement snow and ice at Dajiaochang Airport was reconstructed by using a multi-visual method. The pavement snow and ice thickness were obtained by the point cloud elevation before and after the presence of snow and ice. The accuracy of snow and ice thickness in indoor scenes was 0.3 mm. The random snow and ice thickness of Dajiaochang Airport was calculated, indicating that this method has practical application potential. Finally, the Runway Surface Condition Score (RSCS) model was proposed to score the snow and ice conditions of the pavement by integrating pavement condition, pollutant coverage rate, pollutant thickness, and pavement temperature.

Identification of Omitted Pollutants in Environmental Water via In Situ Thin-Film Microextraction.

Sample preparation is an inevitable step in the screening workflow for the identification of unknown pollutants in the aquatic environment. However, the possible loss of pollutants during sample preparation has aroused serious concern but remains not effectively resolved. This study shows that high-risk pollutants omitted in solid-phase extraction (SPE) can be identified via in situ thin-film microextraction (TFME) coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. It was observed that a total of 541 features showed higher mass spectrometry signal intensity by using in situ TFME in comparison with SPE. Subsequently, 28 compounds were identified from the features with higher intensity by comparing the recorded tandem mass spectra with the online database and validating with standards. Notably, six out of these compounds were completely omitted using SPE, including a dye, drug, and industrial product. It was confirmed that the lower extraction efficiencies of SPE were attributed to the limited sample volumes, the losses of compounds during sample transportation and storage, and the entrapment of compounds in SPE columns. This study demonstrates that in situ TFME should be used as a supplementary technique to SPE for extending the coverage of pollutants in the screening workflows.

Efficient and practical in-jar silicone rubber based passive sampling for simultaneous monitoring of emerging fungicides in water and soils

The occurrence and ecological impacts of emerging fungicides in the environment has gained increasing attention. This study applied an in-jar passive sampling device based on silicone rubber (SR) film to measuring the freely dissolved concentration (Cfree) of 6 current-use fungicides as a critical index of bioavailability in water and soils. The kinetics parameters including SR-water, soil-water, and organic carbon-water partition coefficients and sampling rates of the target fungicides were first attained and characterized well with their physicochemical properties. The in situ and ex situ field deployment in Hefei City provided the assessment of contaminated levels for these fungicides in rivers and soils. The Cfree of triadimefon and azoxystrobin was estimated at 0.54 ± 0.07–17.4 ± 2.5 ng L−1 in Nanfei River and Chao Lake, while triadimefon was only found in Dongpu Reservoir water with Cfree below 0.66 ± 0.04 ng L−1. The results exhibited that the equilibrium duration of 7 d was suitable for water application but a longer interval of 14 d was recommended for soil sampling. This work demonstrated the advantages of the proposed strategy in terms of fast monitoring within 2 weeks and high sensitivity down to detection limits in 0.5–5 ng L−1. The in-jar passive sampling device can be extrapolated to the evaluation for a wide coverage of organic pollutants in water and soils.

Air Pollution Coverage, Anti-Chinese Sentiment, and Attitudes Towards Foreign Policy in South Korea.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11366-023-09849-z.

Hide and brag: the strategic use of media in China’s war on air pollution

ABSTRACT Air pollution is a pressing concern for the Chinese government. While an increase in public concern about air pollution can be politically costly for the regime, we show that the Chinese government proactively utilizes the news media to increase public awareness of air pollution instead of suppressing relevant information. By analyzing media coverage of air pollution by 161 government-controlled and commercially-oriented newspapers between 2000 and 2017, we find that government-controlled newspapers provide more extensive coverage of air pollution than commercially-oriented newspapers. This tendency has become more pronounced since China declared its war on air pollution. Automated text analysis further demonstrates that the news media under government control emphasized the government’s response to air pollution, while diverting attention away from the negative health effects of air pollution. The analysis suggests that an authoritarian government can strategically use the news media to enhance public support for pollution mitigation strategies.

Between Policy and Risk Communication: Coverage of Air Pollution in Ghanaian Newspapers.

Mass media plays an increasingly persuasive role in orienting political decisions, shaping social agendas, influencing individuals’ actions, and interpreting scientific evidence for the public. With growing scientific understanding of the health, social and environmental consequences of air pollution, there is an urgent need to understand how media coverage frames these links, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. This paper examines how the Ghanaian print and electronic media houses are covering air pollution issues given increased efforts at reducing air pollution within the country. The main goal of this work is to track the progress of policies to reduce air pollution. We used a qualitative content analysis of selected newspapers (both traditional and online) between the periods 2016 and 2021 and we found that articles on air pollution have been increasing, with more reportage on impact and policy issues compared to causes of air pollution. A focus group with six members of the media confirmed an interest in covering health and environmental issues, particularly coverage of specific diseases and human-interest pieces. This increasing attention is likely associated with intensifying local, national, and international action to improve air quality in Ghana, and growing awareness of the health impacts of air pollution.

Chemical recycling: A critical assessment of potential process approaches.

Increased media coverage of plastic pollution in the environment and import bans on plastic waste in several countries have resulted in plastic waste becoming one of the most discussed waste streams in recent years. In the European Union (EU), only about one-third of the post-consumer plastic waste is recycled; the rest goes to energy recovery and landfilling in equal parts. In connection to the necessary increase in efforts to achieve the ambitious EU recycling targets, chemical recycling is currently receiving more and more attention. The assumption is that chemical recycling processes could open up new waste streams for recycling and generate valuable raw materials for the chemical industry. Although there exists no legal definition for chemical recycling, there is more or less agreement that it covers the conversion of plastic polymers into their monomers or chemical building blocks. Techniques such as gasification, pyrolysis and liquefaction as well as solvolysis can be used for chemical recycling. So far, only few large-scale plants for chemical recycling exist worldwide. This article presents the different processes by means of examples from (formerly) running installations and their suitability for plastics recycling is assessed. However, to date, only few chemical recycling plants are in continuous operation, and further scientific evidence for the ecological and economic benefits is still necessary for final evaluation.

Evaluating escalation in oil pollution and its framing: approaches used by the print media for coverage

Oil pollution incidents have become a reoccurring decimal in most countries during the last twenty decades. The controversy about who is responsible for the massive oil pollution experienced globally in certain oil-producing countries has amplified tensions between significant stakeholders in those countries. For example, oil pollution in Nigeria and Ghana has triggered ecosystem degradation, the devastation of local communities’ means of livelihood, and the death of aquatic organisms such as fish. This paper discusses the escalation in oil pollution and the print media’s coverage through a content analysis method. Our report evaluates news approaches developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000a, 2000b) and differences and similarities in the distribution of news frames among three Nigerian newspapers; The Daily Sun, The Guardian, and The Punch from 2014–2018. Our findings show that The Daily Sun used more of the frames of responsibility, economic consequences, and human interest in their oil pollution reports in the Niger-Delta region. This is probably because journalists at The Daily Sun often chose to be objective and on the people’s side by reporting the whole truth irrespective of the consequences to their job and news organization. This was in harmony with the quantitative content analysis results, where 57.7%, 63.3%, and 55.6% of oil pollution coverage were framed as responsibility, economic consequences, and human interest. In contrast, The Guardian and The Punch newspapers used less of these frames, perhaps due to the two papers’ laissez-faire attitude towards holding the oil companies accountable despite glaring evidence of the negative consequences of oil pollution on the livelihood of oil-bearing communities and the environment. However, our result also indicates that the morality frame was the least used among the three selected newspapers, as journalists find it challenging to give moral messages while maintaining journalistic neutrality.

Retrieving spatial variation of aerosol level over urban mixed land surfaces using Landsat imageries: Degree of air pollution in Dhaka Metropolitan Area

Aerosols, or suspended particles in the atmosphere, are critical in the production of cloud nuclei, climate change, poor air quality and reduced ambient visibility, as well as public health and disease. Since there are limited ground monitoring stations in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA), calculating the degree of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and PM2.5 is thus a challenge. The research aimed to retrieve the AOD at 30 m spatial resolution using the Simplified Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm (SARA) based on Landsat imageries. Landsat 4–5 and 8 cloud-free images at 30 m spatial resolution were obtained from 1999 to 2019 at 5 years interval to retrieve AOD and estimate Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) concentrations. The results showed significant increase in PM2.5 concentrations and the average PM2.5 were estimated for the year of 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 were 48.41, 55.26, 66.42, 72.9 and 90.13 μg/m3, respectively. The AOD, mostly generated from the built-up area was 2.6 in 2019, which was 3 times higher than in 1999. Besides, to find out the relationship among AOD, LST (Land Surface Temperature) and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), results revealed a strong positive correlation of AOD with LST but negative correlation with NDVI. Based on AERONET and NASA SEDAC data, the AOD and PM2.5 were validated using statistically significant (p value 0.05) correlation analysis. By presenting a growing pattern and coverage of air pollution over time, the study will assist urban planners, policymakers, and health sectors.

The impact of media reports on energy and environmental efficiency in China: evidence from modified dynamic DEA with undesirable outputs

BackgroundRapid economic growth in China has resulted in a commensurate increase in energy consumption, which in turn has seen an increase in environmental pollution problems. Past research has tended to focus on energy and environmental efficiency analyses and has rarely examined the media influence on environmental protection efforts. Further, most studies have used static models and ignored the dynamic changes over time.MethodsTo go some way to filling this research gap, this study developed a modified undesirable Dynamic DEA model that included air quality index (AQI) and CO2 indicators to explore the relationships between energy, the environment, and media report efficiencies in 31 Chinese cities from 2013 to 2016.ResultsIt was found that: (1) Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai had efficiencies of 1, but Lanzhou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Xining and Yinchuan needed significant improvements; (2) Chongqing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Nanning and Shanghai had relatively high media efficiencies, but the other cities had low efficiencies and required improvements; (3) the CO2 emissions efficiencies in most cities were better than the air quality index efficiencies; and 4. the media reports in most cities were found to have a more positive impact on the CO2 emissions efficiency than on the AQI efficiency.ConclusionsEnvironmental awareness enhances civilian health and promotes economic growth. Therefore, as the news media should be responsible for promoting environmental protection, they need to increase their environmental pollution coverage. It was found that the environmental pollution media report quality and especially air pollution reports needed improvements, and greater media coverage on environmental pollution and awareness was needed.

The Effects of Framing on Oil Pollution as Covered by Print Media: A Case Study of Nigerian Newspapers

Incidents of oil pollution has become a reoccurring decimal over the last twenty decades in most countries of the world. The controversy over who is responsible for the massive oil pollution witnessed in some oil-producing countries globally has amplified tensions between significant stakeholders in those countries. The issue of oil pollution in Nigeria and Ghana, for instance, has caused ecosystem degradation, the devastation of means of livelihood of local communities, and the death of aquatic organisms such as fish. Our study investigated the effects of the five news frames identified by Semetko & Valkenburg (2000); responsibility, economic consequences, conflict, human interest, and morality. Through content analysis, our study analyzed 531 newspaper stories on oil pollution in Nigeria’s Niger-Delta region from 2014-2018. The results indicated that overall, the effects of the human interest frame usage were more prevalent in The Daily Sun newspaper than the other two papers, The Guardian and The Punch, within the study period. This was followed by economic consequences, responsibility, conflict, and morality frames. Also, the study revealed that the effects of the differences in the frequency of using the frames in the coverage of oil pollution in the three selected papers varied significantly.

Correcting remaining truncations in hybrid life cycle assessment database compilation

Hybrid life cycle assessment (HLCA) strives to combine process-based life cycle assessment (PLCA) and environmentally extended input–output (EEIO) analysis to bridge gaps of both methodologies. The recent development of HLCA databases constitutes a major step forward in achieving complete system coverage. Nevertheless, current applications of HLCA still suffer from issues related to incompleteness of the inventory and data gaps: (1) hybridization without endogenizing the capital inputs of the EEIO database leads to underestimations, (2) the unreliability of price data hinders the application of streamlined HLCA for processes in some sectors, and (3) the sparse coverage of pollutants in multiregional EEIO databases limits the application of HLCA to a handful of impact categories. This paper aims at offering a methodology for tackling these issues in a streamlined manner and visualizing their effects on impact scores across an entire PLCA database and multiple impact categories. Data reconciliation algorithms are demonstrated on the PLCA database ecoinvent3.5 and the multiregional EEIO database EXIOBASE3. Instead of performing hybridization solely with annual product requirements, this hybridization approach incorporates endogenized capital requirements, demonstrates a novel hybridization methodology to bypass issues of price unavailability, estimates new pollutants to EXIOBASE3 environmental extensions, and thus yields improved inventories characterized in terms of 13 impact categories from the IMPACT World+ methodology. The effect of hybridization on the impact score of each process of ecoinvent3.5 varied from a few percentages to three-fold increases, depending on the impact category and the process studied, displaying in which cases hybridization should be prioritized. This article met the requirements for a Gold—Gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

Media Coverage of Environmental Pollution and the Investment of Polluting Companies*

AbstractEmploying a textual analysis of China’s provincial newspapers, this study examines the effect of local media coverage of environmental pollution on corporate investment. Using a sample of publicly listed firms in polluting industries, we document a significantly positive effect of media coverage on both the total investment and green investment of these firms. Further analyses reveal that the positive effect of pollution‐related media coverage on investment is more pronounced when firms have weak governance mechanisms. Overall, our findings imply that media not only play an important monitoring role but also enhance corporate social responsibility.

Are environmental area characteristics at birth associated with overweight and obesity in school-aged children? Findings from the SLOPE (Studying Lifecourse Obesity PrEdictors) population-based cohort in the south of England

BackgroundGeographical inequalities in overweight and obesity prevalence among children are well established in cross-sectional research. We aimed to examine how environmental area characteristics at birth are related to these outcomes in childhood.MethodsAnonymised antenatal and birth data recorded by University Hospital Southampton linked to school-measured weight and height data for children within Southampton, UK, were utilised (14,084 children at ages 4–5 and 5637 at ages 10–11). Children’s home address at birth was analysed at the Lower and Middle layer Super Output Area (LSOA/MSOA) levels (areas with average populations of 1500 and 7000, respectively). Area-level indices (walkability, relative density of unhealthy food outlets, spaces for social interaction), natural greenspace coverage, supermarket density and measures of air pollution (PM2.5, PM10 and NOx) were constructed using ArcGIS Network Analyst. Overweight/obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) greater than the 85th centile for sex and age. Population-average generalised estimating equations estimated the risk of being overweight/obese for children at both time points. Confounders included maternal BMI and smoking in early pregnancy, education, ethnicity and parity. We also examined associations for a subgroup of children who moved residence between birth and outcome measurement.ResultsThere were mixed results between area characteristics at birth and overweight/obesity at later ages. MSOA relative density of unhealthy food outlets and PM10 were positively associated with overweight/obesity, but not among children who moved. LSOA greenspace coverage was negatively associated with the risk of being overweight/obese at ages 10–11 in all children (relative risk ratio 0.997, 95% confidence interval 0.995–0.999, p = 0.02) and among children who moved.ConclusionsLocal access to natural greenspaces at the time of birth was inversely associated with becoming overweight or obese by age 10–11, regardless of migration. Increased access/protection of greenspace may have a role in the early prevention of childhood obesity.

Dead wood resources vary across different types of urban green spaces and depend on property prices

Dead wood provides important ecosystem services and has a positive effect on biodiversity. However, urban environments have limited resources of coarse woody debris (CWD). The presence of CWD depends on both progressive tree mortality and the frequency and intensity of CWD removal for safety or aesthetic reasons, which can lead to variations in CWD occurrence. The aim of this study was to assess the variation in the quantity and quality of CWD in urban green spaces and to assess the relationship between CWD resources and management policy, ownership, economic parameters and factors accelerating tree mortality. Fallen logs, dead standing trees and dead tree branches (DTB) were surveyed on 488 sample plots selected at random in the city of Kraków (Poland). Distance to the river, coverage of impervious surfaces, environmental pollution, property prices and types of green space were used to explain the variation in CWD resources. CWD occurred on 46% of the sample plots. DTB were the most frequent form of CWD (44% of plots), while dead standing trees were rare (4%) and fallen logs absent. The prevalence of CWD was the highest in forest remnants, followed by private gardens, urban parks, fallow land and small green patches. DTB were the most abundant in the forest remnants. In both forest remnants and private gardens, the probability of CWD occurrence decreased with increasing property prices. Management policy and economy rather than factors accelerating tree mortality are suggested as shaping CWD resources in urban green spaces. The article highlights the importance of DTB as the most widespread form of CWD and forest remnants as the type of green space having the most abundant resources of CWD. Sustainable management of CWD resources within urban green spaces and environmental education are needed to conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services.

Особенности освещения в СМИ проблемы загрязнения воздуха в городах России

The aim of the research is to compare Russian cities with recorded cases of high air pollution in 2015–2018 based on the specifics of media coverage of this problem. The analysis of the topics of news reports about air pollution in the cities under study is carried out. The main types of events that have become informational reasons for the appearance of news related to the problem of air pollution are highlighted. The author collected statistical data on the number of media reports about air pollution in 58 cities of Russia, where during the study period cases of high air pollution were recorded (maximum single concentrations of harmful substances in more than 10 MPC). Lists of all cases are published by the Ministry of natural resources in annual reports. We used the website news.yandex.ru in order to collect data. It aggregates news reports from more than 7 000 sources — from local city media to leading Russian news agencies. Messages for the period from 2015 to 2019 were taken into account, where the name of each city was mentioned along with the phrase “air pollution”. Cities with the highest and lowest level of media attention to the problem of air pollution were identified. We compared the data collected with the population of cities, the number of recorded cases of severe air pollution, and the indicator of social danger of air pollution, which is calculated by multiplying the frequency of high air pollution cases and the number of inhabitants. It is suggested that there may be a relationship between the media coverage of air pollution and the indicator of social danger of pollution. Based on the assumption that this relationship exists, we have identified cities where the lack of media reports about air pollution is most evident.

Building national emission inventories for the energy sector: Implications for life cycle assessment and nations environmental footprinting

Environmentally-extended multi-region input-output (EE-MRIO) models allow calculating environmental impacts of goods and services in a supply-chain perspective. However, current EE-MRIO databases only have limited coverage of toxic pollutant emissions. This limited coverage is caused by the fact that public emission databases currently provide a rather modest pollutant coverage, are restricted to a limited number of countries, and lack differentiation in terms of sectors. This therefore calls for alternative data sources and inventorying techniques. Using the production of heat and electricity as a case study, we investigate the usability of available process-based inventories like the ecoinvent database from the field of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to build national emission inventories of pollutants. We thus develop the ecoinvent-based National Energy-related Emission (ENEE) inventory, comprising a total of 231 airborne emissions and 87 waterborne emissions of pollutants from heat and electricity power plants in 140 countries over the period 1995–2014. Using the improved data sets, we demonstrate that extending the coverage of pollutants beyond the few commonly-reported ones, like greenhouse gases, has a significant influence on the quantification of other important environmental impacts such as ionizing radiation and impacts of toxic substances to freshwater ecosystems. The ENEE inventory is an important first step towards building comprehensive inventories of pollutant emissions from power and heat generation, thus enabling more complete assessments of the energy sector. It also exemplifies the gains that can be made when introducing process-based data to complement public national and sectoral data for life cycle assessments and nations environmental footprinting.

Penyebaran Konsentrasi Polutan Dengan Pemodelan Dispersi Gauss Menggunakan Matlab

In the era of development of science and technology until 2019 it has become increasingly sophisticated and makes life easier for humans. This progress has led to increasingly sophisticated technology with the intention of making life easier, practical, efficient and not experiencing much difficulty. But the development of these technologies, have positive and negative impacts. Positive impacts such as convenience, while negative impacts such as air pollution. Contamination of pollutants into the air resulting from factory activities, power plants and motor vehicles spread to the environment. This substance is very damaging to the environment which causes the air we breathe to be polluted and very influential on health. This study aims to describe the process of spreading pollutant concentrations in the air originating from factory chimney fumes. Pollutants that spread in the air can be modeled with the dispersion gauss model which is processed using the MATLAB programming language. The expected results from modeling are the distance of the highest pollutant concentration area and the range of pollutant coverage that spread, so that later will be done variations of the effective height of the chimney emission (H) to get results that vary according to the height of the chimney.

Associations of area characteristics at birth with overweight and obesity among school-aged children in the south of England: an analysis of a population-based cohort

BackgroundGeographical inequalities in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children are well established in cross-sectional research. We aimed to examine how area-level characteristics at birth are related to these outcomes in childhood. MethodsAnonymised antenatal and birth data recorded by University Hospital Southampton (2003–18) linked to school-measured weight and height data for children within Southampton, UK were used (14 084 children at ages 4–5 years, and 5 637 at ages 10–11 years). Children's home address at birth was provided at the lower layer super output area level (areas with average populations of 1500). Area-level indices (walkability, unhealthy or healthy food outlets, and spaces for social interaction), natural greenspace coverage, supermarket density, and measures of air pollution (PM2·5, PM10, and NOx) were constructed for lower layer super output areas using data from Ordnance Survey and open sources. Overweight or obesity was defined as a BMI greater than the 85th centile for sex and age. Population-average generalised estimating equations estimated the risk of being overweight or obese for children at both time points. Confounders accounted for included maternal BMI and smoking in early pregnancy, educational attainment, ethnicity, and parity. This project was approved by the NHS Health Research Authority (242031). FindingsNo significant associations were noted between area characteristics at birth and overweight or obesity at ages 4–5 years. The proportion of the lower layer super output area covered by greenspace was negatively associated with the risk of being overweight or obese at ages 10–11 years (relative risk ratio 0·997, 95% CI 0·995–0·999). This finding was consistent in a subgroup of children who moved residence (between different lower layer super output areas) between birth and time of measurement. InterpretationLocal access to natural greenspaces at the time of birth was negatively associated with becoming overweight or obese by the end of primary school, regardless of migration. However, the size of this protective effect is small. Access to and protection of greenspace might have a role in early prevention of childhood obesity. FundingSupported by an Academy of Medical Sciences and Wellcome Trust grant to NAA and the National Institute for Health Research through the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.