Environmental Pollution Factors Research Articles

The Use of Information Technology in Territorial Planning of a Subject of the Russian Federation

To date, the most important task in the modern Russian cities’ development is the formation and maintenance of an environment favorable and comfortable for the population. The authors of the article describe the main problems and directions of the construction industry and territorial planning modernization in the Russian Federation. The article details the national project “Housing and Urban Environment”, its goals and objectives, analyzes one of the project’s priority areas - the state program “Formation of a Comfortable Urban Environment”, developed for the period from 2018 to 2024. A drawback of the existing methodology for assessing the urban environment quality in terms of assessing the environmental situation is noted. An example of the alternative methodology implementation for calculating the habitat quality index for a site in the city of Rostov-on-Don, which takes into account the environmental pollution factors in more detail, is given.

ЕКОЛОГІЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ЕКСПЛУАТАЦІЇ ШВЕЙНИХ ВИРОБІВ

To conduct a benchmarking analysis of the physical wear out of clothes and their actual period of using for identify the impact of “Fast Fashion” on domestic consumer market as a factor of environmental pollution. Methods. A number of methods and means of scientifi c research have been used in work, such as analysis of information sources, sociological research, experimental research, statistical processing. Results and conclusions. In order to determine the average term of clothing use, a sociological survey of a target consumers group was conducted, which results analysis showed that the wardrobe of a modern woman of a younger age group is completely updated every two years. The duration of using has increased with age. Such trends are due to the "fast fashion" expansion, which leads to an increase environmental pollution. According to the results of experimental studies of clothes resistance for T-shirts and comparison of their values with normative, it was established that garments have a signifi cantly longer physical endurance resource. This was also confi rmed as a result of an analysis o f the wear out dynamics of clothing over the years. Therefore, to create the preconditions for the sustainable consumption of clothing, it is important to inform consumers about recommended lifetime for its. Scientifi c novelty. A benchmarking analysis of the physical wear out of clothes and their actual period of using, obtained by the results of a survey of the target consumer group. The obtained in this work results serve as a prerequisite for the development of methods for determining the durability of clothing based on the results of experimental research of wear resistance indicators. This work also makes a signifi cant contribution to the promotion of sustainable consumption of garment.

The Environmental Problems of Azerbaijan and the Search for Solutions

Environmental issues are one of the current challenges for Azerbaijan. Industrial pollution emerging since the 1870s with the expansion of oil exploration operation in Baku and surrounding areas reached larger scale in some places during the following periods. During the Soviet period oil operations in the Caspian Sea increased when the scope of the problem widened, and the pollution reached an even larger scale during oil extraction and transportation. Oil refineries are located in densely populated areas of Baku and this is one of the main factors causing expansion of the scale of pollution. Oil pollution covers thousands of hectares of lands just in the Absheron Peninsula itself. Along with the industrial pollution, the pollution in agricultural areas in Azerbaijan has also emerged mainly in the Soviet period. The excessive amount of fertilizer and pesticides used in cotton fields and lack of proper irrigation are considered to be among the main factors of environmental pollution. The impact of environmental damages caused by the Gabala Radar Station built in the Soviet times is still being felt now. Effective environmental policy, providing the enterprises with purifiers, contributions of non-governmental organizations, promotion of environmental awareness and use of the best practice of developed countries can contribute to the solution of the environmental problems. The most serious environmental problems of Azerbaijan are connected with the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia. Armenia has destroyed the forest resources in the occupied territories. Moreover, Basitchay National Reserve, which is located in the occupied Zangilan region and is unique in the world, has been destroyed, and other natural sites have been damaged in the region. Large amount of metal waste thrown from the Armenian metallurgical plants into Okhchuchay River has made its way to Araz River and become a source of serious pollution. Toxic substances thrown into Tartar River are another source of concern. In order to solve the environmental problems in Azerbaijan, it is necessary to carry out an effective state policy, undertake new scientific researches, study best practices of advanced countries, and establish new and up-to-date environmental standards.

IT2 Fuzzy-Based Multidimensional Evaluation of Coal Energy for Sustainable Economic Development

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of coal energy on the economic development of countries. For this purpose, similar studies in the literature have been examined and nine different criteria have been determined for three dimensions affecting the use of coal energy. In order to determine the most important factors, an analysis is performed with IT2 fuzzy DANP method. The most important contribution of this study to the literature is that a proposal can be made for the use of coal energy by considering both positive and negative opinions related to this energy. On the other hand, IT2 fuzzy DANP method has been taken into consideration in this study for the first-time regarding coal energy and it is believed that methodological originality has been achieved. It is identified that social factors have the most importance in the use of coal energy. In this context, environmental pollution, health problems and demographic factors resulting from the use of coal energy should be taken into consideration in the use of this energy. Thus, problems arising from the use of coal energy far outweigh the economic benefits of using this energy. Therefore, factors that may prevent air pollution, such as carbon capture technology, should be considered in the use of coal energy. In addition, the use of high-quality coal will contribute to the reduction of the problems caused with this energy. In addition, investing in renewable energy sources that do not have negative impacts on the environment is also important for the sustainability of future energy policies.

Spatial distribution, sources, and risk assessment of major ions ad trace elements in rainwater at Puchuncaví Valley, Chile: The impact of industrial activities

This article presents the results of a study on the chemical composition of rainwater as an environmental pollution factor in the surroundings of the Puchuncaví - Ventanas industrial complex (V Region, Chile), with the main objectives of assessing acidification and neutralisation factors, measuring elemental pollutant levels including calculation of enrichment factors and pollution sources assignment, and assessing the risk derived from elemental pollutant loads in rainwater, both for human use and natural ecosystems. Forty-seven weekly rainwater samples were collected during the winter (May–August) 2010 (24 samples) and 2011 (23 samples) at three sampling location with different degree of impact from the main emission sources. The pH, conductivity and major ions were analyzed by ion chromatography, as well as 18 traces and main elements by ICP-MS. Most rainwater samples had pH below 5.6, indicating the risk of acidification, but neutralisation factors, mainly by Na+ and NH4+ were also noticed. The elements emitted by anthropogenic activities had significant enrichment values in the rainwater of the area studied, and the principal component analysis (PCA) identified four sources related to the metallurgical industry – crustal material, marine material, traffic -industry and industrial activities. The risk assessment showed that As content in rainwater is above the WHO guideline value for drinking water at some points in the study area. The contribution of Pb and Cd in rainwater to the soil critical loads turned out to be relatively low, with a maximum of 22.1% for Pb in the vicinity of the industrial complex.

Films Based on a Blend of PVC with Copolymer of 3-Hydroxybutyrate with 3-Hydroxyhexanoate.

Polymeric packaging materials are one of the factors of environmental pollution. Reducing the environmental burden is possible by increasing the environmental friendliness of packaging materials. In this work, we study polymer films based on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with a copolymer of 3-hydroxybutyrate with 3-hydroxyhexanoate P (3-GB) (3-GG) with different component ratios. The process of processing blends in the process of obtaining a packaging film is considered. The optical characteristics of the obtained films are determined. Thermal analysis of the obtained films was carried out using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), TGA, and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) methods. The degree of gelling of the resulting mixture was determined. It is shown that PHB has miscibility with PVC.

Environmental disasters as a factor of environmental pollution

An ecological catastrophe consists in a massive change in natural conditions that lead to a change in the environment and the death of living organisms. Disaster can be caused by both natural processes and human actions. Losses after such disasters are often irreparable. Economic reasons worse the ecological situation. Wastewater treatment plants are very expensive, so industrialists often prefer to save on and forget about the environment during the construction and operation of new production facilities. The pursuit of immediate profits without thinking about tomorrow, undoubtedly, deepens the crisis in the field of ecology, thereby resulting in environmental disasters. The subject of this study is global environmental disasters. The purpose of the study is to identify the influence of the negative impact of substances on the environment. Methodology. To study the topic, the world environmental disasters and the damage caused by their impact on the environment were systematized. Results - the damage (harm) from the negative impact on the environment was revealed, the calculation formulas were given.

On the Survival Assessment of Asthmatic Patients Using Parametric and Semi-Parametric Survival Models

The goals of asthma management are to prevent or minimize symptoms, avert or reduce risk of asthma attacks and to ensure that asthma does not limit the patient’s activities since it is not curable. Thus in this study, the degrees of success following treatments given to patients over time were assessed based on the patient’s length of stay on admission and factors responsible for patients’ response to treatment were equally examined using survival analysis models of parametric and semi-parametric distributions. The study was conducted on 464 asthmatic patients from four different hospitals in Ogun State. The data were extracted from patients’ records and prognostic factors such as age, sex, smoking, hereditary, obesity, respiratory illness and environmental pollution were considered for survival analysis. It was observed that there was drastic reduction in survival rate from 7 days upward at a cut-off probability value of 0.485, based on Kaplan-Meier (KM) results. Log-normal regression model, a parametric model with the least AIC value (2969.74) and least negative Log likelihood value (1475.87) shows best performance in handling asthma data with prognostic factors of Smoking (HR = 1.32, 95% CI: 0.93 - 1.88), Obesity (HR = 1.25, 95% CI: 0.80 - 1.93), Environmental pollution (HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.52 - 1.18) and Respiratory illness (HR = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.33 - 2.79) were found to have significantly affected the length of stay of asthmatic patients in hospital.

Nitrogen partitioning and isotopic discrimination are affected by age and dietary protein content in growing lambs

It is difficult to separate an age-dependent fall in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE; N balance/N intake) in growing ruminants from a progressively decrease in animal protein requirements over time. This study examined the effect of dietary protein content on N partitioning, digestibility and N isotopic discrimination between the animal and its diet (Δ15Nanimal-diet) evaluated at two different fattening periods (early v. late). Twenty-four male Romane lambs (age: 19 ± 4.0 days; BW: 8.3 ± 1.39 kg) were equally allocated to three dietary CP treatments (15%, 17% and 20% CP on a DM basis). Lambs were reared with their mothers until weaning, thereafter housed in individual pens until slaughter (45 kg BW). During the post-weaning period, lambs were allocated twice (early fattening (30 days post-weaning) and late fattening (60 days post-weaning)) to metabolic cages for digestibility and N balance study. When diet CP content increased, the average daily gain of lambs increased (P < 0.05) while the age at slaughter decreased (P = 0.01), but no effect was observed on feed efficiency (P > 0.10). Diet CP content had limited effect on lamb carcass traits. Higher fibre digestibility was observed at the early v. late fattening period (P < 0.001). The N intake and the urinary N excretion increased when diet CP content increased (P < 0.001) and when shifting from early to late fattening period (P < 0.001). Faecal N excretion (P = 0.14) and N balance (P > 0.10) were not affected by diet CP content. Nitrogen digestibility increased (P < 0.001) as the diet CP content increased and on average it was greater at late v. early fattening period (P = 0.02). The NUE decreased (P = 0.001) as the diet CP content increased and as the lamb became older (P < 0.001). However, the age-dependent fall in NUE observed was lower at high v. low dietary CP content (CP × age interaction; P = 0.04). The Δ15Nanimal-diet was positively correlated (P < 0.05) with N intake (r = 0.59), excretion of faecal N (r = 0.41), urinary N (r = 0.69) and total manure N (r = 0.64), while negatively correlated with NUE (r = −0.57). Overall, the experiment showed NUE was lower in older lambs and when lambs were fed high diet CP content, and that Δ15Nanimal-diet was a useful indicator not only for NUE but also for urinary N excretion, which is a major environmental pollution factor on farm.

Analysis of Industrial Economic Growth and Environmental Pollution in Tianjin Based on Tapio Decoupling Model

In order to accelerate the construction of a resource-saving and environmentally-friendly industrial ecosystem, this paper uses the Tapio decoupling analysis model to calculate the decoupling index of Tianjin’s industrial economic growth and the major environmental pollutants of the industry from 2005 to 2015 and analyze the decoupling status. The results show that the decoupling state of Tianjin’s economic growth and environmental pollution from 2005 to 2015 is generally in a strong positive decoupling and a weak growth decoupling, but the decoupling state of some environmental pollution factors has temporarily deteriorated. The relationship between industrial economic growth and industrial pollutant emissions has eased in the 12th Five-Year Plan.

Fires as a socio-environmental threat in the minds of students from southern Russia

The issues of understanding environmental pollution factors, their prevention and reduction of harmful consequences are relevant both for public discussions and for scientific analysis. This article focuses on the significant experience of scientific research of environmental problems, as there is a tendency to form the ecological consciousness of the world community. The main purpose of this article is to analyze fires as an environmental threat through sociological analysis. The authors explain the relevance of this issue of preventing and minimizing the consequences of fires, as well as improving the fire safety system, both from the point of view of Russia’ contemporary development and through the prism of the necessity for a sociological understanding of these processes and phenomena. The authors highlight the main directions of a sociological research of this phenomenon: formation and development of ecological consciousness; a systemic sociological analysis of specific situations; fire safety sociology through the prism of macro- (as a resource-saving system of society) and microsociology (the level of social groups, applied aspects of implementation and improvement of fire safety. The authors refer to the results of a specific sociological study (initiated by the Russian society of sociologists) conducted among students of Russian higher education institutions. Their responses are analyzed and compared with the all-Russian indicators, including the official statistics on the causes of fires, damage and destruction of forest areas, results of content analysis of the news feed, and official information about the area of forest areas. In conclusion, the authors highlight the importance of further studies of the anthropogenic factor in the framework of this environmental threat and the role of man in the fire safety system. This may help in understanding the process of formation and development of environmental consciousness.

Study of Voltage Distribution and Radial Electric Field under Different Pollution Conditions of 500kV MOA

The surface of the porcelain sleeve will be polluted by local environmental pollution and weather factors such as frost, rain and snow, because of the 500kV MOA is generally arranged outdoors. The surface flashover problem of the porcelain sleeve surface caused by contamination is similar to that of the insulator surface. It is a resistor column with three sections connected in series inside the arrester. The influence of surface contamination on the voltage distribution of the internal resistor and the radial electric field between the resistor and the porcelain sleeve remains to be studied. In this paper, ANSYS is used to establish a two-dimensional axisymmetric simulation model for the surface contamination of 500kV zinc oxide arrester. The electric field distribution of the surface of the arrester is cleaned, evenly polluted and the local drying zone appears. The results show that the uniform contamination is inside the arrester. The electric field has little influence, and the local drying zone will form a locally excessively high radial electric field between the resistor and the porcelain sleeve. Under the reference voltage, the radial electric field exceeds the corona starting field and causes corona discharge, and the acceleration resistor Deterioration of the sheet and the dielectric; the voltage of the resistor piece near the local drying zone is increased to a certain extent, which also accelerates the aging of the resistor chip and jeopardizes the safe and stable operation of the arrester

Environmental Impact of ICE Vehicles and Battery Electric Vehicles: Comparison and Assessment of Impact Factors

In 2017 the number of motor vehicles, being in operation in the world, exceeded 1,5 billion units. Motorization has caused serious problems for safety of the environment, life and health of humans.This article discusses various factors of impact of motorisation and automobilisation on the environment.Until recently, harmful emissions from vehicles have been considered as the main significant factor in environmental pollution. Due to implementation of the technical policy for implementation of EURO environmental standards, the «center of gravity» in the problems of improving the environmental safety of vehicles is moving towards minimising the heat entering the environment after being emitted by motor vehicles engines. The greatest practical interest is associated with the recovery of energy spent on traction, as the recovery increases the energy efficiency of road transport while reducing the negative impact on the environment.A comparative assessment of cars with internal combustion engines and battery electric vehicles showed that the overall negative impact of comparable vehicles on the environment currently differs slightly.It is necessary to continue research and development in the field of energy recovery problems.

Amperometric Multi-Enzyme Biosensors: Development and Application, a Short Review

Abstract—In the last decade, significant progress has been made in the development of enzyme biosensors, which are used in pharmacology, clinical practice, agriculture, food quality control, monitoring of infectious disease pathogens, and the spread of environmental pollution factors. The functioning of the amperometric multi-enzyme biosensors is based on natural recognition mechanisms. For the best efficiency, the design of the biosensor should enable the analyzed substances to freely interact with enzymes involved in catalytic reactions; this requires knowledge of both the properties of the medium under study and the properties of the analyzed substances. To detect, recognize, and evaluate the concentration of substances in the medium it is also necessary to take factors that can suppress or distort the signal into account, which may be due to the interaction of biosensor components with each other and with molecules of the studied medium. These factors can change not only during storage or after repeated use of a biosensor, but also during a single measurement. Significant progress has been achieved in improving the design of biosensors in the process of development of measuring equipment. This review considers the development of the most interesting and promising trends in the development of amperometric multi-enzyme biosensors that have emerged in recent years.

Spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of county-scale environmental pollution in Jilin Province, Northeast China

Based on pollutant emissions and social-economic data during 2011 and 2015, we selec-ted the total emission index of four pollutants, including the industrial source, agricultural source, and urban living source. The comprehensive index of environmental pollution and sub-source pollution index were built to reflect the pollution of Jilin Province at county scale. Furthermore, the Moran's I, spatial-temporal transition analysis, and standard deviation ellipse analysis were used to quantitatively examine the spatial-temporal evolutionary characteristics of environmental pollution in Jilin Province. A spatial econometric model was built to analyze the influencing factors of environmental pollution. The results showed that environmental pollution in Jilin Province presented spatial agglomeration characteristics, which was mainly concentrating in central areas such as Changchun and Jilin cities. There were obvious regional differences in the spatial distribution of environmental pollution from different sources. There were spatial correlation of the total environmental pollution and agricultural source pollution separately at county scale in Jilin Province. The correlation structure stability of the spatial distribution of environmental pollution was high, which had path locking characteristic. The spatial distribution of environmental pollution showed a northwest-southeast distribution pattern and a spread from the center to the surroundings. The barycenter of environmental pollution moved in the area between 43.65-43.66° N and 125.83-125.84° E. The level of regional economic development, urbanization level and agricultural production were main driving factors for county-scale environmental pollution and industrial source pollution. The adjustment and optimization of industrial structure had improved the overall environmental pollution and industrial source pollution situation. Overuse of chemical fertilizers significantly increased agricultural source pollution. The level of economic development and urbanization were the main drivers of urban living source pollution. The overall environmental pollution and agricultural source pollution had spatial diffusion effects, and their pollution status was closely related to the overall environmental pollution and agricultural source pollution status in adjacent areas, respectively.

Detecting and understanding co-benefits generated in tackling climate change and environmental degradation in China

China is facing the challenge of climate change and environmental protection in line with the promotion of sustainable development goals. Climate, environmental, and economic policy can each individually impact the effectiveness of other policies in the process of implementation. Understanding synergies among policy measures and identifying the co-benefits of environmental sustainable development generated by them is the focus of the paper. Because of existing restrictions in current research methods, the research community lacks the capacity to detect the interrelation among environmental, economic, and social development. Co-benefit research has gradually become an important area on sustainable development. Based on endogenous economic growth theory, we build a modified endogenous growth model to determine the optimal rates of economic growth, environmental pollution, energy input, and other factors in the context of co-benefits. Further empirical analysis is given which is missing in previous studies in this field. The empirical analysis reveals that China’s actual GDP, consumption, energy input, and physical capital growth rates are much higher than the optimal growth rate. However, the human capital and environmental pollution control growth rates are slower than the optimal values. Although China has a rapid growth in economy, the optimal level of comprehensive co-benefits has not been reached yet.

Evaluating Urban Bus Emission Characteristics Based on Localized MOVES Using Sparse GPS Data in Shanghai, China

Bus emissions have become one of the important contributing factors in urban environmental pollution due to the frequent use of heavy-duty diesel engines in the day-time. Local bus driving cycles have a significant influence on bus emissions under the different traffic conditions. This study investigated the operation mode distributions and emission characteristics for urban buses based on localized MOtor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) using sparse Global Position System (GPS) data in Shanghai, China. Sparse GPS data from forty-three buses were prepared, and then bus trajectories were reconstructed to calculate local bus driving cycles, including model description, model calibration, and trajectory reconstruction. MOVES localization was conducted for emission estimation mainly focusing on the bus emission inventory comparison between US and China. Bus emission factors were estimated based on the localized MOVES from the aspect of different driving conditions. Results show that with the increase in average traveling speed, the proportion of idling operation mode showed a decreasing trend. Four typical vehicle operation mode distributions were identified with different average speeds to show the impact of traffic conditions. Bus emission factors first rapidly decreased and then slowly declined towards some minimum values. Bus lanes exhibited emission reduction benefits under serious traffic congestion. The findings of this study have great importance for transportation operation management and policy-making to reduce bus emissions, as well as improving air quality.

SNP marker development and polymorphism detection of Schizothorax waltoni

As a vulnerable species in the Red List of China’s Vertebrates, Schizothorax waltoni (S. waltoni) is mainly distributed in the middle reaches of Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet. Due to its delicate meat and delicious taste, S. waltoni is the main economic fish in the producing area. But recently, it has undergone a drastic population decline due to the overfishing of fishery resources, the invasion of foreign species, environmental pollution and other factors. Therefore, it is extremely urgent to protect germplasm resource of S. waltoni. In this study, we used Illumina Hiseq 4000 sequencing to develop single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in S. waltoni. Based on a large number of transcriptome sequences and candidate SNP loci obtained by previous transcriptome studies, 63 SNPs were randomly selected from immune-related genes and 36 loci exhibited significant polymorphisms in genotyping by Sequenom MassARRAY. The observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity varied from 0.0789 to 0.9577 and 0.0763 to 0.5033, respectively. There is only 5 SNP loci accord with Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (p > 0.05) and no linkage disequilibria. These polymorphic SNP markers could be used for conservation genetics research in S. waltoni, and may provide new insights into future conservation strategies.

Using grey relational analysis to analyze influential factor of hand, foot and mouth disease in Shenzhen

Purpose Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infectious disease in infants and children. HFMD has caused millions of cases and a large epidemic worldwide. A number of studies have shown that the incidence of HFMD is closely related to various factors such as meteorological factors, environmental air pollution factors and socio-economic factors. However, there are few studies that systematically consider the impact of various factors on the incidence of HFMD. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study used grey correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) method to systematically analyse the impact of meteorological factors, health resource factors, socio-economic factors and environmental air pollution factors on the incidence of HFMD in Shenzhen. Findings The incidence of HFMD in Shenzhen was affected by multiple factors. Grey correlation analysis found eight influencing factors which are as follows: volume of industrial waste gas emission; the days of air quality equal to or above grade; the volume of industrial nitrogen oxide emission; precipitation; the mean air temperature; the gross domestic product; the expenditure for medical and health care; and the gross domestic product per capita. PCA found that the gross domestic product, the volume of industrial soot emission, the relative humidity, and the days of air quality equal to or above grade have a higher load value. Originality/value This study is the one of the first studies that apply the grey correlation analysis to analyse the influencing factors of HFMD in the English literature, which to some extent fills up the blank in this field.

Modelling of surface tension dynamics at the hydrocarbon – water interface during formation of actinobacterial clusters

One of the main factors of environmental pollution is oil and petroleum products, which annual global emissions resulting from multiple accidents and leaks amount tens of thousands of tons. The problem of oil pollution of water resources has acquired a threatening scope due to a growing offshore oil production and transportation of petroleum products by sea and river transport. An effective way to eliminate the oil pollution of water environments is bioremediation using hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms, in particular actinobacteria of the genus Rhodococcus. We studied the adsorption dynamics of Rhodococcus ruber IEGM 231 cells at the interface between bacterial suspension and liquid hydrocarbon (n-hexadecane or n-dodecane). As a result, mathematical modelling of the initial stage of biofilm formation was performed based on thermodynamic description of cell cluster formation and destruction. The first developed biomechanical model of the surface (interfacial) tension time dependence is phenomenological, it describes the experimental graphs of the corresponding dependence obtained by high-precision tensiometry at different optical densities of bacterial suspensions. The second microlevel model is based on the theory of saturation of the bacterial adsorption layer and the biofilm formation at the hydrocarbon–water interface. In this model, a theoretical explanation of the revealed oscillatory dynamics of interfacial tension is proposed, thus relating to the measuring ring passages through the formed biofilm and the random nature of cell cluster formation–destruction to achieve thermodynamically stable state of the system.