Environment-friendly Development Research Articles

Biomimetic Catalysts Based on Au@ZnO-Graphene Composites for the Generation of Hydrogen by Water Splitting.

For some decades, the scientific community has been looking for alternatives to the use of fossil fuels that allow for the planet’s sustainable and environmentally-friendly development. To do this, attempts have been made to mimic some processes that occur in nature, among which the photosystem-II stands out, which allows water splitting operating with different steps to generate oxygen and hydrogen. This research presents promising results using synthetic catalysts, which try to simulate some natural processes, and which are based on Au@ZnO–graphene compounds. These catalysts were prepared by incorporating different amounts of gold nanoparticles (1 wt.%, 3 wt.%, 5 wt.%, 10 wt.%) and graphene (1 wt.%) on the surface of synthesized zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs), and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), along with a commercial form (commercial ZnO) for comparison purposes. The highest amount of hydrogen (1127 μmol/hg) was reported by ZnO NWs with a gold and graphene loadings of 10 wt.% and 1 wt.%, respectively, under irradiation at 400 nm. Quantities of 759 μmol/hg and 709 μmol/hg were obtained with catalysts based on ZnO NPs and commercial ZnO, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of all composites increased with respect to the bare semiconductors, being 2.5 times higher in ZnO NWs, 8.8 times higher for ZnO NPs, and 7.5 times higher for commercial ZnO. The high photocatalytic activity of the catalysts is attributed, mainly, to the synergism between the different amount of gold and graphene incorporated, and the surface area of the composites.

An approach to energy and climate issues aiming at carbon neutrality

This paper aims to describe measures mainly based on two strategic and policy documents published by the Portuguese authorities that intend to be a guide for the coming years for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). These documents define contributions, policies and measures to comply with international commitments, dealing with renewable energies, energy efficiency and other issues. The two documents are the Portugal National Energy and Climate Plan 2030 (NECP 2030) and the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050 (RCN 2050), but other initiatives are also described. Very ambitious targets were established in order to put Portugal at the forefront of a sustainable and environmental friendly development, without losing competitiveness and increasing the well-being of the population.

The contribution of diverse motivations for adhering to soil conservation initiatives and the role of conservation agriculture features in decision-making

Under the fifth strategic development plan of Iran, the government is necessitated to trigger the agro-ecological initiatives like conservation agriculture (CA) by stimulating farmers to become involved in the schemes as efficiently as possible, along the lines of global policies to enhance environmentally-friendly development. This study, as being the case, calls for the knowledge gap of motivation-intention-behavior, investigating the association of diverse motivations of 382 farmers in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, with the soil conservation behavior (SCB), also inclusive of the contribution of CA features, including relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and testability, as the farmers were stratified to low and high SCB. The theoretical framework consists of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and motivational model (MM), the former is commonly used and the latter has the potential to be given much attention, conceptualized by well-being, identity, hedonistic, and idealistic concepts. The study provides evidence that 70.42% of farmers adhere to and carry out SCB at a low rate; whereas, 29.58% of the rest has a high adoption rate. The results also illustrate that attitude towards CA contributes to influencing SCB, as well as the significant and positive impact of PBC on behavioral intention and SCB. While well-being motivation has a negative impact on attitude towards CA, behavioral intention, and SCB, identity and hedonistic motivations have a significant and positive impact on attitude and SCB that are mediated by behavioral intention. The paper concludes that (1) the agricultural extension needs to change farmers' attitudes by making farmers aware of the relative advantage, compatibility, and testability of CA, (2) farmers should receive technical, financial, and educational support to increase their volitional control on CA, (3) it is strongly suggested addressing the primary obstacles to SCB, which are facilitated by delivering the subsidized agricultural inputs (e.g., fertilizer, fuel, and livelihoods) to farmers with well-being motivations, (4) the agricultural extension is also recommended recognizing farmers with identity and hedonistic incentives, they are as a reference group and are imitated by non-adopter or slowly adopter farmers.

Spatial Zoning Strategy for Socio-Economic Development and Environmental Protection in Cu Chi District, Hochiminh City

Cu Chi, with a natural area of 43,496ha, is a district in the northeast of Hochiminh City, where infrastructure has been built intensively and rapidly in recent years. This development results in not only general socio-economic conditions but also the improvement of local welfare. On the other hand, relentless urban and industrial development in Cu Chi District may potentially pose negative impact on general environmental condition due to reduction of green area and industrial waste discharge to the natural ecology. As a consequence, spatial planning and zoning are necessary to balance socio-economic progress and environmental protection for sustainable development. By analyzing the socio-economic, environment and remote sensing data using GIS technology, the research divides the district into 3 major environment zones, including 13 minor sub-zones. Meanwhile, the result also suggests 04 integrated socio-economic development and environmental protection zones as follows: environmental protection with 2 sub-zones (2,286 ha), environmental friendly development with 6 sub-zones (27,753 ha), strengthened environmental management with 4 sub-zones (8,370 ha) and environmental recovery and rehabilitation with 1 sub-zone (5,087 ha). The authors believe that the spatial zoning is important in providing the basis to develop a strategy for socio-economic development and environmental protection for each sub-zone.

Will environmental information disclosure bring economic inflow to enterprises? —— Based on the investigation of audit fees

With the gradual deterioration of climate and environment, countries are becoming increasingly vigilant and repulsive to the economic development mode at the cost of energy consumption. It has become a new development trend to seek new alternative energy sources and pursue green and environment-friendly sustainable development mode. Environmental protection behaviors are generally considered to have positive external effects. This paper examines whether the environmental protection behaviors of A listed company have positive effects on the company based on the data related to environmental information disclosure from 2014 to 2017, and also examines the attitude of external supervision represented by independent auditing towards the company’s environmental protection behaviors. It is enlightening to encourage listed companies to save energy and protect the environment.

Parameter optimization and characterization of environmental friendly aluminium hybrid metal matrix composites

The present experimental investigation was carried out to fabricate environmental friendly hybrid aluminium metal matrix composites with three reinforcements in minimal amount through electromagnetic stir casting: an uncommon fabrication technique. Al 7075-T6 alloy was infused with three reinforcements; eggshell particles (wt% 0.5, 1 and 1.5, particle size ∼60 μm), SiC particles (wt% 1, 1.5 and 2, particle size ∼65 μm) and Al2O3 particles (wt% 1.5, 2 and 2.5, particle size ∼90 μm) with variable mechanical stirring time (2, 4 and 6 min). Composite fabrication experiments were run in accordance with Taguchi’s orthogonal array L9 and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to optimize process parameters and to observe their influence on quality characteristics. Developed composites were characterized for various physical and mechanical properties such as density, porosity, residual stress, micro hardness and tensile strength. Investigation outcomes show that synthesized hybrid composite specimen S8 with a total reinforcement content of 4.5% only, demonstrated no significant change in density (only upto 2.2%) whereas the maximum reduction in percentage porosity was 75%. Additionally, maximum abatement in residual stress of hybrid composite specimen S8 was 76% as compared to their unreinforced counterpart specimen S0, there was a maximum enhancement of 83% in microhardness and 107% in tensile strength of fabricated hybrid aluminium metal matrix composite specimen S8 in comparison of as-cast Al 7075-T6 specimen S0. Disposal of eggshells is a serious threat to environment, thus more focus was put on recycling them and using them for development of environmental friendly and cost effective hybrid composites with enhanced properties for numerous engineering applications.

Synergistic activation of peroxymonosulfate for organic pollutants degradation with hydroxyapatite/manganese oxides hybrid catalysts

The development of environmental friendly and efficient catalysts in advanced oxidation processes to degrade organic pollutants is highly desired. The complex metal oxides usually exhibit superior performance due to the potential synergistic effects between different metal oxides. In this study, hydroxyapatite (HA) coupled with manganese oxide OMS-2 hybrid (MnHA) was prepared and investigated as a catalyst for synergistic activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The degradation of Acid Orange 7 with the hybrid was 2.94 and 10.8 times higher than those with pure OMS-2 and HA respectively. More importantly, it was found that Ca was not only coordinated with PO/PO groups in HA but also with MnO groups on the surface of OMS-2; and then electrons were suggested to be transferred from HA to OMS-2 to decrease the MnOMn bond energy, leading to easier oxidation of Mn species by PMS. HO, SO4−, O2− and 1O2 were found to be involved as reactive species in MnHA+PMS system, but 1O2 played a more important role. The performance of the system under different conditions such as solution pH and concentrations of catalyst, pollutant and PMS was also studied. This work is expected to be helpful to design new and highly active catalysts for PMS activation.

Joint distribution: service paradigm, key technologies and its application in the context of Chinese express industry

ABSTRACTTo cope with the globalisation of online shopping, ecological environment deterioration and increasing traffic pressure, a novel logistics service paradigm – joint distribution (JD) – for tackling the bottlenecks in operational efficiency, quality of service and environment-friendly development is put forward under online shopping combining with the internet of things, service-oriented technologies and other advanced management methods and tools. Then, the concept of JD is defined under online shopping, the differences among JD, third-party express service system (TESS) and self-built logistics system (SLS) are discussed. JD architecture and typical characteristics and the key technologies for developing a JD service platform (JDSP) are introduced. Four core components, i.e. Management system, optimisation on resource service, operational strategies during the delivery, etc. are studied for developing the JDSP. Finally, we develop some key systems and integrate them into the JDSP, also the platform is applied to a joint distribution alliance, and future research directions are discussed.

Auto-tuning method for data-driven models in building energy consumption prediction: a case of cooling load prediction

Building consumes a significant portion of energy in the world. Improving energy use efficiency in building sector is a key approach of achieving sustainable and environmental friendly development targets. Building energy consumption prediction is essential for energy planning, equipment control and system management. Traditional physics-based model is widely used but requires sophisticated input parameter. Data-driven models, on the other perspective, utilize historical data to make predictions for future scenarios. However, the accuracy of this model greatly relies on the parameters of the machine learning algorithms within. This research proposes an auto-tuning method for machine learning algorithms in building energy prediction models, and discusses the difference between global optimum and local optimum. Based on this research, the accuracy and efficiency of the data-driven models are significantly improved.

Isolation and Characterization of Phosphate Solubilising Rhizobia Nodulating Wild Field Pea (Pisum sativum var. abyssinicum) from Southern Tigray, Ethiopia

Hypothesis: Phosphorus is the second limiting nutrients next to nitrogen as well as the least mobile element in the soil. This nutrient is one of the major constraints for low productivity of wild field pea in the study site. Hence, the development of environmental friendly and economically accepted to subsistent farmer is undeniably important.
 Aims: This experiment was initiated to isolate and characterize inorganic phosphate solubilizing rhizobia from root nodules of field pea (Pisum sativum var. abyssinicum) were characterized for their solubilisation ability on Pikovaskaya liquid and solid media.
 Study Design: Laboratory experimental design was used.
 Place and Duration of Study: Field pea root nodules were collected from Southern Tigray and the study was carried out between October, 2015 and June, 2016 at Haremaya University soil microbiology laboratory.
 Methodology: The presumptive test, qualitative and quantitative phosphate solubilisation of isolates was done in triplicates using the standard procedures. Authentication of the isolates was made using autoclaved and sterilized river sand in pot experiment.
 Results: The current results revealed that all isolates were gram negative, failed to grow on peptone glucose agar, ketolactose test and did not absorb congo-red upon incubation period. It also showed that phosphate solubilisation index of root nodulating bacteria on in vitro Pikovskaya’s agar medium varied from 1.54 to 2.70. Inorganic phosphate solubilisation in broth medium dissolved insoluble Ca3 (PO4)2 was within the range of 16.59-23.95 mg plant-1 with pH drop from 7.01 to 5.33. Among the tested rhizobia isolates, HUDRI-8 and HUDRI-25 was found to be highest phosphate solubilisation compared to the remaining isolates, served as efficient phosphate solubilizers and could be used for further test under field condition.
 Conclusion: Finally, the selected isolates which are effective in N2 fixation and able to solubilise inorganic P were found to be effective in promoting nodulation and plant growth under greenhouse condition.

Impact of substantial wind farms on the local and regional atmospheric boundary layer: Case study of Zhangbei wind power base in China

The environment-friendly development of wind power is complicated as the atmospheric impacts of wind farms are difficult to measure. Wind power has made contributions to emission reduction, but it is undeniable that the substantial wind farms (SWFs) have had a non-negligible impact on the local ABL. This paper aims to provide a reliable methodological scheme and practical data for human beings to objectively understand the development of wind power. Based on the data from one of the Chinese gigawatt-scale wind power bases in Zhangbei County of Hebei Province, the mesoscale simulations were conducted to explore the impacts of substantial wind farms on the local and regional atmosphere. The results show that: (i) the impact of substantial wind farms on the local area is significant and sustained, while this impact on the regional area is slight and occasional; (ii) it can bring about the seasonal and diurnal differences in the local ABL property; (iii) it can not only induce the horizontal turbulence directly caused by wind turbine wake flow, but also produce the vertical mixing in the near-surface ABL. A systematic analysis of wind power potential and its atmospheric impact is urgent to ensure sustainable development of wind power.

Local Governance and Rural Development Practices in Nepal

Local governance particularly means democratic participation of the stakeholders in local development. In this process, rural development creates productive environment for market-led and environment friendly development that enrich quality of life of the people. The landscapes of local governance and rural development have been changing with new way of understanding. International communities are now realizing the transformative role of local governance and education. Nepalese government also has been facing many challenges while implementing local governance and rural development efforts. In this context, this paper reflectively appraised local governance and rural development practices of Nepal from decentralization theory and capability approach. However, subsequent discussions are presented based on secondary data, information and literatures. My discussions show that government of Nepal implemented local self-governance act-1999 for proper decentralization of power/jurisdiction in grassroots. Even though, since two decades local governance mechanisms are working with less capable staff and without elected bodies. For implementation of new constitution-2015, federal government restructured 753 local governance units. In that situation this paper came up with the argument that government mechanism need to foster institutional capability by mobilizing skilled manpower for implementing devolved 22 power/jurisdictions in local levels.

Circular economy for the energy transition in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The pathway to a low-carbon future is circular. Circular economy and the optimization of resources used in the energy system can be seen as a way to improve energy self-sufficiency. In St. Petersburg, stakeholders of International Innovation Forum and International Economic Forum 2018 have discussed foreign experience and circular economy in Russia, and found several solutions. Representatives from Business Finland partnership shared their experience – how environmentally friendly technologies become profitable business. FIRO-O, OptiKom, Charity second-hand store “Spasibo”, Baltika Brewery (Carlsberg group) and St. Petersburg Urban Eco-Cluster are given as successful examples of circular economy principles in Russia and St. Petersburg. Moscow and Saint Petersburg have different programs under the local authorities’ support in the sphere of environmentally-friendly development. Infrastructure of the Russian regions needs more attention and support from all the stakeholders: the business, the government and the society. The triangle cooperation (business-government-society) is needed. Russian company’s cooperation and integration into the global networks of ecologically responsible businesses could lead to the easier and faster solutions.

A review on positive and negative impacts of nanotechnology in agriculture

Nanotechnology holds huge potentials in several fields and is envisaged as a technology to lead the way toward sustainable environment-friendly development in the coming years. The basic theme of nanotechnology is to use particles having size in nanometer range for various applications in medical fields, cosmetics industry, and agriculture and food technologies. The benefits associated with nanotechnology include among others increase in yield and quality of produce in agriculture, improved cosmetic products, directed delivery of medicines and sensor applications. Advancement in the development of nanosensors has made recognition of disease causing elements, toxins and nutrients in foods, and elements in environmental samples, easier and cost effective. However, immense focus on nanotechnology in past few decades has led to its unrestricted development and consequently enormous use of nanoparticles (NPs). It is considered that NPs may pose risks to the environment and biological systems. It is also becoming evident that the size, structure and type of nanomaterials, such as graphene/graphene oxide with gold NPs, carbon and carbon nitride nanotubes, have different effects on plants and environment. Hence, long-term life cycle analyses are needed to assess impacts of NPs. This review presents a brief overview of applications of nanomaterials in agriculture and discusses its positive and negative aspects in agricultural field. The review emphasizes that future development of nanotechnology must be based on scientific evaluations of benefits and risks associated to it in long term.

Substance flow analysis of neodymium based on the generalized entropy in China

Rare earth plays an important role in fields of aerospace, electronic products, catalyst, agriculture and others. China is the largest producer and consumer of rare earth materials in the world. Neodymium is widely used in rare earth industry. Substance flow analysis (SFA) is an established method to analyze the structure and characterization of substance flows. This paper provided SFA and generalized entropy analysis for neodymium in China in 2002 and 2011. System boundary included exploitation, concentration, smelting, manufacture, use and disposal. Neodymium flow amounts and generalized entropy value were calculated, respectively. Mining utilization efficiency, smelting ratio, export rate were comparatively analyzed in 2002 and 2011. The results demonstrated that the utilization efficiency of neodymium in the rare earth concentrates production stage increased more than 69%, while the utilization efficiency of neodymium in the manufacture stage increased more than 28% in 2011 compared to 2002. The generalized entropy results indicated that congregated degree of neodymium was larger in 2011 compared to 2002 after concentrate production stage and manufacture stage, the congregated degree increased 45.5% and 12.5%, respectively. Based on the results, some advices were proposed, which provided available reference information for resource conservation and environmental friendly development of the Chinese rare earth industry.

EVALUATION OF DUMP SITE RECLAMATION TECHNIQUES IN WESTERN TURKEY COAL MINES

The environment friendly development of mining applications progressed significantly due to the rapid increase in environmental awareness and requirement of available land. The reclamation studies of those lands, ruined during mining activities, should be evaluated and regained in the most effective and rational way. In recent years, especially in open pit coal mining, reclamation applications become crucial due to rapid spreading of mining companies on extensive lands. These applications were taken into account in feasibility studies and included in mining operations. The reclamation systematics of dump sites formed by stripping of open pit coal mines and depleted coal pits are investigated. In this study, the rehabilitation studies subsequent to mining activities are dealt technically and parameters affecting the success of these studies are determined.

Energy Hub based Electricity Generation System Design for an Offshore Platform Considering CO2-Mitigation

Environmental friendly development is one of the core tasks of future offshore oil or gas projects. Considering the significant CO2 emission generated by the electricity generation system of offshore oil and gas fields, this paper, based on Energy Hub concept, presents a multi-objective optimal model taken CO2-mitigation and operation cost control as objectives, which constructs coupling formulation and constraints about energy flows and CO2 emission flows. The proposed approach is verified by an existing platform and the result shows that CO2-tax will play a decisive role in the future emission mitigation of offshore oil platform.

Environmental Friendly Development of Regenerated Cellulose Fiber Production

According to the development course of modern textile industry, synthetic fiber made of petroleum has occupied an important place in textile products for its low cost and varieties. However, due to petroleum shortage and people’s strengthened emphasis on ecological issues, regenerated cellulose fiber made of cellulose extracted from plants gradually goes on the market and become accepted by the public. This paper will, based on three development stages of regenerated cellulose fiber, introduce production characteristics at different stages and their influences over the environment, and summarize positive impact of regenerated cellulose fiber production on ecological environment at three development stages.

Adolescent’ Psychological Health Evaluation Using Investigative and Preventive Activities at School

In Lithuania high rates of child and adolescent emotional and behavioral difficulty level are still observed, which manifests itself in increasing almost unabated wide bullying in schools, suicide cases, low student learning motivation and school absenteeism. Psychological help purpose in educational institution – to strengthen and develop students‘ psychological health, to promote safe and environment-friendly development of persons school development. Preventive programs and applied research execution are one of the most important activities of school psychologists in the educational community, strengthening students’ psychological health and well-being.
 Introducing the adolescent psychological health investigation Lithuania. The aim. To investigate the 12–18-year-olds emotional and social health, and to identify differences by age and gender. The research methodology. Social and Emotional Health Questionnaire (SEHS-S Furlong, 2014). Research participants. 1 628 teenagers, aged from 12 to 18 years. The study was carried out in 13 Lithuanian cities and 16 schools. The data was processed by Microsoft Excel and SPSS software. The study findings. Observed teens emotional and social health dispositions expression differences among different genders and age groups. The results are significantly positive in the context of adolescent development, and contribute to the students’ psychological risk reduction, human development strengths and health education at school.

RGO/ZnWO4/Fe3O4 nanocomposite as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Development of low cost, environmental friendly and noble metal free catalyst materials with excellent performance is essential for commercialization. In fact, this is the need of the day too. Herein, we report a facile microwave irradiation method for the synthesis of novel RGO/ZnWO4/Fe3O4 cathode catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium. The structural and morphological features of synthesized materials are fully examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The chemical composition and elemental analysis of the catalyst is investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Efficiency of RGO/ZnWO4/Fe3O4 catalyst material for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1M KOH is reported. The activity of catalyst is determined by linear sweep voltammogram (LSV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE) measurements in O2 saturated 0.1M KOH electrolyte. RGO/ZnWO4/Fe3O4 catalyst exhibits higher ORR activity than RGO, ZnWO4, RGO/ZnWO4 and its electrocatalytic performance is comparable to Pt/C material and is superior to it in stability and methanol tolerance. Further, it is determined that process follows a direct four electron reaction pathway. These combined results strongly signpost that RGO/ZnWO4/Fe3O4 composite can function as an economic noble metal free ORR cathode catalyst for energy applications.