Environmental Protection Issues Research Articles

Review on preheating systems for Lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles under low temperature circumstance

Nowadays, energy and environmental protection issues have become the focus of most attention. The development of electric vehicles which depends on lithium ion battery as power source is one of the most applicable way in dealing with these issues. Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is highly favoured for its outstanding features in energy density, cycle life and energy retention. However, its severe sensitivity to working temperatures leads to problems when driving electric vehicles. Therefore, researchers and engineers have explored approaches to guaranteeing a suitable working temperature for LIB, one of which is the battery preheating system. To clarify the advancement of this system, both internal and external preheating methods studied in recent years are summarized, and the discussion for future research is included.

Exploring Issues and Strategies of Rural Land Use and Environmental Protection

Land resources play a crucial role in the overall development of society, but the irrational exploitation and use of these resources have significant adverse effects on the natural ecological environment, which is detrimental to the effective construction of a harmonious society. There is an inseparable relationship between rural land use and ecological security, and in current rural land use practices, environmental protection issues are increasingly emphasized. In some rural areas, in pursuit of short-term economic benefits, the importance of environmental protection is often overlooked, leading to excessive development and use of land resources, posing a great threat to the sustainable development of rural society. The reduction of vegetation signifies a deterioration of the ecological environment, and soil erosion leads to a decrease in land resources and a decline in land productivity, while soil degradation directly affects the growth of crops and the income of farmers. Therefore, it is essential to integrate environmental protection concepts throughout the entire process of rural land use. In the development and utilization of land resources, environmental protection requirements must be fully considered, adopting scientific and reasonable planning and measures to ensure the full utilization of land resources and achieve sustainable development of rural society.

International legal protection of the environment from criminal acts during armed conflicts

The article is dedicated to revealing the state of legal provision for the international legal protection of the environment from criminal acts during armed conflicts. Attention is drawn to the fact that international legal obligations of states regarding environmental protection during armed conflict are only contained in a few environmental treaties, but simultaneously in special agreements that are applicable in the presence of armed conflict and are sources of international humanitarian law. It is noted that from the general principles of the impact of war on international treaties, it follows that the termination of an international treaty at the onset of war is an exception to the rules, not a mandatory act. According to Articles 61 and 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969 regarding impossibility of performance and fundamental change of circumstances, it is established that war is not a basis for the automatic termination of treaty obligations, including environmental ones, by the parties to the conflict who have become parties in peacetime, which is also stated in the Draft Articles on the Impact of Armed Conflicts on Treaties of 2011 prepared by the UN International Law Commission, which includes a reference to a provisional list of treaties whose subject matter implies that they continue to apply during armed conflict, among them – treaties on international environmental protection.
 The standpoint regarding the necessity of developing a codified international instrument, which would consolidate the currently disparate provisions for regulating environmental protection issues in conditions of armed conflict, compensation for damage caused, etc., as a source of international environmental law, is supported. It would also address existing problems in legal application, such as the narrow and imprecise definition of the threshold level criteria required to prove environmental damage during armed conflict.

The Impact of Long-Term Fallowing on the Yield and Quality of Winter Rape and Winter and Spring Wheat

The proper fallowing of soil maintains or even improves its yield potential. The aim of this research was to compare five methods of soil protection with high production potential on the yield and quality of strategic plants. The tested methods consisted of five variants: bare fallow—BF; natural fallow—NF; fodder galega (Galega orientalis Lam.)—FG; a mixture of fodder galega (Galega orientalis Lam.) with smooth brome (Bromus inermis)—FG+SB; and smooth brome (Bromus inermis)—SB. The soil had been set aside for 9 years, after which time the fallows were terminated and the fields were cropped with winter oilseed rape, winter wheat, and spring wheat in three consecutive years. After the end of fallowing, the content of Nog. and Ctot., pH, and forms of available macro- and microelements in the soil were determined. The influence of each type of fallow on the yield of seeds/grain, straw, total protein, crude fat, and the content of macronutrients in the seeds/grain and straw of the grown crops was determined. Regarding the yields of the crops, the best solution was long-term soil protection via sowing fodder galega or a mixture of fodder galega and smooth brome. A field previously maintained as a fallow with these plants (singly or in combination) could produce over twice-as-high yields of wheat and oilseed rape as those harvested from a field established on bare fallow. The yields of the cereals and oilseed rape obtained in this study prove that food security and environmental protection issues can be reconciled. The methods for protecting farmland temporarily excluded from agricultural production presented in this paper correspond perfectly to the framework of the Green Deal for Europe. Arable land excluded from cultivation can be used to overcome new challenges facing modern agriculture.

Coastal states’ influence on the polar code: An empirical study of Russia and Canada

Climate change presents valuable opportunities for the development and utilization of Arctic passages. It is important to address maritime safety and environmental protection issues faced by ships navigating polar waters through appropriate regulation. The Polar Code is crucial in navigation safety guarantee and marine environmental protection in polar waters. Russia and Canada play a significant role in the negotiations of the Polar Code due to their respective actual control of the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage. How does Canada and Russia influence on the IMO's law-making related to the Arctic navigation? The study examines the proposals submitted by Russia and Canada during the negotiations of the Polar Code, explores the development paths of their proposals and adoption to clarify their functions vis-à-vis this issue. The study concludes that five factors affect the roles played by states in international law-making, namely the “5C” factors (chiefship, compatibility, combination, contribution, and circulation). This study aims to provide a reference for similar national practices in other states by summarizing the factors that influence decisions on Arctic navigation rules.

Identification of Coal and Gangue Using Visible-Near Infrared (Vis-NIR) Hyperspectral Imaging

Accurate and rapid identification of coal and gangue is a crucial issue for efficient resource utilization and environmental protection. In this study, visible and near infrared (Vis-NIR) hyperspectral imaging was used for the classification of coal and gangue. Principal component analysis was adopted to generate score scatter plots for differentiating specific grouping of samples. Competitive adaptive reweighted sampling and random frog (RF) were employed to screen out the effective wavelengths. Three models, partial least squares, a library for support vector machines, and back-propagation (BP) neural network were developed to identify coal and gangue using effective wavelengths and full spectra as inputs. The results showed that all models provided satisfactory identification rates of over 91.6%. The best performances emerged from BP neural network using effective wavelengths extracted by RF with identification accuracy of 100% in validation sets. It can be concluded that Vis-NIR hyperspectral imaging is a noninvasive analytical method with promising application prospects for coal and gangue identification.

Denitrification Technology and The Catalysts: A Review and Recent Advances

AbstractWith the acceleration of industrialization and the increasing prominence of environmental pollution problems, the emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the atmosphere has become a global concern. These emissions are not only hazardous to human health, but also one of the main factors leading to acid rain, photochemical smog and global climate change. Therefore, the development and implementation of efficient denitrification technologies are an important issue for environmental protection. The present review focuses on the research progress of the denitrification technology in the recent years, including the traditional denitrification methods and common technologies. At the same time, the advantages, limitations and application prospects of each method are analyzed. The mechanisms, influencing factors, advantages and disadvantages of the denitrification catalysts are also discussed. In addition, the future research trends and potential challenges of denitrification technology are discussed. It is expected that this review will provide useful references for promoting the development and application of denitrification technology, which may help researchers to choose high‐performance and cost‐effective methods.

Performance of eco-friendly soy protein adhesive reinforced by aldehyde sodium alginate

Faced with many challenges such as energy crisis and environmental protection issues, biomass soy protein-based adhesives for replacing aldehyde-based adhesives have gradually become one of the research hotspots for wood industry upgrading. However, soy protein-based adhesives still have many shortcomings. Low bonding strength, poor water resistance and high viscosity restrict their widespread industrial application. In this work, a modified soy protein isolate (SPI) based adhesive with strong water-resistant bonding strength and low viscosity was prepared. Oxidized sodium alginate (OSA) and calcium ions were employed in SPI adhesive system. Results showed that cross-linking between OSA, calcium ions and SPI occurred successfully. The mechanical properties of SPI were significantly improved. The dry and wet bond strengths were 2.05 MPa and 0.97 MPa, respectively, in 65.3 % and 49.2 % increments for comparison. The adhesive samples also showed a reduction in viscosity and an increase in thermal stability. It can be developed as a facile method for preparing bio-adhesives.

Determination of thermomechanical properties in recycled PLA filaments for 3D printers

In recent times, the issue of plastic recycling has become one of the leading issues of environmental protection and waste management. Polymer materials are found applied in many areas of daily life and industry. Along with their extended use, the problem of plastic waste appeared because, after withdrawal from use, they became persistent and noxious wastes. The possibility of reusing polymeric materials enables waste utilization to obtain consumable products. The 3D printing market is a well-growing sector. Printable filaments can be made from various thermoplastic materials, including those from recycling. This paper studies the thermal-mechanical properties of recycled polylactic acid (PLA) material filaments obtained from 3D-printed specimens. The analysis was first with the virgin filament (PLA N) and, subsequently, two recycling cycles (PLA 1 and PLA 2). There were thermal properties evaluations for the three processing types, as follows: differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and tensile test for both specimens and filaments. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) remained at their typical values. The same happened with the melting temperature (Tm). In the TGA, the PLA thermal stability remained constant. The FTIR presented the functional groups unaltered for the recycled samples. In the second filament recycling, the tensile strength decreased by 26%, and the maximum strain was 40%, compared to PLA N. The same occurred to PLA 2 specimens; the maximum stress and strain decreased by 45% and 31%, respectively. In terms of crystallinity, this presented a variation of 86% of the virgin material for the second recycling cycle, which correlated to tensile strength shows a weakness in the PLA recycled structure, decreasing the strain until the fracture and the tensile strength.

THE ESSENCE OF MIND STRATEGY IN THE RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE: HUMAN-NATURE-WISDOM UNITY

A systematic approach requires combining the knowledge of related subjects (e.g., natural sciences) into a whole and making conditions for the learners to research, draw conclusions, process abundant and diverse information, improve and change, complete their knowledge, i.e., eliminate common/traditional subject barriers, refuse narrow empiricism. The field of science education is wide, complex and diverse. It is not only the transmission of natural science knowledge but also ecological, environmental, antidrug, sexual, antinicotine education, healthy lifestyle training, etc. Today’s society is dealing with very relevant issues of nature protection, nature conservation, ecology, environmental protection, and other problems. All this requires a new approach from all of us, the efforts of various field specialists, eliminating all separating barriers. Global problems are a common concern for all of us. This is just because not a single problem is isolated from another, most of them are intertwined, fully determined, united in their nature. Therefore, knowing (clarifying) connections is complicated and hardly achievable. Their solution is possible only when they are comprehensively analysed by closely linking them together.

Research Progress in Microbial Degradation of Microplastics

The presence of microplastics is increasingly recognized as a major issue in environmental protection across the world, primarily as a result of their long-lasting nature and the potential harm they can inflict on ecosystems.Current methods for degrading microplastics include physical capture, chemical degradation and biological methods.Among them, microbial degradation has received much attention because it is economically feasible and environmentally friendly.This paper reviews the degrading microorganisms, microbial metabolites and microbial degradation mechanisms of three frequently utilized polymers, namely polyethylene, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate, and analyses the current problems of microbial degradation of microplastics, in order to provide ideas for the research on the development of microplastic-degrading enzyme preparations.

Study on efficient oil-containing wastewater purification with super-hydrophilic PVDF coating

The sustainable, low-energy, and cost-effective treatment of oily wastewater has become an important issue for aquatic ecosystems, environmental protection, and economic development. Improper treatment could have a significant impact on aquatic ecosystems, resulting in eutrophication and fish deaths. The method for preparing PVDF-CC by impregnation involves using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), chitosan, and sodium citrate. Moreover, these performance improvements can be achieved at a lower cost compared to using many other chemical agents in membrane processing.

Quantitative determination of Hexavalent chromium using a microtiter plate: Analytical performance, operational efficiency, and fixation of a colorimetric reagent in the plate wells

Efficient and sensitive trace determination of Cr(VI) in small sample volumes is an important issue for environmental protection and the sustainable development of industries. A microtiter plate and a microplate reader have been applied to the colorimetric determination of Cr(VI) using 1,5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC) as indicator, to realize an efficient method with low detection limits. The DPC reagent was fixed on the plate well and the time for color development was significantly reduced (<1 min) compared to conventional methods by using small volume reaction vessel which made it possible to perform determinations of Cr(VI) in a short period of time. The lower limit of quantification of 0.021 mg/L obtained with this method is better than that of the microplate method reported previously, and is comparable to general analytical methods with large sample volumes. In addition, when the chromogenic reagent is fixed to the plate with a water-soluble polymer, the lower limit of quantitation is comparable as that of the unfixed reagent. This results in improved instrument portability and more efficient analytical operations.

Ecosystem approaches in the practice of national enforcement

The article is devoted to current problems of ecology and enforcement. Ukraine is not a member of the EU, which makes it impossible to directly apply EU norms in national enforcement practice. However, having been ratified the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part is a full-fledged part of the national legal order, which outlines a range of key issues, in particular, the standards that appear before national legislation as a challenge to cooperation on environmental protection issues, and adaptation to EU legislation. The agreement envisages the strengthening of environmental protection activities through the improvement of the health care system, the preservation of natural resources, the improvement of economic and environmental protection efficiency, the integration of environmental policy into other areas of state policy, as well as the increase of the level of production thanks to modern technologies, which will have positive consequences for citizens and enterprises in Ukraine and the EU. As well as the issue of harmonization of legislation on environmental protection, including the implementation of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), which provides for the involvement of the public in the decision-making process on environmental issues and guarantees access to justice for person and public organizations when environmental legislation and/or provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights are violate.&#x0D; The need to analyze domestic judicial practice on environmental legal relations in various jurisdictions is extremely urgent. The application of international ratified documents, in particular the Aarhus Convention, is precisely the source of law that, firstly, opens wide public access to appeal procedures; secondly, it is the legal basis for resolving disputes about compensation for damage to the environment; thirdly, it makes impossible the limited interpretation of the current national legislation of Ukraine, regarding the right to appeal to the court for the protection of an interest protected by law in the sphere of guaranteeing environmental safety; fourthly, guarantees the right to appeal to the court of an unlimited number of persons (can be exercised by citizens personally or jointly through the association of citizens), and the resolution of disputed environmental-legal relations, i.e. those are public; fifth, guarantees the subject of the law access to the court without discrimination based on his actual location or actual center of activity; sixth, it affects the formation of established legal practice in environmental disputes.

Innovation under environmental constraints: Does corporate environmental responsibility matter in green innovation?

&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"&gt;When human civilization is thriving to the rapid economic and social development, the deteriorating ecological environment has also pressured the society to put environmental protection issues on the agenda future development. Therefore, green innovation is not merely a requirement for a corporate&amp;rsquo;s long-term development but the basics of sustainable development of human society. As an objective indicator to measure a company's commitment to social responsibility, corporate environmental responsibility has an extremely important impact on a corporate's business philosophy and innovation strategy. However, the existing literature rarely studies between these two variables. This paper collects the data of listed companies from 2010 to 2019 and empirically tests the impact of corporate environmental responsibility on corporate green innovation. The study finds that corporate environmental responsibility can promote green innovation by reducing financing constraints, improving corporate governance and increasing government subsidies and R&amp;amp;D investment, and the result is still significant under a series of robustness checks. The placebo test suggests that the Jiangsu enterprise responsibility construction pilot has facilitated the development of enterprises' green innovation to a great extent. The conclusions enrich existing literature on corporate environmental responsibility and corporate green innovation, providing implications for government policy orientation, social atmosphere guidance and corporate strategic decision-making process.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

A sustainable dynamic optimization model of pricing and advertising in the presence of green innovation investment

Due to the increasing greenhouse effect and global warming, ecological and environmental protection issues are growing tremendously. The Paris Agreement and other international agreements have been enacted to slow down the increase in carbon emissions to prevent it from degrading the ecosystem. With the increasing consumer awareness of environmental protection and environmental regulatory pressures, firms must integrate carbon emissions concerns into decision-making. This paper analyzes a joint dynamic pricing, green innovation investment, and advertising model under the cap-and-price mechanism. The demand rate is multiplicatively related to the selling price and goodwill. The profit-maximizing problem is considered over an infinite horizon. Specifically, we assume that the stock of goodwill grows with green innovation and advertising efforts but depreciates by a constant proportion each period. Numerous theoretical results have been established to expand our comprehension of the problem. Moreover, we present several explications corresponding to these structural properties, characterizing the effects of critical parameters on optimal decisions. Finally, some numerical illustrations and explanations of the concepts of sensitivity analysis are presented to obtain managerial insights, followed by concluding remarks and future research.

Design standards for environmentally friendly and energy-efficient buildings

The relevance of the work. In modern society, the problem of reducing the consumption of primary energy is becoming more acute. Scientists around the world are solving problems related to global energy efficiency. At the same time, issues of environmental protection, reducing energy costs, ensuring energy security and many others are considered. Construction, as one of the largest energy consumers on the planet, cannot stay away from this problem. The search for energy-efficient solutions in construction has been going on for a long time. However, at the same time, the main attention is paid to the engineering equipment of construction objects and the creation of shells impermeable from a heat engineering point of view. In the context of the gradual exhaustion of opportunities for further improving energy efficiency in construction using traditional methods, this work aims to draw attention to the influence of the constructive solution of buildings on their energy consumption. It can be assumed that the optimization of the supporting structures of buildings will become a new driver for the development of the energy efficiency of buildings and structures.

Dynamics of green finance in the Russian Federation

Against the backdrop of the growing importance of sustainable development and environmental protection issues, the urgent need to increase the share of “green” investments in the financing of investment projects is substantiated. The study proposes to pay special attention to the formation of a solid regulatory framework in the field of green finance. The proposal includes the development of a strategy and concept for the development of green financing, as well as a law that would establish an effective mechanism for the implementation of green financing, taking into account the peculiarities of Russian reality. This mechanism should make private investment more attractive for financing projects and contribute to the creation of a set of measures, including ways to reduce the financial burden on the federal budget and the budgets of the Russian Federation constituent entities. We come to the conclusion that Russia should take into account global experience and practices in the field of green financing, as well as stimulate the introduction of concession agreements and public-private partnerships. The introduction of “green” financing will contribute to the preservation of natural resources and their further increase, which will allow the creation of innovative products, promote the development of scientific and technological progress, and also preserve the health of the nation, since products made in “green” financing projects are environmentally friendly.

Research on Legal Issues of Environmental Protection of Antarctic Tourism

Research on Legal Issues of Environmental Protection of Antarctic Tourism

Značaj strateškog pristupa evropske unije za napredak u ostvarivanju ciljeva održivog razvoja

Sustainable development is a process with continuous changes in the relationships between social, economic, and natural systems and processes. This is a long-term process and requires carefully guided and gradual development policies, as the complex challenges faced by humanity on a global level. Some of the contemporary challenges of sustainable development include: raising the level of ecological awareness of people, increasing responsibility, applying economic instruments and innovative solutions to environmental protection issues, etc. Therefore, a strategic approach to sustainable development and environmental protection is necessary. By studying initiatives and achieved results that the EU has aimed in the previous period, viewed through the prism of sustainability, climate action, and the fight against poverty, this paper highlights significant steps that the EU has taken in these key areas, but also key challenges in the future. The paper employs statistical data analysis from the Sustainable Development Goals Report to assess the ten-year progress of EU countries. The obtained results indicate that all EU-27 have shown an increase in the Sustainable Development Index in the period 2012/2022. Based on the analysis of achieved results, the aim of the paper is to highlight significant successes, but also to identify areas where additional efforts should be invested and attention should be directed in future EU sustainable initiatives.