1. |
-
- 2019
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)
|
|
2. |
|
|
3. |
- Yu, Changxun, et al.
(author)
-
Effect of weathering on abundance and release of potentially toxic elements in soils developed on Lower Cambrian black shales, P. R. China
- 2012
-
In: Environmental Geochemistry and Health. - : Springer. - 0269-4042 .- 1573-2983. ; 34:3, s. 375-390
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper examines the geochemical features of 8 soil profiles developed on metalliferous black shales distributed in the central parts of the South China black shale horizon. The concentrations of 21 trace elements and 8 major elements were determined using ICP-MS and XRF, respectively, and weathering intensity (W) was calculated according to a new technique recently proposed in the literature. The data showed that the black shale soils inherited a heterogeneous geochemical character from their parent materials. A partial least square regression model and EFbedrock (enrichment factor normalized to underlying bedrock) indicated that W was not a major control in the redistribution of trace metals. Barium, Sn, Cu, V, and U tended to be leached in the upper soil horizons and trapped by Al and Fe oxides, whereas Sb, Cd, and Mo with negative EF values across the whole profiles may have been leached out during the first stage of pedogenesis (mainly weathering of black shale). Compared with the Chinese average soils, the soils were strongly enriched in the potentially toxic metals Mo, Cd, Sb, Sn, U, V, Cu, and Ba, among which the 5 first listed were enriched to the highest degrees. Elevated concentrations of these toxic metals can have a long-term negative effect on human health, in particular, the soils in mining areas dominated by strongly acidic conditions. As a whole, the black shale soils have much in common with acid sulfate soils. Therefore, black shale soils together with acid sulfate soils deserve more attention in the context of metal exposure and human health.
|
|
4. |
- Ali, Asad, et al.
(author)
-
Gram-scale production of in-situ generated iron carbide nanoparticles encapsulated via nitrogen and phosphorous co-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes for oxygen evolution reaction
- 2023
-
In: Materials Science for Energy Technologies. - : Elsevier. - 2589-2991. ; 6, s. 301-309
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optimizing electrocatalytic activity and recognizing the most reactive sites for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts are valuable to the order of renewable power. In this research article, we explored an innovative in-situ annealing technique for constructing iron carbide nanoparticles (Fe3C NPs) encapsulated via nitrogen and phosphorous doped bamboo-shape carbon nanotubes (NP-CNTs) for OER. Interestingly, the constructed Fe3C NPs@NP-CNT-800 composite exhibited remarkable electrochemical operation and offered a stable current density of 10 mA/cm2 at a lower overpotential (280 mV) in an alkaline solution. Furthermore, an innovative Fe3C NPs@N,P-CNT-800 hybrid surpassed the standard RuO2 electrocatalyst in terms of OER performance and showed negligible degradation in chronoamperometric (21 h) and chronopotentiometry (3000 cycles) analyses. The remarkable performance and stability are ascribed to the Fe3C NPs, novel tubular bamboo-like morphology of its carbon materials, and heteroatom doping, which contribute to the electrochemical interfaces, large surface area, active catalytic sites, and rapid charge transfer kinetics.
|
|
5. |
|
|
6. |
- Andrady, Anthony, et al.
(author)
-
Environmental effects of ozone depletion and its interaction with climate change: Progress report 2007
- 2008
-
In: Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1474-9092 .- 1474-905X. ; 7:1, s. 15-27
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This year theMontreal Protocol celebrates its 20th Anniversary. In September 1987, 24 countries signed the ‘Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer’. Today 191 countries have signed and have met strict commitments on phasing out of ozone depleting substances with the result that a 95% reduction of these substances has been achieved. The Montreal Protocol has also contributed to slowing the rate of global climate change, since most of the ozone depleting substances are also effective greenhouse gases. Even though much has been achieved, the future of the stratospheric ozone layer relies on full compliance of the Montreal Protocol by all countries for the remaining substances, including methyl bromide, as well as strict monitoring of potential risks from the production of substitute chemicals. Also the ozone depleting substances existing in banks and equipment need special attention to prevent their release to the stratosphere. Since many of the ozone depleting substances already in the atmosphere are long-lived, recovery cannot be immediate and present projections estimate a return to pre-1980 levels by 2050 to 2075. It has also been predicted that the interactions of the effects of the ozone layer and that of other climate change factors will become increasingly important.
|
|
7. |
- Andrady, Anthony, et al.
(author)
-
Environmental effects of ozone depletion and its interactions with climate
- 2009
-
In: Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. - 1474-9092. ; 8:1, s. 13-22
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- After the enthusiastic celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 2007, the work for the protection of the ozone layer continues. The Environmental Effects Assessment Panel is one of the three expert panels within theMontreal Protocol. This “EEAP” deals with the increase of the UV irradiance on the Earth’s surface and its effects on human health, animals, plants, biogeochemistry, air quality and materials. For the past few years, interactions of ozone depletion with climate change have also been considered. It has become clear that the environmental problems will be long-lasting. In spite of the fact that the worldwide production of ozone depleting chemicals has already been reduced by 95%, the environmental disturbances are expected to persist for about the next half a century, even if the protective work is actively continued, and completed. The latest full report was published in Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2007, 6, 201–332, and the last progress report in Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2008, 7, 15–27. The next full report on environmental effects is scheduled for the year 2010. The present progress report 2008 is one of the short interim reports, appearing annually.
|
|
8. |
- Chen, Shouzhi, et al.
(author)
-
Informing the SWAT model with remote sensing detected vegetation phenology for improved modeling of ecohydrological processes
- 2023
-
In: Journal of Hydrology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-1694. ; 616
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model has been widely applied for simulating the water cycle and quantifying the influence of climate change and anthropogenic activities on hydrological processes. A major uncertainty of SWAT stems from the poor representation of vegetation dynamics due to the use of a simplistic vegetation growth and development module. Using long-term remote sensing-based phenological data, the SWAT model's vegetation module was improved by adding a dynamic growth start date and the dynamic heat requirement for vegetation growth rather than using constant values. The new SWAT model was verified in the Han River basin, China, and found its performance was much improved in comparison with that of the original SWAT model. Specifically, the accuracy of the leaf area index (LAI) simulation improved notably (coefficient of determination (R2) increased by 0.193, Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) increased by 0.846, and percent bias decreased by 42.18 %), and that of runoff simulation improved modestly (R2 increased by 0.05 and NSE was similar). Additionally, it is found that the original SWAT model substantially underestimated evapotranspiration (Penman-Monteith method) in comparison with the new SWAT model (65.09 mm (or 22.17 %) for forests, 92.27 mm (or 32 %) for orchards, and 96.16 mm (or 36.4 %) for farmland), primarily due to the inaccurate representation of LAI dynamics. Our results suggest that an accurate representation of phenological dates in the vegetation growth module is important for improving the SWAT model performance in terms of estimating terrestrial water and energy balance.
|
|
9. |
- Chen, Shouzhi, et al.
(author)
-
Vegetation phenology and its ecohydrological implications from individual to global scales
- 2022
-
In: Geography and Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 2096-7438 .- 2666-6839. ; 3:4, s. 334-338
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Earth is experiencing unprecedented climate change. Vegetation phenology has already showed strong response to the global warming, which alters mass and energy fluxes on terrestrial ecosystems. With technology and method developments in remote sensing, computer science and citizen science, many recent phenology-related studies have been focused on macrophenology. In this perspective, we 1) reviewed the responses of vegetation phenology to climate change and its impacts on carbon cycling, and reported that the effect of shifted phenology on the terrestrial carbon fluxes is substantially different between spring and autumn; 2) elaborated how vegetation phenology affects ecohydrological processes at different scales, and further listed the key issues for each scale, i.e., focusing on seasonal effect, local feedbacks and regional vapor transport for individual, watershed and global respectively); 3) envisioned the potentials to improve current hydrological models by coupling vegetation phenology-related processes, in combining with machine learning, deep learning and scale transformation methods. We propose that comprehensive understanding of climate-macrophenology-hydrology interactions are essential and urgently needed for enhancing our understanding of the ecosystem response and its role in hydrological cycle under future climate change.
|
|
10. |
- Fa, Wenxin, et al.
(author)
-
Associations of Blood Absolute Neutrophil Count and Cytokines With Cognitive Function in Dementia-Free Participants : A Population-Based Cohort Study
- 2023
-
In: The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. - 1079-5006 .- 1758-535X.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The relationships of neutrophils and cytokines with cognitive dysfunction are poorly defined. We aimed to investigate the association of peripheral blood absolute neutrophil count (ANC) with cognitive function in older adults and to further explore the mediating role of serum cytokines in this association.Methods: This population-based cohort study included 1 666 dementia-free participants (age ≥60 years) derived from baseline examinations (March–September 2018) of the Multimodal Intervention to Delay Dementia and Disability in Rural China (MIND-China); of these, 1 087 participants completed follow-up examinations in October–December 2019. We used a neuropsychological test battery to assess episodic memory, verbal fluency, attention, and executive function at the baseline and follow-up examinations. We used Mindray BC-6800 automated hematology analyzer to measure ANC and Meso Scale Discovery to measure serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and eotaxin-3.Results: The linear regression analysis of cross-sectional data at baseline (n = 1 666) suggested that increased ANC was significantly associated with a lower episodic memory z score (β coefficient: −0.149, 95% CI: −0.274 to −0.023) and lower long-delayed free recall z score (−0.216, −0.361 to −0.070). Serum IL-6 and eotaxin-3 could mediate 16.16% to 20.21% and 7.55% to 9.35%, respectively, of these associations. The analysis of longitudinal data (n = 1 087) showed a J-shaped relationship of ANC with decline in episodic memory z score (p for nonlinear = .049), and a U-shaped relationship between ANC and decline in long-delayed free recall z score (p for nonlinear = .043).Conclusions: Increased neutrophils are associated with poor cognitive performance and accelerated decline in episodic memory, and the cross-sectional association is partly mediated by serum cytokines.
|
|