Hatchergylling5432

Vegetation dynamics is an important aspect for determining climate change trends. The present study delineates to examine spatiotemporal changes of vegetation cover in Pindari valley (Kumaun Himalaya) from the 1972 to 2018 timeline. The study includes the calculation of vegetation spectral indices of normalized vegetation index (NDVI), extraction of different vegetation classes, and statistical analysis of the Mann-Kendall (MK) test on historical metrological data (especially precipitation and temperature) of the study site. For the statistical analysis of metrological data, the power data access viewer datasets have been used. The central feature classes of the study are grassland, scrubland, and forest cover. The results revealed that the region's forest cover significantly decreased by 24.74 sq. km from 1972 to 2018, increased in grassland cover by 17.84 sq. km, respectively, and a slight increase in scrubland class by 3.13 sq. km for the study period. The calculated NDVI shows significant changes over the study location; it has been noticed that the maximum values of the NDVI decreased by 0.24, and the minimum values show growth of about 0.047. The analysis indicates that climatic parameters such as precipitation and temperature are the main limiting factors affecting vegetation growth. The annual mean maximum temperature showed a decreasing trend. The estimated results show an increase in annual rainfall and annual minimum temperature, while the decreasing trend is observed in the case of maximum annual temperature. Objectives of the study are (1) spatiotemporal analysis of the vegetation cover, (2) identification of the main causes of change in the vegetation cover, and (3) statistical trend analysis of long-term metrological data. The outcome of the presented research work would be beneficial for the proper management and monitoring of the forest ecosystem.Pistacia atlantica Desf. (Beneh) is an important woody species that has been facing significant challenges to its natural regeneration and reforestation in Iran. This study investigates the interaction of soil moisture and shade on growth, chemical contents, and morphological and physiological characteristics of Beneh saplings. One-year-old Beneh saplings were treated with varying amounts of soil moisture (20, 50, and 100% of field capacity) and shade (0, 30, and 50% of full sunlight) in a split-plot experiment of a randomized complete block design in semiarid conditions of the Alborz Research Station of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (RIFR) in Iran. The results indicate that soil moisture significantly affects the water content of the leaf, total chlorophyll, proline content, activity of catalase enzyme, leaf dry biomass, leaflet area, and dry stem biomass in the leaf. Shade significantly affected total chlorophyll, catalase enzyme activity, specific leaflet area, relative water content of the leaf, proline content, dry root biomass, and leaflet area. The interaction of shade and soil moisture significantly affected seedling height, catalase enzyme activity, specific leaflet area, and nitrogen and potassium content of the leaf. Shade moderates the stress of drought on Beneh saplings, but shading of Beneh saplings is not recommended in conditions where there is no concern about soil moisture. These conclusions can be used to improve the production of Beneh saplings in nurseries.The profitability of electric heating projects in Northern China is poor. A kind of combined market-oriented trading strategy to improve the economy of electric heating projects is put forward. The price game model for direct power purchase, compensation model for carbon emission reduction benefits and load aggregation revenue model are constructed, and the optimal proportion of clean energy and conventional energy consumed under the condition of ensuring heating reliability is analyzed. An electric heating project was analyzed as an example, the results showed that in the direct power purchase transaction, the power price is 0.2125 RMB/kWh, which is 0.0591 RMB/kWh lower than the catalogue tariff. Revenue from carbon trading and auxiliary service transaction is 469,913.87 RMB and 289,218.09 RMB, respectively, which is equivalent to reducing electricity cost of 0.0253 RMB/kWh and 0.0156 RMB/kWh, respectively. The ultimate power cost is 0.1716RMB/kWh, which is 0.1 RMB/kWh lower than the current catalogue tariff. Besides, the more clean energy an electric heating project consumes, the better its economy will be, and in this example, the best proportion of clean energy and conventional energy is 80% and 20%. The research results could help to promote the sustainable development of clean heating in northern China.Climate change discourse integrates 3Ps - people, planet, and profit. However, we do not find any empirical study that integrates 3Ps. Therefore, using a large global panel dataset from 46 countries, this study intends to fill this gap by providing empirical evidence about investors' value proposition of corporate climate performance in different cultural environments. The results show that Hofstede's cultural dimensions affect corporate climate performance and its market pricing. We find that in cultures with high power distance, low individualism, high masculinity, high uncertainty avoidance, high long-term orientation, and high restraint, the investors generally penalize the firms disclosing higher environmental performance. Strangely enough, corporate waste production is universally value irrelevant. Our results indicate some policy implications.The presence of emerging contaminants (ECs) originating from pharmaceutical waste in water, wastewater, and marine ecosystems at various geographical locations has been clearly publicised. This review paper presents an overview of current monitoring data on the occurrences and distributions of ECs in coastal ecosystem, tap water, surface water, ground water, treated sewage effluents, and other sources. Technological advancements for EC removal are also presented, which include physical, chemical, biological, and hybrid treatments. Adsorption remains the most effective method to remove ECs from water bodies. Various types of adsorbents, such as activated carbons, biochars, nanoadsorbents (carbon nanotubes and graphene), ordered mesoporous carbons, molecular imprinting polymers, clays, zeolites, and metal-organic frameworks have been extensively used for removing ECs from water sources and wastewater. Extensive findings on adsorptive performances, process efficiency, reusability properties, and other related information are thoroughly discussed in this mini review.Monitoring of groundwater is essential in the alluvial region of Tarn-Taran district, western Punjab, India where this freshwater source is being overexploited causing quality deterioration, groundwater depletion and posing serious threats to inhabitants. The present integrated study was conducted to appraise quality and suitability of groundwater for drinking/irrigation purposes, hydro-geochemical characteristics, source identification and associated health risks. In this study, 96% and 51% samples were detected with arsenic (As) and uranium (U), respectively higher than their acceptable limits posing high cancerous risks to local inhabitants via ingestion. Further, the quality indices revealed that groundwater of the study region is appropriate for irrigation but not suitable for drinking purposes. Hydro-geochemical studies showed that 83% of samples belonged to Ca2+-Mg2+-HCO3- type with major contribution of natural geogenic processes like rock-water interactions, silicate and carbonate dissolution along with reverse ion-exchange mechanisms in aquifer chemistry. Multivariate statistics revealed that along with geogenic sources, contribution of anthropogenic activities such as injudicious application of agrochemicals and domestic waste discharge was also very significant. Hazard quotient values for As were found to be 2.119 and 2.743 for children and adults, respectively representing both population groups prone to non-cancerous health risks due to As intake. Children were found to be more vulnerable than adults. This study draws an attention of public and local government about the current status of groundwater pollution in Tarn-Taran district, so that proper remediation steps can be taken to ensure the availability of good quality water.Land resources are indispensable for the development of a country, especially for a country such as China with a very high population relative to its land area. Since reforms were introduced and liberalization was adopted, many policies have been promulgated for the protection and utilization of land resources. In the present study, more than 2000 land policies that have been formulated and promulgated in China from 1980 to 2019 were examined and statistically analyzed to qualitatively and quantitatively introduce the evolution of these policies in China. This paper mainly studies land policy of China from three perspectives as follows policy intensity, policy tools, and policy targets, and three principal observations emerged from these investigations. First, during the past 40 years, the quantity of land policies introduced showed an increasing trend, while policy intensity became increasingly stabilized. Second, compared with regulatory policies and stimulative policies, it seems that China prefers to adopt guiding policies to manage land resources. Third, the main purpose of land policies issued during 1980-2019 is land market regulation, with subordinate policies for land resources protection.Pterygium, one of the most common eye disorders, is an abnormal fibrovascular proliferation extending from the conjunctiva to the cornea. The mechanism of development in pterygium has not been fully elucidated; however, oxidative stress is suggested to be one of the major causes. Heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) enter the human body and induce oxidative stress. However, no study has investigated the association of these heavy metals with pterygium. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the associations of environmental exposures to Pb, Cd, and Hg with pterygium in the Korean general adults. We analyzed data from 6,587 adults (≥ 20 years of age) who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008-2011. Pterygium was diagnosed as the presence of a wing-shaped fibrovascular growth. The exposures of Pb, Cd, and Hg were estimated by measuring blood concentrations. The prevalence of pterygium in this study population was 4.0% (348 subjects). After adjusting for potential confounders, the Pb level in blood was found to have a significant dose-dependent association with pterygium (p for trend = 0.001), and its highest quintile (vs. the lowest) had an odds ratio (OR) of 2.22 (95% CI 1.30, 3.78) for pterygium. The Hg level in blood in the second quintile (vs. the lowest) had an OR of 1.64 (95% CI 1.04, 2.59) for pterygium. In conclusion, this study suggests that environmental exposures to Pb and Hg in the Korean general adults may be related to the development of pterygium.Strict environmental regulations may change the behavioral decisions of firms. Based on the exogenous impact of the Chinese Central Government's inclusion of environmental performance in the assessment targets of municipal officials in 2007, this study uses the difference-in-difference method to explore the impact of environmental regulations on employee income. We find that (1) environmental regulations will significantly reduce the average wage level of employees in polluting industries and have no significant impact in nonpolluting industries. (2) This effect is more pronounced in eastern China, where environmental regulations are more stringent, and in areas where political promotion incentives are stronger. (3) Mechanistic analysis finds that environmental regulations will affect employee income by increasing costs and constraining financing. (4) More importantly, we find that the decline in the average wage level of firms is mainly due to the decline in the average wage level of ordinary employees, and the average wage level of management has not decreased significantly, which means that environmental regulations have expanded the functional income distribution.