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China is the largest paper producer and consumer in the world. However, China's paper industry is inefficient in its consumption of natural resources. Whereas the proportion of wood pulp used by the paper industry in developed countries is up to 63%, the corresponding figure for China is only 23%, leading to high energy and water consumption and severe environmental pollution. This article presents a systematic risk analysis using life cycle assessment and carbon footprint calculation associated with China's straw-pulp and wood-pulp paper industries. Risk prevention measures are proposed based on the results of this analysis. The study has important ramifications for the sustainable development of China's paper industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author discusses the Papers of Year 2010 award, in which the board of directors of the journal "Human and Ecological Risk Assessment" (HERA) selected several risk management papers. He says that the degree of contribution to the field of risk assessment and the overall quality of writing were the twofold categories. He lists several nominated papers written by various researchers and scientists according to its criteria including one from Mark A. Harwell, Niall O'Brien, and David L. Olson.

The article announces several awards for the "Human and Ecological Risk Assessment" (HERA)'s Papers of Year 2011 including one on the ecological risk assessments of inorganic metals and metalloids by F. Wang and colleagues under Ecological Risk Assessment category, another one on genetically modified (GM) food by Melanie Connor and Michael Siegrist under Risk Communication/Perception, and earthquakes and risk management in China by D. L. Olson and D. D. Wu under Risk Management.

In this article the author discusses the paper of doctor Adam Finkel regarding the solution focused risk assessment (SFRA). He states that Finkel addressed the need to be prepared or used risk assessments in different manner. He relates that Finkel indicates the need of scientists to change their timing on when the risk management solutions must be considered by the risk assessors. He mentions that the proposal of Finkel has emphasized on the possible solutions.

In 1985, senior officials in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) determined that the department should develop policies and procedures on risk assessment and risk management. In considerable measure, the officials were concerned that advances in the areas of risk assessment and risk management at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) might wash over into DHHS. Moreover, environmental health leaders in DHHS were concerned that risk assessment procedures might somehow impugn the conventional hazard evaluation and response mechanisms that characterized traditional public health approaches. As the result of these concerns, the Secretary of DHHS requested that a risk assessment/risk management policy document be developed that could be used throughout the department. This essay describes how the DHHS White Paper was developed (using the National Research Council's report Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process, known as the "Red Book," as its primary platform), some of its key content, and its eventual euthanized demise as a document of utility. Key Words: risk assessment; risk management; CCERP; DHHS; Red Book; EPA; CDC; FDA; NIH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of pesticides in agriculture has raised concerns due to their potential impact on human, animal and ecosystem health. Within a collaborative research framework, a study was co-constructed between researchers and local stakeholders in rural communities of Nan province (Thailand) to assess pesticide exposure levels. A total of 1,023 human serum samples were collected from volunteer participants. The level of exposure to organophosphate compounds showed that 12 (1.1%) and 134 (13%) individuals had hazardous or risky conditions, respectively. Generalized linear modeling revealed that age (older participants), chemical usage (spraying pesticide), habitat landscape characteristics (i.e., villages surrounded by orchard, forest, teak, rubber and rain-fed rice) and soil erosion appeared significant factors to explain the level of exposure. In addition, domestic animals (dogs and cattle) and wildlife (rodents and fishes) living in the vicinity were also assessed for their level of exposure. Applying the One Health principle helps understand pesticide exposure in people, domestic animals and wildlife by linking environmental characteristics at the local scale and thereby developing appropriate policies and regulations to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of groundwater is essential for agriculture, households, and industry. Concerns about its sustainability have been raised due to depletion and pollution in various parts of China. To address this, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is the most suitable approach for implementing integrated sustainability in groundwater resources. This research aimed to investigate the LCA of groundwater in China by analyzing its economic, environmental, and social sustainability based on various research papers conducted between 1999 and 2022, providing insights into the current state of research and suggesting sustainable measures for safeguarding groundwater resources in specific regions and industries in China. The study indicates that specific sector-wise measures should be taken to ensure sustainable groundwater protection in China. Intercropping and drip irrigation systems can be sustainable and effective methods for protecting groundwater in the agricultural sector. New power plants should be constructed in the water-rich southern regions, and long-term water-saving measures should be implemented in China's coal mining industry. All water resources should be integrated into the regional water supply system to reduce dependence on groundwater. Furthermore, more research is needed to investigate all elements of sustainable development in provinces that consume high amounts of groundwater but have limited storage capacity. These recommendations can be helpful to policymakers in promoting the sustainable development of groundwater resources in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the need for the U.S. government to establish disaster prevention strategies at all levels of responsibility. To address this issue, the Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) hosted the 3rd International Conference on Risk Analysis and Crisis Response (RACR) on May 22-25, 2011. The main goal of the forum is to provide latest approaches to risk analysis and crisis response.

The article announces the selection of the Papers of the Year for 2007 for papers published in the journal "Human and Ecological Risk Assessment." Some of the papers listed include "Conceptual Model Developments for Invasive Species and a Regional Risk Assessment Case Study: The European Green Crab, Carcinus maenas, at Cherry Point, Washington," by A. M. Colnar and W. G. Landis, "An Assessment of Risk from Particulate Released from Outdoor Wood Boilers," by D. R. Brown, B. G. Callahan, and A. L. Boissevain, and "An Assessment of Integrated Risk Assessment," by T. Vermeire, W. R. Munns Jr., J. Sekizawa, G. Suter, and G. Van der Kraak.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including disaster prediction and risk assessment, crop risk insurance, and Variable Fuzzy Set Assessment Model to assess water shortage risks in Yangtze River Delta, China.

The article announces awards for Papers of the Year for 2006 in this Journal. Included are James Meador, for "Rationale and procedures for using the tissue-residue approach for toxicity assessment and determination of tissue, water, and sediment quality guidelines for aquatic organisms." HERA 12:1018-73 and also DW Pennington, M Margni, J Payet, and O Jolliet for "Risk and regulatory hazard based toxicological effect Indicators in life cycle assessment (LCA). HERA 12:450-75

An introduction is presented in which the editors announce the selection of the Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA) Papers of the Year 2012 including Ecological Risk Assessment Paper of the Year, Human Health Risk Assessment Paper of the Year, and Risk Management Paper of the Year.

The article presents information on various papers on environment risk assessment, published in the periodical in 2004. Selection of papers of the year begins with the Editorial Board. This group of distinguished scientists and risk assessment professionals nominated papers for consideration. Two senior editors for human health and ecological risk assessment pared the list of nominated papers to two within each category, human risk assessment, ecological risk assessment and integration of human and ecological risk

The article announces the research papers included in the Paper of Year 2005 awards selected by the editorial board of the periodical, "Human and Ecological Risk Assessment." The research paper entitled "An Integrated Case Study for Evaluating the Impacts of an Oil Refinery Effluent on Aquatic Biota in the Delaware River," by Lenwood Hall Jr. and Dennis T. Burton won the Ecological Risk Assessment Paper of Year 2005. The Integration of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment Paper of Year 2005 award went to the research written by Jerald L. Schnoor entitled "Global Warming: A Consequence of Human Activities Rivaling Earth’s Biogeochemical Processes."

The article lists the scientists and papers for the Paper of Year 2009 published in the journal "Human and Ecological Risk Assessment" which includes the Ecological Risk Assessment Paper from Mark G. Carls and James P. Meador, Human Risk Assessment Paper from Margot T. Brown and Brenda Foos, and the Risk Communication Paper from Natalia Rodionova and Etienne Mullet.

The article discusses the academic papers that were awarded the distinction of Papers of Year 2008, including "A Novel Approach to Determining a Population-Level Threshold in Ecological Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Zinc," by Masashi Kamo and Wataru Natio, "Probabilistic Analysis of Human Health Risks Associated with Background Concentrations of Inorganic Arsenic: Use of a Margin of Exposure Approach," by Catherine Petito Boyce, Ari S. Lewis, Sonja N. Sax, Michael Eldan, Samuel M. Cohen, and Barbara D. Back, and "The Use of Probabilistic Analysis to Improve Decision-Making in Environmental Regulation in a Developing Context: The Case of Arsenic Regulation in Chile," by R. O'Ryan and M. Diaz.

Potential health concerns from cooking with natural gas appliances include short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Published, one-hour concentrations measured in a few kitchens during simulated cooking events have been cited as justification for moving to electric alternatives by certain advocates. These estimates, however, are not believed to adequately represent typical potential exposure concentrations. In this paper, the various challenges in evaluating potential exposures based on measured indoor air concentrations of NO2 associated with cooking are identified and discussed. These include the lack of standards for indoor air in the U.S., the relatively short duration of cooking activities, and the likelihood of bias in indoor NO2 measurements due to the instrument response to other nitrogen-containing compounds. Correction factors for making more meaningful comparisons are suggested, including correction for duration of cooking time and correction for presence of nitrous acid (HONO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the economy, the impact of light pollution on human life has become increasingly serious. For a long time, people have only paid attention to the positive effects of light, while ignoring the harmful consequences of light pollution. In order to evaluate the degree of light pollution in the region, this research paper has presented the multilevel evaluation model of light pollution (MELP) model. First, the MELP model selected 14 generally applicable indicators, and these indicators are easy to obtain. Second, the MELP model considered the correlation between indicators and utilizes analytic hierarchy process-entropy weight method (AHP-EWM) to determine the weight of indicators. Third, the normal cumulative distribution-Monte Carlo method was used to simulate regional light pollution data. Finally, based on the TOPSIS scoring results, the severity of light pollution was categorized into three levels: slight pollution (I–III), moderate pollution (IV–VI), and severe pollution (VII–IX). A study case is Chengdu City, Southwest China. According to the results of the MELP model, the light pollution level of Chengdu is VIII, which belongs to severe pollution. This study aimed to investigate and reduce the impact of light pollution on humans and the environment, and it can also provide a reference for similar studies around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the sustainability goals, how to promote the integration of port resources and reduce the ecological risks is important for the water transportation industry. Port cities in Jiangsu Province, a major coastal area in China, face a huge risk of resource waste. This paper aims to take Jiangsu as an example, understand the evolution of the spatial structure and the evolution of the water transportation industry, and explore the factors affecting development from the perspective of low-carbon development. Based on ArcGIS and multi-source data, methods such as Standard Deviation Ellipse (SDE) were used to understand the evolution, and the factors influencing the evolution at different stages were explored based on the green total factors such as industrial pollutions. It shows that the scale of the water transportation is expanding, but the industrial upgrading is not realized and has multiple agglomeration cores. The evolution was initially more affected by non-interventional factors such as geographical environment, while later the influence weakened significantly. The disordered development of water transportation industry has been worsening the current inefficient industrial structure and environmental risks. Further integration of industrial structure is needed, and strong administrative means are needed to help tap the unrealized spatial potential of resource integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because there is some contamination of practically every body of water, risk analysis is important to determine diving exposure standards to pollutants, including requirements for protective equipment. In the following study we attempt to determine the increased risk of cancer in Israeli Naval divers exposed to pollutants in the Kishon River system. We calculated two risks, one using maximally recorded levels of pollutants outside the diving areas (worst-case scenario), and the other using maximally recorded levels in the actual diving areas. For both calculations we used conservative assumptions for exposure (2500 exposure hours with 50% of body covered with sediment), and a synergistic risk model. We considered all chemicals that were carcinogenic by inhalation also to be carcinogenic by oral and dermal absorption. The relative risk was 1.13 for the worst-case scenario, and 1.004 for exposures in actual diving areas. We conclude that it is unlikely that exposure to the polluted Kishon River waters can cause a detectable increase in cancer risk in Israeli Navy divers. This study has implications for professional divers exposed to polluted waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ship recycling process is one of the most dangerous works performed in marine environments for not only human health but also marine environment and ecology due to the nature of the work. The process contains various hazards such as asbestos, heavy metal residues, pollutants, etc. for the marine environment. The aim of this paper is to systematically analyze ship recycling hazards and reveal potential consequences to the marine environment. To achieve this purpose, a holistic risk assessment incorporating failure mode effect critical analysis (FMECA) and Dempster–Shafer (D–S) evidence theory is adopted. Whilst the FMECA presents a systematic assessment of potential hazards and their consequences, the D–S evidence theory is capable of managing epistemic uncertainty in the assessment of risk parameters. The findings show that H6 (heavy metal residues) and H8 (toxins) have the highest RPN (risk priority number) which requires utmost attention for a sustainable ship recycling process in the maritime environment. The outcomes of the research provide valuable insight to maritime environment researchers, safety inspectors, and health safety environment and quality (HSEQ) managers for minimizing environmental hazards and enhance safety associated with the ship recycling process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various topics within the issue including innovative technology, internet of intelligences (IOI), and serving for risk analysis online; addressing the risks posed by climate change on food security; and disaster risk analysis.

Editors of the journal Human and Ecological Risk Assessment are pleased to announce the selection of Papers of Year 2003. Selection of papers of the year commences with Human and Ecological Risk Assessment Editorial Board. This group of distinguished scientists and risk assessment professionals nominates papers for consideration. Ecological Risk Assessment Paper of Year 2003 has been awarded to Peter M. Chapman, Feiyue Wang, Cohn R. Janssen, Richard R. Goulet, and Collins N. Kamunde for their research paper "Conducting Ecological Risk Assessments of Inorganic Metals and Metalloids: Current Status."

Environmental risks exist in many aspects, affecting the quality of our daily life. This editorial introduced the background and initiative of editing this special issue, summarized the challenges of living with risks faced by humans, briefly introduced the innovative contribution of each paper published in this issue, and some concluding remarks regarding the way forward to meet the challenges were finally stated. Lacking adequate datasets to deal with the environmental uncertainties and the increased number of emerging contaminants are two of the biggest challenges faced by humans. However, the papers in this issue are supportive and valuable for seeking the sustainable living with various environmental risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary activity working under the tasks of protection of workers and worksites. Risk assessment, as a compulsory process in implementation of OHS, stands out as evaluating the risks arising from the hazards, taking into account the required control measures, and deciding whether or not the risks can be reduced to an acceptable level. The diversity in risk assessment approaches is such that there are many methods for any industry. Multicriteria decision-making (MCDM)-based approaches contribute to risk assessment knowledge with their ability on solving real-world problems with multiple, conflicting, and incommensurate criteria. This article conducts a critical state-of-the-art review of OHS risk assessment studies using MCDM-based approaches. Additionally, it includes fuzzy versions of MCDM approaches applied to OHS risk assessment. A total of 80 papers are classified in eight different application areas. The papers are reviewed by the points of publication trend, published journal, risk parameters/factors, and tools used. This critical review provides an insight for researchers and practitioners on MCDM-based OHS risk assessment approaches in terms of showing current state and potential areas for attempts to be focused in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adapting to the situation of one principal versus several agents, the Relative Performance Evaluation (RPE) is an effective incentive tool to motivate subordinates. The Chinese central government has adopted RPE to combat intractable air pollution, which is the Urban Air Quality Ranking (UAQR) system. This study uses a series of econometric methods including regression discontinuity design to examine its effectiveness in environmental governance. The results show that (1) since the implementation of UAQR, the overall air quality of cities has improved; (2) air quality of the bottom 3 cities in the ranking will improve in the coming month compared with their counterparts; (3) while top 3 cities in the ranking do not experience such change in air quality. Therefore, this paper argues that the activating based RPE does not stimulate effective competition, whereas competency based RPE does. UAQR with credible incentive commitment can be a useful measure to motivate local authorities to strengthen air pollution reduction. In this study, the results of the empirical analysis enrich the theoretical framework of RPE, and an innovative theoretical framework is adopted to explain the UAQR system. However, as a top-down environmental monitoring system, such ranking institution could mainly eliminate centralized discharged pollutants. A sound judicial system is the fundamental guarantee for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil/chemical tanker ships carry a large volume of liquefied chemical cargoes in bulk condition. Chemical cargoes can be hazardous and most of them being flammable and/or toxic. It may pose acute dangers for human life and maritime environment. Risk assessment is of paramount importance to enhance operational safety and to protect environment for oil/chemical tanker ships. This paper aims at conducting an extensive risk analysis for oil/chemical tanker pollution due to leakage since the consequences can be fatal for human and marine environment. To accomplish this, fault tree analysis (FTA) is used. The failure occurrence probabilities of basic event (BE) of FT are calculated under fuzzy logic. The extended CREAM (Cognitive reliability and error analysis method) approach is used to determine human-oriented errors in FT since human error contributes the most to various types of maritime accidents. The outcomes of the paper can be helpful to minimize chemical leakage pollution risks and to improve operational safety in cargo loading/discharging process in oil/chemical tankers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese Farming-pastoral Ecotones (CFPE) is the largest ecologically fragile zone in China. The dynamic prediction and impact factors analysis of landscape ecological risk based on LUCC have an important significance for effectively resolving ecological and environmental risk. In this paper, CA-Markov and BRT models were used to quantitatively analyze dynamic change, evolution characteristics, and influencing factors of landscape ecological risk.The results showed that: (1) LUCC types significantly changed from 2000 to 2040, especially in the bareland regions, which decreased by 1.64 times from 2000 to 2020, mainly transferred out to grassland and farmland. (2) The overall ecological risk showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. The highest ecological risk regions reached an area of 192,000 km2 in 2020 and decreased by 1.78 times from 2020 to 2040, these areas showed high spatial correlation and aggregation. (3) Topographical, climate, and socioeconomic factors had certain impacts on landscape ecological risk. Elevation (24.4%) was the most important factor affecting ecological risk, followed by temperature (19.1%), precipitation (15.7%), slope (13.6%) and GDP (8.4%). The study not only proposes a novel method regarding prediction and quantitative assessment of ecological risk based on influencing factors, but also provides a more precise and specific decision-making basis for sustainable development of ecological safety and social economic in the CFPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the code of ethics of the editors, peer reviewers and authors of the "Journal of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment." Some of the ethical responsibility of the editors includes evaluating all the submitted scientific papers, keeping the articles confidential until they are ready to be published, and publishing the papers. The peer reviewers are expected to keep all the papers submitted, check the factuality and accurateness, and return of the manuscripts. On the other hand, the role of authors includes making a letter to the editor stating the work is original and assuring that papers only comprise credit for authorship.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses an article regarding the presentation of an intelligent decision support system based on interaction of human machine and dynamic track of psychological evaluation criterion, definition of socioeconomic vulnerability, and the methodology for risk assessment and regionalization of ecological disasters in Jilin, China.

Discusses the symposium of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in April 1998, regarding the issue of extrapolation in human health and ecological risk assessments. Papers on extrapolation issues in human health and ecological risk assessment; Overview of papers on extrapolation among taxa and across organizational hierarchy.

Coal is an important energy source but it has a significant negative impact on the environmental processes. This paper analyses the impact, measurement, and input of parameters representing potential environmental polluters in the information system (IS).The methodology of recording and systematization includes the following parameters: coal deposits; climate parameters; roads; rivers; land and surrounding objects; air polluters; water polluters; and soil polluters. Methods for calculating land deformation, air polluter emissions, and noise impact are also presented.Based on the number and specificity of analyzed data, the paper provides a concept of the IS and an overview of environmental impact of underground coal mine technological units. The concept was used to present the results of a research conducted at the underground coal mine “Soko” in Serbia.The results of this research can help many potential users realize their goals. Those goals are preventive by nature, since negative environmental impact can be predicted, which enables the environmental protection experts to take appropriate measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of human factor plays a critical role in the safe and clean operation of maritime industry. Human error prediction can be beneficial to assess risk in maritime industry since shipping activities can pose potential hazards to human life and maritime ecology. The aim of this paper is to propose a risk assessment tool by considering the role of human factor. Hence, the desired safety control level in maritime transportation activities can be ascertained. In the proposed approach, a Success Likelihood Index Method (SLIM) extended with fuzzy logic is used to calculate human error probability (HEP). Severity of consequences are adopted in the proposed approach to assess risk. The quantitative risk assessment approach under fuzzy SLIM methodology will be applied to a very specific case on-board ship: Ballast Water Treatment (BWT) system. In order to improve consistency of research and minimize subjectivity of experts' judgments, the paper adopts the dominance factor which is used to adjust the impact level of experts' judgments in the aggregation stage of the methodology. The paper aims at not only highlighting the importance of human factor in maritime risk assessment but also enhancing safety control level and minimizing potential environmental impacts to marine ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sporadic rainfall and limited surface water sources have increased dependency on groundwater in semi-arid region of Punjab. The present paper is comprehensive study carried out in an intensive agricultural region of southwest Punjab to examine the quality and extent of contamination due to trace elements and nitrate in the aquifer system. Total 15 toxic elements are analyzed in groundwater samples (N = 129) covering both the shallow (<60 m) and deeper aquifers (>60 m). Elements such as As, B, Cd, Li, Mn, Pb, Sr, and Se exceed the prescribed limits. Overall, 68 and 13% of samples exceed the NO3− permissible limit (45 ppm) in shallow and deep aquifers, respectively. Contaminants concentration increases toward groundwater flow direction, that is, from northeast to southwest possibly due to arid climatic conditions. Relatively, shallow aquifer is more contaminated than deeper aquifer due to fertilizers input and irrigation return flow. Drinking water quality indices (DWQI) reveal that groundwater is unfit for drinking at most locations. Further, health risk indicate that comparatively, children are at higher risk in terms of non-carcinogenic risk posed by nitrate, and higher carcinogenic risk for As, Cr, and Cd is seen in all age groups. Multivariate analysis reveals the influence of anthropogenic activities on NO3−, Mn, Ni, and Zn levels, while geogenic factors control the, As and Mo concentrations. Present findings suggest regular monitoring of wells to lower the public health risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As materials intended to be brought into contact with food, food contact materials (FCMs) – including plastics, paper or inks – can transfer their constituents to food under normal or foreseeable use, including direct or indirect food contact. The safety of FCMs in the EU is evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) using risk assessment rules. Results of independent, health-based chemical risk assessments are crucial for the decision-making process to authorize the use of substances in FCMs. However, the risk assessment approach used in the EU has several shortcomings that need to be improved in order to ensure consumer health protection from exposure arising from FCMs. This article presents the use of meta-analysis as a useful tool in chronic risk assessment for substances migrating from FCMs. Meta-analysis can be used for the review and summary of research of FCMs safety in order to provide a more accurate assessment of the impact of exposure with increased statistical power, thus providing more reliable data for risk assessment. The article explains a common methodology of conducting a meta-analysis based on meta-analysis of the dose-effect relationship of cadmium for benchmark dose evaluations performed by EFSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and rapid toxic gas concentration prediction model plays an important role in emergency aid of sudden gas leak. However, it is difficult for existing dispersion model to achieve accuracy and efficiency requirements at the same time. Although some researchers have considered developing new forecasting models with traditional machine learning, such as back propagation (BP) neural network, support vector machine (SVM), the prediction results obtained from such models need to be improved still in terms of accuracy. Then new prediction models based on deep learning are proposed in this paper. Deep learning has obvious advantages over traditional machine learning in prediction and classification. Deep belief networks (DBNs) as well as convolution neural networks (CNNs) are used to build new dispersion models here. Both models are compared with Gaussian plume model, computation fluid dynamics (CFD) model and models based on traditional machine learning in terms of accuracy, prediction time, and computation time. The experimental results turn out that CNNs model performs better considering all evaluation indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzed changes in surface areas of individual land use types in five administrative regions of Poland in the eastern-most part of the country. Annual time series for the following variables were used: agricultural land, forest land, built-up and urbanized land, and wasteland. The primary objective of the paper was to assess land use changes (LUC) in Eastern Poland in 2002–2016. The paper employed a Mann-Kendall (MK) test and Cox-Stuart (CS) test for monotonic trend and the autoregressive-moving-average (ARMA) model. The deterministic part was selected with the Akaike criterion. The power of the tests was estimated using the Monte Carlo simulation in order to assess their reliability. The results indicate a trend in each of the four series in all the five voivodeships. For forest and built-up land, the trend was upward in each voivodeship. A downward trend was found for the agricultural land and wasteland in all the voivodeships except the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. The results can help regional and local authorities to properly monitor LUC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examination of greenhouse gas emissions is crucial for understanding the global warming. For this reason, identification of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions is crucial. This paper presents a hybrid multi criteria decision making method, which combines analytic hierarchy process and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution and compares this method with actual data for identifying the risk priority of sources of greenhouse gas emissions. For this purpose, the historical data of 25-years, for six-greenhouse gas sources and three-greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) are considered. Consequently, it was found that while incineration of wastes caused the minimum GHG emissions, energy sector caused the maximum GHG emissions. The results of this paper show that use of this hybrid method is easy and intelligible, and has a good potential for sorting the risk priority of sources of greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological vulnerability is one of the core issues in the study of achieving sustainable development and is important for ecological conservation and environmental management, especially for ecologically vulnerable regions. Scientific assessment of ecological vulnerability can improve decision-making capacity and provide appropriate information for sustainable development. The Hexi Corridor is located in the inland northwest of China, and its ecological environment is very fragile. Under the influence of climate change and human activities, the Hexi Corridor is facing a crisis of ecological degradation. Therefore, this paper assessed the influence of various factors on ecological vulnerability, followed the principles of scientificity and data accessibility, and constructed a comprehensive assessment framework to reflect the spatio-temporal characteristics of ecological vulnerability in the Hexi Corridor from three aspects: natural factors, socio-economic factors and human interference factors so as to provide theoretical and practical guidance for regional ecological protection. The results showed that: (1) The ecological vulnerability of the Hexi Corridor was dominated by extreme vulnerability, mainly in the arid desert region, while mildly and lowly vulnerable areas were mainly distributed in the southern Qilian Mountains and the plain oasis region, which was closely related to its physical geography. The index values showed an overall decreasing trend, and the environmental situation was improving from 2000 to 2020. (2) The distribution of ecological vulnerability had obvious directional characteristics, and it gradually decreased from north to south. Moreover, it exhibited a significant positive spatial correlation, and its spatial aggregation pattern was basically consistent with the spatial distribution state. (3) Based on the spatio-temporal patterns of ecological vulnerability, the Hexi Corridor was divided into five zones: ecological core protection zone, integrated ecological monitoring zone, ecological optimization concern zone, ecological restoration management zone and ecological potential governance zone. Different environmental protection policies have been taken for different zones according to its basic conditions. Spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) method was used to analyze the ecological vulnerability factors based on the GIS technology. The partitions of ecological vulnerability for configuration and optimization has been classified and practical application. Geographic detector and national policies were considered for ecological vulnerability driver factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have recently reported a new spatial vulnerability model, which proposed two important curves (i.e., impact curve and neutral curve) and two quantified indices (i.e., absolute spatial vulnerability index and relative spatial vulnerability index) to assess the global impact of spatially local hazards on network systems (Liet al.2015). This paper aims to further investigate and improve the practicability of the new spatial vulnerability model. As some traditional network properties, such as the shortest path, betweenness and connectivity, are often used to assess the vulnerability of network systems, this paper develops a methodology of applying traditional network properties to analyze the spatial vulnerability of network systems. To this end, we firstly describe the new spatial vulnerability model, then analyze its relationship with traditional network properties, and at last conduct a case study on the Beijing subway network to verify this relationship. The results show that, when the global impact of spatially local hazards on network systems is concerned in vulnerability assessment, the combination of some traditional network properties and the new spatial vulnerability model can deliver an effective approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contingent valuation method (CVM) is a widely adopted approach for estimating individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for public goods. Using national survey data from Japan, this paper examines how the estimated WTP through CVM varies with different risk probabilities and risk information presentations in the context of natural disasters. The findings show that people's WTP is insensitive to the frequency of the disaster and the baseline level of the risk; the commonly observed ratio bias (RB) effect is not significant in our investigation. However, consistent with one similar study before, “group diffusion,” an opposite effect of RB is likely to occur, especially when the disparity between different risk descriptions is large. The result of this paper suggests that WTP may be influenced by the risk information provided and the way risk is framed in communications; therefore, CVM should be cautiously treated through rigorous validity checks when it is used to estimate WTP and risk is an important factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To manage public health and make better use of groundwater resources, the concentration characteristics and a health risk assessment of eight heavy metals in shallow groundwater were studied. Besides this, this paper introduced triangular fuzzy numbers into the USEPA health risk assessment model to assess the health risk posed to local children and adults through different exposure pathways. The results showed that Mn levels exceeded the WHO's guideline values of 100 mg/L with the proportion of 27.98% and Sr were over the health reference level (HRL) of 1500 µg/L with the proportion of 56.25%, while other heavy metals were below the corresponding standard. The results of the HRA showed that the non-carcinogenic risks from Sr and Mn in the district were relatively higher, while those from the remaining six heavy metals were relatively lower. All hazard index (HI) values did not exceed the safety level of 1 for either age group. The average carcinogenic risk from Cr was slightly higher than the acceptable level of 1 x 10-6 for adults. Sensitivity analyses conducted using Monte Carlo simulation indicated that Sr and Cr concentrations were the most influential variables contributing to the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk values, respectively, while body weight had a minor contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fine-Kinney model is one of the most extensively adopted classical occupational risk analysis techniques which has been regarded as a helpful means for addressing the risk identification and evaluation problems in various fields. However, current extended Fine-Kinney models have limited capacity to cope with occupational risk evaluation and prioritization problems considering interactive relationships among multi-risk parameters under inter-uncertain and intra-uncertain environments. To overcome the limitations, this paper proposes a hybrid risk prioritization approach for the Fine-Kinney model by integrating GLDS (gained and lost dominance score) method, interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2FSs), and Maclaurin symmetric mean (MSM) operator. First, the trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy numbers (TrIT2FNs) are introduced to depict the inter-uncertain and intra-uncertain risk evaluation information. Then, an ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator is constructed to aggregate the complex and uncertain risk evaluation information from heterogeneous decision-makers in which the similarity-measure-based weighting method is incorporated. Next, the GLDS method combined with the weighted MSM operator is developed to address the risk prioritization problem in the Fine-Kinney model by considering the inter-dependencies among multi-risk parameters. Finally, a numerical example of occupational risk evaluation for potential hazards in construction excavation is presented within IT2FSs to demonstrate the application and availability of the extended Fine-Kinney model. After that, the comparison and sensitivity analyses are conducted to further illustrate the superiority and rationality of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lab-to-Field (LTF) rating scheme is a straightforward method of relating the results of effluent toxicity tests to the field survey measurements and has proven to be a useful tool for interpretation of Environmental Effects Monitoring studies for pulp and paper mills in the province of Ontario. The LTF method uses the same five-level scale (level 1 for no or low response to level 5 for severe response) for rating the toxicity and field survey results. Regression analysis of LTF scores has revealed that the relationship between the Ceriodaphnia reproduction test and benthic invertebrate field survey measurements was significant (p < 0.001, r = 0.79). However, there were not sufficient data to determine if this can be used as a predictive tool. Nonetheless, Ceriodaphnia-to-benthic survey, Selenastrum-to-benthic survey and fathead-to-fish survey relationships were qualitatively rated strong or moderately strong in 94%, 75%, and 60% of the 16 studies, respectively. The LTF rating scheme would benefit from the use of a more sensitive species or life stage of fish to strengthen the sublethal test-to-fish survey relationship. Further validation of the lab-to-field relationship could be accomplished through the synoptic collection of effluent samples for sublethal tests and field measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) were among the top priority Constituents of Potential Concern (CoPC) in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) effort to set ecological soil-screening (Eco-SSL) values. Search strategies, acceptance criteria, and evaluation procedures were developed to address effects on plants, invertebrates, and wildlife. Systematic literature searches were conducted to obtain all relevant information on toxic response of terrestrial plants, invertebrates, and wildlife exposed to PAHs. More than 325 papers on PAHs were reviewed. Only 14 papers (one plant, three invertebrate, and ten wildlife) met the minimum criteria for use. Only eight PAH analytes had data that qualified for use in deriving Plant-, Invertebrate-, or Wildlife-SSLs. Only one SSL, (invertebrate, fluorene) could be derived based on the available data using the USEPA draft criteria. Rapid volatilization of lower molecular weight PAHs, generally low toxicity of persistent PAHs, limited potential for uptake by plants, binding to soil organic matter that lowers bioavailability, and low bioaccumulation by invertebrates may explain the general absence of documented adverse effects among terrestrial receptors exposed to PAHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farming-pastoral Ecotones in China (FPEC) is one of the most fragile ecological area in China. Landscape ecological risk assessment of FPEC based on terrain gradients has important strategic significance for ensuring national ecological security and the sustainable development of social economy. Based on the 30 × 30 m land use data and DEM data of FPEC in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020, this paper constructs a landscape ecological risk assessment model, and uses the methods of spatial autocorrelation analysis and terrain distribution index to appraise the dynamic change law and influential factors of FPEC landscape ecological risk on various terrain gradients. The results showed that: (1) In recent 40 years, land use/land cover changes (LUCC) has significantly changed, and the farmland area has increased continuously, mainly transferred from grassland, forest and bare land, particularly the bare land converted into grassland in recent 10 years, which leads to substantial increase in grassland area. (2) The overall ecological risk of the study area showed an upward trend, and the area of highest risk regions has increased more than twice during the study period, mainly distributed in the regions of "interference of human activities in low terrain" and "change of natural high terrain environment," these regions showed a high spatial concentration. (3) Ecological risk along with terrain gradient distribution is mainly limited by climate and terrain factors, the interference of human activities and natural environment change are the main influential factors of ecological risk increase in low and high terrain, respectively. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt to local conditions, and low terrain should rationally develop and utilize natural resources to reduce the interference of unreasonable production and human activities. In order to promote the sustainable and healthy development of FPEC, the policy of closing hillsides to facilitate afforestation should be adopted in the high terrain to reduce the impact of natural environment changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that fish are considered as one of the best pollution indicators of aquatic ecosystems, numerous studies have been carried out on metal pollution in fish. Metal concentrations are commonly expressed either per unit of wet or dry tissue weight. However, there is a lack of standardized reporting of elemental concentrations, with the majority publications using dry tissue weight as a measurement unit. Moreover, a significant number of papers also does not clearly report which of the two measurement units is used. Lack of standardized reporting obstructs comparability of studies that use different measurement units, which could be resolved either by reporting elemental concentrations using both types of measurement units (i.e., with one of them provided in the supplementary material, or alternatively to provide wet to dry weight conversion factors). This issue, while being of substantial importance for the scientific community, has not received proper attention so far. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]