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It is still desirable to obtain the catalysts to degrade organic dye pollutants at room temperature, which meets the current demands of pollutant-removing and energy-saving simultaneously. By a facile precipitation method, we prepared in this work a new, highly efficient CeHIO 6 ·4H 2 O catalyst. By characterization, it was found that the CeHIO 6 ·4H 2 O sample is in nature a yellow inorganic semiconductor with particle size of 0.2–10 μm, band gap of 2.75 eV, low surface area of 1.52 m 2  g −1 and amorphous structure. The CeHIO 6 ·4H 2 O catalyst showed high activity in degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) in the dark at room temperature. After being used for 3 cycles, it did not undergo significant loss of activity and kept its chemical composition unchanged in the degradation experiments. More importantly, its activity is remarkably higher than that of the previously reported Ce(IO 3 ) 4 , CeGeO 4 , ZrHIO 6 ·4H 2 O and Ce-doped MoO 3 analogues. The major active species and the catalytic mechanism for the dye degradation were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing efficient catalysts capable of degrading organic dye free of light irradiation is highly interesting from the energy-saving point of view. In this work, we prepared a new Ce(IO 3 ) 4 catalyst by a facile precipitation method. The obtained Ce(IO 3 ) 4 sample showed remarkably superior performance to the reported CeGeO 4 analog in degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) or methylene blue (MB) dyes in the dark at room temperature. The ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) absorption spectra of dye solution during degradation, the XPS results of Ce(IO 3 ) 4 and the control experiments confirmed that the dye degradation is a catalytic process. The reusability of it was also investigated in the degradation experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract An economic and green "couplet medicine" strategy was proposed for the first time for preventing Chinese medicinal materials from toxigenic fungi and aflatoxins contamination. Highlights • Toxigenic fungi and aflatoxins contamination affect the quality and safety of Chinese Medicinal Materials. • An economic and environment-friendly "couplet medicine" strategy prevents Chinese Medicinal Materials from the contamination. • The green strategy with low cost and little labor is preferred for scientific preservation of Chinese Medicinal Materials. • Embedding and stacking methods for practical operation to prevent Chinese Medicinal Materials away from toxigenic fungi. Abstract An economic, safe and environment-friendly strategy for preventing Chinese medicinal materials from fungi and aflatoxins contamination is in great need. This study aimed to develop a "couplet medicine" technique with low cost, little time and few labors for the first time for scientific preservation of Radix Notoginseng by investigating the inhibitory efficacy of some aromatic Chinese medicinal materials regarding their anti- Aspergillus flavus properties with the mold changes and aflatoxins accumulation as the detection indexes. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection method was validated for sensitive determination of four aflatoxins in Radix Notoginseng without or with the effects of protector from the couplet medicines. It was found that Cortex Cinnamomi , Fructus Anisi Stellati , Flos Caryophylli and Cortex Moutan with strong anti- A. flavus activities could be the potential protector medicines to prevent Radix Notoginseng from molds and aflatoxins contamination. After co-storage of one of the four candidates with Radix Notoginseng to form "couplet medicine", expected results expressed that Cortex Moutan was the best protector medicine at the weight ratio of protector (Cortex Moutan): protégé (Radix Notoginseng) of at least 2:1 (w/w). In practice, the "couplet medicine" of Cortex Moutan - Radix Notoginseng designed through the embedding and stratified stacking modes could effectively prevent toxigenic fungi contamination and aflatoxins residue in Radix Notoginseng to warrant the quality and safety of this highly-valuable Chinese medicinal material. The green "couplet medicine" strategy with lower cost and less labor can be preferred for scientific preservation of Chinese medicinal materials, foods and other matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of terrestrial ecosystem and the most sensitive to environmental changes, mountainous areas are rich in biodiversity and high value of ecosystem productivity. However, due to the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, most of the world's mountain ecosystems are being subjected to soil erosion and biodiversity is rapidly being lost, so the establishment of mountain ecological reserves is of great importance. In view of this, this paper used the Qinling-Daba Mountain, Qinling Mountain and Daba Mountain of China as the research area. On the basis of various simulated ecosystem service from 2000 to 2015, the root mean square deviation analysis and ordered weighted averaged model were used to determine the spatial changes of ecosystem service on environmental gradients, the tradeoff between ecosystem services and the selection of optimal protection areas. Our results proved that ① net primary production, soil conservation and habitat quality were increase significantly with increasing altitude and vegetation cover fraction gradient, but were weaken water yield and grain production. ② The change in the trade-off between multiple pairs of ecosystem services in the Daba Mountain was stronger than in the Qinling-Daba Mountain and the Qinling Mountain, especially the trade-off relationship related to water yield. ③ Considering various scenarios and conservation efficiency, it was found that scenario 7 was the best solution. The net primary production, soil conservation, habitat quality, grain production, and water yield protection efficiency were 1.261, 4.845, 1.059, 1.333, and 1.390 respectively. Priority conservation areas were mainly distributed in mid-altitude, high-vegetation, and high-mean annual precipitation areas. In this study, the combination of ecosystem services and priority conservation areas can play an important role in the management of the Qinling-Daba Mountain, and provides a meaningful reference for the selection of nature reserves. • Mountain ecosystem services have large spatial heterogeneity on different environmental gradients. • The priority protection area was selected by comparing the protection efficiency of different areas. • Explore the mechanism analysis and the trade-off relationship between mountain ecosystem services. • The combination of ecosystem services and protected areas can provide reference for mountain ecological planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]