Research on the Phenomenon of Chinese Residents’ Spiritual Contagion for the Reuse of Recycled Water Based on SC-IAT

Socio-environmental externalities of sewage waste management

Conventional sewage management is expensive and inefficient, putting the environment and public health at risk, making access to sewage services difficult for everyone. Reusing sewage waste has agricultural and economic potential, but can contain harmful contaminants if not treated properly. This review is based on the hypothesis that the destination of sewage waste generates environmental and social externalities, which have not yet been widely compared. With the aim of identifying, from the literature, the socio-environmental externalities generated by different sewage waste management approaches, a systematic review of the literature was carried out, including 244 documents, with 50 % of these discussing impacts of conventional treatment and 37 % analyzing the reuse of waste. The main impacts and externalities were evaluated in three situations: untreated sewage, treated sewage, and reused waste. The results indicate that sewage waste has an underutilized economic value and can generate revenue, reduce operational costs and electricity expenses. Six negative externalities generated by conventional sewage treatment were identified: health costs; environmental cleaning; carbon offsetting; damage to tourism; damage to fishing and agriculture; and real estate depreciation. In reuse, there is a risk of two negative externalities: health costs and environmental cleaning, but two positive externalities were also identified: the reduction of phosphate rock mining and the neutralization of carbon credits. The complexity of the transition to sustainable sewage treatment practices is highlighted given the lack of consensus on the safe use of sewage waste, the lack of regulatory standardization, implementation costs and differences in regional parameters, highlighting the need for preliminary experimentation in a multidisciplinary and contextualized approach, considering comparative externalities among the available sewage waste management possibilities.

Leveraging User Comments for the Construction of Recycled Water Infrastructure-Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Experiment

Building sufficient recycled water infrastructure is an effective way to solve problems related to water shortages and environmental degradation, and is of great strategic significance for saving resources, protecting the ecological environment, and promoting sustainable social and economic development. Although recycled water is environmentally friendly, the public is still skeptical about its use, which has led to the failure of a large number of recycled water infrastructure investments; therefore, increasing the public's willingness to re-use is critical for the construction of recycled water infrastructure. To identify the influence mechanism of user comments on public re-use behaviors, we conducted an eye-tracking experiment in China. The results demonstrated that (1) perceived usefulness, perceived quality, and perceived risk have significant impacts on the public's willingness to buy; (2) user reviews can enhance the public's perceived usefulness of recycled products and increase their willingness to buy; and (3) in the process of consumption, the public tends to pay attention to negative reviews, where user reviews alter the perceived risks and perceived prices of recycled products, thereby affecting the willingness to buy of consumers. This study provides a scientific reference for the construction of recycled water infrastructure and the further promotion of recycled water.

Interplay of Message Frame and Reference Point on Recycled Water Acceptance in Green Community: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Experiment

Public rejection of recycled water hinders the application of recycled water use projects in green communities. An effective information outreach strategy could help to overcome this obstacle. This study used message frames and reference points as control variables to design experimental materials and conduct eye-movement experiments to determine the effect of different information promotion strategies. The results of the study show that: (1) compared with the loss frame, the gain-framed messages are more effective; (2) self-referencing messages are more suitable for recycled water use promotion than other-referencing messages; (3) message frame (gain vs. loss) and reference point (self vs. others) have an interactive effect on the public’s information cognitive behavior; (4) the average duration of fixations for advertising message plays an intermediary role in the path of message frame and reference point jointly influencing the public acceptance. This study provides managerial implications for determining information dissemination strategies for applying recycled water-use projects in green communities.

Social Class Priming Effect on Prosociality: Evidence from Explicit and Implicit Measures

Although abundant research has explored the relationship between social class and prosociality, it remains controversial. This study aimed to investigate the effect of social class priming on prosociality among college students. Experiment 1 was an explicit experiment in which we employed the MacArthur scale to prime participants’ social class and then used a donation task. The results showed that students in a low social class priming group had more donation behaviors compared to ones in a high social class priming group. Experiment 2 was an implicit experiment in which we used a single category implicit association test (SC-IAT) to investigate the relationship between the self-concepts of different social classes and prosociality after priming participants’ social class. The results indicated that students in a low social class priming condition had a stronger connection between self-concepts and prosocial inclinations than ones in a high social class priming condition. Thus, our study demonstrated that students primed with low social class were more prosocial than those primed with high social class, and supported the empathy-altruism theory of prosocial behavior. These findings are of great practical significance to promote prosocial behavior of individuals of different social classes.

Application of edge computing and GIS in ecological water requirement prediction and optimal allocation of water resources in irrigation area

The purposes are to use water resources efficiently and ensure the sustainable development of social water resources. The edge computing technology and GIS (Geographic Information Science) image data are combined from the perspective of sustainable development. A prediction model for the water resources in the irrigation area is constructed. With the goal of maximizing comprehensive benefits, the optimal allocation of water quality and quantity of water resources is determined. Finally, the actual effect of the model is verified through specific instance data in a province. Results demonstrate that the proposed irrigation area ecological prediction model based on edge computing and GIS images can provide better performance than other state of the art models on water resources prediction. Specifically, the accuracy can remain above 90%. The proposed model for ecological water demand prediction in the irrigation area and optimal allocation of water resources is based on the principle of quality water supply. The optimal allocation of water resources reveals the sustainable development ideas and the requirements of the optimal allocation model, which is very reasonable. The improvement of the system is effective and feasible, and the optimal allocation results are reasonable. This allocation model aims at the water quality and quantity conditions, water conservancy project conditions, and specific water demand requirements in the study area. The calculation results have great practicability and a strong guiding significance for the sustainable utilization and management of the irrigation area.

Reclamation suitability evaluation of damaged mined land based on the integrated index method and the difference-product method

Reclamation suitability evaluation is the basis for determining the reuse direction of damaged land. Most scholars' studies have focused on the improvement and innovation of evaluation models and methods, while the analysis of restrictive factors is rarely involved. This paper evaluates the reclamation suitability of damaged land around Longchi coal mine by the integrated index method and the analysis of restrictive factors is carried out by the difference-product method. The result shows damaged land around the Longchi coal mine is most suitable for being reclaimed as woodland. The main restrictive factors are the degree of contamination of the soil and water and the irrigation conditions. This study provides a basis for the rational reutilization and improvement options of damaged land around Long Chi coal mine. The study also verifies that the combination of the integrated index method and the difference-product method work well for evaluating reclamation suitability and for analyzing restrictive factors in case of no prominent evaluation indexes.

Total sediment transport from an urbanizing watershed in the upper Yellow River, China

For many event-based, high-sediment yield rivers draining arid zones, where erosion activities in the watershed and fluvial erosion in the stream channel are nearly equally important in sediment transport, determination of fluvial sediment dynamics are of great importance in establishing reliable strategies to manage environmental changes in watershed scale. Wash load rating curve indicating watershed characteristic changes and Ackers and White's bed load function (wash load excluded) used for determining bed load transport dynamics are distinguished for the first time to recognize the true sediment transport mode in the lower Huangshui River, which is the largest tributary of the upper Yellow River, contributing a lot to the wash load of the Inner Mongolia desert reach of the Yellow River and causing complicated water-sediment response. Based on the continuous and detailed hydrological data monitored at the Minhe gauge station, our results indicated that the sediment transport regime has altered since the 1980s in response to the eco-environmental changes mainly due to urbanization, with suspended sediment concentration (SSC) decreased by 50% on average compared with the natural state (1950-1980). The combined use of wash load rating curve and theoretical bed load function derived an estimate of total sediment transport due to comprehensive ecological management since the 2000s to be 3.43 × 107 t for the lower Huangshui River, among which the total bed load is 1.40 × 107 t, and the wash load is 2.03 × 107 t. The transport ratio of wash load to total bed load is 1.45:1.

Spatial Association and Effect Evaluation of CO2 Emission in the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration: Quantitative Evidence from Social Network Analysis

Urban agglomeration, an established urban spatial pattern, contributes to the spatial association and dependence of city-level CO2 emission distribution while boosting regional economic growth. Exploring this spatial association and dependence is conducive to the implementation of effective and coordinated policies for regional level CO2 reduction. This study calculated CO2 emissions from 2005–2016 in the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration with the IPAT model, and empirically explored the spatial structure pattern and association effect of CO2 across the area leveraged by the social network analysis. The findings revealed the following: (1) The spatial structure of CO2 emission in the area is a complex network pattern, and in the sample period, the CO2 emission association relations increased steadily and the network stabilization remains strengthened; (2) the centrality of the cities in this area can be categorized into three classes: Chengdu and Chongqing are defined as the first class, the second class covers Deyang, Mianyang, Yibin, and Nanchong, and the third class includes Zigong, Suining, Meishan, and Guangan—the number of cities in this class is on the rise; (3) the network is divided into four subgroups: the area around Chengdu, south Sichuan, northeast Sichuan, and west Chongqing where the spillover effect of CO2 is greatest; and (4) the higher density of the global network of CO2 emission considerably reduces regional emission intensity and narrows the differences among regions. Individual networks with higher centrality are also found to have lower emission intensity.

Land Consolidation Design Based on an Evaluation of Ecological Sensitivity

Land consolidation engineering inevitably interferes with terrestrial ecosystems, leading to natural capital loss. Therefore, conducting an ecological sensitivity evaluation of a project area before consolidation engineering is very important for reducing unnecessary human interference. Conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and the biodiversity therein to the greatest possible extent is urgently needed. This research analyzes the interference by human activities caused by land consolidation engineering in terrestrial ecosystems. GIS technology, ecological values, landscape pattern indexes, and an ecological risk evaluation were used to construct an ecological sensitivity evaluation index. The coefficient of variation method and a comprehensive sensitivity rating evaluation were used to calculate the weights and results. The project area was divided into sensitivity zones according to the results, and the results and suggestions are as follows: In the highly eco-sensitive zone, where bare rocks, gravel, and grass-covered areas compose the main landscape type, vegetation should be restored, and forests should be planted. In the medium eco-sensitivity zone, where irrigated paddy fields and arid land compose the main landscape type, land parcels should be merged, and agricultural infrastructure should be constructed or improved. In the low eco-sensitivity zone, where forests compose the main landscape type, roads should be closed, natural habitat should be restored, and buffer zones should be created. This study provides suggestions for future land management decisions.

How Environmental Protection Motivation Influences on Residents’ Recycled Water Reuse Behaviors: A Case Study in Xi’an City

Pro-environmental behaviors related to reclaimed water reuse are regarded as important motivations for both environmental protection and the use of reclaimed water, and these motivations could affect the citizens’ decision whether they will accept reclaimed water reuse. A hypothesis model was developed as the NAM (Norm Activation Model) has changed, and this hypothesis model was used to explore the factors that affect the citizen’s decision about the reclaimed water reuse, and obtain a better understanding of the mechanism of urban citizens in environmental protection and the related outcomes. First, 584 samples were used to verify the reliability and validity of data, and AMOS21.0 was used to test the goodness-of-fit between the sample data and the hypothesis model. Based on this, the applicability of the improved NAM was verified through the study of recycled water reuse. The hypothesis model was used to analyze its direct influences, showing that environmental motivation has positive influences on the citizens’ acceptance toward recycled water reuse. Besides, Bootstrap method was used to verify the mediation effect, proving that awareness of consequences regarding environmental pollution caused by human activities and ascription of responsibility could strengthen the citizens’ motivation to protect the environment.

Modelling Nutrients and Organics Removal by Biological Slow Filtration in Micro-Polluted Water Source Treatment

The biological slow filtration (BSF) system as a simple and efficient environmental technology has been widely applied in treatment of ‘micro-polluted’ water. At present, many related studies have focused on the removal efficiency of biological indicators (such as bacteria and viruses). However, there is less research on the removal performance of nutrients and organics in the BSF system. In this paper, we employed a lab-scale biological slow filter to study the removal efficiency and degradation mechanism of nutrients and organics. We proved through adsorption of filter layer at the early running stage and biodegradation at the later stage, the BSF system could achieve effective removal of NH3-N, TN, TP, CODMn and turbidity and the corresponding removal rates are 83.65%, 42.45%, 42.94%, 60.41% and 83.55%, respectively. Furthermore, we also explored the influence of four main factors (filtration rate, filter depth, hydraulic head and temperature) and their interactions on removal rates of nutrients and organics in the BSF system and obtained the optimal operating parameters as follows: filtration rate 0.1 m/h, filter depth 0.8 m, hydraulic head 0.64 m, temperature 26.06 °C. This study would provide a theoretical foundation for the actual application of biological slow filter in treatment of micro-polluted water in developing countries and offer an optimized basis for the design of operating conditions.

Research on Big Data Digging of Hot Topics about Recycled Water Use on Micro-Blog Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

The public’s acceptance level of recycled water use is a key factor that affects the popularization of this technology; therefore, it is critical to know the public’s attitude in order to make guiding policies effectively and scientifically. To examine the major focuses and hot topics among the public about recycled water use, one of the major platforms for social opinion in China, the micro blog, is used as a source to obtain data related to the topic. Through the “follow-be followed” and “forward-dialogue” behaviors, a network of discussion of recycled water use among micro-blog users has been constructed. Improved particle swarm optimization has been used to allow deep digging for key words. Ultimately, key words about the topic of have been clustered into three categories, namely, the popularization status of recycled water use, the main application, and the public’s attitude. The conclusion accurately describes the concerns of Chinese citizens regarding recycled water use, and has important significance for the popularization of this technology.

Ag loading induced visible light photocatalytic activity for pervoskite SrTiO3 nanofibers

The synthesis and photocatalytic activities of Ag-SrTiO₃ nanofibers were reported in this work. The fabricated Ag-SrTiO₃ nanofibers were characterized by TG-DSC, XRD, IR, XPS, SEM, TEM, DRS and ESR techniques. The XRD and IR results show that Ag-SrTiO₃ nanofibers have a perovskite structure after the heat treatment at 700°C. The XPS result shows that Ag element exists as Ag⁰ in the fabricated Ag-SrTiO₃ nanofibers. The SEM and TEM images indicate the obtaining of nanofibers with porous structure. The photocatalytic activity of Ag-SrTiO₃ nanofibers was evaluated by degrading RhB and MB under visible light irradiation. The Ag-SrTiO₃ nanofibers show excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation because of the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag⁰. In the photocatalysis process of RhB and MB, lots of hydroxyl radicals were generated, which plays the key role in the decomposition of organic pollutants.