Towards sustainability: An integrated life cycle environmental-economic insight into cow manure management.

Waste management signifies an equilibrium between environmental and economic factors. However, a comprehensive understanding of the integrated life cycle environmental-economic performance of waste management activities remains unclear. To facilitate a systematic linkage between the economic and environmental sectors, a regionalized life cycle assessment-based life cycle costing method was developed based on China's actual status quo. The cow manure utilization was set as an entry point to explored long-term environmental-economic performance of milk production under various manure utilization pathways. The results show that trade-offs were observed between internal and external costs as well as various environmental indicators. The choice of waste utilization is the focal point of environmental-economic trade-offs in the cow raising system. The optimal environmental-economic performance was achieved through the manure fertilizer utilization pathway, yielding a remarkable three-fold increase in marginal environmental benefits. Compared with fertilizer utilization, the manure direct returning to field reduced the carbon footprint by 12% while induced an external cost of $14.3. The wastewater treatment pathway is $ 5.5 lower in internal costs but $ 11.7 higher in external costs than those of fertilizer utilization. Overall, utilizing manure has potential to mitigate the upward trend of carbon footprint and external costs. However, achieving the carbon peak remains a significant challenge. A promising solution is the recycling of straw resources within cropping systems, particularly in hotspot regions (e.g., Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Hebei, and Shandong). A comprehensive analysis of the dynamic interplay between cropping systems and cow raising systems is critical steps towards realizing a carbon-neutral future within the dairy production.

Uncovering the energy-carbon-water footprint of waste rubber recycling: Integrated environmental and economic perspectives.

The commitment to waste management has gained increasing momentum as global waste generation continues to skyrocket and threaten the environment. However, detailed assessments and clear insights remain absent to address the global waste utilization conundrum. This study evaluated the impact-oriented energy, carbon, and water (ECW) footprints of three typical scenarios for a waste recycling activity (i.e., waste rubber recycling) from environmental and economic dimensions, and explored key factors, nexus characteristics, and optimization measures. Results indicated that the rubber powder as an asphalt modifier scenario had a 93% greater environmental impact and 87% higher economic cost compared with the pyrolysis and reclaimed rubber production scenarios. Key processes, such as direct processes, electricity generation, and transportation, were identified as the major contributors to the ECW footprints, with the internal costs of raw materials, equipment, and taxes coupled with the external costs of human health dominating the economic impact. The nexus analysis results highlighted the urgent need to optimize the energy system for waste rubber recycling. Greening the production process revealed the benefits, with natural additives mitigating 85% of the environmental burden and 97% of the external costs compared with conventional additives. Industrial green microgrids, clean energy generation, proximity waste management, and electrified transportation were explored to foster sustainable optimization of waste rubber recycling systems. Moreover, a joint tax-subsidy mechanism for rubber production-recycling systems can stimulate recycling-oriented product design and increase the motivation to recycle waste rubber.

How can ecosystem status be more comprehensively reflected? A case study of Jinan City, China.

Ecosystems provide benefits to human well-being, but highly concentrated human activities also cause environmental pressure. Previous studies focused only on one aspect: either ecosystem services (ESs) or ecosystem damage (ED). To provide comprehensive view of ecosystem status in the selected study area, an integrated ecosystem performance analytic framework was established based on the ED-ESs synergistic effect. This study quantitatively analyzed the dynamic variation in ecosystem status from both ED and ESs perspectives with a case study of Jinan City, China, from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that the environmental and economic impacts caused by pollution were 692.87 species.year and $15.58 × 108 in 2020, respectively, and they were mainly derived from energy consumption. Regarding ESs, three regulating services (water retention, soil retention, and carbon sequestration) increased from south to north, whereas material services presented the opposite trend. Ecosystem service value had declined after peaking in 2010 when material services contributed the most. Overall, the Jinan City suffered from ecosystem decline, with ecosystem performance on a downward trend from 2000 to 2020. Finally, the characterization factors of four ESs were appropriately incorporated into the life cycle impact assessment to drive the evolution in ecosystem performance calculations.

PMCHWT Solver Accelerated by Adaptive Cross Approximation for Efficient Computation of Scattering from Metal Nanoparticles.

An accelerated algorithm that can efficiently calculate the light scattering of a single metal nanoparticle was proposed. According to the equivalent principle, the method of moment (MoM) transforms the Poggio-Miller-Chang-Harrington-Wu-Tsai (PMCHWT) integral equations into linear algebraic equations, which are solved by the flexible generalized minimal residual solver (FGMRES). Each element of near field MoM impedance matrix was described by Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) basis functions and calculated by double surface integrals. Due to the low-rank property, the adaptive cross approximation (ACA) algorithm based on the octree data structure was applied to compress the MoM impedance matrix of far field action leading to the significant reduction of solution time and memory. Numerical results demonstrated that the proposed method is both accurate and efficient. Compared with the traditional MoM, the ACA algorithm can significantly reduce the impedance matrix filling time and accelerate the scattering field's computation from actual metal nanoparticles using PMCHWT integral equations.

Effects of Online and Face-to-Face Intuitive Eating Interventions on Body Image and Eating Behaviors among Women in China: A Feasibility Study.

Body dissatisfaction and eating disorders have become major global concerns, including in Asian populations. Few studies have examined intervention effects on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in China, especially for interventions with positive psychological perspectives (e.g., intuitive eating). In this pilot study, 66 women participated in an eight-module intuitive eating intervention delivered online (n = 42; mean age, 30.74 years) and face-to-face (n = 24; mean age, 19.46 years) for 8 weeks. Measures of body image and eating behaviors were used to assess the intervention's feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy. Linear mixed models were used to analyze the data. The intervention had significant effects on both groups, promoting positive body image and intuitive eating and reducing negative body image and disordered eating behaviors. The effects of the online and face-to-face interventions did not differ significantly. Thus, whether delivered online or face-to-face, an intuitive eating intervention may effectively improve Chinese women's body image and eating behaviors. However, the efficacy of the intuitive intervention in the Chinese context should be confirmed in future studies with designs in randomized control trials.