Isotopic topology hierarchy decoupling (ITHD): A new method for high-resolution gasoline source attribution and environmental forensics.

Biodiversity plays a crucial role for humanity, serving as a foundation for human survival and development. Habitat quality serves as a critical indicator for assessing biodiversity and holds significant importance in both theoretical and practical domains. The unique natural geographical environment of Guizhou Province has fostered rich biodiversity and facilitated the establishment of numerous nature reserves, predominantly centered on forest ecosystems. Analyzing the habitat quality of nature reserves and its influencing factors is of great significance for maintaining the regional ecosystem stability, promoting sustainable development, and improving the ecological environment. Therefore, taking the 33 nature reserves of forest ecosystem in Guizhou Province as the study area, we first quantified habitat quality using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model to analyze changes in the nature reserve from 2000 to 2020. Then, we explored the effects of natural and social factors on the spatiotemporal evolution of habitat quality using the optimal parameters-based geographical detector (OPGD). Forests were identified as the primary land-use type in the study area. However, the nature reserves saw an increase area in cropland, and impervious land by 5,001.39 ha and 102.15 ha; a significant decrease in forests and grasslands; and a slight decrease in watersheds. Rapid urbanization, therefore, negatively affected the overall habitat quality of the reserve. Although there is a declining trend in the habitat quality of the nature reserve, the magnitude of change from 2010 to 2020 (-0.04) is smaller than that from 2000 to 2010 (-0.17), indicating that the management of the reserve has been somewhat effective. In national-level nature reserves, interactions between natural geographic factors and socio-economic factors were greater than interactions between natural geographic factors. Similarly, in local-level nature reserves, interactions between natural geographic factors and socio-economic factors outweighed interactions among social factors. The spatiotemporal variability of habitat quality in the study area was shaped by the combined effects of natural and social factors. The habitat quality of local-level protected areas is, furthermore, more significantly affected by human activities, which are the primary cause of their degradation.

Hydrocarbon exploration and environmental forensics may appear to be two unrelated topics but in many ways are closely related. Techniques that have been developed and utilized in the hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation industry for many decades have found their way to the forefront of environmental forensics area over the past decade. Whereas hydrocarbon exploration is geared towards finding new resources, environmental forensics is directed to looking at what happens to those resources as they, or products derived from them, are spilled into the environment. In the former one uses sophisticated techniques to correlate oils, or gases, with their suspected sources and in the later, one is trying to correlate the spilled product with its suspected source. The source may be a tanker, pipeline, underground storage tank or something similar. The most widely used techniques in both of these areas for many years have been gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) but recent years have seen an exponential increase in the utilization of stable isotopes. There is nothing new about applying stable isotopes to exploration problems but the majority of the older applications utilized bulk isotope numbers for crude oil correlation studies. The availability of the combined gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometer systems (GCIRMS) over the past 10–20 years, has played an important role in the increased number of applications where stable isotopes have to be used to investigate problems in both of these areas. In this chapter, we examine developments and applications in hydrocarbon exploration and environmental forensics. In addition areas that are currently just starting to emerge particularly in the area of environmental forensics will also be discussed.

The temperature difference of fruit itself will affect its near infrared spectrum and the accuracy of its soluble solids content (SSC) prediction model. To eliminate the influence of apple temperature difference on the SSC model, a diffuse transmission dynamic online detection device was used to collect the spectral data of apples at different temperatures, and four methods were used to establish partial least squares correction models: global correction, orthogonal signal processing, generalized least squares weighting and external parameter orthogonal (EPO). The results show that the temperature has a strong influence on the diffuse transmission spectrum of apples. The 20 ºC model can get a satisfactory prediction result when the temperature is constant, and there will be great errors when detecting samples at other temperatures. The effect of temperature must be corrected to establish a more general model. These methods all improve the accuracy of the model, with the EPO method giving the best results; the prediction set correlation coefficient is 0.947, the root mean square error of prediction is 0.489%, and the prediction bias is 0.009%. The research results are of great significance to the practical application of SSC prediction of fruits in sorting workshops or orchards.

Abstract. Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, human activities and industrial productions were strictly restricted during January–March 2020 in China. Despite the fact that anthropogenic aerosol emissions largely decreased, haze events still occurred. Characterization of aerosol transport pathways and attribution of aerosol sources from specific regions are beneficial to air quality and pandemic control strategies. This study establishes source–receptor relationships in various regions covering all of China during the COVID-19 outbreak based on the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 with Explicit Aerosol Source Tagging (CAM5-EAST). Our analysis shows that PM2.5 burden over the North China Plain between 30 January and 19 February is mostly contributed by local emissions (40 %–66 %). For other regions in China, PM2.5 burden is largely contributed from nonlocal sources. During the most polluted days of the COVID-19 outbreak, local emissions within the North China Plain and eastern China contributed 66 % and 87 % to the increase in surface PM2.5 concentrations, respectively. This is associated with the anomalous mid-tropospheric high pressure at the location of the climatological East Asia trough and the consequently weakened winds in the lower troposphere, leading to the local aerosol accumulation. The emissions outside China, especially those from South Asia and Southeast Asia, contribute over 50 % to the increase in PM2.5 concentration in southwestern China through transboundary transport during the most polluted day. As the reduction in emissions in the near future is desirable, aerosols from long-range transport and unfavorable meteorological conditions are increasingly important to regional air quality and need to be taken into account in clean-air plans.

Three environmental forensic methods were used as part of an integrated evaluation to determine the extent of dissolved perchlorate in groundwater originating from a former rocket propellant testing site in Southern California. The methods included the evaluation of groundwater modeling, subsurface environmental conditions, and isotopic fingerprinting. While these methods have been used independently in environmental forensics, this study is the first to document the combined use of the methods to evaluate the extent of dissolved perchlorate in groundwater. Taken together, the results of this study indicated that the perchlorate originating from a former rocket propellant testing site is under hydraulic control and that multiple sources of perchlorate exist within the same hydrogeologic basin.

The nature of psychopathy is not well understood in East Asian cultures, partially due to a lack of an established measurement of this important construct. This study developed and validated a Chinese-language version of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) based on Patrick et al.'s (2009) triarchic model of psychopathy. Study 1 described the translation of the Chinese TriPM and demonstrated that the Chinese version of the TriPM is equivalent to the original English version in linguistic meaning. Study 2 examined the construct validity of the Chinese TriPM in a Chinese student sample. The TriPM evinced acceptable reliability and promising validity. Moreover, cross-cultural equivalence was examined by relative associations for the TriPM with the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale across the Chinese sample and a comparable United States student sample. Results revealed that the test bias in the strength of associations, regression intercepts, and slopes was mostly absent across the two samples.

Crimes and Crime Dispersion in Urban Areas in Turkey Crime is a phenomenon that arises from the interaction between social, political, economic, physical, psychological circumstances and geographical factors. Since crime occurs in geographical locations, the relationship between crime and location is worth discussing characteristics of a location occur in differents ways. Not only natural geographical factors but also human geographical factors may lead to crime. In this study, the situation, distribution of crimes in the cities which are in the police service zone are dealt with. In addition to crime dispersion in the cities and crimes committed to people and property, crimes committed by month is also studied. In this context, it is seen that since city centres are composed of dense population and urban functions, they feed crime, social control weakens in those areas and they create opportunities for criminals. This causes weakness in society and social capital apart from economic losses in cities. The number of crime incidents, which was 229,513 in 1995, in Turkey, has risen to 785,510 in 2006 with a 3.4 fold increase. 41% of the crimes which were committed in the year of 2006 were against people, 59% were against property.

Clarifying the spatiotemporal distribution and influencing factors of mosque architecture in China’s Hehuang region has significant positive implications for the overall protection and development of the region’s architectural cultural heritage. This study utilizes field surveys and acquires POI data of traditional mosques built before 1993 in the region to analyze the distribution characteristics of mosques, aiming to explore future development trends of these religious structures. It also investigates the influencing factors, with the goal of emphasizing the primary and secondary factors affecting mosque distribution. The study finds the following: (1) Mosques are generally centered around the Huangshui Valley, displaying a “central clustering, peripheral dispersal” distribution pattern, forming a spatial structure of “two cores, one belt, multiple points”, with distinct differentiation and overall uneven distribution. (2) Mosques are primarily situated at elevations between 2147 and 2764 m; on slopes less than 15°, in sunny and gentle slopes; within 20 km from rivers; within 14 km from roads; in areas receiving 400–500 mm annual rainfall; and within temperature ranges of 5.54–10.22 °C. (3) The study also finds that the spatial distribution of mosques is profoundly influenced by both natural geographical factors and human environmental factors. The better the natural location, the larger and denser the population, the richer the cultural resources, the higher the level of economic development, and the greater the concentration of Hui people, the more numerous and concentrated the mosques. (4) Population factors are the dominant factors for the clustered distribution of traditional mosques in the Hehuang area. Since the construction of mosques in the region is closely related to the number of Hui people and the proportion of Muslim adherents, areas with a high concentration of mosques also have relatively larger populations of Hui people. Temperature, precipitation, altitude, rivers, and roads are foundational factors for traditional mosques in the Hehuang area, influencing mosque distribution as external factors.

Revolutionary sites are irreplaceable cultural resources, yet their spatial aggregation patterns and regional protection scales still lack systematic quantitative evidence. In this study, we focus on the Central Yunnan Urban Agglomeration and construct a cross-period database of 583 revolutionary sites covering six historical stages and multiple protection levels. Based on this dataset, an integrated analytical chain combining GIS spatial measurement, geographically weighted regression (GWR), and random forest modeling is employed to reveal spatial heterogeneity and nonlinear driving mechanisms. The results show that the overall distribution of sites presents a multi-core and corridor-like clustering pattern, with higher densities in the south, lower densities in the north, and a prominent high-density zone in the Xishan–Wuhua–Guandu–Chenggong area. Approximately 47% of all sites are associated with key institutions, significant meetings, or major events of the Liberation War, demonstrating the overlap of “organizational highlands” and “battlefield highlands” in shaping core aggregation areas. The directional evolution of distribution centers follows a northeast–south–northwest trajectory, confirming the strategic spatial logic of “encircling the cities from the countryside.” The GWR–RF results further reveal that natural geographic factors, especially slope and elevation, act as primary rigid constraints, while socioeconomic variables exert moderate but spatially heterogeneous effects, and cultural resource variables contribute relatively limited influence. By constructing a comprehensive temporal–spatial database and applying mixed-method models, we identify a multidimensional “natural–institutional–economic” driving framework and propose a “node–corridor–network” protection model, offering a quantitative paradigm for integrating red tourism and providing scientific foundations for the precise protection and sustainable utilization of regional revolutionary heritage.

Rapid small-scale separation of saturate, aromatic and polar components in petroleum

A framework for developing machine learning-based chemical fingerprinting models using large gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer datasets: Application to oil spill residues classification.

The oil lakes in southern Kuwait have accumulated oil that was spilled during the 1991 hostilities and have been exposed to processes of surface degradation for the last decade. Long-chain normal alkanes are abundant in these oils, showing that biodegradation has not been a major factor, whereas the absence of most compounds with less than 10 carbon atoms suggests a significant role for evaporation. Evaporation has been simulated in laboratory experiments at 25, 30, 40, and 50°C and compositional changes monitored by taking samples periodically for gas chromatographic analysis. Evaporation is initially rapid but slows through time, and ultimately, most compounds with less than 10 carbon atoms are lost. For a given carbon number, loss proceeds in the sequence: normal alkanes> branched chains> naphthenes> aromatics (which is the opposite of water washing). GCMS data for hopane and sterane biomarkers confirm that oil in the lakes is derived from the giant Burgan oilfield and also show that these biomarkers are not affected by evaporation in either nature or the laboratory. Analysis of sulfur compounds using GC-FPD showed that oils exposed in the lakes were photo-oxidized and had reduced concentrations of benzothiophenes and increased volatile sulfur compounds. A loss of volatile hydrocarbons from the free surface leads to compositional layering unless the oil is well mixed by convection or diffusion. In experiments to monitor the development of layering, low molecular weight compounds were rapidly lost from the surface, and a steep compositional gradient developed. The formation of a devolatilized, viscous surface skin tends to make evaporation a self-limiting process and also has significance for the design of sampling protocols in environmental forensics.

Chapter 7 - Environmental Forensics Study of Crude Oil and Petroleum Product Spills in Coastal and Oilfield Settings: Combined Insights From Conventional GC–MS, Thermodesorption–GC–MS, and Pyrolysis–GC–MS

The identification of areas with flood potential risk is important concerning the rational management of emergencies in case of floods. The most significant floods in the history of Romania occurred in the catchment basin of Siret (Uz River being an indirect tributary) and Prut. The analysis focused on the identification of flood potential risk index. The study involves the analysis of natural and anthropogenic physical and geographic factors: lithology, land declivity, soil texture, profile curvature and land use. The weighting of each analyzed factor for the contribution to floods was obtained using the AHP extension of the ArcGIS software. This methodology was applied for the lower Uz river basin, situated downstream from Lake Poiana Uzului. The catchment basin of Uz was affected by major floods in the summer of 2005, while the Uz River recorded a maximum historic discharge of 132 m3/s, at the precipitation station of Darmanesti, situated upstream from the Poiana Uzului reservoir. The consequences of the historic high water were serious. Extended surfaces within the major riverbed were flooded, numerous houses were partially damaged and some destroyed. The study highlights that the highest values of flooding index range between 3.96 and 4.71 and that they affect 14% of the entire surface of the studied area.

HSD66 Impact of Lunar Phases on Incidences of Cerebro-Cardiovascular Diseases