<p>The construction of zero-waste cities is an important driver for achieving the “dual carbon” goals on schedule and for advancing ecological civilization to a higher level. Based on data from 287 cities in China from 2010 to 2022, a dual machine learning model was employed to empirically examine the impact of zero-waste city construction on urban carbon emissions, using the pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment. The research yields the following conclusions: (1) The implementation of the zero-waste city policy significantly reduces carbon emissions in pilot areas. This conclusion remains robust after a series of tests, including adjustments to the research sample, reconfiguration of the dual machine learning model, and sensitivity analyses. (2) The policy has a more pronounced effect in reducing carbon emissions in major eco-friendly cities, non-resource-based cities, and old industrial base cities, compared to non-major eco-friendly cities, resource-based cities, and non-old industrial base cities. (3) Improvements in science and technology research and internet development levels enhance the carbon reduction effect of zero-waste city initiatives. These findings provide valuable insights for promoting the governance of urban solid waste and achieving the “dual carbon” goals in a coordinated manner. </p>

<p style="line-height:115%;margin-bottom:8.0pt;"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;" lang="EN-US">Increasing hydraulic and organic overloading has intensified upgrading pressures on municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Rising energy costs and stricter regulatory requirements further constrain reliance on conventional biological reactor expansion strategies. This study evaluates primary filtration applied upstream of activated sludge processes using a steady-state mass and energy balance modelling approach. The assessment examines microsieving and a combined microsieving-sand filtration configuration applied to overloaded WWTPs. Two representative operational scenarios are considered in the analysis. These correspond to average influent flow rates of 10,000 and 15,000 m³/d under extended aeration conditions. A comprehensive steady-state mass and energy balance framework was applied. This framework quantifies changes in aeration tank volume, oxygen demand, aeration energy consumption, and secondary sludge production. Microsieving alone achieved aeration energy reductions ranging from 9% to 27%. The combined microsieving-sand filtration configuration enabled aeration energy reductions of up to 54%. Aeration tank volume requirements were reduced by 15-55%, depending on influent loading and filtration performance. Secondary sludge production decreased substantially, while primary sieved solids (PSS) with high dry solids content enhanced anaerobic digestion potential. For severely overloaded systems failing to comply with Directive (EU) 2024/3019, primary filtration restored effluent quality compliance without biological reactor expansion. Overall, primary filtration emerges as a space-efficient upgrading strategy aligned with European energy-neutrality objectives.</span><br> </p>

<p>Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous primarily in aquatic environment where they travel freely from one place to another. Higher surface area with strong hydrophobicity made them a perfect candidate to sorb different pollutants in aquatic ecosystem. This study investigates occurrence and distribution of MPs in Qasimpur canal running in Multan city and carry large quantity of sewage waste and industrial effluents. Results describe that MPs concentration is between 25 and 6 MPs L<sup>-1</sup>. Relative distribution of MPs shows that fibers (32.01%) were prevalent in water sample followed by fragment (20.39%) while sheet and pellet were least among water samples. Weight distribution of MPs types also exhibit that fibers were dominated in water. MPs were also distributed on the basis of color where blue and white is dominant colors among all. It was attributed that possible intrusion of MPs in water is through sewage sludge and industrial effluents. Among heavy metals arsenic, cadmium and lead were detected in water. Concentration of HMs is high enough to make water hazardous as given in heavy metal pollution index (HPI). HMs was added into water through industrial effluents but MPs act as vector in transporting them in flowing water. Similarly total coliform and E.coli were detected in high concentration making negative relationship with water ecosystem. Findings from current work provide insight in accumulation, distribution and abundance of microplastics with in flowing water. Synergistic effect of MPs and HMs poses greater risk to aquatic ecosystem and organisms.</p>

<p>In recent years, flash floods have caused significant losses in most areas of the world. However, the assessment of flash flood vulnerability is lacking and weak, especially for the rural areas at village level in China. This work introduces a novel currency flow approach to analyze the flash flood vulnerability for typical villages of Baoting County in Hainan province, China. The typical villages are selected and identified by expert consultation and field investigation of flood events. The three elements of flood vulnerability like exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity are measured in monetary form with a currency flow approach. The multiple indices are developed to analyze flash flood vulnerability in terms of the relationships of the three elements. Results show that most identified typical villages of Baoting County have the relatively large values of Vulnerability Index (VUI). The numerical results in the study area for VUI, SMAI, SRAI and PCI fall within the ranges of 0.86-8.58, 1.6-21.79, 0.13-1.76, 0.008-0.26 and 0.11-1.26. It is essential to increase the investment in engineering and non-engineering measures especially in villages of Sidui (SD), Yidui(YD) and Shenjin(SJ), for more resilient to the effects of flash floods. The NSE result of the standardized numerical value of transferred population in the historical process of flash flood disasters and the standardized numerical value of flash flood vulnerability assessment ranking results is is 0.747, indicating that the accuracy of the currency flow approach is high. The currency flow approach proposed in this work reveals the relationships between exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, identifying village and element of vulnerability that need strengthened against flash flood. The work findings will have a promising application prospect in flash flood management.</p>

<p>Bioremediation of oil contaminated sites common in oil-producing regions needs novel solutions such as suggested here: combining fungal and biochar treatments. Fungal strains were isolated from metal and oil polluted soils and evaluated for their resistance to zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd).  Two strains, <em>Aspergillus niveus </em>(<em>GenBank</em> accession: <em>PQ463633</em>) and <em>Alternaria chlamydosporigena (PQ463634</em>), exhibited exceptional growth under metal stress, demonstrating considerable metal resistance. These strains were chosen for further bioremediation experiments. A substantial decrease of Zn and Cd concentrations were observed after fungal incubation.  The incorporation of biochar significantly improved the effectiveness of the heavy metal removal, indicating a synergistic interaction between fungal biosorption and biochar-facilitated immobilization. Fourier-transform infrared <em>(FTIR</em>) spectroscopy demonstrated notable morphological and biochemical changes in the fungal biomass following exposure to Zn and Cd, signifying active metal-binding interactions and uptake processes. The equilibrium behavior of metal uptake was demonstrated with three isotherm models. The Langmuir model showed the greatest fit (R² > 0.98), followed by the Freundlich model (R² = 0.92-0.95) and the Temkin model (R² = 0.85-0.89). A homogenous, monolayer-driven biosorption of the metals is supported by the best fit of the Langmuir isotherm. Kinetic models were utilized to examine the rate and mechanism of the biosorption process. A high correlation coefficient (R² = 0.98) for the pseudo-second-order model suggests that chemisorption is the primary mechanism for the uptake of Zn and Cd by biochar and fungi. It is concluded that the combination of biochar and the fungi <em>A. niveus</em> and <em>A. chlamydosporigena</em> offer an economical and environmentally sustainable remediation technique for soils contaminated with oil and heavy metals. The discovery is significant advancing the creation of sustainable biotechnological approaches for environmental restoration in oil contaminated material, providing a feasible alternative to traditional physicochemical procedures.</p>

<p>The treatment of wastewater containing synthetic dyes represents an environmental challenge due to their complex molecular structures and high stability. This study investigates the heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of Acid Orange 10 (AO10), an azo dye widely used in the textile industry, using titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>, Degussa P25) under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in both closed and semi-closed photoreactor configurations.</p><p>Parametric optimization revealed that optimal degradation was achieved at pH 6.5, 25 °C, and 0.1 g/L TiO<sub>2 </sub>for an initial dye concentration of 10 mg/L, reaching 88% removal efficiency after 120 min in the UV/TiO<sub>2 </sub>system.</p><p>Process intensification through the addition of oxidizing agents (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, K<sub>2</sub>S<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub>, Cl<sup>-</sup>, and IO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>) significantly enhanced degradation performance. Among all tested systems, UV/TiO₂/IO₃⁻ exhibited the most remarkable enhancement, achieving 97% removal in 120 min, while the combined UV/TiO<sub>2</sub>/IO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>/PS system achieved 97% removal in only 5 minutes, attributed to the synergistic generation of multiple reactive radicals (•OH, SO<sub>4</sub>•<sup>-</sup>, and IO<sub>3</sub>•).</p><p>Kinetic analysis confirmed that the degradation follows pseudo-first-order kinetics with excellent linearity (R² ≥ 0.99), with apparent rate constants increasing proportionally with oxidant addition.</p><p>Real matrix validation using river water, seawater, and mineral water confirmed the robustness of the process, maintaining >90% degradation efficiency despite the presence of interfering ions. These findings demonstrate that TiO<sub>2</sub>-based photocatalysis, intensified with oxidizing agents, represents an efficient and sustainable approach for treating dye-polluted effluents.</p>

<p>Corrosion poses a serious threat to marine structures, leading to rapid degradation of metal components through their interaction with aggressive environments. One effective strategy to mitigate corrosion is the use of inhibitors incorporated into protective coatings. This study investigates the anticorrosive properties of a green inhibitor derived from sea grapes (<em>Caulerpa lentillifera</em>), a marine ulvophyte algae commonly found in the Indo-Pacific. Extracts of sea grapes were incorporated into epoxy resin coatings at concentrations of 0%, 4%, 8%, and 12%, and applied to mild steel specimens immersed in artificial seawater. Corrosion performance was evaluated using weight loss measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The maximum extract concentration (12%) resulted in the highest protection, achieving approximately 70% inhibition efficiency via weight-loss measurements and 64% via EIS, compared to the uninhibited control. This formulation exhibited the largest impedance semicircle in the Nyquist plots and a smooth, defect-free surface under SEM analysis. These findings highlight the role of adsorption and film formation in enhancing protection. In conclusion, epoxy coatings modified with 12% sea grapes extract provide superior corrosion resistance, offering an eco-friendly and effective solution for marine applications.</p>

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Termites, highly structured social insects of the order Isoptera, are major biological threats to</p><p>wooden infrastructure, agricultural products, plantations, and stored materials. Although chemicalinsecticides are widely used, their long-term application has led to increasing termite resistance,environmental degradation, and toxicity to non-target species. These drawbacks emphasize thegrowing need for eco-conscious, biodegradable alternatives. Plant-based biopesticides, rich inbioactive metabolites, offer a sustainable and safer approach to termite management.This studyexplores the insecticidal potential of six botanicals—<em>Eucalyptus globulus, Cymbopogon citratus,Syzygium aromaticum, Artemisia absinthium, Citrus sinensis</em>, and<em> Chrysopogon zizanioides</em>—using petroleum ether, hexane, and distilled water as extraction media. Phytochemical analysisconfirmed the presence of key secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids,steroids,            carbohydrates, terpenoids,      phytosterols, and         quinones,            while polyphenols,anthraquinones, and cardiac glycosides were absent. Advanced GC-MS profiling identified majorconstituents such as pentadiene and hexadecanoic acid, and FTIR spectroscopy revealed functionalgroups like hydroxyl (O–H), alkene (C=C), halogenated chains (C–C), amines (N–H), and alkylaryl ethers. A distinctive aspect of this research is the comparative solvent-based assessmentshowing extremely rapid anti-termite activity. Hexane and petroleum ether extracts achieved 100%termite mortality within one minute, while aqueous extracts reached full lethality in twominutes.These findings establish the remarkable efficacy of solvent-optimized plant formulationsas natural, fast-acting, and environmentally sustainable alternatives to conventional synthetictermiticides paving the way for safer pest control strategies in agricultural and structural settings.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>                   </p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Termite Control, Plant-Based Extracts, Phytochemical Analysis, GC-MS Analysis, Sustainable Pest Management.                                                                          </p><p>                                                                                               </p><p>                                                                                         </p><p>                                                                                               </p><p>                                                                                               </p><p>                                                                                                      </p>

<p>Given the practice of third-party environmental pollution governance (TEPG), this paper proposes evolutionary game model to study the collaborative mechanism of the main participants and guide the optimization of the third-party service market’s technological environment towards sustainability and high quality. Initially, the model integrates the government’s policy parameters of reward-penalty on environmental performance, the market parameters of the flexible price, and mutual supervision parameters between polluting enterprises and third-party environmental service enterprises. Subsequently, a two-dimensional dynamic system is constructed to explore the collaborative governance path within TEPG, deducing theoretical analysis results on evolution trajectory and boundary conditions essential for optimizing the third-party technological environment. Finally, A real-world case is taken as an example to evaluate the proposed model and investigate the impact of the three previously mentioned controllable parameters on the TEPG system’s evolutionary process. The findings suggest that the TEPG dynamic system can evolve in various directions, driven by the synergistic effects of policy, market, and supervision, which balance the profit and loss in environmental governance. This synergy fosters the development of effective collaborative governance strategies. Positioning the heterogeneous effects of market price mechanism in different development stages of TEPG practice, supplemented by policy and supervision instruments to meet the boundary conditions for optimizing the technological environment, it can facilitates steering TEPG market towards sustainable and high-quality development. Additionally, stimulating the endogenous motivation of participants to control pollution, alongside leveraging external resources, significantly accelerates the adoption of collaborative behaviors for polluting enterprises and third-party environmental service enterprises.</p>

<p>By employing spatial observation methods and analyzing satellite imagery on both intra- and inter-annual scales, we were able to delineate the boundaries of the Sebkhet of Aurès Wetlands Complex (SAWC) located in northeastern Algeria. The study focused on seven major wetlands, encompassing a total surface area of 48,540 hectares, with altitudes ranging from 370 to 900 meters, which supports a high level of ecological diversity. The treatment, by classifying the water surfaces and the wet surfaces present on 19 images used, enabled to visualize the variation within the timeframe of each site submersion. The results indicated that precipitation is the primary factor driving these variations. In 2003, an annual precipitation of 502.06 mm corresponded to a total flooded area of 30,305.15 hectares. By 2007, with rainfall dropping to 340.7 mm, the inundated surface declined to 27,090.14 hectares, marking a 10.6% reduction. This downward trend continued in 2013, when precipitation further decreased to 304.8 mm, and the flooded area contracted significantly to 16,736.16 hectares, a 44.8% decrease over the 11-year period. This study investigates whether fluctuations in wintering duck numbers are linked to both total wetland area and the extent of main habitat types. Population counts from 2003, 2007, and 2013 were compared with temporal changes in open‑water and flood‑prone surfaces, derived from satellite imagery and GIS analysis. The results indicated that, besides the surface area of flooded zones being a key condition for supporting large numbers of waterfowl, factors such as safety, the absence of disturbances and predators, and the availability of food are also crucial in attracting these species.</p>