Explore the vast range of titles available.

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can enter the natural environment during manufacture, use and/or disposal, and consequently public concern about their potential adverse impacts in the environment is growing. Despite the bulk of the human population living in Asia and Africa (mostly in low- or middle-income countries), limited work relating to research, development and regulations on APIs in the environment have so far been conducted in these regions. Also, the API manufacturing sector is gradually shifting to countries with lower production costs. This paper focuses mainly on APIs for human consumption and highlights key differences between the low-, middle- and high-income countries, covering factors such as population and demographics, manufacture, prescriptions, treatment, disposal and reuse of waste and wastewater. The striking differences in populations (both human and animal), urbanization, sewer connectivity and other factors have revealed that the environmental compartments receiving the bulk of API residues differ markedly between low- and high-income countries. High sewer connectivity in developed countries allows capture and treatment of the waste stream (point-source). However, in many low- or middle-income countries, sewerage connectivity is generally low and in some areas waste is collected predominantly in septic systems. Consequently, the diffuse-source impact, such as on groundwater from leaking septic systems or on land due to disposal of raw sewage or septage, may be of greater concern. A screening level assessment of potential burdens of APIs in urban and rural environments of countries representing low- and middle-income as well as high-income has been made. Implications for ecological risks of APIs used by humans in lower income countries are discussed.

The 19th century witnessed an upsurge of periodicals in China, among which the Chinese newspapers and periodicals by Protestant missionaries were of profound impact. This paper begins with a chronological division of Protestant missionary Chinese periodicals, highlighting the most memorable and influential titles, and analyzes the three-phase development of initiation, development and transformation within the broader sociohistorical context. Additionally, the study explores their evolutionary instrumental functions in terms of content and readership, ranging from the handmaid of religion, the bridge of eastern–western cultures to the carrier of diverse knowledge and the manipulator of politics. This shows that the knowledge selected and translated by Protestant missionaries functioned as a dynamic tool in adaptation to historicized requirements. Ultimately, the study argues that these periodicals served as an enlightener of Chinese minds, a promoter of Chinese press and a facilitator of China’s sociopolitical revolution, advancing religious communication, knowledge dissemination and political reform in China during the contemporary and subsequent eras.

Given that mental health issues are acute in Asian countries, particularly Japan and Korea, and university students are more vulnerable to depression than the general population, this study aims to examine the landscapes of scientific research regarding depressive disorders among university students and evaluate the effectiveness of international collaboration and funding provision on the scientific impact in Korea, Japan, and China. Based on articles retrieved from the Web of Science database during the period 1992–2018, we found that the number of scientific publications, international collaborations, and allocated funds regarding depressive disorder among university students in China (97 articles, 43 international collaborations, and 52 funds provided, respectively) overwhelmingly surpassed the case of Korea (37 articles, 12 international collaborations, and 15 funds provided, respectively) and Japan (24 articles, 5 international collaborations, and 6 funds provided, respectively). The differences in collaboration patterns (p-value < 0.05) and the proportion of allocated funds (p-value < 0.05) among Korea, Japan, and China were also noted using Fisher’s exact test. Based on the Poisson regression analysis, China’s associations of scientific impact with international collaboration (β = −0.322, p-value < 0.01) and funding provision (β = −0.397, p-value < 0.01) are negative, while associations of the scientific impact and scientific quality with funding provision and international collaboration were statistically insignificant. These findings hint that Korea and Japan lacked scientific output, diversity in research targets, international collaboration, and funding provision, compared to China, but the quality of either China’s internationally collaborated or funded articles was contentious. As a result, policymakers in Korea and Japan are suggested to raise the importance of mental health problems in their future policy planning and resource distribution. Moreover, it would be advisable to establish a rigorous system of evaluation for the quality of internationally collaborated and funded studies in order to increase scientific impact and maintain public trust, especially in China.

Purpose Urbanization and industrialization in China has resulted in a dramatic increase in the volume of wastewater and sewage sludge produced from wastewater treatment plants. Problems associated with sewage sludge have attracted increasing attention from the public and urban planners. How to manage sludge in an economically and environmentally acceptable manner is one of the critical issues that modern societies are facing. Methods Sludge treatment systems consist of thickening, dewatering, and several different alternative main treatments (anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, drying, composting, and incineration). Agricultural application, landfill, and incineration are the principal disposal methods for sewage sludge in China. However, sewage sludge disposal in the future should focus on resource recovery, reducing environmental impacts and saving economic costs. Results The reuse of biosolids in all scenarios can be environmentally beneficial and cost-effective. Anaerobic digestion followed by land application is the preferable options due to low economic and energy costs and material reuse. Conclusion It is necessary to formulate a standard suitable for the utilization of sewage sludge in China.

Background, aim, and scope Fujian reservoirs in southeast China are important water resources for economic and social sustainable development, although few have been studied previously. In recent years, growing population and increasing demands for water shifted the focus of many reservoirs from flood control and irrigation water to drinking water. However, most of them showed a rapid increase in the level of eutrophication, which is one of the most serious and challenging environmental problems. In this study, we investigated the algae community characteristics, trophic state, and eutrophication control strategies for typical subtropical reservoirs in southeast Fujian. Materials and methods Surface water samples were collected using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic bottles from 11 Fujian reservoirs in summer 2010. Planktonic algae were investigated by optical microscopy. Water properties were determined according to the national standard methods. Results and discussion Shallow reservoirs generally have higher values of trophic state index (TSI) and appear to be more susceptible to anthropogenic disturbance than deeper reservoirs. A total of 129 taxa belonging to eight phyla (i.e., Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Chrysophyta, Cryptophyta, Cyanophyta, Euglenophyta, Pyrrophyta, Xanthophyta) were observed and the most diverse groups were Chlorophyta (52 taxa), Cyanophyta (20 taxa), Euglenophyta (17 taxa), Chrysophyta (14 taxa). The dominant groups were Chlorophyta (40.58%), Cyanophyta (22.91%), Bacillariophyta (21.61%), Chrysophyta (6.91%). The species richness, abundance, diversity, and evenness of algae varied significantly between reservoirs. TSI results indicated that all 11 reservoirs were eutrophic, three of them were hypereutrophic, six were middle eutrophic, and two were light eutrophic. There was a strong positive correlation between algal diversity and TSI at P  < 0.05. Our canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results illustrated that temperature, transparency, conductivity, DO, TC, NH 4 -N, NO x -N, TP, and chlorophyll a were significant environmental variables affecting the distribution of algae communities. The transparency and chlorophyll a were the strongest environmental factors in explaining the community data. Furthermore, the degradation of water quality associated with excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in Fujian reservoirs may be impacted by interactions among agriculture and urban factors. A watershed-based management strategy, especially phosphorus control, should be developed for drinking water source protection and sustainable reservoirs in the future. Conclusion and recommendations All investigated reservoirs were eutrophicated based on the comprehensive TSI values; thus, our results provided an early warning of water degradation in Fujian reservoirs. Furthermore, the trophic state plays an important role in shaping community structure and in determining species diversity of algae. Therefore, long-term and regular monitoring of Euglenophyta, Cyanophyta, TN, TP and chlorophyll a in reservoirs is urgently needed to further understand the future trend of eutrophication and to develop a watershed-based strategy to manage the Cyanophyta bloom hazards.

On 3 April 2020, the Director-General of the WHO stated: \"[COVID-19] is much more than a health crisis. We are all aware of the profound social and economic consequences of the pandemic (WHO, 2020)\". Such consequences are the result of counter-measures such as lockdowns, and world-wide reductions in production and consumption, amplified by cascading impacts through international supply chains. Using a global multi-regional macro-economic model, we capture direct and indirect spill-over effects in terms of social and economic losses, as well as environmental effects of the pandemic. Based on information as of May 2020, we show that global consumption losses amount to 3.8$tr, triggering significant job (147 million full-time equivalent) and income (2.1$tr) losses. Global atmospheric emissions are reduced by 2.5Gt of greenhouse gases, 0.6Mt of PM2.5, and 5.1Mt of SO2 and NOx. While Asia, Europe and the USA have been the most directly impacted regions, and transport and tourism the immediately hit sectors, the indirect effects transmitted along international supply chains are being felt across the entire world economy. These ripple effects highlight the intrinsic link between socio-economic and environmental dimensions, and emphasise the challenge of addressing unsustainable global patterns. How humanity reacts to this crisis will define the post-pandemic world.

Travel and Tourism is a major economic sector globally, and countries invest significantly to leverage their natural, cultural, and infrastructural assets. It has come to stay as the largest service industry and widely used as an instrument of growth of national income, poverty alleviation, infrastructure development and employment generation. The Asia Pacific region is slated to be the most preferred tourism regions of world; whereas India, and China, by their size both in terms of geography and population are the rising nations on the global tourism front. As per the different World Travel and Tourism Council reports, these two countries are projected to upsurge in their respective tourism economies both in terms of contribution to GDP and employment in the post pandemic world. However, the growing Economic Impact of tourism also increases the threat of rising Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions impact. The Travel and Tourism Economic and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions impact cannot be studied in isolation but has to be analyzed for overall advantages for an economy, more so for the massive economies of India and China. This is comprehensive comparative study on the background of bi-decadal economic impact analysis (1995-2015), covering the period prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in India and China leading to study of economic and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions impact in the pandemic and post pandemic period through the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Analysis. It aims to assess the potential of tourism as a key driver of sustained and enhanced economic growth as well as focus on control environmental impact in India and China in the coming decades.

Background, aims and scope Current studies have paid little attention to the dynamism in urban spatial expansion and its possible environmental and health effects or to the health effects of rapid urban environmental change at different points along the urbanisation gradient. This study adopts a public health ecology approach to systematically understand the relationship between urbanisation, urban environmental change and human health in China. Method Remote sensing image analysis, based on night light data at five different time periods in recent decades, was used to determine changes to the overall urban area. Through a review of the evidence on the relationships between environmental health, urbanisation and health, we advance a pathway framework for explaining urban human health ecology. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to measure the correlation between disease prevalence and urbanisation level, adding a further dimension to a systemic understanding of urban health. Results and conclusions Urban areas have been increasing spatially, but unevenly, in recent decades, with medium and small cities also expanding rapidly in the past decade. Urbanisation and urban expansion result in changes to land use/coverage change, the urban environment and the residents’ lifestyle, which result in human health problems. Regions with the highest urbanisation level were more inclined to have a high prevalence of chronic disease in recent decades. An ecological public health approach provides insights into the multiple types of data which need to be routinely collected if human disease is not to become a barrier to social and economic development.

Using the Joint Typhoon Warning Center （JTWC） and China Meteorological Administration （CMA） tropical cyclone track datasets, variations in frequency and intensity of the affecting-China tropical cyclones （ACTCs） are studied for the period of 1965-2004. First, the differences between the two tropical cyclone datasets are examined. The annual frequencies of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific basin are reasonably consistent to each other, while the intensity records are less reliable. The annual numbers of ACTCs based on different datasets are close to each other with similar interdecadal and interannual variations. However, the maximum intensity and the annual frequency of ACTCs for strong categories show great dependence on datasets. Tropical cyclone impacts on China show the same variations as the annual number of ACTCs and also show dependence on datasets. Differences in tropical cyclone impacts on China are mainly caused by datasets used. The annual frequency of ACTCs, especially the length of lifetime of ones that make landfall, and the intensity estimates all have effects on the value of impacts on China.