Description and Application of a Mathematical Method for the Analysis of Harmony

Harmony issues are widespread in human society and nature. To analyze these issues, harmony theory has been proposed as the main theoretical approach for the study of interpersonal relationships and relationships between humans and nature. Therefore, it is of great importance to study harmony theory. After briefly introducing the basic concepts of harmony theory, this paper expounds the five elements that are essential for the quantitative description of harmony issues in water resources management: harmony participant, harmony objective, harmony regulation, harmony factor, and harmony action. A basic mathematical equation for the harmony degree, that is, a quantitative expression of harmony issues, is introduced in the paper: HD=ai − bj, where a is the uniform degree, b is the difference degree, i is the harmony coefficient, and j is the disharmony coefficient. This paper also discusses harmony assessment and harmony regulation and introduces some application examples

A Harmony-Based Approach for Assessing and Regulating Human-Water Relationships: A Case Study of Henan Province in China

The conflict of the human-water relationships (HWR) has further increased the water-related risks, such as water environment deterioration, water shortages, and even regional violent conflicts for obtaining usable water resources. Knowing how to evaluate and regulate the discordant HWR to form a balanced growth between sustainable socio-economy and water resources protection has become a critical issue in water resources management. The harmony theory method, which provides a new perspective for solving the conflict between humans and water, has been widely used in current studies. However, this method focuses less on the quantitative study of the balance status of HWR. This study proposes a harmony theory-based HWR evaluation method that contains a systematic process of harmony assessment, indicator identification, harmony balance constraints, and harmony regulation for assessing and regulating the discordant HWR. The Henan Province of China, which has a complicated HWR, was selected as a case study to apply and verify the approach proposed in this study. The results indicated that (1) Henan Province showed a poor harmony status. The human–water harmony degree of 18 distinctions in the province varied from 0.41 to 0.76, showing an increasing trend from 2006 to 2018, indicating that the HWR was gradually improving in recent years. (2) The human–water harmony degree showed that HWR in the southwest part of Henan Province, with less human activities, was better than that in its northeast part, which had faster social development. Sanmenxia City, located in the west part of the province, had the highest human–water harmony degree because of the recent water control projects implemented in the city, indicating that human production measures could effectively help improve HWR. (3) At present, Henan Province has serious discordant indicators in these three aspects (water system health, humanistic system development, and human-water system coordination), which proves that it is still facing pressure from both socio-economy sustainable development and water resources protection. Our results provide insight into water resources management in Henan Province and other similar regions

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Land-Use and Ecosystem Services Valuation in the Belt and Road Initiative

Land-use changes can significantly affect both the ecosystem services value (ESV) and ecosystem functions. Estimating the impacts of land-use changes in ESV in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is indispensable to provide public awareness about the status of ESV, and to help in policy-making processes. To understand the spatiotemporal evolution of land-use its impact on ESV in the BRI, this study investigated the main water-resource areas of BRI. Using GLCNMO data (2003, 2008, 2013), the land-use dynamic degree, comprehensive index of land-use degree, land-use transfer matrix, and method of ESV valuation were adopted to analyze the changes in land-use and ESV. The results showed that forest and cropland area increased markedly between 2003 and 2013, whereas grassland and shrubland area notably decreased. Forest, shrubland, grassland, cropland, and bare land occupied a relatively large proportion and changed frequently. The total ESV of the study area has increased from US $74.98 million in 2003 to US$82.12 million in 2013, which was primarily caused by the transition from cropland and grassland to forest. The impacts of land-use changes on the specific ecosystem services are also tremendous. The presented results can be valuable for the government for future land-use planning activities

Forms of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Suspended Solids: A Case Study of Lihu Lake, China

Suspended solids are an important part of lake ecosystems, and their nitrogen and phosphorus contents have a significant effect on water quality. However, information on nitrogen and phosphorus forms in suspended solids remains limited. Therefore, a case study was conducted in Lihu Lake (China), a lake with characteristically high amounts of suspended solids. Nitrogen and phosphorus speciation in suspended solids was analyzed through a sequential extraction method. We also evaluated the sources of various forms of nitrogen and phosphorus and their different effects on eutrophication. The total nitrogen (TN) content was 758.9–3098.1 mg/kg. Moreover, the proportions of various N forms in the suspended solids of the study areas were ranked as follows: Hydrolyzable nitrogen (HN) > residual nitrogen (RN) > exchangeable nitrogen (EN). Total phosphorus (TP) ranged from 294.8 to 1066.4 mg/kg, and 58.6% of this TP was inorganic phosphorus (IP). In turn, calcium (Ca)-bound inorganic phosphorus (Ca-Pi) was the main component of IP. The correlation between various nitrogen and phosphorus forms showed that there were different sources of suspended nitrogen and phosphorus throughout Lihu Lake. Correlation analysis of water quality indices and comparative analysis with surface sediments showed that in Lihu Lake, the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus contents in water were influenced by sediment through diffusion, while particle phosphorus content in water was influenced by suspended solids through adsorption; however, due to the higher phosphorus contents in suspended solids, we should pay more attention to the impact of suspended solids

Harmonious Development between Socio-Economy and River-Lake Water Systems in Xiangyang City, China

River-lake water systems (RLS) are important carriers for matter transformation and energy transmission. Influenced by accelerated social and economic development, the structural, functional, and environmental states of RLS have been seriously damaged. It is an important problem for human beings to coordinate the contradiction between socio-economic development and the protection of RLS. In order to quantitatively study the harmonious relationship between socio-economic development and the state of RLS, the harmony theory method was used to analyze the degree of harmonious development between socio-economy and RLS in this study taking Xiangyang City as an example, and formulating corresponding harmonious optimization schemes. The results indicate that: (1) the state of RLS had a relatively small change during 2009–2014, and its spatial distribution shows a decreasing trend with the Han River as the central axis decreases on both of its sides; (2) before 2011, the driving force of socio-economic development in Xiang yang City mainly originated in the peripheral regions such as Laohekou City, Zaoyang City, and Gucheng County, but after 2011, it migrated rapidly towards Downtown, and reached the maximum in 2014; (3) when the influence of regional socio-economic development on RLS is small, socio-economic development is the main factor driving the change of the overall harmonious development degree of socio-economy and RLS. However when the influence is big, it is combined, driven by socio-economic development and the state of RLS; (4) the main factors affecting the overall harmonious degree of socio-economy and RLS in Xiangyang City include: river length, standard ratio of water quality, water consumption per capita, reservoir regulation capability, farmland irrigation water consumption per Mu (Mu is an area unit in China, 1 Mu approximately equals to 666.67 m2), and sewage treatment rate. This study can provide a reference for the future analysis of the harmonious development between socio-economy and RLS, as well as in formulating corresponding harmonious optimization schemes in China and other countries in a similar situation

Occurrence and Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals from Wuliangsuhai Lake, Yellow River Basin, China

As one of the eight largest freshwater lakes in China, Wuliangsuhai Lake is an extremely rare large lake with biodiversity and environmental protection functions in one of the world’s arid or semi-arid areas and it plays a pivotal role in protecting the ecological security of the Yellow River Basin. Heavy metals in sediment interstitial water, surface sediments, and sediment cores of Wuliangsuhai Lake were investigated and analyzed, and the pollution degree evaluated based on multiple assessment methods. The bioavailability of heavy metals of the surface sediments was evaluated by calculating the ratio of chemical fractions of heavy metals. The toxicity assessment of sediment interstitial water indicated that Ni, Zn, As, and Cd would not be toxic to aquatic ecosystems, however, Hg and Cr in some regions may cause acute toxicity to the benthos. The ecological assessment results of the surface sediments indicated that some areas of the lake are heavily polluted and the main polluting elements are Cd and Hg. Cd has the highest bioavailability because of its high exchangeable fraction ratio. In addition, exogenous pollution accumulated within 20 cm of the sediment cores, and then, with the increasing of the depth, the pollution degree and ecological risk decreased

The Potential for PE Microplastics to Affect the Removal of Carbamazepine Medical Pollutants from Aqueous Environments by Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Microplastics are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and interact with other kinds of pollutants, which affects the migration, transformation, and fate of those other pollutants. In this study, we employ carbamazepine (CBZ) as the contaminant to study the influence of polyethylene (PE) microplastics on the adsorption of CBZ pollutants by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) in aqueous solution. The adsorption capacity of CBZ by MCNTs in the presence of PE microplastics was obviously lower than that by MCNTs alone. The influencing factors, including the dose of microplastics, pH, and CBZ solution concentration, on the adsorption of CBZ by MCNTs and MCNTs−PE were thoroughly investigated. The adsorption rate of CBZ by MCNTs decreased from 97.4% to 90.6% as the PE microplastics dose increased from 2 g/L to 20 g/L. This decrease occurred because the MCNTs were coated on the surface of the PE microplastics, which further decreased the effective adsorption area of the MCNTs. This research provides a framework for revealing the effect of microplastics on the adsorption of pollutants by carbon materials in aqueous environments