Article
Environmental Sciences
Ting Sun, Zoe Lindo, Brian A. A. Branfireun
Summary: Climate change-driven ground warming will alter mercury cycling processes in high boreal and subarctic peatlands, particularly increasing MeHg production in subarctic peatlands. Increased soil temperature promotes microbial metabolism and organic matter turnover, resulting in higher concentrations of MeHg in the water.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jing Wang, Yue Jiang, Chuanbing Zhang, Yong Zhang, Doudou Huang, Shuxiao Yan, Tengfei Sun, Yuxiang Mao, Yong Cai
Summary: The release of methylmercury (MeHg) in leachates from municipal sewage sludge (MSS) landfill showed different patterns from total mercury (THg). Lime was found to be more favorable for the release of THg and MeHg, while lower pH values of simulated rain promoted the release of THg and MeHg from raw sludge.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Le Wang, Jialiang Han, Hem Bahadur Katuwal, Pinhua Xia, Xiaohang Xu, Xinbin Feng, Guangle Qiu
Summary: This study found that rice consumption in Nepal is a major source of methylmercury exposure, with particularly high levels of mercury found in rice samples. Young children, especially preschoolers, are at higher risk of mercury exposure through rice consumption, which could lead to adverse health effects. Efforts should be made to protect vulnerable populations, especially younger groups, from high mercury exposure through rice consumption in Nepal.
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jeffrey K. Wickliffe, Maureen Y. Lichtveld, C. Wilco Zijlmans, Sigrid MacDonald-Ottevanger, Martin Shafer, Christa Dahman, Emily W. Harville, Stacy Drury, Gwendolyn Landburg, Paul Ouboter
Summary: Previous research in Suriname has found high concentrations of mercury in hair of women and children in rural interior communities, as well as in freshwater fish. Pregnant women from interior communities have significantly higher concentrations of total and methylmercury in hair compared to those from urban coastal cities. Mercury exposures in pregnant women in Suriname are largely influenced by diet and fish consumption, with methylmercury making up the majority of total mercury in both blood and hair.
JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhijia Ci, Xiong Tang, Wenjie Shen, Baowei Chen
Summary: Coastal streams and sewage outfalls have significant impacts on global coastal ecosystems, but the extent of mercury discharge and cycle in the nearshore environment is not well quantified. This study found that coastal streams and sewage outfalls in northern China have high concentrations of total mercury and methylmercury, which also contribute to high levels of mercury in sediments. Laboratory experiments further demonstrated the high potential for mercury production and release in these impacted sediments. Optimizing the layout of sewage outfalls can help reduce mercury risk in the coastal environment.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
R. P. Mason, M. Coulibaly, G. Hansen, H. Inman, P. K. Myer, K. M. Yao
Summary: Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, energy production, and other industrial inputs are a major source of anthropogenic mercury in aquatic environments. This study focuses on the understudied estuarine waters of Cote d'Ivoire and suggests that the local population may be exposed to unsafe levels of methylmercury through fish consumption. The findings highlight the importance of addressing local sources of mercury contamination and the transportation of mercury used in gold mining activities.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Miyuki Iwai-Shimada, Yayoi Kobayashi, Tomohiko Isobe, Shoji E. Nakayama, Makiko Sekiyama, Yu Taniguchi, Shin Yamazaki, Takehiro Michikawa, Masako Oda, Hiroshi Mitsubuchi, Masafumi Sanefuji, Shouichi Ohga, Nathan Mise, Akihiko Ikegami, Reiko Suga, Masayuki Shimono
Summary: Prenatal exposure to methylmercury can impact child development. This study compared two high-throughput methods for mercury speciation and found relatively good agreement between them. MeHg and IHg concentrations were determined in maternal and cord blood samples, highlighting the importance of analyzing different chemical forms for health effects.
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. Margaret Castellini, Lorrie D. Rea, Julie P. Avery, Todd M. O'Hara
Summary: Steller sea lions in Alaska exhibit elevated levels of mercury in their tissues, potentially impacting population recovery. The interactions between selenium and monomethylmercury may alleviate toxicity but can also lead to selenium deficiency. Tissue concentrations of mercury, selenium, and monomethylmercury vary across age cohorts, making interpretation challenging. Fetal and pup tissues are ideal for assessing mercury exposure related to maternal diet.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ellen M. Wells, Leonid Kopylev, Rebecca Nachman, Elizabeth G. Radke, Johanna Congleton, Deborah Segal
Summary: A study found that whole blood THg is a good predictor of MeHg exposure among fish and shellfish consumers, which is crucial for predicting exposure and establishing an exposure-response relationship.
BIOLOGICAL TRACE ELEMENT RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marta Gabryszewska, Barbara Gworek
Summary: This study investigated the impact of municipal waste landfill on the release of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to the environment in relation to groundwater flow directions. The analysis showed that groundwater flow direction influenced PCB concentration in groundwater due to low solubility of PCBs. Additionally, the strong sorption of PCBs to organic matter prevented the influence of groundwater flow directions on PCB content in soils and plant tissues. The largest PCB deposition zone was found to be located approximately 50 meters from the contamination source.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Peijia Ku, Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui, Songnian Liu, Kimber B. Corson, Ashley S. Williams, Matthew R. Monteverde, Glenn E. Woerndle, Anne E. Hershey, Parke A. Rublee
Summary: The study found that the impact of the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill on Hg contamination in the river was limited, with Hg pollution in surface sediments and biota largely absent in the first three years after the incident. This suggests that the Hg associated with the coal ash may not be readily available for extensive microbial methylation, providing insights for remediation strategies for similar incidents.
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Caroline Fink-Mercier, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Marc Amyot, Paul A. del Giorgio
Summary: This study evaluates the impact of wetlands and surface coverage of water on riverine concentrations and yields of total Hg and MeHg, and finds that surface coverage of water is the major driver of concentrations and fluxes at the whole network scale. The study also demonstrates the moderating effect of seasonality on the relationship between landscape properties and Hg forms.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Grazia Barone, Arianna Storelli, Daniela Meleleo, Angela Dambrosio, Rita Garofalo, Antonio Busco, Maria Maddalena Storelli
Summary: The study measured total mercury and methylmercury concentrations in various commercially important fish species and assessed the potential risks associated with them for children's health. The results suggested that selenium could alleviate the potential toxicity of mercury to a certain extent, and it was recommended that children should consume fish in moderation, especially swordfish and tunas.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chan Li, Kang Luo, Yuxiao Shao, Xiaohang Xu, Zhuo Chen, Tao Liang, Zhidong Xu, Xian Dong, Hongdong Wang, Guangle Qiu
Summary: This study detected mercury levels in the feathers of nocturnal migratory birds in Mount Ailao, Southwest China, and found significant variations among different species. Waterbirds had higher mercury levels, with piscivorous species having significantly higher levels than other foraging types. Foraging guilds and behaviors had significant effects on mercury accumulation. Approximately 7% of birds were at risk of mercury exposure.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jing Liu, Li Lin, Keyun Wang, Rui Ding, Zhouqing Xie, Pengfei Zhang
Summary: Municipal sewage is a significant source of mercury pollution in China. The majority of mercury in sewage sludge exists in the form of mercury sulfide, while smaller amounts are organo-chelated mercury and mercuric oxide. Thermal decomposition of mercury compounds in sludge leads to its release into the air. However, under certain conditions, the emission of mercury from sewage is minimal.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Zhengjia Zhang, Qingxiang Wang, Zhengguang Liu, Qi Chen, Zhiling Guo, Haoran Zhang
Summary: This study proposed a method to assess the photovoltaic power potential in coal mining subsidence areas and predicted the levelized cost of energy and benefits. Using Yangquan City as a case study, the results showed that the optimal areas for PV power generation matched the existing facilities and could meet a portion of the city's electricity demand.
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Chao Sui, Chen Lin, Tingting Tao, Wenxian Guan, Haoran Zhang, Liang Tao, Meng Wang, Feng Wang
Summary: This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients and found that serum CA125 level is associated with tumor progression and overall survival. The findings suggest that CA125 can be used as a prognostic biomarker in GIST patients.
BMC GASTROENTEROLOGY
(2023)
Review
Thermodynamics
Zhengguang Liu, Zhiling Guo, Qi Chen, Chenchen Song, Wenlong Shang, Meng Yuan, Haoran Zhang
Summary: This paper summarizes the sociological and engineering challenges of smart building-integrated photovoltaic (SBIPV) systems and proposes a data-driven solution. Data Sensing, Data Analysis, Data-driven Prediction, and Data-driven Optimization are the key steps to achieve a data-driven SBIPV system. Additionally, the technologies and models for data-driven SBIPV systems are explored to enable automated operational decisions.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Wenjing Li, Haoran Zhang, Jinyu Chen, Peiran Li, Yuhao Yao, Xiaodan Shi, Mariko Shibasaki, Hill Hiroki Kobayashi, Xuan Song, Ryosuke Shibasaki
Summary: Life pattern clustering is crucial for capturing the characteristics and regularity of daily life patterns. This study proposes a framework that efficiently identifies groups with similar life patterns based on millions of GPS records. The proposed method retains the original features of individual life pattern data and employs a metagraph-based data structure to capture the spatial-temporal similarity and diversity between individuals. Non-negative-factorization-based dimension reduction is used and the results show that our method effectively identifies similar life pattern groups, showcasing better computation efficiency and representational capacity compared to traditional methods. The insights gained from analyzing group characteristics can aid future urban and transportation planning, service improvement, and policy-making.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIG DATA
(2023)
Article
Urban Studies
Yanxiu Jin, Peiran Li, Zhiheng Chen, Shreyas Bharule, Ning Jia, Jinyu Chen, Xuan Song, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Haoran Zhang
Summary: Considering the importance of public railway transport in urban planning and development, understanding railway travel behavior is crucial. Previous studies have lacked comprehensiveness in analyzing railway travel behavior due to data and survey cost limitations. This study classified 36 stations in Tokyo based on railway usage behavior using millions of GPS records and explored the relationship between railway usage behavior and the built environment. The results show that non-secondary catchment areas have strong correlations between railway usage behavior and the commercial and functional attributes of stations. Consumption level, housing price, and passenger load are important indicators for non-core catchment areas. Additionally, this study offers policy discussions on railway station construction, highlighting the value of GPS records for assessing station usage and neighborhood construction.
Review
Infectious Diseases
Ying Du, Yijun He, Haoran Zhang, Fei Shen, Ling Guan, Henan Xin, Yongpeng He, Xuefang Cao, Boxuan Feng, Zhusheng Quan, Jianmin Liu, Lei Gao
Summary: Individuals in close contact with active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients have a high risk of recent infection and a higher risk of developing active TB in the following years post-exposure. This study aims to estimate the post-exposure TB incidence risk among close contacts to provide reference for clinical and public health strategies.
BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Zhou Wu, Shaoxiong Zeng, Ruiqi Jiang, Haoran Zhang, Zhile Yang
Summary: Wind power is a promising renewable energy, but its intermittency presents challenges for its use in power generation systems. To improve the utilization of wind power, a hybrid method based on a deep-chain echo state network (DCESN) and variational mode decomposition (VMD) is proposed for multi-step prediction. This method enhances the mapping capability by considering temporal dependence and has shown promising performance in wind power prediction.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Renfu Tu, Qi Liao, Ning Xu, Xuemei Wei, Yi Wang, Yongtu Liang, Haoran Zhang
Summary: Due to resource depletion and tightening carbon emissions policies, there is a gradual substitution of petroleum products with biofuels, resulting in falling demand. While many studies have focused on optimizing the biofuel supply chain, few of them have considered existing petroleum pipelines for policy reasons. This paper presents a logistics optimization model that takes into account multi-product pipeline scheduling from the perspective of biofuel suppliers and proposes a pipe-rail transportation mode to assess the potential optimization of logistics costs. A case study conducted in a region of China verifies the feasibility of the proposed approach and concludes that changes in demand for product oil and biofuels have no effect on the choice of pipeline opening location within certain ranges.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Yuhao Yao, Haoran Zhang, Jinyu Chen, Wenjing Li, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Xuan Song
Summary: Human mobility similarity comparison is crucial for modeling city dynamics and has a significant impact on developing intelligent transportation systems. We propose a mobility expression called mobility tableau and a corresponding similarity measurement approach by expanding the origin-destination matrix. Compared to traditional mobility comparison methods, mobility tableau comparison provides multi-dimensional similarity information. Sensitivity analysis based on real GPS data supports the robustness of our approach. Our method demonstrates better performance in two case studies, validating its practicality and superiority.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Yuhao Yao, Haoran Zhang, Lifeng Lin, Guixu Lin, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Xuan Song, Keping Yu
Summary: This paper proposes an intelligent delivery system based on IoT positioning technology, which overcomes the security, privacy, and attractiveness issues of the traditional IoT positioning technology system by introducing blockchain system and location information encryption.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Xiaodan Shi, Haoran Zhang, Wei Yuan, Ryosuke Shibasaki
Summary: In order to achieve long-term trajectory prediction for pedestrians in crowds, we propose a general framework that allows prediction models to transfer well to unseen scenes and objects by quickly learning prior information of trajectories. This framework utilizes carefully designed sub-tasks and meta-tasks to learn trajectory information related to scenes and objects, resulting in accurate long-term future prediction.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Jinyu Chen, Xiaodan Shi, Haoran Zhang, Wenjing Li, Peiran Li, Yuhao Yao, Satoshi Miyazawa, Xuan Song, Ryosuke Shibasaki
Summary: Monitoring the crowd in urban hotspots is a crucial research topic in urban management with significant social impact. This study proposes a confirmed case-driven time-series prediction model named MobCovid to forecast the crowd in urban hotspots, considering both the number of nighttime staying people and confirmed COVID-19 cases. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through multiple comparisons with other baselines.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS AND LEARNING SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Zengxian Li, Aijun Liu, Wen-Long Shang, Jiaxin Li, Hui Lu, Haoran Zhang
Summary: This paper presents an innovative fuzzy group decision-making model for assessing regional transportation sustainability, with a focus on evaluating the correlation between different attributes in the evaluation system. The study introduces a partitioned Maclaurin symmetric mean operator which proves to be more applicable in handling attribute correlation and grouping. Furthermore, a modified spherical fuzzy partitioned Maclaurin symmetric mean operator is proposed, expanding its application scope. Weight vectors for attributes and experts are obtained using the extended statistical variance method and evidence-based Bayes approximation method. The research also develops a fuzzy assessment model for sustainable transportation and demonstrates its feasibility and universality through a numerical example and comparison with previous studies.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Remote Sensing
Rui Zhu, Dongxue Guo, Man Sing Wong, Zhen Qian, Min Chen, Bisheng Yang, Biyu Chen, Haoran Zhang, Linlin You, Joon Heo, Jinyue Yan
Summary: To estimate electricity generation and evaluate the socio-economic effects of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, accurate calculation of installed PV areas and capacity is critical. This study proposes a detail-oriented deep learning network called Deep Solar PV Refiner to enhance PV segmentation from satellite imagery. The optimized network outperforms the benchmark network in various evaluation metrics, and also has competitive performance with state-of-the-art semantic segmentation networks.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2023)
