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This paper aims to quantify the impact of environmental contamination on farmland valuation. It applies data fusion and hedonic pricing approaches to quantify the contribution of nitrogen and phosphorus loading on farmland sales transactions. It further suggests approaches to improve internalization of environmental cost in valuation approaches using shadow pricing. The work informs the field of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing by fusing environmental data with financial transactions.

This paper is an empirical study implementing hedonic pricing of farmland in the Lake Huron major drainage area. Data sources and fusion were derived from AcreValue, the United States Department of Agriculture's Gridded Soil Survey Geographic database (gSSURGO) and the United States Geological Survey's Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes database (SPARROW).

The results suggest that environmental contamination has statistically significant positive determination power on farmland prices such that prices increase with contamination. Conventional metrics such as percentage of cultivated land in the parcel, root zone depth, whether the parcel is designated by the Natural Resource Conservation Service as prime farmland, and the size of the farmland parcel contribution to farmland value as well. The results indicate that environmental impacts are not accurately accounted for in farmland transactions.

This paper points to inaccurate valuation of environmental contamination in farmland value. While geocoding allowed for positioning of farmland sales transactions relative to modeled areas of contaminant loading in the Lake Huron drainage area, the interpretation indicates that value is driven by cultivation. Hence, generalization to other areas needs a cautious approach. Empirical testing across locations and drainage areas with diverse farmland features will serve to verify the modeled data used in this study.

The lack of integration of externalities in land valuation has implications on lending and disclosure practices, as financial service providers increasingly seek to account for ESG risk on their loan books and broader investment portfolios. The impact of farmland accounting practices for contamination such as shadow pricing may impact land valuation based on future cash flows, and may serve to inform sustainability-linked lending practices to farm operations.

This is the first paper to fuse data from AcreValue, gSSURGO and SPARROW to discover the explanatory power of nutrient contamination in farmland value in the Lake Huron major drainage area.

Research over the last 20 years has had a major focus on the ecology of east coast estuaries, including the interaction between coastal seawater and saltmarshes. It is not possible to separate intertidal coastal saltmarshes from the rest of the coastal marine environment as they are involved in a truly interactive system. The significance of this system is attracting increasing attention as the effect of elevated nutrient concentrations on the ecology of the coastal zone has become apparent. It is only when we understand how the various chemical and biological processes influence the flux of nutrients through the estuarine interface between land and sea that any sensible management strategy can be developed.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the critical factors associated with growing fertilizer usage culminating in contamination of soil/water in agriculturally intensive regions of Uttar Pradesh, India. The agriculture sector is seen as one of the major contributors in ensuring food security, however adoption of sustainable agriculture to protect water resources from contamination due to fertilizers and pesticides is becoming pressing to achieve long term environmental security.

A two staged study aimed at monitoring the soil quality status followed by stakeholder survey has been attempted. Attitude-behavior framework based on the theory of reasoned action has been tried to explain the fertilizer use behavior in the study. The results are analyzed through Analysis of variance.

Soil monitoring data showed nitrate and total nitrogen loadings beyond the permissible limit in the identified regions. A questionnaire aimed at determining farmer’s attitude toward fertilizer usage showed a significant influence of factors like net farm income, overall farm yield, extension services, farmer characteristics on one hand and risks associated with changing farming practices, costs of substitutes available, market-based instruments like subsidies and loans on the other. Divergent responses were observed with respect to farmer’s perceived risks from adopting to organic substitutes, linkages of fertilizer application with environmental degradation and the level of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

The study can be scaled up to study the inter-regional differences by benchmarking regional responses. It would be interesting to extend the work to find solutions from the farmers as alternative fertility management strategies. The items used in questionnaire are self-made; hence there is still a possibility of enhancing the robustness of scale by applying advanced statistical techniques.

Results of the study indicate excessive nitrogen loadings in farm soils which is an indicator of potential future nitrate contaminated zones or vulnerable zones emerging in agricultural intensive regions. Findings reinforce the role of education, knowledge transfer and awareness for long-term agricultural sustainability. The paper highlights the urgency for reorientation of the support system by the government and policymakers.

The paper attempts to understand the linkage between the agricultural productivity and the environmental implications followed by the reasons culminating in the agri-environmental imbalance. On-site monitoring study followed by assessment of reasons culminating in this scenario has not been attempted earlier and this paper contributes to understanding at dual level. This paper emphasizes on the insights of stakeholder which is instrumental in ensuring agricultural sustainability or otherwise. It takes the position that the farmer’s farm management behavior is strongly influenced by factors like food security and income, keeping environmental quality at second place. It also identifies the barriers for organic farming and other alternative systems as well as explores the economic, social, and philosophical aspects of sustainable agriculture.

To understand the service performance of full ceramic ball bearings under extreme working conditions and improve their service life, dynamic characteristic tests of full ceramic ball bearings under ultra-low temperature conditions were carried out by a low-temperature bearing life testing machine, and temperature rise and friction were measured under extreme low-temperature environment.

The heat-flow coupling model of bearing was established by CFD software, and the test results were further analyzed.

The results show that the temperature rise of the bearing is not obvious in the liquid nitrogen environment. With the increase of the chamber temperature, the lubrication state of the bearing changes, resulting in the temperature rise of the outer ring of the bearing. As the temperature of the test chamber increases, the friction force on the bearing increases first and then decreases under the action of multifactor coupling.

The research results provide test data and theoretical basis for the application of all-ceramic ball bearings in aerospace and other fields and have important significance for improving the service life of high-end equipment under extreme working conditions.

The research results provide test data and theoretical basis for the application of full ceramic ball bearings in aerospace and other fields and have important significance for improving the service life of high-end equipment under extreme working conditions.

The research results provide test data and theoretical basis for the application of full ceramic ball bearings in aerospace and other fields and have important significance for improving the service life of high-end equipment under extreme working conditions.

The research results provide test data and theoretical basis for the application of full ceramic ball bearings in aerospace and other fields and have important significance for improving the service life of high-end equipment under extreme working conditions.

The elevated level of nitrate in groundwater is a serious problem in Texas aquifers. To control and manage groundwater quality, the characterization of groundwater contamination and identification of the factors affecting the nitrate concentration of groundwater are significant. The purpose of this paper is to determine factors which have significant impacts on the elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations of the Southern High-Plains and the Edwards-Trinity aquifers.

The characterization of groundwater nitrate contamination was undertaken by analyzing the hydrochemical data of groundwater within a statistical framework. The multivariate statistical analysis (ordinary least square) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were used to study the relationship between groundwater nitrate contamination and land use of the study areas.

Results show groundwater nitrate contamination is typically due to an overapplication of N fertilizers to cotton in the Southern High-Plains aquifer and to grassland in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer. Adjusted R² (0.45) explains variations of nitrate concentration by well-depth, cotton production, shrubland and grassland in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer. The results of an analysis of variations in N concentration with well depth for all 192 wells indicate that nitrate concentrations in water from wells in the Southern High-Plains and Edwards-Trinity aquifers tend to decrease with increasing well-depth.

In this study, the GWR model was built to identify nitrate concentration within a geographic framework to ensure sustainable use of groundwater, which is important for local management purposes. The analysis should include local spatial variations of elements such as hydrologic characteristics and the land use activities if groundwater nitrate contamination causes adverse effects on human and ecosystem health.

The main purpose of this study resides essentially in the development of a new tool to quantify the biomass in the bioreactor operating under steady state conditions.

Modeling is the most relevant tool for understanding the functioning of some complex processes such as biological wastewater treatment. A steady state model equation of activated sludge model 1 (ASM1) was developed, especially for autotrophic biomass (XBA) and for oxygen uptake rate (OUR). Furthermore, a respirometric measurement, under steady state and endogenous conditions, was used as a new tool for quantifying the viable biomass concentration in the bioreactor.

The developed steady state equations simplified the sensitivity analysis and allowed the autotrophic biomass (XBA) quantification. Indeed, the XBA concentration was approximately 212 mg COD/L and 454 mgCOD/L for SRT, equal to 20 and 40 d, respectively. Under the steady state condition, monitoring of endogenous OUR permitted biomass quantification in the bioreactor. Comparing XBA obtained by the steady state equation and respirometric tool indicated a percentage deviation of about 3 to 13%. Modeling bioreactor using GPS-X showed an excellent agreement between simulation and experimental measurements concerning the XBA evolution.

These results confirmed the importance of respirometric measurements as a simple and available tool for quantifying biomass.

This paper aims to examine the friction coefficient and wear rate characteristics of SCM 440 bearing steel used in the cylinder block of a tractor engine with gas lubrication and oil lubrication.

Friction tests were performed using a pin-on-disc tester with loads of 2 to 10 N and sliding velocities of 0.06 to 0.34 m/s. The experiment was done with and without nitrogen, and paraffin oil lubricant was used to prevent wear during process.

The nondimensional characteristic number from the Stribeck curves indicated that the lubrication regime is hydrodynamic. As the velocity and load increased, the friction coefficient of the SCM 440 increased and greater applied load resulted in a smaller friction coefficient. The range of the friction coefficient was 0.017001 to 0.092904 with paraffin oil lubrication and 0.01614 to 0.4555 with nitrogen lubrication. Nitrogen is effective in reducing the friction coefficient of materials that are in contact and subjected to a load and velocity.

The experiments confirm that nitrogen is effective for reducing the friction coefficient of SCM 440 materials that are in contact with each other and subjected to a load and velocity.

The paper seeks to review some of the main operational problems of wastewater treatment plants designed for nutrient removal. It aims to pay particular attention to bulking and foaming due to massive growth of filamentous organisms, failure or non‐optimal operation of secondary settling tanks, and compliance with more stringent effluent requirements.

The discussion of the major operational problems is based on a thorough review of the available literature and own experiences with more than 80 wastewater treatment plants.

To suppress the undesirable growth of filamentous organisms and to achieve an all‐year round stable operation of secondary settling tanks several design options for improvement have been developed based on the experience gained so far. The most desirable option for improving the operation of a single treatment plant is to a large extent site specific. Beside adopting the design procedures also operational measures are possible.

The paper recommends several practical options for optimising the performance of wastewater treatment plants with regard to the aforementioned problems. These recommendations are based on proved practical experience and, therefore, may act as a flexible toolbox for an individually tailored design or operation of the plant in order to avoid and/or combat the problems during operation.

The described options for improvement the operation are based on long lasting practical experience with large scale wastewater treatment plants. They can be used by any operator of such plants for solving some of the major problems of modern wastewater treatment plants.

The purpose of this paper is to compare trophic characteristics of the ecosystems of small and shallow lakes with a different character of land-cover in their catchments (as exemplified by several previously unstudied lakes of the Leningrad Region, North-Western Russia, that belong to a single lake-river system).

The key limnetic parameters of four lakes are analysed. Two of the lakes are located on the territory of allotment gardens, the other two are in the forest-covered areas. A preliminary assessment was made for the production-to-destruction ratio in the ecosystems of the lakes of the study region and their vulnerability factors.

For the lakes with a largely unexploited catchment, humus of terrigenous origin can act as a “hidden” source of nutrient load (primarily as phosphates). For the lakes with a catchment occupied by allotment gardens, an elevated trophic status and intensive overgrowth by vegetation (floating forms) is driven by an increased nitrogen load.

The results can be used for planning land and water management activities in North-Western Russia and in other world’s regions with similar environmental conditions.

These results can lay a foundation for creating a region-specific model to predict trends in eutrophication and overgrowth of small shallow lakes.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an application of spatial decision support system tools (SDSS) for assessing management option to reduce the nitrogen load from agricultural sources. The SDSS has been developed within a case study for the drainage basin of the Grado and Marano Lagoon (N‐E Italy). Design/methodology/approach – The problem is at least partially solvable replacing some actual cash crops with alternative crops requiring lower nitrogen input but which are economically profitable. The decision support was designed with two components: a non‐spatial one (DSS) to support the choice among alternative crops (within different scenarios), and a spatial one (SDSS) to analyse and evaluate the spatial distribution of the cash crops finding suitable areas for the alternative crops. Findings – The use of alternative crops for reducing nitrogen loads to the Grado and Marano lagoon waters seems feasible and appropriate. A mosaic of poplar, grassland and cash crop areas in these areas of the pollution risk is the best alternative both in terms of total nitrogen reduction and in terms of farmers' income. Research limitations/implications – The paper proposes a SDSS to implement alternative crops in an area where the cash crops constitute a very strong consolidated agricultural system. The feasibility of the alternatives is dependent on the willingness of farmers to participate in the research and then to exploit its results. The availability of data only at municipal level limited the research, thus imposing a spatial resolution constraint. Originality/value – It is so far the first attempt, in Friuli Venezia Giulia region, to develop a spatial decision support system to mitigate the pollution of a lagoon from agricultural sources by trying to find suitable alternatives to well consolidated agricultural practices. It also constitutes a model that can be applied in similar contexts by coupling ecological and economic considerations.