Abstract. Correlation analyses between atmospheric mercury (Hg) and other trace gases are useful for identification of sources and constraining regional Hg emissions. Emissions of Hg in Asia contribute significantly to the global budget of atmospheric Hg. However, due to the lack of reliable data on the source strength, large uncertainties remain in the emission inventories of Hg in Asia. In the present study, we calculated the correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO 2 , and GEM / CH 4 for mainland China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia using the ground-based observations at three remote sites in northwestern and southwestern China, and applied these values to estimate GEM emissions in the four source regions. The geometric mean GEM / CO correlation slopes for mainland China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia were 7.3 ± 4.3, 7.8 ± 6.4, 7.8 ± 5.0, and 13.4 ± 9.5 pg m −3 ppb −1 , respectively, and values in the same source regions were 33.3 ± 30.4, 27.4 ± 31.0, 23.5 ± 15.3, and 20.5 ± 10.0 pg m −3 ppb −1 for the GEM / CH 4 correlation slopes, respectively. The geometric means of GEM / CO 2 correlation slopes for mainland China, South Asia, and Central Asia were 240 ± 119, 278 ± 164, 315 ± 289 pg m −3 ppm −1 , respectively. These values were the first reported correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO 2 , and GEM / CH 4 in four important source regions of Asia, not including the GEM / CO ratios in mainland China. The correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO 2 , and GEM / CH 4 in Asia were relatively higher than those observed in Europe, North America, and South Africa, which may highlight GEM emissions from nonferrous smelting, large-scale and artisanal mercury and gold production, natural sources, and historically deposited mercury (re-emission) in Asia. Using the observed GEM / CO and GEM / CO 2 slopes, and the recently reported emission inventories of CO and CO 2 , the annual GEM emissions in mainland China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia were estimated to be in the ranges of 1071-1187, 340-470, 125, and 54-90 t, respectively. The estimated quantity of GEM emissions from the GEM / CH 4 correlation slopes is significantly larger, which may be due to the larger uncertainties in CH 4 emissions in Asia as well as insufficient observations of GEM / CH 4 correlation slopes, therefore leading to an overestimate of GEM emissions. Our estimates of GEM emissions in the four Asian regions were significantly higher (3-4 times) than the anthropogenic GEM emissions reported in recent studies. This discrepancy could come from a combination of reasons including underestimates of anthropogenic and natural GEM emissions; large uncertainties related to CO, CO 2 , and CH 4 emission inventories; and inherent limitations of the correlation slope method.

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To help mitigate and educate the negative impacts of emerging contaminants (ECs), this research tried to realize the environmental attitude and environmental behavioral intention of students in the field of environmental education at higher education level. However, little is known about integration of psychological distance, environmental attitude, behavioral intention and effective teaching strategies on emerging contaminants for undergraduate students within a behavior model. This research proposed a pro-environmental behavior model, integrated with Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) model and psychological distance to realize causal relationships among latent variables that instructors concerned. In a cross-sectional survey, this research effectively surveyed 851 respondents of five universities in Taiwan through self-report questionnaires. This research utilized bootstrapping manner and Smart-PLS software to identify the crucial relationships between two formative factors (environmental attachment and psychological distance), value and beliefs and behavior intention on ECs. The level of ECs knowledge was treated as a moderator, and results indicated significant moderator effects on environmental attachment toward environmental attitude, and environmental attitude toward behavioral intention. The results provide empirical support for some previous identified barriers to pro-environmental behavioral intention and suggest guidelines for effective pro-environmental behavior on ECs issues. Key words: partial least squares, behavioral intention, emerging contaminants, theory of planned behavior, value–belief–norm theory.

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Abstract:The greenhouse gases and air pollution generated by extensive energy use have exacerbated climate change. Electric-bus (e-bus) transportation systems help reduce pollution and carbon emissions. This study analyzed the minimization of construction costs for an all battery-swapping public e-bus transportation system. A simulation was conducted according to existing timetables and routes. Daytime charging was incorporated during the hours of operation; the two parameters of the daytime charging scheme were the residual battery capacity and battery-charging energy during various intervals of daytime peak electricity hours. The parameters were optimized using three algorithms: particle swarm optimization (PSO), a genetic algorithm (GA), and a PSO-GA. This study observed the effects of optimization on cost changes (e.g., number of e-buses, on-board battery capacity, number of extra batteries, charging facilities, and energy consumption) and compared the plug-in and battery-swapping e-bus systems. The results revealed that daytime charging can reduce the construction costs of both systems. In contrast to the other two algorithms, the PSO-GA yielded the most favorable optimization results for the charging scheme. Finally, according to the cases investigated and the parameters of this study, the construction cost of the plug-in e-bus system was shown to be lower than that of the battery-swapping e-bus system.

Abstract. Correlation analysis between atmospheric mercury (Hg) and other trace gases are useful for identification of sources and constraining regional estimated Hg emissions. Emissions of Hg in Asia contribute significantly to the global budget of atmospheric Hg. However, due to the lack of reliable data on the source strength, large uncertainties remain in the emission inventories of Hg in Asia. In the present study, we calculated the correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO2, and GEM / CH4 for mainland China, South Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia using the ground-based observations at three remote sites in northwest and southwest China, and applied the values to estimate GEM emissions in the four source regions. The geometric mean of the GEM / CO correlation slopes for mainland China, South Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia were 7.3 ± 4.3, 7.8 ± 6.4, 7.8 ± 5.0, and 13.4 ± 9.5 pg m−3 ppb−1, respectively. The values in the same source regions were 240 ± 119, 278 ± 164, 315 ± 289 pg m−3 ppm−1 for the GEM / CO2 correlation slopes; and 33.3 ± 30.4, 27.4 ± 31.0, 23.5 ± 15.3, and 20.5 ± 10.0 pg m−3 ppb−1 for the GEM / CH4 correlation slopes, respectively. These values were the first reported correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO2, and GEM / CH4 in four important source regions of Asia except the GEM / CO ratios in mainland China. The correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO2 and GEM / CH4 in Asia were relatively higher than those observed in Europe, North America and South Africa, which may highlight GEM emissions from non-ferrous smelting, mercury mining, natural sources and historical deposited mercury (re-emission) in Asia. Using the observed GEM / CO and GEM / CO2 slopes, and the recently reported emission inventories of CO and CO2, the annual GEM emissions in mainland China, South Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia were estimated to be in the ranges of 1071–1187 t, 340–470 t, 125 t, and 54–90 t, respectively. The estimate quantity of GEM emissions from the GEM / CH4 correlation slopes is significantly larger, which may be due to fewer common emission sources of GEM and CH4 and large uncertainties associated with CH4 emission inventories in Asia and therefore lead to an overestimate of GEM emissions. Our estimates of GEM emissions in the four Asian regions were significantly higher (3–4 times) than the anthropogenic GEM emissions reported by recent studies. This may reflect the fast increasing anthropogenic GEM emissions in Asian countries in recent years. A preliminary assessment of natural emissions of GEM in China and other Asian regions was also made and well explains the discrepancies.

Environmental problems nowadays pose threats to the sustainability of environment, such as global warming, urban air pollution, water scarcity, environmental noise, and biodiversity loss. The root cause of those problems is human behavior. Inspiring the interest of preschoolers is crucial in their future cognition of the environment. This research discussed the influence of parent-child reading on the children’s environmental interest. It also integrated environmental education into the learning process of preschoolers more comprehensively and continuously. A questionnaire was used for data collection and the data were analyzed using Smart PLS 2.0. The results show that personality trait, visual attention, and expression of ideas have statistical significance in terms of the children’s learning attitude. The picture book designed in this study can improve the pro-environmental behavior after parent-child reading. Keywords: parent-child reading, picture book, environmental education, pro-environmental behavior, parenting education.

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