Vol. 13, No. 1 (2025): Regular Issue

In recent time China rural sector has made remarkable achievements but is facing major new challenges. As a signatory of the UN SDG's and the Paris Climate Accord, China is committed to sustainable agricultural practices and achieving net zero carbon emission by 2050. The four new sets of challenges are 1) sustainable agriculture, 2) environmental pollution, 3) urban-rural income inequality, 4) depopulation and underdevelopment of the rural region. This study aims to explore and analyses the rural transformation processes in the case of Jilin province, North-East China with respect of these four challenges. A qualitative approach was adopted, involving focus group discussions (FGD) and the data is derived from thirty-two participants recruited then divided into two groups of equal number for separate FGD and thematic analysis to examine the data. The results of the study are, in the context of sustainable agriculture and environmental pol-lution, current farming practices are traditional, highly prone to diseases outbreak, polluting the soil and waterway. Income gap remains significant as measured by the urban-rural income ratio but has been decreasing since 2013.This study finds whilst past and present government policies and ef-forts have improved farm incomes, agricultural production and rural living, it has not reversed the mass migration of the young and able-bodies to the urban and thus the rural remain hollowed out. On a case-to-case basis, the finding of this study is generalizable for policymakers and stakeholders facing identical or similar challenges. [1,2]

Plastic paradox had been proposed in the study of elastoplastic buckling of simply supported plates in low-orbit environment. Due to the existence of plastic paradox, the study of buckling, post-buckling mechanical properties and ultimate bearing capacity of plates and shells faced greater difficulties and uncertainties. The existence of plastic paradox leads to the question of the rationality of the nonlinear finite element method using plastic deformation theory in the analysis of plate-shell structures, and also affects the elastoplastic buckling and post-buckling mechanical behavior of the steel structures, for instance, compression bars and pressure plates. Based on the comprehensive research and judgment of the existing plastic paradox research results, combined with the elastoplastic numerical analysis conclusions of the pressure bar and the pressure plate, through the secondary development of the Marc software subroutine hypler2, the constitutive relation subroutine of plastic deformation theory has been compiled to analyze the elastoplastic buckling of the simply supported plate again. By comparing the analysis results of plastic flow theory and plastic deformation theory, the analysis results show that plastic paradox does not exist. The plastic paradox is caused by the displacement shape function of the compression plate, which constrains the free plastic strain in the plastic deformation theory.

This article provides a predator-prey model that takes into account interactions between immature prey and mature prey as well as the predator. In this model, the idea of predator-induced fear in immature prey is incorporated. It is assumed that predators may kill immature prey more easily than they do mature prey. Immature prey is considered to reproduce at a rate that depends on the mature prey. It is also considered that a portion of immature prey may become mature prey. The intra-specific competition among mature prey has been considered. The stability of the system is examined around some potential equilibrium points that have been calculated. The existence conditions of the Hopf bifurcation of the model are investigated with respect to the fear of predator. It is observed that an increase in the fear of predators towards immature prey may stabilize the model. It is found that the increase in the intrinsic growth rate of immature prey may destabilize the model due to the fear of predators. An increase in mature prey may cause instability in the model due to the fear of predators. It is seen that the model may become stable as intra-species competition among mature prey increases.

Machine learning classifiers intent to group inputs into predefined classes. Such predictions occur after the model has been properly trained. In this paper the models used include decision trees (standalone and within random forest models) and bagging classifiers. Their hyperparameters are optimised to provide the best accuracy/precision. All the results are analysed alongside ethical considerations and data biases to provide a generalisable conclusion. Ultimately, the aim of the research is to anticipate dangerous pollution levels, to help reduce the identified causes that produce it.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the main methods of MSW management, their advantages and disadvantages, selection of the optimal complex of environmentally safe methods of waste processing for use in the Turkestan region. The research was conducted using general scientific methods of cognition, in particular, system analysis, synthesis, abstraction, deduction, generalization, concretization, and comparative legal method. Possible MSW management schemes were analyzed from the standpoint of efficiency and impact on the environment, the dynamics of the effectiveness of methods depending on various factors of influence were presented, and optimal and real-to-implement comprehensive measures were developed to reduce the negative effect of solid waste on the environment and public health, and to improve the overall environmental situation in the region. In addition, the possibilities of applying innovative management and technological measures to minimize the impact of harmful substances in the composition of municipal solid waste, based on the synergy of environmental safety and economic efficiency, with the introduction of modern systems for monitoring the state of environmental pollution, have been investigated. The research shows that the proposed waste management system could significantly increase the municipal solid waste recycling rate in the Turkestan region from 16% to over 40%. In addition, it could reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by over 50,000 tons per year. The system includes innovative waste sorting and recycling technologies that are estimated to be 35-40% more efficient than traditional methods.

This article examines the impact of the level of environmental innovation on CO2 emissions, and additionally the contribution of the moderating effect of environmental governance score in this relationship. Our findings are associated with a moderating effect of the environmental governance score from the sample of firms on the relation linked the environmental innovation and the CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the results show that environmental innovation associated with better environmental governance leads to a decrease in CO2 emissions. Our findings hold for subsamples of firms with strong/weak environmental governance and ESG performance. We also perform additional analyses and divide the sample into subsamples based on the eco-innovation score and the ESG and environmental governance score. The results show that the level of eco-innovation is important and negatively associated with carbon emissions for firms regardless of whether they have a high or low ESG score.

The rapid growth of China's economy and industrialization has heightened pollutant emissions and environmental risks in the copper industry. Despite implementing emission standards to reduce pollution from the copper industry, issues remain. For instance, there is a lack of quantitative trajectory studies and systematic approaches to emission reduction. Therefore, this study adopted a bottom-up emission model to develop pollutant emission inventories for China's copper smelting industry in 2010, 2015, and 2020, followed by an analysis of their spatiotemporal characteristics. Additionally, a genetic algorithm-optimized neural network model and scenario analysis method were employed to quantify the pollutant reduction potential and environmental governance effects of comprehensive emission reduction measures. The results indicate that in 2020, the total emissions of key pollutants (SO_2, As, Pb, and Cd) in the copper smelting industry were 183.67kt, 70.76t, 37.7t, and 17.15t, respectively. Smelting and converting processes were identified as the main pollution sources, accounting for over 95% of the total emissions. Temporally, emissions of heavy metals As, Pb, and Cd showed a continuous increasing trend, while the growth rate of SO_2 emissions slowed. Spatially, pollutant emissions presented an uneven distribution influenced by economic development and mineral resources. For instance, Jiangxi (18.38t), Jiangsu (9.48t), Guangdong (9.06t), Zhejiang (8.61t), and Anhui (6.64t) were the provinces with the highest emissions of heavy metal As. Scenario analysis indicates that by 2030, emissions of As are expected to decrease by 17.73t, 10.23t, and 24.87t under source reduction, process control, and end-of-pipe treatment measures, respectively.

In today's world, there is the need to solve the growing problem of waste management and increase environmental sustainability in urban conditions, where today more than half of the world's population lives in cities. The aim of the work is to develop the concept and technical implementation of a tubular conveyor designed for automated waste collection and sorting in multi-storey residential buildings and to analyse its effectiveness and environmental value. The study developed a tubular conveyor system for collecting and sorting waste in multi-storey residential buildings. The technical project included the creation of an efficient infrastructure, including transport routes, marshalling yards, and system management software. Modelling of the system operation process allowed optimising its performance and resource consumption. The results of the study confirmed that the use of a tubular conveyor greatly simplifies the collection, transportation, and sorting of waste in multi-storey residential buildings. The practical value of the study is to create more efficient and sustainable waste management systems in urban multi-storey residential complexes, which contributes to reducing the environmental burden and improving the quality of urban life.