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Cannabis consumption has become the center of much debate globally. The positive public perception of the medicinal benefits of cannabis and the rise of recreational usage of cannabis necessitate dramatic changes in cannabis reform policy. As a consequence, there is an increase in cannabis legalization around the globe, although it is still facing many rejections. It is crucial to understand the factors affecting public acceptance of cannabis use to support the contextualization and success of cannabis legalization. This review aims to address consumer cultural, social and psychological factors regarding the legal use of cannabis. Based on this review, cultures influence the endorsement or rejection of cannabis use depending on political views, religious sentiments and affiliated subcultures (adult, youth and adolescent subcultures). Regarding the social factors, socioeconomic status, measured by income, education level and occupation, is a key determinant of cannabis use. The beliefs opposing cannabis legalization are due to the negative stigma surrounding cannabis use. Nevertheless, growing awareness about the pharmaceutical and therapeutic effects of cannabis has led to an increase in positive attitudes towards cannabis legalization. Thus, dissemination of cannabis use benefits reaffirmed by scientific evidence could be a strategic way to alleviate the public’s negative feedback on cannabis legalization.

Pathogens represent a significant threat to human health leading to the emergence of strategies designed to help manage their negative impact. We examined how spiritual beliefs developed to explain and predict the devastating effects of pathogens and spread of infectious disease. Analysis of existing data in studies 1 and 2 suggests that moral vitalism (beliefs about spiritual forces of evil) is higher in geographical regions characterized by historical higher levels of pathogens. Furthermore, drawing on a sample of 3140 participants from 28 countries in study 3, we found that historical higher levels of pathogens were associated with stronger endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs. Furthermore, endorsement of moral vitalistic beliefs statistically mediated the previously reported relationship between pathogen prevalence and conservative ideologies, suggesting these beliefs reinforce behavioural strategies which function to prevent infection. We conclude that moral vitalism may be adaptive: by emphasizing concerns over contagion, it provided an explanatory model that enabled human groups to reduce rates of contagious disease.

Air pollution is prevalent throughout the entire world due to the release of various gases such as NOx, PM, SO2, tropospheric ozone (O3), etc. Ground-stage ozone is the predominant issue in smog and is the product of the interplay between sunlight and emissions. The destructive impact on the health of the populace might also still occur in cities with noticeably clean air and where ozone levels hardly ever exceed safe limits. Therefore, the findings of small variations in air quality and the technique of regulating air contamination are thought-provoking. The study employs various techniques to effectively observe and assess strategies for detecting and eliminating outliers in ozone emissions from pollution episodes. This technique helps to describe the sources and exceedance values and enhance the value of monitoring the data. In this study, the data have some missing observations. The method of imputation, the classical statistical technique, the statistical process control (SPC) technique, functional data analysis (FDA), and functional process control help to fill in the data and detect outliers, trend deviations, and changes in ozone concentration at ground level. A comparison study is carried out using these three techniques: classical analysis, SPC, and FDA, and the results show how the statistical process control and functional data methods performed better than the classical technique for the detection of outliers and also in what way this methodology can enable an additional, comprehensive method of defining air pollution control measures and water pollution control measures.

Abstract To clarify the chemical characteristics, source contributions, and health risks of pollution events associated with high PM2.5 in typical industrial areas of North China, manual sampling and analysis of PM2.5 were conducted in the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of 2019 in Pingyin County, Jinan City, Shandong Province. The results showed that the total concentration of 29 components in PM2.5 was 53.4 μg·m-3; the largest contribution was from the NO3- ion, at 14.6 ± 14.2 μg·m-3, followed by organic carbon (OC), SO42-, and NH4+, with concentrations of 9.3 ± 5.5, 9.1 ± 6.4, and 8.1 ± 6.8 μg·m-3, respectively. The concentrations of OC, NO3-, and SO42- were highest in winter and lowest in summer, whereas the NH4+ concentration was highest in winter and lowest in spring. Typical heavy metals had higher concentrations in autumn and winter, and lower concentrations in spring and summer. The annual average sulfur oxidation rate (SOR) and nitrogen oxidation rate (NOR) were 0.30 ± 0.14 and 0.21 ± 0.12, respectively, with the highest SO2 emission and conversion rates in winter, resulting in the SO42- concentration being highest in winter. Although the emission rate of SO2 was low in summer, its conversion rate was high. In winter and autumn, NORs were significantly higher than in spring and summer, and a higher NOR in autumn contributed to significant elevation of the NO3- concentration in autumn relative to spring and summer. The average concentration of secondary organic carbon in 2019 was 2.8±1.9 μg·m-3, and it comprised approximately 30% of total OC. The health risk assessment for typical heavy metals showed that Pb poses a potential carcinogenic risk for adults, whereas As may pose a carcinogenic risk for adults, children, and adolescents. Positive matrix factorization analysis indicated that coal-burning emissions contributed the largest fraction of PM2.5, accounting for 35.9% of the total. The contribution of automotive emissions is similar to that of coal, at 32.1%. The third-largest contributor was industrial sources, which accounted for 17.2%. The contributions of dust and other emissions sources to PM2.5 were 8.4% and 6.4%, respectively.

Abstract The use of electrolyte-based nanofluid is a new approach for enhancing the performance of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs). This paper, for the first time in the literature, presents an experimental study to comprehensively investigate the rheological behaviour, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity of a newly prepared electrochemical graphene oxide (EGO)/ vanadium (IV) electrolyte-based nanofluid in different weight concentration and bulk temperatures. SEM, FT-IR and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) characterizations were performed and different functional groups, smooth 2D layered structures, and low crystallinity were detected in our tailored oxidation EGO which are amongst the enhancing features for VRFBs electrode materials. It was observed that the optimum weight concentration of nanoparticles in the electrolyte-based nanofluid is 0.05 wt% with strong colloidal stability, enhanced electrical and thermal conductivities, and an optimal viscosity. The maximum feasible enhancements in electrical and thermal conductivities that were achieved were 12%, and 4%, respectively, which can positively affect the performance of flow battery in terms of electrochemical activity on the electrode surface and thermal management of the flow battery system. In addition, the rheological evaluation showed that the behaviour of the electrolyte-based nanofluid tends to change from Newtonian to non-Newtonian for weight concentrations higher than 0.05%. The results obtained from rheological behaviour can provide useful insights in choosing an optimum pumping system of the flow batteries working with electrolyte-based nanofluid.

Building resilient cities is the foundation and guarantee for the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle to achieve high-quality and sustainable development. This research uses the entropy TOPSIS method to evaluate the urban resilience level of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and uses the Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) approach to analyze the configuration of contributing factors. Research indicates that the overall urban resilience level is relatively low, with more than 70% of the areas being less than 0.3. Overall, Chengdu (Level 1) and Chongqing central districts (Level 2) are 1–3 levels higher than their surrounding areas, which indicates insufficient spatial balance. The consistency scores of the single-antecedent condition necessity analyses were all less than 0.9, and the consistencies of all configuration analysis results were all greater than 0.8. This research proves that the creation of urban resilience is the result of a combination of factors, rather than the independent influence from any individual factor. Financial and innovation forces are the key driving factors that affect the level of urban resilience. The multiple driving model also helps to improve the level of resilience. The lack of cultural and innovation forces in Chongqing area has been proven to inhibit the level of urban resilience, and the lack of openness and political focus has resulted in a low level of resilience in the Sichuan area. We propose to promote the construction of a “dual core”, to create synergies between Chongqing and Chengdu, and to achieve balanced and integrated development in the entire region. We focus on the key factors affecting the resilience level of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. In the future, we suggest further opening the market and implementing a developing strategy that is driven by economy and innovation. Regarding the construction of the Sichuan and the Chongqing areas, we encourage the two regions to adjust policies based on local conditions. First, the administration should solve the driving force deficiencies for development, then adopt differentiation strategies for regional development.

For looking at the effect of public fiscal expenditure of local government on industry, three contradictory points of view: improving effect, impeding effect, and no effect, have been previously discussed in the literature. However, there is no general agreement yet. As the most mature region of China’s socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics, the effect of Shenzhen’s market-oriented fiscal expenditure on the evolution of its industrial structure is worth investigating. This study applies Shenzhen’s fiscal expenditure data and industrial value-added data from 1980 to 2017 to a Bayesian Structure Time Series Model (BSTS). Empirical results show that in Shenzhen, market-oriented public fiscal expenditure presents a significant effect on the evolution of industrial structure. In addition, the promotion effect of different types of public fiscal expenditure on secondary industry is significant but largely subsides later. However, the promotion effect on tertiary industry is comparatively stable. This study suggests that Shenzhen government should apply different types of public fiscal expenditure at least five years in advance to promote the growth of secondary industry and apply fiscal expenditure to promote the tertiary industry when needed.