Jong Hyeok Park is an associate professor at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Yonsei University, Republic of Korea. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from KAIST, Korea, in August 2004. Then, he joined University of Texas at Austin, USA, as a postdoctoral researcher in 2004 (under Prof. Allen J. Bard). From March 2007 to February 2008, he worked at ETRI. He is an author and a co-author of 190 papers and 50 patents. His research focuses on organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, and solar-to-hydrogen conversion devices.

Phase inversion is a powerful alternative process for preparing ultra-thin separators for various secondary batteries. Unfortunately, separators prepared from phase inversion generally suffer from uneven pore size and pore size distribution, which frequently results in poor battery performance. Here, a straightforward route is demonstrated to solve the drawbacks of phase-inversion-based separators for Li-ion batteries by means of directly incorporating 2D clay sheets in the skeleton of poly(vinylidene fl uoride- co -hexafl uoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) with multiscale pore generation from a simple one-step solution coating method. Additionally generated pores by the inclusion of 2D nanosheets in PVdF-HFP skeletons, combined with the multiscale pores (several micrometers + sub-micrometers) originally generated by means of the controlled phase inversion, can generate additional ionic transport pathways, leading to Li-ion battery performances better than those of commercialized polyethylene separators. Moreover, the addition of extremely low contents of 2D clay sheets in PVdF-HFP separators allows thermally stable polymer separators to be realized.

Noboru Yoshida is a professor at Department of Environmental Systems in Faculty of Systems Engineering, Wakayama University. He received his PhD degree in Environmental Engineering at Osaka University in 1997. He served as a specially appointed professor of the Research Institute for Sustainability Science, Osaka University in 2007-2009. His research interests include industrial ecology, energy and material flow analysis, etc.

Waste-related biomass is one of stably procurable renewable energy resources. Energy recovery from environmental infrastructure, such as waste incinerator and sewage system, is one of key issues for considering eco-industrial development. Therefore, this study aims at maximization of biomass energy recovery from the waste by collaboration of sewage sludge treatment plants and municipal waste incinerators under future society constraints, such as low-carbon society and population decline in Japan. In this study, nationwide nearly 1800 sewage sludge plants and nearly 900 municipal waste incinerators were firstly categorized in the context of location, scale, construction year, installed energy recovery equipment, etc. Secondly, available technological and societal inventories were extracted, including combustion of sewage sludge with municipal waste incinerator and newly developed dry-type methane fermentation, with respect to material and energy exchanges, mutual exploitation of equipment, integration of processes and sectors, etc. Finally possible energy recovery amount and carbon dioxide reduction were examined through various collaboration scenarios in consideration of difficulty of alternative technology and social systems, with short-term, mid-term, and long-term scales. As a result of the analysis, we clarified that strategic expansion of surrounding intensive energy demand as well as technology innovation were effective to improve efficiency of energy recovery both in urban and rural areas with respect to dynamics of target population for environmental infrastructures, especially in Japan, where significant population decline were concerned in the long term.

Fangli Su has completed her Ph.D at the age of 30 years and postdoctoral studies from Shenyang Agricultural University. She is the vice-director of Liaoning Shuangtai Estuary Wetland Station, a national Ecological observation & research station. She has published more than 30 papers and serving as an editorial board member of repute.

Large reservoirs are important source of water for domestic, agricultural and industrial use. Reservoir hydrology and water quality are central to the provisioning of these services and both are largely determined by the upstream watershed. Improved watershed management can be achieved by classifying sub watersheds by intensity and type of pollution threat and developing targeted management measures. In this study, we established an evaluation system based on 17 factors representing point and non-point source pollutant potential and environmental carrying capacity that are likely to affect water quality in the Dahuofang reservoir and watershed in northeastern China. We used entropy-based methods to rank 118 sub watersheds by potential pollution threat and clustered sub watersheds according to potential pollution type. As expected non-point source pollution is the most serious factor affecting water quality across the larger watershed, however combining ranking and clustering analyses allowed us to suggest specific areas for prioritized watershed management (in particular two sub watersheds with the greatest pollution potential) as well as to recommend conservation of current practices in other less vulnerable locations (91 small watersheds with low pollution potential). Finally, we identified the factor most likely to be influencing water quality for each of the 118 sub watersheds and suggest adaptive control measures for each location. These results provide a scientific basis for improving watershed management and sustainability for the Dahuofang reservoir as well as a framework for identifying threats and prioritizing management in the watersheds of large reservoirs around the world.

Sungwoo Lee has completed his MAE from Hanyang University. He is the Researcher of Greenhouse Gas Inventory & Research Center of Korea (GIR), GHG Inventory Management Team. He has constructed GHG evaluation Inventory, building among industrial fields of Korea. He has published more than 6 papers in reputed journals.

Recently, building information modeling (BIM) research has been attracted as a means of coping with green building policy. The purpose of this study is to develop BIM template to evaluate greenhouse gas emission efficiently and quanti-evaluation at the design stage. For this study, database which was reflected in template was constructed considering environmental performance and 6 kinds of environmental impact categories were analyzed by major building material derived from literature. Based on this analyzed data, the main building material library was developed. When users conduct modeling by utilizing that library established, evaluating result can be confirmed in the Revit BIM Modeling program by using the schedule function of the Revit. The decision-making environment performance of users is possible through the modeling. In addition, a guideline was proposed for the steps required to build an additional established family.

Chengjiu Guo is a Professor at Shenyang Agricultural University. He is the Vice-Director of Liaoning Shuangtai Estuary Wetland Station, a national Ecological observation & research station. He has published more than 30 papers and serving as a Chairman of the research team of soil and water conservation and desertification control in College of Water Conservancy.

Liaoning Shuangtai estuary wetland is the international key wetland which played an important role on purification of water quality of Liao River and the stability of regional climate. Based on sampling in this wetland and simulation experiments at the Shenyang Agricultural University lab pool, distribution characteristics of Pb in paper making wastewater, wetland soil and reeds tissue was analyzed respectively within a growing season. The removal rate of Pb was the highest by irrigation 20% concentration wastewater and the best removing effect emerged at jointing stage. For the same period, Pb content in water was least at 10 cm water depth and purifying effect was the most significant. The difference of Pb thermodynamics adsorption was remarkable in 10-40 cm depth soil. As the sampling depth increases the adsorption property of Pb was best in 10 cm soil depth where the purification effect was significant. Distribution characteristics Pb in Reed organization was different. The absorbing capability order of reed tissue to Pb was root>stem>leaves in the whole growth period.

Lifeng Li has been an associate professor in Shenyang Agricultural University since 2008. She is the leading researcher both of Liaoning Shuangtai estuary wetland station and wetland and water ecology research Group. She has published more than 10 papers and serving as a secretary of College of Science.

To study the accumulative rules of paper making wastewater irrigation on soil heavy metal in reed wetlands was very significant to effectively using paper making wastewater and controlling the heavy metal pollution. This article studied the seasonal variation regularity of heavy metal in the soil in Shuangtai estuarine reed wetland, effects of paper making wastewater on soil heavy metal was analyzed after irrigation three concentration of wastewater (300 mg•L-1,175 mg•L-1,50 mg•L-1) used the remnant model to forecast and assess the accumulation of heavy metal contaminations. The results showed that irrigation with paper making wastewater can increase the heavy metal content in soil. There was a significant correlation between the wastewater irrigation and wastewater consistence. There was a different vertical distribution rule. Between different heavy metals: The As, Pb were accumulated in middle level of soil (20~40 cm) and the content of Cd, Cu in each solum had a smaller change, the Ni were accumulated in lower medium level of soil with the deepening of solum, the content of Ni was decreased gradually. Every heavy metal in the test could accumulate in soil with 300 mg•L-1. After about 10 years of irrigation, the accumulated Cd in the soil was found to be higher than the first grade of National Soil Environmental Quality Standard. When irrigated with 50 mg•L-1potency, Pb, Ni, Cu accumulated lightly, after about 50 years of irrigation the accumulated Pb, Ni, Cu in the soil were found to be less than the first grade.

Nida Rabab from Pakistan is an MBA graduate in Environmental and Energy Management from Institute of Business Management, Karachi, 2014. She has worked as a research assistant at IoBM, Pakistan for the completion of the research project. She has completed her final year Internship from Civil Aviation Pakistan. She also holds an individual membership of WWF Pakistan.

The present study was conducted to assess the impact on vegetables irrigated with municipal and industrial wastewater from Korangi Drain near IOBM, Karachi. Some vegetables are grown using sewage and industrial wastewater laden with alarmingly high levels of heavy metals and bacteriological contamination. Maximum concentration of lead was found in spinach 8.20 mg/l as against safe limits of 0.01 mg/l and maximum nickel concentration was found in banana 3.114 mg/l as against 0.02 mg/l, whereas all vegetables were invariably bacteriologically contaminated much beyond safe limits. Appropriate legislations in Sindh aided with competent manpower for rigorous monitoring to gauge the harmful impact on vegetables grown with untreated municipal and industrial wastewater is essential to effectively combat the these problems of growing vegetables. The discharge of untreated municipal and industrial wastewater through Korangi Drain into fresh water bodies of Karachi coast should be banned to save the coast from becoming hypoxic and causing irreparable loss to marine life.

Haifu Li has completed his MSc at the age of 25 years from Shenyang Agricultural University and worked in this University since 2013. He is the leading researcher of Liaoning Shuangtai estuary wetland station, a national Ecological observation & research station. He has published more than 10 papers and currently serves as a secretary of College of water conservancy.

The effects of different concentrations of wastewater (chemical oxygen demands of 300, 175 and 50 mg•L-1) from a paper mill on seedling growth and the antioxidant system in reeds were tested in experimental pools that simulated the wetland ecosystem of the Liaoning Shuangtai estuary in China. Root length, biomass and moisture content, but not shoot moisture content and plant height, significantly increased with increases in wastewater concentration. At a concentration of 300 mg•L-1, shoot biomass increased by 52.5% and root biomass increased by 73.05% over the control. Malondialdehyde (MDA) content, production rate of superoxide anions (O2•-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content all decreased with increasing concentration. At 300 mg•L-1, MDA content, production rate of O2•- and H2O2 content were 0.34, 0.24 and 0.16 times, respectively, those of the control in leaves and were 0.25, 0.19 and 0.17 times, respectively, those of the control in roots. Superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and catalase activities and ascorbic acid and glutathione contents in leaves and roots significantly increased with increasing concentrations of wastewater. These results suggest that a concentration of 300 mg•L-1 could improve the activities of antioxidant enzymes, inhibit the generation of reactive oxygen species and reduce the generation of MDA, thus effectively alleviating the damage caused by salinity in wetland soil.

Shiba Subedi has completed his Master’s (MSc) in physics from Tribhuvan University. He is interested in computational work in the field of condensed matter and applied physics. He is one of the students who are conducting SIESTA software for research in Nepal. He has some papers published in journals of national repute and some manuscripts have been submitted to international journals.

Using first principles density functional theory calculations, we systematically studied the structural and electronic properties of boron nano disc (B-nd) and boron nitride nano disc(BN- nd). By using state of art method we designed two novel structures of B-nd and BN-nd with average diameter of 0.8578 nm and 0.7487 nm respectively. These structures are optimized using sufficient conjugate gradient steps followed by individual convergence test of Mesh-cutoff, K- points and lattice constants. After structural optimization our ab-initio calculation calculated cohesive energy per pair of atoms to verify the stability of structures in generalized gradient approximation (GGA) within the SIESTA (Spanish Initiative for Electronic Simulations with Thousands of Atoms) package. The main feature of SIESTA is the use of flexible basis sets composed of linear combination of numerical atomic orbitals, which can be generated by solving the Kohn–Sham equation of atomic pseudopotentials. In order to explore details of electronic properties of these nanodiscs, further density of states, partial/projected density of states, band structure and charge densities of are performed at ambient conditions. These studies show thatBN-nd is comparatively more stable and exhibits semiconducting nature with ~0.6 eV energy gap, whereas B-nd depicting metallic behavior with finite density of states at Fermi energy level. It is found that while doping nitrogen in boron disc it creates energy gap and decreases the conductance also. That mean studied systems may serve as semiconductor as well as metal depending upon the necessity. In the field of materials probably we are first time reporting a novel and theoretical studies on any nanodisc.