In-use steel stocks in China showed no clear signs of saturation or flatten off pattern although their growth rate declined recently. An increase in steel stocks productivity was found during 1978-2018, which means relative decoupling of in-use steel stocks from economic growth, but still far away from absolute decoupling. The dematerialization pattern revealed in this study deepens our understanding of material-economy interactions. Policy implications for dematerialization transition should focus on developing compact cities, prolonging the lifespan of products, and advancing technological development.As the largest carbon emitter in the world, China faces great pressure to fulfill the temperature control targets, i.e., 2 °C and 1.5 °C, proposed in the Paris Agreement. Thus, selecting a development path that could both meet the temperature targets and economic growth is essential and worth investigating. We propose an optimization model to analyze China's carbon dioxide emission paths from 2010 to 2050 in three scenarios, namely baseline, and 1.5 °C and 2 °C target scenarios. The marginal cost of carbon abatement in China's 30 provinces (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Tibet) were also calculated using the quadratic directional distance function model, and the quotas of carbon dioxide emission among provinces were allocated. Carbon dioxide emission peak will occur in 2040 under the 2 °C target scenario and in 2030 under the 1.5 °C target scenario. The marginal cost of carbon abatement to achieve the 1.5 °C goal is approximately 1.6 times more expensive than the 2 °C goal. We suggest to implement emission reduction policies in the Eastern coastal areas of China and to allocate greater carbon dioxide emission quotas in under-developed areas in the Central and Western regions. Provincial quota allocation may also help to balance regional development and achieve the mutually beneficial goal of economic growth and carbon emission reduction in China. Our findings provide practical guidance on achieving carbon dioxide emission reduction and critical enlightenments on policymaking.In semi-arid regions, soil phosphorus (P) dynamics in cereal-legume intercropping are not yet fully elucidated, particularly in relation to integrated application of fertilizers. To this aim, we investigate the effects of different fertilizers on various P fractions in relation to the rhizosphere-microbial processes in a cowpea/maize intercropping system. Field experiments were conducted during two consecutive years (2016-2017) in a split-plot design by establishing cowpea/maize alone or intercropped onto the main plot, while the sub-plot was treated with four types of fertilization, i.e. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/dtag-13.html no fertilizer addition (control), organic amendment (compost), mineral fertilizers (NPK) and multi-nutrient enriched compost (NPKEC). Our results showed that NPKEC fertilizer increased NaHCO3-Pi by 69% in maize, 62% in cowpea and 93% in intercropped plots compared to control plots. Similarly, a significant increase in the NaHCO3-Po fraction was also recorded with NPKEC treatment in all cropping systems. In case of moderatelyzation. Furthermore, the strong association of microbial biomass P (MBP) and acid phosphates (ACP) with NaOH-P fraction indicated moderately available P cycle in soil was mainly driven by microbial-related processes. Factor analysis map and two-way ANOVA confirmed that fertilization regime had a stronger effect on all tested variables compared to cropping system. Altogether, our results suggest that a combination of microbial-rhizosphere processes controls the dynamics of P fertility in semi-arid soils. In the broader context of improving soil P fertility, it is highly recommended the use of environmentally sustainable sources of fertilizer, such as NPKEC, which can enhance the competitive performance of legume-cereal intercropping under semi-arid agroecosystems.Mycelium is an abundant waste from the fermentation industry, and the environmental problems associated with its required disposal seriously limited the development of fermentation industry. In China, millions of tons of various kinds of mycelium residues were produced each year. Research into providing added-value to mycelium, while avoiding its disposal, is hence of paramount importance. Mycelium can be used as carrier for enzymes, while the enzyme immobilization moreover improves their stability and lifetime performance. Carrier recycling, the natural degradation and disposal of artificial polymer carriers are critical issues in immobilization. This research investigated its use to manufacture a highly-stable immobilized enzyme. An acid pretreatment was employed to enhance the adsorption ability of mycelium, and its adsorption ability was compared with other carriers. Under the optimal conditions, a core-shell immobilized enzyme with porous structure was obtained. The stability and the recycle results of the evaluation indicated the excellent performance of the immobilized enzyme. The mycelium recycling was also investigated to verify the practicability. All the results indicated that the use of a mycelium-based carrier was a promising strategy for the reutilization of the fermentation waste, and this technique provides an alternative way to reduce the total amount of the waste mycelium. Meanwhile, the stability and reusability performance of the mycelium-based immobilization could also decrease the influence of the disposal of the solid waste from denatured enzymes to the environment.Generally, the mechanical strength and stiffness of old corrugated cardboard (OCC) waste paper are decreased after multiple recycling procedures. Surface sizing starch, which is extensively used in the surface sizing of paper making, accumulates after dissolving from the fibers and is transformed into pollutant during the OCC re-pulping process. To overcome the pollution and reutilization problem of the waste starch during the recycling process of OCC paper, waste starch was ionized using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to improve the mechanical properties of OCC paper during the reutilization. The results showed that the carboxyl group of waste starch increased with an increasing degree of ionization, resulting in enhanced copper ion adsorption capacity. Furthermore, the retention rate of the modified starch in the wet-end increased from 18.0% to 48.2%. The OCC paper presented the highest burst index and tensile strength of 8.94 kPa m2/g and 112.5 N m/g, respectively, when MS-2 was added. This work has great significance for implementation of the cleaning production of OCC waste papers and the reutilization of the waste starch.