As an important indicator for assessing regional water resources, the study of the spatiotemporal evolution and driving factors of water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) is essential for achieving sustainable water resource utilization. This study focuses on Yulin City, a typical arid region located on the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. By constructing an evaluation index system for regional WRCC and combining an improved fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model with the TOPSIS evaluation model, a comprehensive WRCC evaluation model is established. Additionally, Geodetector is used to explore the main driving factors behind the evolution of regional WRCC. This multidimensional analytical framework aims to deeply analyze the dynamic evolution trends of WRCC and the driving mechanisms of different factors in its spatiotemporal changes. The results indicate that (1) from 2011 to 2020, the overall WRCC of Yulin City showed a trend of positive improvement, with Shenmu, Yuyang, and Fugu areas performing the best, and by 2020, more than half of the counties had achieved Grade 3 or above; (2) the spatial variability of WRCC in Yulin City was more significant than its temporal changes; and (3) in terms of driving mechanisms, the northern six counties gradually shifted from traditional economic-driven factors to ecological and environmental drivers, whereas the southern six counties remained constrained by economic factors. Overall, water resource factors remain the primary driving force for the socio-economic development and environmental sustainability of the entire Yulin City. The study provides valuable information for water resource allocation and differentiated management in arid regions.

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation is an intriguing technology for refractory organic pollutant removal in wastewater treatment. Herein, a highly dispersed Mn-Ce bimetallic oxide on carbon nanotubes (MCC) was synthesized and applied to catalyze PMS for the degradation of phenol. The material was well characterized using a transmission electron microscope (TEM), N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The synthesized MCC showed superior activity for PMS activation. The k value of phenol removal with MCC is 0.135 min⁻¹, which is greatly superior to that of CNT (6.17 × 10⁻⁵ min⁻¹) and Mn-Ce bimetallic oxide (3.18 × 10⁻⁴ min⁻¹). Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), along with radical quenching experiments, revealed that the activation of PMS by MCC for phenol degradation involves both radical and non-radical reaction pathways. Moreover, a synergic effect between Mn-Ce bimetallic oxide and CNT was identified to be responsible for the outstanding catalytic activity.

Horizontal resistance can be significantly different for gravelly soil slope sites with different gradients. The impact of slope gradient on the horizontal resistance of soil based on a three-dimensional physical simulation test has been investigated, and the displacement of the pile top and soil pressure for four piles under various gradients (slope gradient 0–45°) was analyzed. The research reveals that ① The soil resistance exhibits a linear increase stage, non-linear steep increase stage, and gradually stabilizing stage with the increase in load. ② The ultimate soil resistance is significantly affected by depth and displacement, and hyperbolic variation characteristics related to the displacement stage. It has a slope weakening effect, and the steeper the slope gradient, the lower the ultimate soil resistance of the pile sides, which effect is negligible when the depth exceeds 0.6–0.7 times that of the pile buried depth. ③ Based on the characteristics of horizontal ultimate resistance-displacement-depth variation in soil, a gradient factor, which is only related to the slope gradient, was used to describe the impact of gradient on the soil resistance modulus (k_ini) and ultimate resistance (p_u). k_ini is reduced close to the ground surface and gradually increases with depth until it becomes equal to the value of level ground. The ratio between p_u in slope ground and level ground was determined for slope angles. The above horizontal resistance parameters were expressed as a function based on the test data to calculate the lateral ultimate bearing capacity of gravelly soil considering the slope gradient factor. The research results developed the theory of foundation design for building structures, promoting the reliability evaluation of pile soil systems towards a more scientific and rigorous direction.

Understanding the correlation between water resources quantity and the urbanization process is crucial for achieving coordinated development of a socio-economy and ecological security in river basin cities. Taking the water resources quantity (including total water resources quantity, water supply quantity, and water consumption) and urbanization process indicators (including GDP, permanent resident population, agricultural irrigation quantity, and waterway transportation quantity) of the study area from 2011 to 2024 as the objects, this paper adopts a Pearson correlation analysis and linear regression methods to analyze the correlation characteristics between them. The results revealed that total water resources quantity was significantly positively correlated with GDP (r = 0.578 *; p < 0.05), permanent resident population (r = 0.708 **; p < 0.01) and waterway transportation quantity (r = 0.535 *; p < 0.05) but had no significant correlation with agricultural irrigation quantity (r = −0.396). Water supply quantity and water consumption presented significant negative correlations with GDP (r = −0.711 *; r = −0.601 *) and waterway transportation quantity (r = −0.797 **; r = −0.736 **), highly significant positive correlations with agricultural irrigation quantity (r = 0.854 **; r = 0.879 **), and no significant correlation with permanent resident population (r = −333; r = −383). This study uncovers the differentiated responses of water resource indicators to socio-economic activities amid urbanization, which not only reflects the evolution of the regional water consumption structure but also verifies the effectiveness of water conservation efforts. It provides a scientific basis for the sustainable utilization and optimized management of water resources in the development process of Bengbu city.

China’s Yangtze and Yellow River Basins exhibit divergent drought patterns, yet the underlying mechanisms driving these differences remain underexplored. This study compares their drought characteristics from 1961 to 2022 using the Standardized Precipitation Index, Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, and Palmer Drought Severity Index, and identifies their drivers through attribution models and interpretable machine learning. Our results reveal two distinct paradigms: the Yangtze Basin is characterized by high-frequency, over 14% in all seasons, short-duration droughts, reflecting a rapid hydrological response, while the Yellow River Basin experiences low-frequency, long-duration events indicative of strong soil moisture memory. Quantitative attribution demonstrates that atmospheric evaporative demand (VPD) plays a significantly greater role in the Yellow River Basin, contributing over 20% to soil drought, far exceeding its 14.4% contribution in the Yangtze Basin. Furthermore, their large-scale drivers differ fundamentally: the Yangtze Basin responds primarily to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO), whereas the Yellow River Basin is mainly influenced by solar activity and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). These findings reveal that Yangtze drought is primarily driven by precipitation deficits, while Yellow River drought is a composite phenomenon amplified by evaporative demand. This distinction underscores the need for basin-specific water management strategies.

Drought poses substantial threats to terrestrial ecosystems, yet whether vegetation vulnerability patterns systematically diverge between soil moisture and meteorological droughts—and how long-term hydrological adaptation governs ecosystem susceptibility to rare extreme droughts—remains poorly understood. Here, we systematically quantify vegetation responses to soil moisture drought (Standardized Soil Moisture Index, SSI) and meteorological drought (3-month Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, SPEI-3) across the Yellow River Basin from 1982 to 2022, examining resistance, resilience, and peak loss alongside their spatial differentiation and temporal lags. SSI and SPEI-3 identified droughts exhibit distinct event characteristics: meteorological droughts occur more frequently with shorter durations, whereas soil moisture droughts persist 2–3 times longer once initiated, consistent with the buffering and memory effects of soil water storage. Vegetation response patterns diverge substantially between drought definitions, with SSI-derived resistance showing stronger associations with drought duration, whereas SPEI-3 conditions elevate the importance of drought-period climate. Wetter regions and deciduous-mixed forests exhibit the highest standardized peak losses despite comparable or higher resistance, consistent with the hypothesis that vegetation adapted to long-term water-abundant conditions may be more susceptible to rare extremes. Random Forest and SHapley Additive exPlanations analyses demonstrate that resistance is associated with drought attributes and drought-period climatic conditions, resilience is strongly associated with drought-period temperature and post-drought climate conditions, and peak loss shows the strongest background environmental dependence. Temporal lags between peak vegetation loss and drought intensity vary spatially, with stronger heterogeneity under SSI than SPEI-3. Our findings demonstrate that comprehensive vulnerability assessment requires integrating complementary drought metrics and multidimensional response frameworks, providing critical insights for improving drought monitoring, ecological risk assessment, and sustainable ecosystem management under climate change.