This study analyzed the effects of urban governance and city size on COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Based on real-time data in 276 prefecture-level Chinese cities, we used the ordinary least squares plus robust standard error strategy. It was found that: (1) despite the non-significant effect of city size, urban governance capacity was an important factor affecting the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic; urban governance capacity was particularly significant in the late control of the pandemic, but not significant in the early prevention; for every unit increase of urban governance capacity, the number of recovered COVID-19 cases per capita increased by 2.4%. Moreover, (2) the influence mechanism of anti-pandemic measures in cities could be divided into the workforce, financial, and material effects, and their contribution rates were 26.15%, 32.55%, and 37.20%, respectively; namely, the effective/timely assistance from Chinese central government regarding the workforce, financial, and material resources in key pandemic areas and nationwide played a major role in pandemic control. Additionally, (3) cities with a high level of smart city construction were more capable of enhancing the pandemic prevention and control effect, indicating that smart city construction is conducive to enhanced coping with public crises.

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Taking advantage of information communication technology, a smart city is a city that has its critical urban infrastructure upgraded to optimise resources allocation and maintenance activities. It serves as a new technology‐based solution to mitigate urban diseases and to improve urban development in China. However, unbalanced and uncoordinated smart city development potential (SCDP) would impede the future construction of the smart city. Consequently, this study aims to measure SCDP and further examine the equality of its spatial distribution in China. In this regard, a brand‐new hybrid multiple attribute decision‐making (MADM) model is proposed to evaluate SCDP. Subsequently, a series of spatial analyses are introduced to uncover the spatial differentiation of SCDP. The results suggest that (a) overall SCDP in China has a continuous upward tendency, and the SCDP compositions of six subsystems contribute variously; (b) over time high‐SCDP cities agglomerated in the east, whereas most of the low‐SCDP cities clustered in the west. This feature indicates that SCDP in China is unevenly distributed; (c) high‐SCDP cities preferred to cooperate in coordinated efforts rather than develop independently. This study makes new contributions to smart city development research in terms of methodology and empirical evidence.

With the development of Chinese industry, stainless steel and wire rope pickling sludge pollution problems have become increasingly prominent. Pickling sludge contains a large number of residual acid and heavy metals, and it is hazardous waste which would pose potential environmental problems and threaten people's health if being deposited outdoors or landfill simply. In view of Jiangsu Province present situation of pickling sludge, the paper analyzes the physical properties and the elements content of sludge from 9 enterprises. Pickling sludge pH is basically alkaline and range 7 to 9, moisture content is basically about 50% to 60%. ICP-AES has been applied to identify the content of metals. The range of Fe content is from 13.23% to 35.56% and the range of Ca content is from 1.04% to 29.93%, which shows that pickling sludge is appropriated for resource utilization. Ni and Cr are mainly contained in pickling sludge of stainless steel, the content are 1.79%~3.2% and 2.22%~3.15%, while Pb and Zn are mainly contained in pickling sludge of wire rope, the content are 0.0034%~0.53% and 3.14%~10.18%. The Elemental Analyzer has been applied to determine the content of F, Cl, N, S and P in picking sludge. The paper aims to provide a theoretical basis for making the huge amounts of the sludge harmless and how to utilize the treated sludge.

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