Recent advances in nanomaterial developments for efficient removal of Hg(II) from water

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - “Water” contamination by mercury Hg(II) has become the biggest concern due to its severe toxicities on public health. There are different...     

The protective effect of green space on heat-related respiratory hospitalization among children under 5 years of age in Hanoi,Vietnam

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Combined effects of global warming and rapid urbanization replace green spaces with urban facilities. Children in urban areas are at a higher risk of...     

The 2011 flood event in the Mekong Delta: preparedness,response, damage and recovery of private households and small businesses

Floods frequently cause substantial economic and human losses, particularly in developing countries. For the development of sound flood risk management schemes that reduce flood consequences, detailed insights into the different components of the flood risk management cycle, such as preparedness, response, flood impact analyses and recovery, are needed. However, such detailed insights are often lacking: commonly, only (aggregated) data on direct flood damage are available. Other damage categories such as losses owing to the disruption of production processes are usually not considered, resulting in incomplete risk assessments and possibly inappropriate recommendations for risk management. In this paper, data from 858 face‐to‐face interviews among flood‐prone households and small businesses in Can Tho city in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta are presented to gain better insights into the damage caused by the 2011 flood event and its management by households and businesses.     

Comparing earthquake insurance programmes: how would Japan and California have fared after the 2010–11 earthquakes in New Zealand?

Earthquakes are insured in high-risk high-income countries only if the public sector is involved. Prototypical examples are the insurance schemes in California (United States), Japan, and New Zealand, but each is structured differently. This paper examines these variations using a concrete case study: the sequence of earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2010–11—the most heavily insured seismic event in history. It assesses what would have been the outcome had the Christchurch insurance system been different, focusing on the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) programme and Japan Earthquake Reinsurance (JER). Overall, the aggregate cost of the earthquake to the New Zealand public insurer (Earthquake Commission) was USD 6.2 billion. If a similar-sized disaster had occurred in Japan and California, homeowners would have received around USD 1.6 billion and USD 0.7 billion, respectively. This paper describes the distributive and spatial patterns of these scenarios and discusses some key policy questions that emerge from this comparison.     

Sustainable livelihoods development by utilization of geomorphological resources in the Bai Tu Long Bay,Quang Ninh Province,Vietnam

Located in the humid tropical zone and endowed with carbonate sedimentary formations, Vietnam has unique karst landscapes where caves, limestone, and dolines are common. If well managed, these are valuable geomorphological resources for a sustainable socio-economic development. Although publications on sustainable livelihoods associated with conserving biodiversity and local culture are plentiful, there is still a lack of studies linking livelihood quality with the conservation of geomorphological resources, in particular in karst areas. This study assesses the geomorphological resources in Vietnam’s Bai Tu Long Bay and studies the relationship between livelihood and these resources. The current research area Bai Tu Long Bay is adjacent to the natural World Heritage site of Ha Long Bay in the Vietnamese part of the Gulf of Tonkin. Bai Tu Long is characterized by a karst landscape, which is at the same time similar but also different from Ha Long Bay. A field survey and interviews with 153 households allowed assessing people’s perception of the value of the geomorphological resources and their importance for local income. The results show that Bai Tu Long Bay has abundant, diverse, and unique geomorphological resources, which are valuable for tourism development. However, the local people are unaware of these values likely because they have no direct benefit from them. Further a sustainable development strategy for Bai Tu Long Bay is recommended. The outcome is a proposal for tourism initiatives aiming at realizing more sustainability in the area.     

Inland harmful cyanobacterial bloom prediction in the eutrophic Tri An Reservoir using satellite band ratio and machine learning approaches

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent years, Tri An, a drinking water reservoir for millions of people in southern Vietnam, has been affected by harmful cyanobacterial blooms...     

Smoke aerosols dispersion and transport from the 2013 New South Wales (Australia) bushfires

Environmental monitoring and modelling, especially in the regional context, has seen significant progress with the widely usage of satellite measurement in conjunction with local meteorological and air quality monitoring to understand the atmospheric dispersion and transport of air pollutants. This paper studies the application of these data and modelling tools to understand the environment effects of a major bushfire period in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2013. The bushfires have caused high pollution episodes at many sites in the greater Sydney metropolitan areas. The potential long-range transport of aerosols produced by bushfires to other region and states has been seen by regulators as a major concern. Using data and images collected from satellites, in addition to the results obtained from different simulations carried out using HYSPLIT trajectory model and a regional meteorological model called Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM), we were able to identify at least 2 days on which the smoke aerosols from bush fires in NSW has been transported at high altitude to the northern state of Queensland and the Coral Sea. As a result, widespread high particle concentration in South East Queensland including the Brisbane area, as measured by nearly all the air quality monitoring stations in this region, occurred on the day when the smoke aerosols intruded to lower altitude as indicated by the CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) Lidar measurements on the CALIPSO (Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) satellite. The use of meteorological or air quality modelling to connect the ground-based measurements with satellite observations as shown in this study is useful to understand the pollutant transport due to bushfires and its impact on regional air quality.     

Primary biosorption mechanism of lead (II) and cadmium (II) cations from aqueous solution by pomelo (Citrus maxima) fruit peels

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The present work investigates the primary adsorption mechanisms of lead (II) and cadmium (II) cations onto pomelo fruit peel (PFP) from aqueous...     

Spatial and temporal variations of PAHs in surface sediments of estuarine and coast of CanGio wetland,Vietnam

Surface sediments from estuarine and coast of CanGio wetland (CGW) of Hochiminh City, Vietnam, were investigated to identify the spatial and temporal variations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The total PAHs showed wide variation but similar to patterns observed (F?=?0.901, p?=?0.46) in LongTau (31?±?77 ng/g dry weight, n?=?13), SoaiRap (53?±?81, n?=?4), ThiVai (60?±?62, n?=?10) estuaries, and coastal areas (112?±?211, n?=?9). A decreasing trend in the wet season (F?=?8.8, p?=?0.01) reflected that inland sources such as wastewater discharged and atmospherically transported contaminants contributed to PAHs in sediments. The risk posed by the PAHs in the coastal and estuarine areas of CGW is still negligible. The present study provides baseline data, which can be used for regular monitoring and future strategy of environmental protection for the study area.

     

Optimization, equilibrium, adsorption behavior and role of surface functional groups on graphene oxide-based nanocomposite towards diclofenac drug

Aquatic contamination of diclofenac (DCF), an emergent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs), can result in adverse effects to many ecosystems through biomagnification. Hence, introducing effective remediation techniques to sequester the pharmaceutical wastes is highly fundamental to prevent their accumulation in the environment. Generally, adsorption has been presented as a green and efficient approach. Herein, we report the characterization and application of the novel magnetic nanocomposite ([email protected]₂O₄) derived from cobalt-based ferrite (CoFe₂O₄) and graphene oxide (GO) for DCF adsorption. For the optimization procedure, the response surface methodology (RSM) was adopted to investigate the impacts of DCF concentration (1.6–18.4 mg/L), DCF dosage (0.08–0.92 g/L), and solution pH (2.6–9.4) to find the optimum conditions for DCF removal, at 10.5 mg/L, 0.74 g/L, and pH 4, respectively. For the adsorption experiments, the kinetic, isotherm, thermodynamic, and intraparticle diffusion models were systematically studied. Moreover, we have elucidated the role of functional groups on the surface of [email protected]₂O₄ in enhancing the adsorption of DCF drug. With good removal efficiency (up to 86.1%), high maximum adsorption capacity (32.4 mg/g), [email protected]₂O₄ can be a potential candidate to eliminate DCF drug from water.