Toward environmental sustainability: how do urbanization,economic growth,and industrialization affect biocapacity in Brazil?

The South American country Brazil is one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources, representing 14 percent of the world’s total biocapacity. However, the biocapacity (biosphere’s ability to generate resources and sequester waste) per capita in Brazil has shown a massive decline over the last five decades, while economic growth and urbanization have rapidly increased for the same period. Brazil is one of the largest creditors of biocapacity to the world, and biocapacity loss in Brazil can lead to devastating environmental consequences. Therefore, this work empirically investigates the influence of urbanization, economic growth, and industrialization on biocapacity controlling human capital from 1961 to 2016 in Brazil. The Bayer and Hack cointegration test, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique, and Hacker and Hatemi-J (J Econ Stud 39:144–160, 2012) causality tests are employed. The findings unfolded a U-shaped relationship between economic growth and biocapacity, evidencing that economic growth reduces biocapacity, but after achieving a threshold level, it promotes biocapacity. Urbanization has a negative relationship with biocapacity per capita, indicating that urbanization is a significant driver of the biocapacity loss in Brazil. Further, urbanization and economic growth Granger cause biocapacity. Lastly, relevant policy implications are proposed to overcome the reduction in biocapacity.

     

Electrocatalytic debromination of BDE-47 at palladized graphene electrode

Graphene electrodes （Ti/Gr） were prepared by depositing Gr sheets on Ti substrate, followed by an annealing process for enhancing the adhesion strength. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopies and X-ray dif- fraction patterns displayed that the electrochemical behavior of Ti/Gr electrodes can be improved due to the generation of TiO2 layer at Ti-Gr interface during the annealing process. The palladized Gr electrodes （Ti/Gr/Pd） were prepared by electrochemical depositing Pd nanoparticles on Gr sheets. The debromination ability of Ti/Gr/Pd electrodes was investigated using BDE-47 as a target pollutant with various bias potentials. The results indicated that the BDE-47 degradation rates on Ti/Gr/Pd electrodes increased with the negative bias potentials from 0V to -0.5 V （vs. SCE）. Almost all of the BDE-47 was removed in the debromination reaction on the Ti/Gr/Pd electrode at - 0.5 V for 3 h, and the main product was diphenyl ethers, meaning it is promising to debrominate completely using the Ti/Gr/Pd electrode. Although the debromination rate was slightly slower at -0.3 V than that under -0.5 V, the current efficiency at -0.3 V was higher, because the electrical current acted mostly on BDE-47 rather than on water.     

Deltamethrin-induced alteration of iron metabolism in Wistar rats

Abstract

The impact of sub-lethal exposure to deltamethrin on the expression of hepcidin, ferroportin and transferrin genes in Wistar rats was studied. A dosage of 30?mg/kg per day for five days was found to modify the hepcidin-ferroportin axis that primarily governs iron homeostasis. Significant variations in erythrocyte, leukocyte, lymphocyte, platelet and monocyte counts, as well as the reduced serum protein profile, suggested anemia. The results collectively demonstrated the novel finding of deltamethrin’s disruptive effect on iron homeostasis.     

Arachis hypogaea derived activated carbon steered remediation of Benzimidazole based fungicide adsorbed soils

Sorption characteristics of the Benzimidazole fungicide Carbendazim were assessed in seven different soils using batch equilibrium method and analysed by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The values of adsorption co-efficient K_d ranged from 14.3 to 39.8?µg/mL depending upon unique physiochemical properties of soils. Negative values for Gibbs free energy (ΔG) proposed an exothermic and low interaction between Carbendazim and soil samples leading to physiosorption. Statistical analysis showed a negative correlation of soil pH and K_d (R²= ?0.80) and a positive correlation with organic matter (R^2?=?0.77). Activated carbon prepared from Arachis hypogaea (peanut shells) by acid activation for Carbendazim removal from soils was characterised by FTIR spectrometry, indicating the change in functional groups. The highest percentage removal observed was 70% in 5?ppm initial Carbendazim concentration while 65% in 7.5?ppm concentration. This method can be implied in agricultural soils as an efficient and cheap technique for removing the hazardous pesticides from the environment.     

Nexus between willingness to pay for renewable energy sources: evidence from Turkey

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Non-linear relationship between tourism,economic growth,urbanization, and environmental degradation: evidence from smooth transition models

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The study aims to analyze two objectives: first is to explore the non-linear relationship between tourism development, economic growth, urbanization,...     

Assessment of cobalt in wheat grains as affected by diverse fertilizers: implications for public health

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A review on proliferation of artificial intelligence in wind energy forecasting and instrumentation management

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Energy is the source of economic growth, and energy consumption indicates the country’s state of development. Energy engineering is a relatively...     

Does green environmental innovation really matter for carbon-free economy? Nexus among green technological innovation,green international trade,and green power generation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study examines the association among the green energy production (GEP), green technological innovation (GTI), and green international trade (GIT)...     

Correction to: Does sustainable environmental agenda matter in the era of globalization? The relationship among financial development,energy consumption,and sustainable environmental-economic growth

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -