Determination of Cadmium and Lead in Different Cigarette Brands in Jordan

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) concentrations in different cigarette brands sold and/or produced in Jordan were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). Average levels of Cd and Pb in different cigarette brands in Jordan were 2.64 and 2.67 g g^{– 1} (DW), respectively. The results obtained in this study estimate the average quantity of Cd inhaled from smoking one packet of 20 cigarettes to be in the range of 3.65–7.30 g. Results suggest that the quantity of Pb inhaled of smoking one packet of 20 cigarettes, is estimated to be 0.74–2.22 g. The concentrations of Cd and Pb in cigarettes were significantly different between cigarette brands tested. Our results were compared with other worldwide studies.     

Hazardous wastes,adverse impacts,and management strategies: a way forward to environmental sustainability

Environment, Development and Sustainability - There has been great concern about producing, converting, or disposing of the waste obtained from different sources. Waste production is a continuous...     

Research trends in biodiversity loss: a bibliometric analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Although increased attempts to preserve biodiversity ecosystems have been widely publicized, bibliometric research of biodiversity loss remains...     

Spatial modeling of rat bites and prediction of rat infestation in Peshawar valley using binomial kriging with logistic regression

In this study, we propose to develop a geostatistical computational framework to model the distribution of rat bite infestation of epidemic proportion in Peshawar valley, Pakistan. Two species Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus are suspected to spread the infestation. The framework combines strengths of maximum entropy algorithm and binomial kriging with logistic regression to spatially model the distribution of infestation and to determine the individual role of environmental predictors in modeling the distribution trends. Our results demonstrate the significance of a number of social and environmental factors in rat infestations such as (I) high human population density; (II) greater dispersal ability of rodents due to the availability of better connectivity routes such as roads, and (III) temperature and precipitation influencing rodent fecundity and life cycle.     

Innovation for carbon mitigation: a hoax or road toward green growth? Evidence from newly industrialized economies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The research explores the nexus between technological innovation and green growth in nine newly industrialized (NI) countries for the period from 2000...     

Green Synthesis and Antioxidant Study of Silver Nanoparticles of Root Extract of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sageretia thea</Emphasis> and Its Role in Oxidation Protection Technology

Development of environmentally friendly synthesis of nanoparticles is one of the important areas of research in nanotechnology. In present study silver naopartticles (AgNPs) of root extract of Sageretia thea (S. thea) were synthesized at room temperature. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV. Visible spectroscopy (UV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Formation of AgNPs was confirmed by visual examination the colour change from yellow to brick red due to surface Plasmon resonance band at 435 nm. SEM and TEM analysis of synthesized AgNPs revealed spherical morphology with average particle size 25 nm. Crystalline nature of the AgNPs in face centered cubic structure is evident from the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and XRD pattern. The presence of elemental Ag was confirmed by EDX analysis at 3kv. Different functional groups which responsible for reduction and stabilization of reaction medium was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The biosynthesized AgNPs showed strong DPPH and dye protection radical scavenging assay while modest hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assay as compare to crude extract. The present investigations suggest that biosynthesized nanoparticles have a high potential for use in the preparation of drugs used against various diseases and also a promising candidate for many medical applications.     

Probabilistic health risk assessment of toxic metals in chickens from the largest production areas of Dhaka,Bangladesh

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Chicken is one of the major protein sources and more affordable for the population of Bangladesh. Its quality monitoring is of high priority for food...     

Spatial and Temporal Evaluation of Hydrological Response to Climate and Land Use Change in Three South Dakota Watersheds

This study analyzed changes in hydrology between two recent decades (1980s and 2010s) with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in three representative watersheds in South Dakota: Bad River, Skunk Creek, and Upper Big Sioux River watersheds. Two SWAT models were created over two discrete time periods (1981‐1990 and 2005‐2014) for each watershed. National Land Cover Datasets 1992 and 2011 were, respectively, ingested into 1981‐1990 and 2005‐2014 models, along with corresponding weather data, to enable comparison of annual and seasonal runoff, soil water content, evapotranspiration (ET), water yield, and percolation between these two decades. Simulation results based on the calibrated models showed that surface runoff, soil water content, water yield, and percolation increased in all three watersheds. Elevated ET was also apparent, except in Skunk Creek watershed. Differences in annual water balance components appeared to follow changes in land use more closely than variation in precipitation amounts, although seasonal variation in precipitation was reflected in seasonal surface runoff. Subbasin‐scale spatial analyses revealed noticeable increases in water balance components mostly in downstream parts of Bad River and Skunk Creek watersheds, and the western part of Upper Big Sioux River watershed. Results presented in this study provide some insight into recent changes in hydrological processes in South Dakota watersheds. Editor's note: This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

Extrication of biodiesel feedstock from early stage of food waste liquefaction

Biodiesel is commonly produced from vegetable oils, mostly edible and more expensive than petroleum diesel. By considering the cost of the conversion processes, cheap feedstock such as triglycerides and fatty acids (FA) extracted from early stage of food waste liquefaction has become a better choice than vegetable oils, as it could provide high yield of biodiesel without any compromise to food supply and other resources. In this study, FA from early stage of food waste liquefaction was extracted and tested for use as feedstock for biodiesel synthesis. The raw material was not pretreated but extraction was done by dry and wet methods. It was found that wet method could minimized the lost of short and medium-chained FA as well as reducing the number of steps required, thus, yielding higher amount of FA as feedstock. The effects of mixing, methanol ratio, reaction time and catalyst content were investigated for the acid-catalyzed esterification. The maximum biodiesel conversion obtained was 97.4 %.     

Understanding the emission impacts of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane conversions: Experience from Atlanta,Georgia

Converting a congested high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane into a high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane is a viable option for improving travel time reliability for carpools and buses that use the managed lane. However, the emission impacts of HOV-to-HOT conversions are not well understood. The lack of emission impact quantification for HOT conversions creates a policy challenge for agencies making transportation funding choices. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the case study of before-and-after changes in vehicle emissions for the Atlanta, Georgia, I-85 HOV/HOT lane conversion project, implemented in October 2011. The analyses employed the Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) for project-level analysis with monitored changes in vehicle activity data collected by Georgia Tech researchers for the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). During the quarterly field data collection from 2010 to 2012, more than 1.5 million license plates were observed and matched to vehicle class and age information using the vehicle registration database. The study also utilized the 20-sec, lane-specific traffic operations data from the Georgia NaviGAtor intelligent transportation system, as well as a direct feed of HOT lane usage data from the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) managed lane system. As such, the analyses in this paper simultaneously assessed the impacts associated with changes in traffic volumes, on-road operating conditions, and fleet composition before and after the conversion. Both greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants were examined.

Implications: A straight before-after analysis showed about 5% decrease in air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO₂). However, when the before-after calendar year of analysis was held constant (to account for the effect of 1 yr of fleet turnover), mass emissions at the analysis site during peak hours increased by as much as 17%, with little change in CO₂. Further investigation revealed that a large percentage decrease in criteria pollutants in the straight before-after analysis was associated with a single calendar year change in MOVES. Hence, the Atlanta, Georgia, results suggest that an HOV-to-HOT conversion project may have increased mass emissions on the corridor. The results also showcase the importance of obtaining on-road data for emission impact assessment of HOV-to-HOT conversion projects.