A systematic review on the adverse health effects of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate

Di (ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a global environmental pollutant. This study aims to systematically review the literature on health effects of exposure to DEHP including effects on reproductive health, carcinogenesis, pregnancy outcome, and respiratory system. The literature search was done through Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, and the reference lists of previous review articles to identify relevant articles published to June 2016 in each subject area. The inclusion criteria were as follows: original research, cross-sectional studies, case–control studies, cohort studies, interventional studies, and review articles. Both human and animal studies were included. The search was limited to English language papers. Conference papers, editorials, and letters were not included. The systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Overall, 152 of the 407 papers met the inclusion criteria. We provided an up-to-date comprehensive and critical assessment of both human and animal studies undertaken to explore the effects of DEHP. It revealed that in experimental studies, exposure to DEHP mainly targeted the reproductive, neurodevelopment, and respiratory systems. Human studies reported that exposure to this contaminant had carcinogenic effects and influenced neurodevelopment in early life. This systematic review underscored the adverse health effects of DEHP for pregnant women and the pediatric age group. It summarizes different response of humans and experimental animals to DEHP exposure, and some suggested underlying mechanisms.     

Potential Negative Ecological Effects of Corridors

Despite many studies showing that landscape corridors increase dispersal and species richness for disparate taxa, concerns persist that corridors can have unintended negative effects. In particular, some of the same mechanisms that underlie positive effects of corridors on species of conservation interest may also increase the spread and impact of antagonistic species (e.g., predators and pathogens), foster negative effects of edges, increase invasion by exotic species, increase the spread of unwanted disturbances such as fire, or increase population synchrony and thus reduce persistence. We conducted a literature review and meta‐analysis to evaluate the prevalence of each of these negative effects. We found no evidence that corridors increase unwanted disturbance or non‐native species invasion; however, these have not been well‐studied concerns (1 and 6 studies, respectively). Other effects of corridors were more often studied and yielded inconsistent results; mean effect sizes were indistinguishable from zero. The effect of edges on abundances of target species was as likely to be positive as negative. Corridors were as likely to have no effect on antagonists or population synchrony as they were to increase those negative effects. We found 3 deficiencies in the literature. First, despite studies on how corridors affect predators, there are few studies of related consequences for prey population size and persistence. Second, properly designed studies of negative corridor effects are needed in natural corridors at scales larger than those achievable in experimental systems. Third, studies are needed to test more targeted hypotheses about when corridor‐mediated effects on invasive species or disturbance may be negative for species of management concern. Overall, we found no overarching support for concerns that construction and maintenance of habitat corridors may result in unintended negative consequences. Negative edge effects may be mitigated by widening corridors or softening edges between corridors and the matrix. Other negative effects are relatively small and manageable compared with the large positive effects of facilitating dispersal and increasing diversity of native species. Efectos Negativos Potenciales de los Corredores     

Investigating the effect of compression on solute transport through degrading municipal solid waste

The effect of applied compression on the nature of liquid flow and hence the movement of contaminants within municipal solid waste was examined by means of thirteen tracer tests conducted on five separate waste samples. The conservative nature of bromide, lithium and deuterium tracers was evaluated and linked to the presence of degradation in the sample. Lithium and deuterium tracers were non-conservative in the presence of degradation, whereas the bromide remained effectively conservative under all conditions. Solute diffusion times into and out of less mobile blocks of waste were compared for each test under the assumption of dominantly dual-porosity flow. Despite the fact that hydraulic conductivity changed strongly with applied stress, the block diffusion times were found to be much less sensitive to compression. A simple conceptual model, whereby flow is dominated by sub-parallel low permeability obstructions which define predominantly horizontally aligned less mobile zones, is able to explain this result. Compression tends to narrow the gap between the obstructions, but not significantly alter the horizontal length scale. Irrespective of knowledge of the true flow pattern, these results show that simple models of solute flushing from landfill which do not include depth dependent changes in solute transport parameters are justified.     

Monsanto’s Biotechnology Politics: Discourses of Legitimation

Since the first product became commercially available in 1995, biotechnology has become the fastest growing crop technology, dominating large shares of the global agricultural market. The development of biotechnology, however, has given rise to questions regarding human and ecological safety, culminating in local and global political battles. While researchers interested in biotech politics have focused on areas such as media framing, social movements, and campaign work, less attention has been paid to how the industry has historically promoted and legitimized this swift proliferation. In this study, we conduct a discourse analysis of documents available on live and archived websites to discern the legitimation strategies employed by one important corporate actor, Monsanto. Findings show that for nearly two decades, Monsanto consistently employed discursive resources that concealed details about actors and action, reflected trends among experts in global sustainability discourse, and reshaped narratives to promote itself, products, and biotechnology in general.     

Melt Flow Behavior and Processability of Polylactic Acid/Polystyrene (PLA/PS) Polymer Blends

The present investigation dealt with the flow behavior and processability of polylactic acid/polystyrene (PLA/PS) polymer blends using a capillary rheometer. For this purpose, PLA/PS blends with different ratios of the concentrations were prepared using a single screw extruder. The shear viscosity, shear stress, shear rate, power-law index, viscous activation energy at a constant shear stress, and elongational stress were determined. PLA/PS blends exhibited a typical shear-thinning behavior over the entire range of shear rates tested, and the viscosity values of the blends would tend to decrease with increasing amount of PLA. In addition, the polymer blend of 70 % PLA and 30 % PS was found to be relatively less sensitive to the processing temperature, implying that the extrusion process was more desirable for fabrication of PLA/PS polymer blend than the injection process.     

Pyrolysis of waste animal fats in a fixed-bed reactor: Production and characterization of bio-oil and bio-char

Several animal (lamb, poultry and swine) fatty wastes were pyrolyzed under nitrogen, in a laboratory scale fixed-bed reactor and the main products (liquid bio-oil, solid bio-char and syngas) were obtained. The purpose of this study is to produce and characterize bio-oil and bio-char obtained from pyrolysis of animal fatty wastes. The maximum production of bio-oil was achieved at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C and a heating rate of 5 °C/min. The chemical (GC–MS analyses) and spectroscopic analyses (FTIR analyses) of bio-oil showed that it is a complex mixture consisting of different classes of organic compounds, i.e., hydrocarbons (alkanes, alkenes, cyclic compounds…etc.), carboxylic acids, aldehydes, ketones, esters,…etc. According to fuel properties, produced bio-oils showed good properties, suitable for its use as an engine fuel or as a potential source for synthetic fuels and chemical feedstock. Obtained bio-chars had low carbon content and high ash content which make them unattractive for as renewable source energy.     

Conservative heavy metal total discharge schemes

Currently, according to Taiwan’s Water Pollution Control Act, the environmental control of waterbodies and water quality depends on the effluent standards and the standard of water quality in the rivers. The Act demands that each stationary pollution source comply with the effluent standard before being discharged into the rivers, and that the overall water quality in the river shall not exceed the declared standard of water quality. To improve the condition of the waterbodies and water quality of the rivers, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in Taiwan has made stricter regulations concerning the discharge standard. Such regulations will help to reduce the weight of individual pollutants discharged; the discharged wastewater, however, will still gradually worsen the water quality of the rivers even after complying with the effluent standard since some of the pollutant dischargers may decrease the concentration of pollutants by diluting the water before discharging; thus, the total weight of metals discharged in the rivers will not be reduced, and the water quality in the areas where the pollutant sources are concentrated will not thereby be significantly improved. To protect the irrigation water and farmlands from being polluted by discharged heavy metals in industrial wastewater, the EPA started controlling the sources in accordance with the total quantity control (TQC) as defined in the Water Pollution Control Act, in the hope of perfecting the environmental protection of waterbodies and water quality, as well as ensuring clean water sources without any pollution for the rivers, land, and people.     

The role of sustainability environment in export marketing strategy and performance: a literature review

Increasing environmental issues, economic and cultural differences, the regulatory framework and the great attention to social responsibility, have forced companies to face the challenge of sustainability. Thus, the adaption of a proper marketing strategy in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the market (specially export markets) has become an important principle in accepting companies. In this regard, this study is a systematic literature review, which investigated 102 published articles in international journals between 1964 and 2015. In the literature review, the main focus was on key issues such as sustainability, marketing strategies, financial and market export performance. In this article, at first, the concept of sustainability from different aspects was collected and described. Then, external factors, such as competitive intensity, public concern, regulations, technology, cultural/social, and economic, as well as internal factors, such as managers, employees, stakeholders, affecting sustainability, were studied. Finally, adaption of export marketing strategies in order to achieve sustainability export performance is discussed.     

International and European Law on Protected Areas and Climate Change: Need for Adaptation or Implementation?

The protection and management of protected areas must be adapted to the effects of climate change. An important question is if the law on protected areas is capable of dealing with the required changes. In general, both international nature conventions and European Union nature conservation law do not contain any specific provisions on climate change and protected areas. Attention has been paid to this link in non-binding decisions and policy documents. In order to adapt the law to increased dynamics from climate change, more flexibility is needed. This flexibility should not be understood as “legal” flexibility, in the sense of the weakening nature conservation provisions. Scientific uncertainties on the effects of climate change might conflict with the need for legal certainties. In order to adapt to the effects of climate change, the two crucial elements are the strengthening of core protected areas and connectivity between the core areas. At the international level, both elements can be found in non-binding documents. International law enables the required adaptation; however, it often lacks concrete obligations. A stronger legal framework can be found at the level of the European Union. The Birds and Habitats Directives contain sufficient tools to deal with the effects of climate change. The Directives have been insufficiently implemented so far. Especially the central goals of reaching a favorable conservation status and connectivity measures need to be addressed much more in the future.