An analysis between financial development,institutions, and the environment: a global view

Financial development is important for the growth of a country which indirectly affects the environment adversely through industrialization. However, in the presence of strong institutions, this adverse effect can be reduced. The main concern of the present study is to estimate the relation between CO₂ and financial development (FD) in the presence of economic institutions as an interactive term. A sample of 101 countries has been selected for econometric analysis for the period from 1995 to 2017. The cross-section dependence test statistics for dependency, CIPS and CADF for panel unit root test, Westerlund test to ascertain the long-run affiliations, and FMOLS to extract the long-run coefficients have been applied. Dumitrescu and Hurlin test is also employed to know about the causal nature of the panel series. The findings show that financial development has a positive relationship with CO₂. However, after inclusion of economic intuitions, the adverse impact of financial development on the environment is reduced. The study also confirms the presence of environmental Kuznets curve in the context of income and financial development. The findings imply that financial development can help to improve environment quality if it is accompanied with strong institutional framework such as assurance of property rights, government integrity, and liberalization in financial sector.

     

Dielectric and Material Properties of Poly (Vinyl Alcohol): Based Modified Red Mud Polymer Nanocomposites

Red mud emerges as the major waste material during production of alumina from bauxite by the Bayer??s process. Based on economics as well as environmental related issues, enormous efforts have been directed worldwide towards red mud management issues i.e. of utilization, storage and disposal. The present research work has been undertaken with an objective to explore the use of red mud as a reinforcing material in the polymer matrix as a low cost option. The silicate layered red mud was organophilized by aniline formaldehyde and to know the effect of various filler loading on the material properties of PVA-organophilized red mud composites, prepared by a conventional solvent casting technique and comparison of the same with that of the virgin poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), various characterizations was done. The modified red mud was typically characterized by X-ray diffraction. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the composite materials was also studied. The morphological image of the composite materials was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to characterize the dispersion of the red mud within the composite materials. The surface topography of the composite materials was studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The dielectric properties of composite materials were investigated in wide frequency ranges from 1?MHz to 1?GHz.     

Spatial distribution of drinking and irrigation water quality indices of Ghizer River Basin,northern Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Determining the water contamination of a river that threatens the dependent ecological community is a pillar for sustainable management. For this...     

Barbecued desi chicken: an investigation on the impact of polluted milieu upon formation and ingestion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in commercial versus laboratory barbecued organs along with stochastic cancer risk assessments in people from an industrial district of Punjab,Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - 8∑PAHs in 2- and 4-month-old desi chicken organs collected from Faisalabad district, Punjab, Pakistan, were examined via high-performance liquid...     

Sustainable supply chain management and green technologies: a bibliometric review of literature

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To attain ecological sustainability and transition to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), effective technological innovation (TI) and solid...     

Bioavailability and toxicity to rats of bound residues of 14C-pirimiphos-methyl in stored wheat.

Wheat grains were treated with 14C-pirimiphos-methyl to generate bound residues for testing their bioavailability to rats. Bound residues accounted for 25% of the applied dose (50 ppm) at the end of one year. When the grain bound residues were fed to rats for 48 hours the animals eliminated 30 and 40% of the administered dose in urine and feces respectively, after 5 days. Radioactivity in some selected organs and blood accounted for 37% of the administered dose after 2 days, which gradually declined to 1% after 5 days. These data indicate that wheat-bound pirimiphos-methyl residues are moderately bioavailable to rats. In a 90-day feeding study, inhibition of plasma cholinesterase and brain acetylcholinesterase strongly suggest that the bound residues possess a toxicological potential.     

Can constructed wetlands reduce the diffuse phosphorus loads to eutrophic water in cold temperate regions?

Construction of wetlands is a possible supplement to best management practices (BMP) at the field level to mitigate phosphorus (P) pollution from agricultural areas. In this paper, annual results from 17 intensively studied wetlands in the cold temperate or boreal climatic zone are reported and analyzed. Surface areas varied from 0.007 to 8.7% of the catchment area. The average total phosphorus (TP) retention varied from 1 to 88%, and the dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) retention from -19 to 89%. Retention varied substantially from site to site, indicating the existence of site-specific factors in the catchment and wetlands that influenced the P removal. Factors important for P retention in wetlands were evaluated through multiple statistical analyses by dividing P into two fractions: particulate phosphorus (PP) and DRP. Both relative (%) PP and DRP retention increased with wetland surface area. However, PP retention was not as sensitive as DRP in terms of wetland size and retention: specific PP retention (gram P retention per m(2) and year) decreased as wetland area (A(w)) increased, suggesting the existence of a site-specific optimal wetland to catchment area (A(c)) ratio. Particulate P retention decreased with increasing DRP to TP ratio, while the opposite was found for DRP. Dissolved reactive P retention was higher in new than in old wetlands, while increasing age did not influence PP retention negatively. Effective BMP in the catchment is important to keep the P loss low, because the outlet concentration of P from wetlands is often positively correlated to the input concentration. However, wetlands act as the last buffer in a catchment, since the retention often increases as the P concentration in streams increases.     

Multifarious revolutionary aspects of microbial keratinases: an efficient green technology for future generation with prospective applications

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Since the dawn of century, tons of keratin bio-waste is generated by the poultry industry annually, and they end up causing environmental havoc....     

Exploring the existence of aviation Kuznets curve in the context of environmental pollution for OECD nations

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Environmental degradation has put significant consequences at both the national and global levels. Economic development and ecological sustainability...     

Building community resilience: can everyone enjoy a good life?

Initiatives to reduce community carbon emissions and foster sustainable lifestyles have had varying degrees of success. There is now a need for a re-energised, concerted and joined-up approach that places environmental issues in a wider context – one that improves quality of life while building community resilience. This involves enhancing the capacity of neighbourhoods to recover, respond and adapt to environmental and socio-economic changes. This paper examines the experience gained in a participatory action research (PAR) study to build community resilience, where facilitators supported residents to take ownership of their own agendas. The New Earswick Good Life Initiative (GLI) was an 18-month project undertaken in a low-income suburb of York (UK). A range of approaches were used to identify activities which had the most potential to nurture resilience and foster a shift towards greater environmental sustainability. The GLI highlighted how the introduction of new ideas not only need to be locally relevant but also requires care and time in order for them to embed within community. Altering the way a community manages its environment involves transforming social relationships, strengthening institutions and influencing local power balances. Furthermore, it is necessary to build social capital, knowledge, leadership skills and support social networks to allow communities to effectively engage with relevant local and national policies. Only by providing opportunities to develop these resilient attributes can increased local responsibility be successful. The paper concludes by providing guidance on strengthening community resilience and delivering pro-environmental behaviour change.