Climate-resilient strategies for sustainable management of water resources and agriculture

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Warming of the earth is considered as the major adverse effect of climate change along with other abnormalities such as non-availability of water...     

Correlating the trends of COVID-19 spread and air quality during lockdowns in Tier-I and Tier-II cities of India—lessons learnt and futuristic strategies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The present study focuses on the impact of early imposed lockdowns and following unlocking phases on the status of air quality in six Tier-I and nine...     

Inorganic PM2.5 at a U.S. agricultural site

In this study, we present approximately two years (January 1999-December 2000) of atmospheric NH3, NH4+, HCl, Cl-, HNO3, NO3-, SO2, and SO4= concentrations measured by the annular denuder/filter pack method at an agricultural site in eastern North Carolina. This site is influenced by high NH3 emissions from animal production and fertilizer use in the surrounding area and neighboring counties. The two-year mean NH3 concentration is 5.6 (+/-5.13) microg m(-3). The mean concentration of total inorganic PM2.5, which includes SO4=, NO3-, NH4+, and Cl-, is 8.0 (+/-5.84) microg m(-3). SO4=, NO3-, NH4+, and Cl- represent, respectively, 53, 24, 22, and 1% of measured inorganic PM2.5. NH3 contributes 72% of total NH3 + NH4+, on an average. Equilibrium modeling of the gas+aerosol NH3/H2SO4/HNO3 system shows that inorganic PM2.5 is more sensitive to reductions in gas + aerosol concentrations of sulfate and nitrate relative to NH3.     

Artificial intelligence as a fundamental tool in management of infectious diseases and its current implementation in COVID-19 pandemic

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The world has never been prepared for global pandemics like the COVID-19, currently posing an immense threat to the public and consistent pressure on...     

Activity profile of innate immune-related enzymes and bactericidal of freshwater fish epidermal mucus extract at different pH

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The epidermal mucus of fish performs diverse functions from prevention of mechanical abrasion to limit pathogen invasions. The current experiment was...     

A modeling study of fouling development in membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment.

Membrane fouling is a primary concern in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) in wastewater treatment because it strongly affects both system stability and economic feasibility. A mathematical model was developed in this study for membrane fouling in submerged MBR systems for wastewater treatment, in which both reversible and irreversible fouling were quantified. While mixed liquor suspended solids are the major components of the reversible fouling layer, dissolved organic matter is thought to be the key foulant, in particular, responsible for the long-term irreversible fouling of the filtration unit. The model was calibrated (parameter identification) with a set of operational data from a pilot MBR and then verified with other independent operational data from the MBR. The good agreement between theoretical predictions and operational data demonstrates that the outlined modeling concept can be successfully applied to describe membrane fouling in submerged MBR systems.     

Nanotechnology in cosmetics: a boon or bane?

Recent advances in the field of nanotechnology enabled the manufacturing of elaborated nanometer-sized particles for various biomedical applications. The cosmetic industry is one of the most enthusiastic early adopters of nanotechnology which routinely uses nano-scale ingredients. However, in the absence of mandatory product labeling, it is difficult to estimate the number of cosmetics, sunscreens and personal care products containing nanoparticles that are now commercially available. The increased capacity of nanoparticles to penetrate skin and gain access to human cells is a double-edged sword as it may be useful for medical purposes, but might also result in far greater uptake of substances that exert adverse health effects. Since nanomaterials represent a large group of structurally, physically, and chemically variable substances, specific toxicological studies are required for each product prior to commercialization. This review aims to delineate the most investigated applications, risk and safety considerations, and regulation of nanotechnology in the field of cosmetics.     

Devising indicators of sustainable development for the mining and minerals industry: An analysis of critical background issues

The exact application of sustainable development in the mining and minerals industry has precipitated considerable debate in recent years. Since the publication of the Brundtland Commission's Report, Our Common Future, numerous explanations have been put forth in an attempt to define sustainable development in the mining and minerals context. Specifically, the inability of the Brundtland Report to outline an effective sustainability framework, combined with its contention that no single blueprint for sustainable development exists, has prompted a number of academics and practitioners to provide personal viewpoints on the application of sustainable development in the mining and minerals industry. This paper focuses on one aspect of the mining and minerals-sustainable development debate: the corporate perspective. It first uses the burgeoning body of literature to define sustainable development in the corporate mining context. Second, it addresses, against the background of this interpretation, many of the salient issues associated with developing a series of plausible Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) for use in the mining and minerals extraction industry. The paper clearly illustrates the difficulty in both arriving at a suitable working definition of sustainable development for an industry, and developing an acceptable set of universal standards for measuring environmental and socioeconomic performance.