Tracking the evolution of waste recycling research using overlay maps of science

Tracking the evolution of research in waste recycling science (WRS) can be valuable for environmental agencies, as well as for recycling businesses. Maps of science are visual, easily readable representations of the cognitive structure of a branch of science, a particular area of research or the global spectrum of scientific production. They are generally built upon evidence collected from reliable sources of information, such as patent and scientific publication databases. This study uses the methodology developed by Rafols et al. (2010) to make a "double overlay map" of WRS upon a basemap reflecting the cognitive structure of all journal-published science, for the years 2005 and 2010. The analysis has taken into account the cognitive areas where WRS articles are published and the areas from where it takes its intellectual nourishing, paying special attention to the growing trends of the key areas. Interpretation of results lead to the conclusion that extraction of energy from waste will probably be an important research topic in the future, along with developments in general chemistry and chemical engineering oriented to the recovery of valuable materials from waste. Agricultural and material sciences, together with the combined economics, politics and geography field, are areas with which WRS shows a relevant and ever increasing cognitive relationship.     

Guidelines for the strategic management of flood risks in industrial plant oil in the Brazilian coast: adaptive measures to the impacts by relative sea level rise

This study provides guidelines for strategic management in industrial oil plants linked to uncertainties of climate change through the development of integrated planning methodology with focus on coastal flooding events caused by relative sea level rise (RSLR). The research site is in Redonda Island, located in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil, and since 1960, it constitutes an industrial oil plant facility. The region suffers interaction with storms and meteorological tides from extratropical cyclones over the South Atlantic Ocean, being vulnerable to risks of disasters, floods, and coastal erosion. A Program on Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments to Relative Sea Level Rise (“Programa de Avaliação e Adaptação às Vulnerabilidades de Elevação do Nível Relativo do Mar—PAAVENRM”) was developed to avoid compromising the regional and local development in the industrial system of the island, which is an ad hoc instrument designed to anticipate and reduce risks, damages, and losses by occurrence of extreme climatic events in coastal areas prone to flooding caused by RSLR. Results from computer simulation modeling indicate 37 prospective qualitative scenarios that consolidate the conditions of future climate vulnerability of the plant, starting from United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) information for RSLR up to 2100. Three quantitative forecasting scenarios were simulated, under boundary conditions preset for different altimetric ranges subject to submersion, based upon ordinary and extraordinary tides measured in the area in relation to RSLR, which allowed the evaluation of the industrial infrastructure at risk. Furthermore, three thematic maps were elaborated for the planning of specific coastal protection interventions. Percentages of physical damage and property losses were estimated. The importance of applying guidelines for medium and long-term corporate strategy management, integrating the risk of flooding, the rigging of civil defense systems, meteorology, and of the plans, programs, and existing systems and others to be developed is highlighted. From this perspective, the proposed scenarios help to identify the most relevant alternatives for mitigation and adaptation under technical criteria for decision making in the study area.     

Detection of Norovirus GII.17 Kawasaki 2014 in Shellfish,Marine Water and Underwater Sewage Discharges in Italy

Norovirus (NoV) is a major cause of non-bacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide, and the variants of genotype GII.4 are currently the predominant human strains. Recently, a novel variant of NoV GII.17 (GII.P17_GII.17 NoV), termed Kawasaki 2014, has been reported as the cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in Asia, replacing the pandemic strain GII.4 Sydney 2012. The GII.17 Kawasaki 2014 variant has also been reported sporadically in patients with gastroenteritis outside of Asia, including Italy. In this study, 384 shellfish samples were subjected to screening for human NoVs using real-time PCR and 259 (67.4%) tested positive for Genogroup II (GII) NoV. Of these, 52 samples, selected as representative of different areas and sampling dates, were further amplified by conventional PCR targeting the capsid gene, using broad-range primers. Forty shellfish samples were characterized by amplicon sequencing as GII.4 (n = 29), GII.2 (n = 4), GII.6 (n = 2), GII.12 (n = 2), and GII.17 (n = 3). Sixty-eight water samples (39 seawater samples from the corresponding shellfish production areas and 29 water samples from nearby underwater sewage discharge points) were also tested using the above broad-range assay: eight NoV-positive samples were characterized as GII.1 (n = 3), GII.2 (n = 1), GII.4 (n = 2), and GII.6 (n = 2). Based on full genome sequences available in public databases, a novel RT-PCR nested assay specific for GII.17 NoVs was designed and used to re-test the characterized shellfish (40) and water (8) samples. In this second screening, the RNA of GII.17 NoV was identified in 17 additional shellfish samples and in one water sample. Upon phylogenetic analysis, these GII.17 NoV isolates were closely related to the novel GII.17 Kawasaki 2014. Interestingly, our findings chronologically matched the emergence of the Kawasaki 2014 variant in the Italian population (early 2015), as reported by hospital-based NoV surveillance. These results, showing GII.17 NoV strains to be widespread in shellfish samples collected in 2015 in Italy, provide indirect evidence that this strain has started circulating in the Italian population. Notably, using a specific assay, we were able to detect many more samples positive for GII.17 NoV, indicating that, in food and water matrices, broad-range assays for NoV may grossly underestimate the prevalence of some, less common, NoVs. The detection of the GII.17 strain Kawasaki 2014 in clinical, water and food samples in Italy highlights the need for more systematic surveillance for future disease control and prevention.     

Hepatitis A Virus: State of the Art

Hepatitis A is the most common among all hepatitis worldwide in spite of an efficient vaccine and improved hygiene. Shellfish-borne outbreaks are still of major concern causing hundreds of cases and huge economical losses in the present context of global food trade. Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a unique picornavirus with many differences in its molecular biology including both its incapacity to induce the inhibition of the cellular protein synthesis and a highly biased and deoptimized codon usage with respect the cell. The final goal of this intriguing strategy seems to be the need for a fine-tuning control of the translation kinetics, particularly at the capsid coding region, and the underlying mechanism is the use of a right combination of common and rare codons to allow a regulated ribosome traffic rate thus ensuring the proper protein folding. Capsid folding is critical to warrant a high environmental stability for a virus transmitted through the fecal–oral route with long extracorporeal periods.     

Thresholds of species loss in Amazonian deforestation frontier landscapes

In the Brazilian Amazon, private land accounts for the majority of remaining native vegetation. Understanding how land‐use change affects the composition and distribution of biodiversity in farmlands is critical for improving conservation strategies in the face of rapid agricultural expansion. Working across an area exceeding 3 million ha in the southwestern state of Rondônia, we assessed how the extent and configuration of remnant forest in replicate 10,000‐ha landscapes has affected the occurrence of a suite of Amazonian mammals and birds. In each of 31 landscapes, we used field sampling and semistructured interviews with landowners to determine the presence of 28 large and medium sized mammals and birds, as well as a further 7 understory birds. We then combined results of field surveys and interviews with a probabilistic model of deforestation. We found strong evidence for a threshold response of sampled biodiversity to landscape level forest cover; landscapes with <30–40% forest cover hosted markedly fewer species. Results from field surveys and interviews yielded similar thresholds. These results imply that in partially deforested landscapes many species are susceptible to extirpation following relatively small additional reductions in forest area. In the model of deforestation by 2030 the number of 10,000‐ha landscapes under a conservative threshold of 43% forest cover almost doubled, such that only 22% of landscapes would likely to be able to sustain at least 75% of the 35 focal species we sampled. Brazilian law requires rural property owners in the Amazon to retain 80% forest cover, although this is rarely achieved. Prioritizing efforts to ensure that entire landscapes, rather than individual farms, retain at least 50% forest cover may help safeguard native biodiversity in private forest reserves in the Amazon. Umbrales de Pérdida de Especies en los Paisajes Fronterizos de Deforestación en el Amazonas Ochoa‐Quintero     

A systematic study on the fabrication of transparent nanopaper based on controlled cellulose nanostructure from oil palm empty fruit bunch

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Cellulose nanopaper (CNP) is a new potential candidate for flexible biopolymer substrate made of nanocellulose (NC). We systematically studied the effect...     

PBAT-based Microfiltration Membranes Using Porogen Saturated Solutions: Architecture,Morphology, and Environmental Profile

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - There is a scientific consensus that the use of membranes for water filtration presents itself as a promising research area for removing a wide range of...     

Hepatitis E Virus in Water Environments: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Food and Environmental Virology - Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for acute hepatitis in humans, through foodborne, zoonotic, and waterborne transmission routes. This study aimed to assess...     

New analytical approach to monitoring air quality in historical monuments through the isotopic ratio of CO2

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, we evaluated indoor air quality to highlight the effects of environmental pollution in the field of cultural heritage. In particular,...