Impact of green trust and green perceived quality on green purchase intentions: a moderation study

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The current study explores the role of green trust, green perceived risk and green perceived quality in changing green purchase intention....     

Assessment of the impacts of climate change and variability on water resources and use,food security,and economic welfare in Iran

Climate change influences the agricultural sector by reducing available water resources, thereby influencing income, consumer and producer surplus, and crop prices. So, it is necessary to have a comprehensive integrated method to measure the effects of these changes on natural resources and social conditions. The present study aims to use the positive mathematical programming method to discover the trend and conditions of groundwater resources, agricultural water use, food security, and economic welfare of the agricultural sector in Iran. To this end, data for the period 2000–2015 was used under four different scenarios of normal climate change, climate change, climate variability, and concurrent climate change The results showed that the mean agricultural water use will amount to 35,103.6, 26,533.8, 35,216, and 26,510.7 million m³ and the mean decline in the reserves of aquifers will amount to 4422.22, 11,165.6, 4438.25, and 11,267.4 million m³ under the scenarios, respectively. With respect to food security, the net farm revenue will be 314,560, 248,753, 315,427, and 248,574 billion IRR, respectively. The mean crop price per ton will reach 905.3, 1141.8, 904, and 1142.8 million IRR, respectively. The mean consumer surplus will be 172,107.7, 166,450, 172,024, and 166,403 billion IRR and the mean producer surplus will be 419,959.2, 395,380, 419,751, and 395,204 billion IRR, respectively. Based on the results, to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on different studied aspects, it is necessary to change policymaking in the water and agricultural sectors, especially regarding the shift from traditional agricultural water allocation to its market-based allocation and to change planting pattern.

     

Green customer-based brand equity and green purchase consumption behaviour: the moderating role of religious commitment

The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) of green brands and their impact on green purchase consumption with the moderating effect of religious commitment. Data were gathered from 315 consumers in three large cities in Pakistan and further analysed by partial least square. The results of this study revealed that there is a significant positive nexus between CBBE and green purchase consumption. Additionally, results showed the evidence of religious commitment moderating the relationship between CBBE and green purchase consumption. The findings are helpful to the greening companies, suggesting that they should focus on every component of brand performance in order to achieve the higher ranked performance that ultimately initiates green purchase and repurchase consumption. This research addresses the attitude behaviour gap in green purchase consumption by incorporating the contingent impact of religious commitment.

     

Application of polyamide thin-film composite layered on polysulfone-GO/TiO2 mixed matrix membranes for removal of nitrotoluene derivatives from petrochemical wastewaters

Release of harmful organic intermediates or byproducts during the manufacture of petrochemical compounds is a serious problem in petrochemical plants. In this work, polysulfone membranes blended with GO/TiO₂ nanocomposite were synthesized by phase inversion method and coated with a polyamide layer formed by interfacial polymerization to prepare a thin-film composite (TFC) sample. Analysis and characterization of the sample were carried out by XRD, FE-SEM, BET, FTIR/ATR, AFM, TGA, and zeta potential. Results indicated that incorporation of GO/TiO₂ into the membrane structure enhanced porosity, surface roughness, and macrovoid formation along the cross-section of the sublayer and permeability of the membrane. The TFC membranes were applied to remove mononitrotoluene (MNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT) as the basic intermediates of toluene diisocyanate (TDI). The membranes demonstrated high efficiency (>?90%) for the removal of MNT and DNT according to the charge exclusion mechanism and Donnan effect. Application of the TFC membrane for treatment of wastewater in the TDI plant showed that the removal of pollutants is variable in the range of 45–65% and 53–69% for the membrane with the highest flux and highest rejection in different transmembrane pressure, respectively.

     

Comparative efficacy of mitigation techniques for the detoxification of Prunus persica (L.) from selected pesticide residues

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fruits are the valuable and important components of human diet. Among them, Prunus persica is a rich source of different minerals and dietary fibers....     

Bacterial-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their significant effect against pathogens

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Silver nanoparticles are potent antimicrobials and could be used as a promising alternative of conventional antibiotics. The aim of this study was to...     

The potential of cost-effective coconut husk for the removal of toxic metal ions for environmental protection

Coconut (Cocos nucifera) husk, an agricultural waste, has been thoroughly investigated for the removal of toxic Cd(II), Cr(III) and Hg(II) ions from aqueous media. The parameters like nature and composition of electrolyte, concentration of toxic ions, dosage of coconut husk, and equilibration time between the two phases were optimized for their maximum accumulation onto the solid surface. The effect of common ions on the uptake of metal ions has been monitored under optimal conditions. The variation of retention of each metal ion with temperature was used to compute the thermodynamic quantities DeltaH, DeltaS and DeltaG. The values 18.1+/-0.6 kJmol(-1), 74+/-2 Jmol(-1)K(-1), and -3.8+/-0.04 kJmol(-1) at 298 K; 10.8+/-0.8 kJmol(-1), 48.8+/-2.7 Jmol(-1)K(-1), and -4.6+/-0.3 kJmol(-1) at 298 K; and -37.4+/-2k Jmol(-1), 105+/-7 Jmol(-1)K(-1) and -2.58+/-0.5 kJmol(-1) at 298 K were obtained for Cd(II), Cr(III) and Hg(II) ions, respectively. The sorption data were analysed by applying different sorption isotherms. The sorption capacity and energy were evaluated for each metal ion. The values of the Freundlich constants 1/n and C(m) were 0.92+/-0.04 and 52.6+/-22.2 mmolg(-1); 0.85+/-0.05 and 56.0+/-0.03 mmolg(-1); and 0.88+/-0.03 and 6.84+/-0.45 mmolg(-1) for Cd(II) Cr(III) and Hg(II) ions, respectively. Similarly, the Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) constants beta, X(m,) and E were evaluated for the three metal ions. To check the selectivity of the sorbent, sorption of a number of elements was measured under similar conditions. Separation of Zn(II) from Cd(II); Cr(III) from I(I), Zr(IV), Se(IV), and Hg(II) from Se(IV) and Zn(II) can be achieved using this sorbent. This cheap material has potential applications in analytical chemistry, water decontamination, industrial effluent treatment and in pollution abatement.     

Spatial Modeling of Mean Annual Temperature in Iran: Comparing Cokriging and Geographically Weighted Regression

Mapping spatial distribution of climatological parameters with a good degree of accuracy is crucial in environmental modeling and planning. Nowadays, there are various models to estimate and predict spatial variables in an area but some such as cokriging and geographically weighted regression (GWR) have got more attention from experts in this field. The objectives of this study are to evaluate and compare GWR with ordinary cokriging (OCK) techniques for estimating the mean annual air temperature (MAT) of Iran using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data and auxiliary variables (e.g., longitude, latitude and altitude). The MAT-gridded data for Iran was collected in pixels during the time interval of 1987–2015 from the ERA-Interim re-analysis version of ECMWF. Validation results indicate that cokriging model with latitude and altitude for estimating MAT has the lowest MAE (0.0155), MBE (0.00085), RMSE (0.0251), and the highest NS (0.9999) in relation to other cokriging methods. On the other hand, GWR with altitude has better results than those of GWR with other auxiliary variables because of its MAE (0.1271), MBE (0.0124), RMSE (0.1760), and NS (0.9969). By comparing two mentioned methods, cokriging with latitude and altitude has provided the best performance in relation to GWR for prediction of MAT in Iran. To obtain accurate estimation of the spatial distribution of MAT, local residuals were analyzed. Results concluded that residuals of the OCK model have high spatial adaptations between the observed and predicted MAT data compared to the GWR model. Hence, OCK was a relatively optimum method for the estimation of MAT compared with GWR.

     

Composting of municipal solid waste by different methods improved the growth of vegetables and reduced the health risks of cadmium and lead

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Reutilization of putrescible municipal solid wastes (MSW) in agriculture can provide valuable plant nutrients. However, it may pose serious...     

Leaching of styrene and other aromatic compounds in drinking water from PS bottles

Bottled water may not be safer, or healthier, than tap water. The present studies have proved that styrene and some other aromatic compounds leach continuously from polystyrene （PS） bottles used locally for packaging. Water sapmles in contact with PS were extracted by a preconcentration technique called as ＂purge and trap＂ and analysed by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer （GC/MS）. Eleven aromatic compounds were identified in these studies. Maximum concentration of styrene in PS bottles was 29.5 μg/L. Apart from styrene, ethyl benzene, toluene and benzene were also quantified but their concentrations were much less than WHO guide line values. All other compounds were in traces. Quality of plastic and storage time were the major factor in leaching of styrene. Concentration of styrene was increased to 69.53 μg/L after one-year storage. In Styrofoam and PS cups studies, hot water was found to be contaminated with styrene and other aromatic compounds. It was observed that temperature played a major role in the leaching of styrene monomer from Styrofoam cups. Paper cups were found to be safe for hot drinks.