The impact of age structure on carbon emission in the Middle East: the panel autoregressive distributed lag approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Rapid evolution in the population age structure of the Middle East countries has major economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Therefore, to...     

Consumers’ intention-based influence factors of renewable energy adoption in Pakistan: a structural equation modeling approach

As the adoption of renewable energy (RE) is a complex and intricate procedure affected by a wide range of factors, it prompts traction among researchers to examine these influence factors. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the factors affecting consumers’ intention to adopt RE for household use in Pakistan. The current research has contributed through expanding the structural framework of the theory of planned behavior by incorporating three novel factors (perception of self-effectiveness, perception of neighbor’s participation, and belief about RE benefits) to have a deep insight into the factors that motivate or inhibit consumers to adopt RE. Outcomes are based on the primary data compiled from 353 households in the five main cities of Pakistan accompanying an inclusive survey. The state-of-the-art structural equation modeling was utilized to test and analyze the proposed hypotheses. The results signify that the influencing factors such as perception of self-effectiveness, awareness of RE, and perception of neighbor’s participation impart a positive effect on consumers’ intention to adopt RE, whereas cost of RE generation has an opposite effect. Interestingly, environmental concern and belief about RE benefits found to have neutral effects. Research results emphasize the need to enhance public awareness, reform policy structure, transform social norms, and highlight the benefits that RE provides, all through an integrative and coherent way.

     

Assessing the long- and short-run asymmetrical effects of climate change on rice production: empirical evidence from India

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent years, environmental change has arisen as a ubiquitous problem and gained environmentalist’s attention across the globe due to its...     

Biomonitoring of bisphenol A, 4-nonylphenol,and 4-t-octylphenol in Turkish population: exposure and risk assessment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Biomonitoring studies are important tools to understand the effects of endocrine-disrupting compounds on human health. Up to now, there have been no...     

Receptor Modeling for Elemental Source Contributions to Fine Aerosols in New York State

ABSTRACT

Fine atmospheric particulate material was collected at five sites in upstate New York and analyzed for its trace element composition by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Of the 3700 daily samples collected over a 2-yr period, 1459 were analyzed for 39 elements, providing a large and detailed data set. Factor analysis (FA) was used to identify potential pollution sources or source regions and to construct inorganic source profiles for each. Following FA, the method of absolute factor scores-multiple linear regression was used to estimate the absolute elemental contribution of each of the identified sources. Factor analysis identified nine sources impacting the sampling region. Seven of these were found to be present in varying degrees among of the sampling sites. The other two sources had more localized impacts and were observed at only one of the sites each. Regional sources (such as the midwestern United States and eastern Canada) and crustal/ soil material accounted for the greatest amount of the trace elements measured in the collected material.     

The effects of compost prepared from waste material of banana on the growth, yield and quality properties of banana plants

Three doses (15-30-45 kg plant(-1)) of the compost prepared from the clone of Dwarf cavendish banana were compared with farmyard manure (50 kg plant(-1)), mineral fertilizers (180 g N+ 150 g P +335 g K plant(-1)) and farmyard manure+ mineral fertilizers (25 kg FM+ 180 g N+ 150 g P +335 g K plant(-1)) which determined positive effects on the growth, yield and fruit quality characteristics of banana plants. The banana plants were grown under a heated glasshouse and in a soil with physical and chemical properties are suitable for banana growing. The contents of N, P, K and Mg in compost and in farmyard manure were found to be similar. Farmyard manure, farmyard manure + mineral fertilizers and 45 kg plant(-1) of compost increased growth, yield and fruit quality characteristics. According to obtained results, 45 kg plant(-1) of compost was determined more suitable in terms of economical production and organic farming than the other fertilizer types.     

Enumeration of Legionella pneumophila in cooling tower water systems

Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires disease, is known to colonise and frequently grow in cooling tower waters. Disease is acquired by inhaling aerosol contaminated by legionellae. Determination of the count of Legionella pneumophila in cooling tower waters may, therefore, be useful for risk assessment. In our survey, 103 water samples from 50 cooling towers were examined over a five-year period to indicate the seasonal distribution and the ecology of L. pneumophila, as regards temperature and pH. L. pneumophila serogroup 1 was found in 44% of the isolated strains, which is primarily responsible for the majority of Legionnaires disease. The large majority of examined towers had levels of L. pneumophila in the high-risk category. These cooling towers have been linked to many outbreaks of Legionnaires disease.     

Bioremediation of heavy metal contaminated medium using Lemna minor,Daphnia magna and their consortium

Single, dual and triple mixtures of totally seven different mixture combinations of the metals Al, Ba and Fe were examined in Lemna minor (L) culture, Daphnia magna (D) culture and in a consortium culture consisting of L. minor and D. magna. In this study: (a) differences in removed metal proportions at the end of 24 and 48?h, (b) differences in removed metal amounts due to cultures, (c) differences in the removed proportions of a metal in distinct mediums and (d) removal correlation of the metals due to cultures were investigated. The study results showed that among the metals Al, Ba and Fe, Al has the most toxic effect on organisms involved in this study. Although similar toxicity results of Al and Fe on test groups were observed, Ba gave different toxicity results on test groups. An overview of the bioremediation results indicates that L. minor removes the metals Al and Fe more successfully than Ba. Different mixture combinations of metals performed dissimilar removal results in the same cultures. According to the correlations analysis for the metals Ba and Fe, a high correlation was recorded between the consortium group and test groups containing only D. magna, r?=?0.88, r?=?0.91, respectively.