The influence of personality traits on sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial intentions: the moderating role of servant leadership

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Economic, environmental, and social imperatives make sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship an indispensable phenomenon of the day, yet only sparse...     

Polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters and perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids in target food samples and packaging—method development and screening

Polyfluoroalkyl phosphate mono-, di-, and tri-esters (mono-, di-, and triPAPs) are used to water- and grease-proof food packaging materials, and these chemicals are known precursors to perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs). Existing analytical methods for PAPs lack sample clean-up steps in the sample preparation. In the present study, a method based on ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS) was developed and optimized for the analysis of mono-, di-, and triPAPs, including a clean-up step for the raw extracts. The method was applied to food samples and their PAP-containing packaging materials. The optimized UPLC/MS/MS method enabled the separation and identification of a total of 4 monoPAPs, 16 diPAPs, and 7 triPAPs in the technical mixture Zonyl®-RP. For sample clean-up, weak anion exchange solid phase extraction columns were tested. PAPs standard solutions spiked onto the columns were separated into a fraction containing neutral compounds (triPAPs) and a fraction with ionic compounds (mono- and diPAPs) with recoveries between 72–110 %. Method limits of quantification for food samples were in the sub to low picogram per gram range. For quantitative analysis of PAPs, compound-specific labeled internal standards showed to be essential as sorption and matrix effects were observed. Mono-, di-, and/or triPAPs were detected in all food packaging materials obtained from the Swedish market. Up to nine diPAPs were detected in the food samples, with the 6:2/6:2 and 6:2/8:2 diPAPs as the dominant compounds. DiPAP concentrations in the food samples ranged from 0.9 to 36 pg/g, which was comparable to individual PFCA concentrations in the same samples. Consumption of food packed in PAP-containing materials could be an indirect source of human exposure to PFCAs.     

Influence of sub-lethal crude oil concentration on growth,water relations and photosynthetic capacity of maize (Zea mays L.) plants

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Maize tolerance potential to oil pollution was assessed by growing Zea mays in soil contaminated with varying levels of crude oil (0, 2.5 and...     

Effect of feeding dried sweet orange (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Citrus sinensis</Emphasis>) peel and lemon grass (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cymbopogon citratus</Emphasis>) leaves on growth performance,carcass traits,serum metabolites and antioxidant status in broiler during the finisher phase

The current experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding dried sweet orange peel (SOP) and lemon grass leaves (LGL) as feed additives on broiler growth performance, serum metabolites, and antioxidant status. A total of 192-day-old (Ross 308) broiler chickens were distributed randomly into 4 dietary treatments with 4 replicates per each treatment. The dietary treatments included a control diet without any feed additive (T1), a diet containing 0.8 % SOP (T2), a diet containing 0.8 % LGL (T3), and a diet containing combination of 0.4 % SOP?+?0.4 % LGL (T4) was fed during the growth period from 22 to 42 days. Feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass traits, serum components, and antioxidant status were measured. At the end of the experimental period, the results indicated that supplementation of SOP and LGL alone or in combination did not significantly (P?>?0.05) affect BWG, FI, FCR, and carcass characteristics in broiler chickens. Serum total protein was increased significantly (P?<?0.05) in T3 and T4 compared to the other treatments. Also, serum globulin increased significantly (P?<?0.05) in the treated groups. Serum glucose, low density lipoprotein, triglyceride, and very low density lipoprotein decreased significantly (P?<?0.05) in the treatment groups, while cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein decreased in T2 compared to the other groups. Significantly (P?<?0.05) higher total antioxidant status was observed in T2 compared to the other treatments. In conclusion, these results indicate that SOP, LGL, and their combination may positively modify some serum components and the antioxidant status without any beneficial effect on growth performance and carcass traits in broiler chickens.     

Evaluation of fresh and stored rainwater quality in fluoride and arsenic endemic area of Thar Desert,Pakistan

In the current study, the chemistry of fresh and stored rainwater of Thar Desert, Pakistan, was estimated during two consecutive monsoon periods. The present research deals with the variation in physicochemical parameters, total arsenic (As^t), inorganic arsenic species (Asⁱ, As^V, As^III), and fluoride (F^?) in stored rainwater (SRW) at different time intervals (1 week to 3 months). The pH of fresh rainwater (FRW) samples showed slightly acidic to neutral in nature (6.08–7.06) which were inconsistent with the reference pH value (5.6) of rainwater. The resulted data indicated that As^t and F^? levels in SRW were enhanced with time duration. The levels of As^t and F^? in SRW after different time intervals were found in the range of 194–683 μg/L and 10–35.4 mg/L, respectively. The values of As^t and F^? were 20–70 and 7–24 times higher than those of WHO permissible limits, 10 μg/L and 1.5 mg/L, respectively. The As^III was dominant species in SRW, which corresponds to >60 % of Asⁱ. The characteristics of the SRW revealed an unacceptable quality to consume for drinking and agricultural purposes in the studied area.     

Controlling bacterial leaf blight of rice and enhancing the plant growth with endophytic and rhizobacterial Bacillus strains

This study was conducted to assess efficacy of biological control against bacterial leaf blight (BLB) of rice produced by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Five endophytic strains (A1, A2, A3, A13 and A15) and two rhizospherial Bacilli (D29 and H8) were tested for their antagonistic activities against BLB in vitro and in vivo. All seven strains showed high potential of antagonistic activity against X. oryzae pv. oryzae and three phytopathogenic fungi in vitro. Test of 16SrRNA gene sequence were assigned isolates A1, A3 and A13 as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens while isolates A2 and A15 as B. methylotrophicus and B. subtilis, respectively. In greenhouse, four strains of displayed 50.29%–57.86% inhibition rate against the pathogen and significantly increased plant fresh weight from 50.03% to 73.11% and dry weight from 64.11% to 86.65% in treated rice plants. In addition, these strains demonstrated strong capability to produce indole-3-acetic acid, siderophores, solubilizing phosphate and also colonize roots. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that expression of defense-related genes including OsAOS2, OsJMT1, OsNPR1 and OsPR1b were significantly up-regulated in leaves of D29-exposed rice plants, suggesting that treatment of rice with D29 suppressed BLB through systemic activation of the plant defense system. Therefore, data suggest that Bacillus isolates A13, A15, D29 and H8 support effective antagonistic activity against BLB under greenhouse conditions in addition to their potential to promote growth of rice plants.     

Testing the relationship between globalization and carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan: does environmental Kuznets curve exist?

Over the last few decades, the atmospheric carbon dioxide emission has been amplified to a great extent in Pakistan. This amplification may cause global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation in Pakistan. Consequently, ecological condition and human life may suffer in the near future from these indicated threats. Therefore, an attempt was made to test the relationship between globalization and carbon dioxide emissions in case of Pakistan. The study covers the time series data over the period of 1975–2014. We employed modern econometric techniques such as Johansen co-integration, ARDL bound testing approach, and variance decomposition analysis. Results of the Johansen co-integration test show that there is a significant long-run relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and globalization. The long-run elasticities of the ARDL model show that a 1% increase in economic globalization, political globalization, and social globalization will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.38, 0.19, and 0.11%, respectively. Further, our findings reveal that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis prevails an inverted U-shaped relationship between carbon dioxide emission and economic growth. Therefore, the EKC hypothesis is valid in the presence of globalization. The diagnostic test results show that the parameters of the ARDL model are credible, stable, and reliable in the current form. Finally, variance decomposition analysis displays that economic, political, and social globalization are contributing significantly to carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan.

     

Bisphenol S induces oxidative stress and DNA damage in rat spermatozoa in vitro and disrupts daily sperm production in vivo

Bisphenol S has been introduced into some industrial applications and it may act as a xeno-estrogen that can alter endocrine functions and reproduction. The present study was carried out to examine the effect of bisphenol S exposure on oxidative stress, generation of reactive oxygen species, and DNA integrity in rat spermatozoa in vitro and daily sperm production and sperm DNA damage in vivo. Sperm were incubated with bisphenol S at concentrations of 0.5, 1, 10, and 100 µg/L. At the highest concentration, bisphenol S induced formation of reactive oxygen species, caused lipid peroxidation, affected superoxide dismutase levels, and increased DNA fragmentation. Adult rats were exposed to doses of 0.5, 5, 25, and 50 µg/kg/d for 28 days. Decrease in daily sperm production and an increase in sperm DNA damage was observed at the highest dose in the 50 µg/kg/d treated group, but sperm motility was not reduced.     

Bacillus safensis with plant-derived smoke stimulates rice growth under saline conditions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Salinity is a worldwide environmental problem of agricultural lands. Smoke and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) are individually used to improve...