Consumption of unsafe food in the adjacent area of Hazaribag tannery campus and Buriganga River embankments of Bangladesh: heavy metal contamination

The concentrations of Cr, Cd, Pb, Hg, and As in water, poultry meat, fish, vegetables, and rice plants obtained from the area adjacent to the Hazaribag tannery campus, Dhaka, Bangladesh, were estimated and compared with permissible levels established by the WHO and FAO and levels reported previously by other authors. The metal contents were in the following order according to the concentration in contaminated irrigation water: Cr?>?Pb?>?As?>?Hg?>?Cd. Mean concentrations of Cr, Pb, Hg, and As in irrigated water were above the permissible levels, whereas the results were below the permissible levels for Cd. The metal concentrations in poultry meat, fish, rice, and vegetables were in the following orders: Pb?>?Cr?>?Cd?>?Hg?>?As, Pb?>?Cr?>?Cd?>?As?>?Hg, Pb?>?As, and Cr?>?Pb?>?Cd?>?As?>?Hg, respectively. The mean concentrations of metals in poultry meat, fish, rice, and vegetables were much higher than the permissible levels. The trends of weekly intake of heavy metals (WIMs) from poultry meat, fish, rice, and vegetables were as follows: Pb?>?Cr?>?Cd?>?Hg?>?As, Pb?>?Cr?>?Cd?>?As?>?Hg, Pb?>?As, and Cr?>?Pb?>?Cd?>?As?>?Hg, respectively. WIMs for all the metals were lower than the provisional maximum weekly intake recommended by WHO/FAO and USNAS.     

The use of wastewater in livestock production and its socioeconomic and welfare implications

Although epidemiological studies have found a significant amount of toxins in surface water, a complex link between animals’ access to wastewater and associated animal and human welfare losses needs to be explored. The scarcity of safe water has put stress on the utilization of wastewater for crops and livestock production. The access of animals to wastewater is related to the emergence of dangerous animal’s diseases, hampering productivity, increasing economic losses, and risking human health along the food chain. This review explores use of wastewater for agriculture, epidemiological evidence of microbial contamination in wastewater, and animal and human welfare disruption due to the use of wastewater for crop and livestock production. More specifically, the review delves into animals exposure to wastewater for bathing, drinking, or grazing on a pasture irrigated with contaminated water and related animal and human welfare losses. We included some scientific articles and reviews published from 1970 to 2017 to support our rational discussions. The selected articles dealt exclusively with animals direct access to wastewater via bathing and indirect access via grazing on pasture irrigated with contaminated wastewater and their implication for animal and human welfare losses. The study also identified that some policy options such as wastewater treatments, constructing wastewater stabilization ponds, controlling animal access to wastewater, and dissemination of necessary information to ultimate consumers related to the source of agricultural produce and wastewater use in animal and crop production are required to protect the human and animal health and welfare.     

Quantitative assessment of medical waste generation in the capital city of Bangladesh

There is a concern that mismanagement of medical waste in developing countries may be a significant risk factor for disease transmission. Quantitative estimation of medical waste generation is needed to estimate the potential risk and as a basis for any waste management plan. Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh, is an example of a major city in a developing country where there has been no rigorous estimation of medical waste generation based upon a thorough scientific study. These estimates were obtained by stringent weighing of waste in a carefully chosen, representative, sample of HCEs, including non-residential diagnostic centres. This study used a statistically designed sampling of waste generation in a broad range of Health Care Establishments (HCEs) to indicate that the amount of waste produced in Dhaka can be estimated to be 37 ± 5 ton per day. The proportion of this waste that would be classified as hazardous waste by World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines was found to be approximately 21%. The amount of waste, and the proportion of hazardous waste, was found to vary significantly with the size and type of HCE.     

Limited change in the diversity and structure of subtidal communities over four decades

A unique archive of photographs from 1969 to 1974 permitted a test of the hypothesis that the diversity and composition of contemporary epilithic communities on subtidal rock walls in the San Juan Islands, WA, USA, has changed over 40 years. Notably, the richness and diversity of sessile taxa was significantly higher in 2008–2011. Furthermore, the multivariate community structure of sessile and mobile taxa differed between the historic and modern eras. Historic communities were characterized by a high percent cover of bare rock and non-calcified algal crusts, consistent with the effects of grazing by chitons and urchins. The rate of sessile community turnover, an index less susceptible to spatial sampling artifacts than richness or diversity, was not significantly different between the two eras. Together with the naturally high spatial variability in these epilithic communities, and the limited replication of historic quadrats, we interpret cautiously the data as evidence of limited change despite a clear shift in temperature and predator (fish) guild composition. The lack of substantial change in rock wall communities may be due in part to their vertical topography, which limits physical disturbance and the preemption of space by weedy algae, two processes that are often associated with “phase-shifts” in other marine ecosystems.     

Regional convergence of energy-environmental efficiency: from the perspective of environmental constraints

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper conducts a convergence analysis on the energy-environmental efficiency to explore the differences between regions that reflect the...     

Combustion,emission, and phase stability features of a diesel engine fueled by Jatropha/ethanol blends and n-butanol as co-solvent

ABSTRACT

The main challenge of utilizing ethanol in diesel engines in blending mode is the phase separation issue. Therefore, an attempt has been performed to enhance the stability feature of ethanol/Jatropha biodiesel (JME) blends by using n-butanol as co-solvent. The 10% by volume of n-butanol is added to the mixtures of 10% and 20% ethanol and 70% and 80% JME, which is denoted as JME10Bu10E and JME10Bu20E, respectively. The phase stability of the evaluated fuels is examined employing visual approach and Thermogravimetric analysis. These methods confirm that there is no phase separation for more than 2 months under ambient conditions. Then, the combustion and emission features are investigated utilizing a diesel engine run with different loads and constant speed. The findings demonstrate that the p_max. and HRR are increased by adding ethanol. The ignition delay is extended with the addition of ethanol while the combustion period is almost the same. The bsfc is decreased by adding ethanol compared to JME fuel. The CO, UHC, and NO_x formations are reduced markedly by 40%, 40%, and 40%, respectively, with adding ethanol. Finally, using n-butanol and JME as co-solvents with ethanol supports the growth of renewable energy in the CI engine.     

Assessing spatio-temporal trend of vector breeding and dengue fever incidence in association with meteorological conditions

Th aim of this study is to investigate spatio-temporal trends of dengue vector breeding and epidemic (disease incidence) influenced by climatic factors. The spatio-temporal (low-, medium-, and high-intensity periods) evaluation of entomological and epidemiological investigations along with climatic factors like rainfall (RF), temperature (T_max), relative humidity (RH), and larval indexing was conducted to develop correlations in the area of Lahore, Pakistan. The vector abundance and disease transmission trend was geo-tagged for spatial insight. The sufficient rainfall events and optimum temperature and relative humidity supported dengue vector breeding with high larval indices for water-related containers (27–37%). Among temporal analysis, the high-intensity period exponentially projected disease incidence followed by post-rainfall impacts. The high larval incidence that was observed in early high-intensity periods effected the dengue incidence. The disease incidence had a strong association with RF (r = 0.940, α = 0.01). The vector larva occurrence (r = 0.017, α = 0.05) influenced the disease incidence. Similarly, RH (r = 0.674, α = 0.05) and average T_max (r = 0.307, α = 0.05) also induced impact on the disease incidence. In this study, the vulnerability to dengue fever highly correlates with meteorological factors during high-intensity period. It provides area-specific understanding of vector behavior, key containers, and seasonal patterns of dengue vector breeding and disease transmission which is essential for preparing an effective prevention plan against the vector.     

Can corporate environmental responsibility improve environmental performance? An inter-temporal analysis of Chinese chemical companies

The empirical research on the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and environmental performance remains in the one-way positive impact and lacks the research on nonlinear relationship between them. Based on the stakeholder theory, this paper selects A-share chemical–listed companies in China from 2006 to 2017 as the research samples and uses generalized method of moments (GMM) model to investigate the impact mechanism between corporate environmental responsibility and environmental performance. The results showed that corporate environmental responsibility positively impacted on environmental performance; however, the impact was not significant. The corporate environmental performance positively and significantly impacted on environmental responsibility. Moreover, results reported that industry competition played a positive regulatory role in corporate environmental responsibility affecting environmental performance and has played a positive role in corporate environmental impact on environmental responsibility. A nonlinear relationship (inverted “U” shape) between environmental responsibility and environmental performance was found. The study results stress to establish a fair and perfect market competition mechanism to improve the environmental performance of chemical industries in China.

     

A rapid and accurate method for the determination of plutonium in food using magnetic sector ICP-MS with an ultra-sonic nebuliser and ion chromatography

In the event of a nuclear incident it is essential that analytical information on the distribution and level of contamination is available. An ICP-MS method is described which can provide data on plutonium contamination in food within 3 h of sample receipt without compromising detection limits or accuracy relative to traditional counting methods. The method can also provide simultaneous determinations of americium and neptunium. Samples were prepared by HNO3 closed-vessel microwave digestion, evaporated to dryness and diluted into a mobile phase comprising 1.5 M HNO3 and 0.1 mM 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid. A commercially available polystyrene-divinylbenzene ion chromatography column provides on-line separation of 239Pu and 238U reducing the impact of the 238U1H interference. Oxidation of the sample using H2O2 ensures all Pu is in the Pu(+4) state. The oxidation also displaces Np away from the solvent front by changing the oxidation state from Np(+3) to Np(+4) and produces the insoluble Am(+4) ion. Simultaneous Pu, Am and Np analyses therefore require omission of the oxidation stage and some loss of Pu data quality. Analyses were performed using a magnetic sector ICP-MS (Finnigan MAT Element). The sample is introduced to the plasma via an ultrasonic nebuliser-desolvation unit (Cetac USN 6000AT+). This combination achieves an instrumental sensitivity of 238U > 2 x 10(7) cps/ppb and removes hydrogen from the sample gas, which also inhibits the formation of 238U1H. The net effect of the improved sample introduction conditions is to achieve detection levels for Pu of 0.020 pg g(-1) (4.6 x 10(-2) Bq kg(-1)) which is significantly below 1/10th of the most stringent EU (European Union) legislation, currently 0.436 pg g(-1) (1 Bq kg(-1)) set for baby food. The new method was evaluated with a range of biological samples ranging from cabbage to milk and meat. Recovery of Pu agrees with published values (100% +/- 20%).     

Evolution of spatial–temporal characteristics and financial development as an influencing factor of green ecology

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study aims to determine the impact of financial development on green ecology to promote cleaner production. Particularly, it estimates the...