Air pollutants and allergens are the main stimuli that have considerable effects on asthmatic patients’ health. Seamless monitoring of patients’ conditions and the surrounding environment, limiting their exposure to allergens and irritants, and reducing the exacerbation of symptoms can aid patients to deal with asthma better. In this context, ubiquitous healthcare monitoring systems can provide any service to any user everywhere and every time through any device and network. In this regard, this research established a GIS-based outdoor asthma monitoring framework in light of ubiquitous systems. The proposed multifaceted model was designed in three layers: (1) pre-processing, for cleaning and interpolating data, (2) reasoning, for deducing knowledge and extract contextual information from data, and (3) prediction, for estimating the asthmatic conditions of patients ubiquitously. The effectiveness of the proposed model is assessed by applying it on a real dataset that comprised of internal context information including patients’ personal information (age, gender, height, medical history), patients’ locations, and their peak expiratory flow (PEF) values, as well as external context information including air pollutant data (O₃, SO₂, NO₂, CO, PM₁₀), meteorological data (temperature, pressure, humidity), and geographic information related to the city of Tehran, Iran. With more than 92% and 93% accuracies in reasoning and estimation mechanism, respectively, the proposed method showed remarkably effective in asthma monitoring and management.

Biodiesel has been renowned as potential and alternative fuel for years. In order to improve the quality of the conventional fossil fuels, biodiesel, and air pollution from combustion, additives are essential to exploit. In this study, the uses of cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoparticle additive for B20 fuel in a diesel engine are investigated. The CeO₂ nanoparticles with cetyl-trimethyl ammonium bromide are doped into the B20 fuel by using ultrasonicator. The purpose of the experimental work was adopted to enhance engine combustion and reduce the emissions with an approach of CeO₂ nanoparticle additive. The experiment was conducted on a diesel engine using different propagation of CeO₂ nanoparticle in blended mahua methyl ester fuel such as B20 + CeO₂ 50 ppm, B20 + CeO₂ 100 ppm, and B20 + CeO₂ 150 ppm. The obtained results are compared with the diesel and B20 fuels. The minor changes are obtained in B20 fuel properties due to the addition of CeO₂ nanoparticles. The performance of brake thermal efficiency and combustion of pressure data is observed to be enhanced by the addition of a metal-based additive. The CO, HC, and smoke are decreased for B20 fuel with nanoparticles. The NOₓ is reduced by dosing the CeO₂ due to the oxidation of unburned CeO₂ in the exhaust.

Phosphoric acid production and olive oil production are among the most important economical sectors in Tunisia. However, they generate huge amounts of wastes (phosphogypsum, olive mill waste water, and olive pomace). In a previous study, we used phosphogypsum (PG), in co-composting with organic wastes. Three composts were produced; their PG content was of 0 (AT), 10 (A10), and 30% (A30). In the present study, we focused on their derived compost teas. The physico-chemical characterization of the different compost teas showed that those from A10 and A30 composts presented higher P and Ca contents than that from control one (AT). The microbial characterization using DGGE showed a noticeable microbial diversity in the different compost teas and that the addition of 10% and 30% PG in the compost had different effects on the compost tea microbial diversity. The identification results showed that the addition of 10 and 30% of PG did not affect the presence of PGPR (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) and fungal soil antagonists in the compost teas. Two PGPRs were isolated from AT and A30 compost teas, and their effect on the growth of potato plants in vitro was evaluated.

Essential oils (EOs) extracted from leaves (EL) and fruit pericarp (EFP) of Zanthoxylum planispinum var. dintanensis were analyzed for their chemical composition by GC-MS technique and evaluated for their fumigant, contact toxicity and repellency against three stored-product insects, namely Tribolium castaneum, Lasioderma serricorne, and Liposcelis bostrychophila adults. Results of GC-MS analysis manifested that EL and EFP of Z. planispinum var. dintanensis were mainly composed of oxygenated monoterpenes. Major components included linalool, sylvestrene and terpinen-4-ol. The obvious variation observed between two oil samples was that EL contained 2-dodecanone (11.52%) in addition to the above mentioned components, while this constituent was not detected in EFP. Bioassays of insecticidal and repellent activities were performed for EL, EFP as well as some of their individual compounds (linalool, terpinen-4-ol and 2-dodecanone). Testing results indicated that EL, EFP, linalool, terpinen-4-ol and 2-dodecanone exhibited potent insecticidal and repellent activities against the three target insects selected. Among the three individual compounds, 2-dodecanone was significantly toxic to T. castaneum (LD₅₀ = 5.21 μg/adult), L. serricorne (LD₅₀ = 2.54 μg/adult) and L. bostrychophila (LD₅₀ = 23.41 μg/cm²) in contact assays and had beneficial repellent effects on L. serricorne at 2 and 4 h post-exposure. The anti-insect efficacy of Z. planispinum var. dintanensis EO suggests it has potential to be used as botanical insecticide or repellent to control pest damage in warehouses and grain stores.

Nutrients in runoff degrade water quality. The development of schemes to mitigate such degradation requires a characterization of the underlying dynamic processes of nutrient loss. The drinking-water source protection area in the Lake Hongfeng watershed of Guiyang City, the capital of Guizhou Province, China, has been delimited for effective conservation. However, no systematic observations have provided data on nutrient losses from these areas that could support optimal management. We selected one typical watershed in the area. Automatic gauges were installed to record the water levels and calculate runoff rates during 2010 and 2011. A total of 1523 runoff samples were collected at an interval of 3 h during a day; total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were tested. The results indicated that surface runoff rates were primarily less than 15 L/s but rapidly increased 1–30 times 15 L/s when it rained. TN, TP, and COD concentrations primarily fluctuated between 0.06 and 18.79 mg/L, between 0.01 and 1.57 mg/L, and between 0.01 and 160 mg/L, respectively. TN and COD concentrations in 98.98% and 52.04% of the runoff samples, respectively, exceeded the upper limit required by the Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water (EQSSW) in China. Conversely, 94.29% of the runoff samples had lower concentrations than the upper limit of TP concentration. Surface runoff has been seriously polluted by nitrogen and organic pollutants. The occurrence frequency of different runoff rates and TP and COD concentrations showed different distributions, but TN concentrations had a normal distribution. There was a significant relationship between runoff rates and TP concentration and TN, TP, or COD loss. TN, TP, and COD loss primarily occurred on vegetable lands, rice fields, and residential sites. Effectively controlling nitrogen fertilizer that is applied on vegetable lands and paddy fields and managing wastewater and solid waste are urgent. The results reported here will also provide references for many other regions facing similar problems.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) represent a large group of recalcitrant environmental pollutants. Up to now, many studies have focused on bioremediation of PCBs by fungal strains; however, the mechanisms of adaptation of these strains towards PCBs remain unknown despite their importance in developing effective bioremediation processes. We studied five species, each consisting of two strains isolated either from PCB-polluted or PCB-unpolluted substrates (control strains). We investigated their responses to PCB contamination by studying their tolerance to PCBs, their ability to reduce these pollutants, and their expression level of Laccase genes. In Thermothelomyces thermophila, Thermothelomyces heterothallica, Thermoascus crustaceus, and Fusarium solani, all the studied strains showed a similar tolerance and PCB degradation regardless of their origin. In Schizophyllum commune, while both strains showed similar resistance to PCBs, i.e., PCBs and their degradation products presented no toxicity for these strains, the rate of PCB degradation of the strain from a PCB-polluted environment was significantly slightly higher. The PCB degradation did not correlate with the expression level of genes encoding Laccases. These results demonstrate that the tolerance and PCB degradation by the fungal strains, which did not involve Laccase genes, required different adaptation systems which seem to be constitutive or rapidly inducible by PCB according to the fungal species.

The article Occurrence and risk assessment of trace metals and metalloids in sediments and benthic invertebrates from Dianshan Lake, China, written by Yan Wu, Yihui Zhou, Yanling Qiu, Da Chen, Zhiliang Zhu, Jianfu Zhao and Åke Bergman

The article Occurrence of 25 pharmaceuticals in Taihu Lake and their removal from two urban drinking water treatment plants and a constructed wetland, written by Xia-Lin Hu, Yi-Fan Bao, Jun-Jian Hu, You-Yu Liu and Da-Qiang Yin, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal

A phytoremediation project involving the large-scale cultivation of water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) was conducted in Lake Caohai (China) from May to November during 2011–2013 to remove pollutants and decrease eutrophication. Water hyacinths were cultivated in two areas of Lake Caohai, Neicaohai, and Waicaohai, which are connected and function as a relatively independent water body. The areas for macrophyte growth varied in size from 4.30 km² in 2011 to 0.85 km² (2012) and 1.15 km² (2013). Compared with historical data from 2007, the concentrations of total phosphorus decreased significantly, while dissolved oxygen concentrations increased slightly. After plant cultivation in 2011, the average concentrations of total phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, and phosphate anions decreased from 0.54, 0.35, and 0.23 mg L⁻¹ upstream (river estuaries) to 0.15, 0.13, and 0.08 mg L⁻¹ downstream (Xiyuan Channel), respectively. The amount of phosphorus assimilated by the macrophytes (44.31 t) was more than 100% of the total removed phosphorus (40.93 t) from lake water when water hyacinths covered 40.9% of the area, which could indicate sedimentary phosphorus release. Our study showed the great potential of utilizing water hyacinth phytoremediation to remove phosphorus in eutrophic waters.

Schwertmannite is an important sink for cadmium (Cd) in acid mine drainage (AMD) environments and is unstable when environmental conditions change. However, the release and redistribution of Cd during schwertmannite transformation with respect to pre-bound Cd are poorly understood. In this work, the transformation of cadmium-associated schwertmannite and subsequent Cd repartitioning behaviors were investigated. The way of schwertmannite associated with Cd was predominant by absorption, and the diffuse layer model (DLM) showed that Cd²⁺ existed as monodentate complexes ≡Fe₍₁₎OCd⁺ and ≡Fe₍₂₎OCd⁺ on schwertmannite surfaces. Kinetics of SO₄²⁻ release and mineralogical characterization both showed that the mineral transformation rates decreased and more lepidocrocite aggregated with increasing adsorbed Cd levels. The shrinking core model revealed that Fe(II)-induced process would affect mineral dissolution by changing surface reaction-controlled step to internal diffusion-controlled step, and significantly promote the dissolution rate of Cd-adsorbed schwertmannite. Adsorbed Cd blocked the surface sites for later Fe(II) adsorption and the Fe(II)-Fe(III) electron transfer, then resulted in the decelerated transformation and the accumulation of intermediate phase lepidocrocite. The maximum release of aqueous Cd occurred after 1 mM Fe²⁺ addition, then over 69% of initial added Cd₍ₐq₎ re-bound to solid-phase accompanying with mineral transformation, and finally, Cd was mainly associated with the secondary minerals by complexation with surficial OH groups. These findings are useful for developing the strategies for treating Cd contamination in AMD affected areas.