International audience | Emissions and deposition of ammonia and nitrogen oxides have strongly increased since the 1950s. This has led to significant changes in the nitrogen (N) cycle, vegetation composition and plant diversity in many ecosystems of high conservation value in Europe. As a consequence of different regional pollution levels and of the increased importance of reduced N in the near future, determining the effect of different forms of N is an important task for understanding the consequences of atmospheric N inputs. We have initiated three replicated N addition experiments in species-rich, acidic grasslands spanning a climatic gradient in the Atlantic biogeographic region of Europe in Norway, Wales and France at sites with low levels of pollution. N was added in two doses (0 and 70 kg N ha−1 year−1 above background) and in three forms (oxidised N, reduced N and a 50–50 combination). After 2.5 years of N additions, the effects of these treatments on plant biomass, plant nutritional status, soil pH and soil nutrient availability were determined. Impacts of the N additions were observed within the 2.5-year research period. In some cases, the first signs of differential effects of N form could also be demonstrated. In the French site, for example, grass biomass was significantly increased by the oxidised N treatments but decreased by the reduced N treatments. In the Norwegian site, the reduced N treatments significantly reduced soil pH, whereas oxidised N did not. Effects on nutrient availability were also observed. These experiments will be continued to elucidate the longer term impacts of N deposition on these grasslands.

[Departement_IRSTEA]Ecotechnologies [TR1_IRSTEA]TED [Axe_IRSTEA]TED-EPURE | International audience | Thus, choosing to plant local macrophytes species in CWs can be considered as an asset for the development of CWs, since it can be a part of global development projects which integrate cultural, social and economic characteristics. But, because of the ability of some macrophytes to accumulate toxic elements, human utilisation of CWs macrophytes has to be managed considering health damage potentiality. Spontaneous macrophytes diversity has to be appreciated for its key-role in the development of CWs in developing countries, not only from an ecological point of view, but also from cultural, social, sanitary and economic views.

International audience

Agricultural use of pesticides continues to rise globally. Argentina ranks fifth in use. While pesticides help yields, they also pose risks to human health and the environment. Indoor dust can present high pesticide concentrations, raising concerns about chronic exposure in non-farming households. Studies of pesticides in indoor dust are few worldwide. This pioneering study aimed to identify and/or quantify for the first time pesticide occurrence in indoor dust from urban residences in the Pampas Region, southeast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Pesticide residues in indoor dust from 48 non-agricultural homes in the Pampas plain region were analysed. Study participants completed questionnaires on household demographics, pet ownership, pesticide use, gardening, and habits like leaving shoes outside. We detected 41 out of 49 targeted pesticides, including metabolites and banned compounds. Seven of the 49 tested are dual-use compounds (i.e. pesticide & biocide or veterinary applications). The synergist piperonyl butoxide, the dual-use imidacloprid, and “agricultural only” pesticides carbaryl, glyphosate, and atrazine were detected in all dust samples. Glyphosate, 2,4-D, atrazine, imidacloprid, carbaryl, tetramethrin, and piperonyl butoxide had maximum concentrations exceeding 1, 000 μg kg−1. Complex mixtures of up to 32 residues were found per sample. Questionnaire responses revealed that most participants brought shoes inside (60 %), almost all had pets (93 %), and 51 % had used flea repellents (mainly imidacloprid and fipronil). Approximately 48 % reported pesticide use in the past year, and 19 % reported exposure via their (non-farmer) jobs, e.g., via disinfection and weeding. These findings highlight the prevalence of pesticide residues in residential settings and the need for further research on long-term exposure and risks. Improved tracking of agricultural, household, and mixed-use pesticide applications is crucial, particularly in regions heavily reliant on agriculture.

The role of economic factors is significant in the municipal waste management. The present descriptive-applied study aimed to present a new model of municipal waste management cost reduction priorities based on the Gray-TOPSIS model in Ahvaz City in 2022. Following the collection of data on the current municipal waste management, effective criteria influencing cost reduction in municipal waste management were determined through document analysis. Expert analysis was also utilized to identify factors impacting cost reduction in municipal waste management. The Gray-TOPSIS methodology was applied to prioritize solutions for cost reduction in municipal waste management. Through calculating the Kendall agreement index, 20 solutions for cost reduction in waste management were categorized and prioritized into educational, political, cultural, and executive groups. The findings revealed that while political measures such as approving laws related to municipal waste management and incentive and punitive policies with special weightings of 0.804 and 0.799, respectively, are the most effective solutions for reducing waste management costs, overall, educational process-related solutions with an average weighting of 0.686 have a higher priority than other processes. Government support and public education through various means, especially non-governmental media and social networks, are potential solutions for reducing municipal waste management costs in Ahvaz City under current conditions.

The exhibition industry serves as a huge platform for face-to-face participation and the formation of potential economic and business relationships in the current century. These gatherings cost greatly in terms of energy resources are responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the water, air, and soil. The present study seeks to investigate and identify the pollutant indices resulting from the activities of the exhibition industry, its respective services and preparing guide on the organization of exhibition sites. For this purpose, the most important environmental criteria influenced by the industry were first identified through the Delphi method and were then classified into nine main priority groups based on multi-criteria decision-making and the best/ worst method(BWM[1]) method. The environmental index of the region was thus selected as the most important criterion whereas the social and economic indices were determined to be the least important criteria. Moreover, 58 sub-indices of the main indices were also weighed and prioritized based on the pairwise comparison. As a result, the sub-criterion of environmentally sensitive region ranked first while the sub-criterion of impact on the local and regional identity was identified as the least important influential sub-criterion. Weighing and prioritization of the indices were eventually the main foundation for the compilation of the exhibition site construction and operation instructions, and persistent monitoring of some indices such as the indoor air quality and consumed energy can reduce the negative environmental consequences of exhibition activities significantly.

The use of copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles in coatings can eliminate surface microbial contamination. This study compared antibacterial activity of Cu- (Cu/CNTs) and Ag-coated carbon nanotubes (Ag/CNTs) synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Initially, the PECVD technique was applied to deposit the CNTs on high-resistivity silicon wafers previously decorated by nickel catalyst using an Electron Beam Gun. Then, the nanotubes were coated by Cu and Ag thin films in a vacuum evaporator using the Direct Current (DC) Magnetron Sputtering method. Finally, the antibacterial effects were determined by Standard Plate Count (SPC, with film thicknesses of 0, 10, 30 and 60 nm) and Disk Diffusion Test (based on zone of inhibition (ZOI) with nanoparticle concentrations of 5, 10 and 15 µg/mL). According to the SPC findings, the highest antibacterial activity of Cu/CNTs was found for the film thickness of 60 nm against E. coli (66%), and the lowest activity was related to the film thickness of 19 nm against S. aureus (28.8%). The antibacterial activity of Ag/CNTs was about 70% against E. coli with the highest thickness and about 34.12% against S. aureus. The lowest ZOI was measured for the bare CNTs at a concentration of 5 µg/mL (12 mm), and the highest ZOI was related to Ag/CNTs with a concentration of 15 µg/mL against S. aureus (18 mm). To conclude, the carbon nanotube composites coated with copper or silver nanoparticles can be used to control bacterial growth in aqueous solutions.

Identifying the contribution of different land uses plays a crucial role in preventing erosion and prioritizing land management activities. This research aimed to assess the impacts of various land use scenarios on mitigating soil erosion in the North West Urmia region of Iran. In addition to the current scenario, 12 land use management scenarios were identified based on the observed trend in changes in land use patterns throughout the study area utilizing GIS. The RUSLE was used, and the necessary input parameters of the RUSLE model, were prepared. The erosion mapping has been done using overlaying the input layers. The baseline scenario (current condition) resulted in an erosion amount of 17.22 (t/ha/yr). Introducing soil conservation techniques in dry farming on steep terrain, as depicted in scenario 6 (conservation and restoration of plowed rangelands), resulted in a reduction of the erosion rate from 17.22 to 9.75 (t/ha/yr). On the other hand, scenario 20, characterized by severe rangeland degradation and overgrazing, exhibited the highest estimated erosion rate at 30.42 (t/ha/yr). In contrast, the most substantial erosion reduction of 43.37% was evident in scenario 6 (conservation and restoration of plowed rangelands). It was observed that the P-factor (support practice factor) had a more pronounced impact than the C-factor (crop/vegetation and management factor) in mitigating erosion. These findings suggest the potential for utilizing a scenario-based framework to evaluate the impact of management scenarios on erosion and prioritize soil and water management measures and strategies.

Novel technologies and subsequent pollutions are serious threats to the environment and public health. The environmental pollutions, especially air pollution, are currently leading environmental concerns in developing countries, including Iran. In the present study, the air quality and meteorological data were employed to achieve potent models based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for the prediction of air pollution in Tehran, Iran. The developed models manage to predict daily concentrations of various air pollutants such as O3, PM10, NO2, CO, and PM2.5. The required data were collected daily through the Air Quality Organization from all air quality stations of Tehran within a four-year period (from 2012 to 2015). Training the models was on the basis of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) with the Back Propagation (BP) algorithm using MATLAB program. The results indicated appropriate agreement between the observed and predicted concentrations, as the values of the coefficient of multiple determinations (R2) for all models were more than 0.83. In conclusion, the studied meteorological parameters are effective on all pollutants concentrations.