Mesoporous silica impregnate with Cyanex 272 (bis/2,4,4-trimethylpentyl/phosphinic acid) extractant was immobilized into an alginate matrix to obtain a composite sorbent easy to use and applicable in fixed-bed column continuous systems. The sorption efficiency of this material was tested for the recovery of Eu(III) ions from aqueous solutions in batch and continuous mode. The competition among rare earths ions (europium, lanthanum, and lutetium) and among rare earths and calcium or sodium ions was investigated. High calcium concentrations strongly reduce the sorption capacity of the alginate matrix that composes the hybrid material and the Cyanex 272 impregnated into silica powder improves the rare earths’ sorption performance in this calcium charged media. The experimental breakthrough curves obtained were satisfactory fitted by Thomas model.

Among the Cu(II) removal methods, adsorption is a favorable technique and has attracted large attention because of its effectiveness and low cost. In quest of seeking for a favorable adsorbent with a high Cu(II) adsorption capacity and excellent reusability, researchers have paid much attention to hydrogels with three-dimensional networks. In this study, a novel hydrogel (P(AMPS-co-VDT) hydrogel) based on free-radical polymerization was synthesized with ionic monomer sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfate (AMPS-Na⁺) and 2-vinyl-4, 6-diamino-1, 3, 5-triazine (VDT) and applied for Cu(II) adsorption in aqueous solutions. The hydrogel was characterized for swelling performance, surface morphology, functional groups, thermal gravimetric behavior, and elements. The maximum Cu(II) adsorption capacity (175.75 mg/g) was relatively high compared with other hydrogels. The P(AMPS-co-VDT) hydrogel also was found to have a relatively good Cu(II) desorption and reuse behavior. The adsorption mechanism could be chelation and ion exchange. This work provides a new hydrogel for effective Cu(II) removal in the future.

The fixed-film sequencing batch reactor, or F-SBR, was developed to treat high organic compound levels and toxic cyanide concentrations in cassava wastewater. The performance of the F-SBR was compared with that of a conventional sequencing batch reactor, or SBR, that was operated with organic compound contents of 16,266.67–26,666 mg COD/L and 132.92–252.66 mg CN⁻/L. The cyanide and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies of the conventional SBR system were 42.61% and 36.83%, respectively, while those of the F-SBR were 77.95% and 74.43%, respectively; the cyanide removal efficiency reached 95.45% when the hydraulic retention time was increased to 5 days, and the F-SBR was very effective for the complete removal of cyanide when the hydraulic retention time was increased to 10 days. This effectiveness was similar to the effectiveness of chemical oxygen demand removal, which reached 40–78% efficiency with the F-SBR system. These results showed that the immobilization of cyanide-degrading bacteria such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens SUTS 1 and Pseudomonas monteilii SUTS 2 carried out with a polypropylene ring in a fixed-film aerobic system enhanced the performance of the reactor and can be successfully applied for cyanide and chemical oxygen demand removal from industrial wastewater with high cyanide and chemical oxygen demand concentrations. This study may provide a promising alternative technique that reduces economic operation costs in solving wastewater contamination problems.

In view of the sector-wide effect of the nCOVID-19 pandemic in the USA and the probable effect on certain over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products, the current study examined potential inflation in the pharmaceutical industry arising from the pandemic-related uncertainty. In this case, the USA’s producer price indexes vis-à-vis inflation of the immune-related pharmaceutical items: multivitamin, vitamins nutrients and hematinic (V-N-H), other vitamins (other-V), antidepressant, and antidiabetic were examined alongside the uncertainties arising from the world pandemic and economic policy. Thus, the (Diebold and Yilmaz in Int J Forecast 28(1): 57–66, 2012) result implied that the world pandemic uncertainty contributed a significantly huge shock to the examined pharmaceutical compounds, thus affirming the vulnerability of certain pharmaceuticals to pandemic-related uncertainty. The total spillover increased from 34.2% (with economic policy uncertainty) to 47.6% (when pandemic uncertainty is incorporated). In specific, there are negative net spillovers from the multivitamins, other vitamins, antidiabetic, and antidepressant especially due to high pandemic and economic policy uncertainties. However, the statistical evidence implied that higher uncertainty arising from the pandemic is responsible for the severity of shock received by the indicated pharmaceutical products as against economic policy uncertainty. Thus, a relevant policy inference is posited from the result of the study.

Firstly, we divided the existing environmental regulation policies into two types as “expense-type” and “investment-type” according to their characteristics. And then we analyzed the mechanism how the two kinds of environmental regulation policies acted on employment and tested the affected degree of two kinds of environmental regulation on employment through using the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2015. Finally, we did the empirical research by subdividing types of above 30 provinces according to the provincial heterogeneity in industrial structure and education level of the residents. Results showed that (1) the effect of expense-type environmental regulation on the provincial employment exhibited as “U” curve form and the intensity of environmental regulation in China were still on the decline phase of the “U” curve in “12•5” period. The effect of investment-type environmental regulation on the provincial employment was always positive, and it can indirectly increase provincial employment scale by rising provincial technology levels. (2) The effects of provincial economic development level, capital, and technology investment on regional employment were significantly positive. But due to the crowding-out effect of economic opening on indigenous technology, the effect of economic opening on regional employment wasn’t significant. (3) The upgraded provincial industrial structure to tertiary industry as the main industry and strengthening the education level of residents all could reduce the inflection point of the “U” curve and accelerate the realization of the “Win-win situation” between environmental improvement and employment growth.

This study sought to investigate the impacts of climate change on cereal production in China over the period 1990Q1–2013Q4. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, the results showed that CO₂ emissions, average temperature, and temperature variability have a significant negative impact on cereal production in the long run. However, energy consumption, average rainfall, labor force, and cultivated area significantly and positively influenced the production of cereal crops in the long run. Meanwhile, the study observed that rainfall variability has no significant effect on cereal production in the long run. The study again found that in the short run, CO₂ emissions, average temperature, and temperature variability have a significant negative relationship with cereal production. Besides, energy consumption, average rainfall, rainfall variability, labor force, and the cultivated area had a significant positive association with cereal production in the short run. The results of the Granger causality test showed that there exists a unidirectional causality running from CO₂ emissions, energy consumption, and labor force to the production of cereal crops in China. On the contrary, the study found no causality between cultivated area and cereal production. The study suggests that improved cereal crop varieties ought to be developed and introduced to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change in China. This will help to circumvent Huang et al.’s (2017) prediction of a decline in the total food self-sufficiency of China from 94.5% in 2015 to about 91% by 2025.

Early development of the sand dollar, Scaphechinus mirabilis, and damage to DNA molecules in spermatozoa and larval cells were studied after a waterborne exposure of adult individuals to zinc ions (Zn²⁺) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NP). It was found that the proportion of retarded and abnormal larvae increases if the parental individuals have been kept in aqueous solutions containing ionic and nanoform of zinc at concentrations of 100 and 200 μg/L. The percentage of DNA in comet tail and GDI was higher after the exposure to ZnO NP, compared with the Zn²⁺ exposure, at a concentration of 200 μg/L. Accumulation of zinc in soft tissues of S. mirabilis was also studied. The zinc concentrations in the soft tissues of both experimental groups of sand dollars proved to be higher than that in control groups. The results of the study have shown that the ionic form of zinc exhibits a lower bioavailability compared with ZnO NP and supported the higher toxic effect of the high concentrations ZnO NP.

Agricultural land use is widely accepted to elicit changes on surrounding environment and neighboring ecosystems. Meanwhile, the impact of different types of agricultural land use likely cause a variety of impacts on nearby ecosystems and the organisms that inhabit them. Freshwater systems support a wide range of organisms—from infaunal or epifaunal invertebrates to mobile pelagic and littoral fish species. The focus of this study was to determine how agricultural activity in the upstream catchment influences sediment properties and the resulting ability of three distinct invertebrate species to survive and reproduce in these different sediments. This will be the first study that evaluates the utility of the sediment quality triad when assessing the impact of agricultural activity on invertebrate growth, reproduction, and survival. In analyzing sediment and water chemistry, as well as metal and pesticide levels, none of the predictor variables were able to adequately explain the variation seen in any of the biological endpoints (reproduction, mortality, growth, or biomass). Although none of the factors measured in this experiment could explain the variation seen in biological endpoints, the experimental approach was informative in delineating biological trends between sediments subject to varying levels of agricultural activity. Although an experiment of this nature was not able to identify a causal mechanism to explain the variation in invertebrate biological endpoint, it is still extremely useful as an exploratory approach to assess relative sediment toxicity.

In this study, the toxic effects of 1,4-dioxane, a common contaminant, and the protective property of Ceratonia siliqua L. pod extract (Cspe) against this toxicity are aimed to be demonstrated with a versatile model. For this purpose, Allium toxicity test was used and six different experimental groups were formed. While the control group was germinated in tap water, the application groups were germinated in mediums containing 750 mg/L Cspe, 1500 mg/L Cspe, 100 mg/L 1,4-dioxane, 750 mg/L Cspe+100 mg/L 1,4-dioxane, and 1500 mg/L Cspe+100 mg/L 1,4-dioxane. Each group was germinated in related solution for 72 h and alterations in physiological, biochemical, genetic, and anatomical parameters were investigated. Germination percentage, relative injury rate, root length, and weight gain parameters were examined as physiological parameters, and no significant difference was observed in the control group and only-Cspe-treated groups. In groups treated with 100 mg/L 1,4-dioxane, germination percentage, root length, and weight gain were significantly decreased, and the relative injury rate reached the highest value as 0.48. It was determined that all physiological parameters improved in the groups where Cspe and 1,4-dioxane treated together, and the relative injury rate decreased to 0.22 in the group treated with 1500 mg/L Cspe+1,4-dioxane. Genotoxic effects were tested by the micronucleus and chromosomal abnormality frequency, and statistically insignificant micronucleus formation was found in control group and Cspe-treated groups. Micronucleus frequency were found to be 58.00 ± 12.12 and 31.00 ± 07.38 in 1,4-dioxane and 1500 mg/L Cspe+1,4-dioxane-treated groups, respectively. This result showed that the application of 1500 mg/L Cspe had a 46.5% reduction in the frequency of 1,4-dioxane-induced micronucleus and had a protective effect on genomic integrity. It has been found that 1,4-dioxane application induces lipid peroxidation and increases malondialdehyde level 4.5 times compared with control group. Oxidative stress, which was proved by increased malondialdehyde levels in 1,4-dioxane-treated group caused induction of superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes, and it was determined that enzyme activities increased by 1.99 and 4.9 times, respectively, compared with the control group. Cspe treatment with 1,4-dioxane caused a significant decrease in malondialdehyde level, superoxide dismutase, and catalase enzyme activities, indicating that oxidative stress formation in the cells was repressed. Abnormalities such as cell deformation, cell wall thickening, and flattened cell nuclei were seen in 1,4-dioxane-treated group in the cross sections of root tips, and the frequency of these abnormalities decreased with Cspe application. As a result, it was determined that 1,4-dioxane caused a versatile toxicity in the test material Allium cepa, whereas Cspe application had a dose-dependent protective feature against toxicity in all tested parameters.

17α-Methyltestosterone (MT) is widely used synthetic androgenic steroid in the tilapia aquaculture industry for masculinization: a sex reversal process in which hormones are utilized to induce production of male fish. Although MT is beneficial for aquaculture, release of residual MT can cause adverse effects on wild organisms. The aims of this study were to identify MT-degrading bacteria and to characterize their degradation abilities under the conditions experienced in the environment. Nocardioides nitrophenolicus S303, Acinetobacter radioresistens B051, and Ochrobactrum haematophilum B052 were the most efficient MT-degrading bacterial strains, with the shortest degradation half-life of 10–70 h. The MT degradation by Acinetobacter and Ochrobactrum has not been reported before. After comparing their degradation rates and for reason of biosafety, N. nitrophenolicus S303 was selected for further study. Although this strain degraded MT and testosterones, it could not degrade estrogens (estrone, 17β-estradiol, nor 17α-ethinylestradiol). Glucose amendment did not affect the MT degradation rate. No metabolites with androgenic activity were observed after 264-h treatment with this strain under aerobic conditions. Methandrostenolone was found as the major intermediate during 39–90 h. This is the first report indicating the 1,2-dehydrogenase activity in steroid clevage in N. nitrophenolicus. Our study provides important information concerning the application of N. nitrophenolicus S303 to enhance MT degradation in the environment.