Coal gasification fine slag (CGFS), which is the by-product of entrained-flow coal gasification, has superior properties, such as a large surface area, a broad pore size distribution, and a high content of carbon. This material has the potential to amend poor soils. This study was carried out to investigate the use of CGFS as a soil amendment for alkaline sandy lands. Special focus was given to the mechanisms by which CGFS changes the physicochemical properties of soil. Characterization tests and chemical composition results further attested that the large amounts of residual carbon, fluffy structure, high surface area, and wide pore diameter of CGFS are key factors that enhance the soil physicochemical properties. When 20% CGFS was applied, the bulk density of the soil decreased from 1.47 to 1.05 g/cm³, the carbon content increased significantly from 4.86 to 55.38 g/kg, the pH decreased from 8.49 to 8.23, the cation exchange capacity (CEC) increased from 2.17 to 4.68 cmol/kg, and the water holding capacity (WHC) increased from 29 to 44%. Potted plant experiments in a greenhouse showed that 20%wt. incorporation of CGFS significantly increased the germination rates of maize and wheat from 0 to 100%. Pearson correlation analysis results indicated that the changes in the soil physicochemical properties were significantly correlated with each other (p < 0.05 or 0.01) and that the WHC was significantly correlated with the germination rates of the crops. This work demonstrated that judicious application of CGFS as a natural soil amendment could not only enhance the soil physicochemical properties but also provide a new approach for the safe and environmentally friendly utilization of CGFS.

The contamination of the environment by potentially toxic metals is highlighted by possible impacts of their high availability. Thus, the development of alternative absorbents that can be used in the remediation of contaminated areas, systems that are able to interact with these metals and affect their disposal, transportation, and bioavailability, is of great interest. Natural organic residue (NOR), often discarded as waste, is a promising alternative because it is capable of affecting the bioavailability of potentially toxic metals in the environment. This study assessed the interaction between NOR and NOR ashes (inorganic constituents) and lead ion (Pb²⁺), and its potential of adsorption, in order to analyze their use in contaminated areas. Two different NOR were evaluated and its structural characteristics presented differences in their organic material content and in its complexing capacity. NOR2 presented better capacity of complexing and adsorption of Pb²⁺ ions, performance that must be associated to the higher amount of organic matter present in the soil of this residue. In addition, the adsorption at pH 7.0 occurred through specific interactions with certain functional groups on the surface of NOR and NOR ashes. Besides that, the retention capacity of the Pb²⁺ ions was concentration dependent, in which the highest amount of mass will be the adsorbent retention. In light of this, the results obtained in this work highlight the importance of natural organic residues as a natural adsorbent material to lead removal.

The present study was designed to explore the effects of low-intensity microwave radiation on endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response. Experiments were performed on male Wistar rats exposed to microwave radiation for 30 days at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2450 MHz frequencies on four groups of animal: sham-exposed group, 900 MHz exposed (SAR 5.84 × 10⁻⁴ W/kg), 1800 MHz exposed (SAR 5.94 × 10⁻⁴ W/kg), and 2450 MHz exposed (SAR 6.7 × 10⁻⁴ W/kg) groups. Expressions of mRNA were estimated at the end of exposure in rat brain by real-time quantitative PCR. Microwave exposure at 900, 1800, and 2450 MHz with respective SAR values as mentioned above significantly (< 0.05) altered mRNA expression of transcription factors ATF4, CHOP, and XBP1 in accordance with increasing microwave frequency. The result of the present study reveals that low-intensity microwave exposure at frequencies 900, 1800, and 2450 MHz induces endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response.

This study aimed to estimate in laboratory the temporal production of methylmercury during the filling of reservoirs of hydropower plants and to correlate it to the ecosystem of different locations in northern Brazil: Jirau hydropower plant in the Madeira River in the state of Rondônia (white waters—under construction), Cana Brava hydropower plant in the Tocantins River in the state of Goiás (clear waters—completed), and the Negro River in the Amazon (black waters—comparative). After collecting water, soil, and sediment samples in the regions mentioned, a microcosm was created to reproduce the conditions close to those found in nature. Water/soil/Hg⁰/Hg²⁺ and water/sediment/Hg⁰/Hg²⁺ were added to glass recipients. Next, methylmercury concentration was monitored by atomic fluorescence spectrometry, total organic carbon by TOC 5000A, and physical and chemical parameters such as pH, redox potential, and dissolved oxygen, for 25 days. The results obtained allow concluding that organic matter plays an important role, providing excess methyl groups to react with inorganic Hg and form organic Hg. The Negro River, which has higher contents of organic matter in its soil, water, and sediment, presented higher potential of mercury methylation in both experiments performed, followed by rivers Madeira and Tocantins.

Specific and sensitive detection of fecal microbes in potable water is essential for ensuring the safety of water supplies. To this end, because conventional culture-based methods typically require at least 24 h to detect fecal bacteria, rapid and simple microbiological detection methods are considered necessary. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a useful culture-independent technique for selectively and rapidly detecting target bacteria using fluorescently labeled probes that hybridize with intracellular ribosomal RNA. However, typical FISH assays are relatively complicated to perform, making FISH unsuitable for routine tests. In this study, we developed an “in liquid-fluorescence in situ hybridization” assay (liq-FISH) to enumerate Escherichia coli cells, indicator of fecal contamination, rapidly. The assay performs the entire in situ hybridization procedure in liquid and requires only two simple steps—addition of fixative followed by the addition of fluorescent probe. Important processes in FISH, fixation and hybridization, were optimized, and then specificity of the optimized liq-FISH procedure was confirmed by E. coli and other eight gammaproteobacterial species. The findings showed that only E. coli cells fluoresced under a fluorescence microscope; however, filtration process is required to observe and count hybridized cells by fluorescence microscopy. For simple and semi-automated counting following liq-FISH, our developed microscope-based microfluidic counting system was applied. Hybridized cells were injected into a microfluidic device, which permitted the detection and enumeration of E. coli cells flowing through the microchannel (width: 100 μm, depth: 15 μm). The obtained results were compared with those obtained by conventional fluorescence microscopy, and results showed the similarity (r = 0.908). E. coli cells could be counted within 5 h (filtration for concentration of low numbers of E. coli cells (if necessary): 0.5 h, fixation of cells: 2 h, in situ hybridization: 2 h, counting: 0.5 h), and this method would be useful for rapidly quantifying E. coli cells in potable water.

The effects of crude ethanol derived leaf extract Trichodesma indicum (Linn) (Ex-Ti) and their chief derivatives were accessed on the survival and development of the dengue mosquito Ae. aegypti also their non-toxic activity against mosquito predator. T. indicum is recognized to be the vital weed plant and a promising herb in the traditional ayurvedic medicine. In this study, the GC-MS chromatogram of Ex-Ti showed higher peak area percentage for cis-10-Heptadecenoic acid (21.83%) followed by cycloheptadecanone (14.32%). The Ex-Ti displayed predominant mortality in larvae with 96.45 and 93.31% at the prominent dosage (200 ppm) against III and IV instar. Correspondingly, sub-lethal dosage against the enzymatic profile of III and IV instar showed downregulation of α,β-carboxylesterase and SOD protein profiles at the maximum concentration of 100 ppm. However, enzyme level of GST as well as CYP450 increased significantly dependent on sub-lethal concentration. Likewise, fecundity and hatchability of egg rate of dengue mosquito decreased to the sub-lethal concentration of Ex-Ti. Repellent assay illustrates that Ex-Ti concentration had greater protection time up to 210 min at 100 ppm. Also, activity of Ex-Ti on adult mosquito displayed 100% mortality at the maximum dosage of 600, 500 and 400 ppm within the period of 50, 60 and 70 min, respectively. Photomicrography screening showed that lethal dosage of Ex-Ti (100 ppm) produced severe morphological changes with dysregulation in their body parts as matched to the control. Effects of Ex-Ti on the Toxorhynchites splendens IV instar larvae showed less mortality (43.47%) even at the maximum dosage of 1500 ppm as matched to the chemical pesticide Temephos. Overall, the present research adds a toxicological valuation on the Ex-Ti and their active constituents as a larvicidal, repellent and adulticidal agents against the global burdening dengue mosquito.

Urbanization development plays a vital role in the health of modern residents; however, there have been very limited researches to specifically and comprehensively explore the relationship between urbanization level evaluating indicators (ULEIs) and female health outcomes. The mortality rate of breast cancer (BC), cervical cancer (CC), and ovarian cancer (OC) and classified urbanization factor are collected at provincial level. Stepwise regression model (SRM) and geographically weighted regression model (GWRM) are conducted to obtain spatial relationship between the mortality rate of those cancer and ULEI. Our results show that there is remarkable difference of mortality rate of BC, CC, and OC in different provinces as well as higher BC, CC, and OC distributed in northern regions. The increase of value added of primary industry (VAPI), taxi, and coal consumption has detrimental effect on BC and CC. Fuel oil consumption (FOC) ultimately results in increase of mortality rate of BC and OC, and urban fixed asset investment (UFAI) poses a risk to increase the mortality rate of OC. Contrarily, natural gas consumption (NGC) appear to mitigate mortality rate of BC. In particular, our findings demonstrate that there exist spatial differences for VAPI, FOC, NGC, taxi, and coal consumption influencing BC, CC, and OC. It is suggested that policy makers should take account of regional discrepancy and implement a sustainable urbanization development considering female health.

The paper reviews the existing applications of sensing technologies for measuring construction off-road vehicle emissions (COVE) such as earthmoving equipment. The current literature presented different measurement methods and reported the results of utilisation of new technologies for measuring COVE. However, previous papers used different technology applications covering only a part of the monitoring process with its own limitations. Since technologies are advancing and offering novel solutions, there is an urgent need to identify the gaps, re-evaluate the current methods, and develop a critical agenda for automating the entire process of collecting emissions data from construction sites, and monitoring the emission contributors across cities. This paper systematically identifies relevant papers through a search of three key databases—Web of Science, Engineering Valley and Scopus—covering the publications in the last decade from 2008 to 2017. An innovative robust research method was designed to select and analyse the relevant papers. The identified papers were stored in a data set, and a thematic algorithm employed to find the clusters of papers which might be potentially relevant. The selected papers were used for further micro-thematic analysis to find key relevant papers on COVE, and the gap in the literature. A sample of relevant papers was found relevant to COVE and critically reviewed by coding and content analysis. This paper critically reviews the selected papers and also shows that there is a considerable gap in the applications of new technologies for measuring in-use COVE in real time based on real activities toward automated methods. This review enables practitioners and scholars to gain a concrete understanding of the gap in measuring COVE and to provide a significant agenda for future technology applications.

This paper deals with the comprehensive analysis for the removal of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from water environment. A new activated carbon derived from an agricultural waste, water lily mango seed shells, was proposed as a low-cost adsorbent to remove AgNPs. In addition, a new simple kinetic model was mathematically formulated and then tested using primary and secondary experimental AgNP adsorption data on different adsorbents. Moreover, cost analysis for the activated carbon production and removal of AgNPs was also estimated. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICPMS) analyses were employed for the characterization. The proposed model evaluation was carried out using six statistical indicators, which are the coefficient of determination (R²), root mean squared error (RMSE), percentage of error in maximum estimated value (Eₘₐₓ), percentage of error in minimum estimated value (Eₘᵢₙ), mean absolute percent error (MAPE), and mean absolute deviation (MAD). This study found that the proposed activated carbon performed a rapid removal with a maximum percentage of up to 97%. It was also interesting to note that the proposed model outperformed existing kinetic models having the same number of parameters. Cost analysis carried out in this study exhibited that the activated carbon was highly economical compared with other water treatment technologies reported elsewhere.

The article presents the results of the study of the vapor streams from sulfide-containing tailings after gold mining by cyanidation (Ursk waste heaps, Kemerovo region, Russia). The gas survey of sulfur dioxide, dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl sulfoxide, carbon disulfide, and N-containing substances concentrations was carried out using a portable device GANK-4 on a series of profiles covering the waste heaps and the surrounding area with simultaneous measurement of temperatures in the air and soil. The concentration maps-schemes of the studied gases in the surface layer were constructed. The high positive correlation of gases between themselves is established, which indicates similar mechanisms of their formation. The electrical resistivity tomography determined the internal structure of the waste heap. Active “breathing” zones were identified in which the maximum fluctuations in the concentrations of sulfur, selenium, and nitrogen-containing compounds in the near-surface air layer were recorded. Such zones are marked with lower resistances in comparison with other areas on the geo-electric profiles. There is an inverse correlation between the resistivity of the tailings and its temperature and a direct correlation between the concentration of gas in the air and the temperature of the soil. High concentrations of CS₂, the volatile gas compound of the second hazard class, were found in the concentrations that exceed 6–8 times the daily average norm. Further investigation of the mine tailings seasonal transformation with the production of toxic gases deserves special attention due to high environmental risks and poor knowledge of this problem. The oxidation of ore cyanidation wastes in summer and methylation in winter due to seasonal temperature fluctuation lead to production of gases of great concern including toxic СS₂.