Climate change is major challenge in modern era and requires key attention to the researcher, globally. Carbon (‘C’) sequestering through agroforestry is one of the ways to mitigate the carbon reduction and provide safeguards to the environment for livelihood. The present study was conducted on Grewia optiva tree which is dominated in agroforestry systems of Tehri Garhwal Himalaya (Uttarakhand) in different villages at three altitudes, i.e., upper altitudes (UA), middle altitude (MA), and lower altitude (LA) ranged from 500 to 1500 m amsl. Soil moisture, water holding capacity (WHC), bulk density (BD), and soil organic carbon (SOC) reported highest in LA compared to MA and UA, which might be because of all eroded material deposited in LA . Further, nitrogen storage in UA is higher due to comparatively low temperature significantly lower the microbial activities for N2O emission than MA and LA. The low nitogen in LA might be due to higher nitrification and/or denitrification rate. The same also supported by low carbon content (energy sources to microbial activity) in LA. The density of Grewia optiva in agroforestry was high in LA; however, total tree carbon was highest in MA (20.8 t/ha) followed by UA (20.4 t/ha) and LA (19.1 t/ha) while annual shoot carbon was highest in LA (2.43 t/ha) followed by MA (1.08 t/ha) and UA (0.77 t/ha). Further, carbon credit likely to be earned from the agroforestry under G. optiva is estimated as 553,702 Euro. Therefore, Grewia optiva is strongly recommending for agroforestry which will further help in socioeconomic development and carbon-reducing strategies in mitigating future climate.

Ambient air pollution (AAP) has been widely associated with increased morbidity of ischemic heart disease (IHD). However, no prior studies have investigated the effects of AAP exposure on the length of stay (LOS) due to IHD. Hospital data during 2015–2017 were obtained from hospital information system in five cities of Hubei province, China. We collected daily mean concentrations of air pollutants, including PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, O₃, and CO, and meteorological data during the same time period. Poisson regression was applied to estimate the acute impacts of AAP on the LOS of IHD inpatients. A total of 42,114 inpatients with primary diagnosis of IHD were included, 50.63% of which were chronic IHD inpatients. Annual average concentrations of PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, O₃, and CO were 61.93 μg/m³, 95.47 μg/m³, 18.59 μg/m³, 35.87 μg/m³, 100.30 μg/m³, and 1.117 mg/m³, respectively. After adjusting for temperature, relative humidity, gender, age group, payment method, number of hospital beds, location of hospital, and surgery or not, exposures to PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, SO₂, O₃, and CO were associated with increased LOS for all IHD patients in both single- and multi-pollutant models, and stronger associations were observed among chronic IHD patients. In addition, subgroup analyses demonstrated that males and the group aged 65+ years were more vulnerable to air pollution, and the adverse effects were also promoted by low temperature in cold season. This study provides the first investigation of the adverse effects of AAP on the LOS for IHD patients. In order to shorten the LOS of IHD, measures should be taken to strengthen the AAP management and protect the high-risk population.

Rare earth elements (REEs) have been widely used in recent decades, and their exploitation has led to industrial REE emission and to contaminated soils especially in former mining areas. This raised people concerns on the accumulation and toxicity of REEs in soils and plants, and consequences on plant health. Although many studies dealt with REE in soils and plants, there is still a need to precise their toxicity, bioavailability and transfer to plants in contaminated sites in order to restore such ecosystems. We studied the bioavailability and transfer of a REE to Medicago sativa grown on two contaminated soils differing in their chemical characteristics. A pot experiment was set up in a growth chamber where two natural soils were spiked or not with samarium (Sm) as a model REE. Two chemical extractants were tested to estimate the bioavailability of Sm in the soil, its decrease with time and its transfer to the plants. Results showed that DTPA extractable Sm was well correlated with Sm uptake in alfalfa shoots. The experiment pointed out a significant ageing effect since DTPA extractable Sm significantly decreased within 2 weeks in the soils and was significantly lower in the less acidic soil than in the other. The uptake of Sm from soil to alfalfa shoots depended on the soil pH and on the spiking concentration. The soil to plant transfer factor was low (< 0.08), but a 30% reduction of alfalfa biomass was observed when the soils were spiked with 100 to 200 mg kg⁻¹ of Sm.

Animal manures contain bacteria which may be used to indicate the potential microbial pollution of irrigation and recreation water sources. The objective of this work was to research how the release of these indicators to runoff is affected by the concurrent influence of the manure consistency and the duration of manure weathering between rainfall events. Liquid and solid dairy manure was applied on grassed soil boxes. The percentage of manure-borne bacteria removed in runoff over 1 hour was determined after the initial rainfall immediately after manure application and after rainfalls that occurred 1 week and 2 weeks after the initial rainfall. The runoff delay was linearly related to the time between rainfalls and was significantly affected by both weathering duration and manure consistency (P = 0.017 and 0.038, respectively). The runoff delay was dependent on the antecedent gravimetric soil water content (R² = 0.92 and 0.99 for liquid and solid manure treatments, respectively). Manure weathering caused a substantial decrease in the removal of fecal bacteria with runoff in the 2-week weathering compared with the 1-week weathering treatments for both of E. coli and enterococci (P = 0.063 and 0.049, respectively). Every day of weathering decreased the percentage of the released E. coli and enterococci by about 1.2 and 1.5 times, respectively, for both manure consistencies. Manure consistency was not found to significantly affect the percentages of E. coli or enterococci removed with runoff for any level of weathering. Results indicate the need of correcting existing manure bacteria removal models by accounting for manure consistency and weathering duration.

The essential oil (EO) of Thymus serpyllum and thymol were evaluated for their insecticidal activity against the housefly (Musca domestica) larvae and pupae. Contact toxicity and fumigation bioassays were used. Chemical composition analysis of T. serpyllum EO by gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed that thymol (41.6%), p-cymene (21.9%), and γ-terpinene (19.2%) were the major components. For larval assays, the LC₅₀ value of T. serpyllum EO was 0.4 μl/cm² for contact toxicity and 20.9 μl/l for fumigation toxicity. For thymol, the contact toxicity LC₅₀ value was 0.035 μl/cm² and the fumigation LC₅₀ value was 2.0 μl/l. For the pupal assay, T. serpyllum EO had a percentage inhibition rate (PIR) value of 100% for both contact toxicity (1.0 μl/cm²) and fumigation toxicity assay (25 μl/l), whereas thymol had a PIR of 100% for contact toxicity (0.1 μl/cm²) and fumigation assay (5 μl/l). This study shows that T. serpyllum EO and thymol are toxic to housefly larvae and pupae and have the potential for use in the population control of this species.

Citarum River is the largest natural stream in West Java, Indonesia, flowing across an area of 6614 km². About 3000 industries discharge their wastewater into the stream, affecting almost 19 million people who live along the river. Considering the perseverance and the prospective toxicity of microplastics (MPs), investigating their concentrations in this river is critical to help illustrate the exposure of the risks to the residents of the area and beyond. This study was focused on identifying the MPs concentrations in the water, sediment, and milkfish (Chanos chanos). A volume-reduce method by using manta trawl was used to take water samples. Sediment and milkfish samples were taken using a grab sampling method. Digestion of fish was using Fenton oxidation method according to weighted ratio (1:5) and H₂O₂ 30% (w/v). The average MPs concentration in the river was 0.0574 ± 0.025 particles/m³; in the seawater ponds 3.000 ± 2.645 particles/L; and in the mixed-water ponds, where the water from the river and the sea were mixed, 0.666 ± 0.577 particles/L. The average MPs concentration in the sediment of Citarum River was 16.666 ± 0.577 particles/100 g; in the seawater ponds 13.335 ± 1.527 particles/100 g; in the mixed-water ponds 11.665 ± 0.577 particles/100 g; and in the seawater 3.335 ± 0.331 particles/100 g. The average of MPs concentration in the gut and gills of milkfish in the seawater ponds was 2.666 ± 2.333 particles/fish, and in the mixed-water ponds was 1.166 ± 0.983 particles/fish. The average of MPs concentration in the milkfish tissues taken from the sea was 1.333 ± 0.577 particles/fish; and for the ones taken from the mixed-water ponds, the concentration was 1.111 ± 0.838 particles/fish. Using the Kruskal Wallis test to generate statistical analysis, there is a significant difference between the MPs concentrations in the water and sediment samples of Citarum River based on their locations (p value = 0.024 and 0.032 < 0.05). The most dominant plastic polymers in the samples were polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). There is no correlation between the level of MPs concentrations in water and sediments and the level of MPs concentrations in milkfish. However, the existence of microplastics in every sample that came from different points in the sampling area should sound an alarm, either to the local government or residents.

Parabens are chemical compounds widely used that act as preservatives. Liquid-liquid extraction could be considered an efficient technique, as does not need special devices and is economically viable. Thus, the present research had the objective of developing and validating an analytical method for liquid-liquid extraction using fewer solvents and liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector for the analysis of methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butylparaben in sanitary sewage samples from the São Carlos wastewater treatment plant before and after treatment; it was also accomplished in surface water samples from Santa Maria Madalena, Tijuco Preto, Gregório, and Monjolinho streams. To optimize the process conditions the factorial design was used to determine the most significant variables, through a central composite design. In addition, environmental risk analysis was performed to assess the risk of the paraben’s presence in surface waters for aquatic biota. The validation tests showed a good fit of the developed method. The methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butylparaben were detected in the range of μg L⁻¹, and ethyl and butylparaben were detected in every collected sample in a range of 0.38 to 11 μg L⁻¹. The species sensitivity distributions were calculated to assess the ecological risk of parabens, and the results showed a low risk for aquatic biota.

In 2014, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Collaborative Development Strategy (hereinafter the Jing-Jin-Ji Strategy) was formally proposed as a major national strategy, providing an unprecedented opportunity for the overall development of Hebei. This article evaluates the treatment effects of the Jing-Jin-Ji Strategy on Hebei’s economy and environment. Employing a panel data program evaluation method developed by Hsiao et al. (2012), we construct hypothetical counterfactuals for the GDP growth rate, the percentage of tertiary industry in GDP, and the geographic mean PM₂.₅ concentrations for Hebei in the absence of the Jing-Jin-Ji Strategy using the outcomes of selected untreated provinces. The results show that the Jing-Jin-Ji Strategy increased the percentage of tertiary industry in GDP by an average of 2.53 percentage points per year between 2014 and 2018 and decreased the geographic mean PM₂.₅ concentrations by an average of 11.1 percentage points per year between 2014 and 2017. However, it does not appear to have had significant effects on Hebei’s GDP growth rate. The leave-one-out method demonstrates the robustness of the above results. This article suggests that Hebei should speed up its economic growth and bridge the gap with Beijing and Tianjin while ensuring the quality of its economic development and a sound ecological environment.

Progressive freezing is a solvent purification technology with low energy requirements and high concentration efficiency. Although these advantages make it a promising technology, the technique has never been explored for draw solution recovery for forward osmosis (FO). Hence, in this study, the progressive freezing process was used to concentrate three common diluted draw solutions: NaCl, MgCl₂, and EDTA-2Na with different ice front speeds, stirring rates, and initial draw solution concentrations. Effective partition and intrinsic partition constants were also evaluated. The results reveal that the freezing process can achieve a draw solution recovery rate of 99.73%, 99.06%, and 98.65% with NaCl, MgCl₂, and EDTA-2Na, respectively, using an ice front speed of 0.5 cm/h, a stirring rate of 2.62 m/s, and 30% of percentage of ice phase. Higher concentration efficiency for NaCl and MgCl₂ was achieved due to the high solubility of NaCl and MgCl₂ increased solute diffusion into the liquid phase solutions. The concentration factors for all three draw solutions exceeded 1.9, indicating that the draw solutes could be reused for the FO process. In addition, the two mass transfer coefficients depended on the ice front speed and the stirring rates were also obtained for scaling up the experiment in the future.

Aedes aegypti is the main mosquito vector of dengue, zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever diseases. The low effectiveness of vector control options is mainly related to the increased insect’s resistance and to the toxicity of products used for non-target organisms. The development of new environmentally friendly and safer products is imperative. Technical cashew nut shell liquid (tCNSL), mostly composed by cardanol (C), is an abundant by-product of the cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) production chain, available at low cost, and with proven larvicidal activity. However, chemical modifications in both tCNSL and cardanol were required to increase their water solubilities. Our objectives were to synthesise and characterise sustainable, low-cost and easy-to-use multiple function products based on tCNSL, cardanol, and the sulphonates obtained from both; and to evaluate all these products efficacy as surfactants, larvicidal, and antimicrobial agents. None of the sulphonates presented antimicrobial and larvicidal activities. tCNSL and cardanol were successfully emulsified with sodium technical cashew nut shell liquid sulphonate (NatCNSLS, complex mixture of surfactants). The emulsions obtained presented larvicidal activity due to the presence of tCNSL and cardanol in their composition. Our results showed that the tCNSL+NatCNSLS mixture emulsion was an effective larvicide and surfactant multiple function product, with high availability and easy-to-use, which can facilitate its large-scale use in different environments. Graphical abstract