The use of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) is expected to increase soil fertility, crop productivity, and food quality. However, the potential effects of ZnO NP utilization should be deeply understood. This review highlights the behavior of ZnO NPs in soil and their interactions with the soil components. The review discusses the potential effects of ZnO NPs on plants and their mechanisms of action on plants and how these mechanisms are related to their physicochemical properties. The impact of current applications of ZnO NPs in the food industry is also discussed. Based on the literature reviewed, soil properties play a vital role in dispersing, aggregation, stability, bioavailability, and transport of ZnO NPs and their release into the soil. The transfer of ZnO NPs into the soil can affect the soil components, and subsequently, the structure of plants. The toxic effects of ZnO NPs on plants and microbes are caused by various mechanisms, mainly through the generation of reactive oxygen species, lysosomal destabilization, DNA damage, and the reduction of oxidative stress through direct penetration/liberation of Zn²⁺ ions in plant/microbe cells. The integration of ZnO NPs in food processing improves the properties of the relative ZnO NP–based nano-sensing, active packing, and food/feed bioactive ingredients delivery systems, leading to better food quality and safety. The unregulated/unsafe discharge concentrations of ZnO NPs into the soil, edible plant tissues, and processed foods raise environmental/safety concerns and adverse effects. Therefore, the safety issues related to ZnO NP applications in the soil, plants, and food are also discussed.

Mitochondria are unique cell organelles, which exhibit multifactorial roles in numerous cell physiological processes, significantly preserving the integrity of neural synaptic interconnections, mediating ATP production, and regulating apoptotic signaling pathways and calcium homeostasis. Multiple neurological disorders occur as a consequence of impaired mitochondrial functioning, with greater sensitivity of dopaminergic (DA) neurons to mitochondrial dysfunction, due to oxidative nature and low mitochondrial mass, thus supporting the contribution of mitochondrial impairment in Parkinson’s disorder (neuronal damage due to curbed dopamine levels). The pathophysiology of the second most common disorder, PD, is potentiated by various mitochondrial homeostasis regulating genes, as discussed in the review. The PD symptoms are known to be aggravated by multiple mitochondria-linked alterations, like reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, Ca2+ buffering, imbalanced mitochondrial dynamics (fission, fusion, mitophagy), biogenetic dysfunctions, disrupted mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), protein aggregation, neurotoxins, and genetic mutations, which manifest the central involvement of unhealthy mitochondria in neurodegeneration, resulting in retarded DA neurons in region of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), causing PD. Furthermore, the review tends to target altered mitochondrial components, like oxidative stress, inflammation, biogenetic alterations, impaired dynamics, uncontrolled homeostasis, and genetic mutations, to provide a sustainable and reliable alternative in PD therapeutics and to overcome the pitfalls of conventional therapeutic agents. Therefore, the authors elaborate the relationship between PD pathogenesis and mitochondrial dysfunctions, followed by a suitable mitochondria-targeting therapeutic portfolio, as well as future considerations, aiding the researchers to investigate novel strategies to mitigate the severity of the disease.

Predicting the three-dimensional (3D) transport processes of reservoir temperature and pollutants is essential for water environmental protection and restoration, and introducing the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method into this prediction is necessary because of its simple algorithm, straightforward implementation of boundary conditions, and high computation efficiency. In this paper, a triple-distribution function (TDF) LB model for flow-temperature-concentration coupling simulations is introduced. Some essential techniques for implementing this method in 3D reservoirs are also described, including the treatment of water surface fluctuation, the consideration of surface heat exchange, and the hardware acceleration using the graphics processing unit (GPU). Two cases verified the proposed model, and then, the temporal-spatial variations of flow, temperature, and pollutants in the upper reservoir of a pumped-storage power station during both pumping and generating modes were analyzed to demonstrate its applicability. In the reservoir, the water forms several circulations, the cold water from the inlet flows as an undercurrent firstly, and then spread laterally, and the spreading of pollutants directly relates to the flow velocity. The results of flow, temperature, and concentration fields in different working conditions are consistent with model tests and physical laws, which shows good prospects of the proposed LB model.

Energy efficiency (EE) is an evolving research aspect for researchers, businesses, and policymakers for its undeniable role in meeting increasing energy demand, reducing CO₂ emissions, and tackling climate change. This paper provides a review of the current state of EE research by mapping the research landscape in business and economics to understand the socioeconomic dimensions within these research areas. To identify key information, we examine the trends and characteristics of 2935 relevant scientific publications over a 30-year period from 1990 to 2019 in the Social Science Citation Index of the Web of Science database using bibliometric analysis with a R language package called ‘bibliometrix’. Our analysis shows an increasing trend in publications from 2006 onwards; the period remarkably coincides with the implementation phase of the Kyoto protocol in 2005. Accordingly, we observe that EE research has a strong association with issues like CO₂ emissions, climate change, sustainability, and the growing importance of these issues in recent years. Thus, our findings provide crucial understandings by incorporating a wide array of scientific outputs in response to calls for greater theoretical clarification of EE research. These findings provide insights into the current state of the art of, and identify crucial areas for future, research. Hence, our research assists in formulating environmentally sustainable policies to tackle the adverse effects of CO₂ emissions and related climate change through providing critical grasps on the scholarly development related to EE.

Isoprene can react with sulfoxy radicals (SO₄•⁻ and SO₃•⁻) to form organosulfur compounds in aqueous phase, and the organosulfur compounds are important compositions of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). To make sure the specific configurations of the products and the role of SO₄•⁻ and SO₃•⁻ in the formation of organosulfur compounds, the reaction mechanisms are studied by theoretical calculations. The lowest Gibbs free energy barrier of addition of SO₃•⁻ onto isoprene is 24.06 kcal mol⁻¹ at C4 site, and its rate constant is 1.30 × 10⁻¹¹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ at 298 K and 1 atm. And the Gibbs free energy barriers of addition of SO₄•⁻ onto isoprene at C1 and C4 sites are barrierless and 0.92 kcal mol⁻¹; the rate constants of these two addition processes are 6.85 × 10⁹ and 1.17 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ at 298 K and 1 atm. It elucidates that organosulfates are easier to be formed. As for the products P1 (with alcohol group) and P2 (with aldehyde group), the lowest Gibbs free energy barrier of the formation of P1 is 3.17 kcal mol⁻¹, and that of the formation of P2 is 15.84 kcal mol⁻¹, which means that the product with alcohol group is easier to be formed than that with aldehyde group. This work provides a reference for the formation of organosulfur compounds in aqueous phase, and it may help to understand the SOA formation.

The present research article uses simultaneous equation modelling approach to investigate the three-way linkages between economic growth, energy consumption, and environmental quality in Turkey for the 1970 to 2014 period. Further, the study uses physical capital stock, labour force, manufacturing value added, trade openness, credit to private sector, and urbanisation as control variables. The paper employs generalised method of moments (GMM) technique that ensures consistent and efficient estimates of the long-run relationship. The econometric approach controls for nonstationarity, endogeneity, cross-error correlation, and heteroscedasticity problems. Further, robustness of the results is checked by using three-stage least squares (3SLS) estimator. The statistical results of the paper support the existence of bidirectional causality between energy consumption and economic growth, CO₂ emissions and economic growth, and CO₂ emissions and energy consumption. Moreover, the results indicate existence of a monotonically increasing relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic growth implying non-existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Turkey during the sample period. The findings of the present study are of particular interest to policymakers as they help pursue economic policies to achieve sustainable development.

Coal-based mercury pollution from power plants has received increasing attention. In a previous study, high iron and calcium coal ash (HICCA) was found as a promising oxygen carrier (OC) for chemical looping combustion (CLC). The purpose of this study was to investigate the catalytic effect of HICCA on Hg⁰ removal as well as the impacts of several gas impurities, such as HCl, SO₂, and NO. Experiments on Hg⁰ removal efficiencies for different atmospheres were performed in the fixed-bed reactor at 850 °C. Based upon the characterization of BET, SEM, XRD, XPS, and EDS of reaction products, the reaction mechanisms of different gases with the HICCA samples were established. The mechanisms were further explained using the thermodynamic equilibrium calculations. The experimental results showed that the Hg⁰ removal efficiency using HICCA was 11.60%, while the corresponding value in the presence of 50 ppm HCl was 90.46%. Hg⁰ removal by HICCA involving HCl is mainly attributed to homogeneous reaction between Hg⁰ and HCl as well as the formation of reactive species (Cl, Cl₂, Cl₂O, O, S, and SCl₂) through the reactions of HCl with Fe₂O₃ and CaSO₄ in HICCA. The formation of C–Cl bond is not the main pathway for the promotional effect of HCl on Hg⁰ removal. SO₂ played a negative role in Hg⁰ removal by HICCA. The inhibition of SO₂ may be attributed to its effect on the reduction of Fe₂O₃ and its bonding with C–O, COOH, and C(O)–O–C. NO enhanced Hg⁰ removal by HICCA primarily through the homogeneous reactions of Hg⁰ with N₂O and O. In addition, NO also interacted with HICCA and promoted the heterogeneous oxidation of Hg⁰ by producing more C–O, C=O, and COOH/C(O)−O−C on HICCA surface. This study proved the effectiveness of HICCA on Hg⁰ removal in iG-CLC and revealed the mechanisms of the interaction between HCl/SO₂/NO and MₓOy/CaSO₄ as well as carbon-oxygen groups.

Ongoing pollution of the marine environment requires quick and reasonably priced analytical techniques that allow routine checking of the concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) found in different samples and, in particular, coastal samples. Miniaturized extraction techniques enable us to analyze samples more quickly and cheaply. These methodologies are highly effective for analysis of liquid samples, but not for solid samples, and even less so for microplastic pollutant analyses. A miniaturized solid-liquid-liquid extraction technique (μSLLE) has been developed to extract, pre-concentrate, and analyze up to 27 POPs from marine microplastics, using a quick methodology which does not require drying of the extract for its preconcentration. Target pollutants were analyzed using single quadrupole gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The method has been optimized and validated, and was applied to different marine microplastic samples collected on the islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain).

Investigations of ventilation in an immersed tunnel have recently drawn greater research attentions; however, analyses on the influence of vent design and tunnel width on ventilation performance have rarely been addressed. For the sake of the security of evacuees in an immersed tunnel fire, the influence of three vent designs and two immersed tunnel widths on mechanical ventilation performance during tunnel fires were numerically investigated using large eddy simulation. The pollutant gas flow characteristics in the tunnel after a fire were analyzed, and the pollutant gas exhaust efficiency based on the mass conservation of carbon monoxide in the smoke was proposed in this study. By comparing the smoke propagation, smoke distribution, and exhaust efficiency between three different vent designs, it was determined that the Top Vent Design has the best smoke exhaust effect, and the Sidewall Vent Design (with an activated vertical smoke screen) has a better smoke exhaust effect than the Sidewall Vent Design. The influences of the tunnel width and heat release rate of the fire on the ventilation effect were also investigated.

Glyphosate-based herbicides are widely used in global agriculture, and their effects on different non-target animal organisms have been the focus of many toxicological studies. Regarding the potential role of glyphosate-based herbicides as an endocrine disruptor, the present study aims to investigate the effects of the herbicide Roundup WG® (RWG) on female reproduction, specifically on the ovarian maturation of Danio rerio. Adult females were exposed to low concentrations of RWG (0.065, 0.65, and 6.5 mg L⁻¹) for 15 days, and then the ovaries were submitted to structural and morphometric procedures, accompanied by analysis of the vitellin protein content. Our results showed an increase of initial ovarian follicle numbers, decrease of late ovarian follicles, and smaller diameter of ovarian follicles in fish exposed to 0.065 and 6.5 mg L⁻¹. The thickness of vitelline envelope was reduced, and the vitellin protein content was increased in the ovarian follicle in the two highest concentrations. Ultrastructural changes in the ovarian follicular component were evident and expressed by the cell index; vacuolization in follicular cells, increase of perivitelline space, and impaired mitochondria in oocytes were observed. Therefore, RWG adversely affects the ovarian maturation in D. rerio, and these changes can lead to reproductive toxicity, compromising population dynamics.