Thiamethoxam (TMX) is a widely used neonicotinoid insecticide for its effective potential for controlling insects from the agricultural field, which might induce toxicity to the aquatic biota. In this study, the role of the probiotic Bacillus subtilis (BS) and a phytogenic oil extract of Thymus vulgaris essential oil (TVEO) in the modulation of thiamethoxam (TMX)-induced hepatorenal damage, oxidative stress, and immunotoxicity in African catfish (Clarias garipenus) has been evaluated. Fish were subjected to TMX (5 mg L⁻¹) and fed with a diet either supplemented with BS (1000 ppm) or TVEO (500 ppm). The experiment lasted for 1 month. By the end of the experiment, blood was sampled for biochemical analysis and fish organs and tissues were collected for histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations. Results showed a substantial increase of serum markers of hepatorenal damage such as the activities of aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine with an obvious decrease of serum protein levels in the TMX-intoxicated group. Also, there was a considerable increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity. TMX remarkably suppressed serum lysozyme activity, respiratory burst activity, and phagocytosis with a conspicuous elevation of the levels of interleukins (interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 IL-6). The histopathological findings showed that TMX induced degenerative changes and necrosis in the gills, liver, head kidneys, and spleen of the intoxicated fish. Significant alterations of frequency, size, and area percentage of melanomacrophage centers (MMCs), decreased splenocyte proliferation, and increased number of caspase-3 immunopositive cells were also observed. Contrariwise, the concurrent supplementation of either BS or TVEO in the diets of catfish partially mitigated both the histopathological and histomorphometric lesions of the examined tissues. Correspondingly, they improved the counts of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and caspase-3 immunopositive splenocytes. In conclusion, the co-administration of either BS or TVEO in catfish diets partially diminished the toxic impacts of TMX. Nonetheless, the inclusion of TVEO in the diets of catfish elicited better protection than BS against TMX-induced toxicity in response to its potential anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, and immune-stimulant effects.

This work aimed to explore a new technique for improving the performance of solar stills (SSs) through utilizing three different types of a new hybrid structure of heat localization materials (HSHLM) floating on the water surface to increase the evaporation rate as well as water production and minimize heat losses. The three types were exfoliated graphite flakes with wick (type A), carbon foam with wick (type B), and exfoliated graphite flakes with wick and carbon foam (type C). These hybrid structures had good features such as high absorption and hydrophilic capillary forces to interconnected pores for fluid flow through the structure. Two identical SSs were designed, fabricated, and investigated to assess SSs’ performance with and without HSHLM (modified and conventional SSs). The obtained results showed that the daily productivity was enhanced by 34.5, 28.6, and 51.8% for type A, type B, and type C, respectively, relative to the conventional one. Moreover, the efficiency of the SS reached about 37.6% for type C; while, it reached about 27% for the conventional SS. Contrary to conventional SSs, the use of HSHLM resulted in increasing the productivity proportional to water depth.

Pontederia cordata is a heavy metal accumulator, while the heavy metal tolerance mechanisms of this plant are not well understood. Hydroponic experiments were used to assess the effects of Cd²⁺ on antioxidative activities, osmoregulatory substances and photosynthesis in leaves. Exposure of 5 mg L⁻¹ Cd²⁺ for 7 days, the photosynthetic apparatus functioned normally and sustained a relatively high photosynthetic rate, and good growth was observed. Under 50 and 75 mg L⁻¹ Cd²⁺, accelerated lipid peroxidation and increased peroxidase activity (POD; E.C.1.11.1.7) were detected, while no significant differences were observed in superoxide dismutase (SOD; E.C.1.15.1.1) and catalase (CAT; E.C.1.11.1.6) activities, as well as in lutein, ascorbic acid, and glutathione contains of leaves. Proline content increased, while soluble sugar and soluble protein contents decreased under 75 mg L⁻¹ Cd²⁺. Cd²⁺ at different concentrations induced a reduction in carotenoid, total carotenoid, and ascorbic acid-dehydroascorbate contents. A significant increase in phytochelatin content was induced by 75 mg L⁻¹. Chlorophyll content decreased under Cd stress and disturbed photosynthesis, causing dramatic reductions in photosynthetic parameters. Stomatal closure was responsible for a reduced photosynthetic rate under Cd²⁺ exposure. Cd²⁺ concentrations of no less than 25 mg L⁻¹ disorganized the photosynthetic apparatus, induced the partial closure, and decreased activity of the photosystem II (PS II) reaction center, thus disturbing light conversion and utilization, thereby decreasing the photosynthetic efficiency in PS II.

Heavy metals have a separate precaution in the air pollution components as they are not easily deteriorated in nature, they tend to bioaccumulate, they are carcinogenic or poisonous, and they can be toxic even at low concentrations. Therefore, monitoring of heavy metal pollution is of great importance. Plants are frequently used as biomonitors to monitor the heavy metal pollution. However, the heavy metal accumulation capacities of plants can vary considerably depending on the plant species, as well as on the organelle basis and the amount of particulate matter in the environment. It is also very important to determine how much of the heavy metal concentrations found in plants are derived from the plant species and how much from the particulate matter on the organ. In this study, it was aimed to determine the change of heavy metal accumulation in some landscape plants grown in the city center of Kastamonu depending on plant type, plant organism, washing status, and traffic density. For this purpose, leaf and branch samples were collected from individuals of Ligustrum vulgare L., Euonymus japonica Thunb., Biota orientalis L., Juniperus sabina L., Berberis thunbergii DC, Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt., and Buxus sempervirens L., which are frequently used in urban landscape designs growing in areas with heavy, low dense, and no traffic. Some of the collected samples were washed, and heavy metal analyses were conducted to determine the amount of Pb and Mg concentrations. It was remarkable that Pb concentration was higher in branches than in the leaves for all the species. And the alteration depending on traffic density on the base of the factors studied was in different proportion depending on the metals.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2016, 91% of the global population was living in places where guidelines on air quality were not met, which results in an estimated figure of seven million deaths annually. The new Brazilian air quality standards, CONAMA 491/2018, was the first revision in over two decades and has as final target the WHO guidelines for air quality, although no deadline has been established for implementation. The goal of this work was to quantify public health gains of this new policy based on hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases, the most studied outcome in Brazilian time series studies, in four Brazilian Southeast capitals: São Paulo (SP), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Belo Horizonte (MG), and Vitória (ES) for PM₁₀, PM₂,₅, SO₂, CO, and O₃. Population and hospitalizations data for all respiratory diseases for people under 5 years old, over 64 years old, most vulnerable populations, and all ages were analyzed. The air quality monitoring data was analyzed in two different periods: 2016 to 2018 for São Paulo and Vitória; and between 2015 and 2017 for Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, according to available monitoring data. A literature review was carried out to determine the appropriate relative risk to be used in the estimations, and the public health gains were calculated based on the selected relative risks for each city. The highest estimate was for São Paulo, with 3454 avoidable respiratory hospital admissions (all ages). In total, the four cities accounted for 4148 avoidable hospitalizations, which was associated to $1.1 million public health gains. Results considering the day of exposure (lag 0) were superior to those with the 5-day moving average (lag 5). The results highlighted the importance of adopting more restrictive standards and called for public policies, the necessity of expanding the air quality monitoring network, mapping emission sources, and improve the knowledge about the interaction between air pollution and health outcomes beyond respiratory disease for the region.

In recent years, off-site volumetric construction has been promoted as a viable strategy for improving the sustainability of the construction industry. Most prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) structures are composed of either steel or concrete; thus, it is imperative to carry out life cycle assessments (LCAs) for both types of structures. PPVC is a method by which free-standing volumetric modules—complete with finishes for walls, floors, and ceilings—are prefabricated and then transferred and erected on-site. Although many studies have examined these structures, few have combined economic and environmental life cycle analyses, particularly for prefinished volumetric construction buildings. The purpose of this study is to utilize LCA and life cycle cost (LCC) methods to compare the environmental impacts and costs of steel and concrete PPVCs “from cradle to grave.” The results show that steel necessitates higher electricity usage than concrete in all environmental categories, while concrete has a higher emission rate. Steel outperforms concrete by approximately 37% in non-renewable energy measures, 38% in respiratory inorganics, 43% in land occupation, and 40% in mineral extraction. Concrete, on the other hand, performs 54% better on average in terms of measures adopted for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Steel incurs a higher cost in the construction stage but is ultimately the more economical choice, costing 4% less than concrete PPVC owing to the recovery, recycling, and reuse of materials. In general, steel PPVC exhibits better performance, both in terms of cost and environmental factors (excluding GHG emissions). This study endeavors to improve the implementation and general understanding of PPVC.

The study focused on the application of GC in the quantitative analysis of bisphenols and their analogues (12 analytes), and the improvement of solid-phase extraction for the whole water analysis of complex water samples. The role of silylation in the qualitative and quantitative analysis of bisphenols was investigated. Partial degradation occurred for selected targets during hot injection with the presence of a silylation agent. A PSA (primary and secondary amines) sorbent placed on the top of the solid-phase extraction (SPE) column sorbent was found to be a matrix component trap, mostly for humic acids. The whole water analysis was performed by washing the filters with methanol and recycling the extract to the sample. The validation of SPE-GC/MS(SIM) gave limits of detection of 1–50 ng/L for ten target bisphenols with a method recovery of between 87 and 133%. The application of the method was tested by the analysis of wastewater sampled from three wastewater treatment plants located in Poland, and municipal surface waters. The only analytes found were BPA and BPS, within the range of 16–1465 ng/L and < MDL-1249 ng/L in wastewater, and 170–3113 ng/L and < MDL-1584 ng/L in surface water, respectively.

The present article focuses on a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of the most widely adopted solar photovoltaic power generation technologies, viz., mono-crystalline silicon (mono-Si), multi-crystalline silicon (multi-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) energy technologies, based on ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment method. LCA is the most powerful environmental impact assessment tool from a product perspective and ReCiPe is one of the most advanced LCA methodologies with the broadest set of mid-point impact categories. More importantly, ReCiPe combines the strengths of both mid-point-based life cycle impact assessment approach of CML-IA, and end-point-based approach of Eco-indicator 99 methods. Accordingly, the LCA results of all four solar PV technologies have been evaluated and compared based on 18 mid-point impact indicators (viz., climate change, ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, human toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, ionising radiation, agricultural land occupation, urban land occupation, natural land transformation, water depletion, metal depletion and fossil depletion), 3 end-point/damage indicators (viz., human health, ecosystems and cost increases in resource extraction) and a unified single score. The overall study has been conducted based on hierarchist perspective and according to the relevant ISO standards. Final results show that the CdTe thin-film solar plant carries the least environmental life cycle impact within the four PV technologies, sequentially followed by multi-Si, a-Si and mono-Si technology.

Three-dimensional cubic ordered mesoporous carbon with chitosan (Ia3d-CS), which was synthesized via exothermic reaction between liquid potassium and carbon monoxide gas, was coated on the active carbon (AC) electrode as a capacitive deionization (CDI) disinfection electrode. The results showed that Ia3d-CS-2 as CDI electrode exhibited the quick ion diffusion and strong charge transfer performance, due to the three-dimensional pore structure and specific surface area. The electrode of Ia3d-CS-2 displayed a specific capacity of 191.22 F/g at a scan rate of 100 mV·s⁻¹ in 0.5 M NaCl aqueous solution. In a CDI recycling system, Ia3d-CS-x electrode showed good cyclic stability, and the electrosorption capacity of Ia3d-CS-2 electrode can achieve 1.31 mg/g at 1.2 V in 100 mg/l NaCl aqueous solutions. Subsequently, Ia3d-CS-2 electrode had an excellent disinfection efficiency of killing about 99.99% Escherichia coli within 30 min during the CDI process at applied 1.2 V. Considering those excellent properties of the fabricated Ia3d-CS-x electrode, which should be a better candidate for high-performance deionization application.

The aim of this review paper is to critically analyze the existing studies on waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), which is one of the most increasing solid waste streams. This complex solid waste stream has pushed many scientific communities to develop novel technologies with minimum ecological disturbance. Noteworthy amount of valuable metals makes e-waste to a core of “urban mining”; therefore, it warrants special attention. Present study is focused on all the basic conceptual knowledge of WEEE ranging from compositional analysis, global statistics of e-waste generation, and metallurgical processes applied for metals extraction from e-waste. This review critically analyses the existing studies to emphasize on the heterogeneity nature of e-waste, which has not been focused much in any of the existing review articles. Comprehensive analysis of conventional approaches such as pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy reveals that high costs and secondary pollution possibilities limit the industrial feasibilities of these processes. Therefore biohydrometallurgy, a green technology, has been attracting researchers to focus on this novel technique to implement it for metal extraction from WEEE.