Sterols are secondary metabolites of plants known for their inhibitory effects on cancer cell growth, lower cholesterol and enhance immunity. b-sitosterol belongs to phytosterol which enhances antioxidant enzymes and thus reduces the oxidative stress. In present experiment, b-sitosterol was detected from Andrographis paniculata belonging to family Acanthaceae by using HPTLC. The plant is popularly known as Kalmegha having multiple pharmacological properties used for treatment of several diseases. Leaf, stem and root extracts prepared in chloroform, methanol and petroleum ether were used for detection of b-sitosterol from the plant. The chromatography was performed on TLC plates coated with Al silica gel 60 F254 and solvents used for mobile phase was toluene:ethyl acetate:formic acid (15:4.5:1.5). After development, the plates were derivatized with 10% methanolic sulphuric acid, scanned and quantified at 510 nm. The results showed the presence of b-sitosterol in all the parts with Rf value 0.62. Calibration curve was prepared and the amount of b-sitosterol was quantified in the extracts by comparing the respective peak areas with that of the standard. The correlation coefficient for b-sitosterol against reference sample was found significant (r= 99.769057%) for the concentration range of 0.5 to 4.0 µg. Leaf methanol extract showed the highest concentration of b-sitosterol, i.e., 147.6 µg/mL. The extraction efficiency of b-sitosterol was found higher in methanol followed by petroleum ether and chloroform extract. Thus, our finding shows that Andrographis paniculata has a significant concentration of b-sitosterol, which may be useful for pharmacological application against cancer, hypercholesterolemia, inflammation and for angiogenesis process.

This paper reports the study of photodegradation of Congo red dye which is a major pollutant in dyeing industry using copper(II) chloride dihydrate as a catalyst. The rate of degradation is improved by direct supply of air instead of using other strong oxidants. The effects of other parameters such as pH, catalyst dosage, initial dye concentration and irradiation time were studied. It was found that over 100% of the dye removal can be effectively achieved within 90 minutes of air oxidation at pH 11 and a catalyst dosage of 0.4g/L. The kinetics on the rate of degradation of the dye has also been examined by using UV-Visible spectroscopic technique. Air oxidation of Congo red dye using CuCl2.2H2O was found to obey pseudo-first-order kinetics with respect to the substrate concentration. The study suggests the use of homogeneous CuCl2.2H2O catalyst for the photodegradation of dyes of reactive azo dye category. Future studies on the use of catalytic activity of CuCl2.2H2O for industrial effluents containing azo dyes as a major pollutant can be affected.

The incineration technology of oily sludge-based briquette makes great contributions to oily sludge treatment. In order to resolve these problems, air pollutants (SO2 and organic gas) emission and low incinerating rate during the briquette incineration, the effects of additives (CaCO3, CaO; K2CO3, Na2CO3, NaCl; KMnO4, KNO3, NaNO3; Fe2O3, KClO3) on the generating gas and incinerating rate during incineration were studied. The results show that CaCO3 is more effective than CaO for fixing sulphur into residue, and K2CO3 improved the sulphation efficiency of calcium-based additives, which is more useful than NaCl and Na2CO3 did. As for the incinerating rate of briquette, KMnO4 is more effective than KNO3 and NaNO3. The maximum of incinerating rate of briquette is improved from 0.38 to 0.6 g/ min and Fe2O3 and KClO3 can apparently reduce the release of organic gas during the incineration of briquette. But KClO3 can greatly reduce the release of sulphur. When the adding amount of CaCO3, K2CO3, KMnO4 and KClO3 is 16‰, 12‰, 18‰, 6‰ respectively in the process of briquette preparation, the sulphation efficiency reached the maximum of 95.3%, and there is still an extremely small amount of organic gas in flue gas. CaCO3, K2CO3, KMnO4 and KClO3 used in emission control of air pollutants and full combustion of briquette during incineration of oily sludge based-briquette, demonstrates high efficiency and low emission compared to other additives tested in this study.

Landfill leachate is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds and their concentration level highly depends on the type of waste dumped, age of the landfill, etc. Last few decades, the researchers are exploring the feasibility of treating landfill leachate using physicochemical, biological, advanced processes and combination of these methods. The current study focused on the comparison of two commonly adopted technologies for landfill leachate treatment, chemical coagulation/flocculation and electrocoagulation process. The leachate samples were collected from two different places and examined for the following parameters: pH, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand, chlorides, alkalinity, hardness, solids and nutrients. The current study focused on studying the effect of different inorganic coagulants (alum and ferric chloride), coagulant dosages, different electrode material (titanium coated with platinum/stainless steel and aluminium/stainless steel), electrolysis time and current intensity on the removal of pollutants from leachate and reuse for non-potable applications. The raw leachates collected from the two sites were found to be significantly different in their characteristics due to the age of landfill and physiognomies of wastes dumped. The batch treatment studies showed that both the treatment systems are nearly displaying a similar kind of removal efficiency (more than 74%). Amongst that, the coagulation/flocculation process showed a better removal efficiency and cost effectiveness compared to electrocoagulation process. Additionally, the treated water was found to be not meeting the Indian Standard for inland disposal. Therefore, an additional post treatment like reed bed process or sand filtration will be a viable option for non-potable applications.

An extensive survey was carried out to understand the spatial distribution and possible sources of soil heavy metals in a phosphorus-rich area. A total of 615 topsoil samples were gathered, utilizing a regular sampling grid of 1×1 km squares, and the contents of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), vanadium (V) and zinc (Zn) were analysed to investigate the spatial distribution of these heavy metals, identify their sources, and assess levels of pollution. The results showed that the enrichment factor (EF) of the studied metals decreased in the order Cd > As > Pb > Co > Ni > Cr = Cu > Zn, and the mean contents of Cd, As and Pb were significantly higher than the background values. According to potential ecological risk (RI), 11.2% of the study areas had considerable potential ecological risk and the other areas had low to moderate potential ecological risk. The results of multivariate and geostatistical analyses indicated that Co, Cr, Ni and V, and to a lesser extent Cu and Zn, mostly originated from natural sources; while As and Pb, and to a lesser extent Cd, Cu and Zn, mainly originated from phosphorus-related industrial activities. The results also showed that Cd was affected by water with Cd pollution from the Hanjiang River. These results are useful for establishing policies for protecting local soil quality.

The hospital environment requires indoor air quality conducive to the recovery of patients with poor health. Low indoor air quality is associated with an increased incidence of respiratory tract diseases and the development of cancer. This study investigated the mutagenicity of air particulate matter soluble in bulk, aqueous, and organic partitions collected from naturally and mechanically ventilated wards in the hospital environment through the Ames test and the mutagenicity testing with the D7 strain of Saccharomyces cerevisae. Bulk, aqueous, and organic fractions of air particulate matter at maximum (100% concentration), 10% concentration, and 1% were found to be mutagenic with both the Ames test (p < 0.05) and mutagenicity testing with D7 strain of S. cerevisae (p < 0.05). The Ames test suggested slight dominance of the aqueous phase-soluble mutagens in naturally ventilated wards (p < 0.05), and a more balanced mix of aqueous and organic phase mutagens in mechanically ventilated wards. Mutagenicity testing with the D7 strain of S. cerevisae showed no significant differences between the naturally and mechanically ventilated wards (p > 0.05), but showed the relative dominance of the organic phase-soluble mutagens over the other fractions (p < 0.05). Few other studies have compared naturally and mechanically ventilated wards through the lens of potential effect on the mutagenic activity of air particulate matter, but more understanding in this area is important in moving towards the development and implementation of policies to optimize ventilation systems for the health and safety of hospital staff and patients. Albeit coming from the study of concentrated air particulate matter samples, the mere presence of these mutagens in the air of the hospital highlights the importance of monitoring their quality and quantity such that they do not become concentrated enough to induce mutation-related etiologies of disease such as cancer.

Fine blue-coke and direct liquefaction residue of coal are byproducts in the process of coal chemical production. They were taken as raw materials for the preparation of activated coke by the activation of carbon dioxide. The conditions (activation temperature, activation time and carbon dioxide flow rate) for activated coke preparation were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). Results showed that activation temperature and activation time had a significant effect on the activated coke iodine adsorption value. The synergistic effect of activation time and carbon dioxide flow had a great influence on iodine adsorption value of activated coke. RSM optimization experiment obtained the optimum activation conditions were activation temperature of 850°C, activation time of 90min and carbon dioxide flow rate of 60 mL/min. Under these conditions, the obtained activated coke iodine adsorption value can reach 401 mg/g, which could meet the needs of industrial desulphurization.

Continuous wavelet analysis (CWA) has been applied to leaf-scale spectral data for quantifying leaf chlorophyll content, but its application to canopy-scale spectral data for estimating the canopy chlorophyll density (CCD) of winter wheat at different growth stages requires further analysis. This study aims to estimate CCD by applying CWA to the canopy spectra of 185 samples from Guanzhong Plain, China. The five most informative wavelet features related to CCD were identified using the CWA method. Meanwhile, 10 commonly used spectral indices were selected to compare with the CWA method. Two partial least square regression (PLSR) models based on wavelet features and spectral indices were developed and compared. Results showed that the PLSR model using wavelet features (R2 = 0.64, RMSE = 0.43 g/m2) was better than that using spectral indices (R2 = 0.57, RMSE = 0.48 g/m2) and wavelet features were less sensitive to the growth stage variation than spectral indices. This result suggested that the CWA approach can derive robust wavelet features and was more effective than spectral indices for predicting CCD from canopy-scale spectral data for an agricultural ecosystem.

Ecological environment is not only the basis for human survival and development but also the carrier of tourism industry development. However, such a basis for survival and development of the tourism industry is damaged given the excessive pursuit of economic benefits and neglect of ecological environmental protection in tourist attractions. Eco-compensation measures protect the tourism ecosystem and coordinate the contradiction between tourism industry development and ecological protection. Thus, the sustainable development of the tourism industry can be facilitated. In this study, research on environmental pollution caused by the tourism industry in Chongqing City, China, and relevant eco-compensation measures were first reviewed. Second, an empirical study on the relations of total tourism revenues with waste gas emission, wastewater discharge, and industrial solid waste emission in Chongqing City was conducted using a vector autoregression model. The study findings show that tourism industry development can influence environmental pollution slightly and that an eco-compensation mechanism coordinates the relationship between tourism and ecological environment. Tourism economic growth has long-term equilibrium relations and mutual Granger causality with waste gas emission, wastewater discharge, and industrial solid waste emissions. The conclusions provide a reference to understand the dynamic relations between tourism industry development and environmental pollution, construct a guarantee system for tourism eco-compensation mechanism, and achieve sustainable development of tourism industry and environmental protection.

The reduction of wetlands due to the increase of urbanization and industrialization has been an emerging global concern and is a threat to the fish population. Fishes have been proved as excellent indicators of heavy metal contamination of the aquatic ecosystems. The present research aims to determine the metal accumulation in fishes of different wetlands. Fish samples were collected for analysis of different metals like lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Pb concentration varies from 0.41-44.33 µg/g and found to be highest at Hirakud, whereas Cr, Cu and Zn were highest at Koraput which vary from 1.3-10.36 µg/g, 1.29-4.17 µg/g and 20.97-54.99 µg/g, respectively.