The purpose of the present study is to compare the concentrations of lead, copper, and zinc in feathers of birds struck in collisions with vehicles. Two main assumptions were investigated: that there is a significant difference between species with different diets and that large and old species have higher concentrations of lead than small and young species because of their longer life span and longer exposure time to pollutants. Mean concentrations were obtained for lead 0.122, 0.006, 0.007, 0.010, and 0.014, for copper 0.718, 0.783, 0.530, 0.853, and 0.793, and for zinc 0.891, 0.940, 0.787, 0.932, and 1.003 in house sparrow (Passer domesticus), tree sparrow (Passer montanus), European roller (Coracias garrulus), Little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus), and Levant sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes), respectively. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the concentrations of the studied elements between species with different diets and as well as between large and small size or juveniles and adults; thus, the two hypotheses were rejected. The concentrations of the studied elements were lower than the “negative effects” threshold values suggested by previous studies; thus, they are not likely to pose a serious threat to the selected species. However, it is important to include not only other non-essential elements in future studies but also larger sample sizes. It is also noteworthy that this is the first study to determine the concentration of metals in two of the species, Coracias garrulous and Accipiter brevipes.

The aim of the study is to estimate the nexus between energy insecurity and energy poverty with the role of climate change and other environmental concerns. We used DEA like WP methods and properties of MCDA, a most common form of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the nexus between constructs. This paper presents a measurement and analysis of G7 countries’ energy, economic, social, and environmental performance associated with energy poverty indexes. The study used the multiple, comprehensive, and relevant set of indicators, including energy economics and environmental consideration of energy poverty. The net energy consumption of al G7 economies is equal to 34 percent of the entire world along with the net estimate GDP score of around 50 percent. Using DEA modelling and estimation technique, our research presented valuable insights for readers, theorists and policy makers on energy, environment, energy poverty and climate change mitigation. For this reasons, all these indicators combined in a mathematical composite indicator to measure energy, economic, social, and environmental performance index (EPI). Results show that Canada has the highest EPII score, which shows that Canada’s capacity to deal with energy self-sufficiency, economic development, and environmental performance is greater than the other G7 countries. France and Italy rank second and third. Japan comes next with 0.50 EPI scores, while the USA has the lowest average EPI score environment vulnerable even though have higher economic development among the G7 group countries. We suggest a policy framework to strengthen the subject matter of the study.

In this research paper, potassium-activated geopolymer cubes (GeoC) fabricated from waste coal fly ash with low-temperature calcination were investigated as a water softening agent. The GeoC reduced water hardness contents by adsorbing calcium (Ca²⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺) ions from aqueous solutions. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the adsorption performance for Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, including contact time, initial concentration of cations, and interference with competitive cations. The best performance for water hardness adsorption was found on GeoC-35, fabricated with the highest silicate ratio to hydroxide. The adsorption process reached equilibrium after a contact time of 6 h for Ca²⁺ and 24 h for Mg²⁺. The maximum adsorption capacity for Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ was 52.0 and 17.3 mg/g, respectively. Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models fitted the experimental data well, indicating that chemical reactions occurred on a homogeneous surface. The GeoC can also be reused for removing hardness. Furthermore, the increase in potassium and silicon concentration in solution varied directly with removal efficiency, suggesting that the aluminosilicate framework played a role in reducing water hardness via cationic exchange. The presence of competitive cations decreased adsorption ability, albeit it still exhibited an appreciable removal performance.

Large quantities of spent coffee grounds (SCG) are generated the last decades, and their recycling is of research interest challenge. In the present study, SCG was tested to substitute peat (P) in substrate mixtures for the production of Brassica seedlings. Seeds of cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage were placed in substrate mixtures containing 0-2.5-5-10% SCG. The mixture of SCG with peat affected several physicochemical characteristics of the growing media, providing also considerable amount of mineral elements for the seedling growth needs. Seed emergence was stimulated in 2.5–5% of SCG for cauliflower and at 2.5% of SCG for cabbage, while 10% of SCG decreased the percentage and increased the mean emergence time of the examined species. Plant biomass and leaf number were increased at 2.5% SCG for broccoli and cabbage but maintained at cauliflower when compared with control. The SCG at 10% decreased stomatal conductance of broccoli and cabbage (including 2.5–5% SCG in cauliflower) while chlorophyll content was increased at 10% of SCG media. The incorporation of SCG impacted the mineral content accumulated in plants with increases in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus and decreases in magnesium and iron content. Total phenolics and antioxidant activity (DPPH, FRAP) decreased at ≥ 5% SCG at cauliflower and cabbage or unchanged for broccoli when compared with the control. The cabbage seedlings grown in 10% SCG media subjected to stress with increases in the production of hydrogen peroxides and lipid peroxidation, and reflected changes in the antioxidant enzymatic metabolism (catalase, superoxide dismutase). The present study demonstrates that SCG (up to 5%) can be used for seed germination biostimulants and/or partially substitute the peat for Brassica seedling production.

Oxidation of o-xylene was performed using alkaline battery-based catalyst doped with platinum to investigate the properties and activities. O-xylene was selected as the model of volatile organic compound (VOC) in this work. Physicochemical properties of the selected catalysts were characterized by FE/TEM (field emission transmission electron microscopy), BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) analysis, XRD (X-ray powder diffraction), SEM/EDX (scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), and H₂-TPR (hydrogen temperature programmed reduction). Major elements of the spent alkaline battery-based catalyst treated with sulfuric acid solution [SAB (400) catalyst] were manganese, zinc, iron, oxygen, carbon, chlorine, aluminum, sodium, silicon, and potassium. Increasing the doping amount of platinum on SAB (400) catalyst from 0.1 to 1 wt% increased particle size of platinum and lowered the temperature of TPR (TTP) for SAB (400) catalyst. Better redox properties were achieved with an increase in the o-xylene conversion according to the doping amount of platinum. When GHSV (gas hourly space velocity) was 40,000 h⁻¹, o-xylene was oxidized completely over SAB (400) catalyst and 1.0 wt% Pt/SAB(400) catalyst at temperatures of 400 °C and 280 °C, respectively.

As the presence of antibiotics in environmental waters enhances antimicrobial resistance, photolysis and heterogeneous photocatalysis of chloramphenicol (CAP) were evaluated in deionized water (DW) and in sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent under black light and solar irradiation. Processes were compared in terms of CAP degradation, reaction kinetics, and electrical energy per order, as well as regarding theoretical toxicity, biodegradability, carcinogenicity, and mutagenicity of transformation products (TPs). Rate constants obtained under photolysis (0.008 min⁻¹) and heterogeneous photocatalysis (0.18 min⁻¹) only differed in DW. This is due to the generation of photo-active reactive oxygen species (HO· and HO₂·⁻/O₂·⁻) under photolysis in STP effluent, as verified by experiments in the presence of 2-propanol and chloroform. Natural organic matter and HCO₃⁻ were the main responsible for reducing CAP degradation in STP effluent. Fifteen TPs were identified during both processes in DW, 13 of which are unprecedented. TPs were formed mainly via HO· preferential attack on the aromatic ring and on the α-carbon, and some of them were classified as persistent and toxic, genotoxic, or carcinogenic by Toxtree software. Results confirm that solar photocatalysis is less costly than to photocatalysis under black light for wastewater treatment.

Tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) electro-oxidation by commercial DSA® and commercial DSA® modified by platinum electrodeposition was evaluated. The electrodeposition was carried out at constant potential (E = − 0.73 V vs RHE) in different times (1200, 2400, and 4800 s). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that Pt electrodeposits have elongated shape particle forming a uniform surface, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) data confirms the presence of Pt on the surface. The electrochemical characterization by cyclic voltammetry showed an increase of the electrochemically active area (EAA) in function of the Pt electrodeposition time. The electro-oxidation of the TCH 0.45 mmol L⁻¹ in H₂SO₄ 0.1 mol L⁻¹ solution was evaluated according to the applied current densities (j = 25, 50, 100 mA cm⁻²). Both the amount of platinum deposited and j showed a slight improvement in the efficiency of TCH removal, reaching 97.2% of TCH removal to DSA®/Pt₄₈₀₀ and 100 mA cm⁻². The TCH mineralization (TOC removal), the percentage of mineralization current efficiency (MCE%), and energy consumption were 15.8%, 0.2649%, and 7.4138 kWh (g TOC)⁻¹, respectively. The DSA®/Pt electrodes showed higher stability to TCH electro-oxidation, indicating to be a promising material for the electro-oxidation of organic pollutants.

The social and economic development in China has not only made a series of great achievements but also suffered from increasingly serious air pollution. It is of great significance to explore the co-governance mechanism of air pollution in order to promote high-quality development and the construction of “beautiful China.” Based on an analysis using the concept of co-governance, this paper reviews the research from four aspects: the multi-object relationships, multi-agent framework, and the co-governance technical tools and policy tools. The results show that the current research has many deficiencies: a lack of research on the size, direction, and driving factors of the correlation of objects; the construction of the multi-agent framework focused only on concepts and lacking the design of core mechanisms; evaluating only the effect of tools but ignoring the optimal combination of governance tools, and paying attention only to the traditional pollutants and disregarding the latest air pollution. Accordingly, this paper finds that the research should be expanded from four aspects, which include taking into account the co-governance of new air pollution, clarifying the relationship between the various types of air pollutants and the driving factors, building a multi-disciplinary research framework for co-governance, and optimizing the combination of governance policies and technical tools in order to realize high-quality development of China.

This study examines the influence of tourism, economic growth, and electricity consumption on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission in the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model for a panel of four countries of North Africa, namely, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt, over the period 1980–2014. Since we find the existence of cross-sectional dependence, we apply the unit root tests of CIPS and CADF, the Westerlund cointegration test as well as the dynamic seemingly unrelated regression (DSUR), and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality test. The empirical results show that electricity consumption has a positive effect on CO2 emissions. In contrast, tourism has a negative relationship with CO2 emissions, implying improvement in the quality of the environment. The conclusions confirm the hypothesis of the environmental Kuznets curve for the countries in our sample. In addition, the causality test indicates the following results: (i) a one-way causality from real income, electricity consumption, and tourism to carbon emissions. (ii) A one-way causality running from electricity consumption to real income and tourist arrivals. (iii) A two-way causality between real income and tourism development. Based on these empirical results, several policy recommendations are proposed for the four countries of North Africa.

The development of efficient materials and methods for the elimination of heavy metals contamination from water bodies is increasingly demanded as these toxic cations can acute diseases to humans or make serious threat to the environment. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the organosilane coupling agent for the modification of hydrous manganese oxide and the application of the functionalized nanoadsorbent for the removal of nickel and copper ions from synthetic wastewater samples. The synthesized thiol-functionalized hydrous manganese oxide was characterized in terms of their morphology, surface area, functional groups, surface elemental compositions, and the structural properties. In the adsorption process of Ni(II) and Cu(II), the effective parameters including the initial metal cation concentration (20–150 mg/L), operation temperature (298–318 K), and the contact time at the optimum pH were investigated. The uptake of Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions on the prepared adsorbents followed by the Freundlich isotherm model reveals the heterogeneous adsorption, with the adsorption capacities of 24.96 mg/g and 31.2 mg/g for the modified adsorbent and 23.92 mg/g and 29.6 mg/g for the virgin adsorbent, respectively. Based on the results, both the virgin and the functionalized adsorbents exhibited high affinity to copper ions than nickel in the single-component system. Kinetic experiments of both metal ions clarified that the experimental data was well predicted by pseudo-second-order model and the equilibrium was achieved after 10 min of contact time. Additionally, the incorporation of the as-prepared adsorbents in the electrospun nanofibers membrane matrix showed the promising potential for the removal of metal cations. The nickel and copper removal efficiency by the membranes containing 1.5 wt% of the modified adsorbent was 80% and 89%, respectively which implying that the modified adsorbent could be employed more efficiently in other treatment techniques for the removal of metallic pollutants. The modification of hydrous manganese oxide by the functional mercaptosilane increases the adsorption sites for trapping the metal ions and improves the adsorption capacity, making high capability for the removal of metal ions from the effluent.