Non-equigap GM(1,1) model with conformable fractional accumulation (CFNGM(1,1)) is proposed to analyze the relationship between energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Two cases are used to prove the validity of the model. In this article, energy consumption is used as input and carbon dioxide emissions are used as output. Carbon dioxide emissions of 53 countries and regions in North America, South America, Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific are predicted. The forecast results show that the carbon dioxide emissions of 30 countries and regions have risen to varying degrees. The top three countries with carbon dioxide emissions in the next three years are China, the USA, and India. More attention should be paid to the carbon dioxide emissions of China.

Chlorella vulgaris and Bacillus licheniformis consortium was added to synthetic wastewater with exogenous vitamin B₁₂. In the presence of 100 ng/L vitamin B₁₂, removal efficiencies of TN, NH₃-N, PO₄³—P, and COD were 80.1%, 76.8%, 87.9%, and 76.7%, respectively. The functional groups on the cell surface of the consortium, including -NH, -CH₃, C=O, C=C, and P-O-C, increased with 100 ng/L vitamin B₁₂. These functional groups improved the biological adsorption of the consortium; however, higher concentrations of vitamin B₁₂ resulted in an occlusion of the functional groups. Furthermore, there were 5 significantly enriched protein pathways, namely carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms; amino acid metabolic pathways; the pathway of one carbon pool by folate; nitrogen metabolism; and photosynthesis. Most proteins in these pathways were upregulated, which enhanced carbon fixation and photosynthesis in the algal cells. Simultaneously, B₁₂ promoted significant upregulation of proteins associated with the quorum-sensing pathway, which promoted the interaction between algae and bacteria.

This work presented facile fabrication of carbon nitride (CN)/zinc titanate (ZT) heterojunction by one-step ball milling process for visible light-induced photocatalytic degradation. The phase structures, morphologies, functional groups, and optical properties of the prepared materials were systematically characterized by XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis DRS, and SEM techniques. The ball milling for 10 min significantly improved visible light absorption properties; the as-synthesized ZT/CN catalyst (2.8 eV) showed lower band gap energy than bare ZT (3.2 eV). This result revealed a successful incorporation. The photocatalytic activities of the heterostructure catalysts (ZT/CN) evaluated by degrading tetracycline under visible light irradiation and highest TC removal rate were obtained as 0.0193 min⁻¹ for ZT/CN/5, which was 6.2 times higher than that of bare CN. The most efficient photocatalyst (ZT/CN/5) could be performed three times without any loss of phase. In addition, the heterostructure catalyst was found as promising candidate for efficient photocatalytic degradation of other antibiotics and dye components.

Rural communities inhabited on riverbank areas are frequently facing the ever-increasing psychological, social and economic distress due to negative effects of riverbank erosion. This study focused to investigate the impact of climate-based hazards particularly riverbank erosion on human displacement, food security and livelihood of rural riverine households and how vulnerable households act in response. The survey data of 398 households of erosion-prone riverbank area were collected, and group discussions connecting household heads from this area were also used for this study. In human displacement scenario of the last ten years due to riverbank erosion, almost 60% households lost their homestead once while 38% more than three times and forced to displaced. Empirical estimates of households’ food security status indicated the value of Food Security Index 2.11, highlighting households face issue of food security all over the year. Food security issue of vulnerable households is highly related with migration because these households have insufficient employment chances, and coupled with limited or no farming land, they are highly prone to migration. In conclusion, this study estimated that riverbank erosion risk is a co-exist reason of population displacement, increasing rural environmental vulnerability and obstacles to psychological, cultural and socioeconomic development. Implications of local-based proper policy interventions such as developing advance research regarding infusion of agro-based technology packages for emerging Bait areas for developing resilience, human capital development, credit access and institution service are necessary for improving livelihood and food security of these riverbank erosion households. State-based institutions and local community mutually need to focus increasing forestry specifically in riverbank areas to save fertile land from riverbank erosion and reducing environmental pollution. Convalescing livelihood and food security for erosion riverbank households, more employment opportunity needs to provided, investing more in training and education programmes to promoting income-generating activities that subsequently will develop livelihood and food security of households.

Lake Bangong Co is a special lake in western Tibet, with characteristics of increased salinity from the eastern area to the western area. Due to its remote location and poor environmental conditions, there are few background data on the water environment of this lake. In this study, the water chemical composition of Lake Bangong Co was studied, and the concentration levels, distribution characteristics, and pollution sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalic acid esters (PAEs), and metals (As, Pb, Cr, Mn, Cu, Cd, Ni, and Zn) were investigated. The hydrochemical characteristics of the lake showed significant spatial differences. Conductivity, salinity, degree of mineralization, total hardness, Cl⁻, and SO₄²⁻ generally increased from the eastern part to the western part. Most water quality parameters met the class III standards of the Chinese surface water standards; however, the Cl⁻ and SO₄²⁻ concentrations in the western part exceeded the surface water standard limits. ΣPAH and ΣPAE concentrations in lake water have no significant relationship with hydrochemical parameters. Among the 16 target PAHs, 4 PAH monomers with a (5 + 6)-ring were not detected in the lake water. The main sources of PAHs included emissions from biomass combustion, petroleum volatilization, and automobile exhaust. Six PAE monomers were detected at all sampling sites with relatively low concentrations, and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) were the main pollutants. The main source of PAEs was domestic waste, which might be related to increasing human activities in this area recently. In general, the concentrations of metals in the water of Lake Bangong Co were lower than those in the regions affected by anthropogenic activities except As. The results of PCA showed that As, Cu, and Cr mainly originated from natural sources; Pb, Mn, and Cr came from both natural and anthropogenic sources; and Cd was highly likely from anthropogenic sources.

In the current century, the G7 countries have attached more importance to energy security, and have prioritized low-carbon sources which have necessitated the consumption of nuclear and renewable energy resources to achieve a resilient low-carbon system. However, it is still not clear if the sacrifice has paid-off since the environmental quality in the majority of these countries is yet to be significantly improved. As such, this study employs advanced panel data econometric techniques that account for cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity issues to explore the impacts of nuclear and renewable energy use in respect of CO₂ emission mitigation in six of the seven G7 countries. The core objective of this study is to justify whether energy diversification through the promotion of nuclear and renewable energy consumption can assist the G7 nations in complying with their commitments concerning the Paris Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals agendas. The overall findings from the econometric analysis affirm the abating role of nuclear energy on CO₂ emissions. However, renewable energy consumption is found to be statistically insignificant in explaining the variations in the CO₂ emission levels. On the other hand, economic growth is found to initially boost the CO₂ emission level but mitigate it later on; thus, the authenticity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is established in the G7 context. Besides, the country-specific results suggest that nuclear energy significantly reduces CO₂ emissions in all the countries, except in Canada and the USA. Also, renewable energy significantly curbs CO₂ emissions only in Canada and France. Furthermore, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is validated for Canada, France, the UK, and the USA. In line with these findings, it is pertinent for the G7 countries to boost nuclear energy use to reduce the fossil fuel dependency in the majority of the G7 nations to mitigate CO₂ emissions. Moreover, it is also suggested that these nations adopt relevant policies to further green their consumption and production processes to ensure complementarity between economic growth and environmental development.

Fly ash (FA) is available in an unstable state and can be ameliorated by vermicomposting. The different ratios of FA viz (FA₁₀, FA₁₅, FA₂₀, FA₂₅, FA₅₀, FA₇₅) were mixed with another organic waste, i.e., cattle dung. Supportive effects of FA were seen on the reproductive parameters of the earthworms up to FA₂₅. Some beneficial changes have been reported in pH, EC, TOC, TKN, TAP, TNa, TK, and potentially toxic heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Co, Ni, Cr, Pb). The genotoxicity test was performed to assess the toxic effects of the fly ash which has not been done till now. Low genotoxicity potential and high onion root growth were observed in the post-vermicompost samples which were not even reported yet by any other study. These results clearly indicated that the vermicomposting process offers the best option to manage the FA by converting it into an ecofriendly, nutrient-rich, and properly detoxified manure with the help of earthworms which also indicate its economically best-fit applications for the large scale agricultural practices.

The Spišská Magura mountain range, located in the Middle Spiš, is one of the regions in Slovakia most contaminated by heavy metals resulting from mining and smelting activities. Heavy metals and other potentially toxic elements have accumulated in mountain areas via atmospheric transport. The influence of the daily range size of the European hare on its contamination by heavy metals was investigated in three habitat types (forest, woodland edge, meadow) in the Spišská Magura mountain range in the West Carpathians. Individual hares (n = 21) were traced and located by GPS following snowfall. Pair samples of their faeces (n = 64) and food (n = 64) were collected from feeding sites. The maps created were used for determination of the size of the daily range as being small or large. All hares that have a small daily range avoid meadows and open spaces due to the higher predation risk. However, individuals with a large daily range feed in all habitats, including meadows. Hares with a small daily range in a forest habitat ingested higher amounts of bio-elements Ca, Cr, S, and Mn as well as higher amounts of heavy metals Ba and Pb than hares with a large daily range. Moreover, dominant hares with a small daily range, with access to abundant food sources in a forest habitat, may gradually take on higher levels of bio-elements including heavy metals that are present in their food source. In contrast, in the woodland edge, hares with a small daily range had a smaller concentration of Ca, Cr, Mn, S, Ba, and Pb compared to hares with a large daily range. Caecotrophy plays a very significant role as far as the intake of nutrients and other elements is concerned. We found significant dependence between concentrations of the elements Cr, S, Ba, Pb, and Cd in the food of European hares and in their faeces.

Knowledge about trace elements such as mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), selenium (Se), and bismuth (Bi) in mire surface water is limited. We studied 105 surface water samples collected from 50 mires in the Changbai Mountains (CBM), northeastern China, investigated the characteristics of these five elements, and assessed the quality of the mire surface water. Hg and Sb in all investigated mires exceeded the guideline values (level V) for surface water set by the State Environmental Protection Administration of China by 92% and 2%, respectively. Inputs of Hg and Sb into surface water were predominantly derived from atmospheric wet deposition and following surface runoff at a regional scale. Concentrations of Sb were influenced by the acidity of mire water and were positively linked with As. Concentrations of As, Se, and Bi were within their allowable ranges (level I), and were not related to any investigated factors at a regional scale. At a local scale, As was influenced by redox conditions; Se was predominantly input from surface runoff; and concentrations of Bi decreased along with strong water table fluctuations and surface runoff. The water quality index (WQI) and the metal index (MI) indicated that 56% of mire surface water was poor for drinking, and 40% was moderately affected for agriculture and general landscape purposes. Early detection of potential risks from these trace elements to organisms is important, and attention should be predominantly paid to Hg and Sb in surface water of mires connected to principal local rivers and streams in these regions.

The health risks of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) to toddlers, children, and adults in creches, nursery schools, cars, and offices in Nsukka, Nigeria, via inhalation, ingestion, and dermal exposure pathways were evaluated. Eight PBDEs congeners (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-100, BDE-99, BDE-154, BDE-153, BDE-183, and BDE-209) were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. This is the first study on PBDEs in creches and nursery schools in Africa. The mean (median) ∑₈PBDEs (ng/g) in creches, nursery schools, offices, and cars were 4355 (1850), 2095 (1130), and 37741 (2620) respectively. The concentrations of PBDEs between the three microenvironments were significantly different (p ˂ 0.05), and the highest concentration was found in cars. Ingestion of dust was the predominant pathway of exposure to PBDEs for toddlers and children, while dermal absorption was the dominant pathway for adults. Dermal absorption and ingestion in cars, creches, and nursery schools were of the same magnitude. Toddlers with the highest ingestion rate of PBDEs in creches, nursery schools, and cars are at risk especially from prolonged exposure.