Salination and saltwater intrusion are common and increasing problems in coastal areas. This study investigates the susceptibility of soils and water resources to saline intrusion in the coastal areas of Cambodia in the context of climate change. Water samples were collected from tube wells (n = 8), dug wells (n = 25), canals (n = 7), ponds (n = 5), and rain water (n = 5) across the Koh Kong coastal area of Cambodia and measured for the contaminants of health concerns (As, Ba, NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻, F⁻, and Mn) and esthetic quality (Cu, Fe, and Zn) following USEPA methods. Water salinity and other physicochemical properties (Temperature, pH, ORP, conductivity, TDS, turbidity, and DO) were measured onsite using field instruments. Concurrently, surface agricultural soils were sampled at each site. Soil salinity was determined by soil/water extract method following a standard protocol. Analytical results revealed that approximately 12.5% of tube wells, 4% of dug wells, and 20% ponds were saline. Concurrently, 37.5% of tube wells and 58.4% of dug wells contained As greater than 10 μg L⁻¹, exceeded WHO’s Drinking Water Quality Guideline. Geogenic barium, iron, and manganese groundwater contamination also was widespread regionally. Anthropogenic contaminants like nitrate and nitrate (from agricultural runoff) were lower, well Cambodian Drinking Water Quality Standards. Most of soil pH was in acidic condition. Most of agricultural soils in Koh Kong coastal area are not saline, but the agricultural fields close to coastline and/or in the estuarine are frequently saline. This study suggested that appropriate water treatment technologies are needed to provide safe drinking water to people residing in Koh Kong coastal areas, and that it is important to manage salinity to prevent future contamination. Moreover, adaptation actions should be further promoted in order to cope with the potential impacts of the climate change in this Koh Kong coastal area.

Proposals have been made by several researchers to conduct the sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) through calcium and magnesium-rich materials. From these materials, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) containing 5% magnesium and 45% calcium is seen to be a good candidate and is available to sequester CO₂. This study intends to ascertain the ability to absorb CO₂, sequester it, and increase treated kaolin strength with different content of GGBS under various carbonation periods with varying CO₂ pressure. The impacts of carbonated GGBS on the mechanical attributes of soil were examined by conducting the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, and microstructure analysis was conducted to identify the changes in the structure and Crestline phase. Stationary carbonation in a triaxial test with pure CO₂ was conducted to accelerate the carbonation process. The outcome indicates that the strength rises as the carbonation period rises. Likewise, UCS rises as the CO₂ pressure rises from 100 to 200 kPa. It could be concluded that augmentation of the strength is because of carbonated calcium and magnesium products which stuff the soil voids. Changes occur on the microstructure level due to carbonation as well.

River Ganga covers around 26% of India’s land area and sustains diverse ecosystems in this overly populated area. The globally accepted coherent approach of water quality indices (WQIs) and multivariate statistical models (principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA)) were applied on the dataset to evaluate the spatial-temporal variation and pollution source identification and apportionment. Twenty-two hydro-chemical parameters were analyzed by collecting the samples from 20 different vertically elevated monitoring locations for different seasons. The CA evaluation of data, grouped the monitoring locations into five clusters of varied water quality with human perturbations and geo-genic inputs. The PCA analysis of an extensive dataset indicated the seven significant principal components (PCs) explaining 93.0% of the total variance and finalized 8 water quality parameters out of preselected 22 to represent good aspects of the water quality. The seasonal variation in river water quality by the Canadian Council of Ministers for Environment Water Quality Index (CCMEWQI) showed the quality class at a marginal level in summer (62.16), monsoon (59.96), and post-monsoon (60.20) season, whereas in winters (71.18), water quality was in fair condition. The response of National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) classified the river water in medium quality class for summer, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter season, respectively. The present observations contribute in the usefulness of these statistical methodologies to interpret and understand large dataset and also provide reliable information to reduce the tedious and cost of water quality monitoring and assessment programs.

As soil contamination with heavy metals is increasing and polyamines have roles in the growth of mycorrhiza and plants, it is important to study phytoremediation, growth, tolerance, and mycorrhization in Lallemantia iberica as a multi-purpose plant, by the application of putrescine along with mycorrhiza in Pb-contaminated soils. For this purpose, the study was performed in a factorial arrangement with Pb (0, 300, 600, and 900 mg Pb/kg soil), mycorrhiza (non-inoculation, Funneliformis mosseae (Fm), and Rhizophagus intraradices (Ri)), and putrescine (0, 0.5, and 1 mM) in a greenhouse. Results showed that antioxidant activities, plant Pb, and mycorrhizal features enhanced, while transfer factor (TF), biomass, and tolerance decreased under Pb levels. Mycorrhiza improved growth, greenness, defense, and tolerance and reduced TF, Pb, and H₂O₂ content under Pb stress. Putrescine (0.5 mM) increased catalase activity, biomass, and colonization and reduced Pb content and TF under Pb levels. Combination of 0.5 mM putrescine with Fm increased shoot biomass (13%), peroxidase (17.2%), root P (7.5%), shoot tolerance (14.4%), colonization (5.1%), and hyphal width (5.5%) and decreased malondialdehyde (20.5%) and shoot Pb content (28.1%). Putrescine (1 mM) had negative effects on all traits in combination with Ri but not with Fm. Combination of putrescine and Fm showed more efficiency in decreasing Pb content in L. iberica and was effective in phytostabilization. It is generally concluded that 0.5 mM putrescine was the beneficial concentration in combination with mycorrhiza, Pb stress, and single use to improve plant performance, and Fm was a useful species for improving the growth and tolerance of L. iberica under Pb levels.

To understand rural sustainability, it is necessary to scrutinize the relationship between rural transition and economic growth. The article uses rural multifunctionality as an analytical lens through which to view the processes of the development of rural occupancy. There is a pressing need to ascertain how to quantify rural multifunctionality and reveal its spatial differentiation, as well as garner and investigate how multifunctional rural transition (MRT) responds to economic growth. This paper employed the concept of sample transect to compensate for data deficiencies in a long temporal series and established the indicator system from three different aspects-living function, production function, and ecological function-to measure MRT along China’s Yangtze River Transect. Our analysis showed that living function and production function display an increasing trend from underdeveloped western regions to eastern economically prosperous regions, and represent a high degree surrounding urban agglomerations, while economic growth only leads to a statistically insignificant decreasing trend in ecological function. The MRT resulting from multiple factors is much diverse, complex, and sophisticated; therefore, it should be understood within a framework incorporating both endogenous and exogenous factors. According to the results, it is thus important to formulate differentiated managerial countermeasures corresponding to the economic development level rather than the uniform regulations.

The existing literature concludes that natural disasters have cataclysmic effects on the economic well-being of people. But how natural disasters shape psychological behavior is still ambiguous. In this paper, we study the effects of a natural disaster on individuals’ interpersonal trust in Pakistan. By exploiting a nationally representative cross-sectional survey and combining it with the district-level geospatial data on floods, we observe the positive and statistically significant impact of 2010–2011 flooding on the reported levels of trust, after 23–36 months of the exposure. Quantitatively, a 1% increase in district’s exposure to flooding increases interpersonal trust by 5%, after controlling for individual and district level characteristics. Our empirical strategy enables us to control for various geographical characteristics to counter the concerns regarding the otherwise exogenous natural experiment. Next, our results suggest that flooding heterogeneously affects individuals who are male, live in urban areas, and have higher educational attainment. These findings remain robust to different sensitivity and robustness checks.

The morphology and oxidation state of arsenic in its compounds affects the skin cell toxicity. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to explore the effects of two different arsenic compounds on the proliferation and survival of Liaoning cashmere goat skin fibroblasts. Based on MTT assay results, at 24 h, the proliferation concentration, critical concentration, and half inhibitory concentration (IC50) of sodium arsenite were 0.50, 5.00, and 45.66 μmol/L, respectively. The corresponding values for dimethyl arsenic acid were 0.85, 1.00, and 38.68 mmol/L. Immunofluorescence, transmission electron microscopy, and mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) assays showed that sodium arsenite promotes microtubule polymerization and increases MMP, while cells treated with dimethyl arsenic acid exhibited cytoskeletal collapse and decreased MMP. In the IC50 groups for both arsenic agents, the cytoskeletons collapsed, microtubules were gathered into bundles, and MMP was significantly decreased. Dimethyl arsenic acid had a stronger effect on MMP than sodium arsenite. Flow cytometry revealed a slightly lower occurrence of apoptosis in the sodium arsenite proliferation group, while it was slightly increased in the dimethyl arsenic acid proliferation group. Apoptosis was increased more significantly in the sodium arsenite IC50 group than in the dimethyl arsenic acid IC50 group. These results indicate that the differences in cell proliferation and cytotoxicity induced by inorganic and organic arsenic are related to their effects on cellular structures.

Bacterial transport and deposition play an important role in the assessment and prediction of subsurface pollution risks. Bacteria transport experiments were performed under unsaturated flow conditions in an aggregated porous medium at the laboratory column scale, to investigate how the inter- and intra-aggregated pore space of this medium could affect transport and deposition under unsaturated flow conditions, where inter- and intra-pore spaces are not fully activated. The results obtained through experimental observations and numerical simulations showed that some intra- and inter-pore space of this medium was excluded from bacteria transport and retention, as confirmed by the non-uniform transport of bacteria pathways in the aggregated porous media under unsaturated flow conditions. Capillary energy was higher the than other forces acting at bacteria air-water-solid interfaces. If this energy should contribute in increasing bacteria deposition under unsaturated conditions, similar to what has been reported for sandy media, similar overall retention of E. coli and R. rhodochrous was obtained under unsaturated flow conditions, suggesting that capillary energy was not the driving force for bacteria deposition.

The winery wastewater (WW) of the Village of Vidigueira, in south of Portugal, presented an acid pH (4.26 ± 0.029), a high content of chemical oxygen demand (COD = 3236 ± 30.43 mg L⁻¹), turbidity (160.0 ± 7.68 NTU), total P (155.5 ± 6.36 mg L⁻¹) K (100.5 mg L⁻¹), and low level of metals: Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, Mn, Fe, Zn. The K and the total P content could make them attractive from an agricultural point of view. However, the high turbidity biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅ = 1266.7 ± 208.7 mg O₂ L⁻¹) fecal coliforms (45 ± 29.8 ufc/100 mL) and toxicological total phenols 13.239 ± 3.007 mg galic acid L⁻¹ is the main limiting parameters. By using 5 g L⁻¹ of lime solution, the best reactional conditions are achieved: pH = 12 with a minimum volume of the produced sludge’s, 33.5 ± 4.92 mL L⁻¹. These reactional conditions allow reaching high removal levels of BOD₅, turbidity, total P, and total phenols: 77.9, 98.7%, 87.1%, and 99.9%, respectively. Simultaneously, the fecal coliforms and Enterococcus are 100% eliminated. The precipitate obtained is rich in calcium (2.7891 ± 0.4350 mg Ca kg⁻¹) organic matter (10.05 ± 0.11%), P (895.0 ± 35.4 mg P₂O₅ kg⁻¹), and K (990.0 ± 84.9 mg K₂O kg⁻¹). During carbonatation reactions, the pH (7.46) and electrical conductivity (EC) (1.805 dS m⁻¹) decreased spontaneously while the Ca²⁺, K⁺, and F⁻ kept high: 426.53 mg L⁻¹, 240.53 mg L⁻¹, 176.03 mg L⁻¹, respectively.