Humic-like substances (HULIS) are an important mixture of organic compounds, which account for a great part of water-soluble organic compounds in ambient aerosols. In this study, individual carboxylic and hydroxylic species in HULIS extracts of PM₂.₅ samples collected in Hong Kong during summer were measured by gas chromatography mass spectrometry with prior chemical derivatization. Significantly higher levels of HULIS were observed on days mainly impacted by regional pollution (regional days, 4.11 ± 1.76 μg m⁻³) than on days under local emission influences (local days, 0.56 ± 0.30 μg m⁻³). Positive matrix factorization was applied to identify the major sources and apportion their contributions to HULIS. Simultaneous monitoring and analysis data from four different sampling sites showed that sources of HULIS in Hong Kong were mainly regional with small spatial variations. Secondary aerosol formation (both organic and inorganic) had a predominant contribution (52.7%) to HULIS during the whole sampling period. It accounted for 1.88 ± 0.91 μg m⁻³ of HULIS on regional days, which was about 5 times higher than its contribution (0.39 ± 0.34 μg m⁻³) on local days. Of the three identified primary sources, biomass burning had the largest contribution on both regional (34.9%) and local days (24.6%). Marine vessels were also a significant contributor, especially on local days (20.3%). Vehicle exhaust, on the other hand, showed a negligible contribution to HULIS (2.1%) in Hong Kong in this study.

Polluted sterilization condensate discharged from palm oil mill may contain polyphenols that are rich in the antioxidant property. Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) process is a promising method for polyphenol recovery due to its several attractive features such as high selectivity, simple operation, and low energy consumption. In this study, the condensate was characterized to determine its total phenolic content (TPC), ionic elements, and pH. ELM formulation containing tributylphosphate (TBP) as a carrier, kerosene as a diluent, sorbitan monooleate (Span 80) as a surfactant, and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a stripping agent was developed. The results show that sterilization condensate contains 700–1500 mg GAE/L of TPC. During the ELM process, more than 91% of extraction with 83% recovery and 8.3 enrichment were achieved at the favorable condition of 0.1 M TBP, external phase pH 5, 1 M NaOH, 1:5 treat ratio, 5% v/v of octanol as a modifier, and 100 mg GAE/L external phase concentrations. Thus, ELM offers a potential alternative technology to extract and recover polyphenols from palm oil mill sterilization condensate while contributing to sustainable production. Graphical abstract Extraction of polyphenols from palm oil mill sterilization condensate using ELM process

There is an increasing concern that aquaculture has been implicated in the formation of antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) reservoirs; however, little is known about the consequences of their presence in groundwater. In this study, 22 antibiotics, including four acetylated metabolites, and 27 ARGs were analyzed in fish pond water, surface water, and groundwater of the Honghu Lake in China. Correlations between conventional parameters, ionic composition, antibiotic concentration, and relative abundance of ARGs in water samples were analyzed. Among the three different sources of water, total antibiotic levels were the highest in fish pond water and the lowest in groundwater, with moderate levels in lake water. In surface water, sulfonamides and their metabolites accounted for the highest antibiotic content, whereas tetracyclines were the most frequently found in groundwater samples. Despite the near-undetectable levels of antibiotics in groundwater, the relative abundance of ARGs in groundwater samples was even higher than that in surface waters. The magnitude and extent of ARG migration are likely to be dependent on local antibiotic contamination levels as well as on the local environmental and hydrogeological conditions, with the class 1 integrons (intI1) being essential for the dissemination of such ARGs. The effects of environmental parameters such as antibiotics, dissolved oxygen, HCO₃⁻, and pH on ARGs were highly significant, reflecting the potential impact of these factors on the abundance of ARGs. Our findings thus highlight the need for improved control of the spread of ARGs in and from aquaculture environments.

Increased alcohol consumption, especially among young people, is a major concern in Turkey as it is around the world due to negative effects on public health and safety. Regarding this, it is pivotal to monitor and therefore control alcohol use in public. In this case, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), which is the in-depth analysis of wastewater and a relatively new method, can deliver complementary information concerning the abuse of different substances. The proven potential of the WBE approach offers new promises in the process of monitoring alcohol use, namely the monitoring of the levels of ethyl sulfate (EtS) as a urinary biomarker of alcohol consumption, and it is a powerful mean to estimate alcohol use at the community level. In this study, raw 24-h composite wastewater samples were collected from Seyhan and Yüregir wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Adana Province for one week per season (October 2016–August 2017). The fast and validated analytical method was performed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and therefore applied to the analysis of ethyl sulfate (EtS). Obtained concentration values were back-calculated, and regional and temporal social usage rates were determined. Higher values were calculated for both WWTPs on Sunday. Alcohol consumption in the region served by Seyhan WWTP was higher than Yüregir WWTP. The results showed that the levels of alcohol consumption during given periods in Adana ranged from 659.8 to 8998.7 mL/day/1000 per person with an average value of 4983.9 and 3924.2 mL/day/1000 inhabitant in Seyhan WWTP and Yüregir WWTP, respectively. This study shows that weekly and annual trends in alcohol consumption can be detected quickly from wastewater analysis.

Financial development is identified as one of the significant factors that affect energy consumption and has been widely discussed in the literature. However, the association between financial development and renewable energy consumption is still at its earlier stage and is limitedly explored. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the non-linear association between financial development and renewable energy consumption in the top renewable energy consumption countries. The study utilized the newly introduced econometric technique panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model with two regimes on annual panel data consisted of years 1997–2017. The result confirmed that all the financial development indicators increase renewable energy consumption but affect renewable energy consumption differently. Moreover, the economic growth and industrial structure showed a positive and significant association in both regimes, whereas the population showed a negative relationship with renewable energy consumption in a low growth regime but the association becomes positive in high growth regimes. The study suggested several policies for the top renewable consumption countries.

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (IMO 2018 Edition) was adopted in 2004 and came into force on 8 September 2017, aiming to introduce global regulations to control the transfer of potentially invasive species. Large efforts have been made by the maritime industry in creating reliable strategies for the installation of systems on board (Register 2014). Environmental considerations (INTERTANKO 2018) and optimization for the management systems (IMO 2017 Report) are factors broadly considered to tackle this matter. A consistent implementation strategy must be stated before the ballast water management system (BWMS) installation project starts—the management of stakeholders (e.g. ship owners, classification societies, administration, shipyards) is an important aspect of this process. This relies on their expertise, which in turn results in a high level of engagement and supports the implementation plan into the organizations. The creation of a framework for the optimization process, considering the implementation project of a BWMS on board of oil tankers, is the first part of this research. The use of fuzzy logic principles in the second part—as an evaluation instrument from a ranking obtained by multicriteria principles—sums up the aim of this paper, where the peculiarities about oil tankers’ modelling will be discussed throughout the analysis of 2 optimization cases (Suezmax and Aframax).

In this work, a novel visible light–driven heterostructure Ag₃PO₄/MIL-100(Fe) composite photocatalyst was successfully synthesized via facile chemical deposition method at room temperature. Especially when the mass ratio of Ag₃PO₄ was 20% of MIL-100(Fe) (APM-2), it displayed the best photocatalytic performance, for which the degradation rate of tetracycline (TC) in conventional environment was 6.8 times higher than that of bare MIL-100(Fe). In addition, the effects of the initial concentration and pH of the solution on the degradation of tetracycline were also studied, and the results showed that the degradation of tetracycline was more favorable in a weakly alkaline environment. The excellent performance of Ag₃PO₄/MIL-100(Fe) composites was attributed to the fact that on the basis of having adequate photocatalytic active sites, modifying MIL-100(Fe) with an appropriate amount of Ag₃PO₄ particles can more effectively separate photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Five cycles of experiments showed that APM-2 has good photostability. Lastly, it was proved through quenching experiments that •O₂⁻, h⁺, and •OH all played corresponding roles in the degradation process, and a possible Z-scheme heterostructure photocatalytic degradation mechanism was proposed.

The current research aimed at collecting detailed information about the consequences of cropping history on the accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) within different soil depths, i.e., 0–10, 10–20, 20–30 and 30–60 cm. The study site is located at El Gabal El Asfar area (Egypt) whose soils were irrigated with raw sewage effluent as a sole source of irrigation for different periods extended up to 80 years. SOC increased progressively with increasing cropping time, and on the other hand, decreased noticeably with increasing soil depth. The increases significantly correlated with both of the silt and clay contents in soils which increased with time. Soil bulk density and the hydraulic conductivity significantly and negatively correlated with SOC, respectively. Fractions of SOC, i.e., water soluble C, hot water C and soil biomass C in the surface soil layer (0–10 cm), increased progressively with increasing time of land use. Such pools significantly correlated with SOC on one hand and with each other on the other hand. Active (labile) organic carbon fraction increased with time. This fraction also significantly correlated with the different C pools. In conclusion, the hypothesis that SOC is physically protected against soil microbes within the soil requires more investigations to clarify such results obtained herein because this study highlighted the presence of a dynamic equilibrium among the different fractions or pools of the SOC.

The study aims to understand the influence of environmental and lifestyle factors and more specifically the role of tobacco smoke–infused water (tuibur) on Helicobacter pylori infection. It was a cross-sectional study to measure the epidemiological risk factors associated with H. pylori infection among the tribal population in Northeast India. Endoscopic samples were collected from the antrum region of the stomach from 863 participants with gastritis. H. pylori infection was confirmed in 475 samples by the rapid urease test and PCR-based methods. Information on demographic and lifestyle factors was collected using a validated and standardized questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between the various factors and H. pylori. The use of tuibur was associated with an increased OR of H. pylori infection (OR = 3.32, 95% Cl = 1.95–5.83). Tobacco chewers (OR = 1.49, 95% Cl = 1.06–2.09), smokers (OR = 1.81, 95% Cl = 1.26–2.61), and alcohol consumers (OR = 1.81, 95% Cl = 1.19–2.76) were also infected with H. pylori. The results were not attenuated after adjusting for major well-known risk factors of H. pylori infection. The habit of tuibur consumption may be a contributing factor to the high prevalence of H. pylori infection and in turn, may contribute to the high prevalence of gastritis among the Mizo population.

This study collected and compiled statistical data on atmospheric pollution in Jilin City, China during 2013–2014, using models and methods to calculate the source proportion of PM₂.₅ emitted by various sources. The statistical activity levels and emission factors of various pollution sources were found to be key parameters for obtaining the total amount of PM₂.₅ in the exhaust gas emitted from all types of pollution sources using an emissions model. In this study, relevant data were collected by the top-down method, and pollutant emission was calculated by the emission factor method to establish the PM₂.₅ pollution emission inventory of Jilin City. The source apportionment was calculated using the Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) model. Industrial process source and fixed combustion source are the largest sources of PM₂.₅ emission from all sources, respectively. Among the two calculation results, the results of pollution emission inventory are more accurate. The PM₂.₅ emission inventory in Jilin was established and countermeasures were proposed focused on the coordinated control of air pollution and the prevention and control of industrial dust pollution sources, as well as environmental management and impact assessment.