Extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) extracted from fungal mycelium by four chemical methods (NaOH, H₂SO₄, formaldehyde-NaOH, glutaraldehyde-NaOH), three physical methods (heating, ultrasound, vibration), and a control method (centrifugation alone) were investigated. Results indicated formaldehyde-NaOH outperformed other methods with 186.6 ± 8.0 mg/g of polysaccharides and 23.2 ± 4.6 mg/g of protein extracted and ensured little contamination by intracellular substances. Thereafter, this method was applied in extracting EPS from a mixed fungal culture in the adaptation process with 0.5% (w/v) waste printed circuit boards (PCBs). With the four adaptation stages continuing, the culture tended to become more sensitive to respond to the external toxic environment characterized by secreting EPS more easily and quickly. The maximum amount of polysaccharides and protein could be achieved in only 3 days both at the 3rd and 4th adaptation stage. Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectrum indicated the peaks obtained for EPS were mainly associated to soluble microbial by-product-like and aromatic protein-like compounds. Transmission electron microscopic observation illustrated that although metal ions penetrated into hypha cells, parts of them could be absorbed by EPS, implying that EPS secretion may be a primary protective strategy adopted by the culture.

On page 6156, “Regeneration of the MNPs for Cu(II) and Cr(VI) adsorption was conducted by using 0.1 mol/L HCl solution and NaOH solution as eluents, respectively” should read “Regeneration of the MNPs for Cu(II) and Cr(VI) adsorption was conducted by using 1.0 mol/L HCl solution and NaOH solution as eluents, respectively”.

Difenoconazole is a fungicide extensively used in agriculture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of difenoconazole fungicide on the sperm quality of rats. Wistar rats were divided into four groups: control and exposed to 5 (D5), 10 (D10), or 50 mg⁻¹ kg bw⁻¹day (D50) of difenoconazole for 30 days, by gavage. Classical sperm parameters and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) were performed. Progressive motility, acrosomal integrity, and percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa were reduced in the D10 and D50 groups in comparison with the control group. Sperm viability was reduced only in the D50 group. Sperm number in the testis and caput/corpus epididymis and daily sperm production were reduced in the three exposed groups. SERS measurements showed changes in the spectra of spermatozoa from D50 group, suggesting DNA damage. In addition, machine learning (ML) methods were used to evaluate the performance of three classification algorithms (artificial neural network—ANN, K-nearest neighbors—K-NN, and support vector machine—SVM) in the identification task of the groups exposed to difenoconazole. The results obtained by ML algorithms were very promising with accuracy ≥ 90% and validated the hypothesis of the exposure to difenoconazole reduces sperm quality. In conclusion, exposure of rats to different doses of the fungicide difenoconazole may impair sperm quality, with a recognizable classification pattern of exposure groups.

The correct name of the 3ʳᵈ Author is shown in this paper.

The article Does CO₂ emissions–economic growth relationship reveal EKC in developing countries? Evidence from Kazakhstan, written by Fakhri J. Hasanov, Jeyhun I.

The transport sector is the fastest growing greenhouse gas-emitting sector in the world and it is also a major source of emissions in New Zealand. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from road transport increased by 84.3% between 1990 and 2016. This increase in GHG emissions was the highest among the different energy sub-sectors of New Zealand. Increasing energy consumption and GHG emissions are due to the gradual increase in population, car-dependent low-density development, lack of integrated public transport networks, inappropriate policy interventions and so on. These factors are making it difficult to reduce emissions from this sector. This study investigates (i) major drivers of transport sector emissions, including how drivers differ from those affecting other developed countries; (ii) a mitigation policy roadmap to achieve future emissions reduction targets; and (iii) mitigation policy initiatives by the government, and policy gaps. To identify the key drivers from a set of drivers, this study uses a vector error correction model (VECM). The Granger causality test reveals that the fuel economy of the New Zealand passenger vehicle fleet has a significant causal relationship with transport emissions. Introduction of a number of policies such as a feebate scheme and/or a high minimum fuel economy standard could effectively alter this causal relationship in the short term, along with other measures such as urban planning changes for medium-term impact. This study aims to help policy makers identify the most tractable factors driving transport emissions and alternative policy options suitable for emissions mitigation.

Road-deposited sediments (RDS) on an expressway, residual RDS collected after sweeping, and RDS removed by means of sweeping were analyzed to evaluate the degree to which sweeping removed various non-point source contaminants. The total RDS load was 393.1 ± 80.3 kg/km and the RDS, residual RDS, and swept RDS were all highly polluted with organics, nutrients, and metals. Among the metals studied, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Ca, and Fe were significantly enriched, and most of the contaminants were associated with particles within the size range from 63 μm to 2 mm. Sweeping reduced RDS and its associated contaminants by 33.3–49.1% on average. We also measured the biological oxygen demand (BOD) of RDS in the present work, representing to our knowledge the first time that this has been done; we found that RDS contains a significant amount of biodegradable organics and that the reduction of BOD by sweeping was higher than that of other contaminants. Significant correlations were found between the contaminants measured, indicating that the organics and the metals originated from both exhaust and non-exhaust particles. Meanwhile, the concentrations of Cu and Ni were higher in 63 μm–2 mm particles than in smaller particles, suggesting that some metals in RDS likely exist intrinsically in particles, rather than only as adsorbates on particle surfaces. Overall, the results in this study showed that sweeping to collect RDS can be a good alternative for reduction of contaminants in runoff.

Traditional architecture has been successful in achieving harmony between housing and environment, which is one of the most important conditions for sustainability. The research tried to study and analyze the traditional architecture to diagnose its importance and ability to solve contemporary problems. Firstly, this study sets up qualitative survey, including location, function space, and structural materials of the dwelling. Then typical dwellings were selected for the assessments of their indoor thermal environment by on-site monitoring. Quantitative analysis reveals that the earth wall has a “warm in winter and cool in summer” property. Secondly, from the perspective of user willingness, we propose the impact factors of dwelling’s development. Finally, it puts forward the measures of dwelling’s sustainable development and seeks to establish a strategy to guide the construction of new dwellings.

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between CO₂ emissions and its possible determinants and their direction of causality for Pakistan over the period of 1972 to 2017. The survey of literature guides us that the most frequently discussed factors are real GDP per capita, energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, and financial development. Testing of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is the most common in environment literature so we also incorporated the real GDP per capita squared term in the model. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration with structural break and error correction method (ECM) are applied to the selected time series to investigate the long-run relationship between CO₂ emissions and real GDP per capita, real GDP per capita squared term, energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, and financial development. The empirical evidence confirms the cointegration among the variables and EKC holds for Pakistan support H1 of the study, which though contradictory to the previous studies conducted on Pakistan but all of previous work faces the exclusion bias and their findings were skewed. The findings also suggest that energy consumption and urbanization have a positive effect on CO₂ emissions, supporting H2 and H3. However, H4 and H5 rejected as trade openness and financial development found positively significant. Moreover, bidirectional Granger causality was exists only between CO₂ emissions and trade openness. The findings suggests that Pakistan need to settle the economic agenda of the nation through the resolution of economic controversies, energy mix need to tilt toward clean and renewable energy, and rural-urban migration need to manage for better air, water, and living.

The global burden of heavy metal especially mercury, arsenic, lead, and cadmium toxicities remains a significant public health challenge. Developing nations are particularly at high risk and carry the highest burden of this hazard. Chelation therapy has been the mainstay for treatment of heavy metal poisoning where the chelating agent binds metal ions to form complex ring–like structures called “chelates” to enhance their elimination from the body. Metal chelators have some drawbacks such as redistribution of some heavy metals from other tissues to the brain thereby increasing its neurotoxicity, causing loss of essential metals such as copper and zinc as well as some serious adverse effects, e.g., hepatotoxicity. The use of natural antidotes, which are easily available, affordable, and with little or no side effects compared to the classic metal chelators, is the focus of this review and suggested as cheaper options for developing nations in the treatment of heavy metal poisoning.