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The EAACI Guidelines on the impact of short‐term exposure to outdoor pollutants on asthma‐related outcomes provide recommendations for prevention, patient care and mitigation in a framework supporting rational decisions for healthcare professionals and patients to individualize and improve asthma management and for policymakers and regulators as an evidence‐informed reference to help setting legally binding standards and goals for outdoor air quality at international, national and local levels. The Guideline was developed using the GRADE approach and evaluated outdoor pollutants referenced in the current Air Quality Guideline of the World Health Organization as single or mixed pollutants and outdoor pesticides. Short‐term exposure to all pollutants evaluated increases the risk of asthma‐related adverse outcomes, especially hospital admissions and emergency department visits (moderate certainty of evidence at specific lag days). There is limited evidence for the impact of traffic‐related air pollution and outdoor pesticides exposure as well as for the interventions to reduce emissions. Due to the quality of evidence, conditional recommendations were formulated for all pollutants and for the interventions reducing outdoor air pollution. Asthma management counselled by the current EAACI guidelines can improve asthma‐related outcomes but global measures for clean air are needed to achieve significant impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the importance of integration in systems biology and medicine research, highlighting the need to address fragmentation and biases in the field. It emphasizes the significance of considering the exposome, which encompasses cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors, in research. The article identifies challenges in implementing systems biology and medicine approaches, such as cost, participant burden, imprecise measures, limited cross-disciplinary implementation of analytical tools, and regulatory barriers. It concludes by emphasizing the need for a paradigm shift in healthcare and the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical care. The document also includes references and acknowledgments related to systems biology and systems medicine, covering topics such as social environments and health, wearable devices, bias in research, stress management, and the impact of genetics and the environment on health. [Extracted from the article]

This paper addresses the crucial question of the structuring of scientific Notions for the purpose of their proper teaching/acquisition. It aims to demonstrate that non-taxonomic structures, derived from the systematic lexicographic definition of terminological lexical units, can be rigorously constructed and are adequate for implementing a non-isolationist approach to terminology modeling: one that embeds the description of terminological units within a more global model of the general lexicon. Using theoretical and descriptive principles of Explanatory Combinatorial Lexicology and the lexicography of lexical networks known as Lexical Systems, we apply our approach to the core terminology of chemistry and chemistry-related environmental terminology. This allows us to propose Notion building road maps for three languages—English, French and Russian—that can be used as guides for the teaching/acquisition of chemistry Notions. Additionally, exploiting the special case of the noun carbon—which pertains to chemistry, environmental science and, even, general language—we demonstrate the potential of our non-isolationist approach for interfacing distinct sectors of terminological knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinarity — the inclusion of both the public and scientific community in knowledge construction and policy formation — is increasingly called upon to ameliorate wicked problems associated with social-ecological systems. Informed by previous scholarship, we propose that there is a spectrum from superficial to meaningful ways that public perception and knowledge are incorporated in transdisciplinary approaches to constructing knowledge and developing policy. Further, we argue that students in environmental science graduate programs hold beliefs not compatible with current recommendations related to transdisciplinary research and practice. Thus, the primary purpose of this paper is to describe how students imagine the ways in which transdisciplinarity ought to unfold, which can then serve as the foundation for the development of transdisciplinary curricula that meet them where they are. In this study, we used qualitative interviews to explore environmental science graduate students' perceptions of how public stakeholders and scientists ought to work together across four phases of transdisciplinary research: (1) conceptualizing the problem, (2) data collection, (3) analyzing and interpreting information, and (4) participating in decision-making. Our findings suggest that students generally believed that public stakeholders should be superficially included differentially across these phases. Using these findings, we suggest that university environmental science programs should utilize curricula that promote more participatory and meaningful transdisciplinarity across all four phases of transdisciplinary processes to train students to address fractious social-ecological issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the Data Puzzles instructional framework as a means to engage middle school students in the exploration of wind energy and its potential for future wind farm locations across the United States. By eliciting and leveraging student resources through an opening scenario that prompts personal experiences with wind, teachers can effectively connect students to abstract science phenomena and facilitate sensemaking. The Data Puzzles framework combines authentic scientific data sets with the Ambitious Science Teaching pedagogical practices to support students in constructing knowledge and addressing contemporary phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than stressful, an assessment should feel like a celebration of learning for students. Performance-based assessments allow students to demonstrate their understanding of one or more standards by accomplishing tasks that are engaging and flexible in how students approach them. In addition to seeing students' scientific knowledge, teachers get a better sense of their students' interests and strengths that they bring to each open-ended assignment. Three examples of performance-based assessments are provided, as well as an explanation of the challenges and successes that come with this assessment approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental heat stress is implicated in various animal health issues in ruminants, including reproduction rates, mortality rates, and animal physical quality. During extremely hot weather, there is often no overnight equilibration of animal temperature with its cooling effect, and the accumulated heat load becomes an important factor in animal health for ruminants such as sheep. Using the heat load index (HLI), a heat load model is used as an indicator of heat stress on an hourly basis and annually, using downscaling models for temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed, in both spatial and temporal cases, across several example sites in regional Victoria. Analysis is provided on the performance of the downscaling models and various adaptation and mitigation options are discussed and tested. These options include using different tree planting patterns to modify solar radiation exposure and wind effects, with mixed results because adding shading structures may also diminish the effect of wind-based cooling. The modelling experiments indicated that (1) heat stress is likely to increase under future climate conditions and could represent a serious threat to the health of small ruminants; (2) adaptation measures by means of tree planting to provide shade may not be sufficient to alleviate projected heat stress; and (3) other adaptation measures will need to be considered. Indicative results for heat stress under potential future environments are provided for 2030, 2050, and 2070. Also discussed is the performance of wind speed modelling, and the effect of heat stress on animal growth and ram fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional evaluation methods for the state of agricultural environmental geological system mainly use the support vector regression (SVR) model to process the evaluation samples, which is vulnerable to the influence of the sensitive loss function, resulting in the high difference of the evaluation entropy. Therefore, a new evaluation method for the state of agricultural environmental geological system needs to be designed based on the optimized particle swarm optimization algorithm. That is to say, combining with the evolution process of regional agricultural environmental geology, the accurate state evaluation target is selected, the state evaluation system of agricultural environmental geology system is constructed, and the state evaluation model of agricultural environmental geology system is designed combined with the optimized particle swarm optimization algorithm, so as to complete the state evaluation of geological system. The results demonstrated the suggested methodology assesses the state of an agricultural environmental geological system. Key factors included soil texture (0.254), soil nutrient (0.118), and soil pH (0.256). It showed that the designed evaluation method of agricultural environmental geological system state based on optimized particle swarm optimization algorithm has good evaluation effect, reliability and certain application value, and has made certain contributions to the formulation of reasonable agricultural ecological protection scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-institutional faculty mentoring program was initiated by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors to support junior faculty. Across three cohorts, 117 junior-faculty mentees and 68 senior-faculty mentors have participated in this program. The second cohort was asked to complete a written survey to assess the program through collection of quantitative and qualitative data. Mentees reported that university type, personality, research area, and parental status were important characteristics in their mentors; however, the mentors had less specific preferences. Both mentees and mentors generally agreed upon the importance of various areas of growth and satisfaction with the program. Suggestions for future iterations of the program included additional program structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postsecondary science faculty face challenges in balancing the engagement of undergraduates and concomitantly ensuring they gain and retain knowledge, either in standard lectures or labs as well as in outdoor activities. Designing on-campus trails with interpretive signs may provide a unique avenue to inform students across majors of local biodiversity and tie in concepts related to ecology, organismal biology, and conservation. In this article, we evaluate the efficacy of course-specific interpretive signs deployed around a small on-campus natural area to engage first-year students. We assessed students' overall engagement level and retention of information conveyed across specific signs via a student-guided nature walk where students examined signs and answered both a pre- and post-activity survey, rated their favorite sign, and provided a short reflection on this outdoor activity. Students' responses indicated that they retained general information on specific signs, most notably regarding reptiles and what types of mammals are found around campus. Overall, students rated this activity as engaging, with 87.7% combined agreeing or strongly agreeing that signs helped them learn about the biodiversity and ecosystems on campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Balikesir Health Sciences Journal is the property of Balikesir Health Sciences Journal (BAUN Health Sci J) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The terms "research" and "monitoring" are commonly used interchangeably to describe the data-gathering, information-generating, and knowledge-translating activities in environmental science and management. While research and monitoring share many attributes, such as the tools used, they may also differ in important ways, including the audience and their stability. In any environmental program, any potential differences between research and monitoring may be inconsequential, but distinguishing between these two activities, especially when both words are used casually, may be necessary to ensure the alignment between the tools and approaches and the expectations and goals of the program. Additionally, the importance of distinguishing between research and monitoring becomes greater when many participants from varying backgrounds with differing expectations are involved in the design, execution, and governance of the program. In this essay, we highlight differences between environmental research and monitoring, provide potential criteria to define them, and discuss how their activities interact and overlap. In our view, environmental monitoring programs are typically standardized and designed to address stakeholder concerns, to ensure activities comply with regulatory statutes or other known objectives. In contrast, environmental research may be esoteric, driven by a specific line of inquiry, and may lack a defined endpoint. Although potential difficulties with categorizing some programs or portions of combined programs will likely always remain, explicitly identifying the attributes of a program is necessary to achieve its objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Informatica (03505596) is the property of Slovene Society Informatika and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Glacier-fed waters create strong environmental filtering for biota, whereby different organisms may assume distinct distribution patterns. By using environmental DNA-based metabarcoding, we investigated the multi-group biodiversity distribution patterns of the Parlung No. 4 Glacier, on the Tibetan Plateau. Altogether, 642 taxa were identified from the meltwater stream and the downstream Ranwu Lake, including 125 cyanobacteria, 316 diatom, 183 invertebrate, and 18 vertebrate taxa. As the distance increased from the glacier terminus, community complexity increased via sequential occurrences of cyanobacteria, diatoms, invertebrates, and vertebrates, as well as increasing taxa numbers. The stream and lake showed different community compositions and distinct taxa. Furthermore, the correlations with environmental factors and community assembly mechanisms showed group- and habitat-specific patterns. Our results reveal the rapid spatial succession and increasing community complexity along glacial flowpaths and highlight the varying adaptivity of different organisms, while also providing insight into the ecosystem responses to global change.

Summary: The global burden of diseases and injuries poses complex and pressing challenges. This study analyzed 369 diseases and injuries attributed to 84 risk factors globally from 1990 to 2019, projecting trends to 2040. In 2019, global risks caused 35 million deaths. Non-communicable diseases were responsible for 8.2 million deaths, primarily from air pollution (5.5 million). Cardiovascular disease from air pollution had a high age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rate (1,073.40). Communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases caused 1.4 million deaths, mainly due to unsafe water and sanitation. Occupational risks resulted in 184,269 transport-related deaths. Behavioral risks caused 21.6 million deaths, with dietary factors causing 6.9 million cardiovascular deaths. Diabetes linked to sugar-sweetened beverages showed significant growth (1990–2019). Metabolic risks led to 18.6 million deaths. Projections to 2040 indicated persistent challenges, emphasizing the urgent need for targeted interventions and policies to alleviate the global burden of diseases and injuries.

Summary: Ecosystem conservation requires a deeper understanding of species-habitat relationships and population dynamics at a fine spatiotemporal resolution. We propose a new distribution modeling method based on a 5-year monthly survey that considers the temporal continuity of species distributions and physical habitat datasets by inputting continuous time-related variables. We employed random forests to relate the presence/absence of the non-native freshwater fish Candidia temminckii to physical habitat data at 15 sampling sites along a 1.4 km spring-fed river in Japan. The proposed method outperforms all conventional methods using datasets split into a specific time period to incorporate temporality into the model. The order of variable importance and shape of the partial dependence plots of the proposed method reflect species ecology and show a gradual shift over time compared to the conventional methods. These results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method to species distribution modeling using fine-scale spatiotemporal data.

Summary: Pakistan, among the top five most water-stressed nations globally, grapples with water scarcity owing to inadequate treatment infrastructure and groundwater overextraction. We demonstrate a successful nature-based closed-loop system to treat wastewater from urban vehicle-washing facilities, previously reliant on groundwater. An eco-friendly integrated system containing floating treatment wetlands (FTWs), subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSF-CWs), and sand filtration (SF) was designed and installed at three vehicle-washing facilities for wastewater treatment and reuse in a loop. While the system is still operational after years, a consistent and significant reduction in water quality indicators is recorded, successfully meeting the national environmental quality standards of Pakistan. By reducing per unit water treatment costs to as low as $0.0163/m³ and achieving payback periods under a year, the embrace of these closed-loop strategies vividly underscores the imperative of transitioning to a circular economy in the domains of wastewater treatment and resource conservation.

Summary: Increasing urbanization exacerbates surface energy balance perturbations and the health risks of climate warming; however, it has not been determined whether urban-induced warming and attributions vary from local, regional, to global scale. Here, the local surface urban heat island (SUHI) is evidenced to manifest with an annual daily mean intensity of 0.99°C–1.10°C during 2003–2018 using satellite observations over 536 cities worldwide. Spatiotemporal patterns and mechanisms of SUHI tightly link with climate-vegetation conditions, with regional warming effect reaching up to 0.015°C–0.138°C (annual average) due to surface energy alterations. Globally, the SUHI footprint of 1,860 cities approximates to 1% of the terrestrial lands, about 1.8–2.9 times far beyond the urban impervious areas, suggesting the enlargements of the imprint of urban warming from local to global scales. With continuous development of urbanization, the implications for SUHI-added warming and scaling effects are considerably important on accelerating global warming.

Air pollution is a significant problem in Nigeria due to its negative effects on human health. This study is an empirical investigation into how local populations in Nigeria evaluate the impact of air pollution on public health. A structured questionnaire was used and distributed via an online Google form. One hundred thirty respondents provided information regarding the relationship between air pollution and its health effects in 6 cities in Nigeria. The analysis utilized descriptive and inferential statistics, and the data was statistically evaluated using the chi-square and ANOVA with a 95% confidence level. The mean and standard deviation values of respondent’s sex are 65 and 84.8, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of the respondent’s age are 43 and 35 years, where 4% were female (n = 5) and 96% were male (n = 125). The two inferential statistics revealed that the city did not significantly influence the health treatment, whereas the health treatment preferences were significantly affected by the city and the age range. Respondents are aware of air pollution in their communities and acknowledge that it is widespread; 41% of respondents strongly concurred and 55% agreed that air pollution and its adverse effects on health are prevalent. Consequently, people’s health will deteriorate and air pollution will negatively impact public health due to the significant health hazard. Public health is being seriously endangered as a direct result of the threats that are posed by airborne contaminants.

Abstract A model was developed to forecast and compare changes in species presence assessed with either eDNA or traditional observations. We use it to explore how ecosystem conditions could affect the suitability of eDNA for Environmental Impact Assessment. First, a deterministic model simulated the dynamics of the impacted population (called “receptor” in EIA) and their shed DNA fragment concentrations. Second, random distributions of receptor organisms and eDNA fragment quantities at steady state were simulated within the impacted spatial domain (called “project area”). Then, simple random samplings were performed for both the receptor and eDNA. Third, post‐sampling processes (eDNA extraction, amplification, and analysis) were simulated to estimate the taxon detection probability. Fourth, we simulated an impact by modifying the growth, mortality, and mobility (null, passive, and active) parameters of the receptor taxon. eDNA detection probability curves were then estimated for a range of environmental sample volumes by fitting a Weibull cumulative distribution function. A F‐like statistic compared detection curves before and after impact. Statistically significant differences were detected with eDNA in impact scenarios where receptor taxon growth rate decreased and receptor mobility was null or passive. In scenarios where the project area accumulates DNA shed from multiple categories of the same taxon (e.g., from dead organisms if mortality increased or when individuals can cross project area boundaries), it is difficult to assess impact. Our study shows that results obtained from eDNA sampling will not always agree with an impact classically assessed on a receptor population. One reason is that sources of the total eDNA pool are not identified. The modeling highlights the need: to do preliminary testing of sample sizes, to develop new approaches that will identify sources from the pool of extracted DNA, and to improve descriptions of the ecogeochemical processes required to forecast shed DNA reactivity.

Summary: While artificial intelligence (AI) offers promising solutions to address climate change impacts, it also raises many application limitations and challenges. A risk governance perspective is used to analyze the role of AI in supporting decision-making for climate adaptation, spanning risk assessment, policy analysis, and implementation. This comprehensive review combines expert insights and systematic literature review. The study’s findings indicate a large emphasis on applying AI to climate “risk assessments,” particularly regarding hazard and exposure assessment, but a lack of innovative approaches and tools to evaluate resilience and vulnerability as well as prioritization and implementation process, all of which involve subjective, qualitative, and context-specific elements. Additionally, the study points out challenges such as difficulty of simulating complex long-term changes, and evolving policies and human behavior, reliance on data quality and computational resources, and the need for improved interpretability of results as areas requiring further development.

Research can be more transparent and collaborative by using Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles to publish Earth and environmental science data. Reporting formats-instructions, templates, and tools for consistently formatting data within a discipline-can help make data more accessible and reusable. However, the immense diversity of data types across Earth science disciplines makes development and adoption challenging. Here, we describe 11 community reporting formats for a diverse set of Earth science (meta)data including cross-domain metadata (dataset metadata, location metadata, sample metadata), file-formatting guidelines (file-level metadata, CSV files, terrestrial model data archiving), and domain-specific reporting formats for some biological, geochemical, and hydrological data (amplicon abundance tables, leaf-level gas exchange, soil respiration, water and sediment chemistry, sensor-based hydrologic measurements). More broadly, we provide guidelines that communities can use to create new (meta)data formats that integrate with their scientific workflows. Such reporting formats have the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and predictions by making it easier for data contributors to provide (meta)data that are more interoperable and reusable.

The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the science courses by examining the mentions of male and female scientists along with the context of their inclusions in the syllabuses. We find a clear gender bias with only one unique mention of a female scientist. We also find a clear Eurocentric focus and narrow representation of scientists. This bias will contribute to the continuing low engagement of women in scientific fields. We outline possible solutions to address this issue, including the accreditation of scientific discoveries to include female scientists and explicit discussion of structural barriers preventing the participation and progression of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reveals the contribution of student learning experiences and problem-solving skills in the Visiting Professor (VP) program. This research includes the type of ex post facto correlational research. The data collected in this study were learning experiences and problemsolving skills. Data collection techniques used a questionnaire to find out students' learning experiences on environmental change material, written essay tests to determine the ability to solve environmental pollution problems, and interviews with students on environmental change material. The results of this study found that the VP program had a relationship with and contributed to students' learning experiences and problem solving. The experience of the learning model in this VP gives the greatest contribution to problem-solving skills, followed by indicators of learning models based on student perceptions with percentages, indicators of learning resources with percentages, indicators of direct experience with percentages, indicators of substitute experience with percentages, and the last indicator that has a contribution the smallest is the indicator of student interaction with the percentage. The VP program should be carried out every semester in environmental science courses so that students get learning experience and problem solving. The next research that will be carried out is to look for other factors that influence and contribute to the VP program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Removal of pharmaceutical compounds from waste waters is important issue in environmental science and technology. Drugs represent an environmental worry because of their existence in ecosystems, leading to ecotoxicological concern. Development of new methods that are both highly selective and effective to extract and analysis of pharmaceutical compounds in complicated matrices are great interest and urgently needed in nvironmental science, pharmaceutical industry, and biomedicine. In this study, three types of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared and applied for the selective separation of chlordiazepoxide from ethanol as a solvent. The engineered MIPs were synthesized through the bulk polymerization of acrylic acid and diallyl dimethylammonium chloride as monomers in the presence of chlordiazepoxide as a template. N, N'-methylene bisacrylamide and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) were applied as cross-linker and initiator, respectively. The prepared MIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Adsorption/desorption analysis (BET-BJH), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. Also, the performance of constructed MIPs was compared with non-imprinted polymer (NIP) or template-free polymers. The obtained results shown that the prepared MIP (M2) in the presence of acrylic acid, diallyl dimethylammonium chloride and chlordiazepoxide as a template shows excellent specific extraction ability for chlordiazepoxide drug in comparison with NIP. The optimum amount of MIP, pH, and volume of solvent for drug separation were 0.02 g, pH = 7, and 5 mL of ethanol at room temperature, respectively. It is concluded that, drug extraction using MIPs can successfully substitute conventional removal procedures due to the multiple advantages of these advanced materials like low cost, reusability, easy performance, excellent selectivity, and good stability. Consequently, candidate MIPs could be an alternative for the determination of these types of contaminants (pharmaceutical compounds) in complex environmental samples. Based on obtained results, this type of polymeric materials opens new horizon for the efficient environmental analysis in pharmaceutical industry in near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate reanalysis and climate projection datasets offer the potential for researchers, students and instructors to access physically informed, global scale, temporally and spatially continuous climate data from the latter half of the 20th century to present, and explore different potential future climates. While these data are of significant use to research and teaching within biological, environmental and social sciences, potential users often face barriers to processing and accessing the data that cannot be overcome without specialist knowledge, facilities or assistance. Consequently, climate reanalysis and projection data are currently substantially under-utilised within research and education communities. To address this issue, we present two simple “point-and-click” graphical user interfaces: the Google Earth Engine Climate Tool (GEEClimT), providing access to climate reanalysis data products; and Google Earth Engine CMIP6 Explorer (GEECE), allowing processing and extraction of CMIP6 projection data, including the ability to create custom model ensembles. Together GEEClimT and GEECE provide easy access to over 387 terabytes of data that can be output in commonly used spreadsheet (CSV) or raster (GeoTIFF) formats to aid subsequent offline analysis. Data included in the two tools include: 20 atmospheric, terrestrial and oceanic reanalysis data products; a new dataset of annual resolution climate variables (comparable to WorldClim) calculated from ERA5-Land data for 1950-2022; and CMIP6 climate projection output for 34 model simulations for historical, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. New data products can also be easily added to the tools as they become available within the Google Earth Engine Data Catalog. Five case studies that use data from both tools are also provided. These show that GEEClimT and GEECE are easily expandable tools that remove multiple barriers to entry that will open use of climate reanalysis and projection data to a new and wider range of users.

Regulating the concentrations of pollutants in industrial wastewater through wastewater treatment as practiced worldwide without regulating their pollution loads and wastewater discharge rate alongside, is not enough for protection of the environment and public health. This work investigated why some companies in the Niger Delta do not treat their wastewater; with the aim of providing a solution. The aforesaid prompted this work to invent the “Novel Pollution Prevention Process for Regulating Industrial Wastewater” introducing additional controls namely pollution load and wastewater discharge rate controls for better protection of the environment and public health. Questionnaire survey, wastewater analysis, discharge rate measurement, mathematical modeling and design were the methods adopted. Results revealed that pollution load and wastewater discharge rate should be regulated alongside concentrations of pollutants. Results showed that cost is the major factor responsible for the inability of some companies to treat their wastewater in the Niger Delta. Results revealed that pollution load is a qualitative measure of environmental damage caused by a pollutant and that the larger the pollution load, the larger the environmental damage and vice versa. Results showed that industry can apply the novel pollution prevention process to determine the environmentally-friendly wastewater discharge rate, environmentally-friendly pollution load of pollutants and the corresponding production rate of finished goods. Results revealed that when the concentration of a pollutant in industrial wastewater is not compliant and discharge rate is excessive, pollution load control can protect the environment and public health while regulatory agencies take appropriate measures to make the company comply with the allowable concentration limits of the pollutant. The “novel pollution prevention process for regulating industrial wastewater” has global applicability. It can be applied in every country.

Microplastic pollution of the environment has been extensively studied, with recent studies focusing on the prevalence of microplastics in the environment and their effects on various organisms. Identification methods that simplify the extraction and analysis process to the point where the extraction can be omitted are being investigated, thus enabling the direct identification of microplastic particles. Currently, microplastic samples from environmental matrices can only be identified using time-consuming extraction, sample processing, and analytical methods. Various spectroscopic methods are currently employed, such as micro Fourier-transform infrared, attenuated total reflectance, and micro Raman spectroscopy. However, microplastics in environmental matrices cannot be directly identified using these spectroscopic methods. Investigations using frequency-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FD-FLIM) to identify and differentiate plastics from environmental materials have yielded promising results for directly identifying microplastics in an environmental matrix. Herein, two artificially prepared environmental matrices that included natural soil, grass, wood, and high-density polyethylene were investigated using FD-FLIM. Our first results showed that we successfully identified one plastic type in the two artificially prepared matrices using FD-FLIM. However, further research must be conducted to improve the FD-FLIM method and explore its limitations for directly identifying microplastics in environmental samples.

Summary: Greenhouse gases (GHG) and air pollutants (AP) share several anthropic sources but evolve differently in time across the various regions of the globe. Fossil and biological fuel combustion is by far the single process producing the highest amounts of both types of compounds. We have analyzed the paces of change of both GHG and AP emissions across the world and in some selected highly emitting regions using purposely designed indicators.We have observed that, overall, combustion processes are generally producing a lower amount of pollutants per unit of GHG emitted in 2018 than in 1970, with the noticeable exception of ammonia emissions in transport. Nevertheless, comparing countries at different development levels, evidence of possible further improvement clearly emerges, depending on the technological evolution of the most important emitting sectors and on the implementation of appropriate control measures and policies.

Summary: Rapid genetic selection is critical for allowing natural populations to adapt to different thermal environments such as those that occur across intertidal microhabitats with high degrees of thermal heterogeneity. To address the question of how thermal regimes influence selection and adaptation in the intertidal black mussel Mytilisepta virgata, we continuously recorded environmental temperatures in both tidal pools and emergent rock microhabitats and then assessed genetic differentiation, gene expression patterns, RNA editing level, and cardiac performance. Our results showed that the subpopulations in the tidal pool and on emergent rocks had different genetic structures and exhibited different physiological and molecular responses to high-temperature stress. These results indicate that environmental heterogeneity across microhabitats is important for driving genetic differentiation and shed light on the importance of post-settlement selection for adaptively modifying the genetic composition and thermal responses of these intertidal mussels.