The hypothesis has been put forward that humans and wildlife species adverse suffered adverse health effects after exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Reported adverse effects include declines in populations, increases in cancers, and reduced reproductive function. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsored a workshop in April 1995 to bring together interested parties in an effort to identify research gaps related to this hypothesis and to establish priorities for future research activities. Approximately 90 invited participants were organized into work groups developed around the principal reported health effects-carcinogenesis, reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity-as well as along the risk assessment paradigm-hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Attention focused on both ecological and human health effects. In general, group felt that the hypothesis warranted a concerted research effort to evaluate its validity and that research should focus primarily on effects on development of reproductive capability, on improved exposure assessment, and on the effects of mixtures. This report summarizes the discussions of the work groups and details the recommendations for additional research.
This paper seeks to develop an alternative account of the geographies of environmental governance to those current conceptions which tend to take space and scale for granted as pre-given, contained, natural entities. Through an engagement with the debates on the politics of scale, the argument is made that a new spatial grammar of environmental governance must be sensitive to both the politics of scale and the politics of networks. Rather than considering scalar and non-scalar interpretations of spatiality as necessarily opposite, the paper argues that through a more careful deployment of concepts of hierarchy and territory common ground between scalar and network geographies can be forged, and can inform our understanding of environmental governance. In making this argument, the paper provides an overview of contemporary configurations of global environmental governance, and seeks to illustrate by reference to one transnational municipal network, the Cities for Climate Protection programme, how governing the environment involves both political processes of scaling and rescaling the objects and agents of governance, as well as attempts to create new, networked, arenas of governance. The paper concludes that recognition of new spatial grammars is necessary for understanding emerging hybrid forms of environmental governance and their political and ecological implications.
Corrosion control of metals is of technical, economical, environmental, and aesthetical importance. The use of inhibitors is one of the best options of protecting metals and alloys against corrosion. The environmental toxicity of organic corrosion inhibitors has prompted the search for green corrosion inhibitors as they are biodegradable, do not contain heavy metals or other toxic compounds. As in addition to being environmentally friendly and ecologically acceptable, plant products are inexpensive, readily available and renewable. Investigations of corrosion inhibiting abilities of tannins, alkaloids, organic,amino acids, and organic dyes of plant origin are of interest. In recent years, sol-gel coatings doped with inhibitors show real promise. Although substantial research has been devoted to corrosion inhibition by plant extracts, reports on the detailed mechanisms of the adsorption process and identification of the active ingredient are still scarce. Development of computational modeling backed by wet experimental results would help to fill this void and help understand the mechanism of inhibitor action, their adsorption patterns, the inhibitor-metal surface interface and aid the development of designer inhibitors with an understanding of the time required for the release of self-healing inhibitors. The present paper consciously restricts itself mainly to plant materials as green corrosion inhibitors.
Fatemeh Gholizadeh, Agampodi Gihan S. D. De Silva, Asish Samuel
et al.
Drought stress is one of the most severe abiotic constraints limiting wheat productivity worldwide, particularly during early developmental stages that determine crop establishment and yield potential. Sustainable, biologically based strategies that enhance drought tolerance without environmental cost are therefore urgently needed. In this study, we evaluated the individual and combined effects of chitosan (Cs), microalgae (Ma) (<i>Nostoc linckia</i>, MACC-612), and a chitosan–microalgae nanoparticle formulation (Cs-Ma) on germination performance, early seedling growth, and molecular stress responses in two wheat (Mehregan and MV Nádor) cultivars with contrasting drought sensitivity under polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced osmotic stress (−2 and −4 MPa). Drought stress significantly reduced germination percentage, germination rate, and radicle and coleoptile development in both cultivars, especially at −4 MPa. Application of Cs and microalgae individually partially alleviated these negative effects; however, the combined Cs-Ma treatment consistently produced the strongest improvements in seedling vigor and biomass accumulation under both moderate and severe drought stress. Evaluation of drought tolerance using tolerance index (TOL), stress tolerance index (STI), and stress intensity (SI) demonstrated that Cs-Ma markedly increased STI and reduced SI across most germination traits, indicating enhanced drought tolerance and lower stress sensitivity, particularly in MV Nádor. These physiological responses were supported by transcriptional reprogramming in radicle tissues, including upregulation of genes involved in polyamine biosynthesis (<i>TaSPDS</i>, <i>TaSAMDC</i>), phenylpropanoid metabolism (<i>TaPAL</i>), and protein protection (<i>TaHSP70</i>), along with moderated induction of polyamine catabolism (<i>TaPXPAO</i>). Overall, the results reveal a synergistic interaction between chitosan nanoparticles and microalgae biomass, highlighting Cs-Ma as an effective, eco-friendly biostimulant for improving early-stage drought tolerance in wheat.
Pepper phytophthora blight is a major soil-borne plant disease that negatively affects chili production. Biochar and biocontrol microorganisms have each been shown to independently control plant diseases. However, their collective effects on reducing the incidence of pepper blight and regulating changes in the rhizosphere microbial community have not been investigated. In this study, 4% (w/w) biochar, Phytophthora capsici strain, and our previously screened biocontrol strain Trichoderma brevicompactum 6311 were used in pot experiments and evaluated. Biochar combined with T. brevicompactum 6311 (B + T treatment) exerted the highest control effect on pepper phytophthora blight with an incidence of 55.56%, which was noticeably greater than that in the other groups. In addition to disease suppression, the B + T treatment promoted pepper plant growth by increasing key growth and photosynthetic parameters, enhancing leaf and soil enzyme activities, and improving soil fertility. Analysis of the above indicators and the microbial community in the rhizosphere of chili peppers revealed that the combined effects of disease inhibition and growth promotion under B + T treatment may be as follows: (1) improved plant physiology and leaf defense responses, (2) increased microbial diversity and richness in rhizosphere soil and relative abundance of microorganisms promoting pepper health and decreased relative abundance of potential pathogens such as Fusarium in pepper, and (3) increased soil organic matter and fertility. Therefore, the combined use of biochar and T. brevicompactum 6311 reduces the occurrence of pepper phytophthora blight by enhancing the physicochemical properties, enzyme activity, and synergistic effect of the rhizosphere microbial community.
Amalia Amato, Ermelinda Prato, Francesca Biandolino
et al.
Plastics provide a range of benefits in our society, even if waste plastics are representing a worrying issue for the environment. In addition, various additives, i.e., chemical substances added to plastic polymers to enhance their properties, create complications in their lifecycle. In fact, inappropriate use and recycling of plastics inevitably leads to the release of toxic substances. In this work we analyzed the possible toxic effects of microplastics obtained from commercial cups made from polypropylene (PP) and from the biodegradable polymer poly (lactic acid) (PLA), on the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lmk) embryos. We exposed eggs of P. lividus to microplastics derived from PLA and PP cups for 10 min at increasing concentrations. The eggs were then fertilized and the embryonic development was followed until the pluteus stage at 48 h post fertilization (hpf). Our results showed that neither PLA nor PP microplastics had a measurable effect on fertilization, but both affected the first mitotic division, induced delay of embryonic development with many embryos still at blastula and gastrula stages at 48 hpf, and caused malformations in embryos that reached the pluteus stage. Moreover, the expression level of several genes involved in different functional pathways linked to stress and detoxification responses, development, differentiation and skeletogenesis were followed by Real time qPCR, with the aim of identifying the molecular targets of PLA and PP. These morphological effects were a result of the up-regulation of most of the genes analyzed and used by the embryos to react to the detrimental effects induced by plastics. Our findings highlighted the important issue of plastic additives, which can be released during the various recycling and recovery processes of contaminated ecosystems.
Although "climate litigation" is not an indigenous term in China, localizing it is essential to support the development of an independent environmental legal knowledge system in China. Rooted in China's judicial tradition, which emphasizes substantive rationality, traditional legal theories have primarily focused on environmental law. However, the contemporary practices in the rule of law have created an unclear trajectory for climate litigation. Research in this area has long been trapped in a paradigm that relies on lawsuits for ecological environmental damage compensation and environmental public interest litigation, leading to a significant disconnect between theoretical frameworks and practical application. With the advancement of the "dual carbon" strategic goals-carbon peaking and carbon neutrality-it has become imperative to redefine the concept of climate litigation within the Chinese context. We need to establish a theoretical framework that aligns with the "dual carbon" objectives while providing theoretical and institutional support for climate litigation, ultimately contributing to the international discourse on climate justice. Additionally, Hong Kong's proactive climate governance and robust ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) practices provide valuable insights for developing comprehensive climate litigation mechanisms. Based on this analysis, we propose concrete plans for building a climate litigation system in China, establishing a preventive relief system and a multi-source legal framework at the substantive level and developing climate judicial mechanisms for mitigation and adaptation at the procedural level.
Government trust, as a core concept in political economy and public policy research, serves as a fundamental cornerstone of democratic legitimacy and state capacity. This paper examines how environmental conditions, particularly sunlight efficiency, influence reported government trust through both affective and cognitive mechanisms. Leveraging World Values Survey Wave 7 data merged with NASA POWER high-frequency weather data, we propose and validate a novel ``salience and attribution'' mechanism: clearer skies may paradoxically reduce government trust by heightening environmental awareness and triggering negative attributions. We further identify potential mediating pathways, including subjective well-being, political interest, political discussion, and health perception, and demonstrate that environmental conditions introduce measurement error in survey-based trust indicators. Our findings provide theoretical contributions to environmental psychology, behavioral political economy, and survey methodology, and yield practical implications for governance, policy design, and survey
Gabriele Cenedese, Samuel T. Mister, Mauro Antezza
et al.
Discrete-Time Crystals (DTC) are a non-equilibrium phase of matter characterized by the breaking of time-translation symmetry in periodically driven quantum systems. In this work, we present a detailed thermodynamic analysis of a DTC in a one-dimensional spin-1/2 chain coupled to a thermal bath. We derive a master equation from the microscopic model, and we explore key thermodynamic quantities, such as work, heat, and entropy production. Our results reveal that the DTC signature inevitably decays in the presence of environmental noise, but we show that a periodic measurement scheme can mitigate the effects of decoherence, stabilizing the subharmonic oscillations of the DTC for extended periods. These findings provide insights into the robustness of time-crystalline phases and potential strategies for protecting them in experimental settings.