Hasil untuk "Environmental effects of industries and plants"

Cristina Gimenez, V. Sierra, J. Rodon

Marta Klimek-Szczykutowicz, Agnieszka Szopa, Halina Ekiert

This review presents important botanical, chemical and pharmacological characteristics of Citrus limon (lemon)—a species with valuable pharmaceutical, cosmetic and culinary (healthy food) properties. A short description of the genus Citrus is followed by information on the chemical composition, metabolomic studies and biological activities of the main raw materials obtained from C. limon (fruit extract, juice, essential oil). The valuable biological activity of C. limon is determined by its high content of phenolic compounds, mainly flavonoids (e.g., diosmin, hesperidin, limocitrin) and phenolic acids (e.g., ferulic, synapic, p-hydroxybenzoic acids). The essential oil is rich in bioactive monoterpenoids such as D-limonene, β-pinene, γ-terpinene. Recently scientifically proven therapeutic activities of C. limon include anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer and antiparasitic activities. The review pays particular attention, with references to published scientific research, to the use of C. limon in the food industry and cosmetology. It also addresses the safety of use and potential phototoxicity of the raw materials. Lastly, the review emphasizes the significance of biotechnological studies on C. limon.

Alzaidi Mohammed Awad, Pavan Kumar, M. R. Ismail‐Fitry et al.

Plant extracts are rich in various bioactive compounds exerting antioxidants effects, such as phenolics, catechins, flavonoids, quercetin, anthocyanin, tocopherol, rutin, chlorogenic acid, lycopene, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, vitamin C, protocatechuic acid, vitamin E, carotenoids, β-carotene, myricetin, kaempferol, carnosine, zeaxanthin, sesamol, rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid, and carnosol. The extraction processing protocols such as solvent, time, temperature, and plant powder should be optimized to obtain the optimum yield with the maximum concentration of active ingredients. The application of novel green extraction technologies has improved extraction yields with a high concentration of active compounds, heat-labile compounds at a lower environmental cost, in a short duration, and with efficient utilization of the solvent. The application of various combinations of extraction technologies has proved to exert a synergistic effect or to act as an adjunct. There is a need for proper identification, segregation, and purification of the active ingredients in plant extracts for their efficient utilization in the meat industry, as natural antioxidants. The present review has critically analyzed the conventional and green extraction technologies in extracting bioactive compounds from plant biomass and their utilization in meat as natural antioxidants.

Peng Lu, Fan Xu, Jennifer Waldeck et al.

Yuxin Lu, Zhen Peng, Xiqiang Xia et al.

Against the backdrop of the global green transition and "dual carbon" goals, mining industry chain enterprises are pivotal entities in terms of resource consumption and environmental impact. Their environmental performance directly affects regional ecological security and is closely tied to national resource strategies and green transformation outcomes. Ensuring the authenticity and reliability of their environmental disclosure is thus a core and urgent issue for sustainable development and national strategic objectives.From a corporate governance perspective, this study examines equity balance as a fundamental governance mechanism, investigating its inhibitory effect on greenwashing behavior among these enterprises and the underlying pathways involved. Methodologically, the paper innovatively employs a Variational Autoencoder (VAE) and a Double Machine Learning (DML) model to construct counterfactual scenarios, mitigating endogeneity concerns and precisely identifying the causal relationship between equity balance and greenwashing. The findings indicate, first, a significant negative causal relationship between equity balance and corporate greenwashing, confirming its substantive governance effect. Second, this inhibitory effect exhibits notable heterogeneity, manifesting more strongly in western regions, upstream segments of the industrial chain, and industries with high environmental sensitivity. Third, the governance effect demonstrates clear temporal dynamics, with the strongest impact occurring in the current period, followed by a diminishing yet statistically significant lagged effect, and ultimately a stable long-term cumulative influence. Finally, mechanism analysis reveals that equity balance operates through three distinct channels to curb greenwashing: alleviating management performance pressure, enhancing the stability of the executive team, and intensifying media scrutiny.

Raphael C. Kim, Rachel C. Nethery, Kevin L. Chen et al.

Numerous studies have shown the harmful effects of airborne pollutants on human health. Vulnerable groups and communities often bear a disproportionately larger health burden due to exposure to airborne pollutants. Thus, there is a need to design policies that effectively reduce the public health burdens while ensuring cost-effective policy interventions. Designing policies that optimally benefit the population while ensuring equity between groups under cost constraints is a challenging statistical and causal inference problem. In the context of environmental policy this is further complicated by the fact that interventions target emission sources but health impacts occur in potentially distant communities due to atmospheric pollutant transport -- a setting known as bipartite network interference (BNI). To address these issues, we propose a fair policy learning approach under BNI. Our approach allows to learn cost-effective policies under fairness constraints even accounting for complex BNI data structures. We derive asymptotic properties and demonstrate finite sample performance via Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, we apply the proposed method to a real-world dataset linking power plant scrubber installations to Medicare health records for more than 2 million individuals in the U.S. Our method determine fair scrubber allocations to reduce mortality under fairness and cost constraints.

Muhammad Younas, Chuang Wang, Mohamed F. Hassan et al.

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a destructive disease that threatens the citrus industry worldwide. It is associated with "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" (CLas) and vectored by Diaphorina citri, known as the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP). Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica), a promising candidate for HLB tolerance, was examined in response to CLas-infected ACPs through comprehensive transcriptomic profiling to identify key antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and immune-related pathways. GO, KEGG, and genome enrichment analysis found that most DEGs were enriched in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and hormone signal transduction. Furthermore, immune pathways associated with pathogen recognition and defense mechanisms were characterized. DEGs were screened and confirmed through quantitative real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR). By analyzing gene expression in C. australasica, we identified several potential AMPs with significant antimicrobial properties. CaAMP1, CaAMP2, CaAMP4, and CaShepharin exhibited strong inhibitory effects against multiple bacterial suspensions with minimum EC50 values. Similarly, CaAMP4 also caused a significant reduction in CLas titer through Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression. This study provides a novel perspective for understanding the transcriptomic information on C. australasica in response to CLas-infected ACPs. These findings offer valuable insights into the development of AMP-based, environmentally sustainable strategies for managing HLB and enhancing citrus plant resilience.

Hossam Mostafa Hussein, Sayed Ismail Ali, Marwan Mohamed Ali et al.

This study evaluates the performance and economic viability of sludge holding tanks in wastewater treatment, focusing on their role in sludge management, particularly in Egypt’s expanding wastewater infrastructure. Despite their widespread use, sludge holding tanks lack standardized design and operational guidelines. This research addresses this gap by assessing operational parameters, design criteria, and economic impacts, especially for small-scale treatment plants. A pilot-scale sludge holding tank was tested in two phases: the first examined the effects of retention time and air mixing rates on waste-activated sludge (WAS) treatment, while the second investigated the impact of increased solids loading by adding primary sludge. Results indicate that sludge holding tanks primarily function as thickening units, with optimal performance at retention times of 23-26 hours and air mixing rates of 1.3-6 m³/hr/m³. Lower air mixing rates improved thickening efficiency, achieving dry solids content of up to 1.5%, suitable for dewatering. The addition of primary sludge further enhanced thickening, underscoring the importance of sludge composition. Economically, these tanks are more cost-effective than traditional thickeners and digesters, requiring less volume and lower operational costs. Although effluent quality may not match advanced treatment units, their simplicity and affordability make them ideal for small-scale facilities. The study provides practical recommendations for optimizing sludge holding tanks, contributing to more sustainable and efficient sludge management strategies.

Simeon Adebola, Chung Min Kim, Justin Kerr et al.

Commercial plant phenotyping systems using fixed cameras cannot perceive many plant details due to leaf occlusion. In this paper, we present Botany-Bot, a system for building detailed "annotated digital twins" of living plants using two stereo cameras, a digital turntable inside a lightbox, an industrial robot arm, and 3D segmentated Gaussian Splat models. We also present robot algorithms for manipulating leaves to take high-resolution indexable images of occluded details such as stem buds and the underside/topside of leaves. Results from experiments suggest that Botany-Bot can segment leaves with 90.8% accuracy, detect leaves with 86.2% accuracy, lift/push leaves with 77.9% accuracy, and take detailed overside/underside images with 77.3% accuracy. Code, videos, and datasets are available at https://berkeleyautomation.github.io/Botany-Bot/.

Veronica Silva Ferreira, C. Sant’Anna

M. Dadkhah, J. Tulliani

During recent decades, metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) have sparked more attention in various applications and industries due to their excellent sensing characteristics, thermal stability, abundance, and ease of synthesis. They are reliable and accurate for measuring and monitoring environmentally important toxic gases, such as NO2, NO, N2O, H2S, CO, NH3, CH4, SO2, and CO2. Compared to other sensing technologies, MOS sensors are lightweight, relatively inexpensive, robust, and have high material sensitivity with fast response times. Green nanotechnology is a developing branch of nanotechnology and aims to decrease the negative effects of the production and application of nanomaterials. For this purpose, organic solvents and chemical reagents are not used to prepare metal nanoparticles. On the contrary, the synthesis of metal or metal oxide nanoparticles is done by microorganisms, either from plant extracts or fungi, yeast, algae, and bacteria. Thus, this review aims at illustrating the possible green synthesis of different metal oxides such as ZnO, TiO2, CeO2, SnO2, In2O3, CuO, NiO, WO3, and Fe3O4, as well as metallic nanoparticles doping.

Xueying Zhao, Along Chen, Zhicong Gao et al.

Shoot regeneration capacity is essential for prosperous genetic transformation. Previous studies have shown that WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) transcription factor plays a crucial role in callus growth, shoot regeneration, and root development. However, the mechanisms and functions of shoot regeneration related to WOX8 remain unclear. In the current research, the HmWOX8 gene was isolated from Hemerocallis middendorffii by RACE (Rapid-amplification of cDNA ends) technology. Overexpression of HmWOX8 improved callus proliferation and shoot regeneration ability of Arabidopsis and rice, whereas silencing HmWOX8 in H. middendorffii resulted in the inverse correlation. Transcriptome analysis revealed that HmWOX8 enhances the efficiency of callus proliferation and shoot regeneration through two different ways of regulation, including hormone signaling pathways and shoot development-related genes. (I) HmWOX8 regulates crosstalk among different hormone signaling pathways by activating and inhibiting the expression of different genes in these pathways, thus ensuring signal integration for efficient callus proliferation and shoot regeneration. (II) HmWOX8 can upregulate the expression level of shoot developmental genes, including WOX5/7, BBM, AIL5/7, PLT1, PIN6, CUC3, and SCR14/30, to regulate shoot emergence and outgrowth. In addition, Yeast two-hybrid assays and Bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay suggested that HmWOX8 directly interacts with HmCUC2, thereby promoting shoot regeneration. The present research improves the understanding of molecular mechanisms for HmWOX8-mediated regeneration and provides valuable gene resources for breeding programs to promote plant regeneration.

P. N. Muonye and C. C. Nnaji

Oil spills in the Niger Delta could exert environmental pressures on the soil component. We investigated the impacts of oil spills and the effect of the Enhanced Natural Attenuation (ENA) remediation method on contaminated soil and resident microbial populations in the Odhiaje community in Rivers State, Nigeria. Soil samples for microbiological studies were collected weekly during a 17-week remediation period, while those for edaphic parameters were taken before and after remediation, all at 4 sampling points (SPs). Serial dilution of the oil-impacted soils for microbial density enumeration was carried out according to standard methods. Results revealed that mean concentrations of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contents (THC) (Sig.value = 0.009), SO42- ions (Sig.value = 0.001), and sand compositions (Sig.value = 0.045) all differed markedly across the sampling points at p<0.05. Mean levels of EC (Sig.tvalue = 0.039) and ΣN (Sig.tvalue = 0.058) & K+ ions (Sig.tvalue = 0.004) differed significantly before and after the remediation exercise at the 95% confidence interval. Application of nutrients was rapidly accompanied by microbial population increases, leading to the consumption of oil contaminants in soils to levels comparable to control over the remediation period. Total Heterotrophic Bacteria counts correlated with pH (r = 0.501) and SO42- ions (r = 0.500) (p<0.05), and K+ ions (r = -0.800) (p<0.01); Total Heterotrophic Fungi correlated with pH (r = 0.520) (p<0.05), and Mg2+ ions (r = 0.820) (p<0.01); Hydrocarbon Utilizing Bacteria correlated with available P (r = 0.530) and silt composition (r = -0.504) (p<0.05), and K+ (r = 0.626) and Mg2+ ions (r = 0.733) (p<0.01); and Hydrocarbon Utilizing Fungi correlated with K+ (r = 0.500) & Mg2+ ions (r = 0.506) (p<0.05). Results indicate improvement in C/N ratios and effectiveness of the current cost-effective bioaugmentation technique in the restoration of arable soil productivity in the Odhiaje community.

Jiajia Zhang, Wencheng Ding, Shengtao Wang et al.

Organic composts are significant sources of microplastic (MP) pollution in soils, and their input is much higher in greenhouse agriculture than open-field agriculture. However, how long-term compost application affects MPs pollution in greenhouse soil profiles remains unclear. This study examined MPs characteristics in chicken manure compost and earthworms, exploring the long-term impacts of compost application on MPs accumulation and vertical migration in 0–100 cm soil depth through a 15-year greenhouse experiment. Microplastics abundance was 3965 items kg−1in compost, 191–248 items kg−1in compost-amended soils, and 2.73–4.52 items individual−1in earthworms from compost-amended soils; the latter two increased significantly with compost application and were significantly higher than unamended soils. Soil MPs accumulation from long-term compost amendment contributed 45.4% of the total. The proportion of MPs <2 mm in compost (49.7%) was less than in compost-amended soils (65.5%) and earthworms (65.4%). Microplastics size and abundance decreased with increasing soil depth. Microplastics polymer types and shapes in composts, compost-amended soils, and earthworms exhibited similarities, mainly including polyethylene and polypropylene fragments and fibers. Compost-derived MPs in soils exhibited complex weathering morphology and adhered to mineral colloids. Therefore, soil MPs originating from compost gradually weathered and degraded into smaller particles and migrated to deeper soil, maybe resulting in more serious ecological issues.

Arsyad Arsyad, Didi Rukmana, Darmawan Salman et al.

This research aimed to determine the social, economic, and environmental impact of Saddang River sand mining on local communities and the Pinrang district government. Primary data collection used field surveys to obtain supporting data on economic aspects consisting of production capacity, costs, selling price of sand at the miner level and market price at the consumer level, number of grains, and various other economic values such as indirect value and indirect use value. The primary data collection method uses a total sampling of 80 miners operating in the research area. Consumer data uses a field survey method with 8 hours of observation per day. Saddang River sand mining provides great socio-economic value and environmental impact, directly or indirectly. This significant socio-economic value and impact, if not accompanied by good management, can result in over-exploitation, which impacts the physical and ecological damage of the Saddang River. On the other hand, the high rate of sedimentation from upstream of the Saddang River results in shallowing, so sand mining activities help normalize the Saddang River. Therefore, to continue providing economic benefits and the Saddang River to avoid physical and ecological damage due to mining activities, sustainable management of Saddang River sand mining is needed.

P. P. Shinde, R. J. Sayyad, S. S. Shukla, S. A. Waghmode and S. R. Gadale

In this study, we synthesized cobalt-doped molybdenum supported on silica (Co/MS) nanocomposites with varying concentrations of cobalt (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) using the sol-gel method. We investigated their physico-chemical properties, photocatalytic activity, and antimicrobial efficacy. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized using a range of techniques, including X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) to determine crystal structure, UV-vis spectroscopy for optical properties, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) for functional group analysis, and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM-EDX) for morphological and elemental composition analysis. The photocatalytic performance of these catalysts was assessed by their ability to degrade organic dyes, specifically methyl orange and methylene blue, under visible light irradiation. Our results demonstrated that the photocatalytic efficiency increased with higher cobalt content, with the 20 wt% Co/MS nanocomposite showing the highest degradation rates. Additionally, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of the nanocomposites against a range of microorganisms, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungal species. The 20 wt% Co/MS nanocomposite exhibited superior antimicrobial activity compared to the other samples, indicating its potential for applications in environmental remediation and antimicrobial treatments.

Pengfei Li, Yejia Liu, Jianyi Yang et al.

The sharply increasing sizes of artificial intelligence (AI) models come with significant energy consumption and environmental footprints, which can disproportionately impact certain (often marginalized) regions and hence create environmental inequity concerns. Moreover, concerns with social inequity have also emerged, as AI computing resources may not be equitably distributed across the globe and users from certain disadvantaged regions with severe resource constraints can consistently experience inferior model performance. Importantly, the inequity concerns that encompass both social and environmental dimensions still remain unexplored and have increasingly hindered responsible AI. In this paper, we leverage the spatial flexibility of AI inference workloads and propose equitable geographical load balancing (GLB) to fairly balance AI's regional social and environmental costs. Concretely, to penalize the disproportionately high social and environmental costs for equity, we introduce $L_q$ norms as novel regularization terms into the optimization objective for GLB decisions. Our empirical results based on real-world AI inference traces demonstrate that while the existing GLB algorithms result in disproportionately large social and environmental costs in certain regions, our proposed equitable GLB can fairly balance AI's negative social and environmental costs across all the regions.

David Wichner, Jeffrey Wishart, Jason Sergent et al.

Safety Management Systems (SMSs) have been used in many safety-critical industries and are now being developed and deployed in the automated driving system (ADS)-equipped vehicle (AV) sector. Industries with decades of SMS deployment have established frameworks tailored to their specific context. Several frameworks for an AV industry SMS have been proposed or are currently under development. These frameworks borrow heavily from the aviation industry although the AV and aviation industries differ in many significant ways. In this context, there is a need to review the approach to develop an SMS that is tailored to the AV industry, building on generalized lessons learned from other safety-sensitive industries. A harmonized AV-industry SMS framework would establish a single set of SMS practices to address management of broad safety risks in an integrated manner and advance the establishment of a more mature regulatory framework. This paper outlines a proposed SMS framework for the AV industry based on robust taxonomy development and validation criteria and provides rationale for such an approach. Keywords: Safety Management System (SMS), Automated Driving System (ADS), ADS-Equipped Vehicle, Autonomous Vehicles (AV)

I. Dini, A. Mancusi

In recent years, numerous reports have described bioactive peptides (biopeptides)/hydrolysates produced from various food sources. Biopeptides are considered interesting for industrial application since they show numerous functional properties (e.g., anti-aging, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties) and technological properties (e.g., solubility, emulsifying, and foaming). Moreover, they have fewer side effects than synthetic drugs. Nevertheless, some challenges must be overcome before their administration via the oral route. The gastric, pancreatic, and small intestinal enzymes and acidic stomach conditions can affect their bioavailability and the levels that can reach the site of action. Some delivery systems have been studied to avoid these problems (e.g., microemulsions, liposomes, solid lipid particles). This paper summarizes the results of studies conducted on biopeptides isolated from plants, marine organisms, animals, and biowaste by-products, discusses their potential application in the nutricosmetic industry, and considers potential delivery systems that could maintain their bioactivity. Our results show that food peptides are environmentally sustainable products that can be used as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory agents in nutricosmetic formulations. Biopeptide production from biowaste requires expertise in analytical procedures and good manufacturing practice. It is hoped that new analytical procedures can be developed to simplify large-scale production and that the authorities adopt and regulate use of appropriate testing standards to guarantee the population’s safety.

Lancelot Maphosa, Aaron Preston, Mark F. Richards

Lentil, an important pulse crop in Australia, is sown soon after the onset of autumn rains and grows mainly under rainfed conditions. This study examined lentil phenological development, growth and grain yield under different sowing dates and environments in New South Wales (NSW). Eight lentil varieties were phenotyped over two years and four sowing times in southern NSW (Leeton, Wagga Wagga and Yanco (one year)) and central western NSW (Trangie). Time of sowing affected important agronomic traits, with a delay in sowing decreasing time to flowering and podding, biomass accumulation, plant height and position of bottom pod. Sowing earlier or later than optimum decreased grain yield. Yield was mainly determined by the number of pods and seeds per plant, with minimal impact from seed weight. Overall, yields were higher in favorable environments such Leeton experiment which received more water compared to the other sites which received less water. Averaged across sowing dates, the slower maturing PBA Greenfield was lower yielding whilst fast maturing varieties such as PBA Bolt and PBA Blitz yielded higher. PBA Jumbo2 is less sensitive to environmental interaction and thus broadly adapted to the diverse environments. Optimum sowing time was identified as the end of April to mid-May.