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Topic Review
Water–Energy–Food Nexus Research in Africa
The nexus of water, energy and food (hereafter WEF nexus) is undoubtedly complex, yet critical, for it mediates numerous issues that humankind faces today. These three resource systems are intimately interlinked and essential to the livelihoods of mankind, whereby actions in one sector are likely to have reciprocal impacts on other sectors, resulting in conflicts or competition.
  • 914
  • 12 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Roadkills for Monitor Raccoon Dog Populations
The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is a highly invasive species, therefore knowledge regarding the population size, trends and spatial distribution is important for species assessment and for the planning of control measures. And the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is one of the most frequently killed species on Lithuanian roads.
  • 914
  • 12 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Daisyworld
Daisyworld, a computer simulation, is a hypothetical world orbiting a star whose radiant energy is slowly increasing or decreasing. It is meant to mimic important elements of the Earth-Sun system, and was introduced by James Lovelock and Andrew Watson in a paper published in 1983 to illustrate the plausibility of the Gaia hypothesis. In the original 1983 version, Daisyworld is seeded with two varieties of daisy as its only life forms: black daisies and white daisies. White petaled daisies reflect light, while black petaled daisies absorb light. The simulation tracks the two daisy populations and the surface temperature of Daisyworld as the sun's rays grow more powerful. The surface temperature of Daisyworld remains almost constant over a broad range of solar output.
  • 914
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Technological Innovation for Climate Change Mitigation
}} Climate change has worsened at the hands of human activity for centuries, and many scientific efforts have been made since the first political acknowledgment. In order to avoid the ongoing and potential impacts of climate change, mitigation technologies have been developed in order to adapt to the issue, each invention belonging to one of four specific groups of effort. These groups include energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy (RE), nuclear power/energy (NE), and carbon capture storage (CCS). However, concerns regarding mitigating and adapting to climate change commonly have a priority focus on the groups of carbon capture storage and renewable energy efforts. Traditionally, areas of western civilization around the world have the resources and finances to successfully develop and maintain technological mitigators to climate change. The research and development of these technologies require funding and incur high costs. There is a global inconsistency in producing these inventions, leaving developing countries without the means to defend themselves against the issue of climate change. Ironically, some of these areas are powerless enough while being the most inflicted by climate change in the world. Climate change was mentioned as early as 1896 by Swedish chemist, Svante Arrhenius. The topic did not emerge as a political issue until the 1950s. Public policy is its own actor in the business of climate innovations through its control over the activity of emitting and reducing pollution inventions. Predominantly, legislature works to control the innovations particularly through placing restrictions on the amount of pollution that can be produced, and time crunches on when certain changes by companies using polluting inventions need to be completed by. It is up to the state that is implementing policy and the pollution-contributing businesses to work towards the implemented legal requirements in order to reach environmental goals by a set date.
  • 913
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Community-Based Organisations in Post-Disaster Transformative Adaptation
Disasters result where hazards and vulnerabilities intersect. The concept of vulnerability itself is mainly a social construct and the extent to which this can be overcome while transforming disaster-prone systems has often been emphasised in the critical hazard literature. However, the extent to which community-based organisations contribute to post-disaster transformation at the community level remains unexamined. 
  • 912
  • 28 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Russian Arctic Permafrost Degradation Effects Public Life
There are more than 200 Siberian anthrax cattle burial grounds in the Russian permafrost regions. Permafrost degradation poses the risks of thawing of frozen carcasses of the infected animals and propagation of infectious diseases. Permafrost degradation leads to infiltration of toxic waste in the environment. Such waste contains mercury, which migrates into the rivers and forms methylmercury (MeHg) in fish. Other risks associated with permafrost degradation include damage to the existing social infrastructure (housing, health-care facilities, roads, etc.).
  • 912
  • 24 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Key Subsurface Policies in CO2 Geological Storage
One promising option for reducing carbon emissions is the deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies (CCUS) to achieve climate goals. However, for large-scale deployment of underground carbon storage, it is essential to develop technically sound, safe, and cost-effective CO2 injection and well control strategies. This involves sophisticated balancing of various factors such as subsurface engineering policies, technical constraints, and economic trade-offs. Optimization techniques are the best tools to manage this complexity and ensure that CCUS projects are economically viable while maintaining safety and environmental standards.
  • 912
  • 30 May 2023
Topic Review
Zeolite Types Used in Catalytic Methane Combustion
The emission of methane leads to the increase in the methane concentration in the atmosphere, which not only wastes resources but also intensifies the greenhouse effect and brings about serious environmental problems. Catalytic combustion can completely convert methane into carbon dioxide and water at low temperatures. However, the catalytic activities of the conventional supported palladium catalysts (e.g., Pd/Al2O3 and Pd/ZrO2) are easy to decrease or the two catalysts can even be deactivated under actual harsh reaction conditions (high temperatures, steam- and sulfur dioxide-containing atmospheres, etc.). Noble metal catalysts supported on zeolites with ordered pores and good thermal stability have attracted much attention. 
  • 903
  • 08 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Air Quality, Pollution Perception, and Residents’ Health
Environmental and resident health issues associated with air pollution are an area of growing concern for both policy officials and the general public. China has been accelerating the construction of a Beautiful China and a Healthy China, with the aim of protecting and improving the environment and ensuring public health.
  • 903
  • 22 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Bacterial Plant Biostimulants
Plant biostimulants are an important tool for modern agriculture as part of an integrated crop management (ICM) system, helping make agriculture more sustainable and resilient. Plant biostimulants contain substance(s) and/or microorganisms whose function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere is to stimulate natural processes to enhance plant nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, biocontrol, and crop quality.
  • 902
  • 09 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Past and Future of Permafrost Monitoring
Changes in the thermal state of permafrost under the influence of climatic variations have occurred over the years, but have not reached their maximum. This circumstance significantly increases the risks in fuel and energy complex stability. Everywhere in the Russian Arctic, there is a loss of the bearing capacity in the bases of buildings and structures. The vast majority of the permafrost data are outdated and need to be actualized in the formation of a unified monitoring system. The development of the fuel and energy complex in the Russian Arctic complements the impact of background climate change. As a result of the joint effect of climate warming and large-scale man-made impacts on permafrost, a cumulative effect arises. Its consequences critically accelerate the loss of the stability of frozen foundations, which leads to major accidents of natural–technical systems.
  • 900
  • 26 May 2022
Topic Review
The Metabolism of Islands
Islands are hotspots of biocultural diversity, and home to 600 million people that depend on one-sixth of the earth’s total area, including the surrounding oceans, for their subsistence. Today, they are on the frontlines of climate change and facean existential crisis. Islands are, however, potential “hubs of innovation” and are uniquely positioned to be leaders in sustainability and climate action. In this entry, we introduce key concepts of socio-metabolic research (SMR) and its relevance to island sustainability. SMR suggests that islands can build system resilience by reconfiguring resource-use patterns, and achieve a high quality of life at the lowest environmental costs.
  • 898
  • 01 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Coliphages in Urban Wastewater Treatments
There is an urgent need to control the fate of fecal microorganisms in wastewater to avoid the negative health consequences of releasing treated effluents into surface waters (rivers, lakes, etc.) or marine coastal water. On the other hand, the measurement of bacterial indicators yields insufficient information to gauge the human health risk associated with viral infections. It would therefore seem advisable to include a viral indicator—for example, somatic coliphages—to monitor the functioning of wastewater treatments.
  • 898
  • 08 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Ecological–Health Risk Assessments of Copper in the Sediments
The ecological and children’s HRA were assessed in all CCDITS (Cited Cu Data in The Sediments). Generally, local point Cu sources (8%) and lithogenic sources were the main controlling factors of Cu concentrations. 
  • 897
  • 26 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Exploring the Road toward Environmental Sustainability
Despite the fact that China’s economy has grown swiftly since the reform and opening up, the problem of environmental degradation in China has become increasingly significant. Specifically, renewable energy consumption and oil rent contribute to environmental sustainability because of their negative effects on greenhouse gas emissions. On the contrary, economic growth and natural resources hinder environmental sustainability due to their positive effects on greenhouse gas emissions.
  • 895
  • 08 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Surface Seeding of Wheat
The surface seeding (SS) method was introduced to manage agro-ecosystems for sustaining productivity and increasing farmers’ profits, while sustaining the natural resources.
  • 892
  • 22 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Biosafety of Genome Editing Applications
In the European Union plants developed by novel genomic techniques for directed mutagenesis are have to undergo an Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) prior to release or placing on the market. However, specific guidance for such an ERA is still lacking. In this review we discuss the limited suitability of general denominators of risk/safety to predict the risks associated with individual genome edited (GE) plants and argue that there is no safety by default for whole groups of GE applications encompassing different individual GE organisms. We suggest integrating the following two sets of considerations into the ERA to address particular characteristics of GE plants: considerations related to the traits developed by GE and considerations addressing the assessment of method-related unintended effects, e.g. due to off-target modifications. In conclusion, we recommend that further specific guidance for the ERA and monitoring should be developed to facilitate a focused assessment approach for GE plants. 
  • 890
  • 08 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Agri-Environmental Indicators and Stakeholders’ Assessment of Their Quality
The degree to which economic goals have been prioritized over environmental and social objectives has caused dissatisfaction with conventional agricultural practices and stimulated the adoption of sustainable farming methods. One way to consider the multidimensionality of sustainable agriculture is to refer to indicators, more precisely, to agri-environmental indicators (AEIs). 
  • 890
  • 01 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Radon Risk Perception, Awareness and Knowledge
Radon is a natural radioactive gas that is present in buildings and is the second cause of lung cancer after smoking. Risk perception has been studied from multiple perspectives, including social studies, anthropology, and medical disciplines, with psychology playing a primary role. Two main dimensions are involved in risk perception: a cognitive dimension, related to knowledge and understanding of risk, and an emotional dimension, which includes feelings; both are components of the reaction to risks, representations of immediate and/or future consequences and their implications, and how people decide how to behave accordingly. Perceived risk is therefore quantifiable and predictable: the psychometric paradigm has helped to clarify how certain elements and characteristics are specifically influential in people’s perception of the dangerousness of an activity, such as controllability, voluntariness, threat to future generations, and responsibility. The research for the implementation of evidence-based radon communication programs is progressing rapidly. Many countries have issued regulations or recommendations to ensure that radon concentration levels do not exceed certain threshold values. Following the results of numerous epidemiological studies conducted two decades earlier, in 2009 the World Health Organization proposed a reference level of 100 Bq m−3 to minimize health risks from indoor radon, adding that if this level could not be achieved due to country-specific conditions, the chosen reference level should not exceed 300 Bq m−3. According to the 2013 Euratom Directive, radon is an indoor pollutant monitored in workplaces and homes, with established limits and exposure control obligations but exposure continues to be very high in some situations.
  • 889
  • 31 Aug 2022
Topic Review
ENM/NPs and Marine Safety
The application of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in marine environmental remediation gained increasing attention. Due to their large surface area and high reactivity, ENMs offer the potential for the efficient removal of pollutants from environmental matrices with better performances compared to conventional techniques.
  • 888
  • 29 Apr 2021
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