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Topic Review
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Agents
Combating chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats with novel solutions reduces disasters and accident risks and, at the same time, aids sustainability.
  • 527
  • 16 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Biosurfactants as Multifunctional Remediation Agents of Environmental Pollutants
Fuel and oil spills during the exploration, refining, and distribution of oil and petrochemicals are primarily responsible for the accumulation of organic pollutants in the environment. The reduction in contamination caused by hydrocarbons, heavy metals, oily effluents, and particulate matter generated by industrial activities and the efficient recovery of oil at great depths in an environmentally friendly way pose a challenge, as recovery and cleaning processes require the direct application of surface-active agents, detergents, degreasers, or solvents, often generating other environmental problems due to the toxicity and accumulation of these substances. Thus, the application of natural surface-active agents is an attractive solution. Due to their amphipathic structures, microbial surfactants solubilize oil through the formation of small aggregates (micelles) that disperse in water, with numerous applications in the petroleum industry. Biosurfactants have proven their usefulness in solubilizing oil trapped in rock, which is a prerequisite for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Biosurfactants are also important biotechnological agents in anti-corrosion processes, preventing incrustations and the formation of biofilms on metallic surfaces, and are used in formulations of emulsifiers/demulsifiers, facilitate the transport of heavy oil through pipelines, and have other innovative applications in the oil industry. The use of natural surfactants can reduce the generation of pollutants from the use of synthetic detergents or chemical solvents without sacrificing economic gains for the oil industry.
  • 387
  • 15 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Comprehensive Flood Risk Assessment
A comprehensive assessment of flood risk requires a step-by-step analysis, starting with hydrometeorological examinations of runoff and flow, followed by an assessment of the vulnerability of those at risk.
  • 653
  • 15 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Energy and Nutrients’ Recovery from Contaminated Food Products
Mycotoxins’ contamination of food products is a well-known issue that is gaining interest nowadays due to increasing contaminations that are also related to climate change. Considering the principles of Circular Economy, finding robust and reliable strategies for the decontamination and valorisation of mycotoxin-contaminated products becomes mandatory. Anaerobic digestion (AD) and composting appear as promising biological treatments to degrade mycotoxins and allow for recovering energy (i.e., biogas production) and materials (i.e., nutrients from digestate and/or compost). 
  • 334
  • 14 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Transfer of Natural Radionuclides in Terrestrial Food Chains
From the radiation protection point of view, less important natural radionuclides are 238U, 226Ra, 40K, and Th isotopes. However, 238U is a long-lived (t½ = 4.5 × 109 a) alpha emitter whose chemical toxicity exceeds its radiological toxicity. Although isotope 238U is not considered to cause significant radiation exposure, it is still the mother nuclide of a whole uranium decay series, producing isotopes of astatine, bismuth, lead, polonium, protactinium, radium, radon, thallium, and thorium while decaying. 40K also has a very long half-life (t½ = 1.28 × 109 a).
  • 411
  • 14 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Hospital Wastewater Treatment Processes
Hospital wastewater contains a considerably higher concentration of drug residues (antibiotics, β-receptor blockers, analgesics, etc.) than municipal wastewater. Each hospital wastewater treatment process has its own merits, but combinatory processes frequently achieve higher levels of treatment effectiveness.
  • 679
  • 14 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation is defined as the use of plant species as a means of purifying polluted soil, water, and air. The term derives from the Greek word phyto (“plant”) and the Latin word remedium (“to correct or remove an evil”). Phytoremediation is a more economically feasible and efficient remediation option than other techniques, such as washing, flushing, or solidification.
  • 1.1K
  • 13 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Morphological Effects of Sodium Salinity on Rice
Sodium salinity negatively affects and reduces yields in international agricultural systems. This stress decreases crop growth and development, causing tissue death, flowering abortion, and senescence of the fertilized embryo, and negatively affects enzymatic activity, protein synthesis, among other processes. Rice is a cereal of great international demand for its nutritional properties and its productivity is affected by the presence of salts in agricultural surfaces. The main factors that trigger the decrease in growth under salt stress are adverse changes in morphological structures, which undergo physiological changes due to salinity.
  • 404
  • 13 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Green and Low-Carbon Rural Development in China
Green and low-carbon rural development (GLRD) is becoming an important way to explore sustainable development in rural areas of China. It is significant for the sustainable development of the rural economy and of society to build a rural carbon sink system, advocate low-carbon emissions in rural areas, and promote the development of rural green industries and rural transformation.
  • 544
  • 13 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Secrets of the Astute Red Fox
An ecosystem’s health is based on a delicate balance between human, nonhuman animal, and environmental health. Any factor that leads to an imbalance in one of the components results in disease. There are several bioindicators that allow people to evaluate the status of ecosystems. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes, Linnaeus, 1758) has the widest world distribution among mammals. It is highly adaptable, lives in rural and urban areas, and has a greatly diverse diet. Being susceptible to environmental pollution and zoonotic agents, red foxes may act as sentinels to detect environmental contaminants, and climatic changes and to prevent and control outbreaks of emerging or re-emerging zoonosis. This entry present the information that is related to the red fox as a sentinel of human, animal, and environmental health.
  • 664
  • 13 Feb 2023
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