Summary

Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment. Today, it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems. Environmental studies are incorporating more of the social sciences in order to understand human relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. This entry collection features information about design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.

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Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing and Circular Economy
Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as a disruptive and powerful tool for industrial systems in the Industry 4.0 era by helping businesses flourish in the contemporary dynamic competitive landscape. However, their achievements and development highly rely on “take-make-waste” linear business models, which come, all too often, to the detriment of the environment. Hence, a shift to Circular Economy (CE) practices promoting the acceleration of the transition to resource-efficient systems and the minimization of environmental degradation is now more imperative than ever. 
  • 1.6K
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Polymer Membranes in Contamination Situations
Depending on the type of contamination, various methods are used, including sorption, biodegradation, separation, or ion exchange processes in which membranes play an important role. The type of membrane is selected in respect of both the environment and the type of neutralized pollutants.
  • 606
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Nanoparticles for Biogas Producers
Nanotechnology has an increasingly large impact on a broad scope of biotechnological, pharmacological and pure technological applications. The novel notion of dosing ions using modified nanoparticles can be used to progress up biogas production in oxygen free digestion processes. 
  • 811
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Acoustic Properties of Natural-fiber-based Composites
Recent advancement in controlling noise through sound absorption provides an opportunity to investigate various porous materials including fiber-based composites. Natural-fiber-based composites exhibit relatively good sound absorption capability due to their porous structure. Surface modification by alkali treatment can enhance the sound absorption performance. These materials can be used in buildings and interiors for efficient sound insulation. Natural-fiber-based composites have advantages such as high abrasive resistance, low emission of toxic fumes with heat, high specific strength, light weight, low cost, and eco-friendliness. Very rapid growth has been observed in the innovations and use of natural-fiber-based materials and composites for acoustic applications.
  • 3.9K
  • 24 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Land Change in Ethiopian Basins
Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes analysis is one of the most useful methodologies to understand how the land was used in the past years, what types of detections are to be expected in the future, as well as the driving forces and processes behind these changes. In Ethiopia, Africa, the rapid variations of LULC observed in the last decades are mainly due to population pressure, resettlement programs, climate change, and other human- and nature-induced driving forces. Anthropogenic activities are the most significant factors adversely changing the natural status of the landscape and resources, which exerts unfavourable and adverse impacts on the environment and livelihood. The main goal of the present work is to review previous studies, discussing the spatiotemporal LULC changes in Ethiopian basins, to find out common points and gaps that exist in the current literature, to be eventually addressed in the future. A total of 25 articles, published from 2011 to 2020, were selected and reviewed, focusing on LULC classification using ArcGIS and ERDAS imagine software by unsupervised and maximum likelihood supervised classification methods. Key informant interview, focal group discussions, and collection of ground truth information using ground positioning systems for data validation were the major approaches applied in most of the studies. All the analysed research showed that, during the last decades, Ethiopian lands changed from natural to agricultural land use, waterbody, commercial farmland, and built-up/settlement. Some parts of forest land, grazing land, swamp/wetland, shrubland, rangeland, and bare/ rock out cropland cover class changed to other LULC class types, mainly as a consequence of the increasing anthropogenic pressure. 
  • 864
  • 15 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Black Fungi and Hydrocarbons
Environmental pollution with alkylbenzene hydrocarbons such as toluene is a recurring phenomenon. Their toxicity and harmful effect on people and the environment drive the search for sustainable removal techniques such as bioremediation, which is based on the microbial metabolism of xenobiotic compounds.
  • 696
  • 11 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Copper Chrome Arsenate Water-Borne Solution
Copper chrome arsenate (CCA) water-borne solution used to make timber is highly resistant to pests and fungi, in particular, wood products designed for outdoor use. Nowadays, CCA is a restricted chemical product in most countries, since potential environmental and health risks were reported due to dermal contact with CCA residues from treated structures and the surrounding soils. However, large quantities of CCA-treated timber are still in use in framings, outdoor playground equipment, landscaping, building poles, jetty piles, and fencing structures around the world, thus CCA remains a source of pollutants to the environment and of increasing toxic metal/metalloid exposure (mainly in children). International efforts have been dedicated to the treatment of materials impregnated with CCA, however not only does some reuse of CCA-treated timber still occur, but also existing structures are leaking the toxic compounds into the environment, with impacts on the environment and animal and human health.
  • 1.4K
  • 10 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Antimicrobials and Food-Related Stresses
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation uses physical energy, and it is a non-thermal and non-chemical technology used by the food industry for liquid and solid surface decontamination, to control foodborne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms, as well as viruses and protozoa. UV radiations at short wavelengths, in the range of from 220 to 280 nm, result in physical damage to the nucleic acids and inhibit bacterial replication by induction of the formation of cyclobutene pyrimidine dimers, which blocks DNA replication and transcription, leading to cell death . However, the repair mechanism of UV damage, especially by photoreactivation, is a major disadvantage of UV disinfection .
  • 582
  • 10 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Synthetic Dyes
Synthetic dyes are commonly used in food products like soft drinks, vegetable sauces, jellies, etc. Most artificial dyes can cause cancer, therefore it is very important to develop sensors to detect them in food samples.
  • 18.9K
  • 09 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Molecular Microbial Community Analysis
The microbial diversity in anaerobic digestion (AD) is important because it affects process robustness. High-throughput sequencing offers high-resolution data regarding the microbial diversity and robustness of biological systems including AD; however, to understand the dynamics of microbial processes, knowing the microbial diversity is not adequate alone. Advanced meta-omic techniques have been established to determine the activity and interactions among organisms in biological processes like AD. Results of these methods can be used to identify biomarkers for AD states. This can aid a better understanding of system dynamics and be applied to producing comprehensive models for AD. 
  • 737
  • 08 Jun 2021
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