Blaabjergstafford1512

The Bhagirathi-Hooghly estuary represents one of the most populated estuaries in the Indian subcontinent with dense settlements along its course. The concomitant high anthropogenic influences and enhancement of nutrient load due to uncontrolled discharges from non-point source in monsoon play important role in habitat variability and consequential changes in the water quality of the estuary. Even though such nutrient loadings are expected to cause significant changes in the ecosystem functioning, a documentation of the habitat heterogeneity has largely remained unavailable from this important yet unmonitored estuary. Thus, the present work aims at assessment of water quality and trophic status of the habitat by application of a combination of abiotic and phytoplankton-specific indices as recommended by different international and national authorities. Results suggest that water quality deteriorated during periods of seasonal precipitation due to enhanced nutrient loadings that culminated in altering the trophic status of habitat. Comparisons with regard to international standards further corroborated the influence of seasonal precipitation on water quality and trophic status of the habitat. Phytoplankton functional groups largely reflected the changing nature of the habitat well, with dominance of those taxa that are more persistent under warm, nutrient replete shallow euphotic depths of the habitat. These findings further suggest that it is essential to regularly monitor the health of this estuarine ecosystem to as to sustain the different life forms that will be essential for the livelihood of people in this area.Neodymium (Nd) potentially threatens ecological equilibrium for its wide usage in industries. In this study, the accumulation and effect of Nd on roots were investigated in the rice seedlings (Oryza sativa L.) exposed to different concentrations of Nd (0, 1, 10, 100, and 1000 μM). The toxic effect of Nd on rice growth was observed at the higher concentration, but the positive effects were found at the lower concentration. The accumulation of Nd was present in six different chemical forms, and the insoluble phosphate and oxalate Nd were the major forms of Nd in the roots. In addition, Nd was accumulated in the soluble fractions, organelles, and cell walls of rice seedlings, and the root cell wall was a major Nd sink site. The result of Fourier transform infrared spectrometer spectral analysis indicated that the functional groups of -OH and C-OH were the major binding sites of Nd in the cell wall of roots. Moreover, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) were significantly increased with the increase of Nd concentration. The enhanced antioxidant capacity also played an important role in Nd detoxification of rice seedlings. In all, the results indicated that forming of inactive oxalate or phosphate and efficient sequestration into the root cell wall was a key process in Nd accumulation and detoxification of rice seedlings.Practically, 12% of used dyes are excluded as waste in the mobile aqueous environment. Methyl orange (MO), an industrial azo dye, is known to be carcinogenic. Accordingly, this work was engaged to fabrication of a high-efficiency visible light photocatalysts based on Ag-Alginate/Chitosan-coated MgO nanocomposite beads. MgO and Ag were prepared via precipitation and γ-radiation reduction technique as a green physical one, respectively. The degradation mechanisms depended on catalytic reduction by means of sodium borohydride/Ag and photooxidative degradation. XRD proved the periclase crystalline form of MgO of size 20 nm and the formation of face-centered cubic silver crystals of size 15 nm. The degradation yield varied directly with time, MgO, and dye concentration until certain limit. Five and twenty minutes were enough to get clear solution of MO (30 and 15 ppm, respectively) while 60 min was required to achieve the same target for 60 ppm MO solution. The catalysts showed high efficiency for MO of high concentration. The incorporation of Ag into catalytic beads could support both mechanisms as it could elevate the degradation efficiency up to 50% and save the time to a great extent. Thus, this carrier fruitfully converted wastewater into an effluent that can be repaid to the water cycle with minimal strike on the ecosystem.The water scarcity and energy crises are major challenges, particularly for South Asian developing countries. Wastewater resource recovery always remained an untapped potential for South Asian countries, especially in Pakistan. Globally, municipal wastewater's global generation rate is about 331 km3/year; only a small proportion is treated and safely reused. Wastewater also has high energy content and can be greatly productive, whereas most of the wastewater treatment plants currently employed in developing regions are non-functional or taking high energy inputs. Many global level studies are being conducted for energy use reduction and the production of renewable energy from wastewater. Tofacitinib In this review, installation of wastewater treatment plants is suggested in the context of economic and environmental feasibility for South Asian developing countries. Multiple factors showed the need for and high potential to installation of wastewater treatment plants for providing clean water under sustainable development goals and further to recover valuable contents from municipal wastewater. The tremendous need for infrastructure development became obvious to deliver clean water to communities that are using wastewater directly or indirectly for various purposes. Based on technical grounds, economic, social, and environmental challenges can be tackled with viable wastewater treatment plant design options in each country context. With each step of wastewater treatment, control strategies would minimize energy use and enhanced resource recovery will reduce pressure on the current natural resource base. Overall, the cost assessment, funding opportunities, research and development, and social acceptability remained the big factors to energy generation from municipal wastewater in South Asia. Graphical presentation of the study.