Spatial distribution of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) and their accumulation in mangrove Avicennia officinalis L. were studied along 8 locations in and around Sundarban mangrove wetland, India. ...Among 8 locations, S3 (Chemaguri) and S5 (Ghushighata) showed higher concentration of PTMs (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) characterized by higher enrichment factors (3.45–10.03), geo-accumulation indices (0.04–1.22), contamination factors (1.14–3.51) and pollution load indices (1.3–1.45) indicating progressive deterioration of estuarine quality and considerable ecotoxicological risk. Metal concentration in A. officinalis leaves showed significant correlation with sediment metals implying elevated level of bioaccumulation. Significant statistical correlation between photosynthetic pigments (Chlorophyll a, Chlorophyll b), antioxidant response (free radical scavenging and reducing ability) and stress enzymatic activity (Peroxidase, Catalase, Super-oxide dismutase) of A. officinalis with increasing metal concentration in the contaminated locations reflects active detoxification mechanism of the plant. The study indicates the potentiality of biomonitoring metal pollution using studied biochemical markers in mangrove habitats.
•Accumulation of potentially toxic metals in sediment and mangrove•S3 & S5 show deteriorating sediment quality with considerable ecotoxicological risk.•Correlation of photosynthetic pigment, antioxidative & stress enzyme activity with toxic metals•Studied biochemical markers can be used to assess metal pollution in mangrove habitat.
•BFRs were analysed in plastics from household waste, virgin and recycled plastics.•Half (50%) of household waste plastics contained BFRs.•Concentrations up to 26,000,000ngTBBPA/g were measured in ...some recycled plastics.•Widespread presence of BFRs indicated unintended addition or chemical degradation.
Flame retardants are chemicals vital for reducing risks of fire and preventing human casualties and property losses. Due to the abundance, low cost and high performance of bromine, brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have had a significant share of the market for years. Physical stability on the other hand, has resulted in dispersion and accumulation of selected BFRs in the environment and receiving biota. A wide range of plastic products may contain BFRs. This affects the quality of waste plastics as secondary resource: material recycling may potentially reintroduce the BFRs into new plastic product cycles and lead to increased exposure levels, e.g. through use of plastic packaging materials. To provide quantitative and qualitative data on presence of BFRs in plastics, we analysed bromophenols (tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), dibromophenols (2,4- and 2,6-DBP) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP)), hexabromocyclododecane stereoisomers (α-, β-, and γ-HBCD), as well as selected polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in samples of household waste plastics, virgin and recycled plastics. A considerable number of samples contained BFRs, with highest concentrations associated with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS, up to 26,000,000ngTBBPA/g) and polystyrene (PS, up to 330,000ng∑HBCD/g). Abundancy in low concentrations of some BFRs in plastic samples suggested either unintended addition in plastic products or degradation of higher molecular weight BFRs. The presence of currently restricted flame retardants (PBDEs and HBCD) identified in the plastic samples illustrates that circular material flows may be contaminated for extended periods. The screening clearly showed a need for improved documentation and monitoring of the presence of BFRs in plastic waste routed to recycling.
•Explore the green technology innovation efficiency in energy-intensive industries.•A two-stage DEA with shared and additional inputs is used to evaluate efficiency.•Explore the promotion path of ...green technology innovation efficiency with FsQCA.•Green technology innovation efficiency within energy-intensive industries varies.•Multi-factor combinatorial efficiency improvement paths vary by size of enterprise.
Energy-intensive industries are high-energy-consumption and high-pollution industries, and their green technology innovation efficiency deserves in-depth investigation. This paper explores the efficiency of green technology innovation and its combinatorial improvement path in energy-intensive industries from 2005-2015 with a two-stage data envelopment analysis model based on shared and additional input resources and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results indicate that (1) the overall efficiency of green technology innovation in energy-intensive industries as a whole showed a fluctuating upward trend from 2005 to 2015, benefiting from the improvement of technology R&D efficiency and achievement conversion efficiency; (2) there is high industry heterogeneity in the green technology innovation capacity of energy-intensive industries, and the difference in the average efficiency in green technology innovation between the industries with the strongest innovation strength and that with the weakest is as high as 0.615; (3) small-scale enterprises’ strategies should be based on foreign scientific research support or environmental regulations, supplemented by a small amount of industry-university-research cooperation. Large-scale enterprises’ strategies should be based on foreign scientific research support and industry-university-research cooperation, supplemented by appropriate environmental regulations and government investment. This study provides a reference for the formulation of green technology innovation development strategies for energy-intensive industries.
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Existing approaches for multivariate functional principal component analysis are restricted to data on the same one-dimensional interval. The presented approach focuses on multivariate functional ...data on different domains that may differ in dimension, such as functions and images. The theoretical basis for multivariate functional principal component analysis is given in terms of a Karhunen-Loève Theorem. For the practically relevant case of a finite Karhunen-Loève representation, a relationship between univariate and multivariate functional principal component analysis is established. This offers an estimation strategy to calculate multivariate functional principal components and scores based on their univariate counterparts. For the resulting estimators, asymptotic results are derived. The approach can be extended to finite univariate expansions in general, not necessarily orthonormal bases. It is also applicable for sparse functional data or data with measurement error. A flexible R implementation is available on CRAN. The new method is shown to be competitive to existing approaches for data observed on a common one-dimensional domain. The motivating application is a neuroimaging study, where the goal is to explore how longitudinal trajectories of a neuropsychological test score covary with FDG-PET brain scans at baseline. Supplementary material, including detailed proofs, additional simulation results, and software is available online.
The aim of this study was to determine the levels of trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in plastic pellets collected from two sandy beaches on the island of Vis, Croatia. A total of 92 ...pellets in a sediment volume of 3965 mL were collected at the investigated sampling sites. Concentrations of pellets in sediment samples ranged from 6 to 36 particles dm−3 of wet sediment. Mean particle weight of the collected beached pellets ranged from 17 mg to 31 mg. Trace metal concentrations in plastic pellets were greater than the concentrations reported for seawater in the investigated area, which indicates that plastic pellets sorb metals from the marine environment. The adsorbed trace metals may enter the food chain due to incidental ingestion of microplastic particles by marine animals, which presents a potential human health risk due to consumption of seafood.
•Standing stocks of plastic pellets were assessed in surface sediments of two beaches on Vis island.•Trace metal levels (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) were determined in beached plastic pellets.•Investigated trace metals were detected in all of the studied samples.•Trace metal levels in plastic pellets were greater than those in the surrounding seawater.
Recently, the subsoils of ephemeral stream (arroyos) floodplains in the northern Chihuahuan Desert were discovered to contain large naturally occurring NO3− reservoirs (floodplain: ~38,000 kg ...NO3-N/ha; background: ~60 kg NO3-N/ha). These reservoirs may be mobilized through land use change or natural stream channel migration which makes differentiating between anthropogenic and natural groundwater NO3− sources challenging. In this study, the fate and sources of NO3− were investigated in an area with multiple NO3− sources such as accidental sewer line releases and sewage lagoons as well as natural reservoirs of subsoil NO3−. To differentiate sources, this study used a large suite of geochemical tools including δ15NNO3, δ18ONO3, δ15NN2, δ13CDIC, 14C, tritium (3H), dissolved gas concentrations, major ion chemistry, and contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) including artificial sweeteners. NO3− at sites with the highest concentrations (25 to 229 mg/L NO3-N) were determined to be largely sourced from naturally occurring subsoil NO3− based on δ15NNO3 (<8 ‰) and mass ratios of Cl−/Br− (〈100) and NO3−/Cl− (>1.5). Anthropogenic NO3− was deciphered using mass ratios of Cl−/Br− (>120) and NO3−/Cl− (<1), δ15NNO3 (>8 ‰), and CEC detections. Nitrogen isotope analyses indicated that denitrification is fairly limited in the field area. CEC were detected at 67 % of sites including 3H dead sites (<1 pCi/L) with low percent modern carbon-14 (PMC; <30 %). Local supply wells are 3H dead with low PMC; as 3H does not re-equilibrate and 14C is very slow to re-equilibrate during recirculation through infrastructure, sites with low PMC, 3H < 1 pCi/L, and CEC detections were interpreted as locations with substantial anthropogenic groundwater recharge. Neotame was used to identify locations of very recent (<15 years before present) or ongoing wastewater influxes to the aquifer. This work shows the important influence of naturally occurring subsoil NO3− reservoirs on groundwater in arid regions and the major contribution of artificial recharge.
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•Major ions, isotopes, and CECs are used to decipher natural and anthropogenic NO3−.•Subsoil NO3− reservoirs in arroyo floodplains are major source of groundwater NO3−.•Artificial recharge in arid regions can be deciphered using 3H, 14C, and CECs.
A reference guide for applications of SEM using MplusStructural Equation Modeling: Applications Using Mplus is intended as both a teaching resource and a reference guide. Written in non-mathematical ...terms, this book focuses on the conceptual and practical aspects of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Basic concepts and examples of various SEM models are demonstrated along with recently developed advanced methods, such as mixture modeling and model-based power analysis and sample size estimate for SEM. The statistical modeling program, Mplus, is also featured and provides researchers with a flexible tool to analyze their data with an easy-to-use interface and graphical displays of data and analysis results.Key features:Presents a useful reference guide for applications of SEM whilst systematically demonstrating various advanced SEM models, such as multi-group and mixture models using Mplus.Discusses and demonstrates various SEM models using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data with both continuous and categorical outcomes.Provides step-by-step instructions of model specification and estimation, as well as detail interpretation of Mplusresults.Explores different methods for sample size estimate and statistical power analysis for SEM.By following the examples provided in this book, readers will be able to build their own SEM models using Mplus. Teachers, graduate students, and researchers in social sciences and health studies will also benefit from this book.
It has been recognized that wildfire, followed by large precipitation events, triggers both flooding and debris flows in mountainous regions. The ability to predict and mitigate these hazards is ...crucial in protecting public safety and infrastructure. A need for advanced modeling techniques was highlighted by re-evaluating existing prediction models from the literature. Data from 15 individual burn basins in the intermountain western United States, which contained 388 instances and 26 variables, were obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). After randomly selecting a subset of the data to serve as a validation set, advanced predictive modeling techniques, using machine learning, were implemented using the remaining training data. Tenfold cross-validation was applied to the training data to ensure nearly unbiased error estimation and also to avoid model over-fitting. Linear, nonlinear, and rule-based predictive models including naïve Bayes, mixture discriminant analysis, classification trees, and logistic regression models were developed and tested on the validation dataset. Results for the new non-linear approaches were nearly twice as successful as those for the linear models, previously published in debris flow prediction literature. The new prediction models advance the current state-of-the-art of debris flow prediction and improve the ability to accurately predict debris flow events in wildfire-prone intermountain western United States.
•Lyophilized powder from skin, pulp and seed of Solanum betaceum were investigated.•The nutritional composition was assessed by standard methods.•The extracts were evaluated on key enzymes to ...metabolic syndrome.•The main phenolics were rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid derivatives.•The phenolic-enriched extracts inhibited the α-glucosidase, α-amylase and lipase.
The aim of this work was to assess the nutritional and functional components of powder obtained by lyophilization of whole fruits, seeds, pulp and skin from chilto (Solanum betaceum Cav) cultivated in the ecoregion of Yungas, Argentina. The powders have low carbohydrate and sodium content and are a source of vitamin C, carotenoid, phenolics, potassium and fiber. The HPLC–ESI-MS/MS analysis of the fractions enriched in phenolics allowed the identification of 12 caffeic acid derivatives and related phenolics, 10 rosmarinic acid derivatives and 7 flavonoids. The polyphenols enriched extracts before and after simulated gastroduodenal digestion inhibited enzymes associated with metabolic syndrome, including α-glucosidase, amylase and lipase and exhibited antioxidant activity by different mechanisms. None of the analyzed fruit powders showed acute toxicity or genotoxicity. The powders from the three parts of S. betaceum fruit may be a potential functional food and the polyphenol enriched extract of seed and skin may have nutraceutical properties.
Clear cell sarcoma (CCS) of soft tissue is a rare sarcoma with morphologic similarities to malignant melanoma but a distinct genetic background including a chromosomal translocation, ...t(12;22)(q13;q12), or a resultant EWSR1-ATF1 fusion gene. In addition, the tumors occurring in the gastrointestinal tract may have a variant fusion gene EWSR1-CREB1. This study analyzed the clinicopathologic and molecular genetic features of 33 CCSs of soft tissue. The patients' ages ranged from 13 to 73 years (median, 30 y), and there was a male predominance (20 males, 13 females). The tumors were located in the deep soft tissues of the extremities (N=25) or in the trunk or limb girdles (N=8). The median tumor size was 4 cm (range, 1 to 15 cm). The tumor cells were either spindle or epithelioid, and they were arranged predominantly in a short fascicular (N=19) or a solid sheetlike growth pattern (N=14). Minor histologic variations included the existence of rhabdoid cells (N=8), bizarre pleomorphic cells (N=6), alveolar structures due to loss of cellular cohesion (N=3), and a seminomalike pattern (N=2). Tumor necrosis was evident in 14 tumors, and the mitotic activity ranged from 0 to 43 mitotic figures (MF)/10 high-power fields (HPF) (mean: 4 MF/10 HPF). Immunohistochemically, the tumors were consistently positive for S-100 protein (33/33) and variably or focally for HMB45 (32/33), microphthalmia transcription factor (26/32), Melan A (23/32), CD57 (25/33), bcl-2 (30/32), synaptophysin (14/32), CD56 (7/32), epithelial membrane antigen (12/33), cytokeratin (AE1/AE3) (1/32), CD34 (3/32), c-erbB-2 (10/32), c-kit (5/32), and c-met (5/32). alpha-Smooth muscle actin, desmin, and cytokeratin (CAM5.2) were negative. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using RNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues demonstrated transcripts of the EWSR1-ATF1 (31/33) or EWSR1-CREB1 fusion gene (2/33). In 26 cases with available clinical information, local recurrences and metastases developed in 2 and 15 patients, respectively. Ten patients were dead of the disease, and the overall survival rate was 63% at 5 years. However, no clinicopathologic or molecular variables associated with the patients' prognosis were identified. This study confirms that CCS is an aggressive soft tissue tumor with a melanocytic phenotype and wider morphologic variations than had been generally considered. In cases with unusual histologic findings, molecular detection of the EWSR1-ATF1/CREB1 fusion genes provides critical information regarding the diagnosis of the tumor.
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