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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2023) | Viewed by 40810

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Dr. Daniela Varrica

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Department Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM), Universiy of Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Interests: different aspects of environmental geochemistry; ranging from hydrogeochemistry to air; water and soil pollution in volcanic; mining and anthropic areas
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As an associate editor of the Environmental Science and Engineering section of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, I am pleased to announce the Special Issue "Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future". This Special Issue will be a collection of reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses from top researchers describing the cutting-edge development of a diverse set of topics related to the interaction between a healthy environment and a sustainable economy for a fairer society. Therefore, it is important to apply and develop engineering techniques with the help of environmental science knowledge to solve environmental problems such as pollution that produce negative impacts on public health in order to find solutions for risk prevention. Consequently, engineering and environmental science approaches to solutions are critical to keeping environmental systems healthy, and in the reduction in public health risks, such as the control, treatment, and prevention of contamination (e.g., water, air, soil), to reduce exposure to risks.

Environmental and engineering studies investigate, analyze, and predict with appropriate environmental models how exposure to hazardous materials occurs in various environments, in order to solve public health challenges by producing valuable analytical information involving public health prevention management and prevent exposure to risks to human well-being.

We hope you are interested in this topic and invite you to send a working title and a short abstract to our editorial team ([email protected]) for evaluation before submission. Please note that the selected documents will still be subject to thorough peer review.

We look forward to receiving your excellent work.

Dr. Daniela Varrica
Guest Editor

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Keywords

environmental pollution and remediation
environmental quality and treatment
environmental modeling and exposure or risk assessment
environmental engineering techniques in public health
environmental toxicological assessment
environmental systems and public health
environmental management and public health
environmental governance and public health

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 4541 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Correlations among Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Mobile Genetic Elements and Microbial Communities in Municipal Sewage Treatment Plants Revealed by High-Throughput Sequencing

by Fuzheng Zhao, Bo Wang, Kailong Huang, Jinbao Yin, Xuechang Ren, Zhu Wang and Xu-Xiang Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3593; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043593 - 17 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2600

Abstract

Municipal sewage treatment plants (MSTPs) are environmental pools for antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), which is cause for growing environmental-health concerns. In this study, the effects of different wastewater treatment processes on microbial antibiotic resistance in four MSTPs were investigated. PCR, q-PCR, and molecular cloning integrally indicated that the tetracycline resistance (tet) genes significantly reduced after activated-sludge treatment. Illumina high-throughput sequencing revealed that the broad-spectrum profile of ARGs and mobile element genes (MGEs) were also greatly decreased by one order of magnitude via activated sludge treatment and were closely associated with each other. Correlations between ARGs and bacterial communities showed that potential ARB, such as Acinetobacter, Bacteroides, and Cloaibacterium, were removed by the activated-sludge process. Sedimentation processes cannot significantly affect the bacterial structure, resulting in the relative abundance of ARGs, MGEs, and ARB in second-clarifier effluent water being similar to activated sludge. A comprehensive study of ARGs associated with MGEs and bacterial structure might be technologically guided for activated sludge design and operation in the MSTPs, to purposefully control ARGs carried by pathogenic hosts and mobility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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12 pages, 1255 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phytoremediation Competence of Composite Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Sediments by Intercropping Myriophyllum spicatum L. with Two Species of Plants

by Yidan Li, Yanyan Song, Jing Zhang and Yingxin Wan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3185; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043185 - 11 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1469

Abstract

A variety of remediation approaches have been applied to reduce the harm and diffusion of heavy metals in aquatic sediments; however, phytoremediation in co-contaminated soils is still not clear. In order to explore the phytoremediation of sediments contaminated by Cu and Pb, two submerged plants with different characteristics, Vallisneria natans and Hydrilla verticillata, were interplanted with Myriophyllum spicatum. By simulating a submerged plant ecological environment, medium-scale-simulated ecological remediation experiments were carried out. The results showed that the two planting patterns were effective in repairing the sediments in the Cu and Pb contaminated sediments. The intercropping of Myriophyllum spicatum and Vallisneria natans can be used as the plant stabilizer of Cu because of the TF > 1 and BCF < 1, and the intercropping with Hydrilla verticillata can regulate the enrichment efficiency of Myriophyllum spicatum. The removal rates of Cu and Pb in sediments reached 26.1% and 68.4%, respectively, under the two planting patterns. The risk grade of the restored sediments was RI < 150, indicating a low risk. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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15 pages, 1347 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Water Environment Characteristics and Water Quality Assessment of Water Source of Diversion System of Project from Hanjiang to Weihe River

by Wei Wu, Hang Chen, Sheng Xu, Ting Liu, Hao Wang, Gaoqing Li and Jiawei Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 2890; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042890 - 7 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1932

Abstract

The water source of the water diversion project from the Hanjiang River to the Weihe River is one of the most important drinking water sources in China. Its water quality is related to the water safety of the long-distance water diversion system from the Hanjiang to Weihe Rivers. In order to explore the spatiotemporal change trend of the water environment characteristics of the water source area and analyze the key factors that have a greater impact on it, this study collected 9 types of water environment physical and chemical parameters from 10 water quality monitoring sections from 2017 to 2019; the water environment characteristics of the water source area of the water diversion system from the Hanjiang River to the Weihe River were analyzed and evaluated by using the variance analysis method, the hierarchical cluster analysis method and the water quality identification index evaluation method. The results were as follows. (1) There was spatiotemporal heterogeneity in a number of physical and chemical parameters in the water body of the water source. In terms of time, the concentrations of COD_Mn, COD, BOD₅ and F⁻ were higher in the flood season (July–October) than in the non-flood season (November–June). The concentrations of DO, TP and TN in the non-flood season were higher than those in the flood season. Spatially, the concentration of physical and chemical parameters of the water body in the Huangjinxia Reservoir area was higher than that in the Sanhekou Reservoir area. (2) The water quality of the water source area was good. The comprehensive water quality reached the Class II water quality standard of surface water environmental quality. Time showed that the comprehensive water quality in the non-flood season was better than that in the flood season. Spatially, the overall water quality of the tributaries was better than that of the mainstream. TN is a key indicator that affects water quality. (3) The spatial and temporal differences in water quality in water source areas are mainly affected by factors such as rainfall, temperature and human activities. This study can provide a scientific and data basis for related research on maintaining and improving the quality of the ecological environment of the water source areas of the Hanjiang to Weihe River Water Diversion System. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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20 pages, 4580 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Immobilization of Magnetic Nanoparticles on Cellulosic Wooden Sawdust for Competitive Nudrin Elimination from Environmental Waters as a Green Strategy: Box–Behnken Design Optimization

by Manasik M. Nour, Maha A. Tony and Hossam A. Nabwey

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 15397; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215397 - 21 Nov 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1822

Abstract

The role of engineering in our society is not to just to continue creating chemicals, but sharing the responsibility for environmentally sound appropriate design of substances for a circular economy. Concerning this contemporary strategy, waste wooden sawdust (WSD) as a biobased by-product is augmented with magnetite (Mag) nanoparticles to meet the concept of cyclic application of resources in environmentally relevant photocatalytic reactions. The physical properties of the prepared WSD:Mag material were characterized to emphasis their structure and morphology by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), then the prepared catalyst was applied in augmentation with hydrogen peroxide as a type of photocatalyst in the form of Fenton’s reaction system to oxidize Nudrin pesticide in queues media. Twinned WSD:Mag has been verified to exhibit higher performance than pristine single-phase catalysts. System parameters, i.e., pH, hydrogen peroxide, catalyst dozing, and temperature, were studied to check their effect on the reaction activity. In the present study, further promotion of photocatalytic activity of twinned WSD:Mag was obtained by optimizing the process parameters at the optimal reaction time of 30 min. The optimal results investigated via Box–Behnken design regression model based on response surface mythology (RSM) showed that the photocatalytic activity of the twinned catalyst could reach 94% at pH 2.5 and 386 and 38 m/L of H₂O₂ and WSD:Mag, respectively. The regression coefficient and probability obtained from analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to check the adequacy of the applied model, and were 92% and 0.02, respectively. Additional confirmatory tests were carried out under optimum conditions for verification and agreed with the predicted values. Experimental data analysis revealed that the reaction is well fitted with the second-order reaction model. Thermodynamic parameters highlighted the oxidation reaction is non-spontaneous at high temperature and exothermic in nature and proceeds at a low activation energy barrier (31.46 kJ/mol). Catalyst recyclability was also checked, which confirmed catalyst sustainability and high removal rates (78%) after six cycles of use. This work introduces a new concept to design a promising environmentally benign photocatalyst with high potential for applicability to environmental remediation of agricultural effluents with a view to a circular economy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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22 pages, 4061 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Control and Supervision Requirements for Floating Hybrid Generator Systems

by Emilio García, Antonio Correcher, Eduardo Quiles, Fernando Tamarit and Francisco Morant

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12781; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912781 - 6 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1879

Abstract

This work presents a series of devices that generate renewable energy from the marine environment which, in recent years, have aroused increasing interest. In particular, the main types of floating wind generators and marine current turbines are described. Over time, some of these floating generators have evolved in various hybrid modalities, integrating different generation devices into the same system, wind turbines, marine current turbines, wave energy converters, etc., with the objective of multiplying their generation capacity and optimizing the investment made in the floating system. However, this hybridization offers, in some cases, an opportunity to address the problem of controlling the structural stability of the system. Such stability enhancement has been considered a major challenge since the early days of floating wind turbine design. With this objective, in this work, a specific solution is proposed, consisting of a floating hybrid system composed of a wind generation subsystem and a generation subsystem with two marine current turbines. This proposal allows the development of an integrated control system which deals simultaneously with the structural stability of the system and the optimization of the generation capacity. Additionally, other requirements are also highlighted relating to the achievement of economic viability objectives, considering the reliability and availability of the system in the particularly aggressive marine environment, where maintenance operations are especially costly. In this sense, a model of intelligent integration of the tasks of supervision, diagnosis, and predictive maintenance is proposed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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25 pages, 9416 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potential Toxicity Risk Assessment and Priority Control Strategy for PAHs Metabolism and Transformation Behaviors in the Environment

by Lei Zhao, Mengying Zhou, Yuanyuan Zhao, Jiawen Yang, Qikun Pu, Hao Yang, Yang Wu, Cong Lyu and Yu Li

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(17), 10972; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710972 - 2 Sep 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3090

Abstract

In this study, 16 PAHs were selected as the priority control pollutants to summarize their environmental metabolism and transformation processes, including photolysis, plant degradation, bacterial degradation, fungal degradation, microalgae degradation, and human metabolic transformation. Meanwhile, a total of 473 PAHs by-products generated during their transformation and degradation in different environmental media were considered. Then, a comprehensive system was established for evaluating the PAHs by-products’ neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, phytotoxicity, developmental toxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and endocrine-disrupting effect through molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, 3D-QSAR model, TOPKAT method, and VEGA platform. Finally, the potential environmental risk (phytotoxicity) and human health risks (neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, developmental toxicity, and endocrine-disrupting toxicity) during PAHs metabolism and transformation were comprehensively evaluated. Among the 473 PAH’s metabolized and transformed products, all PAHs by-products excluding ACY, CHR, and DahA had higher neurotoxicity, 152 PAHs by-products had higher immunotoxicity, and 222 PAHs by-products had higher phytotoxicity than their precursors during biological metabolism and environmental transformation. Based on the TOPKAT model, 152 PAH by-products possessed potential developmental toxicity, and 138 PAH by-products had higher genotoxicity than their precursors. VEGA predicted that 247 kinds of PAH derivatives had carcinogenic activity, and only the natural transformation products of ACY did not have carcinogenicity. In addition to ACY, 15 PAHs produced 123 endocrine-disrupting substances during metabolism and transformation. Finally, the potential environmental and human health risks of PAHs metabolism and transformation products were evaluated using metabolic and transformation pathway probability and degree of toxic risk as indicators. Accordingly, the priority control strategy for PAHs was constructed based on the risk entropy method by screening the priority control pathways. This paper assesses the potential human health and environmental risks of PAHs in different environmental media with the help of models and toxicological modules for the toxicity prediction of PAHs by-products, and thus designs a risk priority control evaluation system for PAHs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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17 pages, 1433 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Simulation Study on the Processes of Intra-Group Informal Interaction Affecting Workers’ Safety Behaviors

by Huihua Chen, Cong Chen, Hujun Li, Jianshe Zhang and Zengke Yang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10048; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610048 - 15 Aug 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2066

Abstract

The construction industry across the world is characterized by a high safety risk, and the occurrence of these safety accidents has led to substantial economic and social losses. The workers’ unsafe behaviors are considered to be a main cause. Thus, recently, scholars in the construction industry have shifted their attention to the investigation of the influencing factors (or antecedents) and their impact on workers’ safety behaviors (WSBs), hoping to provide insight into useful management policies. The existing literature has identified many society-level, cooperation-level, project-level, and individual-level concepts influencing WSB, but ignores the influence of intra-group informal interaction (IGII) on WSB. This study constructed a conceptual model for IGII, group knowledge sharing (GKS), and group identification (GI) to determine their influence on construction workers’ safety behaviors, and then conducted simulation analysis using the software of NetLogo. The results show that IGII, GKS, and GI can positively influence workers’ safety behaviors, and IGII can also positively influence WSB through GKS and GI. This study enriches the theoretical knowledge on the causation of construction workers’ safety behaviors, provides references for project managers to carry out proper safety management, and offers a theoretic foundation for the formulation of industry regulations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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Review

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25 pages, 2843 KiB

Open AccessReview

Cell Phone Radiation Exposure Limits and Engineering Solutions

by Paul Héroux, Igor Belyaev, Kent Chamberlin, Suleyman Dasdag, Alvaro Augusto Almeida De Salles, Claudio Enrique Fernandez Rodriguez, Lennart Hardell, Elizabeth Kelley, Kavindra Kumar Kesari, Erica Mallery-Blythe, Ronald L. Melnick, Anthony B. Miller, Joel M. Moskowitz and on behalf of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF)

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(7), 5398; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075398 - 4 Apr 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 15055

Abstract

In the 1990s, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) restricted its risk assessment for human exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) in seven ways: (1) Inappropriate focus on heat, ignoring sub-thermal effects. (2) Reliance on exposure experiments performed over very short times. (3) Overlooking time/amplitude characteristics of RFR signals. (4) Ignoring carcinogenicity, hypersensitivity, and other health conditions connected with RFR. (5) Measuring cellphone Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) at arbitrary distances from the head. (6) Averaging SAR doses at volumetric/mass scales irrelevant to health. (7) Using unrealistic simulations for cell phone SAR estimations. Low-cost software and hardware modifications are proposed here for cellular phone RFR exposure mitigation: (1) inhibiting RFR emissions in contact with the body, (2) use of antenna patterns reducing the Percent of Power absorbed in the Head (PPHead) and body and increasing the Percent of Power Radiated for communications (PPR), and (3) automated protocol-based reductions of the number of RFR emissions, their duration, or integrated dose. These inexpensive measures do not fundamentally alter cell phone functions or communications quality. A health threat is scientifically documented at many levels and acknowledged by industries. Yet mitigation of RFR exposures to users does not appear as a priority with most cell phone manufacturers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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20 pages, 1995 KiB

Open AccessReview

Biochar Facilitated Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer in Anaerobic Digestion to Alleviate Antibiotics Inhibition and Enhance Methanogenesis: A Review

by Kaoming Zhang, Yuepeng Deng, Zhiquan Liu, Yiping Feng, Chun Hu and Zhu Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2296; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032296 - 27 Jan 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3157

Abstract

Efficient conversion of organic waste into low-carbon biofuels such as methane through anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising technology to alleviate energy shortages. However, issues such as inefficient methane production and poor system stability remain for AD technology. Biochar-facilitated direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) has recently been recognized as an important strategy to improve AD performance. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanisms of biochar-facilitated DIET are still largely unknown. For this reason, this review evaluated the role of biochar-facilitated DIET mechanism in enhancing AD performance. First, the evolution of DIET was introduced. Then, applications of biochar-facilitated DIET for alleviating antibiotic inhibition and enhancing methanogenesis were summarized. Next, the electrochemical mechanism of biochar-facilitated DIET including electrical conductivity, redox-active characteristics, and electron transfer system activity was discussed. It can be concluded that biochar increased the abundance of potential DIET microorganisms, facilitated microbial aggregation, and regulated DIET-associated gene expression as a microbial mechanism. Finally, we also discussed the challenges of biochar in practical application. This review elucidated the role of DIET facilitated by biochar in the AD system, which would advance our understanding of the DIET mechanism underpinning the interaction of biochar and anaerobic microorganisms. However, direct evidence for the occurrence of biochar-facilitated DIET still requires further investigation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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19 pages, 1370 KiB

Open AccessReview

Influencing Factors on Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion around Buildings under the Combined Effect of Wind and Buoyancy—A Review

by Mei Wu, Guangwei Zhang, Liping Wang, Xiaoping Liu and Zhengwei Wu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12895; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912895 - 8 Oct 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2911

Abstract

With the rapid growth of populations worldwide, air quality has become an increasingly important issue related to the health and safety of city inhabitants. There are quite a few factors that contribute to urban air pollution; the majority of studies examining the issue are concerned with environmental conditions, building geometries, source characteristics and other factors and have used a variety of approaches, from theoretical modelling to experimental measurements and numerical simulations. Among the environmental conditions, solar-radiation-induced buoyancy plays an important role in realistic conditions. The thermal conditions of the ground and building façades directly affect the wind field and pollutant dispersion patterns in the microclimate. The coupling effect of wind and buoyancy on the urban environment are currently hot and attractive research topics. Extensive studies have been devoted to this field, some focused on the street canyon scale, and have found that thermal effects do not significantly affect the main airflow structure in the interior of the street canyon but strongly affect the wind velocity and pollutant concentration at the pedestrian level. Others revealed that the pollutant dispersion routes can be obviously different under various Richardson numbers at the scale of the isolated building. The purpose of this review is therefore to systematically articulate the approaches and research outcomes under the combined effect of wind and buoyancy from the street canyon scale to an isolated building, which should provide some insights into future modelling directions in environmental studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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32 pages, 3721 KiB

Open AccessReview

Categorizing and Harmonizing Natural, Technological, and Socio-Economic Perils Following the Catastrophe Modeling Paradigm

by Arnaud Mignan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12780; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912780 - 6 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3825

Abstract

The literature on probabilistic hazard and risk assessment shows a rich and wide variety of modeling strategies tailored to specific perils. On one hand, catastrophe (CAT) modeling, a recent professional and scientific discipline, provides a general structure for the quantification of natural (e.g., geological, hydrological, meteorological) and man-made (e.g., terrorist, cyber) catastrophes. On the other hand, peril characteristics and related processes have yet to be categorized and harmonized to enable adequate comparison, limit silo effects, and simplify the implementation of emerging risks. We reviewed the literature for more than 20 perils from the natural, technological, and socio-economic systems to categorize them by following the CAT modeling hazard pipeline: (1) event source → (2) size distribution → (3) intensity footprint. We defined the following categorizations, which are applicable to any type of peril, specifically: (1) point/line/area/track/diffuse source, (2) discrete event/continuous flow, and (3) spatial diffusion (static)/threshold (passive)/sustained propagation (dynamic). We then harmonized the various hazard processes using energy as the common metric, noting that the hazard pipeline’s underlying physical process consists of some energy being transferred from an energy stock (the source), via an event, to the environment (the footprint). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sciences and Engineering: A Look at the Surrounding Environment or Environment and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

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