Environmental quality indicators are crucial for responsive and cost-effective policies. The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between environmental quality indicators and financial development in Malaysia. For this purpose, the number of environmental quality indicators has been used, i.e., air pollution measured by carbon dioxide emissions, population density per square kilometer of land area, agricultural production measured by cereal production and livestock production, and energy resources considered by energy use and fossil fuel energy consumption, which placed an impact on the financial development of the country. The study used four main financial indicators, i.e., broad money supply (M2), domestic credit provided by the financial sector (DCFS), domestic credit to the private sector (DCPC), and inflation (CPI), which each financial indicator separately estimated with the environmental quality indicators, over a period of 1975-2013. The study used the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to minimize the simultaneity from the model. The results show that carbon dioxide emissions exert the positive correlation with the M2, DCFC, and DCPC, while there is a negative correlation with the CPI. However, these results have been evaporated from the GMM estimates, where carbon emissions have no significant relationship with any of the four financial indicators in Malaysia. The GMM results show that population density has a negative relationship with the all four financial indicators; however, in case of M2, this relationship is insignificant to explain their result. Cereal production has a positive relationship with the DCPC, while there is a negative relationship with the CPI. Livestock production exerts the positive relationship with the all four financial indicators; however, this relationship with the CPI has a more elastic relationship, while the remaining relationship is less elastic with the three financial indicators in a country. Energy resources comprise energy use and fossil fuel energy consumption, both have distinct results with the financial indicators, as energy demand have a positive and significant relationship with the DCFC, DCPC, and CPI, while fossil fuel energy consumption have a negative relationship with these three financial indicators. The results of the study are of value to both environmentalists and policy makers.
Consumption advice to ensure the health and safety of fish consumers remains urgent to handle the ever-increasing panic over heavy metal toxicity. Moreover, studies of fish consumption rarely focus on the perceptions and awareness of consumers. Considering this, the present study examines the factors determining the willingness to follow fish consumption advice as well as calculate the risk-benefit ratio and produce the vulnerability map followed by formulating fish consumption advice for consumers of two commercially important fish species, tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and mudfish (Ophiocephalus striatus), in the Laguna de Bay area of the Philippines. Primary data on consumers' perceptions were collected through a questionnaire, whereas heavy metal contamination data were compiled from the best available literature. We concluded that people's willingness to adopt consumption advice is mostly dependent on their existing level of fish consumption (P = 0.000). There was no discernible difference in the mean concentration of heavy metals in fish between the dry and wet seasons, with the exception of As concentrations in the samples (t15.75 = 3.72, p
Accurate prediction of inlet chemical oxygen demand (COD) is vital for better planning and management of wastewater treatment plants. The COD values at the inlet follow a complex nonstationary pattern, making its prediction challenging. This study compared the performance of several novel machine learning models developed through hybridizing kernel-based extreme learning machines (KELMs) with intelligent optimization algorithms for the reliable prediction of real-time COD values. The combined time-series learning method and consumer behaviours, estimated from water-use data (hour/day), were used as the supplementary inputs of the hybrid KELM models. Comparison of model performances for different input combinations revealed the best performance using up to 2-day lag values of COD with the other wastewater properties. The results also showed the best performance of the KELM-salp swarm algorithm (SSA) model among all the hybrid models with a minimum root mean square error of 0.058 and mean absolute error of 0.044.
The benthic microbial fuel cell (BMFC) is one of the most efficient types of bioelectrochemical fuel cell systems. Modern bioelectrochemical fuel cells have several drawbacks, including an unstable organic substrate and a microorganism-unfriendly atmosphere. The recent literature to encounter such issues is one of the emerging talks. Researchers are focusing on the utilization of biomass and waste to encounter such challenges and make the technique more feasible at the pilot scale. This study investigated the combination of local bakery waste as an organic substrate with lignocellulosic biomass material. The whole experiment was conducted for 45 days. At an external resistance of 1000 ῼ and an internal resistance of 677 ῼ, the power density was found to be 3.51 mW/m2. Similarly, for Pb2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Ni2+, and Co2+, the degradation efficiency was 84.40%, 81.21%, 80%, 89.50%, and 86.0%, respectively. The bacterial identification results showed that Liquorilactobacillus nagelii, Proteus mirabilis, Pectobacterium punjabense, and Xenorhabdus thuongxuanensis are the most prominent species found on anode biofilm. The method of electron generation in this study, which includes the degradation of metal ions, is also well described. Lastly, optimising the parameters showed that pH 7 provides a feasible environment for operation. A few future suggestions for practical steps are enclosed for the research community.
Excessive accumulation of waste materials has presented a serious environmental problem on a global scale. This has prompted many researchers to utilise agricultural, industrial, and by-product waste materials as the replacement of aggregate in the concrete matrix. In this present study, the prediction and optimisation of coconut shell (CA) content as the replacement of fine aggregate were evaluated based on the mechanical properties of the concrete (M30). Based on the suggested design array from the response surface methodology (RSM) model, experimental tests were carried out to achieve the goal of this study. The collected data was used to develop mathematical predictive equations using both GEP and RSM models. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also taken into account to appraise and verify the performance of the proposed models. Based on the results, the optimum content of replacing CA was 50%. In particular, the compressive, tensile, and flexural strength obtained after 28 days of curing were 46.2, 3.74, and 8.06 MPa, respectively, from the RSM model and 46.18, 3.85, and 7.99 MPa, respectively, from the GEP model. The obtained values were superior to those of the control concrete sample (43.12, 3.51 and 7.14 MPa, respectively). Beyond the optimum content, a loss in strength was observed. It was also found that both the GEP and RSM models exhibited high prediction accuracy with strong correlations (R2 = 0.97 and 0.95, respectively). In addition, minimum prediction error (RMSE
Building and its environment are in focus owing to health impact attributed to indoor air quality. This study was carried out to assess indoor air quality in terms of particulate matter (PM) and carbon dioxide in a residential building, during COVD-19 pandemic lockdown from March 25 to April 23, 2020, Abha, Saudi Arabia. The PM concentration range for kitchen, bedroom, and hall were 40,000-81000 μg/m3 (PM0.3), 15,000-26000 μg/m3 (PM0.5), 4000-6000 μg/m3 (PM1), 1100-1500 μg/m3 (PM2.5), 160-247 μg/m3 (PM5), and 60-95 μg/m3 (PM10). The results of this study suggest that bedroom needs to be ventilated as CO2 concentration was reaching 700 ppm during sleep hours. PM concentration was exceeding 300 μg/m3 (unhealthy) for all particle sizes of PM0.3, PM0.5, PM1, and PM2.5 except for PM10 which was also above safe limits (0-50 μg/m3). Also, with influential habit (aromatic smoke), these concentrations increased 2-28 times for PM. The hazard quotient value greater than 1 revealed potential health risk to the inhabitants. Hence, future studies are needed for developing indoor air quality guidelines for residential buildings in Saudi Arabia and better planning and management of energy consumption.
Irgarol 1051 and diuron are photosystem II inhibitors in agricultural activities and antifouling paints in the shipping sector. This study focused on three major ports (western, southern, and eastern) surrounding Peninsular Malaysia to construct the distribution of both biocides on the basis of the seasonal and geographical changes. Surface seawater samples were collected from November 2011 to April 2012 and pretreated using the solid-phase extraction technique followed by quantification with GC-MS and LC-MS-MS for Irgarol 1051 and diuron, respectively. Generally, the distribution of Irgarol 1051 was lowest during November 2011 and highest during April 2012, and similar patterns were observed at all ports, whereas the distribution of diuron was rather vague. The increasing pattern of Irgarol 1051 from time to time is probably related to its accumulation in the seawater as a result of its half-life and consistent utilization. On the basis of the discriminant analysis, the temporal distribution of Irgarol 1051 varied at Klang North Port, Klang South Port, and Pasir Gudang Port, whereas diuron was temporally varied only at Kemaman Port. Furthermore, Irgarol 1051 was spatially varied during November 2011, whereas diuron did not show any significant changes throughout all sampling periods. Ecological risk assessment exhibited a high risk for diuron and Irgarol 1051, but Irgarol 1051 should be of greater concern because of its higher risk compared to that of diuron. Thus, it is recommended that the current Malaysian guidelines and regulations of biocide application should be reevaluated and improved to protect the ecosystem, as well as to prevent ecological risks to the aquatic environment.
The main aim of this article is to examine empirically the impact of urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions in Singapore from 1970 to 2015. The autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) approach is applied within the analysis. The main finding reveals a negative and significant impact of urbanization on carbon emissions in Singapore, which means that urban development in Singapore is not a barrier to the improvement of environmental quality. Thus, urbanization enhances environmental quality by reducing carbon emissions in the sample country. The result also highlighted that economic growth has a positive and significant impact on carbon emissions, which suggests that economic growth reduces environmental quality through its direct effect of increasing carbon emissions in the country. Despite the high level of urbanization in Singapore, which shows that 100 % of the populace is living in the urban center, it does not lead to more environmental degradation. Hence, urbanization will not be considered an obstacle when initiating policies that will be used to reduce environmental degradation in the country. Policy makers should consider the country's level of economic growth instead of urbanization when formulating policies to reduce environmental degradation, due to its direct impact on increasing carbon dioxide emissions.
The objective of this paper is to examine the dynamic impact of urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria based on autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) approach for the period of 1971-2011. The result shows that variables were cointegrated as null hypothesis was rejected at 1 % level of significance. The coefficients of long-run result reveal that urbanization does not have any significant impact on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria, economic growth, and energy consumption has a positive and significant impact on CO 2 emissions. However, trade openness has negative and significant impact on CO 2 emissions. Consumption of energy is among the main determinant of CO 2 emissions which is directly linked to the level of income. Despite the high level of urbanization in the country, consumption of energy still remains low due to lower income of the majority populace and this might be among the reasons why urbanization does not influence emissions of CO 2 in the country. Initiating more open economy policies will be welcoming in the Nigerian economy as the openness leads to the reduction of pollutants from the environment particularly CO 2 emissions which is the major gases that deteriorate physical environment.
Social media is playing a vital role in the promotion of green products by reshaping the millennial green purchasing intention and green consumption behaviors, resulting in progressive growth toward sustainable environment and lower carbon emission. Non-organic consumption among humans has increased the carbon emission in contrary risked environment; therefore, consumption behavior and purchasing intention are required to change for better sustainable environment. This study's goal is to determine the effects of social media in molding the consumption behaviors while considering eco-labeling, eco-branding, social norms, and purchase intensions among millennials to promote green consumption and lower carbon emission. It was decided to use a cross-sectional questionnaire survey to get information from the students of different faculties including social sciences, engineering, and bio-sciences. SPSS.V.22 and Smart-PLS were used to analyzed the data. Results indicated that social media has a profoundly good impact on molding and impacting youth behaviors regarding the green consumption, resulting in increasing intention toward sustainable environment which results in lower carbon emission. The results are in line with the predictions and contextual analysis, as the whole world is coming back toward natural life and is working for environmental protection and sustainability specially to lower the carbon emission. Therefore, students are molding themselves toward green consumption. The study recommends that future research may be conducted to study more contextual variables, who has influence on the green consumption among the general public regarding green consumptions and lowering carbon emission and stepping toward the sustainable environment.
Despite a profound evidence of the human unsustainable behaviours' impact on the environment, stark disparities prevail on this narrative especially in the context of the current epidemiological situation ushered by the COVID-19. The ongoing pandemic is a global public health concern due to its sagacious impacts on environmental sustainability, social responsibility and people's quality of life. This study primarily focuses on analysing the impact of COVID-19 (COV) on the environmental awareness (EA), sustainable consumption (SC) and social responsibility (SR). Additionally, we aspire to investigate the impact of demographics of generations and religion on the proposed nexus in this study. The data was collected from 700 participants of different age groups and religious backgrounds in Malaysia, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse this data and test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that COVID-19 has a significantly positive impact on EA, SC and SR, and the generations and religiosity moderate the relationship between COVID-19 and its impact on sustainable behaviours. This study contributes to analyse the difference in the perception of EA, SC and SR among the people that eventually will stimulate the scientific reasoning among the governments, policymakers and scientists to develop a holistic framework to combat unprecedented event such as COVID-19 and ensure the authentication of sustainable environment and exceptional quality of life. The policymakers in Malaysia may use the findings of this study to inspect the social and environmental aspects of the people during the transformation events.
The research aims to examine the role of green human resource management (GHRM) in the university's environmental performance. Furthermore, this research also focuses on the mediating effect of green commitment and pro-environmental behavior. It also aims to check how green self-efficacy moderates the relationship between green commitment and pro-environmental behavior. The paper opted for a quantitative design using the convenience sampling technique/approach by collecting the data through a structured questionnaire on 208 academic staff currently employed in the university. The data were collected from August until December 2021 on two campuses (Gujranwala, Jhelum) of the University of Punjab in Pakistan. The current study results give empirical insights that show how green human resource management practices lead to environmental performance at a greater level in a university setting. Study results proposed that change in behavior of employees through human resource management practices can ultimately affect the organization's environmental performance. Further results also demonstrate that green self-efficacy moderates the relationship between green commitment and pro-environmental behavior. This study highlights the role of the university staff's level of commitment and self-efficacy, which are beneficial for enhancing the university's environmental performance. The originality of this study fills the gap in how green commitment mediates the relationship of green human resource management and environmental performance further; it fulfills the gap of green self-efficacy that moderates the relationship of pro-environmental behavior and green commitment. The study sheds light on green human resource management practices in the higher education sector. It emphasizes the vital role of academic staff's environmentally conscious behavior in enhancing a university's environmental performance. The further study highlighted the increasing concept of green human resource management as a set of building the ability, enhancing motivation, and providing opportunities to influence workers' pro-environmental behaviors. The conclusion of the current research was capable of validating the positive concerns of green GHRM, behaviors, and commitments for environmental performance.
Being closely correlated with income and economic growth, trade openness impacts the environmental quality through different means. The study analyzes the robustness of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in OIC countries by examining the extent to which trade openness influence environmental quality through different environmental indicators for the period 1991 to 2018. A new methodology dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) is applied to resolve the issue of cross-sectional dependence (CSD). We have used greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) along with ecological footprint as indicators of environmental quality. Results of DCCE estimation identify a negative association of trade openness with CO2, N2O, and CH4, while the positive relationship with the ecological footprint in overall OIC countries and higher income OIC countries. On the other hand, trade openness has a positive association with all environmental indicators in lower income OIC countries. Our findings confirm that inverted-U-shaped EKC exists in all groups of OIC countries when CO2, CH4, and ecological footprint are used as environmental indicators. However, a U-shaped EKC exists in overall OIC countries and lower income OIC countries when N2O is used. Eventually, it is recommended that if OIC countries continue trade openness policies and energy sector reforms and maintain sustainable use of biocapacity; then, they will be able to combat environmental issues with the increase in income.
The study aims to address the dynamic common correlated effects of trade openness, FDI, and institutional performance on environmental quality in OIC countries. Mostly, pollutants like CO2 and SO2 emissions are considered as the environmental indicators. However, for this study, we have selected ecological footprint as the indicator of environmental quality. The new econometric approach Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE) by Chudik and Pesaran (2015) has been used to measure the cross-sectional dependence among cross-sectional units. Results confirm that previous techniques for long panel data, like MG and PMG, give ambiguous outcomes in the presence of cross-sectional dependence. According to DCCE estimation, trade openness, FDI, and urbanization have a positive and significant relationship with ecological footprint while a significant and negative association is found between institutional performance and ecological footprint. The OIC countries must encourage green technology, clean production, and improved institutions for sustainable development and better environmental quality.
Trade openness continues to have the potential to influence many parts of today's society, including religion, transportation, lifestyle, language, and international relations; however, its ability to impact environmental quality is the primary issue for environmental policy guidelines. In response to an increasing interest in finding the dynamic association between trade openness and environmental quality, the current study explores the trade openness- environmental quality nexus in the ten most open Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries for the years 1991 to 2018. By taking CO2 emissions and ecological footprint as environmental indicators, a novel methodology "quantile-on-quantile (QQ)" is used to indicate how different quantiles of trade openness asymmetrically affect the quantiles of environmental indicators by providing an adequate pattern to comprehend the overall dependence structure. A negative openness-CO2 emissions association is dominant in seven out of ten selected OIC countries (i.e., Suriname, Malaysia, Jordan, UAE, Libya, Brunei, and Qatar). On the other hand, a positive impact of trade openness on ecological footprint is dominant in eight out of ten selected OIC countries (i.e., Oman, Jordan, UAE, Libya, Bahrain, Brunei, Qatar, and Kuwait). The outcomes indicate that the asymmetric strength of openness-induced environmental quality differs with countries at both upper and bottom quantiles of data distribution that need specific attention in contending trade and environment policies in OIC countries.
The contributions of the tourism sector and its development to economic growth are widely recognized across the economies. However, development in this sector also has its impacts on environmental quality and sustainability. In addition, elevated economic policy uncertainty also has repercussions on the environment. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of international tourism on environmental sustainability while considering EPU, renewable energy consumption (REC), and service sector output (SSO) in the model estimated based on panel data from 17 economies. Having the heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation issues in the panel data, the author used multiple econometric methods (pooled OLS with Drisk/Kraay standard errors (DKSEs), GLS, PCSE, and quantile regressions) to examine the relationship between international tourism and environmental sustainability. DKSEs address the common issue of heteroskedasticity and GLS also accounts for both heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. PCSE method corrects these errors. Finally, quantile regression estimates the relationships between variables at different points of the distribution. The results show that international tourism and EPU adversely impact environmental quality and sustainability by increasing GHG emissions. The findings show that increased GHG emissions from international tourism and EPU harm environmental sustainability. Furthermore, SSO and REC significantly reduce GHG emissions and enhance sustainability. Nevertheless, the tourism sector should adopt sustainable practices like using eco-friendly lodging, conserving energy and water, and utilizing renewable energy (RE) to reduce negative environmental impacts. Conserving biodiversity and regional cultures while minimizing waste and resource use is also essential. Tourists should embrace eco-friendly practices such as choosing green hotels, conserving energy and water, and supporting environmental causes while adhering to regulations to reduce emissions. The study recommends establishing uniform trade laws that support green technology and RE to reduce EPU. The findings stress the need for international collaboration to promote eco-friendly tourist practices and minimize the sector's environmental impact.
Despite the nutritional benefits, bivalves like mussels are also an excellent aquatic heavy metal biomonitoring agent due to their high tolerance to varying levels of temperature, salinity and oxygen, as well as pollutants. Although the accumulated toxic heavy metals may not exert direct negative impacts on the mussels, such toxicants in mussel tissues can give harmful effects on human body when consumed in toxic quantities and/or over prolonged period. The booming of urban and industrial activities, and consequently the increment of runoffs, as well as wastewater effluents and leaching, further exacerbated the magnitude of this issue. Hence, continuous monitoring of heavy metal contents in mussels is vital to ensure its compliance with food safety regulations, protecting consumers at large. This review paper discusses the occurrence of heavy metals in mussels especially that of Perna viridis in Malaysia and other parts of the world since year 2000 until 2021. Heavy metal concentration data and patterns from various coastal and/or estuaries were compared. Where applicable, statistical data that indicate variations between sampling sites, sampling months or years and chemical treatments for heavy metal removal were critically reviewed. Health risk assessment findings were also discussed. More importantly, related chemical-based interventions to minimize and/or eliminate toxic heavy metals from mussels are also reviewed.
The current study investigates the dynamic relationship between structural changes, real GDP per capita, energy consumption, trade openness, population density, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within the EKC framework over a period 1971-2013. The study used the autoregressive distributed lagged (ARDL) approach to investigate the long-run relationship between the selected variables. The study also employed the dynamic ordinary least squared (DOLS) technique to obtain the robust long-run estimates. Moreover, the causal relationship between the variables is explored using the VECM Granger causality test. Empirical results reveal a negative relationship between structural change and CO2 emissions in the long run. The results indicate a positive relationship between energy consumption, trade openness, and CO2 emissions. The study applied the turning point formula of Itkonen (2012) rather than the conventional formula of the turning point. The empirical estimates of the study do not support the presence of the EKC relationship between income and CO2 emissions. The Granger causality test indicates the presence of long-run bidirectional causality between energy consumption, structural change, and CO2 emissions in the long run. Economic growth, openness to trade, and population density unidirectionally cause CO2 emissions. These results suggest that the government should focus more on information-based services rather than energy-intensive manufacturing activities. The feedback relationship between energy consumption and CO2 emissions suggests that there is an ominous need to refurbish the energy-related policy reforms to ensure the installations of some energy-efficient modern technologies.
In this study, nanoporous anodic film was produced by anodization of niobium, Nb in a fluoride ethylene glycol electrolyte. The effect of anodization voltage and electrolyte temperature was studied to find an optimum condition for circular, ordered, and uniform pore formation. The diameter of the pores was found to be larger when the applied voltage was increased from 20 to 80 V. The as-anodized porous film was also observed to comprise of nanocrystallites which formed due to high field-induced crystallization. The nanocrystallites grew into orthorhombic Nb2O5 after post-annealing treatment. The Cr(VI) photoreduction property of both the as-anodized and annealed Nb2O5 samples obtained using an optimized condition (anodization voltage: 60 V, electrolyte temperature: 70 °C) was compared. Interestingly, the as-anodized Nb2O5 film was found to display better photoreduction of Cr(VI) than annealed Nb2O5. However, in terms of stability, the annealed Nb2O5 presented high photocatalytic efficiency for each cycle whereas the as-anodized Nb2O5 showed degradation in photocatalytic performance when used continually.