Introduction: Use of universal baseline values, such as continental crustal averages, to assess health issues from trace elements in environmental soils may be fraught with challenges because the method only considers unmineralized rocks and soils in the determination of average crustal abundances or background values. Legislated guideline values are also for specific geographic locations in the environments. None of these take into account the human activities at a particular local community as the environmental conditions have dire influence on trace element mobility, concentrations, and storage in the surface soils. Aim: The aim of this article therefore is to evaluate site-specific geochemical background concentrations of some potentially toxic trace elements in the artisanal mine area and farmland soils of Nadowli District. Materials and Methods: The method involved collection of 29 samples of trace element from soils up to the depth of 20 cm. These samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analytical technique. Results: The results of the trace element concentrations were statistically and graphically analyzed to isolate sets of background values that are better suited locally to identify and assess areas contaminated and depleted by trace elements. Local background values of 15.00 ppm was estimated for arsenic (As), 0.02 ppm for cadmium (Cd), 0.01 ppm for mercury (Hg), 35.0 ppm for zinc (Zn), 20.0 ppm for copper (Cu), and 0.40 ppm for selenium (Se). The study found that estimated local backgrounds for essential elements were in the range of the legislated guideline values and should be used to assess the environmental quality and health as well as develop environmental policies for environmental monitoring. The potentially toxic elements contrastingly have higher local background values for As and Cd and lower local background for Hg when compared with the legislated soil guideline values. Conclusion: In conclusion, for cleanup goals in environmental legislation and for the assessment of the impacts of trace elements on health in Nadowli District, these background values should be used.

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Context: Unicorn leatherjacket (Aluterus monoceros) is an export quality fish mainly used for fillet production, the skin of which is discarded as waste due to its toughness. Wastes emanated from the fish processing industry have become an important source of environmental pollution. Aim: The study investigates the potentials of A. monoceros skin to produce value-added products viz., fish leather and fish meal. Materials and Methods: 5 kg of fish skin from 20 kg of fish was used for the present study. Leather produced from fish skin was characterized for its physico-chemical properties using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), etc. Biochemical components viz., protein, fat, and salt content of the fish skin were also estimated. Results: Leather produced from fish skin possessed 88 MPa tensile strength. Biochemical estimations proved that the fish skin had 28% protein content. Conclusion: On the basis of the characterization and evaluation results, it could be concluded that this processed fish skin could be used for leather goods production. In addition, this fish skin could be included as a component in fish meal preparation.

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Introduction: Nutrient management plays a key role in improving crop yield with maintenance of soil fertility for sustainable production in intensive cropping. Aim: A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of organic and mineral sources of fertilizer on yield and quality of sweet corn grown in acid laterite soil of India during the years 2009 and 2010. Materials and Methods: The organic inputs were vermicompost (VC), vermiwash (VW), biofertilizer (BF), and crop residue (CR) and the inorganic input was mineral fertilizer. Results: Optimal application of N, P, and K (100% recommended dose) either through organic source or mineral source was significantly superior to their suboptimal dose in increasing the yield of sweet corn, wherein mineral fertilizer recorded maximum production. Between organic and mineral sources of fertilizer application, ascorbic acid and total phenolics content of sweet corm were higher in organic nutrient management. The ascorbic acid was higher by 133% in VC₁₀₀ and 37% in VC₅₀ + CF₅₀ compared to mineral (CF₁₀₀) treatment. But crude protein content was low by 13.5% in VC₁₀₀ and 2.9% in VC₅₀ + CF₅₀, respectively, as compared to CF₁₀₀ treatment. Organic carbon content and pH of the acid lateritic soil were improved in organic nutrient management as compared to mineral fertilizer. Conclusion: Organic fertilizer application, therefore, exhibited potential in improving sweet corn yield and quality and soil health in acid lateritic soil of the subtropical climate.

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Introduction: In this study, rice husk (RH) was modified by HCl and HNO₃, and the activated RHs were used as adsorbents for removal of UO₂²⁺ ions from aqueous solutions through batch equilibrium technique. Materials and methods: The influence of pH, equilibrium time, temperature, adsorbent dosage, and initial uranium concentration on adsorption percent was investigated. Results: Obtained results declared that the pH of aqueous solutions had affected UO₂²⁺ ions removal, which was indicated by the increased removal efficiency with increasing solution pH till pH 3. Conclusion: Experimental data were verified with Langmuir and other isotherms and were found to be well fitting with Langmuir isotherm models. A feasibility study for the whole process was performed.

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Introduction: One of the main challenges of this modern life is air pollution and industry is the major producer of pollutions in the environment. In this regard, air quality monitoring and assessing exceedance of air quality standards around an area or industrial plant can be a useful method in order to control and establish limits for pollutant sources. Air dispersion models could be the simplest and the most effective way for monitoring and evaluating the pollutant concentrations as well as the impact of each source on the air quality of a given area, and also can be applied for adopting management approaches and appropriate strategies to prevent and reduce air pollution. Aim: In this study, by applying AERMOD developed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and recommended as one of the preferred and advanced models, dispersion of total suspended particles (TSP) emitted from electric arc furnace chimney of a steel plant in Isfahan was simulated. Materials and Methods: In this study, AERMOD View is run within an area with 30 km × 30 km extent (regional scale) and 2000 m network distance (961 grid points) for 1, 3, 8, 12, 24-h time averages and monthly and annual periods, and then maximum ground level concentrations (GLC) compared with EPA and Iran clean air standards to assess the exceedance of this pollutant. Results: Results revealed that simulated concentrations for 24-h average and annual period are far below the threshold limits of both standards. Moreover, the highest concentrations of TSP took place in a different direction with prevailing winds where there are no inhabitants. However, the cumulative impact of such activities must be considered. This study also highlights the effectiveness of bag filter systems in reducing particle matter emissions from industrial units.

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Introduction: Cadmium (Cd) is toxic to fish at low doses and never beneficial to an organism. As Caspian roach (Rutilus rutilus) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) are two key fish species, the aim of this study was to gather data on different sensitivities of few inland fish to Cd to use them in the ecotoxicity experiment studies. Subject and Methods: All samples were exposed to the different doses of cadmium chloride (0, 0.2, 1, 2, 6, 10, and 15 ppm). Mortality was recorded after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h and the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) amount and its confidence limits (95%) were measured by Finney’s method of probit analysis. Results: Toxicity experimenting statistical endpoints indicated that lowest observed effect concentration in roach was higher than silver carp (2 and 1 ppm, respectively), which means that no observed effect concentration was also higher for roach than silver carp (6 and 2 ppm, respectively), and LC₅₀ was also different between species (5.26 and 6.58 ppm for roach and silver carp, respectively). Conclusion: Our results showed that Cd is toxic for these fish, especially roach; therefore, we suggest using this fish species for toxicity experiment of heavy metals as a suitable indicator of toxicological studies.

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