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Significant concentrations of toxic dyes present in textile manufacturing effluents are discharged into natural water bodies (lake and rivers) every day and results in the pollution of aquatic ecosystems. New and cost-effective sustainable water treatment strategies are urgently needed to tackle this global issue. The present study investigates the feasibility of using activated carbon produced from macadamia nutshells, a major agricultural waste product, to remove a commercially available textile RIT navy blue dye from aqueous solutions. This activated carbon was synthesized using a low-temperature hydrothermal (LTH) method that used H 2 SO 4 as the activating agent. The textural and chemical properties of the engineered activated carbon were investigated by nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements, XRD, SEM, TGA, Raman, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The activated carbon (MAC) had a micro-porous structure with a BET surface area of 478 m 2 g −1 for the MAC 10 sample. The linear pseudo-first order model described the kinetics of the adsorption process. The Langmuir model was found to be the most proper model for describing the adsorption isotherm data and revealed the activated carbon absorbent had a theoretical adsorption capacity of 57.8 mg g −1 . The study found the activated carbon has the potential to remove toxic dyes from wastewater, reduce agricultural waste, and this addresses the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Developing alternative green and sustainable technologies to prevent, reduce, and remove toxic dyes present in effluent generated by the textile industry is of global importance. In this study, magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles (MNPs) were successfully synthesized using a co-precipitation method that used Indigenous Banksia Ashbyi (BA) leaf extract in varying amounts (BA-MNP 1 to BA-MNP 4), to modulate particle size and size distribution. The formation of the MNPs was confirmed by a range of characterization techniques that included UV–visible spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning (FIBSEM) and high-resolution transmission (HRTEM) electron microscopy. The presence of the Fe–O bond located at 551 cm −1 in the FTIR spectra and XRD analysis of the samples confirmed the formation of crystalline MNPs. FIBSEM and HRTEM images of the BA-MNP 4 sample confirmed the MNPs were spherical (18 ± 5 nm) and tended to agglomerate. Moreover, UV–visible spectrophotometry revealed a board absorption band and an optical band-gap energy of 2.65 eV. The catalytic activity of BA-MNP 4 samples towards the degradation of a commercially available navy-blue RIT dye (BRD) were investigated under three operational senarios: 1) ultrasonic irradiation (US) + BRD; 2) BA-MNP 4 + BRD, and 3) US + BRD + BA-MNP 4. The investigation found there was an additive effect when US (80 W) was used in conjunction with BA-MNP 4 s during the dye degradation process. With no US, the BA-MNP 4 sample only achieved a dye degradation of 52% in 25 min. However, over the same period of time with US, the BA-MNP 4 sample achieved a dye degradation of 89.92%. In addition, kinetic modelling found the combined US and BA-MNP 4 process followed a pseudo-first-order kinetic model.

Renewable portfolio standards in the United States are widely recognized as a significant state-level instrument to catalyse growth in renewables. Comprehensive analysis now shows that the effectiveness of these standards depends on their stringency, with more demanding standards leading to higher renewable penetration.

This study examines how information technology and mass communication outlets have been employed as soft power platforms in the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11/2001. The focus is on Internet access and mobile phone subscriptions to see how their proliferation has impacted government effectiveness and political stability in MENA nations from 2004 to 2014. The analysis is centred in the context of increased American investment in soft power programs in the region with the goal of reducing instability and anti-Western sentiments. We examine the nature of such investment in relation to information technology dependence. Understanding that the necessary technology is a product of Western-centric multinationals, we study the interplay between imports, foreign aid and foreign direct investment (FDI), as direct metrics of foreign capital intensity and our explanatory variables -Internet and mobile technology usage rates. The results suggest that information technology platforms contribute to improved governance, while foreign aid has a negative impact. We further examine if increased government effectiveness and stability attracted FDI, as a representation for a positive outcome of improved governance, and find that such governmental efficacy was a successful predictor of foreign direct investment growth, while political stability was not. This article is published as part of a collection on soft power.

This paper tracks the location trends of information technology (IT) firms in the United States for the last 4 decades to identify commonalities in place-based recruitment subsidy policies and strategies. Utilizing the Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker database, examined are: a) specific subsidy amounts; b) the type of subsidy, based on the different federal, state, and local options and c) the source of the subsidy funds, be it state, local or federal. Using ArcGIS programming, the analysis maps out the spatial clustering for new location deals of 421 IT facilities from 1981 to 2018. The trends in location choice are used to offer a typology of sub-industry relocation classifications, based on NAICS codes. These relocation flows are then evaluated for job creation outcomes. The findings indicate that fairly remote locations seem to consistently have lower number of jobs created at much higher dollar amounts spent per new job, as compared to metro areas. A clear trend of moving away from Silicon Valley emerges, where most new jobs are created in the Northeast and Canada, as a function of the most generous subsidy packages.

This dissertation analyzes selected policies designed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) as a means of economic growth. The focus is on multinational corporations (MNCs) because most foreign direct investment is done by MNCs. The dissertation first shows the effects that the presence of MNCs has on economic growth before examining tradeoffs between direct costs ( i.e., transportation and production costs) and policy factors in attracting MNC FDI. Essays 1, \"Multinational Corporations and Their Effect on Gross Domestic Product\" and 2, \"Competing for Innovation: The Economics of Knowledge Acquisition\" examine how FDI in combination with socioeconomic, economic, and policy factors affect the growth of gross domestic product (GDP). The collective results suggest that policies of regionalization drive GDP growth and influence FDI location. Nations that are corporate homes of the largest and most internationalized MNCs benefit from policies of regionalization as they aid the global expansion of their corporations. Importantly, these two essays provide empirical evidence of the value transfer of MNC internationalization back home and of the importance MNC concentration at the national level. The presence of MNC networks provide knowledge and aid in the innovative capacity of both developed and developing countries. Both essays find that GDP growth driven by MNC activity has been stronger in the developing world since 2000. The two essays contribute to the globalization literature by providing empirical evidence of the increasing importance of emerging markets in the new economy, the role of MNCs in that increasing importance, the political and diplomatic implication of these related developments, and the policies nations currently employ to stay competitive in a turbulent environment. Essay 3, \"Fleeing Regulation: Pollution Havens in Textile Manufacturing\" provides an example of the importance of regulatory policy by examining the effect of a policy change on FDI flows in the context of the garment sector. The results indicate that the removal of the quota system in the international trade of garments increased FDI in nations with permissive environmental policies, which in turn, has contributed significantly to leading to toxins and pollutants in local ecosystems. The dissertation provides empirical evidence that under globalization nations compete for FDI through policy. The extant literature argues that globalization is a product of two sets of factors: (1) reductions in `spatial friction' (i.e., decreasing transportation, information, and organization-of- production costs), and (2) reductions in trade barriers, both in terms of border restrictions and in terms of domestic policies affecting foreign and domestic direct investment. The major contribution of the dissertation is in providing empirical evidence that under globalization nations compete for FDI by creating attractive regulatory environments for MNCs. There are social costs to be born in the competition for FDI and this dissertation shows that the nations that are corporate homes to the world's largest MNCs are often better positioned to absorb costs associated with knowledge sourcing as well as export pollution costs to their more lenient trading partners.