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The accessibility of cheap fossil fuels, due to large government subsidies, promotes the accelerated gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth in Southeast Asia. However, the ambient air pollution from fossil fuel combustion has a latent cost, which is the public health issues such as respiratory diseases, lung cancer, labor loss, and economic burden in the long-run. In Southeast Asia, lung cancer is the leading and second leading cause of cancer-related death in men, and women, respectively. This nexus study employs the panel vector error correction model (VECM) and panel generalized method of moments (GMM) using data from ten Southeast Asian countries from the period (2000–2016) to explore the possible association between emissions, lung cancer, and the economy. The results confirm that CO2 and PM2.5 are major risk factors for lung cancer in the region. Additionally, the increasing use of renewable energy and higher healthcare expenditure per capita tend to reduce the lung cancer prevalence. Governments specially in low oil price era, have to transfer subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy to create a healthy environment. Furthermore, cost creation for fossil fuel consumption through carbon taxation, especially in the power generation sector, is important to induce private sector investment in green energy projects.

Recognized as the third-generation biomass of the future, microalgae are increasingly viewed as a promising solution for the sustainable production of biofuels, often referred to as “green gold.” Extensive research is being conducted across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors to develop fundamental technologies that enable efficient and economical large-scale microalgae cultivation. Recent studies suggest that microalgae-based biofuels have the potential to meet global energy demands. However, challenges such as spatial constraints in site selection and the high cost of transporting CO2—an essential component for pH regulation and photosynthesis—pose obstacles. Here, this study demonstrates that by supplementing air-only medium with CaCO3, Chlorella sorokiniana can effectively utilize airborne CO2 to produce biomass. In laboratory-scale culture conditions supplied only with air, adding 5 mM CaCO3 (pH 7.8) could maintain the pH stably compared to the untreated conditions (pH 9.5) and improved the biomass concentration and lipid content by 17.68-fold and 9.58-fold, respectively. In bench-scale conditions, cultures supplemented with 5 mM CaCO3 exhibited a 9-fold increase in the biomass and a 7.15-fold increase in the lipid concentrations compared to those cultivated with air alone. With microalgae emerging as an essential resource for future generations, cultivation technology utilizing CaCO3 will be a critical technology that enables commercial-scale microalgae cultivation using only air, without artificial CO2 supply facilities.

Air pollution is a significant issue that affects almost all the countries in the world while predominating in South Asian Regional countries due to poverty, less attention, and less awareness towards the implementation and obeying of air quality guidelines in public. As a developing country, Sri Lanka stands at an optimum state of national air quality compared to other SARC because it is an island with a minor population compared to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. Maldives and Bhutan lie straightforwardly in owing mild air quality in SARC. However, SARC is far behind the world in maintaining optimistic air quality nationwide. Ambient air pollution-attributable deaths have become interim in past decades, a severe burden to the sustainable existence of SARC. A well-established systematic epidemiological, empirical studies and revisions regarding air pollution, strategic planning for mitigating air pollution, and frequent Spatio-temporal pollution monitoring nodes are necessary for Sri Lanka to achieve the sustainable goal. Other South Asian countries: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives, also should pay attention to minimizing outdoor air pollution nationwide for the betterment of future existence.

Although short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution has been shown to induce elevated blood pressure (BP), limited evidence is available regarding the association between ambient PM2.5 and BP levels in nationwide China and how the association may change. This study sought to explore acute BP changes with exposure to PM2.5 at levels below China's current National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Based on a spatiotemporal study of over 1 million adults, we linked BP measurements to daily estimates of PM2.5 from multiple sources (i.e. in situ observations, satellite measurements of aerosol and numeric simulations of air quality model) after adjusting for several individual-level covariates and further conduced the below-criteria models by restricting the analyses within subsets of individuals with short-term PM2.5 exposure below 75 μg m−3 (i.e. NAAQS of 24 h PM2.5 in China). We further explored variations in BP-PM2.5 associations by pollution level and for different demographic groups. With full adjustments, a 10 μg m−3 increase in PM2.5 was statistically significantly associated with a 0.049 mmHg (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.041, 0.057) increase in systolic BP, a 0.022 mmHg (95% CI: 0.017, 0.027) increase in diastolic BP and a 0.77% (95% CI: 0.62%, 0.92%) increased risk of hypertension (HPN). For both BP and HPN, the exposure-response curves were linear, with no threshold effects, at the low-concentration ends and sublinear at the high-concentration ends. Below the current NAAQS, the associations in population level remained statistically significant and were even stronger. A 10 μg m−3 increase in below-NAAQS PM2.5 was associated with a 1.95% (95% CI: 1.44%, 2.47%) increased risk of HPN. Specific subpopulations were more susceptible to PM2.5 exposure. These findings can help support decisions by policymakers to revise related environmental regulations to protect public health.

The perovskite solar cell (PSC) as an emerging and promising type has been extensively studied. In this study, a model for a PSC prepared in ambient air was established by using SCAPS-1D. After that, it was further analyzed through varying the defect density of the perovskite absorber layer (Nt), the thin film thickness and energy-level matching between the electron transport layer (ETL), the perovskite absorber layer and the hole transport layer (HTL), for a better understanding of the carrier features. The Nt varied from 1.000 × 1011 to 1.000 × 1017 cm−3. The performance of the solar cell is promoted with improved Nt. When Nt is at 1.000 × 1015 cm−3, the carrier diffusion length reaches μm, and the carrier lifetime comes to 200 nm. The thickness of the absorber layer was changed from 200 to 600 nm. It is shown that the absorber layer could be prepared thinner for reducing carrier recombination when at high Nt. The thickness effect of ETL and HTL is weakened, since Nt dominates the solar cell performance. The effect of the affinity of ETL (3.4–4.3 eV) and HTL (2.0–2.7 eV), together with three energy-level matching situations “ETL(4.2)+HTL(2.5)”, “ETL(4.0)+HTL(2.2)” and “ETL(4.0)+HTL(2.5)” on the performance of the solar cell were analyzed. It was found that the HTL with valence band 0.05 eV lower than that of the perovskite absorber layer could have a blocking effect that reduced carrier recombination. The effect of energy-level matching becomes more important with improved Nt. Energy-level matching between the ETL and perovskite absorber layer turns out counterbalance characteristic on Jsc and Voc, and the “ETL(4.0)+HTL(2.5)” case can result in solar cell with Jsc of 27.58 mA/cm2, Voc of 1.0713 V, FF of 66.02% and efficiency of 19.51%. The findings would be very useful for fabricating high-efficiency and low-cost PSC by a large-scale ambient air route.

The relationship between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nasal symptoms currently remains unclear. Therefore, we herein examine this relationship in 51 adults living in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, and conducted a 2 month follow-up survey on these participants. All participants were asked to record daily nasal symptoms in an allergy diary during the study period between 1 April to 31 May 2020. We collected air pollutant samples during the study period and determined the concentrations of PAHs and total suspended particulates by high-performance liquid chromatography. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide concentrations were obtained through the Atmospheric Environmental Regional Observation System. We used generalized estimating equations to analyze the association between pollutant and nasal symptoms. After adjustment for confounding factors, the B values of fluoranthene, pyrene, and Benzo[k]fluoranthene were 2.389 (p = 0.026), 3.744 (p = 0.022) and 9.604 (p = 0.041), respectively, with a one-day lag. In contrast, the B value of indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene was −6.664 (p = 0.013) with no lag. Collectively, these results suggest ambient PAHs such as Flt, Pyr, and BkF were associated with nasal symptoms in adults. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms contributing to the relationships between specific PAHs and nasal symptoms.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest health calamities that the world has faced, which has infected millions of people and lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths all over the world. It has impacted the economic, social and health aspects of the countries to quite an extreme level. But an indirect positive impact can also be seen on the environment. In this paper, taking the example of Delhi, one of the most polluted cities of India, an analysis has been done to compare the levels of air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NOx and ozone) during the lockdown and the same period in the previous years. The study shows that the extent to which the industries, vehicles, power plants etc. release the air pollutants and severely impact the environment and human health. As during the lockdown when all such activities were either stopped or very much restricted, a reduction of almost 60% in the particulate matter pollution and up to 40% in the NOx pollution was observed while the ozone levels were reduced by 30-40% as compared to the same period during the previous two years. In the end, some suggestions have been made which can play some part to control air pollution once the lockdown is over.

The ambient air quality (AAQ) assessment was undertaken in Sukinda Valley, the chromite hub of India. The possible correlations of meteorological variables with different air quality parameters (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , SO 2 , NO 2 and CO) were examined. Being the fourth most polluted area in the globe, Sukinda Valley has always been under attention of researchers, for hexavalent chromium contamination of water. The monitoring was carried out from December 2013 through May 2014 at six strategic locations in the residential and commercial areas around the mining cluster of Sukinda Valley considering the guidelines of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In addition, meteorological parameters viz., temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction and rainfall, were also monitored. The air quality data were subjected to a general linear model (GLM) coupled with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for testing the significant difference in the concentration of various parameters among seasons and stations. Further, a two-tailed Pearson ’ s correlation test helped in understanding the influence of meteorological parameters on dispersion of pollutants in the area. All the monitored air quality parameters varied significantly among the monitoring stations suggesting (i) the distance of sampling location to the mine site and other allied activities, (ii) landscape features and topography and (iii) meteorological parameters to be the forcing functions. The area was highly polluted with particulate matters, and in most of the cases, the PM level exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The meteorological parameters seemed to play a major role in the dispersion of pollutants around the mine clusters. The role of wind direction, wind speed and temperature was apparent in dispersion of the particulate matters from their source of generation to the surrounding residential and commercial areas of the mine.

Health Impact Assessments (HIA) approach can be executed by calculating the attributable burden of disease. The most common indicators used in the HIA methodology are: premature mortality, morbidity, life-expectancy, and Disability Adjusted Life-Year (DALY). The term Disability Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs) indicates months/years lost due to a premature death or disability. The aim of the study was to present health benefits, expressed in terms of lower total mortality and cardio-respiratory hospitalization rates, due to a decreased particulate matter (PM) concentration in ambient air, in Silesian voivodeship. In this paper, results obtained from the APHEKOM (Improving Knowledge and Communication for Decision Making on Air Pollution and Health in Europe) project, which provided specialized HIA tools, useful for assessing health benefits resulting from reducing air pollution, were used. Both short-term and long-term exposure HIA tools were applied with regard to the appropriate data for Silesian voivodeship. Exposure data were obtained from the Regional Environmental Inspectorate in Katowice, while population and health data were obtained from the Central Statistical Office of Poland or from the Silesian Voivodeship Office, respectively. Health benefits that are related to an improvement of ambient air quality in Silesia region are similar to previous estimates obtained for Kraków city. The reduction of short-term exposure to PM10 by 5 μg/m3 results in a lower number of yearly non-external deaths (2.6-2.75 per 100 000 inhabitants). This effect was also shown to be similar in the city of Zabrze, as well as in the whole Silesia region. The Health Impact Assessments tools developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) can help public health experts make decisions in order to improve the health of populations living in particular regions of Europe.

To tackle the severe fine particle (PM2.5) pollution in China, the government has implemented stringent control policies mainly on power plants, industry, and transportation since 2005, but estimates of the effectiveness of the policy and the temporal trends in health impacts are subject to large uncertainties. By adopting an integrated approach that combines chemical transport simulation, ambient/household exposure evaluation, and health-impact assessment, we find that the integrated population-weighted exposure to PM2.5 (IPWE) decreased by 47% (95% confidence interval, 37–55%) from 2005 [180 (146–219) μg/m³] to 2015 [96 (83–111) μg/m³]. Unexpectedly, 90% (86–93%) of such reduction is attributed to reduced household solid-fuel use, primarily resulting from rapid urbanization and improved incomes rather than specific control policies. The IPWE due to household fuels for both cooking and heating decreased, but the impact of cooking is significantly larger. The reduced household-related IPWE is estimated to avoid 0.40 (0.25–0.57) million premature deaths annually, accounting for 33% of the PM2.5-induced mortality in 2015. The IPWE would be further reduced by 63% (57–68%) if the remaining household solid fuels were replaced by clean fuels, which would avoid an additional 0.51 (0.40–0.64) million premature deaths. Such a transition to clean fuels, especially for heating, requires technology innovation and policy support to overcome the barriers of high cost of distribution systems, as is recently being attempted in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei area. We suggest that household-fuel use be more highly prioritized in national control policies, considering its effects on PM2.5 exposures.