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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has moved to address the health and climate impact of the emissions from the combustion of low-quality residual fuels within the commercial shipping industry. Fuel sulfur content (FS) limits and an efficiency design index for future ships are examples of such IMO actions. The impacts of black carbon (BC) emissions from shipping are now under review by the IMO, with a particular focus on the potential impacts of future Arctic shipping. Recognizing that associating impacts with BC emissions requires both ambient and onboard observations, we provide recommendations for the measurement of BC. We also evaluate current insights regarding the effect of ship speed (engine load), fuel quality and exhaust gas scrubbing on BC emissions from ships. Observations demonstrate that BC emission factors (EFBC) increases 3 to 6 times at very low engine loads (<25% compared to EFBC at 85–100% load); absolute BC emissions (per nautical mile of travel) also increase up to 100% depending on engine load, even with reduced load fuel savings. If fleets were required to operate at lower maximum engine loads, presumably associated with reduced speeds, then engines could be re-tuned, which would reduce BC emissions. Ships operating in the Arctic are likely running at highly variable engine loads (25–100%) depending on ice conditions and ice breaking requirements. The ships operating at low load may be emitting up to 50% more BC than they would at their rated load. Such variable load conditions make it difficult to assess the likely emissions rate of BC. Current fuel sulfur regulations have the effect of reducing EFBC by an average of 30% and potentially up to 80% regardless of engine load; a removal rate similar to that of scrubbers. Uncertainties among current observations demonstrate there is a need for more information on a) the impact of fuel quality on EFBC using robust measurement methods and b) the efficacy of scrubbers for the removal of particulate matter by size and composition.

Black soldier fly (BSF) is a generalist species able to reduce large quantities of organic substrates and is thus considered as an interesting solution for waste management. Moreover, as BSF larvae accumulate high quantities of nutrients during their growth, they are valued because of their potential to produce products such as protein meal or fat for livestock feeds. Abiotic factors can influence larva growth, and a more detailed knowledge and control of these parameters can lead to the development of mass BSF breeding for the production of innovative products for animal feeds. As little information is available on the effects of the pH of substrates and feeding systems, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of these two factors on the activities of BSF larvae, prepupae, and adults. An experiment was performed with two fixed factors: i) pH (4.0; 6.1; 7.5; 9.5) and ii) feeding system (batch feeding system (TFS) or daily feeding system (DFS)). The pH treatments impacted larval weight on the first, third, and fifth day, but not at the end of the trial. Larval activity increased pH values from the fourth day onward, with final values of around 8.9-9.4 in all the treatments. The weight of the prepupae ranged from between 0.094 and 0.100 g. The final weight of the larvae and pupae, sex ratio, ingested food, larval mortality, percentage of emergence, and time to reach the pupa stadium were all affected by the feeding system. DFS showed the heaviest final larval weight (0.149 g), but required a longer time (11.3 d) than TFS to reach the prepupa stadium. The findings of this research could be useful for the mass production of BSF. Evaluation of an appropriate feeding system and initial pH value of the substrate are important parameters to reduce the time and to increase the weight in the production of larvae.

Geophysical models of climate change are becoming increasingly sophisticated, yet less effort is devoted to modelling the human systems causing climate change and how the two systems are coupled. Here, we develop a simple socio-climate model by coupling an Earth system model to a social dynamics model. We treat social processes endogenously-emerging from rules governing how individuals learn socially and how social norms develop-as well as being influenced by climate change and mitigation costs. Our goal is to gain qualitative insights into scenarios of potential socio-climate dynamics and to illustrate how such models can generate new research questions. We find that the social learning rate is strongly influential, to the point that variation of its value within empirically plausible ranges changes the peak global temperature anomaly by more than 1°C. Conversely, social norms reinforce majority behaviour and therefore may not provide help when we most need it because they suppress the early spread of mitigative behaviour. Finally, exploring the model's parameter space for mitigation cost and social learning suggests optimal intervention pathways for climate change mitigation. We find that prioritising an increase in social learning as a first step, followed by a reduction in mitigation costs provides the most efficient route to a reduced peak temperature anomaly. We conclude that socio-climate models should be included in the ensemble of models used to project climate change.

Black soldier fly (BSF) is a generalist species able to reduce large quantities of organic substrates and is thus considered as an interesting solution for waste management. Moreover, as BSF larvae accumulate high quantities of nutrients during their growth, they are valued because of their potential to produce products such as protein meal or fat for livestock feeds. Abiotic factors can influence larva growth, and a more detailed knowledge and control of these parameters can lead to the development of mass BSF breeding for the production of innovative products for animal feeds. As little information is available on the effects of the pH of substrates and feeding systems, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of these two factors on the activities of BSF larvae, prepupae, and adults. An experiment was performed with two fixed factors: i) pH (4.0; 6.1; 7.5; 9.5) and ii) feeding system (batch feeding system (TFS) or daily feeding system (DFS)). The pH treatments impacted larval weight on the first, third, and fifth day, but not at the end of the trial. Larval activity increased pH values from the fourth day onward, with final values of around 8.9-9.4 in all the treatments. The weight of the prepupae ranged from between 0.094 and 0.100 g. The final weight of the larvae and pupae, sex ratio, ingested food, larval mortality, percentage of emergence, and time to reach the pupa stadium were all affected by the feeding system. DFS showed the heaviest final larval weight (0.149 g), but required a longer time (11.3 d) than TFS to reach the prepupa stadium. The findings of this research could be useful for the mass production of BSF. Evaluation of an appropriate feeding system and initial pH value of the substrate are important parameters to reduce the time and to increase the weight in the production of larvae.

Heterogeneous uptake of dinitrogen pentoxide (N.sub.2 O.sub.5) and production of nitryl chloride (ClNO.sub.2) are important nocturnal atmospheric processes that have significant implications for the production of secondary pollutants. However, the understanding of N.sub.2 O.sub.5 uptake processes and ClNO.sub.2 production remains limited, especially in China. This study presents a field investigation of the N.sub.2 O.sub.5 heterogeneous uptake coefficient (γ(N.sub.2 O.sub.5 )) and ClNO.sub.2 production yield (ϕ) in a polluted area of northern China during the summer of 2014. The N.sub.2 O.sub.5 uptake coefficient and ClNO.sub.2 yield were estimated by using the simultaneously measured ClNO.sub.2 and total nitrate in 10 selected cases, which have concurrent increases in the ClNO.sub.2 and nitrate concentrations and relatively stable environmental conditions. The determined γ(N.sub.2 O.sub.5) and ϕ values varied greatly, with an average of 0.022 for γ(N.sub.2 O.sub.5) (±0.012, standard deviation) and 0.34 for ϕ (±0.28, standard deviation). The variations in γ(N.sub.2 O.sub.5) could not be fully explained by the previously derived parameterizations of N.sub.2 O.sub.5 uptake that consider nitrate, chloride, and the organic coating. Heterogeneous uptake of N.sub.2 O.sub.5 was found to have a strong positive dependence on the relative humidity and aerosol water content. This result suggests that the heterogeneous uptake of N.sub.2 O.sub.5 in Wangdu is governed mainly by the amount of water in the aerosol, and is strongly water limited, which is different from most of the field observations in the US and Europe. The ClNO.sub.2 yield estimated from the parameterization was also overestimated comparing to that derived from the observation. The observation-derived ϕ showed a decreasing trend with an increasing ratio of acetonitrile to carbon monoxide, an indicator of biomass burning emissions, which suggests a possible suppressive effect on the production yield of ClNO.sub.2 in the plumes influenced by biomass burning in this region. The findings of this study illustrate the need to improve our understanding and to parameterize the key factors for γ(N.sub.2 O.sub.5) and ϕ to accurately assess photochemical and haze pollution.

An interview with Sigma Xi research grantee Sarah Donaher is presented. Among other things, she discusses how the grant process influence her as a scientist/researcher, the advice she could give to future grant applicants and her role as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of TN, Knoxville, with a joint appointment in the Department of Nuclear Engineering.

The intensified degradation of regional air quality in recent years has prompted an increase in research teams to pursue various aspects of air pollution research including source apportionment (SA) resulting in rapidly growing output of this literature, a rapid shift in research emphasis, and an extensive inter-institutional and international collaboration. To explore these recent trends in air pollution research, we present a spatial and cluster bibliometric evaluation of atmospheric SA research, ascertaining the relationship among the main research bodies and knowledge clusters. The evolution trend of the knowledge clusters was depicted with an emphasis on the recent surge of research in Asia. We retrieved relevant articles from the Web of Science and Scopus data set with the key words “air” and “source apportionment”. In this field, the annual output of peer-reviewed papers has increased dramatically since 2005. Initially, air SA research was concentrated in developed countries from Europe and North America, but more recently it has been receiving substantial contributions from developing countries, most notably China and India. Meanwhile, there has been a methodological shift from single methods, such as source diffusion models or receptor models, to the integration of online high-resolution data monitoring with multiple models. In recent years, the main research objectives for atmospheric pollution research have changed from being focused predominantly on coarse particles to more focus on fine and ultrafine particles. Our bibliometric analysis yielded 666 knowledge nodes, forming 26 major co-citation clusters. Focusing on recently emerged knowledge clusters 7, 22, and 23, we identified four research themes based on the research frontier analysis: (i) practical research conducted to inform pollution-reducing policy, (ii) assessment of pollution-related health risks of human activities, (iii) analysis of pollutant composition and formation, and (iv) improvement of SA methods. The study provides an efficient and economical means to understand the history and the prospects for air SA research through a temporal and spatial analysis on the relationships among the main research bodies and knowledge clusters.

The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) was an international, multiplatform field campaign to measure long-range transport of air pollution from South and Southeast Asia toward the Indian Ocean during the dry monsoon season in January to March 1999. Surprisingly high pollution levels were observed over the entire northern Indian Ocean toward the Intertropical Convergence Zone at about 6°S. We show that agricultural burning and especially biofuel use enhance carbon monoxide concentrations. Fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning cause a high aerosol loading. The growing pollution in this region gives rise to extensive air quality degradation with local, regional, and global implications, including a reduction of the oxidizing power of the atmosphere.

Due to the specific structure of surfactants molecules they are applied in different areas of human activity (industry, household). After using and discharging from wastewater treatment plants as effluent stream, surface active agents (SAAs) are emitted to various elements of the environment (atmosphere, waters, and solid phases), where they can undergo numerous physic-chemical processes (e.g., sorption, degradation) and freely migrate. Additionally, SAAs present in the environment can be accumulated in living organisms (bioaccumulation), what can have a negative effect on biotic elements of ecosystems (e.g., toxicity, disturbance of endocrine equilibrium). They also cause increaseing solubility of organic pollutants in aqueous phase, their migration, and accumulation in different environmental compartments. Moreover, surfactants found in aerosols can affect formation and development of clouds, which is associated with cooling effect in the atmosphere and climate changes. The environmental fate of SAAs is still unknown and recognition of this problem will contribute to protection of living organisms as well as preservation of quality and balance of various ecosystems. This work contains basic information about surfactants and overview of pollution of different ecosystems caused by them (their classification and properties, areas of use, their presence, and behavior in the environment).

Environmental Pollution is cost of economic growth via increased industrialisation, urbanisation, mechanisation, use of fertiliser and pesticides in agriculture and mismanagement to dump human waste, especially in developing countries, where environmental laws usually are relatively less strict. Hence growth and pollution are positively linked in developing countries expectedly. Sustainable development may be defined as continuous increase in the socio-economic standard of living of a country's population, normally accomplished by improving the quality of its physical and human capital. The research's foremost objective is the generation of environmental pollution index that incorporate various production and consumption side indicators that are majorly responsible for pollution. While, the at-most objective of the study is to examine the causal relationship between the generated pollution index and human development through a panel causality analysis using a panel of 32developing countries over the period 2000-2013.