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Large-scale epidemics of arboviruses, such as dengue, have heightened societal awareness regarding the necessity of combating the primary transmission vectors. Equally critical is the identification of environmental conditions and variables that influence vector population dynamics. Aedes aegypti , the primary vector of arboviruses such as dengue and Zika in Brazil, is closely associated with the climatic and geographical conditions of urban environments. This study examines the relationship between precipitation and confirmed dengue cases in Recife (Brazil), employing regression and quantile analyses to evaluate the influence of meteorological conditions on the disease's spread. The findings reveal a direct correlation between monthly averages of precipitation and confirmed cases, although this is apparent only when excluding years of epidemic peaks. The highest number of cases generally aligns with the rainy season, and the lowest with the dry season, with weak, moderate and strong precipitation events being closely linked to increased dengue incidence. However, notable discrepancies were identified: four out of six major outbreaks occurred in drier months, challenging the assumption of a straightforward relationship between rainfall and dengue incidence. These findings underscore the multifaceted nature of dengue dynamics, suggesting that while precipitation plays a significant role, other factors, including serotype circulation and broader climatic phenomena, are equally critical in driving outbreaks. This complexity highlights the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms influencing dengue epidemics., Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial conflicts of interest. However, it should be noted that Tiago Massoni, Patty Kostkova, Tercio Ambrizzi, and Anwar Musah are members of the Editorial Board of Vector-Borne Diseases -- The Digital One Health Approach. Due to this affiliation, the manuscript has been managed by other editorial members. These author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Borges, Musah, Dutra, Tunali, Lima, Tunali, da Silva, Aldosery, Moreno, dos Santos, Massoni, Yenigün, Kostkova, da Rocha, Campos and Ambrizzi.)

The rising human demand for food has increased the pursuit for more agricultural land to feed the ever-growing human population. Although agriculture constitutes the cornerstone of most economies and serves as a vital source of foreign earnings to others, experts suggest that it emits a substantial amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thereby enhancing global warming. Furthermore, with the growing pace of globalization, less developed countries are witnessing economic growth with detrimental impacts on the environment. Inspired by the need to protect tropical rainforests and basins, the current research aims to assess the dynamic impacts of agricultural land use change (LALUC) and globalization (LGLO) on environmental quality (LCO 2 ) in the Congo Basin while controlling for economic growth (LGDP), biomass energy consumption (LBIO), and urbanization (LURBN). Based on panel data from 1980 to 2018, this study utilized second-generation econometric methods including the cross-sectional Im, Peseran Shin (CIPS), Westerlund bootstrapped co-integration test, autoregressive distributive lag/pooled mean group (ARDL/PMG), and the Dumitrescu Hurlin (D-H) panel causality estimates. The outcome reveals a long-run equilibrium co-integrating association among the estimated variables, and LALUC, LBIO, and LURBN were found to reduce LCO 2 , while LGDP and LGLO increase LCO 2 . These findings imply the inverted U-shaped relationship between LALUC, LBIO, and LURBN is beneficial for environmental quality in the Congo Basin. Based on the findings, environmental quality and economic growth can be achieved instantaneously in this region by engaging in large-scale production of biomass energy. Therefore, policymakers and governments should promote renewable energy use and convey foreign funds towards its enhancement, while investments in agriculture should prioritize environmentally benign practices such as agroforestry., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Arboviruses are a group of diseases that are transmitted by an arthropod vector. Since they are part of the Neglected Tropical Diseases that pose several public health challenges for countries around the world. The arboviruses' dynamics are governed by a combination of climatic, environmental, and human mobility factors. Arboviruses prediction models can be a support tool for decision-making by public health agents. In this study, we propose a systematic literature review to identify arboviruses prediction models, as well as models for their transmitter vector dynamics. To carry out this review, we searched reputable scientific bases such as IEE Xplore, PubMed, Science Direct, Springer Link, and Scopus. We search for studies published between the years 2015 and 2020, using a search string. A total of 429 articles were returned, however, after filtering by exclusion and inclusion criteria, 139 were included. Through this systematic review, it was possible to identify the challenges present in the construction of arboviruses prediction models, as well as the existing gap in the construction of spatiotemporal models., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Lima, da Silva, Moreno, Cordeiro da Silva, Musah, Aldosery, Dutra, Ambrizzi, Borges, Tunali, Basibuyuk, Yenigün, Massoni, Browning, Jones, Campos, Kostkova, Silva Filho and dos Santos.)

This study investigates the effect of ultrasonication and microwave sludge disintegration/pre-treatment techniques on the anaerobic co-digestion efficiency of wastewater sludges with olive and grape pomaces. The effects of both co-digestion and sludge pre-treatment techniques were evaluated in terms of the organic removal efficiency and the biogas production. The "co-digestion" of wastewater sludge with both types of pomaces was revealed to be a much more efficient way for the biogas production compared to the single (mono) sludge digestion. The ultrasonication and microwave pre-treatments applied to the sludge samples caused to a further increase in biogas and methane yields. Based on applied specific energies, ultrasonication pre-treatment was found much more effective than microwave irradiation. The specific energy applied in microwave pre-treatment (87,000kj/kgTS) was almost 9 times higher than that of used in ultrasonication (10,000kj/kgTS), resulting only 10-15% increases in biogas/methane yield. Co-digestion of winery and olive industry residues with pre-treated wastewater sludges appears to be a suitable technique for waste management and energy production., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study investigates the effect of ultrasonic and microwave pre-treatment on biogas production from the anaerobic co-digestion of olive pomace and wastewater sludges. It was found that co-digestion of wastewater sludge with olive pomace yielded around 0.21 L CH4/g VS added, whereas the maximum methane yields from the mono-digestion of olive pomace and un-pretreated wastewater sludges were 0.18 and 0.16L CH4/g VS added. In the same way, compared to mono-digestion of these substrates, co-digestion increased methane production by 17-31%. The microwave and ultrasonic pre-treatments applied to sludge samples prior to co-digestion process led to further increase in the methane production by 52% and 24%, respectively, compared to co-digestion with un-pretreated wastewater sludge. The highest biogas and methane yields were obtained from the co-digestion of 30 min microwave pre-treated wastewater sludges and olive pomace to be 0.46 L/g VS added and 0.32 L CH4/g VS added, respectively., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Levan is a homopolymer of fructose with many outstanding properties like high solubility in oil and water, strong adhesiveness, good biocompatibility, and film-forming ability. However, its industrial use has long been hampered by costly production processes which rely on mesophilic bacteria and plants. Recently, Halomonas sp. AAD6 halophilic bacteria were found to be the only extremophilic species producing levan at high titers in semi-chemical medium containing sucrose, and in this study, pretreated sugar beet molasses and starch molasses were both found to be feasible substitutes for sucrose. Five different pretreatment methods and their combinations were applied to both molasses types. Biomass and levan concentrations reached by the Halomonas sp. AAD6 cells cultivated on 30 g/L of pretreated beet molasses were 6.09 g dry cells/L and 12.4 g/L, respectively. When compared with literature, Halomonas sp. was found to stand out with its exceptionally high levan production yields on available fructose. Molecular characterization and monosaccharide composition studies confirmed levan-type fructan structure of the biopolymers. Rheological properties under different conditions pointed to the typical characteristics of low viscosity and pseudoplastic behaviors of the levan polymers. Moreover, levan polymer produced from molasses showed high biocompatibility and affinity with both cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines.

This study examined the behaviour of the microbial population in an anaerobic reactor, in terms of changes in numbers of total bacterial community, autofluorescent methanogens, non-methanogens and morphology of the autofluorescent methanogens, using epifluorescence microscopy and microbiological enumeration techniques. A laboratory-scale, continuous flow-completely mixed anaerobic reactor, coupled with a conventional gravity settling tank and a continuous recycling system, was operated at an HRT range between 24 and 12 h, using dairy wastewater as the substrate. The numbers of the total bacterial community and autofluorescent methanogens both decreased during start-up. Also, the proportion of the number of autofluorescent methanogens in the total bacterial community varied from 5% to 16% during operation. In particular, the activity of the methane-forming bacteria decreased significantly at HRTs of 16 and 12 h. A membrane module, instead of a conventional settling tank, would obviously have been a more effective method if recycling were required in the anaerobic treatment system.

Regional agricultural projects based on water resource development have many potential impacts on social and natural environments. In this research, potential long-term environmental problems of the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) related to water resources, land use, land degradation, agricultural pollution and demography are analysed from a systems perspective. The analysis focuses on the totality of environmental, social and economic issues. For this purpose, a system dynamics simulation model (GAPSIM) has been developed as an experimental platform for policy analysis. GAPSIM was validated, first 'structurally', using the tests suggested by the literature and then the model 'behaviour' was tested and calibrated with respect to available data. The reference behaviour of GAPSIM reveals that, as the irrigated lands are developed, GAP faces significant water scarcity because of the increased intensity of cotton, the crop with the highest demands for water. Simulation results also indicate that two key environmental factors, pesticide and fertilizer consumption may reach undesirable levels. Alternative irrigation water release strategies, development rates of irrigated fields and farm rotation practices appear as important policy tools in achieving long-term environmental sustainability. GAPSIM promises to be not only a useful laboratory for policy makers of GAP, but also a useful generic structure applicable to other similar regional development projects.