Desai Brun (wingtree5)

This paper contributes to the growing literature regarding the role of Information and Communication Technologies as well as Innovation on driving the level of carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth in context of the 21st conference of the Parties to the Climate convention (COP21). Drawing the data from 13 selected G-20 countries (including Argentina, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States) during the period of 15 years, our study achieves significant results. First, only five factors impede the carbon emissions namely energy price, foreign direct investment, technology, spending on innovation and trade openness while the remainder of determinants contribute to contamination of environment, including financial development. Second, when it comes to economic growth, information and communication technological and financial development are positive driving factors. Our results do reject the absence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) from our sample. Finally, our study empirically suggests that the work of controlling consumption of oil and environmentally friendly process including manufacture-trading in these economies will limit the amount of pollution. The degradation of four representative neonicotinoids, namely Thiamethoxam, Imidacloprid, Acetamiprid and Thiacloprid, was carried out by the sequential association of different advanced oxidation processes, including Ozonation, Electro-chemical Oxidation, Ultrasound, Ultraviolet radiation, and their different possible associations. There are no published papers in the literature on the removal of this type of insecticides through these associated oxidation processes. Single oxidation processes did not achieve total pollutants removal in less than 3 h (only UV radiation treatment obtain a total removal of Thiamethoxan in 150 min, but with mineralization below 15% TOC). For double sequential processes, Electro-oxidation-Ozone treatment obtains a total removal of Imidacloprid in 120 min and an increase of mineralization to 50% TOC. Three or four sequential processes are recommended to improve degradation and mineralization rates in a significant way, Electro-oxidation-Ozone-UV treatment obtains a total removal of Thiamethoxan in 80 min with mineralization over 75% TOC. These results confirm important synergistic effects which were quantified. The global trend indicates that Thiamethoxam is the most oxidizable neonicotinoid, whereas Acetamiprid is the most recalcitrant compound. The degradation rate of each neonicotinoid followed pseudo-first-order kinetics and the different oxidation pathways were also quantified from a kinetic point of view. A disconnect between community perceptions and officially documented Superfund remedial actions and health outcomes may hinder the essential community engagement at Superfund sites. This study evaluates the extent of one such potential disconnect in Butte, Montana, which is part of the largest U.S. Superfund site in the U.S. Since the 1860s, when mining began in Butte, mine waste disposal practices in Butte and surrounding areas have left behind massive deposits that have contaminated the area's soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water with arsenic and heavy metals. Over the last four decades, a substantial amount of remediation work has been completed along with requisite community engagement and health studies at this Superfund site. The potential disconnect was evaluated using a new survey instrument that covered (a) general environmental health perceptions, (b) mine-waste specific environmental health perceptions, (c) effectiveness of community engagement, (d) knowledge of health outcomes, and (e) demographics. The survey results demonstrated a disconnect in many instances where objective remedial improvements may not have resulted in improved environmental health perceptions in the community. The disconnect was m