Chemical discharge into water has contaminated various locations globally, endangering humans and aquatic life. Industries, farms, wastewater treatment plants, and stormwater overflows release chemicals. The European Union has set pollutant concentration criteria in drinking, surface, and groundwater to reduce water pollution. To comply with these limits, analytical detection methods must be rapid, reliable, and able to identify even minute levels of chemicals. Agriculture uses pesticides to keep crops safe from illnesses, insects, and weeds. Few chemicals work, while the remainder sink into the soil and damage ground and surface water. Due to the growing emphasis on scene analytes over chromatographic approaches, new pesticide evaluation methods have been prioritized. This report summarises various electrochemical pesticide detection studies in a simple and targeted manner. This study examines the electrochemical detection of carbamates, organophosphorus, organochlorine, pyrethroids, and pyrethrins. Electrochemical diagnostic methods, electrode materials, electrolyte and pH of interesting samples, and sample matrices are examined. This paper will also discuss current advances in the respected study, analytical obstacles, and future opportunities. Many electrochemical investigations and analytical data are summarised in this article, which also describes the linear dynamic range of concentration and limit of detection for electrochemical pesticide sensing. This review discusses electrochemical pesticide sensing advances in the utilization of various nanomaterials.

Despite its proven high toxicity, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) continues to be used in rocket technology and some other areas of human activity. In this work, the ability of plant-bacterial consortia to reduce the genotoxicity of UDMH and its incomplete oxidation products was investigated. Genotoxicity was assessed using a specific lux-biosensor, Escherichia coli MG1655 pAlkA-lux, which emits stronger light when cellular DNA is alkylated. For microbiological biodegradation, the Bacillus subtilis KK1112 strain was isolated from the soil via a two-stage selection process for resistance to high UDMH concentrations exceeding 5000 MAC. This strain's ability to biodegrade UDMH was demonstrated, as treatment of UDMH-polluted medium with KK1112 resulted in reduced DNA alkylation. A synergistic reduction in the DNA-alkylating potency of UDMH oxidation products was studied under the combined application of bacteria KK1112 and plant seedlings: Bromus inermis Leyss, Medicago varia Mart. and Phleum pratense L. The greatest effect was achieved when bacteria were used in combination with B. inermis. KK1112 cells accelerated seedling development and mitigated UDMH-induced growth inhibition. The findings suggest that the consortium of KK1112 and B. inermis has a great potential for remediation of UDMH-polluted soils in arid climatic zones.

Lysimeters are frequently employed to replicate environmental conditions in landfill scenarios due to their relatively economical nature and brief study duration. Lysimeters frequently exhibit varying geometrical characteristics that modify the physical and thermodynamic attributes, potentially influencing waste material's decomposition rate and leaching dynamics. Based on the results of the lysimeter tests, lysimeters effectively evaluate and predict the impact of magnesium oxide (Mgo), a material suitable for constructing landfill liners. The findings substantiate that lysimeter investigations can significantly contribute to landfill engineering by identifying optimal strategies for waste containment and selecting appropriate materials for fabricating landfill barriers. Throughout the experimental procedure, the lysimeter was subjected to leachate application. In each hour of the experiment, the quantities of moisture, electric conductivity value (EC), temperature, settlement, pressure reaching the liner, and the total volume and pH of the obtained effluents were measured each week. This research explores and analyzes the role of magnesium oxide (C-M) in reducing permeability and measuring the shear strength properties of the composite material by utilizing a triaxial test. The sensor results demonstrated that MgO-enhanced liners provided superior long-term performance compared to clay. EC sensors showed MgO liners had lower and more stable conductivity. Moisture content sensors indicated that MgO-treated soil maintained better moisture regulation, reducing leachate. LVDT sensors revealed that MgO liners had minimal settlement, while clay experienced greater and prolonged settlement. Temperature sensors confirmed MgO's consistent thermal stability. In contrast, pressure, Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), pH, and flow rate sensors highlighted MgO's better structural integrity, lower dissolved solids, and controlled permeability over time.

This study assesses the hygrothermal performance of the Photovoltaic External Thermal Insulation Composite System (PV ETICS), using a thick layer of mortar with Phase Change Material (PCM) granules as a passive heat sink. The experimental scenario involved the wall system exposure to real outdoor climate conditions during a 20-month long measurement period. Measured data were compared with results from the hygrothermal modelling. The findings reveal that with carefully designed diffusion channels the PV ETICS demonstrated no accumulation of moisture behind the vapour-tight PV panel. Long term hygrothermal modelling for PCM mortar moisture content with a previously calibrated model predicted stable moisture content around 0.03 m(3)/m(3), significantly lower than the moisture content during first 2 years. Relative humidity behind the PV panel falls into the hygroscopic range on the second spring after the construction. The annual maximum temperatures for PCM mortar during two summers were 69 degrees C, occurring in mid-August. Risk analysis was conducted with historic climate data to understand, whether higher PCM temperatures could be reached in the same climate for different years. Overall, the wall system showed no signs of extensive moisture damage during the testing period, but slight discolouring of the PCM mortar was recorded. This study contributes valuable insights into the practical viability of PV ETICS with PCM mortar, reaffirming its potential for application on larger scale on real building facades.

The freeze-thaw cycle of near-surface soils significantly affects energy and water exchanges between the atmosphere and land surface. Passive microwave remote sensing is commonly used to observe the freeze-thaw state. However, existing algorithms face challenges in accurately monitoring near-surface soil freeze/thaw in alpine zones. This article proposes a framework for enhancing freeze/thaw detection capability in alpine zones, focusing on band combination selection and parameterization. The proposed framework was tested in the three river source region (TRSR) of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Results indicate that the framework effectively monitors the freeze/thaw state, identifying horizontal polarization brightness temperature at 18.7 GHz (TB18.7H) and 23.8 GHz (TB23.8H) as the optimal band combinations for freeze/thaw discrimination in the TRSR. The framework enhances the accuracy of the freeze/thaw discrimination for both 0 and 5-cm soil depths. In particular, the monitoring accuracy for 0-cm soil shows a more significant improvement, with an overall discrimination accuracy of 90.02%, and discrimination accuracies of 93.52% for frozen soil and 84.68% for thawed soil, respectively. Furthermore, the framework outperformed traditional methods in monitoring the freeze-thaw cycle, reducing root mean square errors for the number of freezing days, initial freezing date, and thawing date by 16.75, 6.35, and 12.56 days, respectively. The estimated frozen days correlate well with both the permafrost distribution map and the annual mean ground temperature distribution map. This study offers a practical solution for monitoring the freeze/thaw cycle in alpine zones, providing crucial technical support for studies on regional climate change and land surface processes.

In this study, a methodology is proposed to use dual-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to identify the spatial distribution of soil liquefaction. The latter is a phenomenon that occurs in conjunction with seismic events of a magnitude generally higher than 5.5-6.0 and which affects loose sandy soils located below the water table level. The methodology consists of two steps: first the spatial distributions of soil liquefaction is estimated using a constant false alarm rate method applied to the SPAN metric, namely the total power associated with the measured polarimetric channels, which is ingested into a bitemporal approach to sort out dark areas not genuine. Second, the obtained masks are read in terms of the physical scattering mechanisms using a child parameter stemming from the eigendecomposition of the covariance matrix-namely the degree of polarization. The latter is evaluated using the coseismic scenes and contrasted with the preseismic one to have rough information on the time-variability of the scattering mechanisms occurred in the area affected by soil liquefaction. Finally, the obtained maps are qualitatively contrasted against state-of-the-art optical and interferometric SAR methodologies. Experimental results, obtained processing a time-series of ascending and descending Sentinel-1 SAR scenes acquired during the 2023 Turkiye-Syria earthquake, confirm the soundness of the proposed approach.

The improper disposal of antibiotics in water bodies and using contaminated wastewater in irrigation severely damage the environment. Despite efforts to monitor these contaminants, effective detection methods are limited. Here, we design and develop a novel microfluidic electrochemical (EC) sensor for on-site detection of trimethoprim (TMP) using a selenite-enriched lanthanum hydroxide (La(OH)(3):SeOx) working electrode and a polyimide (PI)-filter integrated microfluidic channel (MFC), thus termed a mu TMP-chip. For the first time, we introduced a new two-pronged strategy for enhancing TMP detection: i) incorporating selenite into the La(OH)(3) lattice to improve charge transfer properties and ii) using a laser-processed PI filter in the MFC to trap and isolate complex biomasses. Material characterizations confirmed that incorporating selenite into the La(OH)(3) lattice initiated La-O-Se bond formation and enhanced hybridization between the La 4f and O 2p orbitals. This process created holes in the O 2p valence band and improved the charge transfer properties, thus enhancing both sensitivity and selectivity. EC studies confirmed that when the PI filter is not used in the MFC, the mu TMP-chip experiences a 15-45 % drop in efficiency. The scalable mu TMP-chip offers cost-effective, highly reproducible TMP detection in soil and water.

Mercury ion (Hg2+) is one of the most toxic pollutants that can exist throughout the environment and be diffused into water, soil, air, and eventually the food chain. Even a very low level of Hg2+ diffused in living organisms can hurt their DNA and cause the permanent damage of the central nervous system and a variety of consequential disorders. Hence, the development of a sensitive and specific method for the detection of Hg2+ at trace ranges is extremely important as well as challenging. Fluorometric detection assays based on graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) offer considerable potential for the determination and monitoring of heavy metals due to their fascinating properties. Although the quantum yield of GQDs and CQDs is sufficient for their use as fluorescent probes, doping with heteroatoms can significantly improve their optical properties and selectivity toward specific analytes. This review explores the primary advances of CQDs and GQDs in their great electronic, optical, and physical properties, their synthetic methods, and their use in Hg2+ fluorimetry detection.

Robust ionic conductive sensors with biocompatibility play a great role in flexible electronics and human-machine interfacing. However, the simultaneous attainment of ionic conductive sensors with high ionic conductivity, outstanding mechanical properties, ambient stability, and skin adhesiveness remains a major challenge. Herein, inspired by root-soil interlocked micro/nanostructure, a fiber-reinforced hybrid hydrogel for strain sensor is developed by infiltrating a polyacrylamide (PAM)-grafted sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel precursor into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fibrous membranes and introducing glycerol (GL) and CaCl2. Alongside remarkable mechanical properties (stress up to 5.93 MPa and strain up to 658.32%), the obtained TPU hybrid hydrogel also possesses high ionic conductivity (1.93 S m(-1)). As a strain sensor, the hybrid hydrogel exhibits excellent sensitivity (gauge factor = 1.95), a large response range (0-658.32%), remarkable cycling stability, and good adhesiveness, suitable for monitoring various human activities, especially pulse monitoring and speech recognition. Moreover, the inclusion of CaCl2 and glycerol provides the hybrid hydrogel with exceptional water-retention and antifreezing properties, enabling practical usage in severe environments. This work provides effective ideas for the design of ionic conductive sensors with high strength, high sensitivity, adhesiveness, and ambient stability, which have potential applications in multifunctional and wearable electronics.

Deep cement mixing (DCM) piles are widely utilized for reinforcing soft clay foundations, particularly in coastal regions where soil stability is critical. Monitoring the quality and early-stage behavior of cemented soil is essential to ensure the effectiveness of DCM pile projects in meeting design requirements. Innovative methods for on-site monitoring are necessary to enhance the reliability and efficiency of these reinforcement techniques. In this study, a novel approach is proposed utilizing polymer optical fiber (POF) sensors based on physical optical sensing principles to monitor the initial hydration degree and overall quality of cemented soil during the early curing stage. The proposed method relies on the principle of physical optical sensing, where POF sensors are employed to measure changes in reflected light intensity (LI) and temperature in cemented soil. Two crucial variables, namely the initial water content and the amount of cement, are considered in analyzing their impact on the LI and temperature changes over time. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis are conducted on cemented soil samples with varying water-cement ratios to investigate their mechanical properties and microstructure evolution. The results of the UCS tests indicate that higher initial water content prolongs the initial hydration reaction time required for cemented soil with different cement contents. Analysis of LI curves reveals a rapidly rising trend as the hydration reaction progresses, particularly evident in samples with higher initial water content. SEM analysis further demonstrates that a stable POF LI corresponds to the completion of the hydration process, with hydrated gel formation resulting in a more compact microstructure and smaller voids. The findings highlight the significant influence of cement quantity and initial water content on the mechanical strength and microstructure of cemented soil. By analyzing changes in reflected LI and temperature, the proposed monitoring method provides valuable insights into the early-stage behavior and quality of cemented soil during the curing process. This innovative use of POF sensors for on-site monitoring offers a novel approach to evaluating cemented soil in DCM pile projects.