Integrity management systems (IMSs) are increasingly promoted to embed ethical conduct, mitigate corruption risks, and strengthen organizational accountability. Yet empirical evidence on their effectiveness remains sparse and contradictory, offering little insight into how these systems operate in practice and why they often fail in heavily formalized organizational settings. This paper addresses that gap by developing a meso-level framework for diagnosing systemic imbalances in IMSs. Drawing on systems theory and management control literature, we conceptualize IMSs as an integrity management package structured through four levers: belief, boundary, diagnostic, and interactive systems of control. We deploy this framework through an explanatory, multi-case design spanning four major corruption scandals in infrastructure, defense, healthcare, and banking in the UK, Italy, Greece, and the Nordic–Baltic region, drawing on a triangulated dataset built through systematic web scraping. The cross-case analysis shows that integrity failures are not explained simply by the absence of formal controls, but by recurring imbalances among control levers. Organizations tend to privilege boundary and diagnostic systems, such as rules, procedures, monitoring, and performance metrics, while under-investing in belief and interactive systems that should enable ethical culture, dialogue, challenge, and learning. We theorize this imbalance as a compliance façade: formally robust but weakly embedded in organizational practice. The paper thereby reframes the compliance versus values debate in ethics scholarship, offering the first empirically grounded, cross-sectoral model of how integrity is embedded, sustained, and undermined in organizations, with implications for redesigning IMSs across public, private, and hybrid settings.

Amid accelerating climate change and urbanization, green roofs are recognized as a nature-based solution that supports urban resilience. This study uses an expert interview-based assessment combining semi-structured interviews with a structured SWOT scoring and ranking stage to identify institutional factors influencing green roof adoption in Islamabad. The SWOT scoring stage is based on respondents’ agreement levels and importance scoring to prioritize themes transparently. The findings demonstrate significant strengths in environmental benefits and energy efficiency, while weaknesses include institutional capacity constraints and data gaps. Opportunities arise from green policies, strengthening regulations, and public-private partnerships, whereas legal and political constraints and lack of knowledge remain major threats. The study highlights the need for improved governance and institutional support to integrate green roofs into urban planning and offers insights for planners and policymakers to create resilient cities.

Urban and coastal tourist environments are increasingly exposed to complex air-pollution mixtures, yet systematic investigations in such settings remain limited in Bangladesh. This study was conducted in nine (09) strategic locations of Cox`s Bazar tourist city of Bangladesh to know the status, sources and daily variations of major gaseous air pollutants (CO, CO₂, CH₄, SO₂, NO₂, O₃, and Cl₂) including PM_2.5 and PM₁₀. A sensor-based instrument Aeroqual Series 500 was used to investigate the air quality. Measurements were conducted thrice daily: morning, noon, and evening to apprehend diurnal variations of air pollutants. PM₂.₅ concentrations varied from 42 to 362 µg m^{− 3}, while PM₁₀ ranged from 42 to 333 µg m^{− 3}, with elevated levels observed in traffic-dominated and construction-intensive areas, indicating strong influences from vehicular emissions and resuspended road dust. Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) exhibited exceptionally high concentrations (10–66 ppb), suggesting combined contributions from local combustion sources and coastal influences, including emissions associated with marine transport and fishing activities. Carbon monoxide (CO) ranged from 0.1 to 6.97 ppm, and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) varied between 19 and 49 ppb, reflecting the impact of traffic-related emissions. Ozone (O₃) showed moderate ambient concentrations (1–200 ppb); however, source apportionment results indicate that O₃ represents a key component of a secondary photochemical factor in the positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis, highlighting its role in atmospheric oxidation processes rather than dominance in terms of mass concentration. PMF analysis identified major source categories related to vehicular emissions, secondary photochemical reactions, and marine-influenced activities. Overall, the findings demonstrate that air quality in Cox's Bazar is governed by the interaction of traffic emissions, coastal atmospheric dynamics, and tourism-related human activities, underscoring the need for targeted emission control in tourist hotspots, improved management of construction-related dust, and evaluation of fuel quality used in marine transport to protect public health and support sustainable tourism development.

Aerobic granular sludge is a sustainable, viable substitute to improve industrial effluent treatment capabilities, lessen environmental impact, and significantly contribute to industrial sustainability. Hence, the efficacy of granular sequencing batch reactors (GSBR1 and GSBR2) operating side by side with and without the inclusion of waste-derived biochar, respectively, for COD and NH₄ ⁺-N removal was assessed. The synthesized biochar was used in the GSBR2 for contaminant removal. Process optimization was carried out through the application of response surface methodology. Cycle duration of 0.25–0.75 day and an industrial effluent concentration of 50%–100% were utilized as the independent variables. Results demonstrated that biochar as a biosorbent and nucleation carrier led to the production of more substantial and stable aerobic granules. Biochar speeds up granulation, lessens the compression carried on by inter-particle collisions, and appears to have no negative influence on the granule bacterial community structure. The bacterial proliferation inside the granules caused a considerable rise in granule size. At 0.25 day cycle time and 100% industrial effluent, process results showed a considerable reduction of COD (62.8%, 94.1%) and NH₄ ⁺-N (51.5%, 65.37%) for the GSBR1 and GSBR2 systems, respectively. Analyzing the kinetic models revealed that the Grau model performed better in estimating the rate of substrate removal with R² values in the range of (0.9608–0.9865) and (0.9575–0.9612) for COD and NH₄ ⁺-N, respectively. Microbial community studies revealed that the microbiome diversity and adaptation supported aerobic granules' long-term stability even at 75 days. Additionally, granule size and density were demonstrated, and the outcomes showed that the valorization of industrial effluent could be accomplished using an aerobic granulation mechanism employing biochar. The current results demonstrated that biochar application in GSBR as a biosorbent and nucleation carrier is a viable option to enhance organic matter and nutrient removal from industrial effluent, thereby making the water suitable for irrigation practices. It is also a solution to hazardous sludge wastes that could foster the transition toward sustainable and circular economy processes.

ABSTRACT

Sugarcane vinasse, a by-product of bioethanol production, poses a significant environmental challenge due to its high organic load and the large volumes generated. Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been widely explored as an alternative treatment, particularly in two-stage configurations that can enhance methane recovery. Despite this growing interest, the literature remains fragmented, with limited efforts to integrate technological developments and operational constraints. In this study, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using data from the Web of Science Core Collection and Elsevier Scopus databases to examine global research trends, identify prevailing technological approaches, and identify research gaps and key process limitations. The results show a clear expansion of scientific output over time, although research activity is concentrated in a relatively small number of countries, with Brazil leading scientific output, reflecting its prominent role in sugarcane and bioethanol production and its strong international collaborations. Keyword analysis revealed three main thematic clusters related to (i) biological processes and environmental aspects, (ii) energy production, and (iii) technological and engineering applications. Across these themes, the optimization of methane and biohydrogen production emerges as a central focus. UASB and AFBR reactors are the most frequently investigated systems, commonly operated under mesophilic or thermophilic conditions. Even so, several gaps remain. Further work is needed to understand better the optimization of two-stage systems, the role of sulfate in shaping methanogenic performance, and the potential of co-digestion and fermentative-sulfidogenic pathways. Addressing these challenges, together with advances in process optimization, economic assessment, and emerging digital technologies, will be essential to improve process stability and support the large-scale implementation of sustainable vinasse valorization strategies.

Statement of Novelty

This review advances the current literature by focusing specifically on the application of two-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) systems for sugarcane vinasse. While vinasse management and conventional single-stage AD processes are well documented, the role of the fermentative stage, particularly under sulfidogenic conditions, remains insufficiently explored within two-stage configurations. Drawing on publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection and Elsevier Scopus databases, this study offers a structured overview of how research in this field has evolved. Rather than simply describing existing approaches, the analysis highlights recurring patterns in reactor design and operational strategies and points to important limitations. These include the limited range of reactor configurations investigated, the still-limited understanding of sulfate dynamics during the fermentation stage, and the need for more systematic evaluation of operating parameters under variable conditions. By bringing these aspects together, this work provides not only a synthesis of current knowledge but also a clearer perspective on where future efforts should be directed. The study contributes to advancing the discussion on how two-stage AD systems can be more effectively integrated into sustainable and circular approaches for vinasse valorization.

This article challenges the assumption that legal harmonization within the European Union ensures effective anti-corruption governance. Despite EU-compliant frameworks, institutional integrity remains highly uneven across subnational territories. We introduce the Regional Integrity Framework (RIF), a diagnostic approach that integrates citizen perceptions, procurement indicators, and enforcement activation measures to capture regional integrity performance. The analysis suggests that formal convergence can conceal functional divergence, as peripheral regions often exhibit weaker administrative capacity, limited oversight, and uneven institutional activation. A mixed-methods application that combines panel analysis with an illustrative comparison of Sofia and Vidin, Bulgaria, demonstrates how the RIF can diagnose territorial integrity gaps within a shared legal framework. Conceptually, the study reframes anti-corruption as a territorially embedded problem of institutional activation; methodologically, it offers a transferable framework for identifying enforcement asymmetries and governance disparities in multi-level systems.

This article sheds important new light on the hybrid space between medicine and law in which medico-legal autopsies are situated. By examining original empirical data obtained during interviews with pathologists, I reveal a web of authority claims both within the profession and in its relationship to law. Drawing on the sociology of medicine, I note the importance of expert status to both the pathologist's identity and their contribution to law. This is constituted via a combination of trained technical skills and tacit knowledge. However, I note the ways in which these pathologists framed their conclusions as ‘opinion’. This, I argue, both reflects the ambiguity inherent in clinical judgement and is a device to limit credibility-damaging challenges, especially during legal adjudications. It may therefore be that a gap exists between law's desire for facts and the contribution that these professionals can, and are willing, to contribute towards achieving that end.

Financial asset disclosure laws are widely implemented to combat conflicts of interest among policymakers, yet their economic impact remains poorly understood. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of how these transparency measures affect macroeconomic outcomes across the 50 US states. We theorize that these disclosure and recusal laws could have divergent impacts on macroeconomic performance: they might enhance economic outcomes by curtailing the exploitation of political connections by business firms, or conversely, they could impede economic growth by altering firm behavior and deterring business leaders from seeking public office, thereby potentially reducing the pool of economically savvy policymakers. Using new data on state-level disclosure policies, we find that asset disclosure laws are associated with a worsening macroeconomic environment in states. To uncover the mechanisms driving these counterintuitive results, we conduct two pre-registered survey experiments with 2000 small business owners. Our experimental evidence suggests that stringent disclosure requirements deter business investment and expansion. This research has implications for legislative challenges for legislative design, transparency, and economic policy.

The growing environmental concerns associated with petroleum-based plastics have accelerated the search for sustainable, biodegradable substitutes derived from renewable materials. While many research efforts have focused on biodegradable plastics derived from starch-rich food sources such as potato, corn, and rice, the use of agricultural byproducts as a cellulose source has not been thoroughly explored. Hence, this research delves into the creation of biodegradable bioplastic films using cellulose derived from discarded coconut shell powder, a by-product rich in lignocellulose with considerable value. Bioplastic films were produced by solution casting, with cellulose mixed with gelatin, glycerol, citric acid, and distilled water in varying ratios. The films were extensively assessed for their physical, mechanical, thermal, surface, morphological, and biodegradation properties. The highest tensile strength attained was 8.22 ± 0.10 MPa, and the maximum bursting strength was 0.19 ± 0.01 MPa. The films also exhibited favorable thickness properties, improved biodegradability, and better water contact angles, suggesting their suitability for packaging applications. Morphological and thermal examinations additionally verified the structural soundness and steadiness of the produced films. The innovation in this research centers on the use of discarded coconut shell powder as an eco-friendly cellulose source for the manufacture of biodegradable packaging films. By converting abundant agricultural waste into value-added bioplastic materials, this study supports waste reduction, resource conservation, and the development of eco-conscious alternatives to traditional plastic packaging.

Legal corruption, also known as institutional corruption, has become prevalent in the public sector, but empirical research on this subject is still at a nascent stage. Given its potentially detrimental impact on the perceived level of organizational capacity among internal members, understanding civil servants' views of legal corruption is essential. We contribute to this literature a discussion of civil servants' assessment of legal corruption in the government and evidence from a survey experiment with more than 2000 South Korean civil servants. The results of our analysis suggest that civil servants evaluate the degree of legal corruption in the government through their political lens, that is, their political ideology. Specifically, they tend to be more critical when the government is ruled by a chief executive and party that have different political views from their own, compared to when it is governed by those with the same political views. The implications of this study are clear: the central role of political views and policy preferences in understanding perceptions of legal corruption in the public sector.

Corporate accountability remains marginal in transitional justice, despite growing evidence of economic actors’ complicity in armed conflicts. This article examines Colombia's transitional justice system to explain the persistent exclusion of corporate responsibility. Drawing on Robert Cover's concepts of nomos, narrative, and polynomia, it shows how state‑centric transitional justice scriptures legitimize the omission of economic dimensions. Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace provides a revealing case; though it leads globally in judicial actions involving businesses, most complicit corporations remain untouched. Linking local practices to the global transitional justice scripture, the article argues that an internationally standardized nomos narrows transitional justice into jurispathic, state‑centred practices that confine knowledge, privilege law over politics, and cast economic actors as neutral. These entrenched normative structures hinder the practical translation of the emerging scholarly ‘corporate turn’. Colombia's experience thus exposes both the potential and the structural limitations of integrating corporate accountability into post‑conflict justice.

The global governance of outer space relies heavily on international agreements, yet the institutional forms of these agreements remain underexplored. This article introduces a new dataset on various design features of 952 space agreements, offering the first large-N overview of institutional design in space governance. Building on rational design theory, this article analyzes how these design features interact with one another and with negotiation structures. Our results reveal systematic trade-offs and suggest that power asymmetry has contrasting effects depending on the context: Powerful states tend to favor greater delegation, precision, and enforcement in bilateral agreements, while often resisting them in multilateral settings. These findings underscore the importance of accounting for both power dynamics and bilateralism, two contextual factors often overlooked in rational design theory. By making the dataset publicly available, the article seeks to foster further research on the causes and consequences of institutional variation in space governance and to advance comparative institutionalist scholarship across issue-areas of global governance.

While regulatory governance scholarship has paid significant attention to the normative importance of ethics reform in government, empirical evidence on compliance remains scant. Drawing on insights from the social value activation model and behavioral ethics, this study examines civil servants' compliance propensity under conflict-of-interest regulation. Specifically, we examine how a legitimate ethics reform is associated with the voluntary compliance of two legally treated groups: those with policy implementation duties and those with frequent stakeholder engagement. The results of our list experiment with a representative sample of South Korean civil servants (n = 1977) show that both target groups exhibit higher estimated compliance propensity with the second provision of the Act, restricted and prohibited actions, but that only policy implementation duties are associated with higher compliance propensity with the first provision, reporting and disclosure obligations. Our findings suggest that ethics reform compliance is shaped not only by formal rules and deterrence, but also by administrative role exposure, perceived legitimacy, and the value-based dimension of civil servants.

Given indications of rising challenges for marginalized citizens in the pre-dispute phase of civil procedures, we studied this phase up close at Dutch legal aid centres using the framework of William Felstiner et al. on naming, blaming, and claiming. Interviews were conducted with 116 visitors to these centres. We asked them when and why they had come. Respondents had come because they had questions on both naming their justiciable issue and blaming the opposing party. Interestingly, respondents who needed help with blaming the opposing party were not necessarily able to name their justiciable issue in legal terms. Our findings highlight the iterative character of the naming and blaming stages, and that respondents in both the naming and blaming stages were able to articulate their issue in only very general legal terms. Furthermore, our findings show the multifaceted role of legal aid centres in supporting marginalized citizens in effectuating their rights.

A two-round Delphi study with 19 experts validated 62 key parameters for a holistic sustainability assessment framework for material selection of primary food packaging materials. Encompassing environmental, economic, social, and performance sustainability dimensions across raw material extraction and processing, production and distribution, use, and end-of-life phases, the validated parameters aim to address critical gaps in traditional LCA, LCC, and S-LCA approaches. The expert-endorsed framework supports balanced material selection, reduces burden shifting, minimizes food waste, and promotes circular food packaging systems.

ABSTRACT

The rising demand for food and the growing issue of packaging waste have increased the need for better sustainability assessment frameworks for food packaging systems. However, current assessment methods mainly focus on environmental impacts and do not consider economic, social, and functional performance across the entire life cycle. This study aims to bridge this gap by identifying and validating critical parameters for a complete sustainability assessment framework for materials used in primary food packaging. Initially, 125 parameters were identified from life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) frameworks, and specific literature. These parameters were considered across four sustainability dimensions and four life cycle phases. A two-round Delphi study involving 19 experts was conducted to validate these parameters. The identification of a consensus-based core set of sustainability assessment parameters formed a preliminary foundation for development of a holistic sustainability assessment framework for selection of primary food packaging materials.

This article contributes to the emerging scholarship on prefigurative legality by prompting critical questions on the boundaries of prefigurative legality itself. The article does so by reviewing two selected experiments for creating urban commons in Italy. Both experiments have engaged creatively with the law, developing two different legal models. However, it is not clear whether such models can be considered examples of prefigurative legality. The uncertainty is due to the fact that the assessment depends on which features we, as analysts, emphasize when discussing prefigurative legality. This brings us to investigate how different features of prefigurative legality might connect with strands of existing socio-legal scholarship, prompting more general reflections on prefigurative legality's place within the field of socio-legal studies.

Why do states vary in their compliance with international anti-corruption recommendations? Research often treats the state as a unitary actor and explains variation at country-level. This article challenges that assumption by examining variation in compliance across institutional sectors within countries. Using original data from the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the analysis shows a clear sectoral pattern. Recommendations addressed to prosecutors are implemented most frequently, followed by those targeting judges, while recommendations directed at members of parliament show the lowest levels of compliance. The article explains this variation through the political economy of target compliance. Reform outcomes depend on the interaction between the political costs imposed by reform and the degree of control that targeted actors exercise over its implementation. We find little evidence that country-level factors shape reform outcomes, while sector-specific incentives provide a stronger explanation for compliance patterns. By highlighting the importance of the target population, the article contributes to research on international compliance, anti-corruption governance, and international monitoring mechanisms.

In October 2022, the Swedish government announced a series of reforms in the field of migration policy, including a proposed legal obligation requiring all employees in public institutions, including healthcare professionals, to report people living as undocumented migrants in the country to the authorities. This article examines the intense public debate that followed, focusing on the interventions of physicians, their collectives, and medical organizations. In their responses, physicians protested by invoking their primary duty to provide care, the heightened vulnerability of undocumented patients, and the erosion of trust that such legislation would entail. In doing so, they rejected the intrusion of bureaucratic law, and what the social movement termed Angiverilagen (the ‘Snitch Law’), into clinical spaces, and instead oriented themselves towards the perceived moral compass of their profession. Through their collective resistance to the proposed legislation, we argue, physicians came to articulate an alternative normative order grounded in professional ethics: a legal communitas.

In tax policy, expert advice abounds, often aligned with either state or market interests – but can there be impartial experts in tax law, and can academics play that role? Drawing on the sociology of expertise and domination, we examine the practices, valuation, and institutional autonomy of Norwegian tax law academics. We find no clear distinction between academics and other professionals in knowledge production or arenas of influence, and limited institutional support for autonomy. However, an analysis of expert statements in the debate on the ‘exit tax’ reform reveals diverse academic arguments and no systematic alignment with one type of interests, which indicate that the academic field is not uniformly dominated by either the state or the market. We propose that boundary blurring and maintenance by actors across the state, the market, and academia legitimize an expert discourse that serves academics and state and market actors alike.

This article explores public understandings of self-defence claims in fatal and non-fatal domestic abuse cases. The topic is of contemporary interest following the government's rejection of proposals to introduce a bespoke defence for domestic abuse victims who use force against their abusers based on the inaccurate claim that the defence of self-defence is adequately accessible to them. Evidence shows that the application of the self-defence framework by courts is highly gendered, and access to it is limited in these cases. We present findings of a study that asks the public whether the claim of self-defence would and should be available in a range of domestic abuse-based vignettes. These findings reveal both support for greater access to self-defence claims by domestic abuse victim-defendants than currently exists, and a need for public education about the dynamics of coercive and controlling behaviour. We highlight the significance of contextual factors arising in focus group discussions and their alignment with the theory of social entrapment.

ABSTRACT

Transportation systems are a major and growing source of global carbon emissions, accelerating climate change and exacerbating extreme temperature risk. This study investigates the long-term dynamics of transportation carbon emissions (TCE) and temperature in China and the United States from 1970 to 2023, employing an integrated framework that combines Mann-Kendall and Theil-Sen trend analyses, decomposition-assisted forecasting, and Quantile-on-Quantile (Q-Q) analysis. To ensure the robustness of the results, a bandwidth sensitivity test is used. The results show significant warming trends across both countries, with urban warming rates ranging from 0.018°C to 0.033°C yr^{− 1}. Structural break diagnostics reveal major regime transitions during the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s. Supplementary stationarity diagnostics further demonstrate substantial long-memory persistence and strong nonstationarity in transportation-emissions systems, particularly in China. Forecast results indicate continued warming through 2035 in both countries, while transportation-emissions trajectories diverge markedly. The United States exhibits comparatively slower emissions growth and partial stabilization tendencies, whereas China shows persistent long-term emissions acceleration and stronger structural persistence. Q-Q analysis further reveals stronger upper-tail temperature-emissions synchronization in China (r = 0.747) than in the United States (r = 0.630), indicating more pronounced coupling under high-emission and elevated-warming regimes. The study provides governments with tailored transportation decarbonization policy measures.

Plastic waste generation has evolved into a critical environmental crisis, exerting severe ecological pressure on the global terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Concurrently, the environmental accumulation of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) has escalated due to widespread polymer consumption and systemic waste management inefficiencies. Developing sustainable, scalable remediation strategies is an ecological priority. Phytoremediation—the use of plants to clean up contaminated environments—can be effectively applied to mitigate MP pollution, offering advantages such as high efficiency, environmental friendliness, aesthetic appeal, and cost-effectiveness. Although phytoremediation shows considerable potential for MP and NP remediation, its mechanisms and field-scale applicability remain insufficiently explored. Hence, this review discusses the mechanisms of MP remediation and the environmental feasibility of adopting plant-based systems for environmental plastic interception. By discussing the toxicological effects of MPs across multiple taxa, this paper establishes a baseline justification for the urgent need for environmental remediation. The mechanism of interaction between plants and MP/NP at the molecular level has been given special attention, and it was observed that plants rely on uptake, translocation, compartmentalization, and sometimes it stores MP along with other contaminants. Further, we evaluate the synergistic potential of plant-microbe co-remediation. To establish a closed-loop framework, postremediation biomass management strategies are addressed, focusing on the thermochemical conversion of the contaminated biomass into biochar. Ultimately, plant-based systems represent a promising component of integrated MP remediation strategies; however, significant mechanistic and scalability gaps remain, necessitating focused, interdisciplinary research to validate field-scale implementation.

The rising use of plastic and its harm on individual and public health through microplastic pollution in food and water is a growing concern. Although Indonesia maintains general and hazardous waste regulations, it lacks targeted legal measures for microplastic management. This study applies a normative juridical method to analyze Indonesia's regulatory framework and compares it with California's comprehensive microplastic strategy to assess legal adequacy and identify regulatory gaps. Findings indicate key deficiencies in Indonesia: absence of microplastic specific prohibitions across critical sectors (including tobacco related sources), limited enforcement of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and insufficient monitoring and public education. In contrast, California has enacted detailed product, established statewide monitoring standards, integrated Low Impact Development (LID) for runoff control, upgraded wastewater treatment requirements, increase public awareness, and research initiatives. Based on these results, this paper recommends that Indonesia needs to: strengthen EPR through clear incentives and penalties; expand microplastic specific bans; incorporate LID into spatial planning; enhance wastewater treatment plants for microplastic removal; and enhance environmental education curricula. Empowering multi stakeholder platform, such as National Plastic Action Partnership, with expert led research and data driven thresholds which will support effective policy and better protect public health from microplastic pollution.

Characterizing watershed soils is essential, as these properties directly dictate agricultural output, ecosystem well-being, and the migration of pollutants. Focusing on the Tamiraparani River Basin (TRB), this research evaluates soil health and pollution status by systematically collecting and analyzing 39 samples to measure key chemical parameters and specific metal concentrations. While the TRB faces escalating pressure from intensive agriculture and industrialization, a comprehensive assessment linking land-use-specific metal accumulation remains largely absent; this study addresses this gap by pairing high-resolution spatial mapping with pollution assessment. Conventional techniques were utilized to determine attributes like pH, electrical conductivity, and trace element levels. The contamination degree spanned from 6.47 to 14.54, with four locations recording minimal contamination while the rest displayed moderate levels. Meanwhile, Pollution Load Index metrics fluctuated from 0.73 to 1.26, with 16 locations pointing to a gradual decline in soil health driven by human activities. Overall, the results point to minimal overall contamination accompanied by slight localized enrichment, highlighting the necessity for proactive environmental monitoring. Consequently, these localized PLI elevations highlight critical zones requiring immediate source-specific management to arrest further catchment degradation. This baseline assessment provides a transferable geochemical framework to identify early-stage soil deterioration, enabling targeted land-use interventions before marginal enrichment transitions into widespread eco-toxicological and public health liabilities.

This paper examines whether government favoritism in public procurement generates negative social costs, even within redistributive institutional frameworks such as the European Union. Rather than relying on perception-based corruption indicators, we employ an objective proxy of corruption risk—the share of awarded public contracts which received only one bid. This measure captures non-competitive allocation and mitigates reverse causality concerns. Using static and dynamic fixed effects panel models, we find that procurement favoritism is systematically associated with adverse social outcomes across EU member states. Specifically, we document robust, statistically significant negative effects on educational attainment, income inequality, and poverty. Our results suggest that governance quality—and not merely the volume of public expenditure—is a critical determinant of social development, and that distortions in procurement processes can undermine the effectiveness of public spending even where formal cohesion commitments exist.

A provincial-scale GIS-MCDA framework was developed to assess landfill suitability in Edirne Province by integrating flood susceptibility, river proximity, slope, elevation, road accessibility, LULC, geology, and soil criteria. AHP-derived weights were applied through weighted overlay analysis to generate the Landfill Suitability Index. The results show that very high-suitability areas are limited and fragmented, underscoring the need for detailed site-specific assessments and integrated waste management planning.

ABSTRACT

Municipal solid waste management is a critical challenge in hydro-environmentally sensitive regions, requiring complex evaluations for landfill siting. This study develops a risk-informed Geographic Information System (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework for landfill site selection in Edirne Province. Edirne represents a highly constrained decision space due to its low-lying topography, floodplain dynamics, dense river networks, and intensive agriculture. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the framework integrates eight key criteria: flood susceptibility, river proximity, slope, elevation, land use/land cover (LULC), geological structure, soil characteristics, and accessibility. Results reveal that moderate suitability areas dominate the province (64.1%), followed by high (21.9%) and low (12.4%) suitability. Very high suitability areas are severely restricted, covering only 0.8% (52.3 km²) and emerging as fragmented patches where favorable conditions intersect. This spatial scarcity is primarily driven by critical environmental bottlenecks, specifically compatible LULC (0.4%), suitable geology (4.8%), and low-permeability soils (3.9%), which collectively exert a strong spatial filtering effect. Ultimately, this structured GIS-MCDA screening approach informs sustainable waste management planning in environmentally constrained regions. The severe limitation of highly suitable land demonstrates that conventional landfill expansion is spatially restrictive. The findings underscore the urgent need for strategies aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 6 and 11), emphasizing surface and groundwater protection, resource recovery, recycling, and a critical transition away from landfill-dependent waste systems.

Steam-based thermal remediation is increasingly applied to hydrocarbon-contaminated soils in cold and permafrost regions, but its performance varies markedly across laboratory and field conditions due to coupled thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and physicochemical processes. This review develops a multiscale framework integrating pore-, fracture- and field-scale mechanisms controlling steam-based thermal remediation in frozen soils. At the pore scale, freeze–thaw cycling modifies pore connectivity, unfrozen water distribution and contaminant mobility. At the fracture scale, fractures may enhance heat transfer or induce thermal short-circuiting depending on their connectivity and evolution. At the field scale, subsurface heterogeneity, ice content and operational parameters jointly determine heating efficiency and contaminant removal. The review further evaluates the capabilities and limitations of multiphysics coupling models, highlighting uncertainties caused by parameter non-uniqueness, scale mismatch and limited field observability. Optimization approaches, including adaptive steam injection, hybrid remediation and low-carbon energy integration, are discussed as site-dependent strategies. This review provides a multiscale perspective for interpreting, modelling and optimizing steam-based thermal remediation in cold-region environments.

Co-pyrolysis of plastics is a simultaneous thermochemical conversion of a mixture of plastics to value-added products. This study quantified air emissions from co-pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at varying mixture compositions. The emissions were modelled using simplex lattice design (SLD) and artificial neural network (ANN). A mixture containing 100% LDPE, 0% PS, and 0% PET emits the highest quantities of hydrocarbons (HCs), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxide (NO) with values of 7980.46, 1793.67, and 41.41 mg/m³, respectively, with no indication of NO₂, SO₂, H₂S, or CO₂ emissions. Meanwhile, mixture containing 0% LDPE, 0% PS, and 100% PET emits the lowest quantities of HCs and CO, with values of 200.47 and 44.69 mg/m³, respectively. Mixtures containing 17% LDPE, 17% PS, and 66% PET; 17% LDPE, 66% PS, and 17% PET; and 0% LDPE, 50% PS, and 50% PET showed no emissions of NO. The study generated predictive models for the emissions of HC, CO, and NO and statistically established that using SLD, a special quartic model best describes HC and CO emissions, while a quadratic model best describes NO emissions. Although ANN shows good modelling of the emissions, the coefficients of estimate were lower than that of simplex lattice design.

From the perspective of negotiated governance, this study examines how companies respond to regulatory measures that combine hard and soft elements, assigning them greater responsibility for addressing social problems. Focusing on the Swedish gambling market, the study analyzes gambling operators' interpretation of the legal concept of duty of care. While this duty obliges operators to protect gamblers from excessive gambling, what it entails in practice and how responsibilities are understood are largely left to operators to define. Guided by the concept of responsibility, the analysis shows that interpretations vary and it is unclear what duty of care aims to prevent. Despite variations, duty of care is often framed in terms of responsible gambling, thereby individualizing responsibility for gambling-related harm, and the action plans largely describe compliance with other legal requirements. In conclusion, the findings suggest a need for greater regulatory clarity regarding the normative foundations of duty of care regulation.

ABSTRACT

Microplastics (MPs) have emerged as a pervasive pollutant in marine environments worldwide, yet the Arabian Gulf remains underrepresented in global assessments despite its ecological and economic significance. The estimated mass of MPs entering the water of the Gulf ranged from 155 to 413.4 kt per year. This review synthesizes peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2024, covering seawater, sediments, and biota. Reported concentrations vary considerably: seawater ranged from 0–3 MPs/m³ in Qatar to 12,000 MPs/m3 in Kuwait, while sediments concentrations reached up to 665 MPs/kg in Oman and as many as 195,104 particles at Iranian hotspots. In biota, MPs were frequently detected in fish and prawns, with up to 828 particles recorded in digestive tracts and 18.5 MPs/10 g in edible muscle tissues. Fibers and fragments dominate across all matrices, with polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as the most common polymers. Furthermore, legislation and regulations available on the regional and national level to reduce the amount of marine litter including plastics and MPs were discussed. Microplastics in the Gulf are examined across four themes: (1) source and pathway, (2) classification, (3) occurrence and fate, and (4) environmental impacts and future risks. Cross-study comparison reveals spatial and temporal variability, contradictory biotic load estimates across countries, and significant methodological inconsistencies that limit data comparability. Critical knowledge gaps persist, including the absence of Gulf-specific studies on lower trophic levels, ecotoxicological thresholds, and quantitative human exposure models. Although Gulf states have introduced measures such as single-use plastic bag bans, legislation remains fragmented, compliance data are scarce, and certain policy approaches (notably the reliance on oxo-degradable plastics) are inconsistent with international best practice. The Gulf's distinctive characteristics including its semi-enclosed hydrology, extreme salinity and temperature, and shared governance challenges position it as both a natural laboratory for studying microplastic fate and transport and a potential testbed for regional policy harmonization. Insights from this region can inform management strategies for other enclosed and semi-enclosed seas worldwide.

Indoor air pollution poses a critical public health risk, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions like Bangladesh, where inadequate ventilation and climatic conditions intensify exposure risks. This study investigated seasonal and diurnal variations in indoor air quality (IAQ) across AC and Non-AC environments in Mymensingh, assessing compliance, pollutant correlations, and quantification of health risks (ELCR, HQ). Measurements of PM₁, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, TVOCs, HCHO, temperature, and humidity were taken from 56 rooms (28 AC, 28 Non-AC) during the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons using real-time monitors. During the post-monsoon season, PM_2.5 levels in Non-AC rooms reached 123.29 µg/m³ in the afternoon, compared to 79.79 µg/m³ in AC rooms, while PM₁₀ concentrations peaked at 145.32 µg/m³ in Non-AC environments and 89.75 µg/m³ in AC rooms. TVOC levels were highest in AC rooms, reaching 884 µg/m³, likely due to limited ventilation, and HCHO concentrations in AC spaces (301.14 µg/m³) consistently exceeded WHO guidelines. Temperature and humidity influenced pollutant dynamics, with PM levels positively correlated with temperature and HCHO negatively correlated. Health risk assessments revealed significant hazards during the post-monsoon season, with children in Non-AC environments facing high estimated lifetime cancer risks (ELCR) from PM₁ (5.16E-03) and PM_2.5 (2.7E-03), while AC environments showed elevated risks from HCHO (8.75E-06). Hazard Quotients (HQ) for PM_2.5 (9.30) and PM₁₀ (3.21) in Non-AC environments reached alarming levels, indicating severe non-carcinogenic risks. Source apportionment using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) identified distinct pollutant sources, underscoring the complex interplay of indoor and outdoor factors. Spatial analysis highlighted central urban zones as high-risk areas due to traffic emissions and commercial activities. These findings emphasize the dual burden of particulate exposure in Non-AC spaces and chemical accumulation in AC environments, influenced by seasonal shifts. Policy reforms focusing on source reduction, improved building codes, and public awareness are crucial to mitigate health disparities in tropical urban settings.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding offers a non-invasive approach to wetland bird community monitoring, yet its capacity to detect conservation-priority migratory species at stopover wetlands with no prior systematic baseline remains largely untested. We conducted the first spatially replicated eDNA survey at Baima Lake Wetland (Huai'an, China), a Ramsar site designated in 2023 and an important stopover along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. We sampled 24 sites across three habitat zones during spring migration (March 2024) and the post-breeding period (September 2024) using the 12SV05 primer targeting the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene. eDNA detected 49 bird species, including four absent from the published checklist of Baima Lake. Most notably, Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri; CR, IUCN) and the Oriental Stork (Ciconia boyciana; EN, IUCN), both globally threatened migratory visitors, were detected exclusively in spring at 25% and 8% of sites respectively, illustrating the value of eDNA temporal persistence for capturing evidence of brief stopover events. Despite non-significant alpha diversity differences among zones, community composition differed significantly (PERMANOVA: R ² = 0.48–0.52, p ≤ 0.03), with only 2 of 162 OTUs shared across all three lake zones. These findings establish the first molecular avian biodiversity baseline for Baima Lake and demonstrate that spring eDNA surveys can systematically document conservation-priority migratory species and reveal fine-scale zone-level community differentiation at inland Ramsar wetlands, complementing traditional and camera-based monitoring approaches where they are most limited.

Cyanobacteria bloom in freshwater sources such as reservoirs produce harmful toxins that can adversely affect water quality, aquatic environment and public safety. These harmful organisms can be removed from water sources using flock and sink techniques. In this study, we examined the efficacy of a low dose coagulants (Moringa stenopetala seeds (MSS), Aloe barbadensis miller leaf (AVL) and Opuntia ficus-indica leaf (OFIL)) both alone and in combination with local red soil (LRS) as a ballast material to remove the cyanobacterial biomass from Koka Reservoir's water (Ethiopia). The plant extracts obtained from dried biomass treated with NaCl. The results of the experiments determined the lowest dose of coagulants and ballast that effectively coagulate and sediment cyanobacterial biomass from the sample. The removal efficiency was estimated using phycocyanin pigment as surrogate of biomass. The mixed effect model was conducted to assess the effects of coagulant dose, LRS dose, and replication on the measured responses. The results indicated that treatment dose significantly affected the phycocyanin concentrations both at the top and bottom of the test-tubes, whereas the effect of replicates was negligible. MSS extracts proved to be more effective alone (87.64%) or combined with LRS than other treatments. The coagulants, either alone or in combination with natural ballast, provide prominent sustainable alternative for cyanobacterial removal in freshwaters in tropical systems particularly for low-income countries.

ABSTRACT

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating One Health challenge driven by the persistence of antibiotics, resistant microorganisms, and resistance genes across clinical, agricultural, and aquatic environments. Bioremediation offers microbial and enzymatic pathways for degrading antibiotic residues, but its effectiveness is often limited by slow kinetics, environmental heterogeneity, and system instability. Nanotechnology provides complementary capabilities, including enhanced antimicrobial delivery, photocatalytic degradation, enzyme stabilization, biofilm disruption, and damage to extracellular resistance genes, while also introducing concerns related to toxicity, ecological risk, and resistance selection. This review synthesizes primary experimental evidence across nanotechnology and bioremediation to evaluate their integration as an environmental AMR mitigation strategy. The analysis indicates that integrated systems can improve antibiotic removal, antimicrobial performance, and biofilm control, although direct reductions in resistance-gene abundance or transfer have been demonstrated in only a subset of studies. The review further identifies key barriers to implementation, including limited field validation, inconsistent system characterization, and insufficient assessment of transformation products and ecological impacts. Overall, integrated nano-bioremediation represents a promising pre-field approach whose advancement will depend on environmentally informed design, standardized evaluation, and responsible deployment.

Air pollution is a major environmental health risk. The study aimed to evaluate the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks of indoor BTEX and indoor/outdoor NO₂ in preschools at Melusi informal settlement. Materials and Methods Eight preschools in Melusi, City of Tshwane, were included. A total of 36 Radiello passive samplers measured indoor BTEX and indoor/outdoor NO₂ over 14 consecutive days. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) human health risk assessment model was used to estimate non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks. Mean indoor concentrations were 7.4 µg/m³ (benzene), 7.7 µg/m³ (toluene), 2.8 µg/m³ (ethylbenzene), and 2.3 µg/m³ (xylenes). Mean NO₂ levels were 15.6 µg/m³ indoors and 17.8 µg/m³ outdoors. Hazard quotient values were below the safe threshold of 1 for all BTEX among the subgroups (range: 0.002–0.267), when U.S. EPA reference values were applied. The cancer risks were 5.8 × 10^{− 5} for benzene and 6.9 × 10^{− 6} for ethylbenzene. Indoor BTEX and indoor/outdoor NO₂ health risks were evaluated across different subgroups, indicating both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks in preschools at Melusi informal settlement. These findings underscore the urgent need for air pollution mitigation strategies in informal settlements and similar settings.

Paddy residue burning has emerged as a major environmental challenge in north-western India, highlighting the need for sustainable and economically viable residue management alternatives. In this context, baler technology has gained importance as an effective ex-situ crop residue management practice that supports biomass utilization and reduces open-field burning. The study aimed to evaluate the supply chain dynamics, economics, farmers' perceptions, and constraints associated with baler-based paddy residue management. The study was conducted in the south-western zone of Punjab during 2025–26. Primary data were collected from 10 paddy residue aggregators selected using the snowball sampling technique and 60 farmers selected through simple random sampling from the Bathinda and Mansa districts of Punjab. The study revealed that the average baling operation covered 2676.67 acres per season and handled approximately 70,400 quintals of paddy residue with an effective field capacity of 3.60 acres per hour. Economic analysis indicated that the total cost of baling was INR 150.69 per quintal, while the net return was INR 36.56 per quintal with a benefit-cost ratio of 1.22 and a payback period of 1.37 years, indicating the economic viability of the technology. Transportation cost emerged as the major component of operational expenditure. Farmers showed a generally favorable perception towards baler technology, particularly regarding its economic and environmental benefits. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that education (β = 1.4127), farm size (β = 1.1371), and extension contact (β = 17.3939) positively and significantly influenced farmers' perceptions, whereas age (β = −0.5790) had a significant negative effect. Major constraints faced by residue collectors included high initial investment, poor transportation infrastructure, low residue prices, and labor shortages. The study concludes that baler technology offers a sustainable and economically feasible solution for paddy residue management; however, improved policy support, institutional interventions, infrastructure development, and awareness programs are essential for its wider adoption and long-term success.

Microplastic (MP) pollution is an ever-growing issue in the marine ecosystem around the world. However, the study on MP pollution in marine fish remains limited, particularly those conducted in Eastern Sarawak, Malaysia. Hence, this study investigated the occurrence of MP on the marine fish, collected from local fish market in the city of Sibu and Kuching, Eastern Sarawak, Malaysia. The MP samples were examined from 5 g of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) across 22 species of fish. The samples were extracted by digesting (KOH solution), followed by density separation (NaCl solution) and filtration. Then, the samples were identified and characterized under stereomicroscope and Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). As the result, an estimated of 6107 particles of MP were found on GIT from all species. The highest abundance was found in Pacific Sardine (Sardinops Sagax) with 383.24 particles, while the lowest abundance was found in Japanese Sea Bass (Lateolabrax Japonicus) with 181.22 particles. The most dominant shape was fiber with 61.46%, the dominant size of MP was less than 1000 µm with 87%, and the blue was the most prevalent color, with a proportion of 65.83%. The FTIR analysis detected polyester (PES) and polyamide (PA) in the sample. This study investigates the occurrence of MP ingestion in commercial marine fish and indicates the potential for human exposure to contaminated fish. Moreover, this study provides additional data references, to support long-term monitoring program, as well as the development and implementation of standardized sampling and analytical protocols for local policymakers and stakeholders, which could help improve the understanding of MP pollution and protect marine ecosystem in the cities of Sibu and Kuching, Eastern Sarawak, Malaysia.

Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS)—such as Fairtrade International and the Forest Stewardship Council—aim to improve sustainability in global supply chains by setting high social and environmental standards and certifying businesses that adopt them. This article examines why some VSS adopt ambitious goals for living wages or living incomes yet continue to certify businesses that only pay a minimum wage. Drawing on previous literature, it offers a typology of five ways that VSS can decouple. Drawing on documents, interviews, and participant observation, it offers detailed case studies of how five VSS have engaged in the coupling and decoupling of wage standards. The research identifies four drivers of decoupling: priorities that complete, costs of coupling, low risk of decoupling, and anticipation that coupling will be easier in the future. It also describes several factors that influence these drivers. Finally, it shows how decoupling may paradoxically facilitate progress, while pressure to fully couple may inhibit transformative change, and concludes with recommendations for avoiding empty claims while harnessing aspirational standards.

Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) is a perennial tropical crop grown in Malaysia for its raw cane sugar production. Sugarcane bagasse, which is the fibrous part left after the cane juice extraction has an average amount of lignin content (17%–25%) which has previously shown to have anti-UV properties. The limited valorization of sugarcane bagasse and the ongoing ozone layer depletion have led to the study of lignin extraction and its efficacy in blocking UV radiation. This study aims to optimize organosolv lignin extraction method from sugarcane bagasse for high lignin recovery. The sugarcane bagasse used in the study has been characterized to contain 16.7% lignin and the organosolv lignin extraction method was further optimized using Box-Behnken design (BBD) to achieve the highest lignin yield. The lignin was extracted under reflux with three manipulated parameters of reaction time (2–6 h), concentration of catalyst (0–0.4 M), and liquid/solid ratio (10/1–50/1 v/w). The lignin extracted from the optimized parameters was characterized for its surface morphology (VPSEM), functional groups (FTIR), thermal stability (TGA) and sun protection properties (SPF). Through this study, it is determined that the best extraction condition yielded 42.95% of lignin when performed at 5.75 h of reflux duration, 0.357 M of catalyst concentration and 27/1 of liquid/solid ratio. Remarkably, when 10% (w/w) of the extracted organosolv lignin is incorporated, the SPF value of a base cream increased by more than seven folds to 104.58 which highlight its potential as a biobased UV filter in sunscreen. This study shows that biomass lignin is highly potential as a UV protection agent which can be incorporated into sunscreens.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) management depends on the interaction among economic, operational, and behavioral factors, with reward and penalty policies acting as central instruments that remain comparatively underexplored from a systemic perspective for influencing generator behavior. This study conducted a systematic literature review in the Scopus and Web of Science databases (2018–2024), following the ProKnow-C approach, from which a portfolio of 101 articles was selected from 498 initially identified records. Based on the reviewed literature, a conceptual Cause-and-Effect Diagram (CED) grounded in System Dynamics principles was developed, comprising eight feedback loops (five reinforcing and three balancing). The results show that the effectiveness of reward and penalty policies depends less on the isolated intensity of each instrument and more on its combination with source separation practices and the availability of adequate infrastructure, such as Voluntary Drop-off Points, to reduce improper disposal. The contribution of this study lies in the systemic integration of these policy instruments within a single causal framework and in the identification of seven recurring practical challenges in the implementation of these policies, for which operational solutions grounded in the reviewed literature are proposed, aimed at supporting the formulation of municipal solid waste management plans.