Water pollution has become a serious threat to our ecosystem. Water contamination due to human, commercial, and industrial activities has negatively affected the whole world. Owing to the global demanding challenges of water pollution treatments and achieving sustainability, membrane technology has gained increasing research attention. Although numerous membrane materials have focused, the sustainable water purification membranes are most effective for environmental needs. In this regard sustainable, green, and recyclable polymeric and nanocomposite membranes have been developed. Materials fulfilling sustainable environmental demands usually include wide-ranging polyesters, polyamides, polysulfones, and recyclable/biodegradable petroleum polymers plus non-toxic solvents. Consequently, water purification membranes for nanofiltration, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and related filtration processes have been designed. Sustainable polymer membranes for water purification have been manufactured using facile techniques. The resulting membranes have been tested for desalination, dye removal, ion separation, and antibacterial processes for wastewater. Environmental sustainability studies have also pointed towards desired life cycle assessment results for these water purification membranes. Recycling of water treatment membranes have been performed by three major processes mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, or thermal recycling. Moreover, use of sustainable membranes has caused positive environmental impacts for safe waste water treatment. Importantly, worth of sustainable water purification membranes has been analyzed for the environmentally friendly water purification applications. There is vast scope of developing and investigating water purification membranes using countless sustainable polymers, materials, and nanomaterials. Hence, value of sustainable membranes has been analyzed to meet the global demands and challenges to attain future clean water and ecosystem.
The study looks at Ghana’s mining industry’s audit culture and green mining practices about their social responsibility to the communities where their mines are located. Results: According to this study, the economic motivations of mines and green mining are inversely related. Even large mining companies incur significant costs associated with their green mining initiatives because they require a different budget each year, which has an impact on their ability to maximize wealth. Conversely, mines with strong green mining initiatives enjoy positive public perception, and vice versa. Ghanaian mines do not have pre- or during-mining strategies; instead, they only have post-social and post-environmental methods. The best method for evaluating mines’ environmental performance in the community in which they operate is, according to this study, social auditing. This is primarily influenced by the mine’s audit culture, but it is also influenced by the auditor’s compliance with audit processes, audit guidelines, and, ultimately, the audit firm’s experience. The analysis confirms that Ghana’s mine environmental performance is appallingly low since local audit firms are not used in favor of foreign auditors who lack experience or empathy for the problems encountered by these mining communities. Last but not least, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is connected to Ghana’s development of green mining, either directly or indirectly. Whether the mine adopts a technocrat, absolutist, or relativist perspective on mining will determine this. The study discovered that, in contrast to the later approach, the first two views generate work in a mechanistic manner with little to no consideration for CSR.
Blockchain technology has increasingly attracted the attention of the financial service sector, customers, and investors because of its distinctive characteristics, such as transparency, security, reliability, and traceability. The paper is based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The study comprehended the literature and the theories. It deployed the technology-organization-environment (TOE) model to consider technological, organizational, and environmental factors as antecedents of blockchain adoption intention. The paper contributes to blockchain literature by providing new insights into the factors that affect the intention to adopt blockchain technology. A theoretical model incorporates antecedents of blockchain adoption intention to direct an agenda for further investigations. Researchers can use the model proposed in this study to test the antecedents of blockchain adoption intention empirically.
Considering the application of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the separator thickness plays a significant role in determining the weight, volume, and costs of the PEMFC. In addition, thermal management, i.e., temperature distribution is also important for the PEMFC system to obtain higher performance. However, there were few reports investigating the relation between the temperature profile and the power generation characteristics e.g., the current density distribution of PEMFC operated at higher temperatures (HT-PEMFC). This paper aims to study the impact of separator thickness on the temperature profile and the current density profile of HT-PEMFC. The impact of separator thickness on the gases i.e., H2, O2 profile of HT-PEMFC numerically was also studied using CFD software COMSOL Multiphysics in the paper. In the study, the operating temperature and the relative humidity (RH) of the supply gas were varied with the separator thickness of 2.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 1.0 mm, respectively. The study revealed that the optimum thickness was 2.0 mm to realize higher power generation of HT-PEMFC. The heat capacity of the separator thickness of 2.0 mm was the biggest among the separators investigated in this study, resulting in the dry-up of PEM and catalyst layer was lower compared to the thinner separator thickness. It also clarified the effects of separator thickness of profile gases, e.g., O2, H2O, and current density profile became larger under the higher temperature and the lower RH conditions.
The present study aimed to determine the dynamic relationship between good governance, fiscal policy, and economic growth in Oman. In the context of the current study, researchers chose a quantitative approach to answer the research questions, utilizing the latest 2023 data from the World Bank and The Global Economy databases. The data for the current study was carefully selected using variables that represent aspects of governance, fiscal policies, and economic performance. Our analysis uses Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Model. These methods help us understand these factors’ immediate and long-term impacts on Oman’s economy. The results we obtained offer fascinating insights into the country’s economic dynamics. We observe bidirectional causal relationships between the Good Governance Index (GGI) and the Regulatory Quality Index (RQI) and economic growth, while Fiscal Policy Effectiveness (FPE), Government Efficiency Index (GEI), and the Rule of Law Index (RLI) exhibit unidirectional causality towards GDP. Budget Balance (BB) shows no causal relationship with GDP, implying external factors influence it. Additionally, moderation analysis underscores the significance of digital financial inclusion in amplifying the effects of governance and fiscal policies on economic growth. These findings hold practical implications for policymakers and stakeholders in Oman. Specifically, they highlight the importance of governance, regulatory quality, and effective fiscal policies in shaping the economic landscape. To foster sustainable economic development, efforts should improve governance, enhance fiscal policy effectiveness, and promote digital financial inclusion.
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