The presence of 220 emerging contaminants belonging to different classes (artificial sweeteners, personal care products, coffee and tobacco-related compounds, and industrial chemicals) was investigated in hospital wastewater for the first time. Twenty samples were collected within two sampling periods from two points of a Greek General Hospital. Target compounds were analyzed using a solid-phase extraction protocol followed by UHPLC-ESI-QToF-MS analysis. Analytical results showed that 23 micropollutants were detected at least once in hospital wastewater samples in Period 1, while 27 compounds were detected at least once in Period 2. The coffee and tobacco-related compounds were the most frequently detected substances, followed by artificial sweeteners, parabens, and industrial chemicals. The highest mean concentrations were recorded for the artificial sweeteners cyclamic acid (377 μg/L) and saccharine (295 μg/L), followed by caffeine (193 μg/L), nicotine (162 μg/L), and the industrial chemical lauryl diethanolamide (153 μg/L). The group of artificial sweeteners contributed up to 55.1% (Point A/Period 1) to the total concentration of studied chemicals. The detection of high concentrations of artificial sweeteners in hospital effluents reveals that hospitals should be considered as important point-sources of these contaminants.

Olive oil production is among the most significant pillars of crop production, especially in the Mediterranean region. The management risks undertaken throughout the olive oil production chain can be minimized using smart tools and applications. This review addressed the influence of the fruit fly of Bactrocera oleae (B. oleae) or Dacus oleae on the quality and antioxidant activity of the olives and their products based on the most recent literature data. Furthermore, in this review, we focused on the latest research achievements in remote sensor systems, features, and monitoring algorithms applied to remotely monitor plant diseases and pests, which are summarized here. Thus, this paper illustrates how precision agriculture technologies can be used to help agricultural decision-makers and to monitor problems associated with integrated pest management for crops and livestock, achieving agricultural sustainability. Moreover, challenges and potential future perspectives for the widespread adoption of these innovative technologies are discussed.

Downy mildew and powdery mildew are among the most serious diseases that affect grapevine. They can cause severe damage, such as yield loss, and affect the size of the grapes and their ability to accumulate sugars, affecting the flavor and aroma negatively and increasing the need for fungicidal sprays to combat these diseases and the pathogens that cause them. Clearly, it is important to predict these diseases early and apply treatment promptly to prevent and mitigate the effects of these diseases on crop production. This study presents a workflow in which IoT environmental sensors and machine learning methods are leveraged to accurately predict disease onset and allow for timely fungicide applications or other disease management strategies. We collected IoT grapevine field measurements and leveraged the records of the respective time periods during which fungicide treatments were applied to grapevine, and we used them to train and evaluate different ML tabular data classifiers as early predictors for each of the two diseases. The TabPFN transformer demonstrated superior performance in disease risk assessment while enabling real-time predictions with sub-second latencies, so it can be considered as a very good choice for a real-time grapevine disease prediction system.

In this study, biochars (BC) from potato peel residuals were synthesized at 400, 600, and 800 °C, characterized, and evaluated for the persulfate-assisted oxidation of venlafaxine (VEN). BC pyrolyzed at 800 °C demonstrated the highest catalytic activity, resulting in the degradation of 750 μg/L of VEN in the presence of 500 mg/L persulfate in less than 90 min. Acidic conditions favored VEN destruction, while the apparent kinetic constant was reduced from 0.1136 at pH 3 to 0.0389 and 0.0352 min⁻¹ for pH 7 and 9, respectively. Interestingly, the presence of inorganic ions such as bicarbonates and chlorides, as well as humic acid, only slightly reduced process efficiency. Scavenging tests and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy indicate a mixed mechanism dominated by non-radical pathways, with minor radical contributions, mediated by oxygenated surface functionalities of the 800 °C biochar. Five transformation products were identified through LC-HRMS suspect and non-target approaches, and a potential degradation pathway was proposed. Most of the identified transformation products exhibited lower toxicity levels than the parent compound. Finally, life cycle analysis revealed that, despite its superior kinetics, the 800 °C biochar carries the largest environmental footprint, underscoring the need for integrated assessments that jointly optimize removal performance and environmental impacts.

The increasing demand for clean water, along with the persistent release of organic pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and dyes into aquatic environments, underscores the urgent need for efficient wastewater treatment technologies