Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Wheat is one of the most important cereals due to the supply of much of the flour used in bread making in most countries, such as Iran. Wheat contamination with mycotoxins is subject to different production and maintenance conditions. As a carcinogen and mutagen, monitoring the amount of mycotoxins in imported wheat and prevention of the entry of low quality wheat to the food chain are essential. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the contamination of the wheat imported to Mazandaran province.
Materials and Methods: Samples of the wheat imported from Caspian Sea countries were evaluated for moisture content and mycotoxins contamination (ochratoxin A, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol). Mycotoxins contamination was determined by HPLC method via purifying with immunoaffinity column for ochratoxin A and zearalenone, and DONSPE column for deoxynivalenol.
Results: The results of this study showed that the average of ochratoxin A, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol in the samples were 2.24, 133.50 and 181.66 ng/g, respectively.
Conclusion: All the samples were within the acceptable level for mycotoxin according to the permissible limits of Iran National Standard. Additionally, a direct relation between deoxynivalenol and moisture content of the samples (-0.092) was not observed and the correlation between moisture content and ochratoxin A and zearalenone was 0.104 and 0.168, respectively.

Background and Objective: A scientific questionnaire for assessing the knowledge, attitude and judgment of people on waste management by municipalities has not been developed so far. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design and validation of an instrument to assess the knowledge, attitude and judgment of people on waste management by municipalities.
Materials and Methods: This analytical study was conducted in District 21 of Tehran in 2017. The initial items of the questionnaire were designed based on previous studies and opinions of the team of specialists and people. Then, the face validity and the content validity of the designed questionnaire was examined. The face validity and the content validity was examined qualitatively and quantitatively, respectively. Finally, the reliability of the attitude and knowledge and evaluation of municipal performance items were measured by Cronbach's alpha and a test-retest method, respectively.
Results: The initial questionnaire had 43 items. In the face validity, 8 items were removed and 8 items were edited. In quantitative content validity, 7 items were excluded, with the content validity index of less than 0.79 and the content validity ratio less than 0.49. Pearson correlation coefficient obtained for knowledge component equal to (r=0.77, p<0.0001) and for component performance (r=0.93, p<0.0001), respectively. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was equal to 0.89 for items attitudes, which were in an acceptable level.
Conclusion: The questionnaire can be used as a valid research instrument to collect information on knowledge, attitude and judgment of people on waste management by municipalities.
 

Background and Objective: Rural wastewater management is recognized as one of the pillars of sustainable development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess needs and prioritization of establishment of rural wastewater management facilities in order to supply a safe and alternative water source in the provinces of Iran experiencing severe water stress.
Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study which was carried out in rural areas of the provinces with severe water stress (South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Fars, Isfahan, Yazd, Semnan, Qom, Sistan and Baluchistan) in 2017-2018. In this study, the number of sample rural areas was calculated by Cochran method and the determination of the sample rural area was done by stratified sampling. The data related to the sample rural area was collected using a validated constructor questionnaire.
Results: The results of this study showed that the difference among all the studied provinces in terms of their priority in establishing rural waste water management facilities to provide a safe and alternative water source was very low. The provinces of Isfahan, Semnan and Fars were rated at 76 out of 100, while the provinces of South Khorasan and Sistan and Baluchestan scored 71 points.
Conclusion: With emphasis on comprehensive decision making criteria based on sustainable development, the results of this study showed that the provinces with severe water stress have a high priority regarding the establishment of rural sewage management projects in order to provide a safe and alternative water sources.
 

Background and Objective: Due to the existence of industries such as stainless steel, the presence of nickel (II) ions in water and wastewater has been reported at high concentrations. Removal of nickel (II) ions from wastewater and the environment are of primary importance. In this study, iron (III) oxide nanoparticles were studied as an adsorbent for removal of Ni (II) ions from water in the batch equilibrium system.
Materials and Methods: FT-IR, SEM and XRD techniques were used to characterize the structure of the sample. To determine the optimum adsorption, the effect of important parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent weight and initial concentration were investigated. Also, thermodynamic study (Gibbs standard energy variations, enthalpy and entropy), isothermal studies (absorption capacity) and kinetic studies (absorbent effect with time) were investigated.
Results: The results showed that the magnetic adsorbent had the highest removal efficiency of nickel (II) at pH 7, contact time 60 min, adsorbent dosage of 200 mg, and maximum removable concentration of 400 mg/L.
Conclusion: With thermodynamic studies, it was determined that the reaction was endothermic and the spontaneous process was controlled using the entropy factor (ΔG°=-2.7 KJ/mol, ΔS°=+165.17 J/mol.K). In order to better understand the mechanism of adsorption, kinetics studies were carried out using the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. Then, Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were investigated to determine the adsorption capacity, and it was found that the adsorption data were well fitted to Freundlich model and the maximum adsorption capacity was 43.5 mg/g, which indicated high adsorption capacity and its multi-layers.Then, Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were investigated and it was found that the adsorption data were well fitted to Freundlich model and maximum adsorption capacity (q_max=43.5 mg/g) was obtained which indicates good adsorption capacity of adsorbent and its multi-layers.
 

Background and Objective: Wastewater treatment and stabilization always imposes costs and consequently a lot of energy on wastewater treatment plants. To achieve the purification and stabilization of as much sludge as possible, breaking complex components into simpler components is considered a critical step. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of treating the produced sludge in the municipal wastewater treatment plant using ozonation method.
Materials and Methods: In this study, sludge was obtained from the return line of activated sludge from the wastewater treatment plant in the south of Tehran. An ozonation generator with a discharge rate of 3 L/min and an ozone concentration of 40-35 mg/L was discharged to the reactor and the residual ozone concentration was measured by iodometric method. Finally, the total suspended solids and volatile, soluble chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, and biochemical oxygen demand during ozonation processes were measured using the Standard Method.
Results: The results of this study showed that the amount of TSS and VSS in the activated return sludge decreased from 4060 to 2100 mg/L and from 3300 to 1850 mg/L during the ozonation process, respectively. However, SCOD, TOC, and SBOD had an upward trend of about 18, 11.7, and 14 times in the same reaction time, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that the ozonation system can be proposed as a suitable process for the decomposition of sludge produced in wastewater treatment plants and increasing the biodegradability of these sludges.

Background and Objective: Among greenhouse gases, CO₂ has a crucial role; thus, its impact on health indicators such as life expectancy is of great importance. Hence, one of the most important challenges in the health sector has been the impact of the environmental pollutants emission, namely CO₂, on life expectancy of men and women.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical and applied design with the health economics approach. The present paper examined the impact of pollutant emissions, namely CO₂, per capita income, death rate and birth rate, separately on Iranians’ life expectancy. This analysis was conducted using Quantile regression with EViews10 software during the period 1960 - 2019. In this study, first, the impact of pollutant emissions on life expectancy of all Iranians was calculated. Then, the impact of CO₂ on life expectancy of Iranian men and women in different quantiles was estimated.
Results: The results confirm the impact of carbon dioxide emissions per capita on total life expectancy was -0.133 and the impact of this pollutant emission on life expectancy obtained -0.170 and -0.127 for men and women, respectively. Both effects were estimated as negative and significant. This effect on life expectancy of men was 0.43% higher than that of women. Furthermore, the impact of death on life expectancy was negative, while the effect of per capita income on life expectancy was positive. Also, birth rate had a positive impact on women's life expectancy, whereas, it showed a negative impact on men.
Conclusion: The study revealed that CO₂ emissions had a negative impact on total life expectancy of both men and women. Thus, in order to increase life expectancy in Iran, pollutants emission, namely CO₂, should be controlled. These results can be a good guide to decision makers and macro-policy makers in Iran to control environmental pollutants to increase life expectancy.
 

Background and Objective: The high concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons, along with some other parameters such as aromatics, paraffin, naphthene, and heavy metals, has led to the sludge of oil sludge listed as hazardous materials with a specific source by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of oil-contaminated soil in changing the biodegradability indices of oil sludge.
Materials and Methods: Moisture, pH, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, elemental analysis, and amount and type of TPH of oil sludge samples were identified. The microbial consortium was isolated from contaminated oil soil around the oil refinery and poultry manure. Finally, biodegradability indices of oil sludge were examined.
Results: The results showed that the amount of organic carbon and nitrogen in oil sludge samples were 32.65 and 0.21%, respectively. Also, iron, calcium, and potassium with 5862, 2921, and 524 mg/kg, respectively, were the most elemental components in petroleum sludge. According to the SARA analysis, the highest TPH compounds in oil sludge samples included saturated compounds, aromatics, resins, and asphaltene with 70.45%, 15.2%, 10.9%, and 3.45%, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the results of biodegradability indicators of oil sludge, it can be concluded that the isolated consortium can be proposed as a suitable tool for the treatment of petroleum sludge at the bottom of crude oil storage tanks.
 

Background and Objective: Today, the issue of health aspects in urban waste management, especially recycling, has received a lot of attention during Covid-19 around the world. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and performance of workers of one of the waste recycling centers in Tehran metropolis regarding health aspects during the spread of Covid-19.  
Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study and the study population was all workers working in one of the recycling centers of Tehran Municipality. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with validity and reliability in four sections: demographic, knowledge, attitude, and practice of workers toward Covid-19 and solid waste.
Results: Findings of the study showed that the highest number of workers employed were in the age group of 20 to 40 years (60 percent). The level of knowledge was about 80 percent and the lack of awareness was 20 percent. The level of workers' positive attitude, negative attitude, and lack of attitude were 79.71, 14.56, and 5.72 percent, respectively. The level of positive practice among workers was about 67.43 percent and the negative practice was 32.57 percent.
Conclusion: The results clarified that in order to succeed in waste management programs in recycling centers, municipal waste managers should pay more attention to educational aspects, especially through the focus on programs and their development and adaptation for different age groups, especially 20 to 40 years.