Sn Alavi Bakhtiarvand, M Ahmadimoghadam, I Parseh, N Jafarzadeh, M Chehrazi, Mostafa Chorom,
Volume 7, Issue 1 (7-2014)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Soil polluted with total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPHs) is a great threat to human health. Phytoremediation, the use of vegetation for treatment of contaminated soils, is an attractive and cost-effective alternative to reduce pollutant from soil. This paper evaluates the effects of the plant and nutrients on the removal of TPHs from soil. Material and methods: Soils were collected at depth of 0-30 cm, and then polluted with 1 and 2.5 % w/w of crude oil. After preparing the experimental pots, Rhizosphere microbial number, plant biomass, and residual TPHs were determined. TPHs and heterotrophic bacterial number were measured by GC and HPC method respectively. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 17 for Windows) software and Excel. Results: It was found that the average percent of TPH removal in planted soil (28.42%) was higher than that in unplanted soil (12.2%) (p<0.05). Moreover, the average percent of TPH removal in treatments received nutrient and free nutrient treatments was 35.5and 17.7% respectively. Conclusion: Generally compared with the other studies, high clay and salinity of the experimental soil had a negative effect on phytoremediation efficiency. Finally, regarding to the high clay and salinity of the experimental soil, the phytoremediation efficiency was relatively desirable.
Hedieh Chorom, Nabiollah Mansouri, Mohammad Hassan Behzadi,
Volume 15, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objective: This study aims to develop a quantitative model for the performance evaluation of urban green buildings using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.
Materials and Methods: Criteria and sub-criteria related to green building were collected, then to content validity and reliability of the primary questionnaire were confirmed by a panel of 11 experts. The final questionnaire with 8 main criteria and 26 sub-criteria was provided to 295 green building users to model the performance of the green buildings. Content validity and Cronbach's alpha were used for validity and reliability of the initial questionnaire, Expletory Factor Analysis was employed to identify factor structure and Confirmatory Factor Analysis was utilized to examine factor loadings and goodness of fit.
Results: The final questionnaire included 8 main criteria and 26 secondary criteria. The internal consistency of the test was adequate (alpha>0.6); the chi-square test for EFI analysis was equal to 0.09 and RMSEA<0.05 and the CFI index was equal to =0.98.
Conclusion: The results showed the designed 8-factor model could predict the impact of green building performance by 81.64%. EFI and CFI analysis confirmed the fitting of the model too.
