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Showing 182 results for Ali

Mehrnoosh Abtahi, Mahmood Alimohammadi, Reza Saeedi, Ramin Nabizadeh, Masoomeh Askari, Babak Mahmoudi, Maryam Ghani,
Volume 14, Issue 2 (9-2021)
Abstract

Background and Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical and microbial quality of bottled water in Iran and to calculate the water quality index (WQI).
Materials and Methods: Different brands of bottled water (4 samples from 71 brands) were randomly collected from the market. Chemical and microbial characteristics of the samples were examined and determined. Finally, the calculations related to the WQI index were performed and the water samples were classified as excellent, good, poor, very poor and unsuitable.
Results: None of the samples exhibited concentration of heavy metals beyond Iranian water standards, and the concentration of sulfate (SO4), chloride (Cl) and fluoride (F) did not exceed international standards. However, in some samples, nitrite (NO2) and nitrate (NO3) concentrations were higher than recommended standards. With Regard to other water quality parameters, 8% to 89% of the samples exhibited concentration higher than the values provided on the water bottle label. 5 species of different bacteria were found in 15 water samples. According to the WQI index, about 63% of the samples were of excellent quality. Also, the water quality of 34% and 3% of the samples fell in good and poor quality categories, respectively. None of the bottled water samples was of very poor quality.
Conclusion: The quality of bottled water investigated in this study was generally suitable, but due to the wide range of bottled water in Iran based on brand and seasons, continuous evaluation of water treatment methods in companies and careful monitoring of chemical and microbial quality of bottled water in all seasons is recommended.

Naiema Vakili Saatloo, Tooraj Mehdizadeh, Javad Aliakbarlu, Rahele Tahmasebi,
Volume 14, Issue 2 (9-2021)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Milk is one of the most important components of human food. In recent decades, the continued use of pesticides has led to contamination of soil, water, air and milk and caused public concern in the community. Long-term exposure to pesticide residuals in the food chain can be harmful. Therefore, there is a need to control environmental conditions in order to improve its healthy and sustainable food processing practices.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 30 samples of raw milk were randomly collected in October 2020, from milk collection centers in Urmia and the residual pesticides were determined using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
Results: Organochlorine pesticides were detected in some raw milk samples. The highest concentrations of Lindane (γ-HCH) were detected with the values ranging from 0.3 to 0.6 mg/kg in 5 milk samples. Atrazine was detected in 15 samples with the values ranging from 0.8 to 1.33 mg/kg and alachlor was found in 13 samples with the varied range of 0.35 to o.5 mg/kg. Organochlorine pesticide concentrations were higher than maximum residue level (MRL) in all contaminated milk samples according to the values mentioned by the European Union.
Conclusion: This study showed that atrazine, lindane and alachlor were higher than MRL according to European Commission (EC). However, other organochlorine pesticides such as Heptachlor, Aldrin and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers (α, β and γ) were not detected.

Farah Rashadi, Nahid Navidjouy, Ali Ahmad Aghapour, Mostafa Rahimnejad,
Volume 14, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a new green technology that uses the catabolic ability of microorganisms to produce bioenergy while simultaneously removing organic matter and other wastewater contaminants. Electrode material is one of the factors affecting the performance of microbial fuel cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of microbial fuel cells in COD removal and bioenergy production from synthetic and real beverage wastewater.
Materials and Methods: In this research, a two-chamber microbial fuel cell with Nafion membrane and aerated  cathode was set up using two electrodes made of carbon felt and flat graphite after being contacted by synthetic wastewater with a concentration of COD 5000  mg/L and real beverage wastewater. Organic matter removal efficiency and voltage, power density and maximum current were determine.
Results: Experimental results showed that maximum COD removal efficiency of 92 % was achieved in synthetic wastewater and with a carbon felts electrode. In this condition, maximum voltage, power density and output current density of 469 mV, 175.28 mW/m2, and 855 mA/m2, were obtained, respectively. However, by using real industrial wastewater (beverage), maximum removal efficiency of COD, voltage, power density and output current density, related to carbon felt electrodes ‎were obtaines as 84 %, ‎460 mV, 91/65 mW/m2, and 635 mA/m2, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings showed that synthetic wastewater outperforms microbial fuel cells in terms of bioelectric production and organic matter removal as compared to real wastewater (beverage). The reason for the decrease in the cell performance might be the presence of solids and other confounding pollutants in real wastewater.

Zeinab Alizadeh, Kavoos Dindarloo, Mohsen Heidari,
Volume 14, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Heavy metal (HM) pollution of settled dust on the interior surfaces of elementary schools may affect the health of young students; hence, the health risk of such pollution should be assessed. Therefore, the aims of this study were to measure the content of heavy metals in the settled dust in the indoor of elementary schools in Bandar Abbas and to assess the attributed health risks.
Materials and Methods: In this study, dust samples were collected from the interior surfaces of elementary schools in Bandar Abbas. Settled dust samples were digested using aqua regia solution and then their metals contents were measured using ICP-OES. To assess the health risk attributed to this pollution, daily intake doses through ingestion, inhalation and skin absorption routes were estimated. Then, non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were calculated considering the daily intake doses and toxicity factors.
Results: The average concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, nickel and lead in settled dust were 5.45, 0.58, 11.44, 69.72, 83.95 and 66.72 mg/kg, respectively. The non-carcinogenic risk level for all metals was below threshold, while the carcinogenic risk level for arsenic (2.18×10-6) exceeded the threshold.
Conclusion: This study showed that the settled dust in elementary schools of Bandar Abbas is polluted with various levels of heavy metals. Health risk assessment showed that the exposure to dust containing heavy metals in the elementary schools of Bandar Abbas does not pose significant non-carcinogenic risk, but the carcinogenic risk of As exceeded the threshold limit and should be considered.

Moslem Daliri, Gholamali Javdan, Moslem Sharifinia,
Volume 14, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract

Background and Objective: As pharmaceutically active compounds (particularly antibiotics) are known emerging contaminants (EC), their occurrence in the environment has high health risks for the living organisms and the public. The effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is the most important source of residues of these compounds in the environment. The urban wastewater of Bandar Abbas is discharged into the marine environment of the Persian Gulf at the rate of 500 to 700 L/s, which could be a potential source of pharmaceutical contamination for the marine ecosystem.
Materials and Methods: In this research, two main wastewater discharge stations at Gursuzan and Suru were sampled during three phases between December 2020 to February 2021. The concentration of Erythromycin residues, as the first antibiotic clinically used to treat human infections, was assessed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.
Results: Data analysis showed that mean (± 95% CI) concentration of Erythromycin in Suru and Gorsuzan stations were 16 ± 1.53 and 19 ± 5.86 μg/L, respectively; which their differences did not differ significantly (p>0.05). Pooled data also indicated that the wastewater discharge contained 13.2 to 23.50 μg/L of Erythromycin (α=0.05). Considering the discharge of high volume of Bandar Abbas wastewater effluent into the Persian Gulf (500-700 L/s) as well as the data obtained from this study, the results of the simulation model showed that 5184×104 L Bandar Abbas municipal wastewater is discharged into the Persian Gulf marine ecosystem daily. This volume contains 0.877×103-1.02×103 g active residues of Erythromycin antibiotic (α=0.05).
Conclusion: The present study is the first report of contamination of residues of medicinal compounds into the Marine Environment of the Persian Gulf by urban wastewater. Regarding the high volume of wastewater discharged, which calls for immediate actions to be taken.

Alireza Rahimi, Nabi Shariatifar, Ali Heshmati,
Volume 14, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract

Background and Objective: The Pesticides used in agriculture have caused great concern due to their adverse effects on human health. In this study, the effect of rinsing, crushing, filtering, clarifying with bentonite and pasteurization on the reduction of diazinon, ethion and phosalone during Asari grape juice was investigated.
Materials and Methods: Vineyard was sprayed during three growth stages before flowering, sour grape (ghooreh) and during grape ripening with phosalone, diazinon, ethion and in doses of 525, 600, 750 g of active substance per hectare, respectively. Twenty-four hours after the last spraying step, the grape sample was harvested and exposed to the process of rinsing (20-30 s), crushing, filtering, clarifying and pasteurizing. Then, the pesticides residue concentration was determined after each step by GC-MS/MS.
Results: The initial concentrations of diazinon, ethion and phosalone in unprocessed grape samples were 0.640, 0.716 and 0.550 mg/kg, respectively. The reduction values of diazinon during the juicing processes of rinsing, crushing, filtering, clarifying with bentonite and pasteurization, in comparison with the concentration of unprocessed grapes, were 25.72, 41.96, 74.54, 90.21 and 100% (not found), respectively; while these values were 9.78, 28.50, 69.45, 89.38 and 96.74% for ethion and 17.32, 28.47, 46.40, 80.25, 93.28% for phosalone, respectively. All processes significantly reduced insecticides residue.
Conclusion: Findings showed that the processes of grape juice production could significantly decrease the diazinon, ethion and phosalone residues.

Arezoo Khalijian, Bahareh Lorestani, Soheil Sobhanardakani, Mehrdad Cheraghi, Lima Tayebi,
Volume 14, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Soils and sediments contamination with trace and toxic elements lead to potential ecological risk and adverse effects on human health and so have been the cause of increasing concern worldwide. Therefore, this study was carried out to potential ecological risk assessment of As, Cd, Ni and V in surface sediments of Khazar Abad, southern parts of Caspian Sea in 2019.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 36 surface sediment samples were collected from 12 sampling sites. After samples preparation, the elemental contents were determined using ICP-OES. Also, potential ecological risk factor (Eir) and cumulative potential ecological risk index (RI) were calculated. All statistical analyses were performed by SPSS software.
Results: Based on the results obtained, the mean contents of As, Cd, Ni and V in analyzed samples were found to be 12.7, 0.191, 35.0, and 31.9 mg/kg, respectively. The computed values of Eir
 showed that factor values were decreased in the order Cd > As > Ni > V. Additionally, the mean values of RI with 53.7 indicated that all the examined elements have the "low potential ecological risk".

Conclusion: Accordingly, although the examined elements have shown a low potential ecological risk, cadmium with 46.4% and arsenic with 45.4% mean values of RI can cause for concern. Therefore, source identification and management of organic and inorganic pollutants and also periodic monitoring of water and sediments as the sink of environmental pollution are recommended.

Sara Ordoo, Reza Arjmandi, Abdolreza Karbassi, Ali Mohammadi, Jamal Ghodosi,
Volume 14, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: The present research has been performed to investigate the opportunities and challenges facing the Iran’s renewable energies development to reduce climate change and improve health and represent managerial solutions in power generation sector by SWOT-AHP analysis models.
Materials and Methods: Using literature reviews and survey, the SWOT was applied to identify internal factors includeding strengths (S), and weaknesses (W), and external factors includeding opportunities (O), and threats (T). The strategies were drived to develop renewable energy in Iran. The proposal strategies were ranked by using the SWOT matrix and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model.
Results: According to the SWOT matrix calculations, total scores of internal and external factors were found as  4.1 and 4.4 of 5, respectively, which show high potentials of internal factors and opportunities. The most importannt factor of strengths (S) was found to be the great potentials of solar energy sources in Iran. The main priority of opportunities (O) is supportive laws to encourage the private sector. The most important weakness (W) was lack of comprehensive knowledge of managers and politicians about the benefits of renewable energy. The main threats (T) were low tendency of private invests, unpredictable inflation in Iran, and low prices for fossil fuels.
Conclusion: The results of this research represent in four categories of SO, ST, WT, WO strategies. The important SO strategy is increasing guaranteed electricity purchase tariffs (GEPTs), and creating the renewable energy market. The most important strategies of ST were establishment of the renewable energy fund and assessment of exporting electricity by the private sector. The most dominant strategy of WT was modifying guaranteed electricity purchase contracts. The strategies of WO were found to be as following; convincing government agencies to provide the necessary infrastructure and support for knowledge-based companies. 
 

Farideh Mostafaei, Mahmood Alimohammadi, Masud Yunesian, Zahra Tayebi,
Volume 14, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Outsourcing services to the private sector can be a step towards achieving the goals of community health promotion, job creation, better access to health services, and improving the quality of health services. In this regard, health service offices were established in Tehran to improve the health status of food preparation, distribution and sale centers and increase food safety based on government approval. This study aimed to evaluate the roles of health services offices on environmental health indicators. 
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-comparative study, nine health service offices supervised by Tehran University of Medical Sciences (located in South Tehran Health Center, Eslamshahr city, and Shahr-e Rey) were surveyed. Seven environmental health indicators measured in the years before the establishment of these Health Service Offices (2015-2017) were compared with those obtained after their establishment (2018-2019). The indicators data were analyzed using Excel, SPSS software, and statistical tests.
Results: The result showed no significant difference in public places and centers for food preparation and distribution offenders, public places with health criteria, percentage of employees with a health training certificate, health care, and percentage of inspection coverage before and after establishment of health service offices (p >0.05). However, the relationship between the food preparation indicators and distribution centers with health criteria and public places and closed food preparation and distribution centers were significant (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: This study is one of the first researches conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of health services offices on health-safety indicators in Iran. Therefore, more comprehensive monitoring and studies should be done to evaluate these offices' performance quality and their related cost-benefit analysis.
 

Afsaneh Askari Zade Haghighi, Samaneh Abolli, Mahmood Alimohammadi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (4-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: barbershops are one of the most important public places for beauty activities, which requires attention to health issues (personal and environmental), and non-compliance with health standards and procedures can be a threat to public health. The level of awareness and performance of employees can affect the management of waste production. This study aimed to investigate the level of knowledge of personnel about waste production and performance in southern Tehran in 2021.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in southern Tehran with a statistical sample of 330 places. In this study, a questionnaire was used which comprised of three sections; demographic information, the level of awareness and performance of personnel, and the information was completed after interviews with hairdressers. Data were analyzed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficient, one-sample t-test, and Mann-Whitney using SPSS software (IBM-v.26).
Results: The average scores of awareness and performance of individuals in waste management were 43.18 and 48.27, respectively, and based on the results of qualitative analysis, the scores of awareness and optimal performance of individuals in waste management were 53.6% and 72%, respectively. Also, 46.6% and 28% of the participants obtained unfavorable scores on knowledge and practice in waste management, respectively. People's knowledge about the management of waste produced in hairdressers had a significant relationship with gender, history of health education, history of health crimes, education and performance of people about the management of waste produced in hairdressers with gender and history of health education. There was no significant relationship between knowledge and practice with other variables.
Conclusion: Barbershop is a place where paying attention to environmental health is effective in promoting community health and disease control. Ignoring this issue can lead to the spread of various diseases. In general, the results of this study showed that the level of awareness is effective in the performance of barbers regarding the management of waste production. Additionally, health education was known effective in the level of awareness and performance of hairdressers in this field, so the improtant roles of these variables should taken into consideration. 
 

Mohammad Ali Zazouli, Fathollah Gholami Boroujeni, Ali Asghar Nadi, Azam Ebrahimi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (4-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: With increasing population growth and water pollution, fresh water supply sources are declining and can not meet today's human needs. Thus, energy conversion systems with high efficiency and low pollution such as desalination microbial cell have been considered. Therefore the aim of this research was to investigation the efficiency of microbial desalination cell (MDC) for desalination and treatment of salt wastewater.
Materials and Methods: To address this issue, the decision was taken to use saline synthetic wastewater with different initial salt concentrations (2, 5, 7 and 10 g/L NaCl) and, different hydraulic retention times (1, 2, 3 and 72 h) in open circuit voltage (OCV) and closed circuit voltage (CCV) continuous mode.
Results: The results showed that highest EC removal was 11.2% and 14.3% with 10 g/L NaCl in open and closed circuit mode, respectively. Maximum COD removal of 68.7% was achieved in CCV mode that was obtained at 10 g/L NaCl. Additionally, Escherichia coli, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas and Citrobacter were diagnose as effective bacteria in decomposing wastewater.
Conclusion: The obtained results proved that MDC desalination microbial cell technology is Emerging technology that has many unknown aspects; however, it is expected to be an appropriate technique for wastewater treatment and desalination.
 

Ali Ahmadi Orkomi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (4-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Greenhouse gas emission estimation and submitting a regular national report on climate change has been underway since 2003. Given the importance of this issue, estimating emissions at the provincial level and assessing local emission management capacities will make the country more agile in reporting and emission control.
Materials and Methods: The greenhouse gas emission in four sectors as energy, industry, agriculture, forestry and other landuse and wastes and all sub-sectors of these areas was determined in Guilan Province. The annual emission has been estimated using the 2019 activity data and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) software.
Results: The gross and per capita greenhouse gases’ emission of the province are 18.5 Mt and 7.31 tons per year carbon dioxide equivalent, respectively, so that the annual ecological supply of forests to capture greenhouse gases is estimated at 2 Mt. The thermal power plants, residential consumption (except electricity) and transportation sectors are the major emission sectors in the province with 36, 23 and 19% share, respectively. Out of four scenarios, the wind farms development scenario (nominal capacity 3 GW) and 10% energy savings in the residential sector reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9% and 2.9%, respectively. The cumulative impact of all the proposed scenarios by 2030 will also lead to a 13% reduction in emissions compared to the current situation.
Conclusion: Considering the existing capacities in the clean power generation and energy saving in the residential sector, it is possible to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 13% by 2030. Since the proposed scenarios are regionalized and do not depend on management decisions in other provinces, they have good feasibility. Consequently, if clean power generation plans are established in other provinces and energy consumption management in the transport sector is applied at the national scale, it may be expected that the country's minimum commitments (4% reduction compared to 2010) will be met.
 
Nahied Shahbodaghi, Daryoush Afzali, Maryam Fayazi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (4-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: With increasing water pollution, serious water shortages and increased pressure to save water, recycling and reuse of water has attracted more attention in various industries. Removal of silica from cooling water is essential for recycling and reuse of water. The aim of this study was to remove silica from water using magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO) synthesized by chemical deposition method.
Materials and Methods: Synthetic nanoparticles were successfully determined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). To determine the optimal adsorption conditions the batch system, the effect of important parameters such as pH (2-8), contact time (0-150 min), initial concentration of silica solution (50-1000 mg/L), adsorbent amount (0.01-0.14 g) and temperature (25-60 ˚C) were studied.
Results: Under optimal conditions, an almost removal of 200 mg/L silica solution was achieved in 60 min reaction time. Equilibrium data were analyzed using the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption process can be well described by the Langmuir model, and the maximum adsorption capacity was calculated as 75.76 mg/g. Synthetic data were analyzed using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order equations. The pseudo-second-order model showed good agreement with the obtained data (R2 = 0.9949).
Conclusion: Due to the high potential of magnesium oxide nanoparticles in silica removal, it can be a good candidate for the removal of silica and industrial wastewater treatment.
 

Gholamali Javedan, Hamid Reza Ghaffari, Zoha Heidarinejad, Nahid Zeraei, Somayeh Hoseinvandtabar, Fateme Pourramezani, Mehrdad Ahmadi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (4-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the concentration of potentially toxic elements (arsenic, lead, copper, cadmium and mercury) in black tea imported to southern Iran and to assess the risk of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic exposure to consumers.
Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 94 samples of black tea from 15 brands imported from India in 2021 were selected. Heavy metals concentrations were measured using an atomic absorption spectrometer (GBC model SAVANTAA). After determining the concentration of heavy metals in black tea samples, health risk assessment was determined using Montocarlo simulation technique.
Results: According to the results, the average concentrations of heavy metals namely arsenic, lead, copper, cadmium and mercury were 0.03±0.02, 0.02±0.16, 15.67±7.69, 0.02±0.01 and 0.006±0.005 mg/kg, respectively. The hazard quotient (HQ) of the heavy metals arsenic, lead, copper, cadmium and mercury were 1.07×10-2, 6.37×10-3, 3.45×10-5, 2.05×10-2 and 7.19×10-4, respectively.
Conclusion: Therefore, according to the findings, it can be concluded that the concentrations of potentially toxic elements (arsenic, lead, copper, mercury and cadmium) in black tea were consistent with the standard level of Iran and World Health Organization. Additionally, the average carcinogenic risk index for arsenic metal was 4.49×10-6, which is much lower than the acceptable level of carcinogenic risk (10-6). Therefore, the concentrations of five potentially toxic elements in the studied black tea did not show any significant risk for consumers.
 

Alireza Pakdel, Mohsen Shams, Soheila Rezaei, Ali Mousavizadeh, Narges Roustaei, Mohammad Mehdi Baneshi,
Volume 15, Issue 2 (8-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Increasing the level of health awareness of food preparation and distribution staff can have a direct impact on improving the level of public health in the community. Education can change people's knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Health education courses that provide integrated education as well as to other education systems, include educational inputs, processes, and outputs. The objective of this research is to evaluate these elements of the educational system of health education courses in Shiraz.
Materials and Methods: The current study evaluated the educational input, process, and output of 7 current health education institutions in Shiraz. Factors that influence the input of educational courses were evaluated using an inspection checklist of health education courses, the educational process was measured employing a satisfaction survey, and the educational output was assessed through a checklist of inspection of Article 13 of the Regulations. The health performance of 160 guild health certified units and 160 uncertified education units was analyzed as a criterion for effectiveness. Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS21 software. Data related to the assessment of the input and educational process were analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric statistical tests were also used for cross-group comparisons of output evaluation data.
Results: The findings of the educational input evaluation showed a strong correlation and a significant relationship between the overall evaluation score of the educational courses and the "observation" (0.96) "educational course principal" (0.94). Also, in the process evaluation, the "educational environment" and "general educational programs" with correlation coefficients of 0.99 and 0.84 had the most correlation with the overall process evaluation score. In all the health fields studied, there was a significant difference (p = 0.001) between the average score obtained for educational courses with and without certificates. There was a significant difference (p <0.0001) between the mean score obtained by public health with and without health certification. The average score obtained by the certified public and non-public places was 91.81 and 70.71, respectively.
Conclusion: Health education can have a major impact on people's health performance. Some of the elements that make up the educational output have a greater impact on achieving the desired educational output. For example, the revision and updating of the educational content and the development of the educational program according to all groups of learners can improve the performance of the learning process and the satisfaction of learners.
 

Pegah Gheshlaghi, Ehsan Kamrani, Abolfazl Naji, Moslem Daliri,
Volume 15, Issue 2 (8-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Nowadays, the demand for seawater desalination plants (SDPs) has risen worldwide. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the effects of discharging the SDPs brines into the Persian Gulf marine environment and its aquatics health. Therefore, this research was performed to examine the effects of SDPs brines discharged from this facility in the ecosystem of the Persian Gulf on survival and electrolytes in the Blue swimmer crab, Portunus segnis (Forskal,1775) under laboratory conditions.
Materials and Methods: Brines of two types of active SDPs in Hormozgan were collected; then,75 crabs of (P.segnis), with mean (±SD) carapace width of 9.71±2.18 cm and total weight of 61.22±1.04 g, were collected and transported to the laboratory from the Bandar Abbas coast. As a completely randomized design, the samples were tested in 5 treatments (with three repetitions). Mortality was recorded, and at the end of the experimental period (60 days),the level of some electrolytes of the hemolymph (sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium) was measured.
Results: Crabs' survival percentage in treatments containing SDPs effluent decreased compared to control (86%), which was more evident in RO 100% and MED 100% treatments with 46.7% and 40%, respectively (p <0.01). The examined electrolyte levels in treatments containing SDPs brine increased compared to control, which were more significant for RO 100% and MED 100% treatments (p <0.01).
Conclusion: This study showed that the SDPs brines would have physiological consequences on aquatic organisms. In nature, the synergy of SDPs effluents with other sources of ecological stress will have severe impacts. Therefore, the necessary regulations and actions should be taken to minimize the environmental effects of SDPs.
 

Zohreh Akbari Jonoush, Abbas Rezaee, Ali Ghaffarinejad,
Volume 15, Issue 2 (8-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: This study aimed to provide an effective electro-catalytic system for the simultaneous reduction of nitrate and disinfection of contaminated water by the electro-catalytic performance of Ni-Fe/Fe3O4 cathode.
Materials and Methods: At first, the Ni-Fe electrode was synthesized by the electro-deposition process. Then its physical properties were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, and photoelectron X-ray spectroscopy (XPS). Simultaneous disinfection and reduction of nitrate were performed under the following conditions: 15 mg Fe3O4 nanoparticles, pH 6.5, NaCl 10 mM, 50 mg/L nitrate, 105 CFU/mL and current density 4 mA/cm2.
Results: According to the results obtained in the absence of nitrate, 100 % of Escherichia coli bacteria were disinfected after 12 minutes. In the presence of nitrate, the time of complete disinfection increased to 120 minutes. In the absence of bacteria, 83% of nitrate was removed in 240 minutes, and in the presence of bacteria, the nitrate reduction efficiency increased slightly to 88%. In the nitrate reduction process, nitrite (0.22 mg/L) and ammonium (3.6 mg/L) were produced. In the presence of bacteria, the amounts of nitrite and ammonium produced increased to 0.42 mg/L and 7.3 mg/L.
Conclusion: The results show the outstanding ability of Ni-Fe/Fe3O4 electrode in electro-catalytic reduction of nitrate and disinfection of contaminated water separately and simultaneously with high efficiency and high selectivity to nitrogen.

Arezoo Mahmoudi, Seyyed Alireza Mousavi, Danial Nayeri, Parastoo Darvishi,
Volume 15, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: The consequence of using coagulant materials such as aluminum sulfate and ferric chloride in the coagulation unit of conventional water treatment plants can generate plenty of sludge that contains large amounts of coagulant, which in addition to environmental risks, will also possess disposal costs. Today, intending to preserve the environment and reduce treatment costs, researchers emphasize the recovery and reuse of coagulants from sludge. In this regard, the present study was proposed and implemented to recover and reuse water treatment plant sludge as a low-cost coagulant in wastewater treatment.
Materials and Methods: This research is an experimental-laboratory study. In order to recover the coagulant from the collected sludge, acid hydrolysis method was used. The physicochemical characteristics of the recovered sludge were also determined using FTIR, FE-SEM, and BET analysis. Moreover, the efficiency of recovered sludge in different doses (50 to 300 mg/L) on wastewater treatability in terms of COD, TSS, VSS, turbidity, phosphorus, and coliform indices was compared with aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride coagulants, also the results of the study were analyzed and presented using Excel software (version, 2016).
Results: According to the results, the prepared sludge had no crystalline structure with amorphous morphology. In addition, recovered coagulant from water treatment sludge has demonstrated high efficiency for wastewater treatment, so 66.6%, 82.49%, 79.66%, 80%, 65 %, 99.18% of COD, turbidity, TSS, VSS, phosphorus, total coliform were removed at the highest dosage of recovered coagulant (300 mg/L), respectively. Furthermore, the recovered coagulant dosage had a significant effect on the performance of the coagulation and flocculation process in wastewater treatment.
Conclusion: The results showed that recovered coagulant from the sludge of the water treatment plant can be considered an acceptable option with appropriate effectiveness in the wastewater treatment processes.
 

Maryam Delfani, Maryam Mohammadi Rouzbahani, Nasrin Choobkar, Noushin Salimi,
Volume 15, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: Today, oil and gas industries are important resources for obtaining energy and income. During the production of oil and gas, very complex compounds that include organic and inorganic substances, petroleum hydrocarbons and aromatic and aliphatic compounds are transferred to the environment. benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, which are called BTEX for short, are very important monoaromatic pollutants. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of exposure to BTEX on some clinical factors of the exposed people in the oil warehouse and office workers in Kermanshah National Oil Products Distribution Company.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The samples of this study include the personnel working in the oil warehouse and the office staff of the National Oil Products Distribution Company in Kermanshah. After completing the demographic information of the participants in terms of the inclusion criteria and after collecting the results of the physiological tests of the employees, SPSS19 software was used for statistical analysis.
Results: The results of the present study showed that the spirometric indices decreased in the workers exposed to BTEX compounds, but it was not statistically significant. Also, the number of red blood cells (6.73%) was significantly lower in non-administrative employees, as well as red white blood cells (6.61%), SGOT (10.14%) and SGPT (5.09%) in non-administrative employees. It has been more.
Conclusion: The number of platelets was higher in office workers. Considering the dangers of BTEX pollution for human health, it is recommended to use preventive measures such as using a special mask and a shift work system.
 

Fariba Ebrahimi Fini, Farzam Babaei Semiromi, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, Mahdi Jalili Ghazizade, Amir Hushang Heidari,
Volume 15, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract

Background and Objective: The critical step of policymaking and planning for the local governments to select appropriate waste management methods, is comprehensive information on solid waste generation. Waste generation rate and composition may vary from year to year because many factors influence it. This research identified the most important factors influencing the future of household waste generation and composition in Tehran, and how these factors affect each other.
Materials and Methods: This research is based on future studies methods which are carried out using a combination of quantitative and qualitative models. Due to the nature of this research, structural analysis, Micmac software and Delphi survey were used.
Results: In this regard, after holding many meetings with 22 of the experts as the statistical population of the research, 14 effective factors were identified. The influential factors were then analyzed in the framework of the Cross-impact matrix in the Micmac software. The results showed that what can be understood from the state of the dispersion page of the variables indicated the system instability, with most of the variables dispersed around the diagonal axis of the screen.
Conclusion: Finally, considering the high scores received by direct and indirect influences, 10 key factors were identified. “Economic Growth”, “Digital Transformation and Technological Advances”, “Amendment of Existing laws, Enactment and Implementation of New and Specialized Laws”, and “Increased Awareness about waste and Attraction of Citizen Participation through Education and Provision of Information” were identified among these 10 factors as the driving forces influencing generation and composition, of household waste in Tehran in the Next Twenty Years.
 


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