Integrating multi-criteria decision analysis for a GIS-based hazardous waste landfill sitting in Kurdistan Province, western Iran

The evaluation of a hazardous waste disposal site is a complicated process because it requires data from diverse social and environmental fields. These data often involve processing of a significant amount of spatial information which can be used by GIS as an important tool for land use suitability analysis. This paper presents a multi-criteria decision analysis alongside with a geospatial analysis for the selection of hazardous waste landfill sites in Kurdistan Province, western Iran. The study employs a two-stage analysis to provide a spatial decision support system for hazardous waste management in a typically under developed region. The purpose of GIS was to perform an initial screening process to eliminate unsuitable land followed by utilization of a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to identify the most suitable sites using the information provided by the regional experts with reference to new chosen criteria. Using 21 exclusionary criteria, as input layers, masked maps were prepared. Creating various intermediate or analysis map layers a final overlay map was obtained representing areas for hazardous waste landfill sites. In order to evaluate different landfill sites produced by the overlaying a landfill suitability index system was developed representing cumulative effects of relative importance (weights) and suitability values of 14 non-exclusionary criteria including several criteria resulting from field observation. Using this suitability index 15 different sites were visited and based on the numerical evaluation provided by MCDA most suitable sites were determined.     

Development of groundwater quality index

Assessing the water quality status for special use is the main objective of any water quality monitoring studies. The water quality index (WQI) is a mathematical instrument used to transform large quantities of water quality data into a single number which represents the water quality level. In fact, developing WQI in an area is a fundamental process in the planning of land use and water resources management. In this study, a simple methodology based on multivariate analysis is developed to create a groundwater quality index (GWQI), with the aim of identifying places with best quality for drinking within the Qazvin province, west central of Iran. The methodology is based on the definition of GWQI using average value of eight cation and anion parameters for 163 wells during a 3-year period. The proportion of observed concentrations to the maximum allowable concentration is calculated as normalized value of each parameter in observing wells. Final indices for each well are calculated considering weight of each parameter. In order to assess the groundwater quality of study area, the derived indices are compared with those of well-known mineral waters. Using developed indices, groundwater iso-index map for study area and the map of areas of which the indices are near to mineral waters was drawn. In the case study, the GWQI map reveals that groundwater quality in two areas is extremely near to mineral water quality. Created index map provides a comprehensive picture of easily interpretable for regional decision makers for better planning and management.     

A longitudinal assessment of the determinant relationship between employee commitments to the occupation and the organization

A review of the research literature suggested that occupational commitment may be an antecedent to employees' commitment to the organization. Although several studies have assessed the general relationship between occupational and organizational commitment, none have attempted to establish the causal priority between the two constructs. In the present study, occupational commitment was viewed as a causal antecedent to organizational commitment. Based on longitudinal data from 100 management information systems professionals, this view was supported through cross-lagged analysis. Further, we examined a longitudinal causal model of the turnover process in which occupational commitment was placed as an antecedent to organizational commitment. Structural equation analysis supported the fit of this model to the data. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Ignition and burning rates of segregated waste combustion in packed beds

Recent developments in national recycling and re-use programmes for municipal waste have led to segregation of an increasing proportion of waste to enhance material recovery. Several of the segregated streams contain materials that can not viably be re-used or recycled but can be used for energy recovery. In this study, the combustion of cardboard and waste wood was investigated in a small-scale packed bed reactor in order to provide fundamental data for the design/operation of moving bed furnaces. Key parameters of combustion including the ignition and burning rates were evaluated for various air flowrates and compared to the modelling results. Two successive stages of combustion were identified for both samples: the propagation of ignition front into the bed and combustion of the fuel above the ignition front. The burning rate of cardboard reached a peak of about 300 kg/m(2)h at the air flowrate of 936 kg/m(2)h and decreased at higher air flowrates. For waste wood, both the ignition and burning rates increased in the tested range of the air flowrate up to 702 kg/m(2)h, of which the values were very close to those for the cardboard. The model prediction was in good agreement with the test results for waste wood. However, the burning rate for cardboard was under-predicted due to strongly irregular shapes of the fuel.     

Mathematical modelling of sewage sludge incineration in a bubbling fluidised bed with special consideration for thermally-thick fuel particles

Fluidised bed combustor (FBC) is one of the key technologies for sewage sludge incineration. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed for the simulation of a large-scale sewage sludge incineration plant. The model assumes the bed consisting of a fast-gas phase, an emulsion phase and a fuel particle phase with specific consideration for thermally-thick fuel particles. The model further improves over previous works by taking into account throughflow inside the bubbles as well as the floating and random movement of the fuel particles inside the bed. Validation against both previous lab-scale experiments and operational data of a large-scale industrial plant was made. Calculation results indicate that combustion split between the bed and the freeboard can range from 60/40 to 90/10 depending on the fuel particle distribution across the bed height under the specific conditions. The bed performance is heavily affected by the variation in sludge moisture level. The response time to variation in feeding rate is different for different parameters, from 6min for outlet H(2)O, 10min for O(2), to 34min for bed temperature.     

Direct and indirect costs of nonfatal road traffic injuries in Iran: A population-based study

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the incidence rate as well as direct and indirect costs of nonfatal road traffic injuries (RTIs) in Iran in 2011.

Methods: Data from the 2011 national household survey were used. In this survey, data on demographics, history, and costs of injury were obtained in 2 steps: first, direct face-to-face interview and second, telephone calls. We estimated the incidence rate of nonfatal RTIs in this year. The direct costs included medical care as well as nonmedical costs paid by the patient or insurance services. The indirect costs were estimated by considering the cost of absence from work or education. We also used logistic regression analyses to investigate risk factors of nonfatal RTIs.

Results: We found 76 nonfatal RTI cases (0.96%) out of 7,886 whole reference study cases. These 76 injured patients had a history of RTI in the preceding 3 months. The annual incidence of RTIs was estimated at 3.84%. The mean age of RTI cases was 28.5 ± 10.6 and 88.16% of them were male. Male gender was a major risk factor (odds ratio [OR] = 9.64, 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.79–19.41) and marriage was a protective factor (OR = 0.44, 95% CI, 0.28–0.70) for RTI. The medians of direct, indirect, and total costs were US$214, US$163, and US$387, respectively. The total cost of nonfatal RTIs in Iran was estimated at 1.29% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011.

Conclusions: In Iran, nonfatal RTIs imposed a total cost of almost US$7 billion to the country for one year. Extension and more serious implementation of preventive measurements seem necessary to decrease this notable burden of RTIs.     

Distribution,source apportionment and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in intertidal sediment of Asaluyeh,Persian Gulf

Surface sediment samples were collected from intertidal zone of Asaluyeh, Persian Gulf, to investigate distribution, sources and health risk of sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Total PAH concentrations ranged from 1.8 to 81.2 μg kg^?1 dry weight, which can be categorized as low level of pollution. Qualitative and quantitative assessments showed that PAHs originated from both petrogenic and pyrogenic sources with slight pyrogenic dominance. Source apportionment using principal component analysis indicated that the main sources of PAHs were fossil fuel combustion (33.59%), traffic-related PAHs (32.77%), biomass and coal combustion (18.54%) and petrogenic PAHs (9.31%). According to the results from the sediment quality guidelines, mean effects range-median quotient (M-ERM-Q) and benzo[a]pyrene toxic equivalents (BaP_eq), low negative ecological risks related to PAH compounds would occur in the intertidal zone of Asaluyeh. The total benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) toxic equivalent quotient (TEQ^carc) for carcinogenic compounds ranged from 0.01 to 7 μg kg^?1-BaP_eq, indicating low carcinogenic risk. The human health risk assessment of PAH compounds via ingestion and dermal pathways suggests low and moderate potential risk to human health, respectively.     

Presentation of a developed sub-epidemic model for estimation of the COVID-19 pandemic and assessment of travel-related risks in Iran

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the contagious diseases involving all the world in 2019–2020. Also, all people are concerned about the future of...     

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) growth and condition in a polluted environment: from decline to recovery

The results of long-term investigations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) growth and condition in the impact zone of one of the biggest air pollution sources in Lithuania--mineral fertilizers plant "Achema" are presented. The main attention is laid to the recovery of damaged stands since annual emissions to air were reduced essentially. The investigations indicated, that the recovery of tree increment was mostly caused by distinct reduction of emissions of nitrogen and sulphur oxides and dust of mineral fertilizers. Despite reduced pollution, crown defoliation of investigated stands has continued to increase for a certain period. After the crown recovery of damaged stands has started, the recovery of most damaged survived trees was most intensive and convergence of defoliated to a different extend stands and trees is characteristic feature of this period. No defoliation threshold has been determined beyond of which recovery of trees would be impossible. Recovery of more than a quarter of damaged trees was registered even in the case of 90% of defoliation. Recovery of dominant trees occurs to be faster of that for suppressed trees within the same level of defoliation. The impact of stand density on the crown recovery rate is negative, the higher density (more intensive competition), the slower recovery of damaged trees. The dependence of growth rate on defoliation was found to be of logistic character: while crown defoliation consists up to 25-30%, tree increment losses are rather inconsiderable, further increase of defoliation leads to the essentially higher increment losses, however having achieved 65-70% defoliation, further increase of defoliation does not result such intensive decrease of radial increment.