The potential use of ultrasound-assisted bleaching in removing heavy metals and pigments from soybean oil using kinetic,thermodynamic and equilibrium modeling

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this research, the sorption behavior (kinetic, isotherm, and thermodynamic modeling) of heavy metals (Cu (II) and Fe (II)) and pigments (carotenoid...     

Performance of full-scale coagulation-flocculation/DAF as a pre-treatment technology for biodegradability enhancement of high strength wastepaper-recycling wastewater

Paper mill wastewater leads to a serious damage on the environment owing to the high content of organic matters, suspended solids, toxic substances, and lignin. Hence, exploring new treatment technologies is the passion of environmental engineers to minimize the effluent impact on the environment and cleaner production aspects. This research focused on the performance of full-scale coagulation-fluctuation/DAF system for pre-treatment of high strength wastepaper-recycling wastewater and its effect on biodegradability improvement. To optimize unit performance, optimum coagulant and flocculant doses were firstly determined by jar test without prior change and adjustment of pH in lab-scale experiments. The optimum dosages were obtained by 1500 mg L^?1 polyaluminum chloride (PACl) as coagulant coupled with 40 mg L^?1 cationic polyacrylamide (C-PAM) as flocculant. Percentage removals of 39?±?10, 6.8?±?3.6, 31.0?±?6.7, 24.0?±?3.8, and 33.0?±?20.0 were achieved for COD, sCOD, BOD₅, sBOD₅, and color, respectively. The average BOD₅ to COD ratio after pre-treatment increased from 0.44 to 0.5, whereas the ratio of sBOD₅/sCOD dropped from 0.65 to 0.53. A superior effectiveness in reduction of TSS (98.1%) and VSS (98.4%) was also achieved. The results show that the application process is able to prevent malfunction operation in the following bioreactors which is obtainable through bio-treatability enhancement of pre-treated wastewater and reducing the risks of clogging and sludge washout. Attached growth processes are suggested to be applied in the further anaerobic/aerobic processes because of high proportion of soluble fraction of COD in the effluent to avoid poor floc formation and dispersed growth problems.     

Investigation of the effects of static magnetic field on apoptosis in bone marrow stem cells of rat

This research was carried out to evaluate the influence of static magnetic field on the rate of apoptosis in bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) of rats. Extracted cells were suspended in αMEM as a culture media for 48 h. After that, cells were exposed to 15 mT static magnetic field (SMF) for 5 h, incessantly with or without FeCl₂. The rate of apoptosis was then assessed via flow cytometery. The results showed that either treatment with FeCl₂ or exposure to SMF enhanced the rate of apoptotic cells. Moreover, cells that were treated simultaneously with FeCl₂ and SMF have higher rate of apoptosis. An increase in apoptosis by 26.5% was induced by SMF alone and an increase in apoptosis by 28.2% was induced by a combination of FeCl₂ and SMF, compared to their corresponding controls. The results recommended that the effects of SMF on apoptosis may be related to increment of the number of free radicals in the cells.     

Assessing energy efficiencies,economy, and global warming potential (GWP) effects of major crop production systems in Iran: a case study in East Azerbaijan province

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Efficient use of energy in farming systems is one of the most important implications for decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigating...     

Analyzing material flow in Alborz industrial estate,Ghazvin, Iran

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Industrial ecology and models such as material flow analysis make operational approaches in order to reuse produced waste as primary resources in...     

Analyzing the factors affecting environmental risks of projects using a hybrid approach of DEMATEL‐ANP,artificial neural network: A case study

The increasing growth of the economy in each country necessitates a great amount of investment in infrastructure. The belief that projects involve various uncertainties, such as technical skills, management quality, and the like, indicates that most projects fail to achieve their aims, interests, costs, as well as their timeframes and space requirements. As the environment can pose significant uncertainty to any project, environmental risks should be deeply studied by project management departments. This study intends to analyze as a case the environmental risk management system within a consulting firm. From this analysis, each aspect of a project's environmental risk management is ranked using a fuzzy analytical network process (ANP), a neural network algorithm, and a decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology. From the organizational aspect, budget risk is the most significant. From the technical aspect, the risk of regulations is the most important one. Finally, the risk of project failure from poor communication is another identified main risk in this research. By studying high‐ranking items in this hierarchy, it can be understood that these criteria exist in different aspects; therefore, all aspects of the risk should be taken into account to cover and assess risk. A neural network algorithm for validating and reassessment of ranking is employed. Results of this application showed that, based on Spearman's rank correlation method, two different approaches resulted in similar rankings. Finally, some practical implications for responding to the most highly ranked risks are proposed.     

Field application of SPME as a novel tool for occupational exposure assessment with inhalational anesthetics

Occupational exposure to inhalational anesthetics occurs routinely in operating rooms. It could induce serious health hazards and diseases. This exposure assessment is a crucial step in determining risks. In this study, a pen-shaped holder for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) sampler was successfully applied as a time-weighted average sampling tool for workshift exposure assessment of operation room staff to halothane. It proved to be very convenient for use in occupational environments such as operation rooms. Samples were analyzed by a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The validity of the SPME method was checked in real-world conditions with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 103 standard method for the determination of inhalational anesthetics. A good agreement between OSHA 103 and SPME methods was obtained and results demonstrated no statistically significant differences in anesthetic concentrations determined by the two analytical methods (p?≥?0.05). It is concluded that SPME in retracted mode could successfully be applied in occupational exposure assessment purposes.     

Relationships between certain individual characteristics and occupational accidents

Background. Work accidents and injuries are an occupational health and safety problem. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted for 404 frontline workers who were randomly selected from the Arya Sasol Petrochemical Company in Bushehr, Iran, during 2016. A statistical analysis was performed using the χ² test and the logistic regression model with SPSS version 18. Results. The overall occupational accident rate among the participants was found to be 9.2%. Statistically significant differences were observed for body mass index, education, job experience, smoking habit, consumption of sedative pills and presence of sleep disorders. Three factors had significant adjusted odds ratios (ORs): body mass index (OR 2.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.16, 5.04]), education (OR 0.25, 95% CI [0.07, 0.85]) and job experience (OR 0.29, 95% CI [0.15, 0.57]). Conclusions. Preventive programs should be implemented for industrial workers, especially young workers, workers who smoke, overweight workers and workers with psychosomatic disease.     

Hospital admissions in Iran for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases attributed to the Middle Eastern Dust storms

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The main objective of this study was to assess the possible effects of airborne particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter (PM10)...