Ecological impacts of the N-viro biosolids land-application for wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium. Ait) production in Nova Scotia

Land application of biosolids from processed sewage sludge may deteriorate soil, water, and plants. We investigated the impact of the N-Viro biosolids land-application on the quality of the soil water that moved through Orthic Humo-Ferric Podzols soil of Nova Scotia (NS) at the Wild Blueberry Research Institute, Debert, NS Canada. In addition, the response of major soilproperties and crop yield was also studied. Wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium. Ait) was grown under irrigated and rainfed conditions in 2008 and 2009. Four experimental treatments including (i) NI: N-Viro irrigated, (ii) NR: N-Viro rainfed, (iii) FI: inorganic fertilizer irrigated, and (iv) FR: inorganic fertilizer rainfed (control) were replicated 4 times under randomized complete block design. Soil samples were collected at the end of each year and analyzed for changes in cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOM), and pH.Soil water samples were collected four times during the study period from the suction cup lysimeters installed within and below crop root zone at 20 and 40 cm depths, respectively. The samples were analyzed for a range of water quality parameters including conductance, hardness, pH, macro- and micronutrients, and the infectious pathogens Escherichia coli (E. coli) and salmonella. Berries were harvested for fruit yield estimates. Irrigation significantly increased CEC during 2008 and the soil pH decreased from 4.93 (2008) to 4.79 (2009). There were significant influences of irrigation, fertilizer, and their interaction, in some cases, on most of the soil water quality parameters except on the infectious bacteria. No presence of E. coli or salmonella were observed in soil and water samples, reflecting the absence of these bacteria in biosolids used in this experiment. Nutrient concentration in the soil water samples collected from the four treatments were higher in the sequence NI > NR > FI > FR. The irrigation treatment had significant effect on the unripe fruit yield. We conclude that the comparable performance of N-Viro biosolids and the increasing prices of inorganic fertilizers would compel farmers to use economically available N-Viro biosolids that, coupled with the supplemental irrigation, did not deteriorate the studied soil properties, soil water quality, and the wild blueberry yield during this experiment.     

TiO2–PANI/Cork composite: A new floating photocatalyst for the treatment of organic pollutants under sunlight irradiation

A novel photocatalyst based on TiO_2–PANI composite supported on small pieces of cork has been reported. It was prepared by simple impregnation method of the polyaniline(PANI)–modified TiO_2 on cork. The TiO_2–PANI/Cork catalyst shows the unique feature of floating on the water surface. The as-synthesized catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron micrograph(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), thermogravimetric analysis(TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra(UV–vis DRS) and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller(BET) surface area analysis. Characterization suggested the formation of anatase highly dispersed on the cork surface. The prepared floating photocatalyst showed high efficiency for the degradation of methyl orange dye and other organic pollutants under solar irradiation and constrained conditions, i.e., no-stirring and no-oxygenation. The TiO_2–PANI/Cork floating photocatalyst can be reused for at least four consecutive times without significant decrease of the degradation efficiency.     

Effects of TiO2 nanoparticles on the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrrhiza: Evaluation of growth parameters, pigment contents and antioxidant enzyme activities

Plants are essential components of all ecosystems and play a critical role in environmental fate of nanoparticles. However, the toxicological impacts of nanoparticles on plants are not well documented. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂-NPs) are produced worldwide in large quantities for a wide range of purposes. In the present study, the uptake of TiO₂-NPs by the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrrhiza and the consequent effects on the plant were evaluated. Initially, structural and morphological characteristics of the used TiO₂-NPs were determined using XRD, SEM, TEM and BET techniques. As a result, an anatase structure with the average crystalline size of 8nm was confirmed for the synthesized TiO₂-NPs. Subsequently, entrance of TiO₂-NP_S to plant roots was verified by fluorescence microscopic images. Activity of a number of antioxidant enzymes, as well as, changes in growth parameters and photosynthetic pigment contents as physiological indices were assessed to investigate the effects of TiO₂-NPs on S. polyrrhiza. The increasing concentration of TiO₂-NPs led to the significant decrease in all of the growth parameters and changes in antioxidant enzyme activities. The activity of superoxide dismutase enhanced significantly by the increasing concentration of TiO₂-NPs. Enhancement of superoxide dismutase activity could be explained as promoting antioxidant system to scavenging the reactive oxygen species. In contrast, the activity of peroxidase was notably decreased in the treated plants. Reduced peroxidase activity could be attributed to either direct effect of these particles on the molecular structure of the enzyme or plant defense system damage due to reactive oxygen species.     

Pedestrian road crossing behavior (PEROB): Development and psychometric evaluation

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a theory-based questionnaire to measure road crossing attitudes and potentially risky pedestrian behavior.

Methods: A cross-sectional validation study was carried out on a total sample of 380 young adults aged 18 to 25 years who live in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected from January 27 to May 20, 2015, using a self-administered structured pool of 76 items that was developed from research on the theory of planned behavior. A panel of subject-matter experts evaluated the items for content validity index and content validity ratio, and the questionnaire was pretested. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to test construct validity. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses were done to assess internal consistency and stability of the scale.

Results: From the initial 76 items, 38 items were found to be appropriate for assessing the pedestrian road crossing behavior (PEROB) of young adults in Tehran. A 9-factor solution revealed an exploratory factor analysis that jointly accounted for 63.8% of the variance observed. Additional analyses also indicated acceptable results for the internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha value ranging from 0.67 to 0.88 and ICC values ranging from 0.64 to 0.96.

Conclusions: This psychometric evaluation of a self-administered instrument resulted in a reliable and valid instrument to assess young adult pedestrians' self-reported road crossing attitudes and behaviors in Tehran. Further development of the instrument is needed to assess its applicability to other road users, particularly older pedestrians.     

Adsorptive removal of phosphate by the bimetallic hydroxide nanocomposites embedded in pomegranate peel

This study aimed to fabricate new and effective material for the efficiency of phosphate adsorption.Two types of adsorbent materials,the zirconium hydroxides embedded in pomegranate peel(Zr/Peel) and zirconium-lanthanum hydroxides embedded in pomegranate peel(Zr-La/Peel) were developed.Scanning electronic microscopy(SEM),x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and x-ray diffraction(XRD) were evaluated to give insight into the physicochemical properties of these adsorbents.Zr-La/Peel exceeded the a...     

Heavy metal concentrations in roadside soil and street dust from Petra region,Jordan

Concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn were measured in the samples of street dust and surface roadside soil before Jordan switched to unleaded fuel usage. The samples were collected from Petra, the most tourist-attractive site in Jordan. The samples were analyzed for heavy metals by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Our results show that the distribution of metals in the soil samples is affected by wind direction in the investigated area. The highest level of metals was found in the eastern parts of the roads due to the westerly-dominant wind in the studied area. The contamination levels of metals decrease as the distance from the edge of the road increases. In the roadside soil samples, the means for the concentrations of the metals at 1 m from the east side of the main road are 1.0, 19.1, 3791.4, 177.0, and 129.0 mg kg^?1 for Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn, respectively. In the samples of street dust, the means of the concentrations of the metals in the investigated area are 9.7, 11.8, 4694.4, 31.6, and 24.8 mg kg^?1 for Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn, respectively. In conclusion, the lithogenic origins (traffic emissions) are responsible for the diffusion of these metals in the studied region.     

Heavy metal mobility and potential availability in animal manure: using a sequential extraction procedure

In this study, dairy cow manure, goat manure, and chicken manure were collected from three farms and analyzed to find out the concentration of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The concentration and potential of mobility and availability of heavy metals were studied in the animal manure samples. BCR Sequential extraction procedure was used to determine the binding forms of the metals. In this study, pseudo total concentrations of Mn and Zn were found out to be predominant in all the types of animal manure samples. According to the results, it was traced that Cr, Cu, and Ni were observed to be at the second highest level while Cd, Co, and Pb were seen at the lowest level in all the manure samples. When extractable amounts of heavy metals are taken into consideration, it is seen that the amount of the mobile fractions of heavy metals except for Cr and Ni are higher in comparison with that of immobile fraction in all the animal manure samples. It was also viewed that Mn, Cd, and Zn are more available in dairy cow manure and chicken manure whereas Cd, Co, and Mn are more available in goat manure.     

Epidemiology of occupational accidents among Iranian insured workers

Work-related accidents are considered as a major health problem worldwide. The aim of present study was to determine the epidemiological pattern of occupational accidents among workers insured by the Iranian Social Security Organization (ISSO) between 2001 and 2005.Subjects consisted of all workers and drivers who had a work-related accident during 2001–2005 and were registered in the Iranian Social Security Organization (ISSO) database according to the inspection reports. An ordinal logistic regression model (proportional odds regression model) was used to assess the concurrent effects of independent variables on accident outcomes.Overall, 86,437 work-related accidents were investigated. The accidents were more frequent in metal workplaces and electrical industries, respectively. More than half of the accidents were due to incautious activities. Workers’ age (age at the time of accident) (OR = 0.99, CI: 0.989–0.994), gender (OR = 1.3, CI: 1.191–1.683), marital status (OR = 1.25, CI: 1.143–1.675) as well as accident setting (OR = 1.88, CI: 1.728–1.975) had significant effect on accident outcomes. Pattern of occupational injuries in Iran was consistent with the global pattern for accident outcomes.     

Heavy metals distribution and risk assessment in soils affected by tannery effluents

Effluents collected from tanneries in Sialkot showed considerably higher levels of heavy metals. Sodium (12 660.91 mg/L) among macronutrients and Cr (592.20 mg/L) among heavy metals were found in the highest concentrations. Effluent parameters, i.e. biological oxygen demand (BOD; 12.40), chemical oxygen demand (COD; 16.53), Cd (5.90), Cr (592.20) and Fe (18.59) were the respective times higher than Pakistan National Environmental Quality Standards and their continuous unchecked discharge into agricultural soils poses a potential risk. Mean concentrations (mg/L) of Cr (592.20), Ni (2.66), Mn (1.16), Fe (37.17), Zn (0.90), Cd (0.59) and Pb (1.18) in this study exceeded levels recorded to date from different tanning hubs in Pakistan. Factor analysis/principal components analysis (FA/PCA) for the effluent parameters resulted in six varimax factors, i.e. VF1 (salinity, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, chloride, phosphate, BOD and COD; including characteristic tannery effluent features), VF2 (pH, Cr and alkalinity; tanning operations), VF3 (Cd and Pb; dyeing processes), VF4 (Mn and Fe; finishing operations), VF5 (Ni; retaining processes) and VF6 (hardness, Ca and Cu; bating processes). Cluster analysis performed on metal data resulted in three clusters confirming metal–metal relations obtained either from FA/PCA or a correlation matrix. The results of this study are useful for heavy metal source apportionment, assessment of risk to peripheral soils and the future management of environments around tanneries.