Assessment of food-energy-environmental pollution nexus in Iran: the nonlinear approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Iran’s agricultural production has expanded significantly in recent years. Environmental pollution caused by the use of energy and chemical...     

Microcontroller PIC 16F877A standard based on solar cooker using PV—evacuated tubes with an extension of heat integrated energy system

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The unavailability of sunlight during nighttime and cloudy weather condition has limited the usage of solar cookers throughout the day. This study...     

A fast and accurate method for specific detection and quantification of the bloom-forming microalgae Karlodinium veneficum in the marine environment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Karlodinium veneficum is a toxic benthic globally distributed dinoflagellate which has direct impacts on human health and the environment. Early and...     

Bioavailability and tissue distribution of Dechloranes in wild frogs (Rana limnocharis) from an e-waste recycling area in Southeast China

Dechlorane Plus(DP), a flame retardant used as an alternative to decabromodiphenylether, has been frequently detected in organisms, indicating its bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential in aquatic and terrestrial species. However, little data is available on the bioaccumulation of DP in amphibians. Dechlorane Plus and its analogs(DPs) were detected in the liver, muscle and brain tissues of wild frogs(Rana limnocharis), which were collected from an e-waste recycling site, Southeast China. DP, Mirex, Dec 602 and a dechlorinated compound of DP(anti-Cl11-DP) varied in the range of 2.01–291, 0.650–179, 0.260–12.4, and not detected(nd)–8.67 ng/g lipid weight, respectively. No difference of tissue distribution was found for syn-DP, Mirex and Dec 602 between the liver and muscle tissue(liver/muscle concentration ratio close to 1, p 0.05). However, higher retention was observed for anti-DP and anti-Cl11-DP in the frog muscle relative to the liver tissue(liver/muscle concentration ratio 1, p 0.05). Additionally, the blood-brain barrier was found to work efficiently to suppress these compounds entering brain tissues in this species(liver/brain concentration ratio 1, p 0.05), and the molecular weight was a key factor impacting the extent of the blood-brain barrier. Compared to levels in the muscle and brain tissue, a preferential enrichment of syn-DP was observed in the liver tissue, suggesting the occurrence of stereo-selective bioaccumulation in the wild frog.     

Rapid detection of multiple class pharmaceuticals in both municipal wastewater and sludge with ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

This work described the development, optimization and validation of an analytical method for rapid detection of multiple-class pharmaceuticals in both municipal wastewater and sludge samples based on ultrasonic solvent extraction, solid-phase extraction, and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry quantification. The results indicated that the developed method could effectively extract all the target pharmaceuticals （25） in a single process and analyze them within 24 min. The recoveries of the target pharmaceuticals were in the range of 69%-131% for wastewater and 54%-130% for sludge at different spiked concentration levels. The method quantification limits in wastewater and sludge ranged from 0.02 to 0.73 ng/L and from 0.02 to 1.00μg/kg, respectively. Subsequently, this method was validated and applied for residual pharma- ceutical analysis in a wastewater treatment plant located in Beijing, China. All the target pharmaceuticals were detected in the influent samples with concentrations varying from 0.09 ng/L （tiamulin） to 15.24 μg/L （caffeine）; meanwhile, up to 23 pharmaceuticals were detected in sludge samples with concentrations varying from 60 ng/kg （sulfamethizole） to 8.55 mg/kg （ofloxacin）. The developed method demonstrated its selectivity, sensitivity, and reliability for detecting multiple-class pharmaceuticals in complex matrices such as municipal wastewater and sludge.     

Adaptation strategies for maize cultivation under climate change in Iran: irrigation and planting date management

Climate change is affecting the productivity of crops and their regional distribution. Strategies to enhance local adaptation capacity are needed to mitigate climate change impacts and to maintain regional stability of food production. The objectives of this study were to simulate the climate change effects on phenological stages, Leaf Area Index (LAI), biomass and grain yield of maize (Zea mays L.) in the future and to explore the possibilities of employing irrigation water and planting dates as adaptation strategies to decrease the climate change impacts on maize production in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. For this purpose, we employed two types of General Circulation Models ((United Kingdom Met. Office Hadley Center: HadCM3) and (Institute Pierre Simon Laplace: IPCM4)) and three scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1). Long Ashton Research Station-Weather Generator (LARS-WG) was used to produce daily climatic parameters as one stochastic growing season for each projection period. Also, crop growth under projected climate conditions was simulated based on the Cropping System Model (CSM)-CERES-Maize. The results of model evaluation showed that LARS-WG had appropriate prediction for climatic parameters. Time period from cultivation until anthesis and maturity were reduced in majority of scenarios as affected by climate change. The results indicated that the grain yield of maize may be reduced (11 % to 38 %) as affected by climate change based on common planting date in baseline and changed (?61 % to 48 %) in response to different irrigation regimes in the future climate change, under all scenarios and times. In general, earlier planting date (1 May) and decreasing irrigation intervals in the anthesis stage (11 applications) caused higher yield compared with other planting dates due to adaption to high temperature. Based on our findings, it seems that management of irrigation water and planting dates can be beneficial for adaptation of maize to climate change in this region.     

硫酸羟胺的热分解动力学研究

通过差示扫描量热(DSC)法研究了硫酸羟胺(HAS)的热稳定性能及其在不同温升速率(4℃/min、7℃/min、10℃/min)下的热分解动力学;由同步热分析仪(STA)测试得到的DSC热流数据,运用AKTS高级热动力学分析软件计算得到硫酸羟胺的活化能、指前因子和反应焓等热动力学参数.结果表明:硫酸羟胺在空气气氛中发生自分解放热反应,反应热为118.8±2.1kJ/mol;根据Ozawa法得到的活化能为82.45kJ/mol,并由Friedman法得到了不同转化率下的活化能E及指前因子A的关系,计算得到的反应热为116.2±1.lkJ/mol.最后,结合硫酸羟胺的生产工艺条件,对硫酸羟胺的安全生产工艺进行了分析讨论.在储存、运输过程中,应防止因温度变化而引发硫酸羟胺的自分解放热爆炸事故,实验研究结果对实际的工业生产过程具有一定的参考意义和指导价值.