Effects of golpar (<Emphasis Type=Italic>Heracleum persicum</Emphasis> Desf.) and probiotics in drinking water on performance,carcass characteristics,organ weights,blood plasma constituents,and immunity of broilers

Increasing levels of Heracleum persicum (golpar) in drinking water were studied in broilers. Two hundred and forty-one-day-old male chickens were allocated to one of six treatments: control, without added phytogenics nor probiotics in drinking water, and probiotics at recommended manufacturer’s level (P) or 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 ml/l of golpar extract solution (G1, G1.5, G2, and G2.5 treatments, respectively) in drinking water. As a result of this study, no linear or quadratic trends in the feed intake (FI) and feed conversion rate (FCR) due to golpar supplementation were found. Body weight gain, final body weight, and relative carcass weight showed a positive linear response with increasing levels of golpar supplementation. Neither golpar nor probiotics had effects on the percentages of edible parts of the carcass. Golpar supplementation levels caused a linear negative response of the albumin content in blood plasma, whereas both abdominal fat as percentage of carcass weight and uric acid levels in blood plasma linearly increased. The effects on Ig responses were only observed at 42 days of age and were similar in probiotics and the highest level of golpar supplementation. Based on our results, both probiotics and golpar supplementation could improve broiler performance and immune function.     

New correlations predict aqueous solubility and density of carbon dioxide

In this paper, new correlations for predicting density and the solubility of carbon dioxide in pure water as well as the aqueous sodium chloride solutions are developed, where using the generated interaction parameters, the solubility model is applied to correlate the carbon dioxide solubilities in aqueous solutions for temperatures between 300 and 400 K and pressures from 50 to 700 bar. The correlation developed for predicting density of carbon dioxide accurately works for pressures between 25 and 700 bar and temperatures between 293 and 433 K. The results have been compared with the reported data and it was found that there is a good agreement between the prediction results and observed values.     

Predictive tool for an accurate estimation of carbon dioxide transport properties

In the present work, simple-to-use predictive tool, which is simpler than current available models and involves a fewer number of parameters, requiring less complicated and shorter computations, is formulated to arrive at an appropriate estimation of the transport properties (namely viscosity and thermal conductivity) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a function of pressure and temperature. The correlation developed accurately works for temperatures between 260 and 450 K as well as pressures between 10 and 70 MPa which is the range of pressure that is widely considered in CO₂ sequestration. Results have been compared with the reported data and excellent agreement has been obtained between the predicted results and observed values. The average absolute deviations were found to be 1.1 and 1.3% for viscosity and thermal conductivity of carbon dioxide respectively. Proposed simple predictive tool and can be of immense practical value for the engineers to have a quick check on the transport properties (namely viscosity and thermal conductivity) of carbon dioxide at various temperatures and pressures without performing any experimental measurements. In particular, personnel dealing with regulatory bodies of greenhouse gas control and process industries would find the proposed approach to be user friendly involving transparent calculations with no complex expressions.     

Comparison of energy produced from waste by removing its different components: A case study of the waste landfill in Tehran

In developing and populated cities such as Tehran, a massive amount of municipal solid waste (MSW), both wet and dry, is transferred to landfills daily. Combustion is one of the most common methods of using mixed waste energy from the past to the present. The Dulong formula is widely used to calculate the energy released from MSW combustion. According to the constituent components of Tehran MSW, removing food waste leads to an increase in energy potential, which will be a suitable condition for energy production. In this work, the energy derived from the combustion of mixed and separated dry MSW generated in Tehran was calculated using the experimental Dulong formula and tables in Integrated Solid Waste Management (Tchobanoglous et al. 1993, McGraw‐Hill). The Dulong formula indicates that the use of Tehran mixed MSW (without separating materials for recycling) as a fuel source yields 8,966.40 KJ/kg while the use of Tchobanoglous et al. (1993) tables can generate 8,236 kJ/kg. By removing food waste and recyclable materials, the potential of energy production changes to 22,047 kJ/kg using the Dulong formula and 16,207 kJ/kg and the Tchobanoglous et al. (1993) tables. It indicates increase by 1.46 times and 46%, respectively. Regarding the 200‐ton capacity of the Tehran waste incinerator, the Dulong formula indicated generation of 4,409 MJ/day energy, and the Tchobanoglous et al. table presents 3,241 MJ/day. Therefore, considering that Tehran generates more than 4,000 tons of reject waste daily, it can easily be converted to energy rather than landfilled. This can alleviate the problem of buying land and construction of landfills and leachate generation.     

Bioleaching of heavy metals from sewage sludge,direct action of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans or only the impact of pH?

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The bioleaching process comprises two mechanisms: direct action of the bacteria and indirect effect of low pH. In this work, the effect of bacteria...     

Association between perceived demands and musculoskeletal disorders among hospital nurses of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences: a questionnaire survey.

Excessive demands on nurses may result in high rates of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This study was conducted among hospital nurses of Iran's Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) to determine the prevalence of MSDs and to examine the relationship between perceived demands and reported MSDs. In this study, 641 randomly selected nurses from 12 SUMS hospitals participated. The Nordic musculoskeletal disorders questionnaire and Job Content Questionnaire were used as collecting data tools. The results showed that 84.4% of the participants had experienced some form of symptoms of MSDs during the past 12 months. Lower back symptoms were found to be the most prevalent problem. Perceived physical demands were significantly associated with MSDs (OR = 1.5-2.7). No association was found between perceived psychological demands and reported symptoms. It was concluded that any intervention program for preventing MSDs among SUMS hospital nurses had to focus on reducing physical demands, particularly excessive postural demands.     

Strong correlations between metal in mollusk soft tissue and nonresistant sediment fraction: a tool for biomonitoring intertidal zone of the Persian Gulf,Iran

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were determined in three species of mollusks and associated sediment. Samples were collected from two locations along the intertidal zone of the Persian Gulf near Bandar Abbas. The study was conducted during the spring of 2011, 10 sediment samples and 15 mollusks from each of the following species: Saccostrea cucullata, Solen brevis, and Callista umbonella, were simultaneously collected. Soft tissue, shell, and sediment were tested for metals using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Geochemical fractions of the sediment were examined for metals using a sequential extraction technique. Our results indicate that over half of Cd and Pb in the sediment had natural origins. Independent sample t test showed statistically significant (p?<?0.05) inter-tissue differences in accumulation of Cd and Pb. Soft tissue of C. umbonella contained highest levels of Cd. Pb accumulation was highest in S. brevis shell. Significant correlations (p?<?0.05) were found between Cd in the soft tissue of C. umbonella and its levels in the geochemical fractions of the sediment. Lead levels in the resistant geochemical fractions of the sediment and S. brevis shell were significantly correlated. Our results suggest that soft tissue of C. umbonella and shell of S. brevis are reliable biomonitoring tools for Cd and Pb, respectively.     

Control of TAME reactive distillation using Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II

The control system performs poor in characteristics and even it becomes unstable, if improper values of the controller tuning constants are used. So it becomes necessary to tune the controller parameters to achieve good control performance with the proper choice of tuning constants. Many control problems involve simultaneous optimization of multiple variables that competing with each other. In this paper, the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) has been successfully applied to optimization of dynamic state of t-amyl-methyl-ether (TAME) reactive distillation process. This paper presents the tuning of Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers by minimizing of two objective functions (overshoot and Integral of Absolute Error (IAE)) through the NSGA-II. Results show that genetic algorithm is more suitable method for optimal control of the TAME reactive distillation columns than traditional methods such as Tyreus-Luyben.     

Evaluation of potential toxic effects of occupational inhalation exposure to licorice root dust

Licorice, a plant indigenous to southern Europe, the Middle East, and northern China, exhibits several pharmacological properties, including estrogenic, anti-tumoral, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergenic, and anti-tussive activities. Prolonged use of licorice is known to produce headaches, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, edema, lethargy, dyspnea, sodium retention and loss of potassium in humans. However, to date, the potential adverse health effects due to occupational inhalation exposure of licorice root dust remains unknown. This study was, therefore, undertaken to address this issue. In this cross-sectional study, individuals (30 workers) occupationally exposed to licorice root dust at a licorice producing plant in Shiraz, Iran were recruited. Similarly, 30 healthy male unexposed employees at a telecommunications industry, with identical demographic and socioeconomic status, without any past or current exposure to licorice dust or habitual ingestion of this compound, served as the referent group. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured. Further, individuals underwent electrocardiography, clinical examination and blood chemistry tests. To assess the extent to which subjects were exposed to licorice root dust, atmospheric concentrations of this compound were also measured in the plant. There were no differences in age, weight, height and duration of exposure to licorice dust or length of employment between exposed and referent groups. Atmospheric measurement of licorice dust showed that concentration exceeded the permissible limit of 5 mg m^?3. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures of exposed subjects were significantly higher than those of the referent group. Similarly, blood analysis revealed that serum concentrations of potassium and platelet counts were significantly lower in exposed subjects than in referent individuals. Questionnaire data demonstrated that symptoms such as headaches, lethargy, and vertigo were more common in exposed subjects. No abnormal changes were noted in the electrocardiographs of exposed or referent subjects. Our findings provide evidence that inhalation exposure to high concentrations of licorice dust is associated with an increased prevalence of headache, lethargy, and vertigo, as well as hypertension and hypokalemia. None of these changes resulted in increased morbidity and mortality in exposed workers.     

Major Health Risk Factors in Iranian Hand-Woven Carpet Industry

This paper reviews the role and importance of small-scale industries together with the issue of occupational health problems and their causes in Iranian hand-woven carpet industry as a typical informal small-scale industry in an industrially developing country. The objective ofthis paper is to review health risk factors and related occupational health and ergonomic problems in the carpet industry. Since the overwhelming majority of weavers’ health problems originate from ergonomic risk factors, it is concluded that any improvement program in this industry should focus on ergonomic aspects. To assess ergonomic conditions in weaving workshops, a checklist has been developed and an ergonomics index indicating the ergonomic conditions of the workshop has been proposed. To test and verify the checklist, 50 weaving workshops were visited and their ergonomic conditions were assessed. Based on the results some modifications were made and the checklist was shown to be an effective tool.