Flora biodiversity change detection: a case study

Changes in flora biodiversity are a dilemma facing managers in order to cope with challenges of extinction or endangering plant species as well as replacement by invasive species. Such problems can occur in the region as disruption of ecosystem balance. The first step of proper management of a watershed is obtaining accurate information about plant communities and their dominance and biodiversity status. Such information will help decision makers to adopt an appropriate management approach. Accordingly, the current study was conducted to detect various types of plant species in Zanjanrood Watershed. For this porous, quadrate and transect methods were applied to determine available plant species in the region. Afterwards, Shannon and Simpson’s Reciprocal indices were used to specify the biodiversity status of the identified communities. The calculation results revealed 3.19 and 5.98 for Shannon and Simpson’s Reciprocal indices, respectively. As the results suggested, there has been a downward trend in biodiversity status over the last 20 years. Such a deteriorating condition has been accelerated rise in recent years so that the non-palatable species are rapidly replaced by the palatable ones due to uncontrolled overgrazing of livestock. If management is not based on principles of sustainability in the region, the watershed will experience an extreme poverty of land cover. The findings would be so helpful to achieve an appropriate strategy in order to conserve the biodiversity in a sustainable manner.     

Epidemiological and biomechanical evaluation of airline baggage handling

Objectives. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are prevalent among airline baggage handlers due to manual materials handling. In this study, the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ), the revised National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lifting equation, and the University of Michigan 3D Static Strength Prediction Program? (3DSSPP) were used to analyze MSDs among baggage handlers. Methods. The NMQ was filled out by 209 baggage handlers and 46 arbitrarily selected baggage handlers were evaluated using the NIOSH method and 3DSSPP. Results. The obtained results showed that the most common MSDs occurred in the lower back region. The next risky regions included knees, neck, and upper back, respectively. The NIOSH results confirmed that the subjects lifted loads heavier than the permitted limit and their lifting postures were inappropriate. The results of the 3DSSPP also indicated that compression forces exceeded the NIOSH limit in these awkward postures. Conclusions. Relying on this study, holding compulsory ergonomic lifting training courses could be proposed for workers and regulations adjusting an upper limit for maximum baggage weight must be also enacted in order to improve occupational health and prevent the prevalence of increasing MSDs.