Environmental impacts of irrigated and rain-fed barley production in Iran using life cycle assessment (LCA)

Current intensive grain crops production is often associated with environmental burdens. However, very few studies deal with the environmental performance of both current and alternative systems of barley production. This study was undertaken to evaluate energy consumption and environmental impacts of irrigated and rain-fed barley production. Additionally, three alternative scenarios were examined for irrigated barley fields including conservation tillage and biomass utilization policies. The findings showed that around 25 GJ/ha energy is needed in order to produce 2300 kg/ha irrigated barley and 13 GJ/ha for 1100 kg/ha rain-fed barley. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results indicated that irrigated farms had more environmental impacts than rain-fed farms. Electricity generation and consumption had the highest effect on the abiotic depletion potential, human toxicity potential, freshwater and marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential. However, alternative scenarios revealed that using soil conservation tillage systems and biomass consumption vs. gas for electricity generation at power plants can significantly mitigate environmental impacts of irrigated barley production similar to the rain-fed conditions while higher yield is obtained

Sustainability of wheat production in Southwest Iran : A fuzzy-GIS based evaluation by ANFIS

Funding Information: The financial support provided by Jahrom University, Iran, is gratefully acknowledged. Acknowledgements Publisher Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

No Evidence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Individuals with Cardiovascular Disease in Mashhad

Background and Aim: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has been hypothesized that a number of bacteria and viruses might be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to define the prevalence of HCV in patients with cardiovascular disease in comparison with a control group. Methods: In this study, 281 individuals including 143 cardiovascular patients and 138 healthy controls were assessed for identification of HCV antibodies. The data collection was done between April 2016 and February 2017. The prevalence of HCV antibodies was determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: There was no HCV infection in both patients with or without cardiovascular disease. There was a significant direct correlation between cardiovascular diseases and mean level of FPG (Fasting plasma glucose) (p<0.001). Also the Systolic and Diastolic blood pressures were significantly higher in the patients with cardiovascular disease (p<0.001 and p=0.005, respectively). Conclusion: The results of this study show that no evidence of HCV infection is found among a group of cardiovascular patients in the city of Mashhad. *Corresponding Author: Zahra Meshkat; Email: [email protected] Please cite this article as: Shakeri Hoseinabad M, Aryan E, Ghayour Mobarhan M, Moohebati M, Abolbashari S, Gholoobi A, Houshyar Chechaklou A, Yaghoubi A, Meshkat M, Meshkat Z. No Evidence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Individuals with Cardiovascular Disease in Mashhad. Arch Med Lab Sci. 2021;7:1-5 (e13). https://doi.org/10.22037/amls.v7.3344

Actual Productivity of Laborers for Pomegranate Harvesting: Application of Stop Watch Time Study Technique

Human power is the main resource in all production units like agriculture. Suitable working condition is essential to enhance job satisfaction and productivity of human resources. Stop watch time study was used in this study for the first time in Iran's horticulture sector in order to give correct estimation of laborers' productivity for pomegranate harvesting while mechanized harvester machines are limited. The pomegranate harvesting process was broken into its seven elements. The require time for doing each element was recorded and necessary allowances for each element was obtained from time study standards tables. Ten out of 37 gardens were randomly chosen and three laborers from each garden were testes with three replications. Level of job satisfaction was investigated using Job Descriptive Index (JDI) questionnaire to understand whether employing suitable number of laborers enhances job satisfaction. The results showed that two groups of laborers harvested pomegranate with different speeds, and old group (36-55 years) required more allowances than young group (20-35 years) of laborers. Statistical analysis revealed high correlation between frequencies of picking pomegranate task and observed time by 92% (inverse relation) meaning that the sample laborers worked highly similar. The average productivity of young and old groups of laborers were harvesting 37 kg/h and 29 kg/h pomegranate, respectively. Accordingly, it was determined that 6 laborers are needed from the young group or 8 laborers from the old group to harvest 22,000 kg/ha pomegranate in a working time of 12 days (8 h/day).Using a suitable number of laborers in any work would lead to employing actual laborers' productivity and on time work accomplishment besides reaching to high level of job satisfaction. The proposed methodology can be applied in other sectors/organizations with further investigation into enhancement of health and safety of laborers in different working conditions.

Environmental impacts of irrigated and rain-fed barley production in Iran using life cycle assessment (LCA)

Current intensive grain crops production is often associated with environmental burdens. However, very few studies deal with the environmental performance of both current and alternative systems of barley production. This study was undertaken to evaluate energy consumption and environmental impacts of irrigated and rain-fed barley production. Additionally, three alternative scenarios were examined for irrigated barley fields including conservation tillage and biomass utilization policies. The findings showed that around 25 GJ/ha energy is needed in order to produce 2300 kg/ha irrigated barley and 13 GJ/ha for 1100 kg/ha rain-fed barley. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results indicated that irrigated farms had more environmental impacts than rain-fed farms. Electricity generation and consumption had the highest effect on the abiotic depletion potential, human toxicity potential, freshwater and marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential. However, alternative scenarios revealed that using soil conservation tillage systems and biomass consumption vs. gas for electricity generation at power plants can significantly mitigate environmental impacts of irrigated barley production similar to the rain-fed conditions while higher yield is obtained