Introduction of a new and multilateral approach in rapid health impact assessment of development projects: A case study of saman sport-tourism project

Background and purpose: Health Impact Assessment (HIA) evaluates positive and negative consequences of development on human health, which is recently proposed in Iran. Human health involves a wide range of factors, therefore, predicting and estimation of their effects require convenient and efficient tools. Materials and methods: In this case study, data was collected and a database on regional health status was created. The research was then carried out in three main stages, including 1- assessment of the epidemiology of important diseases and health risks, 2- health impact assessment of the project via micro-activities, 3-assessment of impacts on three health components, including physical health, metaphysical health, and socio-economic and cultural factors. After assessing negative and positive effects, scoring was performed based on a multidisciplinary panel of experts. Results: According to the final scores calculated, most concerns were associated with diarrheal diseases, intestinal parasites, conjunctiva, and leishmaniasis. On the other hand, preventing and reducing the likelihood of illness due to lack of awareness and the challenge of new people in the region call for extensive cultural and social planning. Conclusion: Quantitative, accurate, rapid, and reliable results of multilateral approach matrix, were able to predict positive and negative effects, thereby leading to an integrated management solutions to mitigate the negative impacts and improving the quality of the project. Implementation of the project proposed was found to be non-problematic while carrying out corrective actions and authorized health monitoring program. © 2018, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Using Ash Prepared from Almond Shell for Removing Acid Red 18 from Aqueous Solutions

زمینه و هدف: رنگ اسید رد 18 یکی از پر مصرف ترین رنگ در صنایع نساجی به شمار می روند که افزایش خطرات زیست محیطی را به دنبال دارند. بنابراین لازم است که پساب صنایع نساجی قبل از تخلیه به محیط با استفاده از روش های موثر مورد تصفیه قرار گیرند. هدف از این مطالعه، ارزیابی حذف رنگ اسید رد 18 از محلول های آبی با استفاده از خاکستر تهیه شده از پوسته بادام می باشد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی از اسید رد 18 به عنوان نماینده رنگ های آزو استفاده شد. پوسته بادام به روش حرارتی فعال شد (تهیه خاکستر) و در یک سیستم منقطع برای حذف رنگ از محلول های آبی به کار گرفته شد. عملیات آزمایشگاهی در شرایط: pH (12-2)، زمان تماس (120-15 دقیقه)، مقدار جاذب (2-2/0 گرم بر لیتر)، غلظت اولیه رنگ (100-25 میلی گرم بر لیتر) و دمای آزمایشگاهی (Cº 1±25) انجام شد. یافته ها: نتایج نشان داد که بیشترین میزان حذف اسید رد 18 (90) به وسیله خاکستر تهیه شده از پوسته بادام در 2=pH، زمان تماس 60 دقیقه و دوز جاذب 6/1 گرم بر لیتر به دست می آید. همچنین داده های تعادل با مدل های ایزوترم لانگمویر و فروندلیچ تطبیق داده شد که حاصل امر نشانگر تطابق بهتر داده های حاصل از مطالعه حاضر با مدل جذب لانگمیر (0/9782=R2) نسبت به معادله جذب فروندلیچ (0/9579=R2) می باشد. نتیجه گیری: مطالعه حاضر نشان داد که فعال سازی حرارتی پوسته بادام و کاربرد آن در شرایط کنترل شده، روش موثری در حذف رنگ های آزو از پساب های نساجی می باشد

Evaluating the drinking waters microbial flora of reverse osmosis treatment systems in kashan city during summer and autumn (2015)

According to the various difficulties of Distillation desalination system,currently the membrane technology such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) is more useful. High concentration of dissolve solids in supplying water resources in Kashan caused a bad taste and reduced the consumer’s desire for using such water,and often they used treated water in a way that at the conducting time of this study,20 centers treated the water by RO method in the city. Therefore,this study evaluated the microbial flora of produced drinking water of RO treatment system in Kashan city during summer and autumn 2015. In this study the census method have used and the sampling have done from all the RO water treatment centers of the city. Three input,output and after storage,samples have taken. The evaluation of the temperature,residual chlorine,TDS,the storage time,and RO membrane operation time in samples have done. The HPC test has done on the samples in the laboratory and the positive plates have identified in terms of bacterial spices. The tests have repeated in four months of the year from July to October. The results showed 95% residual chlorine in the input samples and the HPC test for these samples showed no contamination. The sample contamination after treatment and the tank were 8 and 15% respectively. In addition,the most contamination level have related to September,which the samples temperature in this month reach its highest level. The Pearson coefficient results showed that there was a significant relation between the Heterotroph colonies number and the residual chlorine and temperature parameters,which was consistent with Karami et al. in Kermanshah and Dobaradaran et al. in Esfahan studies. In addition,there was a significant relation between the Heterotroph colonies number and storage time and RO membrane operation time

Removal of acid bleu 113 by UV/H2O2/Fe3O4 process: Optimization of treatment conditions using experimental design

Background and aims: Colored wastewaters are highly toxic for animals, human and habitat areas and cause several diseases in humans such as allergy, cancer and mutation. This study was aimed to remove of acid blue 113 color with application of UV/H2O2 with nano-catalyst of Fe3O4. Optimization of the process was investigated using experiment design methodology. Methods: In this experimental study, in order to study the effective parameters such as initial concentration of acid blue 113 (AB 113), pH, contact time, amounts of hydrogen peroxide and nano-catalyst Fe3O4 in removal of acid blue 113 and finding optimal conditions was investigated using of response surface methodology. Data were analyzed using design experiment software. Results: Optimum conditions of removal including initial concentration of AB113 dye 62.3 mg/L, pH 3.83, contact time 29.5 minutes, the amount of hydrogen peroxide 31.53 mmol/L and concentration of Fe3O4 1.81 g/L were obtained for maximum removal efficiency of 95.51%. The removal efficiency by increasing H2O2, contact time and catalyst concentration increased and with increasing of initial dye concentration and pH was decreased. Conclusion: The results showed that the removal amount of AB113 dye from synthetic wastewater using UV/H2O2/Fe3O4 process obtained 95.51% in optimal condition. Therefore, this method has an effective potential in AB113 removal and can be applied for removal of this dye from industrial wastewater

The statistical analysis of seasonal and time variations on trend of important air pollutants (SO2, O3, NOx, CO, PM10)-in western Iran: A case study

Western Iran, for example, Kermanshah, is one of the industrial cities of Iran that due to industrial development and transport development and located in the west side of country, the levels of its air pollutants have a lot of fluctuations. So the aim of this study is to determine the trend of variations in Kermanshah air pollutants (sulfur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulates).This is a descriptive - analytical study, so that the data of various air pollutants in Kermanshah city during the period of 5 years (2006-2011) obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency of Kermanshah, then data analysis was attempted using SPSS and Excel software. Results showed that the highest average concentrations of pollutants based on years, season and months were 2010, summer and July for O3, 2005, autumn and December for NO, 2008, spring and April for NO2, 2008, summer and July for PM10, 2008, summer and September for SO2 and 2005, Autumn and June for CO. Increasing the some pollutants such as O3, NO and NO2 from 2006 years onwards is related to increasing the vehicle and industries. Therefore, it is essential to understand the causes of increasing and reducing the emissions is needed to Public education to deal, harm reduction and management measures

Feasibility study of wastewater reuse for irrigation in Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: Wastewater reuse is one of the main options that can be considered as a new source of water in regions where water is scarce. The main purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of Isfahan’s north wastewater treatment plant effluent for agricultural irrigation. To evaluate suitability of treated wastewater for irrigation, important indicators like Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Soluble Sodium Percentage (SSP)and Potential Salinity were investigated. In this study the SAR value for effluent was 2.62 and according to approved criteria by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) it was excellent for irrigation,SSPwas 39.7% so it has good quality for irrigation usage and the potential salinity was 4.81 meq/L, thusaccording to approved criteria by FAO it is medium for soil permeability.Also the EC value of effluent was 1250 µS/cm (1.25 dS/m) and according to approved criteria by FAO it was permissible for irrigatio

Survey of effective parameters (Water sources, seasonal variation and residual chlorine) on presence of thermotolerant coliforms bacteria in different drinking water resources

Thermotolerant Coliforms (TtC) bacteria is one of the microbial quality indicators of drinking water. This study was aimed to Survey of Effective parameters (Water Resources, Seasonal Variation and Residual Chlorine) on Presence of thermotolerant bacteria in drinking water. For this study, data of the last 10 years assessments of microbial quality regarding various species of fecal coliform was taken from health centers associated with urban, rural and private sources of Kermanshah city. A total number of 8643 samples were taken, 1851 samples from rural, 365 from urban and 4834 from private resources. The results showed that fecal coliform, Escherichia coli (22.3%) and Klebsiella (2%) were the most and least bacteria existent in urban water resources, respectively. In rural water sources, E. coli (45.9%) and Enterobacter cloacea (2.6%) and in private sources E. coli (34%) and Klebsiella (1.3%) had the most and least existent, respectively. Further, E. coli (47.5%) and Klebsiella (0.4%) had, respectively, the highest and lowest distribution in all months considered. In addition the results showed a significant decrease of distribution of fecal coliforms with increasing residual chlorine, while a decreasing trend is observed from the dose of 0.8 mg/L. According to the results, it can be stated that among fecal coliforms, E. coli has the widest distribution in water resources and because this bacterium causes diseases such as diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome, so is of particular importance in the monitoring of water resources. Hence it is necessary to consider the bacterium in resources with low microbial quality, especially in the hot seasons

A review of toxicological, environmental and health effects of chromium from aqueous medium; available removal techniques

Heavy metals are unwanted pollutants introduced directly and indirectly into the environment and ecological currents through the discharge of industrial wastewaters. Many of them, like hexavalent chromium, easily enter biological organs resulting in acute toxicity and damage to kidney, liver, and lung due to their maximum oxidation state in comparison with their other compounds. On the other hand, they incur irrecoverable effects on the environment and ecosystems. Accordingly, human beings need processes and technologies to lessen the danger of these pollutants; in order to remove chromium from aquatic environments, various methods including physical, chemical, and biological methods have been important. Among them, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electro dialysis, chemical deposition, and adsorption are popular. In practice, in order to apply each of the mentioned treatment methods, preliminary studies for applicability, the required expertise, and the costs of construction and operation are necessary

Removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions using raw and modified rice husk

ABSTRACT, one of the most important environmental pollutants is dye containing wastewaters. Methylene blue (MB) is a cationic dye that has carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on human. This study was investigated to remove methylene blue dye from aqueous solutions by raw and modified rice husk (Raw-RH and Modified-RH). The influence of various parameters including pH, contact time, adsorbent dose and initial dye concentration was studied on the dye removal efficiencyin a batch system. The results showed that the equilibrium was obtained at the contact time of 90 min and the maximum dye removal was also occurred at pH 10 for both the Raw-RH and Modified-RH adsorbents. The experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The findings showed that the data were best fitted with the Freundlich isotherm. The obtained data for MB adsorption onto the Raw-RH and Modified-RH were also fitted via the pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models. The correlation coefficients values (R2 ) showed that the adsorption kinetic described well by the pseudo-second order model. The results of this study indicated that rice husk can be used as an effective and low-cost adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions