INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH (IJER)
Year:2011 | Volume:5 | Issue:2|Papers Count:32

High strength fresh leachates generated at a new disposal trench, compost plant and partially stabilized leachate of an older trench were characterized in terms of anaerobic degradation at laboratory batch scale at 35°C. Fresh leachate had extremely high COD of 66,710 – 89,501 mg/L along with low pH of 4.1-5.9 in contrast to older and therefore partially stabilized leachate with a COD of about 19,000 mg/L and higher pH of 8.4. Filtration of fresh leachate samples showed to have considerable effect on continuation of degradation as for the unfiltered samples, degradation nearly stopped after a slight reduction in COD. As a first attempt, it was shown that a considerably better fit was achieved for COD variations of filtered fresh leachate samples using first order multistage kinetic model based on which hydrolysis was found to have the smallest rate, therefore being the rate limiting stage in anaerobic degradation process.

Urban design and landscape Architecture are considered as modern Art (knowledge) which are developed through integration of various Art and science fields of studies. Formal emergence of urban design in 60s and landscape design is occurred at the beginning of 20th century. The success of these two fields is because of their attention to environmental qualities upgrade in public and open spaces all over cities. Indeed, these two fields have got similar approaches to designing open spaces; this article is looking forward to deliver proposals regarding suitable integration among experts of these two fields.This research is based on a qualitative and quantitative approach; using ‘grounded theory method’ and applying ‘content analysis’ in questions extractions analyze the practical mechanisms among experts in these two fields in Iran. The emphasis of this research in procedural aspect is based on the four-level order of relations among design component including: design-planning, management-guidance, control-policy and conservation-catalyzing, as the most important common role of urban design and landscape architecture, is to achieve an effective interaction pattern. In addition, to substantial aspect designing urban landscape and urban spaces is considered as a common subject among landscape architects and urban designers. At the end, based on incorporation of substantial and procedural components, a system of correlation between these two fields is proposed.

It is commonly recognized that knowledge is the only source of core competence of Environmental Projects in the knowledge based companies, but the productivity rate of knowledge workers is always Low. Based on knowledge workers’ characteristics, in this paper, we seek to identify knowledge workers factors influencing on the Environmental Projects Risk Management success (EPRM), then Knowledge strategies present for EPRM Success. Finally, the best strategy selects using Analytical Network Process (ANP) approach. It is hoped that this paper will help Environmental Projects managers to implement different corresponding measures. A case study is presented where this model measures and validates at the Daru-Pakhsh Company.

In Vietnam, municipal solid waste (MSW) has being become increasing complex due to variety of reasons as the increasing quantity, changing composition of MSW, rising public awareness and municipal administration policies among different cities and surrounding communities. There is not currently an efficient management system in place for facilities such as storage, collection, transfer, transportation and disposal of MSW. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to analyze the present system of MSW addressing variety of aspects such as quantity and composition of MSW generation, operational management, legal system as well as financial aspect. The systematic assessment has revealed the problems like lack of legal framework, low coverage, improper waste storage, less encouragement for composting, and lack of proper disposal practices. Finally, an action plan is proposed suggestion for current and future addressing the issues as the operational management, institutional, financial aspect, public participation, environmental education, and legal and policies.

A study of substantial anthropogenic related pollution in the Coastal Samut Prakarn Province (Thailand) was carried out focusing on the Bang Pu Nature Reserve (remnant mangrove wetland) using a remote sensing (geospatial) technique. Statistical regression models were developed between biochemical parameters of sample point and related reflectance data obtained from satellite imagery (Landsat TM). Change detection showed a significant increase in various water bodies over a period of a decade and significant increase in analyzed pollutant levels. The paper highlights the advantages of baseline data obtained and its significance towards a holistic approach to mitigating coastal pollution combining sustainable conservation and enhanced nature education through a significant ecosystem bio-diversification. Within the framework of the approach a buffering zone based on a constructed freshwater-fed wetland is to be introduced to serve as an effective pollution mitigating area serving the local community which is in serious need of such an environmental vehicle.

A mathematical model was developed to predict the effects of wind speed, light, pH, Temperature, dissolved carbon dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD) on Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in fish ponds. The effects of organic feeds, aeration and fish activity were added to the model developed by Kayombo et al. for Waste Stabilization Ponds (Ecological Modeling 127(2000): 21-31) to reflect the situation in fish ponds. Model calibration and validation was done by use of average DO, pH, temperature, COD, CO2 and algae biomass data measured from RETCO fish ponds in Dar es Salaam; and light intensity data were adopted from Kayombo et al. (2000). Model results showed a linear relationship between simulated DO and measured DO in fish pond (r2 = 0. 87) for model calibration and (r2= 0.88) for model validation. Simulation results also showed a general decrease of DO with time in 13 days by 28% and 38% for first and second batch, respectively. Thus, the model developed in this study could be used to predict the DO dynamics in fish ponds. Based on the model results, successful cultivation of healthy fish may require that retention time for water in the fish pond be 10 days.

A methodology is presented in this paper to find optimal location and dosage of chlorine injection in water distribution networks. The objective is to minimize the chlorine consumption while keeping the residual chlorine at each node within the standard range. Unfortunately because of wrong water quality management in water distribution networks in many parts of the world, many problems such as bacterial growth or formation of by-products occur in these systems. In this paper with integrating two models, hydraulic model of EPANET2 with ability of quality simulation and optimization model of Genetic Algorithm (GA), the best locations for chlorine injection and its optimum dosage in the water networks are obtained. To evaluate the presented method, two test examples are studied. The results of this study show the reduction in total consumed chlorine in the system obtained by chlorine injection in optimal locations with optimum dosage, in comparison with other researches.

Key dissimilarities between thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) were experimentally studied in this research. Typical WAS with total solids (TS) concentrations of 30 and 60 g/L were digested anaerobically in a batch digester at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures. Solids reduction, total COD changes, the production of different volatile fatty acids (VFAs), pH variation, the quality and quantity of the produced biogas, an energy audit, pathogen inactivation and sludge dewaterability during anaerobic digestion were investigated and compared for mesophilic and thermophilic processes in this research. Only the thickest sludge (TS concentration 60 g/L) provided auto-thermality under mesophilic conditions. The mesophilic digestion took place after 32 to 36 days with slightly more methane production and removal of organics than thermophilic digestion. The results showed that there was no significant difference between thermophilic and mesophilic digestion with respect to the gas composition. Among the VFAs (key intermediates), only propionate accumulated during sludge anaerobic digestion at both the mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures. Thermophilic anaerobic digestion imparts improved dewaterability. The required time for sludge pathogen inactivation under mesophilic conditions was more than one month.

In this study some thermodynamic parameters including freezing point, boiling point and the vapor pressure of Urmia Lake salt water were investigated as some important environmentally monitored physicochemical properties of Urmia Lake. In this regard salt concentration is chiefly responsible for the modification of the thermodynamic properties of Urmia Lake water which affects its overall environmental and ecological characteristics. On the other hand, the Urmia Lake is now supposed to be the most convenient place for many rare aquatic species and therefore interpreted to be unique from the viewpoint of qualitative characteristics. For the goals of this study water sampling and analysis where performed in two wet and dry periods of the lake in order to represent the extremes of the lake’s environmental variability. Prevailing chemical ions in the water body were determined and used for the estimation of the relative thermodynamic coefficients of salt water for the acquisition of the freezing point, boiling point and the vapor pressure of the Urmia Lake water. Interpolated calibration curves were plotted for the changes in the studied parameters versus a variety of salt concentrations indicating a linear relationship between the investigated parameters and the prevailing salt concentration of the Urmia Lake. The calibration curves were then formulated to simplify the estimation of the thermodynamic parameters of the Urmia Lake for any salinity conditions. Real sample analysis also showed a very good agreement between the estimated and observed values.

A general overview on the prospective of various oxidation and combined processes in the treatment of tannery industry effluent are reported. Various oxidation and combined processes such as UV/H2O2/Hypochlorites, Fenton and Electro-oxidation, photo-chemical, photo-catalytic, electro-catalytic oxidation, wet air oxidation, ozonation, biological followed by ozone/UV/ H2O2, coagulation or electro-coagulation and catalytic treatments have been considered. The tannery wastewater with sulphide as main sources of pollutant, electro-coagulation is the best removal efficiency process among the other oxidation processes, whereas for chromium, photo catalytic oxidation process using nano-TiO2 and wet air oxidation in the presence of manganese sulphate and activated carbon as a catalyst are more efficiency processes. The integrated combined processes described permit to meet disposal limits, health quality standards and the recovery of several chemicals utilized in the tanneries.

Fifteen kinds of local wetland plants in Taihu Lake region of China were investigated on their respective growth conditions, biomass allocations and nutrient uptake capacities. The test plants were cultured in 3 L nutrient solutions for 28 days with NH4+-N, NO3--N and P concentrations of 38.5, 132.8 and 10 mg/L, respectively. Mean species total biomass ranged from 1.2-21.6 g/plant with above/below ground ratios (AG:BG) between 1.7-5.5. Mean NH4+-N, NO3--N and P uptake rates ranged from 3.7-14.3 mg/day (8.0-49.4 % of NH4+-N supplied), 17.8-59.4 mg/day (17.8-59.6 %) of NO3--N supplied and 1.71-4.61 mg /day (24.1-61.5 % of P supplied), respectively. Plant tissue N and P concentrations ranged between 28.2-606.1 mg N /plant and 4.1-53.1 mg P/plant, with AG:BG ratio between 1.7-7.0 and 1.6-4.6, respectively. The accumulation of N and P in plant tissues was significantly correlated with plant biomass and root surface area. Among the different species, C. generalis, T. latifolia, T. dealbata and L. salicaria were better than the other plants in above- and below-ground biomass, root surface area, nutrient uptake and storage rates. T. dealbata and L. salicaria were more suitable for year-round application in this area due to their tolerance of coldness.

The territory of Serbia is vulnerable to various types of natural hazards and the risk is not equal across the entire territory; it varies depending on the type of hazard and the expected potential for damage. The first aim of this research was to determine the geographical distributions of the major types of natural hazards. Seismic hazards, landslides, rock falls, floods, torrential floods, excessive erosion, droughts and forest fires are the most significant natural hazards within the territory of Serbia. Areas vulnerable to some of these natural hazards were singled out using analytical maps; their area relative to the total area of Serbia was defined, along with the total surface area that is vulnerable to each type of natural hazard. Upper intensity values for single natural hazards were measured; these values represent the limiting factor for land-use planning at the given level. Based on these analyses, an integral map of the natural hazards of the territory was created using multi-hazard assessment. Hence, a recent state of the natural hazard vulnerabilities of the territory of Serbia was created and then an integral map was made. The integral map showed spatial distribution of the different types of hazards that are considered to be limiting factors for the highest level of land-use planning. The results presented in this article are the first multi-hazard assessment and the first version of the integral map of natural hazards distribution in Serbia for land-use planning, which is important both nationally and regionally.

A three-dimensional (3D) finite volume model with a novel adjustment scheme was developed to solve shallow water equations in open channels. An explicit finite volume method was used to discretize the governing equations in a boundary-fitted structured and collocated grid system. Because a simple second-order central scheme was used for spatial discretization and due to the occurrence of high Peclet numbers in open channel flows, some treatments were needed to reduce oscillation. Thus, a special adjustment scheme designed to minimize differences in the averaged free surface elevation and flow discharge in a 3D model and 1D flow data was applied to some cross-sections. The model was applied to simulate shallow water flow in a backwardfacing step, a meandering channel with 90° bends and a 180° bend channel. A comparison of the model results with available experimental and numerical data illustrated that the proposed numerical procedure decreases the numerical oscillations and increases the stability of the 3D numerical model in open channel flow modeling.

Economic policies need to be analyzed within consistent and coherent framework. In the absence of an operational framework the policy analyst is confronted with an indeterminate model to work with. This paper intends to offer a specific framework for economic-environment integration to highlight the role of economic policy and environment in sustainable development for the purpose of empirical analysis and hypothesis testing. The term was used by the Brundtland report coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development is a multidimensional and multidisciplinary concept that has been emerged from a number of disciplines including economics, ecology, ethics, sociology and political sciences. This notion links the welfare of generations with the capacity of the biosphere to sustain life. Sustainable development is not a fixed state but rather a process of change in which resource exploitation, the direction of investment, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are made consistent with the future as well as present needs. This report does not consider the range of policy instruments that could be used in achieving sustainable development outcomes, but focuses on a specific framework for economic - environment integration with emphasis on the “social” component of sustainable development.

This study presents a comparison between aluminum and iron plate electrodes on phosphate removal from aqueous solutions by electrocoagulation process. The effectiveness of main operational parameters such as initial pH, initial phosphate concentration and current density were examined. In addition, treated solution and sludge characteristics, energy consumption and electrode mass depletion were compared for both electrodes. All experiments were done in an electrocoagulation cell with effective volume of 2 liters. It was found that the aluminum electrode has higher removal efficiency compared to the iron electrode in the same operational conditions. Phosphate removal efficiencies of 100% and 84.7% were observed for aluminum and iron electrode in a special case with optimum initial pH, maximum current density and maximum initial phosphate concentration equal to 3, 250A/m2, 400mg/l PO43- , respectively. Furthermore, less treated solution turbidity, higher secondary pollution (remained Al) and less electrode mass depletion was observed for the aluminum electrode.

The effect of temperature on the adsorption of heavy metals on not only natural bulk clay, but also for the individual phases that composed the bulk clay sample, was investigated. Combined Adsorption-Sequential extraction Analysis (CASA) for Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd were conducted under various temperatures that ranged from 15°C to 55°C. As a result, it was found that heavy metals adsorption for bulk clay increased about 12% when the temperature increased from 15°C to 55°C. The effect of temperature on the individual phases was mainly observed in oxide, including Fe-and Mn-oxide, and the organic phases of all of the metals. As for the Phase Concentration Factors (PCFs) of the metals, the largest increase of the values was observed in the oxide phase. Based on the thermodynamic parameters of the individual phases, the adsorption of metals on natural clay was an endothermic reaction with the exception of exchangeable phase adsorption. This shows that adsorption affinity and capacity tend to increase when the temperature increase for all adsorption phases of soil, except for adsorption in the exchangeable phase. In the case of Pb, Zn, and Cu adsorption, the considerable enthalpy changes were observed in carbonates, Fe-oxides, and organic phases, which means the adsorption affinity for those phases were largely affected by temperature change. On the other hand, relatively small enthalpy changes in the Cd adsorption were observed in bulk and all individual phases when it was compared with the other metals enthalpy changes for the same phases. This means that Cd adsorption mainly occurred in the exchangeable phase, which was affected a little by temperature change.

Innovation and sustainable development have been considered fundamental elements in the competitive positioning of companies. The synergies between both concepts, known as eco-innovation, must be considered when designing company policies. The aim of this paper is to analyse which moderating factors determine how innovative companies perform when implementing a sustainable proactive approach. We analysed a representative sample of Spanish companies using a quantitative method based on data collected from the PITEC database. The empirical results show that company and market size, formal innovative activity (reflected by registered numbers of patents) as well as total expenditure on technology acquisition influence the eco-innovative orientation of firms.

In this study, the removal of As (V) from water resources by using aluminum-coated pumice as a new adsorbent was assessed. The features of the adsorbent coating layer were observed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).The effects of various parameters such as adsorbent doses, pH, contact time, arsenate initial concentration and interfering ions in arsenic adsorption and achieving high removal efficiency were studied. The results showed that the adsorption of As (V) was extremely influenced by the phosphate interfering ions. It was also defined that more than 98% of As (V) was removed by 10 g/L of the adsorbent with initial As (V) concentration of 250mg/L at pH=7 and in 160 minutes. The adsorption equilibriums were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Such equilibriums showed that the adsorption data was well fitted with Freundlich isotherm model (R2>0.99). The data achieved from the kinetic studies were processed by kinetic models of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order .The results indicated that the pseudo-second-order model could describe the adsorption of As (V) by pumice coated with alum (R2>0.92). According to achieved results, it was defined that aluminum-coated pumice not only was an inexpensive absorbent, but also a quite effective factor in removal of As (V) from water resources.

This study aims at evaluating the completeness of the content of the ecological part in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) on content review basis. The requirements of the ecological content as stated in the of five sets of Thai’s EIA guidelines, namely the specific guidelines for power plants, industrial projects, dams and harbors and the general guideline are used as the basis for this research. The main findings are that the requirements of the content of the ecological part in the guidelines differ from one guideline to another and the most different one is the specific guideline for dam projects. Generally, ecosystem, habitat and species population are presented. The guideline specifies the requirements for data presentation more clearly than those for ecological impact assessment. In addition, thirty EISs of power plant projects are systematically reviewed and it is found that there are a number of improper practices of ecological impact assessment process including insufficient baseline study, inconsistent impact interpretation, and ignorance of ecological point of view in setting up mitigation measures and monitoring programs. Ecological content in EIA guidelines and EISs can be shown in a logical sequence of events in order to form an effective system of ecological impact assessment.

The Siyah Bisheh area is located in central part of Alborz zone, 40km south of Amol, Iran. Rock units exposing in the area consists of sedimentary (carbonates, sandstone, siltstone), volcano- sedimentary (andesite to andesitic tuff, tuff), ignimbrite and basalt. when erosion and tectonics have rendered volcanic structures undetectable, remote sensing provides an invaluable tool for their identification, with finding relation between lithology and vegetation is showed that the integrated use of remote sensing techniques and field studies as a powerful tool to distinguish and map the relationships between rock units, structures and alteration zones associated with mineral deposits along the siyah Bishe area. The main image analysis techniques involved in this study were principal component analysis (PCA) and false color composite (FCC). In this study, an anomaly area is distinguished in the southeastern part of the Siyah Bishe area. Hydrothermally altered rocks contain economic mineral deposits whereas unaltered country rocks are non-mineralized. Approximately 5 km2 of the area is underlain by altered rocks, but less than 1 km2 of the altered area contains economic minerals.

The market for carbon dioxide rights emerged as one of the tools applicable to the implementation of the measures adopted by the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change. In this paper we analyze the case of Spain, because their peculiar administrative division into seventeen Autonomous Communities, it is relevant to a detailed study of emissions and allowances of the industries that make up the different regions for the period between 2005 and 2009. Allowing us to test the efficiency and compliance with the requirements and conditions prescribed in the regulations for each one of those territorial units. Statistical analysis shows significant differences found between emissions and allocations for several regions.

Douala metropolitan city loated in the littoral province of Cameroon, has experienced a rapid urbaniation and industralisation. The city depends heavily on groundwater as a resource. Due to ubiquitous sources of pollution, groundwater quality and contamination has become an imprtant issue for this urban groundwater supply. This study uses the major ion chemistry of groundwater together with the mineralogical and chemical composition of sediments to investigate the chemical characteristics and contamination of groundwater. An attempt has been made to identify the different factors controlling the chemical composition of groundwater. Groundwater is acidic (4.1-6.9) and the chemistry is more influenced by atmospheric inputs and anthropogenic activities than by aquifer water reactions. The ionic content of groundwater shows a large variation with electrical conductivity ranging from 34.3-1021ms/cm. However, Cl and HCO3 are dominant anions meanwhile Na and Ca are dominant cations. Groundwater from natural low residential areas has low electrical conductivity and Ca-Na-HCO3 type where as the chemical composition of groundwater is shifted to Ca-Na-Cl ( NO3+SO4) downstream with maximum electrical conductivity and high nitrate levels above the guide limits occuring in the highly urbanised, settlements at the Cente of the study area. Groundwater is vulnerable to acid deposition due to the resistant nature and the low level of base forming cations in the aquifer sediments, which provides very little buffer for acid inputs.

The influence of leachate from open solid waste dumping near Salhad stream (Abbottabad, Pakistan) was investigated to quantify the variations of water quality during August 2007 to April 2008. Samples were collected from five different sites located along the Salhad stream. Two sites were located before the mixing of solid waste leachate with the surface water. One sampling site was of leachate and other two sampling sites were affected with solid waste leachate. Samples were analyzed for various physical and chemical parameters like pH, water temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), Biological oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved oxygen (DO). Microbiological analysis was done by using Membrane filter technique. The results of various parameters determined strongly suggested that landfill leachate had severe deleterious impact on the water quality of Salhad stream. The parameters exceeding the allowable limits of WHO, EC and National Environmental Quality Standards included pH, TDS, BOD, COD, total bacterial counts and total coliform counts. Heavy metals like Pb, Cd and Cu were released from the leachate into the Salhad stream which might affect the sustainability of the aquatic life. Integrated, multi-sector approaches are required to deal with the contamination problem and sustainable management of the Salhad stream water.

After the Soviet Union fragmentation, the attentions of regional and international countries have turned to this region for oil and gas discovery in the Caspian Basin. After that, this region enjoys more geopolitical importance increasingly. Therefore, the main question is:” what factors can influence the new geopolitics of the Caspian basin?” It seems that, some issues such as the lack of a legal status of the Caspian Sea, the pipeline routes for transportation of energy to the world markets and the ecological and environmental issues arising from hydrocarbon resources make the Geopolitical issues of the Caspian basin more complicated. The purpose of presenting this paper is to explain the new geopolitics of the Caspian and different position of each littoral states and international countries regarding as how to use the new hydrocarbon resources of the basin. According to the research findings, each of mentioned countries follows their own national interests in the Caspian basin.

Desert truffles, hypogeous Pezizales (Ascomycota), are difficult to identify due to evolutionary convergence of morphological characters among taxa that share a similar habitat and mode of spore dispersal. In this paper we document the presence of Picoa lefebvrei (Pat.) Maire (=Phaeangium lefebvrei) in Iran and use phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and 28s rDNA to show that this species belongs to the Geopora-Tricharina clade of the Pyronemataceae (Pezizales, Ascomycota). Picoa lefebvrei was originally placed in the genus Phaeangium because of notable spore ornamentation not present in other species of Picoa. However, our analyses of both phylogenetic and morphological data suggest that P. lefebvrei is closely related to Picoa juniperi Vittad, the type species for the genus Picoa.

The continuous addition of industrial, municipal, and agricultural effluents to the environment has led to a great increase of toxic pollutants. It is well known that these pollutants are hazardous to animals, plants, microorganisms, and other living organisms including humans. As a result, effective technologies should be developed to remove these contaminants. Biological remediation, as an economically feasible and environmentally friend approach, has been extensively studied and reported. In this review, the biological pathways and mechanism of most important contaminants, such as aromatic compounds, ionic liquids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc, are described and discussed with some details according to a vast number literatures published in recent years.

A chelating resin of polystyrene divinylbenzene resin functionalized by 1-(2-pyridylazo) 2- naphtol (PSDVB-PAN) has been synthesized and its sorption properties have been investigated for preconcentration and determination of cadmium at μg/L level by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The procedure is based on the sorption of Cd(II) ions on a minicolumn of synthesized chelating resin. The retained cadmium ions can be quickly eluted from sorbent material, with the eluent stream consisting of nitric acid solution, directly to the nebulizer burner system of the flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The sorption capacity of PSDVB-PAN was found to be 7.5 mg/g at optimum pH and the chelating resin showed rapid kinetic sorption. The sorption equilibrium of Cd(II) on synthesized chelating resin was achieved just in 15 minutes. Parameters such as the pH effect on the cadmium sorption, sample volume, the sorption capacity of resin, the cadmium desorption from the resin and the analytical characteristics of the procedure were studied for the quantitative recoveries of the analyte ions. The developed system allowed a throughput rate of 15 samples h-1 with a detection limit of 1.5mg/L. Relative standard deviation for 5 replicated injections of 50mg/ L was 1.8%. This procedure was applied for cadmium determination in river water samples collected from Citarum River, West Java, Indonesia.

Q-mode hierarchical cluster (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were simultaneously applied to groundwater hydrochemical data from the three times in 2004: June, September, and December, along the Ain Azel aquifer, Algeria, to extract principal factors corresponding to the different sources of variation in the hydrochemistry, with the objective of defining the main controls on the hydrochemistry at the aquifer scale. Hydrochemical data for 54 groundwater samples were subjected to Q-mode hierarchical cluster and principal component analysis. The study finds, from Q-mode HCA that there are three main hydrochemical facies namely the less saline water (group 1: Ca-Mg-HCO3), mixed water (group 2: Mg-Ca-HCO3-Cl) and blended water (group 3: Mg-Ca-Cl-HCO3). In principal component analysis, the first 4 factors explain 72.14% of the total variance, their loadings allowing the interpretation of hydrochemical processes that take place in the area. The results of this study clearly demonstrate the usefulness of multivariate statistical analysis in hydrochemical.

The objective of this study is to measure the city of Tehran’s environmental quality in 2006 (the last census year). Primarily, with a comparative analysis of a variety of urban sustainability indicator models, a collection of 54 indicators have been chosen and categorized as indicators of increase or decrease in urban environmental quality in the form of a simple mathematical model. Based on the aforementioned model, Tehran’s environmental quality in 2006, having obtained a score of 59.5%, has been evaluated as “middle ranking”. After continuing the evaluation more meticulously, it became known that the individual healthcare indicator with a 91% score and the safety and security indicator with a 19% score had the highest and lowest quality respectively in the city. Repeating this evaluation in the future will show the condition of the city’s movement toward establishing a sustainable city. Furthermore, it will clearly demonstrate the reasons affecting the high or low speed of this movement.

Asbestos applications were limited during past two decades in developed nations due to its debilitating health problems, while in developing countries it’s various usages continues. The main goals of present study were evaluation of asbestos concentrations in ambient outdoor and indoor air and occupational exposure, as well as exposure effects on pulmonary function. Sampling procedure was carried out during May and June 2010 at four outdoor and seven indoor air sampling stations. Ten persons were selected based on their exposure limits including high, moderate and low exposure. Also to assess pulmonary function of workers, 42 spirometry cases were tested. Samples were analyzed by SEM with EDXA. Obtained results revealed that average concentrations of asbestos fibers were 1.885×10-5 f/mL and 0.065 f/mL in outdoor and indoor air, respectively. Occupational exposure contents were between 1.5 ×10-5 – 0.2 f/mL (based on exposure limits). Spirometry tests showed that 28% of workers had impaired lung functions. Lung restrictive pattern in workers were 2% severe, 12% moderate and 14%. Results showed pattern of fibrous particles as actinolite> termolite> chrysotile in indoor air. Generally, it is clear that there is positive meaningful relationship between more than ten occupational ages and malfunction of lungs in studied workers due to asbestos effects.

A new cesium ion selective PVC membrane based on parent calix [4] arene was developed for potentiometric determination of cesium in environmental samples. The electrode based on p-5, 11, 17, 23 tetra (tertbutyl) 25, 26, 27, 28-tetrahydroxy calix[4]arene(THC) as ionophor, dibutyl phthalate (DBP)as plasticizer ,sodium tetra phenyl borate(NaTPB)and oleic acid as lipophilic salt and additive showed the best performance. The electrode exhibits a good Nernstian response in a concentration range of 1´10-1-3.16´10−5 M of cesium, with a slope of 58.5 ± 0.6mv per decade and a detection limit of 1.58´10−5 M.It exhibits a good selectivity for cesium in comparison with alkali, alkaline earth, and some transition metal ions. The electrode response and selectivity remained almost unchanged for more than a month. The effect of membrane composition, pH and concentration of internal solution on the potential response of the electrode were also studied. The applicability of the electrode to real samples was also assessed.

Both micronuclei (MN) and binuclei (BN) as well as RAPD (Random Amplifying Polymorphism of DNA) assays are newly biomarkers which are well-introduced in toxic injury and related genotoxicity studies in bivalve, fishes and even humans. However, there is no record of such studies in Iranian Persian Gulf coast line so far. For this propose, we analyzed frequency of MN and RAPD patterns in gill cells of rock oyster (soccostrea cucullata) (n=30) collected from two area including Dayer (as reference area) and Mahshahr which was already shown oil contaminant are relatively high in this area owing to be oil vessel terminal. Our results showed micronuclei frequency is significantly higher in rock oysters of Mahshahr than Dayer area (p<0.05). Binuclei cells were also observed in some individuals of Mahshahr. Besides, RAPD analysis indicated less diversity in polluted area individuals. The results of this study suggest that MN and RAPD analyses can be easily considered as a useful tool for assessment of diverse pollution on aquatic organism in coastal area of Persian Gulf.