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In this paper, results of the study on heavy metals solubility behavior of Ni-Cd filter cakes in Iranian Zinc Mine Development Company (IZMDC) plants are investigated. The effects of pH, temperature, liquid/solid ratio and contact time on the release of heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Ni and Pb) into water media was examined. Also, “Extraction procedure tests” approved by EPA were applied to the residues. Moreover, statistical data analysis was performed and the most important parameters for dissolution of Zn, Cd, Ni and Pb were found to be the pH and L/S.. The concentration of Cd and Pb in the extracts obtained from filter cakes by applying EPA extraction procedures at pH 5 are over 1.0 and 5.0 mg/L, which are toxicity limits, respectively. The concentrations of other metals in the solution are above the limits given by various quality standards for surface water.

 

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Natural Resources are a life source and very valuable which have left for humanity to cherish. Irresponsible use of these resources can lead to Irreversible effects on the environment and life. Hereon, the soil is one of the valuable elements that taking care of it, is essential for durability like other elements. The soil of our planet is a result of millions of years of geological evolutions. Soil resources are irreversible and Excessive consuming of them Cause to loss of natural resources. Hence, soil conservation is very important and necessary. One of the most influential parameters on the quality of soil resources is in the field of architecture and construction. In this article we will discuss about brick, a most popular component made of soil which is used for building. Also the effects of using brick on the land quality and soil resources of Tehran have been discussed as well as environmental aspects. In this study, Tehran as the capital city of the Islamic Republic of Iran is chosen as case study in which more than eight million people reside in its metropolitan area. It is assumed that results from the analysis of soil resource challenges in Tehran could also be applicable to other large cities in developing countries. Even though using the brick is important to Iranian architecture it can also destroy the equilibrium of the environment because of the Excessive consumption of soil. The questions of this research are: 1. which damages can be followed by the use of brick in the construction industry? 2. Which advantages and Opportunities is caused by uses of bricks? To answer the research questions, the case study research method with combination strategies has been adopted. The technique used for collecting data is field survey, in which the quantitative data is chosen. The information and theoretical literature is based on studies, which is collected by the library method and Interview from Bricks manufacturers. Processing data is accomplished by graphs and illative methods.Our Research shows that environmental aspects of brick’s products in Tehran is very serious. In addition, industrial wastes without proper management, building waste and irregular construction especially in border of cities, has brought considerable risks for the environment of Tehran. While the using brick accurately, reduce damages on environment and natural resources in three period of time: manufacturing, consuming and post consuming. One of the most usable strategies to control environmental issues, is recycling and reusing of materials that the brick has high capacity in this context. Thereupon it can be appropriate opportunity for environment.

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The pollution of aquatic ecosystems may affect natural reproduction of fish populations by decreasing the fertilization efficiency. Among the various sources of pollution, heavy metals are important group, being found in both freshwater and marine environment. The present study investigated changes of sperm characteristics of Caspimyzon wagneri when exposed to Manganese (Mn). Spermatozoids were exposed to 0 (control), 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1000 mg l^‑1 of Mn, duration of sperm motility and percent of motile sperms were measured using a light microscope and digital camera as a semi-quantitative method. Total duration of spermatozoids motility decreased with increase of Mn concentration in all treatments. This study indicated that Mn could seriously affect the reproductive success of the Caspian lamprey in a polluted environment through decreasing the duration of spermatozoid motility and possibly fertilization and hatching rates. Hence, contact to this metal could decrease the survival rate of this endangered species, especially during the reproduction.

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TheChah Nimeh reservoirs of Sistan is as one of the main water sources of Zabol City used for drinking, agriculture, industry and livestock purposes. This study aimed to determine the contribution of the natural and concentration factors of heavy metals such as Cd, Pb and Cu in sediment of Chah Nimeh of Sistan. The concentrations of heavy metals in surface sediments were studied in six stations during 2013. To determine the concentration of the heavy metals atomic absorption spectrometer (Contr AA 700) was used. Sequential extraction analysis  was applied based on the share of natural and concentration factor sources of heavy metals. Sequential extraction analysis showed that a considerable part of the Pb (63.67%), Cd (55.17%) and Cu (57.17%) were from natural sources. The highest concentrations of Cd and Pb were 0.81 and 5.57 mg kg^-1, respectively, obtained in station one and the maximum Cu concentration was observed in station five (37.8 mg kg^-1), while the lowest concentration of Cd, Pb and Cu were 0.34, 3.95 and 31.4 mg kg^-1, respectively.

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Problem: Residents of residential complexes in urban areas face all kinds of sounds every day. Most of these hundreds are very noisy and painful in traffic centers.
Target: The aim of the current research is to evaluate the satisfaction of the residents of Tabriz railway neighborhood from the perspective of environmental acoustic comfort.
Method: The current research method is descriptive-analytical with practical purpose. The statistical population of the research is 32,936 residents of the Tabriz railway neighborhood. The sample size was 380 people using Cochran's formula. For the validity of the questions, face validity was used and Cronbach's alpha was used for reliability. To analyze the data, structural equation method and TOPSIS and FTOPSIS techniques from Spss and Amos software were used.
Result: The results showed that among the factors affecting the acoustic comfort of the residents of the Tabriz railway neighborhood, the physical index had the greatest impact, followed by the acoustic and social indicators. Also, the results showed that in terms of the ranking of the koi in terms of acoustic comfort in terms of noise pollution, Ittahad alley got the highest noise pollution, followed by Niloufar alley and Shaghaig koi, the second and third respectively As a result, with proper design and use of form, facade and materials in terms of architectural acoustics, noise pollution can be reduced to a great extent in Tabriz Railway neighborhood and help to improve the quality of acoustic comfort of the residents.              

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Background: Concentrations of Se in seven plant species (white mulberry, apricot, spindle tree, pistachio, wheat, barley, chives), and the associated soil samples were investigated in Shahrood and Damghan, Iran.
Materials and Methods: Soil samples were taken from the surface zone (0-5 cm) and plough zone (5-20 cm) in 13 sampling locations. The collected soil and plant samples were taken to the laboratory, then digested usin USEPA's method and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy technique. 
Results: Since there was a significant correlation (r=0.688, p<0.01) between Se concentration in the two soil's depths, it was turned out that agricultural practices, through tillage and plough, had probably moved Se to the deeper parts of the soil in area in which agricultural activity was prevalent. The highest accumulation of Se was recorded in the chives with the average value of 0.35mg kg^-1. Except for apricot, the concentrations of Se in top parts of the plants (e.g. leaf, grain, fruit) were higher than stem/stalk, implying the easy translocation of this element in the considered plant species.                   
Conclusions: The highest values of bio-concentration factors were recorded in chives followed by spindle tree and wheat, whereas the lowest level was detected in pistachio.

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Background: The issue of airport noise pollution is of paramount importance to communities in the vicinity of airports.
Materials and Methods: The potential effects of aircraft noise at the Imam Khomeini International Airport (Iran) was investigated by employing remote sensing and the geographic information system (GIS) in conjunction with an optimization algorithm integrated with CadnaA software. CadnaA is a computer model used to develop noise exposure maps (NEMs) to determine how noise affects a specific area. The results of aircraft noise modeling with this software for three scenarios (in 2015, 2025 and 2035) are provided in the NEMs. A georeferenced GIS database was built in Envi software comprising topography and land use data, the results of the CadnaA model and project data. These maps were overlaid. Face-to-face interviews were carried out by canvassing door-to-door in the permitted survey sites near IKIA and by structural modeling of the questionnaire estimates using AMOS.7 software.
Results: The results showed that the CadnaA model well simulated and predicted noise changes in different scenarios. The results of the map overlay indicate the compatibility of existing land use around the IKIA airport with noise levels and provided alerts against the development of residential areas in the near future.
Conclusions: The results of the questionnaires indicate a high L_DEN correlation coefficient and irritation levels from aircraft noise. Urban development around the airport as well as an increase in the number of flights and runways at IKIA should be carefully studied.

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Aims: This study was carried out to determine the effects of urban gaseous pollutants (sulfur dioxide [SO₂], nitrogen dioxide [NO₂], and ozone [O₃]) and climatic factors (temperature and precipitation) on the morphological and anatomical reaction of Platanus orientalis L. in Tehran.
Materials & Methods: Seven districts of this city with a wide spectrum of climatic conditions and diversity of elevation were selected, and gas concentration of SO₂, NO₂, and O₃ was determined. Then, morphological and anatomical parameters of this plant including leaf area, specific leaf area (SLA), wet and dry weight, leaf toughness and thickness, water content, lamina, and main vein were measured and the analysis of their correlations with environmental (climatic and pollutant) factors along with their t-tests were evaluated.
Findings: The results showed that the climatic factors made significant (P < 0.05) changes on SLA, water content, wet and dry weight of green leaves of this plant. In addition, different levels of pollutant gases had significant (P < 0.05) effects on natural toughness, thickness, wet weight, number of spongy parenchyma layers, and the ratio of lamina mesophyll to subvein of leaves.
Conclusion: The results explain that anatomical and morphological characteristics of P. orientalis leaves have been influenced by environmental stresses and changes in these factors show the resistance of the plant to the environmental conditions.

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Phosphate ions is one of the chemical pollutants that enters to the surface and underground water through municipal, industrial and agricultural wastewater. The aim of this study is to investigate the removal of phosphate from wastewater by Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis. To this purpose the microalgae added to 350 ml wastewater in lab experiment. In order to evaluate the effect of phosphorus removal, the experiment were performed during 8 days. The initial dry weight of Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis in wastewater samples were 0.02 and 0.05 g/L, respectively. During the growth period, the concentration of phosphate in aqueous solution were measured on days 1st, 4th, 6th and 8th by APHA standard methods through Bio spec-1601 spectrophotometer. Based on the results, the percentage of phosphorus removal by Chlorella vulgaris was 40.65, 38.0124.45 and 72.21 , and by Spirulina platensis was 20.13, 20.01, 10.44 and 42.79 for days 1 to 4, 4 to 6, 6 to 8 and 1 to 8, respectively. The final dry weight of Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis in wastewater samples were 3.93 and 1.93 g/L, respectively. From this study it can be concluded that the algae are able to remove phosphorus from wastewater and Chlorella vulgaris has higher ability of reducing phosphorus from waste water, and could be good candidate to reduce the phosphate in wastewater treatment.

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Crude oil is comprised of four groups: Saturates Aromatics, Resins and Asphaltenes. Oil pollution has irreversible effects on marine ecosystems. Therefore paying attention to oil pollution and the management of the ports is very important. Biodegradation of oil derivatives is more effective, more powerful and more economically efficient method for remediation in polluted sites rather than physicochemical methods. In this study, for isolation of crude oil degrading bacteria, seawater and mussels were collected from Persian Gulf. Enumeration of bacteria were done in collected samples. Isolated bacteria were identified by biochemical and molecular tests. Crude oil biodegradation for each strain was assessed by spectrophotometer and Gas Chromatography (GC). The results of this study show that the quantity and biodiversity of heterotrophic and crude oil degrading bacteria in Crassostrea gigas mussels was higher than surrounding environment (seawater). Eleven crude oil degrading bacteria were isolated from Persian Gulf, 7 strains were identified biochemically and 2 strains were selected on the basis of higher degradation. These isolated strains were identified as Shewanella and Alcanivorax. The half percentage of oil was removed by these strains in 15 days of incubation. These bacteria could be used for cleanup oil-polluted marine areas after more research and field observation.

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In this study, coastal sediments of Qeshm, Bandar Khamir and Bandar Laft regions in Hormozgan province were studied to determine the level of contamination of heavy metals lead, nickel, zinc, iron and copper by natural processes or human activities. In order to identify environmental pollutants caused by heavy metals, shovel sampling was performed from the sediments of these areas to measure the concentration of heavy metals and determine the enrichment index. The location of the samples was determined using a GPS device and sampling of surface sediments (tidal zone) was performed at 30 stations in the study areas. Atomic absorption of flame spectrometry was used to determine the concentration of heavy metals. The results showed that the mean concentrations of heavy elements lead, nickel, zinc, iron and copper in all sampling stations showed a significant difference (p<0.05). In terms of concentration of studied elements in Qeshm region (copper: 33.76 ± 1.88, zinc: 85.44 ± 2.75, lead: 31.79±  1.23, nickel: 34.17 ± 2.29 and Iron: 38000±691.21 μg/g) compared to Bandar Khamir (copper: 26.84 ± 2.30, zinc: 77.54 ± 2.12, lead: 24.71±  1.37, nickel:25.82± 1.30 and iron: 36810± 482.882 μg/g) and Bandar Laft (copper: 22.74± 2.42, zinc: 65.22±2.61, lead: 19.93± 1.32, nickel: 21.70±2.06 and iron: 35560±1014.56 μg/g) had higher contamination. The results also showed that the metal enrichment factor is low in all sediment samples and in terms of Müller geochemical index, the degree of soil contamination is in the category of non-contaminated soils.

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Economic development is one of the major policies of a country which is concerned to industry and technology on one hand and leads to environmental pollution on the other hand. The experiences of developed countries show that economic development with emphasis on the industry sector, without any attention to environment, can create serious problem against sustainable development. Industrialization has caused increasing energy consumption and therefore air pollution. It's so important to consider the relationship between industrial activities and industrial pollution in developing countries, because industry sector has a basic role in development process of these countries. Therefore the aim of this study is examining and qualifying of linkage between industrial activity and air pollution, using an industry-level dataset of IRAN manufacturing industries during the period 1995-2007. The result of study shows that air pollution is a positive function of energy consumption, industrial activity and physical capital intensity and also is a negative function of labor productivity, fuel price and human skill intensity.

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Aims: The physical and chemical properties of water are important in determining the suitability of water for various uses on the one hand and knowing the level of environmental pollution of this water on the other hand, as these variables significantly impact the biodiversity in that water body. This study aimed to reveal the level of pollution occurring in the waters of the Euphrates River through these characteristics and to identify the sources of this pollution.
Instrument & Methods: From April 2022 to March 2023, the water quality of the Euphrates River was examined between Ramadi and Al-Qaim cities. The temperature, total suspended solids, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved salts, salinity, calcium, sodium, chloride, bicarbonate, and sulfate levels were measured through specialized devices or through mathematical equations approved in the concerned scientific references. The correlation coefficient between the involved parameters was examined regarding location and time.
Findings: Most of the measurements were within the allowable range, but some values exceeded the limits of WHO regulations, such as electrical conductivity and total dissolved salts values in Ramadi city which reached 1245.53±117.47µS/cm and 793.17±46.41mg/l, respectively.
Conclusion: River pollution levels varied from one region to another within the study area, as river water is generally suitable for irrigation but not drinking without pretreatment processes.

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In this study, the potential of controlling engine cooling temperature has been investigated experimentally to reduce NOx emissions in heavy diesel engines. Experiments have been done on 90°C and 70°C cooling temperatures that lower temperature obtained via larger radiator and setting its thermostatic valve. Also, the effects of injection timing and the percentage cooled EGR simultaneously have been studied in order to trade-off NOx reduction and increasing other pollutants such as Soot, CO, HC and fuel economy. Experimental results which related to amount of pollutants and fuel consumption by altering the engine cooling temperature, injection timing, and the percentage of cold EGR shows that NOx emissions reduce 17% averagely also fuel consumption decreases negligible.

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Aims: Haft Barm is a series of five small lakes in the southern Zagros region which has encountered recent rapid development of human settlement. This article reports a survey on its essential ecological attributes.
Methods: Water samples were taken from three locations in March and June 2020 and analyzed regarding physical and chemical factors and plankton communities. Trophic state and primary production were estimated.
Findings: Results showed water temperature 8.2–23.1 °C, dissolved oxygen 6.3–8.3 mg.L^-1, salinity as electrical conductivity 739 – 971 µS.cm^-1, total nitrogen 0.1–1.1 mg.L^-1, and total phosphorus 0.4 and 3.8 mg.L^-1. Algae of the lake consisted of 24 taxa, the highest density of which counted 23360 cells per liter in June, and the Chlorophyceae were the dominant group. The Zooplankton composition was of four taxa from Cladocera (Bosmina sp. and Daphnia sp.), Copepoda (Cyclops sp.), and Rotifera (Rotaria sp.), with the highest densities in Rotaria (35 individuals per liter). Phragmites sp., and Juncus sp. were the dominant species in the macrophyte community besides Polygonum amphbium, and Potamogeton pectiatus. The very high concentration of total phosphorus is a strong sign for predicting a eutrophic condition. The average trophic index is estimated at 88, which suggests a eutrophic to hyper-eutrophic state for the lake. The estimated primary production of the lake was 1114 gC.m^-2.A^-1.
 

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The significance of mangrove species in the world is undeniable and planting artificial mangrove forests is a desirable solution to preserve mangroves. The mangroves provide us with superior ecological services and one of their main services is the bioremediation of heavy metals. Hence, this study aimed to assess the effects of artificial mangroves of Velayat Park of Bandar Abbas on the contamination, adsorption pattern and ecological risk of heavy metals in the sediment samples. Thirty samples were collected from two paralleled sampling sections included those without mangroves and containing mangroves. Each sampling area consisted of upper, middle and lower sections. After drying samples using an oven, the dried sediments were sieved by a 63-micrometer sieve and digested by nitric and hydrochloric acid mixture. The concentration of As, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn was determined using ICP. The studied factors suggested a high level of ecological risk for as and Pb and the highest risk was observed in the samples without mangroves and a lower risk was reported for samples containing mangroves. Comparing the results with sediment quality guidelines and other studies indicated a dangerous concentration of As. Pearson correlation coefficient values exhibited that artificial mangroves have significantly affected the adsorption pattern of heavy metals (p-Value < 0.05). The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that As and Pb are dominantly derived from oil products leakages and industrial sewages while Cu, Fe, Ni, V and Zn are predominantly derived from natural and geological sources.