O-Anisidines (OAs) are extensively used as an intermediate for chemical reactions to produce various triphenylmethane and azo dyes, and also in manufacturing numerous pigments. They are found to be highly toxic and have carcinogenic properties, so it is imperative to treat OA solutions before disposal. In this study a promising approach to degrade OA solutions has been carried out using Fenton’s reagent. Oxidation trials were conducted for 24 hours and various parameters – OA removal, pH, effect of H2O2 and Fe2+, and COD removal – were analysed to understand the oxidative degradation of OA. For varying initial OA concentrations, the OA and COD removal efficiencies of 72 to 85% and 62 to 74%, respectively, were obtained at pH = 3, and at different optimum H2O2 and Fe2+ doses. Lower initial concentrations of OA showed better removal efficiencies. The reaction time was estimated to 360 minutes after which there was negligible degradation occurs.

The present study aims at investigation of the performance of nanofibrous filter, containing magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles, for bioaerosols removal from the air stream. It synthesizes two types of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and PAN/MgO nanofibers via electrospinning technique, and investigates the antibacterial properties of the produced nanofibers through disk diffusion. The air containing staphylococcus epidermidis is introduced into the filter test rig by a nebulizer and air sampling from the microorganisms takes place before and after the filters by means of a cascade impactor with blood agar culture medium, with the filters, themselves, examined at two states of UVC radiation and dark. The mean diameters of PAN/MgO and PAN are 221.38±65.56 nm and 320.25±87.35 nm, respectively, with the mean length of the inhibition zone for these nanofibers calculated as 0 (for PAN) and 2.8 mm (for PAN/MgO). It turns out that the mean percentage of filtration efficiency is higher in case of PAN/MgO than PAN nanofiber filter; however, the former displays higher mean pressure drop than the latter. For both types of nanofibers under UVC radiation, the mean percentage efficiency for bioaerosol removal is higher than in the dark.

Formaldehyde has been documented to be naturally present in many common foods. There has been a big public concern over the use of formaldehyde in the preservation of food. Also, it is commonly used as a chemical substance, usually in the life and can interact with many bio-substance in the human body. The present study target to investigate the protective effects of  Cymbopogon schoenanthus (CS) extract against the reproductive and carcinogenic effects of formaldehyde on male rats. The Albino male rats were divided into equal six groups, first group: rendered as a control group; second group: received formalin (100 mg/kg bw) and third group and forth group: were received SC extract at (50 and 100 mg) respectively; fifth group and sixth group were received formalin (100mg /kg bw) + SC extract (50mg) and formalin (100mg /kg bw)+ SC extract (100 mg) respectively. At the end of the experiment the animals were scarified and blood samples were collected for measurement all tested parameters. The results showed that the oral exposure to formaldehyde at a dose of 100 mg/kg bw resulted in significant negative effects in all tested parameters, while the CS extract at tow doses (50 and 100 mg) alone or in combination with formalin restored the negative effects to normal levels compared with the untreated group. The histopathological examination was studied on testis tissues and the histopathological pictures showed the CS extract at tow mention doses had ameliorate the adverse effects that induced by formaldehyde hazards.

Ships transport about 80 percent of world trade and transfer approximately three to five billion tons of ballast water internationally every year. Due to the likely presence of pollutants, the ballast water discharged by ships can have negative effects on aquatic ecosystems. This study was conducted on 10 ships that entered the Bushehr port to determine the effectiveness of the ballast water exchange method and also to specify the contents of heavy metals (Ni, Cd, Pb and Cu) in the water and sediment of the ships’ ballast tanks. The samples were collected from January 2017 to July 2018 during a cold and a hot season. The results indicate the values of heavy metals in the samples in this order: Ni> Cu > Pb > Cd. The heavy metals concentrations in the sediment samples did not exceed the standard of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Whereas, Cu and Ni in all water samples and Cd in samples 2 and 7 exceeded the NOAA quality standard value. A correlation analysis of the metals showed that the sources of heavy metals vary in water and sediment samples, except for Pb and Cu in sediment samples which a positively significant relationship were observed. The results also revealed that the ballast water exchange method cannot by itself be effective and an efficient management together with continuous monitoring seems to be essential to prevent pollution of the ballast tanks of the ships entering the Bushehr port.

Mitigation of atmospheric pollution has been a topic of concern over the past decades. In this study, tree rings have been used to reconstruct past climates as well as to assess the effects of recent climatic and environmental changes on tree growth. Vehicular emission is one of the major sources of pollutants in the atmosphere and this study focused on the Haatso-Atomic road which over the years has been a spot for heavy vehicular traffic. Swietenia mahagoni (Mahogany) tree was logged and the rings counted and age determined to be 61 years spanning from 1957 to 2018. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used to investigate the presence of the following heavy metals. Heavy metals (Cu, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cd and Ni) which ranged from (3.15—9.84mg/kg), (2.58 – 5.49 mg/kg), (8.18 – 15.78mg/kg), (0.12—0.60 mg/kg), (0.01—0.09 mg/kg) and (0.10 – 0.99 mg/kg) respectively, from vehicular emissions were determined for annual rings spanning from 1957 to 2018 and surprisingly an increasing trend was observed with some the heavy metals exceeding WHO guidelines. Tree growth rates were calculated through ring width measurements and related to annual precipitation data spanning over the sampling period. It was observed that wet seasons correlate with high growth rates of trees while low precipitations seasons related to low or no growth rate of trees.

The changes in diatom assemblages along an urban-to-rural gradient were characterized to assess the ecological status of the Sai Gon River, Vietnam. Diatoms and physico-chemical variables were measured at 10 stations during dry and rainy season. One-way ANOVA showed that diatom metrics and physicochemical variables were significantly different (p < 0.05) between the upper course sites and both the middle- and the lower sites. However, no significant differences were observed between the middle course sites and the lower course sites. Achnanthidium minutissimum and A. exigua were potential indicators of low nutrient in the upper course sites; Melosira granulata and Navicula viridula were preferred moderately eutrophic water in the middle course sites; while Navicula cryptocephala and Nitzschia palea were tolerant to very heavy pollution and dominant in the lower course sites. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) results showed that concentration of TSS, TN, TP, BOD5 and COD were the most important factors in structuring benthic diatom communities in the Sai Gon River. The results of this study indicated that diatom community was sensitive to changes in urban condition and could be used as an indicator of urbanization.

In this work, the backward Bayesian multiple linear regression (BBMLR) as a new approach is presented to predict the adsorption efficiency (AE) of Cd(II) ions by ostrich bone char (OBC) in the fixed bed adsorption with four operational variables consisting of pH (2-9), inlet Cd(II) concentration (Co= 25-100 mg/L), bed depth (h= 3-9 cm) and feed flow rate (Q= 0.5-30 mL/min). The performance of the BBMLR was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R2), normalized root means square error (NRMSE) and mean residual error (MRE). The AE of Cd(II) ions by OBC increased from 42.3% to 99.9% when pH was increased from 2 to 9 with h of 6 cm and Q of 1.5 mL min-1. It was found that the AE dramatically increased from 70.5% to 99.9% with decreasing Q from 30 to 0.5 mL min-1 at pH of 7 and h of 6 cm. At pH= 7 and Q= 1.5 mL min-1, the AE increased from 71.9% to 100% when h increased from 3 to 9 cm. The BBMLR model presented excellent performance (NRMSE=6.69%) for predicting Cd(II) removal in a continuous adsorption system, although it gave a slight underestimation (approximately 3.52%). The BBMLR is more sensitive to the pH, followed by h and Q, while the Co has no significant effect on it. This research displays that OBC has great potential as an eco-friendly low-cost adsorbent in removing Cd(II) ions from the contaminated waters.

This study was conducted to identify and classify the lichens; determine the diversity index and richness of lichens. A total of 36 species belonging to six genera under three families was identified. Lichen species were mostly found at moderate high altitudinal range with an elevation of 1,131 meters above sea level and open areas where they received adequate sunlight with high moisture and humidity contents. Diversity, composition and altitudinal distribution of lichens was evaluated in Mt. Kitanglad Range, Kaatauan, Lantapan, Bukidnon, Philippines a wet forest type forest. The maximum species richness was reported on Usnea rubicunda Stirt. The abiotic factors were shown to be essential in adapting the relative abundance of lichens for it is capable to survive in the range of light levels, it appears that drier and lighter conditions competitively favored. Additionally, lichen diversity is dependent on the climatic and environmental conditions which makes them as an excellent biological indicators of ecosystem changes in the forests of Mindanao Island, Philippines.

The main purpose of this research is to determine the generation quantity of each generator in a power system. In this way, not only will the electricity demanded by the system be supplied, but the cost of fuel along with the level of pollution can be minimized. Obviously, calculation of the optimal layout of power plants with the aim of minimizing fuel costs and pollutants level contributes to sustainable socio-economic development. For this purpose, modeling a multi-objective decision making framework by means of the weighting method makes it possible to attain the mentioned goals. After modeling the goals and constraints of the power system, the problem associated with economic-environmental load dispatch with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 30-Bus data is optimized by means of the Lagrange approach. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis in connection with the weight of short-term costs is conducted to determine the final point of the system usage. Results show that if the importance coefficient of the fuel cost reduction is 1 (W=1), the economic and environmental load dispatch will pose some problems for the economic load dispatch. In contrast, if the importance coefficient of the reducing fuel cost is zero (W=0), the economic and environmental load dispatch will become problematic for environmental load dispatch. Incidentally, the trade off curve of the fuel cost and the pollutant amount involves the functional information for the system operator. The current research is mainly innovative in its use of a method to reduce fuel consumption and environmental impacts on emission at optimization process. This can, in turn, lead to generation of sustainable energy.

Arsenic (As) contamination in the groundwater of Bangladesh is one of the major public health concerns. It has become a challenge to remove As from groundwater and a great deal of efforts employed in this regards with limited success. Cerium oxide is one of the important medias of arsenic removal techniques. Nine units of cerium-based arsenic technology were tested with seven different well waters in five hydro-geological areas in Bangladesh. Interestingly, the same technology showed variable results in terms of As removal performance from well water. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the reasons behind the variant performance of the As removal technology. The studied wells were contaminated with a range of 283 to 873 μg/L of arsenic, 0.35 to 10.4 mg/L of iron, 0.29 to 6.83 mg/L of phosphate, 32.5 to 49.5 mg/L of silicate, 0.08 to 0.25 mg/L of sulfate and pH range was 7.11 to 7.65. The cerium-based As removal technology consistently produced As safe water from three wells containing more than 80% As (III) of total arsenic (As) and >3 mg/L of iron and reduced As concentration to below 50 μg/L consistently but failed at other four wells containing less than 75% As (III) of tAs and