T. M.* Samuel, J. C.* Igbeka, P. Kolawole, 'Comparison of physical workload in four gari-frying working postures in Nigeria', Journal of Aplied Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 8, pp.1-7, 2008

Human Factors Engineering is an interdisciplinary science concerned with the effect of work on the human body and its relationship to the workplace. Since the 1970s, UNB - Forest Engineering has been a major contributor to teaching and research in this discipline, and in its application to forest operations. Rapid advances in mechanized tree-harvesting systems resulted in significant new workplace issues for operator health, safety, and machine design. Researchers responded by creating a CSA standard, working cooperatively with FERIC, CPPA and more recently the CWF, and founding the International Journal of Forest Engineering, which is a unique source for research results and developments in this discipline. Future research will involve multi-national teams of Human Factors Engineers, supported by related disciplines in healthcare and engineering.

Disaster results from interaction of a hazard and society. All nations on the globe are exposed to at least one kind of hazard. The major difference amongst nations is the capacity to cope. Kenya's capacity is currently undermined by a number of factors, e.g. low economic indicators, inadequate training and lack of specialized manpower, and lack of national policy on disaster. This paper focuses on the training aspect of civil engineers as one sector of professionals whose contribution is necessary in reducing disaster impact in society. The paper identifies areas, which need to be integrated in the current training of civil engineers to make them more effective in the use of engineering tools to mitigate disaster. The paper also identifies constraints and recommends the way forward for both the Government and training institutions in realizing the proposed training structure. Keywords: disaster, hazards, curriculum, civil engineering Journal of Agriculture, Science & Technology Vol. 9 (1) 2007: pp. 55-63

In recent years, hormones and hormone-like compounds have been frequently used in vegetable and livestock production to obtain a high yield performance in a shorter period of time, but depending on the use of anabolics in animal feed, anabolic residues that may occur in meat and meat products would present the risks to the human health. The present study was undertaken to detect and quantify the levels of trenbolone residues (a potent synthetic analog of testosterone) in the market meat in Iran. Cattle meat samples were collected from the markets in Tehran. A total of 120 samples of cattle meat were analyzed for level of trenbolone by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbant Assay method. The average experimental values of trenbolone in cattle meat were 3.76±5.26ng/kg. This value gave no evidence for the illegal use of hormones in Tehran, but these results do not exclude the possibility of misuse of these potentially harmful chemicals in future. There is, therefore, need to routinely monitor these chemicals as a food quality and health control measure.

A comprehensive investigation was conducted in order to evaluate the quality of the groundwater in Zarand plain of Chatrood region which supplies drinking water of Zarand city. Zarand plain with longitude of 55°, 46'- 57°,7' and latitude of 30°,20' -31°,44' is one of Iran's plains located in sub-basin of Daranjir desert. Groundwater of Zarand plain supplies drinking water of many cities and villages located in and near the plain. Samples were collected from 11 water wells used as drinking water sources in Zarand plain "Chatrood region", at least once at the middle of each month. By means of the standard methods, a number of parameters were analyzed for each sample for the period of 7 years from 1996 to 2003. Tests included measuring pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, and nitrate ions. Data analysis was done by using t and Z-Test. Results indicated that water quality of water wells during studied period did not show any undesireable change. The quality of each parameter in drinking water wells of Zarand plain was within permissible limit and did not exceed neither the Iran's standards nor WHO guidelines. Meanwhile, the quality of raw water resources of the plain in the final year of experiment was within "good" potability limit based on Schuller's diagram; it means raw water resources still kept its quality. Although the quality of Zarand plain water resources comply with Iran's standards and WHO guidelines increasing trend of water consumption and consecutive droughts in the studied region as well as severe water shortage, ask for conservation, preservation and monitoring of water resources.

The indoor air quality of 131 restaurant kitchens in Tehran was investigated from May to September 2006. Gas stoves use in restaurant kitchens is a major source of indoor combustion, product carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. The study focused on one of the busy zones located in the southwest and central part of the city. Measurements were done for indoor and outdoor air pollutants, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide; ambient temperature and relative humidity were also measured. Result indicatedthat the mean levels of CO and NO2 in restaurant kitchens were below the recommended limit of 25 and 3ppm, respectively. Correlations between indoor and outdoor air quality were performed consequently. Results of the mean ambient temperature and relative humidity were above the guideline. In this study the mean levels of CO and NO2 gas cooking in restaurant kitchens were found to be lower compared with the similar studies.

In the present study removal of chromate anion (CrO42-) from a synthetic aqueous solution by a synthesized MCM-41/ZSM-5 composite and its modified form with the anionic surfactant of hexadecyl-teri methyl ammonium bromide; (surfactant modified composite) was investigated. According to the data obtained from batch test of MCM-41/ZSM-5 composite and surfactant modified composite, it is obvious that modification of the composite with anionic surfactant improves its affinity toward the oxyanion (917mL/g for MCM-41/ZSM-5 composite in comparison to 1870mL/g for surfactant modified composite). It was concluded that sorption capacity and selectivity of the composite will be remarkly improve toward chromate anion by modification of its surface by a surfactant; therefore surfactant modified composite is a suitable candidate for removal of chromate anion from contaminated solutions.

Discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater to surface or groundwater is very dangerous to the environment. Therefore treatment of any kind of wastewater to produce effluent with good quality is necessary. In this regard choosing an effective treatment system is important. Sequencing batch reactor is a modification of activated sludge process which has been successfully used to treat municipal and industrial wastewater. The process could be applied for nutrients removal, high biochemical oxygen demand containing industrial wastewater, wastewater containing toxic materials such as cyanide, copper, chromium, lead and nickel, food industries effluents, landfill leachates and tannery wastewater. Of the process advantages are single-tank configuration, small foot print, easily expandable, simple operation and low capital costs. Many researches have been conducted on this treatment technology. The authors had been conducted some investigations on a modification of sequencing batch reactor. Their studiesresulted in very high percentage removal of biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total kjeldahl nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total suspended solids respectively. This paper reviews some of the published works in addition to experiences of the authors.

In textile industry, advanced oxidation processes are used for degrading and removing color from dye baths which allow wastewater reuse. In this study, photochemical oxidation processes (UV-A/K2S2O8,UV-C/K2S2O8) and chemical oxidation process (dark/K2S2O8), were investigated in a laboratory scale photoreactor for decolorization of the Reactive blue 19 (RB19) dye from synthetic textile wastewater. The effects of operating parameters such as potassium persulphate dosage, pH, reaction time and UV source, on decolorization have been evaluated. The results of direct chemical oxidation showed that 50% of the dye was been removed using K2S2O8 in dark condition after 5h reaction time and photochemical oxidation showed that UV-C irradiation is more effective than UV-A for RB19 dye removal. The RB19 solution was completely decolorized under optimal potassium persulphate dosage of 5mmol/L and low-pressure mercury UV-C lamps (15w) in less than 30min. UV/K2S2O8 experiments showed higher color removal performance under acidic conditions (pH=3), and in this condition with 5mmol/L of potassiumpersulphate, 78.5% COD has been removed after 3h irradiation time. The decolorization rate fitted to pseudo-first order kinetics with respect of dye concentration. The reaction rate constants for photochemical degradation of RB19 were 0.014 and 0.237 for UV-A/K2S2O8 and UV-C/K2S2O8 processes respectively.

Growth of previously isolated bacteria from Iranian oil reservoirs on different carbon and energy sources and under varying conditions have been used to produce a class of extracellular microbial protein-associated lipopolysaccharides named emulsan.Several Bacteria were previously isolated from Iranian oil reservoirs and designated as; Ilam-1 and Paydar-4. In present study, the isolated strains were compared with standard sample of Acinetobacter Calcoaceticus RAG-1 from Persian Type Culture Collection (PTCC 1641), IROST. Among the isolated strains, two strains were found to produce an extracellular, emulsifying agent when grown in Mineral Salt Medium containing soya oil, ethanol or local crude oil. The isolated bacteria were cultured and further analysed using protein estimation, reducing sugar analysis, hemolytic activity, surface tension and emulsification activity tests. The crude emulsifier of RAG-1, PAYDAR-4 and ILAM-1 were concentrated from the cell-free culture fluid by ammonium sulfate precipitation to yield 1.89g, 1.78g and 1.69g of bioemulsan respectively. Emulsifying activity was observed over the entire production process. These investigations showed that emulsan produced by isolated Iranian crude oil reservoir were comparable with Acinetobacter Calcoaceticus RAG-1 which is made of carbohydrate backbone as its hydrophilic part (N-acetyl-D-galactoseamine, N-acetylgalactoseamine uronic acid, diamino-6-deoxy-D-glucose) and fatty acid chain as its hydrophobic portion.