High levels of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in the food and their adverse effects on human health are of increasing concern. Since milk is one of the most essential human nutritional resources, the present study aims at determining dioxins and PCBs in raw milk samples from four farms in North of Iran and raw and pasteurized samples from three farms and five dairy factories in Vicinity of Tehran (capital of Iran). Total toxic equivalence (TEQ) of dioxin and PCBs have been determined, using the DR-CALUX® bioassay. Results reveal that all samples are contaminated with dioxins and PCBs, comparatively. The total dioxins and PCBs levels in raw milk samples from the north range from 4.08 to 0.97 pg/gfat and for the raw samples and pasteurized samples from Tehran Province from 1.89 to 0.63 pg/gfat and 0.1 to 0.03 pg/gfat, respectively. The mean concentration of dioxins/PCBs is higher in samples from the north of Iran. This may be because of the common method of removing domestic and agricultural disposal in this area.

Aquatic environments, including wetlands, are one of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. Considering their ecological importance, wetlands are rightly appraised as ‘natural kidneys’. In this current study, the city wetlands of Guwahati were viewed for the first time through the angle of lesser-explored bottom dwellers. Guwahati, a rapidly expanding metropolis, is the gateway to northeast India, part of an Indian biodiversity hot-spot region. This case study comprised the bridge between abiotic and biotic factors, thus directing the pave for characterization of wetlands through benthos analysis. The study, covering seasons, viz. winter, premonsoon and monsoon, revealed 15 definite taxa belonging to 10 orders. The dominance of Chironomidae and Culicidae in certain wetlands indicated high tolerance of Dipterans in a wide range of aquatic environments, including polluted water bodies. Similarly, the presence of Trichopterans, only in the wetland located distant from the mainland city, marked that with less anthropogenic impacts. The Shannon indices for benthos were in the range from 0.17 to 0.97. Density was found to have a significant positive correlation with dissolved oxygen (r = 0.567) and a negative correlation with free carbon dioxide (r = -0.377). In contrast to significant site- wise variation in density, there was no significant difference in benthic diversity across the sites and no significant seasonal variation of benthic density and diversity from the statistical point of view.

Air pollution damages children’s health in many different ways, through both chronic and acute effects. The aims of our research are to reveal the indoor air quality levels in schools. Subject and indoor air measurements were performed in 34 primary schools located in the Central Anatolia region. PM10, PM2.5, CO2, CO, CH2O, relative humidity, temperature, and total bacteria and fungus levels were measured. In the urban region, mean PM1 was higher than the other regions(p=0.029). PM10 and PM2.5 were higher in schools in rural areas. According to CO2 measurements, only one school was identified to be below the upper limit recommended by the WHO. Total microorganism concentration was exceeded in 44.1% of classrooms. Indoor PM1, PM2.5, PM10, CO2, total bacteria and fungus levels were high and above recommended limits. Human activities, movements of students could be considered the most important indoor factors for particle matter increase. Indoor parameters could be lowered by organizing the school environment.

Both noise and shift work generate oxidative stress, independently; however, in some work places workers are exposed to both at the same time, where their combined effect might increase the oxidative damage. This research is based on the question whether noise and shift work have a synergistic effect on oxidative stress or not. It tries to investigate the effects of these two factors simultaneously, at the biggest cement factory of Iran. For so doing, it enrols 88 male workers, equally in four groups, with one group serving as the control (i.e., Group 1 with 8 hours of fixed shift, exposed to less than 85 dB sound level) and three groups as the cases (Group 2 with 12 hours of rotational shifts, exposed to less than 85 dB sound level; Group 3 with 8 hours of fixed shift, exposed to more than 85 dB sound level; and Group 4 with 12 hours of rotational shifts, exposed to more than 85 dB sound level). Stress oxidative is evaluated by Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD).  Finally, the results show that SOD levels (p<0.001) are significantly decreased in Group 4 and Group 3, compared to the control. Also, MDA levels are significantly increased in Group 4 (in which, the workers are exposed to noise and shift work simultaneously) compared to the control (p < 0.001). The current study shows that co-exposure to noise and shift work has a combined effect (a synergistic role) in MDA. Thereore, more attention should be paid to shift workers, who are exposure to noise simultaneously.

The aim of this study is to determine the amount of quantitative and qualitative changes in groundwater in the Sarvestan plain in south of Fars province, which is one of the critical plains in Iran in terms of water resources. In this research, zoning maps of electrical conductivity of water in GIS were prepared and various hydrochemical diagrams were illustrated. Different quality parameters of water resources were compared according to the statistical data collected and the experiments performed at the beginning of the 8-year period of the research. Chemical analysis of water samples shows that the groundwater type of most of the studied wells at the beginning of the period (2013) has changed from Ca-Cl and Mg-Cl types to Na-Cl type at end of the time period (2020). Determining the trend of chemical changes shows that the diversity of water samples in terms of anions and cations in water with increasing salinity at the end of the period is less than the variety of samples at the beginning of the period. According to the results of chemical experiments, evaporation, crystallization, and weathering of rocks are the factors that control the composition of groundwater in the study area. This study shows increasing the salinity of groundwater in addition to decreasing precipitation and high water use for agricultural application, due to the type of geological formations, especially the presence of salt domes at groundwater inlets to the plain on the east side of the study area.

The increased consumption of fossil fuels provokes high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which give rise to serious environmental issues. Accordingly, designing and utilizing new classes of materials, such as Schiff bases, to capture CO2 gained significant attention from researchers worldwide. In the present work, two Schiff bases were synthesized and examined as storage materials for carbon dioxide gas. The prepared compounds were obtained by reacting trimethoprim with two aldehydes severally (benzaldehyde and parabromobenzaldehyde) in boiling methanol. The surface morphology of the compounds was investigated via field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) test showed that Schiff bases 1 and 2 have surface areas of 17.993 and 2.732 m2/g, pore volumes of 0.008 and 0.005 cm3/g, and pore diameters of 17.02 and 74.89 nm, respectively. Reasonable uptake values of CO2 (31.36 cm3/g, 6.2 wt%) and (25.30 cm3/g, 5.0 wt%) were achieved by the prepared Schiff bases 1 and 2, respectively, at 313 K temperature and 40 bars pressure.

In this work, we study  the short-term dynamics of the Surface  Air Temperature (SAT) using data obtained  from a  meteorological station in Bogotá from 2009 to 2019  and using  time series.  The data that we used correspond to the  monthly mean of the historical registers of SAT and three  pollutants. A descriptive analysis of  the data follows. Then, some predictions are obtained from two different approaches:  (i) a univariate analysis of SAT through a  SARIMA model, which shows a good fit; and  (ii) a multivariate analysis of SAT and  pollutants  using a SVAR model. Suitable transformations were first applied on the original dataset to work with stationary time series. Subsequently, A SARIMA model and a VAR(2) with its associated SVAR model are estimated. Furthermore, we obtain one-year forecasts for the logarithm of SAT in both models. Our forecasts simulate the natural fluctuation of SAT, presenting peaks and valleys in months when SAT is high and low, respectively. The SVAR model allows us to identify certain shocks that affect the instant relationships among variables. These relations were studied by the impulse-response function and the VAR model variance decomposition. Although the statistical methods used in this study are classical, they continue being widely used in the environmental field, presenting god fits, and the results obtained in this study are consistent with  environmental theories.

Organophosphates are one of the most common pesticides in the world. Among them, one can find malathion that is classified as carcinogenesis, and, as a result, should be appropriately removed since it is highly consumed and possesses a lot of pathogenicity. So far, several processes have been used to remove malathion from aqueous media. The present study investigates its removal by means of Fe3O4 iron oxide nanoparticles. Based on experimental-laboratory studies, using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM), the impact of independent variables such as pH, iron oxide nanoparticle concentration, and contact time on malathion removal efficiency have been investigated. Results show that the pH of the solution is the most important and effective parameter in the process. Optimal conditions of malathion removal based on the appropriate model, obtained from RSM, include 0.4 g/L iron oxide nanoparticles, pH of about 5 (acidic conditions), and contact time of about 1 h with ultraviolet radiation being equal to 82% malathion removal. The process, used in this study, can remove malathion from aqueous solutions according to the so-called conditions, and changing the laboratory conditions can effectively remove it. This process can also be recommended as an economic and scientific method to remove malathion from drinking water.

Cities in developing countries like Shiraz in Iran face significant challenges due to a lack of an integrated solid waste management system. Climate change, soil, and water pollution are examples of environmental issues caused by improper Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems (MSWMS) in developing countries. The aim of this study is to find solutions for these environmental problems based on the experiences of developed countries. The data was collected using several methods such as visual observations, studying accessible documents of the current situation of the MSWMS in Shiraz, and participating in an interview with engineers the 'Shiraz Municipality Waste Management Organization' (SMWMO).  Results present the current functional elements of MSWMS in Shiraz, Shiraz waste diversion rate (0.22), and its Zero Waste Index (.015). Moreover, the results present some recommendations to find a way to transform cities like Shiraz into zero-waste cities. Results indicate that establishing zero-waste policies, legal frameworks, and financial strategies as well as convincing private sector involvements in installing waste-to-energy facilities and a proper sanitary landfill to move the city toward optimum recycling and zero landfilling in addition to reducing consumption and maximizing diversion rate and finally sustainable development by the cooperation of government, NGOs and media programs would solve many problems of the MSWMS and would solve environmental issues in many cities.

Industrial sector is understood to be one of the major offenders in polluting environment particularlywater among others. Sugar industry is one among the agro-based industry releasing high organicpollutants rich in BOD. Though conventional treatment methods have been employed in treating sugarindustry effluents at varied degrees, they come with their own setbacks. In this direction naturalcoagulants are explored and evaluated for their potential and efficiency towards treating sugar industryeffluents. The process of coagulation and flocculation removes impurities precisely colloidalimpurities through the phenomenon of destabilization, bridging and sweep coagulation. In order tohave an effective treatment factors governing coagulation are to be optimized to determine the dose,pH, mixing time etc. The prime objective of the present study is to characterize the sugar industryeffluents, test the efficiency of both chemical and natural coagulants to treat these effluents and bringout a comparison and potential of natural coagulants with that of chemical coagulants. Jar testapparatus was employed all coagulation studies and the results were promising with reduction inparameters like colour (99.28%), electrical conductivity (60.39%), turbidity (97.67%), chloride(69.23%) and total dissolved solids (60.42%) highest by ferric chloride followed by the naturalcoagulants. The findings of the study suggest that the lowest dose of 0.25g/l was optimum to removethe physico-chemical parameters both by chemical and natural coagulants and since natural coagulantswere equally competent with chemical coagulants these can be substituted towards achieving greentreatment options.