Haraz-Ghareh Su is one of the seven sub-basins of the Caspian basin, located on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and as such, is in danger of water crisis due to absence of proper systematic policy and strategy. In this study, the pressure factors on the Haraz-Ghareh Su water resources were identified using DPSIR model. Then, the pressure parameters on the freshwater resources in the Caspian Basin were scored and prioritized into two categories: human and non-human criteria and eight sub-criteria with the help of questionnaires (the opinion of 36 specialists in environmental planning and management, as well as the use of FANP). Thereafter, the data layers were processed with the help of IDRISI software, and eventually, the data were overlaid in the ArcGIS and the final plan was made. The findings of the study shows that, among 8 effective sub-criteria on the environmental planning and management of the freshwater resources in the Haraz-Ghareh Su Basin, agricultural water consumption with 0.243 score points and dam-making with 0.039 score points are considered most and least important sub-criteria, respectively. Consequently, after the compilation and scoring of sub-basins of the Caspian basin, it appears that the sub-basin of Haraz-ghare Su with 0.158627 points had the worst situation in terms of the planning and management of freshwater resources in the Caspian basin. In order to decrease the pressure on the freshwater resources in the Haraz-Ghareh Su Basin, the formulation of long-term policy and strategy in this basin seems to be essential.

Today, the cement industry is one of the major air polluting industries in the world. Hence, in this study, owing to the importance and role of contaminants from the plant, an appraisal of the emission contributions in addition to other factors have been discussed. There are several reasons behind the importance of modeling air pollutants. First, the assessment of standards for air pollution, and the fact that the measurement points are limited. Furthermore, in all industrial areas, measurement and installation of assessment and monitoring stations are not feasible. The AERMOD model is a dispersion steady state model which is utilized to determine the concentration of various pollutants in different areas from urban and rural, flat and rough, shallow diffusion in height, from standpoint and different shallow sources. In this model, it is assumed that the dispersion of concentration in Stable Boundary Layer (SBL) in two horizontal and vertical directions are similar to that of horizontal within Gaussian convectional boundary layer (CBL). With regard to assessment of the parameters and pollutants of stack outlet, the amount of particulate matter was measured as the most important pollutant in the region. Then, via dispersion and diffusion modeling of pollution (AERMOD) along with environmental measurements, the nature of dispersion of this pollutant in the analysis of the surrounding areas was verified. According to the presented results, the highest level of concentration for particulate matters in all areas affected by cement factory amounts to 43.68 (μg/m3) which occurred at a distance of 1500 m in the east direction and 2100 m in the north direction.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate Vitamin C (VC) as a potent natural antioxidant to mitigate the genotoxic effects of Arsenic trioxide and sodium fluoride in Swiss albino mice in vivo. The study was divided into eight groups consisting of control treated with normal saline (Group I), Group II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and the VC group with only Vitamin C (500 mg/kgbw). Arsenic trioxide (4 mg/kgbw) and Sodium fluoride (8 mg/kgbw) were administered singly, as well as in combination to swiss albino mice, with and without VC. In this study, the genotoxic effect of arsenic (As) and fluoride (F) in mice using comet, chromosomal aberration and lipid peroxidation assay was investigated. The results revealed that VC efficiently ameliorates the genotoxic effect of As and F by increasing the frequency of chromosomal aberrations and primary DNA damage along with increased malondialdehyde (MDA) level. In conclusion, VC mitigates the genotoxic effects of the two well-known water contaminants (As and F) effectively and efficiently at the given concentration in vivo.

An ever-increasing drift of energy consumption, unequal geographical distribution of natural wealth and the quest for low carbon fuel for a cleaner environment are sparking the production and use of biodiesels in many countries around the globe. In this work, jatropha and karanja biodiesels were produced from the respective crude vegetable oils through transesterification, and the different physical properties of the produced biodiesels have been presented and found to be acceptable according to the ASTM biodiesel specification standard. This paper presents the experimental results of the research carried out to evaluate the BTH, BSFC exhaust emission characteristics of jatropha and karanja blends in a single-cylinder diesel engine at different engine load. Comparative measures of brake thermal efficiency, smoke opacity, HC, CO, and NOx have been presented and discussed. Engine performance, in terms of higher brake thermal efficiency and lower emissions (HC, CO, NOx) with jatropha-based biodiesel (JB50) operation, were observed compared to karanja-based biodiesel (KB50).

This paper examines the relationship between domestic water sources, demand and associated problems in the context of a rapidly increasing household population in Nassarawa Eggon town, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The data for this research were generated using a questionnaire survey of systematically selected households, and analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages, and are presented as tables and graphs. The study revealed that the major sources of water in the area are hand-dug wells and streams, with no pipe-borne water. This has greatly affected the inhabitants of the locality, resulting in cases of water-related diseases. Consequently, due to the recent inter-communal and ethnic crisis in some parts of the local government area and the state, which led to massive immigration of people into Nassarawa Eggon, pressure on the available sources of domestic water has intensified, resulting in insufficiency in meeting domestic water demand. Against this backdrop, the paper seeks to examine in detail the various sources of domestic water and the problems associated with accessing it.

The main objective of this study was to reveal the impact of nine climate indices on temperature changes and climate oscillations in Golestan Province along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Climate indices data from across the Atlantic-Eurasian sector were collected from the NCEP/NCAR, the Climate Prediction Centre (CPC) and the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) over a period of 40 years (1971-2010). The climate indices are then compared and correlated with temperature observations from 47 weather stations collected from meteorological and energy organizations. The correlations are based on the 12-month moving average. The study results show a significant increasing temperature trend in most months over different regions of Golestan. For maximum temperature, a significant increasing trend was seen in 55.64, 41.8 and 40% of the land area in the province during August, June and July, respectively. In general, summer had the most significant maximum-temperature trends, with an average of 37.8% of the land area. On the other hand, increasing minimum-temperature trends were seen in 58% of the land area of the province compared to the other seasons. It was concluded that there is high correlation between climate indices and temperature components. The correlation coefficients obtained for various indices including North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), North Sea Caspian Pattern (NCP), Arctic Oscillation Index (AO), East Atlantic (EA), East Atlantic/West Russia (EATL/WRUS), Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO), North Tropical Atlantic (NTA), Polar/Eurasia (PE), and Scandinavia teleconnection index (SCAND) suggest an inverse relationship between these indices and temperature components. Therefore, the higher the values of these indices, the lower the temperature values, and vice versa.

Bedload transport is an essential component of river dynamics and estimation of its rate is important to many aspects of river management. In this study, measured bedload by Helley- Smith sampler was used to estimate the bedload transport of Kurau River in Malaysia. An artificial neural network, genetic programming and a combination of genetic programming and a neural network were used to estimate the bedload carried in Kurau River, based on bedload transport measurement data and hydraulic variables. A statistical analysis was carried out to validate methods by computing RMSE, MARE and inequality ratio (U). In general, the ability of the artificial neural network combined with genetic programming with R2 equal to 0.95, RMSE equal to 0.1 as a precipitation predictive tool for predicting the bedload transport rate was observed as being acceptable.

Regarding the importance of the prevention of hazards and adverse environmental impacts in industrial and populated areas such as southern parts of Tehran city, the response of impulsive period ground-supported tanks were assessed. Having considered the study area's soil properties, the response of ground-supported tanks was modelled. Regarding the soil properties of southern parts of Tehran, the soil structure interaction method explained in FEMA 368 revealed that the interactional impulsive period (~T) was greater than non-interactional one (T). In addition, results showed that Poisson's ratio and stiffness ratio (K/Kx) were more effective regarding the response of the interactional period of ground-supported tank systems. According to the achieved results, the liquid mass density effect on impulsive period was as low as the thickness of the ground-supported walls effect. Results showed that wall materials significantly affected the variation within the impulsive period. Generally, concrete materials were shown to be more periodic than steel materials. Overall, in southern parts of Tehran, when the soil fluid structure interaction method was used, the period increased from 1 to up to 3.6 times greater than the normal impulsive period.

Agricultural waste fibers have been found to be suitable as reinforcement in cement-based composites, but studies on oil palm fiber as reinforcement in gypsum-cement wall panels are scarce. A mixture of two equal weights of gypsum and cement, with water-binder ratios of 0.45 and 0.55 were prepared. In each mix a varying percentage of fiber contents of 2%, 3% and 4% by weight of the binders were added. The properties of the wall panels were determined from cast specimen sizes of 100x 100 x 40 mm for density, moisture content and water absorption; 160 x 40 x 40mm for compressive strength, and 650 x 100 x 25 mm for bending strength. The specimens were cured in water and tested at ages of 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The results of density of the wall panels were within the range of 1634–1742 kg/m3, while the moisture content range of 3.30–8.45%, and the water absorption varies from 5 to 12%. The compressive strengths were found within the range of 1.92–5.20N/mm2 and, generally, decreases with the increasing percentage of fiber contents, but increased with curing age. The bending strength falls within the range of 2.04–4.13 N/mm2that increases with curing age and slightly increased with fiber content. It is concluded that oil palm fiber reinforced gypsum-cement wall panels are suitable as wall element.

Noise is one of the main parameters to be considered to achieve a healthy indoor ambience in ferries. Therefore, the noise standards need to be more specialized and specifically based on real sampled data and case studies. In the present research, the noise levels in a ship, under different working conditions, were sampled and compared with those specified in the new and old standards. An initial study showed two main noise sources- clients and main engine- that influence other indoor environments, reducing the quality of life on board. The real-time data revealed that the maximum noise level limits set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in the older Resolution A.468 (XII) was mostly respected, except in areas where maintenance of the noise level was difficult, owing to the continuous influx of people, especially at the time of boarding and disembarking of the passengers and at the food self-service areas. In this sense, under the new Resolution MSC.337 (91), the maximum noise level allowed in the accommodation has been reduced by 5 dB (A), but this environment does not meet the standard. More results show that future standards must not only consider the noise level in a working place and add another variable, such as, the number of working hours, to obtain a representative equivalent energy, and they must also consider that a simple modification of this standard implies a redesign of most of the indoor ambiences onboard.