Nitrate leaching from agriculture can be reduced by the choice of fertilizer and a proper timing of its application. For permanent grassland grown under temperate conditions, nitrate leaching was hypothesized to be lower from dairy cattle slurry (CS) compared to synthetic fertilizer calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN), based on differences in chemical composition, consequential effects on nitrogen (N) conversion processes in soil, and resulting differences in synchronization of (nitrate) N availability and plant N uptake. We tested the hypothesis in a two-year field experiment on cut grassland on a leaching-sensitive sandy soil, fertilized each year with 320 kg ha−1 of plant-available N from either 100% top-dressed CAN or a combination of 40% from CAN and 60% from sod-injected CS, and measured effects on grass herbage yield, herbage N uptake, and nitrate concentration in pore water at 1.0 m depth. Our results show a comparable level of herbage N uptake for both treatments, allowing for a proper comparison of nitrate leaching at a similar level of plant-available N. Average nitrate concentration in pore water in the main leaching period (over winter) was after the first ‘dry’ growing season 44% lower for CS + CAN (41 mg l−1) compared to CAN only (73 mg l−1), and after the second ‘wet’ growing season 35% lower for CS + CAN (32 mg l−1) compared to CAN only (49 mg l−1). Nitrogen application increased nitrate concentration at 1.0 m depth not only in winter but also in the growing season. We conclude that for permanent grasslands in temperate regions, nitrate leaching from timely applied CS may be considerably lower than from CAN, which is different from previous assumptions.

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in aquatic environments worldwide. Rivers connect terrestrial and marine ecosystems, playing a key role in the transport of land-based plastic waste towards the sea. Emerging research suggests that in estuaries and tidal rivers, tidal dynamics play a significant role in plastic transport and retention dynamics. To date, observations in these systems have been limited, and plastic transport dynamics during single tidal cycles remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated plastic transport, trapping, and re-mobilization of macroplastics (> 0.5 cm) in the Saigon River, focusing on short-term dynamics of individual tidal cycles. We used GPS trackers, released at different stages of the tidal cycle (ebb, flood, neap, spring). Plastic items demonstrated dynamic and intermittent transport behavior. Items spent almost half of the time (49%) temporarily stopped, mainly due to their entrapment in vegetation, infrastructure, or deposition on riverbanks. Items were almost always re-mobilized within 10 h (85%), leading to successive phases of stopping and transport. Tidal dynamics also resulted in bidirectional transport of plastic items, with median daily total transport distance within the 40 km study reach (8.9 km day−1) over four times larger than the median daily net distance (2.0 km day−1). The median retention time of plastic items within the reach was 21 days (mean = 202 days). In total, 81% of the retrieved items were trapped within water hyacinths, emphasizing the important role of floating vegetation on river plastic transport dynamics. With this paper, we aim to provide data-driven insights into macroplastic transport and retention dynamics in a tropical tidal river. These are crucial in the design of effective intervention and monitoring strategies, and estimating net plastic emission from rivers into the sea.

International audience | Our study focused on the removal of pollutants from combined sewer overflow (CSO) using aerated vertical flow wetlands (VFW). Over a 7-months period, a pilot was fed with variable inlet concentrations and hydraulic loading rates of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m3.m-2. Two aeration strategies were tested, intermittent aeration and continuous aeration, and their results were compared. Online measurement of NH4-N and NO3-N helps to balance nitrogen oxidation processes during a feeding event. The average removal rates of TSS, COD, dissolved COD (CODs), and NH4-N were always above 74%. Despite continuous aeration had showed higher oxygen concentration, the percentage of untreated NH4-N leaving the filter was similar in both aeration strategies. Additionally, higher NO3-N outflow loads during continuous aeration may be explained by temperature effect. Ongoing tests aim to reach a better comprehension on nitrogen conversion processes.

The role of economic factors is significant in the municipal waste management. The present descriptive-applied study aimed to present a new model of municipal waste management cost reduction priorities based on the Gray-TOPSIS model in Ahvaz City in 2022. Following the collection of data on the current municipal waste management, effective criteria influencing cost reduction in municipal waste management were determined through document analysis. Expert analysis was also utilized to identify factors impacting cost reduction in municipal waste management. The Gray-TOPSIS methodology was applied to prioritize solutions for cost reduction in municipal waste management. Through calculating the Kendall agreement index, 20 solutions for cost reduction in waste management were categorized and prioritized into educational, political, cultural, and executive groups. The findings revealed that while political measures such as approving laws related to municipal waste management and incentive and punitive policies with special weightings of 0.804 and 0.799, respectively, are the most effective solutions for reducing waste management costs, overall, educational process-related solutions with an average weighting of 0.686 have a higher priority than other processes. Government support and public education through various means, especially non-governmental media and social networks, are potential solutions for reducing municipal waste management costs in Ahvaz City under current conditions.

The exhibition industry serves as a huge platform for face-to-face participation and the formation of potential economic and business relationships in the current century. These gatherings cost greatly in terms of energy resources are responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the water, air, and soil. The present study seeks to investigate and identify the pollutant indices resulting from the activities of the exhibition industry, its respective services and preparing guide on the organization of exhibition sites. For this purpose, the most important environmental criteria influenced by the industry were first identified through the Delphi method and were then classified into nine main priority groups based on multi-criteria decision-making and the best/ worst method(BWM[1]) method. The environmental index of the region was thus selected as the most important criterion whereas the social and economic indices were determined to be the least important criteria. Moreover, 58 sub-indices of the main indices were also weighed and prioritized based on the pairwise comparison. As a result, the sub-criterion of environmentally sensitive region ranked first while the sub-criterion of impact on the local and regional identity was identified as the least important influential sub-criterion. Weighing and prioritization of the indices were eventually the main foundation for the compilation of the exhibition site construction and operation instructions, and persistent monitoring of some indices such as the indoor air quality and consumed energy can reduce the negative environmental consequences of exhibition activities significantly.

The use of copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles in coatings can eliminate surface microbial contamination. This study compared antibacterial activity of Cu- (Cu/CNTs) and Ag-coated carbon nanotubes (Ag/CNTs) synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Initially, the PECVD technique was applied to deposit the CNTs on high-resistivity silicon wafers previously decorated by nickel catalyst using an Electron Beam Gun. Then, the nanotubes were coated by Cu and Ag thin films in a vacuum evaporator using the Direct Current (DC) Magnetron Sputtering method. Finally, the antibacterial effects were determined by Standard Plate Count (SPC, with film thicknesses of 0, 10, 30 and 60 nm) and Disk Diffusion Test (based on zone of inhibition (ZOI) with nanoparticle concentrations of 5, 10 and 15 µg/mL). According to the SPC findings, the highest antibacterial activity of Cu/CNTs was found for the film thickness of 60 nm against E. coli (66%), and the lowest activity was related to the film thickness of 19 nm against S. aureus (28.8%). The antibacterial activity of Ag/CNTs was about 70% against E. coli with the highest thickness and about 34.12% against S. aureus. The lowest ZOI was measured for the bare CNTs at a concentration of 5 µg/mL (12 mm), and the highest ZOI was related to Ag/CNTs with a concentration of 15 µg/mL against S. aureus (18 mm). To conclude, the carbon nanotube composites coated with copper or silver nanoparticles can be used to control bacterial growth in aqueous solutions.

Identifying the contribution of different land uses plays a crucial role in preventing erosion and prioritizing land management activities. This research aimed to assess the impacts of various land use scenarios on mitigating soil erosion in the North West Urmia region of Iran. In addition to the current scenario, 12 land use management scenarios were identified based on the observed trend in changes in land use patterns throughout the study area utilizing GIS. The RUSLE was used, and the necessary input parameters of the RUSLE model, were prepared. The erosion mapping has been done using overlaying the input layers. The baseline scenario (current condition) resulted in an erosion amount of 17.22 (t/ha/yr). Introducing soil conservation techniques in dry farming on steep terrain, as depicted in scenario 6 (conservation and restoration of plowed rangelands), resulted in a reduction of the erosion rate from 17.22 to 9.75 (t/ha/yr). On the other hand, scenario 20, characterized by severe rangeland degradation and overgrazing, exhibited the highest estimated erosion rate at 30.42 (t/ha/yr). In contrast, the most substantial erosion reduction of 43.37% was evident in scenario 6 (conservation and restoration of plowed rangelands). It was observed that the P-factor (support practice factor) had a more pronounced impact than the C-factor (crop/vegetation and management factor) in mitigating erosion. These findings suggest the potential for utilizing a scenario-based framework to evaluate the impact of management scenarios on erosion and prioritize soil and water management measures and strategies.

Novel technologies and subsequent pollutions are serious threats to the environment and public health. The environmental pollutions, especially air pollution, are currently leading environmental concerns in developing countries, including Iran. In the present study, the air quality and meteorological data were employed to achieve potent models based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for the prediction of air pollution in Tehran, Iran. The developed models manage to predict daily concentrations of various air pollutants such as O3, PM10, NO2, CO, and PM2.5. The required data were collected daily through the Air Quality Organization from all air quality stations of Tehran within a four-year period (from 2012 to 2015). Training the models was on the basis of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) with the Back Propagation (BP) algorithm using MATLAB program. The results indicated appropriate agreement between the observed and predicted concentrations, as the values of the coefficient of multiple determinations (R2) for all models were more than 0.83. In conclusion, the studied meteorological parameters are effective on all pollutants concentrations.

Water security problems are becoming more and more challenging in Iran for several reasons such as population growth, urbanization, land-use change, unsustainable water use and climate change. All the mentioned reasons result in an increase in the human exploitation of water resources and consequently increasing anthropogenic impacts on rivers, flood plains, and fresh groundwater. Therefore, assessment of the human pressures on rivers is particularly important to find areas where water resources are threatened and subjected to rapidly increasing anthropogenic effects. By this integrated approach, a successful Integrated Water Resources Management will be achieved to guide policy makers for best protection, restoration and management. In this regard, Southern Caspian Sea Basin Rivers (including Kura-South Caspian and Caspian Highland ecoregions) were studied in terms of human pressure types. Human pressures were analyzed at different spatial scales, and finally seven main pressure types (i.e. Land use, Hydrology, Morphology, Connectivity, Water quality, Biology) were defined in which the abundance and distributions of each pressure type was different. According to this study, most areas were impacted by land use pressure type followed by water quality. Moreover, most areas were threatened by multiple pressures.

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) are potentially toxicant substances whose widespread use has raised considerations regarding environmental risks caused by the discharge of those nanoparticles (NPs) into aquatic ecosystems. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of Ag-NPs on the hematologic parameters Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss juvenile. Hematological toxicities of Ag-NPs to rainbow trout juveniles were assessed in four treatment groups: Control (without Ag-NPs), 0.1gr/L Ag-NPs solution (T1), 0.25gr/l Ag-NPs (T2) and 0.5gr/l Ag-NPs (T3). Blood samples were collected from fish after 5 and 10 days of exposure. Analysis of blood parameters in the 5th and 10th days of the experiment showed that the values white blood cells (WBCs) were higher in all treatments than those in the control group (p < /p>