Organisms in aquatic environments are exposed to a number of pollutants such as pharmaceutical residues. As such, the aim of the present study is to achieve the Lethal Concentration (LC50) of Povidone-iodine (Betadine) for Cyprinus carpio. To do so, the study employs samples, weighing 4±1 [mean±SD] gr, and carries out an experiment in static condition. Based on OECD instructions, after a period of 4 days under controlled water, the physicochemical factors give the following results: pH= 8-8.3, BOD= 690 mg/l, total hardness= 210 mg, and CaCo3 and temperature= 17±0.1 °C. All fish are acclimatized for 10 days in an aquarium, 60×55×30 cm in size, which included the control group (no toxic concentration) as well as the treated aquariums, with Betadine concentration of 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 400, and 600 mg/l. LC10, LC20, LC30, LC40, LC50, LC60, LC70, LC80, LC90, and LC95 have been measured for 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours. LC50 24h Betadine for C. carpio has been 158.273 ml/l, showing no mortality after 24 hours (i.e. 48h, 72h, and 96h). Results of the present study suggest that Betadine is practically nontoxic and not irritant at low concentrations for this species and it has a short half-life in aquatic environments.

The quick growth of vehicles is due to fast urbanization in mega cities during last decades. This phenomenon has serious impacts on air quality, as emission from mobile vehicles is the major source of air pollution. As a result, any attempt to reduce the emitted air pollutants is needed. This study aims at improving the fuel quality in transporting system with particular emphasis on taxis in Tehran in 2014. As a clean fuel, Euro IV is being used to reduce the emission of pollution, toxic substances, and greenhouse gases. A bottom-up approach to evaluate vehicular emission, using IVE (International Vehicle Emission) model in Tehran, has been presented, which employs the local vehicle technology and its distributions, vehicle soak distributions, power based driving factors, and meteorological parameters to evaluate the emission, itself.  Results show that the most abundant air pollutant (CO) has been reduced by 87.6% due to the clean fuel consumption (Euro IV). Also, the emission rates of the predominant toxic pollutant (Benzene) decreased by 98.7%. As a clean fuel, Euro IV managed to increase the emitted amount of CO2 and NH3. It can be concluded that upgrading transportation system with updated fuel quality is an essential step to improve air quality in Tehran.

The current study assesses critical condition of oil dispassion, considering the unsaturated soil condition dispersity behavior for oil dispersion. The numerical model is used as a finite element method to model the oil spill pollution with two different saturated and unsaturated soil conditions chosen and their pollution dispersion results compared. Extracted results from numerical model show that considering the form of unsaturated soil, by changing the matric suction its soil conductivity ratio will differ. Regarding the current study analysis, it has been observed that the pattern of oil dispersion in case of unsaturated soil can be changed, in comparison to saturated soil condition. The vertical penetration of oil pollution in both cases of saturated and unsaturated soil condition will be more than horizontal dispersion pollution speed.  As for oil pollution control in soil domain, the condition of unsaturated soil may be controllable, compared to the saturated one. Extracted results show that oil dispersion velocity, considering saturated soil, is more than 10 times greater than unsaturated one.

A four year long research programme divided into four phases has been designed for the first time to assess the combined Noise-Air quality and combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution at the curbside open-air microenvironment of Kolkata city, India. The results and the findings of the different phases of study had already been published. The objective of the review work is to fuse the findings of the different phases of studies; to identify the factor(s) influences the degree of correlation between concentration of the air pollutant(s) and traffic noise level at the microenvironment of the city. Incidence of moderate to very strong positive Pearson’s correlation coefficients between concentration of the air pollutant(s) and traffic noise level indicated chances of correlated exposure to these environmental stressors at the microenvironment of the city. Average combined Noise-Air quality and combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution of the microenvironment of the city was very poor (0.17) to fair (0.50) and poor (-0.06) to excellent (3.33) respectively. The best combined Noise-Air quality and the best level of combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution at the microenvironment of the city was prominently evidenced in after-noon, in summer and under variable road geometry. However, the worst combined Noise-Air quality and the worst level of combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution at the microenvironment of the city was prominently evidenced in evening, in winter and under constant road geometry. A principal component analysis revealed that intensity of wind determines the degree of correlation between the environmental stressors at the microenvironment.

Climate change is a complicated issue with many factors playing role in its formation and distribution. Considering this complication, a comprehensive and holistic approach is needed for a better understanding and management of those factors. The causal frameworks are among systemic and integrated methods for addressing the causes of environmental problems and the relationships that exist between the environmental systems in order to propose proper solutions. The DPSIR model is a functional analysis framework that depicts the cause-effect relationships that exist in creating environmental problems. Tehran is one of the major megacities in the Middle East that faces environmental consequences of overpopulation and unplanned urban sprawl, and being located in an arid region, makes it vulnerable to rise of temperature and reduction of precipitation. In this research, by using the DPSIR framework, different aspects of climate condition of Tehran are analyzed and later with the help of this conceptual framework, strategies for controlling climate change are presented.

Today, ecotourism is a major tourist activity around the world. It is based on environment potential through which suitable utilization and conservation of sites under management practices including considering accurate planning, potential, and peoples’ preferences are realized. The present study was conducted to determine people’s recreational preferences using questionnaires to evaluate the ecotourism potentials (recreational activities that choice in questioner by visitors) for site selection and land use planning, and to analyze the functional relationships among zones in the MianKaleh wildlife sanctuary, south of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran and Golestan Provinces of Iran. Recreational preferences of people were found to be bird watching, swimming, camping, sightseeing, horse riding, and boating. Multi Criteria Evaluation was used to assess the ecotourism potential. For land use planning, the Multi Objective Land Allocation function included environmental suitability maps, zone weighting, and a set of desirable areas for each zone. Post processing functions (filters, zone size, and distance to other zones) and functional relationship diagrams were applied to amend the zoning maps. The functional relationship diagram concept was applied to the amended maps for optimizing access and identifying the relationships among zones. Overall, the results revealed that MCE and MOLA methods are capable of evaluating and zoning the wildlife sanctuary. Furthermore, post-processing and functional relationship diagrams were effective in selecting recreational sites. The results of this research revealed the recreational potential of MianKaleh wildlife sanctuary. Land planning for ecotourism can now be implemented using the results of this study that will upgrade the conservation status in the area.

Bioremoval and bioreduction activities of hydrocarbon (diesel) isolation from environmental samples were studied by the activity of biosurfactant production, and calculating emulsification index, gravimetric, and FTIR analysis along with the estimation of bacterial biomass. Sample from soil near petrol, diesel pumps and water sample from Thesjaswini River near Padannakad, Kasaragod, Kerala, India, were used to screen the potential diesel oil utilizing bacteria. Among the bacterial isolates (Staphylococcus, Bacillus and Corynebacterium strains), Staphylococcus sp was the potent degraders of diesel oil. Staphylococcus strain was observed to be maximum diesel oil utilizing ability (73% emulsification index) and change in the functional groups of the compound (FTIR analysis). The strain showed optimal growth at 37oC with pH 7, agitation of 150 rpm and time period (5days). The results revealed the possibility to use these strain for the reduction of complex hydrocarbon in ecosystems where they accumulate and cause pollution problems. The highest rate of hydrocarbon degradation occurred when the bacterial strain is a biosurfactants producer. The selective strain produces biosurfactants which increase the interfacial area for contact to give improved uptake of hydrophobic substrates. Bacterial strains capable of degrading complex hydrocarbons, present in the environment, have a potential to be used as an effective tool for removing ecotoxic compounds. Furthermore, results indicated that the bacterial strain Staphylococcus sp could be potentially used in biodegradation of diesel oil in waste water and had a promising application in bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated environments.

The concentration of selected trace metals (Fe, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in 30surface sediments were measured using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer to investigatethe spatial and seasonal variations of trace metals along Kanyakumari coast, India. Toassess the environmental risk of trace metals, enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index,pollution load index, and ecological risk index have been calculated. According to thepollution load index and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) values, Kanyakumari coastalsediments were unpolluted by Fe, Cu, Pb, and Zn, whereas moderately polluted by Cdwith low to moderate ecological risk. The existence of the high hydrodynamic conditionduring the southwest monsoon is more favorable to the transport of sediments andenhance the accumulation of metals, whereas during the northeast monsoon theaccumulation of metals is less. The baseline data for spatial distribution and seasonalvariation of trace metals and their controlling factors found in this study will be useful forpollution monitoring program along the Kanyakumari coast.

Air pollution is a challenging issue in some of the large cities in developing countries. Air quality monitoring and interpretation of data are two important factors for air quality management in urban areas. Several methods exist to analyze air quality. Among them, we applied the dynamic neural network (TDNN) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) methods to predict the concentrations of ground-level ozone in Karaj City in Iran. Input data included humidity, hour temperature, wind speed, wind direction, PM2.5, PM10 and benzene, which were monitored in 2014. The coefficient of determination between the observed and predicted data was 0.955 and 0.999 for the TDNN and RBF, respectively. The Index of Agreement (IA) between the observed and predicted data was 0.921 for TDNN and 0.9998 for RBF. Both methods determined reliable results. However, the RBF neural network performance had better results than the TDNN neural network. The sensitivity analysis related to the TDNN neural network indicated that the PM2.5 had the greatest and benzene had the minimum effect on prediction of ground-level ozone concentration in comparison with other parameters in the study area.

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).