علمی - پژوهشی
Taher Ahmadzadeh; Naser Mehrdadi; Mojtaba Ardestani; Akbar Baghvand
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 1-8
Abstract
Intelligent model optimization is a key factor in water treatment improvement. In current study, we applied the artificial neural networks modelling for the optimization of coagulation and flocculation processes to get sufficient water quality control over the total organic carbon parameter. ANN network ...
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Intelligent model optimization is a key factor in water treatment improvement. In current study, we applied the artificial neural networks modelling for the optimization of coagulation and flocculation processes to get sufficient water quality control over the total organic carbon parameter. ANN network consisted of a multilayer feed forward structure with backpropagation learning algorithm with the output layer of ferric chloride and cationic polymer dosages. The results were simultaneously compared with the nonlinear multiple regression model. Model validation phase performed using 94 unknown samples for which the prediction result was in good agreement with the observed values. Analysis of the results showed a determination coefficient of 0.85 for cationic polymer and 0.97 for ferric chloride models. Mean absolute percentage error and root mean square errors were calculated consequently as 5.8% and 0.96 for polymer and 3.1% and 1.97 for ferric chloride models. According to the results, artificial neural networks showed to be very promising for the optimization of water treatment processes.
علمی - پژوهشی
Mohammad Reza Asgharipour; Fariborz Salehi; Mahmoud Ahmadpour
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 9-18
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the energy consumption and to determine the inputs sensitivity for wheat production system in Kermanshah county of Iran. To achieve these objectives, data were collected from 120 irrigated wheat farms selected using a random sampling method during 2012. The ...
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The objectives of this study were to evaluate the energy consumption and to determine the inputs sensitivity for wheat production system in Kermanshah county of Iran. To achieve these objectives, data were collected from 120 irrigated wheat farms selected using a random sampling method during 2012. The sensitivity of energy inputs was estimated using the marginal physical productivity (MPP) method and partial regression coefficients on wheat yield. The results indicated that the total energy input was 41,921.8 MJ ha-1, and approximately 38% and 13% were from nitrogen fertilizer and diesel fuel, respectively. Approximately 57% of the total energy inputs used in wheat production was direct energy, while the remaining 43% was indirect. Econometric assessment results revealed that the energy inputs of human labor, machinery, diesel fuel, chemical fertilizers had significant influence on the yield. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the MPP value of energy inputs was between -2.8 and 11.31. Also the MPP value of human labor was the highest, followed by machinery, water for irrigation and phosphorous fertilizer energy inputs, respectively. However, the MPP of biocides energy was calculated to be -1.97 implying that the use of biocides energy is in excess for wheat production, causing an environmental risk problem in the region. Direct, indirect, renewable, and non-renewable energy forms had positive impacts on the output level
علمی - پژوهشی
Salman Dastan; Afshin Soltani; Ghorban Noormohamadi; Hamid Madani; Reza Yadi
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 19-28
Abstract
Optimal management approaches can be adopted in order to increase crop productivity and lower the carbon footprint of grain products. The objective of this study was to estimate the carbon (C) footprint and global warming potential of rice production systems. In this experiment, rice production systems ...
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Optimal management approaches can be adopted in order to increase crop productivity and lower the carbon footprint of grain products. The objective of this study was to estimate the carbon (C) footprint and global warming potential of rice production systems. In this experiment, rice production systems (including SRI, improved and conventional) were studied. All activities, field operations and data in production methods and at different input rates were monitored and recorded during 2012. Results showed that average GWP across production systems was equal to 2803.25 kg CO2-eq ha-1. The highest and least GWP were observed in the SRI and conventional systems, respectively. GWP per unit energy input was the least and most in SRI and conventional systems, respectively. Also, the SRI and conventional systems had the maximum and minimum GWP per unit energy output, respectively. SRI and conventional system had the greatest and least GWP per unit energy output, respectively. Therefore, the optimal management approach found in SRI resulted in a reduction in GHGs, GWP and the carbon footprint.
علمی - پژوهشی
Mansour Chatrenour; Mehdi Homaee; Safoora Asadi Kapourchal; Mohammed Mahmoodian Shoshtari
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 29-38
Abstract
Quantitative description of soil hydraulic properties is crucial for preventing organic contaminations entering into the soil and groundwater. In order to assess hydraulic behavior of Perchloroethylene, as a toxic chlorinated contaminant in soil, retention curves of Perchloroethylene and water were determined. ...
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Quantitative description of soil hydraulic properties is crucial for preventing organic contaminations entering into the soil and groundwater. In order to assess hydraulic behavior of Perchloroethylene, as a toxic chlorinated contaminant in soil, retention curves of Perchloroethylene and water were determined. The Saturated hydraulic conductivity of both examined fluids was determined by constant head method. The Perchloroethylene and water hydraulic conductivities were obtained to be 492.84 and 450.27 cm day-1, respectively. The porous medium retention parameters is obtain based on van Genuchten, Brooks-Corey and Kosugi retention models. Further, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity for both fluids were obtained based on Mualem-Brooks-Corey, Mualem-van Genuchten and Mualem-Kosugi models. The accuracy performance of models were assessed by some statistics including ME, RMSE, EF, CD and CRM. Results indicated that the van Genuchten model providing better estimations than other models when the studied fluid was Perchloroethylene. The results further indicated that the magnitudes of the pore-size distribution parameters and the bubbling pressure parameters are reduced in water-air system compares to Perchloroethylene -air system. This can be attributed to high viscosity of water and its considerable resistance against flow. This implies that more suction is needed to drain out water from porous medium than Perchloroethylene. Consequently, porous medium provides less retention for Perchloroethylene at a given quantity of fluid than water. Owing to less amount of Perchloroethylene viscosity, the saturated and unsaturated porous medium hydraulic conductivity of Perchloroethylene was more than that of water. Since Perchloroethylene has lower retention and larger hydraulic conductivity than water, its infiltration into porous medium would lead to faster movement towards groundwater.
علمی - پژوهشی
Alireza Koocheki; Mehdi Nassiri Mahallati; Mohsen Jahan
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 39-50
Abstract
An agro-ecosystem could be defined as a special ecosystem with various functions which is usually used for production special crops. In recent years, due to unsuitable management and increasing pressures on agro-ecosystems, their functions and structures have been destroyed and so it is necessary to ...
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An agro-ecosystem could be defined as a special ecosystem with various functions which is usually used for production special crops. In recent years, due to unsuitable management and increasing pressures on agro-ecosystems, their functions and structures have been destroyed and so it is necessary to monitor the health of these ecosystems. In order to evaluate agro-ecosystem health in nine western provinces of Iran (i.e. Ardebil, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Zanjan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Hamedan and Ilam Provinces) the current study was conducted during 2002-2011. Total agro-ecosystem health and its components (namely, structural health, functional health and organizational health) were determined by use of 13 indices for structural health, 11 indices for functional health and six indices for organizational health. Based on the results, agro-ecosystem health in all of the studied provinces was judged weak. The highest and lowest values of structural health were calculated for Kurdistan and Ilam Provinces, respectively. In the case of functional health, the results were different and the highest and lowest values were observed in Kermanshah and Ilam Provinces. For organizational health, the pattern was totally different with highest value calculated for East Azerbaijan Province whereas the lowest value was observed in Kurdistan Province. Finally, total agro-ecosystem health was calculated using the summation of structural, functional and organizational health values. Based on results, Hamedan Province has the best condition of total agro-ecosystem health and Ilam Province has the worst condition in this regard.
علمی - پژوهشی
Masoud Masoudi; Parviz Jokar
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 51-68
Abstract
Land use planning is a science that specifies the optimized use of land based on its ecological and socio-economic characteristics. Most assessment methods such as that used by FAO, the Iranian method of land capability survey of the environment and its components and also evaluation calculations without ...
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Land use planning is a science that specifies the optimized use of land based on its ecological and socio-economic characteristics. Most assessment methods such as that used by FAO, the Iranian method of land capability survey of the environment and its components and also evaluation calculations without prejudice are all based solely on the inherent territory. However, these methods ignore socio-economic factors and estimate land capability incompletely. In this study, we survey the land capability evaluation using GIS and the EMOLUP (geometric mean and calibration methods) model. Then, comparison was undertaken between the different capability evaluation models, such as makhdoum, its revision and arithmetic method for different uses. The results showed that the proposed model (EMOLUP) has higher accuracy for estimating the real capability in the arid and semi-arid study area.
علمی - پژوهشی
Mahdieh Jalilzadeh; Kamal Siahcheshm
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 69-80
Abstract
In order to assess soil pollution formed on the alteration zones of Zakhur District, we used 20 ICP-MS analyses. Argillic, argillic-phyllic, advanced argillic, silicic along with Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni, Au and Ag are the most important decentralized natural resource contaminating agents that have formed ...
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In order to assess soil pollution formed on the alteration zones of Zakhur District, we used 20 ICP-MS analyses. Argillic, argillic-phyllic, advanced argillic, silicic along with Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni, Au and Ag are the most important decentralized natural resource contaminating agents that have formed extensive heavy/toxic metal haloes in this area. Diverse environmental pollution indices (e.g. geo-accumulation-Igeo, modified contamination degree- mCd and potential ecological risk- RI) show that the leve of environmental pollution risk of Pb is considerable and, as in different alteration zones, quaternary sediments are also very high. Soils highly contaminated with sulfur result in the high sulfide mineralization character of the alteration zones in Zakhur District. Calculations of the mass changes in argillic and silisic zones indicate enrichment by Cr, Ni, As, Pb and S and loss of Hg and Cd. Besides the positive correlation of heavy metals with each other, there are significant correlations between them and Mn and Al which may have occurred due to the adsorption processes by manganese, iron oxides and/or clay minerals.
علمی - پژوهشی
Zeynab Golhosseini; Mahdi Jalili Ghazizade; Seyed Hossein Hashemi
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 81-90
Abstract
Bottom sludge generated in evaporation ponds is one of the most important wastes in combined cycle power plants. Since previous studies show that wastewater incoming to evaporation ponds contains various contaminants, so the settled sludge can be mentioned as a hazardous waste. Waste characterization ...
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Bottom sludge generated in evaporation ponds is one of the most important wastes in combined cycle power plants. Since previous studies show that wastewater incoming to evaporation ponds contains various contaminants, so the settled sludge can be mentioned as a hazardous waste. Waste characterization showed high concentration of heavy metals (i.e. Lead and Chromium) and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in the generated sludge. Regarding to classification criteria of the Basel Convention and other international instructions (such as EPA) revealed this waste can be categorized as a hazardous waste. Then all possible methods for sludge management was evaluated based on technical, economic and environmental aspects and land disposal was selected as preferred method. Finally various scenarios including landfill and surface impoundment were considered. To avoiding penetration of contaminants to the environment, IWEM model was used to design of bottom lining system where different environmental scenarios and leakage concentrations was evaluated.
علمی - پژوهشی
Balal Oroji; Isa Solgi
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 91-104
Abstract
It is more expensive to remove pollution from polluted groundwater than to prevent it; hence, tools are sought that help managers prevent groundwater pollution. One such tool is the aquifer vulnerability mapping which is used to specify the most vulnerable parts of an aquifer. In order to prepare the ...
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It is more expensive to remove pollution from polluted groundwater than to prevent it; hence, tools are sought that help managers prevent groundwater pollution. One such tool is the aquifer vulnerability mapping which is used to specify the most vulnerable parts of an aquifer. In order to prepare the aquifer vulnerability map of Asadabad plain which is the water resource of agricultural and industry activities as well as rural consumptive waters of the region, the DRASTIC, SINTACS and SI models were used for exploration of Asadabad plain groundwater as following steps. First, by development, the initial layers of the models were prepared. The available nitrates layer of the groundwater was also prepared based on 24 measurements of wells during spring 2013. In order to evaluate the performance of the models, the correlation between the initial layers and available nitrates layer was calculated. Based on the calculated coefficient correlation and its significance, DRASTIC and SI models were calibrated and than theirs parameters were modified. The using overlap of correlated aquifer vulnerability maps, contamination danger map of plain which called agricultural DRASTIC map was produced. At last, by comparing the vulnerability potential map, modified SI map, modified DRASTIC model, agricultural DRASTIC model and neuro fuzzy inference map with the available nitrate layer, the best model was distinguished. The result illustrated that the agricultural DRASTIC method (r=0.79) is identified as the best method to evaluate the vulnerable points of Asadabad plain. According to this map, 26.24, 56.63 and 17.13% of the area are located in the less, medium and high vulnerable points, respectively.
علمی - پژوهشی
Sanaz Golabvand; Maryam Sharifzadeh
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 105-116
Abstract
Dust storms as extreme weather events are recurrent feature of the climate that has contributed to severe damage to farmers’ population. Date palm sector in Khuzestan province is one of the dust- prone areas that had been affected seriously during recent dust storms. This study aims at investigating ...
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Dust storms as extreme weather events are recurrent feature of the climate that has contributed to severe damage to farmers’ population. Date palm sector in Khuzestan province is one of the dust- prone areas that had been affected seriously during recent dust storms. This study aims at investigating factors contributing to date palm orchardists’ resilience to cope with dust stress. Population for this study was 157 date palm orchardists resided in Ahwaz county. This study is based on primary sources of data collected from 100 orchardists following a structured questionnaire survey design. Questionnaire’s validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of different scales was measured by alpha Cronbach’s coefficient which was ranged between 0.59-0.84. Results revealed that washing dates, using protecting nets, spraying toxins, cultivating other crops between palm trees and searching for other sources of income were known as resilience behaviors among orchardists. Path analysis results showed that date palm growers’ perception of resilience (β=0.43) and social motives (β=0.21) contributed positively and significantly to date orchardists’ resilience behavior. There was also significant positive indirect impact between social dialogue and resilience of date orchardists to dusty conditions.
علمی - پژوهشی
Elahe Vaseghi; Seyyed Abdolmajid Jalaee Esfandabadi
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 117-124
Abstract
Although economic growth is one of the most important objectives of governments, higher economic growth is mainly associated with an increase in environmental pollution. The experience of the developed countries and some developing countries shows that with increasing economic growth, first the environmental ...
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Although economic growth is one of the most important objectives of governments, higher economic growth is mainly associated with an increase in environmental pollution. The experience of the developed countries and some developing countries shows that with increasing economic growth, first the environmental pollution is increased and then it is reduced due to the attention to the environment at the level of production per capita which can be shown in Kuznets environmental curve. The main objective of this study is to determine the level of per capita income which causes reduced emission of the pollution due to considering the environmental issues as well as studying the impact of technology overflow index on the turning point of the curve. In this regard, using the models of the demand of capital-intermediate goods import, technology overflow index was calculated and its effect on Kuznets environmental curve theory in the period of 1966 to 2013 was reviewed. The results showed that technology overflow variable not only had a positive impact and significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions, but it also made the Kuznets Environmental Curve's turning point possible in higher per capita income.
علمی - پژوهشی
Faezeh Askari; Omid Ramezani; Esmaeil Rasooly Garmaroody; Seyed Rahman Djafari Petroudy; Faranak Mohammadkazemi
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 125-136
Abstract
Contamination of environment by different pollutants is one of the most important concerns of environmental scientists in the last decade. Water insoluble hydrophilic polymers with the contaminants surface absorption potential are considered new materials in control and removal of pollutants. Carboxymethyl ...
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Contamination of environment by different pollutants is one of the most important concerns of environmental scientists in the last decade. Water insoluble hydrophilic polymers with the contaminants surface absorption potential are considered new materials in control and removal of pollutants. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) powder with the purity of 87.7 % and 0.5 degree of substitution (DS) was utilized in the current research project. The aim was producing a superabsorbent by an environmentally-friendly approach based on bio-based materials. First, in order to insolubilize CMC powder, a wide range of temperature and time were experimented among which the combination of 165, 175 and 180 °C temperatures and 45, 60 and 90 minutes were selected respectively. Then, certain amount of heat-modified samples were weighted and dispersed in water and citric acid as cross-linking agent was added with 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 2, 3.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 addition levels based on polymer weight. The samples were evaluated through Tea Bag, Ionic Sensitivity, Absorption under Load (AUL), Deformability and Swelling Kinetic tests. The results showed that heat treatment reduced the consumption of cross-liking agent which the highest absorption capacity was observed in low cross-linker addition levels in all tests.
علمی - پژوهشی
Farshad Keivan Behjou; Ahmad Hashemian; Mostafa Panahi; Elnaz Hassanzadeh
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 137-146
Abstract
This research was done with the aim of valuation of main soil nutrients and emphasize on forest soil in Shimbar conservative forest in Khozestan province. At first, EPM method was applied for determining erosion and then the amount of soil waste of 3 main nutrients including nitrogene, phosphorus, and ...
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This research was done with the aim of valuation of main soil nutrients and emphasize on forest soil in Shimbar conservative forest in Khozestan province. At first, EPM method was applied for determining erosion and then the amount of soil waste of 3 main nutrients including nitrogene, phosphorus, and potassium based on differences of soil nutrients of control and eroded area, then valuation of forest soil nutrients based on replacement method was assessed. The results of present research showed that in study area including 3116ha, 468.5 ton of NPK eroded caused by erosion, that means 88202945491 Rials to environment. On the other hand, the results indicated that the studied forest can prevent eroding NPK equal to 28306465 Rial, that means the high value of canopy cover and forest.
علمی - پژوهشی
Mehdi Panahi; Mina Taheri
Volume 14, Issue 1 , April 2016, Pages 147-152
Abstract
Analysis of raining days is one of the most significant elements of weather forecasting concerning agricultural section, since rainfall is the most unstable factors and shortage or rainfall during growing season may create heavy damages on agricultural section, particularly on dry farming. Necessity ...
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Analysis of raining days is one of the most significant elements of weather forecasting concerning agricultural section, since rainfall is the most unstable factors and shortage or rainfall during growing season may create heavy damages on agricultural section, particularly on dry farming. Necessity of monitoring and analysis of this phenomenon could be demonstrated when we consider that a great part of agricultural lands depends on rainfall (amount and number of times) directly. Meanwhile, the significant performance of farming products will be related to raining method also in irrigation agriculture section. In the present study, number of raining days in Qazvin synoptic station, to analyze and study pathologically wheat cultivation by dry farming in the province, statistical models were used. Results of statistical analysis of number of raining days demonstrated that number of raining days in wet years in autumn cultivation season with recurrence interval of 5, 10, 25 and 50 year based on 29, 32, 39 and 44 days, respectively. Furthermore, in dry years, number of raining reliable days can be 8, 4, 0 and 1 day. In this regard, to investigate and study pathologically dry farming in the province, a statistical analysis was performed about raining days during growing season for wheat product. Findings of the analysis showed that in dry periods, dry farming is not appropriate and no reliable rainfall will be occurred during growing period.
