The fate of leaked heavy metals in the urban environment under different persistence and precipitation scenarios.

The use of tobacco will lead to the littering of a large number of filters, and the leakage of pollutants from them into the urban environment is a serious concern. The aim of this study was to analyze the leakage of heavy metals from filter and estimate the annual concentration of pollution leakage in different waste routes and different climatic conditions. The results showed that the highest and lowest density of filter in the studied urban environment were 0.51 and 0.01 number/m2, respectively. According to the estimated annual production of 306 million cigarette butts in the studied area, the leakage of the studied metals was estimated to be 401 g. The share of copper, chromium, and cadmium from the total leakage was 67%, 8.3%, and 1.88%, respectively. The leakage of studied metals in rainy conditions was 2.86 times more than sunny conditions. In different scenarios, the minimum and maximum annual leakage of metals were estimated 23,043 and 350,419 mg/year, respectively. Filters are a little but important source of heavy metal emission into the urban environment, the amount of pollution from which is affected by the consumers' behavior and the efficiency of the urban cleaning system. Education on the correct disposal of filters and increasing the efficiency of the urban cleaning system will lead to a reduction in pollution caused by tobacco consumption.

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on the urban litter and clean environment index.

Changing the level of pollution in the urban environment is one of the consequences of Covid-19. Litter are one of the most important urban pollutants affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this research, the pollution level of urban areas during the Covid-19 pandemic was investigated by studying the urban environment. To this end, the protocol of observation and counting was used and litter were studied in two groups including common litter and Covid-19 related litter in Yasuj, Iran. The results were interpreted based on the clean environment index (CEI). The time of observation was selected based on the peak of the disease and the decline in the incidence rate. The results showed that on average, at the peak of the disease, the density of the litter was reduced by 19% compared to the low lockdown related to Covid-19. The CEI on average was 4.76 at the peak of the disease that was interpreted in the clean status, while the CEI on average was 5.94 at the low lockdown related to Covid-19 so interpreted in the moderate status. Among urban land uses, recreational areas with a difference of more than 60% showed the greatest impact caused by Covid-19, while in commercial areas this difference was less than 3%. The effect of Covid-19 related litter on the calculated index was 73% in the worst case and 0.8% in the lowest case. Although Covid-19 decreased the number of litter in urban areas, the emergence of Covid-19 lockdown related litter was a cause for concern and led to increasing the CEI.

Development a new index for littered waste assessment in different environments: A study on coastal and urban areas of northern Iran (Caspian Sea).

The coastal pollution has been evaluated using indexes like Clean Coast Index (CCI) in many countries. In this study, several coasts and urban areas in northern of Iran along the Caspian Sea, were assessed in terms of number and composition of litters. Furthermore, Clean Environment Index (CEI) was used for the first time to interpret the results. The results indicated that 60% of the coasts and 50% of the urban areas were in a dirty status and only 22% of the total surveyed areas were found to be in a clean status. The highest number of litters observed in the study areas was cigarette butt. Due to the impact of risk factor of different types of littered waste, it was obviously clear that CEI offers a more realistic and rigorous interpretation than CCI. Therefore, this new index can be considered to evaluate litters pollution in various areas.

Water quality evaluation and non-cariogenic risk assessment of exposure to nitrate in groundwater resources of Kamyaran, Iran: spatial distribution, Monte-Carlo simulation, and sensitivity analysis.

Water is exceptionally vital for all living beings and socio-economic development. This study aimed to investigate the groundwater suitability for drinking in rural areas of Kamyaran city, Kurdistan province, Iran, by using the water quality index (WQI) and evaluating the non-carcinogenic health risk caused by nitrate from the drinking route. Forty-five groundwater samples were collected (2019) from operated dug-wells, and twelve parameters (TDS, pH, TH, EC, HCO3 -, K+, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl-, SO4 2-, and NO3 -) were measured to the calculation of WQI. Hazard Quotient (HQ) and sensitivity analysis (SA) using the Monte-Carlo Simulation technique with 10,000 iterations were employed to determine the non-carcinogenic effects of Nitrate in different exposed groups (Infant, children, teenagers, and adults). The results of WQI showed that 74% of groundwater samples fall within the excellent water quality class, and 26% of rural areas fall in the category of good water type. The nitrate concentration in drinking water ranged from 22.42 ± 11.44 mg/L. The HQ mean for infants, children, teenagers, and adults were 0.5606, 0.7288, 0.5606, and 0.438, respectively. Probability estimation showed the HQ values for the 5th, and 95th percentile in infants, children, teenagers, and adult groups were (0.25-1.81), (0.13-1.08), (0.13-0.97), and (0.07-0.51), respectively. The SA showed that the most significant parameter of non-carcinogenic risk in all exposed populations was nitrate concentration. Generally, nitrate concentration in the study area was relatively high, and remarkably in agriculture and fertilizer management required more attention.

Accessing habitat suitability and connectivity for the westernmost population of Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus, Blanford, 1877) based on climate changes scenarios in Iran.

Climate change, as an emerging phenomenon, has led to changes in the distribution, movement, and even risk of extinction of various wildlife species and this has raised concerns among conservation biologists. Different species have two options in the face of climate change, either to adopt or follow their climatic niche to new places through the connectivity of habitats. The modeling of interpatch landscape communications can serve as an effective decision support tool for wildlife managers. This study was conducted to assess the effects of climate change on the distribution and habitat connectivity of the endangered subspecies of Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus) in the southern and southeastern Iran. The presence points of the species were collected in Provinces of Kerman, Hormozgan, and Sistan-Baluchestan. Habitat modeling was done by the Generalized Linear Model, and 3 machine learning models including Maximum Entropy, Back Propagation based artificial Neural Network, and Support Vector Machine. In order to achieve the ensemble model, the results of the mentioned models were merged based on the method of "accuracy rate as weight" derived from their validation. To construct pseudo-absence points for the use in the mentioned models, the Ensemble model of presence-only models was used. The modeling was performed using 15 habitat variables related to climatic, vegetation, topographic, and anthropogenic parameters. The three general circulation models of BCC-CSM1, CCSM4, and MRI-CGCM3 were selected under the two scenarios of RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 by 2070. To investigate the effect of climate change on the habitat connections, the protected areas of 3 provinces were considered as focal nodes and the connections between them were established based on electrical circuit theory and Pairwise method. The true skill statistic was employed to convert the continuous suitability layers to binary suitable/unsuitable range maps to assess the effectiveness of the protected areas in the coverage of suitable habitats for the species. Due to the high power of the stochastic forest model in determining the importance of variables, this method was used. The results showed that presence/absence models were successful in the implementation and well distinguished the points of presence and pseudo-absence from each other. Based on the random forests model, the variables of Precipitation of Driest Quarter, Precipitation of Coldest Quarter, and Temperature Annual Range have the greatest impact on the habitat suitability. Comparing the modeling findings to the realities of the species distribution range indicated that the suitable habitats are located in areas with high humidity and rainfall, which are mostly in the northern areas of Bandar Abbas, south of Kerman, and west and south of Sistan-Baluchestan. The area of suitable habitats, in the MRI-CGCM3 (189731 Km2) and CCSM4 (179007 Km2) models under the RCP2.6 scenario, is larger than the current distribution (174001 Km2). However, in terms of the performance of protected areas, the optimal coverage of the species by the boundary of the protected areas, under each of the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, is less than the present time. According to the electric circuit theory, connecting the populations in the protected areas of Sistan-Baluchestan province to those in the northern Hormozgan and the southern Kerman would be based on the crossing through the heights of Sistan-Baluchestan and Hormozgan provinces and the plains between these heights would be the movement pinch points under the current and future scenarios. Populations in the protected areas of Kerman have higher quality patch connections than that of the other two provinces. The areas such as Sang-e_Mes, Kouh_Shir, Zaryab, and Bahr_Aseman in Kerman Province and Kouhbaz and Geno in Hormozgan Province can provide suitable habitats for the species in the distribution models. The findings revealed that the conservation of the heights along with the caves inside them could be a protective priority to counteract the effects of climate change on the species.

Economic valuation of natural promenades in Iran using zonal travel costs method (Case study area: Gahar Lake in Lorestan Province in western Iran).

Gahar Lake is located within Oshtorankooh Protected Area (east of Lorestan Province in Iran), which has extensive potentials for the development of the tourism industry. The aim of the present research was to determine the economic value of the Gohar Lake resort using the zonal travel cost method. Therefore, at first, 380 questionnaires were distributed among the tourists by the simple random sampling method based on appropriate spatiotemporal distribution during the visiting seasons. The questionnaire items were categorized as economic, social, and miscellaneous parts. The calculation results revealed a value of USD 84.538 per visitor and a value of USD 1,986,657.163 per year, indicating the high value and importance of the region. The analysis showed that socio-economic variables have a significant role in the use or non-use of the resort. The obtained R2 coefficient was 0.82, indicating that around 82% of the changes in the number of visitors can be justified by the variables introduced in the model. The results also revealed the need to pay more attention to this region and formulate a tourism development plan.

Degradation of furfural in aqueous solution using activated persulfate and peroxymonosulfate by ultrasound irradiation.

Furfural is a toxic compound that can cause many problems for human health and the environment. In this study, we addressed the degradation of furfural in aqueous solution using the activated persulfate (SPS) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) through the ultrasonic (US) wave. Besides, the effect of various parameters (pH, oxidizing dose, initial furfural concentration, US frequency, Inorganic anions concentration, and scavenger) on SPS + US (SPS/US) and PMS + US (PMS/US) processes were examined. The results showed, in order to furfural removal, the US had excellent efficiency in activating SPS and PMS, as in SPS/US and PMS/US processes, 95.3% and 58.4% of furfural (at 25 mg/L concentration) was decomposed in 90 min, respectively. The furfural degradation rate increased with increasing oxidizing dose and US frequency in both SPS/US and PMS/US processes. Considering the synergistic effect, the best removal rate has occurred in the SPS/US process. In the SPS/US and PMS/US processes, furfural removal increased at natural pH (pH 7), and the presence of inorganic anions such as NO3- and Cl- had negative effects on furfural removal efficiency. Also CO32- and HCO3- acted as a radical scavenger in the SPS/US process but these anions in the PMS/US process produced more SO4-° radicals, and subsequently, they increased the furfural degradation rate. The results also showed that the predominant radical in the oxidation reactions is the sulfate radical. This study showed that the SPS/US and PMS/US processes are promising methods for degrading organic pollutants in the environment.

Comparison of Upper Trapezius and Infraspinatus Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy by Dry Needling in Overhead Athletes With Unilateral Shoulder Impingement Syndrome.

CONTEXT: Chronic musculoskeletal disorders in the shoulder joint are often associated with myofascial trigger points (MTrPs), particularly in the upper trapezius (UT) muscle. Dry needling (DN) is a treatment of choice for myofascial pain syndrome. However, local lesions and severe postneedle soreness sometimes hamper the direct application of DN in the UT. Therefore, finding an alternative point of treatment seems useful in this regard. OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of UT versus infraspinatus (ISP) DN on pain and disability of subjects with shoulder pain. The authors hypothesized that ISP DN could be as effective as the direct application of DN in UT MTrP. DESIGN: Single-blind randomized clinical trial. SETTING: Sports medicine physical therapy clinic. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 40 overhead athletes (age = 36 [16] y; 20 females and 20 males) with unilateral shoulder impingement syndrome were randomly assigned to the UT DN (n = 21) and ISP DN (n = 19) groups. INTERVENTION: An acupuncture needle was directly inserted into the trigger point of UT muscle in the UT DN group and of ISP muscle in the ISP DN group. DN was applied in 3 sessions (2-day interval between each sessions) for each group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain intensity (visual analog scale), pain pressure threshold, and disability in the arm, shoulder, and hand were assessed before and after the interventions. RESULTS: Pain and disability decreased significantly in both groups (P < .001) and pain pressure threshold increased significantly only in the ISP group (P = .02). However, none of the outcome measures showed a significant intergroup difference after treatments (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Application of DN for active MTrPs in the ISP can be as effective as direct DN of active MTrPs in the UT in improving pain and disability in athletes with shoulder pain, and may be preferred due to greater patient comfort in comparison with direct UT needling.