Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Winter 2018

Environmental sustainability needs to use resources efficiently and effectively from macro to micro level with a systematic approach. The dualistic relationship between ecosystem and human beings require considering ecological and social systems as well as economic factors known as the three-legged approach. Individuals and their perceptions are also important in this approach because of the need of environmental awareness and behaviors. From this point of view, this study assesses the perceptions of local mine workers in the Göksu Valley about the environmental sustainability to understand the relationship between environmental, personal and organizational factors. Extroversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness as the sub-dimensions of the personality have positive correlations with environmental sustainability. Also, working conditions and expert power of the leader have a significant relationship with environmental sustainability within the mine worker sample which has a high-level environmental sustainability mean. The perceptions of local workers or residents are important to gain specific information about areas which have a special ecosystem for agriculture and animals.

Oil refining is an inevitable step in production of edible and industrial oil. Bleaching is the most important process among the refining processes. Bleaching adsorption is the most common method and clay is the most widely used adsorbent in this method. Disposal of bleaching clay, as a waste from re-refining plants, makes many environmental problems and economic losses. In the current study, the effects of possible factors such as solvent to clay ratio, temperature, time, aggregation size and rotation speed of the stirrer (degree of mixing) on the efficiency of extracted lubricating oil were investigated by solvent extraction method. By conducting experiments at different reaction times and rotation speeds, it was concluded that the most important factor in obtaining the appropriate output was solvent to clay ratio. The tests conducted to investigate the effect of grain size on the efficiency indicated that agglomerates size did not have a positive effect on efficiency. Finally, for the solvent to clay ratios ranging from 2.48-9.53 ml/g and a time period ranging from 5 to 40 minutes, the main tests designed by the response surface methodology. The best efficiency was obtained at the highest level of solvent to clay ratio (9.53 ml/g) and at the time of 22.5 minutes that led to 88.60% oil extraction from the clay. The accuracy of the model output was estimated to be 96%.

The current study aims to analyze waste characteristics and management practices of the hotel industry in Hoi An, a tourism city in the center of Vietnam. Solid wastes from 120 hotels were sampled, the face-to-face interviews were conducted, and statistical methods were carried out to analyze the data. The results showed that the mean of waste generation rate of the hotels was 2.28 kg/guest/day and strongly correlated to internal influencing factors such as the capacity, the price of the room, garden, and level of restaurant. The differences in waste generation rate of the hotels were proved to be statistically significant. The higher the scale of hotels, the higher the waste generation rate. Moreover, the waste composition of the hotels was identified by 58.5% for biodegradable waste, 25.8% for recyclables and 15.7% for others. The relative differences in the waste composition of the hotels by climate, the features of hotels, and the types of the guest were explained. Whereby, the higher size of the hotels, the higher percentage of biodegradable and less proportion of recyclable waste. Also, this study revealed that the implementation status of waste management practices of the hoteliers initially reaped quite positive achievements with 76% for sorting, 39% for recycling, 29% for reduction, and 0.8% for composting. The rate of waste management practices was proportional to the scale of the hotel. This study provided information on waste management practice of hotel industry and contributed to the overall assessment of municipal solid waste management practices of Hoi An city.

The proper use of natural resources can preserve these valuable assets. In line with the management of natural resources, land use optimization can be highly useful. The aim of the present study is to propose an appropriate integrative model for optimized allocation of lands for surface runoff and sediment load minimization and net income maximization in Bayg watershed, Iran. In this study, five categories of land uses, i.e. irrigated orchard, rangeland, irrigated farming, rainfed farming and almond orchard were spatially optimized to minimize surface runoff and sediment yield and to increase net income by integrating three approaches: weighted goal programming, analytic hierarchy process and multi-objective land allocation algorithm. To achieve the target levels in this work, the acreages of almond orchard and rainfed farming should be reduced by 100% and 37.32% respectively, and irrigated farming acreage should be increased by 138.53%. Through these alterations in the land use acreage, the sediment load will be reduced by 16.78% and net income will be improved by 72.52%. However, runoff volume will be increased by 0.22%. Results indicated that weighted goal programming satisfied 96% and 46% of the target levels of sediment load and net income respectively, but failed to reduce runoff volume. Therefore, it is necessary for managers to control runoff using the strategies related to runoff harvesting, especially on steep slopes. Generally, it can be concluded that a combination of the techniques weighted goal programming, analytic hierarchy process and multi-objective land allocation is highly capable to optimize land use and land covers based on the conflicting objectives.

The rapid growth in urban population is seen to create a need for the development of more urban infrastructures. In order to meet this need, natural surfaces such as vegetation are been replaced with non-vegetated surfaces such as asphalt and bricks which has the ability to absorb heat and release it later. This change in land cover is seen to increase the land surface temperature. Previous studies have tried to explain the impact of land cover changes on the land surface temperature. However, there is a growing need to spatially quantify the extent to which temperature has increased so as to identify areas where immediate mitigation measures can be introduced. In view of this, this study has incorporated remotely sensed Landsat data with remote sensing techniques in order to effectively quantify the spatial extent of urban growth and its impact on the land surface temperature in Lagos, Nigeria. The result shows that there have been changes in the land cover which has increased the land surface temperature between 2002 and 2013. Overall, there was an increase in the highly dense areas, moderately dense areas and less dense areas by 3.35% (2200.77 ha), 27.87% (13681.35 ha), 6.20% (3284.01 ha) and a corresponding increase in the mean land surface temperature of these urban areas by 3.8 oC, 4.2 oC and 2.2 oC. Hence, it was recommended that in order to reduce the land surface temperature of urban areas, sustainable urban planning strategies that include increasing the vegetated areas and embracing other green initiatives such as urban forestry should be adopted.

Vulnerability of soil separates to detachment by water is described as soil erodibility by Universal Soil Loss Equation which can be affected by land use change. In this study it was attempted to quantify the changes of Universal Soil Loss Equation K-factor and its soil driving factors in three land uses including rangeland, rainfed farming, and orchards in Babolrood watershed, northern Iran. Soil composite samples were obtained from two layers in three land uses, and the related soil physico-chemical properties were measured. The rainfed farming land use showed the highest clay contents, but the highest amounts of soil organic matter and sand particles were found in orchard land use. The high intensity of tillage led to the significant decrease of soil aggregate stability and permeability in the rainfed farming land use. The Universal Soil Loss Equation K-factor was negatively correlated with soil permeability (r=-0.77**). In rangeland, the K-factor (0.045 Mg h/MJ/mm) was significantly higher and the particle size distribution had a great impact on the K-factor. The orchard land use, converted from the rangeland, did not show any increase of soils erodibility and can potentially be introduced as a good alternative land use in sloping areas. However, more detailed studies on environmental, social and economic aspects of this land use are needed.

The potential effect of invasive plant species on biodiversity is one of most important subject of inquiry at present. In many parts of the world, the alarming spread of these plants has been documented. Knowing that climate exerts a dominant control over the distribution of plant species, predictions can therefore be made to determine which areas the species would likely spread under a climate change scenario and that is what this study aims to tackle. In the current study, a total of 211 species occurrence points were used to model the current and projected suitability of Piper aduncum in Bukidnon, Philippines using Maxent. Results revealed that the suitability of the species was determined primarily by climatic factors with Bio 18 (precipitation of the warmest quarter) as the strongest influencing variable with a mean percent contribution of 22.1%. The resulting model was highly accurate based on its mean test Area Under Curve that is equal to 0.917. Current prediction shows that suitable areas for Piper are concentrated along the southern portion of Bukidnon. Only 9% of the province is suitable for the species at present but is predicted to increase to 27% because of climate change. The central and southwestern parts of the province are the areas of high threat for invasion by Piper.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type among women all over the world. Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer medicines for treating cancer but it has many side effects and cells may become resistant to these chemical medicines. Therefore, finding new compounds of natural origin could be a promising solution to this problem. The aim of the current study was to evaluate anticancer activity of fucoxanthin which is the most important carotenoid found in the marine brown seaweeds and diatoms. fucoxanthin has many properties (antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, antiobesity, anti-inflammatory and etc.) due to its unique structure. Samples with different concentrations (10, 25 and 50 µg/ml) and at various incubation times were collected (6, 24 and 48 hours) from four different species (Padina tenuis, Colpomenia sinuosa, Iyengaria stellate and Dictyota indica) of brown seaweeds from Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf. Moreover, the anticancer activity of fucoxanthin-containing extracts on breast cancer cells line and normal human skin fibroblast cells line was assessed by MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide] assay to specify the cytotoxic effects. The results showed that fucoxanthin extract from Dictyota. indica at 24-hour treatment and 50 µg/ml concentration has the most effective anticancer activity on the breast cancer cells line, without toxic effects to the normal cells. According to the obtained results, it seems that Dictyota. Indica is a good candidate for further analysis and can be introduced to the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Fuel storage tanks are one of the main sources of water pollution as well as loss of crude oil and oil products in refineries. In the process of utilization of these tanks, considerable amounts of hydrocarbons may find their way into the coastal water, which eventually lead to loss of valuable hydrocarbons. Oil type, climatic condition and characteristics of oil tanks are among the main variables in computing evaporative losses. The present study brings out the results of a project that was carried out to investigate the adverse effects of oil terminal on coastal waters of Qeshm Island and aims to elaborate on speciation of metals in coastal waters. For this purpose, 12 stations were sampled. Water chemistry software was used to draw Eh-pH diagrams. Along with the speciation of heavy metals, cluster analysis was carried out by MVSP software. According to the results, HSC diagrams showed that Cu and Cd were present as free ions. Lead, manganese, cobalt, zinc and nickel were respectively present as PbOH, MnOH, ZnOH, CoOH and NiOH in the Persian Gulf. Speciation of Cu and Ni was in the form of Cu2O and NiO. Vanadium was also present in combination with hydroxide. Since all the studied elements were within the water stability range, they were stable, and there were no environmental risks of contamination and toxicity. The results of cluster analysis did not show any relation between Eh and pH. This clearly showed that Eh-pH was governed by different mechanisms in coastal waters of Qeshm Island. Vanadium and Ni concentration was governed by pH, while Cu and Cd concentration was controlled by Eh.

Today, urban transportation has attracted urban planners’ and researcher's attention because of air and noise pollution problems associated with it. In Shahrkord city in Iran, no plans have been made for sustainable transportation, and the available poor transportation infrastructure is not responsive to the growing population of the city. This issue has inflicted the city with serious problems, including environmental pollution, traffic jams, and car accidents. Therefore, it is necessary for urban managers and planners to conduct necessary planning and analysis for the development of urban transportation system through a strategic perspective. In this study, the strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats of Shahrkord transportation system are identified using strength, weakness, opportunity, threat (SWOT) analysis. Status of the city's transportation system is determined through evaluation of internal and external factors. The results of SWOT analysis and the matrix of internal and external factors indicate that the internal and external evaluation factors are equal to 2.330 and 3.367, respectively, which means that Shahrekord transportation system holds a conservative situation. Considering the identified status, several strategies are proposed to improve the status quo. Finally, the proposed strategies are evaluated based on sustainable development indices, namely economic, environmental, and social indices, by using the fuzzy complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) method. The results show that the best proposed strategy is attraction of private investors to set up pedestrian bridges equipped with escalators and the concession of using them for the establishment of environmental advertisement.