مریم خشیج

With regard to the importance of the environment in sustainable development along with environmental literacy among citizens, the present study aimed to assess the levels of environmental literacy among citizens residing in the city of Yazd, Iran.
 

In this descriptive--analytical study, the sample size was determined based on the Cochran formula of 410 individuals. The data selection tool was also a researcher-made questionnaire comprised of items on demographic characteristics information as well as levels of awareness, attitudes, and practices concerning the environment such as air pollution, waste management, etc. Face validity verified by 10 qualified individuals as the faculty members and Reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.93. The collected data was analyzed using the SPSS 22. In this study, significance level was considered as 0.05.

awareness score was statistically significant in terms of age, level of education, and employment status (p<0.05). However, attitudes were only in a significant relationship with employment status (p=0.004). The relationship between practice score was also statistically significant with regard to age, marital status, and area of residence (p<0.05). A significant relationship was further observed between age and level of income and level of awareness, but there was no significant relationship considering attitudes (p>0.05). Moreover, a positive correlation was found between awareness, attitude, and practice scores (0.323≥ r ≥0.28, p<0.001).

Although awareness among Yazd citizens on some environmental issues was at low levels, in general, their awareness specifically regarding health issues stemming from air pollution was proper. In view of the importance of environmental factors, it is necessary to conduct various research studies to identify and control these factors and find proper solutions.

Paying attention to the hygiene and safety of food will have a great success for people around the world. In recent decades, due to mass production and food processing, the globalization of food trade, industrialization, etc., the prevalence of diseases associated with contaminated water and food is increasing. Therefore, the study of knowledge and attitude of people in this field have been a necessity and this research was conducted to investigate the knowledge and practice of people of Kermanshah city, Iran in relation to food hygiene and safety.
This was a cross-sectional study. Data were collected through questionnaires. 252 inhabitants of Kermanshah were randomly allocated by cluster sampling. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 17 by Spearman and X2 test.
Most of Kermanshah people were lack of proper knowledge and practice about food poisoning. Of these, 54% of people mistakenly thought that fully cooked foods also have microbes. In addition, 68.3% of the subjects did not have a proper health function regarding the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, so that they only cleaned it before consumption. Finally, the mean score of knowledge and practice was 11.62 ± 2.27 and 17.69 ± 1.59, respectively.
Considering the significant correlation between the level of knowledge and practice of the people living in Kermanshah about food safety, the necessity of conducting appropriate educational programs to increase the awareness and subsequently improve the performance of the related organs can upgrade status.

Creating optimized opportunities for experiential learning and practical training is an important factor that improves the quality of education. This study aims to identify and analyze the mechanism of improving apprenticeship course for the students of Environmental Health Engineering at School of public Health in Kermanshah.
This study is based on comparing the quality of education in apprenticeship courses by before – after study. The participants were the students who passed the apprenticeship course in the first semester of 2014 -2015 (32 students). The SPSS v.16 and the statistical T-test were used for statistical analysis.
The average scores for men before apprenticeship was 2.02±0.41 and after the apprenticeship was 2.82 ±0.44, and the average scores for women before and after the apprenticeship were respectively 1.9±0.34 and 2.84±0.37, respectively. The level of training during the apprenticeship course influence on increasing knowledge in the students of environmental health engineering.
Analyzing the effective factors on improving the apprenticeship course influenced by the following factors: implementation method of effective roles of the educating units, playing an effective role in apprenticeship course, supplementary training activities during the serving time and playing an effective role be apprentices.

Collection and treatment of wastewater due to adverse effect of improper wastewater disposal to the environment is inevitable and necessary. So that establishing of wastewater treatment plant toward regular evaluation of treatment systems performance is necessary for achieving environmental standards. Biokinetic coefficients obtained from laboratory studies are vital factors in industrial applications. The aim of present study was performance evaluation and bio-kinetic coefficients determination of activated sludge unit in Sanandaj wastewater treatment plant.
This cross-sectional study implemented in wastewater treatment plant of Sanandaj using continuous activated sludge process. In this study 30 samples were taken from influent and effluent wastewater and experiments carried out on them. The wastewater quality parameters including BOD5, COD, TSS and MLSS were measured; removal efficiency and bio-kinetic coefficients such as yield coefficient maximum substrate utilization rate (k), endogenous decay coefficient (kd), half saturation coefficient (Ks), Yield coefficient (Y) and specific maximum growth (μ_max) were also calculated.
Mean of COD, BOD5 and TSS removal was obtained 90.3 ± 3.3, 93.9 ± 1.9 and 86.4 ± 4.2, respectively. According to MLSS/MLVSS concentration, K, Ks, Y, Kd andμ_max were calculated 2.5 d-1, 7.25 mg/L, 0.013, 0.027 d-1 and 0.03 d-1,respectively.
Effluent derived from the activated sludge treatment plant in terms of achieving to BOD5, COD and TSS standards for discharge into surface water or agricultural purposes is desirable. Results of this study resulted in calculation of bio-kinetics confections. The bio-kinetic coefficients obtained in this study can be used in designing of similar plants, especially in cold areas.

4-chlorophenols one of the most common pollutants in wastewater is generated from the chemical and petrochemical industries. It is due to the presence of chloride and benzene ring is resistant to biodegradation. In this study, the use of granulated graphene oxide nano particles as an adsorbent nanostructure with better properties than other adsorbents for Removal of 4- chlorophenol from aqueous solution were investigated
This research was implemented during the year 2013-2014 where the Granules of Graphene oxide nanoparticles were prepared using sodium silicate and X-ray diffraction techniques and electron microscope were used to identify the morphology and structure of the adsorbent of. Parameters affecting the adsorption process such as initial concentration of 4-chlorophenol(5,10,15,20,25,30mg/L), amount of adsorbent(20,40,60,80% by weight), contact time (3,5,10,20,30 min) and pH(4,6,7,8,9) were investigated by changing one factor at a time. Finally, the data fitness with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were showed.
Adsorption process reached to equilibrium after 20 minutes. 2 g/L of graphene oxide granules at 3 minutes and 7 = pH could remove 5 mg/L 4-chlorophenol up to 58%. Freundlich isotherm have describing adsorption process and R2 =0.92.
Absorbed process by the granules of Graphene oxide nanoparticles is low-cost high-efficiency and it could used to reduce and eliminate environmental pollutants particularly aqueous solutions.

One of the methods of color removal is adsorption using natural adsorbents. Aadsorption process because of lower cost, easy operation and hide sensitive to toxic substances than other methods is a priority. So, the aim of persent study was to adsorption isotherm and factor affected on Methylene Blue decolorization using activated carbon powder prepared Grapevine Leaf.
This experimental study with differnet parameters such as initial concentration of MB, adsorbent dosage and contact time on the MB adsorption in the batch system were investigated.
Results showed that the adsorption efficiency was achieved to 100% at 10 and 100 mg/L of MB when the amont of adsorbent was 2 g/L with contact time of 90 and70 min at pH=7. Adsorption process could be follow of both Ferndlich (R2= 0.994) and Langmuier (0.984) isotherm which that by Ferndlich isotherm, maximum dye adsorption was calculated to 25.77 mg/g.
Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that activeted carbon prepared of grapevine leaf has high capacity for Methylene Blue dye from aqueous solution.

Death of pregnant mother is an important public health indicator that reflects both the quality of health care system and the role of women in the society. This study was performed with aim to determine the rate and causes of maternal mortality using Geographic Information System in Kermanshah. In this cross-sectional study، the recorded cases of maternal mortality and cause of death from 2001 to 2012 was extracted via census from family health unit of the province health center. To determine mortality rates، the cases of maternal death per year were divided to the number of live births. Information about the maternity facilities and literacy ratio was obtained from Kermanshah Heath Deputy and Governor. The data were analyzed using Stata 12 and Arc GIS 10. 1 software and χ2 test and linear regression. P<0. 05 was considered significant. The mean age of subjects was 31. 3±7. 3 years. 65 cases (65. 3%) were placed in high-risk pregnancy group. The rate of maternal mortality during 12-years was reported 25. 9 deaths per 100،000 live births، and mortality rate had 1. 3 unit decrease per each year of change (P=0. 04). In this study، the highest maternal mortality rate was in Northwest and Southwest cities of the province. The common cause of maternal death was bleeding (28. 3%) and abruption (28. 3%). The literacy rate in any city had an impact on the cause and rate of mortality، so that in the cities where literacy ratio was higher، the death rate was lower، and also more causes of death were indirect causes (P=0. 02). maternal mortality rate in some cities of this province is very high and higher than the mean of province and country.

Toxicity and non-biodegradable nature of Mn2+, which in various ways, such as discharge of sewage industries (metallurgy, metalworking) and high content of manganese in groundwater due to geological conditions, the need to remove the metal from water resources is inevitable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of modified Clinoptilolite with KMnO4 for removal of Mn2+ from aqueous solutions. In this study, Clinoptilolite (Semnan) were used to remove for examination. Before using zeolites, were milled and sieved in sizes ranging (3-5, 5-7, 7-10 mm). Adsorbent with standard KMnO4 oxidation to MnO2 coating on modified Clinoptilolite were prepared and used for experiments. The effects of time, pH, initial ion concentration and concentration and size of the adsorbent on the removal Mn (II) ions were examined. XRD analysis was taken to determine the structural properties. The results showed that the ability modified Clinoptilolite, enriching with KMnO4 for manganese absorption is high. The maximum uptake capacity of modified Clinoptilolite equal 0.23 mg/g with removal efficiency 95% at the initial concentration of 5 mg/L and 1 gr the adsorbent with size of (1-3) mm, respectively. Also, the manganese removal efficiency with increasing initial concentration of 1 to 5 mg increases. The optimum of pH and equilibrium time in these experiments is 7 and 15 minutes. According to the results modified Clinoptilolite are suitable for removal of Mn (II) ion from water. In addition modified Clinoptilolite use non-toxic nature, low cost and availability has economically justified.

Self-efficacy made possible ability to understand patient from conditions and factors influencing health and he/she can decide to improve health and to enforce it. This study was aimed to determine the self-efficacy and related factors in diabetic patients. In this cross-sectional study, that was done randomly in diabetic patients referred to diabetes center, information were collected using demographic and questionnaire containing 15 questions about efficacy of glycemic control and correction, proper selection of food, foot examination, exercise and weight control. The validity and reliability assessed and data collected and enter to Stata software and were analyzes using t.test, χ2 and logistic regression. The mean age of the 600 participating patients was 52.1±14 years. 57.3% was women and 42.7% male. The most common complications in sexes were visual complications. The mean of self-efficacy score was 54.9±14.3. 47.6% of participants had low self-efficacy. Low self-efficacy in those who had lower education was 2.7 against individuals who had higher education (OR=2.7; CI: 1.25-4.15), Also, low self-efficacy in people who have had complications, 1.9 vs. those who did not have complications (OR=1.9; CI: 1.25-2.55). Self-efficacy was inverse relationship with age and direct relationship with knowledge. According to results, it’s be necessary identifying the factors associated with the self-efficacy to interventions and appropriate policy on this disease and the need for more training programs to enhance self-efficacy.

Nowadays، using bottled waters is increasing by people in Iran and around the world due to the trust in their quality، easy transportation as well as accessibility with a low cost. In order to protect public health، ensuring the quality of water has great importance. The goal of this study is to measure of Pb، Cd and Cr in distributed bottled waters in Hamadan and to compare with the world standards. This research is a cross- sectional study which carried out on 10 brands of bottled water (0. 5 lit) produced in Iran and distributed in Hamadan- in 2012. During the study period، 60 samples were purchased randomly from sup-ermarkets during two sequential seasons- summer and fall. Concentration of the heavy metals Lead، Cadmium and Chr-omium was measured by atomic absorption using standard methods. The results showed that the maximum concentrations of the heavy metals، Cr، Cd، Pb samples are 27. 35±1. 99، 1. 65±. 48، 9. 15± 1. 9 μg/L in which the lowest and highest values pertain to cadmium and chromium، respectively. Discussion & The Results 0f findings imply that the concentration of heavy metals are matched in WHO، EPA and Iran´s standards، and the concentrations of samples were less than the standards mentioned above. So there is no public health risk regarding the consumption of bottled water.

Backgrounds and Due to population growth and expansion of agricultural industry in recent years، wastewater treatment is unavoidable. Therefore، using the Electrocoagulation process with aluminum electrodes to eliminate bacteria in hospital wastewater. This study is a pilot-scale batch that to verify removal rate of bacteria in hospital wastewater by using direct current electric. In this study، the effects of variables such as time (30، 60، 90 min)، voltage (10، 20، 30 v) and type of electrode (Al) on the efficiency of bacterial removal were studied. The results shows that with increasing contact time and voltage، removal efficiency increases. The results indicate that the retention time and voltage changes can have different effects on bacterial removal efficiency. The rising voltage and time are causing increase bacterial removal efficiency due to the rapid production of hydrolysis products. The research results indicate that electric voltage treatment is effective for rapid removal of microorganisms in hospital wastewaters.