azam zeydabadi

The occurrence of dust storms in recent years, has led to the use of data recorded in ground measurements stations to determine the sources and investigate the occurrence of these storms in the past; however, it is associated with the possibility of measurement errors or failures in some cases.

In this study, using the data records by synoptically stations, dust storms that occurred in Tehran during March 21, 2014 to March 20, 2015 were determined. To verify the detected cases of dust storms through the index, satellite imagery was collected and analyzed on the days. For remote sensing, Modis Level 1 images were processed using the ENVI 5.3. In order to show dust, NDDI, BTD (32-31), and BTD (20-31) indices were used. Finally, the sensitivity and specificity of all two items were compared with the weather data announced on these days; using R software.

Results indicate, compared to actual observations, that the sensitivity of this method was 100% and its specificity was 98%.

Because the index used in this study consisted of three parameters of wind speed, PM10 concentration, and horizontal visibility, it minimized the possibility of mistakes due to the simultaneous use of all three parameters to show dust storms.

Leishmaniasis is a re-emerging serious international public health problem, and both visceral and cu­taneous types of leishmaniasis became important endemic diseases in Iran. In this study, the relationships between environmental factors (vegetation and elevation) and the prevalence of diseases have been investigated.
All international and national online databases were searched by terms such as leishmaniasis, incidence, prevalence and other related words attributed to Iran and published until first quarter of 2015. The developed data­base in Excel, later imported to the ArcMap for spatial analyst and mapping. Afterwards, the software was used for modeling the relationship between the prevalence/incidence and environmental variables (vegetation and elevation) by both linear and nonlinear regression.
After mapping the prevalence data from 144 studies, considering non-parametric ANOVA, the tendency of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis to presence in high elevation and high vegetation was more than Anthroponotic and zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. While linear regression showed weaker results for modeling, however, additive nonparametric regression analysis suggested that 10km buffers for elevation, and 10 as well as 50km buffers for veg­etation could contribute in better fitness in modeling of these variables.
The detailed maps for distribution of disease concluded. The nonlinear regression is a reliable predictor of the relationship between environmental factors and disease incidence, although more and wide researchers are needed to confirm it.

Housing indexes are tools for assessing housing conditions and its evolution; and can also be used in assessment of the success rates in achieving the future planning goals. The current study was done in order to evaluate and compare the health and safety indices in the houses of the Rural Housing Project constructed after the 2003 earthquake in Bam with the traditional houses in this region. This descriptive cross sectional study was done by systematic sampling and the health and safety indices of 519 new and 283 traditional houses in ten villages of Bam were evaluated and compared by standard questionnaires. In these checklists the safety of the houses, the living conditions according to the principles of environmental health engineering and the physical space of the buildings were evaluated. Descriptive results were reported and the chi-square test was used to compare the data by Excel and Minitab. The results of this study show that the number of families living in each house in the new and traditional houses was respectively 1.15 and 1.24 family per room. The mean built up area of each house was 60 and 50 square meters and the mean ratio of people of each room was 2.63 and 2.29 respectively. The health status of the walls, floors and ceilings of the rooms in the newhouses was acceptable in more than 97% but in traditional houses was 67-76 percent. The health status of the kitchens and rooms in the new houses was significantly better than the traditional ones, but the condition of the toilets and bathrooms in both houses was unacceptable in most circumstances and was for toilets 7 and 16, and for bathrooms 55 and 74 percent in new and traditional houses respectively. The safety indices of the rooms and kitchens were significantly better in the new houses (46 and 39 percent respectively in new houses), but the safety of the bathrooms and staircases was significantly better in the traditional houses (54 and 53 percent respectively in traditional houses). The current study shows relative progress in the housing indexes of the rural housing project in comparison to the traditional houses, although they are still far from ideal. There are concerns about the proportion of people to spaces, accessibility to healthy water inside the house, and environmental sanitation with regard to wastewater and solid waste disposal. Also in addition to construction of housing units, we suggest that construction of private bathrooms and toilets should be considered by the Housing Foundation.