Hassan Hashemi; Ehsan Gharehchahi; Mohammad Golaki; Amin Mohammadpour; Zohre Moeini
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection caused by SARS-CoV-2, first recognized in China and quickly became a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has been found to have positive and negative environmental impacts. Air, wastewater, and solid waste are some examples that show this pandemic’s ...
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection caused by SARS-CoV-2, first recognized in China and quickly became a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has been found to have positive and negative environmental impacts. Air, wastewater, and solid waste are some examples that show this pandemic’s consequences. The current review summarizes the interactions between the COVID-19 pandemic with air, water, wastewater, and solid waste. During the COVID-19 outbreak, air pollution, ambient noise, fuel, and energy consumption, have been reduced. On the other hand, air pollution has been shown to increase the risk of COVID-19; thus, there is a positive correlation between air pollution and the number of COVID- 19 cases. Moreover, the researchers have detected the SARSCOV- 2 in feces and wastewater. Therefore, exposure to SARSCoV- 2 is possible by utilizing untreated effluent and wastewater in irrigation or aerosol generation during specific wastewater treatment processes. Furthermore, monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater allows us to detect the virus before it spreads in the community take the necessary measures, and implement effective policies. Changes in the composition and quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) are typical results of the COVID-19 pandemic, as plastic waste generation has increased globally due to the higher use of disposable single-use plastic bags and packaging. Mixing infectious virus-infected waste with domestic waste has led to the terminus of waste recycling in many parts of the world due to its hazardous potential. Developing effective strategies based on the sustainable development approach may reduce the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and similar outbreaks in the future.
Roya Peirovi; Sara Javanbakht; Zohre Moeini; Monnavar Afzal Aghaee; Hossein Alidadi
Abstract
Introduction: One of the most important goals of any higher education system is to educate specialized manpower with sufficient skills and knowledge. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the environmental health engineering graduates' attitudes towards compliance of the received training ...
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Introduction: One of the most important goals of any higher education system is to educate specialized manpower with sufficient skills and knowledge. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the environmental health engineering graduates' attitudes towards compliance of the received training during their education with their occupational needs.
Methods: In this descriptive study, the viewpoints of 76 environmental health engineering graduates were investigated over the compliance of the contents of the courses passed with their occupational needs. The participants were employed in various organizational positions in Mashhad city in 2019. Data extracted from the questionnaires were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and independent t-test.
Results: In the case of Water and Wastewater, Municipality, Comprehensive Health Center, Hospital, and Common courses, the lowest compliance rate was related to the environmental health employees working at the comprehensive health centers, hospitals, water and sewerage company, and university, respectively. There was a significant difference between attitudes of males and females towards Water and Wastewater and Comprehensive Health Center courses. Findings based on the graduates' degrees showed that people with bachelor's degrees more disagreed with the set of Water and Wastewater courses than the graduates with Master's and Ph.D. degrees.
Conclusion: Considering that specialized courses had the highest compliance with the individuals' field of work, the authorities are recommended to revise the curriculum of this field of study. Furthermore, it is suggested that specialized trends in the undergraduate course should be provided to improve the impact of education and graduates' satisfaction rate in this field.
Zohre Moeini; Abooalfazl Azhdarpoor; Saeed Yousefinejad; Shima Bahrami
Volume 6, Issue 1 , January 2018, , Pages 8-15
Abstract
Background: Atrazine is one of the most widely used chlorinated herbicides with properties, such as sustainability in soil and ability to penetrate into water sources. This study aimed to investigate the photo-degradation of atrazine using ultraviolet ray and to identify its by-products. Methods: The ...
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Background: Atrazine is one of the most widely used chlorinated herbicides with properties, such as sustainability in soil and ability to penetrate into water sources. This study aimed to investigate the photo-degradation of atrazine using ultraviolet ray and to identify its by-products. Methods: The efficiency of atrazine removal under UV irradiation with a power of 6-125 watts was investigated and some effective parameters, such as initial concentration (10-100 mg/l) and pH (3-5), were studied during the radiation period (5-90 minutes). In all experiments, the volume of the solution used in 250-ml Erlenmeyer flask was 100 ml. After all, the final and by-products produced during this process were identified by mass gas chromatography. Results: The results showed that the removal efficiency did not change significantly by increasing pH. With increasing lamp power from 6 to 125 watts at one hour, the degradation efficiency increased by 24.5%, 23.5%, and 29.7% at concentrations of 10, 30, and 50 mg/l, respectively. Also, by increasing time from 5 to 15 minutes under the 125-watt radiation, the removal efficiency increased from 45.6 to 96.8%. Examining the results of mass gas chromatography revealed that atrazine photolysis process progressed towards the mineralization of atrazine. Accordingly, organic chlorine transformed to chlorine ion and organic nitrogen involved in ammonium and nitrate molecules. Conclusion: Overall, the results indicated that photolysis at the wavelength of 254 nm could be used along with other purification methods to completely remove atrazine and simultaneously disinfect contaminated water sources.