3D Analysis and Investigation of Traffic Noise Impact from Hemmat Highway Located in Tehran on Buildings and Surrounding Areas

This study analyzes and investigates the impact of traffic noise on high rise buildings and surrounding areas by the side of Hemmat Highway that links west of Tehran to the east. In this study, a 3D traffic noise simulation model is applied on a GIS system. Visualized noise levels are formulated by the proposed model for noise mapping on all surfaces of the buildings and surrounding ground in a 3D platform. The investigation shows that there is a high traffic noise impact on the foreground and front facades of buildings, rendering these areas unsuitable for residential purposes. The ground area by the sides of buildings and the building side panels receive a lower noise impact. Most of these areas are still not acceptable for residential and even commercial use, only the back yards and back panels, have the lowest traffic noise impact. It also shows that the building height is not an effective factor for reducing motorway noise on the upper part of the building. Finally, construction cantilever barriers with a height of seven meters, close to the outer edge of the highway was presented as an effective way to reduce noise within the allowable range of noise pollution for commercial and residential purposes.

Design a New Model to Evaluate the Ecological Potential Land for Urban Development and Service (City of Zanjan)

This study aimed to design a new ecological model to be used in ecological land evaluation studies, using careful planning and sustainable resource in the region to develop a sustainable and comprehensive guide. The results show that the study area has grade 1 and 2 urban sustainable planning. Capability Grade 1 has area 149,724.25 hectares equal 22.2% that is stretched from East to West Range. Capability Grade2 has area about 18533.28 hectares equal 2.7% that located in the South, East and South-East. The results show that the greater extent of this range is the unsustainable site, which extends over 506,664.81 hectares, equivalent to 75.1% that areas compliance by the Environmental Protection area. Another important result of this study is unsuitable area for urban development and the range of services already seating workshops and industrial units. This is due to the arrival of adverse environmental effects. Therefore, this study has been focusing on reform of the status of land of use and the optimal use of the ecological potential.

A Novel Method to Identify the Global Sources and Sinks of Carbon Dioxide Based on Spatial Analysis

Today global warming has become one of the most important concerns of environmental science. The redundancy of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is known as a major factor in this phenomenon. These gases contain water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. The CO2?gas is one of their most effective among these gases. According to scientific warnings, the amount of CO2?gases in the atmosphere has increased by 40% to 45% over the last 50 years. Reducing the abundant gas in the atmosphere requires a good knowledge of related factors involved, including sources that emit gases into the atmosphere and sinks that absorb the gas from the atmosphere. The amount of CO2?gas in the atmosphere has been accurately measured in previous years with great certainty. But the predicted values of emissions from sources and removals by sinks have large ambiguities. As studies show, even the computed residuals trends (which is obtained by subtracting the amounts of sinks from sources) strongly disagree with the trends of the existence of CO2?in the atmosphere. This study as a preliminary review, proposes a method to identify the locations of sources and sinks of carbon dioxide using global statistical information and adding spatial analysis approaches. By applying this method to the data observed from 2000 to 2011 and the extraction of likely sources and sinks, the region of the Black Sea, near Romania recognized as one of the strong points issued and Bukit Kototabang near Indonesia acknowledged as an Impressive CO2?absorption zone.

Co-Contamination of Arsenic and Other Trace Elements (Hg, Pb, Al, Fe, Cr, Ni, and Cd) in the Rafsanjan Plain Alluvial Aquifer SE of Iran and Arsenic Risk Assessment

Assessing the concentration of trace elements in aquifers is increasingly subjected to study in Iran due to the lack of groundwater resources. This study was undertaken with the objective of determining trace elements in the alluvial aquifer located in the southern part of the Rafsanjan plain, Kerman province, Iran. The total of 73 groundwater samples from individual water wells were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Results showed that the levels of As, Hg, Pb, Al, Fe, Cr, Ni, and Cd elements were above the World Health Organization standards for drinking-water in some parts of the plain. Thus, statistical data analyses and spatial distribution interpretation were performed to identify the main sources of the pollution. A health risk assessment model derived from US environmental protection agency was applied to calculate the cumulative exposure to As as well as toxic and carcinogenic risks caused by drinking contaminated raw groundwater. Results show that residents of some part of region may suffer from significant adverse toxic health impacts and are exposed to drinking water with As concentrations.

A multi-functional Ru Mo bimetallic catalyst for ultra-efficient C3 alcohols production from liquid phase hydrogenolysis of glycerol

Ru and Mo bimetallic catalysts supported on active carbon modified by phosphotungstic acid(PW)were designed and applied in glycerol hydrogenolysis reaction.The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were characterized and the presence of active sites was investigated from the perspective of the glycerol hydrogenolysis performance.The MoOxis highly selective for the C—O bond cleavage of glycerol molecules,which can reasonably regulate the strong C—C bond cleavage activity of Ru nanoparticles.By using sequential deposition of Ru and Mo supported on mesoporous PW-C,the characterization results show that the combination of isolated low-valence MoOxwith metal Ru particles can form“MoOx-Ru-PW”,which provides highly catalytic activity toward C—O bond cleavage,selectively producing more C3 alcohols(mainly 1,2(3)-propanediol).The glycerol conversion of 1%Mo/Ru/PW-C catalyst was 59.6%,the selectivity of C3 alcohol was 96.1%,and the selectivity of propanediol(1,2(3)-propanediol)was 94.9%.It is noteworthy that the selectivity of 1,3-propanediol reached 20.7%when the PW was 21.07%(mass).This study provides experimental evidence for the tandem dehydration and hydrogenation mechanism of the multifunctional Mo/Ru/PW-C catalyst.

Cloud Computing as an Innovation in GIS &SDI: Methodologies, Services, Issues and Deployment Techniques

Cloud computing is one of the main issues of interest to the scientific community of the spatial data. A cloud is referred to computing infrastructure for a representation of network. From the perspective of providers, the main characteristics of cloud computing is being dynamic, high power in computing and storage. Also cloud computing is a cost benefit and effective way for representation of web-based spatial data and complex analysis. Furthermore, cloud computing is a way to facilitate distributed computing and store different data. One of the main features of cloud computing is ability in powerful computing and dynamic storage with an affordable expense and secure web. In this paper we further investigate the methodologies, services, issues and deployed techniques also, about situation of cloud computing in the past, present and future is probed and some issues concerning the security is expressed. Undoubtedly cloud computing is vital for spatial data infrastructure and consequently the cloud computing is able to expand the interactions for spatial data infrastructure in the future.

Heavy Metal Distributions in Water of the Aras River, Ardabil, Iran

Aras (situated on the frontier river) is one of Iran’s important rivers which is situated on the west North of the country. The concentration of heavy metals in this river was studied around Ardabil province during the 1389 in all four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). The cluster analysis technique with the help of the results gained from density of metals like (Zn, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, Cd) was used in the water of Aras river for classifying quality of the river. Accord- ing to the gained results from the cluster analysis, the stations were divided into three groups with high pollution (HP), medium pollution (MP) and low pollution (LP). In general, S3, S5 stations with high pollution, S2, S4 stations with medium pollution and S1 station with low pollutions are classified in the water of Aras River.

Spatial Analysis Approach in Revealing the Global Sinks of Atmosphere Carbon Dioxide through “Leave One Out” Method

Global warming and climate change are the most important ecological issues of our time. The most well-known factor in this phenomenon is the redundancy of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Over the past 50 years the amount of residual CO2 in the atmosphere has risen from 40% to 45%. Reducing CO2 redundancy requires precise knowledge of the gas sources and sinks throughout the atmosphere. Despite having a leading role in residual gas levels of atmosphere, the diagnosis and types of changes of absorbing carbon dioxide are very much in doubt. Atmospheric measurements of CO2 concentrations are highly precise and provide a reliable measure of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere every year but they do not lead to the location of sources and sinks. Studies about understanding CO2 cycles began mainly around 1990 and most of these studies have been focused on non-spatial analysis. By ignoring the spatial effects, an important property such as closeness (adjacent) has been disregarded. The emission sources of gas are stronger than their sink sources i.e., whenever a sink is adjacent to a strong emission source, the measurements will show a massive existence of CO2 gas in that region although there exists a fine CO2?gas sink at below. Using the global measurements of CO2 and applying spatial analysis approach to “Leave One Out” method, our studies reveal the most probable spots of CO2 sources and sinks and that Negev Desert in Middle East is a distinguished CO2 sink region.

Distributed Algorithms for Maximizing Lifetime in Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks Using Energy-harvesting Relay Nodes

Motivated by recent developments in wireless sensor networks(WSNs),we present distributed clustering algorithms for maximizing the lifetime of WSNs,that is,the duration until the first node dies.We study the joint problem of prolonging network lifetime by introducing clustering techniques and energy-harvesting(EH)nodes.First,we propose a distributed clustering algorithm for maximizing the lifetime of clustered WSN,which includes EH nodes,serving as relay nodes for cluster heads(CHs).Second,graph-based and LP-based EH-CH matching algorithms are proposed which serve as benchmark algorithms.Extensive simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can achieve optimal or suboptimal solutions efficiently.

Process simulation and economic analysis of reactor systems for perfluorinated compounds abatement without HF effluent

New and efficient proposed to treat perfluorinated reactor systems were compounds via catalytic decomposition. One system has a single reactor （S-1）, and another has a series of reactors （S-2）. Both systems are capable of producing a valuable CaF2 and eliminating toxic HF effluent and their feasibility was studied at various temperatures with a commercial process simulator, Aspen HYSYS. They are better than the conventional system, and S-2 is better than S-1 in terms of CaF2 production, a required heat for the system, natural gas usage and CO2 emissions in a boiler, and energy consumption. Based on process simulation results, preliminary economic analysis shows that cost savings of 12.37% and 13.55% were obtained in S-2 at 589.6 and 621.4℃compared to S-1 at 700 and 750 ℃, respectively, for the same amount of CaF2 production.

Responses of Soil Enzyme Activities and Microbial Community Composition to Moisture Regimes in Paddy Soils Under Long-Term Fertilization Practices

The effects of fertilization on activity and composition of soil microbial community depend on nutrient and water availability;however,the combination of these factors on the response of microorganisms was seldom studied.This study investigated the responses of soil microbial community and enzyme activities to changes in moisture along a gradient of soil fertility formed within a long-term(24 years)field experiment.Soils(0–20 cm)were sampled from the plots under four fertilizer treatments:i)unfertilized control(CK),ii)organic manure(M),iii)nitrogen,phosphorus,and potassium fertilizers(NPK),and iv)NPK plus M(NPK+M).The soils were incubated at three moisture levels:constant submergence,five submerging-draining cycles(S-D cycles),and constant moisture content at 40%water-holding capacity(low moisture).Compared with CK,fertilization increased soil organic carbon(SOC) by 30.1%–36.3%,total N by 27.3%–38.4%,available N by 35.9%–56.4%,available P by 61.4%–440.9%,and total P by 28.6%–102.9%.Soil fertility buffered the negative effects of moisture on enzyme activities and microbial community composition.Enzyme activities decreased in response to submergence and S-D cycles versus low moisture.Compared with low moisture,S-D cycles increased total phospholipid fatty acids(PLFAs)and actinomycete,fungal,and bacterial PLFAs.The increased level of PLFAs in the unfertilized soil after five S-D cycles was greater than that in the fertilized soil.Variations in soil microbial properties responding to moisture separated CK from the long-term fertilization treatments.The coefficients of variation of microbial properties were negatively correlated with SOC,total P,and available N.Soils with higher fertility maintained the original microbial properties more stable in response to changes in moisture compared to low-fertility soil.

A CFD study of the transport and fate of airborne droplets in a ventilated office:The role of droplet−droplet interactions

Previous studies reported that specially designed ventilation systems provide good air quality and safe environment by removing airborne droplets that contain viruses expelled by infected people.These water droplets can be stable in the environment and remain suspended in air for prolonged periods.Encounters between droplets may occur and droplet interactions should be considered.However,the previous studies focused on other physical phenomena(air flow,drag force,evaporation)for droplet transport and neglected droplet interactions.In this work,we used computational fluid dynamics(CFD)to simulate the transport and fate of airborne droplets expelled by an asymptomatic person and considered droplet interactions.Droplet drag with turbulence for prediction of transport and fate of droplets indicated that the turbulence increased the transport of 1μm droplets,whereas it decreased the transport of 50μm droplets.In contrast to only considering drag and turbulence,consideration of droplet interactions tended to increase both the transport and fate.Although the length scale of the office is much larger than the droplet sizes,the droplet interactions,which occurred at the initial stages of release when droplet separation distances were shorter,had a significant effect in droplet fate by considerably manipulating the final locations on surfaces where droplets adhered.Therefore,it is proposed that when an exact prediction of transport and fate is required,especially for high droplet concentrations,the effects of droplet interactions should not be ignored.

Influence of haze pollution on water-soluble chemical species in PM2.5 and size-resolved particles at an urban site during fall

To investigate the influence of haze on the chemical composition and formation processes of ambient aerosol particles,PM_（2.5） and size-segregated aerosol particles were collected daily during fall at an urban site of Gwangju,Korea.During the study period,the total concentration of secondary ionic species（SIS） contributed an average of 43.9% to the PM_（2.5） ,whereas the contribution of SIS to the PM_（2.5） during the haze period was 62.3%.The NO_3 and SO^（2-）_4 concentrations in PM_（2.5） during the haze period were highly elevated,being 13.4 and 5.0 times higher than those during non-haze period,respectively.The PM,NO^-_3,SO^（2-）_4,oxalate,water-soluble organic carbon（WSOC）,and humic-like substances（HULIS） had tri-modal size distributions peaks at 0.32,1.0,and 5.2 μm during the non-haze and haze periods.However,during the non-haze period they exhibited dominant size distributions at the condensation mode peaking at 0.32 μm,while on October 21 when the heaviest haze event occurred,they had predominant droplet mode size distributions peaking at 1.00 μm.Moreover,strong correlations of WSOC and HULIS with SO^（2-）_4,oxalate,and K＋at particle sizes of 〈 1.8 μm indicate that secondary processes and emissions from biomass burning could be responsible for WSOC and HULIS formations.It was found that the factors affecting haze formation could be the local stable synoptic conditions,including the weak surface winds and high surface pressures,the long-range transportation of haze from eastern China and upwind regions of the Korean peninsula,as well as the locally emitted and produced aerosol particles.

A Comprehensive Review on Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Microbial Fuel Cells

The focus of microbial fuel cell research in recent years has been on the development of materials,microbes,and transfer of charges in the system,resulting in a substantial improvement in current density and improved power generation.The cathode is generally recognized as the limiting factor due to its high-distance proton transfer,slow oxygen reduction reaction(ORR),and expensive materials.The heterogeneous reaction determines power gen-eration in MFC.This comprehensive review describes-recent advancements in the development of cathode mate-rials and catalysts associated with ORR.The recent studies indicated the utilization of different metal oxides,the ferrite-based catalyst to overcome this bottleneck.These studies conclude that some cathode materials,in parti-cular,graphene-based conductive polymer composites with non-precious metal catalysts provide substantial ben-efits for sustainable development in the field of MFCs.Furthermore,it also highlights the potentiality to replace the conventional platinum air cathode for the large-scale production of the next generation of MFCs.It was evi-dent from the experiments that cathode catalyst needs to be blended with conductive carbon materials to make cathode conductive and efficient for ORR.This review discusses various antifouling strategies for cathode biofoul-ing and its effect on the MFC performance.Moreover,it also depicts cost estimations of various catalysts essential for further scale-up of MFC technology.

Monitoring biofouling based on aerobic respiration in reverse osmosis system

A monitoring method of biofouling in reverse osmosis(RO) system was proposed based on the fluorescent signal of resorufin, which is reduced by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide released from viable cells during aerobic respiration. The fluorescent signal of resorufin reduced by planktonic cells and microorganisms of biofilm showed linearity, indicating its feasibility to monitor biofouling in a RO system. For the application of the method to the lab-scale RO system, the injection concentration of resazurin and the injection flow rate were optimized. Biofilm on RO membranes continuously operated in a lab-scale RO system was estimated by resorufin fluorescence under optimized detection condition. As a result,resorufin fluorescence on RO membrane showed a significant increase in which the permeability of RO system decreased by 30.48%. Moreover, it represented the development of biofilm as much as conventional biofilm parameters such as adenosine triphosphate,extracellular polymeric substances, and biofilm thickness. The proposed method could be used as a sensitive and low-cost technology to monitor biofouling without autopsy of membranes.