Introduction: Application of palm kernel shell activated carbon (PKSAC) in reducing the pollutant in palm oil mill effluent (POME) was studied as the alternative treatment system. Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the optimum PKSAC dosage and treatment time for its capability to treat the effluent. Methods: The study was carried out in batch and continuous systems. For batch system, activated carbon dosage ranging from 1% to 15% (w/v) was added into 200 mL of POME and agitated at 160 rpm for 24-120 h treatment time. As for continuous system, POME samples were fed into 2000 mL fixed-bed glass column and run continuously for 8 h/cycle. Results: For the batch study, results showed that the PKSAC works with maximum removal of pollutant at very high dosage up to 15% (w/v) in 72 h treatment time. Meanwhile, for fixed-bed treatment, POME was fed to the column with flow rate of 15 mL/min. The initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color of samples were in the range of 450-910 mg/L and 3500-6500 Pt/Co, respectively, and after the treatment, the maximum COD and color removal were 75% and 76%, respectively. The PKSAC became saturated after 8 treatment cycle. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the palm-based activated carbon was able to remove the organic pollutant and color of POME in both batch and continuous adsorption treatments. Being the raw material available in the palm oil mill, the PKS can be converted into activated carbon and used as sustainable practice to treat POME.

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Introduction: The main causes of increased environmental crisis are miseducation and lack of environmental education. Objective: The purpose of this research is investigating environmental skill, attitude, and knowledge of Bojnourd Islamic Azad University students during the academic year 2013-2014. Materials and Methods: It research method is descriptive-survey. Number of studying students has been 5570; through Cochran formula estimated sample size has calculated to 359 who have been chosen by random-stratified method. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that to collect data measuring Environmental behavior standard questionnaire of Omran and Mohamadi (2008) has been used which its Cronbach alpha has been calculated 0.732; it indicate that the questionnaire has reliability. The validity of this questionnaire has been previously approved and implemented to analysis data SPSS 21 software has been used after collecting questionnaires. After investigating data normality through Kolmogorov-Smirnov and confirming used scale, hypotheses have been analyzed by one-sample t-test. Then relations statuses between dimensions and research variables according to respondents view have been analyzed. Results: Results have indicated that significance level of knowledge, attitude, and skill variables among Bojnord Islamic Azad University students is more than average and < 5%; with 95% confidence it can be claimed that all hypotheses have been approved (standard value). Conclusions: The environmental skill, attitude, and knowledge are desirable in Bojnourd Islamic Azad University students.

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Context: Desertification of arable lands due to global warming and water shortage mandates use of low-quality water for irrigation. Using low-quality water imposes more stress on plants which are already under stress. Thus, there is an urgent need for finding stress tolerant plant species to survive/sustain under such stressful conditions. Since the native plants are already growing under such conditions and are adapted to these stresses, they are the most suitable candidates to be manipulated under the minimum cultural practices and minimum inputs for use under stress. If stress tolerant species/genotypes of the native plants are identified, there would be a substantial savings in cultural practices and inputs in using them. Aim: This grass has multi usages, including animal feed, soil conservation, saline soils reclamation, use in desert landscaping, and combating desertification. The objectives of this study were to find the most salinity and drought tolerant of various saltgrass genotypes for use in arid regions, where limited water supplies coupled with saline soils result in drought and salinity stresses. Materials and Methods: Various genotypes of saltgrass were studied in a greenhouse either hydroponically in culture solution for salt tolerance or in large galvanized cans contained fritted clay for drought tolerance. For the salinity stress tolerance, twelve inland saltgrass clones were studied in a greenhouse, using hydroponics technique to evaluate their growth responses under salt stress. Four salt treatments (EC 6, 20, 34, and 48 dS/m salinity stress) were replicated 3 times in a randomized complete block design experiment. Grasses were grown under these conditions for 10 weeks. During this period, shoots were clipped bi-weekly, clippings were oven dried at 75°C and dry matter (DM) weights were recorded, shoot and root lengths were also measured. At the last harvest, roots were also harvested, oven dried, and DM weights were determined. Grass quality was weekly evaluated and recorded. Although all the grasses showed a high level of salinity tolerance, there was a wide range of variations observed in salt tolerance of these saltgrass clones. For the drought tolerance study, 21 saltgrass clones were studied to evaluate their growth responses under drought stress. Plants were grown under normal condition for 6 months for complete establishment. Then, they were deprived from water for 4 months. Plant shoots were harvested weekly and oven dried at 75°C for DM weight determination. At each harvest, percentages of plant green covers were also estimated and recorded. Both the shoot dry weights and the percent of plant visual green cover decreased as drought period progressed. Results: Although all the grasses exhibited a high level of drought tolerance, there was a wide range of variations observed in various clones' responses. The superior salinity and drought stress tolerant genotypes were identified to be used for biological salinity control or reclamation of desert saline soils and combating desertification. Conclusion: My investigations at the University of Arizona on saltgrass (Distichlis spicata L.), a halophytic plant species, have indicated that this plant has an excellent drought and salinity tolerance with a great potential to be used under harsh environmental conditions.

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Aim: Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) is most famous for its use as a cut flower. This research was carried out in the research greenhouse of Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) branch, to investigate the effect of different hormones on some vegetative and reproductive traits of carnation. Settings and Design: The experimental design was completely randomized design. Materials and Methods: Using different hormonal treatments included indole-3-buteric acid (IBA) (1,000 ppm, 2,000 ppm, 2,500 ppm, and 3,000 ppm), potassium salt of indole-3-butyric acid (KIBA) (1,000 ppm, 2,000 ppm, 2,500 ppm, and 3,000 ppm), and no treatment as control with three replications. Stem cuttings of carnation were supplied from "Pink Nelson." The cuttings were exposed to different hormones for 10 s, and they were grown in coco peat+perlite (50%+50%) media. Plant irrigation was done with fogger systems. Some characteristics of the plant, such as the number of flowers, flower diameter, number of internodes, number of buds, flower stem length, number of leaves, and weight of aerial parts and root, were determined. Results: Statistical analysis showed that the number of flowers and weight of root of the plants treated with IBA and KIBA hormones were far greater compared to that of the controls. The highest of flower number, flower diameter, fresh and dry weight of root was obtained from IBA 2,000 ppm. The number of buds was significantly increased by the application of IBA at 1000 ppm and 2,000 ppm. And, KIBA at 1,000 ppm can increase the stem length of the flowers. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is suggested that the application of IBA and KIBA hormones improved quality of carnation flowers.

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Context: Accumulation of toxic metals in aquatic organisms is one of the most important problems facing the world today since these metals can enter the food chain and have a damaging impact on human health. Aims: This research determines the concentration of metals (cadmium [Cd], arsenic [As]) in the soft tissue of blue swimmer crab (Portunus pelagicus) from four different stations along the Asalouyeh coasts in Iran. Settings and Design: The West suburb of the Mond protected area in Bushehr Province was chosen as a control area. Samples were collected over a 3-month period during winter of 2014. Materials and Methods: Metal analysis was performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Surface water at each sampling station was measured for selected physicochemical parameters with a multiparameter meter. Statistical Analysis Used: Analysis of variance followed by Duncan test (α = 0.05) was applied to determine the differences between the groups. Results: The results showed that the mean concentration (mg/kg dry weight) of Cd in the crab was higher than As. The concentration of both metals was higher in March. The highest concentration of Cd (1.54 ± 0.07) and As (0.35 ± 0.01) in the samples was observed for station 1 which was near to industrial zone of Asalouyeh. The mean concentrations of both metals were significantly (P = 0.000) higher in the study area than in the control area. Conclusions: Results showed that P. pelagicus is a reliable biological indicator of Cd and As contamination. The concentration of Cd in the crab samples was higher than recommended levels. Therefore, it is not suitable for consumption.

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Context: There is a dearth of research on the orientations physicians bring into the patients physicians relationship in Nigeria. More scare was to find which specialty doctors were high on patient-centered care. To breach this gap, the study looked at doctors' orientation to patient-centeredness by specialty in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, a major tertiary health institution in North-Western Nigeria. Aim: This study aimed to determine the range of patient-centeredness by medical specialty among doctors working in AKTH, Kano. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which 110 physicians representing eight medical specialties in AKTH, Kano-Nigeria filled the sociodemographic questionnaire and Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS). Statistical Analysis Used: Data collected were analyzed using IBM-SPSS 21 software using descriptive statistics to determine the frequency, cross-tabulations, means, and differences and Cronbach's alphas to assess the PPOS internal consistency. Result: The three topmost patient-centered oriented specialties on all the three outcome scores are psychiatry, obstetrics/gynecology, and maxillofacial/dental unit (in descending order). Conversely, the lowest orientations are noted for internal medicine and family medicine specialties. Specialties with medium patient-centered orientation are surgery, radiology, and pediatrics. Conclusion: Our results concluded that the most patient-centered medical specialty in the place of study is psychiatry. It argued that low mortality rate and the chronic care practice model might be contributory factors. Elucidating on other contributing factors should be one of the challenges of future studies.

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Introduction: Family physician program as the greatest reforms of Iran's health system was initiated since 2008. The most important goals of this program were improvement in primary health services delivery. In this study, the Impact of family physician program implementation on the trend of changes in some of the maternal and newborn health indicators in a rural population of Isfahan province from 2001 to 2010 were investigated. Subject and Methods: This research was a retrospective study. The data were extracted from statistical and official documents. Indicators mean after and before family physician program implementation were compared using descriptive analysis and paired samples t-test. Results: The results of this study indicated that there were a significant difference between neonatal mortality rate, infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate before and after of family physician program implementation. And performing this program has been the effective impact on improving mentioned indicators. The indicators of mothers mortality rate and low births weight rate were not indicated significant difference before and after of family physician program implementation. Conclusion: Considering trend of changes in studied indicators it can be said that family physician program implementation has been the effective impact on improving all of mother and child indicators except low births weight rate.

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