Nitrate removal from aqueous solutions by magnetic nanoparticle

Introduction: Due to causing methemoglobinemia, different cancers, and teratogen effects in human nitrate contamination of water resources has become a critical environmental problem Therefore, the aim of this work was to determine the optimum condition of nitrate sorption onto magnetic nanoparticle

Materials and Methods: The removal of nitrate from aqueous solutions by magnetic nanoparticles has been studied through using batch adsorption method. X-ray diffraction [XRD], Transmission Electron Microscopy [TEM], and Scanning Electron Microscopy [SEM] was applied to characterize the synthesized Fe[3]O[4]. The effect of pH, nano-magnetic, adsorbent dose, initial concentration of nitrate, and contact time were investigated

Results: According to SEM and TEM images, the adsorbent particles were nanosized and spheroidal; the sizes were about 20-30 nm. The experiments' results indicated that the optimum adsorbent dose was 750 mg in 1000 ml of solution, with a contact time of 90 min, while the optimum pH was 9. The kinetic models for nitrate adsorption showed rapid sorption dynamics by both first-order kinetic [R2 = 0.97] and second-order kinetic [R2 = 0.96] models. Nitrate adsorption equilibrium data were fitted well to the Freundlich isotherm than Langmuir isotherm

Conclusion: The results showed that, magnetic nanoparticles can be used as a low cost and efficient adsorbent for removal of nitrate from aqueous solutions

Assessment of safety management in different wards of AL Zahra hospital in Isfahan city in 2013

Introduction: Since hospitals give their services to a huge number of people most of whom are sick and disabled and also because they have many expensive and modern equipment and facilities, any negligence regarding the standards of safety management leads to severe damages including financial ones. This may even result in irrecoverable consequences such as their clients' Death. So, this investigation was conducted to assess the condition of safety management in Isfahan's AL Zahra hospital

Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical project was conducted in different wards of AL Zahra hospital. In this study, the hospital's units under the investigation were determined and no sampling method was used. The data collection was done by a checklist and questionnaire. They had content validity which was confirmed by the viewpoints of psychiatric and behavioral sciences specialists. The data were analyzed through SPSS [version 16] using Kruskal Wallis statistical tests. In this study, the level of significance was 0.05

Results: After assessing safety management in Safety and Accidents Committee and calculating the score average of the studied factors, safety management organization and also hospital's organizational constructs sectors were 74.43 +/- 13.47 and 65.48 +/- 12.25, respectively. Their safety management condition was assessed appropriate. Surgery ward was also assessed appropriate regarding the principles of safety management with a mean score of 77.36 +/- 13.84. No significant difference was found among the studied standards in these units according to Kruskal Wallis statistical test. [P-value>0.05]

Conclusion: The results showed that the condition of safety management in this hospital was acceptable, in general. However, it is necessary to do the following interventions to improve safety condition; training managers and staff, setting and observing the rules and disciplines of safety, regular monitoring of safety issues and considering safety principles implementation as an important factor in evaluating and ranking of hospitals