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Introduction: Today, the food-energy nexus is a vital issue. Energy in the food production chain is an essential feature of agricultural development and a critical factor in achieving food security. Energy use in the agricultural sector has increased to respond to the growing demand of the population, as well the limited supply of cultivated lands, and the desire for high standards of living. Therefore, the agricultural sector is heavily dependent on energy that affects agricultural prices. Agricultural price fluctuations are one of the most critical challenges for policymakers. The rapid rise in food prices has a significant negative impact on social welfare, especially the poor in developing countries, which is an issue that is more critical in developing countries than in developed countries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report in 2018, the food world price index increased from 89.6 to 229.9 during the period from 2002 to 2011. Our literature review shows a distinct lack of research on modeling and analyzing the linkage between agricultural input price shock, especially energy and agricultural commodity prices in Iran. Materials and Methods: The Markov Switching model is a popular non-linear time-series model that involves multiple equations and can characterize the time-series behaviors in different regimes. This model is suitable for describing correlated data that exhibit distinct dynamic patterns during different periods. So, considering the sensitivity of food security and the impact of agricultural input, the main objective of this paper is to develop an econometric model to gain reliable insight into the impact of energy consumption on agricultural inflation, using the Markov Switching approach. To estimate this equation, we will run a MS-AR model, some preliminary tests, such as unit root test and stability test, are employed to ensure the reliability of MS-AR estimation results. Results and Discussion: Due to use of time series data, it is necessary to check the stationary status of variables. We performed a common non-linear unit root test (Kapetanios, Shin and Shell (KSS), Zivot and Andrews, Lee and Strazicich). These results reveal that we can significantly reject the null hypothesis of unit root for API, PPI, FPI, and EC, implying that all four variables considered in this study are stationary with structural breaks at levels. The Markov-Switching model has the various types that each of these is a particular component of the regime-dependent equation. Therefore, to choose the best type, the Akaike information criterion was used, and the model with the minimum value was selected as the optimal one. After model estimation and selection, the LR test indicated that the hypothesis of linearity could be rejected in favor of a Markov switching model. According to this model, the period of the Markov switching model estimation is classified into two regimes. Approximately, all the estimated coefficients of the MSIAH (2) - AR (5) model are found to be significant at the conventional level. Conclusion: The estimation results are consistent with theoretical foundations illustrating the importance of input prices and energy consumption on agricultural commodity prices. As with most experimental studies reviewed, this study has also shown energy consumption has a negative impact on agricultural commodity prices. In other words, it can be contended that during the study period, agricultural input prices have been influential factors on agricultural commodity prices. The findings revealed that the low inflation rate and high inflation rate regimes are stable and that only extreme events can switch regimes. The results of the MS model showed that the effect of input prices on agricultural inflation is different in regimes. In the case of energy, the impact of energy consumption on agricultural commodity prices in the high inflation rate regime is less than the low inflation rate regime because the elimination of energy subsidies policy has been applied in the second regime (high inflation rate). Thus, the results indicate the asymmetric impact of energy consumption shocks on agricultural commodity prices. The effect of agricultural input prices on agricultural commodity prices indicates that Iranian agriculture is significantly affected by changes in input prices. In this study, changes in input prices were caused by various shocks, such as the elimination of energy subsidies and drought. Therefore, it can be concluded that the elimination of energy subsidies and drought were, directly and indirectly, able to affect agricultural inflations through the price of inputs. In conclusion, planners and policymakers must pay attention to this asymmetry in agricultural commodity prices volatility to increase the price stability in agriculture as much as possible by appropriate policy tools.

Background and Aim: Among the medical wastes, dental wastes have a high diversity and due to its high contents of hazardous, toxic, and pathogenic agents, therefore these wastes are of great importance. The aim of this study was to investigate and analyze the amount of waste produced in dentistry offices in Birjand. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 48 dental offices in the city of Birjand were studied. Sampling was carried out by environmental health experts in three consecutive working days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) from every center. The Samples were divided into 5 categories such as semi-domestic, infectious, chemical-pharmaceutical, toxic and sharp material, Separated and weighed using a laboratory scale. Information was expressed as percentage by weight. Results: Based on the results, the total amount of waste produced in dental offices in Birjand was 7848.02 kg / year. percentages of semi-domestic, infectious, chemical-pharmaceutical, sharp material, and toxic wastes were 54.3%, 29.7%, 11.8%, 3.9% and 0.11% respectively. Conclusion: Considering the high volume of dental waste, especially infectious and hazardous materials, the need for separation and recycling in the office is evident. It is necessary to manage the wastes and their separation and recycling in source place.

The energy management of ships to improve the efficiency of ships and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is among the most important issues that have been considered as a milestone in designing and constructing of vessels in recent years. The study of energy trends and attention to technological changes and the importance of more stringent environmental standards in recent years have led to a major challenge in relation to air pollution, energy management, and exposure to end-of-life sources of fossil fuels. In recent years, focus on current fuels and technologies in vehicles has led to a major challenge regarding air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, energy security, and also exposure to exhausting sources of fossil fuels. Now days, Hybrid propulsion systems are one of the solutions that are being followed in many countries to solve this problem. In this paper, after introducing the hybrid system; conceptual design and determination of a suitable hybrid system for vessels have been investigated. Then the calculations and relations dominating the hybrid parallel system of vessel are presented. The modeling is also done using the ADVISOR software run in the Simulink platform of the MATLAB for both conventional and hybrid systems. The results show that parallel hybrid vessel has improved by 7% in total efficiency and 7.1% for consumption. In addition, HC and CO emissions have been decreased by 0.44% and 0.39%, respectively.

Introduction Soil bacteria plays an important role in bio-geochemical cycles that cause soil ecosystem dynamics to return nutrients to life cycles. In recent days, these organisms can serve as complementary or, in some cases, alternative fertilizers, to maintain the sustainability of the agricultural ecosystem. On the other hand, the production of high-yielding cultivars has increased the consumption of agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers, which has caused a crisis of environmental pollution. Bacteria are soil microorganisms that are involved in the nutrient cycle of the soil, can improve plant growth, and are known as growth promoting bacteria (PGPRs). Approximately two to five percent of root-borne bacteria are in the group of growth-promoting bacteria. These bacteria improve plant growth in a variety of ways, including nitrogen fixation, synthesis and production of iron-complex ingsiderophore, production of plant hormones, production of antibiotics and fungicide compounds. Soil has a wide range of organic phosphate sources that must be converted to its inorganic form by enzymes such as phosphatase, phytase and phosphonostat, and bacteria in the Bacillus and Pseudomonas groups can be produced by the production of acid phosphatases that dissolve phosphates to help absorb them by plant. Another group of bacteria such as Azotobacter and Azospirillum have the ability to stabilize nitrogen. Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the oldest oilseed plants and has been named as the queen of oilseed plants and compatible with arid and semi-arid regions. Lowing sesame yield per unit area necessity to exerted agronomic management practice. The number of capsules is the main components of yield that has highly correlated with it. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of biofertilizers on number of capsules per node of leaves sesame plant under field conditions. Materials and Methods An experiment was conducted as factorial arrangement based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at Mashhad Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center during two growing seasons (2017-2018 and 2018-2019). The first factors were: seeds single capsule and multi-capsule seed types and second factors were four Biofertilizers: 1) Nitroxin® (containing Azotobacter and Azospirillum bacteria), 2) Biophosphorus® (containing phosphatase-solubilizing bacteria of genus Bacillus and Pseudomonas), 3) Equal mixture of Nitroxin and biophosphorus and 4) control. At planting time, seeds were inoculated with biological fertilizers by standard method, away from direct light and foliar spraying was done in 50% reproductive stage with the bio fertilizer treatments. The morphological traits (plant height, number and length of lateral branches, number and dry weight of leaves, number of nodes, number of capsules, number of single and multiple capsules nodes were measure per plant and biomass and seed yield were measured per unit area. Data was analyzed using MSTAT-C and means was comparison with LSR at the 5% probability level. Results and Discussion Application of biofertilizers increased plant height by 11 to 19.9 cm compared to no fertilizer treatment (89.1 cm). In the second year, the number of nodes was about 43% higher than the first year. Triple interaction treatments showed that in the second year and in single capsule seeds the application of nitroxin and biophosphorus fertilizer had the highest number of nodes (85.7) and the lowest amount of it was observed in single seed capsule plants in the first year. The highest number of single capsule nodes was obtain in the application of biofertilizer (nitroxin+ biophosphorus) in single capsule seeds. In the second year, the number of single capsule nodes in both seed types was more than 29 per plant. In the second year, the highest number of multi-capsule nodes was recorded from multi-capsule seeds with use of nitroxin and biophosphorus combination fertilizers. Interaction between treatments of seed type and biofertilizer results showed that plant was growth from multi-capsule seed had a positive reaction to biofertilizer so that in multiple seed type the number of capsule per plant was more than 57 in application of biofertilizer. Both in the first and second year, in the multiple seed capsule type, the use of biofertilizers produced more grain yield per square meter than other treatments. Conclusions The results of this study showed that consuming of biofertilizers together that containing Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Bacillus and Pseudomonas had a positive significant effect on the plant height, number of capsules per node leaf, biomass and number of capsule that lead to increase of seed yield in sesame plant. Therefore, it is recommended that seeds inoculate with these bacteria in sowing time and applying one foliar spraying in mid-flowering time lead to enhance sesame yield.

Due to the increasing cost and environmental impacts of fossil fuel consumption, using the renewable energies in data center has become an important and essential priority. Although using renewable energies has less environmental harmful effects, but the high investment needed for their installations as well as their fluctuating power production characteristic, restricts their usage such that most of data centers' managers prefer to use brown energy instead. In this paper, the power management and cost reduction techniques, with the aim of reducing break-even time, like using the electricity pricing models' opportunity and distributed Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) has been considered. In each time slot, the proposed Smart Power Manager Unit (SPMU) specifies the optimized distribution of power between available power supplies based on available solar energy, the price of electricity and the status of distributed UPS batteries; it also manages batteries charging and discharging. Results show that proposed method reduces the break-even time of investment cost on solar power installation to 0/8- 1/2 years that is 36% shorter than conventional method on average.

The rural community in Mazandaran is characterized by agricultural traits and rice cultivation. Indeed, agriculture plays an important role in the social, cultural, economic and environmental relations of rural communities in this province. Considering two types of agriculture, this study aims at the relationship between them and a sustainable system which farmers believe can be achieved in farming. The research method was both quantitative and qualitative. In the quantitative part, a questionnaire was used to collect the data. The farmers that were selected were those who had experience with modern agriculture under the influence of agricultural development programs. In the qualitative part, interviews were conducted with a sample of 20 farmers until data saturation. In this research, a sample of three villages around the city of Amol was selected where the farmers had experience with both traditional and modern agricultural systems. The findings show that, in terms of sustainability, there is a fundamental difference between traditional and modern agricultural practices. Based on the results of the analysis, traditional agriculture has a direct impact on sustainability, and farmers are aware of this. However, where the economy is prevailed by profit attitudes and the other sectors are not involved in agriculture, circumstances are not in line with sustainability.

Nowadays, greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of fossil fuels has led to environmental problems such as global warming which result in using low carbon energy sources and renewable energy as a potential substitute for fossil fuels and nonrenewable energy. This study is going to investigate Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for 11 elected OPEC countries, from 1980 to 2013 by using nonlinear quadratic model. The consumption of renewable and nonrenewable energy are considered together in this model which has been carried out by PMG (Pooled Mean Group). According to the outcomes of the research the Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is confirmed in these selected countries and studied period. The coefficient of nonrenewable energy consumption is statistically significant at the 0.01 significance level. Its estimated coefficient is 0.67 and states a 1% increase in nonrenewable energy consumption which leads to CO2 emission rise by 0.67%. It indicates that overusing of nonrenewable energy and fossil fuels increases environmental and air pollution. Also, the coefficient of renewable energy consumption is -0.005 that it is not statistically significant.

Introduction:Today, environmental issues have affected human life in the world, including Iran. Environmental problems are mainly the result of human use of natural resources and improper treatment of the environment, including the inappropriate use of fossil fuels. To achieve sustainable development, specifically in the field of energy, the knowledge of the correct ways of using natural resources and non-profit behaviors towards the environment, as well as proper ways to protect it must be considered. Given that new development approaches emphasize the need for the participation of all individuals and different groups in society, the role of environmental non-governmental organizations in achieving these goals, protecting the environment, and reducing vulnerability is very important. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the strategies of environmental non-governmental organizations in climate change and energy adaptation programs with a focus on an urban area. Materials and Methods:The approach of this research was interpretive. This study was conducted using contextual theory. Participants in this study were selected using purposive sampling in the form of snowball sampling, based on which 16 members of environmental non-governmental organizations in Tehran in 2019 were selected. Sampling in this study continued until it reached theoretical saturation. Accordingly, at the end of 16 interviews, data saturation was obtained. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding steps. In open coding, the data were first grouped into separate lines and categories, and a code or concept was attached to them. In the axial coding stage, the related raw codes were subdivided in terms of features and concepts. At this stage, the categories were connected as a network, and finally, the main categories and the core category emerged in addition to a paradigm model were extracted. The extracted paradigm model was divided into four parts: causal conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences. The four parts were formed around the central phenomenon. Discussion of Results and Conclusions:Data analysis showed that the causal conditions affecting the ways of attracting the participation of non-governmental organizations and the causes of the phenomenon of persuasion and related strategies were a sense of responsibility for the environment, scientific and executive ability of members, self-efficacy, and belief in the effect of individual action (effectiveness). Also, the intervening conditions affecting the phenomenon of persuasion were the weakness of society in the field of awareness (about individual duties, environmental knowledge, and status quo), lack of appropriate contexts in the society, weakness in group interactions, lack of proper infrastructure in buildings, and restrictions on laws. Besides, the results showed that the strategies adopted by non-governmental organizations were training and promotion of environmental knowledge at both intra-organizational and extra-organizational levels, improving local knowledge, fear and hope (the promise of a better future and fear of potential risks), sustainable local change (empowerment, alternative jobs, the formation of a local organization), profit and creating consensus between policymakers and active energy actors for legitimacy, division at the government, industry and university levels.The consequences of adopting these strategies were raising the level of awareness, responsibility, empowerment and independence of local communities, earning money, and prosperity of ecotourism. In general, the results of the present study showed that the main method of members of environmental groups to attract the participation of target groups was persuasion. To achieve this, the members of the non-governmental organizations have focused their efforts on educating and benefiting various groups. The results of this study can help other environmental agencies and government organizations to use the various capacities of environmental agencies.

World climate change is an accepted important subject but its negative effects are severe in arid and semi-arid areas of Iran. So, in the present study, two climate scenarios including RCP 8.5 (critical scenario) and RCP 4.5 (moderate scenario) during 2020, 2030, and 2040 decades and their effects on temperature changes in the wheat growth period in five cities of Isfahan province including Isfahan, Najaf Abad, Chadegan, Burkhar, and Meimeh have been investigated. The survey of temperature changes during wheat growth in the next decades showed that Burkhar, Isfahan, Najaf Abad, Chadegan, and Meimeh, respectively will experience more days with a temperature higher than 30°C in 2020, 2030, and 2040 decades than the mean of two recent years (2017-2018). Furthermore, in comparison with present conditions, the most changes in the number of days with a temperature higher than 30°C in next decades climates (2020, 2030, and 2040 decades) will be in Burkhar, Meimeh, Chadegan, Najaf Abad, and Isfahan, respectively. The range of changes percent in the number of days higher than 30°C in next climate conditions rather than present condition will be varied between 5 percent (Isfahan) till 97 percent (Burkhar). The changes percent in all studied cities were more in RCP 8.5 than RCP 4.5. During wheat growth, the number of days less than zero°C will be less in Isfahan, Burkhar, and Meimeh while will be more in Najaf Abad and Chadegan. The evaporation- transpiration will be increased in the next decades during wheat growth. As a result, planning and using compatibility strategies for each city is important to guarantee wheat production.

This research investigates the existence and direction of Granger causality between economic growth, energy consumption, and carbon emissions in Iran. A multivariate model including economic growth, energy consumption, carbon emissions, capital stock, labor force, and urban population is used to determine eventual causality between variables according to Toda-Yamamoto Approach. Results indicate that there is a bi-directional causality relationship between gross domestic product and CO2 emissions. Also, there is a uni-direction causality relationship from energy consumption to CO2 emissions. Finally, the results maintain that the EKC hypothesis for GDP and CO2 emissions is relevant in the period of study.