Caspian Journal of Environmental Sciences
Volume:20 Issue: 2, Spring 2022

Pollution of the aquatic environment by microplastics (MPs) is one of the most serious environmental issues worldwide and has raised many concerns about their availability and hazards for aquatic biota. In addition, fish is an important source of protein for humans, hence, the accumulation, and toxic effects of the MPs in fish deserve special attention. This study aims to examine the ingestion, tissue accumulation and toxic effects of polyvinyl chloride microplastics (PVC-MPs) in juvenile common carp.  Fluorescent-tagged PVC-MPs were found in various tissues of fish only after 4-5 days of exposure. The size of MPs showed a significant role in acute toxicity and mortality due to PVC-MPs. 100% mortality were observed after 7 and 10 days exposures to 1000 and 100 µg L-1 class A-PVC-MPs (100>µm) respectively, while 1000 µg L-1 of class A-PVC-MPs (300-1000 µm) killed only 16.6% of fish after ten days. Different grades of tissue damage were found in the gills, gut, and liver of fish in proportion to size, time, and concentration of PVC-MPs. Epithelial detachment, thinning of the bowel wall, and lesions of villi in the gastric wall were the dominant damages in the gastrointestinal tract. Gills also were affected in the form of necrosis, adhesion, and partial fusion of secondary lamellae. Hepatic damages (cellular necrosis and infiltration) were found only due to exposure of fish to class A-PVC-MPs. Altogether, these findings suggest that common carp intake significant levels of environmental microplastics (intentionally or accidentally), which seriously affect fish health and raise significant concerns about marine ecosystem health and seafood safety due to microplastic pollution.

Undoubtedly, log smuggling is one of the most significant factors in quantitative and qualitative reduction of the Caspian forests in north of Iran, while it has received less attention in forest studies. This study was conducted to identify the causes of log smuggling in Guilan Province, Iran. A team of 24 experts from Forest Protection Department, Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, Guilan Province was selected, and the study was carried out in three phases by questionnaire and Delphi method. According to the frequency of responses to the first open-ended question in the first stage of Delphi method, number of 24 various specialists’ ideas were identified as the causes of log smuggling. Greed of profiteers, unemployment and the need for income especially among young people, lack of planning in each forest area, poverty in forest communities, easy access to forest areas through forest roads, and closure of forestry plans had the highest frequency among responses. Based on the results from phase two of Delphi method, unemployment and the need for income especially among young people was the notable cause of log smuggling. Systematic corruption, greed of profiteers, poverty in forest communities, failure to deal effectively with log smuggling agents, buying and selling smuggled wood without any trouble are ranked second to sixth, respectively. The Kendall's W test showed no concordance between experts on the questions in relation to the comparison between the ranks among the variables. The results of the tests also showed that the “unemployment and the need for income especially among young people” factor was the first rank, while the “timber industry dependency on certain types of wood” was the last one. The summary of interviewee's opinions after the Kendall's W test illustrated that the most principle log smuggling causes are as follows: unemployment and the need for income especially among young people (94%), systematic corruption (89%), greed of profiteers (86%), and poverty in forest communities (84%), and failure to deal effectively with log smuggling agents (82%). By identifying the factors affecting log smuggling, the necessity of using a strategy to deal with these factors in Guilan Province is felt more than ever.

In this study, the tolerable concentration of sodium chloride in juvenile kutum, Rutilus kutum and its effect on the fish gill, liver and kidney were examined. So, LC50 of sodium chloride in 96 h in a standing environment on 200 juveniles of 1-3 g was determined to be 8.12 g L-1 using Probit analysis statistical method. The experiment was performed according to the OECD method with five treatments and one control (each with three replications). Toxicity test was performed in 30-L glass aquariums. Ten juvenile kutum were stocked in each aquarium. LC10, LC50 and LC90 of sodium chloride for 96 h with logarithmically-determined concentrations (5, 6.46, 8.36, 10.81 and 14 g L-1, respectively) were 3.37, 8.12, 19.52 g L-1. During the experiment, water temperature (22 ± 0.7 °C), dissolved oxygen (7.5 ± 0.3 mg L-1) and pH (7.52 ± 0.2) were measured daily. Histopathological examination on kutum juveniles in the gill by the increased sodium chloride concentration, included hyperemia, hyperplasia, the secondary lamellae adhesion, cell necrosis and lifting secondary lamellar epithelial layers. In addition, hyperemia and fat degeneration, cell necrosis, bleeding and hypertrophy were observed in the fish liver. Histopathologically, hemorrhage, cell necrosis, hemorrhage, melanoma macrophages and increased urinary space were observed in the fish kidneys. Behaviorally, group swimming and aggregating at the corners of aquariums and floors, and by elevating the sodium chloride concentration, impatience and suffocation of fish increased. In addition, by uprising the sodium chloride concentration, lethargy and mucus secretion on the surface of juvenile fish body increased.

The research was conducted in Wadi Rehana area within the Upper Euphrates region in the Iraqi Western Desert. A number of samples of groundwater wells were collected randomly on a seasonal basis and were chemically analysed to obtain concentrations of some important elements to determine the quality of water resources. The results showed that various wells with the water quality within the classes C5S1 and C6S1, are considered very salty and unsuitable for irrigation operations and rarely used for some types of crops. The results showed that all five soil pedon had SL and Sil textures, and they are within the medium texture soil of the surface layers. The EC values ​​ranged from 11.5 dS m-1 to 0.94 dS m-1. The digital average of the acidity function in the soil ranged from 7.7 to 7. The CaCO3 values ​​ranged between 23.3 and 64.8%, while CaSO4 between 0.4 and 47.9%. Furthermore, organic carbon was between 0.10 and 0.6%, SAR values ​​ranged from 0.27 to 6.1, CEC across soil sections from 18.4 to 32.3%, and the total nitrogen ratio for the surface layer from 533 to 9207 ppm. Phosphorus ranged from 2.0 to 7.4 ppm, while potassium from 9.2 to 28.7 ppm.

Current study was conducted in the poultry field of the Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kufa to determine the effect of adding sheep and cows rumen liquids to drinking water as a biological promoter and its effects on productive traits and economic indicator of meat broiler. 240 of one-day-old meat chicks (c.v Ross 308), sex unspecified with initial weight of 45 g were used. Chicks were raised for 35 days in closed hall divided into coops, 3 m2 in surface area for each and distributed randomly in four treatments with three replicates for each treatment (20 chicks for each replicate). Treatments were as follows: T1 (control without adding rumen liquid), T2 (adding 1 mL L-1 sheep rumen liquid to drinking water), T3 (adding 1 mL L-1 cow’s rumen liquid to drinking water) and T4 (adding 0.5 mL L-1 sheep and cow rumen liquids to drinking water). Chicks were fed with rennet (starter) from the first day for 10 days and fed with grower from the 11th to 24th days then with finisher diet from 25th to 35th days. Results showed that adding sheep and cow rumen liquids together to the diet of broiler was gave the best outcome for the final live body weight, final weight gain, improving feed conversion rate and economic indicator. Most studied traits were not significantly differ when adding cow’s rumen liquid to drinking water alone, also all experimental treatments were not significantly differ for the total consumed feed and dressing percentage. Adding the sheep and cow rumen liquids together had positive impact on some productive traits and enhanced the economic indicator of meat broiler.

Adsorption processes are being widely used by various researchers for the removal of heavy metals from waste water and activated carbon has been frequently used as an adsorbent. Despite its extensive use in water and wastewater treatment industries, activated carbon remains an expensive material. In recent years, the need for safe and economical methods for the elimination of heavy metals from contaminated water has necessitated research interest toward the production of low cost alternatives to commercially-available activated carbon. Activated carbon taken from pine cone (ACPC) was used as adsorbent to remove Fe+2 ions from industrial wastewater. In this study, ozonation, ozon pumping to the porous media, was the effective reason of removal efficiency increasing. Ozonation has been conducted on the adsorption process of removing Zn+2 under specific conditions, which is the same conditions and pollutant that were studied in the aforementioned research, where the removal efficiency before and after ozonation was compared and found it reached to 99.55% instead of what was it been by 96%. Batch adsorption experiment was conducted to examine the effects of adsorbent dosage, contact time, pH and stirring rate on adsorption of Fe+2 from the wastewater. The obtained results showed that, the adsorption of the metal ions was adsorbent dosage, contact time, pH and stirring rate dependent. The optimum adsorbent dosage, stirring rate and pH, were found to be at 3 g, 250 rpm, 60 ppm initial concentration of Fe+2 and pH 6 respectively. Environmental parameters were studied in this work including pH, total dissolved solid and total suspended solid. Kinetic studies were evaluated by Langmuir, Freundlich and Elvich isotherm models. Frendlich isotherm afforded the best fit to the equilibrium data. Maximum adsorption of Fe (II) was 97% observed in specific condition.

The agricultural wild mushroom, Agaricus bellanniae, is one of the new fungi that have been discovered for the first time during July and August 2016 in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq. Due to the lack of research studies on this fungus globally, particularly in Iraq. This study is considered as the first research about determining the optimal conditions for the production of the fungus mother culture. A. bellanniae was done by creating a local culture medium suitable for developing wild and edible agricultural fungi. The study is concerned with two aspects, which are: isolation, purification, and diagnosis of the wild mushroom strain under the genus Agaricus to obtain a pure isolate characteristic of the fungus A. bellanniae registered in the NCBI (MF987843). The second aspect was studying the optimal conditions for preparing the mother culture from the wild mushroom. The study also examined the effect of some environmental factors on the fungus mycelium growth rates, such as the medium concentration and size, pH, and temperature. The results showed that the medium prepared from tree leaves powder achieved the best growth rates for A. bellanniae, with a growth rate of 0.77 cm day-1, followed by other media. Also, the best concentration for preparing these media was shown to be 20 g L-1. The best pH that can be adopted at the mycelium production stage for A. bellanniae, which achieved the highest growth rate, was at pH 6. The best temperature for the development of the agricultural mushroom, regardless of the media type, was at 30 ºC.

The Current study estimated the primary productivity and identified the biological characteristics associated with it by measuring chlorophyll-a and phytovitin-a in the southern part of the general estuary in Dhi Qar Province, Iraq on a seasonal basis for the period from autumn 2020 to summer 2021. three stations were selected: The first station (St. 1) was located beside the Al-Hollandi bridge, the second (St. 2) was 20 km far from the south of St. 1, adjacent to the siphon pump, and the third (St. 3) was 20 km from the south of St. 2, close to the sub-channel that feeds the marshes.  The biological characteristics indices showed an obvious variation in the different stations and seasons. The productivity values in the general estuary, south of Nasiriyah City ​​ranged between 38.99 - 130.05 mg carbon m -3 hour-1. These values ​​showed two peaks during the fall and spring. The chlorophyll-a and phytovitin-a concentrations ​​ranged between 3-6.44 µg L-1 and 0.66-3.22 µg L-1, respectively. The highest concentrations of both pigments were found in St. 1. In addition, the highest concentration of chlorophyll-a (6.44 mg L-1) during autumn at St. 1, while the highest concentration of phaeophytin-a (3.22 mg L-1) during winter at St. 2. The lowest concentration of chlorophyll-a (3 mg L-1) was at St. 1, in winter, while the lowest of phaeophytin-a (0.66 mg L-1)   during spring at St. 3. In general, the autumn and spring was marked by the highest concentration of chlorophyll a, while the winter and summer by the highest phaeophytin.

The effect of using natural coagulant Aloe Vera with alum Al2 (SO4)3 was examined to remove three reactive dyes: Reactive Blue (RB), Reactive Red (RR) and Reactive Yellow (RY) from simulated textile wastewater in single and blended (ternary) systems by utilizing dissolved air flotation system (DAF) combined with the coagulation + flocculation + flotation in continuous system. This combining process showed excellent removal efficiency. The process was operated under flow rate of, 100 L h-1 and duration of 30 min at 15 mg L-1 dye concentrations; pH value was fixed at 8, and the dose of alum + AV was fixed at 10 mg L-1. DAF system was operated once using alum + AV and then using Poly aluminium chloride (PAC; AlCl3.6H2O) with dose of 10 mg L-1 as flocculant in combination with coagulant. The removal efficiency reached to 95, 93 and 92% for RR, RB and RY respectively for single system without flocculant. By using flocculant with coagulant, the removal efficiency was excellent and was 97, 96 and 95% for RR, RB and RY, respectively. Thus, combined treatment processes offer many advantages for potential treatment of sewage and industrial wastewater such as flexibility, time and coagulant/flocculant savings as well as high quality treated water.

Nepal was hit by a mega earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in 2015, which severely affected the rural lives. The contribution of community forests to recover from the aftermath of earthquake is least studied. On this purview, this study aims to examine the roles of community forestry to recover from earthquake's impact, through an analysis of the use of forest products for the daily use, reconstruction of houses and infrastructures. Based on 185 households, and 11 key informant interview contribution of forest was assessed. Initially, forest products use pattern decreased immediately right after the earthquake in 2015 and it subsequently increased in the year 2016 and 2017. In 2015, earthquake year, the timber consumption was very less but the fuelwood and fodder demand were fulfilled through private lands and others. Timber and fuelwood harvest from community forest in 2017 was higher than before 2015. However, the temporary reformulation form government for allowing to harvest up to 90% of annual increment of the community forests helps to meet the demands and remains under the sustainable limit. Despite having different forest resources, community forests are the first choice to fulfill daily needs. Thus, comparatively community forestry has the ability to contribute more to post-disaster restoration and recovery period than the other forest resources.

For our knowledge, this appears to be first Iraqi study aimed for detection the concentration of pancreatic exocrine enzymes and endocrine hormones as well as lipid profile in obese, diabetic as well as obese/diabetic mice. Totally, 80 adult male mice, Mus musculus were selected, prepared, divided to 4 groups, and submitted to experimentally period continued for 2 months, July and August 2021. The findings of pancreatic enzymes showed a significant decrease in values of amylase in diabetic and obese/diabetic mice. In the case of lipase, insignificant differences were observed between obese/diabetics, but not in obese/diabetic group. No significant differences were found between the concentrations of chymotrypsin throughout all study groups. Trypsin reduction was observed in diabetic and obese/diabetic groups. The findings of pancreatic hormones detected higher concentration of gastrin in diabetic mice, and lowered in obese/diabetic ones. Glucagon elevation was found in diabetic and obese/diabetic groups, while reduction in diabetic group. Though obese mice were revealed a high insulin concentration, diabetic and obese/diabetic groups showed lowering. There was significant reduction in levels of somatostatin in mice of diabetic and obese/diabetic groups. Significant decreases in values of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide were observed in mice of diabetic and obese/diabetic groups. In the case of lipid profile, there were significant increases in values of triglyceride among the groups of diabetic and obese/diabetic groups. Significant HDL reduction were recorded in diabetic and obese/diabetic groups, while higher values in obese group. In the case of LDL, total cholesterol and total cholesterol / HDL ratio exhibited significant increases among mice of obese/diabetic group, while decreases in obese/diabetics. In conclusion, pancreatic exocrine enzymes were positively impaired in diabetic as well as obese/diabetic groups but not in obese group; whereas, pancreatic endocrine hormones and lipid profiles were affected among all diseased groups when compared to control group. The role of pancreatic enzymes as well as hormones in the pathogenesis of metallic disorders warrants further investigations.

A field experiment was carried out to find out the effect of some chemical herbicides (Crash and U46), and Datura leaves extract (4 leaf age) on the companion weed of two barley cultivars (IPA 265 and IPA 99) and the yield and components of these two cultivars. The results showed the superiority of the two weed spraying (T1) and the extract (T2) treatments by giving the best results, as they recorded the lowest number of weeds after 30 days of spraying with 2.83 and 10.17 plants m-2. Besides, the highest control percentage was 96.11% and 86.27% for the two treatments, respectively, compared to the control treatment (T3; weedy), which gave the highest number of weeds after spraying 73.50 plants m-2, while the lowest control percentage of 0.00%. Moreover, T1 was superior by giving the best grain yield of 1.99 ton ha-1 and the highest weight of 1000 grains (48.88 g) as well as the highest number of grains per spike (43.57 grain spike-1). T1 exhibited a significant difference with T2, which recorded a lower yield of 1.34 ton ha-1 and weight of 1000 grains (46.78 g), as well as the number of grains (33.17 grain spike-1) and a number of spikes (313.3 spike per m2). In comparison, the control treatment (T3) recorded the lowest grain yield and the lowest weight of 1000 grains along with the lowest grain per spike, and the lowest number of spikes (1.00 ton ha-1) as well as 36.72 g, 25.60 grain spike-1 and 269.7 spikes m-2, respectively. The two cultivars called IPA 99 and IPA 265, recorded a control percentage of 64.07% and 57.52%, respectively. There was a significant interaction in specific traits understudy for the two factors of the study, so that, T1 and T2 were superior with cultivars IPA 265 and IPA 99 by giving the best interaction in reducing the number of weeds after 30 days of spraying plant m-2, coupled with the control percentage. Since, the cultivar IPA 99 and T1 achieved the lowest number of weeds, i.e., 2.33 plant m-2 and the best control percentage reached 96.79%. However, the cultivar IPA 265 and T1 achieved the best grain yield of 2.113 ton ha-1. It can be concluded from this that spraying barley weeds with Datura leaves extract eliminated the weed, gave good control percentages, and increased the yield of barley grains and their components, with results close to what was achieved by the addition of the two herbicides.

Compounds with chemical systems depend on the coumarin architecture have sparked a lot of interest in the scientific community, not only because of their different morphological characteristics, but also because of their wide range of biological properties. In this study, four 7-halomethylcoumarin-4-acetic acid derivatives tagged as YMa-YMd were synthesized by coupling various 3-halomethyl phenols with 3-oxoglutaric acid that prepared in situ from the interaction of citretten and concentrated H2SO4. The acquired coumarin derived compounds were grafted to 5-fluorouracil through amide bond using dichlorosulfoxide as a coupling reagent. The chemical frames of the final conjugated coumarins, named YM1-YM4, were identified and established by analyzing their spectral data gathered from various analytical spectrophotometers, involving FTIR, 1HNMR, and 13CNMR. The potential of the conjugated coumarins to act as antioxidants was investigated by monitoring their ability to trap the free radicals of DPPH. Besides, the chemotherapeutic potential was assessed against two standard tumor-cell lines, named HeLa and MCF 7, using a well-validated technique based on the MTT as a visual indication. The outcomes acquired from these assessments indicated that the synthesized conjugated coumarins have less impact as antioxidizing and cytotoxic agents comparing with the utilized standard drugs. Furthermore, these coumarins showed essentially the same pattern of action against the two cell lines examined, with MCF-7 acquired the most inhibitory effect. Additionally, conjugated coumarin YM1 showed valuable activities as antioxidant and chemotherapeutic agent compared to the other synthesized derivatives. As a result, the authors concluded that the synthesized conjugated coumarins might be used as antioxidant and anticancer agents, with conjugated coumarin YM1 being the most promising. Moreover, the synthesized core might serve as a beneficial framework for developing medicines with potent antioxidant and anticancer properties.

The current study was designed to establish the antibacterial efficacy of various extracts from medicinal plants. The inhibition effects of six plants including Viscus album, Apium graveolens, Melissa officinalis, Plantago ovata, Senna acutifolia, and Vitis vinifera were examined against Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, which obtained from dental caries patient. The output showed that the tested bacterial isolates were greatly sensitive to M.  officinalis and S. acutifolia and their maximum inhibition zones were 35 mm and 33 mm respectively. The tested bacterial isolates were greatly sensitive to M.  officinalis and S. acutifolia in comparison with the antibiotic. According to the well-diffusion test results, the crude aqueous extracts from the plants showed varying degrees of inhibition of bacterial growth. Moreover, these medicinal plant extracts were a promising group of natural product sources that can be examined to continue developing products through the use of oral medicines and health care.

A factorials experiment was carried out in one of the fields of Al-Mashrooa City (45 km north of Babylon Province) for the agricultural season of 2018, with the aim of evaluating the effect of the treatment with several levels of organic acid (fulvic) and the chitosan on the growth of the Hibiscus sabdariffa L. and the nutrient content of its leaves. The first factor is the use of four levels of organic acid- fulvic - (1, 2, 3, and 4 mL L-1). In addition to the comparison treatment, the second agent sprayed the chitosan with three concentrations (1, 3 and 5 mL L-1), followed by the design of Random Complete Blocks Design (RCBD), in the research experiment and three replicates per treatment. The two solutions sprayed led to a significant increase in all vegetative growth indices and the leaf nutrient content. The highest concentration of the leaves was higher in the following studied traits (leaf area 50.34 cm2, dry weight of vegetative total 572.4 g, leaf content of chlorophyll 52.13 SPAD, leaf content of iron 69.88. The interaction of 3 mg L-1 fulvic acid with the highest concentration of chitosan was superior in the following studied traits: plant height 112.33 cm, number of vegetative branches 32.67 branches, leaf content of nitrogen and potassium 1,487%, 1.920%, while the overlap of 2 mg L-1 Fulvic acid with the highest concentration of chitosan in the phosphorus content of leaves was 0.287%. The calcium content of leaf exceeded the overlap of 3 mg L-1 fulvic acid with 3 mg L-1 chitosan at a rate of 3.913%. The lowest results were recorded when comparison of the treatments and all the characteristics studied in the experiment.

Heavy element pollutions in urban street dust has caused global concern due to the potential danger to human health and the urban environment. Therefore, the present study was designed to assess street dust pollution in Kerbala, the most important city in terms of religious tourism. Samples were collected from most of the streets surrounding the Imam Hussein shrine and the concentration of elements (arsenic, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium and zinc) were measured using an atomic absorption spectrometry. The results showed that the arranging of those elements according to their concentration was as follows: Zn> Pb> Cu> Cr> As> Cd. Street dust was contaminated with a strong and serious degree according to total complex indices; integrated pollution index (IPI) and Nemerow pollution index, and that the most polluting elements to dust are cadmium and lead based on single pollution indicators enrichment factor (EF), pollution index (PI), and geo-accumulation Index (Igeo). This was attributed to the traffic density and vehicle exhausts, especially the exhausts of the numerous electricity generators inside the city. Therefore, the study recommends prohibiting the use of leaded gasoline and providing the city with a constant electric current to prevent the operation of generators and the obligation to clean the streets.

some species of the Arcobacter genus are considered emerging foodborne enteropathogens. However, the presence of this bacterium in cheese is little known. On the other hand, quinolones are considered first-line drugs for the treatment of campylobacter infection in human patients, but currently little data is available on the levels of resistance to these antibiotics among Arcobacter species. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the susceptibility of Arcobacter spp. isolated from 100 fresh cheeses, obtained from the municipal markets to Fluoroquinolones in Guaranda City, Ecuador. By culture, 47 out of the 100 cheese samples were positive with a total of 66 isolates. By PCR, the number of positive samples was reduced to 21 with 26 isolates. With respect to antimicrobial activity, 2 isolates showed resistance to Levofloxacin (7.69%) and 6 to Ciprofloxacin (23.08%). Nineteen strains exhibited intermediate resistance to Levofloxacin and 10 to Ciprofloxacin. This study is the first report on the presence of pathogenic species of Arcobacter spp. in fresh cheeses in Ecuador, which could act as a vehicle for transmission to humans and pose a potential risk to public health.

This study evaluates the toxic impacts of Rosmarinus officinalis oil on the M. domestisa adults after 24- 48 h of treatment. The results showed that the activity of all oil concentrations have produced a mortality rate in laboratory when treating M. domestica adults. These results also revealed that the maximum significant difference was at the highest (100%) concentration among these treatments. The mortality rates in this insect were 86% and  100% after 24 and 48 h of the treatment respectively. The minimum mortality rates were 10% and 20% at the lowest concentration (25%) after 24 and 48 h of treatment respectively.

The appearance of the pandemic (COVID-19) encourage researchers to carry out a lot of studies to study the effect of different factors on the severity of the infection; among them are smoking, chronic diseases, age, gender. The aim of the current study was to study the significance of smoking, chronic disease, gender and age factors with the severity of infection with Coronavirus and the need to ICU.   The study was carried out in Imam Hussein Teaching Hospital in Karbala, Iraq on both genders, from January to April 2021. The collected information from patients included gender, age, smoking, chronic diseases (high blood pressure, diabetes, other diseases) and the needs for ICU. The result was presented in five tables; the significance between the factors were considered important at p< 0.001. In conclusion, several important points were the outcomes of the current study: smokers are highly risked with Coronavirus; no significant correlation was found between gender and medication with the risk of COVID-19; a significant correlation was observed between the duration of smoking and severity with COVID-19.

Expansive market opportunities and attractive profit prospects in the housing development sector encourage many business people to be interested in investing in this sector. The significant number of the risk factors which arise during the housing development process and weaknesses of developers in managing them have resulted in some developers failing to achieve projects goal. This study aims to identify critical risk factors and determine the factors that have the highest level of risk in a housing development project in Semarang, Indonesia. The research was conducted using a structured survey questionnaire. The mean score statistical technique was used in data analysis with SPSS version 26.0 software to determine critical risk factors. The level of risk is determined based on the frequency of occurrence of the risk and the severity of the risk. The results show that there are 26 critical risk factors for housing development projects. The high land acquisition price, unmanaged cash flow and business competition are the factors that have “Very High Risk” level of risk. In addition, there are twenty-one factors with “High Risk” level of risk, and two factor with “Medium Risk” level of risk, which embraces the risk factor for natural disasters as well as utility and material delays. This study contributes to the understanding of the critical risk factors in housing development for housing developers to manage project risks.

Canggu Village is primarily a development zone with the potential for rapid growth. Canggu possesses tourism potential as well as ecological conditions conducive to future growth. The rapid growth of the population, followed by development activities, will increase demand for space, particularly in areas with a high strategic value of land, such as tourism areas. Tourism is still regarded as a stimulant to the economy. However, if space development is not adequately managed and controlled, it will affect the conversion of land functions, particularly agricultural land, into built-up areas for commercialization. A study effort is required to map the characteristics and deviation patterns of agricultural land use in Canggu to achieve spatial order. By mapping the characteristics and deviation patterns of agricultural land use in Canggu Village, it is hoped that appropriate actions or solutions to Canggu Village's ecological problems can be compiled and developed.

There are many laws and regulations governing the environment in Indonesia from the central level to the regional level, especially for the areas whose territory consists of land, sea, and vast forests inhabited by certain tribes and can be classified as indigenous peoples. South Sulawesi is one of the regions in Indonesia that has many indigenous peoples. The existence of indigenous peoples in South Sulawesi is very important because they have an important role in the environment, including protecting the environment from pollution and environmental damage, as well as assisting law enforcement officers in reporting not only perpetrators of environmental destruction but also reporting any environmental damage that occurs in their area. This study aimed to determine the law-abiding behavior of the indigenous peoples in realizing environmental law enforcement in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The method used in this study was empirical juridical research using several laws, regulations and local customary law as well as visiting and conducting direct interviews to the community to collect the data from these indigenous coastal communities. The results of the study showed that the indigenous peoples in South Sulawesi are known to be very obedient to customs. The customs are applied from generation to generation in protecting their forest and marine environment, so that they are not threatened with extinction. For the indigenous peoples of South Sulawesi, forests and the sea are their homes that provide their various needs. Their survival depends on the sustainability of forests and seas in South Sulawesi. The law-abiding behavior of the indigenous peoples in realizing environmental law enforcement in South Sulawesi is based on moral which are known as Sipakatau, Sipakalebbi, and Sipakainge.

The current study diagnosed 24 plant species distributed over 12 plant families from several gardens at the University of Samarra during the flowering period, and they were diagnosed by experts from the Iraqi National Herbarium.  Centaurea sp., Eclipta prostrata, Silybum marianum, Sonchus oleraceus, Sphagneticola trilobata and Taraxacum officinale, followed by the Brassicaceae family, which included three genera, namely Eruca vesicaria, Lepidium draba and Sisymbrium irio, while the rest of the two families ranged between one to two genus.

Hygrocybe ceracea (Sowerby) P. Kumm, the small and macroscopic fungus, with a yellow, greasy, and fragile appearance is reported for the first time on Funaria hygrometrica in Tonekabon, west of Mazandaran province, North of Iran. This fungus appears among the stones and cobblestones with a little humic in high humidity of winter, after stopping rain. The stipe is white, 2 mm in average diameter and 1-2 cm in length. The cap diameter is 0.5 cm in average. Spores are lacrymoid,  4 Í 2.35 μm in their dimensions. The average length of basidium is 10 μm. Tetraspores often remain attached together after separation from the basidium. The cap is initially convex, but it turns to the conic shape with passing time and aging. The middle part becomes turgid, the sugarloaf shape and the margins become flat, and its colour turns from yellow to brownish orange. Its companion species in Iran are Funaria, lichen and grass. The relationship between H. ceracea and Funaria hygrometrica is parasitic type. Funaria leaf spots are caused by infection with this fungus. It is not a poisonous fungus, hence domestic birds and crows feed on it with great interest. Regrowth and grazing resistance were evident in function of the fungus.