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Background: Highly-concentrated phosphate and nitrate anions from sugarcane wastewater are often discharged into public waters without standardized treatments. This study assessed the effects of electrical coagulation, initial pH and reaction time in the removal of phosphate and nitrate pollutants. Methods: We used aluminum electrodes to remove the pollutants at Hakhim Farabi Agricultural and Industrial complex, Khuzestan Province, Iran. A septic tank was used for collecting water samples followed by measuring the pH, and the concentrations of phosphate and nitrate in the samples. The pH was set at 5, 7, 9 or 11. Six aluminum electrodes were placed perpendicular to the water flow and were connected to power in a single-polar method. They were used to assess the effects of pH changes, electrical power at 10 and 30 volts and the water retention time at 15, 30, 45 or 60 min. on the efficiency of thep ollutants' removal. Results: The results indicated that under equal retention time and varying pH values, as voltage increased from 10 to 30, the phosphate and nitrate removal increased progressively. It was further demonstrated that the maximum phosphate removal efficiency was achieved at pH7, while it declined at higher pH levels. The highest possible nitrate removal efficiency was achieved under alkaline pH levels. The overall results showed that at every pH and voltage, the percentage of phosphate and nitrate removal increased over time. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that electro-coagulation process is an appropriate and efficient method to remove phosphate and nitrate pollutants from sugarcane wastewaters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical education in high school plays an important role in the development of students' physical, mental and social health. The aims of the present study were identification and factor analysis of strength points of physical education in high schools from Khuzestan, Iran from teachers' viewpoint. The study sample comprised 328 high school PE teachers from Khuzestan, 315 of whom completed a questionnaire. The instrument for data collection was a self-made questionnaire containing 62 items designed in consultation with an expert statistician and a physical education specialist. The questionnaire reliability was 0.91. The factor analysis revealed 62 items with strengths points divided into four factor groups: a) managerial and intramural -- 22 items (eigenvalue of 34.87); b) educational -- 17 items (3.36); c) scientific -- 12 items (2.60); d) hygienic and health -- 11 items (1.65). These results show that physical education is an important component of high school curriculum and has a strong, positive effect on students- health. They also show that those who adopt healthy lifestyle patterns early in their life tend to follow them later on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]