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In order to identify the plant parasitic nematodes associated with Polianthes tuberosa in Dezful Regions, Iran, 300 soil and root samples were collected from different parts of the region, during 2012-2014. The samples were washed and the nematodes were extracted by centrifugal flotation technique. The nematodes were fixed and transferred to glycerin, and then the permanent slides of the nematode specimen were prepared. After microscopic observation, the measurements (morphological and morphometrical characters) were made using a drawing tube attached to light microscope. In this study, 17 species belonging to nine genera of the family Tylenchidae were identified as: Atetylenchus graminus, A. abulbosus, Basiria aberrans, B. tumida, Boleodorus thylactus, Filenchus elegantulus, F. sandneri, F. vulgaris, F. andrassyi, F. facultativus, Irantylenchus vicinus, Lelenchus leptosoma, Neopsilenchus magnidens, Psilenchus hilarulus, P. iranicus, P. vinciguerrae and Tylenchus capitatus. Among them, A. graminus, L. leptosome and T. capitatus, are new reports and were first described in Iran. This is the first report of male of A. graminus in the world.

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Bioavailability of three rumen protected Methionine (Met) sources with different protection methods (Mepron^® M85, Evonik Industries, Germany; Methioplus^®, Soda Nutrition, Italy and Methilock^®, Tehrandaneh Co. Iran) were evaluated in 2 experiments with 6 canulated non-lactating Holstein cows. In experiment 1, the ruminal in situ and mobile bag techniques were used for assessing ruminal degradability and intestinal digestibility of Met from the protected Met sources. The rate of disappearance of Met from Mepron^® M85 was lower than Methioplus^® (2.94 vs. 5.73 % h^-1). Mepron^® M85 had more resistance to ruminal degradation than Methioplus^® (82.78 vs. 68.51%), but the higher intestinal digestibility of Methioplus^® resulted in similar amounts of available Met for two products. Because of high washing out loss from in situ bags, ruminal degradation was not estimated for Methilock^®. In the second experiment, Met availability was assayed by the blood Met response after 5 days feeding each product in comparison to pretreatment levels utilizing a 3×3 Latin square design. Three Met sources increased blood Met concentration significantly after 5 days feeding (37.5, 52.23 and 44.39% for Methilock^®, Mepron^® and Methioplus^® respectively). Results of the present study showed that the three RPM sources increased blood Met concentration. This study also suggests that the in situ method may not adequately characterize the availability of rumen protected amino acids, especially those of small particle size.

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Robotic arms are widely used for 2D desktop applications. In this paper, a new mechanism for a planar robotic arm is presented. In addition to having the benefits of both series of parallel robots, the proposed mechanism also eliminates the disadvantages of both categories. The arm made on the same side as the parallel arms has rigidity, strength and precision, and other positive features of the parallel arms, and on the other hand, like the serial arms, due to the lack of singular points inside the workspace, has a large, symmetrical and also be able to move continuously in the entire workspace. The kinematics relations for the arm are derived, and a controller based on AVR microcontroller & computer for the arm are introduced. The results indicate an improvement in arm performance and the removal of singular points from within the workspace.

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The most important safety and quality concern of pistachio export is its contamination with aflatoxin and oxidation and hydrolysis of fats. Therfore, this study is aimed at investigating the effects of red pepper, black pepper, and bell pepper extracts on the amount of aflatoxin production and oxidation process in pistachio and its sensory properties. For this purpose, the antifungal activity of pepper extracts was first evaluated, and then, after coating pistachio samples with each type of pepper extracts by 0.1, 0.5, and 1 % (v/w) including nine treatments and one control, Aspergillus flavus was inoculated to pistachio samples. Then, aflatoxin amount, peroxide value, and sensory properties were measured and evaluated during the days of first, 30th and 60th of storage. The results showed the highest radial growth of fungal mycelium in control and the lowest radial growth of colonies was observed in red pepper extract at concentration of 10⁵ µL/L, which had a significant difference with other concentration of this extract and with similar concentrations of black and bell pepper extracts (P<0.05). The lowest amount of aflatoxin was obtianed from treatments containing 1% of red pepper and black pepper extracts and highest in the control sample. Also, the results indicated that with increasing the extracts concentration, the peroxide value and sensory desirability decreased significantly. Treatment containing 0.5% of red pepper extract had the highest sensory desirability, and the extracts of 0.5% bell pepper and 0.5% black pepper were afterwards. The studied pepper extracts had a significant effect on reducing the amount of aflatoxin and improving the sensory properties of pistachio compared to the control during storage, and in general, pistachio sample coated with 0.5% red pepper extract is introduced as the best treatment.

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Eugenia caryophyllata (Clove) has long been used as a medicinal plant to treat infections and prevent food spoilage. In this study, with three methods of hydro distillation, steam distillation and hydro-steam distillation, clove buds were extracted and the yields of these methods were 10.9, 9.9 and 8.3%, respectively, which had the highest efficiency for water extraction method. Essential oils obtained by different methods were analyzed by GC/MS and 17 essential oil components were identified. Among these components, acetic acid, eugenol, eugenol acetate, m-eugenol, caryophyllene, hexadecanoic acid were the predominant components, the amount of which in all three types of essential oils were significantly different from each other. Also, the antibacterial effect of essential oils along with 12 common antibiotics on three types of Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus epidermidis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were studied and compared. The results showed that the essential oil extracted with hydro-steam, compared to other extraction methods, has a significant antibacterial effect so that its effect on Staphylococcus aureus from Erythromycin, penicillin, glucosacin, vancomycin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, ceftriaxone Amikacin and gentamicin were stronger, and the effect was similar to that of ampicillin, tobramycin. In conclusion, obtained results showed that clove essential oil can be used as antimicrobial compenent for different appliactions as well as for food and drag applications.

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In this study, qualitative traits and bioactive compounds of edible oil that extracted from three olive promising genotypes (T2, T7, and T18) and two cultivars (Zard and Koroneiki) from Tarom olive collection in Zanjan province were evaluated during two crop seasons (2017-2018). Edible oil quality traits including free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV) and extinction coefficients (K232 and K270), total chlorophyll, total carotenoids, total phenols, total flavonoids and antioxidant capacity were measured. The results of analysis of variance of year Í cultivar / genotype on oil qualitative traits showed that their interactions on all traits except K270 were significant at 1% probability level. The results showed that edible oil of T7 genotype (0.79% as oleic acid) and Zard cultivar (0.43% as oleic acid) in 1997 had the lowest and highest FFA contents, respectively. Edible oil of T7 in 2018 (17.22 m Eq / kg of oil) and T2 in 2017 (96.67 m Eq / kg) showed the highest and lowest PV levels, respectively. The K232 extinction coefficient of T18 oil was the lowest in both years (0.8 and 1.03 for 2017 and 2018, respectively). Edible oil of Zard cultivar had the highest amount of total phenol in 2017 (243.94 mg gallic acid per kg of oil). T7 genotype had the highest amounts of total flavonoids in 2018 )21.45 mg of quercetin per kg of oil(. Koroneiki cultivar with 90.55% had the highest antioxidant capacity in 2017 and T7 genotype with 41.65% had the lowest value of this index. T2 genotype in both years in terms of antioxidant capacity was in a statistical group with commercial cultivars.

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Quality losses during blanching can be minimized by adequately selecting the time-temperature schedule. In this study, the blanching process of blackberry fruits at 3 selected temperatures were investigated. The thermophysical properties were estimated based on the chemical composition of the sample. Convective heat transfer coefficient was also estimated using a new novel technique called inverse problem method. In order to determine the best model that can describe the shape of the fruit and predict accurately temperature changes during blanching, three analytical models based on solution of Fourierchr('39')s second law for heat transfer on regular shapes (sphere, 2D rectangle and finite cylinder) and a numerical model based on the real geometry of the sample were developed. The results showed that among the analytical models, the two-dimensional rectangle can better predict temperature changes at the center point of the sample than others. However, the developed numerical model was recognized as the best model due to the highest coefficient of determination (R²>99) and the lowest root mean square error (RMSE=0.37). By applying this model, temperature variations in the fruit can be predicted with high accuracy as a function of internal (thickness, and chemical composition) and external variables (temperature, and water bath velocity).

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The aim of this study was to produce biological silage from chicken waste based on fermentation of autogenous bacteria and to evaluate the quality characteristics of the product. In order to produce this product, sampling was performed from selected slaughterhouses in Mazandaran province and biosilage was produced in the form of a one-ton fermenter using autogenous bacteria isolated from the region (fermentation). The final product (dried biosilage powder) was evaluated qualitatively using standard methods and compared with other sources including meat powder, blood powder and kilka fish powder (produced by batch method). The results showed that the amount of protein, fat and protein digestibility in the produced biosilage was 59.09%, 21.30% and 87.41%, respectively. The product produced was in a better condition than meat powder and kilka fish powder in terms of the mentioned indicators. The produced biosilage did not show a significant difference between blood powder in terms of calcium and phosphorus and was at a lower level than kilka fish powder and meat powder. The levels of TVN, PV and TBA in biosilage were measured as 46.56, 4.46 and 2.21, respectively. These indices are in a much more favorable condition in the produced product compared to Kilka meat powder and fish powder. It was further found that the microbial parameters (mold, yeast, coliform, fecal coliform, E.coli) in the samples of meat powder, blood powder and kilka fish powder were relatively higher compared to biosilage of chicken waste. According to the results of the present study, chicken waste has the ability to be converted into biosilage with desirable characteristics that can be used in agriculture and aquaculture industries.

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Nowadays fertility and survival of generation highly considered in societies and male infertility raised as a major attitude for community health around the world. 14% of young couples in Europe have infertility problems. In Iranian couples the rate of infertility is higher than world standards and is about 20.2%. Hormonal factors, genetics and psychological problems cause 40-50 % of infertility in men. Since cancer patients are increasing progressively in industrialized societies and anti-cancer treatments highly eliminate the germ cells, so following cancer treatment reduce male fertility. Distinguish of primordial germ cells, recognition of their migration and also understanding of effective factors in differentiation of them can extended new ways for primary studies that follow production of germ cells from other cell sources like mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Hence finding a way to distinguish germ cells from mesenchymal stem cells, preservation and proliferation of them in culture system can provide a base for spermatogenesis in vitro culture. Isolation and differentiation of germ cells from different cell sources such as umbilical cord using morphogens (Bone morphogenesis protein and Retinoic Acid) is an efficient method for infertility research. In this study some effective factors in differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells to germ cells has been investigated.

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Quince fruit has many benefits to human health and is an excellent source of pectin for jellies and jam industry. The objective of the present research was to study fruit physio-chemical attributes of some quince genotypes at harvest and their changes during cold storage. The fruit of 15 genotypes were harvested at optimum maturity and stored for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days in cold storage and some parameters were measured. The range of 13.00-18.76% for Soluble Solid Content (SSC), 0.38-0.95% for titratable acidity, 2.55-3.75 for pH, 52.16-91.00 N for firmness, 0.89-0.98 g cm^-3 for density, 255.39-349.56 mg 100 g^-1 DM for carbohydrate, 7.28-23.02% for pectin and 11.66-33.30% for fruit fibers were observed across genotypes at harvest time. Negative correlations were found between weight loss and both firmness and density, while firmness had positive correlation with pectin and Ca content. Generally, significant changes (P≤ 0.05) for measured characters were observed across genotypes and during cold storage, but the rate of changes varied according to genotypes. It was found that each studied genotype had one or more unique character such as lowest weight loss in ‘Paveh 1’, highest fruit firmness retaining in ‘Marivan1’, highest pectin in ‘Marivan 1’ and highest SSC in ‘Marivan 2’, that are promising for fruit breeding in future programs.

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Bio-fertilizers have been introduced as an alternative to chemical fertilizers for plant growth and health. The objective of this pot culture experiment was to evaluate the effects of three Bio-fertilizers in single and mixed form containing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (Glomus intraradices), N+V on growth, yield components, and expression of some defense response genes in wheat infected with Fusarium oxysporum. Real time PCR was performed to determine the gene expression levels of β-1,3-glucanase, Oxalate Oxidase, and Chitinase genes. The application of bio-fertilizers significantly increased all studied parameters, except spike length, in infected plants. The highest shoot dry weight was found in Nitroxin+Vermicompost (N+V) treatment and the highest plant height, grain number, 100 grain weight, and biological yield was observed in treatment Mycorrhizal+Vermicompost (M+V). The use of bio-fertilizer resulted in the highest expression level of β-1,3-glucanase gene .The Chitinase gene showed the lowest expression level in all treatments. Our results indicate that vermicompost application could influence the improvement of mycorrhizal colonization and development of external hyphae.

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Corruption is a historical and global phenomenon, which exists in both developed and developing countries. Various cultural, social, economic and political factors affect corruption. Among these, security of property rights and democracy influence financial corruption. In this study, using a panel data system and generalized least squares method, the interactive effects of democracy and security of property rights on corruption are examined in 59 selected developed and developing countries during 2005-2014. The findings of estimations with various indicators of democracy (Polity2, FH, and Political Rights) show that whereas protection of property rights reduces corruption in any political environment, the presence of democracy in society cannot reduce corruption alone. Democracy should be accompanied by high levels of security of property rights in order to affect financial corruption negatively. In addition, while protecting property rights reduces corruption in any political environment, it is more effective against corruption at high levels of democracy.

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Understanding of genetic diversity is essential in breeding programs and plant genetic resources management. In this study, the genetic diversity of 77 individuals of Teucrium from different regions of Iran was investigated using 18 ISSR markers. A total number of 198 bands were detected by ISSR primers, of which 184 (92.9%) bands with an average of 10.2 bands per primer were polymorphic. The Percentage of Polymorphic bands (PPL) ranged from 80 (UBC834) to 100% (UBC811, 812, 818, 820, 825, 826, and UBC855). The average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC), Shannon’s Information index (I), and Number of effective alleles (Ne) were 0.39, 0.526, and 1.6, respectively. The Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) revealed the higher level of genetic variation within populations (77%) compared to among populations (23%). Cluster analysis separated the individuals into three major groups using WPGMA based on Nei’s genetic distance coefficients. In addition, a model-based Bayesian approach subdivided the individuals into three major subgroups. The results of this study revealed that estimation of population genetics parameters using ISSR markers can be applied for assessing the differences between Teucrium populations and management of the genetic resources.

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Most organizations use a variety of control mechanisms to direct and influence the attitudes and behaviors of employees, and assurance effectiveness of organizational goals attainment tools. So with regards the special status of organization structure and its role in leading the attitudes and behaviors of employees and various aspects of the job, the purpose of this paper is study effects of organizational structure and job characteristics on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in Tax affaire organization of Tehran. Present study is a descriptive survey and to collect data, a questionnaire has been used that 350 numbers of employees in the Tax affaire organization of Tehran were selected as research sample. In this research, for data analysis, hypothesis and model testing, Cronbach's alpha coefficient test, Path Analysis (Multiple Regression) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used under the both SPSS and LISREL software. Research findings indicate that Among the organizational structure variables, formalization is the most important influencing negative factor on Skill Variety, Task Identity and Task Autonomy. Also, it can be regarded that centralization is the main influencing factor on Task Significance and Feedback. Moreover, Among the job characteristics variables, job Feedback has the maximum effect on job satisfaction. Finally, the research finding indicated that job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment.

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In design of structures using force-based methods applied in current seismic codes, to obtain the nonlinear displacements of structures under the design earthquake, deflection amplification factor (C_d) is applied. In other words, the displacements obtained from elastic analyses under the reduced seismic forces are amplified by C_d to obtain the inelastic displacements under the design earthquake. Research studies showed that using a constant coefficient for estimating the inelastic displacements may lead to considerable overestimation or underestimation of the displacements in different stories of structures. Generally, in regular structures the inelastic maximum interstory drift ratio (IMIDR) occurs in lower stories. Investigating the seismic performance of structures with irregularity in their heights showed that the inelastic responses of these types of structures can differ significantly from the inelastic responses of regular structures. The present study investigates C_d for estimating IMIDR and inelastic maximum roof drift ratio (IMRDR) for steel special moment resisting frames (SMRFs) with vertical mass irregularity under the design earthquake. In addition, the variation of C_d with the variation of the location of the heavier story in the structural height, and mass ratio (i.e., the ratio of the mass of the heavier story to the mass of the adjacent story) is studied. For producing a heavier story, the dead and live loads of the story are multiplied by 2.0 and 3.0. Three different locations (i.e., bottom, mid-height and top story) for the heavier story, are assumed. For investigating the effects of mass irregularity, two regular 5- and 10-story structures are also considered. Therefore, 14 structures (i.e., two mass ratios × two building heights (5 and 10 stories) × three locations for the heavier story + two regular structures) are considered. To perform nonlinear dynamic analyses, 67 ground motion records are applied. The records are scaled such that the mean of the pseudo acceleration response spectra exceeds the design response spectrum for the period range of 0.2T₁ to 1.5T₁. The results show that using C_d = 5.5 recommended by Standard No. 2800 and ASCE 7 for steel SMRFs underestimates the IMIDR in most of the structures considered and their stories, under the design earthquake. When the heavier story is located in the first story, the lowest mean C_d is obtained in the first story. Because, increasing the mass of the story leads to an increment in the stiffness and strength demand of the story. When the heavier story is located at the roof, the lowest mean C_d is obtained for the top story. While the mean C_d in the first story increases significantly. Moreover, it is shown that C_d = 5.5 underestimates the IMRDR in the structures considered. Investigating the consideration of different values for C_d shows that using C_d = 7.5 leads to the lowest error in the estimation of IMIDR in the structures considered. In the case of estimating IMRDR, the displacement amplification factor is termed C_{d Roof}, and it is shown that using C_{d Roof} = 6.5 leads to the lowest error in the estimation of IMRDR. Therefore, C_d = 7.5 and C_{d Roof} = 6.5 are respectively proposed for more precisely estimating IMIDR and IMRDR in steel SMRFs with vertical mass irregularity.