فهرست مطالب m. hashemi

Akabane disease is an arthropod-borne viral disease that affects ruminants. This teratogenic pathogen causes severe economic losses in ruminants worldwide and in Iran; however, it has not received enough attention in Fars province, Iran. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the influence of age, gender, climate, farming system, and history of abortions on the seroprevalence of the Akabane disease in sheep and goats in Fars province. In the present study, Fars province was divided into three climates, and three cities were randomly selected from each climatic region. In each city, two epidemiologic units were selected, and all sheep and goats in each unit were sampled. Overall, 540 serum samples (391 sheep and 149 goats) were collected and examined with the commercial ELISA kit. The results showed that 83 out of 540 (15.4%) samples were seropositive and had antibodies against the Akabane virus (AKAV). The effect of gender and age on the rate of the AKAV was not significant. Animals in warm climates were 4.218 times more likely to have antibodies against the AKAV than animals in cold climates. Females were 1.32 times more likely to exhibit seropositivity. The odds of AKAV infection were higher in animals with an abortion history than in healthy animals. The findings of the present study indicated that the prevalence of the AKAV was high in small ruminants in Fars province. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more studies to control the risk factors involved in the spread of this virus.

A series of large-scale laboratory model tests in a unit cell was performed to explore the behaviour of loose sandy soil due to improvement. An unreinforced and geogrid reinforced granular blanket, a single end-bearing stone column, and their combination were used for this purpose. Since the rupture of the geosynthetic reinforcement in the reinforced granular blanket has never been experimentally investigated. A novel method of installing the geogrid was used. Thus, geogrid was allowed to completely mobilize and fail under loads. In this investigation, load-settlement characteristics have been generated by continuing loading even after geogrid rupture until the desired settlement. Parametric studies were carried out to observe the effect of important factors, such as the blanket thickness and the layout of geosynthetic sheets, including the number and place of geogrid layers within the granular blanket. Reinforcing the blanket with geogrid while changing the usual form of the load-settlement characteristics has had a significant effect on enhancing load-carrying capacity and reducing settlement. It can be said using a stone column, granular blanket, or combination of both techniques to boost load-carrying capacity was more effective than reducing settlement. However, the effect of single-layer and double-layer geogrid reinforcement on settlement reduction depends on their placement within the granular blanket. In addition, the efficiency of improvement methods has been superior under looser bed conditions. The best layout was to arrange one layer of geogrid near the top of the blanket or two layers in the middle and near the top.

Given that controlling Listeria contamination is very important in food chain system, the knowledge of their prevalence in food is very important. Therefore, this study aims to examine the prevalence of important Listeria species in various food types and evaluate serotype distribution, as well as the study of the virulence factors of L. monocytogenes.

During July 2018 and January 2020, 900 food samples were collected in the North of Iran, including beef, chicken, fish, shrimp, milk and yogurt, green vegetables, mixed vegetable salad, Olivier salad, and cottage cheese. After isolation and identification steps, each bacterial DNA was extracted. Then, using specific primers, species, serotypes, and virulence genes of Listeria isolates were evaluated in the samples by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method.

The test results of 136 samples (15.1%) were positive for Listeria spp. and the most contaminated food was beef (35%) followed by chicken (29%) and green vegetables (23%). The most isolated Listeria spp. was L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii. Among L. monocytogenes isolates, the dominant serogroups were 1/2a and 4b; furthermore, all of the isolates of this species harbored four virulence genes, including hlyA, plc, iap, and actA.

These reports highlighted the importance of food safety in various food products, particularly raw meats and vegetables. Moreover, contamination of healthy foods such as fish and vegetables with Listeria is an indicator of public health.

Fusarium wilt, root and crown rot caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris, (FOC) is the highly significant soil-borne disease of chickpea in the Kurdistan province of Iran. The distribution of pathogenic races of FOC in Kurdistan province was determined during this research. Infected plant samples were collected from 42 fields in the chickpea production area of the Kurdistan province. The causative microorganism of the disease was isolated and purified from each sample, and then FOC isolates were identified by morphological characters. After the pathogenicity test and evaluation of pathogenic variability on the susceptible cultivar Kaka, the DNA extraction, the molecular identification of species, and races of pathogenic isolates were performed using FOC-specific linked primers. Among the collected isolates, 37 were identified as Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. Molecular identification of races using SCAR-linked markers (1B/C, 0, 2,3,4,5, 6, and 1A) revealed that 28 out of 37 isolates belonged to race 0, and other isolates belonged to race 1B/C. There was no relationship between the prevalence of races and their geographical distribution. Identification of the races is crucial for the evaluation of resistance and the development of new commercial cultivars. The application of resistant cultivars is a fundamental approach for the integrated management of the Fusarium wilt, root, and crown rot for durable chickpea production

Remote sensing data play an important role in environmental planning and monitoring. The current study aimed to investigate the land surface temperature (LST) and the effect of environmental factors on the LST, to identify the temporal-spatial patterns and determine the hot spots in the period of 2013 to 2019, using Landsat 8 images. The effect of spectral indices: Normalized Difference Build-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) on the surface temperature was investigated. Results indicated that the lowest average temperature has occurred in 2019 and the highest LST was in the 2017. The results of Moran's index correlation also showed that the most clustering pattern of LST, with the Moran value of 0.85 was obtained in 2019, the highest correlation between LST and NDBI, with the R value of 0.76 in the 2015, the highest correlation between LST and NDVI in the 2015 (R = -0.56), and the highest correlation between LST and NDWI in 2013 (R = -0.53). Rasht watershed in Guilan province is affected by human factors and land use changes. Therefore, it is recommended to increase the vegetation cover in urban areas, reduce the change of pasture to agricultural area, and reduce forest destruction.

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and bovine herpes virus-1 (BHV-1) have been known as the major pathogens with significant economic consequences on the cattle industry worldwide, including in Iran. In this cross-sectional study, the seroprevalences of BVDV and BHV-1 and their associated risk factors were investigated in dairy cattle farms of Fars province, Iran, where with 0.4 million head of cattle, mainly crossbred, is ranked the first in cow population in southern Iran. A total number of 420 cattle in 18 herds were randomly selected from three geographical regions (140 samples from each of the north, central, and south regions) and their serum samples were analyzed to detect antibodies to these viruses using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Chi-square test and logistic regression analyses were employed to investigate associations between risk factors and the seroprevalence of viruses. The overall seroprevalence rates for BVDV and BHV-1 were estimated at 91.67% and 77.87% at the herd level and 55.48% and 39.76% at the animal level, respectively. The only significant factor associated with the seroprevalence of both viruses at the herd level was found to be the literacy level of farmers (P<0.05). The significant risk factors for both viruses in cattle were identified as geographical region, age, and breeding method by the univariate analysis (P<0.05), while gender and farming system were determined as risk factors only for BHV-1 (P<0.001). A significant relationship of concurrent infection with BVDV and BHV-1 (φ=0.268, P<0.001) was recorded, and 28.6% of sera had antibodies to both viruses. The results of the present study demonstrated that BVDV and BHV-1 had a wide distribution in dairy cattle herds in southern Iran and highlighted the need for intensive surveillance and control strategies to reduce the risk of the spread of these viruses.

The rapid growth in the supply chain of electronic devices has led companies to purchase Intellectual Property or Integrated Circuits from unreliable sources. This dispersion in the design to fabrication stages of IP/IC has led to new attacks called hardware Trojans. Hardware Trojans can bargain information, reduce performance, or cause failure. Various methods have been introduced to detect or prevent hardware Trojans. Machine learning methods are one of these. Selecting the type and number of input variables in the learning algorithm has an important role in the performance of the learning model. Some previous hardware Trojan detection studies have used structural gate-level features to create data sets for machine learning models. In this paper, a method based on directed graphs for extracting features is proposed. The proposed method use Graph Centrality Algorithm and structural gate-level features. To examine the importance and the impact of the extracted features with the proposed method, three types of data sets are created as input to the learning model made with XGBoost. The trained learning models based on these three data sets show that extracting graph-based features has improved the F1-score by 10% and the ROC by 22%. The combination of these features with the structural gate-level features improved the F1-score by 17.5% and the ROC by 38.5%.

The purpose of this research is to study the feasibility and method of using xanthan biopolymer as an alternative for oil mulch in controlling or mitigating soil wind erosion. Xanthan is a biodegradable biopolymer made of Polysaccharides which is produced by bacteria and is used as stabilizer. The ability of different concentrations of xanthan in reducing the erosion, was examined by wind tunnel tests at speed of 7 to 15 m/s. To do so, xanthan gum suspension was sprayed on the surface of sand samples collected from sandy hills of Segzi plain in Isfahan and samples resistance to wind erosion were tested by wind tunnel after being dried. The test results indicated that a resistant crust is formed on sample surface due to spraying xanthan biopolymer, so that 2 gr/m2 of this biopolymer can reduce erosion up to 98 percent compared to untreated sample. Application of xanthan doesn’t need any advanced equipment and it can be sprayed cold. Cost of mulching with oil mulch in March 2020 to March 2021 was estimated to be 13 times more than mulching with xanthan gum. According to environmental standards, this biopolymer is also safe for using on soil resources.

Introduction

Sustainable agriculture is necessary to tackling environment pollutions whilst protecting food security and reducing dependence to fossil fuels. Conservative agriculture is a sustainable system for crop production which improves crops production. No-till system is one of the methods of Conservative agriculture which decreases greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion. Mulching is also one of the other methods of conservation agriculture which covers the soil surface with varied covering materials and decreases moisture losses and increases crops yield. Nitrogen is an essential element for plant and its deficiency causes plants growth and yield reduction. Grain legumes are a great source of protein for humans and livestock and recommended in areas under common agricultural systems within ecological focus. These crops have also the ability of biological nitrogen fixation through symbiotic bacteria with their roots, finally, produced nitrogen returns to the soil and reduces the nitrogen fertilizer demand for subsequent plants. However, only a fraction of nitrogen in their biomass will be available for the following crop. It is estimated that 41 to 50% of nitrogen fertilizer applied to Maize (Zea mays L.) has been lost to the environment. Thus, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of faba bean cover crop-rotation on forage corn.Materials and MethodsIn order to study the effects of faba bean in rotation with corn, a field experiment was conducted in two growing seasons (2018-2019) at the research farm of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Faculty, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, located in Babolan village, Ardebil, Iran. Experimental treatments included faba bean densities (25, 35, 40, and 80 plants per square meter) and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer in forage corn (0, 100, 200 and 300 kg ha-1). A local small-seeded variety of faba bean was used in this experiment and 80000 plants ha-1 -of corn- Single cross hybrid (201). Nitrogen fertilizer was applied as urea at the V5 stage of corn development by top dressing (in three stages). At maturity stage of faba bean, samples were taken by 0.5 × 0.5m quadrat for each plot. Grain yield was determined by harvesting seeds and dried in oven 65°C for 48 h and weighted by digital scale (0.01 g). Three plant of corn were cut randomly in each plot, thereafter were weighed to determine fresh forage yield. Shoot were dried in oven 75°C for 72 h and weighted for dry matter calculation (data converted to hectare). Statistical analysis of the data was performed by using of SAS software (version 9.4). Also, significant difference between the treatment means were tested with Duncan's Multiple Range Test at P<0.05.

Results indicated significant effects of faba bean plant densities on most of the traits. The maximum fresh and dry grain weight were obtained from densities of 80 and 40 plant per m2. Also, the maximum grain nitrogen and grain crude protein were observed from 25 plants per m2. 40 plant of faba bean per m2 had the highest amount of seed dry matter, protein yield, protein harvest index, and productivity effort. Also, results of interaction effects showed that various densities of faba bean and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer had significant effect on forage corn. So that, the maximum dry matter yield and production efficiency was obtained from 40 plant of faba bean per m2 and application of 200 kg niterogen per ha-1. 35 plant of faba bean per m2 without application of nitrogen fertilizer had the highest amount of nitrogen utilization efficiency.

Totally, results showed that faba bean rotation with corn could be a suitable alternative method for mono-cropped maize with high utilization of nitrogen fertilizer (density of 40 plant per m2 of faba bean and application of 200 kg nitrogen per ha is recommended).

In this study, the single-leaf of parsley and also bulk of particles at temperatures of 46, 58, and 68°C and the thickness of 0.13 to 0.17 mm and the period from 0 to 140 minutes in a laboratory fixed bed dryer dried. Also, the single leaf of parsley and the mass dried in the sun. To dry the parsley in the dryer, five samples were considered for each temperature and the weight of samples during the drying process is continuously recorded until changes in the volume of samples to zero. Then the influence of parameters such as the temperature of the drying rate is examined. Equilibrium time and humidity were observed to be 140 minutes and 0.0003, respectively. Also, the process kinetics curve shows that more drying occurs in the descending phase due to the low external resistance to mass and heat transfer. In studying the effect of temperature, it was observed that with increasing temperature from 46 to 68℃, parsley reaches equilibrium humidity with a greater slope. Then drying process of a single leaf, and parsley mass, using feed-forward neural networks and leading, was modeled and the results of the neural network with the results obtained from experimental data were compared. The best result by a feed-forward neural network for single-leaf parsley with Levenberg - Marquardt algorithm, and 13 neurons and the coefficient of determination 0.9987 and parsley mass with nine neurons optimized and coefficient 0.9993obtainedwhich demonstrates the high accuracy of the artificial neural network.

Determining the relationships between morphological traits is very important in plant breeding. For this purpose, path analysis and biplot analysis are among the most effective statistical methods. To study the morphological traits affecting faba bean seed yield, 12 introduced faba bean genotypes were studied under the influence of 3 concentrations of gibberellic acid based on split plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the research greenhouse of Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran. The analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between genotypes in terms of all studied traits except for number of internodes, internode length, stem diameter, number of seeds per pod and root dry weight, indicating high genetic variation among the studied traits. The study of correlation coefficients showed that there was significant correlation between seed yield and all studied traits except for plant height, number of internodes, internode length, stem diameter, number of seeds per pod, and shoot dry weight. The results of multivariate regression based on stepwise method showed that among the studied traits, 3 traits including number of fertile pods, pod length, and number of seeds per plant were entered into the model, and altogether justified 86% of the variations of faba bean seed yield. The results of path analysis based on just identified model and over identified model showed that the most direct effect on faba bean seed yield was through the number of fertile pods, so that one unit change in this trait causes 0.784 units increase in faba bean seed yield. Thus, in selection for yield the number of fertile pods in the studied genotypes is of special importance. Biplot analysis as a bilinear model, identified the C2, C7 and C10 as suitable genotypes in terms of yield and yield related traits.

In this paper, by using the relations and properties of some classes of two generator 2-groups of nilpotency class two, we find the order of automorphism group of these groups.

Fascioliasis is a common disease of human and animals caused by Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. The life cycle of these trematodes is influenced by climatic and geographical factors. The aim of this study was to determine the geographical features of animal fascioliasis in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province during 2016-2018 using GIS method.

In this cross-sectional study, the prevalence of fasciola in slaughtered animals in different cities was extracted from the information of the provincechr('39')s veterinary department. Climatic layers were constructed based on interpolation models. Data on mean annual rainfall, evaporation and humidity, mean annual wind velocity, mean annual temperature, mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures, average height, average slope and area of each vegetation were extracted from the reference ground layers. The relationship between each variable and the prevalence of the disease in the two groups of cities, with high and low prevalence, was evaluated using independent two-sample t-test.

The highest prevalence of fasciolosis in slaughtered animals in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province was 5.3% and belonged to Gachsaran city. There was a direct relationship between the mean annual humidity and the prevalence of fasciolosis (p=0.023). No significant relationship was found between other studied factors and the rate of infection (p>0.05).

It seems that the relationship between humidity and the prevalence of fasciolosis is mainly due to the effect of humidity on the life cycle of snails and the host plants. Using these results, the quality of disease control programs can be improved and significant savings in the costs of animal husbandry and health care can be achieved.

A wide variety of systems have been introduced so far for the construction of roofs, as one of the most essential structural components of buildings. A conventional roofing system is the solid slab that offers adequate rigidity to distribute gravitational and seismic loads, while it is also relatively resistant against fire. However, its main drawback is its overweight that increases the associated seismic loads. To resolve this problem, modifications were proposed that resulted in different types of biaxial voided slabs. In one such system, spherical and ellipsoidal plastic balls enclosed in steel cages were used to eliminate ineffective concrete. Due to the novelty of the system, however, little was known about the bending behavior of the roof thus constructed. Most of previous studies have been conducted on spherically-shaped voids ignoring ellipsoidal ones. This is while the effect of supporting cages on voids has not been investigated at all. The present study was, therefore, designed and implemented to study the behavior of biaxial voided slabs containing ellipsoidal plastic balls and the effect of supporting cages on bending behavior. To investigate these aspects of the system, two full-scale bending specimens were cast for investigating bending capacity, cracking distribution, and deflection in solid and biaxial voided slabs. Moreover, the effect of cage longitudinal rods was studied on the ultimate capacity of the bending specimens. Finally, the experimental results were then examined by ACI 318-14 recommendations to put forth suggestions for using the ACI 318-14 equations in designing biaxial voided slabs. It was found that while both solid and biaxial voided specimens exhibited almost similar bending behavior and the same failure mode. Also, the bending behavior of biaxial voided specimen was affected by the steel cages used. So, to use the ACI 318-14 equations, if this longitudinal cage bar is considered, the percentage difference between experimental and calculated results reached just one percent.

Water and foodborne diseases are major causes of mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting an gastroenteritis outbreak in Hamadan county in summer of 2019.

This study was performed based on the outbreak investigation process. After producing hypotheses based on preliminary field studies, a case-control study was conducted on 45 cases and 45 controls to investigate the factors associated with the outbreak. New cases of the disease were included according to the case definition. A logistic regression model was used to investigate potential risk factors.

A total of 171 people were affected in this outbreak from 25 June 2019 to 01 July 2019. The at-risk population in this outbreak was 3410 individuals. The attack rate was 5.1%. Abdominal pain, vomiting, and nausea were the most common symptoms with a prevalence of 77.8%, 73.3% and 68.9%, respectively. The results of the case-control study showed that the consumption of tap and spring/well water increased the odds of disease by 4.63 and 4.13 times compared to boiled water, although these relationships were not statistically significant. The odds of diseases were significantly lower in people aged 30-45 years and 46-85 years compared people aged 15 years old and younger.

Based on the results of this study, the outbreak was related to contaminated water consumption. Therefore, regular monitoring of drinking water status is very important for the local health system.

The combined coating-effects of Sodium Alginate (SA) and Thyme Essential Oil (TEO) was investigated at three levels of, respectively, (0.0, 1.0, and 1.5 %) and (0.0, 0.3, and 0.5%) on fresh pistachio during 6 weeks of cold (3±1°C) storage. Physiochemical parameters (hull and hard-shell color, hull hardness, soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and soluble solids content) and microbial load (plate count agar) were measured every 2 weeks of storage. Similarly, the sensory attributes of pistachio were evaluated by trained panelists and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) method from minimum (1) to maximum level (15) score. While weight loss of each pistachio sample increased during storage time, those treated with alginate had considerably less weight losses than other treatments. The pistachio treated with combination of SA (1%) and TEO(0.3 or 0.5%) showed significantly higher hull hardness, L* values, soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and lower growth of microorganisms (mainly yeast and mold) than other treated and non-treated (control) samples. The highest sensory scores of 12.3 and 10.6 for hull color of pistachio were related to samples coated again with combinations of SA (1%) and TEO (0.3 or 0.5%), respectively, and were significantly higher than the score of control sample (6.4). Since the pistachio treated with the above-mentioned concentrations of SA and TEO had significantly higher physiochemical, microbiological, and sensory attributes than the other samples, their quality indicators were superior to other treatments (including control samples) and, most probably, they had longer shelf lives and potential to preserve their natural characteristics of fresh pistachio during storage.

An investigation was conducted to evaluate the effects of feed composition, feed moisture content and screw speed variables on the physicochemical, textural, visual, acoustic and sensory properties of flaxseed puffed snacks, produced by the extrusion processing. The flaxseed mixed with corn grits at three ratios: 7, 14 and 21 percent, the water was added to the mixture to bring the moisture content of the samples of feeding to 12, 15 and 18%. The mixtures were extruded at screw speeds of 120, 150 and 180 rpm, at 140°C. Experiments on the samples showed that increasing in moisture content of the samples led to increase in water absorption, particle density and hardness, and also led to decrease water solubility and texture sensory scores.  Increasing in screw speed led to increase the water solubility and to reduce particle density, radial expansion, hardness, and sensory scores of appearance, color, texture, and overall acceptance of samples. Increasing the ratio of flaxseed in samples, led to increase particle density and to reduce radial expansion and sensory scores for the appearance, color and overall acceptance of the samples. In order to produce the optimum sample with the highest expansion ratio and brightness and the lowest hardness and density, containing 14% of flaxseed, the screw speed and feed moisture content must be  selected at  180 rpm and 14.42%, respectively.

Protein nanofibers are obtained through heating the globular proteins above their denaturation temperatures at acidic pH. These structures have a length of about 1 μm and a diameter of about 1 to 10 nm and are very anisotropic. The main objective of this study was to produce nanofibrils from whey protein isolates, evaluate their appearance and functional properties in order to use them as ingredients in food. The protein nanofibrils were prepared at 90 °C at the concentration of 20 mg mL-1 then their appearance and functional properties were evaluated at pH 2, 4, and 6. The results obtained by atomic force microscopy showed that by increasing pH, the stability and the content of the produced nanofibrils decreased. Moreover, stable nanofibrils at higher pH values showed higher emulsion capacity and stability and higher solubility percentages. Also by increasing pH, samples opacity and turbidity and color parameters were increased. Nanofibrils also showed better functional properties compared to the control sample (P <0.05). In this way, protein nanofibrils can be commercially suggested as an additive to improve functional properties of food products. Desirable functional characteristics of WPI nanofibrils compared to the unprocessed native whey protein isolate, provides the possibility of their application to improve the qualitative properties of food products and as ingredients in foods for patients and elderly people and dietary and low-calorie foods.

Let G be a finite group. For gin G, an ordered pair $(x_1,y_1)in Gtimes G$ is called a solution of the commutator equation $[x,y]=g$ if $[x_1,y_1]=g$. We consider rho_g(G)={(x,y)| x,yin G, [x,y]=g}, then the probability that the commutator equation $[x,y]=g$ has solution in a finite group $G$, written P_g(G), is equal to frac{|rho_{g}(G)|}{|G|^2}. In this paper, we present two methods for the computing P_g(G). First by $GAP, we give certain explicit formulas for P_g(A_n) and P_g(S_n). Also we note that this method can be applied to any group of small order. Then by using the numerical solutions of the equation xy-zu equiv t (mod~n), we derive formulas for calculating the probability of $rho_g(G)$ where $G$ is a two generated group of nilpotency class 2.the formula is not displayed correctly!

Formation and structure of whey protein heat-induced gels (100 mg mL-1) through heat treatment at 80 °C and pH modifications at three pH values of acidic (2), isoelectric (5.6) and neutral (7) were studied. The obtained results indicated that the nature of the primary gel networks was different at each pH value. The heat-induced gels produced at pH of 2 and 7, had acceptable overall shape and consistency which confirmed the significant effect of pH on the regular gel structures. Conversely, the amorphous gel structure was observed at isoelectric pH. According to Atomic Force Microscopy images, the structural unfolding of the protein during denaturation and formation of the fibrillar structures was observed in gel at pH of 2 and stranded aggregates at pH of 7. In terms of textural analysis, in samples at pH of 2 and 7, the required force to fracture gel structure was approximately equal and less than that of the sample at pH of 5.6 which goes back to the amorphous large protein aggregates in gel network at isoelectric pH. The ordered, regular and stable gel structures and high ionic balance were reflected in color parameters and lower amounts of moisture content in the gel matrix of samples at pH of 2 and 7 (P<0.05). The well-organized structure and stable gels network along with their desirable functional characteristics, might reinforce their application as food ingredients in terms of improving the qualitative and textural qualities of food products. This property can facilitate the use of these protein gels in novel food systems.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is now widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal tract disorders. A large number of X-ray fluoroscopy and digital radiographs make ERCP as an interventional radiological procedure. In this study, patients' and examiner's entrance skin doses (ESDs) were measured during diagnosis and treatment procedures and patients' effective dose (ED) were calculated.

Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) and dose area product meter (DAP) were used to measure ESDs of 30 patients and examiner and calculate patients' ED. Besides, to assess the effectiveness of an extra lead shield in decreasing examiner's ESDs, a lead cover was wrapped around the X-ray tube. The data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics version 16 software.

The mean DAP and fluoroscopy time (FT) of the diagnostic procedure were 4.09 Gy.cm2 and 32.4 s while those of the therapeutic procedure were 7.60 Gy.cm2 and 76.2 s. The strong linear correlation between DAP and FT was observed for the therapeutic procedures but the diagnostic ones. The patients' mean EDs of diagnostic procedure (1.21±0.52 mSv) and therapeutic one (2.25±1.72 mSv) were calculated. Moreover, the shielding cover around the X-ray tube decreased ESDs of the organs of interest except gonads.

The results reveal that therapeutic ERCP procedure imposes a greater radiation dose compared to diagnostic ERCP one. However, the doses of the patient and the examiner depend highly on examiner's experience, technical skills and knowledge in radiation protection. The results suggest that attempts to reduce radiation doses should be made.

Xylene, which can pollute the water sources, is widely used as a solvent in insecticide manufacture, dye and leather and other industries. Adsorption is one of the most common processes used to treat the contaminated aqueous solutions by xylene. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the xylene removal efficiency and adsorption isotherms of magnetic nanoparticles (iron nanoparticles), single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and single-walled carbon nanotubes- magnetic nanoparticles (SWCNT-MN) hybrid adsorbent.

The variables studied in this research were xylene concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time and pH. In this study, the xylene removal was evaluated by SWCNT-MN hybrid nanoreactors for 2 to 20 minutes. Design Expert software was used to optimize the xylene removal factors using Taguchi OA method. Xylene adsorption isotherm was investigated by ISOFIT software. Xylene measurement was performed by GC/MS.

The efficiency of the xylene removal by magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles, SWCNT and SWCNT-MN were 99.8, 99.2 and 99.9%, respectively. The Xylene adsorption isotherm of these three adsorbents showed that GLG isotherm is the most suitable isotherm for this adsorption.

The efficiency of the xylene removal by SWCNT-MN nano-reactors had no significant difference with the efficiency of the nano-magnetic column, but the removal efficiency of the xylene by the SWCNT-MN nano-reactors column and the nano-magnetic column was significantly different from the SWCNT column. Also, the comparison of adsorption capacity of used adsorbents showed that SWCNT-MN nanoreactors had the higher adsorption capacity than magnetic nanoparticles and SWCNTS.

The complex composition of the essential oils and the variety of chemical structures of their constituents are responsible of a wide range of biological activities many of which are of increasing interest in the field of foodstuff preservation (Romanazzi et al. 2012). Regarding that higher amount of EOs are required for food preservation, their application can negatively influence taste or odor. To avoid this unwanted side effect, several EOs can be combined. On the other hand the synergistic possible effect produced by the combination of plant essential oils was referred as an efficient strategy to combat microbial development(Wagner. 2011). The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the antifugal synergistic effect of combination of some essential oils including thyme, cinnamon, rosemary and marjoram aginst apple rot fungi during posthrvest storage. In this experiment, chemical composition of the essential oils was analyzed by gas chromatography. For evaluation of antifungal activity based on MIC, against Alternaria alternanta, Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea, an agar dilution method was used. EOs interactions were assessed using a checkerboard microdilution method. The evaluated concentrations were in the range of 5 dilutions below the MIC to twice the MIC. For the double combinations, a two-dimensional checkerboard with twofold dilutions of each EOs was used (six double combinations). The maximum antifungal activity was demonstrated by thyme oil which showed MIC values 1250 μg/mL for A. alternanta and P.expansum and 625 μg/mL for B. cinerea .Cinnamon oil with MIC values1250 μg/mL against A. alternanta and B. cinerea and 2500 μg/mL against P.expansum displayed more inhibitory effects than rosemary and marjoram essential oils. In antifungal synergy testing, some double combinations (thyme/rosemary, thyme/cinnamon and cinnamon/marjoram) were found to be synergistic (FICi≤0. 5). The in vivo assay also demonstrated considerable inhibitory effects of EO combination treatments. Results from artificial wounding of trated apple indicated that double combination of thyme/cinnamon (156, 312 μg/mL) has more inhibitory effect than single EO treatments. Although the major components of thyme and cinnamon (especially thymol, carvacrol and cinnamaldehyde) are very important for their antifungal activity, other less-active compounds in rosemary and marjoram (such as α–Pinene, 1.8-cineole, Terpinene-4-ol and γ-Terpinene) play a significant role, as they can strengthen the effects of major components, though synergistic effects have also been observed

The present study aims to investigate the effect of cultural in-service training on organizational innovation at Iranian Fisheries Organization. The sample size was 170 individuals selected by Cochran method and the sampling method was simple random sampling. A questionnaire measuring instrument was used to collect the required data. Validity and reliability of the instrument were verified through Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, average variance extracted, Fornell-Larcker criterion, and using experts' opinions. To test the research hypotheses, partial least squares method has been used through structural equation modeling. The results of data analysis indicated that cultural education was effective in organizational innovation at Iranian Fisheries Organization. Cultural training of skill development (0.95) could explain the variance of cultural in-service training more than other questions. The component of cultural training of creativity (0.53) was able to distribute the variance of cultural in-service training less than other questions. In other words, this item is less effective than other items regarding the mentioned factor. The positive effect of cultural in-service training on manufacturing, process, and administrative innovation is 0.65, 0.72 and 0.53 respectively. Cultural in-service training had the greatest impact on process innovation.

Patient safety is considered to be an inherent element of healthcare quality. Unsafe attitudes of healthcare employees are a major issue for healthcare providers in promoting the quality of care, which is closely correlated with the occurrence of hospital errors and incidents. On the other hand, development of optimal patient safety is not possible without establishing safety attitudes in healthcare facilities. The present study aimed to investigate the attitudes of healthcare providers toward patient safety in the operating room in the teaching hospitals in Isfahan, Iran. This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 217 healthcare practitioners in the teaching hospitals in Isfahan, Iran in 2018. The research units were selected via quota sampling. Data were collected using the standard safety attitude questionnaire (SAQ). Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 18 using descriptive and inferential statistics (independent t-test and Pearson's correlation-coefficient). The mean score of the total safety attitude of the healthcare providers was 59.06±11.84 (total: 100). The highest score belonged to the dimension of stress recognition, with the mean score of 79.93±17.46, and the lowest score belonged to the dimension of working conditions, with the mean score of 48.01±18.07. Accordingly, 49.3% of the participants described their patient safety attitude to be good/excellent, while 50.7% described their attitude to be average/poor. According to the results, the average safety attitude was not ideal in the operating room personnel. Therefore, it is recommended that hospital managers and staff attempt to implement effective interventions in order to promote the culture and attitude of patient safety in the operating room personnel.