r. rahimi

Saffron is one of the most iconic and valuable plants in Iran, with a cultivation history that spans centuries. It is a key agricultural product for export, contributing significantly to the country's foreign currency earnings. As the world's leading saffron producer, Iran accounts for 60% of global production. This study aims to analyze the patterns of energy use in saffron cultivation and explore the relationships between energy inputs and yield in the west of Isfahan province, Iran.

This research gathered the necessary data through questionnaires and interviews with saffron farmers. The inputs analyzed in the study included human labor, machinery, diesel fuel, chemical and organic fertilizers, irrigation water, electricity, and seed energy. The energy equivalent for each input was determined by multiplying the input quantities by their respective energy coefficients. Based on the energy equivalents of both inputs and outputs, key energy indices such as energy ratio (energy use efficiency), energy productivity, and specific energy were calculated. The energy ratio (energy use efficiency) was calculated using the formula: Energy Ratio = Energy Output (MJ ha⁻¹) / Energy Input (MJ ha⁻¹). To establish a mathematical relationship between energy inputs and yield, the Cobb-Douglas production function was applied. In this study, energy requirements were categorized into four groups: direct, indirect, renewable, and non-renewable. The marginal physical productivity (MPP) method was employed to analyze the sensitivity of energy inputs in saffron production. This method assesses how the performance changes when one unit of energy input is increased, while holding other production factors constant. A positive MPP value for any input suggests that increasing the input will result in higher output, implying that the input should continue to be used until the resource reaches its limit. Conversely, a negative MPP value indicates that additional units of the input decrease performance, signaling that further input use would be inefficient.

The results of this study revealed that the corm used for cultivation (seed) accounted for the highest proportion of energy consumption in saffron production, contributing 54.11%, followed by manure (13.51%) and electricity (11%). Notably, the proportion of renewable energy in saffron cultivation exceeded that of non-renewable energy consumption. Two methods were employed to calculate energy use efficiency in saffron production: one based on the total outputs, including stigma, leaf, and corm, and the other considering only the saffron stigma. For this study, the energy use efficiency was found to be 0.002 when based solely on saffron stigma. The R² value for the Cobb-Douglas production function, which was based on energy consumption, was estimated at 0.84, indicating that the model explained 84% of the variability in performance based on the five input factors: labor, irrigation water, machinery, chemical fertilizers, and animal fertilizers. The results of the Cobb-Douglas model demonstrated that the energy inputs of human labor, machinery, chemical and animal fertilizers, and irrigation water had a significant impact on yield. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis revealed that human labor had the highest marginal physical productivity (MPP) among all input energies. With an MPP value of 0.87, human labor had the most substantial effect on saffron production, significantly influencing the overall output compared to other energy inputs.

The results of this study indicated that the total energy consumed in saffron production was 138,319 MJ/ha. Of this, renewable energy accounted for 16.46% of the total energy used. The key energy indices for saffron production were as follows: energy use efficiency was 3.7, energy productivity was 0.24 kg MJ⁻¹, specific energy was 4.8 MJ kg⁻¹, and net energy was 377,600 MJ ha⁻¹. These values provide a comprehensive overview of the energy dynamics involved in saffron cultivation, highlighting both the energy intensity and efficiency of the production process.

To help the Ministry of Education with the redesigning of the textbooks, it was deemed that the inclusion of social media could prove beneficial, given that the way students use these media is improved. To find out how this could be implemented, a group of experts in three areas of culture, communication, and education was carefully selected and then interviewed. Data analysis lead to a model curriculum in which learning within the socio-educational environment, and exercising different types of thinking (critical, creative, and meditational) with concentration on self-awareness in thinking are emphasized. As for the content and its topics, skills necessary for identification of media effects, and actively responding to them, as well as awareness of the constituents of the Iranian-Islamic identity are highlighted. The goals in the constructed curriculum include improvement of personal capabilities like well-informed selection, critical thinking, and communication skills such as sign recognition and cultural sensitivity, alongside the ability to preserve Iranian-Islamic beliefs. In the area of evaluation, the curriculum emphasizes situational testing of both personal capabilities and communication skills.

Iran, one of the largest greenhouse gas producers in the world, burns hundreds of thousands of tons of sour gases annually, through the flare systems. Sweetening of sour gases, using amin absorption process, with combination of Claus process is the most common process, with a huge amount of sulfur, as by product. In this paper, a feasibility study has been done for "catalytic conversion of H2S to methyl mercaptan" as a novel process for sweetening of sour gases. This investigation shows that the use of this method has a great benefit in comparison with the H2S -to-sulfur conversion processes. The study examined one of Iranian petrochemical companies that burns more than 80,000 tons of gas per year. The results show that by the catalytic conversion of H2S to methyl mercaptan in this petrochemical complex, while producing one of the country's most needed strategic materials, the gross profit of the project is more than 25 million US$ annually. The benefit of this method is 4 times of the H2S to Sulfur method and the total cost will return in less than two years.

Gravity multiphase separators are one of the most important equipment in different industries. Due to the limitations related to semi-empirical models and the high-performance cost of experimental tests in finding the optimized design, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been widely used recently. In this research, after a total review on gravity separators, a review of CFD studies on these apparatuses, to find the appropriate model for simulation and optimization, are considered. Results show that, although CFD is a powerful technique for modeling and improving the separator design, some disadvantages like using incorrect models, simplified assumptions and inappropriate optimization methods lead to inaccurate simulation and optimization results, which should be considered in future works.

Nanotechnology is the exploitation of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the particles with less than 100 nanometers in size. The most of the produced nanoparticles (56%) are composed of silver. The high consumption of these materials in industry and household products has led to their frequent release in aquatic ecosystems. The median lethal concentration (LC50) and the impact of silver nanoparticles on liver enzymes (ALP, LDH, AST, ALT) and thyroid hormones (T4 and T3) in Pangasius hypophthalamus wereinvestigated in the present study in three steps: At first, OECD (The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) protocols were used to determine the fatal levels of the silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in striped catfish. Second, semi-lethal concentration was found as 37.32 µg L-1 via regression test. In the last step, 168 fish received 0, 3.37, 7.46, 18.66 µg l-1  Ag NPs with three replicate.  Six fish were randomly selected after 14 days from each replicate. Whole fish body extraction was used to measure the liver enzymes and thyroid hormones. The results suggested that due to the lower LC50 of Ag NPs in striped catfish, this species is more susceptible compared to various other fish species. Exposure to the silver nanoparticles with different concentrations significantly increased the levels of liver enzymes (ALP, LDH, AST, ALT) and also significantly decreased the T3, but no effect on T4.

The high tendency of agricultural producers to the production of medicinal plants has raised concerns about increasing the yield of these products, which can be achieved by mechanizing production and spending more energy. Therefore, energy flow analysis is essential throughout the production process. This research was implemented in the field in 2018 by questionnaires and face to face interview with farmers in some areas of Tehran and Alborz provinces on the four medicinal herbs Mentha piperita L., Artemisia dracunculus L., Ocimum basilicum L. and Satureja hortensis L. The results showed that among all the inputs consumed in this project, two inputs of chemical fertilizers and electricity with a difference of more than 80%, had the highest percentage of energy consumption. After estimating the energy indices, the energy efficiency index was more than one for all the studied products, indicating the energy efficiency of the production systems of these products. Also, the medicinal plant savory with an energy efficiency of 3.37 was considered the most suitable product for energy consumption and production. In terms of net energy index, savory with a net energy production of 281457 MJ ha-1 had the highest energy return. The estimate of the mechanization index in energy consumption showed that a small proportion of energy consumption was related to mechanization (0.23 to 0.26) in the production of all four products and this issue showed the need to increase mechanization in the production of these products more than before.

The present study was conducted to investigate the expression level of cytochrome P450 enzyme in detoxification of water soluble fractions (WSFs) of crude oil in Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus. Fish were exposed to WSFs at concentrations of 0 (control), 10, 20, and 50% of the LC50 for 14 days, and then, the expression level of P450 gene was assayed in gill and liver samples. According to the results, the expression level of P450 gene increased in both the gill and liver tissues of fish when exposed to sub lethal concentrations of WSFs. High level of expression in treatment of 50% WSFs was observed compared to the control (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were observed between treatments of 10%, 20%, and 50% WSFs. Additionally, P450 was expressed higher in the gill tissue than the liver. The present research demonstrates that P450 gene expression can be used as a molecular biomarker to assay the severity of oil pollution in the Caspian Sea.

One of the methods of using livestock exhaust is compressing and pelletting it, which causes facilitation of transportation, reduction of odor and gradual release of nitrogen. For manure pelleting, extruder and disk pelleting are used. Since the stones existing materials in the stored manure cause damage to the pelletting apparatus, so the removal of the stone from the manure before the processing is necessary. In this research, with the aim of separation the rock from the manure, a gravity separator was designed and fabricated. The performance of the device was evaluated by changing the three slope parameters of the material separator plates, manure moisture content and the size of the stone and manure dimensions The changed level was for 10, 15 and 20 ° slopes of separators, 10, 30 and 50% of the moisture content of manure, and for the particle size of less than 10, 10 to 20 and 20 to 50 mm. The maximum device separation efficiency of the stone from the manure was 76.81% at 10 ° slope, 50% moisture content and a particle size less than 10 mm.

Due to drought during the recent years, the Hamoon wetland has become unstable and hence Chah-nimeh water reservoirs of Zabol (Sistan, Iran) have become increasingly important for aquatic life. Hence, it is necessary to identify biodiversity of fish in Chah-nimeh reservoirs to provide baseline data for management and conservation purposes. In order to identify and DNA barcode fish species in Chah-nimeh reservoirs, fish specimens were collected during 2017. Totally, 29 specimens belonging to Schizothorax zarudnyi, Carassius sp., Paracobitis rhadianaeus, Ctenopharingodon idella, Gonorhynchus adiscus, Cyprinus carpio, Schizocypris altidorsalis were collected. To perform phylogenetic analyzes 5’ end sequence of gene COI were produced. For phylogenetic analysis Neighbor-Joining and Maximum likelihood methods were used. The results resolved six phylogenetic groups among the analyzed specimens. Accordingly, the maximum genetic divergence was 27.1% between P. rhadinaeus and C. idella and the minimum genetic divergence was 10.8% between C. carpio and S. zarudnyi.

Kinetic of the photo-oxidation of phenol in aqueous alkaline and neutral buffer solutions was studied and compared by irradiation of visible light in the presence of tetra-cationic porphyrins and their zinc metal ion photo-sensitizers. The porphyrins 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3- methylpyridinium)porphyrin (TMPyP(3)); 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-methylpyridinium)porphyrin (TMPyP(4)); 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-N,N,Ntrimethylanilinium)porphyrin (TAPP) and their zinc ion complexes were used in this study. In the dark conditions, none of the porphyrin compounds showed any effect on the reducing of phenol. The results showed that the rate of the photo-oxidation of phenol in alkaline medium has been increased in the presence of these photo-sensitizers. Among them, the rate of photo-oxidation by TAPP was more than the other ones. In neutral medium, the rate of the photo-oxidation of all of the compounds have been shown approximately similar behavior. It was found that the dominant pathway of phenol degradation occurred in the reaction with molecular singlet oxygen (1O2). Kinetic parameters of the phenol reaction with 1O2 were estimated. According to the equation (lnA/A0 = kobs t) and by plotting lnA/A0 against time, the rate of the reaction was obtained first order.

studies show that organizations using transformational leadership، achieve high levels of growth and development. For this reason، in recent decades، transformational leadership has become an unavoidable necessity، because through transformational leadership organizations can improve their competitive advantage such as organizational learning. Therefore، the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational learning at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

Research method was descriptive-correlative. To collect data، 117 employees at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were surveyed. Research instruments were to questionnaires: 1) Bass and Avalio’s transformational leadership، and 2) Neif’s organizational learning. Reliability coefficients were. 87 and. 88 respectively، using Chronbach’s formula. The collected data were analyzed using one- sample t-test، and Pearson correlation.

Findings showed that there are a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and its components (Idealized Influence، Inspirational Motivation، Intellectual Stimulation، and Individualized Consideration) with organizational learning. T test results showed that transformational leadership and organizational learning are in a rather good status.

according to the findings، it can be suggested that the existence of transformational leadership can result in the improvement of organizational learning.

The distillation process remains as the most common method of separation in chemical process industry so that the energy use of this process accounts for an estimated 3% of world’s energy consumption. Different methods have been considered to reduce the energy consumption in distillation processes. As one of these methods, The Dividing-Wall Column (DWC) has been of great concern for multi-component mixtures distillation. The design of DWC is based on Thermally Coupled Distillation System (TCDS) which eliminates some of the operational equipments. That leads to reduction of 20-30% in capital costs and about 25% in operating costs. Thus Dividing-wall column (DWC) is one of the best examples of process intensification in distillation.This paper presents an introduction to DWC, including column configuration, design, simulation and some current industrial applications.

This paper discusses the integration of biodiversity concerns with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures of Iran. Indeed, it compares and analyses this status in six south Asian countries. The analysis was based on the reports available from a number of EIA report references to biodiversity, and biodiversity related issues, level and compositional, structure or functional component of biodiversity. The analysis provides clear evidence that biodiversity is not being adequately addressed in EIA studies undertaken in Iran, and some of the studied countries. So, the impacts on biodiversity were not being adequately addressed and that functional biodiversity, in particular, was inadequately assessed. The results show that there are less consideration about biodiversity in Iranian EIA Guidelines (32%) comparing to Bangladesh and Bhutan (50%), Pakistan and Nepal (41%), but more than India (14%) and Seri Lanka (9%). For optimizing the role and importance of biodiversity concerns in EIA procedures of Iran, structural and institutional recommendations provided on those aspects of biodiversity that should be addressed in EIA. The recommendations should be used for the preparation of guidelines for integration of biodiversity in Iranian EIA.

Mentha (Mint) is a genus of flowering plants in the Labiatae (Lamiaceae) family. Mints arearomatic, almost exclusively perennial, and rarely annual. Mint and its medicinal uses havebeen cited in many traditional manuscripts and since Mentha species have different medicalproperties and recognition of these species considering the characteristics mentioned intraditional manuscripts is difficult, we decided to elaborate the corresponding names intraditional medicine and characteristics of 4 native and one hybrid common species ofMentha in Iran including M. spicata, M. longifolia, M. pulegium, M. aquatica and M. ×piperita. The results of this work help the traditional medicine researchers to recognize themedicinal properties specified in traditional manuscripts for each Mentha species.