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The Great Burgan reservoir is the largest sandstone oilfield in the world, it has been developed and produced since the 1930s. Historically developed through deviated wells, a new project of horizontal wells was initiated recently to produce from the UB3 reservoir unit. A pilot hole is usually required to identify the presence of productive sublayers and the depth of the oil-water contact (OWC), which must be avoided in the horizontal section. Elimination of the pilot hole would help to minimize the time and cost of development (Al Khalifa et al. 2020). The azimuthal ultra-deep resistivity mapping service (UDR) has proven its capability to eliminate the need for pilot holes by mapping reservoir boundaries and OWC on the fly, earlier than with traditional methods. This facilitates real-time geosteering to land the well in a single drilling run in the productive zone. Additionally, it helps to reduce non-productive time by making it easier to stop drilling and set casing above a target layer and to help optimize future well planning in field development. A feasibility study performed on offset wells showed promising potential from application of this method in the UB3. Real-time UDR geomapping detected multiple thin sand lenses on top of UB3 but showed that they were not of commercial capacity. The decision was made to continue drilling deeper for a larger sand layer. The UDR detected a massive sand below the smaller lenses and the well was landed in it. Early mapping also helped to optimize the landing with the desired inclination and dog-leg severity. The OWC was detected ~35 ft TVD below the landing point. Without UDR it would have been impossible to detect the OWC and very challenging to perform an accurate landing. The target could have been missed by landing either too shallow or too deep or with the wrong inclination. Following the landing of the well the lateral section was drilled through upper and lower lobes of the massive sand with a total cut of 1649 ft MD. This comprised 450 ft MD of upper lobe, 350 ft MD of transition interval, and 637 ft MD of lower lobe inside BU3, with an average porosity of 30 p.u. and a water saturation of less than 10%. Formation pressure tests measured mobility of up to ~3.4 D/cp. This case study demonstrates that utilization of the ultra-deep resistivity mapping service enabled a new approach to drilling lateral wells in the Burgan field development, improving reservoir insight and reducing well drilling time and cost.

Studies have implicated CAV1 in the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity. Previously, we demonstrated a potential association between the CAV1 rs1997623 C/A variant and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Kuwaiti children. In the present study, we substantiate the association of CAV1 with MetS in adult Arab individuals. Method: The CAV1 rs1997623 was genotyped in three cohorts of Arabs (n=479) , South Asians (n=660) and South East Asians (n=362) . MetS status of the individuals was diagnosed using the IDF criteria (i.e., presence of central obesity and of at least two abnormalities of high TG, low HDL, hypertension, or type 2 diabetes) . The quantitative measure of MetS was calculated as siMS=2*WC/Height + FBG/5.6 + TG/1.7 + SBP/130 - HDL/1.02 for males or HDL/1.28 for females. Allelic associations with quantitative and dichotomous traits were assessed using linear and logistic regression, respectively, with and adjustment for age and sex. CAV1 transcripts were quantified in adipose tissues from a cohort of 50 Arab individuals differing in siMS score. Results: The CAV1 variant was significantly associated with MetS status (OR=1.8[1.25-2.61]; P-value=0.0015; Pemp=0.0013) and with siMS (Effect size = 0.206; P-value=0.0035; Pemp=0.0028) in the cohort of Arab individuals. The variant was weakly and insignificantly associated in the cohorts of South Asian and South East Asian individuals (OR= 1.and 1.11; P-values= 0.25 and 0.67, respectively) . siMS scores correlated positively with mRNA levels of CAV1 in adipose tissue. Conclusion: The association of CAV1 rs1997623 C/A with MetS in Arab pediatric is now demonstrated in adults as well. Higher expression levels were seen in individuals poses increasing MetS rates further validates the implication of CAV1 rs1997623 C/A variant in MetS phenotype. Only a weak association signal was seen in the South Asian and South East Asian populations leading us to propose that the CAV1 rs1997623 association with MetS is probably specific to Arab ethnicity. Disclosure A.Al madhoun: None. P.Hebbar: None. R.Nizam: None. D.Haddad: None. M.H.Dashti: None. M.Abu-farha: None. R.Ahmad: None. A.T.Thangavel: None. F.Almulla: None. Funding Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and Dasman Diabetes Institute, Project RA CB-2021-007

There has recently been a growing interest in examining the role of epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, in the etiology of type 1 diabetes (T1D) . This study aimed to delineate differences in methylation patterns between T1D-affected and healthy individuals by examining the genome-wide methylation of individuals from three Arab families from Kuwait with T1D-affected mono-/dizygotic twins and non-twinned siblings. Bisulfite sequencing of DNA from the peripheral blood of affected and healthy individuals from each of the three families was performed. Methylation profiles of the affected individuals were compared to those of healthy individuals. The principal component analysis on methylation profiling based on base-pair resolution clustered the T1D-affected twins together family-wide. Sites/regions that were differentially methylated between T1D and healthy samples harbored 84 genes, of which 18 were known to be differentially methylated in T1D individuals compared to healthy individuals in publicly available gene expression data resources. We further validated two of the 18 genes—namely ICA1 and DRAM1 that were hypermethylated in T1D samples compared to healthy samples—for upregulation in T1D samples from an extended study cohort of familial T1D. The ICA1 is well-known to have a role in the development of autoimmune beta-cell destruction. Disclosure M.H.Dashti: None. R.Nizam: None. P.Hebbar: None. S.Jacob: None. S.E.John: None. A.M.Channanath: None. H.Alkandari: None. A.T.Thangavel: None. F.Almulla: None. Funding Kuwait Foundation for Advancement in Sciences funding RA-2014-024

One of the most common methods of strengthening concrete structures is the use of composite fibers such as FRP. These fibers have found a special place in structural retrofitting methods due to a number of specific ability including lightness and ease of performance. Reinforced concrete structures have long been considered by design engineers for the possibility of retrofitting high strength composite steel structures. In this study, twenty-two steel beam models were modeled by ANSYS software. Variable parameters studied in the modeled steel beams can be referred to the number, orientation and thickness of composite layers.

One of the factors affecting the dynamic state of the dams that may cause damages to the dam is the change under the spatial and temporal Excitation of the Heterogeneous ground Motion. Therefore, in different states the stress, strain, displacement and hydrostatic pressure indices are changed and led to serious damage to the dam. In this study, Karun 3 dam is investigated which is classified as one of the double curvature arch and gravity dams. For this purpose, using ABAQUS software, these indices have been investigated and controlled and the effectiveness of indices in this dam has been investigated in nonlinear dynamic seismic state. Northridge, Kobe, Bam, Hector, Chi-Chi and Manjil earthquakes are applied to the Karun 3 Dam. The results showed that due to the large amplitude and periodicity of the near-fault mappings, under the near-field earthquake, the deformation of the Karun 3 dam is greater than the far-field fault zone. As the height of the Karun 3 Dam rises, the effectiveness of far-field earthquakes declines and near-field earthquakes show more impact on the structure. In far-field earthquakes, stress changes due to earthquakes with maximum dynamic acceleration, the relative percentage of mises stress change is 15.5% and maximum dam crest change is 68.5 mm, and for near-field earthquakes is 25% and maximum dam crest change is 100 mm.

In the original invasion percolation model, a random number quantifies the role of necks, or generally the quality of pores, ignoring the structure of pores and impermeable regions (to which the invader cannot enter). In this paper, we investigate invasion percolation (IP), taking into account the impermeable regions, the configuration of which is modeled by ordinary and Ising-correlated site percolation (with short-range interactions, SRI), on top of which the IP dynamics is defined. We model the long-ranged correlations of pores by a random Coulomb potential (RCP). By examining various dynamical observables, we suggest that the critical exponents of Ising-correlated cases change considerably only in the vicinity of the critical point (critical temperature), while for the ordinary percolation case the exponents are robust against the occupancy parameter p. The properties of the model for the long-range interactions [LRI (RCP)] are completely different from the normal IP. In particular, the fractal dimension of the external frontier of the largest hole is nearly 4/3 for SRI far from the critical points, which is compatible with normal IP, while it converges to 1.099±0.04 for RCP. For the latter case, the time dependence of our observables is divided into three parts: the power law (short time), the logarithmic (moderate time), and the linear (long time) regimes. The second crossover time is shown to go to infinity in the thermodynamic limit, whereas the first crossover time is nearly unchanged, signaling the dominance of the logarithmic regime. The average gyration radius of the growing clusters, the length of their external perimeter, and the corresponding roughness are shown to be nearly constant for the long-time regime in the thermodynamic limit.

This paper has investigated the optimal localization of photovoltaic systems as one of the distributed generations in micro-grids, with regard to active and reactive power. Micro-grids provide the power quality in accordance with customers' needs, positive effects of micro-grids on the electricity market and economic savings. On the other hand, their effects on reducing air pollution have caused many researchers and experts to notice the issue of micro-grids. So, considering the ability of active and reactive power generation for photovoltaic systems in 24 hours, they can be used more efficiently. The algorithms presented on 33 bus micro-grid are applied in MATLAB, and the results have been investigated. The results have shown that the generated reactive power would significantly reduce the active power of system losses. At 9 AM, considering the PV inverter capability for generating the active and reactive power, voltage profile of the system has improved more effectively. At 12 PM, there are existed the maximum radiation and active power generated, and the whole capacity of the inverter is used to generate the active power. The PV reactive power generated has led to the improvement of the voltage profile.

Objectives To investigate the role of ethnicity in COVID-19 outcome disparities in a cohort in Kuwait. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of 405 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Kuwait. Outcomes such as symptoms severity and mortality were considered. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to report the odds ratios (OR) for ICU admission and dying from COVID-19. Results The cohort included 290 Arabs and 115 South Asians. South Asians recorded significantly higher COVID-19 death rates compared to Arabs (33% vs. 7.6%, P value, Highlights • Kuwait is a multiethnic country with a population of 4.3 million made mostly by Arabs and South Asians. • South Asians were more likely to develop a severe form of the disease which also corresponded to a higher death rate compared to Arabs in Kuwait. • Results highlighted probable impact of ethnicity on COVID-19 outcome.

The objective was to evaluate the distribution of the cross-sectional area (CSA) and flattening ratio (FR) of the median nerve (MN) in asymptomatic academic dentists using ultrasonography (US). Fifty academic dentists underwent US of the MN in transverse section at the pisiform bone level and the CSA (mm2) and FR were measured bilaterally. A CSA of 2 was considered normal. Paired t-test showed no statistical significance between either hand for CSA and FR ( P> .05). Two independent t-tests showed significant statistical differences ( P= .023) between males and females in the right dominant hand for CSA. Linear correlation analysis showed no significant correlation between CSA and FR for number of years of experience or number of working hours per day in either hand ( P>.05). The CSA was abnormal in the right dominant hand in 20 (40%) of the subjects. These male academic dentists were at increased risk of having an enlarged MN without symptoms.

Understanding capsid assembly following recombinant expression of viral structural proteins is critical to the design and modification of virus-like nanoparticles for biomedical and nanotechnology applications. Here, we use plant-based transient expression of the Bluetongue virus (BTV) structural proteins, VP3 and VP7, to obtain high yields of empty and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-encapsidating core-like particles (CLPs) from leaves. Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy of both types of particles revealed considerable differences in CLP structure compared to the crystal structure of infection-derived CLPs; in contrast, the two recombinant CLPs have an identical external structure. Using this insight, we exploited the unencumbered pore at the 5-fold axis of symmetry and the absence of encapsidated RNA to label the interior of empty CLPs with a fluorescent bioconjugate. CLPs containing 120 GFP molecules and those containing approximately 150 dye molecules were both shown to bind human integrin via a naturally occurring Arg-Gly-Asp motif found on an exposed loop of the VP7 trimeric spike. Furthermore, fluorescently labeled CLPs were shown to interact with a cell line overexpressing the surface receptor. Thus, BTV CLPs present themselves as a useful tool in targeted cargo delivery. These results highlight the importance of detailed structural analysis of VNPs in validating their molecular organization and the value of such analyses in aiding their design and further modification.

Capsid-based virus particles are widely engineered as viral nanoparticles and virus-like nanoparticles. The highly organized and uniform capsid structures make them ideal candidates for both in vitro and in vivo applications such as therapeutic delivery vehicles or enzymatic nanoreactors. Viruses have adapted to naturally infect a wide variety of organisms making their production achievable in various expression systems from bacterial to plants. Viral capsids can be modified externally and internally to suit the final application. The wide range of possible applications, ease of production in the system of choice, and customizable modification of viral capsids makes them an attractive choice in the field of nanotechnology. In this chapter we aim to provide a generic protocol for the purification and characterization of virus-derived nanoparticles and methodology for chemically labelling them to monitor their uptake in mammalian cells.

Capsid-based virus particles are widely engineered as viral nanoparticles and virus-like nanoparticles. The highly organized and uniform capsid structures make them ideal candidates for both in vitro and in vivo applications such as therapeutic delivery vehicles or enzymatic nanoreactors. Viruses have adapted to naturally infect a wide variety of organisms making their production achievable in various expression systems from bacterial to plants. Viral capsids can be modified externally and internally to suit the final application. The wide range of possible applications, ease of production in the system of choice, and customizable modification of viral capsids makes them an attractive choice in the field of nanotechnology. In this chapter we aim to provide a generic protocol for the purification and characterization of virus-derived nanoparticles and methodology for chemically labelling them to monitor their uptake in mammalian cells.

We present an analytical approach to study simple symmetric random walks (RWs) on a crossing geometry consisting of a plane square lattice crossed by $n_l$ number of lines that all meet each other at a single point (the origin) on the plane. The probability density to find the walker at a given distance from the origin either in a line or in the plane geometry is exactly calculated as a function of time t. We find that the large time asymptotic behavior of the walker for any arbitrary number $n_l$ of lines is eventually governed by the plane geometry after a crossover time approximately given by $t_c\propto n_l^2$. We show that this competition can be changed in favor of the line geometry by switching on an arbitrarily small perturbation of a drift term in which even a weak biased walk is able to drain the whole probability density into the line at long time limit. We also present the results of our extensive simulations of the model which perfectly support our analytical predictions. Our method can, however, be simply extended to other crossing geometries with a single common point., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures

In this study, the adsorption of thallium (I) ion as a dangerous pollutant from aqueous solution onto modified ZnO nanopowder as a fairly cheap adsorbent has been examined in batch mode. It was known that modification of the adsorbent was necessary to reach a significant adsorption percentage. The adsorbent used here was modified by sodium phosphate solution. The effect of experimental conditions such as initial pH of solution, contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of thallium and temperature is studied. The results showed the dependence of the adsorption percentage to these conditions specially its pH. The maximum adsorption percentage of Tl (I) ions at 25±1oC was 92.8%. Freundlich isotherm model provided a better fit with the experimental data than Langmuir and Temkin isotherm models by high correlation. Separation factor, RL, values showed that modified ZnO nanopowder was favorable for the adsorption of Tl (I) ion. The negative value of ΔH0 showed that Tl (I) sorption is an exothermic process and the negative value of ΔS0 represented that there is a little decrease of randomness at the solid-solution interface during sorption.

We report on the universality of height fluctuations at the crossing point of two interacting (1+1)-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) interfaces with curved and flat initial conditions. We introduce a control parameter p as the probability for the initially flat geometry to be chosen and compute the phase diagram as a function of p. We find that the distribution of the fluctuations converges to the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble Tracy-Widom (TW) distribution for p0.5. For p=0.5 where the two geometries are equally weighted, the behavior is governed by an emergent Gaussian statistics in the universality class of Brownian motion. We propose a phenomenological theory to explain our findings and discuss possible applications in nonequilibrium transport and traffic flow., 5 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2019) (accepted)

We present a random-interface representation of the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model based on thermal fluctuations of a uniquely defined geometric spin cluster in the 3D model and its 2D cross section. Extensive simulations have been carried out to measure the global interfacial width as a function of temperature for different lattice sizes which is shown to signal the criticality of the model at $T_c$ by forming a size-independent cusp in 3D, along with an emergent super-roughening at its 2D cross section. We find that the super-rough state is accompanied by an intrinsic anomalous scaling behavior in the local properties characterized by a set of geometric exponents which are the same as those for a pure 2D Ising model., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev E(Rapid Communication)

Bioinspired self-sorting and self-assembling systems using engineered versions of natural protein cages are being developed for biocatalysis and therapeutic delivery. The packaging and intracellular delivery of guest proteins is of particular interest for both in vitro and in vivo cell engineering. However, there is a lack of bionanotechnology platforms that combine programmable guest protein encapsidation with efficient intracellular uptake. We report a minimal peptide anchor for in vivo self-sorting of cargo-linked capsomeres of murine polyomavirus (MPyV) that enables controlled encapsidation of guest proteins by in vitro self-assembly. Using Forster resonance energy transfer, we demonstrate the flexibility in this system to support coencapsidation of multiple proteins. Complementing these ensemble measurements with single-particle analysis by super-resolution microscopy shows that the stochastic nature of coencapsidation is an overriding principle. This has implications for the design and deployment of both native and engineered self-sorting encapsulation systems and for the assembly of infectious virions. Taking advantage of the encoded affinity for sialic acids ubiquitously displayed on the surface of mammalian cells, we demonstrate the ability of self-assembled MPyV virus-like particles to mediate efficient delivery of guest proteins to the cytosol of primary human cells. This platform for programmable coencapsidation and efficient cytosolic delivery of complementary biomolecules therefore has enormous potential in cell engineering.

The statistical properties of the carrier density profile of graphene in the ground state in the presence particle-particle interaction and random charged impurity in zero gate voltage has been recently obtained by Najafi \textit{et al.} (Phys. Rev E95, 032112 (2017)). The non-zero chemical potential ($\mu$) in gated graphene has non-trivial effects on electron-hole puddles, since it generates mass in the Dirac action and destroys the scaling behaviors of the effective Thomas-Fermi-Dirac theory. We provide detailed analysis on the resulting spatially inhomogeneous system in the framework of the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac theory for the Gaussian (white noise) disorder potential. We show that, the chemical potential in this system as a random surface, destroys the self-similarity, and the charge field is non-Gaussian. We find that the two-body correlation functions are factorized to two terms: a pure function of the chemical potential and a pure function of the distance. The spatial dependence of these correlation functions is double-logarithmic, e.g. the two-point density correlation $D_2(r,\mu)\propto \mu^2\exp\left[-\left(-a_D\ln\ln r^{\beta_D}\right)^{\alpha_D} \right]$ ($\alpha_D=1.82$, $\beta_D=0.263$ and $a_D=0.955$). The Fourier power spectrum function behaves like $\ln(S(q))=-\beta_S^{-a_S}\left(\ln q \right)^{a_S}+2\ln \mu$ ($a_S=3.0\pm 0.1$ and $\beta_S=2.08\pm 0.03$) in contrast to the ordinary Gaussian rough surfaces for which $a_S=1$ and $\beta_S=\frac{1}{2}(1+\alpha)^{-1}$, ($\alpha$ being the roughness exponent). The geometrical properties are however similar to the un-gated ($\mu=0$) case, with the exponents that are reported in the text., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1609.07096

Bioinspired self-sorting and self-assembling systems using engineered versions of natural protein cages have been developed for biocatalysis and therapeutic delivery. The packaging and intracellular delivery of guest proteins is of particular interest for both in vitro and in vivo cell engineering. However, there is a lack of platforms in bionanotechnology that combine programmable guest protein encapsidation with efficient intracellular uptake. We report a minimal peptide anchor for in vivo self-sorting of cargo-linked capsomeres of the Murine polyomavirus (MPyV) major coat protein that enables controlled encapsidation of guest proteins by in vitro self-assembly. Using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) we demonstrate the flexibility in this system to support co-encapsidation of multiple proteins. Complementing these ensemble measurements with single particle analysis by super-resolution microscopy shows that the stochastic nature of co-encapsidation is an overriding principle. This has implications for the design and deployment of both native and engineered self-sorting encapsulation systems and for the assembly of infectious virions. Taking advantage of the encoded affinity for sialic acids ubiquitously displayed on the surface of mammalian cells, we demonstrate the ability of self-assembled MPyV virus-like particles to mediate efficient delivery of guest proteins to the cytosol of primary human cells. This platform for programmable co-encapsidation and efficient cytosolic delivery of complementary biomolecules therefore has enormous potential in cell engineering.

A novel ion-selective poly(vinyl chloride) membrane sensor for Fe(III) ions based on Tris-(1,2-diiminocyclohexylmethyl-5-Cl-2-hydroxyl benzaldehyde) are reported in this paper. The electrode exhibits a good potentiometric response for Fe(III), response time ≤ 20 s, over a wide concentration range 1.0 × 10-5 to 1.0 × 10-1 M with a slope 19.4 ± 0.5 mV/decade. The potentiometric response is independent on the pH of solution in the range of 1.5-5.0. The proposed electrode can be used for at least two months without any considerable divergence in potentials.It exhibits very good selectivity relative to a wide variety of alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. The electrode assembly was also used as indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration of Fe(III) with EDTA.

In many situations we are interested in the propagation of energy in some portions of a three dimensional system with dilute long-range links. In this paper sandpile model is defined on the three-dimensional small world network with real dissipative boundaries and the energy propagation is studied in three-dimensions as well as the two-dimensional cross sections. Two types of cross section are defined in the system, one in the bulk and another in the system boundary. The motivation of this is to make clear how the statistics of the avalanches in the bulk cross section tend to the statistics of the dissipative avalanches, defined in the boundaries as the concentration of long range links ($\alpha$) increases. This trend is numerically shown to be power law in a manner described in the paper. Two regimes of $\alpha$ are considered in this work. For sufficiently small $\alpha$s the dominant behavior of the system is just like that of the regular BTW, whereas for the intermediate values the behavior is non-trivial with some exponents that are reported in the paper. It is shown that the spatial extent up to which the statistics is similar to the regular BTW model scales with $\alpha$ just like the dissipative BTW model with the dissipation factor (mass in the corresponding ghost model) $m^2\sim \alpha$ for the three-dimensional system as well as its two-dimensional cross-sections.

The BTW sandpile model is considered on three dimensional percolation lattice which is tunned with the occupation parameter $p$. Along with the three-dimensional avalanches, we study the energy propagation in two-dimensional cross-sections. We use the moment analysis to extract the exponents for two separate cases: the critical ($p=p_c\equiv p_c^{3D}$) and the off-critical ($p_c

We present extensive numerical simulations of Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld (BTW) sandpile model on the hypercubic lattice in the upper critical dimension ${D}_{u}=4$. After re-extracting the critical exponents of avalanches, we concentrate on the three- and two-dimensional (2D) cross sections seeking for the induced criticality which are reflected in the geometrical and local exponents. Various features of finite-size scaling (FSS) theory have been tested and confirmed for all dimensions. The hyperscaling relations between the exponents of the distribution functions and the fractal dimensions are shown to be valid for all dimensions. We found that the exponent of the distribution function of avalanche mass is the same for the $d$-dimensional cross sections and the $d$-dimensional BTW model for $d=2$ and 3. The geometrical quantities, however, have completely different behaviors with respect to the same-dimensional BTW model. By analyzing the FSS theory for the geometrical exponents of the two-dimensional cross sections, we propose that the 2D induced models have degrees of similarity with the Gaussian free field (GFF). Although some local exponents are slightly different, this similarity is excellent for the fractal dimensions. The most important one showing this feature is the fractal dimension of loops ${d}_{f}$, which is found to be $1.50\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02\ensuremath{\approx}\frac{3}{2}={d}_{f}^{\text{GFF}}$.

The self-organized criticality on the random fractal networks has many motivations, like the movement pattern of fluid in the porous media. In addition to the randomness, introducing correlation between the neighboring portions of the porous media has some nontrivial effects. In this paper, we consider the Ising-like interactions between the active sites as the simplest method to bring correlations in the porous media, and we investigate the statistics of the BTW model in it. These correlations are controlled by the artificial "temperature" T and the sign of the Ising coupling. Based on our numerical results, we propose that at the Ising critical temperature T_{c} the model is compatible with the universality class of two-dimensional (2D) self-avoiding walk (SAW). Especially the fractal dimension of the loops, which are defined as the external frontier of the avalanches, is very close to D_{f}^{SAW}=4/3. Also, the corresponding open curves has conformal invariance with the root-mean-square distance R_{rms}∼t^{3/4} (t being the parametrization of the curve) in accordance with the 2D SAW. In the finite-size study, we observe that at T=T_{c} the model has some aspects compatible with the 2D BTW model (e.g., the 1/log(L)-dependence of the exponents of the distribution functions) and some in accordance with the Ising model (e.g., the 1/L-dependence of the fractal dimensions). The finite-size scaling theory is tested and shown to be fulfilled for all statistical observables in T=T_{c}. In the off-critical temperatures in the close vicinity of T_{c} the exponents show some additional power-law behaviors in terms of T-T_{c} with some exponents that are reported in the text. The spanning cluster probability at the critical temperature also scales with L^{1/2}, which is different from the regular 2D BTW model.

In order to study the effect of Ca, K, and Mn foliar spray on vegetative traits of safflower (Padideh cultivar) under salt stress, a factorial experiment was conducted based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications in Vali-asr university greenhouse. Factors included salinity with four levels representing 0, 500, 1000, and 1500 mg NaCl kg -1, and foliar spray with four level representing 10 mM spray of distilled water, CaNo3, K2HPO4 and MnSo4, 1 mM spray, respectively, sprayed two weeks after emergence, one application per 2 weeks. Results showed that increasing salinity level, reduced plant dry weight, leaf area, height, while salinity and foliar spray treatments has no effect on number of leaves. Highest leaf area was obtained after K2HPO4 and CaNo3 foliar spray, and lowest leaf area was obtained from MnSo4, K2HPO4 and CaNo3 foliar spray prevented somewhat early plant growth rate reduction treated with 500 and 1000 mg NaCl. Applying 1500 mg NaCl reduced SPAD value, and leaf chlorophyll fluorescence. MnSo4, K2HPO4 and CaNo3 foliar spray nutrients, also reduced SPAD value.

VUPf5 genetic stability as a superior strain (of the 900 bacterial strains that were isolated from the rhizosphere of different regions of Iran) for the control of take-all disease of wheat was studied. The genetic stability of the strain in terms of, whether or not, the mass and reproduction of bacteria in liquid medium was determined. VUPf5 produces some secondary metabolites such as extracellular proteases, phenazine antibiotic, siderophore, hydrogen cyanide and volatile metabolites. The regulatory GacA/GacS system has involved as an important system in the production of secondary metabolites in the biocontrol fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. During proliferation, different colonies of bacteria were found in terms of morphology, such as colour (white instead of orange) and shape (approximately flat and larger) of the colony; and media pH that in the mutants was higher, and the production of some metabolites, such as protease, HCN and phenazine was surveyed. Also, mutants in the genetic comparison with the ...

About 900 bacterial strains obtained from plants rhizosphere from different areas of Iran and biocontrol ability were widely survey in vitro and greenhouse conditions against Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici the causal agent of take-all disease. Finally the best strain (VUPf5 strain) in the additional tests biocontrol ability in vitro and greenhouse conditions was selected for next studies. VUPf5 suppressed of take-all disease 85%. Based on biochemical and morphological tests, this isolate is belonging to the species Pseudomonas fluorescens. This isolate significantly produced the secondary metabolites such as siderophores, hydrogen cyanide, protease, phenazine and volatile metabolites.

Simultaneous uptake of Cd(II) and Pb(II) by corn in two artificially contaminated soils (sandy and sandy loam) amended with two doses of natural (NM) and modified (MM) montmorillonite were investigated in a pot experiment under greenhouse conditions. Results showed that the addition of NM and MM to sandy loam soils didn t have significant effect on the uptake of Cd(II) by roots, then is translocated to the aerial tissues. On the contrary, uptake of Cd(II) by shoots was increased in pots containing 10% MM in the sandy soils compared to those in the un-amended soils. In the case of Pb(II), metal uptake by corn roots and shoots was not affected by the both NM and MM in the sandy loam soils as compared to those in the un-amended soils. While in the sandy soils, Pb(II) contents of roots were decreased by the both NM and MM at level of 10%. Also, Pb(II) contents of corn shoots significantly were decreased by NM, while MM had not significant effect on uptake of Pb(II) by shoots. The transfer factor (TF) values of Pb(II) were much less than those of Cd(II) in the same treatments. The results suggest that the effects of soil texture on efficiency of the amendments for immobilization of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in polluted soils should be considered.

In traditional Iranian medicine, asafoetida, an oleo-gum-resin obtained from the roots of Ferula assa-foetida, has been prescribed as a diuretic. This study was undertaken to investigate the diuretic effect of asafoetida in normal rats. Asafoetida was administered orally at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg and furosemide (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) was used as positive control. The diuretic effect was evaluated by measuring urine volume and sodium, potassium, urea, and creatinine content in urine and serum. Urine volume, excretion of sodium, and potassium were significantly increased by asafoetida as compared to the control group. A significant increase in creatinine clearance was observed in the groups treated with asafoetida at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg (P < 0.05). We conclude that asafoetida induced a diuretic effect comparable to that produced by the reference diuretic furosemide. This study provides a quantitative basis for explaining the folkloric use of asafoetida as a diuretic agent.

We report on universality in boundary domain growth in cluster aggregation in the limit of maximum concentration. Maximal concentration means that the diffusivity of the clusters is effectively zero and, instead, clusters merge successively in a percolation process, which leads to a sudden growth of the boundary domains. For two-dimensional square lattices of linear dimension L, independent of the models studied here, we find that the maximum of the boundary interface width, the susceptibility χ, exhibits the scaling χ ~ Lγ with the universal exponent γ = 1. The rapid growth of the boundary domain at the percolation threshold, which is guaranteed to occur for almost any cluster percolation process, underlies the the universal scaling of χ.

Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 21110;10.1038/srep21110 published online February222016; updated: June232016 The original version of this Article contained errors. H. Dashti-Naserabadi and A. Abbasi were incorrectly listed as being affiliated with ‘Department of Physics, Plasma and Condensed Matter Computational Laboratory, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz 53714-161, Iran’ and ‘Physics and Accelerators Research School, NSRTI 11365-3486, Tehran, Iran’ respectively. The correct affiliations are listed below: H. Dashti-Naserabadi Physics and Accelerators Research School, NSRTI 11365-3486, Tehran, Iran A. Abbasi Department of Physics, Plasma and Condensed Matter Computational Laboratory, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz 53714-161, Iran In the Abstract, “The rapid growth of the boundary domain at the percolation threshold, which is guaranteed to occur for almost any cluster percolation process, underlies the the universal scaling of χ.” now reads: “The rapid growth of the boundary domain at the percolation threshold, which is guaranteed to occur for almost any cluster percolation process, underlies the universal scaling of χ.” In the legend of Figure 1, “The (bottom) boundary domain consists of a single cluster (light blue) that evolves by merging with other neighboring clusters from the initial set of the L bottom sites (i = 0 to i = L − 1; j = 0).” now reads: “The (bottom) boundary domain consists of a single cluster (light blue) that evolves by merging with other neighboring clusters from the initial set of the L bottom sites (i = 0 to L - 1; j = 0).” In the legend of Figure 5, “Size Δ of the largest gap in w for a collection of continuous and discontinuous cluster percolation models. Specifically, for rnd-rule (○ ), 2nd-max-rule (W), 3rd-max-rule (◇), fractional (Δ, f = 0.5), all yielding discontinuous percolation, and max-max-rule (select at random a cluster and merge the two largest clusters that are neighbors of each other among the selected cluster and all its neighbors), yielding continuous percolation, Δ as a function of lattice size L is shown. 800 realizations for each data point. Error bars are smaller than symbol size.” now reads: “The maximal gap in w. Size Δ of the largest gap in w for a collection of continuous and discontinuous cluster percolation models. Specifically, for fractional f= 0 (∘), max-rule (☆), rnd-rule (□), all yielding discontinuous percolation, and site-percolation (▿), yielding continuous percolation, Δ as a function of lattice size L is shown. 10^5 realizations for each data point. Error bars are smaller than symbol size.” These errors have now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

We report on universality in boundary domain growth in cluster aggregation in the limit of maximum concentration. Maximal concentration means that the diffusivity of the clusters is effectively zero and, instead, clusters merge successively in a percolation process, which leads to a sudden growth of the boundary domains. For two-dimensional square lattices of linear dimension L, independent of the models studied here, we find that the maximum of the boundary interface width, the susceptibility χ, exhibits the scaling χ ~ Lγ with the universal exponent γ = 1. The rapid growth of the boundary domain at the percolation threshold, which is guaranteed to occur for almost any cluster percolation process, underlies the universal scaling of χ., Scientific Reports, 6, ISSN:2045-2322

In order to investigate the effects of supplementary calcium chloride and potassium nitrate on plant growth of Ammi (Carum copticum L.) in different salinity levels and nutrient solutions (NS), an experiment based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with factorial arrangement was conducted under greenhouse condition in the faculty of agriculture, Vali-e-Asr university of Rafsanjan, during September to December 2009. The treatments were three levels of salinity levels (0, 5 and 100 mmol) and five different nutrition solution including: Control: Hoagland solution only (N1); Hoagland solution plus 40 mM CaCl2 in nutrition solution (N2); Hoagland solution plus 40 mM CaCl2 as spray (N3); (4) Nutrient solution plus 40 mM KNO3 in nutrition solution (N4) and Hoagland solution plus 40 mM KNO3 as spray (N5). Results showed that relative water content of leaf did not affected by salinity, type of nutrient solutions and the interaction of salinity and nutrient solution. The lowest and the highest sodium content were observed in the control and 100 Mm NaCl treatments, respectively. K, Ca and Mg content significantly reduced in Ammi shoot with increasing salinity. Salinity increased soluble sugars in plant while type of nutrient solution and interaction of salinity and nutrient solution were not significantly affected soluble sugars. The Highest and lowest protein content of plant organs were observed in the control and 100 Mm NaCl, respectively. Type of nutrient solution also influenced protein content. The highest protein content related to N3 and the lowest related to N5.