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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Survival rates are among the most important factors in quality control and assessment of treatment protocols. This study was aimed to assess the survival rate of colorectal cancer in Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries. In the present study we comprehensively searched 6 international databases including PubMed/Medline, ProQuest, Scopus, Embase, Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar for published articles until November 2018. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Form for Cohort Studies was applied to evaluate the quality of included studies. The heterogeneity of papers was assessed with the Cochran Test and I-Square statistics. Meta-regression test was performed based on publication year, sample size and Human Development Index (HDI) of each study. Among the total of 1023 titles found in the systematic search, 43 studies were eligible to be included in the present meta-analysis. According to the results, the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year survival rate of patients with Colorectal Cancer was 88.07% (95% CI, 83.22-92.92), 70.67% (95% CI, 66.40-74.93) and, 57.26% (95% CI, 50.43-64.10); respectively. Furthermore, Meta-regressions did not show significant correlations between survival rate and year, sample size or Human Development Index. Survival rates, especially the 5-year survival rate in the EMRO were less than European countries and the USA. Documented and comprehensive evidence-based findings of the present meta-analysis can be used to enhance policies and outcomes of different medical areas including prophylaxis, treatment and health related objectives in colorectal cancer.

Plants and their accompanying microorganisms growing in contaminated sites with long-lived gamma-emitting radionuclides may be affected by radiation stress. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of gamma radiation on symbiotic relationship between Epichloe endophyte and Festuca arundinacea plant along with the radio-sensitivity of a pair of clones of tall fescue with (E+) and without (E−) symbiotic Epichloe endophyte exposed to different doses of gamma radiation including 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, and 400 Gray (Gy) from a Cobalt-60 source. Both irradiated and non-irradiated seeds of each status were grown under controlled conditions. Seed germination indices, seedling growth and certain physiological criteria associated with plant responses to oxidative stress were examined. The results revealed that low doses (up to 75 Gy) of gamma radiation stimulated seed germination indices and seedling growth. However, high doses (100–400 Gy) significantly reduced the final germination percentage, germination rate index, coefficient of velocity of germination, and the seed reserve depletion percentage, and enhanced the mean germination time. Further, high doses of radiation reduced root and shoot lengths, root and shoot fresh weights, and activities of antioxidant enzymes (especially catalase and superoxide dismutase), and increased the content of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) of the seedlings. The results showed that the endophyte was present in seeds after gamma ray irradiation. However, the presence of endophyte in seedlings started to be reduced significantly (18.45% reduction rather than the control) at 50 Gy of gamma radiation. High doses (100 Gy and above) dramatically declined the presence of endophyte down to zero in seedlings compared to the control. In this study, the E− clone had higher seed germination and seedling growth as well as lower H2O2 and MDA contents under radiation stress as compared with the E+ clone. Additionally, shoot tolerance index (STI) indicated more radiation tolerance in the E− clone. According to the results of the present study, it is concluded that biological impacts of gamma radiation stress and the harmful effects on endophyte viability may cause more radio-sensitivity and changes in the growth and physio-biochemical aspects of the host plant.

Background: Malaria is one of the major human health problems that have become increasingly important in recent decades. Objective: The present study aimed to identify the epidemiological status of malaria in the years 2006–2018 in the southern region of Fars province in southern Iran. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. The study population consisted of all persons with malaria referred to the Center for Disease Control in the four cities of Larestan, Gerash, Evaz and Khonj in the south of Fars province, Southern Iran, between 2006 and 2018. Frequency (%) was used to report descriptive statistics and mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables. The trend of malaria incidence during these years was analyzed using the Cochran Armitage Test. The significance level was considered 5%. Findings: A total of 190 cases of malaria in the period of 2006 to 2018 occurred in the southern region of Fars province; 77.9% were men, more than 95% were Afghans, and most of them were workers. The incidence of malaria in one hundred thousand people per month showed that most of the new malaria cases were in the months of July to October. The peak incidence was in August, with 19.88 cases per 100,000 people. Cochran-Armitage test results showed that this trend was not statistically significant (P = 0.399), despite an almost upward trend in malaria incidence in the south of Fars province. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the trend of malaria in the south of Fars province was ascending; therefore, increasing surveillance activities to prevent and control malaria in such area is of utmost importance.

An efficient synthesis of diketopiperazinoindolines through an indium-catalyzed intramolecular 5-exo-dig cyclization of

Summary Background One of the important issues related to metabolic syndrome is the underlying factor that remains controversial. The purpose of this study was estimating exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to reveal underlying factors that may explain the observed variants of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components in a population-based study. Methods In this cross-sectional study, the target population consisted of 10,520 individuals aged 35–70 years from Phase 1 of the PERSIAN Guilan cohort study conducted between 2014 and 2017. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of components of the metabolic syndrome, including waist circumference (WC), systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and fasting blood glucose (f-Glc) was performed across the population as well as by gender. Results EFA results in the whole population based on eigen values > 1 showed two factors that explain 55.46% of the total variance. Taking factor loadings above 0.3, the first factor included systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and waist circumference – called the blood pressure factor. Also, the second factor included triglycerides, negative-loaded HDL, and fasting blood glucose, which was named as lipid factor. In terms of gender, the first factor was similar to the whole population pattern, but in the second factor, in addition to the two components of blood lipids, waist size for men and in fasting blood glucose for women was launched. Conclusion Hypertension and lipids were substantial factors, and obesity is an important factor in this study. Hypertension, having the highest factor load, can generally be a valuable screening parameter for cardiovascular and metabolic risk assessment.

Background: Animal bite due to the risk of rabies is a major public health problem. Rabies is of great importance because of fatalities and economic damage. Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiological patterns of animal bite in Najaf Abad during the years of 2012 to 2017. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. All records (4,104) were registered in the registration offices of animal bites during the years of 2012 to 2017 at the rabies treatment centres of Najafabad by census method. Demographic characteristics, animal type and sometime clinical patterns of the wounded were examined. Results: The mean age of the injured was 31.28 ± 15.28 years. Of the 4,104 injured, 3648 (88%) were male and the rest of them were women. In terms of residential area, 3645 people (88%) were in urban areas and the rest were in rural areas in the place of occurrence of bites. Most cases of animal biting occurred in dogs (70.9%) and then cat (24.3%). The most affected part was 51% with shoulder and hand. In this study, the incidence of animal bites is estimated as 100,000 people per year in Najaf Abad in in 2012 it was 206.4, with an increasing trend to 212.9 in 2019 (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that most cases of animal bites were related to dogs, urban areas and male sex variables. The incidence of animal bites was also increasing. Due to the importance of this disease and its financial losses, it is recommended that prevention methods should be used to control stray dogs, vaccination of domesticated dogs and to raise awareness of the people.

Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most common health issues among men, especially older men. In recent years, incidences of prostate cancer is increasing. Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive estimate of the survival of prostate cancer in Asian countries. Methods: We searched five international databases including Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Knowledge and ProQuest until June 1, 2018. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment was used to evaluate the quality of selected papers. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019117044). Results: A total of 714 titles were retrieved. Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on the random-effect model one-year, five-year and ten-year survival rate of prostate cancer were 81% (95% CI 77.8–84.2), 61.9% (95% CI 59.5–64.3) and 36.2% (95% CI 9.2–63.2) respectively. Survival rates based on HDI level for five-year were 30.07, 43.43 and 70.84 percent for medium, high and very high levels, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of our study, the prostate cancer survival rate in Asian countries is relatively lower than in Europe and North America.

Supplemental Material, Appendix_1-CRC-Quality_Assessment for Survival Rate of Colorectal Cancer in Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Hossein-Ali Nikbakht, Soheil Hassanipour, Layla Shojaie, Mohebat Vali, Saber Ghaffari-fam, Mousa Ghelichi-ghojogh, Zahra Maleki, Morteza Arab-Zozani, Elham Abdzadeh, Hamed Delam, Hamid Salehiniya, Maryam Shafiee and Salman Mohammadi in Cancer Control

Dual-phase (DP) ferrite–martensite steels have a fine microstructure that consist of martensite islands, dispersed in a ferrite matrix. In the present work, a micromechanical-based finite element (FE) analysis is carried out in order to investigate the mechanical properties of this type of steels, such as yield stress and tensile strength. The step forward contribution of the present study is to insert the effect of the presence of the interface of the constituting phases in the FE model. In order to do so, a micromechanical FE model is developed in which the effect of the interface of the constituting phases is taken into account by means of cohesive elements. The required parameters of the cohesive elements are determined by a trial and error procedure which compares the numerical results to the experimental ones. Experimental data is used to verify the created FE model. This model is then used to investigate the effect of martensite volume fraction and small-to-large particle size ratio of martensite on the deformation behavior of the DP steel. This study shows that considering the interface of the constituting phases greatly affects the numerical results on stress and strain distributions and produces more realistic findings in agreement with experiments. The results show that applying cohesive elements between two phases have reduced tensile strength, yield stress, and the amount of uniform elongation.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography (US) in measuring the urinary tract stone using non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) as the standard reference. Patients and methods A total of 184 patients suspected with urolithiasis who had undergone NCCT and US radiologic investigation from 2015 to 2017 were enrolled in this study. The sensitivity, specificity, and stone size measured in US were validated by NCCT. Data of the stone size in US were classified into four groups (0–3.5, 3.6–5, 5.1–10, >10 mm) and then compared with NCCT data. Results In 184 patients, NCCT detected 276 (97.2%) stones, while US could identify 213 (75.5%) stones. Overall sensitivity and specificity of US were 75.4% and 16.7%, respectively. Detection rate of mid and distal ureteral stone was lower than that at other locations. The detection rate increased with the stone size. About 73% concordance was obtained for the stone size measured by US and NCCT (Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.841). Factors such as the stone size, amount of hydronephrosis, and weight affected the detection rate of the urinary tract stone using US (P, Video abstract

Delamination is a common problem in composite laminates which is due to interlaminar crack growth. Toughening of composite laminates using interleaved nanofiber mats is a novel method for increasing the interlaminar fracture toughness of these materials. In fact, this increased interlaminar fracture toughness prevents the delamination. A potential application of such a strengthening method of composites is in cases where the structure is under low velocity impact loading . In this kind of loading, delamination is an important damage. However, most previous studies in this field have been conducted under fracture loading. In this paper, the numerical and experimental low velocity impact problem of electrospun nanofiber modified composite laminates is studied. In order to do so, a finite element model is created to simulate both fracture (mode I and II crack growth) and impact behaviors of the composite laminate. This model takes into account the effect of interleaving of nanofiber mats between the layers of the composite by means of the cohesive elements concept. The results of this model are verified by experimental findings. The results show that interleaving nanofiber mats between the layers of the laminate, reduces the damage induced by the impact loading, specially the size of the delaminated area .

An efficient strategy has been developed for the synthesis of indole derivatives containing the tetrazole moiety using a AuCl3-catalyzed cyclization reaction. The precursors of the cycloadduct were easily prepared by an Ugi-azide 4-CR in methanol at room temperature. The merit of this protocol lies in its operational simplicity, readily available starting materials, high yields of product, and good functional group tolerance.

Studying the role of employees as the base of an organization on achieving organizational goals has increased in recent years [1]. To have better organizational citizens, organizations should encourage their staff [2]. As the most powerful form of organizational behavior, organizational citizenship is more influential than organizational cooperation [3]. Studies have shown that cooperative behavior, such as the citizenship behavior results in easier organizational communication, promoting organizational planning, improving inter-personal cooperation and developing better organizational climate, directly influence staff satisfaction, work life quality, service-provision, job commitment and financial output [4]. As the most fundamental organizational behavior, the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) causes so-called organizational effectiveness. This study Focused on the comparing organizational citizenship behavior components including conscientiousness, courtesy, altruism, sportsmanship and civic virtue among hospitals based on ownership. Research population included all therapeutic and non-therapeutic employees working in the five selected hospital located in Golestan province, Iran in 2016. This study is approved by Ethical committee of Islamic Azad Sari Branch. Based on Cochran׳s sampling formula, 312 employees working in different hospital sections and units (nurses and administrative personnel) were proportionally selected as the research sample. They completed the Persian version of Podsakoff׳s standard scale measuring organizational citizenship behavior. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and applying inferential statistics approaches such as t-test, Tukey, and ANOVA in the confidence interval of 95%. Keywords: Hospitals, Ownership, Organizational citizenship behavior

The nonlinear thermal buckling analysis of functionally graded (FG) beam integrated with shape memory alloy (SMA) layer(s), with different lay-up configurations and supported on a nonlinear elastic foundation, has been investigated. The FG layer is graded through the beam thickness direction and thermomechanical properties are assumed to be temperature dependent. The Brinson one-dimensional constitutive law are used to model the characteristics of SMA. The von Karman strain–displacement fields with the Timoshenko beam theory are applied to the Hamilton’s principle to derive the set of nonlinear equilibrium equations. Generalized differential quadrature method along with direct iterative scheme is utilized to discretize and solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations. The accuracy of proposed model is compared and validated with previous research in literature. The detailed parametric study has been performed to investigate the influence of geometrical, material, and some other key parameters on the ...

Depressed people tend to process or recall negative information easier than positive or neutral information. A recent method that promises modifying the intrusive memories is cognitive bias modification (CBM). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of four weeks training of interpretation (CBM-I) and CBM-I based on self-generation among the students with depressive symptoms and to compare them with computerized cognitive behavior training. The present study is a quasi-experimental research with three groups including pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Fifty one students were randomly assigned into groups of standardized CBM-I, self-generation, and computerized cognitive behaviour training. Instruments included a questionnaires related to the mood, interpretation bias, memory bias and dysfunctional attitudes. Standardized CBM-I, self-generation, and computerized cognitive-behaviour training significantly showed reduced symptoms of depression, enhanced mood, increased positive interpretation bias, increased positive memory bias and reduced negative memory bias. In none of the variables no significant difference was observed between the interventions. Only for positive memory bias, self-generation method was significantly superior to cognitive-behaviour therapy—but not to standardized CBM-I.

Upconversion (UC) of lanthanide-doped nanostructure has the unique ability to convert low energy infrared (IR) light to high energy photons, which has significant potential for energy conversion applications. This review concisely discusses the basic concepts and fundamental theories of lanthanide nanostructures, synthesis techniques, and enhancement methods of upconversion for photovoltaic and for near-infrared (NIR) photodetector (PD) application. In addition, a few examples of lanthanide-doped nanostructures with improved performance were discussed, with particular emphasis on upconversion emission enhancement using coupling plasmon. The use of UC materials has been shown to significantly improve the NIR light-harvesting properties of photovoltaic devices and photocatalytic materials. However, the inefficiency of UC emission also prompted the need for additional modification of the optical properties of UC material. This improvement entailed the proper selection of the host matrix and optimization of the sensitizer and activator concentrations, followed by subjecting the UC material to surface-passivation, plasmonic enhancement, or doping. As expected, improving the optical properties of UC materials can lead to enhanced efficiency of PDs and photovoltaic devices.

Interleaving composite laminates by nanofibers is a well-known method of increasing interlaminar fracture toughness. Among many possibilities, polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers is one of the best choices for toughening composite laminates. The influence of PCL on delamination mode of failure is considered before. However, the effect of PCL on other damage modes, such as fiber breakage and matrix cracking, is yet to be studied. In this study, the acoustic emission (AE) technique is applied to determine the effect of toughening composite laminates by PCL nanofibers on matrix cracking, fiber/matrix debonding, and fiber breakage failure mechanisms. For this purpose, mode I and mode II fracture tests are conducted on modified and non-modified glass/epoxy laminates. Three different methods, i.e., peak frequency, wavelet transform, and sentry function, are utilized for analyzing the recorded AE data from mode I test. The results show that applying PCL nanofibers not only increases the mode I critical strain energy release rate by about 38%, but also decreases different failure mechanisms by between 75 and 94%.

Background: Self-care of diabetes is an essential part for controlling the disease and improvement of quality of life in type 2 dia betes mellitus (T2DM) patients. This study aimed to analyze the associated factors of quality of life in patients with T2DM in or der to design effective interventions. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 120 T2DM patients referred to health centers of Chaldoran, West Azer baijan Province, Iran. The quality of life’s questionnaires from World Health Organization and the self-care behaviors’ question naires were used for data collection. Results: The mean age of patients was 46.30% and 53.30% of them were male. Among demographic variables, gender (P=0.002), age groups (P=0.007), and household monthly income (P=0.009) were significantly associated with total quality of life. Also, self-care nutrition (odds ratio [OR], 1.47; P=0.001), self-management of blood glucose control (OR, 1.29; P=0.002), and self-medica tion behavior (OR, 1.18; P=0.030) were identified as factors significantly associated with quality of life. Conclusion: Self-care behaviors were significantly associated with quality of life; among them, the greatest influence was ob served in self-care nutrition behavior. According to the findings of this study, appropriate interventions on self-care behaviors about nutrition can improve the quality of life for T2DM patients.

There is a growing recognition of the fact that solar energy utilization plans cannot be carried out without explicitly accounting for the uncertainty presented in the received solar irradiation. This may be expressed as an uncertainty quantification problem. A novel stochastic energy analysis is introduced to study the transient heat transfer problem of a typical flat plate solar air heater, based on the polynomial chaos expansion approach. The constructed model was equipped with the numerical finite difference method and the Galerkin projection scheme in the random space. The numerical model was verified against the available exact analytical solutions. The results of polynomial chaos method was compared to corresponding basic Monte Carlo sampling results. Finally, a case study with realistic solar irradiance data of Urmia, a cold climate city in Iran, was conducted for a typical solar air heater. Afterward, the outlet temperature of the air heater was tracked in a probabilistic framework, to find the reliable hours for extracting solar energy stably during a typical summery day. These hours were found between 11 am to 5 pm.The proposed approach could be highly worthwhile in the designing and contriving control plans taking into consideration the non-negligible uncertainty of solar radiation.

The artificial neural network was applied to map the thermohydraulic performance criteria of the solar air heater with constant values of geometric parameters. Along with intelligent prediction of friction factor and Nusselt number, the main idea behind the research was modeling the performance of solar air heater through the temperature and velocity features instead of geometric parameters which cause opportunity for comparison and investigation of the roughnesses based on the Nusselt number and the friction factor and consequently the thermohydraulic performance. Two approaches were selected for ANN methodology: separate networks for each smooth and roughened plate and integrated model for both. Comparison between the predicted and experimental data in all designed networks indicated that the ANN predicts the Nusselt number better than the friction factor. Parameters of the roughened plate were inserted as the test data to the best-determined smooth plate networks in order to generalize the networks. The better result was observed for the Nusselt number of the roughened plate rather than the friction factor, in the procedure of generalizing the smooth plate networks. The least MSE for the Nusselt number and the friction factor of roughened duct in method 1 was 2.4999e−06 and 2.70199e−04, respectively. 1.7681e−06 and 4.0819e−04 were the least magnitudes of the MSE for the Nusselt number and the friction factor related to the smooth plate. The proposed model can be strongly recommended as a replacement for exhaustive and massive experimental procedure in the optimization of solar air heaters.

An efficient approach for the synthesis of pyranoquinolines through the indium-catalyzed activation of alkynes is reported. Intramolecular hydroamidation of alkynes can proceed through alkyne activation by indium(III) and then 6-exo-dig cyclization, leading to a fused pyran ring with high selectivity, high atom economy, and good to excellent yields. The cyclization was accomplished through the oxygen, not the nitrogen, of the amide functional group.

Desert wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum L.), tall wheatgrass (Agropyron elongatum L.), and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum L.) are native cool-season grass species that exhibit potential as a low-input turfgrass. An increased understanding of the biochemical and physiological responses of wheatgrass species and genotypes to salt stress conditions is important for developing genotypes with enhanced tolerance to salinity. The objective of this study was to characterize the physiological and antioxidative properties in 20 Iranian wheatgrass genotypes and to observe their responses to salinity stress during seed germination and seedling growth stage. A completely randomized factorial design was used with two types of factors, four levels of salinity (0, 50, 100, and 150 mm of NaCl), wheatgrass genotypes, and three replicates. In this experiment, the results demonstrated that salinity limits the germination of Iranian wheatgrass genotype seeds. The result of this study showed that among the wheatgrass genotypes, ‘AD1’, ‘AD3,’ ‘AC6’, and ‘FA’ took the shortest average time to germinate. Higher levels of final germination percentage (FGP) were observed in ‘AD2’, ‘AD3’, and ‘AE5’ under salinity stress than other genotypes throughout the experiment. During a prolonged period of study, ‘AD1’ had greater rate of germination (GR) than other genotypes. Out of the 21 genotypes, five genotypes (‘AD1’, ‘AD2’, ‘AD3’, ‘AE5’, and ‘FA’ genotypes) were in the range of “salinity tolerant genotypes” cluster. The ‘AD1’, ‘AD2’, ‘AD3’, ‘AE5’, and ‘FA’ genotypes generally performed better than other genotypes under salinity conditions, mainly through maintaining higher enzymatic activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) (EC 1.15.1.1), catalase (CAT) (EC 1.11.1.6), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (EC 1.11.1.11) and peroxidase (POD) (EC 1.111.1.7), and nonenzymatic antioxidant activities by glutathione (GSH). The ‘AD1’, ‘AD2’, ‘AD3’, ‘AE5’, and ‘FA’ genotypes also had higher proline levels and more of total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC) content, lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and lower hydrogen peroxide content (H2O2).

A new triaxial dynamometer was designed, constructed and tested to measure and locate the position of all forces and moments on tillage implements, up to a maximum force of 10 kN and a maximum moment of 10 kN × m. The design concept of the facility was based on four frames attached to each other by load cells and tillage tool were attached on the inner frame. Calibration of the system showed the reliable and precise performance of the dynamometer in tracking the forces and moments. Additionally, the designed setup operated desirably under field conditions. Draft measurement was compared to those predicted by ASABE Standard D497.7 and was found to be in standard range. By using the new facility, it would be possible to study the relationship between forces and moments at the varying practical cases and design of tines, toolbars and tillage equipments in regard to the soil type and available tractor power will be facilitated.

One of the major problems in the industry of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) is the absence of a quick, easy and inexpensive method for controlling the quality of these plants. Rosa damascena Mill., is an aromatic plant which is cultivated for its high-value essential oil in the world. In this study, essential oils were extracted from nine genotypes of Rosa , and their main components were identified by GC and GC–MS. Then, the samples from different genotypes were grouped in three classes (C1, C2, C3) based on their total percentage of the six most important constituents, which have a major role in the quality of essential oil (i.e., phenyl ethyl alcohol, trans rose oxide, citronellol, nerol, geraniol, geranial ). An electronic nose (EN) system was designed based on metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors, and trained to identify the categories to which samples of essential oils could be classified. The response patterns of the sensors were recorded and further analyzed by chemometrics methods. Based on the results, principal components analysis (PCA) and linear discrimination analysis (LDA) showed that 85% and 99% of sample variance could be explained by the first two principal components (PC1, PC2) and two linear discrimination axis (LD1, LD2), respectively. LDA was performed on sensor response variables by cross- validated dataset (5- fold) and the classification accuracy was 95%. Finally, an error-correcting output codes (ECOC) classifier as a multiclass model for support vector machines (SVM) was considered and the classification accuracy was increased to 99%. These results reveal that an EN can be used as a quick, easy, accurate and inexpensive system for the classification of essential oil composition in Rosa damascena Mill.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological distress and quality of life (QOL) dimensions in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the North of Iran. A total of 157 CRC survivors were selected from the registry database and included in this study. Psychological distress was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and QOL was estimated using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Questionnaire C30 (EORTC QLQ C-30). The association between the patients’ emotional functioning (EF) score on EORTC QLQ-C30 and their HADS scores was analysed through multiple linear regression. Results: In statistical terms, there were significantly negative relationships between EF and HADS-A (anxiety), and between HADS-D (depression) and HADS-T (total score). However, compared with HADS-A, the correlation between HADS-D and other QOL dimensions was significantly higher. By the same token, depression rather than anxiety was more strongly associated with reduced QOL. Conclusions: The EF dimension of the EORTC QLQ-C30 predominantly assesses anxiety; however, depression has a stronger impact on the global QOL of patients than anxiety. Therefore, the use of an additional instrument is recommended for the assessment of depression in outpatients with CRC.

In recent years, the application of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has been considered to be an important strategy for improving crop yield and quality. In the present study, a factorial experiment based on a complete randomized design with two factors was performed to investigate the effect of AMF and water stress on the essential oil (EO) composition, antioxidant activity, and physiological and morphological characteristics of rose-scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L.). The factors included AMF inoculation (Rhizophagus intraradices, Funneliformis mosseae, and a mixture of both species) and irrigation levels [well-watered (WW), moderate drought stress (MDS), and severe drought stress (SDS)]. The main EO constituents were citronellol (31–37%) and geraniol (9–14%) in all treatments. Under water-stress conditions, some constituents increased, such as geraniol and geranyl formate, whereas others decreased, such as linalool, menthone and rose oxide. Overall, the highest amount of citronellol (37.3%) and geraniol (14.8%) was obtained in the plants inoculated with F. mosseae and R. intraradices under WW and MDS conditions, respectively. Antioxidant activity, total flavonoids, and phenolics were increased because of AMF inoculation, whereas a different trend was observed for the phenolic and flavonoid contents under water-stress conditions. Furthermore, water deficit elevated the amount of soluble carbohydrates as well as the proline content, whereas the amount of proline was lower in inoculated plants than in non-inoculated ones. All the growth parameters were improved in the AMF-inoculated plants compared to non-inoculated ones under different irrigation regimes. Drought conditions decreased the photosynthetic pigments and efficiency, whereas AMF plants ameliorated the adverse effect of drought conditions. In general, mycorrhizal inoculation resulted in an improvement in the growth parameters as well as the phytochemical and physiological characteristics of rose-scented geranium.

Traffic stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that limits grass growth in lawn fields. The severity of losses depends on several factors, including the number of events per season, the athletic field size, and the soil moisture content during the traffic incident. Trinexapac-ethyl (TE) is considered to influence plant tolerance to traffic stress. Therefore, the physiological responses of the wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum L.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea L. cv. Rebel) species to different levels of TE and traffic stress were investigated. A factorial experiment including combination of TE application and traffic stress treatments was performed based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in 2014 and 2015. The treatments, including traffic stress (traffic and nontraffic stress) and TE at three levels (0, 0.25, and 0.5 kg·ha−1), were applied once every 3 weeks. The simulated traffic stress was imposed using a Brinkman traffic simulator (BTS). The results showed that traffic stress reduced the turf quality, relative water content (RWC), total chlorophyll content, and antioxidant activity and increased electrolyte leakage (EL), soluble sugar content (SSC), and malondialdehyde (MDA) in both species. Conversely, TE increased the turf quality, RWC, SSC, and total chlorophyll and resulted in less EL and MDA in both species. Furthermore, TE application increased the superoxide dismutase (SOD) (EC 1.15.1.1), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (EC 1.11.1.11), and peroxidase (POD) (EC 1.111.1.7) activities, especially under traffic stress conditions. TE application enhanced the resistance to traffic stress in both species by improving the osmotic adjustment and antioxidant activity.

A diversity-oriented access to isoxazolino and isoxazolo benzazepines is elaborated via a post-Ugi heteroannulation involving intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrile oxides with alkenes and alkynes. This sequence offers an interesting multicomponent entry to a library of isoxazolino and isoxazolo benzazepines under mild reaction conditions in good to excellent yields.

Drying systems are widely used in food processing industries. There exist serious complications in their design and operation since the target is to minimize cost and energy while to increase efficiency and quality. Novel methods have been introduced to comply with such demand among which microwave technology is highlighted in the last decade. It is applied in this research as an applied solution for conventional hot air methods. The uniform distribution of electromagnetic field in the microwave cavity is however equivocal in the literature which may result in low quality dried products. To monitor the electromagnetic field distribution, a simulation process using Finite Element Methods was conducted. Three geometries were selected as the microwave cavity. Analysis of variance for the indicator of heat non-uniformity index showed that cavity size has significant effect (P

Hepatocellular carcinoma or Liver cancer (LC) is the sixth most common cancer and the fourth cause of death worldwide in 2018. There has not been a comprehensive study on the survival rate of patients with LC in Asia yet. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the survival rate of patients with LC in Asian countries. The methodology of the present study is based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) statement. The researchers searched five international databases including Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Knowledge and ProQuest until July 1, 2018. We also searched Google Scholar for detecting grey literature. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Form was used to evaluate the quality of selected papers. A total of 1425 titles were retrieved. 63 studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on the random-effect model one-year, three-year and five-year survival rate of LC were 34.8 % (95 % CI; 30.3-39.3), 19 % (95 % CI ; 18.2-21.8) and 18.1 % (95 % CI ;16.1-20.1) respectively. According to the results of our study, the LC survival rate in Asian countries is relatively lower than in Europe and North America.

Background: Evidence has shown that colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors, especially women have a lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study aimed to assess the QOL of CRC survivors as well as gender-related differences in the QOL of CRC patients in Northwest of Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in East Azarbijaban. All patients aged ≥18 years, and diagnosed with CRC regardless of its stage and plans for treatment, and also referred to teaching hospitals within a two years’ time frame of 2014–2016, were included in this study. The Persian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) was completed for each patient by two trained interviewers. Student t-test and χ2 test were used to analyze Gender differences among patients, clinical-epidemiological characteristics, as well as the scores of QLQ-C30 dimensions. Multiple linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between the score of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and gender. Results: Overall 303 patients (166 male, 137 female) with a diagnosis of CRC were included in the study. The mean age of participants was 58.16±13.58 years. The mean scores of physical (b=−14.80, P=0.001) and social functioning (b=−9.14, P=0.038) of women with CRC were more negatively affected than men with CRC. In addition, women had a higher mean score in pain (b=10.74, P=0.022) and fatigue (b=12.53, P=0.007) symptom subscales in comparison to men. Based on the results of multivariate linear regression analysis, gender, occupation, and adjuvant therapy can be considered as the independent and strong predictor factors of functional scale in our CRC patients. Conclusions: Women appear to be more affected than men by impaired physical and social functioning after the development of cancer, and they reported more fatigue and pain than men. Therefore, it might be advisable to consider strategies to improve the HRQOL in women.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer deaths. This screening aimed to determine the positivity of the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and the results of colonoscopy among a medium-risk population in the northern regions of Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 on 924 eligible samples from people over the age of 50. After completing the questionnaire, participants were referred to a laboratory for three immunochemical fecal occult blood tests (IFOBTs). If the result of at least one test was found to be positive, they were submitted to the state hospital for colonoscopy. Results were recorded according to the number of people with CRC, polyps, and other diseases. Among a total number of 897 (97.1%) cases, at least two acceptable samples were sent to the laboratory and in 229 (25.5%) cases, at least one case was IFOBT-positive. Finally, 118 (64.1%) cases were referred to the hospital for colonoscopy; among these, 5 colonoscopies were incomplete, while 113 had complete colonoscopies with 42 healthy subjects, 3 cases of cancer, 28 cases of polyps, and other diseases identified in the remaining patients. Based on the results, the prevalence of positive IFOBT, polyps, and cancer was high. The results of this study will play an important role in establishing a CRC screening program in the country. With reference to the status of the general population, the target group in the country should be reviewed and not limited to the first-degree relatives of patients.

In Iran, cancers are the third leading cause of death, and gastrointestinal cancers are the primary cause of mortality among all the cancers. This study aimed to determine the trend of crude and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) for different types of gastrointestinal cancers over an 11-year period in Fars province (Iran). In this study, all the mortality data for gastrointestinal cancers were derived from the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) between 2005 and 2015. Subsequently, we calculated the crude and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) and their trends for different types of gastrointestinal cancers based on age groups and gender over the study period. A total of 6547 deaths from gastrointestinal cancers were identified, with an average age of 66.0 ± 16.4 years. The crude and age-standardized mortality rates for gastrointestinal cancers were respectively 10.9 and 15.0 per 100,000 population in 2005 which significantly increased to 17.4 and 19.4 per 100,000 population in 2015 (P

Increasing some industrial activities has been constantly contaminated the soil with different toxic metals leading to serious environmental concerns. However, some beneficial soil microorganisms would be useful tools for reducing toxic effects of heavy metals without producing toxic residuals. Therefore, present study was conducted to evaluate potential role of Pseudomonas fluorescens and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in reducing cadmium toxicity in the Arizona cypress seedlings both individually and in combination. Factorial experiment was conducted based on a completely randomized design with three factors comprising AMF inoculation (Rhizophagus irregularis or Funneliformis mosseae or a mixture of both species, and non-inoculated controls), bacterial inoculation (P. fluorescens or Non-inoculated), and five levels of Cd (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mg kg−1) using three replications. Results of this study showed that, Arizona cypress growth decreased when exposed to high levels of Cd contamination. However, co-inoculation plants with all mycorrhizae and P. fluorescens grown under the highest levels of Cd contamination, showed increased photosynthetic pigments. Furthermore, AMF and P. fluorescens increased ascorbate peroxidase activity, which is responsible for the elimination of H2O2 when plants exposed to Cd stress. Moreover, high levels of Cd contamination negatively influenced phosphorus uptake by the plants, especially in control plants. Moreover, in seedlings inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi, accumulation of Cd was found to be less, apparently as a result of AMF modification of the influx of Cd into the host plants, as confirmed by reduced hydrogen peroxide and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities compared to the control plants. AMF treatments increased glomalin related soil proteins concentration compared to the control plants. Also, the highest amount of glomalin production was observed in two species of Mix and FM. In conclusion, either co-inoculation with AMF and P. fluorescens or individual inoculation with AMF could potentially ameliorate harmful effects of Cd on Arizona cypress growth. .

Inoculation of Arizona cypress seedlings with beneficial microorganisms can improve the overall growth and establishment under water stress conditions by reducing the transplantation shock and better nutrient and water uptake. Water plays a key role in determining successful seedling establishment, especially in arid and semi-arid climates. Drought is the major environmental stressor that leads to a reduction in growth rate and decline in Arizona cypress. One of the most promising methods to improve seedling establishment in droughty climates is the application of beneficial microorganisms, including mycorrhizae and rhizobacteria. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mycorrhizae and rhizobacteria inoculation on Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica Greene) seedlings establishment under water stress conditions. A factorial experiment with a completely randomized design with three replications was established. The factors included four mycorrhizae regimes (control, Rhizophagus irregularis, Funneliformis mosseae, and Rhizophagus irregularis–Funneliformis mosseae mixture), two rhizobacteria regimes (control, Pseudomonas fluorescens), and two irrigation regimes (well-watered [WW] and water deficit [WD]). Both mycorrhizae and rhizobacteria inoculation increased seedling biomass compared with control under the WD regime. Moreover, mycorrhizae inoculation improved glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) concentration by 24 %, although this treatment was not statistically significant. Co-inoculated seedlings had improved water use efficiency (WUE) compared with those inoculated with either mycorrhizae or rhizobacteria. The WD regime negatively affected nutrient uptake, especially in control seedlings. Both mycorrhizae and rhizobacteria inoculation increased nutrient uptake (except for zinc) compared with control. Although WUE was affected by irrigation regime, nutrient uptake was dependent on an association with beneficial microorganisms. Our novel finding was that co-inoculation of Arizona cypress seedlings with mycorrhizae and rhizobacteria significantly increased seedling biomass, WUE, and nutrient uptake, as well as improved water stress tolerance.

This study presents a mathematical modeling of eggplant slice drying process in a continuous band dryer. The experiments for drying of eggplant slices were conducted at three air temperature levels of 45, 60, and 75 °C, inlet air velocities of 1, 1.5, and 2 m/s, and belt linear speeds of 2.5, 6.5, and 10.5 mm/s. To estimate the drying kinetics of eggplant slices, different mathematical models were utilized to fit the empirical data of thin layer drying. The models were compared based on their coefficients of determination (R 2), reduced Chi squares (χ 2) and root mean square errors (RMSE) between the experimental and predicted moisture ratios (MR). A feed and cascade forward with back-propagation algorithm was employed to predict the moisture ratio (MR) and drying rate (DR). The effective moisture diffusivity varied from 3.40 × 10−9 to 1.13 × 10−8 m2/s. The activation energy varied from 14.18 to 25.09 kJ/mol. The obtained results show that the feed forward back-propagation network with training algorithm of Levenberg–Marquardt, 4-5-5-2 topology, threshold functions of tansig–tansig–tansig can able to predict the moisture content and drying rate with R2 values of 0.9992 and 0.9726, respectively. Comparison of ANN results with mathematical models revealed that mathematical modeling yields better accuracy to predict the moisture content and drying rate of eggplant.

Stress induced by water deficit is considered to be a global problem and one of the most important factors limiting crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Application of certain microorganisms, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), is considered to be an effective and sustainable strategy to mitigate the problem. A pot experiment was conducted in the field (from Feb. to Sep. in 2013–2014 in Isfahan, Iran) to assess the effectiveness of AMF inoculation on changes in biomass, essential oils, nutrient uptake and water-use efficiency of rose geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L.) experiencing stress induced by a deficit of water. The experiment was planned as a factorial experiment, using a completely randomized design, with two factors, including four AMF inoculation (non-mycorrhizal, Rhizophagus intraradices and Funneliformis mosseae inoculated, and the combination of both species) and three irrigation levels including well-watered (WW), moderate water deficiency (MWD) and severe water deficiency (SWD). The results indicated the occurrence of an adverse effect of water deficit on plant total biomass; however, AMF inoculation positively increased plant biomass compared to the non-inoculated ones under three irrigation levels. MWD condition resulted in higher essential oil (EO) content (12.4 %), water-use efficiency (WUE) (29.5 %) and glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP) (19.1 %) in the plants compared to WW condition. Furthermore, all AMF inoculation improved EO content by at least 12 k%. The results also showed that severe water deficiency adversely affected the uptake of most nutrients by plants especially in non-inoculated plants. The results also revealed that, although EO production was under the control of irrigation regime, nutrient uptake was critically dependent on an association with mycorrhizae. Notwithstanding the fact that rose geranium can tolerate moderate drought stress, the high responsiveness of rose geranium to AMF under water deficiency stress confirms the key role of AMF in facilitating the production of this valuable crop in harsh environments. Dual infection of rose geranium with two AMF species could also synergistically affect biomass, essential oil content and mineral elements absorption.

In this paper, the frictional two-dimensional contact in the presence of a surface crack in a functionally graded coating substrate system is studied for rigid circular and flat stamps. A computational method based on finite difference (FD) is developed to evaluate the contact stresses and also the fracture parameters, which are KI and KII due to mixed mode fracture. The FD method applied here, uses a mapping technique which enable the analysis to consider any geometry of the punch and the crack. The Coulomb's dry friction law is considered in the contact area. The advantage of this study, compared to the efforts done by other researchers, is the ability to analysis a system with any arbitrary material properties distribution. Here, the elastic material properties distribution is estimated by TTO model which takes into account the interaction between the constituting phases as well, and the Poisson's ratio is assumed to be constant. The effect of material nonhomogeneity, the interaction of the constituting phases, the thickness of the graded coating layer, the size of the punch and the coefficient of friction is studied. In a general case, the findings of this research show that increasing the size of the punch, the coefficient of friction and the thickness of the graded layer increase the contact force and hence the contact stress; however, the interaction of the constituting phases does not have any effects on the contact parameters. In frictionless contact, the stress intensity factor is negative. In addition, increasing the coefficient of friction increases KI but decreases KII. These results are valid for any materials properties distribution.

Biodiesel was produced herein from the oil contained in waste spent bleaching earth (SBE), an environmental pollutant generated through the refining processes of edible oils in oil extraction plants. To further increase waste utilization, waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) was also dissolved in SBE biodiesel (0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 g/100 ml). Performance parameters and emission characteristics of 5% blend of EPS-SBE biodiesel and diesel were then investigated in a naturally aspirated diesel engine. The results obtained demonstrated that polymer-free SBE-B5 at 1600 rpm and full load led to enhanced brake power and brake mean effective pressure by approximately 1.5%. Moreover, the emitted HC, CO, and smoke were decreased by over 40%, 80%, and 20%, respectively, with polymer inclusion at 2.5 g/100 ml in SBE-B5 at maximum speed of 2600 rpm and full load (280 N m). While the optimal polymer inclusion level of 2.5 g/100 ml had subtle impacts on engine performance parameters. The findings of the present study could be of great interest to waste valorization industries since an integrated strategy was offered to simultaneously handle two environmental pollutants (SBE oil and EPS wastes) while a more environmentally-friendly fuel blend (i.e., SBE-B5 containing 2.5 g EPS/100 ml) was also achieved.

A new design of solar air heater simulator is presented to comply with the extensive applications inagro-industry. A wise installation of increased heat transfer surface area provided uniform and efficient heat diffusion over the duct. Nusselt number and friction factor have been investigated based on the constant roughness parameters such as relative roughness height (e/D), relative roughness pitch (P/e), angle of attack (α) and aspect ratio with Reynolds numbers ranging from 5000 to 19,000 in the fully developed region. Heat fluxes of 800, 900 and 1000 Wm−2 were provided. The enhancement in friction factor is observed to be 3.1656, 3.47 and 3.0856 times, and for the Nusselt number either, augmentation is calculated to be 1.4437, 1.4963 and 1.535 times, respectively, over the smooth duct for 800, 900 and 1000 Wm−2 heat fluxes. Thermohydraulic performance is plotted versus the Reynolds number based on the aforementioned roughness parameters at varying heat fluxes. The results show up that thermohydraulic performance is found to be maximum for 1000 Wm−2 at the average Reynolds number of 5151. Based on the results, we can verify that the introduced solar simulator can help analyzing and developing solar collector installations at the simulated heat fluxes.

This work aimed to investigate the drying behavior of melon seed during combined fluidized bed-microwave drying system. Three drying air temperatures (40, 55 and 70 C), three microwave powers (270, 450 and 630 W) and three air velocities (0.8, 1.5 and 2.3 m/s) were tested. Five mathematical models were selected to fit the experimental data for drying kinetics, and the results revealed that the Aghbashloo et al. model exhibited, in all cases, the best per- formance in fitting the experimental data (R 2 varying from 0.99088 to 0.99998; v 2 from 0.00000 to 0.00185 and RMSE from 0.02289 to 0.82316). Calculated values of moisture diffusivity for dried melon seed varied from a minimum of 6.51 9 10-10 to a maximum of 6.59 9 10-9 m 2 /s under the tested drying conditions. Moisture diffusivity values increased as air temperature and microwave power was increased. Shrinkage values were calculated and found to vary in the range from 46.99 to 15.09 %. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Ag/bauxite nanocomposites have been prepared using in situ reduction of aqueous AgNO3 solution in a bauxite matrix and investigated for the transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol in order to study their potential as heterogeneous catalysts. The prepared nanocopmosites were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, FT-IR, and TG- DTA. The Central Composite Design of the Response Surface Methodology was used to optimize the effect of reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst loading and methanol to oil molar ratio on the yield of fatty acid methyl esters. The highest yield was obtained at 67 °C reaction temperature, 3 h reaction time, 0.3 wt.% catalyst loading and 9:1 methanol to oil molar ratio. Under the optimal conditions, the methyl ester content was 94% and the catalyst successfully reused for at least 7 cycles without significant deactivation.

Background: Cancer survivors are at greater risk of developing secondary tumours, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. A part of this is because they share the similar lifestyle factors. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of adverse health behaviours and its determinants among colorectal survivors. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Babol city located in North of Iran. The pathologic information and demographic characteristics were collected from the population based-cancer registry. Colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors between 2007–2013 were included in this study. A questionnaire includes socioeconomic status, lifestyle behaviours [smoking, physical activity (PA), fruit & vegetable consumption], and clinical factors were completed via home visit by trained interviewers. Results: The majority of CRC survivors were male and were more than 50 years of age, more than half of them resided in urban areas. About 67% of survivors had at least one comorbid condition. In general, the majority of them were not meeting the recommendation for PA (89%), about 87% of them consumed less than 5 daily serving of fruit & vegetable and 14.6% of participants were smoke either cigarette or hookah. Female genders, illiteracy, comorbidities, and place of residency were the most important determinants of having adverse health behaviours. Conclusions: The minority of people with CRC were not meeting the PA or 5-A-day recommendations. It is important to notify the health policy makers and to develop a comprehensive educational program to enhance the adherence to healthy lifestyle recommendation among CRC survivors.

Objective To examine the clinical epidemiology and treatment findings of tuberculosis in Babol, Northern Iran. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out on medical records of tuberculosis registry pertaining to health center of Babol City, Mazandaran, Iran. The investigated variables included demographic characteristics and some clinical patterns of patients. To present the findings, the descriptive statistics such as mean (and SD) and frequency (%) was used. Analytical statistics was applied by using Chi -square test and independent samples t -test. Results The average age of 200 patients infected with tuberculosis was 47.51 years (SD = 21.36), and 58.5% of the cases were male. In both genders, the highest number of tuberculosis patient was found in 18–38 age group. During the 5-year study period, 95% of the patients received treatment protocol 1 (including new cases with positive smear, negative smear, extra-pulmonary) and in the end of treatment given to patients, 90.5% were improved or treatment period completed. The most important clinical symptoms for referring the patients to the therapeutic centers were cough (75.1%) and fever (60.9%). Conclusions Education and giving information to general population about the most important clinical symptoms of tuberculosis such as fever and cough might be effective in early detection and prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Then treatment might be effective in decreasing the burden of the disease.

Strategic outlook of apple cultivation and its significant post-processing challenges have been the leading factors for energy and time saving research approaches in apple processing. In this research, apple slices were subjected to hot air flow, microwave radiation and combined microwave-hot air flow drying. Drying time, energy consumption and thermal efficiency at different microwave power levels (500 W, 1000 W, 1500 W and 2000 W), hot air temperatures (40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C and 70 °C) and inlet air velocities (0.5 ms −1 , 1 ms −1 , 1.5 ms −1 and 2 ms −1 ) were studied and compared. The minimum time of processing was 17 min when integrated hot air flow and microwave radiation was applied with 2000 W power at the temperature of 70 °C and air velocity of 2 ms −1 . Furthermore, the minimum value of total energy consumption during entire process of apple slices drying was 2684 kJ which belonged to microwave drying with 2000 W power.

The amount of free glycerol in the final product of biodiesel is limited by international standards. In the current study, optimized solvent-resistant nanocomposite membranes were prepared using the phase inversion method based on a poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membrane modified by adding different concentrations of functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-NH2). The FTIR results confirmed the occurrence of modification on neat MWCNTs. The characteristics and properties of the mixed matrix membranes were analyzed by using SEM and AFM as well as contact angle measurements and molecular weight cutoff (MWCO), and pore size properties were also studied. Contact angle results indicated that the surface hydrophilicity was improved by increasing MWCNTs content. Unmodified PES and PES/MWCNTs-NH2 mixed matrix membranes were evaluated in terms of the flux behavior of pure water and other polar and nonpolar solvents, surface roughness, swelling, and antifouling performances as well as their ability to remove fr...

Water shortage has encouraged the quest for alternative sources of water for food production and agricultural development. Recycled water (RW) is one of the most available water resources with great potential for use in farm irrigation. This experiment was carried out to investigate the use of RW as the irrigation source and its application method, subsurface leaky irrigation (SLI) system or surface irrigation, in an orchard with young olive trees in central Iran. The results revealed that the SLI system was able to enhance tree growth, leaf area, maximum fluorescence (Fv/Fm) and photosynthesis rate by 68%, 26%, 4%, and 42%, respectively. In addition, trees irrigated with the SLI system using RW exhibited increased N and Mg uptakes by 138% and 8%, respectively. Plants irrigated with RW showed a growth improvement (42%), leaf area (26%), and photosynthesis rate (23.4%) compared with those irrigated with clean water. Furthermore, Mg, Na, K, P, and N content increased by 12%, 59%, 30%, 7%, and 92%, respectively, in leaf tissue when RW was applied. The results indicated that RW could be employed as a reliable irrigation source especially when it was delivered with the SLI system.

Currently, semi-refined and refined vegetable oils are used as a feedstock in biodiesel production. However, criteria such as competition with conventional fossil fuel, economic reasons, shortage supply of food and its social impact on the global scale have somewhat slowed the development of the biodiesel industry. Spent bleaching earth is currently under-utilized by deposition in landfills with no attempt to recover the oil. In this study the waste oil adsorbed on spent bleaching earth, refined soybean oil, and waste cooking oil were evaluated as potential sources of biodiesel production in Iran. Different characteristics of the oil samples, such as fatty acid composition, peroxide, iodine, acid values, etc., were evaluated. A two-step esterification reaction using methanol was conducted to produce biofuel. Subsequently, physicochemical properties of produced biodiesel were analyzed. The oil content in spent bleaching earth was 19.3%, which was lowered to 3.7% using hexane as the solvent. Gas chr...