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Abstract Although many desalination plants have been built in the countries around the Persian Gulf (PG) over the past decade, there exist crucial water demands in this region. Considering the limited water exchange between PG and the open seas, effluents more than the natural capacity of the PG will increase the sea-water salinity continuously. This excess salinity, in addition to threatening the marine ecosystems, endangers the water supply for many population centers. This study provides a comprehensive numerical analysis of the impact of existing and new desalination plants on the PG’s salinity. In addition, the water residence time and pollutant extension have been investigated in the PG. There exist several concerns, especially in recent years about the probable threat of desalination growth in semi-enclosed seas such as PG. The effect of desalination plants on the mean salinity of PG is one the questions investigated in this research. Results demonstrate that the water residence times in the southern and northwestern regions are more than five years. This time is reduced to nearly 26 to 45 months in the eastern regions near the Strait of Hormuz. Generally, the desalination plants have a negligible effect on the salinity of PG in comparison with the climate conditions such as evaporation and water exchanges. Based on the results, a 50% increase in effluent discharge of existing desalination plants increases the average salinity of the PG by only 0.01 psu. However, the annual volume of net evaporation (that exits the clean water directly) is nearly 36 times more than the effluent discharge from the existing desalination plants. Furthermore, this value is almost 0.2% of the amount of water that enters the PG through the Strait of Hormuz. In spite of these findings, the regional effects can be significant in some parts of the PG. For example, the southern and western coasts of PG are generally more vulnerable to pollution than other areas. The main reason is the shallow water depth in these areas and the water recirculation pattern. Some sensitive local areas have been also addressed in this study. Among the studied regions, the coastlines at the northwest of PG and at the north the Qeshm Island are two susceptible areas. The findings of this study underscore the importance of considering a new integrated viewpoint in developing desalination plants within PG.

Abstract The objective of this investigation is to obtain a more profound understanding of the effective parameters of the velocity caps for bottom intake systems, utilizing particle image velocimetry (PIV) and OpenFOAM. Observations indicate a higher probability of surface vortex formation in square types compared to circular ones, with the vortex being formed downstream of the caps. Additionally, the flow pattern reveals that the flow whirls in a more favorable path into the circular caps as opposed to the square ones. Through both experimental and numerical comparisons of three shapes (rhombus, square, and circle), it becomes evident that the circular type outperforms the other types in terms of discharges through the intake, showing an improvement of about 8%. The results indicate that flow depth and height of the velocity caps are positively effective parameters for the flow rate, with respective influences of 90% and 30%. In contrast, the interaction between the flow and caps intensifies with an increase in the distance of the intake opening from the bed, which plays a negative influence on the flow rate. Enhancing the number of blades in caps proves to be the optimal approach for generating a smoother flow with minimal impact on the flow rate. Numerical simulations show a 50% reduction in cap height leads to a significant 33% decrease in flow rate. Additionally, rotating the square cap by 45° into a rhombus aligned with the flow direction results in a 7% discharge flow rate increase.

The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method is among the numerical methods that have attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. This method as a Lagrangian method based on the movement of particles is also one of the meshless methods. In this method, the initial location or distribution of particles can play an important role in reducing numerical errors and its computational efficiency. In this research, based on wave modeling, which is one of the most conventional hydraulic phenomena, and using previous modeling experiences, six optimal and common distributions of particles including square distribution (SC), Triangular distribution, distribution based on WVT algorithm, distribution based on Greedy algorithm, Hexagonal distribution and Fibonacci distribution based on Fibonacci al-gorithm have been investigated. Based on the results of the pressure, velocity and the free surface level of the fluid in the location of the reference gauges of the laboratory model, it was determined that the square, triangular, WVT, Greedy, Hexagonal and Fibonacci distributions have a modeling error equal to 13.85%, 13.75%, 12.63%, 13.24%, 9.07% and 9.37%, respectively, and the two primary hexagonal and Fibonacci distributions have a modeling error of less than 10%, and in other words, it has the best performance in using the SPH method in order to improve the efficiency of the computational model.

The seawater intrusion (SWI) into rivers can lead to many negative consequences, especially on agricultural activities and live ecosystems in upstream areas of rivers. One solution to prevent SWI is using air bubble curtains (ABCs). The objective of this study is to investigate the optimal location of ABCs and airflows. To this end, several tests with different flow and salinity rates were performed and effect of ABC location on SWI investigated. The results show that, when the ratio of seawater to freshwater densities increased from 1.006 to 1.010, the ratio of saline wedge tip velocity to seawater velocity, airflow to seawater discharge ratio for first and second ABCs are raised 60, 58, and 70%, respectively. Also, when the Froude number (Fr) > 0.031, seawater density changes do not significantly affect the process of SWI. Besides, results of the study show that the closer the ABC is to the river downstream, the higher the airflow rates required. In addition, the optimal value of air bubbles for controlling SWI depends on the density of seawater, where more airflow is required to control denser flows. Finally, the regression equations to predict the SWI parameters based on flow properties were derived. HIGHLIGHTS Sustainable solution to solve seawater intrusion.; Decreasing the negative effect of seawater intrusion on rivers.; Feasibility to build in different sites.; Does not have negative effect on the nature.; It may protect freshwater resources.;

Courtyard” is one of the ancient domestic identity patterns of Iranian architecture in most of the traditional houses in hot and dry climate. The aim of this study is to identify the geometric and natural characteristics of courtyards in historical houses of Isfahan city in hot-arid climate. In this research, thirty historical courtyard houses were selected and analyzed as the case studies. The results show that the average ratios of length/width, height/length and height/width of the courtyards are 1.3, 0.3 and 0.4, respectively. The courtyard area averagely covers 31% of total area of houses and about 29% of the courtyard area is allocated to natural elements: 7% to water surface and 22% to plant coverage. The average ratio of the total area of openings to courtyard walls is 35%. As final results, the linear equations and correlation coefficients between the geometric and natural properties of courtyard houses are presented. The results of this research could be used as design guides for contemporary courtyards in hot-arid climate especially in Isfahan city.

Although much of conventional medicine has its roots in traditional medicine, from the point of view of Iranian medicine, health means when organs function naturally, and disease occurs when organs cannot performproperly. Doing actions naturally requires force, some actions require one force and some require two or more. The forces of the human body include the natural forces, the spiritual forces, and the vital forces, with the help of which human actions are performed. Therefore, in order to perform actions normally, a person must have all the forces of his body in a proper situation. According to the principles of modern medicine, the function of the body and cells depends on the energy content of cells, and most of the chemical reactions in the cells are related to the availability of energy in foods for various cell physiological systems. Any event that leads to a drop in energy production or energy loss or a reduction in cells' access to energy can lead to a range of related diseases. On the other hand, if the body cells have enough access to energy and perform all functions well, the disease will not occur and the ability to fight possible diseases will be higher. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of potency in causing diseases in Iranian medicine and the role of cellular energy in causing diseases in conventional medicine. It was concluded that all principles of health refer to the optimization of energy production and consumption in the cells. Accordingly, more energy available to the cell leads to the normal function of cells and the higher ability of the body cells to fight disease.

Using offshore pipelines is the most common way to transport oil and gas extracted from oil and gas fields. Since the pipelines are usually located on porous seabed, current pattern around them is complicated. In this study, based on the weakly compressible smoothed particles hydrodynamic method, new numerical model has been developed that is capable of simulating flow inside a porous medium. In addition, to minimize wave reflections, two different methods i.e. using gradual velocity damper and using a sloped beach geometry are studied and a hybrid method is introduced as an effective new wave absorbing system. Wave interactions with pipeline on and spaced from permeable and impermeable beds are studied by means of the introduced method. Distance between pipeline and seabed is investigated for both conditions. The introduced numerical model is validated via comparing its results with experimental data and similar numerical results. The results confirm that the developed numerical model can be used efficiently in modeling wave interaction with pipelines located on either permeable or impermeable seabed. In addition, wave reflections can be minimized by means of the introduced hybrid wave absorption system

Berm breakwaters are reshaping rubble mound breakwaters, which as a result of impact with wave attacks, the seaside profile of these breakwaters reach a stable condition after erosion and reshaping. Berm recession (Rec) is one of the most important parameters that should be controlled for designing a stable berm breakwater. Failure of a berm breakwater is typically defined when the berm recession exceeds the initial berm width. Based on experimental tests, the effect of sea state and structural parameters on berm recession was investigated in this study. The berm recession was recorded under different number of waves through performing 34 experiments. The results showed that a berm breakwater experiences more than appproximately 90% of its final recession during exposing to the first 3000 waves. In addition, rising the berm elevation had less effect on reducing the berm recession in comparison with both increasing the berm width and decreasing the water depth. On the other hand, increasing the berm width was the most effective parameter in controlling the berm recession. So that, 20% increase in the berm width had a greater effect on decreasing the berm recession, than 45% increase in the berm elevation. By the way, especially in the absence of suitable stone materials, increasing the berm elevation can be yet a good alternative in order to design a stable structure with simple construction activities.

A combination of linear and non-linear models results in a more accurate prediction in comparison with using linear or non-linear models individually to forecast time series data. This paper utilizes the linear autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and non-linear artificial neural network (ANN) model to develop a new hybrid ARIMA-ANN model for prediction of container vessel traffic volume. The suggested hybrid method consists of an optimized feed-forward, back-propagation model with a hybrid training algorithm. The database of monthly traffic of Rajaee Port for thirteen years from 2005-2018 is taken into account. The performance of the developed model in forecasting short-term traffic volume is evaluated using various performance criteria such as correlation coefficient (R), mean absolute deviation (MAD), mean squared error (MSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The developed model provides useful insights into container traffic behavior. Comparing the results with the real data-sets demonstrates the superior performance of the hybrid models than using models individually in forecasting traffic data.

Like living organisms, cancer cells require energy to survive and interact with their environment. Mitochondria are the main organelles for energy production and cellular metabolism. Recently, investigators demonstrated that cancer cells can hijack mitochondria from immune cells. This behavior sheds light on a pivotal piece in the cancer puzzle, the dependence on the normal cells. This article illustrates the benefits of new functional mitochondria for cancer cells that urge them to hijack mitochondria. It describes how functional mitochondria help cancer cells’ survival in the harsh tumor microenvironment, immune evasion, progression, and treatment resistance. Recent evidence has put forward the pivotal role of mitochondria in the metabolism of cancer stem cells (CSCs), the tumor components responsible for cancer recurrence and metastasis. This theory highlights the mitochondria in cancer biology and explains how targeting mitochondria may improve oncological outcomes.

Aims & Backgrounds: One of the approaches to reduce fossil fuel consumption and their pollution in cities, is to pay attention to the climatic conditions and ecosystems of the region and to use renewable energy in architecture and the design of buildings. This subject in the case for Tehran metropolis is more important, due to the high concentration of population and the activity and, consequently, the great amount of constructions. The aim of this research is to determine the optimal building orientations through surveying the amount of direct radiation energy, received by vertical surfaces of buildings in Tehran city. Methodology: The research method is descriptive-analytical and quantitative computational models have been used. In order to achieve this goal, taking into account the azimuth and the height of the sun at different times of the year, the “Law of cosines” computational method and Q-BASIC software were applied to compute and analyze the amount of received direct energy on vertical surfaces of buildings in all months of the year and in 24 geographic directions. The most suitable direction for building orientation is determined through the maximum difference between the amount of energy in cold and hot periods or the highest percentage of radiation received in the cold period. Findings: Based on the results of the research, the maximum annual amount of received solar energy in the city of Tehran belongs to the 150 degree South-East and West, and the lowest annual amount of energy is related to the walls facing the North; In order to get optimal solar energy, the directions of 150 degrees South-East to 210 degrees South-West are among the acceptable orientations (first to third priority). The best orientation for one-way buildings in Tehran is 180 degrees South. Conclusion: The best orientation for two-way buildings is the North-South direction and for four-sided buildings are (0, 180, 90, -90) degrees.

Abstract Protected areas (PAs) are one of the effective tools for biodiversity conservation. ‘Darmain Hunting Prohibited Region’ was introduced as ‘Darmian and Sarbisheh Protected Area’ in 2008. This region is suitable for breeding wild sheep due to its numerous hills and diverse vegetation. This area with about 80000 hectares is located 68 kms east of Birjand, among the three cities of Darmian, Sarbisheh, and Birjand. Its minimum altitude is 2100 meters above the sea level and its maximum altitude is 2870 meters. The aim of this study was to identify the genus and plant species and to determine their biological forms and geographical distribution. The purpose of this study was to identify the plant family and species and to determine the life forms and plant geographical distribution in the study area. Also, the Functional Diversity, Relative Diversity (RDi), and Family Importance Value (FIV) were determined. The results showed that there were 26 plant families, 69 genera, and 94 plant species in the rangelands of this protected area. The largest families were Asteraceae (22 species) and Poaceae (8 species). The life form consisted of 45% Hemicryptophytes, 20% Therophytes, 17% Chamaephytes, 10% Geophytes, 7% Phanerophytes, and 1% Parasite. In terms of geographical distribution, 61 species with the most abundance (65%) belonged to the Irano-Turanian region and 1 species with the least abundance (1%) belonged to the Euro-Siberian region. In terms of the functional diversity, the plant species based on vegetative form (76% Forb, 17% bush, and 7% shrub) and life cycle (81% perennial and 19% annual) were classified. Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Apiaceae families with 65.18%, 21.38%, 16.72%, and 13.11% Family Importance Value (FIV) were the most important families in this area, respectively.

Construction of a new coastal structure changes the stable shape of the shoreline. This issue generally leads to sedimentation and erosion around adjacent structures due to changes in Littoral Sediment Transport (LST). This mechanism is considerably more complicated in crenulate-shaped bays than in straight shorelines. Therefore, special theories have been introduced for these bays. In addition to the above-mentioned difficulties, using two-dimensional long-term morphological models with considerable run times is not practical in most real cases. Instability and numerical errors may also be occurred due to the complicated forms of shorelines. The aim of this research is to introduce a proper morphological model for South-Eastern shorelines of Iran. Long term morphological simulation has been done for three important bays in the Mokran coasts using numerical and empirical models. The results show that these models are appropriate for understanding the behavior of crenulate-shaped bays. Their responses to natural changes like climate changes as well as human interventions can also be simulated properly.

Berm breakwater is a type of reshaping rubble mound breakwaters that its seaside profile can be reshaped under severe wave attack. The final berm recession is an important criterion to check the berm width as well as the stability of these breakwaters. Berm recession due to a design wave is usually determined by means of empirical equations derived from experiments. Initial sections with no recession have been assumed in most of these experiments. However, in a real condition, a berm breakwater may experience many of waves before experiencing a design wave condition. The wave history and possible recessions before a stormy condition may affect the final reshaped profile. This subject is therefore investigated in the present study by means of performing 2D tests in the hydraulics laboratory at Tarbiat Modares University. In addition, the effects of wave parameters on the hydrodynamic response of berm breakwaters are evaluated performing 30 tests in the wave flume. In all experiments, irregular waves have been generated based on JONSWAP spectrum wave with γ factor of 3.3 and the median stone diameter and gradation are selected as 2 cm & 1.6 respectively. Based on the measurements, the berm recession (in both statically and dynamically stable berm breakwaters) increases by increasing the wave height and wave period. In addition, once the design wave height rises and exceeds a threshold level, the impact of previous waves on the final reshaped profile will be decreased.

An important point in design of coastal structures is their structural response to design waves. In this study, wave interaction with a caisson breakwater is studied numerically by means of a modified SPH method. An efficient method is introduced to take into account the static and dynamic sliding forces at the interface boundary beneath the caisson. After a validation test, a time history analysis is done to investigate the structural response of a caisson breakwater against waves. The results are compared with experimental data as well as with similar numerical outcomes. There are good compatibilities between the experiments and the predicted values regarding both caisson movements and applied wave forces. In addition, three different solid boundary conditions are applied and it is concluded that utilizing a dynamic boundary condition is computationally efficient and numerically appropriate for modeling the problems involve with solid-fluid interactions.

Our understanding of nonlinear stimulus transformations by neural circuits is hindered by the lack of comprehensive yet interpretable computational modeling frameworks. Here, we propose a data-driven approach based on deep neural networks to directly model arbitrarily nonlinear stimulus-response mappings. Reformulating the exact function of a trained neural network as a collection of stimulus-dependent linear functions enables a locally linear receptive field interpretation of the neural network. Predicting the neural responses recorded invasively from the auditory cortex of neurosurgical patients as they listened to speech, this approach significantly improves the prediction accuracy of auditory cortical responses, particularly in nonprimary areas. Moreover, interpreting the functions learned by neural networks uncovered three distinct types of nonlinear transformations of speech that varied considerably from primary to nonprimary auditory regions. The ability of this framework to capture arbitrary stimulus-response mappings while maintaining model interpretability leads to a better understanding of cortical processing of sensory signals.

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) is an attractive Lagrangian tool for simulating flows with large displacement at free surface boundary. Two widely used subcategories of this method are Weakly compressible SPH (WCSPH) and truly Incompressible SPH (ISPH) methods. Each method has its individual advantages while there is not yet a global agreement about the preference of one method to another one. In this study, accuracy, stability and efficiency of these methods are compared in simulating dam break flow as a well-known hydraulic problem. To decrease unrealistic particle fluctuation especially at free surface boundary, a practical solution is applied to both methods while keeping their total accuracy. In addition, different solid boundary treatments are studied and their effect on total accuracy and stability of SPH methods are investigated. Based on the results, both ISPH and WCSPH methods can model free surface profiles properly if a proper solid boundary treatment is utilized. Meanwhile, local surface fluctuations can be damped in both methods efficiently by means of the modified surface viscosity. By means of original versions, it is concluded that ISPH method is generally more stable and more accurate particularly in modeling pressure field than WCSPH method. In addition, it is shown that ISPH method is faster than WCSPH method in solving a dam break flow with equal number of particles. On the other hand, ISPH in its original version using the divergence-free velocity scheme suffers from density loss problem. Since a lot of modifications have been introduced till now to overcome defections of both methods, it is not fair to compare methods with different modifications and therefore, similar modifications are applied in this study. Meanwhile, it can be concluded that each method is growing and is going its own way through enhancement.

Some of the well-known or developing countries have distinguished status in the field of higher education in international competition. Most of the service-education institutes were pioneers in the past, but they are no longer very famous. Many of the experts in the science of management and planning, such as Fred R. David and Hangar believe that the solution to organizational challenges should be found in concepts such as goals, policy, mission and strategic policies of an institute. Planning is a process that has specified inter-connected stages for producing a coherent output in the format of a system of decisions. According to this definition, temporary and non-continuous decisions and policy-makings to lead the organization through the present and future time are not considered planning. Most plannings, based on the rational approach, have the following format: ideals and goals-projects and procedures-required resources. In models such as Brisson's Model, Hill's, BCG Model, and GE Model…, first of all, the ideals and goals of the organization are explained; then, the necessary projects and procedures are specified; and finally, the required resources are provided. Changes in the environmental conditions, policies, approaches, perspectives, structures, systems, etc. are the factors that can affect the ideals and goals of planning and ultimately changes the program. These conditions led to the thought that in planning, it should be possible to change the course of movement according to the changes, and to adopt a new route of action. With regard to the this approach, it will be possible to make organized decisions in order to attain strategic goals and to perform actions that will shape the nature of the organization, the type of the activities, and the reason for performing those activities by the organization.

Lung exposure to sulfur mustard (SM) results in pulmonary complications, which is the main cause of long-term disability and morbidity. Up to now, the precise mechanisms of SM-induced lung complications has not been identified. The aim of this study was to evaluate apoptosis in the lung tissue of SM-exposed individuals. The study was performed on archived lung paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of21 patients suffering from pulmonary complications due to previous SM exposure and 9 unexposed patients who had undergone lung resections for another lung disease. Evaluation of apoptosis in paraffin-embedded lung tissue sections was performed using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay and the cleaved caspase-3 immunohistochemistry assays. TUNEL-positive apoptotic features and caspase-3 expression of specimens were significantly higher in the SM-exposed group compared with the control group. This result demonstrates higher apoptosis rate in the SM-exposed group. Furthermore, the majority of positive cells consisted of alveolar epithelial cells in both methods. In conclusion,it seems that exposure to SM may result in increased apoptosis in respiratory epithelium. More studies are needed to evaluate the role of apoptosis in SM-induced lung complications in order to design new and effective therapeutic protocols.

The great researchers (Draker, Tarou, Taffler, …) believe that the key to superiority in the competitions of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium is the valuable innovationes whose creators are not just a small number of the elite of the societies and organizations, but they also include a great majority of the population and the organizations’ staff. Accurate expert estimates show that 60% of the income and 90% of the profit of some large companies result from such innovations. The importance of human resource as a factor of competitive superiority is so great that the contribution of the invisible assets (of which the human resource is one of the most important components) in the stock markets of the organizations is following a progressive and steady route. The present article is an academic research project which tries to show the important role of the man power in the educational environments and to determine the valuable indices in evaluating the university personnel, and ultimately, after presenting a framework of elevation indices for each vice-chancellor and other personnel, and by using the best methed for evaluating the human factors (360 degree method), it states the strong and weak points of each member of the personnel. Determining the framework for evaluation indices is the most important stage of this project which requires defining the comprehensive and all-embracing factors for evaluatig the personnel in such a way that no personality trait escapes notice. We hope that , by presenting the strong and weak points of the university personnel , it will be possible to take positive steps in elevating the educational and pedagogical level and providing better services for the university students in the future.

Satureja spicigera (Lamiaceae) grows wildly in Northwest of Iran. In this study, bioassay-guided isolation and identification of the main compounds has been reported using various chromatographic methods and comparison of their spectral data with those reported in the literature. Brine shrimp lethality and four cancerous cell lines HT29/219, Caco2, NIH-3T3, and T47D were used for cytotoxicity evaluations. From the aerial parts of S. spicigera, nine known compounds including two flavanones, 5,7,3,5-tetrahydroxy flavanone (8) and 5,4-dihydroxy-3-methoxyflavanone-7-(6-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside (9), one dihydrochalcone, nubigenol (7), together with thymoquinone (1), thymol (2), carvacrol (3), β-sitosterol (4), ursolic acid (5) and oleanolic acid (6) were identified. Among the isolated chalcone and flavanones, compound 8 was effective against Artemia salina larva (LC50= 2 μg/mL) and only the compound 9 demonstrated IC50 value of 98.7 μg/mL on the T47D (human, breast, ductal carcinoma). Other compounds did not show significant inhibition of the cell growth.