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This study investigates the lifetime costs associated with concrete barriers and steel guardrails. We introduce a cost analysis methodology that incorporates critical factors such as construction costs, maintenance costs, exposure risks during maintenance activities, and the costs imposed to traveling public through the increased traffic and the crash outcomes. We integrate various parameters including economic factors, road geometry, general weather condition, and traffic mix to estimate a location-dependent cost for each type of barrier accurately. A software tool, named CalBarrier, was developed during this study to carry out the calculations and the comparison of lifetime cost of aforementioned barriers. An inherent strength of this research is its reliance on recent real data extracted from various databases of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), ensuring precision and relevance in accounting for various influential factors. Drawing insights from Caltrans practices and interviews with their personnel, this study emphasizes the intricate decision-making process involved in mitigating safety risks and reducing operational expenses. Although our data originates from California, the methodology for life cycle cost analysis, and our software are applicable for regions with different socio-economic conditions by deploying user input costs, making our findings a valuable resource for other areas facing comparable challenges.

In recent years, the frequency of floods has escalated due to global warming and human activities. Addressing this challenge, our study investigates how future climate change scenarios will affect flood susceptibility in the Tajan watershed, northern Iran. The primary objective is to quantify and map the evolving risk of flooding in this region under different future climate scenarios. We applied machine learning techniques, coupled model intercomparison project phase 6 (CMIP6) climatic models, and remote sensing to achieve this goal. The CanESM5 climate model was chosen for its accuracy among four global climate models in CMIP6 to estimate future precipitation trends under shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5) over two-time horizons: future (2020–2060) and far future (2061–2100). These scenarios encompass various influential factors, such as greenhouse gas emissions, urbanization, deforestation, and socioeconomic development, which played crucial roles in modulating flood susceptibility. Flood susceptibility maps were generated considering future precipitation patterns and scenarios using random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms, 432 flood locations, and 15 flood influencing factors. The accuracy of our prediction was validated through multiple statistical measures, including the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC-ROC) curve. The results indicated that the proposed models performed well, with the RF model (AUC=0.91) demonstrating higher accuracy compared to the SVM model (AUC=0.85). From a spatial perspective, increased future precipitation under all SSP scenarios enhances the likelihood of flood occurrences in the central and downstream regions. In the far future, intensified precipitation due to changes in regional topography and climate, coupled with higher greenhouse gas concentrations, is expected to heighten flood risks, especially at higher altitudes. We hope that our study findings will inform effective flood risk management strategies and adaptation plans in response to climate-induced flood risks, both in our study area and in similar regions globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we present a catalogue of all mesostigmatid mites (except Phytoseiidae) reported from Iran. The catalogue lists 616 species belonging to 183 genera and 51 families. Considering the number of genera and species of phytoseiid mites, which is stated to be 15 and 105, respectively, the number of mesostigmatid mite genera and species in Iran reaches 198 and 721, respectively. The suborder Monogynaspida Camin & Gorirossi is more specious than Trigynaspida Camin & Gorirossi, and the latter is more specious than the Sejida Kramer. Oplitis inopina (Hull, 1923) is recognized as the earliest recorded description of mesostigmatid mites from Iran in over a century. The family Laelapidae, described and recorded from Iran, has the highest number of genera (26) and species (162), followed by Phytoseiidae (15 genera and 105 species) and Ascidae (10 genera and 49 species). The most specious genera are Gaeolaelaps Evans & Till (30 species), Laelaspis Berlese (21 species), and Macrocheles Latreille (19 species). The highest number of described species from Iran belongs to Gaeolalelaps (Laelapidae) with 15 species. No description has been done for the following reported families of monogynaspid mites from Iran: Ameroseiidae, Haemogamasidae, Macronyssidae, Dermanyssidae, Spinturnysidae, Rhinonyssidae, Varroidae, Parholaspididae, Otopheidomenidae, Podocinidae, Halolaelapidae, Veigaiidae, Epicriidae, Microgyniidae, Dithinozerconidae, Polyaspididae, Trachytidae, Metagynuridae, Trachyuropodidae, Cillibidae, Dinychidae, Urodinychidae, and Urodiaspididae. For Trigynaspida (except Diplogyniidae) and Sejida (except Sejidae), no species have been described from Iran. It is worth mentioning that the superfamily Anictequoidea, family Messoracaridae, and genus Messoracarus Silvestri are reported for the first time in Iran. Based on the published information for each species, information about geographical distribution, taxonomic literature, and host or habitat is included. Defects in the previous checklists have been corrected, and the classification of the known species has been updated. Relevant explanations for each taxon concerning different issues are cited as note(s) under the related taxon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specimens of Ameroseius lidiae Bregetova were found in soil from Ahwaz city, Khuzestan Province, Iran. The previously unknown male of this species is described here. Before the present study, only male of A. corbiculus (Sowerby) had been reported from Iran. A key to males of the genus Ameroseius occuring in Europe is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terms of competitiveness at the level of places and sustainable development were created in the 1980s and 1990s. In the beginning, most researchers emphasized the dimension of economic competitiveness, but in recent decades, other aspects of competitiveness, such as socio-cultural and environmental, have been highlighted. The aim of the present research is evaluation the social-cultural competitiveness in the city of Kermanshah based on a sustainable development approach. This research is descriptive and analytical, the TOPSIS model was used for data analysis, and Entropy was used to weight the indicators. After applying the weight of the indicators in the TOPSIS model, The research findings showed that the city of Kermanshah in the TOPSIS model, ranks 15th with a coefficient of 0.209; in the MABAC model, ranks 14th with a coefficient of -0.116 and in the EDAS model, ranks 14th with a coefficient of 0.122579271 is in the last and 14th position of socio-cultural competitiveness. The results showed that; Considering the nature of urban competitiveness, which is multidimensional, it is necessary to avoid a one-sided approach in urban competitiveness planning and to consider the socio-cultural, environmental, and security dimensions of urban competitiveness in an integrated manner. To improve the competitiveness of Iranian cities, while paying attention to the internal competitive advantages of the 15 studied cities, special attention should be paid to the fields of economic, environmental, socio-cultural, and security competitiveness. Each of these cities concerns their competitive role in transnational dimensions. This requires special attention to the national macro-plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newly synthesized nanocars have shown great potential to transport molecular payloads. Since wheels of nanocars dominate their motion, the study of the wheels helps us to design a suitable surface for them. We investigated C60 thermal diffusion on the hexagonal boron-nitride (h-BN) monolayer as the wheel of nanocars. We calculated C60 potential energy variation during the translational and rotational motions at different points on the substrate. The study of the energy barriers and diffusion coefficients of the molecule at different temperatures indicated three noticeable changes in the C60 motion regime. C60 starts to slide on the surface at 30 K–40 K, slides freely on the boron-nitride monolayer at 100 K–150 K, and shows rolling motions at temperatures higher than 500 K. The anomaly parameter of the motion reveals that C60 has a diffusive motion on the boron-nitride substrate at low temperatures and experiences superdiffusion with Levy flight motions at higher temperatures. A comparison of the fullerene motion on the boron-nitride and graphene surfaces demonstrated that the analogous structure of the graphene and hexagonal boron-nitride led to similar characteristics such as anomaly parameters and the temperatures at which the motion regime changes. The results of this study empower us to predict that fullerene prefers to move on boron-nitride sections on a hybrid substrate composed of graphene and boron-nitride. This property can be utilized to design pathways or regions on a surface to steer or trap the C60 or other molecular machines, which is a step toward directional transportation at the molecular scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many factors affect the competitiveness of cities. One of the most important of these factors is the environmental dimension, which can affect and be influenced by economic and sociocultural aspects of urban competitiveness. The present study assesses the environmental competitiveness of cities with populations of more than 500,000 in Iran. Our research weighting approach consists of integrated ITARA-FUCOM methods to obtain nine criteria weights based on actual data evaluation and expert ideas. In addition, experts' statements are presented using gray logic and transformed into crisp numbers. Then, a modified MARCOS method that uses logarithmic normalization is introduced and implemented to assess fourteen target cities. Finally, The results of MARCOS-LN are compared to those of MARCOS itself, as well as three more MCDM methods (EDAS, CODAS, TOPSIS) and their versions, which utilize logarithmic normalization. The research findings showed that the city of Rasht is the most environmentally competitive, while the city of Kerman is the least competitive (rank 14) among the Iranian cities with populations greater than 500,000. The research results indicate that to improve the competitive position of Iranian cities, the internal capacities, relative advantages, and the competitive role each city can have on a transnational scale, their internal capacities should be paid attention to. This requires decentralized national and transnational planning and development competitiveness scenarios for medium and long-term periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of cold plasma on the reduction of Aspergillus flavus and total aflatoxin level in pistachio and some of its quality properties were investigated. Independent variables for reducing A. flavus and aflatoxin include plasma exposure time (5–10–15 min), power supply voltage (10–15–20 kV), argon to air composition (0–50–100%), and the dose of inoculated toxin. The most significant effect on reducing A. flavus compared to other variables was observed when the voltage of the power supply was increased, reaching the highest impact on A. flavus. According to air is cheap and available gas, it reduces plasma production costs. Therefore, in this study, a combination of air and argon gas was used. Also in this study, specific doses of aflatoxin were examined, which shows how much the target system can reduce the dose of aflatoxin. Optimization results showed the highest fungal reduction (5.14 log) after a plasma exposure time of 15 min, the voltage of 20 kV, 62.23% of argon in the gas mixture with air when the maximal aflatoxin (B1, 83.70%; B2, 74.36%; G1 41.39%, and G2, 50.74%;) reductions were obtained after a plasma exposure time of 15 min, 54.26% of argon in the gas mixture with air, and fixed‐dose of 20 ppb of aflatoxin. The results of the evaluation of pistachio characteristics show that there were no significant differences between the results of the control sample and the sample treated with cold plasma jet. So, this technique can be used to reduce A. flavus and aflatoxin with a reduced impact on the quality characteristics of pistachio kernels. Practical Application: Food contaminants are challenging the food industry due to the inefficiency of conventional disinfection techniques. Aflatoxin contamination is one of the significant challenges for the food industry since it has acute toxicological effects on consumers Cold plasma (CP) has attracted considerable attention as an emerging technique for the degradation of food contaminants. Elimination of aflatoxins increases the profits of industries and farmers related to pistachios or other nuts. This system can suggest to the food industries for increasing the health of their products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]