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     The growing global consumption of non-alcoholic drinks has brought attention to the characterization and quality control of popular beverages such as malt beverages. Organic acids remarkably impact on the microbial control, stability and organoleptic characteristics (flavor, color and aroma) of beverages. This study focuses on the determination of organic acids, including oxalic, citric, tartaric, malic, succinic, lactic, fumaric, acetic, propionic, and gallic acid, in 100 commercial malt beverages from different brands (five Iranian and five various imported brands) and flavored variants (classic, pomegranate, peach, tropical and lemon). In addition, the contents of total phenols, total flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and free amino acids were measured to assess the overall composition. Liquid chromatography (LC) was employed to develop a method for analyzing the organic acids, while spectrophotometric techniques were used for quantifying other bioactive compounds.  The results revealed significant variations in the organic acid profiles, with succinic acid being the most abundant, while tartaric acid was absent in all samples. For better data analysis, chemometrics technique (PCA method) was applied to classify achieved results. The results show that PCA can classify the malt drinks based on the additive values with a very high precision. In order to improve the quality control of malt beverages, it is recommended that some extra assessments like organic acids and free amino nitrogen determination tests would better to be considered at Iranian national standard.
 

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This paper shows the role of the general dynamic model in empirical research of production technology in agriculture. The model is a first order autoregressive multivariate specification, first developed by Anderson and Blundell. This model is general enough to nest several simpler dynamic as well as static models within it. Therefore, it provides a framework for applying classical testing procedures and identifying the appropriate specification in the empirical econometric model of production. The usefulness of the general dynamic model is shown by estimating the production structure in the Iranian crop sector. The results indicate that the Iranian crop production is best characterized by a long-run static model derived from a non-homothetic translog specification which incorporates non-neutral technological change and allows for structural change after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

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Research Subject: Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is a silicone polymer that nowadays despite unique characteristics and high application potential of its microparticles, their preparation via bulk emulsification methods is a main challenge due to the limitations in mixing process, high viscosity and low surface energy of PDMS that make impossible accurate  control of final obtained particles. In the present work, size-controlled PDMS microparticles were prepared from a high-viscosity material.
Research Approach: PDMS microparticles were obtained by using glass capillary co-flow microfluidic device. The designed microfluidic device is facile, inexpensive and reusable and facilitated preparation of the high-viscosity PDMS microdroplets. Stabilizing the oil-in-water emulsion was obtained by optimizing the bath components and curing process that resulted in monodisperse and spherical PDMS microparicles. Effect of the some important adjustable parameters such as microchannel diameter and flow rate on the flow regimes and microparticles polydispersity were investigated by means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.
Main Results: Results showed a dripping regime for producing monodisperse microparticles at low flow rates of the continuous phase and monodisperse microparticles from it. On the contrary, microparticles obtained from jetting regime are more polydisperse and smaller in comparison with dripping regime. By reducing the diameter of inner microchannel, microparticles with a diameter of 1.83 µm were obtained. Using the designed technology, uniform nanocomposite PDMS/ZnO microparticles 318 µm in diameter containing 15% ZnO were obtained from an oil phase viscosity of 7550 mPa.s. Therefore by an optimized and facile method, size-controllable uniform microparticles can be prepared that are proposed for various applications including drug delivery, bioengineering and electronic industry.

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The most important manifestation of the underlying collective human mind is in the folk tales and legends projection, even if the story is written for children and young people in different areas and with different languages as long as the story is repeated. There is always interesting stories and legends to express the good wishes. What is interesting and worth mentioning is the secret of the story for the adults with educational scopes and its reading is valuable, and it should not forget that their creators and narrators have this type of literature. The story of the origin of mass and surprising similarities between the story of how the actions of nations and iterative structures happen, lead to the layers of analysis which are encoded in the term of analytical stories. Based on the projection process of individuation and the collective unconscious common feature shared by a number of stories to choose from myths or legends of the Azerbaijani and English, this study tries to investigate the possible influence of this process which is obvious for human cultures. They forget that their creators and narrators have this type of literature. Although admission to the diverse cultures have created myths and stories, but its deep structure, reflects the same preoccupation and the end of all is the same. 

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A Castanea crenata agglutinin (abbreviated as CCA) was extracted and purified from bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis L., to determine its effects on the demographic parameters of Apomyelois ceratoniae Zeller. Two groups of first larval instars were reared on an artificial diet containing 2% (w/w) of CCA and control diets until emergence of adults. Two Sex MS-chart life table software was used to analyze data and calculate life table parameters. Developmental times of larvae in control and CCA dietsshowed statistical differences for male, female except for third and fourth larval instars. It was found that A. ceratoniae larvaefed on control had a survival of 18 days but individuals fed on CCA diet survived for 12 days. The highest fecundity values of individuals fed on control and CCA diets were obtained at the age of 30 and 27 days, respectively. Adult longevity, pre-oviposition period, oviposition period and mean fecundity of A. ceratoniae fed on control were higher than those of individuals fed on CCA diet. The probabilities of a newborn egg surviving to age 28 days were 0.42 and 0.3 for control and CCA, respectively. Each female started egg laying on day 22 for control and 25 for CCA. Life expectancies of a newly laid egg were 29 days for control and 26 days for CCA treatment. Life table parameters except for mean generation time showed statistical differences between control and CCA treatments. These results demonstrated the negative effects of CCA on life table parameters of A. ceratoniae that might lead to a promising and alternative way to suppress population increase and damage caused by A. ceratoniae.

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Tarsousi's Darab- Naameh is a long folktale related to sixth century. According to the main action on which the subject's intention is focused, Darab-Naameh is divided into three separate stories. The story, in addition to its three main plots, is comprised of infinite narratives within each grand narrative. Sometimes the little-narratives become structurally related and coherent to the main narrative, and they are also formed independent from the grand-narratives in other situations. And so these little narratives distort the unity of narration by their disturbance, independency and separation from trilogy processes of speech evolution. The discourse system, despite its action-oriented nature, in the story of Alexander precedes two types of the state and actional discourses on parallel bases, and cognitive and situational discourse system affects actional discourse too. This paper aims to study narrative syntax, organizing levels of narration and interaction between them from the narratology perspective, and examine the way of meaning creation in the long folktales by dividing Darab-Naameh into deep and surface structures. Have narrative processes been organized in a distinct juxtapositional system? Can scattered narratives of the story, as instrumental narratives, lead the grand-narratives to the achievement of the main action? Is the story plot within its narrative syntax in interaction and harmony with the basic structures of meaning? We try to answer these questions within this research by analyzing Darab-Naameh. Keywords: Tarsousi's Darab-Naameh, Narrative Semiotics, Plot, Semiotic square tensive axis
 

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This paper examines the effects of agricultural land productivity improvement on the economy of Iran assuming that the domestic and international trade liberalizations will open up the opportunities to expand market access. A 25-sector computable general equi-librium model was developed to simulate the effects of this policy. The simulation results indicate that enhancing agricultural land productivity while implementing trade policy reform results in an expansion of agricultural sector which, in turn, leads to the expansion of food manufacturing and service sectors and mitigating the problem of unemployment. Furthermore, improving land productivity results in a decrease in the price of food prod-ucts and an increase in real GDP. Consequently, food security enhances and Iranian wel-fare improves. As a result, this is an appropriate domestic policy for Iran. This policy re-sults in an expansion of agricultural sector which in turn leads to expansion of food manu-facturing and service sectors, mitigates the unemployment problem, improves the Iranian welfare as the real GDP increases, and improves the food security in Iran, as the price of food products decreases.

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Backgrounds: The burden of bacteremia in febrile cases is still poorly understood in Nigeria as in many sub-Saharan African countries due to diagnostic limitations. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Salmonella bloodstream infections and antimicrobial resistance patterns of bacterial isolates recovered from febrile patients in Lagos, Nigeria.
Materials & Methods: A total of 300 blood samples were collected from febrile patients attending four medical centers in Lagos during August 2020 to July 2021. Clinical isolates were identified using API 20E kit. qPCR was used to detect Salmonella isolates in positive blood culture samples using a specific primer set. All isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests using standard procedures.  
Findings:  Totally, 55 bacterial isolates belonging to six bacterial genera were identified, including Salmonella (n=4, 7.27%), Klebsiella species (n=23, 41.82%), Escherichia coli (n=6, 10.91%), Proteus species (n=13, 23.64%), Serratia species (n=7, 12.73%), and Citrobacter species (n=2, 3.64%). In this study, the detection rate of Salmonella isolates in positive blood culture samples using qPCR and invA gene primer set was 100%. Salmonella isolates were 100% resistant to ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and doripenem. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was observed in Salmonella and other bacterial isolates.
Conclusion:  In this study, qPCR using the invA primer set was found to be highly specific for Salmonella detection. All the bloodstream bacterial pathogens in this study were MDR; thus, there is a need for continuous evaluation of antibiotics in medical settings.  Further molecular studies on these bacterial isolates is essential.

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The lack of statistics has hampered attempts to estimate fixed capital for the agricultural sub-sectors of Iran. Giving a non anonymous agreement on the depreciation rate of capital in machineries and constructions, an indirect method of estimation is employed using capital consumption statistics in different sub-sectors of input-output tables. In this study, capital stock is estimated in agricultural sub-sectors of Iran using the perpetual inventory method. According to the results of this paper, the capital stock in 2006 is estimated to be 53374.9 billion rials in cropping and horticulture, 24334.6 billion rials in animal husbandry, 4982 billion rials in forestry and rangelands and 16374.2 billion rials in fishery sub-sectors at constant 1997 prices, respectively. The findings based on the five year development plans of the country revealed that over the third development plan, the total agricultural capital stock, both in machinery and equipment and constructions, experienced the highest growth while during the second development plan, the machinery and equipment capital stock experienced the lowest growth. Moreover, during the first development plan and over the eight year war, the construction capital stock experienced the lowest growth.

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Developing a technique for efficient and safe gene delivery to plant cells is a fundamental aim of plant biotechnology. Agrobacterium mediated transformation as the most common and practical method in plant gene delivery has considerable difficulties such as limitation in applicable for plant species. In recent years several new methods have been suggested, although none of them could be a good replacement. The use of nanotechnology has been provided new solutions to overcome the limitations of biotechnology. Designing biocompatible nanostructures for passing cell barriers and targeted delivery of cargo has improved the biological achievements. In this research the capability of arginine functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube (Arg-SWNT) as a new carrier to transfer plasmid DNA, which codes green fluorescent protein (GFP) to tobacco suspension cells, has been investigation. It is suggested that single-walled carbon nanotubes can pass through cell wall pores and plasma membrane while it carries plasmid DNA along with. The fluorescence microscopy images illustrate the success of gene delivery by Arg-SWNT

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Two models are commonly made use to explain the behavior of insurance industries, namely: risk-pooling and the risk-absorbing models. Neither of the two models provides an acceptable definition of insurance output in the economies experiencing high inflation rate. To address the deficiencies of the present models, an alternative was proposed in the current study as based on the theory of index number. To verify the reliability of the suggested model, all the three models were tested using times series data from Agricultural Insurance Fund in Iran. The first two models failed to provide a meaningful indication of growth of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in insurance Fund over the period of study while, results of the productivity estimation in the context of the proposed model show more consistence with reality and demonstrate an acceptable trend. Thus, the proposed model seems to have the merit of being considered as an alternative one in evaluating the productivity improvement in Agricultural Insurance Fund in Iran and as well in other developing countries experiencing high inflation rate.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality characteristics of bread produced by yeasts and  lactobacillus isolated from native Iranian sourdough. Initially for the preparation sourdough, fresh microbial cells with certain number of colonies, by centrifugation were isolated of initial culturing bacteria and yeasts. Then equivalent 10% weight flour ,microbial cells mixed with equal amounts of water and flour. After processing identical samples to assess the quality characteristics of bread used  of  sensory evaluation test, image processing and Texture analysis. The experiments in a completely randomized design and completely randomized block with three replications were performed. The results showed that the samples significant effect  on the quality characteristics. The results indicate that sourdough can be  increasing the porosity of the sample So that e treat with 42 percent  had the highest degree of porosity also sourdough delaying staling. According to the results from this study, treatment of Lactobacillus reuteri and Saccharomyces cerevisiae had  best Sensory evaluation, porosity and texture.

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In recent years, extensive researches has been done on use of edible coating in food packaging. Edible coatings can increase the shelf life of coated foods and they are suitable alternative for synthetic packaging. In this research, the effect of carboxy methyle cellulose based edible coatings with thyme extract on reducing moisture absorption and decreasing lipid oxidation productions have been evaluated. The edible coatings were prepared at different concentration levels of carboxy methyle cellulose (0.0, 0.5, and 1.5% W/V) and thyme extracts (0.0, 0.5 and 1% V/V). The moisture content, peroxide, thiobarbituric acid and acid number changes were determined for samples. The experiment was performed by Dunnett statistical tests in three replications using factorial design based on completely random design. The results indicated that the coating containig of 1.5% W/V of carboxy methyle cellulose and 1% V/V of thyme extract showed better results in reduction of peroxide value in fresh hazelnut. Carboxy methyl cellulose coating can delay the lipid oxidation of fresh hazelnut by providing a barrier against moisture and oxygen permiability to the texture of hazelnut. Adding of thyme extract into coating formulation, in addition to increasing the shelf life of hazelnut, is important regarding functional aspects of hazelnut. This coatings have both edible and environmentally friendly properties and preferable to synthetic packaging.

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There is currently a very high demand for all forms and preparations of medicinal plants worldwide. Accordingly, hops has been drawing significant attention in recent years. Hops is a medicinal plant with various applications in traditional medicine. In the present research work, antifungal effect of hops flower ethanolic extract on S. cerevisiae and some bread spoilage molds (Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Penicillium chrysogenum, P. citrinum, Rhizopus oryzae and Rhizomucorspp. ) was investigated. The antifungal effect was determined by using broth dilution susceptibility test. Results showed that the ethanolic extract of hops flower had the ability to prevent mold growth on bread samples. Inhibitory concentration of the extract was in the range of 1.875 to 3.3 mg/ml. The extract had no effect on Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the concentrations of 0-15 mg/ml. It was concluded that ethalonic extract of hops flower has remarkable negative effects on food spoilage mold growth, especially bread spoilage molds. To apply this extract as a natural food preservative, further researches are required.

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Mallow (Malva neglecta) is grown in Middle East countries. In herbal medicines mallow is used as pain decreasing, importing injuries and removing gastrointestinal problems, respiratory system and so on. These specifications are dependent on structural components and plant mucilage respectively. In this study structural components and amount of leaves and stems mucilage was analyzed.In spring, leaves with stems were collected, dried and powdered. Quantity of protein, fat, ash, fatty acids and sterols were analyzed by AOAC and Iranian Standard methods. Mucilage of M.neglecta was extracted by deionized water in 90^OC and extracted mucilage was dried in 50^OC oven. Phenol-sulfuric acid method was used to determination of total carbohydrate. Leaves and petioles of M.neglecta are rich in protein and ash.40% of fatty acids is linolenic acid and more than 50% of total fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids. Extracted mucilage was totally 12% in dry matter of plant. Total carbohydrate of M.neglecta mucilage was % 75.97±2.46 respectively. Having useful ingredients like zinc, copper, iron, protein, unsaturated fatty acid and high amount of mucilage demonstrates worth of M.neglectain food and medicines. Phenol sulfuric acid method was used in different temperatures from environment till boiling temperatures. Also using phenol-sulfuric acid method in boiling temperature was done before but in combination by autoclave instrument for getting total carbohydrates of M.neglecta mucilage is the first action.

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To investigate the causes of food waste in Zanjan city, 30 bakery stores were selected randomly and by going directly to them, the components of the formulation that make up the bread was collected containing samples of flour , yeast , yeast bread consumption production. In this study the qualitative properties of yeast, the amount of bread waste, bread bakery shelf-life and moisture preservation were determined. Microbiological analysis were done on five types of flour, 6 types of yeast and 24 types of sourdough used in baking. Furthermore, consumption of soda was determined (in breads with a pH greater than 6.2) or its use in the production of bread as a yeast alternative.The qualitative features of yeast showed that the half of the yeast samples had not ability to produce enough gas which was an effective technological problem at Zanjan bakeries (6.9%). Microbiological tests showed that the used yeast infected by E. coli but in the bread flour samples, the results comply with the standard. Microbial populations in different sourdough samples were very versatile and varied quantitatively with each other. Studies showed that about 5 percent of bakeries have used of soda as an alternative to yeast. Amount of the bread wastes reached to 27/17 % which the 0.5 % owned soda consumption, 6.9% belonged to low quality yeast and 5.17 % was due to non-compliance with fermentation time. The shelf life of bread and moisture preservation in pita bread with a low pH level of 6.2 significantly were higher than breads with a pH greater than 2/6 respectively.So, due to the lower performance of yeast and lack of the needed time for properly fermentation, also the poor quality of processed breads with baking soda, it is recommended to use the healthy bakery yeast and sourdough with uniformity of microbial characteristics.