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It was not just the uneducated human in ancient times who believed in an invisible magic powers in the world, and people have always believed in “ANIMISM” and “FITSH”. From many long time ago, people used to think that some objects, animals, and sky and stars have these invisible magic powers.  Because of his little amount of knowledge, he had no chance of understanding the scientific rules that run the world. So he began to believe       in the influence of these invisible magic powers over his daily life in order to make reason for bad events of his life or even to prevent them. He had to adjust every little things of his life to these believes. In Iranian religion before Islam, like other ancient religions, many superstitions looked legal and rightful, and also believing in the influence of sky and stars on days and years;  in astrology, and in prediction  was very usual.  In this research, different kinds of prediction  according to the middle Persian texts will be studied: prediction based  on inspiration, influence of sky and stars on days and years, the things that should be done and not should be done on specific days, soothsaying texts based on numbers in a Zoroastrian Omen Manuscript, including: the  number omen with numbers1-5, the omen of JAMASP E HAKIM, and omen of ANAAMOL.

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Germination is a critical stage in the life cycle of plants and often controls population dynamics, with major practical implications. Salsola arbusculiformis is one of the most important plants used to prevent soil erosion and a good fodder resource for sheep and goat in the rangelands of Iran. However, the species seems to have low seed germination, so the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different treatments to improve its seed germination. Three concentrations of gibberellic acid (100, 500 and 1000 ppm), mechanical scarification with sandpaper, concentrated sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄ (98%)), potassium nitrate (KNO₃ (0.2%)), thiourea one Molar, four prechilling periods (10, 20, 30 and 150 days at 2 °C) were used as study treatments and distilled water as control. The results showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) among and within the treatments in their effects on seed germination. The effective treatments to stimulate seed germination were prechilling for 150 and 30 days; sulphuric acid and sandpaper scarification. Prechilling for 150 and 30 days increased germination by 88.4% and 85.65%, respectively, while sulphuric acid and sandpaper scarification both increased germination by 76.1% compared to the control. The results also showed that gibberellic acid, potassium nitrate and thiourea did not promote seed germination. It was inferred that the most effective treatments among the methods used for breaking seed dormancy of Salsola arbusculiformis were prechilling for 150 days and mechanical scarification by hand with sandpaper.

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The control of biological, hydrological and geochemical cycles of soil is the key part of the earth system. The objective of this research was to evaluate changes in soil chemical properties due to deforestation occurred in the Gazafolya Village, Merek Watershed, Kermanshah Province, Iran. Toward this attempt, 35 soil samples were collected from top soil layer using auger in early June, 2013. Soil analysis including pH, carbonate content, electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium (Na), soil organic carbon (SOC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) were made. The results showed that there were no significant differences between soil pH, carbonate content, EC and Na in the forest and rainfed areas while there was significant difference (P> 0.005) between SOC in the forest (2.10%) and rainfed (1.35%) areas. The semi-variance analysis also revealed that the spatial dependence class of SOC in the forest was strong, while it was mainly moderate in the rainfed areas due to improper plowing practices in the rainfed area there was moderate. In addition, the results showed the soil CEC in the forest and rainfed areas were 33.3 and 25.1 cmol_ckg^-1, respectively, indicating significant higher level in the forest area. Semi-variance analysis also revealed a strong spatial variation for CEC in the forest. Finally, there were no significant differences for EC and Na with moderate spatial variation in both areas. It was concluded that SOC and CEC significantly reduced by severe deforestation phenomenon of Zagros Forest.

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The effects of different climatic, soil, geometric, and management factors on soil organic carbon (SOC) degradation and sequestration potential was evaluated in the semi-arid zone of Mereg watershed, west of Iran. Two nonparametric methods, viz. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) and feed forward back propagation Artificial Neural Network (ANN) were compared with parametric Multivariate Linear Regression (MLR) in estimation of SOC content. Soil sampling was conducted using randomized systematic method in work unit map by overlying soil, aspect and slope maps. Results indicated that linear models had higher prediction errors. The CART with all variables (physical and management) and the ANN with 31-2-1 topology carried the highest predictive capability, explaining 81% and 76% of SOC variability, respectively. ANN models overestimated SOC content and showed a higher capability to detect the effects of management factors on SOC variations. In all the methods, management factors dominantly controlled SOC stock sequestration or degradation in different land use.

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Background: Environmental stresses, especially salinity and drought, are effective on seed germination and growth.
Materials and Methods: After breaking seed dormancy by simultaneous use of leaching (48 hours) and gibberllic acid (1000 ppm), germination characteristics and seedling growth of Citrullus colocynthis from two ecotypes of Sistan-Baluchestan with six  levels of drought (0, -0.3, -0.6, -0.9, -1.2, -1.5 Mpa) and salinity (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 mM) were studied. This experiment was carried out in two different factorial experiments using completely randomized design with four replications. Statistical analysis was performed using version 18 of SPSS software and Factorial analysis of variance (general linear model) and mean comparisons were done using Duncan's multiple range test. Results: The results demonstrated that there were significant differences among different levels of drought and salinity in all measured traits (P<0.01) and a significant decrease in seed germination and seedling growth were observed with increasing levels of drought and salinity (P<0.01). The results revealed that there were significant interactions effect between ecotype and different levels of drought as well as salinity (P<0.01), so seed vigor of Zabol’ ecotype was higher than that of Saravan.
Discussion and Conclusions: This species has acceptable germination at -0.6 Mpa droughts and 50 mM salinity. These issues must be considered in its intense planting in Sistan-Baluchestan province and using of Zabol’ ecotype seed is recommended.

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Research Subject: Because of the constant deterioration of environmental conditions, the world faces energy and clean water shortage. To address the water crisis issue, the solar steam generation system has been considered as a suitable technology for seawater desalination due to its competitive features, such as no carbon dioxide emission, low energy consumption, and high efficiency. In modern solar steam generation systems, solar energy is harvested by a photothermal absorber and then converted into thermal energy to heat a certain volume of water and produce steam. Then, the generated steam condenses on the inner surface of the cover, and clean water is collected. The five key features required for solar steam generation system are: high light absorption, low heat losses and heat localization, proper water transfer, and the ability to float on the water surface.
Research Methods: In this study, a solar steam generation system based on a graphite absorber layer is built, and its performance is improved using nickel plasmonic nanoparticles.
In order to investigate the dependency of the performance on the structure, two different layers including cotton and polyester felts are used to transfer water controllable. In this study, the water evaporation rate, surface temperature, and efficiency of the devices are evaluated.
Main Results: Thermal efficiency and evaporation rate for the system based on the pure graphite absorber is 68.17% and 0.97 kg/m².h, which increases to 93.57% and 1.37 kg/m².h, respectively by adding nickel nanoparticles. Using two cotton and PS water managers reveals the importance of the thermal energy and mass transfer balancing in the systems, which strongly affects the devices performance.

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Aims: The climate change consequences are more severe in semi-arid regions in the form of drought, desertification, and dust occurrence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of climatic changes on dust occurrence and sand mobility in Kermanshah province, Iran.
Materials & Methods: The meteorological stations from 1992 to 2017 were selected within Kermanshah province. The trend of climate changes was analyzed by using the Mann-Kendall model. Furthermore, the dust storm index (DSI) method was used to study the frequency and severity of dust phenomenon.
Findings: The results explored that the highest precipitation is occurred in March and November in this province. DSI index was found higher value in Islamabad, Kermanshah, and Kangavar than that other station, mainly in the west of the province, occurring in in 2008 and the lowest values were in 2010 and 2013. The average wind speed was 4.6 ms-1, while the highest winds with more than 6 ms-1 speed and dominant west and southwest directions are occurred in the western part of the province. Consequently, the annual dust rose was western. Furthermore, the highest amount of dust with 175 days occurred in Saprobe Zahab (west of the province), which was mostly related to spring and summer seasons. Lancaster index explored that the sand mobility potential was prevalent in the southwestern (along to Iraq border)
Conclusion: The dust incidence is affected by climate change. Thus, maintaining vegetation and controlling land use change is essential management approach to adapting climate change in this region.
 

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Objective: The environmental exposure to Magnetic Fields (MFs) may interact with biological systems. MFs are generated from various sources such as power lines, electric appliances at homes and offices, electrified transportation systems including urban railway systems and diagnostic devices such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). There are some scientific evidences that imply the exposure to MFs are hazardous to our health and increases the rate of some cancers like leukemia. The biological consequences of exposure to MFs have been investigated from a variety of endpoints. However, most studies have been performed in vitro and have examined effects on cellular processes and its malfunction; such studies can be used as evidence of effects in vivo. Materials and Methods: In this study Bone Marrow Stem Cells were grown in the absence and in the presence of a 15 mT Static Magnetic Field for 5 hours in order to determine any changes in cell cycle progression using the count of cells in different phases. The count of cells in a special phase of cell cycle indicates the length of that phase. The Static Magnetic Field was performed using a locally designed MF generator. Results: A significant increase in the number of cells in G0/G1 was observed in comparison with the controls. Also the number of cells in G0/G1 in the cells treated with Hydrogen-Peroxide, as an oxidative agent, was significantly increased in Static MF. Conclusion: Genetic material damages or mal-function of related proteins may cause these halts. Mfs have not enough energy to affect the biological molecules directly but the mechanism of free radical mediators is probable. These kinds of damages (direct or indirect) can permanently bring the cell cycle to a halt.

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Effects of addition of each plasticizers (sorbitol, glycerol or lactic acid) having concentration of 0-40% on mechanical properties and water vapor  permeability (WVP) and oxygen permeability (OP) of casein composite films have been studied. The best formulation for each composite film having optimum amounts for mechanical properties, WVP and OP have been determined. The amounts of WVP, OP and mechanical properties for the composite films with optimum formulation at three different relatives humidity (RH =32, 52, 75 %) have been also compared. The value of WVP has been measured using a vial coated by a film. The value of OP for a film was determined from measurement of peroxide value for a definite amount of oil that is placed in a vial and coated by the film. Mechanical properties were measured using a tensile machine. The results showed that addition of 20% each plasticizer to casein was the best concentration to achieve optimum mechanical properties (elongation, tensile strength and elastic modulus). Further increase in concentration of plasticizer led to a decrease in tensile strength and elastic modulus and negligible increase in elongation and significant increase in WVP. Thin films containing sorbitol at RH 32% and thin films containing glycerol at RH 75% had WVP greater than that of two other RH. Thin films containing sorbitol at three RH had OP smaller than that of the films containing lactic acid and glycerol.    

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Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, commonly referred to as BTEX, are critical monoaromatic environmental contaminants around the World, of which the major aromatic contaminants in gasoline pose serious environmental health problems. Leaking tanks or ruptured pipelines pollute soil and groundwater with these compounds. Because of their polarity and very soluble characteristics, these compounds will be able to enter the soil and groundwater systems and cause serious contamination problems and threats to the public safety and environment. One of the most promising ground water remediation technologies is the use of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) packed with reactive material to intercept and decontaminate plumes in the subsurface. The concept of PRBs is rather simple. Reactive material is placed in the subsurface to intercept a plume of contaminated groundwater which must move through it as it flows, typically under its natural gradient. As the contaminant moves through the Reactive material, reactions occur that alter it to less harmful or immobile species. The PRB is not a barrier to the groundwater, but it is a barrier to the contaminant. The key advantage of a reactive barrier is the passive nature of the treatment. That is, for the most part, its operation does not depend on any external labor or energy inputs. Once installed, the barrier takes advantage of the in situ groundwater flow to bring the pollutants in contact with the reactive material. The reactive material used in the barrier may vary depending on the type of contaminants being treated. The most common reactive agent used to date has been granular iron. For contaminants of unknown treatability or media of unknown reactivity, addressing these issues will involve laboratory studies using both batch and column techniques. As for any remedial technology, it is imperative to fully understand the factors that can result in either effective implementation and successful remediation or failure to achieve the remedial design objectives. Iron nanoparticles are increasingly being applied in soil and grounwater remediation and hazardous waste treatment. Nearly two decades after iron nanoparticle was first proposed, the iron nanoparticle technology is at a critical point of its development process. Extensive laboratory studies have verified that nanoscale iron particles are effective for the treatment of a wide range of common groundwater pollutants such as chlorinated organic solvents, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organic dyes, and various inorganic compounds. Numerous field trials have also demonstrated the favorable prospective for in situ remediation. Nonetheless, there are still substantial knowledge gaps on many fundamental scientific issues. In this Experimental study, A series of laboratory experiments in various temperatures and contaminant concentrations were conducted on Nano sized zero-valet iron (nZVI) to determine its removal efficiency as PRB reactive materials against BTEX compounds in saturated Kaolinite clays, And the initial Concentration of BTEX is reduced to 60%. Obtained results may provide required data in groundwater remediation PRB systems design.

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One way to convey the occurrence of explosion under water and its effects on the structures is to use coning shock tube. By using a small explosive, this tube causes high pressure. In this essay, by suing LS-DYNA code, the explosion of a subsidiary amount of an explosive in the conning shock tube has been scrutinized. A numerical simulation has been done by using the MMALE (Multi Material Arbitrary Eulerain Lagrangian) solving method. To verify the validity of the selected method in software, first, the empirical tests performed by LeBlanc and Shukla is simulated. After assuring of the precision of the results, simulation of the desired problem is performed. In this research, first, the effect of the angel of the cone's head in the caused pressure inside the tube has been checked. Then, the operation of shock tubes with different lengths is checked. At the end, with the conversion of the weight of explosive, the study of the results and the reasons of the conversions in each parameter, a bond for the equivalent mass for all the shock tubes with different angels is represented and the bond for the present theory has been revised.

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In this study the herdel effects of heating time, basil seed mucilage and Sodium Nitrite during preservating time on qualitative characteristics of 40% sausage by RSM method were investigated in order to decrease using nitrite at sausage. At first section the effect of different herdels on qualitative characteristics of sausage including residual nitrite, color and the number of Clostridium Perfringens and texure were investigated. In the second part, the optimization and the validity of developed model were performed. The results indicated that by increasing nitrite, the residual nitrite amount increased and by increasing of preservation time the nitrite amount was decreased. Overall changes are influenced by nitrite amount, basil seed mucilage, and heating time. Chlorostidium number was influenced by nitrite square and preservation time, so that the lowest Clostridium Perfringens amount was acquired at the highest nitrite concentration. Also only effective parameter on the sausage texture was basil seed mucilage. By increasing of mucilage content hardness of sausage was decreased by optimization the amounts of 95.38 ppm nitrite, 0.76% basil seed mucilage, the heating time of 112.15 minute at the preservation time of (24 days) were selected- which this formula lead to decrease at about 30ppm of the added nitrite- based on Iran national standard. The theoretical and the experimental results were in great agreement so RSM could be used for modeling and optimization of such processes.

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In this study, a numerical model was developed to investigate the two-dimensional heat transfer in a homogenous finite cylinder to predict the local temperature and sterilizing value during caviar pasteurization. A fixed grid finite difference method was used in the solution of heat transfer equations according to Crank-Nicolson’s scheme. The model was validated by comparison of the experimental temperature profiles during caviar pasteurization with the model predicted values (Correlation Coefficient> 0.99 and Root Mean Square Errors< 0.61ºC). The cold spot location was at the radial center between the middle and top of the jar on the vertical axis. For caviar pasteurization, the required heating time for cold spot to reach the desired F-value (= 0.19 min) was 128 minutes at 55°C and 37.63 minutes at 65°C. The results indicated that the developed model could be successfully applied to simulate the caviar thermal processing.

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Today, in order to reduce the cost and increase the safety, utilizing tests devices like conic shock tube has been popularized to investigate the explosion under-water phenomenon and its impact on constructions. A shock tube is designed, manufactured and utilized in the mechanic of explosion laboratory of mechanic faculty of K.N. Toosi University of Technology to study the effect of isotropic metal plates’ material in this research. The source which creates the shock in the utilized shock tube is the explosive material and the positive point is that in such a tube a high pressure can be produced with a tiny explosive charge. In order to investigate the effect of the material and the geometry of the utilized metal plate, three material is considered with two different thicknesses in the experimental tests. The behavior of the plate can be measured when the amount of the pressure produced by the explosive charge and the amount of plate’s transformation is specified. From the results of the experimental tests, in order to give a semi experimental relation, the behavior of the plate under the explosion load with the water interface is utilized. At the end, with the combination of experimental and theoretical results, the effect of material and thickness change are studied separately and with the increase in the weight parameter of the load, equations are given to predict the transformation of the metal plates.

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Today, there are lots of researches on finding a good alternative to sweet gums, including the use of sugar-free gum (made from alcoholic sugar). Pistacia atlantica is the source of saghes juice from the wild pistachios, and researchers from medicinal plants use saghes to make natural gums. In this study, to improve the nutritional, antioxidant and rheological properties, production of gum has been studied using base Pistacia atlantica and alcoholic sugar. Nine test formulations produced using combinations of resin, sorbitol, xylitol and isomalt, as well as mono and di-glycerylic acid citric, monosodium monohydrate and glacial acetic anhydride, lecithin and glycerol plasticizer in different amounts. Also testing Physicochemical, rheological, antioxidant and sensory evaluation done in 60 days of storage. With increasing storage time, moisture content decreased in all samples. The amount of controlled sample sweetener (50% sugar, 30% resin and 20% glucose) was about 45.47%. While in other samples, considering the use of alcoholic sugars, their sweetness content was zero percent. In all samples with increasing amount of gum, total phenol and controlling DPPH free radical increased. In total samples 4, 5, 6 and second blank with common formulation (40% resin, 34% xylitol, 5% sorbitol, 20% isomalt, 0.3% glycerol, and 0.7% essential oil of mint) in terms of high antioxidant strength, mechanical properties, moisture, overall acceptability of texture, appearance, taste, have the highest reception from assessors. According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that using gum base with alcoholic sugars and preparing optimal formulation from them, we can obtain a natural product with nutritional, antioxidant and suitable texture as a replacement to industrial gums.
 

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The response surface methodology was used to produce cherry jam containing stevia sweetener with desirable physicochemical, sensory and rheological properties. These experiments were planned using a central composite design (CCD) with three independent variables including sugar, pectin and stevia. The production process of samples was done in five levels of sucrose (50-10%), pectin (0.5-1%) and stevia (0.6-0.2%) in a constant amount of 300 g of fruit. To evaluate the jam, the physicochemical, sensory and rheological properties of the jam were determined and optimized. Concentrations of sucrose, pectin and stevia had a significant effect on the color, sensory and rheological properties of the jam. The results showed that none of the linear and interaction effects of the studied factors on the pH of cherry jam were significant. The values ​​of L * (brightness) and b * (yellowness) increased with increasing concentrations of sucrose and stevia, also increasing pectin increased a * (redness) of the jam. The evaluation results of sensory tests showed that the sugar variable plays an important role in improving the sensory parameters of the jam. Examination of the tests resulting from the creep test showed that the sugar factor plays an important role in the value of the parameters G0 and η0. The results show that the viscosity shown by Dashpot Maxwell (η0) can be a good indicator of the effect of sucrose concentration in the jam. Also, G1 and η1 parameters can not be clear indicators for understanding the structural changes in the jam with changes in the concentration of sugar, pectin and stevia. In general, the results of the study showed that using pectin and stevia sweetener can reduce the amount of sucrose in the jam and produce a low-calorie product with optimal quality and desirability index of 0.69 on a commercial scale.

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Many scientific reports have been published about the health effects of black cumin seed (Nigella sativa) oil such as anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. However, one of the main problems in extracting oil from black cumin seed (BS) is the low yield and also the low quality of the extracted oil. Various methods such as microwave treatment, roasting and soaking have been performed to improve the extraction conditions and quality of BS oil before cold pressing. In this study, BS was pre-treated with ethanol (70%) at 0 (control sample), 1, 3 and 6% and then oil extracted by cold press. Extracted oil qualitative characteristics (acid value, peroxide value, chlorophyll content, carotenoid content and total phenolic content) were assessed in production day and every 30 days during 90 days of storage. Also, oxidative stability of BS oil was measured by Schaal test. The results demonstrated that by increasing the level of ethanol in the pre-treatment of BS, acid value and peroxide value significantly (p < 0.05) decreased and oxidative stability, chlorophylls, carotenoids and phenolic contents of extracted oil significantly (p < 0.05) increased. Acid value and peroxide value increased and chlorophyll and carotenoid contents due to decomposition of their contents decreased during storage. Oil extracted from BS pre-treated with highest level of ethanol had the lowest acid value (4.61 mg NaOH/g oil) and peroxide value (7.03 meq O₂/Kg oil) and the highest chlorophyll (21.21 mg/Kg oil), carotenoid (3.86 mg/Kg oil) and total phenolic (496.3 mg caffeic acid/Kg of oil) contents at the end of the storage. In conclusion, the results showed that pretreatment of BS by ethanol before cold pressing can be used to improve qualitative properties and stabilize the extracted oil.