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During spring and summer of 2012, a disease characterized by panicle blight was observed on some pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) trees grown in Kerman province. Eighteen isolates of a Botryosphaeriaceae were obtained from affected panicles. Based on morphological and molecular characteristics, isolates were identified as Botrysphaeria dothidea. To our knowledge, this is the first report of B. dothidea associated with pistachio panicles in Iran.

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Aims: The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected various dimensions of life and lifestyles, and sexual life is no exception. The present study aimed to determine the effect of multimedia sexual index promotion packages on the sexual function, desire, and satisfaction of couples during the outbreak of Covid-19.
Materials & Methods: This randomized clinical trial study was performed on 60 married people in Qazvin City, Iran, in 2022. Participants were randomly assigned into control (n=30) and intervention (n=30) groups. Demographic questionnaire, Larson Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire, Hurlbert Index of Sexual Desire, International Index of Erectile Function, and Female Sexual Function Index were used to collect data. The Chi-square, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney, paired t-test, and Wilcoxon test were used for data analysis.
Findings: In the intervention group, the mean of sexual function, desire, and satisfaction significantly increased in the post-test compared to the pre-test (p<0.05). This difference was observed only in sexual desire in the control group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Multimedia sexual indexes promotion packages improve sexual function, desire, and satisfaction of couples during the outbreak of Covid-19.
 

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The biology of Chrysocharis pentheus (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), the most abundant endoparasitoid of Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in Ehime prefecture, Japan, was studied under laboratory and field conditions. The mean immature developmental time and adult longevity at different temperatures (22 to 31°C) under 50-70% RH decreased as the temperature increased, and females survived longer than males. The developmental threshold of male and female was 8.9°C and 11.9°C, respectively. The effective accumulative temperature (thermal constant) for males and females from egg to adult was 181.8 and 238.1 degree-days, respectively. C. pentheus appeared to be a synovigenic species. The offspring sex ratio from females provided with males was 73.8% males and 26.2% females. Presumably, mated females began oviposition 1-2 days after emergence and continued for up to 40 days. Females laid a mean of 118.2±10.10 eggs each, and their longevity reached 32.3±0.30 days at 27±1°C, 50-70% RH. The intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) was 0.144. Host feeding or stinging without oviposition killed 65.7±8.65 P. citrella larvae per female. Oviposition in the field was highest (62.7%) on the third instar larva of P. citrella, with the rest on the prepupal stage (37.3%), showing a significant preference for third instars. The sex ratio (M:F) of C. pentheus reared from the third instar larvae of host and pupae was 3.3:1.0 and 1.0:3.0 respectively.

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Aims: Understanding the structural dynamics of unmanaged oak coppices is crucial, as many of the world’s forests remain unmanaged. While previous studies have focused on coppice dynamics in mesic woodlands, there needs to be a more significant gap in understanding these processes in semi-arid regions. The study aims to examine the structural modifications, successional trajectories, and floristic diversity within semi-arid oak coppices in the Zagros Mountains, utilizing a comprehensive dataset obtained from an extensive land survey.
Materials & Methods: The study was conducted in a 175 km strip of Zagros Mountain forests dominated by Quercus brant ii. Ninety-four even-aged stands from 14 forests were selected. Structural attributes were evaluated, including tree density, basal area, canopy cover, and floristic diversity measures. A list of vascular flora was documented for each successional stage using the Raunkiær plant life-form classification. Data analysis involved polar ordination, clustering, and multivariate techniques. 
Findings: Density, Holdridge complexity index, basal area, and cover were identified as the most influential variables. Two main trajectories, progressive and retrogressive, were identified, with eight successional stages. Significant differences in structural variables were observed across trajectories, with floristic diversity peaking in the middle stages. The later stages of the progressive trajectory showed a significant increase in the relative cover and basal area of Fraxinus rotundifolia. The study demonstrates the existence of a progressive successional trajectory in unmanaged coppice forests influenced by disturbances. Stand age, mean diameter of sprout clumps, and flora diversity do not solely determine the successional stages within this trajectory.
Conclusion: While transforming Zagros Mountain oak coppice into high forests is unlikely, there is potential for redirecting succession toward more resilient and diverse ecosystems. We recommend management interventions beyond protection, promoting uneven-aged stands, increasing density and cover, and encouraging species like Fraxinus. These strategies can enhance ecological integrity and foster sustainable woodland ecosystems in the Zagros region.
 

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Existence of huge reserves of natural gas in the country and also the extent of its distribution lines has caused the use of natural gas as the main energy carrier. Seasonal fluctuations in gas consumption in domestic sector and giving priority to this sector has led that the gas supply to other sectors such as thermal power plants is faced with many problems in the cold season. One way to deal with this issue (shortage of natural gas) is the liquefaction and storage of surplus natural gas in the summer, using peak-shaving gas liquefaction plants. In this study, SMR and N2-expander processes have been evaluated. Changing in operational and environmental parameters (such as changes in flow rate, pressure, temperature and composition of the feed gas and working fluid of the cycle) are the main problems that peak-shaving plants will be permanently encountered with them, thus low sensitivity to changing conditions is the one of the important criteria in the selection of suitable process for peak-shaving. In this study, the sensitivity of liquefaction processes has been investigated using normalized sensitivity analysis. The results indicate that SMR process, despite lower power consumption is more sensitive to changes of the environmental and operational parameters and even, in some cases, the applied perturbation in the probable error range of measurement devices (such as 20 kPa uncertainty or fluctuation in compressor suction pressure), causes malfunction of the liquefaction process (wet entering the compressor).

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The present article deals with the issues of nationalization and expropriation in the light of Iran-United States Claims Tribunal Awards by looking at their legality and the limits on the rights of states to nationalise and expropriate, while discussing some case law. I will argue that the state’s right to nationalize foreign property is an attribute of its sovereignty and derives from territorial supremacy of the state. It is also proposed to examine the questions of State responsibility for the injurious consequences of certain wrongful acts or omissions during the Revolution of 1979. The question is whether the events of the revolution and the appointment of temporary managers to administer the foreign companies’ affairs could be interpreted as constituting an expropriation and whether this measure is in full accord with international jurisprudence. The Tribunal’s decisions make it clear that regardless of whether the state has obtained any value of property or not, responsibility exists whenever acts attributable to a state have deprived a foreigner of his property rights.

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To understand the relationship between natural physicochemical properties of soil and abundance of citrus root nematode (Tylenchulus semipenetrans), a survey was conducted during 2009-2010 in some 37 citrus orchards, in Kohgilouyeh va Boyerahmad Province, Iran. Distribution of the citrus nematode was determined by collecting random samples from the soil and citrus plant roots, extracting and enumerating the number of second stage juveniles, males/100 g of soil and females/5 g of root. The relationships between nematode population, and the factors of: organic matter content, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), organic carbon, Calcium Carbonate, soil texture, Electrical Conductivity (EC) and pH were determined. Increase in nematode population density was observed by increasing soil saturation percentage (up to 43%), and by an increase in soil silt, sand, P, K and organic carbon, but by an increase in soil salinity, Calcium Carbonate, total Nitrogen and the amount of clay in soil, the nematode population decreased. Maximum nematode population density was recorded in a loamy soil texture. The most suitable soil pH for nematode activity was found almost seven while either an increase or decrease in soil pH, resulted in a decrease in nematode population. The number of second stage juveniles ranged from 58 to 2,730/100 g of soil while females were present by 11 to 331 individuals/g of root respectively. About 62% of the studied orchards were infested with T. semipenetrans.

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In this study, the double stage mixed refrigerant LNG system is investigated, which is known for having the highest efficiency among the liquefaction cycles. The main purpose is to evaluate the performance double stage mixed refrigerant LNG system of point of view effect of variations the environmental and operating conditions of feed that has not been previously discussed. Such as variable environmental conditions during liquefaction processes, temperature, pressure and feed gas composition are. To view the response of the DMR liquefaction system to these changes, system which has been designed and implemented, was selected as the base case.The Results show that with decreasing temperature and increasing pressure feed natural gas, as an advantage, specific shaft work decreases and since in this case, minimum approach temperature in heat exchangers only slightly reduced than the allowed amount 3°C therefore with accepting a safety factor less (to insignificant amount) than the optimal case, can be used of this available advantage. Also, with increasing temperature and decreasing pressure of feed natural gas, while increasing the specific shaft work as well as temperature cross occurs in heat exchangers and means to from entering of the feed natural gas in the area prevented with special controls. Also, any changes in mole fraction of natural gas components make temperature cross in heat exchangers. And due to the change of the natural gas components mole percent, during the life of the well, should over time, the refrigerant composition in the cycle is optimized regarding to new conditions.

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The Nowadays the use of modified compartmental model in order to estimate the transmission of tracer to the cells or cancerous tissues is focused extensively. The modified compartmental model includes two compartments, one to predict the mass transfer from vessels and a compartment to describe metabolism occurring inside the tissue. In the modified compartmental model, the kinetic rate constants can be obtained by estimating the parameters between the compartments. The accurate calculation (estimation) of rate factors over the region under study has an important role in coinciding the time activity curve obtained by compartmental modeling and the curve resulted from experimental data which is the main tool to distinguish the cancerous and normal tissues. Today most of doctors us the standard uptake value to study the amount of tracer uptake in cancer suspicious regions in order to have a more accurate recognition of cancerous and normal tissues. In this paper the Patlak graphical analysis method and standard uptake value (SUV) method are used to predict the tracer uptake into the tissue. A comparison between the uptake parameter resulted from the two mentioned methods with the uptake parameter obtained by modified compartmental model in a rat shows the accuracy of the Patlak method in distinguishing the cancerous tissues from the normal ones.

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In the recent decades, due to environmental sustainability, abundance, availability and appropriate thermo-physical properties, natural refrigerants are being considered with potential of substitute refrigerants. In this study, Propylene (R1270), Propane (R290), Isobutane (R600a), R407c, R410a, R12, R22 and R134a have been investigated as refrigerant in common refrigeration systems. In the case studies, the thermodynamic and technical parameters of the cycle, using above mentioned refrigerants, have been investigated for common refrigeration systems in temperature range of -30°C to 10°C in the evaporator, and also for heat pump systems with a temperature range of 45°C to 60°C in the condenser. Finally, Propylene was introduced as a refrigerant to replace with synthetic refrigerants in the above mentioned temperature ranges in common refrigeration cycles.

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            From a legal viewpoint, although the standby letter of credit is used in a form similar to the commercial letter of credit, but this type of letter of credit is issued in order to perform the obligation of underlying contract, not to exchange goods. Indeed, the standby letter of credit, like bank guarantee, supports the beneficiary when the obligation of underlying contract is not performed completely, whereas the commercial letter of credit acts as a mechanism to ensure the payment of price to the beneficiary. This article tries to explain the documentary and security characteristics of the standby letter of credit in order to determine: "Whether it has truly documentary feature like the commercial letter of credit?" and "whether it acts as an exceptional and secondary instrument of payment both in form and intent like guarantees? "        
     

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Refrigerant is one of the most important parts in a refrigeration cycle. In many refrigeration cycles, especially in the natural gas processing industry, propane is used as refrigerant due to its desirable thermodynamic properties. There are two ways for transferring propane and butane gases from extraction point to the consumption site: a) Pipeline and b) liquefaction and transport in liquid form. The most profitable method for transporting large quantities of propane and butane gases is liquefaction and transport in liquid form using storage tanks. Liquefaction at atmospheric pressure is the most common method for transporting large quantities of gases using specifically designed refrigerated ships. In this paper, a gas refinery butane and propane liquefaction cycle is described first and then simulated in HYSYS software. Afterwards, Genetic Algorithm is used to minimize the total power consumption of the liquefaction cycle, through connecting HYSYS and MATLAB softwares. There are 13 variables and 13 constraints for compressors and heat exchangers in the formulation of the optimization problem. The results of this constrained optimization problem show that the power consumption can be reduced by 12.49% compared to the base case.

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The existence of huge gas resource in Iran and the global demand for the replacement of fossil fuels with this cleaner energy resource has caused that the large-scale gas export becomes an interesting topic. One of the methods for large-scale gas exports is liquefaction which is done by refrigeration cycle. Considering the importance of the efficient use and the reduction in energy consumption, particularly in large energy consumers like liquefaction plants, it is imperative to optimize the refrigeration cycles used in these plants. While there have been many studies focusing on the power consumption minimization of refrigeration cycles, however, in most of these studies the performance limitations of the refrigeration cycle components have not been considered. Therefore, the results of such studies are not practical for in-use refrigeration cycles in gas refineries. The main goal of this paper is to propose a systematic method to minimize the power consumption of in-use refrigeration cycles in gas liquefaction processes by taking into account the performance limitations of refrigeration cycle components and the interactions between the refrigeration cycle and the core process. In this regard, a combination of thermodynamic viewpoints and pinch technology is used as well as considering the above mentioned limitations, to express the multi-stage refrigeration cycles’ power consumption minimization problem as a function of several independent variables. Up to 15% reduction in the specific power consumption is achieved when the proposed method are implemented on the optimization of a typical in-use three-stage refrigeration cycle, used in a propane liquefaction plant.

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Abstract The present article will discuss the issue of compensation in cases of expropriation and nationalization in the light of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal. It is a well recognized rule in international law that the property of alien cannot be taken without appropriate compensation. But, the standard of compensation for expropriated private property has been the subject of controversy between Western and developing countries since the end of World War II. In alters woads, the standard to be applied in determining compensation remained a controversial issue at a theoretical level. The main argument has been whether the traditional standard of full compensation is a general rule of law applicable in all cases. In this article, awards of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal have been wseof in an attempt to show that the prevailed rules defy any conclusion that full compensation must be paid in all cases when foreign property is taken by the State.

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Early diagnosis of hypertensive diseases such as cancer plays an essential role in preventing disease progression. The main cause of death from cancer is the reappearance of the disease due to the release of tumor cells in the blood of the patient. Among the various methods that have been devised for monitoring blood in recent years, the techniques based on micro-scale flow have specially been considered. The development of these methods has led to the emergence of microfluidics laboratories on the chips, which their main advantages are low prices and simplicity. Since the particles’ sizes are different in the flow of blood, the direction of these particles in the micro-channels will vary due to the different forces, and therefore they can be analyzed to the design of bio-microchips. In the present study, a two-phase flow containing spherical particles with the dimensions of blood cells was considered, and the forces affecting the particles of this current, including the lift forces and drag forces, were studied using COMSOL software. For this purpose, a micro divergent channel was designed and the effect of ratio of the outlet width to the inlet width (Aspect Ratio) as an effective geometric parameter in the biological particle separation was analyzed. The study of the effect of particle dimensions and various geometric parameters of the channel on bio-particles separation are the main goals of this research. The results show that by increasing the Aspect ratio, focusing of the larger particles would increase at the outlet of micro-channel.

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The purpose of res judicata in arbitration awards is that if the presented dispute has been already considered between the same parties or their representatives and a final judgment has been issued in that respect, the said judgment is precluded the re-litigation of that dispute. Considering that, in the Iranian law, there is no stipulation on the res judicata effect in arbitration proceedings, the findings of this article demonstrate that there is no difference in the necessity of applying this rule between the court judgment and arbitration award in this respect. Non-admission and rehearing of the dispute object in arbitration tribunal is the result of the parties̕ first agreement and concluded contract to refer to arbitration. In the United States law the res judicata effect of arbitration award in judicial decisions has been accepted on the basis of issue preclusion and claim preclusion.

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Letter of credit, since its emergence, has undergone various transformations regarding doctrines and legal procedures, the majority of which revolves around the domains of autonomy from the underlying contract and exceptions to these rules. The principle of autonomy of letter of credit aims to facilitate and build trust for the international trades, it is, however, one aspect of this principle. On the other hand, this principle can be subject to abuse. It is possible that the beneficiary hands in forged documents to banks, or maybe the underlying contract itself is illegal and therefore null which can lead to an unjust enrichment. To limit the abuse of this principle, the first step is to recognize the exceptions of fraud and illegibility. However, its stipulations are not limited to this domain. Emergence of new exceptions l, like ‘nullify’, has raised controversies in legal procedures and doctrines.
 

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Background: The sensory and mobility failure associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) is desperately complicated due to the pathological events that occur sequentially in consequent to the injury.
Objectives: Herein, we applied neural stem cells, derived from human iPSCs (hiPSC-NSCs), to ameliorate the behavioral complications of contusive SCI in Rhesus monkeys, in sub-acute phase.
Methods: hiPSC-NSCs were maintained and characterized in vitro for general NSCs as well as hind-limb specific gene and protein expression prior to transplantation. Moreover, Masson's trichrome staining (MTS) in addition to luxol fast blue (LFB) were performed to determine the fibrotic scar reduction and myelination respectively. Tarlov’s scale were utilized to score the motor improvement, plus, sensory perception evaluation throughout six months following the injury.
Results: hiPSC-NSCs were identified to own NSCs’ exclusive properties in vitro by SOX2, DCX and NESTIN in addition to NESTIN , PAX6 , SOX1 , HOXA2 and HOXB2 protein and gene expression. Additionally, hiPSC-NSCs caused remarkable depletion in fibrotic scar and enhance myelination; spinal shock, sensory responses, reflexes and motor function were improved over six months.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that hiPSC-NSCs lead to promising recovery after SCI, therefore, this source of NSCs provide a therapeutic potential in clinical studies.