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Field experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of sowing dates and irrigation on seed quality of a spring-type safflower cultivar, in Karaj-Iran, during 2008 and 2009 growing seasons. A split plot design based on a randomized complete block layout with three replications was used in which sowing dates and irrigation treatments comprised the main plot and sub-plot, respectively. The results showed the highest oil yield, oil content, protein yield, and linoleic acid content of safflower seed for sowing date of 19^th of April and under non-water stress conditions. The highest seed protein, oleic acid, and palmitic acid contents were obtained for sowing dates of May 5^th and 20^th along with ceasing irrigation at heading, flowering, and seed filling stages, respectively. Under arid and semiarid Mediterranean conditions prevailing in Karaj, late sowing date led to a greater simultaneity of reproductive stages and higher temperature, which made the negative effect of water stress more prominent than in the early sowing dates.

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In this study, the effects of geometrical parameters of 6-DOF Hexa parallel robot on kinematic, and dynamic performance indices are investigated and its structure is optimized using the intelligent multi-objective Bees Algorithm. In this way, after describing the structure and specifying the geometrical parameters of the robot, inverse kinematic relations of the robot are obtained. Jacobian matrix that maps velocity from joint space to Cartesian space is developed. Mass matrix is obtained from calculating the total kinetic energy of the manipulator in terms of the actuated joints vector. Inverse of the homogen jacobian based condition number is considered as a index to evaluate the kinematic dexterity. based on mass matrix as relation between acceleration vector of the end effecter and torque vector of actuated joints, dynamic dexterity index is presented. Using the multi-objective Bees Algorithm and considering dynamic and kinematic performance indices in a pre-determined workspace as the objective functions, structure of Hexa parallel robot is optimized. In this way, the proper geometrical constraints such as limitation of universal and spherical joins, and the constraints to singularity avoidance are considered. Pareto front of the multi objective optimization of the robot is drawn. Diagrams of the kinematic and dynamic performance indices variation in the workspace and the effects of geometrical parameters variation on them are presented.

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Berangan banana were treated with hot water at 50 ºC for 0 (control), 10, and 20 min and then kept at room temperature (25±2 ºC), 75-80% RH to observe the ripening progress. Firmness and activity of cell wall degradation enzymes such as polygalacturonase (PG), pectin methylesterase (PME), and pectate lyase (PL) were determined for treated and untreated banana. The microstructure of banana peel cell wall was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Treated fruit was firmer than the control fruit during ripening process. PG, PME, and PL activities were reduced in the treated bananas when compared with the control treatment. Hot water treatment disturbed cell wall degrading enzymes activity and delayed the disassembling of pectin fraction of Berangan banana. The micrographs of SEM and TEM exhibited lower changes in cell compartment and less loosening of cell wall fibril fractions in treated fruits. The electrolyte leakage in Berangan banana decreased with the increase of exposure time. The results of this study indicated that hot water treatment at 50 ºC slowed down the ripening process and extended shelf lifeof banana.

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The purpose of this research is design of solar panels for a satellite which put in to geostationary orbit considering siutable reliability. The process of solar panel design is conducted according to the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) method. In this regard, an initial plan, a subsequent design process improvement, and a final optimized design process are provided. The first level of designed mechanism product tree includes released mechanism, development mechanism, lock and rotation components. Given the importance of ensuring the proper operation of mechanisms in space and reported mission failures due to lack of mechanism’s operation, the reliability network of designed mechanism is constructed and the reliability of designed panel is calculated. The amount of achieved relaiability is then verified according to the mission and system engineering requirements. Nessecary changes are applied on initial design to achieve into the satisfactory reliability for whole solar mechanism. In this regard, the critical paths in reliability network which lead to reduced reliability are investigated, and improvement of the critical path are proposed, to the extend of increasing reliability by discarding redundant components for critical parts.

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Recycled asphalt chips after shaving are considered to be a waste material that has an adverse environmental impact on the environment. On the other hand, the heavy cost of constructing new ways and damages caused by the destruction of existing roads will cause many problems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mixed bitumen with filler change on mechanical and functional properties of asphalt foam mixtures of recycled materials. Research method is field study. All experiments were carried out at the Technical and Mechanical Laboratory of the Ministry of Construction in Tehran.  In this project, aggregates consumed from asphalt tracks of the 29th straight Shahid Dastgheib International Airport in Shiraz were prepared. The bitumen used in this research was selected as bitumen from Tehran refinery in Tehran. Also, Portland cement fillers of type 425-1, lime and cement and lime mixture as active filler were used and the amount of active filler added in all designs was considered the same. Samples were made by adding cement fillers, lime with different bitumen content and under dry and saturated treatment conditions. Samples were made with filler cement (1.5%), lime (1.5%) and cement, lime (0.75% and 0.75%) and a control sample. Then, the experiments were performed on the modulus of resilience, the strength of the marshall and the indirect pull resistance. To increase the number of observations and increase the accuracy of the mathematical model, samples with cement filler with a ratio of 1 and 2 percent with bitumen 1, 2 and 3 were constructed using Marshall Hammer. Marshall Strength tests, modulus of resistivity and indirect pull resistance were carried out in dry and saturated conditions. Using the results of the modulus of resilience test, the finite element modeling was performed using ABAQUS and KenLayer software, and the effect of changing the modulus on the number of load repetitions that resulted in fatigue failure was evaluated. Finally, a mathematical model was presented. The results of this study, using SPSS and Statisca software, show that in Marshall's strength test, in all plans, increasing the bitumen from 1 to 2 percent, the Marshall Strength increases and then decreases with increasing bitumen by 2 to 3 percent. Marshall Strength ratio (obtained by dividing the Marshall strength of saturated samples to the Marshall strength of dry specimens) revealed that these types of mixtures are sensitive to moisture conditions and at best (2% bitumen and with cement lime filler) this amount reaches 0.46.  Also, results of indirect resistance test show that, with increasing bitumen from 1 to 3%, in all designs, indirect resistance is increased during drying, saturation is continuously increased.  The cement filler with lime in all treatment modes has the greatest effect on increasing the indirect pull resistance, and the effect of increasing the strength of the filler-containing specimens is more than dry in terms of saturation processing.  The results of three-dimensional modeling of Abacus showed that increasing the modulus of the base layer, the number of repetitions leads to fatigue failure greatly increases. Also, half-life parameters, expansion ratio and index of bitumen were measured and the parameters of these parameters were plotted against water percent.

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This research examines the optimization of expansion loops in steam pipeline systems using a neuro-fuzzy network. Stress analysis was conducted based on the ASME B31.3 design code using CAESAR II software. Additionally, a neuro-fuzzy network was developed and optimized in MATLAB. The results indicate that the neuro-fuzzy network outperforms traditional methods and the MLP neural network. Combining this network with the Bee Colony Optimization algorithm led to the identification of an optimal loop that minimizes pipeline length and reduces static and thermal stresses. The optimized loop obtained from the Perceptron network increased the loop length by 20 cm (1.14%) and reduced the total sum of standard stresses by 14.6%. In contrast, the optimized loop from the neuro-fuzzy network reduced the loop length by 120 cm (6.78%) and decreased the total sum of standard stresses by 9.5%. These findings demonstrate that the application of artificial intelligence techniques in expansion loop design significantly reduces thermal stresses and enhances design efficiency