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The present study seeks to answer the following question: 'why Turkey and Iran have been failed to use the critical junctures of recent decades as a starting point for national development and shaping regional development?' To answer the research question, new institutionalism was used as a theoretical approach to understand regional development. Acemoglu and Robinson's theory of Critical Junctures was also used to explain the reasons for the failure or success of countries in achieving development. In terms of research method, the present study is a case-oriented historical comparative study. The unit of analysis of this research is the country and global, international, regional and national events and conditions are selected and analyzed in relation to it. According to the study, Iran and Turkey have experienced two critical junctures since the 1990s, one as a result of internal processes and national elections and the other as a transnational event such as the military occupation of Iraq or the Arab Spring. It seems that Iran and Turkey have chosen the path of national development in the first critical juncture, but in the second critical juncture, both countries have entered into internal and regional tensions and conflicts and the process of national development have been encountered with several obstacles. In addition, the two countries have not been able to move institutionally and sustainably toward economic convergence over the past two decades. This inability has prevented the emergence of a developed region in the Middle East. The Middle East identity -based conflicts, exacerbated by foreign interventions and confrontational politics, have shifted the region's environment to militarization and security, making the space conducive to economic growth and prosperity leaving the region in poor economic growth and prosperity.

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Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) is the causal agent of vascular wilt in tomato, an important plant disease in Iran. Four monogenic resistance genes in tomato are used for identification of races of Fol and their corresponding avirulence genes Avr1, Avr2 and Avr3 were identified in pathogen one of which, Avr2, is f.sp. specific. Hence they can serve as reliable markers for racial identity and f.sp discrimination. These markers have been used for strains from other countries except Iran. Furthermore, a point mutation in Avr3 can lead to enhanced virulence of Fol on a susceptible tomato cultivar. To identify forma specialis and racial identity, Avr genes were studied in a collection of Iranian strains. Results revealed that PCR assay is very efficient in distinguishing between non-pathogenic and low virulence strains and in the vast majority of strains, avirulence genotype was consistent with Fol race1. Furthermore, to determine whether allelic variation of Avr3 could separate strains of different degrees of virulence, Avr3 wassequenced in Fol strains with high and low virulence. The resultsrevealed that allelicvariation of Avr3 was not correlated with degree of virulence in Iranian strains.
 

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Aims: Sargassum bovianum, Polycladia myrica, and Gracilariopsis persica can be used in aquatic diets due to their significant biomass and mass production capacity for artificial rearing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of marine macroalgae on growth performance and immune response in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fingerlings.
Materials & Methods: The present experimental study was carried out on 210 rainbow trout fingerlings, which were randomly selected and cultured in Aquatic Laboratory, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, in 2016. These fingerlings were placed in 7 experimental treatments, including a diet without marine macroalgae (control) and by replacing different marine macroalgae powder levels of 5% and 10% with wheat flour. Lindo 5.3 software was used to analyze food items and SPSS 20 software was used to analyze the data.
Findings: The lowest weight gain, the lowest growth factor, the lowest protein efficiency ratio, and the highest feed conversion ratio were in the treatment containing 10% Sargassum bovianum powder and it had a significant difference with other treatments. Condition factor (CF) was at the highest level in control treatment and no significant difference was observed between treatments. There was no significant difference in survival of different treatments. The highest level of serum lysozyme was in the treatment containing 5% Gracilariopsis persica powder and the highest serum hemolytic complement activity was in the treatment containing 5% Sargassum bovianum.
Conclusion: Gracilariopsis persica, Sargassum bovianum, and Polycladia myrica have no effect on the improvement of growth performance in rainbow trout fingerlings, Gracilariopsis persica and Sargassum bovianum have an impact on their immune response.

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Land use/cover change map production is one of the basic needs for environmental monitoring and management. Since the change maps are usually used in planning and decision-making, certainty and reliability of these maps can be very important in many applications. Unfortunately in many studies only probability values as obtained from MLC approach have been used for uncertainty estimation. Here a new approach has been developed which is based on the probability information as well as spatial parameters including distance, neighborhood, extent and the type of change. In this study, two Landsat TM images of Isfahan urban area provided in 1990 and 1998 have been co-registered using first order polynomial and nearest neighbor resampling approach. The registered images have been then classified to ten different land use/land cover classes using Maximum Likelihood Classification algorithm. Probabilistic measures generated by the MLC have been used for modeling uncertainty. Using different spatial analysis functions for modeling the change of agricultural areas to residential areas, the relevant spatial parameters have been extracted. Based on logistic regression approach, probabilistic parameters and spatial parameters have been integrated to generate a layer, which shows uncertainty of change of agricultural areas to residential areas. The Relative Operating Characteristics (ROC) index has been used for validation of the model and it has been estimated to be 0.9944, which is an indicative of very good model fitting. As a final conclusion, development of this model is suggested for quantitative evaluation of uncertainty in change detection.

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Detection of land use/cover changes in many different studies is one of the basic needs for environmental monitoring and management. Conversion of agricultural lands is one of the main issues related to urban planning. In this study an attempt has been made to study land use/cover changes through image processing techniques. Two landsat TM images of Isfahan area provided in 1990 and 1998 were atmospherically rectified and registered on each other. Images were then classified to ten different land use/cover classes using Bayesian classification algorithm. Training sites were generated using fuzzy logic approach. A post classification comparison approach was then used to create a change map. The results show a dramatic change on agricultural lands in this area during this period.

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The construction of molecular maps and identification of genomic regions controlling quantitative traits have great significance for plant breeders. In this study, a genetic analysis of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting the heading date of rice was performed using an F2 population of a cross between two Iranian landrace cultivars, Domsephid and Gerdeh, comprising 192 plants. An approximately normal distribution was observed for the heading date in the F2 population. A genetic linkage map with 88 informative microsa-tellite markers (SSR) was constructed, which covered 1367.9 cM of the rice genome with an average distance of 18 cM between markers. Single marker analysis (SMA) and inter-val mapping (IM) procedures were used to detect the QTLs controlling heading date and QTLs identified were further confirmed using composite interval mapping (CIM). Six significant QTLs (LOD≥3.0) were identified for the heading date, of which three major QTLs mapped on chromosomes 6 (hd6), 7 (hd7) and 8 (hd8) had particularly high LOD scores and explained 23.5%, 19.8% and 20.5% of the total phenotypic variance, respec-tively. Three other minor QTLs detected for the heading date, located on chromosomes 1 (hd1), 3 (hd3) and 11 (hd11), accounted for 6.6%, 11.7% and 6.6% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. The additive effect of a single QTL ranged from 1.67 to 3.91 days. In the QTL hd6, alleles from Domsephid were responsible for reducing the heading date, while in the other five QTLs, alleles from Gerdeh caused a decrease in the heading date. The QTLs hd1, hd3 and hd8 showed over dominance effects for increasing the heading date, whereas the other three QTLs had partial to incomplete dominance effects for in-creasing (hd7 and hd11) and reducing (hd6) the heading date.

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Aims: The global spread of coronavirus disease in 2019 necessitated some modifications in infection control measures in dental practice. This study aimed to assess the changes in general dentists’ approach towards infection control measures in dental practice in Rasht city, Iran, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instrument & Methods: This study was conducted on 250 general dentists in Rasht city. The approach of general dentists towards infection control measures was evaluated using a researcher-designed questionnaire with four domains of patient screening, adherence of office staff to preventive measures, patient admission measures, and use of infection control equipment. All statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS 24, an independent t-test, and ANOVA.
Findings: The results showed that 46.4% of dentists had a good approach towards infection control measures in dental practice. Of the four domains, dental clinicians acquired the maximum score in adherence of office staff to preventive measures (2.46±0.69) and the minimum score in patient admission measures (1.47±0.96). The acquired score was 2.33±1 in the use of infection control equipment and 2.1±0.89 in patient screening. parameters revealed no significant correlation with age, gender, work experience, or some working days per week (p>0.35).
Conclusion: The results showed a maximum change in dental clinicians’ approach toward the use of personal protective equipment, efficient infection control equipment, and office disinfection. The minimum change was noted in patient screening and admission. With an increase in the national rate of vaccination against COVID-19, the vaccination card or QR code is expected to be required as a prerequisite for patient admission, which would improve the patient admission domain.

 

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Aims: The present study aimed to determine the oral health-related quality of life in the retired elderly population.
Material & Methods: A descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 196 elderly members of retirement centers using convenient sampling in Rasht city, Iran. Data collection included oral examinations and structured interviews. The geriatric oral health assessment index was used to measure oral health-related quality of life. Moreover, information on sociodemographic characteristics, use of dental services, and subjective health measures were collected. The independent t-test and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis in SPSS 21.
Findings: The mean GOHAI score was 47.5±6.3 (range 26-59). The mean psychosocial domain score was significantly lower than others (p<0.001). Participants with complete dentures and those with more than 20 teeth showed the highest, and those with partial dentures had the lowest quality of life. Xerostomia was the most prevalent oral condition (29.1%).
Conclusion: The findings indicated the retired elderly who were members of the retirement center had a moderate level of oral health-related quality of life. The obtained data on oral health-related quality of life in the elderly can help the decision-makers plan oral health programs for the elderly.

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Aims: Determining the effective factors in the use of e-learning among students can be useful in providing appropriate and practical solutions to increase the use of e-learning. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors related to the behavior of using e-learning among medical university students using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a conceptual framework.
Instrument & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 425 students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences who were selected by stratified random sampling. The data collection tools included a questionnaire, including demographic data and TAM constructs. The data were analyzed in SPSS 23 software using one-way analysis of variance, independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and linear regression analysis.
Findings: The age range of participants was between 18 and 54 years with an average age of 24.2±3.96 years. The history of participating in e-learning classes was significantly related to all the constructs of the TAM (p<0.05). Also, undergraduate and graduate students had a significantly more positive attitude, higher perceived usefulness, and more usage intention and behavior concerning e-learning than professional doctorate students (p<0.05). Attitude (β=0.394), perceived usefulness (β=0.313), and external variables (β=0.196) were respectively the strongest predictors of intention to use e-learning (p<0.05). The intention of e-learning usage directly and significantly predicted the behavior of using it (β=0.483, p<0.05).
Conclusion: The TAM constructs predict the behavior of using e-learning among students.

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Aims: This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of general dentists in Rasht City, Iran, regarding oral cancer.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 129 randomly selected general dentists practicing in Rasht City, Iran in 2022. A researcher-designed questionnaire with four sections of demographics, knowledge (nine questions), attitude (seven questions), and practice (eight questions) was used for data collection after confirming its validity and reliability. Data were analyzed by the Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (alpha=0.05).
Findings: The mean knowledge score of the participants was 5.39±1.96 (out of nine). Most subjects (48.1%) had a moderate knowledge level. Knowledge level had a significant inverse correlation with age, time passed since graduation, and the attending university. The mean attitude score of the participants was 26.4±2.72 (out of 35) and most of them (65.9%) had a positive attitude in this regard. Attitude had no significant correlation with any sociodemographic variable. The mean practice score of the participants was 18.18±2.53 (out of 24), and the majority of them (63.6%) had a moderate practice regarding oral cancer. The practice had a significant correlation only with participation in continuing education courses (p<0.05). Practice and knowledge, and also attitude and knowledge had a significant positive correlation with each other. 
Conclusions: The knowledge and practice of the majority of general dentists in Rasht were moderate regarding oral cancer, which is alarming and calls for improvement in the quality of instruction and continuing education courses.
 

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Aims: Quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic was an important factor in developing depression in cancer patients. Early diagnosing of depression in these patients is a health priority for the medical staff. This study aimed to investigate depression in oncology department patients at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instrument & Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, the research population included all patients admitted to the oncology department of Shahid Beheshti Hospital and Imam Khomeini Clinic, selected by the convenience sampling method in 2022. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and a depression questionnaire. All the analyses of this research were done using SPSS 25 software.
Findings: The Mean depression score was 23.84±9.24. Based on the cutoff points of 13 (mild), 19 (moderate), and 28 (severe) for a total score of depression, 48 patients (16.49%) suffered from mild depression (95%CI: 12.22-20.75), 114 patients (39.17%) suffered from moderate depression (95%CI: 33.56-44.77), and 89 (30.89%) suffered from severe depression (95%CI: 25.29-35.88). The Pearson correlation coefficient also showed significant positive linear correlations between depression and age (r=0.21; p<0.001), age at onset of disease (r=0.20; p=0.001), length of disease (r=0.24; p<0.001) and length of chemotherapy (r=0.14; p=0.016).
Conclusion: Most cancer patients suffer from moderate to severe depression. Since there is a relationship between depression, the duration of the disease, and the duration of chemotherapy, it is recommended to check these patients for depression periodically.
 

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Quantitative valuations of observed heterosis for 11 traits of 15 F1 hybrids generated by half diallel crosses of six diverse rice cultivars (Domsefid, Hashemi and Binam, three Iranian local cultivars; Dorfak, Kadous and IR30, three improved cultivars), were made in this study. Fifteen F1 hybrids and their parents were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Research Farm of the University of Guilan at Rasht, (Iran) in 2006. The studied traits were growth period, reproductive period, flag leaf area, plant height, panicle length, number of panicles per plant, number of grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, brown grain length and brown grain width. The significance of specific combining ability (SCA) and general combining ability (GCA) for all studied traits revealed that both additive and non-additive gene effects contributed to the inheritance of the traits. Assessment of standard heterosis based on check variety Dorfak showed that there was significant heterosis for all the traits studied in the 15 hybrids. For grain yield, the Dorfak×Domsefid cross had the highest heterosis. This hybrid had good heterosis values for many traits such as growth period, reproductive period and 1000-grain weight and was recommended as the most promising combination for developing high yielding hybrid rice varieties.

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The response of five inbred sunflower seedling lines, including AC 4122, C, HA 89, HA 410, HA 411, to inoculation with Sclerotinia sclerotiorum culture filtrate containing endogenous oxalic acid was compared with the exogenous application of synthetic oxalic acid. The reaction of seedlings was evaluated in terms of dry and fresh plant weights and the total chlorophyll concentration relative to untreated controls. The expression of shikimate dehydrogenase in cotyledons was also assessed five days after treatment. The results indicated that exogenous oxalic acid inoculation caused more deleterious effects on stem rot, eliciting photosynthesis reduction and different isoenzyme patterns of shikimate dehydrogenase. A positive correlation was found between increased oxalic acid and shikimate dehydrogenase activity in both treatments. However, the excessive toxicity of the exogenously administrated acid suggests that Sclerotinia sclerotiorum infection triggers a more complex metabolic pathway involving oxalic acid secreted by the pathogen. These observations preclude the possibility of using the synthetic acid administration as a method of screening sunflower genotypes for resistance to Sclerotinia. In addition to these findings, the reactivation of shikimate dehydrogenase was observed in both treatments. In contrast to synthetic administration, expression during the first phase of growth may serve as a tool for rapid screening and selection of sunflower genotypes resistant to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

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Considering the daily increase of consumption and expense of nonrenewable energies such as natural gas and electricity, application of clean and renewable energies such as solar thermal energy nowadays has been highly taken into consideration. In this research, at first, simple steam Rankine cycle and two different configurations of combined steam and organic Rankine cycles with parabolic trough solar collector as heat source are simulated from energetic and exergetic point of view. First configuration was basic steam rankine cycle with parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) as heat source, and other configurations of the combined cycle worked as follows: In the second configuration (combined cycle with intermediate heat exchanger), with the increase of steam condenser pressure, heat dissipation in condenser is used as heat source for bottoming organic Rankine cycle and in the third configuration (combined cycle without intermediate heat exchanger), reduced-temperature solar fluid moving output of steam rankine cycle acted as the organic Rankine cycle heat source. Simulation results in the basic input state show that third configuration has the maximum amount of work and irreversibility and second configuration has the minimum amount of work and irreversibility which in this case, increase in the steam cycle condenser pressure leads to the reduction of work of combined cycle with intermediate heat exchanger, even lower than the simple steam cycle. On the other hand, second configuration has the maximum solar energy and exergy efficiency among three configurations which is due to the reduction of collector area required in this configuration.

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Apples are an important source of polyphenols in the human diet and the consumption of this fruit has been linked to the prevention of degenerative diseases. This study deliberation of the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of some cultivars of apples cultivated in Zanjan province were measured as a suitable strategy for their evaluation in 2017. The total phenol content, total flavonoid, anthocyanin, chlorophyll, carotenoid, antioxidant properties, pectin, soluble solids, total acid and flavor index in the skin and pomace of nine apple cultivars (Malus domastica) including "Top Red", "Granny Smith", "Dellbar Stewal", "Golden Primorz", "Idared", "Red Delecious", "Red Starking", "Jonagold" and "Golden Delicious" were evaluated and clustered. According to the cluster analysis based on the accumulation of phenolic substances in the skin of fruits, there was no significant difference between Granny Smith and Red Delecious cultivars and had at least a significant difference with Top Red. The results showed that the amount of phenolic compounds in fruit skin was higher than pomace, and the amount of these compounds were distinct in various cultivars. The highest amount of total phenol, chlorophyll, carotenoid, flavonoids and anthocyanin was measured in fruit skin. As the final result, the highest amount of skin phenol (6.4 mg.kg^-1), pectin (2.31%), skin chlorophyll (80.82 mg.g^-1) and antioxidant properties (83.73%) were observed in Granny Smith variety compared to the others.

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Minimum quantity lubrication (=MQL) technique has many technological and economic advantages in grinding operation. It not only improves general grinding performance such as surface integrity, grinding forces and wheel wear but also, it is eco-friendly technique because of its small consumption of cutting fluid. Despite these advantages, MQL technique has a serious thermal problem in grinding operations due to small amount of cooling. To overcome this problem combination of hybrid nanofluid and ultrasonic vibration has been suggested. Nanofluid can increase heat transfer from workpiece/wheel interface due to its high thermal conductivity. Also ultrasonic machining can decrease heat generation due to its reciprocating mechanism and reduction of time and length of contact between grain and workpiece. In this research hybrid Multi Walled Carbon Nano Tubes (=MWCNT) (with high thermal conductivity) and Al2O3 (with good lubrication effect) nanofluid has been utilized. The results have been shown that combination of MQL and UAG leads to decreasing of maximum grinding temperature up to 60.2% in comparison to dry grinding (from 254ºC to 101ºC). Moreover, friction coefficient and tangential grinding force have been reduced up to 35.9 and 69.2 percent respectively. Furthermore, any burning has not been observed with combinations of these techniques while severe burning has been observed in dry grinding. Surface morphology analysis has been shown decrease of plastic deformation and side flow. And finally the generated chips have been shown similarity of cutting mechanism in in the utilized techniques and conventional cutting fluids.

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As one of the most important nuts, hazelnut (Corylus avellana L. ) contain a valuable set of antioxidants and nutrients. The quality of hazelnut kernel was strongly affected by kernel compounds. The antioxidant capacity and biochemical compounds depends more on the cultivar, climatic conditions and the interaction between climatic conditions and genotypes. The present study was conducted to determine the quality properties including vitamin C, antioxidant activity, total phenol, flavonoid and mineral element in 11 cultivars and genotypes included seven imported cultivars (Ronde dupimont, Negreta, Segorbe, Sivri, Morfineski, Fertile decotard and Sochi), and four local Iranian genotypes (Eshkevar1, Eshkevar2, Eshkevar3 and Eshkevar 4) in the Rudsar Eshkevarat region in 2017. Analysis of variance results were showed that there was significant difference (P≤0. 01) among examined cultivars for all characters and showed high genetic variation in all of the studied cultivars. Correlation analysis showed the existence of significant positive and negative correlation among some important traits. According to the cluster analysis dendrogram performed by "Ward" method, cultivar and genotypes of hazelnut in Euclidian distance 27 were classified into four clusters.