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This research examines the lexical processing of head-first endocentric compounds in Persian based on semantic transparency. This study shows whether the processing is related to the morpheme-based, whole-word, or dual-root models. Moreover, this research concludes whether the processing is associated with sublexical or supralexical models. Two separate masked priming tasks are conducted. In the first experiment, the compound word is the primed word and the modifier is the target. In the second experiment, the prime is the compound word and the target is the head. Three conditions are considered: transparent, opaque, and orthographic-overlap. In order to analyze the result, mixed models are used. The results show significant priming effects for transparent and opaque conditions. While no priming effect is shown for the orthographic-overlap condition. It can be concluded that the lexical processing of head-first endocentric compounds is independent of semantic transparency. The processing is morpheme-based and it is on the basis of the sublexical model. Furthermore, the semantic processing of these words is supralexical. Moreover, the lack of priming effect for the orthographic conditions is seemingly associated with orthographic complexity in the Persian writing system.
 

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This article explores the effect of iconicity and textual cohesion on processing causal relations in Persian discourse using an experimental method. A reading-time task with a within-subject design was set up. Twelve 3-sentence experimental scenarios and 12 filler scenarios were constructed. Iconicity and cohesion were the independent variables and participants’ reaction time (RT) was the dependent variable. The cohesion variable manipulated the degree of cohesion between the first and second sentences of scenarios. The iconicity variable manipulated the order of the second and third (cause and effect) sentences of scenarios. Forty-eight participants read the scenarios and verified if the target sentence, which asserted the implicit causal relation between the second and third sentences of scenarios, was correct. The RTs of the participants were collected using DMDX program. The data were then submitted to a mixed-model analysis in R. The main effect of iconicity and cohesion on participants’ RTs was found. There was no interaction effect between iconicity and cohesion. The target sentence had the shortest RT in the condition with iconic and high-cohesion scenarios. Also, the target sentence in the condition with iconic but low-cohesion scenarios was processed as fast as the target sentence in the condition with non-iconic but high-cohesion scenarios. The findings confirm the facilitatory effect of iconicity on understanding causal sequences. The results also show that if, for discourse reasons, information is provided non-iconically, the existence of highly cohesive relations between the causal sequences and the previous context can compensate the non-facilitatory effect of non-iconic sequences.

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The effective design of structures resistant to seismic vibrations is one of the main concerns of structural engineers to deal with damages caused by earthquakes, which can withstand more earthquake forces with methods such as energy dissipation. Recent earthquake records show that the earthquake record characteristic of the near area differs from the earthquake records of the far area. Among these characteristics, it can be mentioned that the pulse-type state of these records, as well as the high maximum speed and ground displacements. For this reason, these types of records increase the seismic requirements of the structure compared to normal earthquakes. The map of faults and seismic zoning of Iran shows that important urban points such as Tehran, Tabriz, etc. have high seismicity and are located near the fault. Therefore, it is necessary to design and build structures that can properly withstand the features of near-fault earthquakes, this issue reveals the understanding and recognition of the behavior of structural systems and the structure's response to the special features of near-fault earthquakes. This article first investigated the seismic evaluation of three existing 4, 8, and 12-story steel structures with lateral load-resisting systems. Then the desired structure was strengthened using a friction damper, and finally, the acceleration recorder was applied to the structure in the near- and far-fault earthquake zone case study. The seismic demand of the retrofitted structure was investigated in ANSYS Workbench finite element software, which was done in the form of modal analysis, floor drift displacement, structure acceleration response, and von Mises stress. For seismic validation, a two-story, single-span steel frame has been used. The dynamic load used was 0.5g based on the north-south component of the El Centro earthquake (1940) with a maximum acceleration scaled to 50 cm/s. To validate the numerical results, the horizontal displacement of two points on the first and second floor was compared with experimental data, and an acceptable accuracy was obtained. The results of the maximum acceleration at the highest point of the building showed that in a far-fault earthquake zone, the best effect of dampers was on 8-story buildings with a 77% decrease, and in a near-fault earthquake zone, it was related to a 4-story building with a 66.4% decrease in acceleration. Stress in near- and far-fault earthquake zones, the best effect of dampers was on 4-story buildings with 83% and 84% reduction, respectively. In a far-fault earthquake zone, the best effect of dampers was on 8-story buildings with a 44% reduction in maximum displacement, and in a near-fault earthquake zone, it was related to a 4-story building with a 61% reduction in acceleration.
 

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Nowadays, application of enhanced oil recovery methods has increased; therefore it’s necessary to determine their impacts on environment and human life. So, this research investigates the environmental impacts of conventional enhanced oil recovery methods and new methods such as using electromagnetic waves, ultrasound waves, and nanoparticles. The investigations show that electromagnetic waves and ultrasound can effectively remove many environmental pollutants. Characteristics of the wave and the type of formation determine that these waves have different effects on the formation, and efforts should be made to understand these effects to prevent damage to the formation. Nanoparticles can also reduce the quantity of pollutants in the environment. According to the mechanisms of entrapment of nanoparticles in the porous medium, they may remain in the reservoir and find their way to the underground water over time, so their environmental effects should be considered in the long term. A better knowledge of new methods of increasing oil extraction will lead to the identification and use of more suitable methods with less environmental effects (compared to conventional methods).

 

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Mnemiopsis leidyi population activities first were recorded during the coastal observations in 2001 in which its population considerably increased afterward and now sustained the southern Caspian Sea. Maximum summer-autumn M. leidyi abundance was recorded in euphotic layer in 2002 (851±85 ind.m^-3) and maximum biomass was in 2001 with 48.1±14.4 g.m^-3) while minimum were in aphotic layer. In years 2003 to 2011, M. leidyi abundance and biomass sharply declined to 1-843 ind.m^-3 and 0.07-37.7 g.m^-3, respectively. The length-frequency distribution of Mnemiopsis showed larval, juveniles and transitional stages that made up 98.6% of the total population. In the southern Caspian Sea, Acartia tonsa was the highest number of mesozooplankton species (36 species) which decreased tenfold after Mnemiopsis invasion during 2001-2010. Fecundity experiments of Mnemiopsis showed the average of 8 eggs. day^-1, with a maximum of 35 eggs.day^-1which increased with increasing body length. The main food was larger amounts of zooplankton prey such as copepodites and adult of A. tonsa. It seems the sharp decreased of Mnemiopsis abundance could be related the decreasing of ova reproduction; and food ability is the main reasons of M. leidyi sustained in the southern Caspian Sea. The objective of present study was to provide information about parameters influencingthe M. leidyi decreased after initial bloom invasion in the southern Caspian Sea.

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Abstract: In recent years, extension of Artemia applications in aquaculture and decreasing of natural resource, lead many of related studies to the distribution of Artemia population and new resource assessment studies. Urmia Lake as one the biggest habitat for Artemia because of ecological variations in the regions in which of its differentiations in cyst biometry and Artemia, moreover some genetic variations suggested to have some several Artemia populations in the Lake. In this project Artemia cyst samples were collected from 5 ecological stations of the Lake Urmia. The cyst hatching and the nauplii breeding up to adult Artemia stage were done according to optimum conditions in laboratory. Growth rate and survival of larva in days of 3, 5, 7, 11, 15, 20 of rearing period were measured in feeding with a complex of Dunaliella tertiolecta and Lanzy PZ for a period of 20 days in 75 and 150 ppt. Data and its statistical analysis revealed that according to previously records the growth rate of the Artemia was influenced by increasing the salinity from 75 to 150 ppt survival and growth rate of Artemia have been influenced by water salinity (P<0.05) but increasing the salinity only in two population of Bari and Eslami led decreasing of survival. The produced cysts in two salinity showed that Artemia population can produce the cysts with different diameter and there were not any statistic correlations between the salinity and populations. The Dandrogarm of population statistic analysis emphasized that according to growth rate and survival parameters and among populations under this test there were 4 different populations of Artemia urmiana in which had interesting differentiations in growth rate and survival. Keywords: Artemia, Survival, Growth rate, Salinity, Urmia Lake.

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A time-domain approach is presented to calculate electromagnetic fields inside a large Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) simulator. This type of EMP simulator is used for studying the effect of electromagnetic pulses on electrical apparatus in various structures such as vehicles, a reoplanes, etc. The simulator consists of three planar transmission lines. To solve the problem, we first model the metallic structure of the simulator as a grid of conducting wires. The numerical solution of the governing electric field integral equation is then obtained using the method of moments in time domain. To demonstrate the accuracy of the model, we consider a typical EMP simulator. The comparison of our results with those obtained experimentally in the literature validates the model introduced in this paper.

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The effect of six diets including Scenedesmus quadricauda), manure (cattle+poultry, 1:1 ratio), vegetable (spinach+parsely+coriander, 1:1:1 ratio), algae+soil, vegetable+soil, and manure+soil were examined on culture of freshwater copepod, Acanthocyclopsrobustus, under the experimental conditions of 23±1ºC, 12 hours dark: 12 hours light photoperiod, and light intensity of 60 µmol photons/m²/s. The maximum population density (1282.6±163.7 individuals/L), maximum specific growth rate (SGR) (0.17±0.0 /day) and minimum doubling time (Dt) (4.0±0.1 days) were obtained when A. robustus fed on algae+soil. The nauplii production was 727.3±42.4 (±SE),  272.0±23.5, 267.6±17.7, 147.0±18.2, 33.6±3.8 and 25.0±7.1 ind./L and copepodit production was 311.3±26.8, 124.3±11.1, 183.0±13.0, 59.0±7.1, 14.3±8.1, and 17.6±3.6 ind./L in algae, algae+soil, vegetable, vegetable+soil, manure+soil, and manure, respectively. Correspondingly, the adult production was 208.5±26.8, 51.6±16.5, 192.7±23.7, 91.7±28.4, 8.7±5.4 and 8.7±3.6 ind./L, respectively. The maximum body length (663.8±29.1 µm) and width (526.2±23.7 µm) of A. robustus were recorded when fed with vegetable+soil and vegetable, respectively. The number of nauplii, copepodit, adults, length and width were significantly correlated with EC, BOD and COD. According to results, the A. robustus has suitable potential culture on algal and non-algal diets based on production, growth, body size, BOD and COD, but the better performance obtain on algae+soil and vegetable.

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Background: The global control of the drug resistance tuberculosis has remained as major challenge. The present study was the first review study in the Middle East region in order to determine levels of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance to the first-line anti-TB drugs among both new and previously treated cases.
Materials and Methods: The computer-assisted search was performed by using PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus databases and related keywords. Within the time span of 1981-2014, a total of 480 articles were collected on the antibiotic resistance rates of M. tuberculosis in different countries of the Middle East region. About 63 relevant articles were selected by applying inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: By using meta-analyses, we determined mono drug resistance, any drug resistance, and multidrug resistance (MDR-TB) rates in both new and previously treated TB patients living in different parts of the Middle East. Other aspects related to patients, antimicrobial resistance, and methods used to assess the resistance rate were also analyzed.
Conclusion: The present study revealed that in comparison with the global average rate, the prevalence rate of drug resistant TB, especially MDR-TB, may be increasing in the Middle East. Therefore, in order to prevent the spread of drug-resistant isolates, detecting primary resistance to anti-TB drugs with the use of new rapid diagnostic methods is necessary.

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In order to identification of plant parasitic nematodes associated with plants in fruit orchards of West Azerbaijan province, Iran, a survey was conducted during 2011 and 2012. Nematodes were extracted from soil and root samples by using centrifugal-flotation and Whitehead's tray, transferred to glycerin and mounted in permanent slides. Morphological and morphometrical characters of the specimens were analyzed and measurated. As a result, 26 species belonging to 21 different genera of tylenchids (Tylenchomorpha, Nematoda) were identified that are presented. Mesocriconema surinamense and Pratylenchoides crenicauda are reported for the first time from Iran. Iranian population of Psilenchus aestuarius is also illustrated here. M. surinamense ischaracterized by having a disk like head originated fromlarge submedian lobes of lip region and morphometic characters. P. crenicauda is the type species of the genus Pratylenchoides and distinguished by areolated lateral lines on the tail, short pharyngeal overlap and position of pharyngeal glands. P. aestuarius is characterized by rounded and smooth head, presence of post anal intestinal sac in both sexes and several morphometric characters.  

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Research subject: The use of scrap tires to recover energy and their compounds is an effective way to protect the environment and recover energy and materials.
Research approach: In this research, the aim is to investigate the process of tire pyrolysis as well as the simultaneous pyrolysis (co-pyrolysis) process of tire and fuel oil. Here, the effect of different operating conditions such as temperature, volumetric nitrogen gas, heating rate and tire parts size on the physical quantities and physical properties of the products manufactured by these processes have been investigated.
Main results: The optimal operating conditions for these experiments are 420C, the volumetric gas flow rate is 100 ml / min and the heating rate is           3 C / min. The volume of the reactor used is 500 ml and the amount of mazut in the coprolysis process is 30 wt%. The highest amount of liquid produced in the process of pyrolysis of used tire was achieved using feed with a particle size of 4×2×0.5cm³, which is 43.3% by weight. In contrast, the largest liquid product produced in the simultaneous pyrolysis process of the tire and mazut was obtained using tire parts with a size of 4×4×0.5cm³, which is 52.3% by weight. In this study, the physical properties of liquid products produced by two processes of pyrolysis of tire and co-pyrolysis of tire and mazut, such as kinematic viscosity, density and refractive index, have been investigated.

 

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This study aimed to standardize the Responsibility Questionnaire in Asia's Elite Football and Futsal Referees. The statistical population of this study was elite soccer referees and Asian futsal in two sections of men and women, among which 292 questionnaires were collected. A researcher-made responsibility questionnaire, which consisted of 25 questions, was used to collect data. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was accepted after translation by professors and sport management specialists. Statistical methods were descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, McDonald's omega Coefficient, Theta Coefficient, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were used. Analytical results showed (α=0.90, Ω=0.921, θ-0.934) reliability for the responsibility questionnaire. All questions had a significant relationship with their agent in the reliability of Structure, the amount of relationship, and T-value, and they could be a good predictor for their agent. X2/df=2.91, RMSEA=0.093 indexes and NFI=0.98, CFI=0.98, IFI=0.90, GFI=0.94, and AGFI=0.92 also confirmed the goodness of models. Also, the results about the relations of factors with the meaning of responsibility showed that all factors could be a good predictor for the concept of responsibility. Questionnaire responsibility is a reliable and valid measure that can be used to evaluate responsibility in sports, and reliable and consistent results are achieved.

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According to Iran’s visions "Iran is a country achieved the first position of economy, science and technology in Southwest Asia, with emphasis on the software and science." Since the base line of this vision is knowledge core, in this study is conducted in Science and Technology sectors considering being knowledge core. Therefore developing such strategic model with accordance to Iran’s 20 years period vision was perused. Knowledge core consists of three layers, humans, organization and society. Each of these layers have different dimension. For each of these dimensions, indicators has proposed and to confirm those indicators, a six steps process has conducted. Cultural, economic, social, political, scientific, financial, indicators totaling 2,100 were identified. Doing analysis, 1178 indicators were extracted and grouped in 20 categories. 313 indicators considered based on meaningfulness analysis approach and 40 of them selected using focus groups. Selected indicators ranked based on frequencies. In this research content analysis, Delphi, interview and questionnaire have been used. Collected data analyzed using statistical softwares by chi-square test. According to the results, the wise man, the wise organization and the wise community formed the main aspects of the research model.   According to Iran’s visions "Iran is a country achieved the first position of economy, science and technology in Southwest Asia, with emphasis on the software and science." Since the base line of this vision is knowledge core, in this study is conducted in Science and Technology sectors considering being knowledge core. Therefore developing such strategic model with accordance to Iran’s 20 years period vision was perused. Knowledge core consists of three layers, humans, organization and society. Each of these layers have different dimension. For each of these dimensions, indicators has proposed and to confirm those indicators, a six steps process has conducted. Cultural, economic, social, political, scientific, financial, indicators totaling 2,100 were identified. Doing analysis, 1178 indicators were extracted and grouped in 20 categories. 313 indicators considered based on meaningfulness analysis approach and 40 of them selected using focus groups. Selected indicators ranked based on frequencies. In this research content analysis, Delphi, interview and questionnaire have been used. Collected data analyzed using statistical softwares by chi-square test. According to the results, the wise man, the wise organization and the wise community formed the main aspects of the research model.              

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During the past decade, natural plant products as environmentally safe option have received attention for controlling phytopathogenic diseases. Investigation of plants containing natural antimicrobial metabolites for plant protection has been recognized as a desirable method of disease control. The fungus Fusarium oxysporum causes diseases such as root rot, damping off and Fusarium wilt and it infects many plant species and crops. Methanolic crude extracts of 30 plant species belonging to 17 families collected from the west of Iran were screened for antifungal activity against F. oxysporum during 2012. Bioassay of the extracts was conducted by agar dilution method with five replications. The inhibitory effect of the extracts was examined at concentration of 2000 ppm. Twenty out of 30 tested plant species (67%) showed inhibitory activity against mycelial growth of F. oxysporum. The most effective extracts with more than 50% inhibition belonged to Haplophyllum perforatum and Calendula officinalis. High number of plants with antifungal activity in this experiment showed that the flora in the west of Iran could be regarded as a rich source of plants with antifungal activity. Therefore, further screening of other plant species, identifying active fractions or metabolites and in vivo application of active extracts are in progress.  

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As an integral componet of discourse competence and professional expertise, generic competence is intervowen with the concept of multi-litracies, which in turn highlights the role of technology and multimodality. Conefernce PowerPoint presentations are among the research-process genres, which rely substantially on the textual and visual generic competences of discourse community members. In spite of their significant role for the membership in a community of practice, they are underexplored even in the "English for Specific/ Academic Purposes" tradition of genre analysis, where static versus dynamic nature of genres has been a controversial issue. The present genereic study utilized a typology of visuals along with a framework for description and explanation of their characteristics and features to analyze more than 400 conference slides by two groups of non-native applied linguists (a representative of soft scientists) in light of the definition of genre, its functions, and the influence of Microsoft software on its features. Apart from highlighting the importance of visuals and the dominance of scriptuals in soft sciences, the reported similarities and differences between the two groups and the obtained patterns revealed that PowerPoint presentation can be considered a genre, which would manifest a variety of identity expressions. Moreover, in the absence of disoursal and metadiscoursal elements, many slide characteristics and features can fulfill their fuctions. Sheding some light on the undeniable role of the software and its implications for methods of reasoning and argumentation, genre integrity, and definition of metadiscourse and genre along with some applied suggestions are among the main aims of the study.  

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Directional felling of trees plays a key role in reducing of damages to forest residual trees and can also facilitate skidding. The aim of this study was presents a practical linear model for estimation of tree falling direction error in an uneven-aged mixed stand in northern forests of Iran. To conduct the study a number of 95 trees of four species Fagus Orientalis Lipsky, Carpinus Betulus L., Alnus Subcordata C.A. May and Acer Platanoides were randomly selected,and assumed felling direction were  marked on the trunk of these trees. The trees felled by experienced chainsaw operators, and the differences between the assumed and actual direction were measured as the felling error. The results showed that among the 12 effective factors, the elements of foot slope, diameter at the breast height (DBH), horizontal and vertical angles and area of the backcut surface (HABS, VABS, BA),vertical angle and area of undercut surface (VAUS, UA) significantly correlated with the felling error, and the determination coefficient (R²) of presented linear model was 52.0 % (P < 0.01). Among the model factors, DBH, VABS, and HABS had the three most pronounce impact on felling error.

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In this research, the possibility of asphaltene separation from the vacuum tower residue using the low cost industrial solvents such as 402, 404, 406, and 410 was investigated. In order to separate asphaltene the IP143/01 and ASTM D 3279-07 separation methods were utilized. In order to find the optimal state of asphaltene precipitation, Design of experiments software with three factors of residence time, the solvent-to-feed ratio and the volume percent of 406 solvent to the total solvent of 406 and 410 were used. The results showed that the effectiveness of each parameter in precipitating the asphaltene attributed to the ratio of solvent to feed, the ratio of solvent 406 to total solvent, and the residence time, respectively and there was a significant interaction between the basic parameters. The best asphaltene precipitation of 5.06% of 7.5% happens at the residence time of 36.97 hours, the ratio of solvent to feed of 35.95 ml/gr and the volume percent of 406 solvent to the total solvent of 27.20%. Asphaltene precipitation percentage for the optimal mixture of industrial solvents was 22.5% lower than the precipitated asphaltene from normal heptane solvent. However, according to the solvents price, industrial solvents (410 and 406) were approximately 50% cheaper than normal heptane, and hence on overall, there was a cost savings of more than 20%

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We examined two assumptions of the "Conceptual Metaphor Theory" (CMT) using corpus-based method. According to the first assumption, linguistic metaphors are merely reflections of conceptual metaphors; so linguistic metaphors have a marginal and secondary role. According to the second assumption, conventional linguistic metaphors are systematic. A 50-milion token sample of Hamshahri collection of Persian texts was selected as the corpus of the study. All of the corpus analyses of calculating the collocations and extracting the concordances were carried out using Ant Conc corpus software. Data analysis failed to find evidence in support of the first assumption provided by CMT, but the second assumption was partially confirmed. The findings suggest that the semantic patterns of linguistic metaphors are more complex than those predicted by CMT, and language use factors play an undeniable role in shaping the semantics of metaphoric expressions.  

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Three species of Paratylenchus were collected and identified from vineyards and apple orchards in Kermanshah province, western Iran. Descriptions, morphometric data, line drawings and microscopic photographs are provided for these three species. Paratylenchus audriellus and Paratylenchus straeleni are the two very closely related species, with a stylet longer than 40 µm, four lateral lines and distinct vulval flaps. The third species, Paratylenchus leptos, has a shorter stylet, three lateral lines and distinct vulval flaps. Paratylenchus leptos is a new record for Iranian nematode fauna, and male of P. audriellus is reported from Iran for the first time.