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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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Aims: microalgae use has been recently attracted for the production of biologically active drugs and pharmaceuticals.Carbon source is an essential factor for the Spirulina maxima growth. Since finding the appropriate carbon source and its concentration to achieve high levels of biomass in the shortest cultivation period is very valuable. Therefore, the effect of different carbon sources (sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, glucose and molasses) with different concentrations (16, 24 and 32 gL^-1) on growth and biomass production were evaluated. Methods: Microalgae was grown in 11 treatments with 3 replications at labarotary temperature (28±3 °C) and 1350±100 Lux light intensity (24 hours exposure-time). Maximum specific growth rate and doubling time were calculated according to nonlinear modeling by Wolfram Mathematica software at 99% confidence interval. Findings: The highest biomass concentration (gL^-1) at the highest carbon source concentration in the first 5 days belonged to molasses (3.083), glucose (2.094), sodium carbonate (0.869) and sodium bicarbonate (0.835). Biomass production of treatments except glucose in medium was increased by increasing concentration from 16 to 32 gL^-1. Although molasses has reached on highest biomass production during the first 5 days of cultivation, but the greatest effect on increasing specific growth rate belongs to the glucose sample. Conclusions: As a result, the carbon source and its concentration had a significant effect on the growth and biomass production. Glucose has been selected as an effective carbon source for growth with a concentration of 24gL^-1. Moreover, the highest concentration of treatments had shown the least effect on specific growth rate.

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For effective integrated pest management (IPM) programs, it is essential to determine the thermal requirements and apply an accurate forecasting method based on daily degree units of pests. The present study investigated the physiological time (Degree-Days) and the number of generations of tomato leaf miner (TLM), Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) in Varamin region (Tehran, Iran) on two tomato cultivars (Cal JN3 and Early Urbana Y) under field-cage and open-field conditions during tomato growing seasons in 2015 and 2016. The environmental temperature was recorded hourly using an electronic data logger. The results indicated that TLM completed three generations during tomato growing seasons on the two tomato cultivars in both years. Degree-days for each generation and the thermal requirements of immature stages were a little different under field-cage and open-field conditions in 2015 and 2016. Furthermore, the pest completed each generation, one to three days earlier in the open-field conditions depending on tomato cultivars. On the whole, findings of this study can improve monitoring and forecasting phenological events of T. absoluta and thereby assist in timely adoption of management practices in IPM programs.
 

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Background: A promising strategy in cancer therapy involves the production of fusion proteins, which entail the fusion of two distinct proteins. This study aimed to produce and assess the cytotoxic effects of the Nisin-arginine deiminase (ADI) fusion protein on the SW480 cell lines, a common model for studying colorectal cancer (CRC).
Materials & Methods: The designed Nisin-ADI gene fragment sequence was sent to Biomatik Company for synthesis in pET-28a vectors between SacI and HindIII restriction enzyme sites. Escherichia coli (E. coli) DH5α and BL21 were utilized for cloning and protein expression, respectively. The recombinant fusion protein expression was induced by Isopropyl ß-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) and purified using Ni2+-nitrilotriacetic acid (1) resin affinity chromatography. Sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting were conducted to analyze the purified protein. The cytotoxic effect of the purified recombinant fusion protein on SW480 and NIH3T3 cells, as a control, was evaluated using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.
Findings: The results of this study showed that the fusion protein had a significant impact on the SW480 cell lines. The Half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the fusion protein was 30 µg/mL, indicating that it effectively inhibited the growth of cancer cells. However, the fusion protein did not significantly affect the control group.
Conclusion: This study provides helpful insights into the potential application of recombinant Nisin-ADI fusion proteins as a potential treatment option for colorectal cancer. The potential for selective targeting of cancer cells is promising as normal cells are unaffected by this fusion protein.

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Abstract: Liquefaction is one of the most important phenomena that occurs during earthquakes. Loose granular soils along with a high ground water level make soil deposits susceptible to liquefaction. Liquefaction occurs due to an increase in excess pore water pressure and decreases in effective stress in the soil deposit. Thus, pore water pressure generation has significant affects on the shear strength, stability, and settlement characteristics of a soil deposit, even if it does not cause full liquefaction in the soil. Most natural sands and artificial soil deposits like hydraulic fills contain some plastic and non-plastic fines, which make their behavior different from clean sands. The generation of pore water pressure in a saturated soil beneath level ground during an earthquake is generally assumed to be due to the cyclic shear strains. This study presents the results of strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests on silty sands to evaluate pore pressure generation characteristics of these material sands under cyclic loading. Strain-controlled testing allows for a more fundamental assessment of pore pressure generation because of the strong relationship between shear deformation and pore pressure generation. The cyclic triaxial tests were performed on the specimens including mixtures of Monterey #0/30 sand and 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% of Sil-Co-Sil 52 non-plastic silt. To prepare the specimens, wet tamping Undercompaction technique was used. In this method, each layer is compacted to a lower density than the final desired value by a predetermined amount, which is defined as the percent of undercompaction. The advantages of this method are minimizing particle segregation, preparing specimens in wide ranges of density, and making uniform specimens. In addition, all of the specimens were prepared at an initial relative density =50%. The specimens were subjected to 50 at cycles of axial strain at loading rate of 0.1 Hz. Axial strain was measured by a miniature LVDT and this value converted to shear strain using elasticity theory and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.5 for undrained condition ( =1.5. ). The specimens were subjected to various levels of shear strains ranging from 0.003% to 0.3%. The results show that overall void ratio decreases during the saturation and consolidation process, this effect increasing with increasing silt content. Also, excess pore water pressure decreases with increasing silt content up to 10%. At silt contents greater than 10% up to 30%, excess pore pressure increased because, the sand skeleton void ratio is greater than the maximum void ratio of the clean sand, thus the sand grain-to-grain contact is removed and the response is controlled by the silt matrix.

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Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) is one of the techniques for heat transfer enhancement. In current study, the enhancement of natural convection heat transfer inside a vertical tube is experimentally investigated under applying a strong electrical field (EHD). For this purpose, a wire electrode with positive polarity is used along the pipe axis while the inner surface of tube is connected to the ground. EHD disturbs the thermal boundary layer by generating ionic wind which flows from wire electrode to inner side of tube and causes the heat transfer enhancement. In this study, the effects of wire electrode diameter and also electrical field on heat transfer enhancement are investigated. Obtained data are reported as local Nusselt number along the pipe axis and mean Nusselt number. The results show that decreasing the wire electrode diameter increases the heat transfer of tube. In addition, increasing of electrical current due to strong electrical field, increases the Nusselt number. At the lowest wire electrode diameter, the highest Nusselt number was observed which was 2.03 times more than the case that no electrical field was applied.

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Scholarly publication has turned into a growing concern affecting the lives of academics across the world. The increasing demand by higher education institutions for publications in high-profile venues has created various policy issues, including the ones about the language of publication, and more specifically, about writing and publishing in English by speakers of other languages. In this study, we investigate policies of publishing in English in Iranian higher education based on qualitative content analysis of 30 national policy documents and 170 university bylaws released by 46 Iranian universities over the past twenty-three years. The emerging policy lines reveal that the research evaluation system and the structure of incentives as well as institutional pressure mechanisms all tend to act in favor of publishing in English in a context where it is the academic language of only a small minority. The implications of such policy directions for higher education in Iran are discussed along with possible messages for other contexts around the world.  
 

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Greenhouse products are subject to contamination by pesticides used to control pests and diseases. Toxicity on human and non-target animals, destruction of environment, and bioaccumulation are just some of the problems caused by indiscriminate use of pesticides. Imidacloprid and abamectin are two widely used pesticides to control greenhouse pests in Varamin region (Tehran Province, Iran). The aim of this study was to determine the effect of some household operations including refrigerated storage (48 hours), immersion in water (5 hours) and combination of these two treatments on reduction of pesticide residues in two most freshly consumed vegetables, cucumber and tomato. Sampling was performed in three randomly selected greenhouses of each crop in Varamin. Pesticides residue were extracted from samples according to QuEChERS method and determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) system equipped with UV detection and analytical column C18 (250×4.6 mm). Results showed that crops were contaminated more than maximum residue level of these pesticides. Although in most cases, refrigerated storage treatment reduced pesticides residue more than immersion in water, their combination was the most effective treatment. Based on the results, this treatment caused imidacloprid residues reduction of 91.3 and 60.2% and abamectin residues reduction of 81.4 and 70.3% in cucumber and tomato, respectively. These findings showed that some easy, accessible, and domestic solutions can dramatically reduce residues of these two common pesticides.
 

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The emergence of ERP systems as an integrated and process-oriented information system that supporting all activities of the organization, has led to significant improvements in the performance of deploying organizations. One of the success factors in the implementation of ERP systems is the proper identification of risks and appropriate responses to them throughout the lifecycle. Therefore, this research with an innovative point of view seeks to design a risk control model for ERP implementation by the Grounded Theory (GT) approach during open, axial and selective coding steps. The present research is both fundamental and applied in terms of purpose. The statistical population of this study is ERP elites, interviews with 12 of these elites were conducted using purposeful sampling method. The results of the study showed 58 primary codes and 17 main categories that presented in the form of a paradigmatic model including; causal conditions (pre-implementation risks, implementation risks and post-implementation risks), phenomena (ERP implementation risk control), context (organizational factors, technical factors and human factors), intervening conditions (factors associated with employees, factors associated with project implementation and factors associated with the ERP system), strategies (path improvement, human resource development, organizational change, and Organizing) and consequences (organizational consequences, financial consequences and social consequences) and relationship between its different dimensions is also presented.
 

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Introduction: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 , the most common strains,  are causes diarrhea that can kill  hundreds of thousands of children annually. The development of an effective combination vaccine for enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is very important.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the sicl gene was amplified and Subcloned as a DNA vaccine. The sequence of antigen encoding genes was evaluated from the genebank and their epitopes were evaluated to design of primer for the synthetic chimeric gene and was amplified by PCR. Subcloning of  a multipartal chimeric gene in eukaryotic expression vector was performed to make a DNA vaccine and finally the protein was purified by nickel chromatography and evaluated by Western blotting.
Results: The immunoblotting results of the expression of SICL chimeric protein indicated the presence of a 76 kDa band in the form of insoluble particles after 12 hours induction. Purification of the recombinant protein using His tag sequencee and confirmation of the purified protein with the recombinant protein specific antibody demonstrated the accuracy of the protein expression.
Discussion & Conclusion: Protein expression, purification and verify by western blotting showed that this recombinant chimeric protein (SICL) can be expressed in eukaryotic host.

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The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is one of the most important and destructive pests of citrus in the world, because of its ability to vector bacteria Candidatus Liberibacter americanus and Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the presumed causal pathogen of Huanglongbing (HLB) or greening disease. The biology and reproduction parameters of D. citri were studied at 27.5°C on four host plants corresponding to the four major varieties cultivated in Iran, namely, Marsh grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), local sour orange (C. aurantium), Mexican lime (C. aurantifolia), and Campbell Valencia orange (C. sinensis). The average developmental period of total nymphal stages and total cycle (egg to adult) were significantly longer on Campbell Valencia orange (21.2 and 24.1 days, respectively) than on other host plants. The mean of pre-oviposition period on four host plants varied (2.4-4.0 days) and was significantly longer on Campbell Valencia orange (4 days) than on other host plants. Oviposition rate and total eggs laid were not significantly different between the different hosts. Survival rate of D. citri was significantly lower on Campbell Valencia orange (42.1%) than on the three other varieties. The finite rate of increase (λ) and the r_m value of D. citri were higher on Mexican lime (1.20 and 0.17, respectively) than on the three other hosts. Also, mean doubling time was higher on Marsh grapefruit (11.84 Days) than on other host plants. These new data give more insight about susceptibility of the different varieties of citrus to D. citri.

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The Tomato Leaf Miner (TLM), Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a cosmopolitan tomato pest that has driven a renewed reliance on pesticides in tomato production, negatively affecting biological control of other pests and creating environmental and health hazards. We tested five locally important Iranian tomato cultivars (TD, Karon, Petoprid, Matin, and 8320) for constituitive resistance to TLM by comparing its biological performance and life table parameters under standardized laboratory conditions (27.5±1°C, 65±5% RH, 16 L:8 D hours photoperiod). Survival and developmental rates of immature stages varied significantly among cultivars, as did female fecundity and main parameters of the life table. Karon was most suceptible, affording 90% juvenile TLM survival, the fastest development, and the highest female fecundity, with cultivar 8320 not significantly different in these regards. By contrast, Matin ranked most resistant; i.e. only 59% of larvae survived, and female fecundity was almost halved. TD was the next most resistant, being not significantly different from Matin in these metrics. The intrinsic rates of increase (r), in descending order, were Karon (0.178), 8320 (0.169), TD (0.146), Petoprid (0.138), and Matin (0.111). Matin and TD had the highest densities of glandular trichomes on adaxial leaf surfaces. These findings indicate that the Matin, Petoprid and TD are more resistant than the other cultivars and have potential as one component of an IPM strategy to manage T. absoluta.

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Nanochitosan composite film containing Nisin (NCH-N) was synthesized by solution cast method. Chitosan nanoparticles were prepared from shrimp shell.Characterizations of the prepared chitosan-nanoparticles were performed using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) technique. The DLS analysis showed that the average size of chitosan- nanoparticles was 84.8 nm. Antimicrobial properties of edible (NCH-N) solution were also tested against pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, B. cereus, L. monocytogenes, E. faecalis, and eight clinical multidrug resistances K. pneumonia and E. coli. Addition of nisin to film significantly enhances the antimicrobial activity of the film against these tested pathogenic bacteria. This solution was also used as an antimicrobial coating on peaches. Based on the results, the peach coated with the film-forming NCH-N solutions presented a significantly lower amount of microorganisms growth than the uncoated peach, and significantly increased the shelf life of peaches. The color of the peach was not influenced by the films. The similarity of peaks in the spectrum of FTIR films confirms the absence of relevant interaction between the nisin and the polymer. The films were also analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to investigate the surface topography. Nanohitosan films were smooth and homogeneous. With the addition of nisin to nanochitosan films, the film became more uniform and homogeneous. The incorporation of nisin into edible nanochitosan films or coatings may be an attractive and convenient method for biopreservation of food.

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In this research, biodegradable Chitosan–Nano-Cellulose–Nisin (CH-NC-N) film was synthesized and utilized for antibacterial application in medicine and food packaging. The antibacterial chitosan–nano-cellulose–nisin film was characterized using various techniques such as mechanical and physical properties analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The film^’s ability to inhibit growth of pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli XDR, Klebsiella pneumonia XDR, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus was examined. Furthermore, the film was used for meat packaging at a temperature of 4°C for a duration of 26 days. Data analysis revealed an improvement in the mechanical properties and water absorption of the film following the addition of nano-cellulose and nisin. The presence of nisin in the CH-CN film was confirmed through analysis of FTIR, XRD, and SEM data. Antimicrobial analysis of film determined the high potential of nisin as an antimicrobial agent in CH-CN-N film. Compared to the control, the CH-CN-N film successfully inhibited the growth of spoilage bacteria in meat for 26 days. Additionally, the sensory properties of meat packaged with this film were minimally affected. These results indicate that the chitosan-nano-cellulose-nisin film is suitable for utilization in food systems and medical applications.