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Global warming and the loss of freshwater resources have turned attention to promoting crop water productivity by focusing on the role of crops’ embedded virtual water. Indeed, the production pattern based on maximizing water productivity and minimizing virtual water is gradually replacing the traditional patterns that were based on maximizing production and yields.
 Methods: The present research aimed to present a cropping pattern and water allocation to crops and regions based on the virtual water scenario and water productivity. The research used a bi-level programming model (leader-follower) and applied the objectives of maximizing economic profit and water productivity and minimizing the Gini coefficient and virtual water to optimize irrigation water allocation among irrigated regions and crops and determine the optimal cropping pattern for crops in five regions, including Zabol, Zahak, Nimruz, Hamun, and Hirmand, for 2022-2023.
Findings: When virtual water and water productivity were considered, the system’s economic profit was estimated at 3.02 × 10¹³ IRR and 3.04 × 10¹³ IRR, respectively. Also, the highest water and cultivation area were assigned to melon and onion.
Conclusion: Considering the Virtual water content (VWC), less water was assigned to crops with higher Virtual water content, i.e., wheat and barley. When the water productivity index was considered, the results revealed that more water was allocated to crops with higher water productivity, such as melon and onion. The proposed model can be used to determine a cropping pattern that considers minimizing virtual water and maximizing water productivity as its objectives.

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Aims: Head lice infestation is a common and significant health issue among students and in school settings. It is particularly more prevalent in children aged 5-13 years. This study aimed to investigate the determinants of preventive behaviors against pediculosis based on the theoretical framework of the health belief model among students in the urban areas of Heris County.
Instrument & Methods: This descriptive-analytical correlational study was conducted with 1,000 students in urban schools in Heris County, East Azerbaijan. Data were collected through a census of all fourth and fifth-grade students in elementary schools. The research instrument was a questionnaire designed based on the health belief model, which had been validated, and its reliability was confirmed in previous studies. After the students completed the questionnaires, the data were analyzed using SPSS 16 by ANOVA and multiple linear regression.
Findings: Fourth-grade students demonstrated higher awareness (p=0.027) compared to fifth-grade students. Perceived susceptibility (p=0.001) and perceived barriers (p=0.004) were significantly (p=0.0001) higher in individuals with no history of pediculosis infestation compared to those with a history of pediculosis infestation. Except for the perceived severity construct, all components of the health belief model had a significant correlation with preventive behaviors against pediculosis. Furthermore, awareness (p=0.0001), self-efficacy (p=0.0001), perceived barriers (p=0.0001), gender (p=0.0001), and maternal education (p=0.024) were identified as key predictors of these behaviors, and these parameters collectively accounted for 21.5% of the variance in behavior changes (R²=0.215).
Conclusion: Awareness, self-efficacy, and perceived barriers play a significant role in adopting preventive behaviors against pediculosis infestation.

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Objective: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that causes Toxoplasmosis in human and animal. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the identification of vaccine candidates which can induce protective responses. In this study we used complete Rhoptry protein 2 gene of Toxoplasma gondii as a single DNA vaccine and evaluated its immune responses in comparison with control groups. Materials and Methods: BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly with three weaks time interval with pcROP2 (as case group) and pc-DNA3 and PBS (as control groups). After immunization, we evaluated the immune response using cytokine and antibody measurements. Results: The results of cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-4) assays showed that mice immunized with pcROP2, elicited stronger Th1-type cellular immune responses than those immunized with empty plasmid, or PBS (high level of IFN-γ and low-level of IL-4).Also Anti-T. gondii IgG titres (OD) increased markedly in the pcROP2 group, which was significantly higher than those of control groups (P<0.05). When challenged with the highly virulent Toxoplasma gondii RH strain, mice immunized with pcROP2 had siginificantly higher survival rates compared to control groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that pc-ROP2 as a single DNA vaccine is effective to prime enhanced and balanced cellular and humeral immunity responses, and relatively improved mice survival time against toxoplasmosis.

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The present paper aims to highlight the origin of the youth movements in Iran during the intervening years of 1971 and 2002. During these three decades, youth movement was one of the important social movements in the political arena of the country. While explaining the origin of the movement, two changes i.e. 'generation gap' and 'democracy' have been studied and it was found that the origin of the youth movements in Iran was due to the contradictions between authoritarianism and democracy. Apart from various official statistics and figures, some results of some opinion surveys have also been utilized to analyze this paper.

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Objective: Toxoplasmosis can lead to severe pathological effects in both infected humans and animals. The various DNA vaccines against Toxoplasma compose of single or cocktail antigens have been investigated but they have partial protective against disease. In this study, we used pcROP1 as a DNA vaccine and aluminium phosphate and aluminium hydroxide to compare their efficacy as mineral adjuvants. Materials and Methods: BALB/c mice immunized with pcROP1 alone or with co-administration of Alpo4 or Alum and the effectiveness of these two adjuvants were compared using lymphocyte proliferation assay, cytokine and antibody assay and survival time. Results: The group co-administered alum elicited stronger humoral and Th1-type cellular immune responses than the group co-administered Alpo4, while immune response in group administered with pcROP1 alone is higher than them. When challenged with Toxoplasma gondii RH strain, mice immunized with or without alum had significantly higher survival rates, whereas there was no notable enhancement of survival rate in Alpo4 group (P≤0.05). Conclusions: Our result suggest that pcROP1 plus alum and aluminium phosphate not strongly potentiate the efficacy of this DNA.

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Production of drought tolerant crop is an important strategy for avoiding water scarce crisis. Improvement of the root structure leading to the higher yield and seed quality. In this study, three genes affecting root structure, drought tolerance and phosphorous absorbance are used in producing hybrid constructs used for the rice transformation. Three genes: a serine/threonine protein kinase (PSTOL1), a gene from the cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase family (OsCKX4) and a transcription factor induced under stress from the NAM-ATAF-CUC family (OsNAC5) isolated from the rice wild cultivars are cloned under  separate regulatory elements in the T-DNA region of the Agrobacterium binary vector. OsNAC5 gene was cloned under RCc3 root specific promoter and PSTOL1 gene under ubiquitin promoter. Also, OsCKX4 gene was cloned once under ubiquitin promoter and once under RCc3 promoter. Two hybrid multi-gene constructs named pUhrN5CkPstol and pUhrCkPstol harboring multiple genes are synthetized and used for the gene transformation into the Hashemi cultivar. Gene transfer was done to callus obtained from mature rice seeds. Transgenic plants were confirmed using PCR analysis. From the number of 107 regenerated plants in which the presence of transgenes was proved, 14 transgenic events were finally obtained. Root structure of the T0 plants showed drastic phenotypic difference in comparison to the non-transgenic ones. By now, one transgenic event harboring CKX4 and PSTOL1 is confirmed to have a homozygous line in T2 generation. It is hoped that genetic engineering of rice for enhanced root structure lead to drought tolerance, reduce water consumption and improve yield under stress conditions.
 

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The purpose of this study was to examine serum selenium (Se), lipoproteins and testosterone responses to a single session of circuit resistance exercise. Fourteen male college students volunteered in the present study. Blood samples were taken at 30minutes before, immediately after 25 and 60minutes of single session of circuit resistance exercise (10 exercise, 20s for each exercise, and at 60%1RM). A significant increase in serum selenium and a decrease in testosterone, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), and low density lipoprotein were found during recovery period. The present data indicate that a single session of circuit resistance exercise was able to change serum Se, lipoproteins and testosterone levels. An acute increased Se and decreased testosterone might indicate an energy deficiency following a circuit resistance exercise.

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Objective: Leishmaniasis is one of the six most common parasitic infections in tropical regions. There are different therapeutic modalities. However therapeutic resistance is developed and resulted in numerous problems. So evaluation of other therapeutic modalities is performed extensively. We compared the therapeutic response of cutaneous leishmaniasis with Glucantime and Garlic extract and it'R10 in animal model. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was conducted in Shahed University. The therapeutic response of cutaneous leishmaniasis to Glucantime and Garlic extract and R10 in animal model was studied in BALB/c, outbred SW mice and C57BL/6 mice. These three races were divided in four groups according to receiving either one of these three agents or no treatment (control). The therapeutic response was evaluated according to parasitic load before and after treatment and also with measuring the size of the lesions. Results: The results showed that R10 had good therapeutic efficacy in treatment of lesions in mice (P<0.05) that this efficacy was significant in sixth, seventh and eighth weeks after the treatment. There was also a statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the parasitic load (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results, it may be concluded that R10 extract would have a good efficacy in treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis that is comparable with glucantime.

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Children need to start learning English from a very young age in this fast globalizing world. The knowledge of the English language can assist in providing several opportunities for them in the future. It is also essential to know how very young children acquire a foreign language and which content and activities should be selected for their age. This study aimed to observe and describe the procedure of the language development of very young children. Researchers employed a descriptive case study design to portray and assess foreign language learning of two three-year-old twins’ grammar acquisition, vocabulary gains, and fluency in the early years of life (3-4/5). Besides the methods firmly associated with qualitative study and case studies, there were four sources of data collection: observation, audio-video recordings, and diary records. The central unit of the twins’ language development analysis was their utterances. The findings supported using a naturalistic environment where very young children could be exposed to the English language informally in everyday contexts and activities. This research can share its findings with education communities and very young children’s teachers to promote a new professional development model for fostering language development in very young learners’ classrooms, assessments, and curricula.

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Single shaft gas turbine and the cycles based on it are sensitive to frequency drops and sudden change loads or large frequency dips might affect their stability. This phenomenon is related to reduction of air mass flow rate through the gas turbine during frequency dips, which might lead to interaction between the governor and temperature control loop. This interaction will prevent the gas turbine from being loaded further and might affect its stability. In this paper, the performance of the two well-known power generation cycles based on the gas turbine -combined cycle and steam injected gas turbine (STIG cycle)- are investigated during frequency dips and transient maneuvers. For this purpose, two similar units are developed based on these cycles and their performance are studied and compared in different scenarios. The simulation results show that the steam injected gas turbine has a better performance during frequency drops and it can handle larger step change loads. This superior performance of the steam injected gas turbine unit is almost twice as good as the similar combined cycle unit in some of the operating conditions.

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Although chemotherapy is one of the effective methods in cancer treatment its effects may be moderated due to drug resistance. The main objective of this paper is to propose optimal finite cancer treatment duration. In this paper, a mathematical model of tumor growth by adding radiotherapy, chemotherapy and metastasis of cancer cells terms is extended. Stability analysis shows that the tumor free equilibrium point is unstable. Hence, changing the dynamics of the system around this equilibrium point for achieving finite duration treatment method is essential. Therefore, the effects of chemotherapy drug are considered not only on cells populations but also on the dynamics of the system. For this purposes, State Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) based optimal control is used. So chemotherapy agent is used as the control input to the extended cancer nonlinear model. Then, in order to show the flexibility in design, two different types of input weighting matrices are selected. Moreover, the robustness of this control method is investigated by simulation. Results show that changing the dynamics of the system is necessary for finite duration cancer treatment method.

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Objective: Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide disease, for which different detection methods have been used. The nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) method is shown to be highly efficient for diagnosis of live microorganisms. The present research evaluates the molecular isothermal method of NASBA to identify live Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) in rat. Methods: Tachyzoites of T. gondii were inoculated in the peritoneal cavities of mice (Mus musculus) and their RNA was extracted. The NASBA method was then used to amplify the tachyzoite B1 rRNA gene. Next, we examined blood samples from 30 experimentally infected case and control rats (Rattus norvegicus) by NASBA. Finally, the resultant band was investigated on an agarose gel. Results: The B1 genes extracted from both the tachyzoites and blood samples were successfully amplified by the NASBA method. This amplified gene yielded an amplicon of approximately 116 bp on gel agarose. Conclusion: NASBA is highly efficient for the identification of live T. gondii. This method can be applied for early diagnosis of active toxoplasmosis in both newborns and immunocompromised individuals.

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Objective: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an endemic infectious disease considered to be a crucial health problem in many countries, including Iran. As such, there is a need for new medications with few side effects. In the present research we have studied the effect of artimisinin on  Leishmania major (L. major) and cell death in vitro. Methods: A specific number of promastigotes of L. major were grown in the presence of different concentration of artimisinin to achieve IC50 of the drug. The MTT method was applied to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of the artiminisinin on L. major. Various densities of this drug were applied to study the induction of apoptosis by flow cytometry on L. major promastigotes. Results: We calculated the IC50 of artimisinin to be 25 μg/mlby promastigote assay. Promastigotes were incubated at 72 hours incubation with various doses of artimisinin (10, 25, 50 and 100 μg/ml). The dose 100 μg/ml showed the most apoptosis (68.16%) by Annexin-V FITC. Whereas the 10 μg/ml dose had the least apoptosis (12.78%). There was no change in the control group. According to MTT, the toxic effect of artiminisinin on L. major promastigotes increased with increasing drug concentration. Conclusions: This study revealed that artimisinin has a little toxic effect on macrophages. According to the flow cytometry and MTT results, artimisinin can be suggested as an appropriate drug for in vivo antileishmanial study.

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Objective: Leishmaniasis is one of the significant causes of morbidity and mortality in several countries. It is an important problem in endemic areas such as Iran. The goal in treatment of leishmaniasis is to reduce the disease period and leave no evidence of any remaining scars or lesions. A derivative of artemisinin is artemether. Scientists believe that the strong action of artemether against parasites is due to the presence of an endoperoxide bridge. Due to problems in the treatment of Leishmania major, in this research we have studied the effect of artemether on Leishmania major under in vitro conditions. Methods: Parasites were cultured in NNN and RPMI, after which artemether at concentrations of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 μg/ml were used for the promastigote assay. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and DNA ladder assay. Results: The inhibitory concentration (IC50) of artemether was determined to be 25 μg/ml. The percentage of apoptotic promastigotes at 25 μg/ml of artemether was 42.28. The results of DNA fragmentation show that exposure of Leishmania major promastigote cells to 25 μg/ml of artemether lead to DNA fragmentation. Conclusion: We have proven the effect of artemether on apoptosis of Leishmania major by flow cytometry and the DNA ladder assay.

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In production of tissue paper, the adhesion of a liquid adhesive creping aid, compound polymer, as creping aids on the Yankee dryer surface was investigated. A compound polymer was prepared based on mixing ratio of poly (amideamine)-epichlorohydrin resin (PAE) as an adhesive agent, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a modifier agent, and cationic fatty acid (CFA) and ethylene glycol (EG) as release agents. In order to simulate the Yankee dryer cylinder, the adherence of paper to the substrate that was coated by the compound polymer solution was measured using a peel strength test. Results indicated that increasing the percent of total solid content of compound polymer would increase peel strength of paper. Peel strength of paper increases if EG as a release agent is used. The amount of PVA/PAE resin in the formulation of creping aid was critical for building a flexible and tough coating layer on to the substrate and to provide adequate adhesion of paper in peel strength test.

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Besides economic factors affecting economic growth, some cultural, political and social factors influence economic growth and development too; inter alia, social components play important roles. Social instability originating from social threats is one of the most important social components, which affects economic growth. This study aims to investigate the consequences of social instability on economic growth in Iran during 1981-2011. For this purpose, the Auto- Regressive Distributed LagModel (ARDL) and Error Correction Model (ECM) are estimated by Eviews.5 and Microfit 4.1. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), an index for social instability (absence of social capital) is made. The results show that physical capital, labor and social instability have the highest effectiveness on economic growth, respectively. Paying attention of policymakers to improving social conditions and reducing social instabilities may lead to higher economic growth.  

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The problem of two wheeled self-balancing robot is an interesting and challenging problem in control and dynamic systems. This complexity is due to the inherent instability, nonholonomic constraints, and under-actuated mechanism. Dynamical model of two wheeled self-balancing robot can be presented by a set of highly coupled nonlinear differential equations. Authors, previously, developed the modified dynamical equations of the robot. The governed equations have some differences with the commonly used equations. The main difference is due to the existence of a nonlinear coupling term which is neglected before. In this paper we used an adaptive sliding-mode controller based on the zero dynamics theory. The controller objective is to drive the two wheeled self balancing robot to the desired path as well as to make the robot stable. By some simulations the behavior of the robot with the proposed controller is discussed. It is shown that if the nonlinear coupling term is ignored in designing the controller, the controller cannot compensate its effect. Using Lyapunov theorem and the invariant set theorem, it is proved that the errors are globally asymptotically stable.

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Transporting an object using several mobile robots by formation control, is an effective method in handling heavy and complicated objects either in known and unknown places. In this paper, to control the formation of three mobile robots and also to control interactive a control algorithm has been designed based on semi-active suspension system of remote center compliance (RCC). The main objective of control structure of semi-active suspension system is to control the desired formation and appropriate transportation of the object at the same time and also separating the object and other robots from effect of the errors occurred while creation of disturbance in a certain robot and preventing it from having effects on other robots. In order to terminate instability in impedance methods, multiple impedance control has been used in moving the object by cooperating robots. To follow the desired path and control of mobile robots formation, Leader follower method has been used. Simulation results indicate that the semi-active suspension control system, in order to minimize the vibrations caused by disturbance transferred to the set of robots, is more optimum and more stable compared to passive suspension control system.

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One of the most common problems that occur during machining is Machine tool chatter, which adversely affects surface finish, dimensional accuracy, tool life and machine life. Machine tool chatter can be modeled as a linear time invariant differential equation with time delay or delay differential equation. Infinite dimensional nature of delay differential equations is apparent in the study of time delay systems. The analytical stability methods are thus more difficult for these differential equations and approximate methods do not give accurate results. In this paper, a new method is developed to determine the exact stable region(s) in the parameter space of machine tool chatter. In this method, first, the bifurcation points are determined. Then, the Lambert function is used to decide on the stability characteristics of each particular region. The advantages of this method are simple implementation and applicability to high order linear time delay systems. By resulting stability regions from this method, we can choose an optimal spindle speed to suppress the chatter. The new approach is the most acceptable method with comparison to traditional graphical, computational and approximate methods due to excellent accuracy and other advantages.