حسام دهقانی

The occurrence of settlement induced by tunneling operations in urban environments is an inevitable phenomenon. The risk of damage to nearby infrastructures and surface structures can be greatly reduced by predicting and controlling this event. This paper uses multiple linear regression (MLR) model and random forest (RF) algorithm to predict the maximum surface settlement (Smax) due to shallow tunnel excavation. Nine input parameters, including the distance of the tunnel center from the ground surface (H), height of the underground water level above the tunnel (W.T), tunnel diameter (D), elastic modulus of soil (E), undrained shear strength of soil (Cu), earth pressure coefficient (K0), unit weight of soil (γ), gap parameter (g), and stability number (N) were selected from 24 data sets related to 14 tunneling projects. The MLR and RF techniques were then implemented for predicting Smax. Three performance indicators of coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) were employed for the training and test phases to evaluate the efficiency of the suggested models. The coefficient of determination values for MLR and RF for training data were 0.814 and 0.957, respectively, while for test data were 0.793 and 0.96, indicating that the RF approach is more efficient than MLR. Moreover, the findings reveal that the RF algorithm exhibits lower RMSE and MAE values in both the training and testing phases compared to the MLR method. This suggests that the RF algorithm exhibits reduced error and higher reliability and accuracy when compared to the MLR model. Also, the performance study demonstrates that among the input parameters, the gap parameter (g) and the undrained shear strength of soil (Cu) have the greatest and least influence on Smax, respectively.

The valuation of a mining project is always under uncertainty due to the very complex nature of the deposit. Therefore, in order to evaluate the project more accurately, sources of uncertainty should always be identified and analyzed to increase the net present value. One of the most important sources of uncertainty in a mining project is the price and operating costs that have a significant impact on the net present value during the implementation of that project. According to many researches related to the evaluation of mining projects under conditions of uncertainty, they showed that the use of the real options approach had a significant impact on increasing the net present value of mining projects. In this paper, using the real option approach, according to the case study that was carried out in the Sangan iron ore mine project, an option under the title of low-grade iron ore stockpile (grade less than 35%) and iron ore stockpile with oxide percentage less than FEO<10% defined. The purpose of defining this option is to check the right time to sell low-grade iron ore and iron ore with low oxide percentage, which as a result, according to the technique of real options, can lead to the profitability of the project and increase the net present value.

Back-break is one of the adverse effects of blasting, which results in unstable mine walls, high duration, falling machinery, and inappropriate fragmentation. Thus, the economic benefits of the mine are reduced, and safety is severely affected. Back-break can be influenced by various parameters such as rock mass properties, blast geometry, and explosive properties. Therefore, during the blasting process, back-break must be accurately predicted, and other production activities must be done to prevent and reduce its adverse effects. In this regard, a hybrid model of extreme gradient boosting (XGB) is proposed for predicting back-break using gray wolf optimization (GWO) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Additionally, validation of the hybrid model is conducted using XGBoost, gene expression programming (GEP), random forest (RF), linear multiple regression (LMR), and non-linear multiple regression (NLMR) methods. For this purpose, the data obtained from 90 blasting operations in the Chadormalu iron ore mine are collected by considering the parameters of the blast pattern design. According to the results obtained, the performance and accuracy level of hybrid models including GWO-XGB (R2 = 99, RMSE = 0.01, MAE = 0.001, VAF = 0.99, a-20 = 0.98), and PSO-XGB (99, 0.01, 0.001, 0.99, 0.98) are better than the XGBoost (97, 0.185, 0.132, 0.98, 95), GEP (96, 0.233, 0.186, 0.967, 0.935), RF (97, 0.210, 0.156, 0.97, 0.94), LMR (96, 0.235, 0.181, 0.964, 0.92), and NLMR (96, 0.229, 0.177, 0.968, 0.93) models. Notably, the GWO-XGB hybrid model has superior overall performance as compared to the PSO-XGB model. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, hole depth and stemming are the essential effective parameters for back-break.

In his interpretation of Aristotle, Heidegger points out that Aristotle's natural community is part and parcel of his more general attempt to account for the presencing (ousia) of things in nature (physis). That is, in order for things in nature to be they need to fulfill their definitions. Consequently, for humans, community is the place where humans as life-possessing-logos (zoōn logon ekhon) and at the same time life-in-the-polis (zoōn politikon) can reveal their genuine definition (horismos). This will render possible the first formulation of the community as a natural community. Yet, just like the status of abnormalities and accidents in nature, prioritizing the fulfillment of justice as laws of the society over the singular expression of individuals would eventually complicate the status of justice with regard to the abnormal and unprecedented cases. Derrida’s critique of the laws shed a good light on the limitation of all laws with a universal claim which will be applied here to the Aristotelian formulation of them. Finally, this essay highlights the moments that Aristotle’s admission of the impossibility of universal laws provides the possibility of alternative comportment towards otherness and alternative ethics. In effect, it is Aristotle's mistake or "missing the mark" (hamartia) that opens the door for a new mode of following the laws, I call nomadic following.

This paper attempted to estimate the amount of flyrock in the Angoran mine in Zanjan province, Iran using the gene expression programming (GEP) predictive technique. The input data, including flyrock, mean depth of the hole, powder factor, stemming, explosive weight, number of holes, and booster were collected from the mine. Then, using GEP, a series of intelligent equations were proposed to predict flyrock distance. The best GEP equation was selected based on some well-established statistical indices in the next stage. The coefficient of determination for training and testing datasets of the GEP equation were 0.890 and 0.798, respectively. The model obtained from the GEP method was then optimized using teaching– learning-based optimization algorithm (TLBO). Based on the results, the correlation coefficient of training and testing data increased to 91% and 89%, which increased the accuracy of the Equation. This new intelligent equation could forecast flyrock resulting from mine blasting with a high level of accuracy. The capabilities of this intelligent technique could be further extended to the other blasting environmental issues.

In this research work, a comprehensive study is conducted to predict flyrock as a typical and undesirable phenomenon occurring during the blasting operation in open-pit mining. Despite the availability of several empirical methods for predicting the flyrock distance, the complexity of flyrock analysis has resulted in the low performance of these models. Therefore, the statistical and robust artificial intelligence techniques are applied for flyrock prediction in the Sungun copper mine in Iran. For this purpose, the linear multivariate regression (LMR), imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and artificial neural network (ANN) methods are applied to predict flyrock with effective parameters including the blasthole diameter, stemming, burden, powder factor, and maximum charge per delay. According to the attained results, the ANN model with the structure of 5-8-1, Levenberg-Marquardt as the learning algorithm, and log-sigmoid (logsig) as the transfer functions are selected as the optimal network with the RMSE and R2 values of 5.04 m and 95.6% to predict flyrock, respectively. Also it can be concluded that the ICA technique has a relatively high capability in predicting flyrock, with the LMR and ANFIS models placed in the next. Finally, the sensitivity analysis reveal that the powder factor and blasthole diameters have the most importance on the flyrock distance in the present work.

 Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in the world. The role of IL-17A in cancer begins in the early stages of tumorigenesis and appears to play an important role in tumorigenesis by causing inflammation. The present study was conducted to investigate the expression of KI67 and P53 genes in HT-29 colon epithelial cells with IL-17A.

IL-17A was purchased and 50 ng/ml was added to HT-29 culture medium and after 24 hours the cells were isolated from the culture medium and cell necrosis was examined by MTT. Then RNA was extracted and the expression levels of P53 and KI67 were analyzed using newly designed primers by Reverse transcription (RT) qPCR method and GeniX6 software.

 The MTT test showed that a concentration of 150 ng/ml for 24 hours had maximal necrosis rate in HT-29. After 24 hours of IL-17A incubation, the expression of KI67 (P = 0.003) and P53 (P = 0.001) genes in HT-29 cells in the IL-17A exposed group decreased and increased, respectively. Also, compared to the control group the number of examined HT-29 cells in the IL-17A treated group showed a significant decrease (P

The production cycle in open-pit mines includes the drilling, blasting, loading, and haulage. Since loading and haulage account for a large part of the mining costs, it is very important to optimize the transport fleet from the economic viewpoint. Simulation is one of the most widely used methods in the field of fleet design. However, it is unable to propose an optimized scenario for which the appropriate metaheuristic method should be employed. This paper considers the Sungun copper mine as the case study, and attempts to find the most feasible transportation arrangement. In the first step, in this work, we compare the flexible dispatching with the fixed allocation methods using the Arena software. Accordingly, the use of flexible dispatching reveals the increase in the production rate (20%) and productivity (25%), and the decrease (20%) in the idle time. The firefly metaheuristic algorithm used in the second step shows that the combined scenario of the 35-ton and 100-ton trucks is the most suitable option in terms of productivity and cost. In another attempt, comparing different heterogeneous truck fleets, we have found that the scenarios 35-100 and 35-60-100-144 increase the production rate by 39% and 49%, respectively. Also, in both scenarios, the production cost decreases by 11% and 21%, respectively.

In this paper, the effect of PDC cutter angle on the failure mechanism of rock like materials was investigated using experimental test and numerical simulation. For this purpose, three PDC cutter with different angle were built, i.e. 0°, 30° and 60°. Nine gypsum sample with dimension of 14cm*11cm*5cm were prepared. The ratio of gypsum to water was equal to 2. For each PDC angle, three similar gypsum blocks were tested. The blocks were situated above the PDC cutters and these assemblies were fixed in Uniaxial test machine. The loading rate was 0.05 mm/min. concurrent with experimental test, numerical simulation was performed using particle flow code in two dimension. Firstly calibration of PFC was done using experimental results. Secondly, numerical model with dimension of 14cm*11cm was prepared. Then, five PDC cutter angles were built, i.e. 0°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°. These cutters were situated at lower part of the model and move in positive side of y direction by rate of 0.01 mm/min. the results show that failure patterns were affected by PDC angle. Also maximum failure load was controlled by failure pattern. The maximum failure load was decreased by increasing the PDC cutter angle. The maximum failure load was related to angle of 0. The minimum failure load was related to angle of 60. The experimental results were similar to numerical simulations out puts.

In developmental studies of the embryo, it is very important to find suitable methods for the characterization of various tissue. This study to determine suitable markers in the development of the nervous system and other organs in turkey embryo to be a clue for exploring the role of alkaline phosphatase in the development of an embryo,perception of organ function after birth, and studies of embryogenesis of the nervous system.. The embryos from stages 19 to 31 Hamburger & Hamilton, were studied by histochemical and immunostaining techniques. The results showed that the stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 expression was restricted to the spinal cord, and other organs were negative. At stages, 19, 20 and 29 Hamburger & Hamilton, alkaline phosphatase reaction was either negative or weakly positive in embryonic organs. At stages 30-31 Hamburger & Hamilton, a strong alkaline phosphatase reaction was observed in the spinal cord, mesonephros, gonad, dorsal aorta, and liver sinusoids. Sections stained with periodic acid-Schiff confirmed the presence of glycogen in the heart, mesonephros, gonad, notochord, chondrocytes, and weakly in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. This study demonstrates that alkaline phosphatase reaction and the stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 expression are effective markers for developing the nervous system in turkey embryos. Also, we observed that both periodic acid-Schiff and alkaline phosphatase staining are useful methods to study other organs in turkey embryos.

Corn grain represents the most important energy source in ruminant diets. In high-producing dairy cows, the diets contain high levels of corn in order to meet their energy requirements. Corn has a complex structure where a range of nutrients interact with each other or physically associations. Ultimately, the quantity and availability of these nutrients determines the nutritional value of this grain. In corn nutrients and energy utilization is influenced by both intrinsic (e.g. starch granules and protein matrix structure) and extrinsic (e.g. growing and storage conditions, climate and agronomy conditions and grain drying process) factors. Corn endosperm represents more than 80% of total grain and is composed of starch granules that are imbedded in a protein matrix and surrounded by plant cell walls. Starch granules size, starch composition (amylose/amylopectin ratio), starch encapsulation (by endosperm cell walls and protein bodies) are among the factors with the most influence on digestion of starch. The structure and distribution of starch and protein matrix network of grains vary in different corn varieties. The Objectives of this study were to evaluate physical and chemical properties, gas fermentation parameters, starch digestibility and starch granules structure in Iranian corn grain Single cross 702 in comparison with different kind of imported corn grains (Russia, Ukraine and Brazil).  

 Corn grain samples (Single cross 702, Russia, Ukraine and Brazil) were obtained from Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Mashhad, Iran. The apparent density was measured and the samples were analyzed for DM, OM, CP, EE, NDF, ADF, starch. Gas production was conducted in a 125 ml amber flask with three series of incubation. Gas production parameters were calculated. Also, rumen, intestine and total tract digestibility of DM, starch and CP were determined by using the in situ mobile bag procedure. Different parameters of damaged starch (the absorption of iodine, Ai%; damaged starch content in UCD, Chopin units; UCDc, Chopin units on protein basis matter) were determined using the amperometry method (Chopin, ZI Val de Sein, 92390 VLG, France). Starch gelatinization was determined according to the enzymatic procedure (AACC Method 76-31.01; K-SDAM, 09/2018). Scanning electron microscope (LEO 1450 VP, USA), at an accelerating voltage of 25 kV, and under 2500x magnification to study the grain structure was done. Data were analyzed by GLM procedure of SAS with a completely randomized design.

Apparent shape of Single cross 702 was smaller than other corn varieties. Apparent density was higher in Brazil corn than other corn varieties. DM, OM and EE were not shown significantly difference between corn varieties; however, CP, ADF, NDF, starch, NFC, TDN, NEg and NEl were significantly affected by different corn varieties. Starch in Single cross 702 corn (69.03%) was significantly lower than Russia (71.04%), Ukraine (70.36%) and Brazil (71.49%) corns. Asymptote gas production (A) was not influenced by different corn varieties; however, the real gas production in time 24 and 48 h incubation in Brazil, Russia and Single cross 702 corns was greater than Ukraine corn. The instant rate of gas production until 8 h incubation in Single cross 702 and Russia corns was greater than Ukraine and Brazil corns. The time for fermentation of 25 and 75% of substrate in Single cross 702 and Russia corns were significantly reduced than other corn varieties. The PH, NH3-N and total VFA of bath culture in 24 h didn’t influence by corn varieties, however acetate to propionate ratio in Brazil corn was greater than other corns. In spite of that the rumen starch digestibility of Single cross 702 (61.59%) and Russia (59.51%) was increased than Ukraine (45.31%) and Brazil (40.51%) corns; however, Ukraine (97/.06%) and Brazil (98.39%) corns showed the intestine starch digestibility greater than Single cross 702 (93.79%) and Russia (93.87 %) corns. The starch gelatinization in both of Single cross 702 (4.24%) and Russia (4.17%) was greater than Ukraine (3.78%) and Brazil (3.32%) corns. The scanning electron microscopy showed that the starch granules size was not uniform in the Single cross 702 corn and the number of small starch granules was greater than other corn varieties. Also, the thin protein matrix was observed in the Single cross 702 corn. In contrast, the starch granules size in the Russia and Ukraine corns were larger and uniform. In Brazil corn, the starch granules were arranged with greater density and a non-smooth surface was observed on the granules. Many studies were done on nutrient value of different corn varieties. Numerous factors can affect the grain chemical composition, physical properties and starch availability on corn grain that include cell wall structure, type of endosperm (floury or vitreous), starch granules and protein matrix, genetic and environment. Corns contain higher floury to horny starch ratio showed greater starch gelatinization and greater starch digestibility in the rumen and total tract. Findings of this study represent the Single cross 702 and Russia corns showed higher gas production, rate of gas production, starch gelatinization and rumen digestibility of starch than Brazil corn. Conclusion It is concluded that the Single cross 702 corn in terms of flurry endosperm, gas production, gas production rate, starch gelatinization and rumen digestibility of starch was similar to Russia corn, although the structure of starch granules was different. Brazil corn had a horny endosperm and showed lower rate of gas production in initial hours of incubation, lower starch gelatinization and higher intestine digestibility of starch than other corns. It generally seems that the result of this study and similar studies can offer useful information about corn grain for farmers and the animal feed manufactures for processing of corn.

Sheep satellite cells more than satellite cells of the rat and mouse are similar to human satellite cells. These cells are widely used in the modeling and treatment of diseases like heart insufficiency, neurological diseases, muscular dystrophy, cerebral cell transplantation for the treatment of migraines, screening, and the production of new drugs. This study was aimed to isolate and culture primary satellite cells (PSCs) obtained from sheep fetus, and perform clonal expansion of transfected PSCs. Skeletal muscle tissues of hind limbs were collected from sheep fetuses obtained from a local abattoir. After enzymatic digestion, flasks were replaced after 3 hours to isolate non-myogenic cells, such as fibroblasts. After six days, the cells were differentiated to myoblasts. Using a differentiation medium containing the horse serum, myotube cells were observed in the flask, indicating that the cultured cells were satellite cells. The mRNA expression of the PAX7 gene was used to confirm the presence of satellite cells. In addition, the results showed that satellite cells grow in a culture medium containing 5% FBS without differentiation, while 10% FBS initiates their differentiation.

This work presents a quantitative predicting likely acid mine drainage (AMD) generation process throughout tailing particles resulting from the Sarcheshmeh copper mine in the south of Iran. Indeed, four predictive relationships for the remaining pyrite fraction, remaining chalcopyrite fraction, sulfate concentration, and pH have been suggested by applying the gene expression programming (GEP) algorithms. For this, after gathering an appropriate database, some of the most significant parameters such as the tailing particle depths, initial remaining pyrite and chalcopyrite fractions, and concentrations of bicarbonate, nitrite, nitrate, and chloride are considered as the input data. Then 30% of the data is chosen as the training data randomly, while the validation data is included in 70% of the dataset. Subsequently, the relationships are proposed using GEP. The high values of correlation coefficients (0.92, 0.91, 0.86, and 0.89) as well as the low values of RMS errors (0.140, 0.014, 150.301, and 0.543) for the remaining pyrite fraction, remaining chalcopyrite fraction, sulfate concentration, and pH prove that these relationships can be successfully validated. The results obtained also reveal that GEP can be applied as a new-fangled method in order to predict the AMD generation process.

Animal production is not only restricted to food products but some therapeutics such as bovine pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase A) (15). The RNase A is known as a powerful enzyme in ribonuclease family that is used in biotechnology industry (1). It has a potential to be used as an immunotoxin although there are two main reasons that RNase A is not suitable for immunotoxin engineering. The lack of ability to evade ribonuclease inhibitor (RI) and very weak cell penetration, which are essential properties for an immunotoxin (1). One of the small member of ribonuclease family is ranpirnase, originated from the Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) that has suitable charateristics for immunotoxin engineering (24, 29). It was showed that Ranpirnase cytotoxicity was five times less than RNase A (26). Therefore, detection of enzyme properties of RNase A and Ranpirnase could be useful for engineering efficient immunotoxins from Ranpirnase. The aim of this study was in silico engineering of Ranpirnase enzyme based on properties of RNase A to design an efficient immunotoxin with the high cell penetration, low cytotoxicity, ability to evade RI and structural stability.

 All protein structures required for performing this study were extracted from Protein Data Bank (PDB) (http://www.rcsb.org). The PDB files related to ribonuclease inhibitor (RI) with accession number of (10.2210/pdb2BNH/pdb), the PDB file related to ribonuclease inhibitor bonded to RNase A enzyme with accession number of (10.2210/pdb1DFJ/pdb), the PDB file related to Ranpirnase enzyme (pdb1YV6/pdb/10.2210) and the PDB file of RNase A enzyme with accession number of (10.2210/pdb2K11/pdb) were selected. PyMOL Software and ClusPro online server were used for docking mentioned enzymes with ribonuclease inhibitor. In PyMOL Software (ver 1.8x), RNase enzyme of PDB file related to ribonuclease inhibitor connected to RNase A enzyme (10.2210/pdb2BNH/pdb) was manually replaced by ranpirnase enzyme. Also, docking prediction related to each enzyme with enzymatic inhibitor was performed by introducing ligand and receptor to ClusPro Software. Then, obtained results were used in molecular dynamic (MD) studies. All stages of MD simulation were performed using GROMACS Software (version 5) in Linux 17.2 environment and CHARMM force filed (27). In summary, protein structures of this study were placed in a cube box filling with more than 6700 water molecules. Ionization was performed to achieve the natural pH of the environment. Extra charge of the system was adjusted by adding appropriate number of ions to the distance of 7 angstrom of protein surface. Minimizing system energy was performed at 300 K for 20 ps. The length of all bonds was limited by Links. Newton's equation of motion matched with a 2fs time interval and atomic characteristics for every 0.5 ps were stored to be analyzed. Dielectric stability is considered to be 1. Simulated temperature is 300 K. A 4-ps simulation at 300 K was performed to investigate dynamic condition of ranpirnase and ribonuclease inhibitor, pancreatic RNase with ribonuclease inhibitor. The structural stability of the simulation was assessed using several geometric parameters per unit time such as: Root mean square deviations (RMSD), root mean square fluctuations (RMSF), and gyration radius. Also, protein structures at different time points were analyzed using PyMOL and VMD computer programs.

 Since the topological structures of ranpirnase enzyme and RNase A are similar, it was expected that binding of RI with ranpirnase enzyme is similar to RNase A enzyme. The docking results showed that RNase A enzyme was bonded to RI through 19 amino acids. This binding with RI is through 5 amino acids for ranpirnase enzyme. The glutamine 11 and serine 89 were most important residue that bonded to RI in RNase A. We found that pyroglutamine 1 and serine 72 are the homolog residue in ranpirnase. The ranpirnase ability to evade RI was obtained with mutation S72A and cytotoxicity and cell penetrate were achieved by K45R, K49R, L55R mutations. The molecular dynamic simulation confirmed the stability of mutant ranpirnase by RMSD, RMSF and Vg analysis. Also, protein charge of surface in mutant ranpirnase was increased in compare to the native ranpirnase.

It was reported previously that ranpirnase enzyme is able to evade RI but our modeling results demonstrated that RI could bind with ranpirnase. The ranpirnase with 4 mutations (K45R, K49R, L55R and S72A) seemed to be more efficient as a suitable toxin and had favorable properties such as evading from RI, cell penetrate, cytotoxicity and protein stability in comparison of native enzyme. Also, we optimized a new approach for designing and engineering of immunotoxins.

In each project, there is always a possibility of occurrence of hazards and risks. Accidents cause many damages such as financial and psychological problems, that may have a negative effect on the workers life. To prevent or reduce the occurrence of incidents, it is necessary to identify and manage the relevant affecting factors. Blasting is one of the events that has frequently led to accidents. In this paper, 13 factors affecting the occurrence of blasting related accidents in the mining and construction projects, have been selected according to the opinion of experts and ranked to identify the most important one. For this purpose, Monte Carlo simulation method and analytical hierarchy process method were implemented. The factors were ranked based on the opinion of 15 experts in this field. Finally, based on the obtained results, inappropriate blasting time, unprofessional personnel were selected as the most important factors. Also, blasting pattern specifications, type of explosive and rock mass characteristics have the least effect in this regard. Validity of the paper outcomes was checked with comparing the real recorded events.

Among the birds, chicken was the model used in the majority of studies on germ cells and other birds like quail, turkey and pheasant had some interest but ostrich has been lacking from these researches.

The present study was conducted to confirm the presence of ostrich primordial germ cells (PGCs) in the embryonic blood and to determine the appropriate time for having them in the blood.

Embryos were extracted in embryonic day (E) 6-12, their blood was obtained and the rest of the embryos were processed for histological examinations. Staining by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) method and immunohistochemistry (IHC) using stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 (SSEA1) and stage-specific embryonic antigen 4 (SSEA4) antibodies (Abs) were used for identification of the PGCs.

While the blood circulating ostrich PGCs were SSEA1-negative and SSEA4-positive, in the presumptive gonads PGCs showed negative immunoreactivity for both Abs. Although the ostrich PGCs were PAS-positive in both blood and presumptive gonad, their PAS-positive contents reduced during development from E 10 to E 12.

E 9, when the hind limb buds appear, is the best time for detecting PGCs in the ostrich embryonic blood.

Ground vibration is one of the most unfavorable consequences of the blasting operation in open pit mines, which assign about 40 percent of explosive energy. Ground vibration may cause some unsuitable effects such as destroying the surface structures, damaging the free face and generate back breaks, generating the over-size boulders and imposing additional costs to the mine because of the secondary blasting. Optimum blasting pattern design can help to reduce the above mentioned problems. Due to multiplicity of effective parameters and complexity of interactions among these parameters, empirical methods may not be fully appropriate for blasting pattern design. In this paper, using a combination of the Grey analysis and Genetic algorithm, addition to developing a new equation for estimating the ground vibration in Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine, blasting pattern is presented. The results show that with applying the proposed blasting pattern the average ground vibration will be decreased about 55 percent.

Summary In this research, the Block Economic Value (BEV) and project NPV in an open-pit mine has been analyzed probabilistically by using the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method to deal with the uncertainties in the nature of the most important economic parameters including metal price and operational costs. The results showed that the outcomes are closer to the reality by this method compared to the results of the classic methods.
Introduction The basic input in the process of open-pit limit optimization is a set of block values representing the net economic worth of each block. Based on the estimated block economic values (BEV’s), the optimizer selects the optimum destination of each block in order to maximize the overall pit value under some given technical constraints. A dollar value is usually assigned to each block by estimating the revenue of recoverable metal at a given fixed metal price and subtracting applicable mining, processing and other costs. The variation trend of metals price and mining costs over the years shows that deterministic assumptions for values of such parameters will result in errors in the process of BEV calculation. The effective parameters such as metal price, operating costs, grade etc. are always assumed deterministic in the conventional methods of BEV calculation. While, these parameters have, obviously, uncertain nature.
Methodology and Approaches In this paper, the BEV and project NPV were initially determined using Whittle’s formula based on deterministic economic parameters. Then the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method was employed and the economic uncertainties such as the metal price and cost uncertainties were taken into account. The economic data of Grassberg Copper Mine were utilized to achieve this goal.
Results and Conclusions The results showed that the Monte Carlo simulation method is highly capable of estimation of economic uncertainties. The estimated block economic values using this method are closer to the actual values compared to other methods and the error percentage is lower. As well, it was observed that the net present values obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation are closer to the reality compared to the other calculations.

Cellular processes can be controlled by induction or repression of gene expression by introduction of exogenous genes and RNA interference (RNAi), respectively. However, the use of recently-developed specific DNA-binding transcription factors offer various advantages when compared to the exogenous gene introduction and RNAi for up or down regulation of gene expression. Sox2 gene encodes one of the most important transcription factors involved in the pluripotency state of mammalian cells. In this study the potential use of Transcription Activator-Like Effector-Transcription Factors (TALE-TFs) for endogenous up-regulation of Sox2 gene in cattle fibroblast cells were examined. At first, a 320 base pair region of bovine Sox2 gene were sequenced and showed a 93.44% identity with its human orthologs. Based on the sequencing results, a previously reported Sox2-TALE-TF for human Sox2 gene was used for testing the functionality of TALE-TFs in cattle fibroblast cells. Cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 50 µg/ml Penicillin and Streptomycin (Invitrogen), 1% non-essential amino acids, and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). For detecting the Sox2-TALE-TF activity the qRT-PCR technique and a florescent based reporter system under the control of minCMV promoter were used. For quantitative RT-PCR analysis of Sox2 mRNA levels, the cells were lysed, and total RNA isolated by using the RNeasy kit (Qiagen Inc.) and subsequently cleaned up with Turbo DNase (Ambion) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Reverse transcription reaction was carried out using SuperScript™ III First-Strand Synthesis System for RT-PCR (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Real-time PCR analysis was performed on the 7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR system (Applied Biosystems) at standard reaction conditions using Power SYBR Green PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems). Briefly, after a 2 min denaturation at 95 °C, 40 cycles carried out at 95 °C for 15 s, 58 °C for 30 s and 72 °C for 30 s. Relative mRNA levels calculated with the ∆∆CT method were analyzed using SDS Version 2.4.1 software. Data presented are from an experiment with three replicates. A set of known and as yet not understood molecular mechanisms regulate the expression of genes at (post-) transcription and (post-) translation stages in eukaryotic cells. It is generally agreed that there are three main routes of influence including; 1) combinatorial fashion of regulators and DNA 2) modulation through interaction of a control factor with the transcription machinery and 3) epigenetic modifications, are responsible for regulating gene transcription in various cell types. As a result of these mechanisms, the Sox2 gene is differentially expressed in a variety of embryonic cells and adult differentiated cell types. We choose the Sox2 gene for testing TALE-TF functionality in cattle fibroblast cells due to its well-known promoter structure as well as the lack of the evidence of methylation in the immediate regulatory regions. Our data shows that the Sox2 gene already has a basal level of expression in cattle fibroblast cells, indicating that Sox2 promoter has some activity in bovine fibroblast cells. As a proof of concept, we first tested activity of Sox2-TALE-TF in HEK293 cells. Florescent microscopy results showed that minCMV promoter has high level of activity in cattle fibroblast so it would not be considered as a suitable reporter of TALE-TF functionality. Analysis of qRT-PCR results for sox2 gene in cattle fibroblast, however, showed that Sox2 expression has been increased by 3.529 fold changes in transfected cells. Several mammalian genes have reportedly been targeted with TALE-TFs, however, fold changes in abundance of targeted gene transcripts rarely is above 5 times when individual TALE-TFs were tested. A number of factors affecting TALE-TFs activity have been reported, however, due to cell type specific chromatin state, multiple cis- and trans-acting regulatory elements and epigenetic modifications are involved in the regulation of gene expression, therefore it is very difficult to predict the efficacy of a TALE-TFs without experimental validation. In summary current study indicated that TALE-TFs as artificial transcription factors have the ability to increase the endogenous expression of genes in cattle fibroblast cells.

The scFvs (single-chain fragment variable) are popular recombinant antibody formats that are produced by advanced molecular biology and genetic engineering techniques. Moreover, HER2-ECD recognized as a suitable target for a wide range of cancer cells. The current study was accomplished for isolation of specific scFv antibodies. To isolate specific scFv fragments from phage library, phage display technology was carried out by coating HER2 extra cellular domain (HER2-ECD) protein onto an immuno tube. The resultant scFv antibodies were expressed in Escherichia coli TG1. The recombinant products were purified by metal affinity chromatography against His-tag. These scFvs were characterized for binding to HER2-ECD by western blot, biosensor surface resonance and flow cytometry assays. After three rounds of panning against HER2-ECD protein yielded three different scFv fragments that confirmed by subsequent DNA sequencing. The kinetic results indicated that all of isolated scFvs had binding tendency to HER2-ECD on micro molar to nano molar range. Western blot and flow cytometry results demonstrated that all of isolated scFvs have had binding tendency to HER2-ECD. Phage display is a powerful tool for isolate promising scFv clones that bind specifically to the HER2 receptor, a cell surface of breast cancer antigen.

Diabetes as a metabolic disorder affects different tissues and organs، among them the female reproductive tract such as uterus may be a vulnerable organ. This study was undertaken to study the effects of hyperglycemia and insulin therapy on uterus structure، estrous cycle and serum levels of pituitary and ovarian hormones in Wistar rats. Twenty-four female Wistar rats (180-200g) were randomly divided in: control، sham (Citrate buffer i. p)، hyperglycemic (Streptozotocin; 60 mg/kg، i. p) and hyperglycemic+insulin (insulin 20 IU/Kg/day; s. c). At the end of experiment (36 Days) and in diestrus stage، all rats were weighted and blood samples were collected. Thereafter، their right uterus horn was taken out، weighted and then the middle third part of uterine horn was sampled and fixed (Bouein). After histological preparation، the histological and histomorphometrical examination of uterus was performed. Although in comparison with control and hyperglycemic+insulin groups، in hyperglycemic rats body weight، uterus weight and volume، endometrium and myometrium volume were dramatically decreased (p<0. 001) and the serum level of progesterone significantly increased (p<0. 001)، vascular dilation and infiltrating cells resembling plasma cell was also observed. No significant difference was seen between control and insulin treated group for the above parameters. Insulin deficiency، oxidative stress and alteration in the HPG axis which occurs in hyperglycemic condition، may affect the uterus structure. The observed structural changes might well play a significant role in the reproductive difficulties observed during hyperglycemia

Phytase (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate) is the hydrolysis enzyme of phytic acid that produces inorganic phosphate. The gene phyC encoding phytase was isolated from Bacillus subtilis ATCC12711 genomic library and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence of the phytase gene contained an open reading frame of 1089 bp, which codes for 90 bp signal peptide and a mature protein with a deduced molecular mass of 42 kDa. Target gene was inserted in pET32a (+) as expression vector and transformed to Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) as host expression. The fusion phytase phyC-Trx gene was successfully overexpressed in E. coli as an active and cytoplasmic phytase. Recombinant protein production was induced with 1mM IPTG in shaking flasks at 300C in presence of 10 mM calcium. Samples were taken at 0-5 h after induction by 1 hour time intervals, and then protein electrophoresis was done. phyC-Trx protein was expressed in the cytoplasm of E. coli successfully. Molecular weight of recombinant phytas was estimated about 64 kDa. Phytase activity was 7.44 U/ml with using standard phosphates method. Optimum pH for the degradation of phytate was 7. The results of current study showed that thermal stability and cost effective production make this enzyme attractive for using in feed supplements.

Co-culture systems have been used to increase the quality of in vitro-produced mammalian embryos, to simulate the in vivo conditions, to support in vitro culture media, and to decrease the level of environmental and metabolic stresses on the in vitro-cultured embryos. The specific objectives of this research were to evaluate the effects of bovine oviduct epithelial cell (BOEC) co-culture on the in vitro fertilization and in vitro development of bovine preimplantation embryos. First, in vitro matured oocytes were fertilized and cultured in different media in the presence and the absence of BOEC cells. Development of these embryos were evaluated and compared at 4-cell, 8-cell, and blastocyst stages. The medium TCM-199 plus BOEC co-culture had the best performance in supporting the development of 4-cell, 8-cell, and blastocyst embryos. Co-culture with BOEC cells during in vitro fertilization, also resulted in an increase in the rate of 2-cell embryo production. The percentage of 2-cell embryos produced in TCM-199+BOEC cells was significantly higher (72.17%) than that in TCM (53.6%), SOF (61.5%), and KSOM media (42%) without BOEC co-culture. To evaluate the net effects of SOF and TCM-199 media apart from the effects of co-cultured cells, the presumably fertilized oocytes were cultured in two groups; SOF and TCM-199, and their development to the blastocyst stage was recorded at different hours post fertilization. Although, TCM-199 medium supported the development of early stages slightly better than SOF, the situation reversed after 16-cell stage and the number of morula and blastocyst stage embryos was significantly higher in SOF medium. Results of this research show that co-culture with BOEC cells increases the efficiency of in vitro fertilization and the number of embryos produced at different stages of preimplantation. In the absence of co-culture conditions, SOF medium overall is a better medium than TCM-199 for the in vitro culture of preimplantation bovine embryo.