علی متولی

The world’s growing population has led to an inevitable increase in energy demand, and this, in addition to the depletion of non-renewable energy sources, can lead to several environmental issues. Wind power has proven to be a reliable and sustainable source of electricity, particularly in light of the pressing need to mitigate environmental impact and promote the use of renewable energy. The purpose of this research is to investigate and compare the environmental effects of electricity production from two wind power plants, Aqkand and Kahak, using wind turbines with a capacity of 2.5 megawatts for a period of three different lifetimes (20, 25, and 30 years).

The present study investigates the environmental effects of electricity generation during the life cycle of wind farms (Kahak and Aqkand) during the construction and operation of these power plants and the cumulative exergy demand index. The specifications of the wind turbines used in the current research are: turbine capacity of 2.5 MW, rotor diameter of 103 meters, rotor weight of 56 tonnes, three blades, each blade is 50.3 meters long and weighs 34.8 tonnes. The turbines are manufactured by Mapna and used in dry conditions. A functional unit of one kilowatt of electricity was selected and the data were analyzed in SIMAPRO software using IMPACT2002+ method with 15 midpoint indicators and four final indicators.

The results showed that the stage of raw materials and production has the highest impact on the creation of midpoint indicators, which is due to extraction, manufacturing, and production of parts such as steel casting using non-renewable energy and activities such as high-temperature welding. The total environmental index of Aqkand and Kahak wind power plants for 1 kWh of generated electricity was 5.84 and 4.45 μPt respectively, more than half of which belongs to the damage to human health category. The investigation of the ionizing radiation index showed that the use of diesel fuel in the installation phase resulted in the highest amount of emissions in both of the power plants, so the share of pollutant emissions in the raw materials and production phase is more than 40%, and in the installation phase due to diesel fuel consumption was more than 48%. The investigation of the eutrophication index showed that the raw materials and production stage accounted for more than 95% of the damage to the ecosystem quality category, and in the meantime, copper and electrical components had the highest amount of contribution to the raw materials and production stage. Additionally, diesel fuel accounted for the largest part of the result in the installation stage, and the transportation and maintenance stage included less than 1% of this result. The investigation of the renewable energy consumption index showed that the stage of raw materials and turbine production in the Aqkand power plant with a share of 68% and the Kahak power plant with a share of 70% had the greatest effect on the category of resource damage. Also, the installation and commissioning phase was the second most effective factor in the category of resource damage due to the use of diesel fuel. The study of the cumulative exergy demand index showed that non-renewable-fossil resources had the largest share in exergy demand (0.15 MJ) to produce one kilowatt of electricity generated from power plants.

In this study, the results showed that in both plants, about 70% of various respiratory effects, 60% of human health issues, and 25% of acidification and global warming are caused in the raw materials and manufacturing phase. Furthermore, the installation phase is responsible for 17% and 16% of climate change in the Aqkand and Kahak power plants respectively, and between 14% and 26% of other environmental factors.

This study investigates the life cycle assessment of cucumber greenhouse production in four cities, Karaj, Hashtgerd, Nazarabad, and Eshtehard, during the crop year 2016-2017, using three energy production systems: conventional (using electricity from fossil fuel sources and diesel for greenhouse heating), photovoltaic, and photovoltaic-thermal. The equivalent amounts of energy consumption were calculated and simulated using TRNSYS software to determine the fuel and electricity requirements of the photovoltaic and photovoltaic-thermal systems. In the next step, IMPACT2002+ method was used to investigate the pollution incidence in the scenarios for cucumber production. The results of life cycle assessments showed that in all photovoltaic system damage categories, the emissions were the least. In addition, the results showed that the total emissions were the highest in the conventional system, followed by the photovoltaic thermal system in the next well. Simulation of solar systems also showed the maximum number of panels needed for photovoltaic and photovoltaic-thermal systems in greenhouse production of 160 and 159 in order to cultivate one ha of cucumber greenhouse production. The life cycle assessment results showed that in all damage categories of the photovoltaic solar system, it has the lowest emission. Also, in the three systems, diesel fuel, photovoltaic and photovoltaic-thermal systems and in parallel with in-field emissions, have the highest share in the injury category emissions. The results showed that the highest level of damage categories, include of human health and ecosystem quality, are 0.005 DALY and 9215 PDF*m2*yr, respectively, in the scenario of energy production using the photovoltaic system and in the damage categories, include of climate change and resource amount of 6629 kg CO2 eq. and 145446 MJ primary were obtained using the conventional energy production system. Results showed that the photovoltaic solar system was the best scenario in all three scenarios.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important food resources of more than half of the world's population. Rice, as the second most strategic crop, is the most important cereal after wheat. Excessive use of renewable and non-renewable resources in the agricultural sector, chemical control of rice diseases, and irreparable environmental damage of these systems potentially have a variety of environmental impacts on agricultural systems, such effects can be assessed by the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The purpose of the present research is to assess of knowing and comparing the trend of environmental pressure of the second and ratoon cropping systems of rice production in the paddy fields.

This research was conducted in 2020 in the paddy fields of Amol city with the focus on recognizing and comparing the trend of environmental pressure in rice production in the second and ratoon cropping systems. Accordingly, all data related to the second and ratoon rice cropping systems in different stages of rice production, from planting to harvesting phases, was collected in Amol region. In this study, to classify and quantify the environmental effects of rice production in two cropping systems using the LCA method are addressed. Furthermore, the environmental impacts of these systems such as global warming potential, eutrophication, and acidification of water and soil were also calculated. In this study, the functional unit of rice production systems were considered equivalent to one ton of paddy. Therefore, in order to evaluate the emission of greenhouse gases and energy in paddy fields, the required information was collected and interviewed by paddy farmers.

The findings of this study indicated that the highest global warming potential of rice was related to the rice second cropping system about 1896.92 kg carbon dioxide per ton of produced rice. Evaluation of the LCA in rice production process showed that in the group of environmental impact of global warming, about 1673.99 kg equivalent of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere has been released per ton of rice in ratoon cropping system. Direct emissions from on-farm activities in all two studied systems have played a major role in increasing global warming. The source of these pollutants is the combustion of diesel used in agricultural implements and machinery, accompanied by the emission of nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other nitrogenous compounds resulting from the use of nitrogen fertilizers. Also, rice second cropping systems had a greater impact on the three categories of human health damage, ecosystem quality, and climate change than ratoon cropping systems. Moreover, the values of damages on the quality of the ecosystem in these systems were about 10089.08 and 7146.58 PDF*m2 * yr in the second and ratoon cropping systems, respectively. In addition, both rice production systems have shown the greatest impact on ecosystem quality and then on human health. Direct emissions from on-farm activities in the two studied systems have played a major role in increasing global warming. The source of these pollutants is the combustion of diesel used in agricultural implements and machinery, as well as the emission of nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other nitrogenous compounds resulting from the use of nitrogen fertilizer.

The results revealed that the rice second cropping system had the higher amount of total emissions than the ratoon cropping system, therefore, rice ratoon production system is more environmentally friendly than the rice second cropping systems.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Sari Agricultural Sciences and the Natural Resources University (SANRU) under contract No. d-110-99-16690. We would also like to thank the esteemed rice farmers in Amol region, Mazandaran province, Iran for their cooperation.

Biomasses are one of the major sources of renewable energy and suitable alternatives to fossil fuels. An application for biomass energy is fuel pellets which are made from agricultural waste, plant residues and manure, are compacted and contain higher energy per unit of volume. In this research, different proportions of pellets were prepared from two types of rice straw biomass and sugarcane bagasse (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) and their combination with natural binders (frankincense, Arabic gum, eremurus) at three levels (5%, 10%, 15%). The effect of these variables were investigated on the density, fracture resistance, stability and calorific value of the manufactured fuel pellets. The comparison of results means showed that the optimum proportion for fuel pellet production is a combination of 75% sugarcane bagasse and 25% rice straw, which combined with the frankincense natural binder. This proportion has the highest failure strength, durability, and heating value at 15% binder level.

Due to the negative effects of agricultural production activities on the environment, especially water and soil pollution, one of the most important decisions in the agricultural sector is the optimal allocation of resources. This decision should be in such a way that while maximizing the profit of farmers, it will result in less environmental effects. This action is often done by determining the optimal cropping pattern (CP). In this research, by quantifying the economic, social and environmental effects, a compatible CP with agricultural resources was presented by using a multi-objective planning model.

The social effects of different agricultural crops were calculated using various indicators such as social solidarity, social security, participation and quality of life through interviews with farmers. The environmental effects and economic efficiency of the CP were also considered through the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) and gross margin per ha, respectively. Further, by calculating socio-economic and environmental indicators, the optimal CP was formulated by developing a multi-objective function based on maximizing profit, reducing water and fertilizer consumption, reducing negative environmental effects of production and improving social indicators. In order to solve the multiple programming model, the method of weighted LP-metric model was used. The information required in this study included information on the production pattern, consumption of inputs, price and yeild of major agricultural crops of Sari County.

The results showed that considering the social indicators, the least attention of the farmers was related to corn and onion, and the five priority crops were identified as wheat, cotton, lentils, rice and canola, respectively. The results of LCA showed that the cultivation of tobacco, canola and corn in this city have the most negative environmental effects. In the optimal CP by combining economic, social and environmental goals, alfalfa, cotton and corn were removed from the stydy area, and the cultivated area of cucumber and clover showed positive changes compared to the current pattern. Also, the cultivated area of the cereal decreaseed in the areaChanges in the cultivated area of barley were predicted more than wheat and rice. The total cultivated area reduced by 15%, resulting in 12.91% and 14.46% reduction in water and fertilizer consumption, respectively. In addition, the efficiency of the program in the studied area decreased by 12.97%.

The development of environmental goals in the implementation of CP programs requires that policymakers consider appropriate economic incentives for farmers. Therefore, policy makers should find suitable solutions to make the farmers to follow the proposed CP.

The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of basil, sage and chitosan edible coatings on the physicochemical properties of microwave-dried apple slices. In this study, apple fruit slices were coated with basil, sage and chitosan in three concentrations (0, 0.5 and 1%) and dried at different microwave powers (90, 180 and 360 W). The drying kinetics, color, texture and antioxidant activity of apple slices were investigated. The analysis of the data indicated that the drying of the apple slices happened only in the range of the descending speed period. These data were fitted with 7 different experimental models, among the models, the most suitable models for basil, sage and chitosan coatings were Midili, Approximation of diffusion and Verma, respectively. Midili was able to predict moisture content more accurately than other models. Also, the amount of brightness, adhesivenes, cohesiveness and antioxidant activity increased with the increase of coating concentration and microwave power, but the amount of redness, yellowness, browning, general color change and hardness decreased. In general, edible coating is one of the new methods that increases the shelf life and quality of the final product. Therefore, it is recommended to treat fruits using edible coatings to increase the appearance quality and improve the color at the end of the drying process.

The need to change the economic system to ensure that it does not exceed environmental limits creates many efforts to address sustainability issues. In this context, the circular economy model is expanding at the political, commercial, and academic levels. Therefore, the main goal of the current research is to identify the factors affecting the realization of entrepreneurial ecotourism based on a circular economy. In this regard; 152 articles were identified from the authoritative Google Scholar database, and after applying various filters, 14 articles that were most related to the topic in terms of title, abstract, methodology, and text were selected and analyzed using a Meta-synthesis approach. 62 open codes were counted in the form of 7 core codes. The extracted classes were presented in three stages: pre-travel (empowerment and value creation), during travel (technological and bio-oriented), and post-travel(recycling and sustainability).

 Rice, as the second most strategic crop, is the most important cereal after wheat. In Iran, rice is so essential that people consume it as part of their main meal at least once a day. Due to the increase in consumption inputs in conventional paddy systems, chemical control of rice diseases and consequently increase in consumption costs, irreparable environmental damage of these systems, always adds to the need to pay attention to alternative systems. Prediction of agricultural energy output and environmental impacts play the most important role in conservation of environment as well as energy management. A wide range of methods tapping into environmental performances related to agricultural activities have been proposed, among which the known life cycle assessment (LCA) method is deemed mostly employed. As a standard method which aims for holistic evaluation of the environmental resources and impact, LCA measures the process of a product's entire life cycle, or in other words, the analysis of the possible environmental impacts any product bears during their life would be assessed by LCA.

 This research was conducted in rice fields located in Mazandaran province in Babol, Fereydounkenar, and Amol counties as the main rice paddy center of Mazandaran province, in 2019 cropping season. Each of the systems was examined in terms of energy components and environmental impacts. In this study, to classify and quantify the environmental effects of rice production in various cropping systems using LCA method and also the energy components and energy efficiency in these systems are addressed. Therefore, in order to evaluate the emission of greenhouse gases and energy in paddy fields, the required information was randomly collected some farms through direct interviews with the rice growers of Mazandaran. In this regard, the sample size is calculated by using Cochran's formula.

 The findings of this study showed that the maximum amount of input energy equal to 60225.42 MJ / ha in conventional systems and the minimum values of 18662.14 MJ / ha were allocated to the organic system. Diesel fuel input energy had the largest share of total input energy. The highest energy efficiency of 0.17 kg per MJ and energy ratio of 2.57 was allocated to the organic system. Also, the evaluation of life cycle in rice production showed that in the global warming group of environmental impact by CML2 baseline method, for each ton of paddy produced in conventional, low-input and organic systems, respectively, about 2408.90, / 85.90, respectively. 1777 and 7993/1193 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere are released. Direct emissions from on-farm activities in all three studied systems have played a major role in increasing global warming. The source of these pollutants is the combustion of diesel used in agricultural implements and machinery, as well as the emission of nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other nitrogenous compounds resulting from the use of nitrogen fertilizer.

 According to the results of this research work, from the environmental perspective, organic system has highly the best potential of being recommended following by low external input system in order to reach environmentally friendly agriculture as sustainable cultural operations in comparison with conventional cultivation practices. Farther, the results showed that the conventional system had the highest amount of total emissions and then the low input system is in the next position. Obviously, the organic system is the most environmentally friendly system and the conventional system has the highest amount of emissions. In order to give a broader evaluation of the organic and some low input systems, studies on such issues should be highly continued.

Philosophy of medicine is the overlap of the philosophy and medicine disciplines. It examines the underlying concepts of the overt and covert phenomena of medicine and the associations among them by inquiring fundamental questions. In this review, we have tried to evaluate the various aspects of philosophy and medicine, explain the necessity of integrated teaching of these disciplines, and analyze the state of medical philosophy education in Iran and around the world, in order to emphasize on the importance of this issue and provide practical solutions to eliminate the current limitations.

A comprehensive search was conducted in the Magiran, SID, Noormags, Iranmedex, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Embase databases, using the keywords related to philosophy, ethics, education, teaching, medicine, medical sciences, and their Persian equivalents. The records were extracted till the end of Bahman 1399 for Persian databases, and till the end of February 2021 for English databases. The articles were reviewed based on their consistency with the research subject, and all related articles were evaluated and critically reviewed. After classifying the results, determining the articles' differences, and with reference to the previous studies, the research components were defined and analyzed.

After extracting the chief components related to the research subject and matching its key concepts among the selected articles, the research results were ultimately presented in four topics, including the definition of the philosophy of medicine, the state of medical philosophy worldwide, philosophy of medicine in Iran, and the approaches to integrate the philosophy and the medical education.

By valuing the worthiness and the morals of medical philosophy, we can be rewarded with the advantages of integrated medical education and philosophy. The results of the previous academic courses in medical philosophy in educational centers around the world confirm the benefits of integrating philosophy into medical education.

Closing the gap between actual yields which are currently obtained from the fields (actual field yields) and the maximum yields that can be achieved under favorable management conditions (attainable yield) is one of the most critical problems in crop production in Iran and the world. Quantifying the yield gap and identifying its primary causes for this purpose can be a key and promising strategy to increase production per unit area and to achieve food security. Meanwhile, considering the importance of oilseeds like soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merril] in the global economy and the need for edible oils and vegetable proteins, estimating and identifying the causes of the yield gap, while increasing production, it can improve land use and labor efficiency, and leads to costs saving and sustainable production. In this way, a survey study was conducted in 2019 to identify and determine the share of each of the managerial factors affecting the soybean yield gap in 301 farms in Mazandaran province.

In the present survey, CPA method was used to investigate the decision-making factors which limit soybean yield and to estimate its yield gap in 13 soybean cultivated cities of Mazandaran province. For this purpose, all information relevant to crop management, from seedbed preparation to harvesting, was gathered through interviews with 301 soybean producers. These management factors included items such as use or non-use of a plow, number of secondary tillage, planting method, field area, previous crop, the used cultivar, seed rate and its preparation site, inoculation/non-inoculation of seeds with N-fixing bacteria, type and the amount of fertilizers, type, amount, and number of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides usages, number of irrigations and the amount of used water, irrigation type and harvesting methods. Field monitoring data included 81 quantitative and qualitative crop management variables that the relationship between all these variables and actual field yields was analyzed using stepwise regression in SAS (v9.1) software. In the end, the contribution of each limiting factor to the creation of a yield gap was determined using the resulting production function and management parameters values.

The findings of this study revealed that of the 81 studied management variables, the final production function with 10 independent variables was selected. These variables included the sari variety (J.K-695), previous crop (faba bean), use the row planter, number of secondary tillage, sulfur rate, application of herbicide, KCl, and (NH4)2HPO4 fertilizers, sprinkler irrigation system, and surface irrigation, which were identified as the main limiting factors for soybean yield in Mazandaran province. Based on the difference between the average actual yield recorded on farms (2464.97 kg ha-1) and the maximum attainable yield (6028.66 kg ha-1) predicted by the production function, the yield gap was 3563.70 kg ha-1, which is three factors including sulfur rate, previous crop (faba bean) and sprinkler irrigation system with the values of 873.87, 620.49 and 546.33 kg ha-1, respectively, had the highest share (24.52, 17.41 and 15.33%, respectively) in of the soybean yield gap.

According to the predicted attainable yield which derived from actual farm data it seems that adoption of proper crop managements such as using sulfur fertilizer resources appropriate to plant needs, an appropriate crop rotation and selection of plants suitable for rotation, providing facilities and modernization of agricultural machinery, and develop and promote new irrigation can reduce this gap (59%) and significantly improve soybean yield in Mazandaran province.

The sustainability of subsurface drainage systems is highly dependent on the sustainability of drainage water receiving ecosystems. In this study, using the concept of life cycle assessment, the effectiveness of different subsurface drainage systems was investigated. Required field data were prepared during two canola growing seasons from a field with three types of conventional subsurface drainage system consisting of 0.9 m depth and 30 m spacing (D0.9L30), 0.65 m depth and 30 m spacing (D0.65L30) and a depth of 0.65 m and a spacing of 15 m (D0.65L15) and a bilevel subsurface drainage system consisting of four drain lines at a spacing of 15 m and with depths of 0.65 and 0.9 m as alternate (Bilevel). Also, a plot without subsurface drain pipe was selected as a Control. After rice harvest, canola was cultivated in the area. During the study period, the consumption of inputs and their losses along with other management and agricultural operations were recorded. The environmental impact analysis of the cropping system was performed using SIMAPRO 9.0 software. Among the input sources, direct emission from the field, urea fertilizer and the use of agricultural machinery had the largest contribution in the environmental impact of canola cropping, respectively. Investigation of the final effects showed that the Bilevel drainage system had a better performance than the Control treatment and other subsurface drainage treatments, so that it reduced the environmental effects by 17.4% compared to Control.

Food security and sustainable agriculture are among the most challenging issues for the human being in the present age. These daunting challenges have arisen in the face of dramatic population growth as well as rising living standards, lifestyle, and, as a result, increased demand for a variety of foods. Due to limited water resources and arable lands, to achieve more production, it is necessary to increase the yield per unit area by using more materials (e.g., chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fossil fuels) and energy. Obviously, in addition to the higher cost, it will lead to irreparable environmental consequences. In this regard, to achieve more sustainable production of agricultural products, there is a need to carefully evaluate the environmental status of these products in order to identify environmental hotspots to optimize them. Due to this, a study was conducted to assess the environmental damages to the soybean production system in different cities of Mazandaran province with a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. 

In the present survey, LCA approach was applied to evaluate the environmental impact and determine the most important hotspots of soybean produced in the cities scale of Mazandaran province (13 cities with soybean cultivation). LCA is a method that examines the environmental impacts associated with a product (or process) throughout its lifetime by accounting for resource consumption and pollutant emissions. For this purpose, the farm gate was considered the system boundary. Necessary data for LCA inventory were also obtained through face-to-face interviews with 303 farmers in 2019 and the EcoInvent 3.5 database in SimaPro 9.0.0.49 software. The potential environmental impacts were assessed by the IMPACT2002+ (v2.15) model in the software based on 1 ton of soybean seed produced as the functional unit (FU). Finally, impact assessment results of the soybean production system were presented in four environmental damage groups: human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources. 

The findings revealed that soybean cultivation in the region and under the current conditions of inputs consumption has the highest impact on human health indicators that direct emissions from diesel fuel combustion and application of chemical fertilizers in the field play a major role in this damage category. Direct emissions from field operations claimed the highest share (>51%) in increasing global warming potential, which was mainly a result of CO2 emissions from burning diesel fuel. In addition, the findings of the present study showed that diesel fuel, followed by nitrogen fertilizer, had the most substantial role in the resources damage category. More generally, the total environmental damage for the production of 1 ton of soybean seed in surveyed cities ranged from 228.76 to 439.77 mPt, among which the cities of Galugah and Qaemshahr (228.76 and 261.18 mPt, respectively) had the least and Amol, and Sari (438.06 and 439.77 mPt, respectively) had the most value. To sum up, the LCA approach has been able to quantify the contribution of the soybean production system in causing environmental damage in the form of different damage categories by considering the amount of each of the inputs and their emissions based on a specific FU. 

In general, it can be concluded that diesel and chemical fertilizers inputs and direct emissions caused by their consumption on farms were the most substantial environmental hotspots. These factors, in turn, arise from the mismanagement of soybean farms in Mazandaran. Hence, it seems that efficient management practices by informing farmers and support of the authorities to provide appropriate facilities to farmers can be an important step toward reducing the environmental consequences and developing the cultivation of this valuable crop in the region. 

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of Tarbiat Modares University and the assistance of the esteemed officials of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Agriculture-Jihad Organization of Mazandaran province, and especially the honorable farmers of this province to collect data for this study.

The use of edible coatings can help reduce the undesired effects caused by the drying process of fruits and vegetables. In this study, the influence of two different edible coatings including basil and chitosan (0, 0.5 and 1 %) on drying kinetic, color, texture and antioxidant activity of apple slices were evaluated at different temperatures (40, 50 and 60 ˚C) in hot air oven and vacuum drying. The results showed that the use of different coatings in both drying methods increased the drying time. Fitting of different mathematical models on the experimental data showed that the Midili model for basil coatings and the approximation of diffusion model for chitosan coatings are able to predict the moisture content more accurately than other models. With increasing coating concentration or decreasing drying temperature the lightness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness and antioxidant activity enhanced. But, the redness, yellowness, brownness, total color difference and hardness diminished. Generally, basil and chitosan coating pretreatment could be considered as an effective approach to improve the quality of the dried apple fruit in drying industry.

In this study, temperatures (40, 50, and 60°C), air velocity (3, 5, and 7 m/s) and pre-treatment (without pre-treatment, blanching, and microwave) were used as variables for investigation of antioxidant activity of dried artichoke leaves. The results revealed that variations in temperature and air velocity of the drying chamber and different pre-treatments significantly affected the free radical scavenging level and total phenol content in this plant. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that by increasing the temperature and air velocity and using blanching and microwave pre-treatments, the free radical scavenging level and total phenol content increased. The maximum percentage of free radical scavenging was 72.08% at 60°C and an air velocity of 7 m/s in the drying state by using microwave pre-treatment. The maximum total phenol content was 3.55 mg/g of dry matter at 60°C and an air velocity of 7 m/s in the drying state by using microwave pre-treatment.

Meat is an important source of protein and energy, which contains large amounts of essential amino acids and fats along with vitamins and minerals. The livestock industry is one of the most important sources of pollutants due to its high consumption of energy and water, as well as the production of excrement. In the present study, the environmental impact of cattle beef production in three industrial, semi-industrial and traditional breeding methods were evaluated using Life cycle assessment method in Mazandaran province. The environmental impacts of producing one ton of cattle beef were evaluated by IMPCAT 2002+ methods in the form of 15 midpoint environmental indicators and 4 endpoint environmental indicators. The results showed that in the industrial and semi-industrial production method, direct pollutants from livestock farm and in the traditional production method, the use of concentrate has the highest impact on creating intermediate environmental indicators. In different production methods, human health in the range of 1.72 to 1.92 Pt, ecosystem quality in the range of 13.36 to 17.5 Pt, climate change in the range of 1.41 to 1.62 Pt and the resources in the range of 0.31 to 0.46 Pt were changed. Also the final environmental indicator showed that the highest and lowest final environmental indicator occurs in the industrial and traditional production methods at the rate of 21.58 and Pt 16.81 per ton of live weight.

In this research, the effects of gas combinations, different edible coatings and storage period on the post- harvest quality of pear were investigated during storage time. The treatments were considered as two treatments of gas combinations including 10%CO2, 15%O2 (1) and 15%CO2, 10%O2 (2), five types of coating including control, propolis, 0.5 and1% chitosan and wax, and three storage time including the first, sixth and eleventh weeks. The effects of above mentioned treatments were investigated on the weight loss, firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity and pH during 11 weeks' storage using completely randomized design with factorial test in three replicates. Analysis of variance results indicated that the effects of gas combinations, coating type and storage time, and double and triple interactions on the measured factors except pH were significant at the levels of 1 and 0.5%. At the end of the storage period, the fruit weight loss increased, which this weight loss in sample treated by the second gas combination along with wax coating and 1% chitosan coating was lower. Soluble solids and titratable acidity showed a decreasing trend over time. Total soluble solids and titratable acidity were better maintained in the samples treated by coating along with modified atmosphere 1% chitosan concentration along with the second gas combination also had a good effect on maintaining the firmness of pear fruit at 11 weeks of storage 1% chitosan coating and wax coating created a favorable atmosphere and better preserved the pear properties.  The second gas combination (and 15%CO2, 10%O2 was more suitable for pear due to higher CO2 and respiration reduction. Generally, pear coated with 1% chitosan and stored in modified atmosphere with the second gas combination 15%CO2, 10%O2 had better quality parameters than other treatments.

In this study, two modes of fuzzy and delinted cottonseed (Latif cultivar) were quasi-statically loaded in the length, width, and thickness orientations by Santam-STM5. Some mechanical properties were measured including seed rupture force, rupture energy, strain, and toughness, and a factorial test with a completely randomized design was used to study the effect of three levels of velocities of loading (3, 5, and 7 mm.min-1) on cottonseeds. Results showed that the maximum and minimum force to rupture in delinted cotton seed at loading speed 3 and 7 mm/min were 87.86 and 51.5 N respectively. Also, the highest and lowest energy required to rupture in fuzzy cotton seed at the longitudinal direction and thickness were 58.76 and 29.16 mJ respectively. The highest energy required to rupture in the delinted cotton seed in loading speed of 3 mm/min was 60 mJ and the lowest energy required to rupture in fuzzy cottonseed in the speed of 7 mm/min was 32.47 mJ. The maximum and minimum of toughness were obtained in the width direction in delinted cottonseed (0.55 MJ/mm3) and thickness direction in fuzzy cottonseed (0.24 mJ/mm3) respectively. The highest toughness in delinted cotton seed in loading speed of 3 mm/min was 0.53 mJ/mm3 and the lowest toughness in fuzzy cottonseed in loading speed of 7 mm/min was 0.3 mJ/mm3. The most cottonseed strain in fuzzy cottonseed in width direction was 0.227 and the lowest strain in the delinted cotton seed in the length direction was 0.104. Also, the highest strain in loading speed of 5 mm/min was 0.217.

Almonds (Prunus amygdalus) belongs to the family of Rosaceae and the subspecies of Pronoideae. Its kernel contains a lot of energy, amino acids, sugars and mineral elements. Iran is ranked fifth in terms of producing almonds after United States, Australia, Spain, and Morocco, but at the same time, Iran's position is not very suitable in the world export market. The processing of this product involves three stages of shell breaking, kernel separation, and packaging. One of the important methods of separation of the kernel from the wooden crust is the use of pneumatic separation and this method can be used to grade, clean, and separate the seeds of different materials.

Almond samples of the Shokofeh variety (A.H.3) were obtained from Maragheh gardens in East Azarbaijan province. The moisture content of the shell, the kernel, and mixture of them was determined using the oven drying method. Also, some physical and mechanical properties were measured. In order to design the almond separator system, it is important to determine aerodynamic properties. The most important aerodynamic properties such as terminal velocity and drag force were determined. The first step in designing and manufacturing a device is to select the cross-sectional shape and dimension. The cross-section of the machine is selected based on parameters such as simplicity and construction costs. With the assumption of a machine with a separation capacity of 2 kg (mixed product) per minute, the length and the width of the machine were obtained to be 18 cm and 15 cm. Using the terminal velocity and dimensional data, the blower distance to the outlet, the tunnel length, the power and flow rate of the blower were calculated and then the design and construction were done. To evaluate the separation and evaluation of the apparatus, parameters such as blower speed, shell size, and moisture content of the mixture were investigated for each parameter at three levels. Airflow rates of the wind tunnel were 3, 5, and 7 m s-1, moisture content (7%, 13%, and 19%), shell size in three groups: small, medium, and large.

The average geometric properties including length, width, thickness, geometric mean diameter, and spherical coefficient for almonds were 20.64, 13.25, 7.4, 12.64 mm, and 0.612, respectively, as well as properties for large shells (25.17, 16.5, 11.15, 16.66 mm, and 0.66), for average size (17.36, 13.5, 6.4, 11.44 mm, and 0.65) and fine size (13, 9.9, 3.5, 7.66 mm, and 0.59), respectively. The mechanical properties of the samples (shell and almond kernel) were measured at three levels of moisture content of 7%, 13%, and 19%. The results showed that by increasing the moisture content, the fracture force for both shell and kernel increases. Almond shell had the highest angle of rotation at all levels of moisture. This was due to its heterogeneous shape, broken edges and rough surface. On the other hand, almonds had the lowest degree of rotation, due to the greater weight of the kernel and the more homogeneous and spherical shape than the shell. The results obtained from measuring the terminal velocity of the samples selected from the kernel and shell in terms of their weight indicated that the velocity limit for the almonds was 10.2-12.2 m s-1 and for the shell, the range was 1.8-6 m s-1. The variance analysis of the effect of particle size, velocity, and moisture parameters on the level of separation of shell in almond mixture showed that all major effects and interactions of factors were significant at 1% probability level. Particle size and moisture content did not affect the separation rate at 7 m s-1. With decreasing velocity, the separation rate in the particle size was reduced, which was due to the higher speed of the separation rate. At low velocity, the best separation was related to the fine particle size, which was due to the harmonization of the fine particle velocity and the separation rate.

Pneumatic separation of almond kernel and shell was affected by air velocity, particle size and moisture content. As the flow rate increases, the amount of shell separation from the kernel increases. Particle size and moisture content did not affect the separation rate at 7 m s-1. The results at medium moisture content indicated that in addition to the acceptable separation level (relative to other moisture levels) at this level (13%), the harvesting time of this product can be managed and the use of additional energy in the processing of this product is prevented.

One of the best ways to use biomass is to convert them into a pellet that has more mass and energy per unit volume and makes it easier to use and transport. Various factors are involved in the process of pelletizing, which helps to optimize the process. In this study, the effect of temperature, compression force and mixing ratio were investigated on the mechanical properties of pellets made from rice bran and sugar cane molasses. The results showed that, except compression force and the interaction between the compression force and the temperature, other variables and their interactions have significant effect (p < 0.01) on the dependent variables. Mean comparison showed that increasing the amount of molasses in combination increased the compressive strength of the pellet in axial and radial direction. The highest compression strength was obtained at the ratio of 1 to 1.50 (rice bran to molasses) and 1300N compression force. The maximum bending strength of pellets was significant in all three ratios, and increasing sugar cane molasses increased the bending strength. Increasing the mold temperature and compression force increased the strength of the pellets in both axial and radial directions as well as their bending strength. Maximum density and drop resistance of pellet in the ratio of 1 to 1.65 (rice bran to molasses), compression force of 1300 N and temperature of 70 ° C were 1213 kg/m3 and 93.5%, respectively. Generally, in the pelletizing process the mixing ratio, compression force and temperature have an effect on the strength of the pellet.

Maintaining the quality of fruits and increasing their shelf-life are the main concerns during post-harvest processes. One of the important methods for increasing the shelf-life of fruits is the use of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). In this study, changes in some qualitative characteristics (color, pH, TSS, texture stiffness) of apricot fruits were reviewed using MAP method at three levels of storage temperatures (ambient 22, 4 and 8 °C), three different gas mixes (first combination: 8% CO2, 4% O2 and 88% N2; second combination: 10% CO2, 15% O2 and 75% N2; third combination15% CO2, 10% O2 and 75% N2) and two thicknesses of polyethylene packages (30 and 50 µm). The data were extracted and analyzed within one week intervals by relevant tests. The results showed that the slop of color, TSS and pH changes were ascending and the slope of the texture stiffness was declining in all treatments. The highest total changes in color, TSS, pH and texture stiffness were 26.27, 7.6 (%), 3.17 and 18.04 (N), respectively, attributed to ambient storage temperature (22 °C), third gas composition (10% CO2, 15 % O2 and 75% N2) and 30 µm thickness of the package . Also, the lowest total changes of the parameters were 14.16, 2.0 (%), 1.11 and 13.49 (N) attributed to 4 °C temperature, first gas composition (8% CO2, 4 % O2, and 88% N2) and 50 µm package thickness of package.  The later considered as the best treatment.

Concerns about increasing environmental pollution and increasing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels have led researchers to use renewable energy. In this research, the environmental impacts of bioethanol production from potato waste were investigated from the agricultural stage to the production stage of bioethanol (crushing and malt production, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and dehydration). Investigation of environmental impact of the data collection was done using a life cycle assessment method in the form of 15 impact groups and 4 final indicators, and its functional unit was considered to produce 1 kg of bioethanol. The results obtained from the impact groups in two stages of agriculture and bioethanol production showed that the agricultural stage in all the affected groups except the carcinogenicity group had higher values than the stages of bioethanol production (malt production, hydrolysis, fermentation and dewatering). Also the results showed that the highest contribution to creating different impact groups is related to energy consumption of electricity, steel, agricultural machinery, nitrogen, phosphate and direct emission of pollutants from the field and manufactory. The comparison between different environmental endpoints indicator shows that the human health index is 9.90 times higher than ecosystem quality, 1.28 times higher than climate change and 1.48 times higher than that of resources with destructive effects on bioethanol fuel production.

Now a day most countries are interested in renewable energy due to the many problems with fossil fuel use. One of the best types of renewable energies is solar energy and can be produced in electrical, thermal and hybrid forms by photovoltaic cells equipped with thermal collectors. In this research a systemLinear parabolic focusers equipped with photovoltaic cells were designed and simulated in Optic Ray Tracing and Solidworks software and compared with experimental results. The thermal collector was simulated in a photovoltaic-thermal hybrid system with two longitudinal and transverse arrangements with internal diameters of 8 to 14 mm at three discharge levels.Simulation results of two longitudinal and transverse arrangements showed that the thermal efficiency in the longitudinal arrangement was better than the transverse ones. and by increasing diameter from 8 to 12 mm the thermal efficiency increased and the thermal efficiency from 12 to 14 mm alignment of the pipes did not change much. Also by increasing the fluid discharge from 1 to 3 l/min the thermal efficiency due to the decrease in thermal losses and the electrical efficiency due to the decrease in temperature Photovoltaic cell surface increased. Comparison of the simulation results and the experimental evaluation showed that the maximum thermal and electrical efficiency for the data Simulations were 61.18% and 12.58%, respectively, and for field data is calculated 58.14% and 12.03%, respectively.

In this research, the thin slices of quince fruit pre treated by ultrasonic bath and probe methods (in three levels of 10, 20 and 30 minutes) and then the samples were dried using three drying methods including hot air (at three levels of temperature), microwave (at three levels of power), and freeze drying. In all treatments, mass transfer parameters including effective coefficient of moisture diffusion, convective mass transfer coefficient, constant drying rate, lag factor, non-algebraic root and Biot number were calculated by Dinser and Dost method. The results showed that the variation of effective coefficient of moisture diffusion using ultrasonic probe pretreatment was from 44.274E-8 to 110.884E-8, 72.317E-8 to 201.893 E-8 and 7.663E-8 to 11.112E-8 for hot air, microwave and freeze drying methods, respectively. These values for ultrasonic bath were 41.652E-8 to 104.369 E-8, 59.270E-8 to 183.813E-8 and 7.210E-8 to 9.829E-8 for hot air, microwave and freeze drying methods, respectively. Also, the results showed that the trend of drying rate changes was increased with increasing pre-treatment time, but the lag factor, non-algebra first root and Biot number had a downward trend. The overall results from the study of mass transfer data showed that the use of 30 minutes ultrasonic probe pretreatment and microwave drying method could produce the highest amount of mass transfer during the drying process of the fruit.

The present study investigated the depletion of natural and fossil resources in rice production process in three Northern provinces (Mazandaran, Guilan and Golestan) in two types of regular cultivating systems (conventional and mechanized) and two types of rice (low and high yield). Also distributed pollutants and social costs were estimated in different rice and straw management. The highest final index was obtained to 6.56 (low yield varieties, mechanized cultivation, Golestan province) and the lowest level was 4.02 (high yield varieties, conventional cultivation, Guilan province). Results of emission of pollutants showed that in first scenario (straw burning in the field) pollutant emissions were much higher than the second scenario (straw packing for animal feed). Also, the highest social cost for burning per hectare of straw was 182.76 $ (high yield varieties, traditional cultivation, Guilan province) and the lowest value was 105.34 $ (low yield varieties, traditional cultivation, Mazandaran province).