hamid jalilvand

The plant biodiversity of any ecosystem is directly affected by its vegetative characteristics and diversity of plant species, which always guarantees the ecosystem’s stability against variable environmental and biological factors. Biodiversity indices are measured to compare the biodiversity of different masses and estimate the changes in biodiversity over time at the mass level. The Hyrcanian forests of northern Iran are a legacy left from the third geological period, and today a large part of them has been destroyed in the plains due to destructive human activities. These forests have a special importance for the protection and management in the south of the Caspian Sea. Hyrcanian boxwood (Buxus hyrcana Pojark.), which belongs to the Buxaceae family, is the only species of boxwood in the Hyrcanian forests of Iran. It has unique values from various aspects, including economics, tourism, preservation of biodiversity, etc. This valuable species has been threatened by human and natural factors for a long time and its area has decreased in the country. The present research investigates the floristic-physiognomic status of boxwood habitats in Cheshme Bulbul, Sangdeh, Si-Sangan, and Shafarood regions.

In this research, the important habitats of Hyrkanian boxwood were sampled from the protected area of Cheshme Bulbul, Bandar Gaz, Golestan province, as the easternmost distribution area of this species in Hyrkanian forests to Shafarood forests in Gilan province. In total, 125 sample plots of 400 m2 (20 × 20 m) were planted in the four identified areas (35, 30, 40, and 20 sample plots in Bandar Gaz (Cheshme Bulbul), Frame (Sangdeh), Si Sangan, and Shafarood, respectively). To measure the herbaceous cover of the forest floor in each sample plot, five small plots of four m2 (2 × 2 m) were walked in the center and four corners of each sample plot to harvest their herbaceous cover. Biodiversity indices, including Shannon, Simpson, and Fisher diversity, Margalf and Menhinik richness, and Pilou, Simpson, and Shannon uniformity, were measured for each of the sample plots. The plants were identified very carefully using the Persian Flora of Iran, the Flora of Iranica, the Flora of Türkiye, and the Flora of Europe. The biological form of any plant was determined and recorded based on the Rankier method. The range of geographical distribution was determined according to the mentioned flora. Then, the belonging of each species to the existing phytochorions was determined and the geographical distribution diagram of the regional plants was drawn using floristic data in the division of the vegetative regions of the earth's surface.  Species diversity between habitats was compared with the one-way analysis of variance. Means were compared using the Tukey-HSD test in SPSS software. Graphs were drawn using Excel software (2013).

In total, 186 plant species belonging to 68 plant genera were identified in the studied regions. The hemi-cryptophytes (65 species, 34.94%), phanerophytes (40 species, 21.5%), geophytes (37 species, 19.90%), trophytes (36 species, 19.35%), and cryptophytes (5 species, 69.2%) dominated the vegetation composition of Hyrkanian boxwood habitats. Kamephytes were the rarest biological form in the region with a percentage (3 species). The results of the geographical distribution of plant species in the region showed that the entire flora was mainly of European Siberian (55 species) and multi-regional (38 species) elements, which accounted for more than 50% of the species (93 species). This was followed by Europe-Siberian/Turanian Iran/Mediterranean vegetation areas (25 species, 13.44%), Europe-Siberian/Turanian Iran (25 species, 13.44%), Turanian Iran (16 species, 60.8%), Europe-Siberian/Mediterranean (13 species, 6.70%), and cosmopolitan (8 species, 4.3%) species. The lowest presence in the region was observed for the vegetation areas of Mediterranean/Turanian Iran (5 species, 2.70%), considering that the northern forests are geographically located in the Auxin-Hyrcania state of the Pontic sub-region, which is a large vegetation area belonging to Europe-Siberia. The presence of species belonging to this geographical spectrum in the flora of these regions is not far from expected. Moreover, the presence of species in other geographical areas is a result of the natural patterns of the accidental presence of plant elements from other vegetation areas of the world.

The results of this research show higher indices of diversity, uniformity, and species richness in Shamshad Frame and Shafarood habitats, which have a higher average height above sea level than Cheshme Bulbul and Sisangan habitats. The review of the sources shows that physiographic factors play an important role in the indicators of species richness and diversity. Changes in altitude above sea level often lead to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, precipitation, and soil characteristics. This diversity in habitat conditions increases its heterogeneity and allows a wider range of species to coexist. As a result, more habitat heterogeneity leads to higher species diversity, which is also reflected in the biodiversity index.

Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) is one of the well-known industrial species of Hyrcanian forests that spreads from the west to east of these forests. Human activities have caused significant damage to Hyrcanian forests, and this issue highlights the importance of identifying factors affecting the structural characteristics of trees, especially beech, for the optimal management of these forests and the restoration of degraded areas. Considering the effect of environmental factors on the structural characteristics (the basal area and number per hectare) and the distribution of trees, the knowledge of their ecological requirements can be used to prepare programs for the protection and development of forests. Previous research about factors affecting the distribution of this species focused on topographical variables and the effects of climate change. Thus, No research has so far investigated the effect of the frequency of fog occurrence on the structural characteristics of this species. Therefore, the effect of topographical variables (height above sea level, slope, and direction), temperature, relative humidity, and fog on the number per hectare, basal area, and the presence of beech species was investigated in the present study using a generalized linear model (GLM). The results of this research and other studies on the future data from the forests of northern Iran can help predict possible changes in the distribution of species, especially beech species, under the effect of global warming.

To carry out this research, beech species data were obtained from the forest inventory data bank in the north of Iran. Because no meteorological station was available for the whole region of Hyrcanian forests, meteorological data were obtained from the POWER project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA. Since fog is defined as water droplets suspended near the earth's surface, which reduces horizontal visibility to less than one kilometer, the occurrence of fog was determined using the horizontal visibility index. After preparing the data, first the number of trees per hectare and then the basal area of trees were calculated in each sample plot. The collected data were separated based on the presence or absence of beech. Data were analyzed using GLM and cross-validation evaluation in R software and the caret package.

The results of the correlation between the independent variables showed that the amount of precipitation had a significant and high correlation with relative humidity, hence the precipitation variable was removed from the modeling. The GLM showed acceptable accuracy for predicting the number of trees per hectare (R2 = 0.16), basal area (R2 = 0.16), and the presence of beech species (AUC = 0.75). The fog, height above sea level, and relative air humidity variables had a positive relationship with all three traits (number per hectare, basal area, and the presence of beech species) while temperature was negatively related only to the presence of beech species. The aspect variable had a positive and significant relationship with the number of beech trees per hectare and basal area, respectively, but it was not significantly related to the presence of this species. The height above sea level was the most important variable for predicting the number of trees per hectare, the basal area, and the presence of beech species. Relative humidity was the second most important variable for predicting the number of trees per hectare and basal area while fog was the second most important variable for the presence of beech species. The temperature, slope, and aspect had a significance of less than 20%.

The reason for the higher relative importance of the height above sea level can be attributed to low temperature and high rainfall as the optimal conditions for the growth of the beech tree; these conditions are directly related to the height above sea level. Our results also determine the importance of relative humidity and the occurrence of fog in the distribution of beech species. The high importance of the relative humidity variable may result from the fact that beech is generally described as adapting to full-shade to partial-shade conditions. Since the northern aspect (in the Northern Hemisphere) generally receives less direct sunlight and is usually cooler, this species usually establishes in the northern direction in the Hyrcanian forest. On the other hand, since relative humidity increases with decreasing temperature, it can be concluded that beech prefers higher relative humidity. In the forests of mountainous areas and near the coast, the number of fog occurrences is high due to high air humidity and altitude. Finally, this phenomenon leads to rain fog and increases the amount of water reaching the forest floor. Therefore, it can be stated that the occurrence and production of fog play a pivotal role in providing the water needs of beech trees due to the high moisture requirement of this species. The high importance of relative air humidity and the occurrence of fog in the distribution of beech species necessitate additional studies regarding the accurate estimation of the occurrence and amount of fog in Hyrcanian forests. Studies on fog and its effects on vegetation, particularly in temperate regions, can provide valuable insight into the potential benefits of fog for this species. Given the lack of studies, it is suggested to investigate the effects of other environmental factors, including soil properties, on the distribution of beech species.

Hearing and speech perception are essential in social life. As our environment contains many background noises in everyday conversations, it is necessary to evaluate the noise tolerance. The Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) provides an approach to quantifying the maximum amount of background noise a listener is willing to put up with while listening to a target story without becoming tense. Exploring noise tolerance in speech perception, the study investigates how different calibration methods impact normal hearing participants’ monotic and dichotic ANL results.

This investigation utilizes a pared-sample t-test for statistical analysis, adopting a comparative observational approach. This study applied the Persian version of the typical ANL test. Two approaches have equalized the target and background stimuli: Root Mean Squared (RMS) and loudness match calibration via Adobe Audition. Using these modified materials the Most Comfortable Level (MCL), the Background Noise Level (BNL), and ANL were compared in terms of RMS and loudness match calibration. Fifty normal persons aged (18–39), under the conditions of monotic and dichotic listening, participated in this study.

The statistical analysis using a paired-sample t-test revealed no significant differences in the outcomes of the ANL test between the calibrations of RMS and loudness matching under both monotic and dichotic listening conditions (p=0.31 and p=0.67, respectively).

The study suggests that calibration procedures, namely RMS and Loudness matching, do not affect ANL in either monotic or dichotic conditions.

Real-Ear-to-Coupler Difference (RECD) is affected by the type of transducer and its coupling method. This study aimed to investigate the effect of receiver type used in Receiver-in-Canal (RIC) hearing aids on RECD and Coupler Response for Flat Insertion Gain (CORFIG) obtained by the same coupling method.

In this study, the right ears of 30 normal-hearing adults (25 men and 5 women, with a mean age of 28.13±5.62 years) were studied. We used the RIC hearing aids with two standard and power receivers. The foam of the ER-3A insert earphone was used as a coupling system in both receivers. By using the Audiogram Direct test within Phonak’s fitting software, 70 dB HL intensity was produced at different frequencies, once in the realear and again in the HA-1 coupler. By assessing the difference between real-ear and HA-1 coupler measurements, the RECD was first obtained. Then, the CORFIG was obtained at different frequencies by subtracting the Microphone Location Effect (MLE) and RECD from Real-Ear Unaided Gain (REUG).

The RECD and CORFIG values obtained from the standard receiver at all frequencies were significantly different from those from the power receiver (p<0.05), where the use of the power receiver resulted in lower RECD and higher CORFIG. With the increase in frequency, the RECD increased. A small frequency changes of 50 Hz had a significant effect on RECD and CORFIG.

The type of receiver used in RIC hearing aids has a significant effect on the RECD and CORFIG values.

The altitude gradient is one of the important ecological factors in the distribution of different types of plant species in forest ecosystems, and the origin of altitude from sea level is related to the difference in altitude from open waters. The change in height from sea level, along with the change in vegetation, can affect the abundance of wood fungi. This research was conducted with the aim of studying the ecological effect of the altitude gradient on the abundance of wood fungi on beech species at different altitudes.

In total, 15 pure beech logs were randomly selected in three altitude gradients: (first) 550 to 650, (second) 650 to 750, and (third) 750 to 850 meters above sea level, in the educational and research forest of Darabkala Sari. To collect samples of wood macroscopic fungi, after observing the fungal samples, each sample was taken in a healthy, complete, and suitable form for identification based on morphological characteristics. Height characteristics from sea level and dry land were recorded with a positioning device, and the samples were transferred to the mycology laboratory for identification. To measure the microscopic organs, 20 samples of each of these organs were measured using a microscope with a graduated lens. Finally, to identify different fungal arrays, identification was based on both macroscopic and microscopic features, using various sources. To categorize the abundance of fungi in different altitude gradients, statistical calculations and cluster analysis were carried out in PAST software, using the Ward and Lesser Eghlidis distance, and analysis of principal components for different altitudes, species, abundance, relative frequency, and standard index were checked in PAST software by comparing two groups of fungi. Additionally, to check for height differences, multiple analyses and double plotting were done in Minitab software to reveal the groupings in terms of cloud points and distribution of wood fungi.

The obtained results showed that in the first height class, 13%, in the second 30%, and in the third 57% of all fungi were included. In the first height class, Hypholoma fasciculare was the most abundant, while Trametes versicolor dominated the second class, and Schizophyllum commune was the most abundant in the third class. Furthermore, the Polyporaceae, Xylariaceae, Ganodermataceae, Pleurotaceae, and Schizophyllaceae families had the highest frequency, while the Pezizaceae and Hericiaceae families had the lowest frequency. The results indicated that 10 species were distributed in the altitude class of 550 to 650 meters above sea level, 15 species were distributed in the altitude class of 650 to 750 meters above sea level, and 22 species were distributed in the altitude class of 750 to 850 meters above sea level. In addition, the most fungi families in the first altitudinal class were from the Meruliaceae family, whereas the second and third classes were primarily Polyporaceae. The analysis with Minitab showed that there is a significant difference in the distribution of wood fungi between the third and second floors, as well as between the first floor and the others. The findings regarding the ecological effect of the altitude gradient indicated that decomposition components reveal differences in fungi at different altitudes above sea level. These results showed that Fomes fomentarius, Ganoderma lucidum, Stereum hirsutum, Daldinia concentrica, Pleurotus ostreatus, Trametes versicolor, Trichaptum biforme, and Schizophyllum commune were among similar groups that were distributed across all three altitude classes, primarily within the Polyporaceae family and the Polyporales order.

The macroscopic wood fungi of the forest exhibit different responses across various gradients. The results of this study showed that the altitude gradient affects the abundance of wood fungi; the abundance of fungal species increases with elevation above sea level.

The Acceptable Noise Level (ANL), which is an effective clinical tool for quantitative assessment of noise tolerance, is affected by some known variables related to both subject and testing materials. The present study examined how the characteristics of different babble noises may affect the ANL results in normal adult listeners.

Forty Persian listeners with normal hearing participated. In addition to typical ANL testing with 12-talker noise, the ANL was obtained in 8 different conditions varying in number of talkers from 2 to 10 in the babble noises presenting forward and backward.

There was a significantly lower ANL for 2-talker babble compared to 4, 8, 10, and 12-talker babble in both forward and backward noise conditions. With the increase in talkers in noise, the ANL becomes worse but reaches almost a plateau with more than 4 talkers in babble noise. There was a statistically significant difference between 2-talker forward and 2-talker backward noises, with no difference for the other conditions.

This finding that the ANL is affected by the number of talkers in babble noise and by the forward and backward background noise suggests that informational masking and listening in dip mechanisms are involved in ANL for normal hearing people at least.

Soil is the largest source of carbon in the biosphere and more than half of its carbon is stored in forest ecosystems. Considering the importance of the soil carbon, the purpose of this research is to investigate how different species of broadleaf and coniferous species affect forest carbon storage in soil, considering their different ability to store and use soil nutrients in the forest Kolet.

In this research, first, three stands of Acer velutinum Boiss, Alnus subcordata C.A.M, and Cupressus sempervirens var horizontalis, as well as one natural forest stand were selected in the study area. Ten samples of 400 square meters (20Î20 meters) were selected in each cluster. Also, soil samples were collected from the four corners and the center of each plot from a depth of 0-15 cm; Then the soils were mixed and a combined sample was separated for the laboratory analyses (40 samples in total), which was used to study the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil (bulk density, soil texture, soil reaction, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, total nitrogen, phosphorus and absorbable potassium). SAS statistical software was used for soil data analysis related variables, and the Vegan R software package was used for principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the most significant factor and differentiate between the studied populations.

Based on the obtained results, soil reaction rate, absorbable potassium, relative humidity, organic carbon, clay and soil carbon storage had significant differences among the four stands (P < 0.01). Alnus subcordata and Acer velutinum showed the highest amount of carbon storage compared to Cupressus sempervirens and natural forest stand. The difference observed in the amount of soil organic carbon in the studied stands depended on the different capabilities of tree species in restoring the soil ecosystem. The planting of broadleaf species resulted in more carbon storage in the short term than coniferous species, because broadleaf tree species increase litter production and nutrient return, making them more effective in restoring degraded forest soils. This is due to faster leaf decomposition, higher nitrogen content and lower C/N ratio, while the presence of resinous and phenolic substances in coniferous leaves negatively affects the decomposition of their litter.

In summary, this research showed that reforestation with broadleaf species in various areas of the region significantly impacted the soil carbon stock and carbon storage potential based on the type of tree species. Particularly, broadleaf species such as Alnus subcordata and Acer velutinum played a crucial role in increasing the amount of carbon stored in the soil of the studied region.

It is important to research in the field of germplasm protection of native and medicinal tree species in northern Iran forests, especially blood hawthorn with many medicinal properties. Sexual reproduction of hawthorn is possible with apomixis due to the thick shell and two types of physical and physiological dormancy, and its asexual reproduction by rooting cuttings faces many problems. Bloody hawthorn (Crataegus atrosanguinea from the Rosaceae family) is considered one of the valuable species of the forests of the north and west of the country, which is very important due to its fruitfulness, very strong wood, and numerous medicinal properties. The medicinal properties of hawthorn have been proven in the treatment of blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, heart congestion, heart muscle weakness, and coronary insufficiency. Hawthorn contains many secondary metabolites such as flavonoids proanthocyanidin and glycosides. Optimizing the in vitro cultivation conditions of blood hawthorn as one of the natural species of Iran can be a suitable solution for its propagation. The present research was carried out to control pollution, control browning, and induce the callus of blood hawthorn (C. atrosanguinea) in vitro. Controlling the contamination of explants, seeds, and plant tissues is of great importance for the success of plant tissue culture. Since the enrichment of natural plant explants is a priority for tissue culture, this is usually associated with many problems with browning, especially for woody plants that have a thick and woody stem. Determining the type and concentration of the growth regulator of a variable factor is necessary for the growth of plants under in vitro conditions. After applying the growth regulator to the culture medium, the plant will show different reactions, but one of the appropriate ways to choose the correct path of plant regeneration is to determine the wet and dry weights of the callus, which is widely measured as a standard of callus growth. The callus growth curve can be obtained using the wet and dry weights of the callus. The results of past research indicate a wide range of changes in the type and concentration of growth regulators on callus formation and regeneration of different species of the hawthorn genus. A specific type and concentration of growth regulators should be applied according to the type of plant species.

Young and healthy stems of blood hawthorn were collected from Larijan in Amol, Mazandaran province, Iran, with geographical coordinates of 38' 58° N and 10' 52° E, at the beginning of the growing season. The collected stems were immediately transferred to the plant tissue culture laboratory of the Faculty of Natural Resources at Sari University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Iran. Disinfection of natural hawthorn stems is very necessary due to surface and tissue contamination. For this purpose, explants of 0.5-1 cm size were cut from the stems. The infection control treatments included HgCl2, H2O2, NaClO, and AgNO3, and five treatments were designed to control the browning of explants. Browning control treatments included control, running water, ascorbic acid, polyvinyl chloride, and activated charcoal. In general, the culture medium consisted of substances including mineral salts (micro- and macroelements) as providers of maximum growth, amino acids and vitamins as nitrogen sources, sugar as a source of carbon and energy, growth regulators as growth and morphogenesis stimulants, agar as the solidifier of the cultivation medium, and water, which includes 90% of the cultivation medium. In this research, the culture medium was MS, which was first created by Driver and Koniaki (1984) and prepared according to Dufussard (1976). In this study, the pH of the culture medium was set to 5.8. For callus induction, IBA, NAA, 2,4-D, BAP, TDZ, and Kin treatments at three concentration levels of 0.1, 1, and 6 mg/L and a combination of NAA (6 mg-1) + BAP (1 mg-1), and IBA (6 mg l-1) + BAP (1 mg-1) were used in the MS culture medium. Stem explants were placed horizontally on the culture medium. Among different callus treatments, callus percentage, degree of callus, callus fresh and dry weights, and cross-sectional area of callus were measured to investigate callus induction. The best treatment was obtained by calculating the mentioned characteristics and that treatment was used for planting. It was transplanted approximately every 20 days and a total of 5-6 times. After callus cultivation in the reproduction medium, the explants were placed in a culture chamber and adaptation racks under 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dark treatment at 25 ± 2 °C with a humidity of 70%.

HgCl2 (0.5%, 16 minutes) with an average of 100% health was the most appropriate pollution control treatment. The control treatment with 98% health was observed as the most appropriate browning control treatment. Moreover, the type, concentration, and interaction effect of the type and concentration of the growth regulator significantly affected the callus induction characteristics of blood hawthorn (P < 0.01). The highest fresh and dry weights of callus, percentage and degree of callus formation, and cross-sectional area of callus were observed among auxin and cytokinin treatments, respectively, for 6 mg/L of NAA and 1 mg/L of BAP treatments. The highest levels of the studied callus induction characteristics were observed in the culture medium containing the combination of auxin and cytokinin (6 mg-1 of IBA+1 mg-1 of BAP).

In general, the results showed a 90% chance of controlling the browning of the explants of natural blood hawthorn branches in a normal state and without applying any treatment. It is recommended to use 0.5% mercuric chloride for 16 minutes to disinfect the explants. The combination of growth regulators in the culture medium was evaluated as very suitable for the callus induction of bloody hawthorn. The results of this research can provide laboratory instructions for the regeneration and mass reproduction of blood hawthorn.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) reduces audibility and causes distortion, which result in difficulty with speech processing, especially in noisy environments. One of the new speech-in-noise tests is the Words-in-Noise (WIN) test. This study aimed to further investigate the Signal-to-Noise Ratio 50% (SNR-50) in subjects with mild to severe SNHL and different configurations using the Persian version of the WIN test compared to normal-hearing people.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 54 patients with SNHL aged 17– 75 years and 49 normal-hearing people aged 20–48 years. The auditory recognition in the presence of multi-talker babble noise was evaluated by the Persian version of the WIN test (named ARWIN).

The mean SNR-50 in the normal-hearing group was 2.56±1.2 dB, which increased significantly in subgroups with mild (10.13±4.8 dB), moderate (14.51±4.7 dB) and moderate-to-severe (16.61±4.3 dB) SNHL (p<0.001).

People with SNHL need more SNR by nearly 4–6 times than the normalhearing group for recognition of monosyllabic Persian words in the presence of multi-talker babble noise.

Plant leaves react to environmental changes with high adaptability. This study investigated the morphological characteristics of Persian oak (Quercus brantii) and wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica) leaves from 15 forest sites in Ilam province at an elevation range of 1000 m (from 1111 to 2048 m a.s.l.). At each site and for each tree species, five healthy individuals and five healthy and mature leaves were collected from the outside and middle of the crown. The leaf area index, petiole length, main vein length, leaf circumference, blade length, blade width, and the number of leaf margin dentations were measured. The data were analyzed based on the nested research design, and the means of the studied traits were compared using the LSD test. In the Persian oak trees, the results showed that the petiole length (1.72 cm), leaf circumference (20.23 cm), leaf length (8.17 cm), leaf width (4.43 cm), and leaf area (28.16 cm2) at higher elevations had higher averages than at lower elevations. However, the number of leaf left and right dentations were 12.26 and 12.47, respectively, indicating higher average weight at lower altitudes. In pistachio, all measured characteristics like petiole length (0.46 cm), leaf circumference (13.98 cm), leaf length (5.53 cm) and leaf width (3.29 cm), and leaf area (12.31 cm2) at higher elevations had higher averages than the lower elevations as 0.24 cm, 12.26 cm, 5.18 cm, 3.0 cm, and 10.85 cm2. The significant intra-population changes strengthen the idea of intra-population morphological diversity for oak species at the regional level and even in Zagros to some extent. Among the studied features, those that are less sensitive to environmental changes can be used as distinguishing features for species separation.

With sufficient knowledge regarding the presence of fungi and the significance of biodiversity, the forest's management objectives can achieve their sustainability goals. Therefore, in order to properly manage the forest, it is necessary to establish indicators that provide adequate information on biodiversity and monitor changes resulting from management activities. This study aims to identify various macroscopic fungi and investigate their biodiversity in their habitat, i.e., deadwood.

Fifteen specimens of deadwood fungi were randomly selected in Darabkola forest. All macroscopic fungi were numbered and collected, then transferred to the mycology laboratory for identification. The biodiversity of the fungi was calculated using Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Simpson diversity index, richness index, and uniformity index with PAST software

The obtained results revealed that there were 37 species of macroscopic fungi belonging to 27 genera and 16 families. Trametes versicolor, Daldinia concentrica, Trichaptum biforme, and Fomes fomentarius were the most abundant, while Hericium coralloides, Ganoderma resinaceum, Ganoderma adspersum, and Trametes trogii were the least abundant species. Additionally, the families Polyporaceae, Xylariaceae, Ganodermataceae, Pleurotaceae, and Schizophyllaceae were the most abundant, whereas Pezizaceae and Hericiaceae were the least abundant. Most fungi were present in the final stages of decomposition. The results indicated that the mean diversity index for Shannon-Wiener species diversity was 3.24, Simpson species diversity index was 0.95, Margalef's richness index was 6.11, Menhinick's index was 1.95, and uniformity was 0.69. The analysis of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index showed that Trichaptum biforme and Trametes versicolor had a higher diversity value with a score of 1.46.

The results of this study indicate that for the management of fallen deadwood habitats with the aim of increasing the biodiversity of fungi, it is recommended to preserve these fallen deadwood areas within the forest. This preservation would contribute to the revitalization and completion of the ecosystem cycle.

The Frequency Importance Function (FIF) is the main component of the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) for a certain language. The FIF indicates the relative importance of each frequency band as it contributes to speech intelligibility. This study was conducted to determine the FIF for the Persian monosyllabic words and the list of Quick Speech in Noise (QSIN) in Persian language.

In this exploration study, 34 monolingual Persian-speaking subjects aged 25–40 years with normal hearing (17 males) were included. The FIF was evaluated for 100 monosyllabic words and 30 sentences of Persian QSIN under 180 different auditory conditions. The speech recognition scores were calculated and crossover frequencies were determined. Then, the relative transfer function was extracted and FIFs were calculated.

The findings showed that for monosyllabic word material, the FIF had three peaks at 178, 1787, and 4467 Hz and for Persian QSIN, the FIF had an initial peak at about 141 Hz followed by a peak at about 1800 Hz. According to the results, the frequency range 891–8913 Hz is very important for recognition of the Persian words. Moreover, the mean crossover frequencies for the Persian sentences was 1446 Hz.

For monosyllabic word material in the Persian language, the FIF at 708–1778 Hz is very important for recognition of the Persian monosyllabic words. For sentence material in the Persian Language, the FIF at 708–4467 Hz has the highest importance for recognition of Persian sentences.

Real-Ear Measurement (REM) enables proper fitting of the hearing aids to achieve the required level of amplification. This study aims to investigate the relationship between aural/oral performance and fit-to-target gain of hearing aids in children with moderate-to-profound hearing loss.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 30 children with moderate-to-profound hearing loss aged 5–10 years. First, the parents’ evaluation of aural/oral performance of children (PEACH) questioanire was completed. Then, REM was performed using digital speech at 50, 65, 80, and 90 dB SPL at 250–8000 Hz to obtain the fit to the desired sensation level, version 5 (DSL v5) target gain.

A significant negative correlation was found between the total score of the PEACH (51.66) and the fit-to-target gain at high frequencies (r=–0.482, p=0.01). The maximum fit-to-target gain was 77.5 dB for 65 dB SPL at 6000 Hz. Most of the cases (75%) failed to come within ±5 dB of the target gain. There was a significant difference in the fit-to-target gain between low and high frequencies and between high frequencies with similar input levels.

A negative correlation between aural/oral performance of children with moderate-to-profound hearing loss and fit-to-target gain of their hearing aids may indicate that a low fit-to-target gain can improve their aural/oral performance. Regular use of REM is recommended in prescribing hearing aids to these children.

Iron wood (Parrotia caspica (D.C) C.A. Mayer) is one of the endemic tree species of Iran that is widely distributed in Hyrcanian forests from west to east. Due to the fact that climatic factors in the northern forests are variable, the relationship between the ecological conditions of the habitat and the leaf stomata of Iron wood tree species was investigated in this study. For this purpose, leaves of 10 populations were collected from three provinces of Guilan, Mazandaran and Golestan and the morphological characteristics of their surface, density, length and width of the stomata were investigated. Also, habitat characteristics of diameter equal to tree trunk, altitude of habitat, temperature and rainfall were used for climate modeling. The results showed that with a 99% probability there was a significant difference between the stomata characteristics of Iron wood trees in different habitats (P<0.001). The trend of stomata density changes from west to east of northern forests was decreased, but stomata area increased from west to east. The predicted model showed that altitude and temperature had a significant effect on stomatal density (P<0.001). Temperature and rainfall had a significant effect on the stomata area (P<0.001) but the effect of altitude and diameter at breast height on the stomata area was not significant. In general, it can be said that the characteristics of the stomata are closely related to the climate conditions prevailing in the habitat.

Music can be a favorite, annoying, or even a distracting noise. It is known that the processing of brain hemispheres is affected by the pleasantness/unpleasantness of music, which could be utilized as a signal or noise in auditory neuroscience. By using the Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) test, which is the quantification of noise tolerance while listening to a running speech, we investigated whether the pleasantness/unpleasantness of music affects the ANL results under monotic-listening and dichotic-listening conditions.

Based on the subjective scale scores, pleasant and unpleasant music (10 songs) were selected as alternatives to babble noise or running speech for testing 50 subjects for seven monotic and dichotic listening conditions.

While pleasant music changed the ANL significantly under monotic listening conditions, the higher level of babble noise was tolerated, and both characteristics of music pleasantness and unpleasantness changed ANL significantly for various dichotic conditions. The range of the ANL for dichotic conditions is wider than that for monotic conditions.

Music can affect the ANL in terms of pleasantness and unpleasantness for both monotic and dichotic listening conditions, with a greater effect on dichotic conditions, indicating the role of hemispheric specification in emotional music processing.

The Acceptance Noise Level (ANL) which determines the tolerable noise level while listening to running speech, is related to factors such as hearing loss and speech presentation level. This study aims to investigate the effect of speech presentation level on the ANL in people with unilateral Meniere’s Disease (MD) compared to the normal-hearing people.

In this study, 33 people aged 32–60 years with unilateral MD and 38 normal-hearing people aged 20–46 years participated. The ANL growth was evaluated unilaterally at four different speech presentation levels: Most Comfortable Level (MCL), –10 dB lower than the MCL, +10 dB higher than the MCL, and a range between MCL and uncomfortable level.

In MD patients, the ANL of the affected ear was significantly different from that of the contralateral ear (p<0.010). Compared to the normal-hearing people, the pattern of ANL growth in MD patients was significantly different, but the ANL growth patterns were similar between the affected and contralateral ears.

ANL and its growth pattern are different between the affected and contralateral ears of patients with unilateral MD, but are similar compared to normal-hearing people. Despite the apparently normal hearing thresholds, the performance of the contralateral ear in noise at various speech presentation levels in patients with unilateral MD seems to be similar to that of the affected ear.

Considering the current state of the Zagros forests and the necessity of using information related to quantitative characteristics in the management of these forests, it is essential to prepare more accurate information so that the control of this area can be done more accurately. One of the ways to obtain statistical information is linear sampling (transect.( In this regard, the present study aims to compare the efficiency of the length of transects with the inventory method and to investigate the performance of this method in forests with different densities.
To carry out the present research, taking into account the area and topography of the region, a square survey grid with dimensions of 100 x 100 meters was used in the customary forests of Olad -Ghobad located in Lorestan province. Then 30 one-hectare plots were implemented in the area and fully surveyed. In the next step, transect sampling was performed in two modes using tree position simulation in GIS. In the first step, transects with lengths of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 meters were harvested inside each one-hectare plot. Then, the quantitative characteristics of the trees that were placed along the desired tracts, such as two diameters perpendicular to each other, were measured. In the second stage, the forest area was divided into three classes low density, medium, and dense, and again transects with the studied lengths were created again. Quantitative characteristics of trees were measured on transects in each class. The results of characteristics comparing the number of trees per hectare and canopy cover showed no significant difference between different transect lengths with a full inventory. The results of estimating the E%2×T index in the study area showed that for both characteristics of the number of trees per hectare and canopy cover, a 25-meter transect with values of (19038.82) and (958338.9) have the highest precision, respectively. The results showed that the value of this index has the highest accuracy for medium numbers in hectare with 75 m transect length, and low canopy covers with transect length of 50 m.

Gathering accurate information for statistics requires high cost and precision. The time factor is also one of the important issues that should be seriously considered in statistics. Therefore, the use of sampling methods and satellite images will be a good alternative for this purpose. In the present study, the aim of the effect of different cluster sampling schemes in estimating the quantitative characteristics of the traditional forests of Olad Ghobad in Koohdasht township, Lorestan province using Sentinel 2 sensor images. To estimate the studied characteristics, 150 clusters in the form of six designs (triangular, square, star 1, linear, L-shaped, star 2) were implemented in the region. Then, in each subplot, the characteristics of the number and area of the tree canopy were measured. Afterimage preprocessing and appropriate image processing (principal component analysis, texture analysis, and different spectral ratios to create important plant indices), the corresponding digital values of the ground sample plots are extracted from the spectral bands and used as independent variables. Modeling was performed using nonparametric methods of random forest, support vector machine, and nearest neighbor. The results showed that the average density per hectare was 51 and the canopy area was 32.94%. The diagram of the mean squares of the error of the training and test data against the number of trees for the characteristic number per hectare and canopy showed that the optimal number of trees was obtained at approximately 75 and 350 points. The results of validation according to the percentage of squared mean squared error showed that for both density and canopy surface characteristics of random forest algorithm with linear and double star sampling designs with the squared percentage of mean squared error respectively (46.00%) and (10.44%) and Bias (-0.02%, 2.82%) along with cluster sampling designs linear and double star, respectively, had better performance in modeling. In general, the results showed that the use of different cluster sampling schemes, nonparametric modeling methods, and Sentinel2 sensor images can better performance estimate the quantitative characteristics of Zagros forests.

The consequences of global climate change that Iran and other countries are now facing are the pressures and stresses that have been placed on terrestrial ecosystems, especially forests. This is a serious threat to the extinction of many species. Evaluation of plant functional traits changes along height from sea level gradient is very useful in order to understand the adaptation of communities and their response to the environment in climate change. The purpose of this study was to understand the trend of changes in leaf morphological traits and also to investigate the segregation of populations of three important broadleaf species of Hyrcanian forests in the altitude gradient.

For this purpose, five populations at altitudes of 300, 600, 1200, 900 and 1500 m above sea level in the forests of Neka region were selected according to the natural distribution of the studied species. Leaf sampling was performed in four directions and in the middle of tree canopies and seven leaf morphological traits were measured and calculated. Data were processed using analysis of variance, Duncan multiple comparisons and diagnostic analysis.

The results of analysis of variance showed that all leaf traits of all three species have significant differences between different classes of altitude. The trend of changes in the traits of the three species in the altitude gradient was different. Diagnostic analysis of traits in altitude classes performed grouping of the individuals with high accuracy for all three species. The results of this study showed that among the leaf morphological traits of all three species of oak, hornbeam and beech in response to altitude, the traits of leaf area, perimeter, length and width are considered as the best traits.

In general, considering the trend of changes in leaf morphological traits of species in the altitude gradient based on the nature of the species in the study area and good detection of phenotypic differences of populations by Diagnostic analysis concludes that the forces of natural selection in order to adapt and develop the populations of these three species in the altitude gradient of this region, have a good effect on leaf characteristics and have caused the separation of populations. Also, the leaf area trait was introduced as the most effective applied trait and the difference in height of 300 meters was proposed as hypothetical boundaries of the separation of altitude provenance of all three species. Therefore, with the help of the findings of this study, the stability of separate populations of all three species against some consequences of climate change can be evaluated and also in choosing the optimal forest management method to protect the genetic resources of species and improving risk prevention management can be used.

Music can regulate the activity of brain structures that play a significant role in emotions. The perceived emotion techniques such as dichotic listening clarify the relationships between auditory emotional stimuli and hemispheric asymmetries in the auditory modality. We examined the impact of pleasantness/unpleasantness of music by Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) as a subjective measure of listeners’ willingness to accept background noise.

In this study, 32 participants rated their pleasantness with about ten songs; then, we considered the effect of preferred pleasant and unpleasant music on dichotic music listening and acceptable background noise. There were six forced attention conditions to calculate ANL, followed by measuring the most comfortable level and background noise level for each condition.

The pairwise comparison analyses revealed significantly higher ANL in forced attention to pleasant music than to speech (p<0.004) and unpleasant music to the left ear (p≤0.05). The mean ANLs difference in 2 groups of right ear advantage and left ear advantage showed significant intra-hemispheric differences in the forced pleasant music attention than the forced unpleasant music attention conditions (p<0.007), and forced speech conditions (p=0.001), only in the left ear advantage group. In addition, the interaction between conditions and groups showed interhemispheric asymmetry.

Music valence and intra- and interhemispheric differences can affect the ANL dichotic processing and, consequently, lower noise tolerance (higher ANL) in forced pleasant music attention conditions.

Many of the human environmental problems arise from maladaptive behaviors and unstable patterns of life. The reason for the disappearance of forests is not beyond this discussion. One-sided management methods of natural resources and unfamiliar with the needs and traditional way of life of villagers and families living in the forest areas of northern Iran, unfavorable economic and social situation of villagers and low and unsustainable development in rural areas are effective factors in destroying Hyrcanian forests. One of the nature-friendly management methods that that has become popular in the world in the last two decades is "Ecovillage".The purpose of this study is to localize rural ecosystem criteria and indicators in developed countries and prioritize these indicators in rural ecosystems along the Darabkola forest with the aim of preventing the destruction and improper use of Natural areas, including forests and pastures.

In this study, the Delphi method was used to identify and localize the criteria and indicators of ecological, economic and socio-cultural evaluation. Entropy Shanon and TOPSIS techniques were also used to determine the weight and prioritization of these criteria and indicators.

The results showed that ecological criteria with 0.460 had the highest and socio-cultural and economic criteria with 0.375 and 0.165, respectively, had lower weights.

In general, the results of this study showed that attention to ecological category indicators has a higher priority than social and economic indicators. As a result, it is more important to pay attention to these indicators for decision making and management.

Difficulty in perception of speech in noise is one of the main complaints of hearing-impaired people. Due to profound hearing loss in cochlear implant (CI) users, they need higher signal-to-noise ratio for a better perception. Bimodal fitting is a preferred way for CI users because it prevents auditory nerve degeneration, is a complement of frequency range at the opposite ear, an is less invasive to provide binaural hearing. Acceptable noise level (ANL), as a reliable test to assess noise tolerance, has not yet been used in comparing children with bimodal hearing and CI. This study aimed to determine whether bimodal fitting can help CI children tolerate more noise.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 13 children with unilateral CI and bimodal hearing. Audiometry test was performed at aided and non-aided conditions. Then, their noise tolerance was assessed by the Persian version of ANL test.

Bimodal hearing resulted in statistically significant increase in ANL. The mean of ANL at unilateral CI and bimodal hearing conditions were 6.15±2.90 and 4.77±1.70, respectively.

Bimodal fitting lead to more noise tolerance in unilateral CI children due to the combination of binaural summation and binaural release from masking.

 Biodiversity is one of the most important indicators of the sustainability of forest ecosystems, which is affected by stand mixture. Vegetation composition and diversity data are the most important basic information for recognizing the natural capacity and targeting for the principled management of forest habitats. On the other hand, the correct understanding of the regeneration status in the forest is the most important The components in predicting the future of the forest are in terms of structure and composition of tree elements. The aim of this study was to compare the diversity of herbaceous cover and regeneration in pure beech, pure hornbeam and mixed stands in Darbakola educational and research forest of Sari.

 For this purpose, the inventory was performed by randomized systematic method with grid dimensions of 75 × 100 meters and in each stand, 25 sample plots with an area of 400 square meters were implemented and the diameter and height characteristics of the trees were collected. To study biodiversity, names of herbaceous species and the type and number of regenerations were collected in 2×2 meter micro sample plots in four quarters and the center of the sample plots in two stages (May and September). Diversity indices of Shannon and Simpson richness indices of Margalf and Manhenick and evenness Owens and Burger Parker diversity indices were used to study the biodiversity of regenerations and grass cover. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare quantitative characteristics of biomass and biodiversity between habitats and to compare the means by SNK test in SAS software environment and to draw graphs using Excel-2010 software. Past software was used to study biodiversity.

 The results of the present study showed a higher density of beech regeneration in all three studied stands. The highest total number of regeneration was observed in mixed habitat (4040). The highest indices of diversity, richness and regeneration evenness were observed in pure hornbeam and the lowest in pure beech. Regarding herbaceous cover, no significant difference was observed between diversity indices among different stands, while the average of these indices was higher at the beginning of the growing season than at the end of the growing season. Therefore, stand mixture has more tangible effects on regeneration diversity than herbaceous cover, and herbaceous cover diversity is more affected by the during the growing season than type of stand mixture.

 Based on the results of the present study, the future composition of the studied populations will be affected by the dominant species of beech. Also, due to the species diversity in the mixed habitat, the highest total number of regeneration and forest density will be related to this stand. Regarding the grass cover, the higher average of diversity indices at the beginning of the growing season than at the end of the growth season, indicates that the environmental conditions are better in terms of temperature and soil moisture in this season. Therefore, mixing has more noticeable effects on regenerative diversity than grass cover and the difference in grass cover diversity is more affected by the time period of the growing season.

Speech is known as the most important auditory signal that humans deal with it. Noise can mask speech and prevent spoken information from reaching us. Researchers have been trying to develop indexes to assess speech intelligibility. Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) is one of these indicators and we intend to introduce its nature and applications.

SII is a method that numerically demonstrates the ability to hear speech in difficult listening situations. The number 1.0 indicates that all spoken information is available, while 0.0 indicates that the person does not have access to any information. Hearing loss changes a person’s scores on this index, so we need to use corrective factors to more accurately estimate speech intelligibility. In children, the SII score is different from adults. This indicator can be used in the improvement of hearing aid fitting and more accurate adjustment of cochlear implants. The frequency importance function used to calculate SII has a unique shape in each language. Therefore, SII will also differ in different languages, depending on the nature of each language.

SII has emerged as a practical indicator among objective assessments of speech intelligibility. Many have tried to extend and prepare it for use in different groups. Therefore, care should be taken about the use of this index in hearing-impaired people, children, with hearing aids or cochlear implant patients, etc. Evaluation of this index in other languages can help to better adjust the hearing aid based on the characteristics of each language.

When analyzing the gain-frequency response of a hearing aid, data can be analyzed both clinically and statistically. This study aimed to investigate and compare the gain-frequency responses using statistical and clinical analyses under active digital noise reduction (DNR-on) and inactive digital noise reduction (DNR-off) conditions.

The gain-frequency responses of a hearing aid for one of the most well-known commercial digital hearing aid manufacturers were measured using the FP35 hearing aid analyzer (Frye Electronics Inc., USA) by presenting two types of signals (digital speech and composite noise) at input levels of 65 and 80 dB SPL under the DNR-on and DNR-off conditions. Data analysis was performed both statistically (using Wilcoxon signed rank test) and clinically (using 3 dB difference criterion).

A statistically significant difference was found in the gain-frequency responses for all speech and noise input levels between the two conditions; while a clinically significant difference was observed only at noise input levels of 65 and 80 dB SPL.

For analyzing the hearing aid performance, both clinical and statistical analyses should be considered.