noori

Some people suffering from diabetes use insulin injection pumps to control the blood glucose level. Sometimes, the fault may occur in the sensor or actuator of these pumps. The main objective of this paper is controlling the blood glucose level at the desired level and fault-tolerant control of these injection pumps. To this end, the eligibility traces algorithm is combined with the sliding mode control. The eligibility traces algorithm is one of the newest solving methods of the Reinforcement Learning approach. The major disadvantage of the sliding mode control method is the chattering phenomenon. In this paper, the novel idea is the combination of these methods to remove the chattering phenomena in simulation results. To demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method, it is compared with another combinatory method that is the sliding mode control and Artificial Neural Networks. Simulation results reveal that the combination of the eligibility traces algorithm and the sliding mode control can control the blood glucose level and insulin with a higher speed and bring them to the desired level, even in the case the sensor and actuator faults are present in the system. When the proposed hybrid method is used, the injected dosage of the drug is lower, which will result in reduced side effects. Finally, the noise, as well as the uncertainty in system parameters and initial conditions are applied to the system to investigate the performance of the proposed controller, under the faulty condition.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the second most important cereal in the world after wheat. Chemical inputs including fertilizers and pesticides are applied to paddy lands to enhance yield and control pests and diseases. Although, this crop has been cultivated organically in some parts of the world. Despite a lot of research, policy and public attention, only a small portion of the total agricultural land has been dedicated to organic farming. Due to the destructive effects of conventional agriculture on the environment through the excessive use of chemical inputs, switching to sustainable agriculture is increasing day by day. One of the pillars of sustainable agriculture is the use of organic fertilizers in agro-ecosystems with the aim of eliminating the use of chemical fertilizers. Organic rice cultivation is emerging as a sustainable alternative in Mazandaran province which has numerous capabilities to transit from conventional to organic agriculture. The present study, therefore, was designed to evaluate the quantitative and quality characteristics of rice in three conventional, low-input and organic agricultural systems in Mazandaran Province.

The present study was conducted during 2015 and 2016 cropping seasons in three different regions of Mazandaran province (Babol, Fereydounkenar and Amol cities). For organic, low-input and conventional agricultural systems, three, four and six fields were selected in these cities, respectively. Selected fields had been under the same agricultural system for at least the last three years. In organic agricultural systems, standard poultry manure and biofertilizers including Azotobacter and Barvar2 were used. Also, Trichogramma bee, sex pheromones, fungicides, and biological insecticides were applied to control the common pests and diseases. Furthermore, the weeds were controlled manually. In the low-input system, minimum amounts of external inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides were applied as compared to the conventional system. At the beginning of the growing season, the farmers were justified to apply all agronomic operations from the seedbed preparation to harvest in accordance with recommendations of the Rice Research Institute of Iran. Agronomic characteristics and physical quality properties including grain yield, conversion efficiency, hull percentage, head rice percentage and chemical properties including protein content, amylose percentage, and gelatinization temperature were determined. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and mean comparison by SAS 9.4 statistical software.

The results showed that in two regions of Babol and Amol, the conventional and low-input systems had more grain yield than an organic system. Among three regions, the highest grain (4978.33 kg.ha-1) and biological (8532.33 kg.ha-1) yields were obtained in the Fereydounkenar region in the low-input system. Those yields were 4.73 and 2.80 percent, and 29.99 and 29.12 percent more than the conventional and organic systems, respectively. In terms of grain quality characteristics, despite higher percentage of protein content in 2015 and 2016 (6.27 and 1.04) in conventional culture, the maximum conversion efficiency (68.05 and 69.05) and complete rice percentage (64.70), seed length after baking (13.46), the least husk percentage (22.47 and 21.86), bran (9.47 and 9.08) and broken rice (4.00 and 2.14) were recorded in organic farming system.

In conclusion, low-input sustainable farming would be more appropriate because of its greater yield and less consumption of chemical inputs, which reduces expenses while increasing sales income. In terms of the quality, particularly conversion efficiency, however, organic farming was better than the other two systems. In general, in the present conditions, it is important to consider not only the grain yield but also the yield quality. Accordingly, low-input agricultural system could be recommended to the farmers, but in the long run, the organic agricultural system will be advisable to meet both food safety and environmental health. However, the decision, in this case, requires further studies and perennial experiments.

The Length-Weight Relationship (LWR) and condition factors (CF) of 10441 the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense collected from Anzali lagoon from March to December 2015 were studied. Length, weight and other external features of all specimens were measured. The Total length and body weight of M. nipponense ranged from 12.3-97 mm and 0.1-11.7 g respectively. A strong positive relationship was observed between the shrimp length and weight in both sexes (r= 0.95). There were significant differences in the condition factors of males and females (p < 0.05). The lowest CF value was observed in station 1 (CF= 1.28 ± 0.04) and the highest in station 2 (CF= 1.38 ± 0.34). In this study the regression coefficient (b) was lower than 3.0 for females and 3 for males, and combined sexes which was reflecting allometric growth of the M. nipponense.

In this study, an indirect method is proposed based on the Chebyshev pseudo-spectral method for solving optimal control problems governed by Burgers’ equation. Pseudo-spectral methods are one of the most accurate methods for solving nonlinear continuous-time problems, specially optimal control problems. By using optimality conditions, the original optimal control problem is first reduced to a system of partial differential equations with boundary conditions. Control and state functions are then approximated by interpolating polynomials. The convergence is analyzed, and some numerical examples are solved to show the efficiency and capability of the method.

Autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most prevalent inherited genetic disease of cats, predominantly affecting Persians and Persian-related cats. The purpose of this study was to determine prevalence of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in Persian cats in Iran, and also to assess the relationships between PKD and gender, age as well as clinical and paracilinical manifestations. Sonographic screening examination was performed on all healthy and unhealthy Persian and Persian-related cats referred to Small Animal Hospital of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, from April 2014 to May 2015. Cats were classified as positive when at least one anechoic cavity was found in at least one kidney. Of 76 Persian and Persian-related cats submitted for PKD ultrasound screening, 36.8% were found to have the disease and 63.2% were negative. Therefore, the prevalence of PKD was estimated 36.8% in Persian and Persian related cats in Tehran, Iran, which is approximately similar to prevalence in other parts of the world. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between PKD and age, as in affected cats the detection probability of renal cysts in sonography was increased in older animals. For each year increase in age, the detection probability of PKD in sonography was increased about 2.62 times. The prevalence of the PKD amongst Persian cats in Iran is relatively high, and insufficient attention to incidence and prevalence of PKD especially in breeding programs, would spread the disease throughout in Persian cats.

The ionic contents, pH and osmolality of seminal plasma and their relationships to sperm motility indices (sperm motility duration and percentage of motile sperm) were evaluated in bester. Semen was collected from six bester specimens and their seminal plasma was evaluated. The seminal plasma contained 54.5±2.8 mM sodium, 22.33±2.5 mM chloride, 7.1±1.2 mM potassium, 3.55±0.6 mM calcium and 0.58±0.09 mM magnesium. The result shows that Na+, Cl- and K+ (54.5±2.8, 22.33±2.5 and 7.1±1.2 mM, respectively) were predominant ions in bester seminal plasma like other sturgeons. However the concentrations of K+, Ca2+ and Cl- in bester seminal plasma were higher than those reported in beluga and sterlet as parental species. The mean pH and osmolality of seminal plasma were 8.09±0.34 and 127.6±20.8 mOsm kg-1, respectively. A significant negative regression was observed between osmolality and percentage motility (r=- 0.893).

Long marine sedimentary cores can be effective in paleo-climate reconstruction. The present research aims at analyzing  the temporal variation of temperature as an important climate parameter and also variations in metal concentrations (As, Ba, Cd, Li, Mo, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb, Sr, Zn, Fe, Ca, Al) of two long sedimentary cores at the Persian Gulf back to the Holocene. The obtained results revealed that the average elemental concentrations, apart from Ni, Sr, Ca and Na, are less than the shale value in both sedimentary cores. Moreover, the amount of   varies from -1.31 versus 1.02 in Bushehr, to -1.69 versus 1.56 in Bandar Abbas sedimentary cores, respectively. In addition,  change from -3.63 Vs -2.02 in Bushehr to -3.79 Vs -1.36 in Bandar Abbas sedimentary cores, respectively. Abrupt change in  and  can be seen in both sedimentary cores at two different periods (3000 to 5000 and 8000 to 9000 years ago). The maximum increase in temperature in sedimentary cores was at 0.4°C per 100 years in Bushehr and 0.01°C per 100 years in Bandar Abbas. The minimum  temperature reached to -0.8°C per 100 years in Bushehr to -0.02°C per 100 years in Bandar Abbas sedimentary cores. Compared to the previously obtained temperatures in this research, there has been temperature changes in the last 40 years in the Persian Gulf, which indicates that the recent rate change in sea water temperature has been unprecedented.

In the Tabas coal preparation plant (SE Iran), -50 + 6 mm raw coal was treated in a 700 mm two-stage two-density Tri-Flo dynamic dense medium separator. In order to study the circuit performance and to evaluate the separator efficiency, 32 mm cubic density tracers were used in the range of 1.28-2.1 g/cm3 and under different operational conditions. The performance of Tri-Flo was evaluated in a rapid manner, and an acceptable partitioning performance was observed under the process regime; the misplacements were in the normal range. Contrary to the dense media cyclones where the cut point shift (CPS) is usually positive, the results of this work showed that CPS was negative in both stages of the Tri-Flo separator. The Ecart probable value for the first stage of the separator (Epf = 0.023) was rather greater than the second stage (Eps = 0.018), representing the higher performance achieved in the second stage. In addition, the Tri-Flo operational parameters were found to be adjustable on the basis of raw coal specifications in order to reach good metallurgical results. Therefore, the optimum operational feed capacities of the Tri-Flo separator were determined to be in the range of 80-140 t/h, depending on the type of raw coal.

Enjoying a long history and holding profound concepts, the Turkmen carpets possess many forms most of which, such as animal motifs, have been derived from nature. The paper at hand intends to study the sheep motifs in the Turkmen carpets, as well as its conceptual and historical origins. Employing a historical and descriptive-analytic method of research, the research aims to address two main questions including: how this motif is associated with the history and customs of Turkmens? And how these motifs have been reflected in these carpets? for this purpose, primarily the historical role of sheep in Turkmen's history, ancient traditions, nomadic lifestyle and customs will be reviewed followed by a survey of this animal's designs and motifs in Turkmens' carpets in terms of form. Moreover, sheep comprised one of the major totems among the ancestors of Turkmen tribes in ancient times. Sheep was also considered a useful and beneficial animal in nomadism. therefore, the tribes' carpet-weavers have used several sheep motifs in diverse, abstract forms ranging from simple and primitive forms to complex and intricate ones, with some sheep designs having various horn forms. These motifs are found both in the middle of the carpets and their margins next to other Turkmen designs.  Generally, the sheep design is reminders of the memories of their forefathers and tribal life for Turkmens and a symbol of power, bravery, perseverance and blessing.

Feeds are widely exposed to various mycotoxin contaminations including aflatoxin and zearalenone. The present study was designed to investigate the simultaneous toxic effects of aflatoxin and zearalenone. To this end, 540 rainbow trout fingerlings (3.0 ± 0.2 g) were randomly allotted to nine different experimental groups composed of three different dietary aflatoxin (0, 25 and 50 ppb) and zearalenone (0, 200 and 400 ppb) levels. The experiment lasted 30 days. Red and white blood cell counts along with some immunological indices including serum lysozyme activity, antibody, lymphocyte proliferation, complementary pathway and phagocytic intensity of peripheral blood phagocytic cells (NR assay) were investigated. Results showed that lysozyme activity, serum antibody content, red and white blood cell counts were not significantly affected by dietary mycotoxin contamination (p>0.05). However, the complementary pathway was significantly affected by dietary aflatoxin B1 content (p<0.05) and the lowest and highest activity was observed in those fish received 50 ppb and diet lacking aflatoxin contamination, respectively. Aflatoxin B1 and zearalenone interactively affected lymphocyte proliferation and NR indices (p≤ 0.05) with the lowest and highest activities were recorded in those fish fed diet containing 50 ppb aflatoxin devoid of zearalenone and diet containing 50 ppb aflatoxin and 200 ppb zearalenone, respectively. It is conceivable that simultaneous dietary contamination of aflatoxin and zearalenone attenuates immune system functioning of rainbow trout.

The present research was conducted to study the effect of NPK fertilization on wheat grain yield, minerals concentration, grain quality, gluten, pentosan, and phytate phosphorous (phy-P) content, and the influence of maternal plant NPK fertilization on the seed physiological attributes during the germination period. NPK treatments comprised a control, where no fertilizer was applied (T0), and two levels of NPK fertilizer: T1 (110 kg N+60 kg P2O5+55 kg K2O ha-1), and T2 (200 kg N+120 kg P2O5+100 kg K2O ha-1). Winter wheat was grown in a greenhouse during the growing season of 2015-16, following randomized complete block design with 4 replicates. The results indicated that a high level of NPK (T2) fertilization increased the grain yield, crude protein, water-soluble pentosan, and dry gluten, up to 151.6, 65.3, 40.5, and 408.9% compared to the control, respectively. It also enhanced the grain mineral concentration, but did not affect the grain starch significantly. Grain phy-P was increased with a high NPK fertilization and, interestingly, the level of phytase enzyme was also increased up to 46% in T2 compared to the control. Moreover, maternal plant NPK fertilization enhanced seed germination percentage, seedling fresh weight, phytase activity, inorganic phosphorus, and phy-P metabolism during the germination period. From the results of this study, it was concluded that grain nutritional quality was improved with increasing NPK rates, but antinutritional compound phy-P was also increased, while it may enhance seed viability, germination, and seedling vigor.

Optimal water utilization is one of the most important challenges of the present century. Due to limited water resources and the existence of alternate droughts in the country, optimal use of it is necessary. The deficit irrigation technique is one of the most effective and practical ways in which it can determine and justify the minimum water consumption with acceptable economic performance. Its use in reducing water consumption for biomass production and for irrigation of annual and perennial crops. To effectively apply water deficit management, an understanding of the effects of irrigation at different stages of vine growth is required. Partial Root-zone Drying (PRD) is also one of the new irrigation techniques over the past years. The results of many studies indicate that water use efficiency has increased and there is no significant reduction in the yield in this irrigation method. In this technique, only half of the roots are irrigated at each turn and the remaining half remains dry. On the other hand, in recent years, the use of natural minerals has improved in order to improve the physical and chemical composition of the soil, which leads to an increase in water holding capacity in the soil.
One of the methods for increasing the water use efficiency is the application of water absorbent materials in soil. Super absorbent polymer increases the water saving in soil and decreases the amount of water used for irrigation. Zeolite is one of these minerals that increases the soil water holding capacity. So far, many studies have been carried out on the use of PRD, as well as the use of zeolite, but none has examined the effect of these two simultaneously. Therefore, in the present study, the efficiency of both above method and deficit irrigation on yield and water use efficiency of sweet pepper were investigated. This research was carried out in a completely randomized design with 9 treatments and 4 replications in a greenhouse in Shahrekord University. This study was carried out at three levels of irrigation of 100%, 75% and 50% of the water requirement of the plant by Partial Root-zone Drying and zeolite in two levels of 2 and 4% by weight in the soil, in one and two sides of the pots with a height of 30 and diameter 28 cm. After preparing the culture medium, the F1 type Lummus seedlings were transferred to the pots. During the transfer of transplants into the pot, careful attention was paid to the fact that the roots were developed on both sides. Physiological parameters such as leaf area, total fresh and dry weight of the whole organ, total fresh weight of fruit, diameter and number of fruits and chemical indices including vitamin C, pH, total soluble solids and chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll with water use efficiency were measured and evaluated. In order to analyze the results, SAS software (version 1/9) was used. Mean comparison was also performed by LSD test. The results of this study showed that there was a significant difference in the 1% level for fresh and dry weight, fresh weight of fruit and chemical indices of vitamin C, pH and soluble solids, and a significant difference at 5% for diameter fruit and chlorophyll. The results of comparing the meanings showed that fresh weight and fruit diameter were significantly decreased in all treatments than control. The number of fruits in severe irrigation (50%) and in both levels of zeolite showed a significant decrease compared to control. Vitamin C value as an important indicator of fruit quality in all treatments was significantly higher than control, in other words water stress causes an increase in the amount of vitamin C in the fruit, and the amount of pH in the most treatments has decreased significantly compared to the control treatment. Given that all important processes such as photosynthesis, nutrition, opening and closing of stomatal and plant growth and development are under the influence of water, most of the studied traits in this
research (except chlorophyll) in zeolite-containing treatments, showed a significant advantage over nonconsumption of zeolite. The results also showed that application of PRD method with zeolite in deficit irrigation resulted in significant increase in water use efficiency in all treatments.

Aim: The study purpose was to determine tendency of substance use in adolescent tobacco users based on psychological family climate and family history of addiction with mediating peer group. Research method was correlation and the statistical population was all 839057 male and female adolescents 13-19 years old in Tehran in the second half of 2016. Using cluster random sampling. Tehran at first was divided into 5 geographical parts of north, south, west, east and center, then from 22 municipal areas, 11 regions were randomly selected. The sample size was determined 150 individuals according to Mishel 1993 and suggesting a ratio of 10 to 20 subjects per observed variable, and considering probable attrition. Data were collected using Addiction Susceptibility Questionnaire-Adolescents Version by Zeinali, (2014); Affective Family Climate Scale by Hillburn, 1964; Adolescent Affiliation with Deviant Peers Scale by Paschal, Ringwalt & Flewelling, (2003), and a researcher-made tool for family history of addiction 2016. After omission of 5 distorted questionnaires and 3 outlier subjects, data analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that Indirect pathway coefficient of the psychological family climate and substance use tendency is negative with mediating peer group (β= -0.164, P= 0.002) and the indirect path coefficient of the family history of addiction and relatives and substance use tendency is positive with mediating peer group (β= 0.153, P= 0.002). It is suggested that parents protect their children from the influence of peers and tendency of tobacco and substance use by providing an appropriate psychological and emotional atmosphere.

Melon is an important crop cultivated in moderate climate regions of the world. One of the most important diseases of this plant is vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. melonis (Fom). Infection of farm by this pathogen can result in huge damage around the world. Development of resistant varieties is the most effective method for disease control. Four races of 0, 1, 2 and 1,2 have been reported for this pathogen and 1 is more versatile and dangerous races especially in the north half of Iran. Garmak, as an important variety in Isfahan province, is susceptible to race 1. Single dominant gene of Fom-2 induces resistance against race 0 and 1. In this research, the resistance gene was transferred from Isabelle into Garmak using SNP marker assisted back-crossing. The screening of plants in BC1, BC2, and BC3 generations was carried out using artificial inoculation. This gene was sequenced partially in parental genotypes and resistant and susceptible alleles were discriminated. In order to verify the resistant plants survived after artificial inoculation in BC3, plants were genotyped using the SNP marker and HRM method. This method distinctly separated three genotypes (RR, Rr and rr) from each other. The resistance of most plants was verified by molecular method. However, among resistant genotypes identified by artificial inoculation method, there were some susceptible plants identified by molecular method, indicating the more confidence of molecular method in genotyping of plants. With selfing of BC3 resistant plants and selection of homozygote resistant plants, it is possible to develop resistant Garmak variety.

This work deals with kinetics and chemical equilibrium studies of esterification reaction of ethanol with acetic acid. The esterification reaction was catalyzed by an acidic ion exchange resin (Amberlyst-15) using a batch stirred tank reactor. The pseudo-homogenous and Eley-Rideal models were successfully fitted with experimental data. At first, Eley-Rideal model was examined for heterogeneous esterification of acetic acid and ethanol. The pseudo-homogenous model was investigated with a power-law model. The apparent reaction order was determined to be (0.88) for Ethanol and (0.92) for acetic acid with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.981 and 0.988, respectively. The reaction order was determined to be 4.1087x10-3 L0.8/(mol0.8.min) with R2 of 0.954. The adsorption constants of acetic acid and ethanol were calculated as 0.023 and 0.044 L/mol, respectively and the lumped reaction constant were determined to be 5*10-4 L2/gcat.mol.min. The results of the reaction kinetic study show that the high acetic acid/ethanol molar ratio was favored. The maximum conversion of 70 % was obtained at 70°C for acetic acid/ethanol molar ratio of 4.

The proprietary of carbon nanotubes may cause harmful effects on the environment. In the present study, the effects of these nanoparticles on oxidative stress and liver function impairment in Wistar rats were investigated.
In this experimental study, the multi-wall carbon nanotubes functionalized with carboxylic groups were injected to Wistar rats in 4 treatment groups (doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg/bw with two different blood sampling times) and control groups received physiological saline. Blood sampling was done in two stages, 24 hours and 144 hours after the last injection. Then, the activity levels of ALP (Alkaline phosphatase), ALT (Alanine aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate aminotransferase), LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase) enzymes, and malondialdehyde and plasma thiol levels were measured. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Duncan post hoc test. : In the first blood collection, LDH activity at the dose of 20 mg/kg and the amount of thiol groups at the dose of 10 mg/kg increased (p=0.006) and decreased (p=0.011) significantly than other groups, respectively. In the second blood collection, the activity levels of the ALP (p=0.020) and LDH (p=0.007) at a dose of 20 mg/kg and the activity levels of the ALT (p=0.033) at a dose of 10 mg/kg decreased significantly compared to the control group. The amount of malondialdehyde was significantly increased (p=0.023) at either doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg compared to the control group.
Probably, carboxylic multi-wall carbon nanotubes, even at low doses, after 6 days of the last injection, causes disturbances in liver function by producing free radicals and oxidative stress.

Natural antimicrobial compounds have a valuable capacity to be used in a variety of foods to inhibit growth of foodborne pathogens and spoilage bacteria. The aims of this study were to produce active biodegradable films by incorporation of different percentage of oregano essential oil (OEO) and ethanolic extract of propolis (EEP) into poly-lactic acid (PLA) films, and to evaluate physical and antimicrobial properties of the resulting films.
The active films were produced by solvent casting method, and their thickness and major color parameters were measured using a digital micrometer and a colorimeter instrument, respectively. Afterwards, antibacterial effects of the films were assessed against four common foodborne pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Listeria monocytogenes, by means of disk diffusion test.
Physical examinations showed that thickness of resultant films significantly was increased (p Based on the findings of this study, the presence of just EEP in the initial formulation of poly-lactic acid films was not effective against the four tested foodborne pathogens, while the addition of this compound to the films containing OEO increased the effective antibacterial properties of the resulting films. As a result, the simultaneous use of these two compounds in the structure of hydrophobic films, such as poly-lactic acid film, can be used to produce active food packaging films.

Wound healing is important in medicine so that the development in this area can affect a major impact on quality of patient life. Using suitable dressing is one of the effective role in wound healing. In recent years, new generation of wound dressing with different formats like sponge, film, hydrocolloid, and so on are developed. However, fewer dressing has complete requirement of wound healing. Recently, electrospun polymeric nanofibers is widely considered due to their unique properties in wound dressing and healing. Electrospinning has been widely used as a nanofiber fabrication technique. Polymeric nanofibers with different morphologies and dimensions can be obtained from electrospinning method. These nanofibers show high surface area to volume ratio, tunable porosity and facile surface functionalization. These characterization lead to different application especially in medicine. This report gives us an overview of some recent advances of electrospinning, fabrication of polymeric nanofibers and their application in wound healing. First, we briefly discuss the wound healing process then the electrospinning process and fabrication of electrospun nanofibers are investigated. Finally, nanofibers in combination with others nanomaterials and their application in wound dressing and antibacterial properties are studied.

The present study focused on ontogeny of digestive enzymes activity namely Pepsin, Trypsin and Chymotrypsin of A. stellatus. Stellate larvae, from the first day of hatch to day 50 of development, were randomly taken for enzyme assay. Specific enzyme activities of Pepsin, Trypsin and Chymotrypsin were determined. The Peptic activity was detected in one-day-old larvae with a sharp raise of enzymatic activity from day 8 post hatch forth, especially during the larval transition to exogenous feedings (p

One of the most important goals of research in the field of transportation is optimizing of traffic flows. Today there are many problems in traffic flows such as continuous growth of vehicles, the limitation in the resources provided by the current infrastructure and the nonlinear, dynamic and random nature of the traffic flow. For solving this problem, use of intelligent methods in controlling the flows of traffic, especially the methods of reinforcement learning is investigated. In addition to simplicity and lack of computational complexity, the learning procedure is model free that is there is no need of a mathematical model. Other advantages of this method are the ability to adapt to environmental conditions and robustness to environmental changes. In this paper, traffic control of an intersection is carried out using three methods of reinforcement learning (Q-learning, SARSA, and Eligibility traces). Simulation results indicate that eligibility traces method is more efficient than the two other methods of Q-learning and Sarsa, which has been used previously in traffic control articles.

Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) is one of the most important pests of vegetable and ornamental crops in the world. Generally, control of T. vaporariorum is based on the application of insecticides, but they are resistant to many synthetic chemicals. There is a necessity to evaluate non-chemical and low-risk ways against the pest. Accordingly, medicinal plants are promising because they are safe to human, eco-friendly and biodegradable components. However, chemical insecticides are an inevitable component of agricultural products. Hence, in the present study, we examined the synergistic/antagonistic interactions between Agastache foeniculum (Pursh) Kuntze, Cuminum cyminum L., Ferulago angulata (Schlecht) Boiss, Foeniculum vulgare Mill., Origanum vulgare Mill., Satureja hortensis L., Trachyspermum ammi I. Sprague and Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oils with Proteus® against T. vaporariorum adults and eggs. Probit analysis of essential oils showed that O. vulgare and T. ammi were the most effective essential oils against T. vaporariorum adults that both exhibited LC50 values equivalent to 0.44 µL/L air. F. vulgare essential oil had the highest mortality against the eggs of T. vaporariorum (LC50= 30.60 µL/L air). All essential oils synergized efficacy of Proteus® against adults of T. vaporariorum. The inclusion of Z. tenuior essential oil with Proteus® led to antagonistic interaction against T. vaporariorum eggs.

Timing belts transmit crankshaft's power to rotate synchronously camshafts so that the engine's valves open and close at the proper times. Various vibrations will be imposed to timing belt during engine operation that could lead to movement and flapping of timing belt. Lateral belt tracking that pushes belt toward or outward of engine is one of these movements. This movement cause to improper contact between pulley's flange and timing belt that can produce annoyance noise and also accelerate the belt failure. There are many factors such as starting temperature, inclination of pulleys, inherent characteristics of belt, belt width, and position of tensioner which effect on belt tracking. This article evaluates effect of starting time, belt width and belt run-off on magnitude of lateral force in an internal combustion engine. According to test results, reducing starting temperature to lower than 30 C has considerable effect on rise of lateral force and belt movement. By 0.5 increase of belt width can reduce lateral force acceptably. Moreover, it is possible to control lateral movement by using timing belts with proper run-off.

Proper and uniform charge distribution in engine cylinders is the main function of intake manifold. Generally, this piece is made of aluminum or plastic. Plastic manifold, in comparison to aluminum manifold, have better weight and lower cost of production, better thermal insulation and improved volumetric efficiency, but due to the poor strength of plastic manifolds against the destructive effects of backfire phenomena compared to aluminum manifolds, corrective measures to improve and validate the strength of the part against this phenomenon must be undertaken. Due to the fact that testing the strength of the piece against this phenomenon is always associated with difficulty; in this paper all parameters which affect the strength of plastic intake manifolds by applying the proposed test procedure are discussed. At first, via the proposed validation test, the effect of raw material and glass fiber percent are investigated and in the following, after simulating with ABAQUS software and validating it with the experimental results, the effect of glass fiber and the layer thickness on the concentration of the plastic manifold stress of the national engine has been investigated; considering the proposed procedure. The results of validation tests and simulation show that, thickness, glass fiber content and the quality of raw material are the main parameters that improve the strength of the plastic manifold respectively.

Today groundwater resources play an important role in the water supply of agriculture. Iran is in the semiarid region so evaluation of irrigation that turns into groundwater resources that called the return flow could have a major role in groundwater recharge and must be considered for effective management of groundwater resources. The goal of this study was investigating the effect of irrigation on groundwater recharge by using the HYDRUS-1D model. In this case study, the data were obtained from a complete growing season of maize and wheat which were planted in the Hashtgerd Alborz Province during the years of 20004 2013. Soil moisture and deep percolation were simulated for two different irrigation efficiencies of 60 and 80 percent (equivalent to 40 and 20 percent deep percolation of irrigation, respectively). The results showed that soil moisture advance underirrigation efficiency increased the level of ground water to 1 m. Also the highest percentage of groundwater recharge from irrigation and rainfall was for winter wheat. During the simulation, irrigation efficiency of 60% and 80%, recharge 2.63 m and 1.6 m the ground water level that 14.6 and 10.92 percent are included irrigation and rainfall respectively. The results of this study showed that deep percolation of irrigation and rainfall can recharge and rise of the groundwater level.

Graphene oxide/Ag nanoparticles (Ag/GO) was prepared and employed to synthesize antifouling polyethersulfone (PES) mixed matrix membranes. The performance of the membranes was evaluated in terms of flux, hydrophilicity and anti-biofouling properties. With increment of the Ag/GO from 0 to 0.1 wt.%, the pure water flux increased from 24.7 up to 54.1 kg/m2 h. The flux recovery ratio (FRR) of the membranes was performed using milk powder solution and the results illustrated that the 0.1 wt.% Ag/GO membrane had the best fouling resistance with the FRR value of 95.45%. The performance of the nanofiltration was assessed using the retention of Direct Red 16. It was indicated that the Ag/GO-PES membranes have remarkable dye removal (98.38% rejection). The anti-biofouling activities of the 0.1 wt.% Ag/GO mixed matrix membrane was also investigated using activated sludge and the results showed a notable improvement.