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     The growing global consumption of non-alcoholic drinks has brought attention to the characterization and quality control of popular beverages such as malt beverages. Organic acids remarkably impact on the microbial control, stability and organoleptic characteristics (flavor, color and aroma) of beverages. This study focuses on the determination of organic acids, including oxalic, citric, tartaric, malic, succinic, lactic, fumaric, acetic, propionic, and gallic acid, in 100 commercial malt beverages from different brands (five Iranian and five various imported brands) and flavored variants (classic, pomegranate, peach, tropical and lemon). In addition, the contents of total phenols, total flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and free amino acids were measured to assess the overall composition. Liquid chromatography (LC) was employed to develop a method for analyzing the organic acids, while spectrophotometric techniques were used for quantifying other bioactive compounds.  The results revealed significant variations in the organic acid profiles, with succinic acid being the most abundant, while tartaric acid was absent in all samples. For better data analysis, chemometrics technique (PCA method) was applied to classify achieved results. The results show that PCA can classify the malt drinks based on the additive values with a very high precision. In order to improve the quality control of malt beverages, it is recommended that some extra assessments like organic acids and free amino nitrogen determination tests would better to be considered at Iranian national standard.
 

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This paper shows the role of the general dynamic model in empirical research of production technology in agriculture. The model is a first order autoregressive multivariate specification, first developed by Anderson and Blundell. This model is general enough to nest several simpler dynamic as well as static models within it. Therefore, it provides a framework for applying classical testing procedures and identifying the appropriate specification in the empirical econometric model of production. The usefulness of the general dynamic model is shown by estimating the production structure in the Iranian crop sector. The results indicate that the Iranian crop production is best characterized by a long-run static model derived from a non-homothetic translog specification which incorporates non-neutral technological change and allows for structural change after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

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Research Subject: Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is a silicone polymer that nowadays despite unique characteristics and high application potential of its microparticles, their preparation via bulk emulsification methods is a main challenge due to the limitations in mixing process, high viscosity and low surface energy of PDMS that make impossible accurate  control of final obtained particles. In the present work, size-controlled PDMS microparticles were prepared from a high-viscosity material.
Research Approach: PDMS microparticles were obtained by using glass capillary co-flow microfluidic device. The designed microfluidic device is facile, inexpensive and reusable and facilitated preparation of the high-viscosity PDMS microdroplets. Stabilizing the oil-in-water emulsion was obtained by optimizing the bath components and curing process that resulted in monodisperse and spherical PDMS microparicles. Effect of the some important adjustable parameters such as microchannel diameter and flow rate on the flow regimes and microparticles polydispersity were investigated by means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.
Main Results: Results showed a dripping regime for producing monodisperse microparticles at low flow rates of the continuous phase and monodisperse microparticles from it. On the contrary, microparticles obtained from jetting regime are more polydisperse and smaller in comparison with dripping regime. By reducing the diameter of inner microchannel, microparticles with a diameter of 1.83 µm were obtained. Using the designed technology, uniform nanocomposite PDMS/ZnO microparticles 318 µm in diameter containing 15% ZnO were obtained from an oil phase viscosity of 7550 mPa.s. Therefore by an optimized and facile method, size-controllable uniform microparticles can be prepared that are proposed for various applications including drug delivery, bioengineering and electronic industry.

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This paper examines the effects of agricultural land productivity improvement on the economy of Iran assuming that the domestic and international trade liberalizations will open up the opportunities to expand market access. A 25-sector computable general equi-librium model was developed to simulate the effects of this policy. The simulation results indicate that enhancing agricultural land productivity while implementing trade policy reform results in an expansion of agricultural sector which, in turn, leads to the expansion of food manufacturing and service sectors and mitigating the problem of unemployment. Furthermore, improving land productivity results in a decrease in the price of food prod-ucts and an increase in real GDP. Consequently, food security enhances and Iranian wel-fare improves. As a result, this is an appropriate domestic policy for Iran. This policy re-sults in an expansion of agricultural sector which in turn leads to expansion of food manu-facturing and service sectors, mitigates the unemployment problem, improves the Iranian welfare as the real GDP increases, and improves the food security in Iran, as the price of food products decreases.

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Backgrounds: The burden of bacteremia in febrile cases is still poorly understood in Nigeria as in many sub-Saharan African countries due to diagnostic limitations. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Salmonella bloodstream infections and antimicrobial resistance patterns of bacterial isolates recovered from febrile patients in Lagos, Nigeria.
Materials & Methods: A total of 300 blood samples were collected from febrile patients attending four medical centers in Lagos during August 2020 to July 2021. Clinical isolates were identified using API 20E kit. qPCR was used to detect Salmonella isolates in positive blood culture samples using a specific primer set. All isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests using standard procedures.  
Findings:  Totally, 55 bacterial isolates belonging to six bacterial genera were identified, including Salmonella (n=4, 7.27%), Klebsiella species (n=23, 41.82%), Escherichia coli (n=6, 10.91%), Proteus species (n=13, 23.64%), Serratia species (n=7, 12.73%), and Citrobacter species (n=2, 3.64%). In this study, the detection rate of Salmonella isolates in positive blood culture samples using qPCR and invA gene primer set was 100%. Salmonella isolates were 100% resistant to ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and doripenem. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was observed in Salmonella and other bacterial isolates.
Conclusion:  In this study, qPCR using the invA primer set was found to be highly specific for Salmonella detection. All the bloodstream bacterial pathogens in this study were MDR; thus, there is a need for continuous evaluation of antibiotics in medical settings.  Further molecular studies on these bacterial isolates is essential.

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The lack of statistics has hampered attempts to estimate fixed capital for the agricultural sub-sectors of Iran. Giving a non anonymous agreement on the depreciation rate of capital in machineries and constructions, an indirect method of estimation is employed using capital consumption statistics in different sub-sectors of input-output tables. In this study, capital stock is estimated in agricultural sub-sectors of Iran using the perpetual inventory method. According to the results of this paper, the capital stock in 2006 is estimated to be 53374.9 billion rials in cropping and horticulture, 24334.6 billion rials in animal husbandry, 4982 billion rials in forestry and rangelands and 16374.2 billion rials in fishery sub-sectors at constant 1997 prices, respectively. The findings based on the five year development plans of the country revealed that over the third development plan, the total agricultural capital stock, both in machinery and equipment and constructions, experienced the highest growth while during the second development plan, the machinery and equipment capital stock experienced the lowest growth. Moreover, during the first development plan and over the eight year war, the construction capital stock experienced the lowest growth.

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Two models are commonly made use to explain the behavior of insurance industries, namely: risk-pooling and the risk-absorbing models. Neither of the two models provides an acceptable definition of insurance output in the economies experiencing high inflation rate. To address the deficiencies of the present models, an alternative was proposed in the current study as based on the theory of index number. To verify the reliability of the suggested model, all the three models were tested using times series data from Agricultural Insurance Fund in Iran. The first two models failed to provide a meaningful indication of growth of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in insurance Fund over the period of study while, results of the productivity estimation in the context of the proposed model show more consistence with reality and demonstrate an acceptable trend. Thus, the proposed model seems to have the merit of being considered as an alternative one in evaluating the productivity improvement in Agricultural Insurance Fund in Iran and as well in other developing countries experiencing high inflation rate.

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Mallow (Malva neglecta) is grown in Middle East countries. In herbal medicines mallow is used as pain decreasing, importing injuries and removing gastrointestinal problems, respiratory system and so on. These specifications are dependent on structural components and plant mucilage respectively. In this study structural components and amount of leaves and stems mucilage was analyzed.In spring, leaves with stems were collected, dried and powdered. Quantity of protein, fat, ash, fatty acids and sterols were analyzed by AOAC and Iranian Standard methods. Mucilage of M.neglecta was extracted by deionized water in 90^OC and extracted mucilage was dried in 50^OC oven. Phenol-sulfuric acid method was used to determination of total carbohydrate. Leaves and petioles of M.neglecta are rich in protein and ash.40% of fatty acids is linolenic acid and more than 50% of total fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids. Extracted mucilage was totally 12% in dry matter of plant. Total carbohydrate of M.neglecta mucilage was % 75.97±2.46 respectively. Having useful ingredients like zinc, copper, iron, protein, unsaturated fatty acid and high amount of mucilage demonstrates worth of M.neglectain food and medicines. Phenol sulfuric acid method was used in different temperatures from environment till boiling temperatures. Also using phenol-sulfuric acid method in boiling temperature was done before but in combination by autoclave instrument for getting total carbohydrates of M.neglecta mucilage is the first action.

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In the light of the 2008 World Development Report, this paper revisits the impact of agriculture on overall economic growth, in the case of an oil producing country, using indices of intersectoral linkages. To this end, four input-output tables of Iran’s economy are utilized. The results support the importance of the agricultural sector in stimulating the economic growth of Iran, but also show that the manufacturing sector has a higher potential to increase domestic production through its intersectoral linkage effects. Consequently, the results provide a caveat to the recommended general policy of the World Bank that the agricultural sector can be considered a key sector for the economic development in developing countries, at least in an oil producing country like Iran.

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This study investigates alternative options for allocating incomes from targeting subsidy program to different production sectors and its consequences on income distribution among Iranian households. This research is performed by computing income multipliers derived from social accounting matrix for three income groups in urban as well as rural households and allocating income to different production sectors accordingly. Results indicate that allocating income based on income multiplier of the rural high income households leads to a reduction in income inequality between rural and urban households and generates the highest absolute income for all income groups. The only drawback of this option is that it raises the income gap among different income groups in rural as well as urban regions to some extent. In addition, results reveals that in order to reach the objective of reducing income inequality, the two agricultural subsectors, cropping and horticulture production sectors, and food industries can play important role and should be given special attention in allocating income to these sectors.   

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In this paper, an active caster mechanism has been introduced for the purpose of vehicle handling enhancement. To this end, a 9-DOF nonlinear vehicle model, consisting of steering system dynamic equations, derived by using Kane dynamics method, and Magic Formula tyre model, is used for the simulation purposes. The effect of caster angle variations on the steady state response of the vehicle, was investigated in the next step. Based on the knowledge, extracted by the mentioned approach, a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is designed for controlling caster angle. According to the yaw rate error, between actual and desired values, and the vehicle lateral acceleration, the controller produces the required caster angle in order to reach to stable state of the vehicle. The desired vehicle dynamics motion is assumed in the form of the steady motion of the bicycle model. Also the variation of caster angle was limited in a conventional range. During some critical maneuvers, the performance of the caster angle controller was tested and compared with the uncontrolled vehicle. Simulation results show that the caster variation control has a high capability to enhance vehicle handling dynamics.

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This paper explores the distributive impacts of subsidy removal in agricultural sectors and related industry in Iran, using a social accounting matrix (SAM)-based price model. The structural path analysis approach is used to decompose the overall influences into direct, global, and total effects. The simulation results reveal that a shock therapy strategy, which involves the removal of all subsidies from all food producing sectors at once, amplifies the adverse effects of this policy option, especially on the low income households. Also, results indicate that removing subsidy from food producing sectors has distributional consequences for the Iranian households. The rural low income group is the most adversely affected group while the urban high income group is the least affected among the Iranian households. In addition, reducing subsidy in food industry sector has the largest impact on the households’ welfare. Based on the results of the path decomposition of the households’ expenditure, it is expected that less than 50 percent of the overall effects of subsidy removal appear almost immediately after implementing this policy.

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Polymeric foams have a cellular structure composed of a polymeric matrix with gaseous cells which achieved by expansion of a blowing agent in polymer melt matrix during a foaming process. In the present study, the bubble expansion step in Polystyrene/CO2 batch foaming process was simulated and compared to the reported experimental results. A single spherical bubble surrounded by an incompressible viscoelastic fluid (upper-convected Maxwell model) was considered. To calculate concentration profile in the shell, mass diffusion equations were solved using finite element method, potential function definition and integral methods. The predicted results show that when the gas concentration profile obtained by finite element method and the concentration gradient near the bubble-shell interface was used to calculate the pressure inside the bubble, the predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental ones which there was less than 1% error at each foaming time. The effects of the thermo-physical and rheological properties on the bubble growth dynamics were also studied and It was found out that increasing the diffusivity coefficient by factor of 10 would increase the bubble size up to 1.5 times, whereas increasing the viscosity by 3 folds would only change the bubble size about 2% showing that the bubble growth step in foaming process was a mass transfer controlled process.

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This paper aims to investigate convergence hypothesis in Iran provinces in terms of per capita income and per capita consumption over the period 2000- 2014 using the cluster analysis. In order to analyze this issue more exactly, in the first step, using taxonomy method, the provinces of the country are divided into three categories: underdeveloped provinces (5 provinces), developing provinces (13 provinces) and developed provinces (13 provinces). Then, the possibility of forming convergent clusters in terms of per capita income and per capita consumption is investigated in each group using cluster analysis. The results show that two convergent clusters (each cluster consists of only two provinces) are observed for per capita income among developed provinces. In studying the convergence status of the mentioned provinces, two clusters (each cluster with two provinces) are identified regarding per capita consumption. In the developing provinces, two clusters (one cluster with eight provinces and another one including two provinces) are formed in terms of per capita income, and two clusters are generated on the basis of per capita consumption(each cluster includes three provinces). In underdeveloped provinces, there is no convergent cluster. Therefore, in general, the findings indicate the divergence between per capita income and per capita consumption among all underdeveloped provinces and most of developed provinces, but there is some evidence of convergence in terms of per capita income among developing provinces in the long run. 

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Inequality is a major problem in the developing countries.  It is also an acute and critical subject in Iran compared with other developing economies.  Besides the existence of inequality, its social effects have made its explanation crucial. The aim of this research is to measure the multidimensional inequality in urban areas of Iran during three presidential periods: 1989 -1997, 1997-2005 and 2005-2013. Income, health and education are the dimensions under study. This research uses household expenditure-income survey data for the selected periods. Gini coefficient is measured for one-dimensional inequalities in terms of each dimension, generalized entropy is computed for the beginning and ending years of each period, and the multidimensional inequality is measured by using the Bourguignon index. Results indicate that the Gini coefficient decreased in terms of income dimension in all three periods while it increased in terms of health dimension during all periods. In education dimension, Gini index increased in the second period and decreased in other periods. The measured entropy indices are of some fluctuations in all periods for all dimensions. The measured multidimensional inequality index provides a wide range of results for different substitution and inequality aversion parameters. In general, this index indicates worse conditions in the second period compared with other periods.

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 Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used to assess the genetic diversity among 23 outcross and self pollinated populations of fennel collected from different geographical regions of Iran and some European countries. The experiment was carried out to determine the effect of self-pollination on morphological traits and genetic diversity in the next generation. Fifteen primers produced 248 polymorphic bands with an average of 16.53 fragments per primer in outcross populations, while 217 polymorphic fragments with an average of 14.46 fragments per primer were generated in self-pollinated populations. UPGMA dendrogram using Jaccard’s similarity coefficients placed outcross populations in five major groups. The maximum and minimum gene diversity over loci was observed in Albania (0.53) and Poland (0.42) populations, respectively. In general, European fennel populations revealed higher expected heterozygosity (0.47) in comparison with Iranian ones (0.35). Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) ranged from 0.37 to 0.49 in self-pollinated populations, while it varied from 0.39 to 0.46 in out-cross ones. The classification based on morphological data did not confirm the molecular ones in most cases. Self-pollination led to decline in plant height in most of the studied populations. In overall, plant height of the European populations (54-66.02 cm) was less than that of Iranian ones (55-109.54 cm). Self-pollination elevated the yield of essential oil in studied fennels through its influence on fruit set. In conclusion, Albania population had the highest oil content affected by self-pollination; hence, it can be introduced as one of the valued sources in fennel breeding programs aimed for oil yield improvement.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate dairy processors market power in Iran. For this purpose, the dynamic imperfect competition model, in which processors are allowed to exert market power in both downstream (selling dairy products) and upstream (buying raw milk from dairy farmers) was applied. Market power parameters, dairy products demand, and raw milk supply elasticities were jointly estimated in a system of equations including market margin, dairy demand, and raw milk supply equations by none linear estimation technique. Data for the period 1992 to 2012 on the industry level were used for estimating an empirical version of the model. The result indicated that conjectural elasticities values were a departure from zero, which reflected non-competitive behavior in dairy market and in raw milk market specifically. Among three dairy products including pasteurized milk, yogurt, and cheese, the conjectural elasticity was the highest for the pasteurized market and the lowest for yogurt. The result suggests that dairy industries processors exercise marketing power in the downstream and upstream market in the dairy products supply chain. Therefore, policymakers must make appropriate policy for facilitating entrance conditions for new dairy processors and improve farmers’ marketing cooperative so as to have more competitive raw milk price.

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A delivery system was developed according to maillard reaction using mung bean protein and maltodextrin for encapsulation and sustain release of curcumin. The ultrasound assisted (150 W, 80 °C, 10 min) and classic wet heating (80 °C, 60 min), were used to prepare conjugates at three different ratios of Mung bean protein isolate to maltodextrin. Degree of conjugation was measured using OPA method Uv-visible spectroscopy was used to estimate the final products of maillard reaction. Different amounts of curcumin (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg.mL^-1 was loaded using ethanol and change in pH. Primary analysis showed that the optimized samples were obtained when 0.4mg.mL-1 of curcumin was encapsulated using pH change method. FTIR spectra confirmed the conjugation of the MPI and MD and showed the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions as well as hydrogen bonding are the main reasons of conjugates stability and curcumin encapsulation. The prepared curcumin containing conjugates under optimized method showed the higher DPPH radical scavenging activity. Our results showed that the release rate of encapsulated curcumin under simulated condition of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) was controlled and lower than that which encapsulated in mung bean protein

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