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Objective: Estrogen receptor alpha protein status is determined by routine immunohistochemistry analysis in all malignant breast tumors. This assay has its limitations. RNA based techniques are potential complements for immunohistochemistry but it must be noticed that gene silencing may occur at different levels from RNA to protein. The aim of this study was the comparison of the results from these two assays and characterizing the tumors subgroup in which gene expression occurs at RNA level but the target protein is absent. Materials and Methods: 92 primary breast tumors including their clinical and IHC results were collected before treatment. Estrogen receptor gene expression of tumors was studied by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT PCR). In this assay, GAPDH was used as a reference gene. Results: 36.6 % of tumors with negative estrogen receptor protein showed gene expression at mRNA level. In this subgroup most of the patient were older than 50 years and in stages 3 or 4 of breast cancer and had poor prognosis according to Nottingham prognostic index. Most cases of the perineural invasion have been seen in this subgroup. Conclusion: It seems that RT-PCR assay would enable us to recognize a subgroup of breast tumors with poor prognosis which expresses RNA but not protein.

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Tax reform as a part of financial system’s reforms constitutes the core of fiscal policies and economic adjustment process. The widening tax base and rationalizing tax rates are main priorities in this regard. This paper aims to calculate optimal commodity tax rates and marginal cost of social welfare resulting from indirect taxes in Iran. The calculation of marginal cost of social welfare requires determining the own and cross price elasticities of demand and optimal tax rates for goods and services. These parameters are obtained by estimating demand function of ten good and service groups in a linear expenditure system. This system is estimated through seemingly unrelated regression method using data of ten expenditure deciles of urban households in Iran during 1996-2010. The optimal tax rates are calculated using Ramsey method in a multi-person world and Bergson-Samuelson's social welfare function. In this model, a social welfare function is maximized with respect to given tax revenue of government using Lagrange method. Results show that when social inequality aversion parameter is zero, optimal tax rates almost are equal. By increasing this parameter, which fairness rather than efficiency is considered, these rates are diverged, in a way that some commodity groups are entitled to get subsidy. In addition, as social inequality evasion parameter increases, the marginal cost of social welfare resulting from change in commodity tax rates decreases, and welfare loss gets very small in the highest social inequality evasion rate. So, decreasing subsidy among all good and service groups receiving subsidy, and increasing tax on other groups lead to decrease in social welfare.  

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Identification of elastic constants of three-dimensional anisotropic materials is much more complicated than the corresponding one in two-dimensional materials. This is because of the increased number of the elastic constants in three-dimensional materials. In this paper, an inverse method for determination of elastic constants of three-dimensional orthotropic, monoclinic and anisotropic materials using elastostatic measurements is presented. Strain measurements at some sampling points obtained from several elastostatic experiments are considered as the elastic response of the material. The solution is based on minimization of the difference between measured strains and the corresponding calculated ones at sampling points. The finite element method is used for sensitivity analysis, while the Tikhonov regularization method is used for stablizing the solution. Designing a single elastostatic experiment in which all of the material parameters affect the response distinctively is very difficult and seems impossible. By using the data obtained from a few different experiments, we are able to collect enough information to reach a stable and accurate solution. In the present research, 9 constants of orthotropic materials, 13 constants of monoclinic materials and 21 constants of anisotropic materials have been successfully identified. Effects of different parameters on accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are studied by presenting several numerical examples.

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Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) benefits from a lot of useful medicinal properties. Iran is known as one of the main producers of fennel. In spite of high medicinal values, fennel’s cultivation is not economically feasible, mainly due to its low yield. It grows wild in different areas in Iran from where diverse ecotypes have evolved. Genetic variance and heritability estimates of traits in a plant’s primary germplasms are needed before planning of a new breeding program. In the present study the genetic diversity and broad sense heritability for 50 fennel ecotypes were assessed under field conditions for a duration of two years. Seed yield, essential oil content and some morphological traits were recorded during a two experimental years. Through stepwise regression, the yield affecting traits and essential oil content were determined. During the first and second experimental years the most effective traits affecting essential oil content were found to be the number of leaves per plant and days to 50% flowering, respectively. The weight of dry biomass affected seed yield the highest during any of the two years and for each separate year. The broad sense heritability during the two experimental years, for essential oil content and seed yield, were 0.46 and 0.63, respectively. However, some such traits as, days to 50% flowering and length of middle internodes showed higher comparative heritability (0.90 and 0.79, respectively). The high heritability of the studied traits in this germplasm indicates the germplasm’s high genetic potential to be made use of in breeding programs.

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This work presents a fully integrated 8-12 GHz fractional-N frequency synthesizer (FNPLL) for using in communication satellites. The FNPLL implemented in a 90-nm standard CMOS technology. The simulation results demonstrate that the Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) has a phase noise of -106 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset for a 10 GHz Local Oscillator (LO) signal, and the higher fractional spur is -55 dBc in a 10-GHz LO signal. The proposed FNPLL consumes 5.029-6.579 mW from 1.2-V power supply and has a phase noise of -70 dBc/Hz, -88 dBc/Hz and -116 dBc/Hz at 10-KHz, 100-KHz and 1-MHz offsets, respectively.
 

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Understanding people’s ecological behaviors and the impacts of human activities on natural environment is one of the most important concepts in ecological psychology research. The purpose of this study was to investigate causal relationship between factors and maize growers’ ecological behavior concerning the application of external inputs such as water, fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and machineries based on the Comprehensive Action Determination model applied to the agricultural sector in Iran, for the first time. The ecological behavior in agriculture means cultivation with proper methods for conservation of soil, water, and other resources. Population of this study was all maize growers in Shiraz County (491 farmers). Through stratified random sampling method, 220 maize growers were selected. Results indicate that situational influences, normative processes, intentional processes, and habitual processes are effective factors on maize growers' ecological behavior. Based on the results, some recommendations are presented.

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Quantitative detection of drug residues in animal food stuffs is very important. Excessive use of veterinarian veterinarians, like antibiotics are a serious threat to consumers, due to the residence of livestock products such as meat, milk, eggs. Rapid detection of antibiotics is essential by using an efficient, fast, affordable, and specific tool for risk reduction and food safety control. In the present study, an aptasensor based on pencil graphite electrode modified with nanomaterial including grapheme and gold, for rapid detection of tetracycline antibiotic was developed in milk samples. Cycle voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques were used for response evaluation of aptasensor. In order to modification the graphite pencil electrode, the scanrate (40 mV/s) and the number of cycles (10) and immobilization time of graphene (90 min) were optimized. Under optimum conditions, using differential pulse voltammetry technique was found to increase linearly in the range of 1 × 10^-12 to 1 × 10^-5 M, with increasing concentration (R² = 0.985). The detection limit of the aptasensor was found to be 1.4× 10^-13 M. A review of functional characteristics including repeatability, reproducibility, satability, and selectivity suggests acceptable performance for aptasensor. Overall, the fabricated aptasensor has efficiency required to detect tetracycline in milk samples.

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The mode of heat and mass transfer during baking of bakery products is an important factor determining the quality of the final product. The heating rate could alter the starch properties during gelatinization and affect the quality of products after baking and during aging. Sangak is a kind of Iranian flat bread baked on the hot pebble gravels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of baking beds (gravel and metal beds) and baking temperatures (280, 310 and 340°C) on staling of Sangak bread during storage at 20°C. The mean value of the measured heating rate of bread baked on gravel bed was higher than that in bread baked on metal bed. In the case of baking on gravel bed, unlike baking on the metal bed, the increase of baking temperature had no significant effect on all quality parameters (moisture content, firmness and freezable water of breads, etc). Recrystallization of amylopectin seemed not to be related to the baking condition. During aging, the firmness of bread baked on gravel bed was significantly lower than that for bread baked on the metal bed and baking at higher temperature and shorter time resulted in the increment of moisture content and the decrease of firmness. As a consequence, baking on gravels and higher baking temperature increased the heating rate, which led to reduction of the staling kinetic of Sangak bread.

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The most important characteristic of brace frames is their significant and appropriate stiffness as well as their compression strength against earthquake forces. Built-up special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs), which contain double angle braces, are among the common steel structural systems resisting lateral loads. Along the built-up brace length, the stitch and connector distances make significant role in cyclic and ductility behavior of braced frames due to possibility of out of plane buckling.The results of experimental studies of built-up double angle braces illustrate that setting the stitches closer to each other can improve the post buckling behavior of systems, resulting in increasing the final compression strength, close to box-shaped brace strength. In addition, an individual member buckling is possible by increasing the stitch distances along built-up braces. According to AISC seismic provisions regarding built-up SCBFs, the slenderness ratio of individual elements between the connectors should not exceed 0.4 times the governing slenderness ratio of the built-up member. Also, connecting built-up members by the use of welding is not permitted within the middle one-fourth of the clear brace length. In fact, AISC seismic provision has prohibited the use of stitches and connectors in the protected zones of built-up specially concentrically braced frames such as the center one-fourth of the clear brace length and a zone adjacent to each connection equal to the brace depth in the plane of buckling.
In this research, seismic provisions related to built-up diagonal and X-braced SCBFs are numerically investigated under cyclic loading using a single-bay single-story frame. The numerical study is performed on models, which contains parameters such as back-to-back and face-to-face connection types of built-up members. Seismic behavior of these braces are investigated from the view points of cyclic and failure behavior. This investigation is performed on both types of diagonal and X-braced steel frames. The cyclic behavior of systems is studied based on post buckling capacity, structure initial stiffness, and final compression strength. Failure behavior of systems is investigated with regard to failure cycle and ductility capacity. In order to evaluate of seismic behavior and ultimate ductility of the numerical models, regarding to proximity of initiation and propagation of steel cracks, the concept of plastic equivalent strain is used to predict system failure.
The results of this study show that increasing the number of stitches or decreasing their distances along the length of the built-up members may not necessarily improve behavior of braced systems.That means inelastic deformation consent will probably occur in individual elements between stitches resulting in earlier failure of braces. Therefore, current seismic provisions such as not exceeding the slenderness ratio of individual elements between stitches from 0.4 times of the governing slenderness ratio of the built-up member for compression sections, are conservative in SCBFs and can be changed according to the type of braces. In addition, Failure of double angle back-to-back diagonal braces occurs sooner in comparison to face-to-face braces. Also, in X-braced frames, cyclic and failure behavior of built-up face-to-face braces are more desirable than the similar back-to-back braces in general.

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A survey on the genus Exallonyx Kieffer, 1904 (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) was conducted in northern Iran. The specimens were collected using Malaise traps during 2010–2011. The genus Exallonyx and six species were collected and identified for the first time from Iran: Exallonyx ater (Gravenhorst, 1807), E. brevicornis (Haliday, 1839), E. formicarius Kieffer, 1904, E. ligatus (Nees, 1834), E. minor Townes, 1981 and E. nixoni Townes, 1981. A key is presented for identification of Exallonyx species occurring in northern Iran.

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Wild barley has invaded wheat fields ever since flamprop-isopropyl was outdated in Iran. Newly developed herbicides such as sulfosulfuron or sulfosulfuron plus metsulfuron-methyl can control it at higher than recommended dosages, but causing significant wheat injury. Hence, two dose-response experiments were conducted to evaluate their efficacy when tank-mixed with thirteen different vegetable oils, at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, during 2013. Moreover, a wheat cultivar (Gaskogen) was also treated with effective dose of 90% (ED₉₀) of both herbicides (21.44 grams active ingredient (g ai) of sulfosulfuron ha^-1 and 41.95 g ai of sulfosulfuron plus metsulfuron-methyl ha^-1) with and without each vegetable oil to check selectivity. Averaged over vegetable oils, the effective dose of 50% (ED₅₀) was decreased 2.6- and 3.0-fold with sulfosulfuron and sulfosulfuron plus metsulfuron-methyl, respectively. Among the evaluated vegetable oils, cottonseed and coconut oil were the best ones to enhance the efficacy of both herbicides. The castor oil had the least effect. A negative correlation was observed between the efficiency of vegetable oils and its unsaturated/saturated fatty acids ratio. No phytotoxic effect on wheat was observed when these herbicides were applied with or without the vegetable oils.

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Sultan Valad is one of the gifted Persian poets, but unfortunately, his poems have not been precisely studied. It seems that the beauty of Sultan Vald's Ghazals have been neglected in the light of radiance of his father. Like many other Persian texts, the Valda’s Divan does not yet have a reliable edition. By studying one of the existing poetry collection, we have shown that the edition of the Sultan Valad’s Divan is one of the essentials in the field of research. In this study, we have introduced two new Ghazals relying on the Afandi Collection, which we have described it in the article and two authentic manuscripts. We mentioned two Ghazals of Valad according to the old Afandi collection and manuscripts that were not in Valad's Divan up to now. Valad's Divan has edited by by Asghar Rabbani  with the introduction of Saeed Nafisi. It is important to note, however, that Nafisi has not edited the Valad's Divan, but has published Rabbani’s edition in Iran. There are also many verses in this collection that have been removed from the printed Divan. Finally, under the heading "K" and "G", we have referred to the mistakes that occurred in the printed Divan, also many verses are re-edited according to authentic manuscripts. Considering the criticisms of the printed Divan of Sultan Valad's edited by Asghar Rabbani (Hamed) with the introduction of Saeed Nafisi, the necessity of re-edition of the Sultan Valad's Divan becomes more evident.

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Determination of antibiotic residues in food including honey is very important. To data, various methods have been developed to determination of antibiotics in honey and other animal products. In recent years, the fabrication of electrochemical biosensors in combination with nanomaterial has attracted much attention. In the present study, an impedometric biosensor based on nanomaterial including reduced oxide grapheme (RGO) and gold nanoparticles (GNP) was developed for antibiotic detection of tetracycline in honey samples. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques were used to evaluate the working electrode surface. Peak current values in different modes were 0.034, 0.048, 0.09, 0.020 and 0.015 μA for unmodified electrode, RGO, GNP, aptamer and antibiotic, respectively. Biosensor characteristics including reproducibility, reproducibility, stability, and selectivity were evaluated using resistance charge transfer data, the results showed that they were acceptable. In order to calculate recovery percentage, concentrations of 1×10^-9 and 1×10^-11 M were prepared from tetracycline and injected into honey samples. The results showed that the proposed biosensor provides 94.1% to 104.4% recovery rate for tetracycline in honey samples.

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Somatic embryos of Persian walnut were transformed with two strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens i.e. LBA4404 and C58, and two plasmids, namely, pBI121 with nptII and gus genes for improving the transformation protocol, and p6u-ubi-FVTI plasmid containing the hpt and fld genes. The transformation frequency was 10%. PCR and RT-PCR analysis proved the presence and expression of the genes. The transgenic and non-transgenic somatic embryos of Persian walnut were exposed to four salinity levels (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) and four osmotic stress (0, 1.5, 5, and 10% PEG) levels. After 20 days, the number of survived, secondary and cotyledonary somatic embryos, as well as fresh and dry weights of embryos were evaluated. In addition, the transgenic and non-transgenic regenerated plantlets with 3 leaves and 2.5 cm length were subjected to 200 mM NaCl. In both experiments, the main effects of fld-transformation and stress treatments on evaluated parameters were significant. Transgenic somatic embryos showed no significant differences at 0 and 200 mM NaCl and 0 and 1.5% PEG. Significant differences of transgenic vs. non-transgenic somatic embryos were observed at 50 and 100 mM NaCl and 5 and 10% PEG. Non-transgenic plantlets on medium containing 200 mM NaCl showed complete necrosis and died after 10 days, while transgenic lines continued growth until 45 days. Our results clearly showed that expression of fld gene increased stress tolerance in fld transformant lines of walnut, and also revealed that expression of this specific cyanobacterial protein may provide a powerful tool to improve tolerance to environmental stresses.

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The aim of this study is to investigate optimal monetary and fiscal policies for the Iranian economy considering Ramsey problem.  Using a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model, the effects of imposing various taxes such as consumption tax, capital income tax, labor income tax and profit tax are examined by different scenarios. The results indicate that Friedman’s rule, or zero inflation is determined as optimal monetary policy under scenarios with and without price rigidities. In addition, since the governments try to minimize the distortions from taxes levied on different economic sectors, necessity of a subsidy or negative tax is confirmed under Ramsey conditions. According to the findings, the inflation rate not only depends on nominal and real rigidities assumed in the model, but also to the number of instruments available to the Ramsey planner.

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One of the major changes that occurs during the processing, distribution and final preparation of food is the oxidation of fats and oils, and due to the production of undesirable compounds in the oil, it has adverse effects on the health of consumers, so prevent or delay in oxidation process under thermal and storage conditions is necessary. In this study, ultrasound was used to extract the antioxidant extract of beet leaves and the best extract in terms of antioxidant power was used to increase the oxidative stability of soybean oil. In this study, 4 ultrasonic time levels (0, 20, 40 and 60 minutes) were used and the best extract in different concentrations (200, 600 and 1000 ppm) was soybean oil which was accelerated for 15 days under oxidation conditions (temperature 63 ° C). was maintained, added, and tests such as peroxide, thiobarbituric acid index and conjugated dien value were performed on the oils. The results showed that with increasing ultrasound time, the extraction efficiency of antioxidant extract, total phenol, percentage of free radical scavenging DPPH and iron reducing power increased and finally the sample obtained from 60 minutes of ultrasound was selected as the best sample. On the other hand, the results of tests performed on soybean oil showed that by increasing the concentration of antioxidants to 600 ppm, the amount of peroxide, thiobarbituric acid index and conjugated dien value decreased and with increasing the concentration of antioxidants and storage time in soybean oil These features increased. Finally, it can be stated that the use of 600 ppm of antioxidants obtained from sugar beet leaves extracted by ultrasound can compete with the synthetic antioxidant BHT and can be used to stabilize soybean oil.

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 Construction of hydraulic structure on dispersive soil created a lot of problems such as piping or internal erosion. Since it is not economical to change dispersive soil with non- dispersive soil, therefore, it is very important to improve the erosion resistance of soils using appropriate and cost effective techniques. This research is intended to study the effect of adding nano-clay on erodibility of dispersive soil. The nano-clay (montmorillonite) has been used as a modern and eco-friendly additives for controlling internal erosion in dispersive soils. To conduct this research, dispersive soil has been treated with four different percentages (i.e. 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 3 % by weight of the parent soil) of nano-clay. The Variables taken into account are the curing time (i.e. 1, 2, 7, 14 and 28 days) and the mixing percentages. Erodibility parameters were obtained by the Hole Erosion Test (HET) in different hydraulic gradients (i.e. 7.05, 7.96 and 11.05). It is found that increase in nano-clay content is increasing the resistance of dispersive soil to erosion. The optimum amount of nanoclay in reducing erosion for samples of one day curing time was obtained 1% and the erosion index rate was 4.33. For 2 and 7 days curing times the  optimum amount of nanoclay was observed equal to 1.5% and the index of erosion rate was 4.85 and 4.72, respectively. It was also observed that in larger hydraulic gradients, the effect of nanoclay in reducing erosion is more. Also, increasing nano-clay addetive changed plastic index properties of soil.
 

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The nutritional fats are essential for good health and normal functioning of the human body, hence understanding the relationship between diet to heart disease CVP to a major change in the pattern of consumer food and they demand more towards low calorie food. In this study, the emulsifier DATEM ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 % weight and maltodextrin ranging 0.3-1.3 weight as a fat replacer was used in the formulation of low-fat biscuits and decreased fat content of 0/5-5% total weight of the dough. physical characteristics (size and weight (, texture, color and sensory parameters were evaluated. To compare the formulations under investigative the response surface methodology was used to compare the formulations tested. The results indicate that the reduction of fat in the formulation, there were no significant difference in physical characteristics, texture and color compared to the control sample. The organoleptic test was conducted by Friedman non-parametric test results were analyzed using SPSS software. The difference between treatments was significant ratings. According to optimize results, the optimal amounts of fat reducing and maltodextrin utilization rate of 3% emulsifier DATEM 3/2% weight was determined.

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This study aimed first to investigate the relationship between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and vegetation attributes (vegetation cover, bare soil, litter frequency, and the amount of biomass) and, then, evaluating the vegetation changes using NDVI in semi-arid rangeland in western Iran. Ground data were collected to assess the accuracy of NDVI index.   For this purpose, 14 sampling units were randomly selected for collection of vegetation attributes including biomass, vegetation cover, litter, and bare soil. Then, the correlation between digital pixel values ​​and the sampling units were analyzed. The results showed that NDVI was highly correlated with all vegetation attributes. The maximum correlation was related to vegetation cover (0.84). So, to evaluate the vegetation changes, the NDVI maps were created in 1986, 2001, and 2013. The results showed that the amount of class 1 (very poor vegetation cover) increased from 0.27 km² in 1986 to 12.89 km² in 2013, and also class 4 and 5 (good and very good vegetation cover, respectively) decreased about 27.8 and 37.7%, respectively. The relationship between precipitation and temperature with NDVI was investigated to assess the sensitivity of NDVI to these parameters. The results showed that the amount of precipitation decreased during the studied time periods. This parameter seems to be one of the most important factors affecting the vegetation in our study area.