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Cotton is a major oil and fiber crop in many countries around the globe. The primary constraint in cotton cultivation is water scarcity. Thus, the adoption of economical and best management practices (BMP) are needed to improve productivity on a sustainable irrigation basis. We investigated the economic and agronomic benefits of sustainable irrigation [(control and partial rhizosphere drying (PRD)] and BMP (no-mulched, black plastic, wheat straw, and cotton stick) treatments, to find a combination of strategies towards a higher yield and economic return. Our findings revealed that PRD irrigation significantly increased cotton yield by 35%, improved water use efficiency (WUE) by 21%, and enhanced the economic returns of cotton production. Maximum expenditure was found in control irrigation treatment with wheat straw mulch. The control treatment, which involved full irrigation with cotton and wheat straw mulch, exhibited the highest recorded benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 2.09:1. Conversely, the treatment that utilized PRD without the application of mulch material demonstrated the lowest BCR of 1.05:1. Maximum net field benefit (174514 Rs/ha) was recorded in a combination of control irrigation with wheat straw mulch. Among the PRD treatments, the maximum net field benefit was recorded in PRD with wheat straw mulch (89179 Rs/ha) followed by PRD with black plastic mulch (72236 Rs/ha), and minimum (84085 Rs/ha) net field benefit was recorded in PRD with cotton sticks mulch. The results showed that the combination of sustainable irrigation with BMP is a reliable strategy to increase WUE and economic gains to meet sustainable development goals in the era of global warming, climate change, and water crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. The ERBB4 gene, a member of the tyrosine kinase family, has been identified as both a tumor suppressor and an oncogene in breast cancer. In this study, the association between rs1972820G>A polymorphism of ERBB4 gene and the risk of breast cancer in northwestern Iran was investigated. METHODS: This case-control study was performed on 89 women with breast cancer and 98 healthy women with no family history of cancer. Clinical characteristics of patients included age (less than, greater than or equal to 49 years and unknown), involved side (right, left, both and unknown), type of tumor (ILC, IDC, other types and unknown), tumor grade (I, II or III), tumor size (T1, T2, T3 and unknown) and lymph node involvement (N0, N1, N2, N3 and unknown). Single nucleotide polymorphisms were examined by TETRA-ARMS-PCR technique. FINDINGS: The genotypic distribution of sick and healthy individuals was 66% and 56% for AA genotype, 9% and 6% for GG genotype and 25% and 38% for AG genotype, respectively. The frequency of Allele A was 147 and 140 and the frequency of G Allele was 49 and 38 in patients and controls, respectively (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that there is no significant relationship between genotypic and allelic distribution of rs1972820 polymorphism of ERBB4 gene with increased risk of breast cancer and clinical features of patients in northwestern Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Thermal inactivation of proteins is a main challenge in food technology and medicine. The 3-β-hydroxybutyrate (3BHB) is the most abundant ketone body with a carboxyl group. Its concentration increases during fasting, prolonged exercise, and in diabetic patients. In this work, human serum albumin (HSA) was incubated with 3BHB for 7, 14, 21, and 35 days under physiological conditions. The thermal reversibility and thermal aggregation of HSA upon incubation with 3BHB were determined by differential scanning calorimetry and free amine content assay. These results indicated that 3BHB binds the lysine residues of HSA through nucleophilic attack leading to formation of covalent bonds. The calorimetric results showed that the modification of lysine residues by 3BHB resulted in partial unfolding of HSA compared to the modification of thiol group of Cys34, which is surrounded by other amino acid side chains. Since thermal aggregation of HSA is related to Cys34, its modification caused a decrease in thermal aggregation and an increase in thermal reversibility of modified HSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection of interface boundary conditions between porous-medium and clear-fluid regions is very important for the wide range of engineering applications. In this paper, the difference between two common types of fluid flow interfacial conditions between clear fluid and porous medium is analyzed in detail. These two types of fluid flow interfacial condition are stress-jump and stress-continuity conditions. The effects of porosity on these types of interface condition are studied. The results are presented for different Reynolds numbers in the range 1-40, porosity equal to 0.4 and 0.8 and Darcy number $$Da=5\times 10^{- 4}$$ . In this study, the Darcy-Brinkmann-Forchheimer model is used to model the momentum transfer in the porous medium. The dimensionless governing equations consisting of continuity and momentum equations are discretized using control volume technique. The set of algebraic discretized coupled equations is solved using SIMPLE algorithm. It was found that for high porosity (i.e., $$\varepsilon =0.8)$$ , there is a large difference between two boundary conditions for the velocity profile along the horizontal and vertical directions in the porous layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents analysis and optimization of turbine bade cooling systems. Since the temperature of combustion gases is very high sometimes reaching 2400 K, the turbine blade cannot sustain the resulting thermal stress. Moreover, for higher efficiency for advanced gas turbines, increase of inlet temperature is needed. Common blade cooling methods are film cooling, convection cooling, impingement cooling and combined cooling. In this paper, a numerical solution of the thermal and flow fields in film cooling technique on the AGTB expand symmetrical turbine blade was obtained and the results were validated with experimental data. Then the turbine blade geometry was changed and two combined cooling (impingement/convection cooing and impingement/film cooling) techniques were evaluated. The low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence model (AKN) was used for the turbulent flow simulations at various blowing ratios for two blade thicknesses. Comparisons of the results between the available experimental and numerical data showed that the AKN model is capable of predicting the turbulent flow and heat transfer in turbine blade cooling. Combined techniques (impingement/convection cooling and impingement/film cooling) were also carried out and more cooling effectiveness and uniform temperature distribution were found than film cooling method only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluid flow and heat transfer around and through a porous cylinder is an important issue in engineering applications. In this paper a numerical study is carried out for simulating the fluid flow and forced convection heat transfer around and through a square diamond-shaped porous cylinder. The flow is two-dimensional, steady, and laminar. Conservation laws of mass, momentum, and heat transport equations are applied in the clear region and Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model for simulating the flow in the porous medium has been used. Equations with the relevant boundary conditions are numerically solved using a finite volume approach. In this study, Reynolds and Darcy numbers are varied within the ranges of $$1

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae, as an important human pathogen, is a leading cause of serious infections (e.g., sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis). Nasopharyngeal colonization is often the first step in the development of pneumococcal infections. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of S. pneumoniae serotypes in the nasopharynx of students in Kashan and its related risk factors. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1289 students in Kashan from November 2011 to December 2012. Demographic and clinical data were collected from patients using a questionnaire. Samples were cultured on a selective media. Moreover, S. pneumoniae strains were identified using gram staining, detecting alpha hemolysis, catalase, optochin susceptibility and bile solubility tests. Results: One-hundred eighty one out of 1289 (14%) students were carriers for nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae. There was a significant correlation between sex, age, previous respiratory infections, asthma, runny nose and previous hospitalization with an increased rate of the pneumococcal carriers. Conclusion: According to the high prevalence of pneumococcal carriers and a significant correlation between increased rates of colonization and sex, age, previous respiratory infections, asthma, runny nose and previous hospitalization, applying preventive strategies such as student vaccination seems to be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) is a pathogen which colonizes in the nasopharynx without any clinical manifestations. Among the 13 different serological groups, only the serogroups A, B, C, W135, Y, X play a major role in disease development. This study aimed to determine N. meningitidis cases carrying these serological groups using the multiplex PCR method in the nasopharynx of students in Kashan schools. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1289 students in Kashan during 2011-2012. Samples were collected from the students' nasopharynx using a sterile swab and cultured on a selective medium. Strains were identified through biochemical tests. Then the serological groups were determined using the multiplex PCR method. Results: One-hundred and fifteen (8.9%) out of 1289 students were N. meningitidis carriers; 75 (65.2%) male and 40 (34.8%) female. There was a significant difference between gender and the rate of carriers (P=0.032). The highest rate of carriers (12.3%) was in the 15 to 19 year age group. There was a significant relationship between the rate of carriers and increase in the number of family members (P<0.001). In this study, only the serological groups B (8 cases) and C (107 cases) were detected. Conclusion: Since the serological group C is involved in the outbreak and there is no vaccine currently available for the serological group B to prevent the infection, detection of these serological groups can be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a 90 kJ plasma focus facility was used to the bombardment of the titanium substrate using nitrogen ion beams. From x-ray diffraction patterns, we investigated the structure properties of titanium nitride layer has been successfully deposited on the titanium substrate such as grain size microstrain and dislocation density. In this work we observed the growth of in grain size with increasing a number of deposition shots. Decrease in dislocation density and microstrain at higher deposition is the another results we observed in this work. The topography and morphology of TiN samples was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy images. From SEM micrograph, damage of surface and creation of pits and cracks was reported. The goniometric test indicate increasing in contact angle of water drop for irradiated samples in respect to the unirradiated samples. The Knoop microhardness of the samples is increased about 500%. With increasing of nitrogen ion flux, the microhardness increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-isothermal transient model has been developed to simulate the reduction process and thermal behaviour of a porous wustite pellet undergoing chemical reactions with syngas, a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, water vapour and carbon dioxide. The model describes the chemical reaction itself, the mass equation for each gaseous species and heat equation within the pellet. For solution of the governing equations, a computational fluid dynamic approach as a fully implicit formulation of the finite volume method was applied. The model has then been validated by comparison with experimental data from the literature. Pellet porosity, diameter, gas composition and temperature are all shown to influence wustite reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Channel optimized multiple description (MD) vector quantization with symbol-based turbo codes are proposed, where the decoder exploits both nonuniformity of descriptions and their dependencies. The joint source channel coding strategy is devised by setting an entropy constraint for quantizer design, which together with the MD index assignment (IA), control the level of redundancy at the MD source coder output. This is in turn exploited by the source and channel decoders for robust transmission in presence of noise and packet loss. At the source coder, the IA is designed for an M-description vector quantizer using an efficient simulated annealing algorithm. Various numerical results and comparisons are provided to investigate the effect of different system and design parameters on the performance. The results specifically indicate improved performance in comparison to the prior art, and also in multiple input multiple output communications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]