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A robust decision-making tool is needed to meet sustainability challenges and to manage water resources that are under development pressure, water scarcity, and climate change impact. To tackle such challenges, optimization modelling can be employed to explore regional sustainable management scenarios of groundwater exploitation. Multi-objective management modelling of various alternatives was developed for the Diyala River Basin in Iraq using Borg multi-objectives evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) and ε-DSEA algorithms. In almost all modelled cases, the upper aquifer storage is predicted to be depleted after 40 years due to large water demands and regional recharge scarcity. Hence, there is a need to develop a strategy to reduce water stresses by 45% to achieve sustainability within the next 25 years. Optimization modelling successfully generated future predictions that can be used by decision makers to manage the predicted groundwater shortages in the future.

Competitive optimization techniques have been developed to address the complexity of integrated water resources management (IWRM) modelling; however, model adaptation due to changing environments is still a challenge. In this paper we employ multi-variable techniques to increase confidence in model-driven decision-making scenarios. Here, water reservoir management was assessed using two evolutionary algorithm (EA) techniques, the epsilon-dominance-driven self-adaptive evolutionary algorithm (ε-DSEA) and the Borg multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA). Many objective scenarios were evaluated to manage flood risk, hydropower generation, water supply, and release sequences over three decades. Computationally, the ε-DSEA’s results are generally reliable, robust, effective and efficient when compared directly with the Borg MOEA but both provide decision support model outputs of value.

AbstractIntroduction: Water is a basic and important resource for human development and economic growth. Water is also important for the agricultural sector. On the one hand, the lack of water and on the other hand, the increase in water demand for different parts of the society, has faced most of the developing countries with a serious and important problem. Water for the agricultural sector is decreasing and scarce every day. Also, with the increase in population, the demand and consumption of water in rural areas and especially in the agricultural sector has increased. Lack of water has caused various problems in different regions. The purpose of this research was to Identifying the consequences of water reduction in Zanjan township from the perspective of farmers with wells.Methods: The current research was a quantitative and applied research. The statistical population of this research was farmers have wells in Zanjan township (N=8017). The sample size was estimated to be 367 people based on Cochran's formula. The sampling method was multi-stage cluster sampling. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and researchers in the field of water management and the reliability of the research tool was confirmed by using the pilot tet and calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.94). Findings: Using the results of exploratory factor analysis, the consequences of water shortage in the rural areas of Zanjan township from the perspective of farmers summarize in six factors including the increase of plant and animal diseases, change of agricultural land use and weakening of villagers financial ability, dryness and reduction of water in fountain and rivers and reduction of pastures and the area under cultivation of agricultural products, the lowering of level of underground water resources and the reduction of the water supply of wells, reducing the incentive to invest in agriculture and increasing soil erosion, water and soil salinity and increasing disputes and conflict in the village. These six factors were able to explain 63.48 of the total variance of the impacts of water shortage.

Abstract Background Iran government implemented the targeted subsidy plan in December 2010 to reduce energy consumption and inequality. In addition, the Health Transformation Plan was implemented by the Ministry of Health to reduce out-of-pocket payments. This study aimed to examine the impact of these two government subsidy programs on equity in health financing. Method In this study, data on 528,046 households were collected using household surveys during 14 years (2007–2020). The Fairness in Financial Contribution index and Catastrophic Health Expenditures index were calculated. Also, a Logistic regression model was performed by the applied software of Stata V.14 to examine the effects of the two mentioned policies and other socioeconomic characteristics of households on their exposure to Catastrophic Health Expenditures. Results The FFC index was 0.829 and 0.795 respectively in 2007 and 2020. The trend analysis did not show significant changes in the FFC index between 2007 and 2020. TSP and HTP implementations do not reduce households’ exposure to CHE significantly. Crowded households with more elder people, belonging to low-income deciles, without houses, and living in rural areas and deprived provinces, are more likely to be at risk of CHE. Health insurance coverage did not protect households from CHE. Highly educated and employed households were exposed to less CHE. Conclusion The government subsidy programs have not been effective in improving FFC and reducing CHE indices. None of them has been able to realize the goal of the 6th National Development Plan of reducing CHE to 1%. The government should devise support packages for target households (households with more elderly people, lower incomes, without private houses, crowded, rural, and inhabited in deprived provinces), so they can protect households against CHE. Modifying and improving the quality of insurance coverage is strongly recommended due to its inefficiency.

The hydrological model calibration is a challenging task, especially in ungauged catchments. The regionalization calibration methods can be used to estimate the parameters of the model in ungauged sub-catchments. In this article, the model of ungauged sub-catchments is calibrated by a regionalization approach based on automatic clustering. Under the clustering procedure, gauged and ungauged sub-catchments are grouped based on their physical characteristics and similarity. The optimal number of clusters is determined using an automatic differential evolution algorithm-based clustering. Considering obtained five clusters, the value of the silhouette measure is equal to 0.56, which is an acceptable value for goodness of clustering. The calibration process is conducted according to minimizing errors in simulated peak flow and total flow volume. The Storm Water Management Model is applied to calibrate a set of 53 sub-catchments in the Gorganrood river basin. Comparing graphically and statistically simulated and observed runoff values and also calculating the value of the silhouette coefficient demonstrate that the proposed methodology is a promising approach for hydrological model calibration in ungauged catchments. HIGHLIGHTS The model of ungauged sub-catchments is calibrated by a regionalization approach based on automatic clustering.; The optimal number of clusters is determined using an automatic differential evolution algorithm-based clustering.; Comparing graphically and statistically simulated and observed runoff values and also calculating the value of silhouette coefficient proved the superiority of automatic clustering differential evolution in clustering.;

According to the widespread advance in technological industry, there has been an essential need of high quality and speed methods for data transmission. In many field such as Electrical Engineering, Data Science, Computer Engineering, and Information and Communication Technology efficient transfer for acquired data are leaded to a great improvement in ultimate performance. Hence traditional way of transmitting data is strongly dependent on the distances among the devices; present work applies Frequency Control and First-order low-pass filtering control model to optimize data transmission. The trends of current results are in good agreement with previous literature. Then the relation between data transmission and output powers are discuss. After that, the effect of distance on data transformation for laboratory equipment is explained. Finally, it was observed that a vital way for resources management is controlling the way for data transformation.

Abstract Background There is limited evidence on the prevalence and socioeconomic inequality in informal payments (IP) of households in the Iranian health system. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of IP and related socioeconomic inequalities among Iranian households in all provinces. Method Data on Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) for 91,360 households were used to examine the prevalence and inequality in informal health sector payments in the years 2016 to 2018. The Normalized Concentration Index (NC) was used to examine inequality in these payments and the decomposition analysis by the Wagstaff approach was used to determine the share of variables affecting the measured inequality. Results Of the total households, 7,339 (7.9%) reported IP for using health services. Urban households had higher IP (10%) compared to rural ones (5.42%). Also, the proportion of households with IP in 2016 (11.69%) was higher than in 2017 (9.9%), and 2018 (4.60%). NC for the study population was 0.129, which shows that the prevalence of IP is significantly higher in well-off households. Also, NC was 0.213 (p 0.05). Decomposition analysis indicated that income, sex of head of household, and the province of residence have the highest positive contribution to measured inequality (with contributions of 156.2, 45.8, and 25.6%, respectively). Conclusion There are a significant prevalence and inequality in IP in Iran's health system and important variables have shaped it. On the whole, inequality was pro-rich. This may lead to increasing inequality in access to quality services in the country. Our findings showed that previous health policies such as regulatory tools, and the health transformation plan (HTP) have not been able to control IP in the health sector in the desired way. It seems that consumer-side policies focusing on affluent households, and high-risk provinces can play an important role in controlling this phenomenon.

Abstract The efficiency of groundwater remediation by pump-and-treat (PAT) method is affected by several components. The most important of these components include the pumping wells location, pumping rate, and remediation period. In this research, hybrid optimization-simulation models were developed to find the appropriate groundwater remediation strategy by PAT method. The GA-FEM and NSGA-II-FEM models were used to solve four optimization problems for a hypothetical and real aquifer. These optimization problems were investigated from one objective problem to a four-objectives problem. In the multi-objective problems, in each step, one objective function is added to the previous set of objective functions. In the one-objective case, the objective function was defined as minimizing the contaminant concentration by pumping at a constant rate, while in the two-objectives problem, minimizing the drawdown of groundwater head by pumping at a constant rate was added. In the three-objectives problem, the pumping rate was variable and the mean pumping rate from all the wells is minimized. Finally, minimizing the remediation period is added in the four-objective case. The results indicated that locating the pumping wells in the path of the contaminant flow and close to the source improves the efficiency of the PAT system. The wells with higher pumping rates would be in the path of contamination flow and the wells with lower pumping rates should be located in nodes near the Dirichlet boundary. It is concluded that the remediation period in the hypothetical and real aquifer cannot be less than almost 3000 and 760 days, respectively. Finally, it can be said, the most important component in choosing the proper PAT strategy is the proper location of pumping wells.

Abstract The aim of the current study is to consider farmers' perceptions regarding the impacts of climate change on water resources and their intention toward adaptation in southwestern Iran. To this end, this study applied the theory of reasoned action and the norm activation model as well as these two models in combination. A descriptive quantitative research study was designed and conducted using cross-sectional survey methods among 250 farmers in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, selected through multistage sampling methods. Research data were collected through a structured questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts; scale reliability of the questionnaire was approved through a pilot study. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that the norm activation model, the theory of reasoned action, and a model integrating the two can predict 32, 42, and 47%, respectively, of changes in farmers' intention toward performing climate-change adaptation activities. In the combined model, personal norm, subjective norm, and attitude were able to influence the farmers’ intention to perform adaptive behaviors. Attitude towards adaptation is the most powerful predictor in explaining intention to adaptation. Subjective norm is the most important predictors of moral norms which is the logical confirmation behind the combination of the two models. In addition, the combined model has better predicting powerful that each model separately. The research findings hold valuable implications for policymakers seeking to increase the intention of farmers to implement adaptation activities against a background of harsh climate change and water scarcity in this region of Iran.

Abstract Groundwater pollution is one of the most important challenges for human. In many parts of the world, groundwater is used for agriculture and even drinking, whereas natural and human-made groundwater contaminants have also affected the quality of these waters. Therefore, monitoring and evaluating the quantity and quality of groundwater is very important. In this research, the efficiency of finite element method (FEM) for groundwater flow and Sulfate concentration transport modeling has been investigated for a 7-year period. After finite element validation analysis, this method was employed in a hypothetical and real-case aquifer with regularly distributed nodes and square elements 200 m × 200 m. The mean error and root mean square error (RMSE) as performance criteria were used to evaluate the performance of the model. The results indicated that the FEM model with RMSE = 1.06 (m) and 1.44 (me/lit) has good skills in groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling, respectively. Also, the results of the FEM model indicated that in the northeast of the aquifer, the groundwater level is low and the amount of Sulfate is high (higher than the standard values recommended by) which is also confirmed by real data.

Urban drainage Systems are of the vital infrastructures, which are responsible for the safe transport of runoff. In recent decades, the increase in surface runoff has led to inadequate capacity in some parts of drainage network, which results in over-flowing. Land use and population density around these areas pose a high risk of loss of lives and injuries. Since in previous studies, vulnerability indicators were not considered in the assessment of bottleneck’s risk, in this study, hazards and vulnerability indicators are combined together for calculating the risk index which is used for the prioritization of bottlenecks. In order to prioritize the bottlenecks of urban drainage system in Tehran catchment using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method, the hydraulic modeling and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been used for calculating the weight of indicators. For this purpose, five indicators have been defined which are population density around the bottlenecks, density of properties and diversity of land uses at these areas, average percentage of canal/main channel river filling, degree of bottleneck submergence, channel or river rank and flow velocity in canal/river. The results showed that the major critical bottlenecks are located in the eastern sub-basin of Tehran: in Abuzar, Maghsoudbeig and Bakhtar canals.

Background & Aims of study: Service delivery is known as the most tangible function of the health system and hospitals are the most obvious manifestation of this function. Also, one of the most important factors in creating catastrophic health expenditures is the use of hospital services; therefore, in the present study, an attempt was made to describe the share of hospital service costs from total household health expenditures. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive study was performed retrospectively for the period of 2011 to 2015. The study was done using the Household Expenditure and Income Survey (HEIS) which is conducted annually by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI). Based on the designed model, the share of hospital costs from household health expenditure was determined by year and type of services in urban and rural areas. Results: On average, 18.5% of households used hospital services and about 28.7% of household health expenditure had been spent on receiving health services from hospitals. The average cost of household hospital medical services was 92.4% in urban areas and 91.4% in rural areas. On average, 51% of the cost of household medical services in hospitals was related to public hospitals, and the highest cost spent by households in public hospitals was allocated to surgery. Conclusion: The share of hospital services costs and the rate of use of these services among Iranian households are significant, which may lead to poverty and catastrophic health expenditures. Therefore, it is necessary for health decision makers to design and implement evidence-based policies to manage and control this part of health costs.

Water leakage control in water distribution networks (WDNs) is one of the main challenges of water utilities. The present study proposes a new method to locate a leakage in WDNs using feedforward artificial neural networks (ANNs). For this purpose, two ANNs training cases are considered. For case 1, the ANNs are trained by average daily water demand, including small to large hypothetical leakages. In case 2, the ANNs are trained by hourly water demand and variable hourly nodal leakages over 24 hours. The training parameters are determined by EPANET2.0 hydraulic simulation software using MATLAB programming language. In both cases, first, ANNs are trained using flow rates of total pipes number. Then, sensitivity analysis is performed by hybrid ANNs for the flow rates of pipes number less than the number of the total pipes. The results of proposed hybrid ANNs indicate that if at least the flow rates of 10% of the total pipes are known (using flowmeters), then the leakage locations in both cases can be determined. Despite the complexity of case 2, because of the variations of demand and leakage over the 24-hour period, the proposed method could detect the leakage location with high accuracy. HIGHLIGHTS A leakage detection algorithm for WDNs using feedforward ANNs.; ANNs were applied for two cases: average daily water demand and hypothetical leakages; variable water demand and nodal leakages over the 24-hour.; ANNs training based on pipe flow rates and nodal leakage.; A sensitivity analysis using Hybrid ANNs.; The proposed algorithm successfully detects the leakage locations in both cases by the flow rates of 10% pipes.;

Adaptation to stress is very important to support livelihoods and ensure food security. However, the type of adaptation strategies varies between regions and their socioeconomic and agroecological contexts. Identifying and classifying empirical data-based adaptation methods can help design and implement incentives, rules, or institutional reforms. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to classify and identify types of adaptation to water stress using a qualitative method, Grounded theory. Techniques used to collect data include direct observation, semi-structured interviews, and field notes. Based on the research findings, adaptation strategies were divided into 4 general groups, including changes in agricultural operations, irrigation management, financial and economic management, and social management. Agricultural operations management methods, in turn, include two subcategories of crop management and farm management. Irrigation management includes water-saving and water supply methods. In addition, economic management methods include diversifying income or employment, agricultural insurance, saving money, and receiving loans or credits. Social management has two subcategories of migration and networking and knowledge expansion in order to increase awareness about harm reduction methods.

AbstractAppropriate share of the economic markets, political interaction, social and cultural activities need international contact and properties almost similar conditions in the domestic environment. The presence of government in national markets one of the most important factors that indoor exposure especially with global competition undermines the national economy. This study aimed to investigate the effect of government size on globalization in 95 selected countries around the world between 1985-2014 using dynamic panel model (GMM) was performed. In this paper, multiple indicators for example globalization index KOF, attract foreign direct investment and share of export of domestic production has been studied. The results show that significant negative correlation between government size and globalization of society. It can be said that the widespread presence of government can interact successfully in a global society and international markets to weaken the economy. As well as the effects of other variables in the models suggest that human development, control of corruption, expenditure on research and development and increase domestic production have positive impact but inflation and high rates of tariffs have negative impact on economic success in attracting international investment and exports there.

Today’s world faces two major crises including environmental pollution due to fossil fuels and the reduction of these fuels, so energy supply through renewable energies has been considered a sustainable solution. The purpose of this study was to assess factors affecting the tendency to use biofuels among villagers. Heads of households in rural areas in Chavarzagh district, Tarom township, Zanjan province formed the statistical population of the study (N=2742). The sample size was estimated using the Cochrane formula (n=161) and samples were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling method. The descriptive and correlational research method was used in this study. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of related faculty members. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to confirm the reliability of the questionnaire (0.70-0.83). Data was analyzed using SPSS 21. Regression analysis showed that risk, attitudes towards biofuels, self-efficacy, training, eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels and encouraging the use of biofuels, increasing public awareness about the benefits of biofuels and perceived barriers explained 40.6 percent of the variation of villagers’ tendency to use biofuels.

Objective: Demographic and epidemiological changes in the 21st century have created new challenges such as aging and the rising trend of non-communicable diseases. The high prevalence of disability (due to the growing aging population), non-communicable diseases, and accidents have increased the demand for rehabilitation services. However, there are not enough resources to meet all current needs in many parts of the world. The purpose of this study is to investigate the inequality in the utilization of rehabilitation services between Iranian households in urban and rural areas. Materials & Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study with a cross-sectional design using the household expenditure, income survey data from the Statistics Center of Iran in 2018. The used instrument was a questionnaire surveying the expenditure and income of urban and rural households (social characteristics of household members, place of residence and main living facilities, food/non-food expenses, and household income), which was completed through interviewing the household head or a member over 15 years of age. The study samples were 18610 households in rural areas and 20348 households in urban areas. After extracting and refining the data, 38958 households were included in the study. Factors affecting their utilization of rehabilitation services and the inequality in utilization were analyzed using the Chi-square test and the concentration index (CI), respectively. Data were extracted in MS Access 2013 and MS Excel 2013 applications and were analyzed in STATA V.14.1 software. The geographic distribution of the service utilization was plotted using ArcGIS Map V. 10 software. Results: A total of 258 households (0.77%) used rehabilitation services. Of these, 226 (87%) had a male head, and 32 (13%) had a female head. About 60% had 3-4 members, and 239 (92%) had insurance coverage, and others (8%) had no insurance coverage. Also, 173 (67%) had an employed head. Finally, 55% were living in rural areas, and 45% in urban areas. Uninsured households had less use of rehabilitation services (P

Objective (s): Oral health is one of the most important factors affecting peoplechr('39')s well-being. However, there are major obstacle to accessing dental services including high medical costs, lack of financial resources and human resources. Therefore, the present study was designed and conducted to investigate the distribution of dentists in public sector and household payments for dental services in Iran. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was designed and implemented using the National Household Expenditure Survey data from 2011 to 2017. Gini coefficient was used to measure the distribution of manpower and household payment. All analyzes were performed using MS Excel 2013 software. Results: Across the country, there were 5.56 dentists per thousand. Qazvin, Hamedan, Yazd, Mazandaran and Ilam provinces had the highest average and Alborz, Lorestan, Qom, Khuzestan and Khorasan Razavi provinces had the lowest average number of dentists. The Gini coefficient of dentistschr('39') distribution in 2012 was 0.41 and with slight decrease it was 0.40 in 2017. Also, the Gini coefficient of payment for household dental costs in rural areas was 0.68 and 0.66 in urban areas in 2012 and it was 0.70 and 0.65 in rural and urban areas in 2017, respectively. Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, inequality in distribution of dentists in public sector and household use of dental services during the study period has not changed significantly. Given the high Gini coefficient of households for dental services in rural areas compared to urban areas, it seems that covering dental services can be an effective measure to reduce this inequality. In addition, implementing appropriate programs to facilitate access to dental services for disadvantaged households can be an effective measure to reduce this inequality.

Objectives Over the past few decades, Iran has faced rapid demographic changes, including a sharp decline in birth rates and increased life expectancy. This has led to an increase in the average age of the population and an increase in the percentage of the elderly people which is called “the phenomena of aging”. The occurrence of this phenomenon in Iran is rapidly increasing, and therefore the Iranian community has limited opportunity to prepare for the aging challenges. One of the major challenges for the aging population is the rising health care costs due to the elderly's need for a variety of health services, which causes many households with elderly members to face significant economic problems. This study aims to evaluate the effect of the presence and age of elderly members on health care costs of the households in Iran. Methods & Materials This study is a secondary analysis using 2016 national household, expenditure and income survey data . Sample size was 19337 households in rural areas and 18809 households in urban areas (total= 38146) in Iran. Linear regression analysis in STATA V. 14 was used to test the effect of variables on health care costs of households with and without elderly members. Results There was a significant association between the presence of an elderly member in the household and increase in total health care expenditure and medical expenses, such that for one increase in the number of elderly members, total health care expenditure increased by 390,000 Tomans, and medical expenses increased by 195,000 Tomans. In terms of age, families with an elderly member aged 75-79 years had the highest care costs, while those with an elderly member aged 80 and more had the least cost increase. Moreover, household income, having a smoker member, having an income-earner member, living in urban areas, household head education, and health development rate of the province of residence had significant association with total health care expenditure and medical expenses of households. However, no association was found between having health insurance and medical expenses. Conclusion Since the presence of an elderly member significantly increase the household health costs, future policies should be planned to support the families with elderly members. The health care system of Iran should also be prepared to meet to the health and medical needs of future ageing population.

Background & Aims of study: Hospital care and paramedical services has become one of the most important and problematic issues in the field of health and critical concern of health planners and policymakers. In current study, contribution of various paramedical services costs were extracted from the total household health expenditure. Materials and Methods: The current study is a descriptive study that was conducted in a 5-year study period from 2011 to 2015. The annual income-based survey data of the household provided by Statistics Center during 2011-2015 was used to achieve the study aims. Excel_2013 software was used. Contribution of household and paramedical services cost were calculated from household health expenditures per year in urban and rural areas. Results: Regarding the results of the current study, on average, 20 % of total household health expenditure is allocated to paramedical services in urban and rural areas. The cost of radiology, sonography, radiotherapy, scan, echo cardiac stress test, endoscopy, electrocardiogram (ECG) etc, accounts for the largest contribution of hospital and non-hospital paramedical services costs, which include an averagely about 50 %t of paramedical services costs. Conclusion: Understanding paramedical services costs can guide policymakers and decision-makers in the field of paramedical services to decide better. Moreover it helps them to reduce direct payments from the pocket of household health expenditures. Therefore, considering the laboratory sector and radiology, sonography, radiotherapy sectors and so on are very important to reduce paramedical services costs.

Background: An increase in the aging population can affect economic growth and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by reducing labor supply, reducing productivity, and increasing burden on the population. The current study aimed to explain the economic effects of aging and examined the relationship between aging, health expenditure, and GDP. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted using the data of global development indicators, published by World Bank for the selected countries from 1996 to 2017. The study population included 40 selected countries with moderate to high income. The data related to each country were extracted. Later, the dynamic panel data approach and generalized method of moments (GMM) were applied to analyze the information. Furthermore, the generalized method of moments regression was also used by Stata 14. Results: The findings showed that aging had a negative and significant effect on GDP, so that increase of 1.00 % in the elderly population decreased the GDP growth by 2.14 %. Furthermore, countries' investment in the health sector had a positive and significant effect on the GDP. In this regard, an increase of 1.00 % in health and treatment costs improved the GPD by 0.03 %. Multiplication of aging in health expenditure and inflation index had a significant negative impact on the growth of GDP per capita. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that population aging reduced GDP by absorbing a part of the health expenditure. Therefore, in order to reduce the negative effects of this phenomenon, a long-term approach to budgeting is required to strengthen and support the pension fund, plan more comprehensive health insurance coverage for the elderly, and develop related institutions.

The fate of antibiotics and their effects on plant growth may be changed by the application of fertilizers. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of sulfadiazine (SDZ), rice husk compost (RHC), rice husk biochar (RHB), and mycorrhiza (MR) on the growth attributes of Iranian Echium amoenum Fisch & C.A. Mey. A greenhouse experiment as a completely randomized design with six treatments of bio/organic-fertilizers (no bio-fertilizer (NF), RHB, RHC, MR, RHB+MR, and RHC+MR) and three levels of SDZ application (0, 100, and 200 mg kg−1) was performed for 7months with three replicates. Shoot and root SDZ concentrations were determined using high-pressure liquid chromatography–diode array detection (HPLC–DAD) instrumentation. The results revealed that the application of RHC, RHB, and MR had a significant impact on the reduction of the toxicity effects of SDZ on plant properties. The lowest values of growth parameters belonged to the 200 mg kg−1 of SDZ with no bio-fertilizers, while the highest growth parameters were observed in the treatments of RHB+MR, and RHC+MR with no SDZ application. Also, chlorophyll pigments content was affected by used treatments and the lowest rates of chlorophyll a (4.24), chlorophyll b (2.99), and carotenoids (2.88) were related to the 200 mg kg−1 of SDZ with no biofertilizers application. The co-application of bio-fertilizers and SDZ (at both levels of 100 and 200 mg kg−1) decreased SDZ uptake by both shoot and root in comparison with the control. The same results were obtained with macro (NPK) and micro (Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn) nutrients uptake by the shoot in which the lowest values of nutrients uptake were observed in treatment of 200 mg kg−1 of SDZ with no bio-fertilizers. Furthermore, in the case of the effect of the used treatments on root colonization, the results showed that the lowest value (7.26%) belonged to the 200 mg kg−1 application of SDZ with no bio-fertilizers. Generally, this study demonstrated that bio-fertilizers could be considered as an effective strategy in controlling the negative effects of antibiotics on the growth properties and nutrients status of the plants grown in such contaminated soils.

The agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water in the world and Iran. Since the Iran is a country with limited water resources, planning for optimal management of water resources is essential. According to the fact that any plan will not succeed without the participation of farmers, the purpose of this descriptive -correlation study was to study factors affecting farmers' participation in water resource management. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of academic experts. Pre-test and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to measure the reliability (0.77-0.83). Farmers in Miandoab city formed the population of the study and 134 samples were selected using cluster sampling. The results showed that the level of participation of farmers in water resource management was moderate, with an average of 3.37 on a 5-point Likert scale. Result of multivariate stepwise regression analysis showed that six variables including farmers 'knowledge about the management of water resources in agriculture, the farmers' knowledge of concepts and methods of participation, competency officials and civil servants in the implementation of irrigation projects from the perspective of farmers, the attitude toward participate in water conservation projects, the convergence of social cohesion and morale of farmers and the use of agricultural loans explained 45.4 percent of variance of participation in water resource.

Knowledge of what farmers do in response to these events can broaden adaptation options and improve resilience within the sector. Among other dimensions it is assumed that psychological issues play an important role in predicting farmers’ intentions and actual responses. In this context, a study was carried out to identify the most prominent drivers of, and impediments to, drought adaptation, using social cognitive theory. A sample of 233 farmers who were members of agriculture cooperative in Dehloran, Illam was selected through a multi-stage random sampling method. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a group of experts. The reliability of the main scales of the questionnaires’ was examined by Cronbach Alpha coefficients, which ranged from 0.65 to 0.83, indicated the instrument was reliable. Findings revealed that farmers’ intention to responses of drought was predicted mainly by self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, extrinsic perceived behavioral control and behavior of other friends. Moreover, outcome expectancy and intention were the determinant of farmers’ actual responses to drought. These findings provided recommendations on factors important to adaptation with drought among farmers in Iran.

Introduction: Heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) are found naturally in soils, but their amount can be changed by human activities. The study of the uptake and accumulation of heavy metals by plants is done in order to prevent their threats on human and animal’s health.Cadmium is a toxic element for living organisms. Cadmium competes with many of nutrients to be absorbed by the plant and interferes with their biological roles. Water stress affects the cell structure and the food is diverted from its normal metabolic pathway. It also reduces the availability and uptake of nutrients by the plant. One reason for the reduction of plant growth under drought stress is the accumulation of ethylene in plants. There are ways to mitigate the negative effects of drought stress that one of which is the use of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria(PGPRs) to increasing the availability of nutrients. Soil beneficial bacteria play an important role in the biological cycles and have been used to increase plant health and soil fertility over the past few decades.The aim of this study was to investigate theeffect of PGPRson the concentration and uptake of macro nutrients by corn in a Cd-contaminated calcareous soil under drought stress. Materials and Methods: A greenhouse factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. The treatments were two levels of bacteria (with and without bacteria), four levels of Cd (5, 10, 20, and 40 mg kg-1), and three levels of drought stress (without stress, 80, and 65% of field capacity). The pots were filled with 3 kg of treated soil. Cd was treated as its sulfate salt in amounts of 5, 10, 20, and 40 mg kg-1. The soil was mixed uniformly with 150 mg N kg-1 as urea, 20 mg P kg-1 as Ca (H2PO4)2, 5 mg Fe kg-1 as Fe-EDDHA and 10, 10 and 2.5 mg Zn, Mn and Cu kg-1, respectively as their sulfate salt in order to meet plant needs for these nutrients. Six seeds of Zea mays (var. HIDO) were planted at each pot. Each seed of maize was inoculated with 2 mL (1×108 colony-forming units (cfu) mL-1) of Micrococcus yunnanensis (a gram positive bacterium with the ability of production of sidrophore and phosphate dissolving characteristic). Each pot was irrigated daily with distilled water to near field capacity by weight, until 15 days after corn planting. Then corn was thinned to 3 plants per pot and irrigation was started with different levels of drought stress (without stress (F.C), 80, and 65% of field capacity) by weight. At harvest (8 weeks after planting), the aerial parts of the plants was cut at the soil surface. The harvested plants were washed with distilled water, dried to a constant weight at 65C. Representative samples were dry-ashed and analyzed for macro nutrients. Results and Discussion: The results indicated that the inoculation of bacteria increased shoot dry weight (DW) and total uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Drought stress decreased DW, total uptake of N, P, and K, concentrations of N and K in corn shoots, and concentration of K in the soil. The application of biological fertilizers, such as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, increase plant growth through increasing microorganism’s activities and population in the soil and so increase macro nutrients uptake by the plant. Phosphate solubilizing rhizobacteria increase plant growth and phosphate availability with production of organic acids and secretion of phosphatase enzymes or protons and conversion of non-soluble phosphates (either organic or inorganic phosphates) to the forms that are more available for the plants and improve their nutrition and increase their growth. Drought stress decreases Dry Matter Weight(DMW) through decreasing relative humidity of the air of plant growth environment and increases evaporation, transpiration, plant temperature and light intensity of the sun. It prevents normal development of roots, water uptake, and plant growth by reducing the moisture content of the soil. It also decreases uptake and availability of Phosphorus in arid soils because plant growth and root activity in arid soils are lower from those of wetlands and as phosphorus is immobile in the soil, its uptake by the plant will decrease. N concentration of plants will increase drought stress conditions through rapid accumulation of amino acids that had not been converted into protein. The combined effects of drought stress and inoculation of bacteria on decomposition of silicates, cause the release of nutrients such as potassium. Increasing levels of cadmium in both cases, with and without bacterial inoculation, decreased DW, N and K uptake by corn because of its toxicity and its competition and interactions with these nutrients. Conclusion: The inoculation of bacteria mitigated the negative effects of drought stress and cadmium contamination by increasing dry weight of corn and increasing uptake of macronutrients by aerial parts. Drought stress in both cases (with and without bacterial inoculation) reduced shoot dry weight, total uptake of macro nutrients, N and K concentrations in corn shoots and post-harvest potassium concentration in the soil. Cadmium levels decreased shoot dry matter and N and K uptake by the plant. The use of bacteria was more effective at low cadmium and drought stress levels.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of rice husk compost (RHC), rice husk biochar (RHB) and mycorrhization (MY) on some properties of Iranian Echium amoenum Fisch & C. A. Mey and also on some selected post-harvesting soil properties. A completely randomized design experiment was conducted with six treatments and six replications. Treatments comprised T1: control, T2: MY, T3: RHC, T4: RHB, T5: RHC + MY and T6: RHB + MY. Studied parameters included; shoot and root fresh weights, root and leaf length, shrub height, leaf number, shoot and root NPK content, shoot and root Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn concentration, root colonization percentage, soil NPK status, soil micronutrients concentrations, soil respiration and microbial biomass. Results revealed that application of RHC, RHB and MY individually or in combination with other treatments significantly affected studied parameters. In all cases except for root colonization, combined application (T5 and T6) had more satisfied impacts compared with a single application of treatments. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2019.01.02, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2019.01.02

Rosemary is one of the most important medicinal plants. In order to study the effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Azolla compost and Azolla biochar on dry matter, nutrient uptake, physiological parameters and essential oil of rosemary, a greenhouse experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 6 replications. Treatments consisted of T1 (control), T2 (1% (1 g 100 g-1 dry soil) Azolla compost), T3 (1% Azolla biochar), T4 (PGPR (P. fluorescens)), T5 (1% compost + PGPR) and T6 (1% biochar + PGPR). Results indicated a significant enhancement of dry matter, nutrient uptake, photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrate, flavonoid and essential oil contents of rosemary influenced by organic fertilizers compared to control, particularly with co-appli­cation of PGPR + compost or biochar. Proline content decreased in all treatments in comparison with control. Results indicated positive impacts of PGPR, compost and boichar of Azolla on rosemary production by increasing nutrient uptake and protecting chlorophyll from degradation and enhancing its content in leaves. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2019.01.01, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2019.01.01

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of bio-fertilizers including mycorrhiza (MY), rice husk compost (RHC), and biochar (RHB) on dry matter yield, nutrients uptake and some secondary metabolites of the medicinal plant Echium amoenum Fisch & C. A. Mey. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design and executed with six treatments and six replications. Treatments comprised of T1: control, T2: MY, T3: RHC, T4: RHB, T5: RHC+MY and T6: RHB+MY. The following parameters were studied: leaf dry weight, macro and micro nutrient uptake, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, proline, anthocyanin, flavonoid, mucilage and carbohydrate content. The results show that application of RHC, RHB and MY individually or in combination significantly affected the studied parameters in comparison with the control treatment. In all cases, combined appli­cation of bio-fertilizers together with mycorrhiza application (T5 and T6) had a more positive impact on the studied parameters compared to the application of each treatment alone.

The subject of garden city from the beginning of its emergence up to now has been faced with a great deal of agree and disagree ideas. The purpose of this study was to analyze the consequences of the garden cities and solutions to improve this project in Zanjan. Grounded theory methodology was used in this study. Information in this study were collected by using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 32 members of academic staff in University of Zanjan and experts of Agricultural Jihad Organization of Zanjan. Content analysis of interviews showed, 101 phrases in connection with the development of garden cities were extracted. List of these phrases regard to concept affinity and hierarchy coding in grounded theory grouped in 23 concepts and three categories as follows: positive consequences, negative consequences, and strategies for improvement that each one shows an aspect of development of the city gardens' subject. The results showed that positive consequences of garden cities’ development often affect on the owners of Garden cities, while the negative consequences of the project will cover the entire of the community. Based on the results, strategies to improve garden city projects in Zanjan were classified in seven categories including: Focus on the water crisis in the licensing and using method, implying accurate management to prevent the illegal establishment and development, scientific supervision before permission to create a garden city, Citizens demand reduction for garden cities, promotion of production based along with recreation, using capabilities of agricultural graduates and integration of tourism and training in management of garden cities.

In this article I embark on the contrast between individual and national security in crimes against security. Crimes against the state can be divided into crimes against existence of state and authority of state. In these crimes the first victim is the state itself. Crimes against the security are located in the first category. In these crimes accused rights probably are violated by the state because the state cannot remain neutral. In this regard, firstly I discuss on the principals of criminal law about crimes against security and then its legality. Some scholars believe that public interest is a good pretext to violate the given rights but other scholars firmly assert that no pretext is welcomed. This research shows that the present criminal regulation of Iran followed the first approach which has progressed after the revolution (1979).

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of viral diseases is on the rise and has caused many problems for public health. COVID-19 is a new viral outbreak in the world. This study aimed to investigate the trends of incidence and case fatality rate (CFR) of COVID-19 in the world by April 30, 2020. METHODS: This was a descriptive-analytical study. We investigated the number of cases and deaths in 35 selected countries and regions of the WHO that had at least 10,000 cases by the time of the study. In addition, the incidence and CFR of COVID-19 were investigated. Finally, time trends of the number of cases, deaths, and CFR were investigated using ordinary least squares regression models. RESULTS: The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was 3,090,184. The European region had the highest number of COVID-19 patients (1,434,649 [46.43%]). Ukraine with 10,406 and the USA with 1,003,974 cases have reported the lowest and highest confirmed cases, respectively. In addition, the European region and the African region with 157.13 and 2.50 patients per 100,000 population had the highest and the lowest incidence rate, respectively. India (2.44) and Spain (455.69) had the lowest and the highest incidence rate per 100,000 population, respectively. In the world, 217,759 deaths have happened, of which 135,961 (62.44%) were reported in the European region. Furthermore, the USA had the highest number of deaths (52,428) due to COVID-19. CFR was 7.05% in the world, which ranged from 3.74% in the African region and 9.48% in the European region. The number of patients and deaths due to COVID-19 had increasing trends in all countries, and the trend of CFR just for Iran and Ukraine was negative. CONCLUSION: The countries had different trends in the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. However, regarding the increasing trend of the disease in the world, it will be more important to rely on public prevention strategies. It is necessary to apply and continue public health policies at national and global levels till the control of the disease.

Introduction and Aims The purpose of this research was to determine the role of emotional regulation strategy and positive and negative emotions in prediction of psychological well-being in students. Materials and Methods In this descriptive correlation study, 200 (100 men and 100 women) students of Ardabil University of Medical Science during 2012-2013 (1391-92.s.c.) were selected by multistage cluster sampling method and they filled the questionnaires of psychological well-being, emotional regulation strategy and positive and negative emotions. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS v.16 and statistical methods of correlation and multiple regression. Results There was a significant correlation between emotional regulation strategies and positive and negative emotions with psychological well-being (P < 0.01). The results of analysis of regression showed that reappraisal and positive emotions positively and significantly and suppression and negative emotions negatively and significantly can predict medical science student’s psychological well-being (P < 0.001, R2 = 0.31). Conclusion The findings indicated that emotional regulation strategies and positive and negative emotions are important psychological components in prediction of medical sciences student’s psychological well-being. * Corresponding Author: Tabriz University, Department of Psychology. E-mail: Chelavkoh@gmail.com

Six soil amendments including municipal solid waste compost (MSWC), coal fly ash (CFA), rice husk biochar prepared at 300°C (B300) and 600°C (B600), zerovalent iron (Fe0), and zerovalent manganese (Mn0) were evaluated to determine their ability to reduce mobility of chromium (Cr) in a Cr-spiked soil. The Cr-spiked soil samples were separately incubated with selected amendments at 2 and 5% [weight by weight (W/W)] for 90 days at 25°C. The efficacy of amendment treatments was evaluated using desorption kinetic experiment and sequential extraction producer. Results showed that applications of various amendments had significant effects on desorption and chemical forms of Cr. Addition of amendments considerably decreased mobility factor (except for CFA5%) of Cr compared to the control treatment. The addition of Fe0, MSWC, and B300 to soil significantly decreased Cr release, compared to other amendments. The lowest Cr desorption was achieved by Fe0 at 5%. Application of B600 and CFA increased soil pH and caused the oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI). Based on the obtained highest values of coefficient of determination (R2) and lowest values of standard error (SE) of the estimate, the two first-order reaction model could be best fitted for describing Cr release in soil samples. In general, from the practical view, Fe0, MSWC, and B300 treatments are effective in Cr immobilization, while application of Fe0 at 5% was the best treatment for stabilization of Cr. Therefore, these treatments can be recommended for the immobilization of Cr from polluted soil.

INTRODUCTION: Health care is considered as a human right, and fair financial contribution to health care plays an important role in providing effective services for all members of society. This study aimed at investigating the effects of targeted subsidy plan (since 2010) on equality in health-care financing in Iran from 2004 to 2014. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive-analysis, cross-sectional study that was conducted using data obtained from households' expenditure-income survey that is performed every year by the Statistical Center of Iran. The Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient, and Theil index were applied to measure inequality in healthcare expenditures (HEs). Furthermore, the Kakwani index was used to examine inequality in health-care finance during the study period. The analysis was performed using Stata version 13. RESULTS: Kakwani index was negative for all the studied years, except 2007. The value of this index was equal to −0.032, −0.045, and −0.046 in 2004, 2008, and 2014 for rural areas and was equal to −0.041, −0.029, and −0.0001 for urban areas, respectively. Despite the Kakwani index has been negative for most of the years, which reflects regressive financing in health care, there is no significant change in the trend of this indicator after the implementation of the subsidies. In addition, this indicator is moving toward being positive (progressive) in urban areas in 2014, which represents increased share of the poor in health payments. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results, the targeted subsidy plan could not reach to its purpose in health-care system for supporting the poor from HEs. It is recommended for policy-makers to design a specific plan for health-care financing and to allocate some defined resources such as taxes or subsidies to health-care sector.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to investigate the associations between life and health satisfaction with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), body mass index (BMI) and chronic disease among people who are covered by health insurance schemes in Tehran city, Iran. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Tehran city, Iran, from May to June 2016. A total of 600 people were included in the study using a cluster sampling technique. The questionnaire that used for data collection included demographic and socioeconomic variables, questions about health variables such as chronic disease, weight, height, smoking status, and EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. Two univariate and multivariate regression models performed to examine affecting factors on life and health satisfaction. RESULTS: The univariate regression showed that on average female have 0.22 and 0.69 score lower than males with their life and health satisfaction, respectively. Explanatory variables of gender, age, level of education, and employment status were not significantly associated with life and health satisfaction in multiple regression models. However, marital status was correlated with life satisfaction. Furthermore, HRQoL, BMI and chronic disease and smoking were associated with dependent variables (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The result showed that there was a strong association between BMI, HRQoL, chronic disease, and life and health satisfaction among participants. Therefore, the Iranian policymakers need to consider these factors on life and health satisfaction of adults and design health-promoting programs to improve health outcomes of them. Further studies should assess the associations between BMI, HRQoL, chronic conditions, and life and health satisfaction among Iranian adults.

Nowadays, awareness of the facilities and problems of rural areas and analyzing them is very important in the process of rural development planning and considered necessary to provide some kind of plans and development programs. Rural improvement projects are rural development projects in which it is tried to improve and organize rural housing. The purpose of this study was to analyze driving components in successful implementation of improvement and reconstruction plans in rural housing. A descriptive–correlation survey approach was used in this study. The statistical population of this study consisted of the rural housing loan recipients in 2009 in Khodabandeh, Zanjan province. Sample size was estimated using Cochrane formula (n=1040) and selected with random sampling method. . The questionnaire was used for data collection in this study. Reliability and content validity has been confirmed using Cronbach's coefficient alpha (0.80), and surveys of specialists and professors associated with the issue. Data analysis has been made by using SPSS software. Results of factor analysis has shown that technical(20.82), service - credit(18.74), social - cultural (12.35) and organizational – administrative(11.56) are most important factors driving the successful implementation of improvement and renovation projects of rural housing that has explained 63.48 percent of total variance.

Monthly flow predictions provide an essential basis for efficient decision-making regarding water resource allocation. In this paper, the performance of different popular data-driven models for monthly flow prediction is assessed to detect the appropriate model. The considered methods include feedforward neural networks (FFNNs), time delay neural networks (TDNNs), radial basis neural networks (RBFNNs), recurrent neural network (RNN), a grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA)-based support vector machine (SVM) and K-nearest neighbors (KNN) model. For this purpose, the performance of each model is evaluated in terms of several residual metrics using a monthly flow time series for two real case studies with different flow regimes. The results show that the KNN outperforms the different neural network configurations for the first case study, whereas RBFNN model has better performance for the second case study in terms of the correlation coefficient. According to the accuracy of the results, in the first case study with more input features, the KNN model is recommended for short-term predictions and for the second case with a smaller number of input features, but more training observations, the RBFNN model is suitable.

We developed a hybrid algorithm for multi-objective design of water distribution networks (WDNs) in the present study. The proposed algorithm combines the global search schemes of differential evolution (DE) with the local search capabilities of harmony search (HS) to enhance the search proficiency of evolutionary algorithms. This method was compared with other multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) including NSGA2, SPEA2, MOEA/D and extended versions of DE and HS combined with non-dominance criteria using several metrics. We tested the compared algorithms on four benchmark WDN design problems with two objective functions, (i) the minimization of cost and (ii) the maximization of resiliency as reliability measure. The results showed that the proposed hybrid method provided better optimal solutions and outperformed the other algorithms. It also exhibited significant improvement over previous MOEAs. The hybrid algorithm generated new optimal solutions for a case study that dominated the best-known Pareto-optimal solutions in the literature