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Pear is one of the most important pome fruits in the world fruit market with a high nutritional value. This study was performed to determine the phenolic compounds and some chemical properties of the flesh and peel of 12 Asian and European pears. Chlorogenic acid and rutin were found the important phenolic compounds in the peel which were measured using HPLC. Fruit titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), firmness, color, nutrient elements, and total phenol contents were measured across the various cultivars. Potassium was the most abundant nutrient, followed by nitrogen and calcium, respectively. As the total phenol increased, so did the amount of rutin. Principal components analysis (PCA) of all data showed that European and Asian pear cultivars were categorized and placed into two distinct groups. In general, the different European and Asian pear studied cultivars were different in terms of most of the studied biochemical traits, and significant relationships were observed between some traits.
 

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The extend and complexity of urban issues and the increasing growth and development of cities have made managing city affairs a difficult task. To find the answer to this question, after studying the theorical texts and a brief overview at the research related to the subjects of urban management in combined and multi_stage analysis, in the first stage from of the collection of urban managers, people and professionals, a semi_structured interview was conducted. Due to fundamental nature of the Granheim content analysis method, the data were analyzed using the content analysis approach by the Granheim and Landman method. Then in the second stage, using a questionnaire, the themes discovered from the first part of the study were prioritzed by experienced experts in the field of urban planning and urban management, based on security factor and with the help of Friedman test in SPSS software. The results of the research show that the most important and fundamental challenges in the field of urban management in the metropolis of Ahvaz from the perspective of experts are related to laws, structure and professional ethics
 

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Studies of postmeiotic chromosomes have been impeded by the thick exine of immature pollen grains. Chromosome staining of immature and adult pollen grains through conven-tional acetocarmine procedure is tedious and often leads to unsatisfactory results. An acetocarmine stain, used in conjugation with Carnoy’s solution as fixative for 72 hrs or until the chlorophyll-containing tissues of spike became colorless, were successfully used to stain chromosome bands and nucleoli of the immature pollen grain in Aegilops cylin-drica. Mitosis of immature pollen exhibited several remarkable features, one being the distinguishable haploid chromosome set of immature pollen. Only one of two nucleolus organizer regions of Ae. cylindrica produced nucleolus at the prophase of first pollen mi-tosis. An acetocarmine-banded karyotype with only minor variations in the acetocarmine-banding pattern was revealed within and between plants of the accession of Ae. cylindrica. Some of banding patterns in the chromosome complement was identical to marker C-bands or accession-specific bands in corresponding genome in Ae. caudata (CC) or Ae. squarrosa (DD). The reliability of the acetocarmine banding for Triticeae chromosome identification is discussed.

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Pollen grains of five olive cultivars (Olea europaea L .) were examined, using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for identification purposes. Four measurments, polar axis (P), equatorial diameter (E), P/E ratio and exine patterns were made. Forty pollen grains of each cultivar were viewed before finally selecting a representative pollen grain. Polar diameter ranged between 22.76 μm for the ‘Mary’ and 28.58 μm for the ‘Shengeh’ ‘Zard’ and ‘Roghani’ cultivars exhibited incomplete closure of the meshes. ‘Zard’ and ‘Shengeh’ cultivars had thick muri but ‘Roghani’, ‘Mary’ and ‘Fishomi’ possessed thinner muri. Scanning electron analysis of pollen grain revealed that specific differences including variation in size and form of the meshes are exist among cultivars. The differences in the exine pattern may help for the identification of some cultivars.

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The Russian wheat aphid (RWA), Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), is a significant insect pest of wheat worldwide. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variation within and between F2-derived families for reaction to RWA using F3 and F4 families originating from individual F2 plants of a cross between the susceptible line (synthetic hexaploid-11) and the resistance cultivar (‘Halt’). The RWA damage of individual plants within each family was measured using different procedures. Their reaction types were combined into a single data for each individual family (derived from an individual F2 plants) and subjected to statistical analysis. Results indicated that the genetic variation between F2-derived families is greater than within F2-derived families for RWA resis-tance. Broad-sense heritability of RWA resistance, calculated by partitioning phenotypic variation into genetic and environmental components, was 73.2%. A narrow-sense herita-bility estimate of 30% was obtained for the RWA resistance in the ‘Halt’ synthetic hexaploid-11 cross using parent-offspring (F3: F4) regression procedure.

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Fish is one of the most important sources of protein for human nutrition and health. Therefore, the monitoring of heavy metals accumulation in commercial fish is always important. In the present study, the accumulation of heavy metals (copper and lead) in muscle tissue and their potential hazards for consumers in three species of high-consumption fish in the south of the country(BandarAbas), namely black-spot snapper (Lutjanus ehrenbergi), javelin grunter (Pomdasys Kaakan) and Indian halibut (Psettodes erumei) was examined. The average concentrations (µg/g dry weight) of copper snapper, grunter and halibut were 0.078±0.017, 0.136±0.025, and 0.127±0.013, respectively, while the accumulation of lead in them was 0.079±0.018, 0.090±023, and 0.107±0.031, respectively. The highest daily intake (µg/ kg body weight/ day) of copper was equal to 0.023 and due to consumption of grunter, while the highest daily intake of lead was obtained due to consumption of halibut and equal to 0.018. The daily and weekly intake of both metals and all three fish species was less than the EPA reference dose and tolerable intake (TDI) values provided by the FAO / WHO Joint Commission. The risk level of target hazard quotient (THQ) calculated for both metals was significantly lower than 1. The results showed that the urban communities of Hormozgan province with the calculated consumption are not exposed to any risk due to the accumulation of heavy metals studied in this study.
 

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Aims: Social distancing is one of the most effective methods to control the transmission of Covid-19. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of social distancing in students.
Instrument & Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 342 students of Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences. Sampling was performed electronically using the availability sampling method. Data collection tools were a questionnaire of demographic information and a questionnaire designed for measuring students’ social distancing knowledge, attitude, and practice. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive and inferential statistical tests.
Findings: The mean age of participants was 21.56±2.11. Out of 342 participants, 222 (64.9%) were female, 84.2% were single, and 84.8% were living in urban areas. The median social distancing knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were 6±1, 48±4, and 16±3, respectively. Out of the 342 surveyed students, 85.4% showed a good level of social distancing knowledge, 76% showed a good attitude towards social distancing, 22.8% showed a moderate attitude, and none (0%) showed a poor attitude. However, only 0.6% of the surveyed students earned good social distancing practice scores.
Conclusion: Despite the good social distancing knowledge and attitude scores of the surveyed students, they were doing poorly in practicing social distancing.

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Gilan Province is among the most important regions of Iran for rice production. The general aim of this research is to determine the best variety of rice for planting, so that the minimum level for farmer's expected living gross margin can be provided. On the other hand, determining the best variety with regard to the risk in price is another aim of this research. To this end two risk models based on Telser and Kataoka linear programming were used. Data needed for seven understudy varieties in this research during 2000-2006 were connected from 7 representative farms at the Gilan Province level. Taking the related risk-rows to gross margin per hectare of the 7 varieties under study during the aforesaid years, and using the Kataoka model, the highest amount of living gross margin per hectare at different probability levels was calculated. On the other hand, through the Telser model the area under planting of optimized varieties over different probability levels, showing that the probability of the gross margin per hectare of rice farming is less than the highest amount of living gross margin, was calculated. The results showed that at different levels the gross margin of the aim, considering the probability constraints, the two items Hashemi and Ali Kazemi were the best ones for achieving the aforesaid goals.

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ABSTRACT Rosa damascena has attracted considerable attention in horticulture, biochemistry and in pharmacology because of the fragrance of the flowers and the high content of its bio-logically active substances. There is limited information available on factors controlling flower yield and its components. The present study reports an investigation on flower yield and the various factors affecting it, in Iranian Rosa damascena using sixteen geno-types collected from different regions in Iran. These genotypes were planted at Isfahan Agriculture Research Center, using a randomized complete block design with three repli-cations in 2005. Twelve yield determining characters including flower yield per plant, number of flowers per plant, fresh flower weight, plant height, canopy diameter, length and width of bud, number of petal per flower, length and width of receptacle, fresh weight of petal as well as flowering period were recorded. Rosa damascena genotypes sig-nificantly varied for all the traits except for the fresh weight of petals per flower. Pheno-typic and genotypic coefficients of variation for flower yield per plant (48.03%, 36.49%), number of flowers per plant (40.65%, 26.99%), number of petals per flower (37.56%, 32.31%) were higher than the coefficients for other tested traits. Cluster analysis revealed that Khuzestan and Shiraz 2 genotypes were the most related ones, while the most inde-pendent ones were the western and eastern Azerbaijan genotypes. Results of stepwise re-gression analysis showed that 90 percent of total variation of flower yield per plant could be explained by the number of flowers per plant. This suggested that number of flowers per plant is the most important component determining flower yield per plant. According to principle component analysis, parents with a high standing of the following traits: fresh weight of flower, number of petals per flower and bud width, may well be employed for hybridization in a breeding program. Regression and cluster analyses proved to be the appropriate multivariate analyses for an identification of Rosa damascena genotypes pos-sessing the desirable characters for hybridization to develop improved cultivars.

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The yield and quality features of raisin are affected by various factors especially har-vest date and dipping solutions. Combinations of different harvest date (four harvest dates) and post harvest alkaline emulsion (three alkaline solutions) were tested in Vitis vi-nifera L. cv ‘Paycamy’ green raisin production in Kashmar, Khorasan Province of Iran. Such raisin quantitative and qualitative characteristics as: yield, drying ratio (fresh: rai-sin yield), raisin wastes, sugar content, price, color, homogeneity of color, raisin size, alka-line solution residues and surface texture of raisin (shrinkage) were assessed. Harvest date results showed that grape °Brix and raisin sugar content increased from 15.5 to 21 and 53% to 62% respectively. In addition, fourth harvest yield increased raisin yield up to 30% as compared to the first harvest. The amount of wastes resulted from decayed berry in the fourth harvest was higher than those for the other harvest dates, but such qualita-tive traits as color, size and texture softness improved through further fruit ripening. In-teraction effect of alkaline solution and harvest date on price and raisin size (number of raisins per 100 g) were significant (P< 0.01). Alkaline solution affected raisin waste, the differences among post harvest treatments being significant. The color of raisin was not affected by alkaline solution but it was steadily improved with each succeeding harvest date.

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Iran is one of the main date (Phoenix dactylifera) producing countries in the world. however, little information is available on the pollen viability and favorable storage conditions of Iranian male date cultivars. This study was conducted to estimate the best in vitro pollen germination of three male date palm cultivars, `Ghanami’, `Samsmavi’ and `Gheibani’ using various doses of boric acid (0, 50, 100 and 200 mg L-1), calcium nitrate (0, 200 and 300 mg L-1) and sucrose (15% and 25% (w/v)) in a Modified Brebaker and Kwack (MBK) medium. The results showed that the best germination was achieved with 50 mg L-1 boric acid, 200 mg L-1 calcium nitrate and 15% (w/v) sucrose. Once the optimal in vitro germination medium had been established, pollen viability (% germination) of these three cultivars stored for up to 200 days at room temperature (dark and light), in a refrigerator (4˚C), freezer (-20˚C) and in liquid nitrogen (-196˚C) was compared. For all the tested cultivars, germination declined as storage temperature increased and, by 200 days, the highest survival rate was obtained with cryostored pollen. Long-term storage of date pollen using an ultra-low temperature (-196˚C) can be used without any deteriorating effect on pollen viability, while room temperature storage significantly reduced pollen germination.

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With globalization getting momentum, capital inflow has been an instrument for economies to grow fast in recent decades. Hence, identifying the factors that affect capital inflow and outflow - net international capital mobility- would be desirable to achieve economic stability. As usual, one of the factors that influence on capital inflow is high return of capital. New experiments explore the crucial role of risk and liquidity intensive on net international capital mobility. So, the purpose of this study is to analyze the analytical impact of credit risk scoring on the net international capital mobility in Iran within the period of 1980-2009. To achieve credit risk scoring, the Fink's scoring model has been used to identify the determinants of credit risk. Then, the rank of each factor has been appeared separately and finally the country's credit risk scoring has been estimated. Then, the final model using time series data and ordinary least squares method are analyzed. The impact of liquidity, different return of inside and outside and credit risk on net international capital mobility in Iran are discussed at the end of the paper. The results show that all mentioned variables have an anticipated effect on net capital inflow.

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Banks as important financial institutions have drawn attention of economic researchers because their impacts on various economic sectors. Despite positive role which banks play, they cause economic instability due to providing services particularly intermediary ones, so that most of economic researchers consider banks as main cause of current financial crisis. With regard to role of banks in economic instability, this research pays attention to financial intermediary role of commercial banks as their main product on economic instability. In particular, this research tests the impact of commercial bank products on economic instability as the core hypothesis. The results show that commercial banks as financial intermediaries had negative impact on Iran’s Economic stability during 1981-2007.

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Oxalate Soluble Pectin (OSP) is related to fruit firmness with respect to the chelation of calcium ions with carboxyl groups of adjacent polyuronide chains. This study was carried out to explore the effect of time of fruit harvest, foliar spray with CaCl2 during growing season on OSP, Polygalacturonase Activity (PGA), fruit firmness and the effects on fruit shelf life, quality and Internal Browning (IB) disorder. Fruit samples were collected from Asian pear (Pyrus serotina Rehd.) trees ‘KS’9 and ‘KS’13 on European pear (Pyrus communis L.) seedling rootstocks. Fruits were picked on the 1st and 15th August, 2006 and stored at 1ºC and 80-85% relative humidity (RH). Five stages of extraction were performed on fruit samples including one pre-harvest, one at the time of harvest, and three following fruit harvest. Results indicated that OSP increased slightly during fruit ripening as well as during storage. In both the studied cultivars, the level of OSP in fruit harvested fifteen days after Optimum Time for Harvest (OTH) was higher than that harvested at OTH. The level of OSP in fruit softened after harvest significantly increased starting from the time of harvest. The relationship between flesh firmness, IB and OSP concentration showed the highest correlations in the both of the studied cultivars among PGA. In conclusion, flesh firmness and IB were correlated with the extent of OSP concentration. In addition, fruit, sprayed with CaCl2 and harvested early, contained less OSP, PGA and IB following long-term storage.

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Economic development, social welfare and improvement of living standards are main issues in economic planning, which requires higher economic growth as precondition. Time preference plays an important role in the health of the economy, given its contribution to capital formation, economic growth, and interest rate. The existence of the time preference reflects social impatience with the present value of consumption relative to future consumption. Therefore, if present generation attributes high weigh to itself in allocating resources between current and future generations, the available resources will decrease, and economic growth will stabilize in a lower rate. According to the microeconomic theoretical foundations, and using mathematical logic, this study provides a logical reasoning in analyzing macroeconomic phenomena. This research aims to illustrate how to time preference impacts economic growth. Using MATLAB software and calibrating the model for Iran’s economy, the optimal paths of consumption, savings, investment and economic growth are extracted with and without commitment. The results show that the optimal paths of capital stock, consumption and economic growth are in higher levels for full commitment than no- commitment, and these converge at the end-points. The final section will examine how to change in time preference and its impact on the optimal paths of variables. Running various scenarios show that an increase in the rate of time preference reduces economic welfare, the effective rate of time preference and economic growth.

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Eight pollinators (as pollen parents) and four CMS lines (as seed parents) differing in salinity and drought tolerance were evaluated using agro-morphological traits and microsatellite markers. Root yield, leaf weight, sugar content, sodium content (Na⁺), potassium content (K⁺), a-amino nitrogen content, alkalinity coefficient, molasses sugar, white sugar content, extraction coefficient of sugar, dry matter, sugar yield, and white sugar yield were evaluated. The genetic diversity of 14 individual plants within each parent (a total of 168 genotypes) was also assessed using 18 microsatellite (SSR) markers. The results showed that 43 and 32.6% of the total variation in agro-morphological traits could be explained by the first 2 principal components, which could discriminate salinity and drought tolerant parents. Based on SSR analysis, a total number of 104 alleles were detected with an average number of 5.7 alleles per primer pair and an average polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.64 with the highest PIC belonging to EST-SSR FDSB502. Cluster analysis based on SSR markers clearly discriminated 112 plants belonging to pollen parents from 56 plants of seed parents. In conclusion, the SSR markers have been shown to be efficient and reliable for assessing genetic diversity in sugar beet crossing parents.

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The decay of green and blue molds of Thomson navel oranges is one of the main causes of this product's decay and it can be a limiting factor in storing fruits. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of wax, hot water, calcium chloride and commercial Tecto 60 fungicide treatments on reducing decay by inducing biosynthesis of flavonoid compounds and maintaining the postharvest quality of Thomson navel orange fruits. Fruits kept for three months in a cold storage at a temperature of 5 to 7 °C and a relative humidity of about 75 to 90%. Weight loss of fruits in waxed fruits was significantly lower than other treatments. The wounded and infected fruits did not have much chance of survival. None of the treatments were significantly effective on control of decay of non-wounded fruits. Total phenol content of fruit peel and flesh  decreased during storage. Hesperidin in the peel was at the highest level in Britex wax treatment. The highest amount of scoparon of fruit peel and flesh was in hot water and calcium + wounded treatments, respectively. Although the amount of scoparon in some treatments inhibited the germination of fungal spores, it did not have the expected effect in controlling decay. The use of Tecto 60™ and hot water can significantly reduce the decay of wounded and infected fruits. The treatments were not effective in controlling the deterioration of intact fruits, which indicates the importance of preventing mechanical damage to the fruit in the pre-harvest stage.

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Selection of superior chance seedling genotypes is an important task in pear breeding programs. This research was carried out in order to explore and evaluate some of European pear (Pyrus communis L.) chance seedling genotypes that are primarily used as rootstock for the Asian pear (Pyrus serotina Rehd.) in Tarbiat Modares University (TMU) Asian Pear Collection Orchard. After four years visual observations of the genotypes, the evaluation process started on the pre-selected genotypes in order to identify the superior promising individuals during 2009 and 2010 growing seasons. Selected chance seedling genotypes were A₉₅, A₁₀₁, A₁₈₉, A₁₉₅, and A₃₇₄. A local commercial cultivar `Shahmiveh’ was used as a reference and labeled as A<sub>238</sub> in the evaluation program database. Results showed significant differences among the studied genotypes in most of the evaluated characters. Among the studied genotypes, genotype A<sub>95</sub> showed indications of appropriate fruit physicochemical properties and higher fruit quality compared with the reference cultivar. Good fruit aroma as well as a reddish background skin color, highest acidity and lowest pH among the examined genotypes were other superior characters of A<sub>95</sub>. Based on the measured characters compared with `Shahmiveh' as a good reference commercial Iranian pear cultivar, we conclude that A₉₅ showed superiority and higher rank in flavor, fruit color, and attractiveness. Also, this promising genotype showed a good productivity potential in terms of producing higher yield with a suitable supporting vigor. Further research on the standard rootstocks within the TMU pear breeding program will continue in the framework of final new cultivar release program.

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Fruits of two apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) cultivars ‘Bagheri’ and ‘Asgarabadi’ were treated with 1 or 3% of Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂) or Calcium propionate (Ca pro) and stored at 1°C, 90% RH for 21 days (d). Fruits were sampled weekly and stored for 2 days at 20°C for shelf life study. Chilling Injury (CI), firmness, color, Titratable Acidity (TA), Soluble Solid Content (SSC), fruit calcium concentrations, Pectin MethylEsterase (PME) enzyme activity and pectin content were monitored during the storage period. CI was first detected in the control fruit after 7 days, and incidence and severity of CI in control fruit was higher than in calcium treated fruit after 14 days. Calcium treatments increased fruit calcium concentrations and delayed ethylene production, as well as softening and color changes. PME activity and water-insoluble pectin decreased while water-soluble pectin increased during fruit storage. Higher calcium concentrations may help to maintain fruit quality by alleviating CI incidence and inhibiting ripening in fruit stored at low temperature.

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This study was conducted under Ahvaz, Iran environmental condition during 2012 and 2013 growing seasons in order to investigate the influence of foliar application of potassium on some physiological and biochemical characteristics of three olive cultivars including ‘Mission’, ‘Koroneiki’ and ‘Dezfuli’. Potassium sulfate in different concentrations of 0, 1, and 2 g l^-1 was sprayed twice on selected mature 10 year old trees; at 50 and 65 days after full bloom. Potassium sprays increased leaf chlorophyll content of all cultivars, leaf potassium content in ‘Mission’ and ‘Koroneiki’ cvs., fruit anthocyanin concentration of ‘Dezfuli’ in two crop seasons. However, K treatments had no significant effect on leaf N and P content, fruit K and P content in all studied cultivars. Fruit soluble carbohydrates increased by foliar application of potassium in ‘Koroneiki’ and ‘Dezfuli’ cultivars in the second year of study. Stem water potential and leaf stomatal conductance were significantly affected by cultivar and K treatments during the two years. Our findings showed that foliar application of potassium resulted in the decrease of stomatal conductance of ‘Koroneiki’ and ‘Dezfuli’ in two crop seasons. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the studied cultivars differently respond to K treatments during the two crop seasons and foliar potassium application could have a positive impact on leaf chlorophyll, leaf potassium, fruit soluble carbohydrates and fruit anthocyanins in olive cultivars.