USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Based on the shortage of water resources in Iran and the high evapotranspiration rate in Khuzestan region (2044 mm/year), an irrigation system on Estamaran palm tree in the Experimental Farm of Shahid Rajaee of Omidiyeh plain was conducted. This study had two purposes, namely irrigation frequency and suitable depth of irrigation application of the Estamaran palm trees in Omidiyeh region. This study had two objectives. Irrigation frequency was the primary treatment and the evapotranspiration estimating methods was the secondary treatment. Three irrigation levels. i.e. one day long (A1), two day long (A2) and three day long (A3), were used as irrigation frequency. Also the evapotranspiration estimating methods used were, Penman-Montith 100% (B1), Penman-Montith 70% (B2), class A pan 100% (B3) and class A pan 70% (B4). Since this study had three replications, 36 palm trees were selected for this experiment. Cropwat software V.4 for windows, was applied for the evapotranspiration estimating from Penman-Montieth method. Irrigation scheduling was done according to SCS recommendations. Experimental design was according to split plot method in a randomized block. Finally by measuring the different growth indices of palm trees (leaf number, barb number and leaflet length) at a definite time, the best treatment was determined. The results showed that as a whole all the treatments in this experiment did not show a significant difference (up to 5% level) for the indicated indices. However, at the end of 4 month since the beginning of this study, the growth indices of trees in A2B1, A1B2 and A1B1 increased compared to other treatments. The result also indicated that, A1B2 was the best treatment of all. In comparison with the traditional irrigation by local farmers, using A1B2 treatment for all the palm trees (from Aug to Nov), will have 28422.34 m3 water saving in 3.87 hectare per month

Molecular diversity of hpd gene in clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae

Infections due to Haemophilus influenzae result in tremendous global morbidity. The conjugated vaccines against H. influenzae type b (Hib) have dramatically reduced the incidence of invasive Hib disease in the routine immunization of infants. The several proteins used as vaccine candidates for this pathogen, but they don't produce efficient immune in animal models against all strains of H. influenzae. This study aimed to determine the diversity of hpd gene nucleotide sequences of Iranian native clinical isolates of H. influenzae as a native vaccine candidate compared to standard strains. Twenty isolates of H. influenzae recovered from different clinical specimens of patients admitted to Milad and Imam Khomeini hospitals, Tehran, Iran. Then, isolates detected and identified as H. influenzae using biochemical tests, and further confirmation through omp6 gene PCR. The hpd gene was amplified by PCR using gene-specific primers, and the amplicons digested with EcoR1. For four isolates, the Amplicon of hpd gene sequenced, and the sequences aligned with sequences harbored in GenBank. Subsequently, sequences were submitted to the EMBL site (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/). EcoR1 restriction enzyme pattern was the same among the 19 clinical isolates, and only one isolate was different. That different one with 3 out of 19 isolates were sequenced. The results showed that the nucleotide sequences and the deduced amino acid sequences for protein D in clinical isolates were highly conserved with similarities >95. In conclusion, regarding high similarity up to 99 in clinical isolates, protein D can be a novel vaccine candidate against all types of H. influenza from Iran. This finding should be proved with more isolates, and also, evaluate the immunological features of protein D in animal models. © 201

Effect of annealing on structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by Sol-Gel technique

Zinc oxide thin films were prepared by sol gel method and spin coating technique, using zinc acetate as precursor solution on glass substrate. The prepared films were annealed at three different temperatures to study the effect of annealing on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films. The deposited and annealed films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with microanalysis (EDX). The XRD pattern shows that ZnO films are polycrystalline in nature and crystallite size increases with the increase in annealing temperature. Optical transmittance measurements were taken using UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and the calculated values of the direct band gap energy, Eg was between 3, 28 and 3, 42 eV

Preparation and Evaluation of a New Lipopolysaccharide-based Conjugate as a Vaccine Candidate for Brucellosis

Objectives: Development of an efficacious vaccine against brucellosis has been a challenge for scientists for many years. At present, there is no licensed vaccine against human brucellosis. To overcome this problem, currently, antigenic determinants of Brucella cell wall such as Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are considered as potential candidates to develop subunit vaccines. Methods: In this study, Brucella abortus LPS was used for conjugation to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B outer membrane vesicle (OMV) as carrier protein using carbodiimide and adipic acid-mediated coupling and linking, respectively. Groups of eight BALB/c mice were injected subcutaneously with 10μg LPS alone, combined LPS+OMV and conjugated LPS-OMV on 0 days, 14 days, 28 days and 42 days. Anti-LPS IgG was measured in serum. Results: The yield of LPS to OMV in LPS-OMV conjugate was 46.55, on the basis of carbohydrate content. The ratio for LPS to OMV was 4.07. The LPS-OMV conjugate was the most immunogenic compound that stimulated following the first injection with increased IgG titer of ~5-fold and ~1.3-fold higher than that produced against LPS and LPS in noncovalent complex to OMV (LPS+OMV), respectively. The highest anti-LPS IgG titer was detected 2 weeks after the third injection (Day 42) of LPS-OMV conjugate. The conjugated compound elicited higher titers of IgG than LPS+OMV, that showed a 100-120-fold rise of anti-LPS IgG in mice. Conclusion: These results indicate that our conjugated LPS-OMV can be used as a brucellosis vaccine, but further investigation is required. © 2014

Process-oriented risk assessment methodology for manufacturing process evaluation

A process-oriented risk assessment methodology is proposed. Risks involved in a process and the corresponding risk factors are identified through an objectives-oriented risk identification approach and evaluated qualitatively in the Process FMEA. The critical risks of the PFMEA are then incorporated in the process model for further quantitative analysis employing simulation technique. Using the proposed methodology as a decision-making tool, alternative scenarios are developed and evaluated against the developed risk measures. The risk measures values issues out of simulation are normalized and aggregated to form a global risk indicator to rank the alternative processes on the basis of desirability. The methodology is illustrated with a case study issued from parts manufacturing but is applicable to a wide range of other processes

Biological and immunological characteristics of Brucella abortus S99 major outer membrane proteins

Introduction and objective: Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Brucella are considered as immunogenic structures which can be used to design and develop a subunit vaccine for human brucellosis. Brucella abortus S99 OMPs promote the synthesis of high levels of specific anti-Brucella IgG molecules in rabbits when administrated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The objective of this study is evaluation of the efficacy of B. abortus major OMPs with LPS in the induction of immune response against brucellosis. Materials and methods: OMPs were derived from B. abortus by sequential extraction of sonicated cells with ultracentrifugation and predigestion with lysozyme. Proteins could be separated by anion-exchange chromatography and gel-filtration. Based on SDS-PAGE profiles, porins have been dominantly purified among three different classes of B. abortus OMPs. Sera of immunized rabbits against B. abortus porins were analyzed by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). LPS of B. abortus and complete Freud's adjuvant (CFA) were also applied to elicit higher levels of anti-Brucella antibodies. Results: ELISA confirmed the potency of porins and porins combination with CFA and LPS to promote humoral specific response. Among the above-mentioned compounds, a combination of porins + LPS or porins + CFA has been the most potent immunogenic compound to induce higher titer of antibody against B. abortus S99 in the animal model. Conclusion: The application of a complex of Brucella LPS and porins as an effective method to elicit protective and long-lasting immunity against Brucella infection and would be studied to design and develop a subunit vaccine for human brucellosis

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Backpropagation Neural Network is applied to establish the relationship between meteorological factors and evapotranspiration, which is then used to predict the evapotranspiration in ChiaNan irrigated area, Taiwan. It takes the weather data from Irrigation Experiment Station of ChiaNan Irrigation Association as the input layer, which include the following weather factors: (1) the highest temperature; (2) the lowest temperature; (3) average temperature; (4) relative humidity; (5) wind speed; (6) sunlight hours; (7) solar radiation amount; (8) dew point; (9) forenoon ground temperature; (10) afternoon ground temperature. From the result it can be known that the correlation coefficient reaches 0.993 between the evapotranspiration in 2004 calculated by FAO56 Penman-Monteith method and the one predicted by the neural network model with a hidden layer of 10 nodes. The actual evapotranspiration is 911.6cm and the prediction by the neural network is 864.4, between which the error ratio is 1.67%. The correlation coefficient is 0.708 between the actual evaporation in 2004 and the prediction by the neural network with a hidden layer of 10 nodes and an output layer with the pan evaporation as its target output. The pan evaporation is 1674.1cm, while the prediction by the neural network is 1451.7cm, between which the error ratio is 13.23%

Effect of end of Season Drought Stress on Morphology, Yield Components and Grain Yield of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) Cultivars

IntroductionWater is now the main limiting factor for crop production in arid and semi-arid regions. Water-cut or irrigation interruption has been suggested as one of the main strategies agro-technique to get the most benefit from limited water resource available. In this regard, plant growth stage, time of stress induction and the genotype are the main key factors to determine the degree of success. Canola is one of the most important oil crop. It can survive some degree of water stress while there is a need for research to find the most appropriate genotypes for plantations in water-limited areas.Materials and MethodsIn order to determine the effect of water stress at the various growing stages of canola genotypes a split-plot experiment was conducted based on the randomized complete block design with three replications at the research farm of the department of plant production and genetics, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Iran during 2020-2021. Main plots included three irrigation treatments: control (without interruption of irrigation), interruption of irrigation in the beginning of the flowering stage (phenology code 60) to the formation of 50% pods (phenology code 75), and interruption of irrigation in the stage of formation of pods until harvest (Phenology code 99) in the main plots and the cultivars (Long pod, Aram, RGS 003, Jankom, Solar, Hayola 4815, Mahtab, Julius, Agamax and Sala) were arranged in sub-plots with respect to irrigation treatments. At the end of the growing season, plant height, number of branches, silique length, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 1000 grain weight, and grain oil percentage were measured. Also, after removing the marginal effect, economic performance, biological performance and harvest index were measured.Results and DiscussionOur results revealed there was a significant interaction effect between irrigation interruption stress and genotype on all studied traits. The number of sub-branch among cultivars varies as a result of Irrigation interruption stress. The genotypes of the long pod and Hayola 4815 had the highest number of branches compared to other genotypes when irrigation was interrupted at the flowering stage up to 50%, while when applied stress at the stage of flowering up to harvest, genotype, solar exhibited the highest number of sub-branch. The lowest number of sub-branches in all interruption of irrigation and control treatments was obtained by Jankom genotype. The mean comparisons in the conditions without irrigation interruption (control) the highest percentage of seed oil was obtained from Solar (48.3%), Hayola 4815 and 4815 (46.3%), stress application in flowering stage up to 50% sowing of a long pod (45%) and Hayola 4815 (43%) genotypes in the sowing stress to harvest the highest percentage of seed oil from Sala and Long pod genotypes with average (44.3%) the lowest percentage of seed oil in all present treatments belonged to Jankom genotype. In the present study, the highest (2093.8 kg.ha-1) and the lowest (540 kg.ha-1) grain yield and the highest (986.51 kg.ha-1) and the lowest (191.21 kg.ha-1) grain oil yield in both conditions without irrigation interruption (control) and terminal drought stress were obtained from Hayola 4815 and Jankom genotypes, respectively.ConclusionThe highest and the lowest grain yield, seed oil and biological yield were obtained from Hayola 4815 and Jankom, respectively. According to the results, Hayola 4815, long pod and Solar are highly recommended to cultivate in the regions where there is terminal water stress at the end of the growing season

A bi-objective robust inspection planning model in a multi-stage serial production system

In this paper, a bi-objective mixed-integer linear programming (BOMILP) model for planning of an inspection process used to detect nonconforming products and malfunctioning processors in a multi-stage serial production system is presented. The model involves two inter-related decisions: 1) which quality characteristics need what kind of inspections (i.e., which-what decision) and 2) when the inspection of these characteristics should be performed (i.e., when decision). These decisions require a trade-off between the cost of manufacturing (i.e., production, inspection and scrap costs) and the customer satisfaction. Due to inevitable variations in the manufacturing systems, a global robust BOMILP (RBOMILP) is developed to tackle the inherent uncertainty of the concerned parameters (i.e., production and inspection times, errors type I and II, misadjustment and dispersion of the process). In order to optimally solve the presented RBOMILP model, a meta-heuristic algorithm, namely differential evolution (DE) algorithm, is combined with the Taguchi and Monte Carlo methods. The proposed model and solution algorithm are validated through a real industrial case from a leading automotive industry in France