Factor Analysis of Components of Yield and Quality Traits in Lucerne (\u3cem\u3eMedicago Sativa\u3c/em\u3e)

Lucerne (Medicago sativa) originated from Iran and is one of the most important forage species in this country. The improvement in yield and quality traits are important objectives in breeding programmes. Smith et al. (1997) indicated that in the context of dairy production ranked digestibility was the most important criterion whilst high crude protein and low fibre content were of moderate priority. This study sought to determine the dependence relationships between yield, morphological and quality traits in 64 genotypes

Fractional Dynamics of Network Growth Constrained by aging Node Interactions

In many social complex systems, in which agents are linked by non-linear interactions, the history of events strongly influences the whole network dynamics. However, a class of "commonly accepted beliefs" seems rarely studied. In this paper, we examine how the growth process of a (social) network is influenced by past circumstances. In order to tackle this cause, we simply modify the well known preferential attachment mechanism by imposing a time dependent kernel function in the network evolution equation. This approach leads to a fractional order Barabasi-Albert (BA) differential equation, generalizing the BA model. Our results show that, with passing time, an aging process is observed for the network dynamics. The aging process leads to a decay for the node degree values, thereby creating an opposing process to the preferential attachment mechanism. On one hand, based on the preferential attachment mechanism, nodes with a high degree are more likely to absorb links; but, on the other hand, a node's age has a reduced chance for new connections. This competitive scenario allows an increased chance for younger members to become a hub. Simulations of such a network growth with aging constraint confirm the results found from solving the fractional BA equation. We also report, as an exemplary application, an investigation of the collaboration network between Hollywood movie actors. It is undubiously shown that a decay in the dynamics of their collaboration rate is found, - even including a sex difference. Such findings suggest a widely universal application of the so generalized BA model.Comment: 13 pages; 5 figures; 71 references; as prepared for submission to PLOS ON

Production of Chitin and Chitosan from Shrimp Shell Wastes Using Co-Fermentation of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum PTCC 1745 and Bacillus subtilis PTCC 1720

Abstract   Background and Objective: Disposal of fishery wastes is one of the environmental challenges. Converting wastes into valuable products is an economical solution to solve this environmental problem. One of the wastes of fishery products is shrimp shell waste, which contains large quantities of chitin. Chitin and its derivative, chitosan, include several uses in various industries, especially the food industry. The aim of the present study was to extract chitin from shrimp shell wastes using co-fermentation with mixed microbial cultures. Chitosan production by deacetylation of chitin using various concentrations of NaOH was another aim of this study. Material and Methods: Batch fermentation was carried out to extract chitin from the shrimp shell using mixed cultures of two microorganisms, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum PTCC 1745 and Bacillus subtilis PTCC 1720. The Logistic model was used to assess the microbial growth rate. To prepare chitosan from chitin, deacetylation was carried out using NaOH solution. Morphological structures of the chitin and chitosan were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Functional groups of the synthesized chitin and chitosan were assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results and Conclusion: High levels of demineralization and deproteinization were achieved using co-fermentation with the mixed microbial populations at 60 g.l-1 of glucose concentration. Chitin was produced with high purity and the protein and ash contents included 1.43 and 1.26%, respectively. Data predicted by the Logistic model were fairly matched the experimental data. A maximum cell growth rate of 0.065 (h-1) was achieved at 60 g.l-1 of initial glucose concentration at 35 °C. The optimal value of deacetylation (88.2%) was achieved using 50% NaOH solution at 100 °C. The results showed that the use of mixed culture of acid-producing and proteolytic microorganisms is highly effective for extracting chitin from shrimp shell waste. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

THE SURVEY OF THE BARRIERS TO NOT REPORTING MEDICATION ERRORS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF NURSING STUDENTS

ABSTRACTObjective: Reporting the medication errors, on the one hand, causes the preservation and observation of the patient security, and on the other hand,it is regarded as a valuable information treasure in line with the prevention of the medication errors expression in the future. Therefore, the presentstudy has been conducted with the objective of the survey of barriers to medication errors reporting from the perspective of the nursing students.Methods: This study is a descriptive research which has been conducted on 87 nursing students who have been selected based on a random method. Togather the required information, there has been made use of a two-part questionnaire, the first part of which deals with the study of the demographiccharacteristics and the second part pertains to the factors influencing not reporting the medication errors. In the end, after the necessary informationcollected the data were analyzed by taking advantage of SPSS 19 and descriptive statistics.Results: The individuals average age in the present study was 21.09±2.48, 51 individuals were female. 24 individuals were studied in semester4, 31 people were passing term 6, and 32 individuals were in term 8. The highest mean score as obtained in managerial aspect. In addition, the highestmean score was related to the items concentration of the managers solely on the person who has made the mistake and disregarding of the otherfactors involved in mediation error†and lack of receiving a positive feedback from the nursing supervisors following reporting the medication errorâ€and the lowest mean score was related to the item not being considerate to some of the medication errors reporting.â€Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the highest mean score for not reporting the medication errors went to the managerial dimensions.Therefore, the supervisors and the nursing staff should be cautioned regarding their behavior, regarding the medication errors reporting, and considerthe problems and issues systematically.Keywords: Medication error, University students, Zahedan, Nursing

Evaluation of the air-borne ultrasound on fluidized bed drying of shelled corn: effectiveness, grain quality, and energy consumption

The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of high power ultrasound on a laboratory-scale fluidized bed shelled corn dryer. The drying time, moisture content variation, specific energy consumption, and quality parameters including ultimate compressive strength, toughness, shrinkage and color of corn kernels were investigated. Furthermore, artificial neural network (ANN) simulation models were developed for predicting the drying variables. Machine vision techniques were used to determine color and shrinkage as qualitative indices. Results showed that the lower frequencies had better penetrations at lower temperatures and cause a significant reduction in drying time. In addition, the ultrasound application led to reduction of ultimate compressive strength and toughness of the dried samples although ultrasound has nonthermal character as the subsidiary factor, it plays an important role in shrinkage and color specification. Based on error analysis results, the prediction capability of ANN model is found to be reasonable for the developed models. Application of ultrasound significantly decreased the specific energy consumption of drying process at the optimal drying condition