Simulation study of past climate change effect on chickpea phenology at different sowing dates in Gorgan, Iran

The evaluation of past climate change is needed for selecting appropriate adapting strategy for future. This simulation study was mainly aimed to find the probable difference between sowing dates for response of four chickpea cultivars to past climate change. Firstly, the model CYRUS was recoded in QBASIC programming. Then phenology of cultivars Jam, Hashem, Arman and Beauvanij, seeded at day of year 50, 70 and 90, was evaluated during years 1961 to 2003 in Gorgan, Iran. The changes in some climatic variables were also studied. Results revealed that the solar radiation has been decreased for month December. Although the value of maximum temperature appeared to be the same across years 1961 to 2003 for all months, that of minimum temperature tended to show increasing trend for May and August. The increase in number of days with temperature higher than 35 oC was considerable for April and October, but negligible for other months. The warming of night temperature was significant only for May and August. It found about 34 mm per 43 years decrease in monthly rainfall for March. The rate of increase in number of days with rainfall was 0.0737 day year-1 for December. Nearly similar situation was found for number of days with rainfall lower than and/or equal to 10 mm. The change in number of days with rainfall higher than 10 mm and lower and/or equal to 30 mm was in decreasing manner (March, October and December). The length of time from sowing to emergence appeared to be constant across past years. The advance in flowering (R1) was true only for cultivar Jam seeded at day of year 70. The length of period from R1 to pod initiation (R3) has been diminished for sowing at day of year 70 (Jam and Arman). Only cultivar Hashem seeded at day of year 90 tended to have decreasing trend for length of period between R3 and pod filling. It found one day (per 43 years) decreases from pod yellowing to maturity for cultivar Beauvanij seeded at day of year 70. Based on these findings, and on the fact that future climate change is predicted using past changes, it seems that the adaptation strategies for future, including agronomy and/or breeding programs, may be not the same for different sowing dates of chickpea

Estimation of diseases and mortality attributed to NO<inf>2</inf> pollutant in five metropolises of Iran using AirQ model in 2011-2012

Background and purpose: Aims: Weather is one of the essential needs of human. Due to increasing of the air pollution, air pollution is one of the most important challenges of human life, in the last decades. Air pollutants, including NO2 can have significant adverse health effects on the human. Therefore, evaluation of the health effects of this pollutant is necessary for its control. The aim of this study was evaluation of health effects of NO2 on the human in Mashhad, Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan and Arak metropolises of Iran in 2011-2012. Materials and methods: The necessary data was obtained from Environmental Protection Agencies of related metropolises. The validity of data was evaluated according to the WHO criteria. The valid data entered into the AirQ software and the results were obtained. Results: Isfahan with the annual concentration of 128 μg/m3 has the highest concentration of NO2. In all cities, the average concentration was higher than the national standard. For total mortality, cardiovascular death and hospitalization for chronic obstructive pulmonary, Mashhad had the greatest number, with 286, 161 and 43 cases, respectively. Conclusion: the most adverse health effect of NO2 was in Mashhad and Isfahan cities, respectively. It can be explained by increasing the number of vehicles, traffic and fuel consumption and high levels of temporary and permanent population in the religious and tourist sites. © 2015,Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Deorbit kit demonstration mission

In Low Earth Orbit, it is possible to use the ambient plasma and the geomagnetic field to exchange momentum with the Earth's magnetosphere without using propellant. A device that allows an efficient momentum exchange is the electrodynamic tether (EDT), a long conductor attached to the satellite. EDT technology has been demonstrated in several past missions, being the Plasma Motor Generator mission (NASA 1993) one of the most successful. Nevertheless, it is not until today that reality has imposed a strong need and a concrete use case for developing this technology. In March 2019, the European Commission project Electrodynamic Tether technology for PAssive Consumable-less deorbit Kit (E.T.PACK) started the design of a new generation EDT. After completing the design phase, the consortium manufactured and is currently testing a Deorbit Kit Demonstrator (DKD) breadboard based on EDT technology. The objective of E.T.PACK is to reach Technology Readiness Level equal to 4 by 2022. The DKD is a standalone 24-kg satellite with the objective to demonstrate the performances of the improved EDT solution and validate its ultra-compact deployment system. The DKD is composed of two modules that will separate in orbit extending a 500-m long tape-like tether. The deployed bare-Aluminium tether will capture electrons from the ambient plasma passively and the circuit will be closed with the ionospheric plasma by using an active electron emitter. E.T.PACK tether will take advantage of several novelties with respect to the mission flown in the past that will allow to optimize the system volume and mass. Once successful demonstrated in orbit, the team plans to develop a suite of EDT systems capable of deorbiting satellites between 200 and 1000 kg from an altitude up to 1200 km in a few months. The work presents the current design status of the de-orbit kit demonstrator breadboard, the simulations of the system deorbit performances and the development approach.This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No.828902 (3M€ E.T.PACK project) and No.101034874 (100K€ BMOM project). SG is supported by an Industrial Ph.D funded by Comunidad de Madrid (135K€ IND2019/TIC17198). The team has recently got 2.5M€ additional financial support from European Union (ETPACK-F project No. 101058166) for the manufacturing and qualification of the In Orbit Demonstration (IOD) by the end of 2025

A systematic review and meta-analysis of human biomonitoring studies on exposure to environmental pollutants in Iran

Population exposure to environmental contaminants can be precisely observed through human biomonitoring studies. The present study aimed to systematically review all the biomonitoring studies conducted in Iran on some selected carcinogen environmental pollutants. In this systematic review study, 11 carcinogen agents were selected including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, lindane, benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE), pentachlorophenol (PCP), radon-222, radium-224, � 226, � 228, and tobacco smoke. The Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English. After several screening steps, data were extracted from the studies. Meta-analyses (a random-effect model using the DerSimonian-Laired method) were performed only for the biomarkers with more than three eligible articles, including cadmium in blood and breast milk, and arsenic in breast milk. Methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale adapted for cross-sectional studies. Of the 610 articles found in the database search, 30 studies were eligible for qualitative review, and 13 were included in the meta-analysis (cadmium in blood (n = 3), cadmium in breast milk (n = 6), and arsenic in breast milk (n = 4)). The overall pooled average concentrations (95 CI) of cadmium in blood, cadmium in breast milk, and arsenic in breast milk were 0.11 (95 CI: 0.08, 0.14), 5.38 (95 CI: 3.60, 6.96), and 1.42 (95 CI: 1.02, 1.81) µg/L, respectively. These values were compared with the biomarker concentrations in other countries and health-based guideline values. This study showed that there is a need for comprehensive action plans to reduce the exposure of general population to these environmental contaminants. © 202

Sulphur nutrition and wheat production in northern Iran

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN049545 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

The Amount and Timing of Foliar Urea Application Effect on Maize and Forage Sorghum Proteins

This study was carried out for investigating the effect of amount and timing of foliar urea in increasing silage yield and protein content of fodder, in a maize field in Neyshabour, Khorasan Razavi Province during 2011 summer crop season. A split plot design with factorial arrangement and three replications were used. Treatments were timing of foliar urea application (a week before tasselling, mid anthesis and early milk stage), urea levels (zero (check), five and 7.5 g.lit-1) and two hybrids of corn (Sc 704) and forage sorghum (speed feed). The results indicated that the concentration of nitrogen had significant effect to increase forage protein and silage yield (correcting by 280 g.kg-1 of dry matter). The highest forage protein concentrations for both crops and silage yield were achieved with 7.5 g.lit-1 of urea application, but the silage yield of sorghum was more than that of corn. The results showed that urea spraying can effectively increase the fodder nitrogen and silage protein, respectively, with the least possible cost, and in this respect it has an important role in providing quality and environmental safe forage for producer and consumer, meanwhile the adverse effects of excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer are reduced.   </div

Study on the Effect of Combined Application of Manure and Chemical Fertilizers on Some Properties of Thompson Novel Orange Juice

Introduction: Citrus are one of the important orchard fruit production that after banana is second in production at the world level and every year, Chemical fertilizers having most important role in increasing crops productions, but in long application of fertilizers cause soil destructions and polluting underground water. Also soils of dry regions are very poor in organic matter level. Nowadays in most countries, climatically condition and poor management cause poor organic matter content of soils. In Iran more than 60 percent of cultivated lands having less than 0.5 up to 1 percent organic matter. This may be due to intensive cultivation and poor managements For this reason if we have combine applications of manure and chemical fertilizers, the results would be much better. The aim of this research was to evaluate suitable ratio of manure and chemical fertilizer in order to reduce the chemical fertilizer use in citrus orchard in north of Iran. Materials and Methods: This experiment was conducted in one of the orchard at Sari district with low organic C. This research carried out on five years old citrus threes. This experiment carried out as factorial experiment on the base of complete randomized block design with 9 treatments and three replications. Treatments included three manure levels (0, 6 and 12 kg per tree) and three levels of macro fertilizer including potassium sulphate, ammonium sulphate and super phosphate triple (o, 30 and 60 percent on the bases of soil test). Total treatment were 27 plots, (each plots were includes two threes).all treatments were applied at March. All analysis was done with standard methods. This experiment was done as factorial on the bases of complete randomized block design with 9 treatments and three replications. The treatments were as follows: T1: Zero percent chemical fertilizer and zero kg manure T2: 30 percent chemical fertilizer (potassium sulphate 50 kgha-1, ammonium sulphate 30 kg ha-1 and super phosphate triple 45 kg ha-1) and zero kg manure. T3: 60 percent chemical fertilizer (potassium sulphate 100 kgha-1, ammonium sulphate 60 kg ha-1 and super phosphate triple 90 kg ha-1) and zero kg manure. T4: Zero percent chemical fertilizer and 6 kg manure T5: 30 percent chemical fertilizer (potassium sulphate 50 kgha-1, ammonium sulphate 30 kg ha-1 and super phosphate triple 45 kg ha-1) and 6 kg manure. T6: 60 percent chemical fertilizer (potassium sulphate 100 kgha-1, ammonium sulphate 60 kg ha-1 and super phosphate triple 90 kg ha-1) and 6 kg manure. T7: Zero percent chemical fertilizer and 12 kg manure T8: 30 percent chemical fertilizer (potassium sulphate 50 kgha-1, ammonium sulphate 30 kg ha-1 and super phosphate triple 45 kg ha-1) and 12 kg manure. T9: 60 percent chemical fertilizer (potassium sulphate 100 kgha-1, ammonium sulphate 60 kg ha-1 and super phosphate triple 90 kg ha-1) and 12 kg manure. All data analysis was done with MSTATC software and mean data comparison done with Duncan test levels at 1 or 5 percent levels. Results and Discussion: The results of analysis of variance showed that simple effect of manure and fertilizers and their interactions had no significant effect on TSS, but simple effect of fertilizer and their interactions between them had significant effect. The simple effect of chemical fertilizer and its interaction with manure were significant at 1 percent level on titration able pH of fruit juice and the simple effect of manure effect on fruit juice pH were significant at 5 percent level. The simple chemical fertilizer effect on C vitamin was not significant but simple effect of manure and its interaction effect with chemical fertilizer were significant at 5 percent level. The analysis of variance showed that simple effect of chemical fertilizer on fruit juice potassium were not significant, but simple effect of manure and its interaction with chemical fertilizer were significant at 5 percent level. Analysis of variance showed that simple effect of manure and fertilizer on the fruit juice calcium was significant at 1 percent level but their interactions were significant at 5 percent level. Simple effect of manure and fertilizer and their interactions on the fruit magnesium, iron manganese, zinc and copper were significant at 1 percent level. Analysis of variance showed that simple effect of manure and fertilizer and their interactions on the fruit juice magnesium, manganese, iron and copper was significant at 1 percent level, but simple effect of manure on fruit juice zinc were significant at 5 percent level. Conclusion: In this study the treatment with combined application of 30 percent and 12 kg manure had highest Ca, Mg , Fe, Mn and zinc concentration in fruit, also combined application of 60 percent fertilizer and 12 kg manure had effect on pH and potassium of fruit juice

Prediction of gas emission and derived electrical power generation from Shiraz landfill

Landfilling has been considered as the most common method for solid waste disposal in developing countries which is faced with several issues, such as gas emission. Methane as a greenhouse gas is the main landfill gas which could be applied as a fuel for electrical power plants. In this study, the gas emission of Shiraz landfill site was predicted by using USEPA model, for this purpose, after determination of the solid waste physical composition on Shiraz landfill site, the L0 and k constants were estimated by Monte Carlo method, as well as the rate of gas collection and the rate of electrical power generation capacity were estimated under existing and ideal scenarios. The results showed that gas production would reach its peak up to 5.7�107 m3 year-1 by 2039. The maximum electrical power generation was also similar to the pattern of gas production in the landfill and would be 2545GWh and 4019GWh for the existing and ideal conditions, respectively in 2039. Results showed that the recovery of biogas at Shiraz landfill could be a desirable alternative in different available waste management options for this city. © 2015 Global NEST Printed in Greece. All rights reserved