Ground state heavy baryon production in a relativistic quark-diquark model

We use current-current interaction to calculate the fragmentation functions to describe the production of spin-1/2, spin-1/2$'$ and spin-3/2 baryons with massive constituents in a relativistic quark-diquark model. Our results are in their analytic forms and are applicable for singly, doubly and triply heavy baryons. We discuss the production of $\Omega_{bbc}$, $\Omega_{bcc}$ and $\Omega_{ccc}$ baryons in some detail. The results are satisfactorily compared with those obtained for triply heavy baryons calculated in a perturbative regime within reasonable values of the parameters involved.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

An ivestigation of triply heavy baryon production at hadron colliders

The triply heavy baryons have a rather diverse mass range. While some of them possess considerable production rates at existing facilities, others need to be produced at future high energy colliders. Here we study the direct fragmentation production of the$\Omega_{ccc}$ and $\Omega_{bbb}$ baryons as the prototypes of triply heavy baryons at the hadron colliders with different $\sqrt{s}$. We present and compare the transverse momentum distributions of the differential cross sections, $p_T^{\rm min}$ distributions of total cross sections and the integrated total cross sections of these states at the RHIC, the Tevatron Run II and the CERN LHC.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, To appear in Nuclear Physics

A survey on peroxide content and acidity level of persian doughnuts in lorestan province, West of Iran

There are different chemical food contaminations that cause detrimental effects on human health. For example, presence of peroxide in fried foods causes free radical formation. Free radicals are not only responsible for food spoilage, but also cause damage to body tissues and cancer, inflammatory diseases, atherosclerosis, aging and so on. The aim of this study was to evaluate the peroxide content and acidity level in Zoolbia and Bamiehin of Lorestan province, West of Iran. 120 samples of Zoolbia and Bamieh doughnuts were purchased of Lorestan province distribution centers, during March 2014 to March 2015 and handled to Laboratory for chemical analysis and determination of their peroxide value and acidity. Present descriptive study results showed 56.92 and 43.07 % of the samples were out of standard limit and not suitable for consumption due to high levels of peroxides and acidity, respectively. The lowest and highest peroxide value were 1.1 and 2.9 mEq/kg, respectively. The minimum and maximum acidity of the samples were 0.7 and 2.9 wt%, respectively. Obtained results showed high peroxide contents in Persian doughnuts in Lorestan province than standard limit. Therefore, it seems educational programs about nutrition and using proper method for cooking and frying of foods is necessary. Continuous planning and surveillance, providing practical solutions by health authorities and regulatory organs, training of food staffs, using oils a few times and especial for food frying are recommended to reduce the peroxide content in Persian doughnuts (Zoolbia and Bamieh)

PHYTOTHERAPY IN FUNGI AND FUNGAL DISEASE: A REVIEW OF EFFECTIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS ON IMPORTANT FUNGAL STRAINS AND DISEASES

Infectious diseases are among the most important common diseases worldwide that bring stupendous costs for human community. Medicinal plants are considered a rich source of antimicrobial agents and therefore can be used as antimicrobial remedies because of producing secondary metabolites. This article was designed to review the effective medicinal plants on fungi and fungal disease. In this study, the relevant articles published in Persian and English languages were searched for in the databases Magiran, Iranmedex, Irandoc, PubMed, Scopus, SID, Web of Science, and Science Direct using the search engine Google Scholar. To maximize the comprehensiveness of the search, the general terms antimicrobial, dermatophyte, mycotic, Iran, and anti-Candida as well as their Persian equivalents were used. AND and OR were used for combining searches. Medicinal herbs such as Zataria multiflora, Thymus vulgaris, Thymus kotschyanus, Punicagranatum L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Matricaria chamomilla L., Urtica dioica L., Mentha piperita L. and Salvia officinalis L., Thymus vulgaris, Salvia officinalis, Eucalyptus globulus, Myentha piperita, Oliveria decumbens, Echinophora Platyloba, Thymus eriocalyx and Thymus X-porlock, Achillea millefolium, Artemisia sieberi, Cuminum cyminum, Nigella sativa, Heracleum persicum, Hyssopus officinalis, Matricaria recutital, Menta spicata, Foeniculum vulgare, Pimpinella anisum, Plargonium graveolens, Rosmarinus officinalis, Saturia hortensis, Zataria multiflora, Thymus kotschyanus, Zataria multiflora, Ziziphora clinopodioides, Mentha piperita L., Physalis alkekengi L., Hymenocrater longiflorus Benth and are the most important Medicinal herbs effective on fungal diseases. Medicinal herbs mentioned in this study due to phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities have antifungal effects

Matching experimental and three dimensional numerical models for structural vibration problems with uncertainties

© 2017 The Author(s) The simulation model which examines the dynamic behavior of real structures needs to address the impact of uncertainty in both geometry and material parameters. This article investigates three-dimensional finite element models for structural dynamics problems with respect to both model and parameter uncertainties. The parameter uncertainties are determined via laboratory measurements on several beam-like samples. The parameters are then considered as random variables to the finite element model for exploring the uncertainty effects on the quality of the model outputs, i.e. natural frequencies. The accuracy of the output predictions from the model is compared with the experimental results. To this end, the non-contact experimental modal analysis is conducted to identify the natural frequency of the samples. The results show a good agreement compared with experimental data. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that geometrical uncertainties have more influence on the natural frequencies compared to material parameters and material uncertainties are about two times higher than geometrical uncertainties. This gives valuable insights for improving the finite element model due to various parameter ranges required in a modeling process involving uncertainty

Identification of medicinal plants effective in infectious diseases in Urmia, northwest of Iran

Objective: To identify the medicinal plants effective in infectious diseases. Methods: Initially, we obtained a list of herbalists and traditional healers from Food and Drug Deputy. Direct observations and interviews as well as collection of herbarium specimens of indigenous medicinal plants effective in infectious diseases of urinary tract, reproductive, digestive, respiratory and skin systems were performed. This study was conducted through questionnaires and interviews; the questionnaires were distributed among traditional healers and simultaneous interviews were also run. The plants were herbariumized, herbarium specimens were authenticated, and their species were determined by using reliable flora and other sources. Finally, the data were input into Excel 2010 and analyses were performed. Results: Out of the studied plants, 35 native medicinal plants belonging to 17 families were effective in the treatment of various diseases and infections. In this study, the Lamiaceae family had the highest frequency of plants for the treatment of infections. Traditional healers of Urmia in 24% of cases used the leaves of medicinal herb to treat patients. In 68% of cases, they prescribed medicinal herbs in the boiled forms. Most medicinal herbs showed therapeutic effect on the digestive system. Conclusions: Traditional medicinal sources, valuable knowledge of traditional healers in Urmia, the scientific investigation of the effects of the herbs offered in this study and their effects in traditional medicine may provide a good source for new drugs in modern medicine

Uncertainties in dynamic response of buildings with non-linear base-isolators

Dynamic response of base-isolated buildings under uni-directional sinusoidal base excitation is numerically investigated considering uncertainties in the isolation and excitation parameters. The buildings are idealized as single degree of freedom (SDOF) system and multi-degrees of freedom (MDOF) system with one lateral degree of freedom at each floor level. The isolation system is modeled using two different mathematical models such as: (i) code-recommended equivalent linear elastic-viscous damping model and (ii) bi-linear hysteretic model. The uncertain parameters of the isolator considered are time period, damping ratio, and yield displacement. Moreover, the amplitude and frequency of the sinusoidal base excitation function are considered uncertain. The uncertainty propagation is investigated using generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) expansion technique. The unknown gPC expansion coefficients are obtained by non-intrusive sparse grid collocation scheme. Efficiency of the technique is compared with the sampling method of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The stochastic response quantities of interest considered are bearing displacement and top floor acceleration of the building. Effects of individual uncertain parameters on the building response are quantified using sensitivity analyses. Effect of various uncertainty levels of the input parameters on the dynamic response of the building is also investigated. The peak bearing displacement and top floor acceleration are more influenced by the amplitude and frequency of the sinusoidal base excitation function. The effective time period of the isolation system also produces a considerable influence. However, in the presence of similar uncertainty level in the time period, amplitude and frequency of the sinusoidal forcing function, the effect of uncertainties in the other parameters of the isolator (e.g., damping ratio and yield displacement) is comparatively less. Interestingly, the mean values of the response quantities are found to be higher than the deterministic values in several instances, indicating the need of conducting stochastic analysis. The gPC expansion technique presented here is found to be a computationally efficient yet accurate alternative to the MC simulation for numerically modeling the uncertainty propagation in the dynamic response analyses of the base-isolated buildings

Evaluation of antifungal activities of the essential oil and various extracts of Nigella sativa and its main component, thymoquinone against pathogenic dermatophyte strains

Objective. — Plant extracts and plant-derived compounds are valuable sources as folk medicine for the treatment and prevention of a wide range of diseases including infectious diseases. In the present study, the antifungal activities of the essential oil and various extracts Nigella sativa and its active principle, thymoquinone against Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis and Microsporum gypseum as pathogenic dermatophyte strains have been evaluated. In addition, the cytotoxic effects of N. sativa against murine macrophage cells were determined. Materials and methods. — In this study, the antifungal activity was studied by disk diffusion method and assessment of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of extracts using broth macrodilution method. In addition, the cytotoxic activity of N. sativa was evaluated by colorimetric assay (MTT). The components of the N. sativa essential oil were also identified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis. Results. — The results showed that the essential oil and various extracts of N. sativa particularly thymoquinone have potent antifungal effects on T. mentagrophytes, M. canis and M. gypseum as pathogenic dermatophyte strains. In the assessment of the cytotoxicity activity, it could be observed that N. sativa had no significant cytotoxicity in the murine macrophages at low concentrations. While, thymoquinone in comparison with essential oil and various extracts of N. sativa showed higher cytotoxicity on murine macrophage cells. In the GC/MS analysis, thymoquinone (42.4%), p-cymene (14.1%), carvacrol (10.3%) and longifolene (6.1%) were found to be the major components of N. sativa essential oil. Conclusion. — The findings of this study suggest a first step in the search of new antidermatophytic drugs and aid the use of N. sativa seeds in the traditional medicine for dermatophytic infections

Worldwide evaluations of quinoa: preliminary results from post International Year of Quinoa FAO projects in nine countries

Chenopodium quinoa Willd, a high quality grain crop, is resistant to abiotic stresses (drought, cold, and salt) and offers an optimal source of protein. Quinoa represents a symbol of crop genetic diversity across the Andean region. In recent years, this crop has undergone a major expansion outside its countries of origin. The activities carried out within the framework of the International Year of Quinoa provided a great contribution to raise awareness on the multiple benefits of quinoa as well as to its wider cultivation at the global level. FAO is actively involved in promoting and evaluating the cultivation of quinoa in 26 countries outside the Andean region with the aim to strengthen food and nutrition security. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the adaptability of selected quinoa genotypes under different environments outside the Andean region. This paper presents the preliminary results from nine countries. Field evaluations were conducted during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 in Asia (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), and the Near East and North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Mauritania, and Yemen). In each country, the trials were carried out in different locations that globally represent the diversity of 19 agrarian systems under different agro-ecological conditions. Twenty-one genotypes of quinoa were tested using the same experimental protocol in all locations consisting in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Some genotypes showed higher yields and the Q18 and Q12 landraces displayed greater adaptation than others to new environmental conditions. The Q21 and Q26 landraces were evaluated with stable and satisfactory levels of yield (>1 t.ha−1) in each of the different trial sites. This production stability is of considerable importance especially under climate change uncertainty. While these results suggest that this Andean crop is able to grow in many different environments, social, and cultural considerations remain crucial regarding its possible introduction as a staple food in new cropping systems around the world