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Alfalfa witches’ broom (AWB) is one of the most important alfalfa diseases in Iran. To characterize 16SrII group phytoplasmas associated with this disease, symptomatic and asymptomatic plants were collected during 2013-2015 and subjected to direct and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using P1/P7, R16mF2/R16mR2 and R16F2n/R16R2. PCR amplicons of ~1.8, ~1.4 and ~1.25 kb respectively, were obtained only from all symptomatic plants. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of R16F2n/R2 amplicons showed that the phytoplasma associated with AWB disease were members of 16SrII group subgroups 16SrII-D and -C. Blast analysis of these amplicon sequences and sequence homology of collected strains and strain sequences retrived from GenBank (AWB strains Chahgeer, Juyom and Bushehr) confirmed that AWB phytoplasmas collected from Bafg, Ardakan, Bahabad and Herat (Yazd province), Nikshahr (Sistan-Baluchestan), Bam, Zarand, Jiroft (Kerman province), Bushehr (Bushehr province), Tabas (South Khorasan province), Jowkar (Hamedan province) and Zardenjan (Esfahan province) cluster with phytoplasma strains enclosed in the 16SrII-D subgroup, while AWB strains from Chahgeer (Yazd province) and Juyom (Fars province) cluster with phytoplasma strains in the 16SrII-C subgroup. Based on these results the predominant strains of 16SrII phytoplasmas associated with AWB disease in Iran were classified in the 16SrII-D subgroup. In Ashkezar and Abarkouh in Yazd province entire alfalfa farm was infected with witches’ broom disease. In 3 year alfalfa stands in Ashkezar alfalfa farms were plowed due to high incidence of the disease.

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Organizations have no choice but gaining and maintaining sustainable competitive advantage to remain safe from competitive environment’s surges and be consistent with the requirements of the environment. Transcendental leadership is a new paradigm in management and leadership that is one of the best ways to deal with turbulent environments. This paper aims to recognize the effect of transcendent leadership on organizational performance with the mediating role of competitive advantage in food industry SMEs in Tehran. Data gathered based on 195 questionnaires and analyzed using Structural equation technique. Results show that transcendent leadership has a positive effect on both competitive advantage and organizational performance and competitive advantage has a positive effect on organizational performance.

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 Discussion and research in different rhetorical and semantic aspects of the Quran, and especially the syntactic and rhetorical aspects, have astonished the Quranic researchers of every age. Among these rhetorical issues is the discussion of the Tanwin and its hidden intentions and purposes. This unique phenomenon of the Arabic language, which is widely used in the Holy Quran, has other secondary meanings that are sporadically mentioned in the syntactic books, in addition to its original meaning (indicating indefinite noun). By carefully reflecting on the Quranic verses, it appears that the Tanwin has other implications such as, amongst other things, magnification, reduction, proliferation, diversification, humiliation, generalization. A field survey of the Farsi translations of the Quran shows that most translators have not paid much attention to the Tanwin and its other semantic implications, and have largely meant it to indicate indefinite nouns. In this study, it has been attempted to criticize and analyze the semantic aspects of the Tanwin and its different implications in some of the Quranic verses translation by Abdurrahman Pirani et al. The results show that paying attention to the semantic and implicating dimensions of the Tanwin can be an effective step towards enhancing the semantic levels of Quranic expressions and discovering the rhetorical-semantic layers of this divine book. But this translation, along with many of its more prominent features, does not pay much attention to the secondary meanings of the Tanwin, and this has led to some divergence from some of the sublime meanings and concepts in the Quranic vocabulary.

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We assessed the size and composition of the soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation in 52 relevés representing a range of habitats within an old- growth, temperate deciduous forest at Hyrcanian region, northern Iran. We identified 63 taxa in the seed bank, with an average density of 4202 seeds/spores per m2 by seedling emergence method. Hypericum androsaemum, Cardamine impatiens, and Rubus hyrcanus, with Athyrium flix- femina and Pteris cretica as two ferns, were the most abundant species in the seed bank and spore bank that made up to 92 % of the seeds/spores recorded in the soil seed bank. Totally, 107 species were recorded in the vegetation and soil seed bank of the study site, of which 33 % were common in both seed bank and vegetation and 26 % and 41 % were found only in the seed bank or in the vegetation, respectively. The dominant tree species with many woody understory species found in the above- ground vegetation were absent from the persistent soil seed bank. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient revealed that the correspondence between the species in the vegetation and the same species in the seed bank were consistently low (average of 24.3%) based on presence/absence data. Yates- corrected c 2 test showed that sites present significant differences (P<0.001) in seed bank and vegetation species composition. DCA ordination of the above-ground vegetation and soil seed bank flora displays a clear pattern, with two distinct groups on the basis of the above-ground vegetation and soil seed bank floristic data. Our results explain the low similarity between soil seed bank and vegetation of the Darkola oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forest only to a limited extent, but confirm that most of the species of the above-ground vegetation do not depend on the persistent soil seed bank. Therefore, it may be concluded that the persistent soil seed bank is not capable of restoring the extant vegetation of the studied site.

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The propose of  this study was to investigate the production of biodegradable edible film............

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The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activity of Mentha pulegium leave extract that was performed by ultrasound probes and its effect on oxidative stability in soybean oil during storage. Various concentrations (300 to 800 ppm) of Mentha pulegium leave extract and TBHQ (100 ppm) were added to soybean oil and incubated at 65 ° C for 7 days. The total phenolic compounds of extracts were measured by Folin- Ciocalteu method and their antioxidant activity was performed using 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging (at 300 to 800 ppm) compared to TBHQ. Peroxide values (PVs) and thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) levels were measured in each day up to day of seven in two concentrations of extracts (500 and 1000 ppm). statistical analysis showed that the highest antioxidant activity belonged to treat number 3(50 °^c,10 min) at 500 ppm, which did not show significant difference with TBHQ (p> 0.05). Also, PVs and TBARS levels in samples containing extracts were significantly lower than control sample (p <0.05). Based on the results, it can be concluded that Mentha pulegium leaf extract can be a suitable natural antioxidant as an alternative to synthetic antioxidants in the oil industry.
 

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The use of synthetic antioxidants has reduced due to its harmful effects on consumer health. The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant properties of Mentha pulegium as a source of natural antioxidants. In order to prepare extracts of Mentha pulegium from a methanol solution, a ratio of 5: 1 was used. The levels of tocopherol and phenolic compounds of the extracts were measured by spectrophotometric methods. Finally, methanolic extract of Mentha pulegium at concentrations of 400 ppm and 800 ppm was added to canola oil, and after heating for 24 hours at 180°C, color index, conjugated dienes value, acid value and peroxide value were evaluated to comparison with the sample containing TBHQ. The results showed that extract at concentration of 800ppm has thermal stabilization efficiency comparable to TBHQ(p<0.05). Therefore, Mentha extracts can be recommended as a potent source of natural antioxidants for the stabilization of canola oil or other unsaturated vegetable oils.
 

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Ultrasound is used as a physical method to modify the functional properties of starch. In this study, the effect of ultrasound at 25, 45 and 65°C on the some rheological properties corn starch paste in the presence of Arabic gum was investigated. Results showed that the amylose leakage increased with increasing temperature; but in the presence of Arabic gum, amylose leakage decreased. Sonicated samples showed lower paste clarity. Clarity decreased with increasing temperature; but in the presence of gum arabic the clarity was increased. Clarity changes were lower in the presence of Arabic gum. The least gelling concentration (LGC) was higher in ultrasonic samples and also LGC was higher in the Arabic gum contained samples. Ultrasonication and Arabic gum reduced the maximum and final viscosity of starch paste. Sample sonicated at 45ºC was selected the best sample with minimum amylose content and showed the less changes clarity, higher LGC, minimum final viscosity. The presence of Arabic gum and the ultrasonic temperature are the important parameters that influenced the modification of starch properties.

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The fortification process is carried out to improve the micronutrient intake in the target community. The aim of this study was to produce energy food fortified with micronutrients using zedo and watercress seed gums and to investigate the effect of the gums on the stability and recovery of minerals and vitamins. The formulation included meat powder, soy powder, oil, fat-soluble vitamins, minerals (iron and zinc) and sodium chloride. Among the formulations that had the highest amount of energy and viscosity, 5 were selected and the amount of minerals, iron and zinc, vitamins A, D, E and K and the amount of water activity were measured. Formula A had the highest amount of energy and viscosity with 0.92% of watercress seed gum and 1.23% of zedo gum. The data showed that the presence of gums preserves the content of fat-soluble vitamins in the samples and there is no significant difference between the amount of vitamins A, D, E and K on days 0 and 14, but in the control the amount of vitamins decreased. The response obtained from the simultaneous presence of zedo gum and watercress in the formulation of energy food showed that the type and concentration of gum had no effect on the preservation of minerals (iron and zinc). The best formulation in this study contained 35.25% protein and 0.5% minerals, which provides 277.03 kcal of energy, the total daily requirement of vitamins A, D and E, 62.5% of the daily requirement of vitamin K and 100% of the daily requirement of iron and zinc.

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In this study, the antioxidant and antimicrobial effect of nano coating of basil gum with black cumin essential oil (Bunium persicum) was investigated in order to increase the shelf life of rainbow trout fillets. For this purpose, black cumin essential oil was prepared using Clevenger device and the antioxidant activity of different concentrations of it (200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 ppm) was investigated. According to the results, black cumin essential oil has high antioxidant properties, and as the concentration increased, antioxidant properties were increased too. The cumin essential oil was then nanocapsulated with a basil gum coating. The nano coating, along with the essential oil (according to the electron microscope image), had a spherical and uniform surface with a low porosity percentage. Then, in order to investigate the effect of nano-coating with essential oil on the shelf life of rainbow trout fillet during a 16-day refrigeration period, 4 treatments including control and nano-coating with different concentrations of black cumin essential oil (1, 1.5 and 2 %) produced and periodic chemical parameters (peroxide, thiobarbiotic acid and volatile nitrogen bases) and microbial (total bacterial and total psychrotrophic count) were studied. The results of chemical and microbial analysis showed that, the nano-coating along with the essential oil slowed down the increasing process of oxidation and microbial indices compared to the control treatment. Until the end of the storage period, they had the allowed chemical and microbial range. Therefore, it seems that this treatment can be used as a natural antioxidant and antimicrobial in the meat and fisheries industry.

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Innovation is recognized as a key factor in nations and firms competition and innovative firms are one of the perquisites for a dynamic and competitive economy. But firms face challenges and obstacles in path of innovation which different categories of these obstacles are presented. The purpose of this paper is studing innovation barrieers and determining the effects of them on different types of innovation in renewable energy firms. In this regard, innovation obstacles are identified and examined in terms of two categories of internal and external obstacles. Innovations are also divided into four categories of product, process, organizational and marketing. The research has been carried out among 154 renewable energy companies. In order to achieve these goals, at first, the research model was analyzed using factor analysis and path analysis technique and after assessing the fitting of structural models, the research hypotheses test was performed. The research results confirm six factors as internal barriers and six factors as external barriers. Among these factors, the lack of proper market identification and the lack of external resources to finance innovative activities have the greatest effect on the creation of each of the internal and external barriers respectively. Also, eight research hypotheses have all been accepted, indicating the impact of these two categories of barriers on all types of innovation in renewable companies.