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Effects of feeding Artemianauplii enriched with PHB (0, 0.1, 0.3 and 1 g/L concentration) on the growth performance, body composition, digestive enzyme activity and hindgut bacterial community in the Persian sturgeon hatchlings were investigated. PHB treatment significantly (p≤ 0.05) decreased growth performances of the hatchlings. The PHB also significantly increased the total saturated fatty acids (SFA) and n6, but decreased the total MUFAs, C18:3n3, n3 and n3/n6.  PHB also altered digestive enzyme by significantly decreasing  the total protease, amylase, and lipase. Based on molecular analysis, PHB changed the microbial community in the hindgut of the hatchlings where less dominant bands were observed. Our results show that PHB has negative effects on the Persian sturgeon hatchlings.  Further studies are needed to find out the optimal concentration of PHB to apply in early larval rearing of sturgeon.

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Aims: Visual quality is one of the factors influencing of  body´s  educational spaces on children's self-efficacy. Lack of visual quality in preschool educational spaces will reduce motivation and self-efficacy in children.
Methods: The dimensions of visual quality are visibility, visibility, and depth, which play an essential role in shaping children's behavior. Suppose the visual quality of the space-based on self-efficacy is considered in the formation of educational spaces for children 4 to 6 years old. It will have positive consequences such as motivational activities, enthusiasm and competence, and the formation of educational spaces.Without visual qualities will have negative consequences in children's behavior Lack of sense of worth, reduced satisfaction, and space security will leave.
Conclusion: In the present study, an attempt was made to evaluate the visual quality of children's educational space on self-efficacy in children aged 4 to 6 years. Furthermore, the data for the visual quality efficiency of educational spaces using content analysis technique and Depthmap and Maxqda 2020 software in five sample Primary schools in Isfahan (Fooladshahr) have been measured.

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Aims: Biofloc system is the usage of microorganisms such as heterotrophic bacteria, algae, dietary zooplanktons, and protists, which disintegrates and consumes reared aquatics propagation and non-eaten foods in ponds and increases the productivity of developed ponds as a modern aquaculture system. The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of common carp meat reared in the biofloc system during the refrigerated storage time (4±1°C).
Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, 300 common carps were fed for 9 weeks by commercial food (control) and 3 experimental treatments were fed, and the quality indices of meat were evaluated. The data were analyzed by SPSS software 21, using Duncan's multiple range, one way ANOVA, and Tukey post hoc tests.
Findings: The lowest meat taste quality was observed in sugar beet molasses treatment and it had a significant difference with other treatments (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed in case of sensorial parameters and cooking loss percentage in fish meat (p>0.05). Control and sugar beet molasses treatments showed the lowest and highest skin redness index values, respectively. Thiobarbituric acid (TCA) value significantly increased and decreased in control and biofloc treatments, respectively, over storage time (p<0.05). Sulfhydryl and TCA soluble peptides values decreased during refrigerated storage time (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The biofluid system has a positive effect on the quality of common carp meat reared during the refrigerated storage time and increases its shelf-life.

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Objective: Dendritic cells have a critical role in control and regulation of immune responses. It is believed that these cells can be used for the treatment of many diseases. One of the methods used in immunotherapy is based on generating of tolerogenic dendritic cells through inhibition of expression costimulatory molecules. CD40 is one of the costimulatory molecules, and inhibition of expression by antisense or siRNA techniques, can generate tolerogenic dendritic cells. Generation of tolerogenic dendritic cells will be useful in the treatment of many diseases. By developing a quantitive RT-PCR for evaluation of gene expression, generation of these cells could be possible. Using proper software we designed an Antisense and transfection of dendritic cells by lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) could lead us to generate tolerogenic dendritic cells. Materials and Methods: In this study dendritic cells were extracted from of Balb/c mice Spleen and the purity of this extraction was determined by flow cytometry. BCL1 cell line as a CD40 expressing control group and Wehi-164 cell line were cultured in RPMI-1640+10%FCS. Primer design for CD40 gene and house keeping gene (GADPH) was done by bioinformatic soft wares such as Beacon designer, mfold and Blast. RNasy plus mini kit (Qiagen) was used for RNA extraction and the Purity and integrity were determined by O.D at 260/280 and agarose gel electrophoresis. In the next step cDNA synthesized and quantitative RT-PCR for CD40 using IQ sybergreen (Biorad) were setup. Finally, standard curve for CD40 and internal control in different RNA concentrations were performed. After transfection with lipofectamin 2000 the amount of gene suppression were quantified by qualitative RT-PCR. Results: Using gradient real time PCR, optimum annealing temperature, Ct and ∆Rn for CD40 and GADPH were determined, annealing temperature was 59.5ºc and melting temperature was 84°c. Slope of the curve and the efficacy of PCR for CD40 and GADPH genes were quantified by serial dilution method

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Abstract The moment connections sustained by many steel buildings were damaged during the recent earthquakes due to brittle fractures in the special moment resistant frames. Previous studies showed that although the top beam flange resisted due to the interaction of concrete slab, many damages are created because of weld cracking between the bottom beam flange and the column flange. Different methods of retrofit and rehabilitation could be used to prevent weld cracking and brittle fracture of the joints. The reduction of the bottom flanges of steel beams near the beam-column joints in the special moment resistant frames is currently an acceptable alteration of a connection because the top flange is located in the concrete slab and removing of concrete slab has financial and technical problems. RBS connection is one of the different kinds of Post-Northridge connections in which by cutting some parts of the flange near the end of the beam (where the possibility of making plastic hinges is high), the plastic hinge moves by the side of the column into the area within the beam. By using this method, the connection is altered from the special moment frame into a more ductile connection that has more ability to endure in plastic rotation, and generally ductility increases. The ductility of the panel zone is one of the parameters, which undoubtedly affects the manner of the yield of beams with RBS connection. Our findings in this work showed that new method causes the beam plastic rotation to increase by 30%. In addition, the applied force at the panel zone (according to the capacity of panel zone) is decreased. When compared to the frames without cuts, these reductions result in a 52% decrease in the plastic rotation of the panel zone, we also investigated the amount of dissipated energy by beams in the conditions before and after retrofitting. ANSYS software was used to study and analyze the non-linear behavior in the area of connections.

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Abstract: Implementation of 3D panels in buildings is increasing due to the importance of lightening, optimizing and reduction of fuel consumption. These panels are used as interior, outer, load bearing and partitioning walls beside the structural frame without considering the frame-panel interaction. Steel frames act in shear mode and panel frames act in flexure; hence, combining the two systems will change the structural behavior of each system. So, investigation of the seismic behavior of combined systems using nonlinear dynamic methods seems to be mandatory. In this article, frames with 3, 5 and 10 stories (filled in different bays by panel) were modeled in ANSYS. These frames were then analyzed under Elcentro, Tabas and Naghan seismic records. The results illustrated that using panel not only results in more acceptable drifts, but also it lets the system to have a better seismic behavior and more energy dissipation. For example, the displacements of the structures in the highest level decrease more than 35% by using one bay panel for filling steel frames. This amount of filling also leads to more than 100% increase in the area under the base shear-displacement diagram of a steel frame.

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One of the most innovative tools for researchers in order to improve the quality of education and assessment is the application of Cognitive Diagnostic Approaches (CDA) which is the result of the unification of cognitive psychology and educational measurement; unfortunately, they are scarcely utilized by (grammar) language education and assessment researchers (in Iran). Among the most important decisions to be made in the process of cognitive diagnostic assessment are determining the (sub-)skills required to respond correctly to each question as well as choosing an optimal cognitive diagnostic model. The present qualitative and quantitative study aims to develop a Q-matrix in order to identify such cognitive (sub-)skills, to determine the optimal cognitive-diagnostic model (CDM) for the grammar section of MA entrance examination for English majors, and to pinpoint mastery and non mastery states of the examinees who were 5000 MA entrance participants. The findings from the literature review, informants’ and experts’ evaluations,  and think-aloud protocols in the Q-matrix development phase revealed that each MA examination grammar item taps into between two to four of the six attributes of verb tense, correct verb usage, idiomatic expressions, modifiers, agreement, and preposition.  Evaluation of three alternative models [i.e. the Deterministic-Input, Noisy-And (DINA), Deterministic Input, Noisy-Or-gate (DINO), and Generalized DINA (GDINA)] from among the existing cognitive diagnostic models indicated that G-DINA was the best fit for the Grammar data. Considering the performance of master and non-master participants, the study concludes with suggestions, implications, and applications of the findings for high-stakes language education and testing        

1. Introduction
Cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) is designed to measure specific cognitive skills of students, so as to provide information about their cognitive strengths and weaknesses (Leighton & Gierl, 2007). Previous research on CDA in language testing mostly focused on reading comprehension and listening sections, whereas less attention has been paid to grammar. Moreover, in most of the previous studies (Baghaie & Ravand, 2015; Clarck, 2013; Jang, 2009; Lee & Sawaki, 2009; Ravand, 2015; Ravand, Barati & Widhiarso, 2013) just a specified cognitive diagnostic model (CDM) was fitted to the language test data while searching for an optimum CDM was generally overlooked.
Given the importance of high-stakes tests such as university entrance examinations, the current research aims to apply CDA to an Iranian high-stakes English grammar test to specify the underlying skills required to answer the test items correctly; furthermore, it intends to detect strengths and weaknesses of the students     based on the identified skills. In doing so, searching for an optimum CDM was adopted to find the best fitting model to the second language grammar test data.
 
2. Literature Review
Cognitive diagnostic models are confirmatory multidimensional latent variable models with complex structures. These models let researchers propose exact hypotheses about the nature of cognitive processes that students use in response to test items (Rupp et al., 2010). Three classes of saturated, compensatory, and non-compensatory models of CDA are available to researchers. That is, a- the saturated model titled generalized deterministic inputs, noisy “and” gate (G-DINA), b-compensatory models (e.g., the Deterministic Input Noisy Output “OR” gate (DINO) and the additive CDM (ACDM)) which allow for other skills to contribute to the chance of responding to an item correctly, and c- the non-compensatory models (e.g., The Deterministic Input Noisy Output “AND” gate (DINA) and the reduced reparametrized unified model (RRUM)), where possessing all cognitive skills is necessary to answer a test item correctly (de la Torre, 2011).
In recent years, many CDM studies were conducted on data from different fields of studies including language assessment (Alavai & Ranjbaran, 2018; Alderson et al., 2015;  Baghaie & Ravand, 2015; Clarck, 2013; Jang, 2009; Li, 2011; Lee & Sawaki, 2009; Minaei et al., 2014; Moghadam et al., 2015;        Park & Cho, 2011; Ranjbaran & Alavi, 2016; Ravand, 2015; Ravand et al., 2013; Yie, 2016, 2017). Although Park and Cho (2011) applied CDA on the English grammar for Korean EFL learners, only Yie (2017) searched for an Optimal Cognitive diagnostic model in a second language grammar test data. The latter study is very similar to the present study in many respects but the eventual cognitive diagnostic model.
 
3. Methodology
A retrofitting approach (Jang, 2009) to CDA was adopted to reach the cognitive diagnostic model. In doing so, at the first stage of the CDM, a Q matrix (de la Torre, 2011) was qualitatively developed based on the findings from the literature review, the viewpoints of an English language expert panel, and the cognitive processes extracted from college students' think-aloud protocols. The resulting Q-matrix provided all of the required skills needed to answer all of the grammar test items of the Iranian MA entrance examination for English majors. Then, DINA, DINO, and the G-DINA models were empirically fitted to the grammar test data of 5000 participants through the CDM package of R (George et al., 2016).
 
4. Conclusion
The findings of this study showed that the saturated G-DINA model was the best fitting model for the grammar data. The compensatory DINO model also fitted the data, yet the non-compensatory DINA model did not fit the grammar item response data based on the absolute model fit indices.
In line with the results of         Park and Cho (2011), this study also confirms that the six underlying skills including 1-verb tense, 2- correct verb usage, 3- idiomatic expressions, 4- modifiers, 5- agreement, and 6- preposition encompass almost all of the required grammar skills. Moreover, verb tense skill was identified as the weakness of the students, while idiomatic expressions skill was a strength point. Altogether, in a second language context, it seems that even the students majoring in the English language do not master all of the required skills of grammar. The study concludes with suggestions, implications, and applications of the findings for high-stakes language education and testing

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Abstract: Regard to investigations that are done about destructive earthquakes contemporarily and by contemplating on effects of different earthquakes on various types of structural systems and by recording acceleration of ground motions , researchers detected different effects of destruction in range about 15 to 60 kilometers far from epicenter of earthquake that is nominated as near fault earthquakes. the subsequences of researches which have been done in this field shows that mapping near to the fault have less effective time than mapping which are far from the fault and have one or more special pulse with a large domain and with medium to large frequency which causes to increase the domain of response spectrum in the zone of large period. and applying huge energy in short time and Sudden intense pulse in the beginning of near fault timehistories causes increasing the demand of rotational ductility in some stories and joints. In this article Regard to reliability of steel plate shear walls in recent four decades and also the fact that these structural systems have appropriate ductility to control displacements, height energy dissipation and ductile failure mechanism, the dynamic behavior of these systems is investigated .Four finite element models of 3,7,15 and 25 story buildings that used steel thin plate shear wall with hinge beam to column connections as resistant systems has created and analyzed through nonlinear dynamic analysis in ABAQUS finite element software and then response of structures such as story shear and drift angles of stories were detected. Results postulate the effects of shear distribution in near fault and regard to these purposes it seems that this fact is caused of effects of higher modes in far fault earthquakes. This situation cause of the fact that the frequency containers of near fault earthquakes are higher in range of height periods .besides Response of structures such as damage index and base shear, show that in tall steel plate shear walls (T>0.7s) effect of near fault movements on response parameters are more than those in the far fault zone. It also can be seen that base shear of the structures in far fault earthquakes fluctuates in more extended range compared to which happens in near fault structures and in near fault earthquakes base shear of most time histories don’t have much differences but in far fault earthquakes differences are relatively much. By increasing the height of SPSW’s differences between displacements in near fault and far fault earthquakes ascends. Maximum of differences between near fault and far fault responses appear in boundary of 40% to 60% of height of walls. Eventually can be said that not only higher PGA of most near fault earthquakes is a distinctive attribute in accordance with far fault earthquakes, but also higher frequency container in long period range would be devastating, regardless to higher PGA of these earthquakes.

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Experiments from disaster earthquakes showed, from Forward directivity, Backward directivity and Filing step effects in near fault strong motion, Forward directivity has more severe effects on engineering structures. In near fault regions when rupture propagation of fault is toward to the construction site and velocity of strong motion waves is approximately equal to rupture propagation speed, the velocity time history record of ground that is normal to the fault surface has 1 to 3 long period pulses with high magnitude. This future causes to impose more demands of strength and ductility to structures located normal to the fault line in near field of fault. Also average amplitude of response spectrum of near fault earthquakes are about 1.1 to 2 times more than average response spectrum of regions located far from fault. To estimation of forward directivity effect on structural elements, in this study variation of demand and capacity of beams and columns of steel moment resisting frames are studied under effect of forward directivity with variation of models height. So the variation of strength and ductility demand of structure elements have been estimated under effect of forward directivity based on FEMA356 instruction by 100 time history nonlinear dynamic analyses for 5 structural models. The modes were steel moment resisting farms with 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 stories height. To studding about effect of forward directivity on beams, maximum nodal rotation, maximum absolute moment and seismic performance of beams studied. Results showed forward directivity causes to increase nodal rotation 1.1 to 1.7 times more for low-rise models (7 stories and less) and 1.4 to 3.2 times more fore high-rise models. The maximum moment of beams is increased 2 to 16% for low-rise models and 10 to 50% for high-rise models. In life safety level, demand to capacity ratio of performance level of beams is increased between 1 to 1.6 times more for low-rise models and 1.2 to 3.2 times more for high-rise models. Also it has been indicated that forward directivity has not any effects on beams ductility. Studding on forward directivity effects on columns showed because of interaction between axial force and moment of columns, forward directivity is able to effect on moment capacity and ductility of columns. So forward directivity increases 2 to 20% axial force of columns related to height of models and location of columns. Results illustrate axial force increasing about 20% causes to decrease 12.5 to 50% of moment strength capacity of column and also it can decreases 20 to 50% rotation ductility of columns. On the other hand forward directivity causes to increase moment demand of columns about 30 to 56% for high-rise models. Conclusions showed forward directivity effects causes to increase demand to capacity ratio of structural elements about 1.1 to 1.75 times more for low raise models (7stories and less) and 1.5 to 5 times more for high rise models. Also it is considered that aspect ratio of structure has a direct relationship to amplification of forward directivity effect on columns.

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Spaghetti samples were prepared by replacing wheat flour with defatted soy flour (DSF) at 0, 10, and 20% levels (w/w). Each sample had 4% gluten. In addition, xanthan gum was added at three levels (0.0, 0.2, and 0.4%) to spaghetti dough containing 20% soy flour as a modifying agent. Samples were extruded at 35 or 50^oC and dried at, respectively, 52^oC for 21h or 72^oC for 6 hours. The color, protein content, cooking loss, cooked weight, and firmness of all spaghetti samples were measured. A trained sensory group evaluated chewiness, firmness, stickiness, color, and flavor. The overall results showed that increasing protein level in spaghetti caused an increase in the firmness and cooking loss with a decrease in cooked weight and consumer acceptance. However, when xanthan gum was added to spaghetti dough containing 20% DSF, the positive properties of spaghetti, including cooked weight and consumer acceptances, were improved significantly and its negative aspects, including firmness and cooking loss, were reduced noticeably. When xanthan gum and DSF levels reached, respectively, 0.4 and 20%, and the spaghetti dough was extruded at 50^oC followed by drying at average temperature of 72^oC, the best spaghetti in terms of physico-chemical and organoleptic properties was obtained.

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Based on ASTM E1823 standard, fatigue phenomenon is the process of permanent, progressive and localized structural change which occurs to a material point subjected to strains and stresses of variable amplitudes which produce cracks which lead to total failure after a certain number of cycles.
During an earthquake fatigue failure can occur at loads much lower than tensile or yield strengths of material. Therefore material behavior under cyclic loading is an important design criterion.
Fatigue data are obtained from the experiments and are shown in S-N curves which represent stress or strain amplitude versus number of cycles. All fatigue ranges can be included generally in three categories. Ultra Low Cycle Fatigue (ULCF), Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF), and High Cycle Fatigue (HCF). HCF is recognized with low strain amplitude and high frequency, and LCF is a material deterioration which is described as high plastic strain amplitude and low frequency. ULCF involves a few cycles (less than 20) of large plastic strains. ULCF is of great importance for structural and earthquake engineers, because fatigue failure in structural members occurs generally in less than 10 cycles during a seismic event. Fatigue fracture in moment connections, or gusset plates and brace members are examples for ULCF or ductile fracture.
Fatigue life is expressed as the total number of stress cycles required for a fatigue crack to initiate and grow large enough to produce fatigue failure. Currently, two major methods are available for fatigue life prediction of structures. One type is based on material fatigue life curves (e.g., S–N curves or ε–N curves) and a damage accumulation rule. The other is based on fracture mechanics and crack growth analysis.
The Manson–Coffin law is the most widely used procedure to predict material failure under LCF and ULCF. But last researches showed that Manson–Coffin relation overestimates fatigue life in ULCF domain.
Miner’s rule is one of the most widely used cumulative damage models for failures caused by fatigue.
The rainflow method is a method for counting fatigue cycles from a time history. The counting of each load cycle and the relative damage produced must be done with extreme accuracy and care. Rainflow counting has been shown to be most effective. The rainflow method allows the application of Miner's rule in order to assess the fatigue life of a structure.
In this paper low cycle fatigue performance of restrained buckling braced frames with diagonal, V-shaped and chevron configurations are investigated. Last researches and experimental tests results of BRBs usually show very stable hysteresis behavior with an excellent low cycle fatigue life.
In this study For modeling the low cycle fatigue phenomenon, the “fatigue material” model in OpenSees is used. The fatigue material uses a modified rainflow cycle counting algorithm to accumulate damage in a material using Miner’s Rule. Once the Fatigue material model reaches a damage level of 1.0, the force (or stress) of the material becomes zero and the material is destructed completely.
By obtaining the hysteretic loops and also the cumulative damage charts of diagonal, V-shaped and chevron buckling restrained braced frames, the hysteretic behavior and fatigue life of them are evaluated. Buckling restrained braces in three configurations of concentrically braced frames, exhibited stable hysteretic behavior up to failure. Considering area of the hysteretic loops and low cycle fatigue life, V-shaped buckling restrained braced frame showed better low cycle fatigue performance.

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In this paper, the penetration process of anti-structure tandem projectiles are investigated by numerical and experimental methods. The used projectiles in this research have been composed of the forward shaped charge with conical copper liner and the following kinetic energy projectile with flat nose. For determination of cavity and tunnel geometry, at first follow projectile penetration test is done. In this process three shaped charge projectiles are tested. According to the same conditions for projectiles and concrete target, the obtained data of performed test are good agreement with each others. Then numerical simulation of forward and follow projectiles penetration are analyzed by finite difference hydro code; AUTODYN. The numerical results obtained from the forward projectile penetration have been compared with experimental results. The comparisons between experimental and numerical results for forward projectiles show good agreement with each other. At the end of this research, the residual velocities of the follow projectiles are investigated by numerical method. The results also indicate that the residual velocity of follow projectile increase due to the damage in the concrete target, that it is according to predictions.

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The use of nanotechnology can create new important applications in various fields of agricultural resulting in improvement of plant yield, and increase of growth and photosynthesis. Using this technology, the techniques in product management can be improved. The absorption rate of nanoparticles varies in plants, depending on type of plant, chemical composition and size of particles. Nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (TiO2) are widely used in agricultural industries to enhance plant growth properties. In this case, the aim of this study was to study the effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on photosynthetic pigments and some biochemical properties and antioxidant enzymes of Rosmarinus officinalis L. This research was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications in the greenhouse of Sana Institute of Higher Education of Sari in 2017-2018. Different concentrations of titanium nanoparticles in seven levels (0, 20, 40, 80, 100, 200 and 400 ppm) were sprayed onto rosemary plants in three stages with a one-hour interval. The results showed that the contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoids were increased by increasing the concentration of titanium nanoparticles, since the highest total chlorophyll content and carotenoids were related to 200 ppm nanoparticle titanium concentration. Also, the effect of titanium nanoparticle on the amount of soluble sugar indicated that by increasing the concentration of titanium nanoparticles as 100, 200 and 400 ppm nanoparticles, there was an increasing trend in this trait. In addition, there was a significant increase in the amount of antioxidant enzymes studied in high concentration of titanium nanoparticles (80, 100, 200 and 400 ppm).

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In crowded cities, building structures are usually constructed in close proximity to one another because of restricted availability of space. In many cases, every building in a block is in full or partial contact with its neighboring buildings. Because of insufficient separations, their different heights and seismic-resisting systems collision can occur between adjacent buildings during strong ground motions. This collision can make partial or general damages to the structural elements and accelerate their failure by affecting their stiffness. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as structural pounding. Pounding between inadequately separated buildings has been observed in most previous major earthquakes. Each time pounding occurs, building structures will sustain short duration large impact force not specifically considered in conventional designs. The severity of the impact depends on the dynamic characteristics of the adjacent buildings in combination with the earthquake characteristics. options to minimize the effect of pounding have to do with the decreasing of lateral motion by joining adjacent buildings at critical positions so that their motion could be in-phase or by increasing the damping capacity of building pounding by means of energy dissipation, for example, by passive structural control systems. Modern seismic design codes have many pioneering provisions on the non-linear behavior of structures, but amongst others, they do not consider structural pounding, a phenomenon with strong non-linearities, for which codes usually suggest a sufficient separation between adjacent buildings. On the one hand, irregularity in lateral stiffness (a soft or very soft story) due to the different use of the first floor of the building is one of the most common types of irregularity. Aiming to prevent such collisions, these study estimates demand of separation gap angle at the highest level of collision between two adjacent structures in regular steel moment frames with irregularity in the lateral stiffness (with changes in the height of the first floor) under seismic records of a near-field earthquake. Models were considered as two-dimensional, ductile, steel moment frames of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20-story 3-span buildings. In order to create an irregularity in the lateral stiffness on the first floor, the height of this story was increased from 3.5 m to 4.5 and 5.5 m while the cross-section of the column at the first two stories was kept unchanged. These frames can be placed alongside in seven binary groups considering priority in the arrangement. Each group represents 100 different binary arrangements of the frames. In total, 700 cases of various adjacency were studied. The OPENSEES software was used to analyze the dynamics of the nonlinear history considering 20 perpendicular components to the fault with a progressive orientation of near-field earthquake records of pulse-like faults. The results suggest the increase in the irregularity in the lateral stiffness in the first floor of the building can increase the separation gap angle. On average, the combination of regular and irregular frames with the first-floor height of 4.5 and 5.5 m, is increased 1.19 and 1.38 times, respectively, compared to the combinations of regular frames. Moreover, among various adjacent combinations of regular and irregular frames, in case the taller structure is associated with lateral stiffness (soft floor), the average increase in the separation gap angle is larger than other cases.

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Raisin is one of the important export products in the agricultural sector, but there are several challenges in increasing the quality of raisins and their competition in foreign markets. The type of drying place and environmental conditions can have a great impact on the quality of raisins. In this study, the aim is to modify the traditional grape drying place, using intelligent heating plates. The seedless grape was harvested at two different times and prepared by two methods, natural (without pretreatment) and treated with alkaline solution and dried in traditional place with concrete floor and traditional place modified by control heating plates. The results showed that the drying time of non-treated raisins was 2.36 times of alkali-treated raisins and the drying time of traditional place was about 4.75 times of modified place. Also, the total count, coliform, molds and yeasts in the traditional drying place were higher, but the number of lactic acid bacteria was less than the modified method (P <0.05). In alkali-treated raisins, the total count, coliform and mold were lower, but the number of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts was higher than natural raisins (P <0.05). The results of sensory evaluation also showed that the color score of samples with alkali-treated raisins was significantly higher than other. The amount of energy consumed to prepare one kg of raisins in 21th September and 12th October was 0.98 and 1.78 kWh, respectively, and for natural raisins, this amount was 1.63 and 5.5 kWh, respectively. According to the results obtained in this study, it is possible to prepare raisins with high hygienic quality and desirable sensory properties by harvesting grapes in a timely and drying in the place with intelligent heating plates

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Extensive studies of self-centered steel systems have been conducted by researchers, but their use is still not common enough due to differences in the performance of such structures. The need for skilled manpower and equipment to create post-tensioning and installation of energy dissipating elements are among the factors that increase the cost of self-centered structures compared to the implementation of structures with conventional welding connections. Due to the relatively high cost of retrofitting using post-tensioned connections, the optimal use of such systems can be considered as a way to increase their use in seismic improvement. For this purpose, the seismic improvement of the steel moment frame by creating a self-centered system has been evaluated locally and only in some floors in this paper. In the evaluations performed in this research, PF and PEF coefficients have been introduced and used. Based on the results of the analysis performed in this study, it was observed that if the appropriate pattern of location of post-tensioned connections is selected in the floors, a higher performance can be obtained compared to the frame performance with the post-tensioned connections in all floors. Among the three-story frames evaluated in this study, the use of post-tensioned connections in the first two floors with a performance improvement of 23.2% and in six-story frames the use of post-tensioned connections in the first four floors with a performance improvement of 30. 1% provide the most appropriate result. It was also observed that the use of post-tensioned connections only in the upper floors in three-story frames does not significantly improve performance and in six-story frames reduces the performance of the frame by about 30% compared to the frame with conventional welded connections.

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The advantages of structures equipped with bracing systems such as high lateral stiffness, light weight of the skeleton compared to flexural frames plus the weakness of flexural frame connections as well as high risk of the performance of these connections during earthquakes always place the bracing lateral stiffness system at equal level of the other seismic-resistant systems in the minds of designers. However, Experiences gained from the concentric brace frames performance during earthquakes showed the undesirable function and hysteresis loops of the bracing system. The early buckling of the brace members causes joint failure, instability and unpredictable seismic behavior of the frame. Researchers tried to avoid the buckling phenomenon by making some changes in brace members structure. Using energy dissipation systems like buckling restrained braces, viscose dampers, friction dampers and yielding dampers were the methods which have been investigated during years. yielding dampers due to their benefits like economic aspects, easy construction, available material, flexible design, durability and significant impact on the seismic responses were one of the devices which has been considered. Many researchers worked on different types of yielding dampers. they used parallel plates yielding dampers on top of the chevron braces and slit dampers along diagonal brace. despite of many researches has been done, but it seems more efficient projects can be achieved in this field. the yielding dampers constructed so far have several considerable problems: i) the existence of one or two-level behavior against earthquakes, ii) the implementation of the welding process in energy-absorbing parts causing premature rupture of steel, and iii) the lack of support system in the event of severe earthquakes or unusual loads outside the design leading to frame instability. This research tries to design a two-level yielding damper with parallel fuse plates using finite element sensitivity analyses on an effective component of these types of dampers. After that to assessment of the damper function, an OpenSees code developed to analyze the nonlinear time history of the seven far-field selected ground motions. All the ground motions selected according to the FEMA P-695 suggested ground motions with the site class of C and the base shear, roof acceleration, story velocity and drift nonlinear time history responses of a three-story braced frame compared with and without damper. To prevent buckling of the brace members, dampers with the capacity of 90% of brace members capacity designed to use at any story brace and the maximum displacement capacity of dampers adjusted to the maximum allowable drift of the building stories. Results showed that, there are some effective and less effective parameters whose variation such as geometrical parameters can seriously change the total energy absorption level and improve the damper hysteresis loops. Also, According to the flexible design of the presented damper, if it needs to be designed with a force bearing capacity and energy absorption in accordance with the seismic design of the desired frame, it is possible to achieve the desired capacity by making changes in the overall dimensions and number of energy absorbing plates. time history responses assessment showed that using the new damper has a significant decreasing effect on the seismic responses of the building.

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Studies have been shown that conventional concentrically braced frames have undesirablity seismic performance since satisfy the displacement-controlled conditions in moment resistant frames are difficult. Then in the decades of 1970, researchers developed a system that had a good performance in strength and stiffness and in lateral displacement-controlled conditions either, the reason for this can be expressed that eccentrically braced frame (EBF) link acts as a fuse. Considering the limited research conducted in the field of investigating the seismic performance of eccentrically braced systems under strong ground motions by powerful dynamic nonlinear analyses, as well as knowing as much as possible the seismic behavior of these types of frames and choosing a suitable system to deal with seismic forces, the necessity of this research was felt. Therefore, in this paper, the seismic performance of 5, 10, and 15-story eccentrically braced frames with link beams with different types of performance in the ranges of shear, shear-flexural, and flexural performances has been investigated using incremental dynamic analyses (IDAs) under near-field ground motions. The results showed that, the performance of EBFs with Shear link in collapse prevention (CP) performance level are more desirable than EBFs with shear-flexural link and also performance of EBFs with shear-flexural link are more desirable than EBFs with Flexural link.
 

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