---

Peppermint is a very aromatic herbal plant with mouth cooling effect, having pungent mint and menthol flavor. It has many phenolic compounds (flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanin) which are considered as natural antioxidants. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different concentrations of maltodextrin and inlet air temperature on some properties of encapsulated peppermint extract. Spray drying is the most common and economical method of microencapsulation. In the current project, the impact of three different inlet air temperatures (140, 160 and 180 °C) and maltodextrin (DE=20-18) concentrations (10, 20 and 30%) on production efficiency, moisture content, water activity, solubility, hygroscopicity, wettability and color parameters of spray dried peppermint extract powder were investigated. The results showed that increasing inlet air temperature and maltodextrin concentration led to increase in the production yield, powder solubility, L* and Hue parameters. While moisture content, water activity, hygroscopicity, wettability, chroma, a* and b* parameters were decreased. In conclusion, inlet temperature of 160 °C and maltodextrin concentration of 20% considered as optimum conditions maintaining desirable properties of peppermint extract powder during spray drying process

---

Every project has many risks and as there are many complexities in projects today, recognizing the most important risks is essential for projects' success and efficiency. In this research, we tried to determine most significant risk's categories in the framework of risk breakdown structure of 4th edition of Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide that can be generalize to all projects in Iran. With considering dependencies and interactive relations between risks of project, we used DEMATEL method to determine the most significant project risk's categories on the basis of risk breakdown structure of 4th edition of Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide. Also fuzzy set theory was applied to measure experts' subjective judgments, experts who have rich expertise and knowledge in Iranian projects were selected to evaluate the influences. The results revealed that "External", "Technical", "Project Management" and "Organizational" risks are significant and in the most important risk's category which is "External", "Regulatory" risks and in "Technical", "Project Management" and "Organizational" risks, "Technology", "Estimating" and "Project Dependencies" are the most important risks respectively and should be paid more attention because they were in the first rank of importance.

---

Recently, essential oils of plants such as peppermint have gained more interest due to their antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant activity and free radicals scavenging ability. Microencapsulation by spray drying is a common method to preserve volatile and heat/oxygen sensitive compounds. This method retains essential and volatile compounds of peppermint against chemical spoilage and helps to improve handling properties of the obtained powder. The aim of this study was to investigate some physical and functional properties of spray dried peppermint powder, and to study the effect of storage conditions on phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the resulting powder. For this purpose, three air temperatures (140, 160 and 180 °C), three Arabic gum concentrations (10, 20 and 30 % w/v) were used. Bulk and tapped densities, repose angle, Husner ratio, total phenolic content (TPC) and free radical inhibition ability (DPPH) of the powders were measured. Powders were stored under three different atmosphere namely day light (25 °C), darkness (25 °C) and fridge (4 °C) for 120 days. Then, the TPC and DPPH of stored powders were measured at time intervals of 30 days. Results showed that increasing inlet air temperature and career substance concentration led to decrease in bulk and tapped densities and Husner ratio. TPC of powders were decreased by increasing inlet air temperature. However, at higher temperatures (160 and 180 °C), increasing Arabic gum concentration increased TPC of powders. Results of storing powders for 120 days indicated that storage conditions under low temperatures and darkness could more preserve TPC and DPPH scavenging ability of peppermint powders.