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This study was conducted to choose the best species for plantation on a poor drainage soil in southern coast of Caspian Sea, Iran. Nutrient concentrations in live and senescent leaves and soil properties were compared among Alnus subcordata C.A.Mey (N-fixing tree), Populus deltoides­ Marsh. (Non N-fixing tree)and Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. (Coniferous tree) plantations. In each of these plantations and an adjacent natural forest, six 20×20m plots have been selected according to a 100m × 100m randomly systematic grid. Leaf samples of green trees were collected from the bottom one-third of the tree crown by clipping two small twigs located on opposite sides of the crown (six representative trees were sampled in each plot). Senescence leaves have been collected inside wooden trap-based in each stand. Results revealed different effects of species on soil nutrients. Alnus subcordata increased soil N (%) whereas Populus deltoides­ and Taxodium distichum reduced it.The results of nutrition, litter quality, retranslocation and soil properties indicated that Alnus improve soil quality in comparison with the two others.

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Submerged vanes are plane structures mounted vertically on river bed with an angle to the approach flow. These structures are usually used in group. The operation of the submerged vanes is production of secondary flow around their length axis that changes the flow pattern and bed topography. The performance of a submerged vane is related to its geometric parameters such as length, height and the angle of attack of the approach flow. In this study the optimization of geometric parameters of a submerged vane in a straight alluvial flume is done numerically to achieve the best condition for increasing the scour depth of channel in front of lateral intake and deviation of sediment from lateral intakes. The SSIIM software is applied for simulating the flow and sediment pattern around a submerged vane. Verification of numerical model with experimental results is done. The effect of geometric parameters of the vane on the performance of the submerged vane is studied. Length, height and the angle of a vane are investigated in four levels and four responses including minimum scour depth near the leading edge of the vane, minimum scour depth near the trailing edge of the vane, maximum scour volume at the downstream of the vane and maximum sedimentation depth at the downstream of the vane are calculated numerically. In previous studies the scour depth at the leading and the trailing edges of the vane were not included in optimization and this is one of the innovation of this paper. The other two last responses are normalized with appropriate parameters. The maximum scour volume at the downstream of the vane is normalized with the volume of the vane and the maximum sedimentation depth at the downstream of the vane is normalized with the length of the vane. Taguchi method is used to design studies in order to minimize the number of cases without affecting the results. 16 tests are investigated instead of 64 tests. Grey Relational Analysis is used for analyzing the responses. The results of this study show that the angle of a vane has more effect on the performance of the vane than the height and the height is more effective than the length. The ratio of 0.25 for the height of the vane to the depth of flow and 15 degree for the angle of attack are proposed to obtain the optimum performance of the submerged vane. Changing the ratio of the length to the height of the vane has a little effect on the responses. So the smaller length of the submerged vanes (in this paper the ratio of 1.25 among 1.25 to 3 for the length to the height of the vane) is economical.

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Full factorial investigation is necessary in the study of the hydraulic phenomena which are function of different variables with different levels. It is logical to use the full factorial method when the number of variables and their levels are low. However, sometimes due to lack of time and shortage of financial restrictions, using the full factorial method is not possible. The Taguchi method, which is used for design of experiments, uses the fractional factorial instead of full factorial. This method not only decrease the number of studies but also guaranties the correlated comparison of all variables. In this paper the Taguchi method is used for finding the optimized hydraulic parameters like length and location of spur dike in different Froude Numbers in 90 degree bend. Furthermore, the comparison between the Taguchi method and full factorial is done for the number of investigations, finding the optimized level for each parameter and the time needed for study. In order to get the results, the parameters of length, location of spur dike in 90 degree bend, and the Froude Number are considered with three different levels. The SSIIM numerical model is applied to simulate the studies designed by Taguchi and full factorial methods. The results show that the Taguchi method, could predict the optimum parameters only with 9 studies whereas with full factorial method 27 studies was necessary. Also, using Taguchi method leads to more than 66% decrease in the total running time. For studies designed by Taguchi method, the optimum value of length of spur dike is the as one designed by Full factorial method. Also, the length of spur dike is the most effective parameter on flow pattern around spur dike and the position of spur dike and Froude Number are next in rank, respectively. These results are the same for two methods used to design of studies. Using 9 studies designed by Taguchi method, investigation of the effect of other parameter such as the angle of the spur dike is possible without changing the number of studies, whereas 81 studies should be done by full factorial method.
Full factorial investigation is necessary in the study of the hydraulic phenomena which are function of different variables with different levels. It is logical to use the full factorial method when the number of variables and their levels are low. However, sometimes due to lack of time and shortage of financial restrictions, using the full factorial method is not possible. The Taguchi method, which is used for design of experiments, uses the fractional factorial instead of full factorial. This method not only decrease the number of studies but also guaranties the correlated comparison of all variables. In this paper the Taguchi method is used for finding the optimized hydraulic parameters like length and location of spur dike in different Froude Numbers in 90 degree bend. Furthermore, the comparison between the Taguchi method and full factorial is done for the number of investigations, finding the optimized level for each parameter and the time needed for study. In order to get the results, the parameters of length, location of spur dike in 90 degree bend, and the Froude Number are considered with three different levels. The SSIIM numerical model is applied to simulate the studies designed by Taguchi and full factorial methods. The results show that the Taguchi method, could predict the optimum parameters only with 9 studies whereas with full factorial method 27 studies was necessary. Also, using Taguchi method leads to more than 66% decrease in the total running time. For studies designed by Taguchi method, the optimum value of length of spur dike is the as one designed by Full factorial method. Also, the length of spur dike is the most effective parameter on flow pattern around spur dike and the position of spur dike and Froude Number are next in rank, respectively. These results are the same for two methods used to design of studies. Using 9 studies designed by Taguchi method, investigation of the effect of other parameter such as the angle of the spur dike is possible without changing the number of studies, whereas 81 studies should be done by full factorial method.

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β-carotene, the most popular member of carotenoids with pro-vitamin A function, plays an important role in prevention of different disorders such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardio-vascular diseases. Nanoencapsulation is one of the most effectual techniques for the incorporation of β-carotene into the food formulations in order to improve its antioxidant activity and physicochemical stability. In this study, quince seed mucilage was used as the aqueous phase of carotenoid emulsions. In order to attain a deep understanding of β-carotene loaded nanoemulsions, the impact of different β-carotene concentrations on physicochemical characteristics of produced emulsions (i. e. zeta potential, particle size, electrical conductivity, dynamic rheological properties, surface tension, and antioxidant activity) were investigated. The results revealed that increasing the β-carotene concentration would result in an increase in viscosity, droplet size, antioxidant activity, and zeta potential of produced nanoemulsions. While a reverse trend was observed in the case of electrical conductivity. Generally, the results indicated that the anionic quince seed mucilage effectively improved the β-carotene physicochemical stability.