Nitrate pollution of groundwater in Toyserkan,western Iran

A total of 95 groundwater samples were collected from Toyserkan, western Iran to assess the chemical composition and nitrate (NO₃ ⁻) status of groundwater. The most prevalent water type is Ca–HCO₃ followed by water types Ca–Mg–HCO₃. In comparison with the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water guideline of 50 mg l⁻¹ for NO₃ ⁻, a total of nine wells (9.5%) showed higher concentrations. In 36% of samples (34) NO₃ ⁻ concentration was low (<20 mg l⁻¹), and in 53.7% of samples (51), in the range of 20–50 mg l⁻¹. The samples were classified into four groups based on NO₃ ⁻ and chloride (Cl⁻) concentrations. Of the samples, 40% were classified as group 4 and were relatively high in Cl⁻ and NO₃ ⁻ (Cl⁻ > 47 mg l⁻¹, NO₃ ⁻ > 27 mg l⁻¹). The high correlation between NO₃ ⁻ and Cl⁻ (r = 0.86, p < 0.01) is consistent with a manure source, resulting from the practice of adding salt to animal feed. Pollution of groundwaters appeared to be affected by the application of inorganic fertilizer at greater than agronomic rates, Cl-salt inputs, and irrigation practice.     

Geodynamic setting and emplacement of mylonitic granitoids within the North Golpayegan shear zone,Iran

The metamorphic complex of the North Golpayegan is part of the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone. There are at least three distinct stages of deformation in this complex. Throughout the first stage, Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks have experienced regional metamorphism during Late Jurassic tectonic events related to the subduction of the Neo-Tethys oceanic lithosphere under the Iranian microcontinent. During the second deformation stage in the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene, the rocks have been mylonitized. The third stage of deformation in the region has led to folding and faulting superimposed on previous structures, and to exhumation of the metamorphic complex. This stage has determined the current morphology and N70E strike of the complex. The mylonitic zones of the second stage of deformation have been formed along the dextral transpressional faults. During the third stage of deformation and exhumation of the metamorphic complex, the mylonitic zones have been uplifted to the surface. The granitoids in the metamorphic complex have been injected along the extensional shear fractures related to the dextral transpressional displacements. The granitoids have been transformed into mylonites within the synthetic or antithetic shear zones. These granitoids are recognized as syncollision type (CCG) and have been formed at the end of orogenic events synchronous to the collision between the Arabian and the Iranian plates at the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene.     

Optimal design of structures for earthquake loads by a hybrid RBF-BPSO method

The optimal seismic design of structures requires that time history analyses （THA） be carried out repeatedly. This makes the optimal design process inefficient, in particular, if an evolutionary algorithm is used. To reduce the overall time required for structural optimization, two artificial intelligence strategies are employed. In the first strategy, radial basis function （RBF） neural networks are used to predict the time history responses of structures in the optimization flow. In the second strategy, a binary particle swarm optimization （BPSO） is used to find the optimum design. Combining the RBF and BPSO, a hybrid RBF-BPSO optimization method is proposed in this paper, which achieves fast optimization with high computational performance. Two examples are presented and compared to determine the optimal weight of structures under earthquake loadings using both exact and approximate analyses. The numerical results demonstrate the computational advantages and effectiveness of the proposed hybrid RBF-BPSO optimization method for the seismic design of structures.     

Investigation of rangeland indicator species using parametric and non-parametric methods in hilly landscapes of central Iran

This study aimed to identify indicator species and explore the most important environmental and management variables contributing to vegetation distribution in a hilly upper dam landscape in Zagros Mountain chain, Iran. A stratified random sampling method was used to collect topographic, edaphic, management and vegetation data. The density and cover percentage of perennial species were measured quantitatively. Indicator species were identified using the two-way indicator species analysis. Besides calculating physiognomic factors in sample sites, 24 soil samples were collected from 0 to 30 cm of soil depth and analyzed in terms of gravel percentage, texture, saturation moisture, organic matter, pH and electrical conductivity in saturation extract, lime percentage, soluble calcium and magnesium, available phosphorus, Cation Exchange Capacity(CEC) and soluble sodium and potassium. Multivariate techniques including Canonical Correspondence Analysis and Multi-Dimensional Scaling were used to explore the relationships of species with environmental and management variables. Seven plants were identified as indicator species due to being significantly correlated with management(grazing or non-grazing) and edaphic variables such as CEC, soil texture, pH, CaCO_3 percentage and physiographic variable including slope, elevation, and convex and concave formations(p 0.05). Overall, overgrazing and its subsequent effects on soil characteristics, loss of vegetation cover and trampling were found as the major causes of deterioration. Sustainable and integrated management practices such as the implementation of appropriate grazing systems were suggested to enhance soil quality and reduce the accelerated erosion in upper dam zones.     

Isolation, distribution and evaluation of cytotoxic and antioxidant activity of cultivable actinobacteria from the Oman Sea sediments

Screening bioactive natural products from bacteria is a determinative step in the drug discovery programs. The present study aim to isolate actinobacteria from the Oman Sea sediments for determining the effects of different culture media and treatments on the yield of the isolation process, and measure the DPPH radical scavenging and Artemia cytotoxic activity of culture extracts of the actinobacterial isolates. A total of 290 actinobacterial isolates were collected from 14 sediment samples. Heat treatment(40.68%) and M_4 medium(29.31%) exhibited the maximum isolation rates of actinobacteria. Streptomyces isolates were dominantly distributed in all of the investigated stations according to 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. The distribution pattern of Streptomyces followed a depth-dependent frequency trend, whereas the members of rare genera including Micromonospora, Nocardia Actinoplanes, Nocardiopsis, Saccharopolyspora and Crossiella were distributed in deeper stations. Approximately,25% of the examined isolates could scavenge 90% of 10~(–4) mol/L DPPH solutions at 1 250 μg/mL final concentration of their ethyl acetate culture extracts. Furthermore, the most potent extracts could scavenge DPPH radicals with IC50 ranges from 356.8 to 566.4 μg/mL. Brine shrimp cytotoxicity tests showed that 38.88% of the examined culture extracts exhibited LC_(50) lower than 1 000 μg/mL against the Artemia cells. Moreover, the most potent culture extracts exhibited LC_(50) range from 335.4 to 534.4 μg/mL. Phylogenetic analysis by 16 S rRNA gene sequence revealed that the OS 005, OS 263 and OS 157 closely related to Streptomyces djakartensis, Streptomyces olivaceus and Nocardiopsis dassonvillei respectively. These results suggested the widespread distribution of the antioxidant and cytotoxic producing actinobacteria in the Oman Sea sediments, which could be considered as promising candidates for the discovery of microbial bioactive compounds.     

Assessment of future changes in the maximum temperature at selected stations in Iran based on HADCM3 and CGCM3 models

Identification and assessment of climate change in the next decades with the aim of appropriate environmental planning in order to adapt and mitigate its effects are quite necessary. In this study, maximum temperature changes of Iran were comparatively examined in two future periods (2041-2070 and 2071-2099) and based on the two general circulation model outputs (CGCM3 and HADCM3) and under existing emission scenarios (A2, A1B, B1 and B2). For this purpose, after examining the ability of statistical downscaling method of SDSM in simulation of the observational period (1981-2010), the daily maximum temperature of future decades was downscaled by considering the uncertainty in seven synoptic stations as representatives of climate in Iran. In uncertainty analysis related to model-scenarios, it was found that CGCM3 model under scenario B1 had the best performance about the simulation of future maximum temperature among all of the examined scenario-models. The findings also showed that the maximum temperature at study stations will be increased between 1°C and 2°C in the middle and the end of 21st century. Also this maximum temperature changes is more severe in the HADCM3 model than the CGCM3 model.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of crime by developing a method to detect critical distances for the Knox test

The present study examined and compared spatio–temporal interaction of the theft of car parts, shop burglary and motorcycle theft in the central business district (CBD) of the city of Zanjan in Iran. The Knox test was selected to detect spatio–temporal interaction. This test has been criticized as being subjective because the selection of critical distances is arbitrary; thus, a method is proposed to detect critical distances in the Knox test using the mean distance, natural breaks classification of nearest neighbour (NN) distance and Ripley’s k function. Results show obvious differences between the spatio-temporal clusters of the three sets of crimes. They also indicate that changing the spatial cut-offs within a cluster creates different temporal patterns. Of the three criteria for determining critical distances, NN classification based on natural breaks showed more interactions than the other methods.