Background: Homocysteine (Hcy), an intermediate form generated during the metabolism of methionine, is associated with cardiovascular diseases. There is little information available about serum concentration of Hcy in healthy Iranian population. In the present study, we assessed the reference range of serum Hcy level among inhabitants of the northern Persian Gulf. Methods: In the Persian Gulf Healthy Heart Study (PGHHS) which used a multistage, stratified, clustered sampling, we measured fasting serum Hcy level using enzyme immunoassay method with an accuracy limit of 1 μmol/ L. Confounding factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, drugs and chronic diseases were eliminated. Reference range for homocysteine level was considered between 5 and 95 percentiles. Results: A total of 886 participants (39.3% female, 60.7% male) were evaluated. Mean plasma Hcy level was 14.58 ± 7.29 mmol/ L and was higher in men than women. Reference range for Hcy level was 8.35-31.1 mmol/ L in males and 2.39-24.31 mmol/ L in females. There was no difference among age groups for serum Hcy level. Conclusion: The Hcy level in the northern Persian Gulf general population is high. Since high Hcy level has been shown as a risk factor of cardiovascular diseases in various studies, it is essential to study the reasons of this high level of Hcy in this region.

منظور از صلاحیت از نظر قانون اختیار و تکلیفی است که قانونگذار به مرجع قضایی جهت رسیدگی به دعوائی می دهد. شناخت انواع صلاحیت دادگاه دارای اهمیت، از این جهت است که با شناخت هر یک از انواع صلاحیت می توان قواعد مربوط را به خوبی تحلیل و آثار متفاوتی را بر هر کدام بار کرد. صلاحیت مراجع در سه دسته ذاتی، نسبی و محلی قراردارد. صلاحیت ذاتی یا همان شایستگی اختصاصی یک مرجع قضایی یا غیرقضایی در رسیدگی به امور یا دعاوی اعلامی از ناحیه قانونگذار است. قواعد مربوط به صلاحیت ذاتی از قواعد آمره است و توافق برخلاف آن امکان ندارد. صلاحیت مربوط به اتحادیه و اتاق تعاون از نوع صلاحیت ذاتی است چرا که مراجع قضایی و اداری هر یک، از صنف جداگانه ای با مختصات و ویژگی های خاص خود هستند و ذاتاً با هم متفاوتند و صلاحیت آنها نسبت به دعاوی خاص مرجوع الیه ذاتی است. در رابطه با صلاحیت نسبی نیز با توجه به اینکه بحث صلاحیت نسبی وقتی مطرح می گرددکه هر دو مرجع تالی و عالی دارای یک ماهیت و جنس یکسان باشند، یعنی هر دو مرجع یا باید قضایی باشند یا هر دو مرجع باید غیرقضایی باشند تا بتوان میان آن دو صلاحیت نسبی به مفهوم خاص برقرار کرد. لذا موضوع صلاحیت نسبی در مراجع داوری منتفی است. .

Registration of point clouds is a key process in creating a digital model in reverse engineering. Registration is a complex and ill-conditioned problem and these impede fully automatic comprehensive algorithm. In this study a new method to improve automation level is proposed. In this method, at first surface features are extracted from point clouds and then these data are used for detecting correspondence points between point clouds. Registration process accuracy depends on carefully selected corresponding points between point clouds. In present research surface curvature and local shape are used for determining the correct correspondence points. For feature extraction, surface curvature for each point of point clouds is calculated by using umbrella curvature and also a new method for determining local shape is presented. For each point of point cloud a shape number is determined. Determination of shape number is done by neighbors’ coordinates of point of concern. In this method, the corrected corresponding points are points that have almost equal umbrella curvature and shape number. Rigidity helps the algorithm to find pairwise points. Analyzing the results shows that the proposed algorithm performs well and has appropriate abilities on fully automatic registration of point clouds.

Introduction: Collaborative digital reference services are one of the suitable services in libraries where two or more libraries act in a cooperative or group manner to provide reference services using one of the forms of digital reference services. In this type of service, the user sends a request to a library that is a member of the library network. The library receiving the question will do this if it is able to provide an answer; otherwise, it presents the question to another library that is a member of this network and has the ability to answer this question. The current study was conducted to study the feasibility of Collaborative Digital Reference Services in Iran’s top university central libraries. Several researches have been conducted inside and outside the country in connection with the topic of the current research. Reviewing the researches shows the fact that creating a collaborative digital reference service is necessary for universities and large centers. In Iranian researches, feasibility in terms of human resources, equipment and budget of digital reference services in libraries has been emphasized. In foreign researches, the review of collaborative digital reference services in terms of structure, patterns, software, hardware, features and services and human resources, evaluation and satisfaction of these services in libraries has been considered. Among the researches carried out inside the country, no research has investigated the possibilities and conditions of creating a collaborative digital reference in the central libraries of top level universities in Iran. Regarding the development of collaborative digital reference services in the world and the role of universities in meeting the educational and research information needs of users, as the most important knowledge production and dissemination centers in Iran have not yet turned to these services at the highest level.Methodology: In terms of purpose, this research is applied research and in terms of nature, this research is descriptive survey. The population of the study was composed of managers (13 managers from 13 central libraries) and reference librarians (42 librarians from 13 central libraries) from Iran’s top university central libraries (13 libraries). Two researcher-made questionnaires were used to collect data from mangers and librarians. In order to assess the validity, the questionnaires were sent to 9 Library and Information Science professors, KMO test was another method which was used for measuring the validity of the questioners, which indicated 0.93 for managers’ questionnaire and 0.90 for the librarians. So, the two questionnaires were determined to be valid. To estimate the reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated which showed 0.76 for managers’ questionnaire and 0.79 for that of the librarians. SPSS was used for the analysis of the collected data.Findings: The overall average obtained for the level of familiarity of the librarians of the studied libraries with the skills needed to provide digital reference services in general is 3.53, which is higher than the average of 3.00. However, in the skill of "familiarity with network hardware issues and problems", the situation was reported to be slightly lower than average, and librarians' skills are needed to be supported or improved in this field. Findings also showed the libraries do not have some of the required software and hardware facilities to provide the digital reference service. Only 23.08% of libraries (libraries of Shahid Beheshti University, Allameh Tabatabai University and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad) use independent software for the question and answer with the user. The existence of independent digital reference software in only 3 central libraries (out of 13 top academic libraries) seems far from expected. The electronic information resources coverage was acceptable. The analysis shows that Iran’s top university central libraries face with some problems in terms of their funding, but these problems are not significant.Conclusion: If the central libraries intend to provide collaborative digital reference services, the conditions and equipment are available to some extent, and perhaps with careful coordination and planning and using unified and integrated software, they can establish fixed and specific platforms for providing remote services. In the studied libraries, due to the available facilities and tools, it may be possible to turn face-to-face interactions in libraries into effective remote interactions with the same quality as face-to-face interactions, especially during crises and when libraries are closed. Before taking action, due to the lack of coherent digital reference services in the studied libraries, it is necessary to form a specialized group and committee consisting of experts under the supervision of expert librarians and the cooperation of computer experts to provide cooperative digital reference services. Also, due to the lack of specific software in some of the studied libraries, it is better to budget and prepare a single software to provide collaborative reference services. In the next step, due to the lack of equipment and hardware facilities in the studied libraries, it is better to identify and prepare the necessary equipment and hardware facilities to provide these services. It should be noted that providing such new services requires a series of joint trainings; It is suggested that training courses be held for reference librarians in order to increase their level of knowledge and efficiency in the field of providing collaborative digital reference services by libraries. Advertising, promotion and marketing of services is more important than setting up the service itself. It is important to use advertising plans and programs to familiarize the users of universities in this field and it will make them know more about this service.

Estimating reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is a fundamental requirement of agricultural water management. However, the lack of necessary meteorological data makes it difficult to estimate ET0 using the FAO-Penman-Monteith equation wider areas. Therefore, this research examines the estimation of daily reference evapotranspiration using MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) from satellite imagery in two climates of Tabriz and Rasht. ET0 has been estimated using two random forests (RF) and random forests optimized with genetic (GA-RF) algorithms. The parameters used in both stations include the combination of daily land surface temperature (LSTday), nightly land surface temperature (LSTnight) and average land surface temperature at night, and day (LSTmean). The obtained results indicated that LSTmean has an excellent ability to estimate ET0 in both stations. In Tabriz station with a semi-arid climate, GA-RF-7 model with RMSE=0.516 and in Rasht station with a very humid climate, the GA-RF-5 model with RMSE=0.868, have the best performance among the studied models. Moreover, the evaluations revealed that the temperature of the earth's surface at night is as important as the temperature of the earth's surface during the day, and by combining these two parameters, satisfactory results may be obtained.

Complexity of evaporation process from a water body such as a lake or reservoir and lack of reliable and available data has led to limited developments in this field compared to research on other hydrological components especially where management of these water systems does not rely on more accurate spatial and temporal data. However the operation of reservoirs, development of a new storage, and water accounting strategies require more accurate evaporation estimates especially for drinking water supply in arid area. In this research a new method was developed for evaporation estimation presenting a different solution to the energy balance equation. The proposed approach, called reference and water surface energy balance (RWEB), carried out by defining the reference surface and simultaneously solution to the energy balance equation for both water and reference surfaces. The temperature and net radiation data were used in the proposed method. According to the input data, the RWEB method has the ability for remote sensing application and accordingly the remote sensing algorithm of RWEB was also developed. The method was applied to Doosti Dam Reservoir resulted in the distributed evaporation parameters and estimations.

Since stomatal conductance (gs) couples the crop photosynthesis and transpiration, estimation of gs is important for adopting management practices which can increase crop growth through efficient use of water. In the current study, a simple model based on temperature difference between crop leaf and a reference surface was used for estimation of the leaf stomatal conductance. The model calibrated and validated using two years field experiment data with pumpkin carried out during 2013 and 2014 at Research Farm of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Results showed that model had a very good performance and very accurately simulated pumpkin leaf stomatal conductance under conditions without nitrogen deficiency. Under nitrogen deficient conditions, by using the nitrogen nutrition index (NNI), the good or very good performance and accuracy were obtained from the model. The relative difference (RD) between simulated and observed values of average of stomatal conductance during the growing season was ranged from 1. 1% to 2. 5 for non-nitrogen deficient treatments and from 2. 8% to 5% for nitrogen deficient treatments. The accuracy and simplicity of the model and its low input requirements make it suitable for use in stomatal conductance based crop growth models.