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Background: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main causes of nosocomial infections. The hospital staff as carriers of Staphylococcus aureus have an important role in spreading it among patients. This study aimed to isolate and identify the sea and nuc genes that encode enterotoxin in Staphylococcus aureus isolates, isolated from the Nasal mucosa of staff in Sari Burn hospital by PCR method. Methods: A gene nasal mucosa of Sari Burn hospital staff. In this cross-sectional study, a nasal swab of 40 staff of Burn hospital of Sari was collected and isolated. The S. aureus was detected by biochemical tests such as Gram stain, catalase, and coagulase. Then nuc and sea genes were identified after the extraction of DNA, by PCR technique and gel electrophoresis with a specific primer. Results: From the 40 strains obtained from nasal carriers, 20 S. aureus strains were isolated, and all of them included the nuc gene, while 6 samples included the sea gene. Given that every 20 samples had the nuc gene, therefore this gene is a strong marker for S. aureus. Also, the presence of sea genes in some samples suggested the presence of enterotoxin A in hospital staff as a healthy carrier. Conclusions: PCR techniques can be used to detect the genes encoding enterotoxins in S. aureus. Given that hospital staff can be carriers of Staphylococcus aureus and spread nosocomial infections, therefore identification of the carriers to prevent the spread of infection is essential.

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The electro-optic effect is an important mechanism for actively tuning the refractive index of materials. This effect has various important applications in communication, switching, modulation, and nonlinear optics. This research measured the quadratic electro-optic coefficient for a graphene oxide (GO) film with ellipsometry spectroscopy. The results show that this coefficient is about three orders of magnitude greater than that of other materials. The GO film with its giant electro-optic Kerr coefficient can improve devices based on this effect. For example, it can decrease power consumption and the complexity of these devices due to the need for a lower electric field. In addition, birefringence is obtained of about Δn = 0.08 at 730 nm, which can lead to promising improvements in commercial devices, such as the reduction of working voltage below 10 V.

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We investigate the linear and nonlinear optical property of Morin (MN) at different concentration (1 × 10-6 and 5 × 10-6 M) within AOT reversed micelle prepared by water-in-decane microemulsion having a constant molar ratio of water-to-surfactant molecules of 40 (W = [H2O]/[AOT] = 40) as well as the function of mass fraction of nano-droplet (MFD) values of 0.01,0.04, 0.07, and 0.1 by using UV-Visible, Fluorescence, FTIR, and Z-scan techniques. The steady-state measurement indicates that the presence of microenvironment can greatly affect the tautomeric structure of morin and also Morin property in microenvironment depends upon the amount of oil and Morin concentration. The increase in dipole moment from the ground state to excited state in microenvironment indicate the change in the molecular structure on morin. Morin does not show any nonlinear absorption property but the nonlinear refractive index is observed as a function of Morin concentration as well as MFD values which are due to the thermal agitation of formed dimers. Morin nonlinearity.

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Manipulation of the nonlinear optical response of materials plays a significant role in photonics applications; however, it may be irreversible, untunable, and uncontrollable, which makes it difficult. In this Letter, we present a mechanical-hydrodynamical approach through a microchannel to tune the nonlinear absorption response of graphene oxide liquid crystals. In this material, the optical properties depend on the flake orientation. This feature has helped us to study empirically the dependency of the nonlinear absorption coefficients to external hydrodynamical force by employing the Z-scan technique. The experimental results show that increasing the flow rate in the microchannel enhances both linear and nonlinear absorption coefficients and, as a result, reduces the laser beam transmission through the sample. It has been observed that the percentage change in the nonlinear absorption coefficient of the sample is significant due to the flow rate.

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In this paper, we examine the light scattering by the flow of levitated flakes in a micro-channel to characterize the tunable functionality of the graphene oxide liquid crystal in the nematic phase. Light interaction with the mentioned material is decomposed to the scattered and transmitted parts and they can determine the orientation of the flakes. Our results demonstrate that, pumping the graphene oxide sample through the micro-channel leads to increase the amplitude of scattered light. The time averaged of scattered light intensity grows by increasing volume fraction. We also find that, the higher volume fraction, the sooner reaching to saturated normalized scattered intensity is. To get deep insight about our experimental results, we rely on the general theoretical properties of the light scattering cross-section incorporating the fluctuation of director vector and dielectric tensor. Our proposal is a promising approach to carry out the mechanical-hydrodynamical approach for controlling the orientation of a typical liquid crystal.

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In this paper, we investigate the crossing statistics of speckle patterns formed in the Fresnel diffraction region by a laser beam scattering through a nanofluid. We extend zero-crossing statistics to assess the dynamical properties of the nanofluid. According to the joint probability density function of laser beam fluctuation and its time derivative, the theoretical frameworks for Gaussian and non-Gaussian regimes are revisited. We count the number of crossings not only at zero level but also for all available thresholds to determine the average speed of moving particles. Using a probabilistic framework in determining crossing statistics, a priori Gaussianity is not essentially considered; therefore, even in the presence of deviation from Gaussian fluctuation, this modified approach is capable of computing relevant quantities, such as mean value of speed, more precisely. Generalized total crossing, which represents the weighted summation of crossings for all thresholds to quantify small deviation from Gaussian statistics, is introduced. This criterion can also manipulate the contribution of noises and trends to infer reliable physical quantities. The characteristic time scale for having successive crossings at a given threshold is defined. In our experimental setup, we find that increasing sample temperature leads to more consistency between Gaussian and perturbative non-Gaussian predictions. The maximum number of crossings does not necessarily occur at mean level, indicating that we should take into account other levels in addition to zero level to achieve more accurate assessments.

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Elm trees are important landscape trees and sucking insects weaken the elm trees and produce large amounts of honeydew. The main objectives of this study were to identify main honeydew-producing pests of elm trees and do site-specific spraying against these pests. To map the spatial distribution of the sucking pests in the large scale, the study area was divided into 40 × 40 m grids and one tree was chosen randomly from each grid (a total of 55 trees). These trees were sampled twice a year in 2011 and 2012. Each sample was a 30-cm branch terminal. Eight samples were taken from each tree in four cardinal directions and two canopy levels. The number of sucking insects and leaves of each sample were counted and recorded. Spatial analysis of the data was carried out using geostatistics. Kriging was used for producing prediction maps. Insecticide application was restricted to the regions with populations higher than threshold. To identify within-tree distribution of the honeydew-producing pests, six and four elm trees were chosen in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and sampled weekly. These trees were sampled as described previously. European elm scale (EES), Gossyparia spuria (Modeer) and two species of aphids were the dominant honeydew-producing pests. The results revealed that the effects of direction, canopy level and their interactions on insect populations were not statistically significant (P < 0.05). Site-specific spraying decreased the amount of insecticides used by ca. 20%, while satisfactory control of the sucking pests and honeydew excretion was obtained. Considering the environmental and economic benefits of site-specific spraying, it is worth doing more complementary works in this area.

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Eurygaster integriceps Puton (Hemiptera: Scutelleridae) is the most serious insect pest of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in Iran. In this study, spatio-temporal distribution of this pest was determined in wheat by using spatial analysis by distance indices (SADIE) and geostatistics. Global positioning and geographic information systems were used for spatial sampling and mapping the distribution of this insect. The study was conducted for three growing seasons in Gharamalek, an agricultural region to the west of Tabriz, Iran. Weekly sampling began when E. integriceps adults migrated to wheat fields from overwintering sites and ended when the new generation adults appeared at the end of season. The adults were sampled using 1- by 1-m quadrat and distance-walk methods. A sweep net was used for sampling the nymphs, and five 180° sweeps were considered as the sampling unit. The results of spatial analyses by using geostatistics and SADIE indicated that E. integriceps adults were clumped after migration to fields and had significant spatial dependency. The second- and third-instar nymphs showed aggregated spatial structure in the middle of growing season. At the end of the season, population distribution changed toward random or regular patterns; and fourth and fifth instars had weaker spatial structure compared with younger nymphs. In Iran, management measures for E. integriceps in wheat fields are mainly applied against overwintering adults, as well as second and third instars. Because of the aggregated distribution of these life stages, site-specific spraying of chemicals is feasible in managing E. integriceps.

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Results of laboratory experiments are reported that tested the effects of five chitin synthesis inhibitors, diflubenzuron, cyromazine, lufenuron, hexaflumuron and triflumuron. on second instars of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Crysomelidae), originally collected from potato fields of Bostanabaad, a town 66 km southeast of Tabriz, Iran. In bioassays, the larvae were fed potato leaves dipped in aqueous solutions containing chitin synthesis inhibitors. The mortalities and abnormalities of the treated larvae were recorded 72 hours after treatments. LC(50) values were 58.6, 69.6, 27.3, 0.79 and 81.4 mg ai/ L for diflubenzuron, cyromazine, lufenuron, hexaflumuron and triflumuron, respectively. Compared with phosalone, which is one of the common insecticides used for controlling this pest in Iran, lufenuron and hexaflumuron seem to be much more potent, and if they perform equally well in the field, they would be suitable candidates to be considered as reduced risk insecticides in management programs for L. decemlineata due to much wider margin of safety for mammals and considerably fewer undesirable environmental side effects.

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