In this study, monolayer drying of kiwi slices was simulated by a laboratory-scale hot-air dryer. The drying process was carried out at three different temperatures of 50, 60, and 70°C. After the end of drying process, initially, the experimental drying data were fitted to the 11 well-known drying models. The results indicated that Two-term model gave better performance compared with other models to monitor the moisture ratio (with average R 2 value equal .998). Also, this study used artificial neural network (ANN) in order to feasibly predict dried kiwi slices moisture ratio (y), based on the time and temperature drying inputs (x 1 , x 2 ). In order to do this research, two main activation functions called logsig and tanh, widely used in engineering calculations, were applied.The results revealed that, logsig activation function base on 13 neurons in first and second hidden layers were selected as the best configuration to predict the moisture ratio. This network was able to predict moisture ratio with R 2 value .997. Furthermore, kiwi slice favorite is evaluated by sensory evaluation. In this test, sense qualities as color, aroma, flavor, appearance, and chew ability (tissue brittleness) are considered. K E Y W O R D SArtificial neural network, hot-air drying, sensory evaluation 1

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This study aimed to summarize the occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in the various cultivars of the Persian pistachio nut and the decontamination techniques, with the aid of a systematic review and meta-analysis. In this regard, all published studies up to November 2019 among international and national databases were screened, resulting in 23 articles. According to the findings, the main aflatoxin identified in the pistachio nut was AFB1, with AFB1 concentrations in ~28% of the studies being ? 5 µg/kg, in ~35% of the studies being ? 10 µg/kg, and in ~37% of the studies being ? 10 µg/kg. Generally, in most studies (~72%), AFB1 content in pistachio cultivars was higher than the acceptable level proposed by the Iranian National Standard. Although several physical and chemical techniques for AFB1 reduction have been introduced, most of them are not safe and/or suitable for human consumption.