s. zare

Radiation therapy (RT) plays a crucial role in breast cancer management. However, RT may inadvertently expose neighboring organs to potential adverse effects. This study aimed to quantitatively analyze the radiation dose delivered to the cervical and thoracic esophagus during RT, focusing on patients undergoing post-mastectomy adjuvant RT.

This cross-sectional study included 100 breast cancer patients who underwent post-mastectomy adjuvant RT to the chest wall and supraclavicular field (SCF) using 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy (3DCRT). The dosimetric parameters, including mean dose (Dmean), V5, V10 and V30, were estimated from dose-volume histogram (DVH) data for the cervical and thoracic esophagus.

The mean age of the patients was 54.01 (± 11.62) years. The Dmean (± SD) for the thoracic and cervical esophagus were 1.15 (± 0.52) and 3.06 (± 2.09), respectively, with statistically significant different doses between the thoracic and cervical esophagus (P-value < 0.001). The V5, V10, and V30 for the thoracic esophagus were zero; however, the V5, V10 and V30 for the cervical esophagus were 7.07 (± 15.83), 2.29 (± 8.04) and 0.29 (± 1.99), respectively. The V5 values were significantly higher than V10 (P-value < 0.001) and V30 (P-value < 0.001), while V10 and V30 did not differ significantly (P-value = 0.155).

This study reveals distinct dosimetric patterns for the cervical and thoracic esophagus during RT. The thoracic esophagus received low radiation doses, whereas the cervical esophagus demonstrated higher doses and more significant variability. Findings emphasize the importance of meticulous treatment planning to minimize potential late radiation-induced complications, especially in the cervical region.

Spinal cord injury causes a huge social and economic burden on the society. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of selected program of walking with support on a treadmill and eye exercises on the energy consumption, self-confidence and quality of life factors of paraplegic spinal cord injury patients.

This semi-experimental study was conducted with targeted and available sampling method. The study population consisted of all spinal cord injury patients with incomplete paraplegia (C-D) referring to Hana charity center in Isfahan province, of which 30 people were selected in a targeted and accessible way. The sample group was randomly divided into two groups of 15 people, the experimental group with an average age of 34.40 ± 2.87 years and the control group with an average age of 33.93±3.34 years. The experimental group participated in 12 weeks, 3 sessions per week, in training sessions that started from 45 and reached 90 minutes in the last sessions. The collection tools in this research were: Energy Consumption Index, Eyseng Self-Confidence and Quality of Life Questionnaire. Repeated measure analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.

The results of repeated measure analysis of variance showed that 12 weeks of the selected program of walking with support on the treadmill and eye exercises had a significant effect on the energy consumption test with mean of 1.52±0.88, (p=0.002, Eta=0.28, F=59.28), self-confidence Test with mean of 12.00±  4.10 (p = 0.001, Eta= 0.68,  F= 63.11) and quality of life factors with mean of 48.76± 12.70 (p = 0.001, U= 25.00) of paraplegic spinal cord injury patients.

12 weeks of a selected program of walking with support on a treadmill and eye exercises have positive and significant effects on the energy consumption, self-confidence and quality of life factors of paraplegic spinal cord injury patients. Therefore,so it is suggested that these exercises improve the physical and mental condition of spinal cord injury patients. Paraplegia should be used in medical centers.

Improving the deviant behavior of employees in organizations has always been of interest. The aim of the current research is to investigate the role of spiritual health and monetary ethics in dealing with the deviant behavior of employees of sports organizations with regard to the mediating role of work ethics.

The research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in nature. The statistical population of the research was formed by managers and experts of sports and youth departments of Isfahan province in 1401, out of 1430 people, 750 people using stratified sampling method according to the volume, selection and data using questionnaire. were collected by researchers. Content and construct validity were used to measure validity, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis was done in SPSS and the model was confirmed in AMOS.

There is a significant relationship between spiritual health and monetary ethics. A significant relationship can be seen between spiritual health and work ethics. This connection between monetary ethics and work ethics is also observed. Spiritual health, money ethics, and work ethics each have a significant relationship with deviant behavior. Work ethic acts as a mediator between spiritual health and deviant behavior, as well as monetary ethics and deviant behavior.

In order to manage the deviant behavior of employees in sports organizations, it is necessary to pay attention to the variables of spiritual health, money ethics and work ethics and provide the ground for improvement in these organizations.

A review of research on soil and plant interactions in rangeland and desert ecosystems shows that the number of soil samples are not determined on a scientific basis. The present study, with the aim of using effect size and power analysis to determine the number of soil samples in three plant types of Salsola spp. was conducted in three arid and semiarid regions of Shahriar, Zirkouh and Zabol. In addition, 15, 10, and 5 soil samples were collected for each plant type, respectively. Some soil properties, including electrical conductivity, sand content, organic matter content, calcium carbonate equivalent, and saturation percentage, were determined in the laboratory. The number of samples was estimated after the initial sampling based on the calculated effect size (f) and the power of 80 % and before the sampling based on the medium effect size (f = 0.25) and the power of 60 %. The results showed that the power analysis of the three studied sites was 88, 56, and 38 %, respectively. To determine the minimum number of soil samples required to achieve a power of 80 %, at least 20 soil samples are required for Zabol and Zirkouh, and at least 12 soil samples are required for Shahriar. If there is no previous information about the soil properties, more than 50 soil samples must be collected from each plant type for a statistical comparison of three plant types with a medium effect size, a power of 80 %, and a significant level of 0.05.

 In the field of vegetation studies, there are statistical and graphical methods to estimate the number of plots needed for sampling, and their application has been approved in numerous research studies. In a review of research on soil and plant interactions in rangeland and desert ecosystems, it seems that the number of soil samples are not determined based on a scientific basis. Either by autecology or synecology, soil samples were taken from different depths at the first and end points of each transect according to the soil depth by using the random-systematic method (i.e., a total of 6–8 soil samples). The sampling scheme captures all the decisions and information, such as the purpose of the sampling, financial constraints, sampling method, sample size, method(s) of statistical analysis, and accuracy of results (Arzani and Abedi, 2015). One of the most frequent problems in statistical analysis is determining the appropriate sample size (Rostampour and Eftekhari, 2023). The present study has the aim of using effect size and power analysis to determine the number of soil samples in three plant types in the halophyte-psammophyte ecosystem of the arid and semi-arid regions.

The present study was conducted on three plant types of Salsola spp. in three arid and desert areas of Shahriar, Zirkouh, and Zabol. At Shahriar, Zirkouh and Zabol sites, 15, 10, and 5 soil samples were collected for each plant type, respectively. Then, the soil samples were passed through a 2-mm sieve and some soil properties, including electrical conductivity, organic matter content, sand content, calcium carbonate equivalent and saturation percentage were measured in the laboratory. In general, for estimating the number of samples based on power analysis, there is a need for three factors: effect size, power, and significant levels. In the present study, two methods were used to determine the number of soil samples: 1) the estimation of the optimal sample number after the initial sampling based on the calculated effect size (f) and the power of 80 %, and 2) the minimum number of samples before sampling based on the medium effect size (f = 0.25) and power of 60 %.

The results showed that with an increase in the number of soil samples, the power analysis of the three studied sites was 38, 56, and 88 %, respectively. To determine the minimum number of soil samples required to achieve a power of 80 %, at least 20 soil samples are required for the Zabol and Zirkouh sites, and at least 12 soil samples are required for the Shahriar site. If the effect size is unknown due to the absence of data variance, the numbers of samples required for the sample sizes of small, medium, and large, and to reach a power of 60 % at the level of 0.05, are about 209, 35, and 14 samples, respectively. If there is no previous information about the soil properties, for a statistical comparison of three plant types with a medium effect size, a power of 80 %, and a significant level of 0.05, more than 50 soil samples must be collected from each plant type.

As per guideline, a power of 80 % is often considered an acceptable threshold, and studies with a power of less than 50 % should not be usually conducted. Accordingly, only the Shahriar site has a power above 60 %. Therefore, sampling from the Zirkouh and Zabol sites was not adequate for the statistical analysis. If there is no previous information about the soil properties, at least 50 soil samples should be collected from each plant type to compare the statistical significance of the three plant types with a medium effect size (F = 0.25) and a significant level of 0.05.

Due to the environmental problems caused by wind erosion, it is necessary to stabilize the dust centers with mulches. The objective of the present study was to determine and compare the optimum vinasse mulches based on mechanical indicators for sensitive soil stabilization to wind erosion. In this research, vinasse (0, 100, 200 g) is combined with bagasse (0, 25, 50 g), ash bagasse (0, 25, 50 g), filtercake (0, 12.5, 25 g), and one-liter water (81 treatments). At first, the treatments were determined in the appropriate range of salinity and acidity (35 treatments) and in the next step, the mechanical indicators have been measured after mulching on laboratory trays (2×30×100 cm). Optimum mulches have been determined based on five indicators by mean comparison (Duncan). The mean comparison showed that treatments 33, 30, 34, 32, and 19 show the mean difference between the groups based on layer thickness, impact resistance, compressive strength, and shear strength properly. It can be concluded that vinasse (100 and 200 g) with 50 g bagasse reduces the crack coefficient greatly, and the application of vinasse, bagasse, and filtercake does not affect the compressive strength and impact resistance.

Flooding and soil erosion are unfortunate hazards that cause huge and irreparable damage to the natural environment and man-made properties every year. Due to the importance of the agricultural sector in the country's economy and also the provision of food for the people of the society, for the sustainability of agriculture, special emphasis should be placed on the number of resources available in the agricultural sector and the factors affecting decision-making and allocation of resources. Although it is important to pay attention to the category of resilience in the agricultural sector, there are very few studies related to the improvement of resilience in the agricultural sector against floods and controlling soil erosion. Hence, the current research aims to identify ways to improve the resilience of agriculture against floods, while examining the importance of resilience, the effect of floods on agriculture and food security, and finally, ways to strengthen resilience in the agricultural sector dealing with floods and soil and water conservation. The results of this review research can be a scientific and key basis for researchers, executive officials, and managers of the country's agricultural sector. It will also help farmers consider different management methods to deal with all kinds of risks, especially floods and soil erosion.

In this paper, the effect of various parameters on the pulse shape of the CO2 laser has been investigated. For this purpose, various parameters such as gas pressure and the length of the resonator were changed and the laser pulses shapes in each case along with their energy have been recorded. The results show that the output energy increases sharply with increasing gas pressure, so that when the pressure increases by factors of 2 and 3, the output energy increases by factors of 3 and 5 while the pulses duration reaches 0.5 and 0.3 and their buildup time reaches 0.9 and 0.7 of the initial values. In addition, by increasing the oscillator length, the width of the spike and especially of the tail parts of the pulses decease. To perform this series of experiments, a home-made laser with 1-3 atm operational pressure has been used

Calculating the cost of services provided in the health sector is the basis for establishing the operational budgeting system and determining actual tariffs. Considering the importance of the education system in the health sector and the need to calculate its total cost, the main goal of this article is to calculate the total cost of studying in non-clinical fields of the health sector in Fars University of Medical Sciences and Health Services by activity-based pricing method.

The statistical population of the research included non-clinical courses in 9 schools located in Shiraz city and 5 schools in other cities of Fars province. The required information was collected from accrual accounting, payroll and educational assistant software named "Sama", faculties such as the exact position of the people and the units of professors, the list of paid fees and interviews.

In non-clinical fields, the relationship between the student's final grade in practical course units and the student's final grade in theoretical course units was positive and significant. There was a significant difference in the cost of education in different educational levels; In such a way that the associate degree with the amount of 489 million Rials was the lowest and the specialized doctorate with the amount of 3.636 million Rials was the highest in terms of the average cost. The cost of studying in different faculties also had a significant difference. Faculties of modern medical sciences and technologies, pharmacy and medicine, respectively, had the highest cost of student education; In addition, considering the share of education (about 53%) of the total cost, the need for authorities to pay attention to education in order to reduce the cost of a student's education was determined.

The authorities should focus on controlling and reducing the cost of education as the main component of the cost of education. Therefore, when comparing the final price of different majors and degrees, as well as for allocating funds to faculties, they should pay attention to factors such as the number of practical and theoretical course units, degree and faculty.

This work investigates the effects of different operational parameters on the pulse shape of a homemade high repetition rate (1 kHz) pulsed CO2 laser. Various parameters such as the ratio of N2 and He in the laser gas mixture and the reflectivity of the laser front mirror have changed. Then, the energy and shape of the laser pulses were recorded and analyzed. It showed that by varying the ratios of N2 and He in the laser gas mixture, the time duration of the spike and tail parts of the laser pulses can be changed in 95-140 ns and 1.5-3.5 µs range, respectively. In addition, we found that when the reflectivity of the cavity front mirror increases from 50% up to 80%, the spike duration increases from 50 ns up to 90 ns, and the tail duration decreases from 4.8 µs to 2.5 µs.

Active tectonics in the basins causes the formation of various phenomena such as alluvial fans, terraces, faults and causes various changes in the morphometry of basins. The aim of the present study was to identify the morphological features of Sharghonj watershed in Birjand. Basin shape coefficient, shape ratio, compaction coefficient, canal surface density index, branching, hypsometric integral, unevenness ratio, unevenness coefficient, land slope, relative prominence, meandering intermediate degree and longitudinal river gradient have been used. The results showed that according to the Horton ordering, the highest stream order of the watershed is six. The basin shape coefficient, basin shape ratio and basin compaction coefficient or gravelius were 0.2, 2.4 and 2.02, respectively. Also, hypsometric integral indices, ratio and roughness coefficient, ground slope by degree and relative prominence were calculated as 0.5, 0.62, 609, 25 and 428, respectively. These indicators showed that the basin is elongated in shape and has young elevations. In terms of neotectonic activities in the region, the LAT index for the basin is 4.25 and the basin is placed in group 4 of this division and has a low intensity of neotectonic activity.

Comminution is the most energy intensive operation which constitutes the major portion of operating and capital costs of the mineral processing plants.  Working at the maximum operating capacity of comminution equipment plays a significant role in the efficiency of the circuit.  Also, due to the effect of crusher efficiency on the downstream circuit performance, optimization of the crushing circuits has received considerable attention.  In this research, the effect of feed chute design on tertiary cone crusher performance at the Sarcheshmeh copper complex was studied.  A close monitoring of the performance crusher revealed that main problems were high fluctuations of power draw and uneven and high-rate wear of crusher liners.  Such pitfalls were clear evidences of an improper feeding arrangement into the crusher.  Accordingly, various feed chute designs were employed in the simulations by an in-house developed DEM software called KMPCDEM© to find more uniform feed distribution on the distribution plate of the crusher.  Results showed that by changing the shape of feed chute from cubic to cylindrical, decreasing its surface area from 0.34 to 0.24 m2 and increasing the cylinder length above and below the feed chute plate from 0 to 45 cm and from 53 to 95 cm, respectively, uniform feed distribution was obtained.  After installing the new feed chute design in the plant, a detail monitoring over a period of 15 months showed a reduction of the standard deviation of crusher power draw from 13 to 3 kW.  A better crusher control caused choke feeding.  Therefore, 36% increase in the crusher throughput and finer and narrower product size distribution occurred.  Furthermore, the life of crusher liners increased from 8 months to 15 months on account of more uniform and lower rate of wear on mantle and liners.

The energy consumed by the comminution equipment accounts for the main part of the operating cost of the mineral processing plants. In order to conserve energy, attempts were made to increase the efficiency of the conventional comminution equipment. As a case study, in this research work, a process audit was carried out in the comminution plant of the Steel-Sirjan Iron Ore Complex in order to find the low-cost solutions to improve the product quality and decrease the maintenance and operating costs. Three main steps of the audit were (1) studying the operating manuals and checking the standard process procedures, (2) process data analyzing, and (3) proposing and implementing the proper solutions. Plant audit revealed a low equipment efficiency. The main defects were the crusher operation in the half-full condition, high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) operation in a non-standard condition, high amounts of rejected materials in the HPGR circuit, and low efficiency of the screen. Following this, a series of modifications were made in the crushing and grinding circuit. This consequently caused an increase of 9.3% in the crushing plant throughput in the choked condition of the crushers as opposed to the half-full condition. By increasing the HPGR operational pressure and the hopper level, BBWI of the HPGR product in the super-choked condition was decreased from 16± 0.20 kWh/t to 14.9± 0.25 kWh/t. By modifying the screen process, the circulating load decreased from 79% to 59%, and the screen efficiency increased from 63.5% to 89.5%.The energy consumed by the comminution equipment accounts for the main part of the operating cost of the mineral processing plants. In order to conserve energy, attempts were made to increase the efficiency of the conventional comminution equipment. As a case study, in this research work, a process audit was carried out in the comminution plant of the Steel-Sirjan Iron Ore Complex in order to find the low-cost solutions to improve the product quality and decrease the maintenance and operating costs. Three main steps of the audit were (1) studying the operating manuals and checking the standard process procedures, (2) process data analyzing, and (3) proposing and implementing the proper solutions. Plant audit revealed a low equipment efficiency. The main defects were the crusher operation in the half-full condition, high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) operation in a non-standard condition, high amounts of rejected materials in the HPGR circuit, and low efficiency of the screen. Following this, a series of modifications were made in the crushing and grinding circuit. This consequently caused an increase of 9.3% in the crushing plant throughput in the choked condition of the crushers as opposed to the half-full condition. By increasing the HPGR operational pressure and the hopper level, BBWI of the HPGR product in the super-choked condition was decreased from 16± 0.20 kWh/t to 14.9± 0.25 kWh/t. By modifying the screen process, the circulating load decreased from 79% to 59%, and the screen efficiency increased from 63.5% to 89.5%.

Despite many studies carried out on the application of stem cells in the healing of diabetic wounds, the results are still challenging. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of gelatin hydrogel containing adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells on diabetic wound healing in animal model.

In the present experimental-laboratory study conducted in 2019, mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from human adipose tissue and at that point characterized. The gelatin hydrogel was made using the microbial transglutaminase enzyme. Diabetes was induced in Wistar male rats by injecting streptozotocin. Subsequently, 0.8 cm thick wounds appeared on the backs of the mice. Animals were divided into control groups (treated with normal saline) and treated group with hydrogels containing adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Wound healing was assessed on days 7, 14 and 21 days after treatment through wound imaging. Data were analyzed using t-test and one-way analysis of variance.

The wound area decreased significantly in rats treated with “hydrogel + mesenchymal stem cells” on post-treatment days 7, 14 and 21 compared to first day of treatment (P<0.01, 0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). Unlike control group, the wound area significantly decreased on day 14 compared with day 7 in treated group.

Conclusion

Mesenchymal stem cells transported by gelatin hydrogel to the wound site, cause faster healing of diabetic wounds, therefore, can be used as a dressing for diabetic wounds.

One of the most important parts of a tunnel are the supporting systems, which must be sufficiently resistant to loads during the life of the structure. Critical loads on the tunnel support system are ground and water loads, that are usually calculated separately by analytical methods.These loads have  coupled hydro-mechanical behavior in the materials around the tunnel and their effects on the structure should be considered as a connection phenomenon. Therefore, in this study, using two-dimensional finite difference method in FLAC software, a static design of the tunnel was performed, in which  the water was initially considered only as the pore pressure, and subsequently, static analysis was carried out completely in the form of coupling. One of the twin tunnels of Tabriz Metro Line 1 was used as a case study. For these two states, axial force and bending moment were evaluated and compared. In order to investigate the tunnel behavior under dynamic load, the real Duzce earthquake at the MCE level was selected. The axial force and bending moment in pure dynamic state and hydrodynamic coupling using Byron behavioral model were evaluated. The results showed that in the static coupled design, higher axial force of about 27% and lower bending moment of about 36% were obtained compared to the no-coupled mode. Also in the dynamic coupled design, more axial force and lower bending moment,  about 25% and 66%  respectively, were seen. Therefore, it can be concluded that it is best to use this state of structural loading for the detailed design of reinforced concrete structures.

Global sensitivity analysis is one of the beneficial and useful tool to identify the uncertainty of input variables that has been extremely investigated in different science such as simulations. Sensitivity analysis is an essential step in the production of meta-model, which, by identifying effective parameters in tunneling, reduces the time and computations required. In this paper, sensitivity analysis was carried out on geotechnical and operational parameters of EPB mechanized tunneling in soft soil. So, the tunneling processes were modeled using a finite difference method in FLAC 3D software, and the numerical model was validated by the monitoring data obtained from the East-West route of Tehran metro 7 line. The sensitivity analysis by using elementary effect Morris method was performed on the 6 input parameters and three parameters (face pressure, specific gravity and cohesion of the soil layer which the tunnel was excavated) were selected as effective and sensitive parameters in the maximum surface settlement. Then to construction of meta- model, 100 samples were generated from effective parameters using the Latin Hypercube method. After numerical simulation for each sample, the simulation results were used for surface settlement prediction by using artificial neural network. The results showed that the prediction of the meta-model based on the artificial neural network and the numerical model for the data in the design phase corresponded about 98%.

The lack of enough medical evidence about COVID-19 regarding optimal prevention, diagnosis, and treatment contributes negatively to the rapid increase in the number of cases globally. A chest computerized tomography (CT) scan has been introduced as the most sensitive diagnostic method. Therefore, this research aimed to examine and evaluate the chest CT scan as a screening measure of COVID-19 in trauma patients.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Rajaee Hospital in Shiraz from February to May 2020. All patients underwent unenhanced CT with a 16-slice CT scanner. The CT-scans were evaluated in a blinded manner and main CT scan features were described and classified into four groups according to North American Society of Radiology recommendation. Subsequently, the first two North American Society of Radiology categories with the highest probability of COVID pneumonia (i.e. typical and indeterminate) were merged into the “positive CT scan group” and those with radiologic features with the least probability of COVID pneumonia into “negative CT scan group”.

Chest CT scan had a sensitivity (68%), specificity (56%), positive predictive value (34.8%), negative predictive value (83.7%), and accuracy (59.3%) in detecting COVID-19 among trauma patients. Also, for the diagnosis of COVID-19 by CT scan in asymptomatic individuals a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 66.7% and a negative predictive value of 100% was obtained.

Findings of the study indicated that the CT scan&#039;s sensitivity and specificity is less effective in diagnosing trauma patients with COVID-19 in comparison to non-traumatic people.

The overall purpose of this study is to use probabilistic methods for the estimation of the advanced rate of full-face tunnel boring machines. To collect appropriate input parameters, Monte Carlo Simulation was utilized. Then, the calculation phase was conducted applying established models on input data and probability density functions of output data were obtained. The results show that the average advance rates calculated by QTBM and CSM models were closer to the average value of the actual advance rates. In addition, using probabilistic methods in combination with TBM prediction models helps to estimate the range of advance rates more confidently.

Today, numerical simulation can be used as a suitable tool to measure large quantities that are very expensive and, in some cases, impossible to measure. One of the important issues in predicting rock mass boreability in excavation with full face tunnel boring machines is estimating the discchr('39')s forces for rock cutting. For this purpose, the linear cutting test is  employed. However, limited access to equipment and the high cost of this test have resulted in a decline in its use. In this research, linear cutting tests have been simulated using numerical methods using ABAQUS 6-14 software, which is based on the finite element method. In this simulation, according to the dynamic analysis, for the explicit solution method and the behavior of the rock, the Johnson–Holmquist-II model (JH-2) is used. Subsequently, after solving the model, the forces acting on a fixed cross-sectional disc are estimated, and then, for validation, the results of numerical modeling are compared with laboratory results and theoretical model. Comparison of the results shows that the cutting forces obtained from the simulation have a deviation of 7% and 11% with normal and rolling forces compared to the mean forces in laboratory work, respectively.

In recent years, competition has grown stronger due to technological advances. Market members need to be careful and decide to remain competitive by using scientific tools. One of the important decisions of manufacturers in the competitive market is to decide on how much their products are compatible with the environment. One of the most important aspects of environmental compatibility is energy consumption and pollution. With the rapid growth of the industry, the number of energy-consuming devices in the world is increasing day by day. These devices made life easier for humans; however, excessive energy consumption of these products has caused serious damage to the environment, and the consequences of these damages have made the general public more sensitive to environmental issues. An effective factor in reducing energy consumption improves the energy efficiency of consumer products. Increasing the energy efficiency of products that use fossil fuels will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. For this reason, this paper considered a supply chain consisting of two manufacturers. Each manufacturer produces a product that consumes a certain amount of energy when used to perform a specific task. It is assumed that manufacturers can reduce the energy consumption of their products by upgrading their production technology. The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior of these manufacturers in a competitive environment and answer the question of how much manufacturers need to spend on improving energy consumption and how to determine the price of the final product when consumers are sensitive to the cost of energy and environmental issues. The results show that, by increasing customers' public awareness concerning environmental issues, manufacturers must reduce the energy consumption of their products. Another result shows that the increased price of a unit of energy can make manufacturers increase the energy efficiency of their products.

Urmia Lake is one of the largest permanent hypersaline lakes in the world. The lake can be characterized as an oligotrophic lake concerning phytoplankton production. Due to low precipitation in recent years in Urmia Lake’s catchment area, the water level has declined as much as 4 m compared to 15 years ago. Irrespective of its recent evolution, Urmia Lake has always shown fluctuations in historical and geological times, which may cause some ecological partition. Regarding allopatric speciation model of Artemia we assume that several populations of Artemia are generated during last years and living in Urmia Lake. To investigate Artemia population diversity in Urmia Lake, A. urmiana Günther 1890 cysts were collected from five sites in Lake Urmia, Iran. These sites in part represent areas with different physicochemical conditions. To detect possible differences between stations, discriminant analysis (DA) was performed on data of survival, growth, and reproduction at two salinities (75 and 150 g L -1 ) in laboratory culture tests. The performed DA implied that for the reproductive and life span characters, in both salinities, the stations of Golmankhaneh can be determined as the separated group among the studied stations which can be considered for industrial projects and evolutionary studies.

Today, with the development of new information and communication technologies, business methods, daily activities, communication with others, access to information and in general, all elements of human life have undergone a great change. These technologies are mainly aimed at improving the quality of educational services, as well as goals such as expanding the number of contacts, educators and educational institutions, and even companies and business centers to enable cost-effectiveness and in the shortest possible time to convey the desired content to students, customers and the audience in general. Education for sustainable development is an approach to education that seeks to empower people to take responsibility for building a sustainable future. In order to better achieve the goals of education for sustainable development, the e-learning approach can be used, which in this study has developed and validated the framework of the electronic curriculum for sustainable development in higher education. The main purpose of this study was designing curriculum electronic-content for sustainable development education in the higher education system.

The research project was qualitative and in particular ’qualitative case study‘; The statistical population of the study consisted of three groups: 1: All members of the faculty of civil engineering, architecture, agriculture; 2: All members of faculty of educational psychology of Shiraz University And 3: all experts, scholars, and researchers in the field of electronic curriculum planning; To collect data questionnaire and interview were used. To analyze the data, a consensus-based approach and the Bowl technique were used; Also, open-ended interview was used.

The data obtained were analyzed by the software Nvivo version 8 using Thematic analysis technique and content design curriculum for sustainable development education in Iran's higher education system As a comprehensive Thematic, 4 organizing themes and 73 basic themes were identified and the content network was extracted. Curriculum framework for sustainable development education at higher education level designed in the form of twelve elements: goal, content, role of instructor, learner role, teaching method-learning, evaluation, teaching materials, type of curriculum, level of education, participants in the design and implementation of curriculum, place of training, and time of training. The curriculum was compiled in five chapters, five titles and sixteen chapters. As such, this curriculum can be taught in the form of an instructional book as a two-unit course in a variety of disciplines, including civil engineering, architecture, and agriculture.

In the higher education system, the issue of sustainable development is not specifically addressed, but as a part of the courses in civil engineering, architecture, agriculture, students are taught these contents. On the other hand, the integration of e-learning as an achievement of the new educational system in the process of teaching and learning and the curriculum of educational institutions is inevitable. According to the results of this study, it can be said that many courses in the fields of civil engineering, architecture, agriculture, directly or indirectly refer to the issue of sustainable development or professors, according to their expertise and excellence, in relation to the subject of development to provide stable information to students. In the present study, while paying attention to this issue, an attempt was made to design the electronic content of the sustainable development education curriculum in the higher education system.

Among the significant discussions pertaining to the project design and planning, minimizing uncertainties is an important issue. Usually the uncertainties in subsurface projects arise from the unknown ground conditions which may cause the designer to fail to consider all the potential issues prone to occur during the construction procedure. Total time and cost uncertainties can be considered as the most important uncertainties; the time and costs are directly connected with thorough cognition of the subsurface conditions. Accordingly, in subsurface projects the actual time and costs are not ascertainable, and hence the probability methods should be used to assess such factors.In order to evaluate the uncertainties probabilistically, different tools (probabilistic models) have been introduced, including Decision Aids for Tunneling (DAT) tool. DAT was first introduced by Einstein; it was then developed by Prof. Einstein group and major advancements have been achieved in DAT research projects since then. The present study was undertaken on a Hamro road tunnel of 1310m length and cross section of $97 m^2$ as part of the under construction Sanandaj - Marivan road. In this paper, using DAT method and considering the pre-construction data of a Hamro tunnel, the probabilistic time and cost of the tunnel were predicted. In most cases in order to estimate the data needed for DAT method, a number of questionnaires were distributed among the tunneling experts and eventually the mean values of the respondents were applied to the model. Afterwards the time and cost obtained through DAT method were compared with the actual post-construction time and cost of the Hamro tunnel execution for model validation and reducing the uncertainty for the future projects. Finally, it was revealed that the obtained results of the DAT method has high similarity with the actual results, confirming the validity of DAT method for decreasing the total time and cost uncertainties in execution of future projects.

Premature infants are born prior to the development of cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, and central nervous systems. A significant number of these infants experience oral feeding problems. In this study, we investigated the effects of empty breast and pacifier sucking on the growth of preterm infants in Children and Shariati Hospitals of Bandar Abbas.

In this clinical trial, a total of 69 children were selected through the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into three groups. The first and second groups received oral stimulation with mothers’ breast and pacifier, respectively, twice a day (morning and evening) each lasting 15 minutes. A third group was selected as the control group with no intervention. Head circumference and weight were measured on a weekly and a daily basis, respectively, by one person. The length of stay and the number of days to start oral feeding with a syringe and then breast were also evaluated. The data were analyzed with SPSS 16 through descriptive methods and statistical tests and P

Of the 69 infants enrolled in the study, 4 children did not complete it due to deterioration of conditions. After matching of the 3 groups, the number of days elapsed to syringe feeding was 14.5, 16.5, and 12.2 days in the first, second, and third groups, respectively, with no statistically significant difference between them. The number of days elapsed to breast feeding was averagely 21.7, 22, and 20 days in the first, second, and third groups, respectively, with no statistically significant difference between them.

The results indicated that non-nutritional sucking through mother’s breast and pacifier does not affect the growth of premature infants.

This study was carried out to correlate histological findings in cervical lesions to human papilloma virus (HPV), as detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

In this descriptive study, out of 143 cervical biopsies, 50 biopsies, containing sufficient histopathologic criteria, were examined. PCR assay was performed with the primers GP05/06+ and, as control, the beta-globin gene was amplified. The morphological findings were correlated to HPV positivity: koilocytic atypia, multinucleation, acanthosis, papillomatosis, dyskeratotic cell, mitosis in the lower basal third of the epithelium, hyperplasia of basal layers.

In 50 selected samples pathologic diagnosis was chronic cervicitis in 37 cases (74%) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in 13 cases (including CIN I in 6 cases, CIN II in 5 cases, CIN III in 2 cases). HPV DNA was positive in 6 cases, including 5.4% of chronic cervicitis (2 cases) and 30.8% of CINs (including 33.3% of CIN I, 40% of CIN II). The analysis did not indicate any strong relationship between morphological criteria and HPV. The only finding showed an independent, straight and weak correlation between HPV and koilocytic atypia (P value=0.003 & Kappa=0.296) with sensitivity of 100% and a relatively low specificity of 63.6%. By excluding mild koilocytic atypia, this correlation was amplified (P<0.001 & Kappa=0.669) and appear acceptable sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 93.2%. The finding with highest positive and negative predictive value was the presence of definite koilocytosis (PPV=62.5% & NPV=97.6%).

In spite of association of some HPV infection with chronic cervicitis; there is no correlation between severity of chronic cervicitis and HPV infection. Although koilocytosis is a good indicative criterion for HPV infection; nevertheless, there is some limitations in histological diagnosis of cervical HPV infection