Assessment of the human communication indexes between employees of branches of social security organization in Tehran (Iran)

Objective: The purpose of this study was assessment of the human communication indexes between employees branches of Social Security Organization (SSO) of TehranMethod: The method used in this study, the survey method is most common in quantitative research. The sample size was calculated based on Morgan 271 were randomly selected based on these numbers. This study was conducted to collect data and information from the questionnaire were used. Questionnaire consisted of 32 questions of human relations which 5 first question demographic questionnaire and subjects such as sex, education, work experience, marital status and age were included in the study, as well as other questions samples to determine the basis of human relations based on the five choice Likert scale (always, often, sometimes, rarely, never ) was designed. In this project, SPSS software was used to analysis the data.Findings: The results showed that the level of communication skills of staff from the employees' point of view is evaluated desirable (p0.05). Thus, no significant correlation between duration of working on their score is an index of human communications staff. staff's view about the employees in the organization about human relationships in terms of a significant relationship between marital statuses (p>0.05) of employees and their score to human communications index of staff. However, 35% of married people and 19% of single people evaluated communication skills of personnel, appropriate. Thus, there is no significant correlation between duration of working and their score to staff index of human communications (p>0.05). Positive correlation means that with increasing age, a higher score on the index of human communications staff are employees and age, people are more important than communication skills. Positive correlation means that with increasing age, employees have higher scores on the index of human communications and aging causes people to care more about communication skills

Flügge’s Conjecture: Dissipation- versus Deflection-Induced Pavement–Vehicle Interactions

The dissipation occurring below a moving tire in steady-state conditions in contact with a viscoelastic pavement is expressed using two different reference frames: a fixed observer attached to the pavement and a moving observer attached to the pavement–tire contact surface. The first approach is commonly referred to as dissipation-induced pavement–vehicle interaction (PVI), the second as deflection-induced PVI. Based on the principle of frame independence, it is shown that both approaches are strictly equal, from a thermodynamic point of view, and thus predict the same amount of dissipated energy. This equivalence is illustrated through application to two pavement systems: a viscoelastic beam and a viscoelastic plate both resting on an elastic foundation. The amount of dissipated energy in the pavement structure needs to be supplied by the vehicle to maintain constant speed, thus contributing to the rolling resistance, associated excess fuel consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. The model here proposed can be used to quantify the dissipated energy and contribute to the development of engineering methods for the sustainable design of pavements.Portland Cement AssociationReady Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundatio

How to Improve Pavement Life Cycle Cost Analysis: A Case Study of Minnesota

Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) frameworks are used by some transportation agencies for economic assessment, but there have been challenges implementing the approach, particularly in the characterization of initial and future costs of materials, as well as their associated uncertainties. This research brief presents a case study which focused on characterizing initial and future pay item costs as a function of project size for a probabilistic LCCA of the entire life cycle including user cost impacts.This research was carried out by the CSHub@MIT with sponsorship provided by the Portland Cement Association and the Ready Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundation. CSHub@MIT is solely responsible for content

EFFECTS OF CALCIUM FORMS ON ELECTROLYTE LEAKAGE, TOTAL NITROGEN, YIELD AND BIOMASS PRODUCTION BY STRAWBERRY PLANTS UNDER NACL SALINITY

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) plants cv. Selva was grown in soilless culture under greenhouse conditions to present the effects of application of supplementary calcium combined with nutrient solution on plants grown under NaCl (35 mmol) salinity. Treatments: (1) Commercial nutrient solution or control; (2) the addition of NaCl (35 mmol); (3) NaCl (35 mmol) + CaCl2 (5 mmol); (4) NaCl (35 mmol) + CaCl2 (10 mmol); (5) NaCl (35 mmol) + CaSO4 (5 mmol); (6) NaCl (35 mmol) +CaSO4 (10 mmol). Data showed that NaCl stress strongly decreased leaf and runner number, flower production, fruit set, shoot and root fresh weight, total yield and calcium contents of root. On the other hand, it was found that calcium salts had an impact on negative effects of NaCl stress on these variables and reduced it. These results showed that calcium sulfate was better than calcium chloride ameliorating the negative effects of NaCl salinity on this cultivar

Pharmacological Profile for the Contribution of NO/cGMP Pathway on Chlorpheniramine Antidepressant-Like Effect in Mice Forced Swim Test

Chlorpheniramine, a first-generation antihistamine, is widely used for allergic reactions. Previous studies showed the interaction between antidepressant activity and nitric oxide and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (NO/cGMP) pathway. Thus, we aimed to assess the possible involvement of NO/cGMP pathway in this effect using forced swim test (FST) in male mice. To evaluate the locomotor activity and immobility time, we performed open field test (OFT) and FST on each mouse. Chlorpheniramine was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) (0.1, 0.3, 1, 10 mg/kg) 30 minutes before FST. To assess the involvement of NO/cGMP pathway, a non-selective nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, L-NAME (10mg/kg, i.p.), a selective inducible NOS (iNOS) inhibitor, aminoguanidine (50 mg/kg, i.p.), a selective neural NOS (nNOS) inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole (7-NI, 30 mg/kg, i.p.), a NO precursor, L-arginine (750 mg/kg, i.p.) and a selective phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitor, sildenafil (5 mg/kg, i.p.) was co-administered with chlorpheniramine. Chlorpheniramine significantly decreased the immobility time at doses of 1mg/kg (P0.05). Moreover, pretreatment with L-arginine (P<0.01) and sildenafil (P<0.001) significantly reduced the anti-immobility effect of chlorpheniramine. These treatments did not alter the locomotor activity of mice in OFT. Our results revealed that the antidepressant-like effect of chlorpheniramine is mediated through inhibition of NO/cGMP pathway

Model based PVI interaction simulation for LCA of pavements

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-121).Responsible for about a third of the annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the U.S. transportation Network needs to attain a higher level of sustainability. This is particularly true for the roadway Network and the design of pavements in it. Vehicle fuel consumption required to overcome resisting forces due to pavement-vehicle interaction (PVI) is an essential part of life-cycle assessment (LCA) of pavement systems. These PVIs are intimately related to pavement structure and material properties. While various experimental investigations have revealed potential fuel consumption differences between flexible and rigid pavements, there is high uncertainty and high variability in the evaluated impact of pavement deflection on vehicle fuel consumption. This report adopts the perspective that a mechanistic model can contribute to closing the uncertainty gap of PVI in pavement LCA. With this goal in mind, a first-order mechanistic pavement model is considered, and scaling relationships between input parameters and the impact of PVI on vehicle fuel consumption are developed. An original calibration-validation method is established through wave propagation using the complete set of Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) time history data from FHWA's Long Term Pavement Performance program (LTPP), representing the U.S. roadway Network. Distributions of model parameters are determined on pavement material properties (top layer and subgrade moduli), structural properties (thickness), and loading conditions obtained from model calibration and the LTPP datasets. These input distributions are used in Monte-Carlo simulations to determine the impact of flexible and rigid pavements on passenger car and truck fuel consumption within the roadway Network. It is shown that rigid pavements behave better than flexible ones in regard to PVI due to higher stiffness. A final comparison with independent field data provides a reality check of the order of magnitude estimates of fuel consumption due to PVI as determined by the model. The calculated change in fuel consumption is used in a comparative LCA of flexible and rigid pavements, and it is shown that the impact of PVI deflection becomes increasingly important for high volume flexible roadways and can surpass GHG emissions due to construction and maintenance of the roadway system in its lifetime.by Mehdi Akbarian.S.M

Quantitative sustainability assessment of pavement-vehicle interaction : from bench-top experiments to integrated road network analysis

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 180-192).The sustainable development of our nation's roadway system requires quantitative means to link infrastructure performance to lifecycle energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Beside surface texture and roughness-induced Pavement-Vehicle Interactions (PVI), we herein recognize that the dissipation of mechanical work provided by the vehicle due to viscous deformation within the pavement structure is a relevant factor contributing to the environmental footprint of pavements. Through a combination of dimensional analysis, experiments and model-based simulations of energy dissipation in pavement structures, the key drivers of deflection-induced PVI are identified. Specifically, a novel experimental setup is developed to study the mechanism of deflection-induced PVI on small-scale silicone elastomer representations of two layered pavement systems, through visual observations of the pavement response and measurements of the dissipated energy. It is shown that the energy which is dissipated when a load moves at a constant speed along a pavement can be reduced to a dimensionless form that scales with the square of the vehicle load, the inverse of the vehicle speed, and relevant elastic and viscoelastic material and structural properties. These experimental findings form the basis for model development in which the pavement is represented as a viscoelastic beam on elastic foundation in a moving coordinate system. Using the experimentally identified dimensionless form of the model, the dimensionless energy dissipation is calibrated against actual pavement materials (concrete and asphalt) considering the specific temperature dependence of the viscoelastic deformation rate of these materials. For engineering applications, the analytical model is employed to calibrate the dimensionless dissipation in function of two material and speed-specific invariants representative of the range of values relevant for pavement engineering and road network analysis. We demonstrate that the derived model -when implemented at a network scale - provides a powerful basis for big data analytics of excess-energy consumption and GHG emission by integrating spatially and temporally varying road conditions, pavement structures, traffic loads and climatic conditions. Implemented for 50,000 lane-miles of the interstate highway system of the State of California, we demonstrate that a ranking based on the inferred GHG-emissions exhibits a power-law data distribution, akin to Zipf's Law, which provides a means to map an optimum path for GHG savings per retrofit at network scale.by Mehdi Akbarian.Ph. D

Acrylic Antibiotic-Loaded Bone Cement: A Basic Study

Objective:The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of antibiotic-loaded bone cement in controlling local infection and in regard to its physical characteristics, elastic modulus, and tensile strength in-vitro.Methods: Acrylic bone cement, based on polymethylmethacrylate PMMA) was mixed with the powder form of three antibiotics, i.e., gentamicin, tobramycin, and cefuroxime with different doses below 2gr per 40gr of cement powder; thereafter, liquid monomer was added to process the cement. Sensitivity to common clinical isolates was assessed by counting the inhibition zone of each ALBC disc in cultured strains.Elution with   normal saline was performed to evaluate the effects on ALBC disks and their antimicrobial efficiency.Cement structure, tensile strength, and elastic modulus were assessed by biomechanical tests to understand the characteristics of ALBCs after loading antibiotics with   different doses and two methods of vacuum and manual mixing.   Results: Gentamicin, tobramycin, and cefuroxime reduced bacterial growth significantly with doses more than 1gr of antibiotics in 40gr of the cement.Cefuroxime was less efficient than the other two antibiotics in controlling pseudomonas. Elution with normal   saline has not affected antibacterial results, significantly. All the 3 antibiotics had the same   pattern of physical characteristics while loaded in bone cement. Gross structure of ALBCs   with different doses of the three antibiotics was the same as non-ALBC and the elasticity or strength did not decline after loading antibiotics. The elastic modulus of ALBC was increased by boosting the doses of antibiotics; however, doses of 1gr to 1.5gr were the optimal   doses in this regard. The tensile strength of ALBC was increased by doses of 1gr to 1.5gr of antibiotics; however, below and above these oses, the strength was decreased, but it did not exceed the basic strength of non-ALBC. Vacuum mixing method increased   strength and elasticity more than manual one, remarkably.Conclusion: Optimal protective effects of ALBCs against infection could be seen with   mixing doses of about 1gr to 1.5gr of antibiotics in 40gr of acrylic bone cements by vacuum method, while optimal elastic modulus and tensile strength could be achieved at the same doses.