Epidemiology, risk and protective factors of self-immolation : a study from Iran

Background: Suicide by self-burning (self-immolation) is one of the suicide methods that is far more common in low-middle income countries than in high-income ones. Iran is one of the countries that has a high rate of self-immolation. Women are the main victims as the reports show. In this study we aim to find the epidemiology, risk and protective factors of self-immolation. Methods: Initially, we analyzed two national databases to identify the epidemiological aspects of self-immolation including demographic, geographic, cultural, economic and health-related characteristics of fatal self-immolation cases that may vary across regions of Iran (sub-study I). Subsequently, we conducted two case–control studies in regard to attempted self-immolation. One titled Preliminary study with 60 participants (30 cases and 30 controls), and the other entitled Main study with 151 cases and 302 controls dedicated to identifying the risks and protective factors of self-immolation (sub-study II-IV). Results: Results show that the total rate of suicide by all methods in Iran was 6.42 per 100,000, of which 1.74 per 100,000 (27%) were self-immolation. Seventy one percent of the self-immolators were female and the mean age was 29 years. The geographical features of self-immolation indicate that self-immolation rates are higher in the border provinces of the country, in the rural areas, and in the provinces that were most intensively affected by the postwar socioeconomic consequences, as well as Kurdish people. Results from our studies show that adjustment disorders, opium dependence, major depression, and an individual history of suicide attempts were risk factors. In the married subgroup, marital conflict and addiction of spouse and in unmarried subgroup, problems with parents, parents’ death and parents’ addiction were identified as risk factors. Moreover, "receiving consultation services" and "anxiety about school/ university performance" played protective roles against self-immolation. Regarding identification of potential factors for future prevention interventions, descriptive analyses revealed that the means of self-immolation in more than 93% of patients was kerosene. Imitational self-immolation was showed in most of self-immolation cases (more than 60%). The majority of participants (both cases and control) had not used any "consulting services" to solve or manage their problems or enhance their problem-solving abilities. Moreover, unplanned (impulsive) self-immolation was detected in 80% of all self-immolation patients Conclusion: Overall, in this study we found that self-immolation is an important public health issue in particular regions in Iran. Our results also suggest that self-immolation is a compound phenomenon with multiple potential causes. Our results have implications for interventions that aim at screening, identification, and education of individuals who are at-risk for self-immolation to reduce the rate of self-immolation in the study area

A remark on stability and the D-topology of mapping spaces

We discuss how stability is related to the D-topology of mapping spaces, equipped with the functional diffeology. Indeed, we show that stable classes of mapping spaces are D-open. After a reformulation of the classical stability theorem of manifolds with respect to the D-topology, we prove a version of the stability theorem in the class of diffeological \'etale manifolds.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2203.0599

The argument-based validation of a large-scale high-stakes vocabulary test

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the vocabulary subsection of a high-stakes university entrance exam for PhD programs using the argument-based approach. All the three different versions of the test administered in a period of five years and the responses of 12500 test-takers were studied. The study focused on four inferences of domain definition, evaluation, generalization and explanation mainly using corpus linguistics, the Rash measurement model and factor analysis. The results indicated substantial threats to the validity of the test in terms of vocabulary choice, item difficulty, item discrimination, construct representation, and reliability

AVICENINA MEDICINSKA DIDAKTIČKA PJESMA: URJUZEHTEBBI

Historical research shows that many physicians experienced in medical sciences are also talented in art, literature and poetry. Avicenna was a sage who was skilled in poetry in addition to philosophy and medicine. He wrote two different types of poetry: those meant to be enjoyed for their literary qualities of novelty and imagination, and his didactic Urjuzeh. Didactic poems are different from poetry evoked by imagination and feeling. In didactic poetry, the poets want to learn science and philosophy, whether spiritual, ethical or practical to the readers. Rhyme and poetry were often used for scientific writing in Avicenna’s era, and were considered a method for memorizing scientific information and raising students’ interest in difficult scientific concepts. Verse was used to simplify the didactic content, ease memorization and make difficult scientific issues more attractive. In medieval Persia, students of medicine had learned the basics of philosophy before starting medical courses. Poetry could help the students memorize the poem itself in combination with its meaning, in a way that was better and easier than prose. Avicenna’s masterpiece, UrjuzehTebbi, comprises a perfect course in traditional Persian medicine in rhyming text written in Arabic. This great work was translated into Persian at the research centre for traditional medicine and history of medicine. We hope that the Persian translation of Urjuzeh Tebbi will allow students and experts to better appreciate the role of didactic poems in compiling and transmitting the concepts of Iranian medicine.Povijesna istraživanja ukazuju da su mnogi liječnici, iskusni u medicinskim znanostima, također talentirani za umjetnost, književnost i pjesništvo. Avicena je bio mudrac koji je bio vješt u pjesništvu nastavno na filozofiju i medicinu. Pisao je dvije vrste pjesama: one koje su bile namijenjene uživanju u književnoj kvaliteti originalnosti i imaginacije te njegova didaktička poema Urjuzeh. Didaktičke poeme razlikuju se od pjesništva evociranog imaginacijom i osjećajem. U didaktičkom pjesništvu pjesnici žele podučiti čitatelje znanosti i filozofiji, bilo spiritualno, etički ili praktički. U Avicenino vrijeme srok i pjesništvo često su korišteni za znanstveno pisanje i smatrani su metodom zapamćivanja znanstvenih informacija i podizanja studentova interesa za teške znanstvene pojmove. Stih je korišten za pojednostavnjenje didaktičkog sadržaja, olakšanje zapamćivanja i činjenja teških znanstvenih pitanja pristupačnijima. U srednjovjekovnoj Perziji student je medicine morao naučiti osnove filozofije prije negoli je započeo medicinsku poduku. Pjesništvo je moglo pomoći studentu upamtiti samu pjesmu u kombinaciji s njenim značenjem, na način koji je bio bolji i lakši negoli je to kod proze. Avicenino remek-djelo UrjuzehTebbi uključuje savršenu poduku u tradicionalnoj perzijskoj medicini u rimovanu tekstu pisanu na arapskom. Ovo veliko djelo bilo je prevedeno na perzijski pri centru za istraživanje tradicionalne medicine i povijesti medicine. Nadamo se da će perzijski prijevod Urjuzeh Tebbi omogućiti studentima i stručnjacima bolje uvažavanje uloge didaktičkih poema u sabiranju i prenošenju pojmova iranske medicine

RF Energy Harvesting System and Circuits for Charging of Wireless Devices Using Spectrum Sensing

Recently, lots of works have been done on the optimal power management of wireless devices. This leads to the main idea of ambient energy harvesting. Among various energy harvesting approaches, one is to use radio waves existing in the ambient environment for battery charging, called RF energy harvesting. In this chapter, in order to improve the RF energy harvesting performance, we utilize spectrum sensing to allow the wireless devices to select the frequency band with maximum power that exceeds a predefined threshold to charge the device (this power threshold can be determined according to battery type and its required charging power) and the device can use this power for battery charging. Also, a novel voltage multiplier circuit is proposed. By means of simulations and experimental tests, it can be seen that after detection of our desired 1 mW RF signal, system output power is about 532μ W and 450μ W in simulation and practical situations respectively

Detekcija i kompenzacija zasićenja strujnog transformatora zasnovana na trenutnim proračunima gustoće toka

One of the major problems in power system protection is current transformers saturation and inability of protective relays to recognize and compensate it. In this paper an approach is presented to identify current transformer saturation based on instantaneous flux density calculation. Also the calculated magnetizing current is used to saturation compensation. In the proposed algorithm, the instantaneous flux density and magnetizing current are calculated using Jiles-Atherton method. Using knee point flux density, a criteria is proposed to identify saturation phenomena in the current transformer and finally using calculated instantaneous magnetizing current, secondary current distortion has been compensated. To evaluate efficiency of the proposed algorithm, various types of faults, residual flux, fault occurring angle, CT burdens and DC components have been tested and the results evidence that the proposed algorithm is more accurate and reliable as well as faster than other algorithms and its error is obviously less than them.Jedan od najvećih problema zaštite elektroenergetskog sustava je zasićenje strujnih transformatora i nemogućnost zaštitnih releja da to prepoznaju i komenziraju. U ovom radu prikazan je pristup identifikaciji zasićenja strujnog transformatora zasnovan na trenutnim proračunima gustoće toka. Također, za kompenzaciju zasićenja koristi se izračunata struja magnetizacije. U predloženom algoritmu, trenutna gustoća toka i struja magnetizacije izračunati su korištenjem Jiles-Atherton metode. Korištenjem gustoće toka koljena predložen je kriterij za identifikaciju fenomena zasićenja kod strujnih transormatora i konačno, korištenjem izračunate trenutne struje magnetizacije kompenzirana je distorzija struje sekundara. Kako bi se vrednovala učinkovitost predloženog algortima testirane su razne vrste pogrešaka, zaostalih tokova, kutova pogreške, opterećenja strujnog transformatora i istosmjernih komponenata. Dobiveni rezultati su dokaz da je predloženi algoritam točniji, pouzdaniji i brži u odnosu na druge algoritme te da je njegova pogreška očito manja

Studying the impact of mental health on job performance of managers and staff

The purpose of present research is to study the relationship between job performance and employees’ mental health in one of Iranian natural gas refinery located in city of Jam, Iran. Data collection was conducted based on two major characteristics of job performance and mental health based on questionnaire methods among 42 people. The methodology is descriptive and correlation – type and to analyze the data, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, variances equality tests as well as t-student were utilized. The findings show that there was a significant relationship between employees’ job performance and mental health and any increase in mental health aspects promotes job performance proportionally. In the meantime, there was no significant relationship between employees’ job performance and their gender and there was no significant difference on mental health status between male and female staff. Based on the results, one can conclude that low mental health level among employees can reduce their performance. Managers should use proper methods to decrease the negative consequences resulted from the lack of mental health in workplaces