Socioeconomic inequalities in prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension: evidence from the PERSIAN cohort study

Background Elevated blood pressure is associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke and chronic kidney disease. In this study, we examined the socioeconomic inequality and its related factors in prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control (ATC) of hypertension (HTN) in Iran. Method The study used data from the recruitment phase of The Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN). A sample of 162,842 adults aged > = 35 years was analyzed. HTN was defined according to the Joint National Committee)JNC-7(. socioeconomic inequality was measured using concentration index (Cn) and curve. Results The mean age of participants was 49.38(SD = +/- 9.14) years and 44.74% of the them were men. The prevalence of HTN in the total population was 22.3%(95% CI: 20.6%; 24.1%), and 18.8%(95% CI: 16.8%; 20.9%) and 25.2%(95% CI: 24.2%; 27.7%) in men and women, respectively. The percentage of awareness treatment and control among individuals with HTN were 77.5%(95% CI: 73.3%; 81.8%), 82.2%(95% CI: 70.2%; 81.6%) and 75.9%(95% CI: 70.2%; 81.6%), respectively. The Cn for prevalence of HTN was -0.084. Two factors, age (58.46%) and wealth (32.40%), contributed most to the socioeconomic inequality in the prevalence of HTN. Conclusion The prevalence of HTN was higher among low-SES individuals, who also showed higher levels of awareness. However, treatment and control of HTN were more concentrated among those who had higher levels of SES, indicating that people at a higher risk of adverse event related to HTN (the low SES individuals) are not benefiting from the advantage of treatment and control of HTN. Such a gap between diagnosis (prevalence) and control (treatment and control) of HTN needs to be addressed by public health policymakers

A new decomposition approach for the thermal unit commitment problem

In this paper, we propose a new formulation based on benders decomposition approach to solve the thermal unit commitment (UC) problem. In the proposed approach, the UC problem is decomposed into a master problem, which is an integer optimization problem, and a subproblem, which is a nonlinear optimization problem. The proper on/off states of the generating units are found by solving the master problem using the mixed-integer programming method. The subproblem utilizes the solution of the master problem to form appropriate cuts and returns the cuts to the master problem for running the next iteration of the UC problem. In both optimization problems, corresponding constraints are exactly modeled. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, simulation results are compared with the results obtained by other methods.Benders decomposition Mixed-integer programming Unit commitment

Reinforcement Learning Applied to Multi Agent Modelling, the Case of the Iranian Power Market

With increasing competition in the wholesale Electricity markets and advances in behavioral economics in recent years, the multi-agent modeling approach has been applied widely to simulate the outcome of the markets. The electricity market consists of power generating agents that compete over production in daily auction conducted by an independent system operator (ISO). The market clearing mechanism can be seen as a static game that repeats every hour. In this game, an agent proposes her price for the next day and the ISO chooses the best proposals that minimizes the total costs given the demand and the technical constraints. Agents are also assumed to learn from the outcomes and adjust their biding strategy accordingly. In this paper, we develop an agent-based model for the day-ahead and pay-as-bid electricity market in Iran. The objective is to compare the outcome of the market measured by the agents profit and the time to converge using three different strategies: greedy, random and reinforcement learning. The simulation results indicate that the reinforcement learning leads to higher profits with a faster convergence rate than the other two strategies

The value of energy storage in optimal non-firm wind capacity connection to power systems

Wind is a variable and uncontrollable source of power with a low capacity factor. Using energy storage facilities with a non-firm connection strategy is the key to maximum integration of distant wind farms into a transmission-constrained power system. In this paper, we explore the application of energy storage in optimal allocation of wind capacity to a power system from distant wind sites. Energy storage decreases transmission connection requirements, smoothes the wind farm output and decreases the wind energy curtailments in a non-firm wind capacity allocation strategy. Specifically, we examine the use of compressed air energy storage (CABS) technology to supplement wind farms and downsize the transmission connection requirements. Benders decomposition approach is applied to decompose this computationally challenging and large-scale mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) into smaller problems. The simulation results show that using energy storage systems can decrease the variation of wind farms output as well as the total cost, including investment and operation costs, and increase the wind energy penetration into the power system. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Evaluation of the educational environments of undergraduate medicine and pharmacy programmes at the University of Zambia

Background:A Based on the World Health Organization’s reporting, over 1.25 million people die annually in traffic accidents worldwide. Traffic accidents are the ninth main cause of death worldwide, with an average age range of victims of 15 to 29. Broadly speaking, 90% of traffic accidents happen in the lowand middle-income countries that comprise 82% of the global population, and these countries account for half of the world’s vehicles. One of the goals of the National Road Traffic Knowledge Development Trustee is to plan and implement training courses (content design, design and implementation and evaluation) for target groups. To achieve this goal and due to the lack of academic programs on traffic safety in Iran, a single-credit course, “Safety and Traffic,” was developed to be run as a compulsory academic course in all universities across the country. Methods: This course was administered as a national pilot study in four phases and in 17 medical universities across the country. All experts and national authorities in the Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education were requested to provide feedback. Afterwards, the results and comments were forwarded to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution for further investigation. Upon approval of the Council, the course will be implemented in all universities across the country. Results: Results from the pre-test showed that the level of students’ knowledge was low before attending the training courses. Surveys also revealed that the two items of “pedestrian safety” and “first aids in RTCs” were the most useful and applicable subjects. The percentage of wrong answers ranged from 61 to 98%. Conclusion: Considering the importance of traffic accidents and people’s role in traffic-related issues, it seems that it is necessary to provide university courses for traffic safety education

InAs-Al Hybrid Devices Passing the Topological Gap Protocol

We present measurements and simulations of semiconductor-superconductor heterostructure devices that are consistent with the observation of topological superconductivity and Majorana zero modes. The devices are fabricated from high-mobility two-dimensional electron gases in which quasi-one-dimensional wires are defined by electrostatic gates. These devices enable measurements of local and non-local transport properties and have been optimized via extensive simulations for robustness against non-uniformity and disorder. Our main result is that several devices, fabricated according to the design's engineering specifications, have passed the topological gap protocol defined in Pikulin {\it et al.}\ [arXiv:2103.12217]. This protocol is a stringent test composed of a sequence of three-terminal local and non-local transport measurements performed while varying the magnetic field, semiconductor electron density, and junction transparencies. Passing the protocol indicates a high probability of detection of a topological phase hosting Majorana zero modes. Our experimental results are consistent with a quantum phase transition into a topological superconducting phase that extends over several hundred millitesla in magnetic field and several millivolts in gate voltage, corresponding to approximately one hundred micro-electron-volts in Zeeman energy and chemical potential in the semiconducting wire. These regions feature a closing and re-opening of the bulk gap, with simultaneous zero-bias conductance peaks at {\it both} ends of the devices that withstand changes in the junction transparencies. The measured maximum topological gaps in our devices are 20-$30\,\mu$eV. This demonstration is a prerequisite for experiments involving fusion and braiding of Majorana zero modes.Comment: Fixed typos. Fig. 3 is now readable by Adobe Reade