Steroidal anti inflammatory drug betamethasone significantly alters level of striatal dopamine in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease

Many scientific efforts have been well done to investigate the effects of anti inflammatory agents on the degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson’s (PD) or Alzheimer’s disease and their affiliated sings. Previously we showed the effectiveness of steroids on rigidity of PD and in the study for further mechanistic investigation of that observation the microdialysis technique was employed to determine the striatal dopamine changes in parkinsonian rats after administration of betamethasone (0.12, 0.24 mg/kg) respectively. Our findings showed us the significant increase in the striatal dopaminergic neurotransmission (P<0.05) after administration of betamethasone comparing to the controls. These observations suggest a new mechanism for betamethasone on striatum dopaminergic neurotransmission leading us to gather further evidence about effectiveness of betamethasone in PD

The Optimal Strategy for Combining the EFQM and SWOT Methods in Power Plants

The current research has selected the best course of action and assessed the performance in power production plants using a combined method of the Organizational Excellence Model and SWOT methodologies. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the organization\u27s current performance status, identify its issues, and propose appropriate implementation strategies to address negative circumstances. Components of the Organizational Excellence Model include leadership, policy and strategy, human resources (people), partnerships and resources, procedures, customer outcomes, human resource results, community results, and key performance results. Descriptive surveys constitute the current research methodology. The managers and specialists of the power plants within the firm under study comprise the statistical population of this research. The Organizational Excellence Model questionnaire was an integral part of the research instrument. SPSS software was utilized to analyze the collected data. The results analysis revealed that only the element of key performance results was rated as average, whereas other components, such as processes, customer results (clients), human resources results, and community results, all scored above average. Leadership, policy and strategy, partnerships, and resources also scored above average, along with the components of human resources (employees), processes, and customer results

Money laundering and its effect on social and political economy in Iran

Today, using the most appropriate financial combination for preventing manipulation of influence and pressure on the structure of the country is one of the most important concerns of every country’s cultural-financial policy so that social, political, and financial segments are greatly impressed in all aspects. In this regard, there are many destructive factors which destroy the balance. Money laundering, according to global statistics and facts, could be one of the most destructive one. Money laundering is done through many different ways which leads to the corruption of authorities and financial instability and banking volatility and also reduction of productivity and government’s control over economic policies. Step-by-step control and assessment of financial institutions and enterprises and all organizations which somehow affect the flow of money laundering is really difficult and to achieve predetermined goals, highly secure solutions and also development of appropriate culture in society for preventing the flow of money laundering are necessary

Money laundering and its effect on social and political economy in Iran

Today, using the most appropriate financial combination for preventing manipulation of influence and pressure on the structure of the country is one of the most important concerns of every country’s cultural-financial policy so that social, political, and financial segments are greatly impressed in all aspects. In this regard, there are many destructive factors which destroy the balance. Money laundering, according to global statistics and facts, could be one of the most destructive one. Money laundering is done through many different ways which leads to the corruption of authorities and financial instability and banking volatility and also reduction of productivity and government’s control over economic policies. Step-by-step control and assessment of financial institutions and enterprises and all organizations which somehow affect the flow of money laundering is really difficult and to achieve predetermined goals, highly secure solutions and also development of appropriate culture in society for preventing the flow of money laundering are necessary

Investigating the relationship between resources and expenditures of Agricultural Bank and its effect on national production and Iranian Capital and Labor Support in Agriculture

This research investigates the relationship between resources and expenditures of Agricultural Bank and its effect on national production and Iranian Capital and Labor Support during 2007-2011. The statistical population of the research is Central Agricultural Bank of Iran; therefore, the sample in this research is equal to the population. It is a descriptive correlation research with a practical goal. In order to rest hypotheses, the researcher has used regression method to assess the effect of credit facilities on National Production in agriculture. Moreover, the effect of attracting banking sources on paying facilities was examined too. Before testing the hypotheses, the researcher administered Kolmogorov – Smirnov test to make sure if the data were normally distributed. The results of testing hypotheses showed that there was no relationship between paying the facilities in agronomy and gardening and National Production in this sector. There was a direct relationship between paying facilities in livestock and poultry and National Production in this sector. There was a direct relationship between paying facilities in fisheries and aquaculture and National Production in this sector. Finally, there was a direct relationship between attracting banking sources and paying facilities

Money laundering and its effect on social and political economy in Iran

Today, using the most appropriate financial combination for preventing manipulation of influence and pressure on the structure of the country is one of the most important concerns of every country’s cultural-financial policy so that social, political, and financial segments are greatly impressed in all aspects. In this regard, there are many destructive factors which destroy the balance. Money laundering, according to global statistics and facts, could be one of the most destructive one. Money laundering is done through many different ways which leads to the corruption of authorities and financial instability and banking volatility and also reduction of productivity and government’s control over economic policies. Step-by-step control and assessment of financial institutions and enterprises and all organizations which somehow affect the flow of money laundering is really difficult and to achieve predetermined goals, highly secure solutions and also development of appropriate culture in society for preventing the flow of money laundering are necessary

The Possibilities and Characteristics of the Necessary Transcendental Knowledge from the Perspective of Mulla Sadra

One of the most important topics in the view of the great philosophers is the question of the possibility and characteristics of the necessary transcendental knowledge. As one of the leading philosophers and the founder of transcendental wisdom, Mulla Sadra has argued and argued. This article aims to analyze Sadra's views on the possibility and characteristics of the necessary transcendental knowledge with an analytical approach. Examination of Sadra's views in this regard indicates that formal knowledge and Acquired Knowledge, in essence, God is impossible. But if the oneness of the uniqueness of knowledge is one can attain the right of transcendental as much as one's being is capable of, and this ontology can only be accomplished have the negative of the material and attains the highest degree of knowledge, that's mean, death

Presenting a Causal Model of the Effect of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Aspirations on Life Satisfaction: the Mediating Role of Mental Health

The present study was done with the aim of presenting the causal model of the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations on life satisfaction and the mediating role of mental health. The population included all students studying at Allameh Tabatabaei University during the 2011-2012 academic year, from which 250 students were selected using the available sampling method. The scales for assessment used in the study were Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), General Health Questionnaire (28- GHQ), and Aspiration Index (AI). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results showed that intrinsic aspirations predicted mental health positively, and external aspirations predicted mental health negatively; intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations had no direct effect on life satisfaction; rather, intrinsic aspirations increased student life satisfaction through the mediation of mental health. External aspirations reduced life satisfaction through the mediation of mental health. Mental health also had a direct and an indirect effect on life satisfaction. According to the results, to improve life satisfaction and mental health, we need to highlight values, desires, basic needs, meaning, and purpose in life

An Integrated Decision Making Approach for Adaptive Shared Control of Mobility Assistance Robots

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Mobility assistance robots provide support to elderly or patients during walking. The design of a safe and intuitive assistance behavior is one of the major challenges in this context. We present an integrated approach for the context-specific, on-line adaptation of the assistance level of a rollator-type mobility assistance robot by gain-scheduling of low-level robot control parameters. A human-inspired decision-making model, the drift-diffusion Model, is introduced as the key principle to gain-schedule parameters and with this to adapt the provided robot assistance in order to achieve a human-like assistive behavior. The mobility assistance robot is designed to provide (a) cognitive assistance to help the user following a desired path towards a predefined destination as well as (b) sensorial assistance to avoid collisions with obstacles while allowing for an intentional approach of them. Further, the robot observes the user long-term performance and fatigue to adapt the overall level of (c) physical assistance provided. For each type of assistance a decision-making problem is formulated that affects different low-level control parameters. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated in technical validation experiments. Moreover, the proposed approach is evaluated in a user study with 35 elderly persons. Obtained results indicate that the proposed gain-scheduling technique incorporating ideas of human decision-making models shows a general high potential for the application in adaptive shared control of mobility assistance robots