Economics of controlling a spreading environmental weed

Weeds can cause significant problems to natural ecosystems. Although there have been numerous studies on the economics of weed control, relatively few of these studies have focused on natural ecosystems. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by assessing the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive range of control strategies for blackberry (Rubus anglocandicans) in natural environments in Australia. We developed a stochastic dynamic simulation model and a deterministic dynamic optimisation model. The stochastic model calculates the expected net present value (NPV) of a range of control strategies, including any combination of treatment options. The optimisation model identifies the treatment combination that maximises NPV. Both models represent the costs and efficacies of control options over 25 years. The results indicate that using rust (Phragmidium violaceum) as a biological control agent only marginally increases NPV and excluding rust does not affect the optimal choice of other control options. The results also show for a wide range of parameter values that a strategy which combines the herbicide grazon (Triclopyre and picloram) and mowing is optimal. If chemical efficacy decreases by 20 percent it becomes optimal to include grazing blackberry by goats in the control strategy.Environment, Economics, Weed, Stochastic, Optimisation, Management, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Biological control of invasive plant species: stochastic economic analysis

We analysed to what extent the stochastic effects of two biological control agents (i.e. weevils and mycoherbicides) affect the optimal choice of Californian thistle control. A stochastic, dynamic optimisation model was set up to analyse strategies that maximise the expected net present values. We analysed the cost-effective strategies to control the thistle for deterministic and stochastic cases. Results show that the stochasticity of the efficacy of weevils does not affect the optimal strategy. Compared to the deterministic case, however, mycoherbicides will be introduced at a higher level of weed density if we take the stochastic effect of mycoherbicides into account.Stochastic, Optimisation, Biological control, Californian thistle, Economics.,

Investigation of spiritual health in staff of one Medical Sciences University in Tehran

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background Objective: Spiritual wellbeing is considered as an important aspect of human health which provides a coordinated and integrated relation between the internal forces, and by creating meaning and purpose in life is thought as an important approach to promote general health. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim to assess the Spiritual wellbeing of the staff of one University of Medical Sciences in Tehran city. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 503 university employees (including the three covered hospitals and the faculties’ staff) with a multi-stage sampling (based on the percentage of the employed people in each department/ administrative or medical staff),  during  2012. The data were collected through Ellison and Paloutzian 20-item Spiritual wellbeing questionnaires and after determining their validity and reliability by self report, then were analyzed with SPSS software version 16, One way-ANOVA and correlation tests. Results: According to the results, 57.3% of the staff were women, 61.8% were married and 26.4% had a work experience between 3 to 5 years. In this study, a total of 61.4% of the staff had a good Spiritual wellbeing score. Spiritual wellbeing had significant relationship with age, work experience, history of psychiatric disorders, moderate physical activity, housing conditions and participation in the rites of Hajj association.Conclusion: Planning to promote physical, psychological, social and occupational health in staff is a top priority. Regarding the promotion of the income, welfare, physical activity and lifestyle is recommended for  the employee. Keywords: Spiritual Health, Staff, UniversityFor downloading the full-text of this article please click here

Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasound in Detection of Traumatic Lens Dislocation

Introduction: Traumatic eye injuries (TEI) involved about 3% of cases referred to the emergency departments of developing countries. Lens dislocation is one of the critical cases of ophthalmic emergencies. The present study was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in detection of traumatic lens dislocation. Methods: In this cross-sectional study the findings of ultrasonography and orbital computed tomography (OCT) of head and face trauma patients, referred to Imam Reza hospital, Tabriz, Iran, from July 2013 to June 2014, have been compared. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratio, positive and negative predictive value, and accuracy of ultrasonography were calculated. Cohen's kappa coefficient was presented to assess the agreement of ultrasonography with OCT findings. Results: One hundred thirty patients with the mean age of 35.4±18.0 were evaluated (75.4% male). Sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography were 84.6% (95% Cl: 53.7-97.3) and 98.3% (95% Cl: 93.3- 99.7), respectively. Also, positive and negative likelihood ratio were calculated 49.5 (95% Cl: 12.3-199.4) and 0.15 (95% Cl: 0.04- 0.56), respectively. Cohen's kappa coefficient of 0.83 (95% Cl: 0.66-1.0; p<0.0001) was representative of excellent agreement of these two tests. Conclusion: The finding of this project was representative of 84.6% sensitivity, 98.3% specificity, and 96.9% accuracy of ultrasonography in detection of traumatic lens dislocation. It seems that in cases which OCT is not possible, ultrasonography could be an acceptable option to assess traumatic eye injuries

The Relationship between Spiritual Health and Public Health Aspects among Patients with Breast Cancer

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background and Objective: Spiritual well-being is one of the fundamental concepts in chronic diseases and is considered an important approach to improve public health among individuals. Given the importance of spiritual well-being and its role in the promotion of mental health, the present study was conducted with the aim of evaluating spiritual well-being and mental health in patients with breast cancer who visited a center for cancer control at the University of Medical Sciences.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 122 patients with breast cancer in 2015. The data were collected through self-administered 20-item Paloutzian & Ellison’s Spiritual Well-Being Scale and a 28-item questionnaire of mental health after determining their validity and reliability. The collected data were then analyzed using ANOVA and Pearson correlation and linear regression.Results: The results show that most patients had moderate spiritual health (37.8%), and most of them suffered mild mental health problems. (50 percent). Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between mental health and demographic characteristics (Marital status, education, income, physical activity). There was also a significant relationship between mental health and spiritual health.Conclusion: According to the findings, to prevent mental suffering among patients with breast cancer, promoting spiritual health of patients should be regarded as one of the priorities of health care professionals.For downloading the full-text of this article please click here

Combustion characteristics of non-charring polymer cylinders - experimental and numerical study

Funding Information: This study has been funded by the State Nuclear Waste Management Fund (VYR). The authors would like to acknowledge Aleksi Rinta-Paavola for help when conducting cone calorimeter experiments, and Rahul Kallada Janardhan for assisting with thermal imaging. This work made use of Aalto University Bioeconomy Facilities when performing TGA measurements. The authors wish to acknowledge CSC - IT Center for Science, Finland, for computational resources. Funding Information: This study has been funded by the State Nuclear Waste Management Fund (VYR). The authors would like to acknowledge Aleksi Rinta-Paavola for help when conducting cone calorimeter experiments, and Rahul Kallada Janardhan for assisting with thermal imaging. This work made use of Aalto University Bioeconomy Facilities when performing TGA measurements. The authors wish to acknowledge CSC - IT Center for Science, Finland, for computational resources. Publisher Copyright: © 2022Polymeric fuels with a cylindrical shape are widely found as forest combustibles, building components, and electrical cables and wires. Their flammability is commonly assessed using cone calorimetry, despite the fact that the exposed heat flux is well defined only for flat samples. This has led to great difficulties when trying to use the experimental data for calibrating pyrolysis models, which often treat the problem as one-dimensional. This study aims at increased understanding of the combustion of cylindrical fuels in cone calorimeter by carrying out experiments and two-dimensional numerical simulations on black, 20 mm diameter Poly(methyl methacrylate) rods. The solid-phase heat transfer and pyrolysis are modeled using a rectilinear 1 mm mesh, and the reactive flow field is solved by LES and a single-step mixing-controlled combustion reaction. The model is validated with the results of the gasification and flaming experiments with one or five rods under 50kWm−2 irradiation. For the single rod measurements, a steep vertical shrinkage in gasification, and roughly equal vertical and horizontal degradation rates in flaming were observed. Degradation patterns of the five rods experiments consisted of a ∪-shape trend in gasification, and a ∩-shape trend in flaming condition. The numerical simulations reproduce these deformation trends with a favorable accuracy for all cases. The ignition delay time of the five rods case was detected shorter than the single rod case, which is in consistency with the available literature. The model allowed for the extraction of comprehensive thermodynamic information on the surface of the samples. With flaming, the incident heat flux at the top of the sample increased by 15 kWm−2. Flame-induced convective heating is most significant on the sides of the single rod case or on the outermost rods in the five rods case, with a distribution that peaks to about 30 kWm−2. The current framework can be a basis for extension to modelling more complex cylindrical material such as cables and thermal insulations.Peer reviewe

Economics of controlling a spreading environmental weed

Weeds can cause significant problems to natural ecosystems. Although there have been numerous studies on the economics of weed control, relatively few of these studies have focused on natural ecosystems. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by assessing the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive range of control strategies for blackberry (Rubus anglocandicans) in natural environments in Australia. We developed a stochastic dynamic simulation model and a deterministic dynamic optimisation model. The stochastic model calculates the expected net present value (NPV) of a range of control strategies, including any combination of treatment options. The optimisation model identifies the treatment combination that maximises NPV. Both models represent the costs and efficacies of control options over 25 years. The results indicate that using rust (Phragmidium violaceum) as a biological control agent only marginally increases NPV and excluding rust does not affect the optimal choice of other control options. The results also show for a wide range of parameter values that a strategy which combines the herbicide grazon (Triclopyre and picloram) and mowing is optimal. If chemical efficacy decreases by 20 percent it becomes optimal to include grazing blackberry by goats in the control strategy