Louis Althusser and Thomas Hardy: how Victorian ideologies work in under the Greenwood tree

In his early novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, Thomas Hardy attempts to show the readers how the inhabitants of a small village are repressed by the ideologies the dominant class or capitalism defines for them. The aim of these suppressive programs is to oppress the individuals by making them good and subordinate subjects. Althusser calls these ideologies created by the dominant class, Ideological State Apparatuses; however, in this novel one observes how some of the subjects try to revolt against these cruel rules by defining their own ideologies. One can also recognize that how the blatant break of these ideological programs by the revolutionary subject makes the subject look weird and eventually how he/she is alienated and marginalized by the society. On the other hand, the good subjects are made to believe that following these ideologies is usual and breaking of them is synonymous with interfering with the discipline and order of nature. Brought up in the Victorian age, Hardy understands how people are controlled by the ideologies and how they subscribe to them unwisely. In this novel he shows how a new and up-date product of capitalism -the organ- is introduced to a very traditional atmosphere in order to indoctrinate new changes in it. The so-called good subjects simply believe that change is necessary and inevitable. But this change has wisely planned by the oppressive capitalist powers for whom this change means the manipulation of these docile subjects, not only by separating them from their music community but also by depriving them of their traditional music

A comparative study on the use of membrane bioreactor (MBR) and activated sludge followed by ultrafiltration (CAS/UF) processes for advanced treatment of industrial wastewater

With increasing industrial wastewater reuse, due to inadequate water resources, membrane technology has shown results of very high efficiency in a wide range of reuse purposes and reverse osmosis (RO) pre-treatment. In the present study, the performance of two pilot-scale CAS/UF and MBR to polished effluent wastewater of an industrial town treatment plant were evaluated and compared in a continuous 43-day period. According to the test results, the removal efficiency of total suspended solids (TSS) for both reactors was nearly 100%. Nevertheless, the MBR improved the Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the total dissolved solids (TDS) by nearly 3% and 5%, respectively. Total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) removals of approximately 31% and 20% in The MBR-based process and 24% and 18% in the CAS/UF module were obtained. Analysis of heavy metal concentration indicated that Cr, Pb, and Ni, which were in both soluble and particle forms, could be adequately eliminated by each system, while Cu, which was mainly in a soluble form, had a lower removal rate (32% and 51% in CAS/UF and MBR, respectively). Besides, since the silt density index (SDI) value for most of the samples was less than 3, both reactors can be used as RO pre-treatment systems

Family care giving needs of the elderly with Alzheimer's disease (A phenomenological study)

Background and aims: Studies of the elderly population confirms the global epidemic of Alzheimer's. Iran is also faced with the wave of increasing disease. Alzheimer's is a threating situation for the family and community in different dimensions such as health, social, political, economic and psychological position. Families are forced to take care of patients and as a result faced many problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the family's life experiences of the care of elderly with Alzheimer's in Isfahan. Methods: This study is qualitative with phenomenological description approach. The study populations are elderly patients with Alzheimer's and their families in Isfahan. Purposive sampling method was used in the study. After interviews with10 participants, Colaizzi method is used to analyze the data. Results: After analyzing by Colaizzi Method, at first, 201 conceptual codes extracted. Then 20 sub themes extracted. Extremely 8 main themes emerged. Sacrifice, care burden, caregivers' captive, impaired family relationship, job disturbances, fear of stigma, maintaining excellence in patient, Puzzlement at the time and reactive feelings. Conclusion: According to the findings of the current study, Alzheimer's Disease will cause psychological, physical, and economic and socially complications that a lot of these complications is tolerated on family care givers. Therefore, looking for solutions such as establishing institutes for elderly support, developing courses like elderly nursing, and psychological specific education to reduce the burden on family is essential

Investigating the effect of point-of-use water treatment (POU) system on Urban Water Quality in IRAN: A systematic review

In many developing countries, insufficient water treatment forces the people to use the home point of use (POU) systems. A scientific review was conducted for all articles published on POU for Iranian cities. This study focuses on the effect of the POU systems on water quality. The related data were collected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and by searching. Supported the searched keywords with emphasis on the type of water treatment system and the type of incoming water, the obtained articles were reviewed. The qualitative data were collected employing a preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and Meta-analyzes (PRISMA) standard checklist. 544 article titles were found within the initial search with the keywords listed. Finally, after reviewing the knowledge and quality of the articles, 20 articles were eligible for systematic review. the most important number of articles were published between 2012 and 2021. In some cities, EC, TDS and total hardness were high, which reached the specified standard after leaving the POU systems. But since these systems reduce all parameters and are not selective, they greatly reduce the quantity of chlorine, fluoride and sometimes TDS and pH. As chlorine decreases, the quantity of microbial contamination in the effluent increases. By reducing the fluoride within the effluent, the health of the teeth and bones is compromised over time. Therefore, on time replacement of all filters is essential and consumers and operators of these systems should be trained enough in the field of water quality standards and guidelines

Histological and biochemical alterations in early-stage lobar ischemia-reperfusion in rat liver

AIM: To investigate the structural and biochemical changes in the early stage of reperfusion in the rat livers exposed to lobar ischemia-reperfusion (IR)

Baffle and fixed media effects on coliform removal and bacterial die-off rate coefficient in waste stabilization ponds (a case study in Ahvaz)

Background: The use of waste stabilization ponds is one of the cheapest wastewater treatment processes. This study evaluated the effects of baffles and fixed media on coliform removal in facultative lagoons. Methods: In this study, the settled wastewater from four pond systems of the city of Ahvaz was used as input. Each system was composed of two ponds that were connected to each other serially. Three of them were equipped with two, three, and four baffles. Packages of fixed media were installed in the first baffled pond equal to the number of baffles. During a 12-month sampling period from March 2016 to February 2017, the capability of each system to remove coliform with different detention times was studied. Results: The control system with no baffle and no media reduced the coliform index by an average of 67% in a detention time of 6 to 12 days. Increasing the baffles and fixed media in the ponds improved the coliform removal efficiency; systems with two, three, and four baffles achieved coliform removal in the amounts of 77%, 81%, and 83%, respectively. The coliform die-off coefficients (Kb) were higher in the attached growth systems than in the control system. The coefficients were determined to be 0.21, 0.26, 0.29, and 0.31 d-1 for the second ponds of the control, two-, three-, and four-baffle systems, respectively. Conclusion: This method can be used to upgrade the existing waste stabilization pond and to design new ponds with at least two baffles in the facultative lagoons

Evaluating climatic change effects on EC and runoff in the near future (2020–2059) and far future (2060–2099) in arid and semi-arid watersheds

Abstract This study investigates the effect of climate change on the runoff and electrical conductivity (EC) of the Marun watershed. It used 35 general circulation models (GCMs) and the identification of unit hydrographs and component flows from rainfall, evaporation and streamflow data (IHACRES) rainfall-runoff model for the hydrological simulation. Moreover, a non-parametric regression model based on the multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) was utilized to estimate the EC under representative concentration pathway RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios in the near future F1 (2020–2059) and far future F2 (2060–2099) periods. Also, it used the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to determine the best GCMs for each region and the k-nearest neighbors (KNN) technique to combine the temperature (Tmean) and precipitation (PCP) outputs and reduce the GCM uncertainty in each cell. According to the results, the highest increase of EC relative to the historical period (1966–2005) that will occur in the F1 period under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios is 17.43% and 15.6%, and for the F2 period is 18.46% and 11.2%, respectively, during autumn. The changes of annual Tmean, PCP, runoff, and EC in F1 period are 8.6%, 2.1%,  − 10.7%, and  − 11%, respectively, under the RCP4.5 scenario and 10.5%, 5.9%,  − 3.5%, and  − 12.2%, respectively, under the RCP8.5 scenario. The same values for the F2 period are 12.9%,  − 0.1%,  − 14.9%, and  − 10%, respectively, under the RCP4.5 scenario and 22.6%, 5.2%, 1.2%, and  − 12.8%, respectively, under the RCP8.5 scenario relative to the historical period

Nanotechnology; its significance in cancer and photodynamic therapy

In the last decade, developments in nanotechnology have provided a new field in medicine called “Nanomedicine”. Nanomedicine has provided new tools for photodynamic therapy. Quantum dots (QDs) are approximately spherical nanoparticles that have attracted broad attention and have been used in nanomedicine applications. QDs have high molar extinction coefficients and photoluminescence quantum yield, narrow emission spectra, broad absorption, large effective stokes shifts. QDs are more photostable and resistant to metabolic degradation. These photosensitizing properties can be used as photosensitizers for Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). PDT has been recommended for its unique characteristic, such as low side effect and more efficiency. Therefore, nanomedicine leads a promising future for targeted therapy in cancer tumor. Furthermore, QDs have recently been applied in PDT, which will be addressed in this review letter. Also this review letter evaluates key aspects of nano-particulate design and engineering, including the advantage of the nanometer scale size range, biological behavior, and safety profile

Synthesis of graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposite as an adsorbent for the enrichment and determination of rutin

Objective(s): In our study, graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposite (GO/TiO2) was prepared and used for the enrichment of rutin from real samples for the first time. Materials and Methods: The synthesized GO/TiO2 was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and FT-IR spectra.  The enrichment process is fast and highly efficient. The factors including contact time, pH, and amount of GO/TiO2 affecting the adsorption process were studied. Results: The maximum adsorption capacity for ciprofloxacin was calculated to be 59.5 mg/g according to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The method yielded a linear calibration curve in the concentration ranges from 15 to 200 μg/L for the rutin with regression coefficients (r2) of 0.9990. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N=3) and limits of quantification (LOQs, S/N=10) were found to be 8 μg/Land 28 μg/L, respectively. Both the intra-day and inter-day precisions (RSDs) were < 10% . Conclusion :The developed approach offered wide linear range, and good reproducibility. Owing to the diverse structures and unique characteristic, GO/TiO2 possesses great potential in the enrichment and analysis of trace rutin in real aqueous samples