The Influence of Mating Motives on Reliance on Form Versus Function in Product Choice

Through five experiments, this research examined and supported the central hypothesis that a casual mating motive promotes higher reliance on form in product evaluation and choice, whereas a committed mating motive promotes higher reliance on function. Particularly, compared to a committed mating motive, a casual mating motive was associated with the relative preference for product options superior in form attributes as opposed to options superior in function attributes (Study 1, Study 2, and Study 4). This research applied three different operationalizations of mating motives. In studies 1 and 5, contextual priming was used. Studies 2 and 3 employed chronic mating motives using sociosexuality. Study 4 utilized a physiological operationalization by assessing fertility in women’s menstrual cycle. It was demonstrated that the underlying mechanism for this effect lied in differential reliance on form- versus function-related product cues (Study 2). In addition, two moderating effects were demonstrated. First, Study 3 provided support for the moderating role of information ambiguity type (form vs. function). Second, Study 5 showed the interactive effect of mating motive and product choice strategy. By directing consumers to pursue a form-based versus a function-based strategy, Study 5 illustrated the effect of congruence between mating motives and choice strategy on product valuation such that consumers with a casual mating motive were willing to spend more on their product choices when they were based on form than when they were based on function, whereas consumers with a committed mating motive indicated higher willingness to pay when the product choices were made based on function than when they were made based on form. Finally, theoretical contributions and managerial implications were discussed

The Effect of Intravenous Infusion of Magnesium Sulfate During Bimaxillary Orthognathic Surgery on Post-operative Pain: A Clinical Trial

Background: This prospective randomized controlled clinical study aimed to investigate the effect of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) on pain management post orthognathic surgery. Methods: In this study, 52 patients undergoing orthognatic surgery were randomly allocated to receive MgSO4 or saline intravenously. The intervention group (n = 26) received intravenous MgSO4 (30 mg/kg bolus for 15 minutes immediately before anesthesia induction followed by 10 mg/kg/h dissolved in saline via pump infusion) and the second group (n = 26) received the placebo in the same bolus volume as a normal saline in a 15 minute intravenous infusion which was continued until the end of the operation. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to determine the intensity of pain. Invasive arterial blood pressure and valid and invalid analgesic demand were also recorded. Side effects were recorded, as well. Results: This study was conducted on 52 patients, 26 per group. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to demographics. During the post-operative period, the patients in the control group showed larger analgesic requirement 7 (26.9%) compared to those in the magnesium group 4 (15.4%) and the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.308). The post-operative VAS scores evaluated serially from the recovery room also showed a significant difference between the intervention 3 (11.5%) and the control group 14 (53.8%) after the surgery (P = 0.001). However, no significant difference was found between the two groups regarding VAS scores in the surgical ward [7 (26.9%) vs. 8 (30.8%) P = 0.760]. Conclusions: Intra-operative administration of intravenous MgSO4 reduced opioid consumption for pain after bimaxillary orthognathic operations

Epidemiological survey and geographical distribution of cutaneous Leishmaniasis in North Khorasan province, 2006-2013

Background: Leishmaniasis is a widespread problem, especially in the tropical and subtropical countries. Since understanding epidemiologic and geographical distribution of the diseases is necessary for prevention and control of Leishmaniasis. This study was conducted for epidemiological survey of cutaneous Leishmaniasis in North Khorasan Province, using GIS during the years 2006-2013. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data of the Leishmaniasis patients between the years 2006 and 2013 collected from the different districts ofN. Khorasan Province. The gathered data was analyzed by using Spps16 statistical software and chi-square test. Results:Data concerning 2831 patients with CL were collected.The maximum outbreak of the disease occurred in 2011 and theminimum occurrence was reported to be in2008. The mean age of the study population was22/80 ± 18/08 and the maximum cases of infection were observed in age group of 16-30 years. 58/6 percent of the patients were male and 53/5 percent of them lived in the villages. The maximum infection of the disease was observed in Esfarayen with 1095 people (38/7 percent). There was a significant relationship between the gender and age of the patients and cutaneous Leishmaniasis (

Optimal reactive power pricing with transformer variable taps using genetic algorithm

Ancillary services in interconnected networks are crucial to secure real power transfers, maintaining network reliability, improving power quality as well as network stability. Reactive power has always been of special importance as one of the most substantial ancillary services required to control the voltage in power grid. This paper presents a fresh reactive power pricing approach by embedding variable transformer taps into voltage ampere reactive (var) pricing method. To carry out the resultant optimization problem with a set of complicating constraints, the genetic algorithm takes part and guarantees the global optimal solution. The simulation results show that when transformer tap works as a control variable, the total cost of reactive power can be decreased. However, the incorporation of transformer taps in the pricing model can slightly complicates voltage profiles as the sensitivity of bus voltages to the reactive power variations in the system is increased. Further, the findings reiterate that by optimal position of transformer taps, technically, the security index of the system can be enhanced while the var price for end-users (lowest purchase cost for independent system operator) being more reasonable. To simulate the proposed reactive pricing method, the standard IEEE 30-bus system is employed to analyze the proposed method

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Training based on Positive Psychology and Motivational Interviewing on Emotional Distress in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction: Prevalence of diabetes has been rising in Iran that causes many social and economic problems. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of training based on positive psychology and motivational interviewing on emotional distress in patients with type 2 diabetes.Method: Quasi-experimental research design with pretest-posttest and control group were utilized in this study. The statistical population included patients with type 2 diabetes referring to the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute. 48 patients were selected with convenient sampling method and divided into two experimental group and a control group. The first group received positive psychology training. The second group received a motivational interviewing and the control group did not receive any treatment. The groups were evaluated before and after the intervention using emotional distress questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance.Result: The result showed positive psychology training and motivational interview training are effective on decreasing components of psychological distress including psychological distress in relation to diabetes management and depression-related problems in patients with diabetes and positive psychological training was more effective (p<0.05).Conclusion: Based on results of this study, positive psychological and motivational interviewing training have positive effect on emotional distress of type 2 diabetes patients. Both of the interventions by strengthening positive motivation and modifying the levels of negative effects reduced emotional distress scores

Plant regeneration through indirect organogenesis of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.)

To establish an effective protocol for plant regeneration through indirect organogenesis, effects of explants type, culture media and plant growth regulators on callus induction and shoot regeneration of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) were investigated. Three different explants (root, nodal and internodal segment), two different media [Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) and Gamborg's B5 (B5)] and different plant growth regulators (6-benzylaminopurine (BA), thidiazuron (TDZ), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)) with different concentration (0.2, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mgL-1) for shoot and root induction were chosen. The results show that nodal segment was the best explant for callus induction (69.4%) when cultured on MS medium supplemented with 1 mgL-1 TDZ and MS was the best medium to induce callus formation (74.6%). The highest shoot multiplication (66.9%) was observed on MS medium with 0.2 mgL-1 TDZ. Regenerated shoots were rooted in vitro on MS containing 1.5 mgL-1 IBA. Also, plantlets with well developed root and shoot systems were acclimatized inside the green house and 80% of the plantlets survived on transfer to garden soil. This protocol provides a basis for future studies on genetic improvement.Key words: Chestnut, node, internode segment, indirect organogenesis, callus formation, shoot regeneration

Recurrent Poisson Factorization for Temporal Recommendation

Poisson factorization is a probabilistic model of users and items for recommendation systems, where the so-called implicit consumer data is modeled by a factorized Poisson distribution. There are many variants of Poisson factorization methods who show state-of-the-art performance on real-world recommendation tasks. However, most of them do not explicitly take into account the temporal behavior and the recurrent activities of users which is essential to recommend the right item to the right user at the right time. In this paper, we introduce Recurrent Poisson Factorization (RPF) framework that generalizes the classical PF methods by utilizing a Poisson process for modeling the implicit feedback. RPF treats time as a natural constituent of the model and brings to the table a rich family of time-sensitive factorization models. To elaborate, we instantiate several variants of RPF who are capable of handling dynamic user preferences and item specification (DRPF), modeling the social-aspect of product adoption (SRPF), and capturing the consumption heterogeneity among users and items (HRPF). We also develop a variational algorithm for approximate posterior inference that scales up to massive data sets. Furthermore, we demonstrate RPF's superior performance over many state-of-the-art methods on synthetic dataset, and large scale real-world datasets on music streaming logs, and user-item interactions in M-Commerce platforms.Comment: Submitted to KDD 2017 | Halifax, Nova Scotia - Canada - sigkdd, Codes are available at https://github.com/AHosseini/RP

The Impacts of Hinged and Solid Ankle-Foot Orthoses on Standing and Walking in Children with Spastic Diplegia

How to Cite This Article: Dalvand H, Dehghan L, Feizi A, Hosseini SA, Amirsalari S. Iran J Child Neurol. 2013 Autumn; 7(4):12-19.AbstractObjective The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of hinged and solid anklefoot orthoses (AFOs) on standing and walking abilities in children with spastic diplegia.Materials & MethodsIn a quasi-experimental design, 30 children with spastic diplegia, aged 4-6 years were recruited. They were matched in terms of age, IQ, and level of GMFCS E&R. Children were randomly assigned into 3 groups: a hinged AFO group (n=10) plus occupational therapy (OT), a solid AFO group (n=10) plus OT, a control group who used only OT for three months. Gross motor abilities weremeasured using Gross Motor Measure Function (GMFM).ResultsWe obtained statistically significant differences in the values between baseline and after treatment in all groups. The groups were also significantly different in total GMFM after intervention. Furthermore, there were differences between hinged AFOs and solid AFOs groups, and between hinged AFOs and control groups.ConclusionWe concluded that gross motor function was improved in all groups; however, hinged AFOs group appears to improve the gross motor function better than solid AFOs and control groups.ReferencesMiller F. Cerebral palsy. 1st ed. New York: Springer Science & Business Media; 2005.Wren TL, Rethlefsen S, Kay RM. Prevalence of specific gait abnormalities in children with cerebral palsy: Influence of cerebral palsy subtype, age, and previous surgery. J Pediat Orthoped 2005;25(1):79-83.Knutosn L, Clark D. Orthotic devices for ambulation in children with cerebral palsy and myelomeningocele. Phys Ther 1991;71:947-60.Figueiredo EM, Ferreira GB, Maia Moreira RC, Kirkwood R, Fetters L. Efficacy of Ankle-Foot Orthoses on Gait of Children with Cerebral Palsy: Systematic Review of Literature. Pediat Phys Ther 2008; 20(3):207-23.Brehm MA, Harlaar J, Schwartz M. Effect of ankle-foot orthoses on walking efficiency and gait in children with cerebral palsy. J Rehabil Med 2008;40(7):529-34.Abel MF, Juhl GA,Vaughan CL, Damiano DL. Gait assessment of fixed ankle-foot orthoses in children with spastic diplegia. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1998;79(2):126-33.Balaban B, Yasar E, Dal U, Yazicioglu K, Mohur H, Kalyon TA. The effect of hinged ankle-foot orthosis on gait and energy expenditure in spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Disabil Rehabil 2007;29(2):139-44.Wilson H, Haideri N, Song K, Telford D. Ankle-foot orthoses for preambulatory children with spastic diplegia. J Pediat Orthoped 1997;17(3):370-6.Romkes J, Hell AK, Brunner R. Changes in muscle activity in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy while walking with and without ankle-foot orthoses. Gait Posture 2006;24(4):467-74.Radtka SA, Skinner SR, Dixon DM, Johanson ME. A comparison of gait with solid, dynamic, and no ankle-foot orthoses in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Phys Ther 1997;77(4):395-409.Radtka SA, Skinner SR, Johanson ME. A comparison of gait with solid and hinged ankle-foot orthoses in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. Gait Posture 2005;21:303-10.Hayek S, Hemo Y, Chamis S, Bat R, Segev E, Wientroub S, et al. The effect of community prescribed ankle–foot orthoses on gait parameters in children with spastic cerebral palsy. J Children’s Orthoped 2007;1(6):325-32.Burtenr PA, Woollactt MM, Qualls C. Stance balance control with orthoses in a group of children with spastic cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 1999;41(11):748-57.Bjornson KF, Schmale GA, Adamczyk-Foster A, McLaughlin J. The effect of dynamic ankle foot orthoses on function in children with cerebral palsy. J Pediat Orthoped 2006;26(6):773-6.Hassani S, Ferdjallah M, Reiners K, Johnson C, Smith P, Harris G. Motor performance comparison of the hinged and dynamic ankle-foot orthotics. Dev Med Child Neurol 2002;44(91):4.Smith PA, Hassani S, Graf A, Flanagan A, Reiners K. Brace evaluation in children with diplegic cerebral palsy with a jump gait pattern. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2009;91(2):356-65.Zhang J, Wang Y, Yang Z. Comparison of dynamic and solid ankle-foot orthosis configurations for cerebral palsy children with spastic diplegia. Chine J Rehabil Med 2009;24(1):45-8.Case Smith J. Occupational therapy for children. 5th ed. Michigan: Elsevier Mosby; 2005.Palisano R, Rosenbaum P, Walter S, Russell D, Wood E, Galuppi B. Development and reliability of a system to classify gross motor function in children with cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 1997; 39(4):214–23.Wood E, Rosenbaum P. The gross motor function classification system for cerebral palsy: a study of reliability and stability over time. Dev Med Child Neurol 2000;42(5):292-6.Dehghan L, Dalvand H, Abdolvahab M, Bagheri H, Faghih zade S. Inter rater reliability of Persian version Gross Motor Function Classification System Expanded & Revised in patients with cerebral palsy. Bimonthly Official Publication Medical Daneshvar 2011;18(91):2-8.Russell DJ, Rosenbaum PL, Avery LM, Lane M. Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM’66&GMFM’88) user’s manual. 1st ed: London; Mac Keith Press; 2002.Russell DJ, Goster JW. Assessing functional differences in gross motor skills in children with cerebral palsy who use an ambulatory aid or orthoses: can the GMFM-88 help? Dev Med Child Neurol  2005;47(7):462-7.Drouin LM, Malouin F, Richards CL, Marcoux S. Correlation between the gross motor function measure scores and gait spatiotemporal measures in children with neurological impairments. Dev Med Child Neurol 1996;38(11):1007-19.Buckon CE, Thomas SS, Jakobson-Huston S, Sussman M, Aiona M. Comparison of three ankle-foot orthosis configurations for children with spastic hemiplegia. Dev Med Child Neurol 2001;43(6):371-8.Middleton EA, Hurley GRB, McIlwain JS. The role of rigid and hinged polypropylene ankle-foot-orthoses in the management of cerebral palsy: A case study. 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Effects of repeated intravitreal bevacizumab administration on anterior segment parameters and limbal stem cells

Background: Macular edema (ME) is fluid accumulation in the macula caused by vascular leakage. Repeated intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections are extensively used to treat ME of different origins, are well tolerated, and have few side effects. This study evaluated the effects of repeated IVB injections on the anterior segment parameters and limbal stem cells (LSCs) in eyes with ME. Methods: This before–after study involved patients with ME of different causes who underwent repeated IVB injections at the Imam Khomeini Ophthalmology Center in Kermanshah, Iran. Before and after repeated IVB injections, anterior segment parameters were measured using anterior segment optical coherence tomography, and the LSCs were assessed using impression cytology. Results: We enrolled 42 eyes of 42 patients with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 59.6 (7.6) years, of whom 25 (59.5%) were men and 17 (40.5%) were women. The underlying diseases included diabetic ME in 30 eyes (71.4%), central (5 [11.9%]) or branch (3 [7.1%]) retinal vein occlusion, and choroidal neovascularization in 4 eyes (9.5%). The right eye was affected in 22 (52.4%) participants. The mean (SD) number of IVB injections was 4.3 (1.3). After repeated injections, the mean central corneal thickness (CCT) increased, whereas the mean anterior chamber angle (ACA) and anterior chamber depth (ACD) decreased (all P<0.001). Three patients developed LSC deficiency after repeated IVB injections for diabetic ME. Conclusions: We observed a significant increase in the mean CCT and a decrease in the mean ACA and ACD after repeated IVB injections in our series. Three patients developed LSC deficiency after repeated IVB injections for diabetic ME management. The observed effect on LSC may cast doubt on the safety of repeated IVB injections; however, this finding must be verified in multicenter clinical trials with longer follow-up periods and larger study samples