Identification, analysis and ranking of factors affecting productivity of Bushehr fishing companies using Group Analytical Hierarchy Process (GAHP) Technique

Fishing companies play significant role in value-added generation in Bushehr province. According to the current conditions and based on natural potentials, fisheries are the main sector in economic development of the Bushehr province. The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and rank factors affecting productivity of Bushehr fishing companies using group analytical hierarchy process (GAHP) technique. We applied two standard questionnaires which were filled with 100 fishermen and 18 fishery experts. The first group of questionnaires was used to assess the two main factors: Internal and external and five subfactors including: Governmental, structural, natural, soft and hard ware aspects. The second group was used to rank the same indentified factors in the first group of questionnaires. Results indicated that fishery headquarter of the governmental sub-factor, economic changes of the structural sub-factor, management approaches of the software sub-factor and the catch tonnage and its composition of the hardware sub-factor are the main parameters affecting productivity. Suggestions were made to improve productivity of the fishing companies in Bushehr province

Emergence of world-stock-market network

In the age of globalization, it is natural that the stock market of each country is not independent form the other markets. In this case, collective behavior could be emerged form their dependency together. This article studies the collective behavior of a set of forty influential markets in the world economy with the aim of exploring a global financial structure that could be called world-stock-market network. Towards this end, we analyze the cross-correlation matrix of the indices of these forty markets using Random Matrix Theory (RMT). We find the degree of collective behavior among the markets and the share of each market in their structural formation. This finding together with the results obtained from the same calculation on four stock markets reinforce the idea of a world financial market. Finally, we draw the dendrogram of the cross-correlation matrix to make communities in this abstract global market visible. The dendrogram, drawn by at least thirty percent of correlation, shows that the world financial market comprises three communities each of which includes stock markets with geographical proximity

Superconductor Insulator Transition in Long MoGe Nanowires

Properties of one-dimensional superconducting wires depend on physical processes with different characteristic lengths. To identify the process dominant in the critical regime we have studied trans- port properties of very narrow (9-20 nm) MoGe wires fabricated by advanced electron-beam lithography in wide range of lengths, 1-25 microns. We observed that the wires undergo a superconductor -insulator transition that is controlled by cross sectional area of a wire and possibly also by the thickness-to-width ratio. Mean-field critical temperature decreases exponentially with the inverse of the wire cross section. We observed that qualitatively similar superconductor{insulator transition can be induced by external magnetic field. Some of our long superconducting MoGe nanowires can be identified as localized superconductors, namely in these wires one-electron localization length is much shorter than the length of a wire

Factors Affecting Minor Psychiatric Disorder in Southern Iranian Nurses: A Latent Class Regression Analysis

Background: Mental health is one of the most important dimensions of life and its quality. Minor Psychiatric Disorder as a type of mental health problem is prevalent among health workers. Nursing is considered to be one of the most stressful occupations. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of minor psychiatric disorder and its associated factors among nurses in southern Iran. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 771 nurses working in 20 cities of Bushehr and Fars provinces in southern Iran. Participants were recruited through multi-stage sampling during 2014. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used for screening of minor psychiatric disorder in nurses. Latent Class Regression was used to analyze the data. Results: The prevalence of minor psychiatric disorder among nurses was estimated to be 27.5%. Gender and sleep disorders were significant factors in determining the level of minor psychiatric disorder (P Values of 0.04 and < 0.001, respectively). Female nurses were 20% more likely than males to be classified into the minor psychiatric disorder group. Conclusions: The results of this study provide information about the prevalence of minor psychiatric disorder among nurses, and factors, which affect the prevalence of such disorders. These findings can be used in strategic planning processes to improve nurses’ mental health

Burden and associated factors for caregivers of the elderly in a developing country

The elderly population in South Asia is growing. In Pakistan trained caregivers are scarce and culturally not acceptable. This study assessed the level of stress experienced by caregivers of the elderly and determined the association of care giving burden with different characteristics of the elderly. A cross-sectional, questionnaire based study was conducted using nonprobability purposive sampling. All consenting participants aged 60 years and above needing help with at least one activity of daily living or two instrumental activities of daily living were included. 350 participants were assessed for perceived care giver burden. Care providers were mostly female (68.9%). Half (50.3%) of the caregivers had a positive score on a perceived care burden scale. Financial impact had a strong correlation (0.79) with perceived caregiver burden. Higher dependency levels of a physical and cognitive nature posed greater burden on caregivers. Behavioural issues of the elderly such as verbal abuse and difficulty sleeping were predictors of a higher caregiver burden. Caregiver burden is a significant issue for those caring for elderly family members in Karachi, Pakistan

The effect of management decision processes on the management of bridges

It is necessary to execute interventions on bridges to ensure that they continue to provide an adequate level of service. It is necessary to inspect them to ensure that these interventions are timed appropriately. As there are negative impacts associated with both inspections and interventions, e.g. the impact on the owner due to the hours of labor and amounts of materials required to perform an inspection and execute an intervention, it is desirable to determine inspection and intervention strategies that minimize these negative impacts (i.e. the optimal management strategy). An important, however often overlooked, factor in determining optimal management strategies, is how management processes affect the determination of the optimal management strategy. In this article it is shown that it is not always possible to determine an optimal management strategy without explicitly taking into consideration management processes, how variations in management processes can be evaluated and that the significance of these variations is dependent on the values of the incurred impacts. First published online: 21 Oct 201

Short photoperiod-induced decrease of histamine H3 receptors facilitates activation of hypothalamic neurons in the Siberian Hamster

Nonhibernating seasonal mammals have adapted to temporal changes in food availability through behavioral and physiological mechanisms to store food and energy during times of predictable plenty and conserve energy during predicted shortage. Little is known, however, of the hypothalamic neuronal events that lead to a change in behavior or physiology. Here we show for the first time that a shift from long summer-like to short inter-like photoperiod, which induces physiological adaptation to winter in the Siberian hamster, including a body weight decrease of up to 30%, increases neuronal activity in the dorsomedial region of the arcuate nucleus (dmpARC) assessed by electro physiological patch-clamping recording. Increased neuronal activity in short days is dependent on a photoperiod-driven down-regulation of H3 receptor expression and can be mimicked in long-day dmpARC neurons by the application of the H3 receptor antagonist, clobenproprit. Short-day activation of dmpARC neurons results in increased c-Fos expression. Tract tracing with the trans-synaptic retrograde tracer, pseudorabies virus, delivered into adipose tissue reveals a multisynaptic neuronal sympathetic outflow from dmpARC to white adipose tissue. These data strongly suggest that increased activity of dmpARC neurons, as a consequence of down-regulation of the histamine H3 receptor, contributes to the physiological adaptation of body weight regulation in seasonal photoperiod