Compaction of Quasi One-Dimensional Elastoplastic Materials

Insight in the crumpling or compaction of one-dimensional objects is of great importance for understanding biopolymer packaging and designing innovative technological devices. By compacting various types of wires in rigid confinements and characterizing the morphology of the resulting crumpled structures, here we report how friction, plasticity, and torsion enhance disorder, leading to a transition from coiled to folded morphologies. In the latter case, where folding dominates the crumpling process, we find that reducing the relative wire thickness counter-intuitively causes the maximum packing density to decrease. The segment-size distribution gradually becomes more asymmetric during compaction, reflecting an increase of spatial correlations. We introduce a self-avoiding random walk model and verify that the cumulative injected wire length follows a universal dependence on segment size, allowing for the prediction of the efficiency of compaction as a function of material properties, container size, and injection force.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Believability on the axes of structuralism: Yan Martel‘s Life of Pi

Elaborating on parallel, substitutional and correlated elements of the narrative in Yan Martel’s Life of Pi, this study aims at examining Martel’s technique for presenting a believable story in his novel. To discuss the way the believability of Pi’s narrative gets solidified, this enquiry takes advantage of the organizing principles of structuralism, namely, the metonymical-syntagmatic and the metaphorical-paradigmatic axes. Attributing the various correlating elements of the novel to these axes shows that what actually makes Pi a reliable narrator and simultaneously his narrative believable are the very parallel structures of the novel

Conformal bounds for the first eigenvalue of the (p,q)(p,q)-Laplacian system

Consider $\left(M,g\right)$ as an $m$-dimensional compact connected Riemannian manifold without boundary. In this paper, we investigate the first eigenvalue $\lambda_{1,p,q}$ of the $\left(p,q\right)$-Laplacian system on $M$. Also, in the case of $p,q >n$ we will show that for arbitrary large $\lambda_{1,p,q}$ there exists a Riemannian metric of volume one conformal to the standard metric of $\mathbb{S}^{m}$

Integrating multi-criteria models and Geographical information system for cemetery site selection (a case study of the Sanandaj city, Iran)

The ever increasing urban population growth has created many implications in land use planning in the most of developing countries. Traditional methods of spatial planning are still useful, but they need to be upgraded according to new methodological, technological possibilities and full complexity of spatial planning. The factors which influence the urban structure and its socio-economic life are countless, and so to deal with a huge set of data, Geographic information system (GIS) techniques can help to organize and control the impact of different problems. Urban utilities are the vital elements to provide comfort and amenity for the residents. Clearly in many cases the inappropriate sitting of urban infrastructures has decreased the efficiency and sustainability of the cities. Today GIS as powerful processing means can provide different alternatives for land use planning. One of the most socio-religious urban land uses in Iran is cemetery. Traditionally cemeteries are located in the vicinity of a holy shrine or specified by the local authorities. However, these sites are suitable by the view of people and religious groups but they impose many physical problems such as poor health conditions or accessibility due to the rapid expansion of the city by the population increase.  This paper attempts to select a right site for a new cemetery in town Sanandaj, as the old one now has no empty space. The paper applies GIS and Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques to find an appropriate area. The results show that the integrated GIS and AHP model has a high potential to compare different alternatives by investigating multi-criteria models and different factors which are involved in an urban utility site selection

An evaluation of role of the informational components in decision-making process of health systems’ managers based on World Health Organization’s standards

Background:Objective of current study was to enhance the effectiveness of the organization its goals, health system managers must possess sufficient knowledge about health information systems which are regarded as the basis of decision-making at different managerial levels. The present research tried to explore the extent of meeting the information management components and evaluate its role in decision-making of health systems' managers.Methods:Descriptive-analytical in nature, this study intended to examine the urban and rural health centers as well as health system. Data were collected through a self-designed checklist produced based on the World Health Organization’s standards which include the information presentation (6 components), information interpretation (5 components) and using information in decision-making process (1 component) for urban and rural health centers. The checklist designed for health system included needs-analysis and information collection, presentation, processing and interpretation components. The gathered data were then put into SPSS version of 13 and analyzed using independent t-test.Results:The findings of the study revealed that compared to urban centers, the rural health centers had a higher level in meeting the components in 3 main areas i.e. information presentation, information interpretation and information use in decision-making process (P <0.05). As far as sub-measures were concerned, the rural health centers gained a higher mean score for data presentation in the health system and other interpretation-related components (P <0.05). The level of meeting data presentation components revealed that the mean score for using data for decision-making purposes was high while the mean score for data processing was found to be low.  Conclusion: Proper processing and appropriate use of data in the decision-making by the managers and public policy-makers are the missing requirements which must be taken into account.

A cross-sectional study of relationship between self-esteem and self-concept of students of medical sciences

Background: Identification of the role of factors such as self-esteem and self-efficacy and the investigation of their relationship among students can bring about improvement of educational planning and enhance the teaching outcome. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between self-esteem and self-efficacy among the students of medical sciences.Methods: The present study is an analytical-descriptive which was conducted as a cross-sectional study on 394 students of Fasa University of Medical Sciences in 2016. In order to collect the data two questionnaires were used namely, Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI) and Rogers Self-concept Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22. The researchers used descriptive and inferential statistics such as t-test, chi-square one-way ANOVA, and correlation to analyze the data.Results: The mean and the standard deviation of self-esteem scores of female and male students were 38.23±6.80 and 37.51±6.67 respectively. The mean and the standard deviation of self-concept scores of female and male students were 9.49±3.53 and 9.43±4.14 respectively. The mean of self-concept scores of students of different majors had statistically significant difference with each other (0.011), whereas there was no statistically significant difference in self-esteem scores among students with different majors (0.442).Conclusions: Considering the statistically significant difference in students’ self-concept scores in different majors, it is suggested that we take right approaches to the improvement and enhancement of individuals’ self-concept and the creation of positive feedback

An Ultrastructural and Fluorescent Study of the Teratocytes of Microctonus aethiopoides

The braconid wasp Microctonus aethiopoides Loan is an idiobiont endoparasitoid of alfalfa weevil adults Hypera postica (Gyllenhal). After oviposition and subsequent egg maturation, large trophic cells called teratocytes dissociate from the serosa and are released into the host hemocoel. These teratocytes are present in large numbers and are visible to the naked eye. It is thought that they accumulate host hemocoelic metabolites for later consumption by the parasitoid larvae. We have undertaken a microscopic study of these gargantuan and complex cells at approximately seven months after parasitization. Parasitized adult weevils were dissected into medium and teratocytes were fixed, embedded, and sectioned at 1 μm. Teratocytes were stained with various specific fluorescent dyes for plasma membrane, Golgi, nuclei, lysosomes, mitochondria, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The surface of each cell is covered with a dense microvillar layer. Analysis of fluorescent images showed that these cells do not have condensed nuclei. ER was abundant around the nuclear envelope. Lysosomes were positioned around the periphery of the nucleus and the Golgi apparatus was significantly enlarged, being located around the nuclear envelope

A survey on the users' satisfaction with the hospital information systems (HISs) based on DeLone and McLean's model in the medical-teaching hospitals in Isfahan city

Background and purpose: The user's satisfaction with information system in fact denotes the extent the user is satisfied with the system's achievement in fulfilling his/her information requirements. This study tries to explore the users' satisfaction with hospital information systems (HISs) based on DeLone and McLean's model focusing on the medical-teaching hospitals of Isfahan city. Methodology: This study which was applied and descriptive-analytical in nature was carried out in the medical-teaching hospitals of Isfahan city in 2009. Research population consisted of the system users from which a sample was selected using random sampling method. The size of the sample was 228. Data collection instrument was a self-developed questionnaire produced based on the satisfaction criterion in the DeLone and McLean's model. Its content validity was assessed based on the opinions given by the computer sciences professionals with its estimated Cronbach's alpha found to be 92.2. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Findings: As the findings of the study showed, the differences among the mean scores obtained for the satisfaction with different kinds of HISs in use in the hospitals were statistically significant (p value≤0.05). Generally, Kowsar System (old version) and Pouya Samaneh Diva system gained the highest and lowest mean scores for the criterion in question, respectively. The overall mean score for the satisfaction was 54.6 for different types of systems and 55.6 among the hospitals. Conclusion: Given the findings of the study, it can be argued that based on the used model, the level of users' satisfaction with the systems in question was relatively good. However, to achieve the total optimum condition, when designing the system, the factors affecting the enhancement of the users' satisfaction and the type of hospital activity and specialty must be given special consideration. © AVICENA 2014

Comparison of acute effects of different resistance exercise protocols with and without blood flow restriction on selected hypertrophy-related hormones in competitive wrestlers

The study aimed to compare the acute effects of low resistance exercises with partial and complete blood flow restriction (BFR) and heavy resistance exercise on growth hormone (GH), myostatin, testosterone, and cortisol in competitive wrestlers. Forty elite wrestlers were randomly divided into four groups (n=10); low resistance training with complete BFR (LRT+CBFR), low resistance training with partial BFR (LRT+PBFR), low resistance training (LRT), and heavy resistance training (HRT). Blood samples were collected before and after the intervention, and a specific ELISA kit measured variables. Analysis of covariance and paired t-test was performed to analyze the data. There were no significant differences in the variables between the four interventions. Intra-group results showed a significant decrease in myostatin levels in the HRT group (p=0.02), and a significant increase in GH in the LRT+CBFR (p=0.02) and LRT+PBFR (p=0.03), testosterone in the HRT group (p=0.04) and cortisol in the three groups LRT+CBFR (p=0.02), LRT+PBFR (p=0.01) and HRT (p=0.04). Despite the similarity of the changes in the four interventions, due to the percentage of changes, it seems that low resistance training with BFR could produce similar anabolic effects to high-intensity resistance training