A socio-economic problem regarding poplar plantation and a problem solving model by AHP

The current research presents the best solution for socio-economic problem regarding poplar plantation in Eastern and Western Azerbaijan, Iran. Planting fast growing species such as poplar is highly profitable in wood farming in Eastern and Western Azerbaijan, hence identification of socio-economic qualifications of poplar plantation would solve the problems of wood and paper industries regarding wood supply in the coming decade. Assuming previous researches and visiting poplar plantation surfaces in the so-called provinces, 51 sub-criteria were identified. These sub-criteria were categorized in five major groups: application, economic and financial, social and cultural, technical, and infrastructure. The priority and weight of the criteria and sub-criteria were determined through survey the experts and poplar farmers in wood and paper industries and poplar plantation. The findings revealed that economic and financial aspects are the most important criteria, and the sub-criteria of pre-purchase contract, water sources, and improved species have the highest priorities, respectively. For selecting the best optimized solution in the provinces, three groups of alternatives were selected: poplar farmer promotion and education using national and foreign experts, offering multiple facilities, and increasing the participation of wood and paper industries and investors with respect to poplar farmers’ problems. To select the best solution, a questionnaire was designed and administered among the experts, and then evaluated considering the sub-criteria. The results of synthesizing by AHP and Expert Choice software indicated that polar farmer promotion and education through national and foreign experts’ contribution is the best solution for providing proper situation of poplar plantation in the area and consumption of wood and paper industries. The result of sensitivity analysis indicated that economic & financial, technical and structural criteria are more sensitive when affect the solutions

Nonsurgical Management of an Immature Maxillary Central Incisor with Type III Dens Invaginatus Using MTA Plug: A Case Report

Dens invaginatus is a developmental anomaly, caused by deepening of the enamel organ into the dental papilla before calcification of the dental tissues. Teeth with dens invagination are susceptible to early caries and pulp necrosis within a few years of eruption or even before root end closure. This article reports two immature maxillary central incisors with type I and III dens invaginatus which had necrotic pulp and a large periradicular lesion, that were treated successfully by nonsurgical root canal treatment. After apical plug placement, the remaining space was backfilled using warm vertical gutta-percha technique and the crowns were restored by composite restoration. At 6 months of follow up the patient was asymptomatic and probing depths were less than 3 mm. In addition, the reduction in the size of apical radiolucencies was observed by radiographic examinations. This case report revealed that even type III des invaginatus with an open apex and large periapical lesion, can be treated non-surgically using MTA as an apical plug. Although this case report presents a favorable result, further studies with long term follow-up periods are encouraged to support the use of nonsurgical endodontic treatment for type III dens invaginatus.Keywords: Dens Invaginatus; Maxillary Central Incisors; MTA Plug; Non-Surgical Endodontic Treatmen

Difference of diagnostic criteria of diarrhea with standard criteria

زمینه و هدف: دفعات اجابت مزاج، وزن مدفوع، قوام مدفوع و رویت سلول های التهابی در آزمایش مدفوع، موضوعات غالبی هستند که در بررسی یک اسهال یا هر اختلال دیگر دستگاه گوارش جستجو می گردد. این موارد، افراد سالم را از بیمار متمایز می کند. دانستن طیف طبیعی آنها هدف اصلی این مطالعه است. روش مطالعه: تعداد 1000 نفر فرد سالم از بین مراجعین به مراکز بهداشتی شهرکرد انتخاب شدند. پس از توضیح روش کار، از آنها درخواست می شد که مدفوع خود را در ظروف مخصوص، به مدت 48-24 ساعت جمع آوری کنند. ابتدای دوره را با قرص کارمین و انتهای دوره را با قرص ذغال فعال شده مشخص کردیم. در انتها، وزن مدفوع و متغییرهای دیگر شامل تعداد دفعات اجابت مزاج و زمان ترانزیت ثبت شد. با نرم افزار SSPS، نسخه 5/7 و با آنالیز Regression ، و t-test تجزیه و تحلیل داده ها صورت گرفت. نتایج: متوسط وزن مدفوع در 24 ساعت، در افراد مورد مطالعه131±349 گرم بود. میانگین اجابت مزاج 5/1 بار در یک شبانه روز بود و زمان ترانزیت روده حدود 5/12 ساعت تخمین زده شد. وزن مدفوع با چهار متغییر، سن، جنس، وزن افراد و مصرف نان در رژیم غذائی، ارتباط مستقیم و معنی داری نشان داد (005/0

High prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HIV infections in gypsy population residing Shahr-e-Kord

Background - Gypsies are the groups of people who are not dependent on any special location. Because of permanent immigration, poor socioeconomic status and the special life style, gypsies might be exposed to multiple sexual partners, addiction and various kinds of infections, like hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of these infections in gypsies of South-West of Iran (Shahr-e-Kord). Materials and Methods - This study was done in Sureshjan Pass near Shahr-e-Kord. Out of 250 gypsies, 226 of them were recruited into the study. Laboratory tests for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag), hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb), hepatitis C virus antibody (HCVAb), and human immunodeficiency virus antibody (HIVAb) were performed in the study population. All sera with positive results of HBsAg or HBcAb were tested again for these markers together with HBsAb, HBeAg, and HBeAb. Also sera with positive HIV Ab were retested with immunoblot assay. Results - A total of 226 persons (103 males, 123 females) with a mean age of 20.7 years (range: 9 months to 78 years) were recruited. Thirty-five subjects (18, or 15.5 male) had positive HBsAg. Fifty-four persons (23.9) had positive HBcAb. Seven (4, or 3.1 male), had positive HCVAb and 4 persons (2, or 1.8 male) were HIV positive. Conclusion - Gypsies in Iran should be considered a high risk group for HBV, HCV and HIV infections. Vaccination against HBV should be considered for all noninfected subjects, and health promotional activity should be planned in order to prevent further spread of these blood born infections among them

Antimicrobial Activity of Nanoparticle Calcium Hydroxide against Enterococcus Faecalis: An In Vitro Study

Introduction: Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) has the ability to invade the dentinal tubules and resist high pH levels. As a result, calcium hydroxide (CH) is not much effective on this bacterium. In theory, nanoparticle calcium hydroxide (NCH) has smaller size and high surface area that enables it to penetrate into the deeper layers of dentin and be more effective on E. faecalis. This in vitro study was designed to compare the antimicrobial activity of NCH and CH against E. faecalis. Methods and Materials: The antimicrobial activity of NCH against E. faecalis was evaluated by two independent tests: the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of intracanal medicament and agar diffusion test (ADT). The efficiency of the medicament in dentinal tubules was evaluated on 23 human tooth blocks that were inoculated with E. faecalis. The tooth blocks were assigned to one control group (saline irrigation) and two experimental groups receiving CH and NCH as intracanal medication. The optical density in each group was assessed with spectrophotometer after collecting samples from dentin depths of 0, 200 and 400 µm. Data were analyzed by SPSS software ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Dunnett’s test. Results: The MIC for NCH was 1/4 of the MIC for CH. NCH with distilled water (DW) produced the greatest inhibition zone in agar diffusion test. NCH had greater antimicrobial activity in dentin samples from depths of 200 and 400 µm compared to CH. Conclusion: The antimicrobial activity of NCH was superior to CH in culture medium. In dentinal tubules the efficacy of NCH was again better than CH on the 200- and 400-µm samples.

Technical feasibility analysis of utilizing special purpose machine tools

Special purpose machine tools (SPMs) are primarily used for performing drilling-related operations and are widely used in mass production including automotive component manufacturing. Utilization of SPM is considerably widespread; however, this technology is relatively new and expensive. The important problems facing manufacturing industries wishing to utilize this technology is feasibility analysis to decide whether a SPM can be utilised for production of the given part and if it is feasible which SPM components would be appropriate. Since the cost of utilizing SPM is high, feasibility analysis must be performed before any investment on detailed design. This paper proposes a technical feasibility analysis method which assists in deciding whether SPM is applicable for machining a given part to achieve the highest productivity. The method is based on the framework which consists of relations between the desired part properties to the characteristics of the SPM components. These relations are captured as rules and constraints in an intelligent system which is implemented in Visual Basic. Applying the proposed method to a number of industrial parts shows that it is a very useful tool in deciding when SPMs should be utilized

Presence of Leptin in Chronic Periapical Lesions

INTRODUCTION: Studies have shown the regulatory role of Leptin in bone formation, its expression in adipose tissue as well as increased levels in circulation following the adminstration of inflammatory stimuli such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS). However, there is little data evaluating the role of Leptin in inflammatory periapical lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence and concentration of Leptin in chronic periapical lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Chronic periapical lesions with different sizes were collected during periapical surgery of the mandibular molars from twenty patients and cultured for 72 hours. The ELISA method determined the concentration of Leptin in supernatant fluids of explants cultures. Statistical analysis was performed using non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U, Chi-Square and Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient). RESULTS: Leptin was found in all samples with the average concentration of 405.55±102.98 (pg/mL). There was no significant correlation between the concentration of Leptin and BMI, and the diameters of lesions. CONCLUSION: Leptin can be considered an inflammatory mediator and is likely to have a role during the early phases of dental periapical lesions

Optimization Programming for Stormwater Control Measures: Methods for Sizing and Selection

The Study Problem and Research Objectives. Fouling of water quality in receiving urban storm runoff is chronic in metropolitan areas across the USA and large cities worldwide. These urban areas have well-known problems of polluted storm runoff and urban flooding. Urban storm runoff exhibits deleterious physical-chemical-biological characteristics, such as bacteria, trash content, large biochemical-oxygen-demand (BOD), oil & grease, toxic sediments, water-borne pathogens, suspended solids (SS) and total dissolved solids (TDS), heavy metals, and nutrient content that degrade water quality of receiving waters. The contamination of urban runoff is the result of a number of natural and anthropogenic processes: changing and rapid expanding population and land use within urban areas; vulnerable receiving water bodies that become contaminated from degraded storm runoff that hinders their hydrologic, ecologic, and socioeconomic functions, and intense rainfall events with pronounced seasonal and inter-annual variability of storm intensity (typical in the western United States). State and federal regulations on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) of pollutants to natural waters from urban storm runoff are not met by most cities in the USA. This thesis presents a modeling and experimental study using one of the best available data sets on urban land use, soils, groundwater, streets, storm conveyance infrastructure, non-point and point sources of pollution, rainfall, and Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) technologies. This thesis proposes a novel approach to (1) model, screen and or evaluate urban areas using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with the purpose of selecting appropriate SCMs in watershed hot spots, (2) select suitable SCMs to be deployed for the capture of and treatment or retention of urban runoff using Optimization Programming, (3) implement and test the proposed research in a large urban area with pervasive urban runoff pollution, and (4) field test SCMs for which there is limited or no information on treatment efficiency to assess their runoff-cleaning potential. Optimization methods are developed and presented in this research work to minimize the total cost of SCM deployment while satisfying constraints on (i) the total cost of deployment, (ii) SCM capacities, (iii) volumetric balance at SCM sites, (iv) stormwater volumes at arbitrary sites, (v) unit Operational, Maintenance, and Replacement (OMR) cost, and (vi) water-quality and quantity at monitoring locations. Two alternative optimization models for SCM siting and sizing are presented in this thesis:• Linear Programming (LP) for optimal sizing of SCMs relies with a linear programming formulation. In addition, the Binary Linear Integer Programming (BLIP) for optimal selection of SCMs based on a binary (0,1) linear integer programming formulation.• Nonlinear Programming (NLP) for optimal sizing and selection of SCMs uses mixed (binary-real) nonlinear integer programming formulation.Summary of the Research Method. The key tasks accomplished in this thesis are: • Modeling and determination of priority catchments for SCM deployment based on SCM;• Development and application of a SCM Optimization programing model to select from within the GIS-evaluated SCMs those that are most cost effective in reducing the pollutant loads and concentration in urban runoff; • Nonlinear model’s results have been field tested by implementing its SCMs selection with site-specific data;• Conducted field experiment to evaluate the pollution removal efficiency of percolation wells and vegetated swales. The implementation of GIS-based electronic maps to classify areas according to their conditions: heavy traffic, impervious soils, high rainfall intensity for design storms, high urban density, and steep topography. The selected SCMs are tested in chosen priority catchments to assess model-predicted performance with field performance. The research task consists of field-experimenting with dry wells and vegetated swales. These types of SCMs appear to have good performance potential in permeable soils, and swales exhibits high aesthetic distinction and value. These SCMs are field tested to determine their pollutant removal efficiency for selected indicator pollutants (for example, total suspended solids). Broad Impacts of the Proposed Research. This thesis overarching hypothesis is that the sequential application of (1) computer based modeling in screening of high priority urban catchments and cost effective SCMs, and (2) optimization programming, can be used successfully in (i) identifying catchments with high SCM indices to urban runoff pollution and (ii) selecting the most cost-effective SCMs to reduce runoff pollution. This novel research concept represents a trend setting approach in combating urban runoff pollution in the United States, and in other places where the resources and know-how for urban runoff pollution control are in high demand and required. Intellectual Merit of the Research. This is a novel research attempt to develop and integrate novel analysis of pollution and suitability for SCM deployment with optimization programming method for the selection of the types and sizes of SCMs in urban catchments

Socioeconomic status and catastrophic health expenditure evaluation in IR Iran: A comparative study in 2004 and 2011

Background: Health equity is a main principle of all healthcare systems in the world. Family Physician (FP) program, as a health sector reform (HSR) in Iran, was executed to reduce households’ health care cost and to achieve health equity in 2004. Meanwhile, catastrophic health expenditure is known as an accepted indicator in HSR evaluation. In this context, after determining and comparing socioeconomic status (SES) among different periods, we made an attempt to evaluate households’ health financial protection in different quintiles after implementation of FP program.  Methods: The current cross-sectional study was based on the data obtained from Household Income and Expenditure Survey in 2004 and 2011. The health expenditures, catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), and SES were determined by this data during these years. Descriptive analyses and comparisons using Chi-squared test were carried out via SPSS, version 20.  Results: A total of 1716 households were included in the survey during 2004 and 2011. The highest proportion of households was related to quintiles very poor and poor with respect to each year. Moreover, it was observed that SES in 2011 had the worse situation compared to that in 2004; this situation was worse in urban areas. In the present study, CHE is related to poorer quintiles, and in rural areas no household was faced with CHE in 2011.  Conclusions: Implementation of FP program in rural areas with more primary care has prevented hospitalization. This was considerable for poorer quintiles and has led to financial protection for rural households