The Effect of Mind Simulation Method on Reducing Stuttering and Communication Attitude

Background and Aims Fluency disorder or stuttering is a Speech disorder in humans whose prevalence is higher at the ages before puberty. Mind simulation may be effective in reducing the severity of stuttering and some associated problems such as negative attitude towards communication. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of mind simulation method on reducing stuttering and improving communication attitude in children and adolescents with stuttering aged 7-16 years.Methods This is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test/follow-up design. Participants were 30 children and adolescents with stuttering aged 7-16 years (9 females and 21 males) referred to a psychology clinic in 2020. They completed DeNil and Brutten’s communication attitude test-revised (CAT-R) and Riley’s Stuttering Severity Instrument- 4(SSI-4) in the pre-test stage. Then, they underwent treatment by the Mind Simulation method for three months. Immediately after and one month after treatment, they completed the CAT-R and SSI-4 questionnaires again. Repeated Measure Analysis of Variance and Friedman Test were used to analyze the collected data.Results There was a significant difference between pre-test, post-test, and follow-up phases in stuttering severity (P=0.0001) and communication attitude (P=0.0001). The severity of stuttering decreased in the post-test and follow-up phases compared to the pre-test phase, while communication attitude improved in the post-test phase compared to the pre-test phaseConclusion The mind simulation method can reduce stuttering and improve communication attitude in children and adolescents with stuttering

The Moderating Role of Anxiety in the Relationship between Personality Traits and Coping Strategies among Female Students

Background and Objective: The relationship between personality characters and coping strategy has been shown in various studies. However, there is little knowledge about the variables that may affect this relationship in girls. Which have the negative effects on their behavior, when using coping strategies? The aim of study determines the role of moderating anxiety in relation personality traits and coping styles in female students. Materials and Methods: This study was descriptive and correlation and conducted the participation of 221 students of Payame Noor University in the academic year 2015-2016. The sampling method was available and the data were collected using coping strategies, state- trait anxiety and NEO-FFI Big five factor Personality questionnaires. Data were analyzed based on Pearson correlation and multiple regressions and using 21 version of SPSS software. Results: The mean (SD) age of participants was 25.3 (2.7) and in they were of the middle socioeconomic class. The adjusted strategy score with the mean (SD) 140.9 (17.1) had a negative correlation with anxiety score with the mean (SD) 35.9 (4.6): r=-0.294, P<0.05 which meant that the anxiety score increased with decreased adjusted strategy score. The isolation score with the mean (SD) 28.2 (9.5) had a positive correlation with anxiety score: r=0.546, P<0.05. There was a significant and positive relation with maladjusted strategy 64.7 (10), (P<0.05). There was a direct moderate correlation between anxiety (r=0.245) and neuroticism (r=0.341) with maladjusted strategy with the mean (SD) 64.7(10). Conclusion: The study showed that there was a positive correlation between maladjusted strategy and neuroticism and that anxiety can reinforce the relationship between neuroticism and maladjusted strategy

An Improved DPSO Algorithm for Cell Formation Problem

Abstract Cellular manufacturing systems have been considered as an effective method to increase productivity in industries. For designing of cellular manufacturing systems, several mathematical models and various algorithms have been proposed in the literature. In the present article, we propose an improved version of discrete particle swarm optimization (PSO) to solve manufacturing effectively this problem. When a local optimal solution is reached with PSO, all particles gather around it, and escaping from this local optimum becomes more difficult. To avoid premature convergence of PSO, we present a new hybrid evolutionary algorithm, called discrete particle swarm optimization-simulated annealing (DPSO-SA), based on the idea that PSO ensures fast convergence, while SA brings search out of local optimum. To illustrate the behavior of the proposed model and verify the performance of the algorithm, some numerical examples are introduced. The performance evaluation shows the effectiveness of the DPSO-SA

The effect of a health literacy approach to counselling on the lifestyle of women with gestational diabetes: A clinical trial [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Background: Gestational diabetes is a common pregnancy disorder that affects the mother’s and neonate’s health. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of a health literacy approach to counselling on the lifestyle of women with gestational diabetes. The present randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted in 2017 using a parallel design. The subjects included 84 eligible women presenting to Alborz and Kamali Hospitals, Karaj, Iran. Methods: Convenience sampling was first used to select the subjects. They were then assigned to an intervention or control group based on randomized blocks of four. Both groups attended counselling sessions. The mothers in the intervention group attended six sessions of counselling with a health literacy approach in addition to counselling on routine pregnancy care. The control group attended counselling sessions on safe pregnancy care and received a training package containing all the subjects discussed in the intervention group. The Lifestyle Questionnaire and the Iranian Health Literacy Questionnaire were completed by the mothers at the beginning and at the end of the sessions as well as three weeks after the sessions. The data obtained were analyzed in SPSS-19. Results: According to the study findings, the scores of lifestyle (P=0.8) and health literacy (P=0.423) showed no significant differences between the intervention and control groups before the intervention. Significant differences were, however, observed in the mean scores of lifestyle and health literacy between the two groups immediately and three weeks after the intervention. Comparing the means showed a higher increase in the mean scores in the intervention group (P<0.001). Conclusions: Providing counselling services by midwives can significantly help modify mothers’ unhealthy lifestyle choices and increase their health literacy; therefore, reducing maternal and neonatal consequences, especially in high-risk pregnancies. Trial registration number: IRCT2017021427728N3 Trial registry: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials Trial registration date: 5th April 201